Hello and welcome to Persona reflections! Before we get this thing underway some things need to be stated. This story is a sequel to P3, P4, and P4A and there are significant spoilers for all three of those games, so if you haven't played them I don't suggest reading this story.
All pre-existing aspects of the story belong to Altus, anything new belongs to me.
Now that all of that is out of the way, on with the show…
Persona Reflections
The search for truth and one's place in this world is a long and tumultuous journey, it can easily lead one astray and more treacherous still is the temptation to let one's past control the road forward, do not falter but charge forth, for the power to write your future rests only in your own hands.
04/1 - Monday
"Ugh," I moan as I pick my self up off the gently swaying floor, falling asleep on bench style seats in a boat is definitely being put on the list of do-nots for travel. After dusting my self off I look down to check my watch, five twenty, I yawn with satisfaction; despite the rude awakening my nap had significantly cut in to my travel time, the boat would be arriving at its destination in just under forty minutes.
Wiping the remnants of sleep from my eyes I walk out from the passengers cabin and onto the deck, looking back I can no longer make out the main land of Japan through the ocean mists, though ahead I can clearly see the outline of the little island for which I am destined. I carefully make my way over to the nearest railing, trying (and failing I might add) to keep my balance strait on deck of the ever swaying boat, once to the railing I let out a sigh and return my gaze to the outline of the island coming ever closer, "This is what I need," I silently assure my self.
"My, traveling by water in this fashion is quite, oh what's the word...adventurous," the whimsical voice cuts through my contemplative silence; I turn and see its owner, a young girl just about my height: she's wearing a dress that comes to just above her knees, boots which come to just below her knees, all under a long coat and all in a dark blue color; despite the intriguing nature of her clothing her features were more interesting still: her hair comes down to her chin and is a light silver color almost matching her snow white skin, though most striking of all are her gold yellow eyes...which are staring at me as though I'm a crazy person, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the past I have been told it is less than mannerly to stare."
"Oh," I laugh, a bit embarrassed, "its just you look so...,"
"Alluring?"
"I was gonna say 'different'," for a few moments there is a rather uncomfortable silence, I blush a bit from the awkwardness though when I look at the girl she seem totally unfazed.
Quite suddenly her voice once again ends the silence, "Why are you traveling to Kirikawa?"
I pause for a moment feeling a bit sheepish, "don't be coy, you know why you had to leave," silencing my inner monologue I say, "I just needed a fresh start."
"Don't we all," she says solemnly.
After another brief moment of silence I pipe up, "So why are you traveling to the island?"
She puts her finger to her chin and makes a face as though she is trying to very carefully pick her words, she finally responds, "I guess you could say I'm looking for someone," she finishes with a look of satisfaction as though she finally solved some difficult problem.
"Well I hope you find them," I say with a smile. Once again silence returns to us though not like before, there's no sense of awkwardness, for a while we both watch the sea roll by then she speaks again.
"Would you like to sign a petition?"
"A petition," taken slightly aback by the sudden and strange request I ask, "what for?"
"It calls for people to take full responsibility for their actions, to accept the consequences and live with them," "oh, do please sign it, I only need one more signature," she earnestly removes a sheet of paper from with in her coat and hands it to me. The majority of the page is covered in a lengthy statement written in a language I can't read, English I think.
After a few moments of thought and a look at her pleading smile I nod yes, "What harm can it do," I think to myself, "It's not like I'm giving her my bank information." She hands me a fancy looking pen, "Rahli Samekawa," I say aloud as I sign, "by the way what's your name," but when I look up the girl is gone. I do a quick search around the deck of the boat but I don't find any trace of the girl, "Well that was strange," I mutter to myself as I walk back in to the passengers cabin.
A voice comes over the intercom, "Attention passengers, we will be arriving at Kirikawa Island in the next five minutes, repeat will be arriving at Kirikawa Island in the next five minutes, please collect your belongings and be ready to disembark."
Going over to my seat I unzip my backpack and stuff the weird petition paper and fancy pen inside, at least I already have an interesting story to tell people when I get to school I chuckle to myself. I watch as the other passengers collect their possessions and wait patiently for the boat to come to a stop.
Once the boat is docked I quickly go to the exit area, the instant the bridge from sea to land is secure I sprint across eager to have stationary land beneath my feet. I turn back and see the other passengers disembarking, though no sign of the mysterious girl among them, "where could she be," I wonder. Deciding not to bother with that particular mystery I brush aside all thought of the girl and begin making my way through the port, once to the street I hail a cab.
Quickly the car pulls to the curb, the driver, an elderly looking man, gets out and puts my bags in the trunk, "Where to young lady."
"The Toromro high school dorms please," I say struggling a bit with the pronunciation of the school's name. The driver nods and opens the door for me to get in, once I'm inside he closes the door and gets into the driver seat, "how long do you think it will take us to get there," I ask as the car begins to pull away from the docks.
