AN: Ah, the scent of a new fic. Huh, you can't smell it? Well, me too.
This actually would be my first – mostly – serious fic. Even my other WIP is not as serious as this one. However, this would be only second to that in updating speed, as first-come-first-serve applies to the feeding of my dear little plot bunnies.
Summary: Six years later, the Investigation Team enters as Godou's high school teachers. Famous teachers. Again, very famous. Slight AU to both fandoms.
Contrary to that, the summary's not serious at all, I guess? It sounds like crack. HOWEVER, this would be not in accordance to my writing style (which again, fits humor more than anything else), but with a mix of styles from my favorite fanfiction authors.
The theme of the mixed timeline comes from Parallel Axis of Sawada Tsunayoshi, and the chapter lengths, themes, and update speeds are from Cywscross. Yep, that means this would take three weeks minimum to months prior to updating, so I'm warning you guys before that. However, chapter lengths after this introductory chapter would be at least 15K. Or I hope so. I mean, I would do so.
Lastly, before anyone asks, I won't be applying SEES and the rest of P3 elements in this fic. It's hard enough to mix Persona mechanics and elements to the already complicated Campione without the arrival of the Goddess from the moon to kill all of mankind, because apparently, most of us are suicidal. (I don't hate P3, anyone. I just like affectionately parodying it.) P4 Golden also, if only because I haven't played it.
If you want a good P3/Campione fic, there's the Universal Fool by Audiodelus.
The title is, by the way, based on Narukami Yu's… well, the surname Narukami, meaning "To become a God". Translate it as you will. AU warning is actually mostly about timeline and slight assumptions with family ties, along with the True End Epilogue. You'll see soon anyhow.
Disclaimer: I don't own a Persona nor the Persona Series. I'm freaking new to the Campione fandom, so don't even ask me about it. NOT MINE! (T_T) (No-Face?)
Introduction: To Become a Campione
Past:
"True friendships mean you never say goodbye; rather it means to always wish for you and your friends to meet again."
Narukami Yu, in the book "Forming Strong Friendships"
When they all said goodbye- no, let's-meet-again to Yu, Yosuke had made an unspoken promise between himself and the rest of the gang to never leave Yu alone in the future.
Never let them split apart, because when that Margaret lady came to them and told them of Yu's always-unspoken Shadow, all of them had resolved that since Yu had helped them with his problems, they would help him with his.
However, what they were planning wasn't as simple as tagging along with him in college.
The entire thing actually started when they had defeated Ame-no-Sagiri. They were all already used to 'leveling up', as Yosuke once joked, after strong battles, becoming better at fighting and learning more techniques. Rise had once pointed out it was actually because they were absorbing the energy left behind by defeated Shadows, strengthening their Personas from the left-over mental energy that created them in the first place.
However, when they defeated Ame-no-Sagiri all together, she had noted that there was something less… primal, and more pure in the energy he left, strengthening them all to a high-degree. She even said that if they had received that kind of energy in the beginning of the case, they would've no trouble at all on storming through all of the Shadows they met.
But because they all had thought after that the entire thing was over – again – they pushed the thought out of their minds because they never visited the Midnight Channel again and it had already ended.
However that thought was also pushed away when their beloved leader had apparently revealed that forgettable gas station attendant to be a literal goddess in disguise, Izanami herself. Of course when they stormed into Yomotsu Hirasaka to defeat her once and for all, they had noticed it. It being the same considerable boost Rise once told them after the last 'last boss' fight.
They had faced Shadows so strong that even the humanoid ones that were theirs seemed weak, however they defeated them like they were simply the first Hableries they had met in Yukiko's Castle. They as well apparently also gave off that same kind of energy Ame-no-Sagiri left, but weaker. It didn't matter in the end, as even as strong as they got when they met the goddess, it proved worthless as she hit them with her Thousand Curses.
