The crisp night sky is broken with a single droplet of water falling over the skies. The clock dances with the numbers Eleven Fifty Nine. It's enough to make a man go insane when have to sit and watch as time goes onward and you're stuck listening to a single track of the greatest hits of Crystal Kay. Stuck on repeat because something about the voice of this female seems to make it impossible for you to think properly whenever you look into the droplets of water freefalling. The buds stuck in your ears begin to tighten as though attempting to block out everything around you.
A familiar face sits on the benches wearing a warm smile greets you with a simple chuckle as the bus finally stops. His face is warm and hardens, while his hands are stiff and wrinkled from the years upon years of hard work. Bearing thick glasses that seemed clear enough for him to simply see through all events and actions even with his bad eye sight. A thick par of khaki pants supported his frame well enough, even though his plain white buttoned down polo seemed to have gotten soaked in the amount of time he had spent outside.
"Hey there… It's been a while Yo-yo." His voice slipped a warm welcoming to an unknown figure layered in black that began to emerge from the bus. His ears sealed away the obstacles of the outside world in hopes of avoiding being exposed to random encounters such as this. "The name's Yoshuna…" The young man looked up to reveal his golden yellow hair, set in numerous strands that alternated between black and yellow. Removing the buds from his ears and looking up with his crystal blue eyes.
The image of a pair of crystal blue eyes, hit a mirrored image of a slightly dusted yellow stranded hair that was well kept in a short fashion with a set of crystal blue-green that hid them behind a thick frame of glass. It seemed as though the mirror itself reflected the cruel weapon of time and all its effects as the young man stood only to notice he fell roughly several inches short in terms of height to his reflection. With a slight extension of his hand, the young man would attempt to accept this as a form of peace. An acceptance was shown with a single hug rather than a hand shake back.
"It's good to have the Akiraka family back under one roof son…" He spoke with such kind and soft words that it was impossible for the young man to reject his kindness and he had to respond with a warm touch back. "It's nice to finally have some place to stay for a while." The young man began to hold onto his father as they walked down the long streets. With his father's arm around him all the while cracking joke upon joke lightening the mood.
"The world is made of many things, and many things help make the world as it is today. We do not question these things nor do we go out of our way to bother them as they stand. Your world is not meant to have clear reception, nor is it meant to lack static. The network that is your life will forever broadcast your story until the ends of your days, welcome to your network."
Persona Network
The next morning was calm and collected one, scrambled eggs, toast, and well done sausage were what was prepared for breakfast. A single Identification card for high school sat on the table that morning with the title, Akiraka Yoshuna Grade 11. The picture a very well kept picture of "Yo-Yo" from the neck up with a cheerful grin on his face, wearing his old schools uniform. His eyes slightly glazed over from the sleep he had just awoken from. "Erm… Whats this old man?" You began to glare over to his father with a hint of annoyance in his eyes as his father continued to hide behind his laptop. All the while his fingers danced around the keyboard.
"It's your ID for school…" He looked up and then began to take a quick sip of his coffee. His eyes still slightly closed as he looked over to see his child holding onto his chest as though ready to have a heart attack. "I.. I know what it is.. why.. how.. this.. picture…" He spoke as he pointed to the picture of a yellow short haired young man with a grin on his face, looking very similar to Yo-yo in his current state, except that his eyes weren't slightly glazed. Nor did his hair run to the length as it did now, not to mention that his lip wasn't wearing its signature piercing.
"Mybook…" He spoke silently to himself as he continued to type and slowly threw a hand full of keys at the young teen with a slight chuckle. "I'm going to be out late tonight writing for the department again. Yo-Yo." He continued to chuckle all the while Yoshuna began to run his palm over his own face with a slight feeling of frustration in his mind thinking maybe its best he doesn't bother to put his pictures and information on a website and then look amazed when his hacker father finds them. "I'm heading out Yoshuma.." He spoke before running his fingers through his hair and feeling a sharp pain in the back of his head from a stiffen bagel hitting him. "Its Dad to you…" His father chuckled as he continued to drag his fingers about the keyboard before him.
The walk via the directions he had been given on the back of his identification card made it possible for him to get there with no problem. There was no rain that day, only a still sitting muggy sky that made it possible for him to move about the area with stiffen lungs. Yo-yo began to make his way through the crowded buses filled with teens on their way to Umikai high school. It had gotten to the point that the waves and waves of people around him.