"The school is clear on the other side of the island, so I'd wager about two hours," he replies thoughtfully. I sigh in annoyance at the prospect of another extended period of sitting, resigning myself to my fate I lean back in my seat, letting out a small yawn I think, "One more nap cant hurt," my eyes swiftly close and before long I'm drifting off to sleep.
"Miss, Miss, we've arrived," the elderly drivers voice rouses me from my sleep, I rub my eyes then gingerly step out of the taxi and onto the curb, I stretch my arms out and let out a satisfied breath with the tiny pop of my bones. The man hands me my bag, I hand him his payment and quite quickly after that he's already driving down the road, with the driver gone I turn my attention to the building before me; the dorm is not a particularly interesting looking structure, just the typical rectangular shape, in the dim light I can see that it's a light shade of brown, yellowish light streams from the lobby and from a few window in the five floors above.
Suddenly feeling the bite of the night wind I hurry inside. Once inside I walk over to the front desk, "hi my name is Rahli Samekawa I'm here to sign in and pick up my bags," the heavy set woman behind the desk looks up at me from the magazine she was reading with a look as though I'm obnoxiously interrupting her quiet time.
"Sign your name on the sign in sheet while I get your bags and room assignment," she says with audible annoyance, after signing my name I survey the lobby, it's a pretty large room with a sitting area and a cafeteria section, "You're R. Samekawa right, here are yer bags, your on the fifth floor," the woman very unceremoniously drops the four large bags containing all my worldly possessions at my feet, I'm actually surprised she could carry all them at once.
I try my hand at lifting the bags though quiet shortly after my first attempt I realize that this hardly a viable option, I briefly considered asking the woman behind the desk for help though if I where to predict the future I'd call her actually helping me a rather unlikely turn of events. I look around the room and just before I'd completely resigned myself to pulling my bags up the stairs myself I spot a boy reading a book in the corner of the cafeteria. I walk over to him and in the girliest voice I could muster I say, "Hi, I just got here and I'm really tired, do you think you could help me carry my bags up to my room, I'm sure it wont be hard for a strong guy like you." I take extra care to accentuate the word you.
The boy looks at me from over the top of his book, for a moment I can faintly hear what sounds like someone trying really hard not to laugh, then he says, "Sure, where are they." In a voice that's a little higher than I would have expected.
"Oh thank you so much," silently I congratulate myself, I had no idea my skills in the art of male flattery and seduction had improved this much. We move to the bags, I pick up two and the boy picks up the others, then silently we begin our trek up the stairs; as we walk I take a few side ways glances at the boy: he has short light purple hair and a short stature to match (he's actually slightly shorter than me), he wears a cool double breasted jacket with gold buttons over a white button up shirt and checkered black and grey pants.
We finally make it to my room after what seems like hours of climbing stairs, my room is in the middle of the hall. I open the door and the boy and I put my bags in the room, "Thanks so much, oh, I'm Rahli Samekawa, what's your name?"
He smiles and says, "Maya, Maya Toriama."
"Wait what…"
"And I'm a girl…bye," with that she turns on her heel and walks off.
As I watch her leave I instantly notices the hourglass-esque silhouette and slight sway of the hips as she walks, "Way to go Rahli, the first day of school hasn't even come and you've already made a fool of yourself," I mutter annoyedly as I close the door. Turning from the door I take a look at my room: a mid-sized bed occupies most of the wall to my left, to my right is a sink and mirror and on the wall parallel to me is the closet and a bare desk in front of a window. I pad over to the mirror and give myself a look: my pinkish red hair is in it's usual state of slightly organized chaos hanging just above my eyes except for a few chunks which hang down to my nose, my usually bright features are currently sunken with exhaustion from a day of traveling and my mahogany brown eyes have sizable bags beneath them. As if on cue a huge wave of exhaustion hits me and I stumble over to the bed and before I know it my face has made good friends with the soft material of the mattress, I fall asleep shortly after.
-...-
I open my eyes and see two figures standing before me surrounded by an interior of deep blue, as my surroundings come further into focus I notice that there is a slight sway to the room we are in and just outside the walls I can hear the faint sound of ocean waves, I deduce that we must be on a boat. I'm snapped out of my observation when one of the two figures, a man with long white hair, bulging eyes and an incredibly long nose, speaks, "Welcome to the velvet room my friend, this place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter and only those who have signed a contract may enter," he smiles for a moment, "I must say we have been getting a much more steady flow of visitors in these past few years and each of you always owns a unique fate," he pauses ",in your future I see quiet the quest, events once lived by others shall be lived by you and not everything may be as it seems, ah but where are my manners, allow me to introduce myself; my name is Igor," he motions to the woman standing next to him sporting long silver hair and wearing a formal dress the same color as the room, " and this is my assistant Margret."
"A pleasure to meet you," she say in an intelligent sounding voice, "from this day forth you will be a welcome guest in the velvet room and we shall act as your guides on the journey to come."
