Yu Narukami stood alone in the Dojima residence, and for the first time in his life, he wondered if he had truly gone mad.
When his time in Inaba first began, he was told that the unique power of Persona that he had was channeling the manifestation of a person's true self into a summonable form. But, unlike his other friends who shared this power, he had the ability to carry and wield more than one Persona, or Personae as they were.
To carry 12 Personae in the sea of his soul… Did that mean that there existed more than one true self? Would the act of summoning a certain Arcana be that inner self, vying for dominance in an internal war? Or did it mean that his true self was to be nothing more than a performer; able to switch the masks he wore at a will? Is that also how people saw him- as just a performer who had long forgotten who the real Yu Narukami was? Was Izanagi his true self that had been discarded like the rest of the other selves in an attempt to gain more power?
He then began to think back to the various bonds he had made with the townspeople of Inaba. He had played quite a few roles to these people, but none of them had the unique distinction of being permanent. These roles would be built up in the relationship, only to be discarded and torn apart when that bond had maxed the potential. As it was the life he had lived, it wasn't a problem to discard roles so simply, but it was this time in which he had made a fatal mistake: he got attached to the roles he had made.
When he had joined the soccer team early in the spring, he got to know another classmate named Daisuke. Daisuke was a reserved teenager who often spent a lot of time with fellow athlete Kou, Yu found that it was only until he attended more practices did he get to the true issue of Daisuke's problems that stemmed from his heartbreak with women. Once Yu had helped through Daisuke's problems with his ex, he found himself never really talking to him one on one. He'd still see him around and make small conversation in the halls of school, but it was just another role that Narukami ended up discarding, just like all of the other ones.
He found out later that the cycle of building up and tearing down would repeat itself quite often. Whenever Yu had found himself in the role of a shoulder to cry on and the sympathetic ear to listen to whatever problem and issue that had surfaced, it would get fixed, and then Yu wouldn't get the time of day from them afterwards.
He gave a bitter laugh in the empty house. The way he looked at it, it was kind of ironic that the person who offered the most amount of help to others found himself alone in an empty house. He wondered what it was like to be on the receiving end of that care and friendship that he offered people before.
It was quite a quiet night, tonight. The TV was turned off, and there were barely any lights on. A lot had changed over the past few days. His uncle Ryotaro had been put into the hospital recently due to injuries he had sustained in a car crash. His little cousin Nanako, who had greeted his return home everyday, was nowhere to be found.
And where was she? She was stuck in another dimension that was located within every television set in the town of Inaba that appeared on blank TVs at midnight on rainy nights. What started as a small rumor eventually led to a murder case, which lead Yu to meet the entire circle of friends he had. The other dimension was a scary place indeed, when the inner self of a person would manifest and harbor a killing intent to the original people. If a person died there, they would wind up dead back in the real world with their body hanging from a telephone pole after the fog cleared. Yu and his Investigation Team had experienced their fair share of fighting these deranged psychological issues on steroids, and he hoped to god that sweet little Nanako wouldn't have one once they made it to the end of her dungeon…
That being said, Yu was going to make sure that she wouldn't still be in there by the time the fog came around.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of his body rebelling against his decision to skip both breakfast and lunch. Yu had originally come down to the kitchen in an attempt to justify a late dinner, but after looking to see what was in the fridge and pantry, he found nothing more than a damn good excuse to go grocery shopping once he got off school tomorrow.
"Shit…" Yu thought. "And I told everyone that we'd go back into the TV tomorrow… damnit." Yu sighed and held his head as he could feel the onset of a migraine. "Whatever. I'll deal with that tomorrow." Shaking his head softly, the teenage boy trudged quietly up the stairs back into his room and fell on the futon in the corner.
He opened his cell phone to try and see if someone else was up, but he closed the phone after quickly scrolling through his contact list.
"It's after 12… Everyone's probably asleep by now. Plus, it's not like it's their fault. I'm the one who feels this way." Grabbing the blanket that was on top of the futon, he placed his cell phone away from the pillow yet still in arms reach and sighed to himself. He wrapped up in a ball and closed his eyes. He didn't know how easy he'd fall asleep, but he could at least try.
Elsewhere in the quiet town of Inaba, there was someone who wasn't asleep at that moment. A former pop-idol turned high-school student was awake, pacing around the room with her cell phone in hand.
"Senpai looked really out of it at school today…" She whispered to herself. "And he hasn't spoken to anyone about it…" She flipped up her cell phone, and scrolled through the contact list until she found the name she wanted- Yu Narukami. Her thumb hovered over the call button, thumb anxious and willing to press it.
…So why did she hesitate? For the life of her, she couldn't figure it out. To her, comforting the boy who easily did the same to her seemed like a no-brainer. But at this moment, she seemed to hesitate-uncharacteristically so, for her.
"Dammit, Rise!" She berated to herself. "This is the boy that helped you in your darkest time, and yet you can't even do the same for him?" As she paced around the room, she looked and saw that her winter coat had been brought up to her room. She had her coat, and could easily dress out from her pajamas into something more suitable for outside.
She placed an ear to her bedroom door, and she heard nothing but the sounds of soft snoring, meaning that her grandma was asleep (and as it seemed, quite heavily at that).
A smile then appeared on the girl's face. "I don't have to call him…" She began, looking around her room for her casual outfit and a spare Yasogami High uniform to take in her school bag. "I'll just show up. Senpai won't know what to think of it! I'm sure that what he needs right now is someone to break the emptiness of that house."