And then Yu defeated her with a single beam of TRUTH. Again, Yosuke felt that their team leader felt like an anime protagonist sometimes, if only because he had somehow missed Rise's flirtations for mere jokes.
Jokes aside, Rise had been shocked over the amount of power left behind by her defeat, all of it going to Yu because of the rest of them being unconscious. But even before they could discuss about that after Izanami had accepted her defeat, a strong flash of light blinded them before they were all again inside the electronic branch of Junes.
The Midnight Channel had completely disappeared.
And since all of them other than Yu, who was miraculously completely unhurt for some reason, were already literally dying, though less wounded and more exhausted, on their feet, they were rushed to the nearest hospital when they were found by the workers of Junes.
Dojima had covered for them, however the doctors were shocked when they all recovered with a good night's sleep. Yosuke would've told them that they had worse and recovered just as fast if it didn't make him sound like a weirdo. Thankfully though, their weaponry were unfound by the doctors, having been confiscated by Yu before they were taken away.
After Yu left Inaba the next day, all of them were too sad to actually notice all of the changes to themselves until the end of the week. And the ball ultimately started rolling on the first time Yosuke received a perfect score in an exam.
"Good job~ Hana-chan!" Mr Hosoi chirped brightly as he placed a paper with a bright red 100 at the top. "I would've thought Narukami-kun's depart would've caused you to score lower, but I'm glad you didn't prove me right!"
Yosuke only stared at the piece of paper that he had honestly answered only absentmindedly when it was first given. He was indeed too hung up on Yu to actually focus, and he had expected the usual 50s. Chie then immediately fell out of her chair behind him when she received an 89 with a just as bright endorsement from their eccentric sensei.
Immediately, the IT sans Yu convened at their table in Junes. It, by then, was actually quite literally their table by then as his father had finally noticed the fact his son and his friends kept on using it and placed a 'VIP' seat as a gift to Yosuke in Christmas. Great gift, Dad!
Apparently the two of them weren't alone. Kanji had scored an above-average score for the first time as well, along with Rise who suddenly understood something from Kashiwagi's classes. Yukiko and Naoto were both soundly amused by their antics, and Teddie added up the ante by yelling it loud for Yosuke's mom to hear. He had thought Izanami could arrive then and use her Thousand Curses again, pulling him into Yomi, and he would've been too happy about leaving the embarrassing hug his mom gave him.
"This isn't normal." He said as seriously as he could towards his teammates, even as red-faced he was after his mom left. Yosuke still felt a slight pang of sadness at the sight of one empty seat however. "Me gaining one perfect score, well we can accept that," Cue snorts from most of the team, "But Chie getting an almost 90? This has to be supernatural."
"Hey!" Chie sounded affronted by the accusation. She then aimed to kick him in the face, only for him to block it. Yosuke took a long while to digest that.
"Wait, did I just… block your kick?"
"Y-yeah, Yosuke." The meat-lover sounded terrified. "You somehow stopped my kick!"
Simultaneously, both of them straightened before turning back to the rest of the Team. "This has to be supernatural."
All of them nodded grimly. Teddie took out a phone. "I'm calling Sensei!"
"Yes, it does sound serious." Yu said as flatly as he could, though a corner of his lips kept twitching. He himself didn't find anything unusual, if only because he was used to being the best at most of what he did. He was still happy his friends called him however. "Rise, Naoto, do you girls have any idea about what may have happened?"
"If only I could summon Kanzeon out here…" Rise murmured to herself after hearing Yu's voice again from the loudspeaker of the phone. She was smiling wildly, along with the rest of the Team. It was only a week, but all of them already missed his company. "All I can do is just… wait."
She focused again. "How? This is… how could this be?"
"What do you mean, Kujikawa-san?" Naoto looked as worried as she could at the shocked idol. "Is there anything that ails you?"