"I know you must have many questions but they must wait for your next visit," says Igor as he moves his hands to rest beneath his nose, "for now all I ask is that you abide by the rules of your contract and take responsibility for any choices you may make, until next time." Before I can even begin to formulate a response my eyes begin to grow heavy and once again I drift off to sleep.
04/2 – Tuesday
My eyes take a surprisingly high amount of effort to get open, using what little energy I have I push myself up from my face down sleeping position and shift to a sitting position on the edge of the bed. I just sit for a moment weighing the pro's an cons of actually getting out of bed, annoyingly I remind myself that I had wanted to try and get a lay of the land today before the first day of school tomorrow, one final time I call upon my low reserves of morning time energy and push myself off the mattress.
I drowsily make my way over to the desk and pull up the blinds on the window behind it. I immediately regret the decision. Daylight streams through the unblocked window and before I can move to shield them my eyes they are blurred from the sudden change in light. Slightly more awake after my encounter with the morning sun I move to the mirror and assess myself: my pink hair is at this in complete disarray and there is a sizeable spot of dry drool on the right side of my chin, "Great," I say aloud to myself, "We are starting today looking like a winner." I wipe the drool spot off my chin and do my best to get my hair from level of complete destruction down to a manageable level of still completely chaotic.
After a few moments of debatable success with my hair I sigh at my appearance in the mirror, "yep that is as good as this is getting," I think to myself. I remember that's its been almost twelve hours since I ate and upon that realization my stomach lets loose a sizable grumble to notify me that this should change. I make way out into the hall only to almost collide with another student pushing a cart with several boxes piled on it, after quick word of apology I weave my way through other groups of students and parents all trying to move their possessions in to their perspective rooms, "how did I not hear all this commotion from inside my room," I think as I dodge yet another cart of boxes, "Either these rooms are very well sound proofed or I really need start getting more sleep." After struggling to get past other students I finally make it down to the first floor.
Turning my attention to the cafeteria area I notice a small buffet has been laid out for breakfast. I waste no time in piling my plate to satisfyingly high level. As I sit down to eat I notice Maya out of the corner of my eye sitting in the corner as last night reading her book, for a moment I think about going over and apologizing for last night but embarrassment gets the better of me and I simply eat my food silently. Once finished with my pile of food I hesitantly walk over to the front desk, just as before the woman behind the desk has a magazine in front of her face, "Could you tell which floor the womens showers are-"
"Second floor on the left," she cuts me off in the same annoyed tone. Not feeling the energy or conviction to confront her on her crappy attitude I turn on my heel and make my way back to the stairs, on my way their I notice that there are a set of elevators just off to the side of the stair case, I huff angrily to myself, "Couldn't of told me about these last night ya freakin' desk troll," bottling my anger I get into the elevator and press five.
After grabbing a towel and my hair supplies from my room I quickly make my way to the showers, with a uncomfortable feeling of dread I open the door to the wash room. To my surprise it's very clean, though this does little to alleviate my nerves at the concept of having to shower next to several other naked girls with only thin curtains to separate us. After a moment of inspection I realize I'm currently the only one in the washroom, wasting no more time I briskly walk/sprint to the shower farthest back in the room and whip the curtain closed behind me, letting out a sigh of relief I turn the faucet and step into the falling water. The hot water feels glorious after my days of travel and I can even feel some of the tension in my shoulders relaxing away. My relaxation is short lived however, I hear the door open and close and soon after another shower turn on, though before I can get panicky I hear a beautiful voice singing from the other shower. She's singing in a language I can't understand, though it sounds a bit like the Italian songs I used to sing in my high school choir…, pushing those memories aside I simply listen to the song a bit longer before quickly finishing my shower and drying off. On my way out of the washroom I say, "Your singing is very pretty," then quickly exit before the mystery songstress has time to reply.
After hastily retreating to my room I pick some clothes out of my suitcase and put them on also taking the time to take out my school uniform and hang it on the coat hook on my door. I glance over at the clock to see that's its just barely past ten, "Good, I still have plenty of time to explore the island," quickly I put on a pair of shoes and grab my maroon hoodie out of the pile of clothes that had already been excavated from my suitcase and exit my room. On my way out of the lobby I do my best to shoot the Lady at the front desk a dirty look but just like always she has her face in some magazine, once I step out side I zip up my hoodie at the chill and after consulting a map on my phone I take a right in the direction of the school, after only ten minutes walking I find myself before Toromro academy.
The school is by far one of the largest buildings on the island, "Not that that's exactly an achievement," I muse to myself as I stare at the building from outside the school gates. I give the gates a half-hearted tug, I had hoped the school might be open so that I could try and find my classes before hand, "no such luck I suppose." I turn on my heel to leave and immediately slam into something.
"Are you alright," says the something, I look up and realize that I had in fact ran into the chest of a rather tall and handsome boy, "sorry I didn't say anything, I was about to tap your shoulder when you turned around," he says with a charming smile. He has sharp features, slicked back copper brown hair though a few pieces hang across his forehead softening his distinct features apart from this he stood almost a full foot higher than me, apparently taking note of my silence he says, "Sorry I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Michi Nartora."