His eyes met with a single purple haired female who had a single strip of her hair covering one half of face. Purple shaded lipstick and a barrage of piercings on her lips, eyebrows, and her ears. Her shorten skirt worn in combination of khaki that blended in with her button shirt. Her eyes sharpening and purple and an emerald green shading outline. It was enough to drive Yoshuna to madness as he noticed an oversized music player sat in her hand with oversized headphones in her head.
Something about her seemed to drive Yoshuna closer and closer to her as the bus finally let out and they both looked up to capture one another's eyes. Her lips seemed to break apart back into a single smile as she looked into his eyes and then stood up and began to make her way out of the place. She grinned all the while as she made her way out of the area, as though struck by a random inability to come to terms with her own thoughts all the while seeing Yoshuna.
A sharpening of his eyes would reveal to him an image that was so deeply rooted into the corners of his mind that it was next to impossible for him to release himself from it. A burning voice in the back of his head made it impossible for him to properly think. In a fury of thoughts the image of a single IV machine with the constant dripping of a thick liquid through its tubes as the lines and veins of tubes began to reveal a frail arm slowly resting atop of another one. His head began to constantly pulsate numerous times as the image burned into his mind, slowly resting his head on his palms before standing and making his way into the school.
Umikai High School was in the center of Umikai City which was stamped on the river side of Japan. A rather large city that was most noted for its large and ever growing job opportunities that were brought forth with numerous businesses hoping to expand with the years. It had gotten to the point that either you were here to make an honest living, or you were here for some easy money. Regardless, Yoshuna had gotten use to this odd assortment after having only been around here for roughly four-teen hours.
Yo-Yo stood before the class as a whole fiddling with his piercings all the while the ladies in the class had their eyes glued to him, as the men seemed to have a slight chuckle at his figure as a whole. It wasn't hard to tell that the loner was now being thrown into a large scale city made him somewhat distant as the teacher began to read his name. "Akiraka Yoshuna will be joining us today. Please say something about yourself to the class." Mr. Hiroyama spoke to everyone.
Running his fingers through his golden strands of hair, Yo began to chuckle to himself before he finally spoke and removed the buds from his ears. "Sorry, I was lost in thought. Names Akiraka "Yo" Yoshuna I'm currently living here with my father. It'll be a pleasure to be in this class with you guys and such." He waved towards all of the other students of the class room with a slight chuckle once more before reinserting his headphones into his ears and making his way to his seat.
The day continued onward as normally, there was class after class, and then he reached the point in the day that he had forgotten all about. Lunch, a time in which he hadn't taken into account when preparing for the morning. Slowly running through his pockets and reaching for his ID, Yo began to notice that now there was a fifty tied around the back of it with a smile on it. Yo-Yo began slowly shaking his head as he pulled the bill off of the back of the Identification card. He then made his way out in an attempt to search for a proper place to find something to eat.
"There's a nice little pizza joint up the street, not to heavy on the sauce and a very fine arrangement of breads and cheeses if I do say so myself Yo-Boy." A red-haired young man with a pair of stylish plugs in his ears that wrapped around his ears began to speak. The young man began to look through his phone with a slight chuckle, pressing a button and sending off a flash. "Name's Watanabe Watanu born and raised here in Umikai City, It's a pleasure to meet you Yo-Boy. Just call me Wata for short, anything more and you're wasting your time. " The young man stood to his feet to reveal that he was roughly five inches taller than himself wearing a single grin on his pure pale white fleshed body.
"What makes you think I was even having a hard time finding something to eat?" Yo began to speak with a coy grin on his face, only to have his stomach cut in and give away his true intentions. Wata slowly stood to his feet before placing his arm around the neck of Yo with a slight chuckle and walking down the street as though guiding him down the walk way. "What makes you think that I'm telling you to grab a hold of your cash? I'm treating here Akiraka." He spoke as he pulled into his pocket and found a single 10000 Yen bill with a heavy smile on his face.
The two men sat in a fine Italian restaurant with their uniforms on, two fine dishes stood before them. One a lightly sauced extra cheesed pizza with the only toppings being fine Pepperoni in thick slices, with a very light sprinkling of bacon onto it. While the second dish was a half eaten Banana peppered, ham, and pepperoni altering atop a light cheesed heavy sauced pizza. A basket of fine garlic bread sat beside both, and two fine cups filled with harmless amount of wine in them stood before each of the young men as they continued to eat and speak to one another.