Yu didn't know how long he was asleep for, but to him, it didn't seem like long enough. He was woken up to the sound of knocking on the front door to the Dojima residence, as well as the alert light for his cell phone displaying that he had missed both a call and there was a new message. Not bothering with the phone, he instead went down (dressed in a thick black sweater and black pants) and answered the door, feeling that was more of a priority.
What greeted him at the end was surprising. On the other side stood a red-haired idol with rosy cheeks and a red nose, dressed in a black coat that stopped at her waist and a pair of black pants.
"Rise? What are you doing here?" Yu looked confused at the girl, who instead took the initiative to walk inside the Dojima residence and take off the jacket.
"I'm here to see you, senpai!" It would appear to Yu that the girl's bubbly outlook didn't fade after dark. "I mean, what with you being all alone tonight." Yu smirked.
"I have to admit… It's a little unorthodox, but you're the first one who's really wanted to talk to me since Nanako got thrown in…"
Within moments, the young teens had found their way onto the couch of the Dojima living room. Yu had poured Rise a small cup of coffee that he held in his hands, and Rise had cuddled up beside him, with her hands on the cup intertwined with his and her head resting calmly on his right shoulder.
"So how did you get here?" Yu asked, still kind of incredulous about the whole thing.
"I thought about calling you." Rise told him. "But I thought you'd like it more if I actually came to see you. So I got changed and grabbed some stuff. It was a pretty long walk, but I think it was worth it." She sighed as one of her thumbs gingerly ran over his index finger. "But when I got here, you didn't hear me at first, so I tried texting you and then I tried calling you. You didn't answer, but then you answered the door." Yu sighed softly to himself and turned to look at the girl.
"I'm incredibly thankful for what you did." Yu told her, his dull eyes looking into her bright eyes.
"Senpai… I did this for you. I want you to know that."
"I know." Closing his eyes, he closed the small gap between her and him with his lips and pressed them softly to hers. It was a tender moment that sent chills up Rise's spine. The spontaneity of the gesture and the feeling of his lips on hers and his body so close to her made her go wild from the touch. He had her hooked from the first moment and she had felt the intensity to go wild almost instantly. It was one of the best moments of Rise's life.
It was also over far too quickly, at least for her tastes.
"Senpai…" She whispered as set the cup down on the table and stood up, her arms now around the older boy's waist. They brought their faces close to one another and there was another kiss shared. Rise felt one of her legs pop up as she came into contact with the taste of his lips again.
"You don't need to call me that if you don't want." Rise could swear her face began to blush when he said that to her as they broke their kiss. "Just call me Yu."
"Yu…" The way that she said his name without any honorifics or 'senpai' thrilled him in a way he wasn't sure he had felt before.
"It's getting late. Are you going to stay?" As he said that, he could swear this was the first time he had seen the former idol truly get embarrassed.
"I…I wouldn't have it any other way. Why?" Yu smiled.
"Go upstairs to my room, and make yourself comfortable. I'll get you some more pillows and blankets." Rise hesitated, not wanting to leave that wonderful embrace they had created. Yu gave her a smirk. "I'll be quick, and it'll give you time to change." Smiling at him, Rise walked out of his arms and went upstairs. After grabbing another blanket and two more pillows, Yu went upstairs.
Rise had intrigued him. Her Shadow was their most difficult fight, as it couldn't actually be stopped- it was going to kill them before Teddie was able to properly interfere. And even after rescuing her, he realized that her power had made their ability to search the endless recesses of the TV world for Kubo and Naoto made her an invaluable asset.
And then, he remembered… When her Persona transformed…
Yu paused, and thought back to when Himiko transformed into Kanzeon, due to the time he spent with her. Because the changes both of them had made, her strength of heart had intensified to the point where he had caused a rebirth of her Persona...
He was wrong before- that was the one role he never tore apart. He always was a lover to her.
When he got upstairs, he looked to see that Rise was currently dressed in black socks, black boxer shorts and a red bra.
"Shit, sorry!" Yu exclaimed, covering his eyes. However, there was no scream, no being called a 'pervert', there was just the sound of her moving towards him. With his eyes still covered, he was surprised to feel her arms wrap around his waist in a hug. He opened his eyes to see her brown eyes staring back at him.
"Why are you sorry?" She asked, removing his hand from his eyes and smiling. "If I didn't want you to see this, I wouldn't let you." She took the blankets and pillows from him and threw them in the direction of the futon. "Stop worrying. For once, give that brain of yours a break, and think with your heart."
Yu was silent for a minute. And then he felt tears flow in a release of bottled emotion that he had kept inside of him for what felt like an eternity.
Rise stood protectively as she held the boy close as he broke down in her arms. She whispered sweet nothings into his ear as he continued to outpour into their embrace.
They would get Nanako back, no matter what it would take. But for the time being… Yu didn't have to be alone. She would make sure of it.
A/N: This is what happens when I'm in one of those moods and want to cover something that I haven't covered before. It's something cute for the warm months, and some more oneshots like this will come as summer continues (But I'm not off school until late June. :/)
For those wondering, Life, Death and Rebirth is still continuing, it's just a matter of Chapter 6 taking… more time then I expected. You'll start seeing major updates for it soon.
Until then, enjoy and I'll see you for the next one! Review/favourite if you liked it!