Finally finding my voice I say, "I'm Rahli Samekawa," at this point I notice that I'm still very much right on this guy's chest and I hurriedly step back hopefully not looking to flustered, "Why would you be flustered, it's not like you'd even be-," "I have to go to a thing," I say cutting off my own thought. After my statement I quickly walk away, I'm pretty sure I can hear Michi chuckling as I flee, "Man, o for two so far with human interaction," I grimace as I walk further down the street in the direction of the shopping district.
As I expected from such a small island the shopping district is nothing more than a long street with little more than a few restaurants, a book store, an antiques store and one rather old looking grocery store. The only thing that really sticks about the district is the Junes at the end of the street that seems to tower above everything else, "Damn they even have those out here." I walk up and down the district, taking a brief break to have some ramen at one of the restaurants. After my meal I follow the street all the way down to it's end at the beach, I sit down on the sand and stare out at the ocean, in the distance I can see a huge fog rolling in.
Staring out at the sea my mind begins to drift back to that mysterious girl on the boat, "was she even real, she had to be, after all I still have the paper and pen she gave me. And lets not forget that really weird dream last night, Margret, Igor, the Velvet room, I wonder where I got those, were they from some book or play I've read," sighing I lay back and stare up at the cloudy skies, "Who knows." For a while I just lay on the beach letting the sound of the waves and the spray of the sea lull me in to a calm state. Once I can see the sky beginning to darken I get up, dust myself off and begin heading back in the direction of the dorms, on my way back I notice a small shrine just outside the shopping district.
As I enter the dorm I give shooting a dirty look at the desk lady a second attempt, she briefly takes note and gives a huff before returning to her magazine, "YES!" I congratulate myself, "I guess every day has its little victories," I take the elevator back up to the fifth floor and once inside my room I change into my pink night shirt and my black and white polka dotted pajama pants. As I lay in bed waiting for sleep I glance over at my uniform, "A fresh start, everything will be fine," I assure myself. I fall into to dreamless sleep shortly after
04/3 – Wednesday
The shrill blare of my phone alarm jolts me from my sleep, I let out a long yawn and sit up, I stretch my arms and with a final sigh I get out of bed. Hurriedly I grab my towel and shower supplies and head directly to the washroom. When arrive I see that its still completely vacant, not wishing to encounter any other fellow students I go into the nearest shower and quickly wash. Once back in my room I approach my mirror, while I had long given up on my hair ever being completely orderly a long time ago I figured it might be worth the effort to look presentable for the first day of school. After a good fifteen minutes I finish getting my hair into a somewhat tame state, next I retrieve my uniform from the coat hook and get dressed. After I finish putting on the uniform I turn to the mirror and appraise my self: the uniforms black skirt falls a about two inches above my knees, the white button up and matching black blazer both fit me in a flattering manner, the red tie (which I've opted to wear loose) contrasts nicely with the whole outfit and to round things out I put on some long white socks and picked my favorite pair of pink sneakers. "I look good," I say to my reflection in a joke voice full of machismo. "This is gonna be just what I need, A good fresh start at a new school," satisfied with my look and state of mind I grab my back-pack and head out.
On my way out of the lobby I realize I might have taken a little more time on my hair than I thought judging by the fact that no other students were around eating breakfast, checking my phone for the time I'm relieved to see that its still twenty to eight. Not wanting to tempt fate by sitting down to eat I grab a piece of toast for breakfast and head out on to the street. As I turn the corner from the dorm I can see a short figure not to far ahead of me, eager to try and make a friend I start to pick up my pace to catch up, though I immediately slow my steps again when I catch sight of the figures unmistakable light purple hair, Maya Toriama. "Maybe its better if I just hang back, I don't know if things will be awkward (more like if I'll be awkward) and-, NO! I want to make new friends and I never did properly apologize for the other night," Finishing my internal struggle I once again pick up my pace and move forward, "Maya, hey Maya wait up!" She stops and turns and I can't tell by the look on her face if she was surprised to see me or that I she's surprised I remember her name.
"Hi, uh Rahli right, it's a nice to see you," She says when I get caught up.
"Yeah it's nice to see you to, I just wanted to apologize for the other night, I didn't mean to offend you-," I blurt out as we resume walking.
Maya waves her hand in a nonchalant gesture, "don't worry about it, happens all the time," on that statement I take note of the fact that Maya is clad in what must be the male uniform, identical to mine except in that has a black pair of slacks instead of a skirt, "I'm sorry too, I might have had a little laugh at your expense by not correcting you."
I chuckle, "no its fine, looking back on it its actually pretty funny," we both laugh again, "I also didn't mean to startle you running up like this its just I just moved to this island and your pretty much the only person I've really meant so far," as I watch Maya's reaction I notice a brief look cross her face though I cant quite place what it is.