Wata was a simple young man, born into a family of immigrants who had came here and made a living messing around with stocks. Naturally he had been here for some time, and was basically known as the black sheep of his Yo's new homeroom of class 3-B. It seemed as though something about him was very warm and comforting, almost too much to be true, like a long lost brother. It had been almost an hour's time that they had now spent away from the school before they both noticed that they were needed back in class.
Slowly stumbling through the streets attempting to support one another, both Wata and Yo began to notice that they both might have ingested more than their share of wine. In their minds they were simply going to take it upon themselves to have a light lunch, talk about life and then simply return and go back to class. However, the truth of the matters were that they were both wasted and were now walking down the street attempting to sing the styling's of Brilliant Green.
It wasn't until they made their way into the school while screaming at the tops of their lungs. "IT'S LIKE SNOW!!!" Through the halls before falling on their asses that they noticed how badly they might have messed up. A sharp dressed man began to them as he extended his hand out with heavy sigh before the world faded to black and the two of the young men found themselves in separate beds lying down in the nurse's office.
"Well now.. . I think you could have shown our new student a better time than getting him intoxicated on his first day here." The image of a short haired female dressed in white began to echo through Yo's mind before he sat up and noticed that Wata continued to chuckle as he sat up and stretched. "Look at the bright side, no student council nerd caught us, and we're such nice guys that you won't sell us out right Nurse Mikihana?" He spoke with puppy dog eyes before noticing that a single knock on the open door exposed a tanned male standing roughly about Yo's height with an Elitist aura about him. A very sharp dressed individual with a series of chains and keys leading from his pants with a large sized pair of headphones wrapped around his head and a Zoon music player attached to his belt.
"Some of us Student Council Nerds took it upon themselves to go out of their way to help out some old friends." He leaned against the doorway chuckling to him before making his way towards the two young men who proceeded to stand to their feet. Slowly extending his hand out in an attempt to make a hand shake, the young man began to nod as though telling Yo it was ok for him to accept the handshake. "Tatuyami Ryunosuke, Vice-President of the Student Council here. You're Yoshuma's son right? He's a great asset to the police force as a whole with his computing skills. It's a shame we had to meet on such.. Out of the way circumstances."
Wata stood up and began to chuckle as he noticed that Ryunosuke was now in lighter mood. "So… what's the excuse you gave them for us this time Ryu?" He began to speak as he began to stretch his muscles out and slowly made his way to exit of the room. His feet slowly carrying himself before feeling Ryunosuke's hand grab a hold of his shoulder with a heavy sigh. "I didn't tell them anything, I now have to escort both you and Mr. Yoshuna back to your class, your last class of the day mind you."
Turning slightly to see the glare of lose in Yo's eyes, both Wata and Yo knew that it meant one thing. They had both managed to fail majorly at Yo's first day at school a fact that was only made more obvious when the last bell of the day rang and the three young men were all in the nurses office still with Nurse Mikihana still chuckling to herself. "Damnit, I missed my last class of the day messing around with you two clowns." Ryunosuke began to take his palms and place them on the center of his forehead attempting to massage it so that he could carefully come to terms with his current situation.
Rather than walk home or take the bus, Yo was offered a ride home with Ryunosuke and Wata. Ryunosuke was apparently sporting a brand new corvette, a nice blue and black shade, which was far too much money wise even for Yo's family. It was revealed by Wata that Ryunosuke's father was the head of a major Interpol branch and that his mother's life insurance as a Battalion Commander in the Military had them set for life. However, the subject of Ryunosuke's life was very short lived as the figure of the short dressed female with the single strand of hair falling over her pale skinned face.
"Awwww, looks like Yo-Boy has a chubby for Miss Kinosui." Wata began to tease as he leaned his head out of the window looking at the female as the car began to slow in its pace. Yo quickly blushed as he began to fidget in the back seat of the car speaking in bumbling lines. "What? No, it's not like that at all… it's just that, you know it's just that one thing." His words couldn't catch up with his hearts speed as the car had almost reached a complete stop when Ryunosuke began to speak. "Ahhh, Miss Nitsumo Kinosui, she's somewhat distant from the rest of the class as a whole and it's rare for anyone to actually fall for her let alone think she's fallen for…" His sentence was cut short as she looked over to the car and met eyes with Yoshuna once again.