"Kanzeon is… gone – no, not gone but almost not there!" She yelled to herself. The rest of the Team gasped before they check their own Personas and turning into the same pallor Rise's face was turning into. "I can still feel her, but she's almost faded, unlike the bright presence I'm used to."
The Investigation Team felt ripped of a part of them just as important as anybody in the group. They had, after all, journeyed through the battles and finished the case with their Persona. They were their protection, their company during times of duress. Like now for example, but they weren't entirely there.
Yu, who had done the same, temporarily pushed away his own pain at the feeling of the slow loss of his Personas before speaking through the phone again, much grimmer than before. "Calm down."
There was a just as painful silence before Yosuke finally replied to Yu. "Alright, partner. What do you think we should do for now?"
"Teddie, is the Midnight Channel still gone?" He asked in reply. After all, what better thing to do than return to the place they had received them? "Does the world behind the TVs still inaccessible?"
"No…" Teddie sounded just as sad as he had been when he realized he was a Shadow. Yu winced; he should've realized that the – bear? – was still a little hurting about the loss of what essentially was his home and birthplace. "Teddie can't open a window into there anymore. It's like it doesn't exist anymore."
"Ted…" Kanji murmured before making a sound of what was probably him rubbing the blue-eyed blond's hair. "Tch, don't worry, you can stay here as long as you want. Haven't we already made that clear to you?"
"Thank you, Kanji…" Teddie cried a bit. "Your hand though, it's beary rough unlike Sensei's."
That caused several of them to lighten up a bit, especially with Kanji immediately pulling away.
"Then Rise, can you… you know, use Kanzeon's abilities, somehow?"
"I'll try Sempai." The idol sounded determined. "Alright, here I go… huh?!"
Little did Yu know at the time, it was the beginning of something truly amazing.
Present:
"Well, I've always wanted to teach at least once. If only for a certain Sensei we had. Haha, you don't know what it means? I thought you had already known. Oprah-san, it means teacher."
- Yosuke Hanamura, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Kusanagi Godou was overjoyed.
He had only started recovering from that disastrous first meeting between his family – sister especially – and friends Erica and Yuri when his grandfather pulled him aside to discuss a family matter. At first, he had thought it was going to be another of his grandfather's teasing, however when Kusanagi Ichirou turned serious once the two of them were alone, he couldn't help but listen.
And it was great news.
"Godou, your favorite cousin is returning at last."
Godou took a minute to absorb what his grandfather told him before jumping up in happiness, feeling like the kid all those years ago again. Grandfather only smiled at the sight. "So, you're happy about it?"
"Happy?" Godou asked like he couldn't believe how he wouldn't be happy. "Yu-niisan is coming back! Of course I would be happy! I have lots of things to tell him, maybe even introduce him to Erica – wait, maybe not, Mariya-san would do, at least she wouldn't weird him out or worse try to manipulate him-"
"And baseball! And baseball…" He started to slow down from his excitement. "Baseball… how would he feel though, finding out I quit the team?"
"He would care for you anyways." Grandfather pointed out. "That boy's one of the kindest people I know, and I've met dozens of good people. You're lucky that you have a relative like him, Godou."
"Yeah, Yu-niisan's the best." Godou softly replied, feeling a lot better. "Why is he coming back though? Wasn't he wandering around the world?"
"Oh, you know, he's got a new job around here." Kusanagi Ichirou pointedly looked away, however with the teenager looking at the ground it went unnoticed. "That boy, to actually travel around the world to help strangers…"
"I'm really thankful for it though." Godou felt his mouth form a wide-open grin. "So, when's Yu-niisan arriving?"
"Tomorrow."
"What?!"
Godou couldn't sleep that evening.
It was quite the long time since his favorite cousin/brother-figure had left. He hadn't known when he had met the incredibly mature cousin through his mother's side six years ago that he would've grown so close to him. Granted, Narukami Yu had left exactly a year and a half after to travel with his friends all over the world, but time meant little for the brotherly bond between them to form.