"No worries, I'm happy to be your entry point into this wonderfully dull little place called Kirikawa," we both laugh again and continue our walk to school. As we near Toromro I can hear voices coming from just inside its gates, I take one final breath and put on a winning smile as we round the corner into the schoolyard.
Students all clad in the same black uniforms occupy the whole yard, all of them talking happily or lamenting the end of their respective vacations, the whole situation has a very welcoming aura about it, "Hey Maya, why don't you introduce me to your friends," I say giving her a light hearted nudge.
She makes a strange expression, "Uh, yeah I-," she is cut off when someone bumps into me causing my to get alarmingly close to her face, quickly I step back and whirl around trying to hide the slight blush on my cheeks and identify the original bumper, though my blush only worsens when I see who it is…Michi Nartora.
"I'm sorry I didn't see you-," he realizes who I am and a slight smile crosses his face, much to my chagrin he continues, "you're that girl from yesterday, Rahli, ya know we really have to stop meeting like this, people will talk." Not wishing to suffer his smugness for very much longer I reorient myself behind Maya and proceed to push her into the school building as fast as my legs will carry us, mostly likely looking like a bit of a crazy person in the process, this is not helped by the extremely confused look on Maya's face. Just as we are about to make through the schools front doors I hear Michi's voice call after us, "How'd that thing you had to go to go?"
After we, for lack of a better term, bust through the front doors of the school building I release Maya and halt my charge. "How do you know Michi Nartora?" She asks surprisingly less fazed by this turn of events than I would have expected.
"I just bumped into him yesterday, it was kinda awkward, why?"
"He just about the most popular guy in school, and a favorite for the student council president this year, most girls would kill to awkwardly bump into him," I hear all of what Maya has to say though I'm still stuck on the "most popular guy in school" part after she finishes. The first day of school and I've embarrassed myself in front of one the most popular people in school, can it even be called social suicide if my social career had yet to start at this school?
I grumble an incomprehensible set of unhappy sounds and Maya softly chuckles to herself, we go to the boards just past the lockers and begin to look for our homeroom assignments, I'm happy to see that Maya and I have the same homeroom, four E. Just as we find our room assignment the first bell rings and we hurry off to class.
-Morning-
Once inside the classroom we both pick seats and chat while the rest of the students arrive. Almost exactly when the bell rings a tall woman with large glasses and tightly wound black hair walks into the room and takes the podium at the front of the class, "Good morning class, my name is Yua Kyami and I will be your homeroom teacher this year," every one of her words is spoken with military precision as though her sentence is a army unit and her words the most diligent of troops, "Now would you all kindly stand up and move to the front so I can give you your seat assignments."
As every on gets up I can hear one of the boys say, "Seat assignments, what are we in elementary school," with-in nanoseconds Ms. Kyami sends a razor sharp response.
"Let this be a warning to all of you," she address all of us, "complain about how I run my class and I'll saddle you with so much extra homework that your grandchildren will still be turning in papers on your behalf,"….utter silence, crushing utter silence, I look over at the boy who spoke up, I'm pretty sure I can see the look of true terror in his eyes. Ms. Kyami begins going down the list of students assigning seats as she goes, by the time she's done only two seats are empty: one that I'm assuming is meant for me and one for the only person absent, some girl named Namine Taki, I'm a bit sad when all the seats around Maya are taken up. "Now class before we begin I'd like to introduce you to our new transfer student," she crooks one figure for me to come next to the podium, "Please tell us your name and something about yourself."
As I hurry over to her side I hear a few murmurs from other students, most notably one or two "she's cute"'s from the assorted clamor of voices, "Little victories," I inwardly congratulate myself. Trying to exude as much confidence as I can I address the class, "Hello, my name is Rahli Samekawa, I love theater and stylish shoes and I'm very happy to be here." Silence. "Well it wasn't the thunderous applause I was hoping for, but it could be worse."
"Thank you Rahli, you may take the seat by the window behind Daiki," Ms. Kyami points to the clean cut looking boy with light green hair and glasses. I swiftly make my way to the desk and sit; Daiki pays me no mind as I sit down. With out missing a beat Ms. Kyami launches into her beginning of the year lecture and I look out the window and notice that the fog bank I saw on the water yesterday has moved onto the island.
-Lunch-
"I wonder if the cafeteria got a better chef this year," Maya muses as we shuffle down the lunch line with our food trays, as she gets to then end a kindly looking old woman takes her tray then shortly after returns it, this time with food, after a moment of looking at the tray Maya sighs, "It would not seem so." Slightly less than excited I move to the end of the line to get my food, just as before the old lady takes my tray then returns it to me after a moment with food, I look down and immediately understand what Maya had been referring to: in one corner there's a whitish paste that I'm assuming is mashed potatoes though I cant be sure, in the center there's a piece of what might be pork though the color is anyone's guess (somewhere between grey and green), rounding out the meal is a surprisingly normal bag of chips.
