4/6/09

I saw a blue butterfly in my mind. Something about it felt oddly familiar. A voice spoke to me saying,

"Time never waits. It delivers all equally to the same end. You, who wish to safeguard the future, however limited it may be…"

"You will be given one year. Go forth without falter, with your heart as your guide."

I opened my eyes as the train I was on ground to a halt. I had my headphones on and music was blasting into my ears. I tried to stand but fell unsteadily back to my seat feeling disoriented. I shook my head, got back up, grabbed my bag and walked off the train. I looked up at the clock in front of me… It was a few seconds to twelve. Shit I really hope they don't mind me being so late. Hopefully no one wanted to go to Tartarus.

I decided to stand still as the world twists and distorts for a moment before returning to normal. Well… Not normal but average dark hour. The moon and sky are now green with the moon being a more yellowish green. During the distortion the ground became covered in blood in some spots and everyone around got turned into coffins. All the power running everything went off. I heard a man scream in the distance. I resumed my walk.

Eventually I made it to my destination my dorm. I looked up at it. I walked up the few stairs and opened the door.

A short blue haired kid was on my left. I couldn't remember his name for some reason but I knew it.

"You're late. I've been waiting a long time for you." He said as he snapped and made a red notebook appear out of thin air. "Now if you want to proceed please sign your name there. It's a contract don't worry, all it says is that you'll accept full responsibility for your actions. You know the usual stuff." What is this? Contract signing again? I think this happened before.

I signed it Minato Arisato.

"No one can escape time. It delivers us all to the same end. You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes." He picked up the contract and turned it to the side causing it to disappear. "And so it begins." He disappeared too.

This is strange I really feel like this all happened before. Talk about a major Déjà vu. I must be dreaming or something. If I'm right then here comes Yukari.

As if on cue I heard a voice. It said,"Who's there?"

I looked toward the stairs and saw a girl with short brown hair wearing a pink shirt and a very short skirt with a gun holster on her thigh. She started to draw her gun but another woman's voiced yelled, "Takeba, wait!"

We stood around tensely for a moment and then another distortion and the dark hour ended. The lights came back on, the blood went away, the sky turned back to being the right color and everywhere but here everyone came back from being coffins.

The second woman, a beautiful girl with magnificent red hair flowing down her back and hanging in her face covering one eye wearing a ruffled blouse, long skirt and knee-high high heeled boots, approached me.

"I didn't think you'd arrive so late. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students living in this dorm." She said.

"Who's he?" asked the brunette.

"I'm Minato Arisato. It's nice to meet the both of you."

"It was a last minute decision to have him here. He'll eventually be moved to the Boy's Dorm."

The brunette still looked uncertain. "…Is it ok for him to be here?"

"I guess we'll see won't we." Mitsuru responded. She turned to me and said "This is Yukari Takeba; she'll be a junior this spring just like you."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you, too." She said.

"This isn't a girl's dorm, is it?" I asked.

"No it isn't. Unlike the other dorms this one is co-ed. It isn't your typical dorm however. I'll explain it to you later if the need arises. Until then, do you have any other questions?"

"Nope." I answered.

"Well then, it's very late so you should get some rest. Your room is on the second floor at the end of the hallway. You're things should already be there."

"Oh… I'll show you the way. Follow me."

Yes because I need help up the stairs and to the end of the hallway. Fuckin' Yukari never makes any sense.

She walked me to the end of the hallway on the second floor before she said anything. "This is it… Pretty easy to remember huh sense it's right at the end of the hall right?" Yeah no joke. "Oh yeah make sure you don't lose your key or you'll never hear the end of it. So, any questions?"

"Nope."

"Um… can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"Was everything ok on your way over here from the station?"

"Yeah. Pretty normal night. Why do you ask?"

She looked at me weird. "Uh… Ok." She started walking away and I went in my room.

I laid down on my bed and mulled things over for a bit.

Let's see. I beat Nyx with the Great Seal then everyone went back to normal until graduation day. I skipped the ceremony choosing to spend the time with Aegis since only the two of us seemed to remember everything that happened. We were waiting on the roof and I heard everyone calling. Then suddenly I got really tired and fell asleep an Aegis's lap. Next thing I knew I was in this dream. I sighed and went to sleep, figuring I'd wake up on Aegis's legs with everyone gathered around and the sun shining on my face like when I fell asleep.

I was wrong. I was actually summoned to the Velvet Room. This dream is changing on me.

In front of me sat Igor, an old man with a really long nose and wild bloodshot eyes. To my right sat Elizabeth a girl in a blue dress and blue hat. She had yellow eyes.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room Minato," said Igor.

"Hello Minato," said Elizabeth.

"My name is Igor I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This is Elizabeth she is a resident of this place, just like me." See like I said.

"Pleased to meet you." She said smiling.

I don't like this. This didn't happen before on the first day so this must be a dream but they're acting like they just met me and that's wrong too. What's going on here?

"I see you are confused young Minato. Is there any reason why?"

I stared at him.

"You guy's should quit the charade."

He smiled at me while on his side Elizabeth tried to contain a giggle.

"You know what's happening then?" I asked.

"Indeed Minato. You have been sent back in time." My eyes widened with surprise.

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"What?"

"I don't know Minato. I can try to find out but in the mean time I suppose you should just do what you would normally do. Don't do anything that might change the future. The outcome could be catastrophic."

"Could it have been because of fighting Nyx? Maybe something wrong happened there?" I asked

"Possibly. I'll look into this. However, some of your things are here." He gestured to a chest. "I believe some of these things may interest you."

I opened it to see a bunch of weapons, armor, accessories, and money. There was also a collection of gemstones and tarot cards. The last thing was a collection of some random objects. I looked through them. There was a handmade choker. Kenji made it when his social link maxed out. A persimmon fruit, lighter, Mitsuru's motorcycle key, a roll of sports tape, Keisuke's award letter, a ring made of beads, a pouch that Bebe made for me, Tanaka's thank you letter, Mutatsu's reserve tag, Mamoru's car key, a messed up screw and an old worn notebook. All the things I'd gotten from the people whose social links had maxed out over the course of the year. My mind was full of a thousand thoughts at the same time, all the time I had spent with all of them was gone. I thought I may cry.

I closed the chest and looked at Igor. "Thank you."

"It's not a problem." Elizabeth said cheerily.

"Well now. You should be going. Time marches on in your world. You can come again, same place as always."

My vision faded.


End of Chapter 1.

An

Does Minato seem confused enough that they don't remember him? Did I capture the Velvet residents correctly? Anything I should do differently?