Yu had once told him that he too once felt like that, but a year before they first met, before he had formed strong friendships in a single year in a town. The Kusanagi and Narukami family were close friends after Godou's father married his mother, who was a Narukami, remaining so even after their divorce. While Yu's parents were also quite divorced in a different way with their respective families, the Kusanagi family had accepted him after they left him behind. Apparently, it happened often, and an example was that year. He even had another cousin, this time from Yu's mother's side, a Dojima.
Ten-year old Godou had enjoyed the stories his cousin told him, about a small town where you could fish by the river and hang out with old friends, where you could find a restaurant that has a bowl connected to the Meat dimension, where one can really connect to people, exchanging those stories with his baseball victories and jokes he had slowly became closer to the teenager that he had soon started calling a brother.
"Yu-niisan… How is he now?" Godou wondered to himself before shooting up to a sitting position. "Wait a minute… Oh no, Erica!"
He had no wish to be seen as a playboy like his grandfather by the one he had deemed a brother. Shizuka was bad enough. Quickly dialing through his phone's buttons, he called the Diavolo Rosso's home telephone.
Feeling a little uncharacteristically impatient, Godou kept clicking his feet with the floor until somebody picked up the call. "Hello, is this Anna-san?"
"Godou… why are you calling so early in the morning?" The voice of his actual target filtered through the speakers. She first sounded sleepy, causing him to feel a bit of guilt, before it slowly turned into the sly tone he was more used to, completely nullifying that same guilt. "What, do you want to flirt till the sun goes up? I can't believe you miss me so much."
He ignored that. "So this is Erica, right? There's something I have to tell you about tomorrow."
Perhaps sensing the seriousness in his voice, Erica did the same. "So, what about it, Godou?"
"Tomorrow, another member of my family would arrive. I know you will find about it soon, but I have to say this to you first, just so you would know as well. Don't do the same thing you did this night as with that person."
"Hmmm, Godou, are you finally manning up?" Erica teased, though he could read she was still listening. "So, who is it then, your mother? Your father?"
"No," He answered quickly. Godou had little to no love of his parents who couldn't be bothered to take care of their children. "My brother."
"Brother?" The Diavolo Rosso sounded interested. "I haven't heard of a brother in the Kusanagi family."
"He's actually a cousin, but I see him as an older brother. So please, just please, don't ruin my first meeting with him after five years."
"Very well then, Godou, if that's what you truly want." Erica replied more willingly than he heard from her other than in battles. Little did he know, she was actually smiling in pride for the growth of her King. "The day after tomorrow though, I would meet him."
He sighed. "As long as you let me prepare him first."
And with that, he ended the call, feeling a bit happier than before he made it. Later though, he groaned as he realized that he had inadvertently arranged for Yu and Erica to meet, even at her conditions.
He turned to the wall-clock. 3 AM.
Great, he wouldn't be able to sleep at all, damn it!
Almost dying of tiredness on his desk, the seventh Campione sighed as he tried to piece together enough wakefulness to at least remain awake till the end of homeroom. Then he would sleep so he would be alert enough for the meeting with Yu again.
At the thought, he let out another sigh. His grandfather had been coy about letting him know exactly what time Yu would actually arrive, so he was really antsy about it. In the end, he assumed it would be at least after class hours, as Yu probably would probably be busy with his job until at night.
The attempt to remain completely cognitive was a failure though, and the reason he was actually awake was because Erica was attempting to say something to him. Wait, Erica?
"…really, you're quite the weak man sometimes, Godou. Where's that spine you used when you called me this morning?"
Coincidentally, unnoticed by Godou, all males in the vicinity started glaring daggers at him.
"Huh?" Was his only response to the mage knight. "Did you say something, Erica?"
"Godou…" She devilishly smiled back now that she had his attention. "Have you heard? Apparently, the school is enforcing a new homeroom teacher for this class starting today."