I leave the line and locate Maya sitting at a table by one of the windows, I notice that there aren't any other students sitting down at the table with us though I decide now might not be the best time to pursue the issue. With a bit of bravery I take a bite of the mashed potatoes and find them to surprisingly normal tasting if a bit dry, with a bit more confidences I cut off a piece of the "pork" and take a bite. My confidence was not rewarded. A terrible trifecta of not tasty, odd texture and toughness hit my tongue and almost immediately I unceremoniously spit the "pork" into my napkin. Upon seeing my reaction Maya laughs and says, "That's the food of Toromro academy for you every meal is a game of Russian roulette. I take a quick swig of my water to wash down what remnants of the terrible taste are left and open the bag of chips which much like the mashed potatoes are surprisingly normal tasting.
After a few moments of silent eating I hesitantly ask, "If you don't mind me asking why is it you dress like a boy," almost immediately I see a look of concern cross Maya's face, "Don't worry, it doesn't bother me or anything I was just curious."
Maya blushes a bit and says in a sheepish manner, "So, uh, ever since I was a little girl I loved detective novels and crime dramas," she pauses for a moment then continues after seeing that I'm listening, "And after a while I really wanted to try being a detective myself but I always felt like I'd be to scared or not strong enough in the heat of he moment, then a couple years ago I saw the coolest person ever being interviewed on T.V., have you ever heard of Naoto Shirogane?"
"Yeah I think I've seen that name in the papers or on T.V. once or twice, is he a detective?"
"She is a detective, probably the best one in all of Japan," Maya quickly replies, now with a certain excitement in her voice, "After I saw her interviewed I wanted to learn more and before I knew it I was reading through all the amazing cases she's solved, its amazing she's only twenty four and she's already solved over thirty cases."
"So how does this relate to you dressing like a boy?" I ask still rather confused.
Maya blushes uncomfortably again, "Well, Naoto dresses in male clothing and I no its stupid but… I feel more like her when I dress this way and I feel like if I do that I might be able to be strong and cool like her." The last bit comes out faster than I think Maya wanted to judging by the slightly worried look on her face, I can tell this isn't something she tells everyone and that telling me (a person she hardly knows) must have been hard.
"That's cool."
"What?" Maya looks noticeably surprised.
"I think it's cool that you have someone that you look up to, it's kinda like having a big goal, it helps to drive you foreword to get what you want, and besides: you were that uniform better than half the boys here," I say the last part giving her a playful shove. Maya has an odd look on her face, I can't quite tell what it is exactly but she seems happy, in the back of my mind I feel happy too, it's been a long time since I've made a new friend and it feels good.
"Thanks Usually when I tell people that they-," Maya is cut off when a buxom girl suddenly sits down at the table right across from us. She is gorgeous. Long light blue hair falls over her shoulders, she has soft yet distinctive feature, and dark blues eyes that are currently staring directly at me.
"Ya know it rude to stare," she says in a sultry voice.
I immediately break off my gaze, "yeah, so I've heard," "Man I really gotta stop doing that,"I chide myself inwardly.
She laughs, "I'm just messing with you," she composes herself, "I heard that there was a new transfer student in the junior class and I wanted to meet them, I also heard that she might be a cute girl," I blush a bit at the comment, "I guess I can confirm that," she says with a wink.
"Well here I am," I put out my hand to shake, "Rahli Samekawa."
She takes my hand, "Aoi Shizume," as she leans in to shake my hand I take note that her shirt has a few buttons undone showing just a bit more of her well rounded chest. After a brief moment of silence she smiles and says, "Well that's all I wanted to say," she turns to look at Maya, "Always nice to see ya pretty boy," and just as suddenly as she came she was sauntering off to another table to sit with some disheveled looking older student.
With out looking back to Maya I ask, "Who was that?"
Maya who seemed very unfazed by the whole turn of events simply replies, "that Aoi, don't worry she's like that with everyone." Still a bit taken aback I finish the edible parts of my food just as the end of lunch bell rings.
-After School-
"In conclusion all you need do is work hard and be diligent and you should have no problems in my class, normal lectures will begin tomorrow," Ms. Kyami finishes her introduction on the class and just as she had perfectly timed her entrance the bell rings almost immediately after she finishes. A light chatter of voices picks up as the students gather their things to go home, the calm atmosphere is interrupted when one of the boys checking his phone says loudly to his friend, "Oh my god, apparently they found that girl who was absent today, Namine Taki, dead in her room at home," a silence falls over the room, it doesn't last long though as other students begin checking their phones to confirm the news.
I check the Internet on my phone like every body else and almost immediately I find the story, I read silently to myself, "Tragedy struck the quite Island of Kirikawa early today when the body of seventeen year old Namine Taki was found dead at her local residence, while details are currently sparse the authorities have released that it looks as though the victim killed herself by cutting her own wrists. Even more disturbing is the fact that it also seems that the victim used her blood to write strange messages on her walls, while we weren't able to get a statement from the police on what she wrote one of our camera men managed to get a picture, more on this as it develops." I scroll down on the website and click on the photo, it a bit blurry but I can definitely make out the words on the girl's wall, "HE MUST BE FREE." After seeing the picture I shiver a little, "Gruesome."