"Really…" Godou tried to reply, but the words didn't compute very well in his mind. When he finally did, he asked slowly, "So, what about it then?"
"Oh, I believe he would be quite the person of interest to you Godou. Should I tell you his name?"
"What again…?"
"He is-" Erica tried to say before she was interrupted by the door opening. "…here."
Godou simply let himself through the patterns of the homeroom tradition, eyes completely closed as the heaviness on them prevented them from opening properly. When the class was asked to sit by a strangely familiar voice, he let himself drop to sleep on his desk.
Barely, he managed to hear a bit of the introduction.
"…ting today, I would be…" The voice calmly spoke in the morning air, somehow simultaneously soothing him for some reason. "…name is…"
"Narukami Yu."
He shot up, awake, causing the entire class to stare at him. Idly, he noted that they would've probably had good reason to, as his eyes were probably blood-red with vessels and bags that were beneath them. However, he ignored those stares as he gazed into a very familiar charming smile of someone he knew since six years ago.
"Ah Godou." The new teacher looked at him amusedly. "Great that you woke up. Now, could you seat down?"
Unconsciously Godou did so, his eyes still wildly uncomprehending of what they were seeing. The person in front continued as if nothing happened.
"I hope we all have a meaningful time together. Hmm? I'm sorry, but I don't know your name, person-who-is-raising-her-hand-at-the-back. What's your question?"
Erica Blandelli stood from her seat, lowering her arm as she sent a wily expression at her new sensei. "Narukami-sensei, may I ask, why are you here so late in the semester?"
And with that, the new teacher's lips curled up. "Well, I'm here because I've been asked to watch over my younger cousin by our mutual grandfather. Isn't that right, Godou?"
At the face of the fact that his grandfather had very well played him, Godou only managed to reply a weak "Yeah?" before he collapsed unconscious on his seat. Apparently, starting today, his brother-figure/favorite cousin Narukami Yu was his very own homeroom teacher.
AN: Tadaaah! Still a little too much humor I guess for what I wanted, plus it was shorter than what I expected. Though, I still retain my previous statements in the above AN. I'm already working on the next chapter after all.
Current timelines: Past is post-AU!True P4 Epilogue. Present is pre-Voban and post-Athena Campione timeline.
As for the Campione fandom, I'm actually a newbie into it, only four light novels and few fics in. I hope someone out there would help introduce me to it, and would act as my fact-checker. However, I did already check all of the things mentioned in this chaplet.
Ah yes, the subject of why I chose Yu to be a cousin and teacher of Godou. Well, honestly, when I first met this plot bunny, it was quite similar to The Campione of Inaba in that Yu was still a teenager and schoolmate. However after several deliberations, I ended up with this setting, if only because it seemed amusing. Verily so~
Plus, it also allows me new avenues for the Past side of the story. I actually have a storyline for that already, as it pretty much is concerned with P4 Drama/Friendship, along with the aforementioned brotherly bond between Yu and Godou. The Future side though needs more polishing, as I'm quite honestly unaware of a lot of things in the latter fandom, and fear of changing a plot-heavy factor.
Don't fear about it being a cookie-cut story though. After sometime, I'm derailing off canon. It's the question of exactly when to do so that remains unanswered. If only better translations are online, as the Baka-Tsuki translation… sucks for the lack of a better word. Or rather, for the lack of usage of better words. Makes it hard to stay focused on reading them.
Several concerns I have though is the flow of the story. Can anyone send me a basic timeline for the Campione Universe? About things like the birth of that Campione, or that plot-relevant Heretic God? Thanks in advance if anyone does answer.
Anyways, by my calculations, I would probably be able to update the next chapter pretty quickly, like in two weeks. I sure hope the response is well at that time.
"Ah, reviews and favs~/ All a brand-new author craves~/ To feed the… babes? (*'o_o)"
ReaderDreamer (and failed poet XD)