-Late Night-
I lay in my bed doing my best to get to sleep, feeling the tendrils of a headache beginning to snake their way across my skull, "What a way to start the year," I say aloud. I turn over on my side and close my eyes trying to push thoughts of Namine Taki out of my head
04/4 – Thursday
As we walk to school the next morning Maya regales me with the details of one of her favorite Shirogane cases though I'm unable to focus, my headache from the night before has returned with a vengeance and its showing no signs of letting up its assault. "Sorry, what," I reply blearily after Maya shakes my shoulder to get my attention.
"I said are you feeling ok, you look a bit pale.
"I'll be fine, it's probably just something I ate," luckily Maya seems placated with my answer and we walk the rest of the way in silence, being that the pounding in my hurts more when I have to speak. When we arrive at the school I groan with discomfort at the dull roar presented by the noisy hallways and classrooms, once in class I slump in my chair and put my head down.
-Late Morning-
It didn't take Ms. Kyami long to notice something was amiss with me, though surprisingly instead of yelling at me for having my head down she had Maya escort me to the nurses office and bade me feel better, even in my current state of discomfort I chided myself for judging her harshly yesterday. After a short walk through the blissfully quiet halls Maya and I arrive at the nurse's office, "Mrs. Fujimura?" Maya calls as we enter.
"Is that you Maya," calls a cheerful voice from a door on the left most wall of the room, Mrs. Fujimura appears from the door: she has large glasses that are slightly obscured by her low hanging blond bangs, I have trouble making out much more of her appearance as my skull gives another dull pound and I quickly move to the nearest bed to sit down, "Oh my," though my eyes are closed I can tell Mrs. Fujimura is genuinely concerned as I feel her cool hand against my forehead, "your running a temperature of a hundred and eight, young lady what are you doing at school," my only response is a slight shrug. "Maya you stay with her, I'll see if I can find something for this in the supply closet, it may take me a few minutes, sorry I haven't had time to organize all my supplies yet." I hear the click clack of her heels as she walks back to the door (apparently the supply closet) she came from.
After a few moments my eyes shoot open as I hear a piercing ring, with a pained expression I turn to Maya, "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what," she replies dismissively, I begin scanning the room trying to find whatever it is that making the noise, then my eyes come to rest on the stand up mirror in the corner. The mirror almost seems to be vibrating with the ringing; I can almost see ripples forming on its reflective surface. I'm not quite sure why but I get up to my feet and begin to slowly walk towards the mirror, I'm dully aware of Maya trying to get my attention but I don't acknowledge her. As I get closer to the mirror the ringing intensifies until I can hear nothing but its shrill ping, when I reach the mirror I place my hand on its flat surface and the instant it comes in to contact with palm the ringing stops and there is silence. I hear my heart beat and then I feel my weight beginning to go forward, I feel Maya grab my wrist to stop me but its to late my weight pulls us both forward. Somewhere in my mind I'm worried we'll get hurt when we hit the glass of the mirror.
But we never do.
-…-
When I come to I realize that I'm lying on the ground of the nurses office, but everything is different now: a harsh red light streams in from the window and even stranger every object in the room is now in the opposite place of where it was originally, even Maya and I, "Maya!" I exclaim in my mind. I pull my self over to her unmoving form on the ground, "Maya are you ok," no reply, I shake her by the shoulders trying to wake her and thankfully after a few moments her eyes flutter open and I breath a sigh of relief. As she props her self up on her elbows I gingerly ask, "Are you all right?"
After a moment she replies, "Yeah I think so, what happened just now you were acting really weird," before I can reply she notices the room, "Wait a minute where are we, this looks like the nurse's office, but…" she trails off.
"I know," I reply in understanding. Shakily I stand up on my feet, noting that my head ache had thankfully reduced to a dull pulse in the back of my head, after quickly getting my balance back I extend my hand down to Maya and help her up to her feet. "We should try and find-" I'm cut off when a loud bang comes from the closed supply closet, both of us jump in surprise.
"Mrs. Fujimura," Maya questions cautiously, I can hear a hint of fear in her voice, there is no response from the supply closet. Then suddenly another loud bang emanates from the closet, this time accompanied by the sound of the door's wood cracking, we both begin to slowly back away towards the exit. After a few tense seconds a final bang reverberates through out the room as the door is smashed open and something terrifying slithers out: it looks like a puddle of black tar except for the six ghoulish black arms jutting out of it, one of which holds an expressionless blue mask… which is staring directly at us. There's a horrendous stillness, then the creature lest loose a deranged sounding shriek and begins shooting towards us, we both scream in terror and sprint out the door and into the hallway.
As we sprint down the halls I begin to notice something terrifying, everything is backwards, everything that should be left is right making it incredibly difficult to navigate the dark halls. Apart from the reversal all the halls seem artificially stretched as though someone pulled them tight like a rubber band and red light is pouring in from every window making the whole place feel sinister. As we run I can still hear the shrieking coming from behind us and even worse I'm pretty sure it's started coming from multiple sources.
When we finally reach the lobby I can feel my lungs beginning to burn from exhaustion, through ragged breaths I look towards the front entrance, my stomach lurches when I finally lay my eyes on it. The entrance is covered in thick red chains; Maya and I rush forward and try to rip the doors open to no avail. I whirl around in attempt to find a new escape route but what I see makes my blood run could: six of the black creature are surrounding us just a few yards away, all of their expressionless blue masks angled directly at us. Steadily they begin to slither forward, as though they know we're terrified and they're taking their time to enjoy the moment, I look over to Maya and she to me, I can see my own thoughts echoed in her eye's, "Are we about to die?"
Just then I keel over from pain as my head gives a sharp pound, I struggle to catch m breath, before I know what's happened I black out.
I open my eyes and see a blue cloudy sky over head, I can hear the soft crash of waves in the distance, I realize I'm lying on a beach. The terror of the twisted school seems like a far off memory, half way forgotten even; a soft smile curves my lips: I can feel her hand in mine, I feel good, I feel happy.
Without warning the sky begins to darken and the earth begins to shake, I can hear the waves violently lashing not far of the coast, the vary air becomes a loud cacophony of noise and chaos then just as suddenly as it started there is no sound at all, except…
"I AM THOUGH AND THOUGH ART I!"
My eyes snap open and I stand up, I feel power flooding through my whole being.. Blues flames begin to dance around my feet and encircle me, I feel a small weight in my pocket and when I reach in and retrieve it I see that it's the same old fashion pen the girl had given me on the boat. I smile.
"CALL MY NAME."
I drag the pen through the air and it leaves blue streaks in it wake, I don't know how I know what to draw but I know its correct, as I feel the symbol coming to an end the word comes to my lips, "Per..so…na! I punctuate the last stroke of the pen with my utterance and I feel a great explosion of blue flame behind me and then a great presence.
The creatures have stopped moving, I'd even say they look scared, acting on instinct I point the pen forward and say, "Dionysius," instantly the presence shoots forward and I see a large figure begins to brutalize the creatures. In the violence I catch glimpses of billowy pink hair and orange fire dancing off long gloved fingers as bits of what ever the black creatures are made of fly to and fro. The struggle is over quickly. After a moment of silence the figure turns to me and I stare in awe: it stand at roughly twelve feet in height, it wears a long coat over a tuxedo shirt with dress slacks and bow tie though its figure shows it to be female, from behind an expressionless proclaim white mask flows a huge mass of long pink hair. It seems to appraise for a moment, "Dionysius," I say with confidence, it puts a hand of long gloved fingers to her chest and gives an elegant bow after which it dissipates into nothing leaving only air in its place.
After a moment I suddenly remember Maya and turn to locate her. Maya is backed up against the entrance with a look of pure terror her face, I begin to move her direction but she frantically puts up her hand, "Don't come any closer!" The look she gives me, I've seen before, and its not the fear that hurts me it's the feeling that she now sees me as some sort of oddity an unnatural thing. I look to the ground for a moment and not waiting for her to even ask I say, "I have an idea and I think it might help us get out of here, it's ok if you don't trust me but your probably safer with me than alone."
After a few tense moments I hear, "Yeah," and with that I begin trying to retrace my steps back to the nurse's office. As we walk I can feel Maya's eyes on me as she follows from a safe distance away, I cant blame her for being scared but I dislike the feeling it gives me none the less. After what feels like hours of trekking through the confusing hallways we finally make it back to the infirmary, gently I push open the door and peak my head in making sure no more of those strange creatures lye in wait, confidant that the room is safe I push the door open and make my way inside. I immediately head for the mirror and place my hand on its cold surface, when my palm touches the glass it ripples like still water and with a bit of bravery I push my hand forward and am amazed to see it go strait through the glass as though it were nothing.
I look over to see Maya cautiously watching from the corner, in an effort to maybe ease her mind I try to explain myself, "When we got here the last thing either of us remembers was falling towards this mirror but when we woke up neither of us were hurt and the mirror hadn't been pushed over," I pause for a moment and push my hand through the mirror again, "by the looks of things, it seems like we must have fallen through." Maya slowly approaches and puts her hand in the mirror, gasping a little when it actually works. Quietly I say, "I think this might be our best chance at getting back home," Maya looks at me questioningly but I can tell her analytical mind is seeing that this is probably our best option.
"On the count of three I say we jump through," Maya nods nervously, "one…two…three!" I throw my weight forward through the mirror and I pass through like a spear through water, once my face is through I see the nurses office as I remember it: not reversed and with no red light, the rest of me flops forward onto the ground and I push myself up to a standing position, I help Maya to here feet once she is all the way through as well.
I start to say something but the words don't formulate and I begin to feel my weight shift forwards toward the ground, I black out before I hit the floor.