Her eyes obviously happy to see him and she too began to share in his crimson colored face upon noticing that he was blushing. It was something out of a children's book almost, two young teens meeting with one another's stare and blushing, both unable to convey their feelings. "Well, well, well. Looks like someone can make her blush like that? Maybe our friends a bit more lucky with the ladies then we thought Wata." Ryunosuke began to continue his original thought with a heavy chuckle before being cut off by Wata. "I vote we celebrate by hitting the clubs tonight!" Wata began to howl at the tops of his lungs outside of the window as Ryunosuke finally began to take off. "I hope you don't intend on drinking again, didn't you two learn your lesson?" Ryunosuke began to take a motherly tone as though attempting to set the two straight. "Wait, What? How can I go out partying, I don't have clothes, I don't have extra money, I need to get home and contact my dad for all those things, and he works all through the night." Yo's thoughts began to race through his head as he felt a sharp pain in the center of his forehead.
In all his worries he didn't notice that Ryunosuke had through back his cell phone hitting him square in the forehead midsentence. "It's Under Yo-Tsunami. Your old man's a great help to my dad, he should still be at the station doing some random work. Ask him from here, we can worry about clothes and crap at my house." Ryunosuke began to speak as Yo began to search out the title that he was asked to do and await for his father to answer.
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Outside of club Vertigo, sat a single figure of a blonde haired young man with perfect skin. He sat to the ground in the dark night's sky looking up with a single baseball cap covering his perfect brown eyes. Slowly running his back against the cold hard cement wall he stood to his feet with a heavy sigh before drawing for his wallet and fingering the numerous cards from within. Lost in thought unable to fully understand why he was forced to wait outside, a large shadow began to appear over him.
The figure that appeared before him was a man, roughly the same characteristics in terms of age like himself. The figure however, carried a swagger that was reserved for a man of business in his late thirties. Wearing a doubled breasted trench coat layered in black, donning white pin stripes down it. With a fine black vest complete with a red tie running down its center beneath. The giant of a man standing roughly seven feet in height began to chuckle as he placed his fist into the chest of the blonde haired boy with a joking mannerism behind it. "So, do you know where he is?" The tall figure began to chuckle to himself as he pulled for a cigar out of one of his pockets and proceeded to light it before placing his black hat back onto his head.
"No, not really, but in all honesty he doesn't have the greatest level of directional skills out of everyone we're ever going to meet anyways. So let's just head in anyways." The blonde haired young man stood to his feet and began to enter the doors of Club Vertigo with his overshadowing friend standing beside him, and behind them roughly a dozen men dressed in his same fashion of old style gangster clothing. "Also can you tell the goons they aren't needed tonight? Last thing I need is for the ladies to think I'm playing for the wrong team." The Blonde haired young man began to chuckle to himself as he pushed open the doors to the club only to see a very saddening sight.
Their other friend had taken it onto himself to single handedly punch out roughly five men on the dance floor. It was the image of his rough black hair dancing over the dance floor in wave after wave of motion. As he proceeded to grab a hold of another young man and hold him by the collar of his shirt and draw for a small dagger aiming it at his throat. "What do you mean that's the south exit I came from?"His voice so calm and collected that it was almost impossible to guess that he was upset, he carried a warrior like prowess about him all the while he held onto a killer's intent. "Would you not say that, that was indeed the North Entrance I entered from?" He spoke into the face of the fearful young man before him, his dark shaded eyes and his well built physique made it impossible for men to not fear him, and for women to not want him.
The young man trapped in his death filled gaze slowly began to feel his mind burn at the thought of death before he finally spoke. "Y-yeah. That's most definitely t-t-t-he north entrance. N-n-no doubt a-a-about it." He finally began to feel his mind black out before the young man proceeded to send him flying across the dance floor with a single head-butt. "Well, damn. At this rate you're going to kill my fun time already showing up so late." The blonde haired figure laughed to himself as the other man began to place his knife back into his back pocket area with a heavy grin. "Well if you guys would have just came and picked me up this could have all been avoided. The bright side is no one is dead right, Warui?" He spoke as he began to walk off towards the back area of the club. The blonde haired young man was still chuckling to himself as he followed the footsteps of his friend. As the large shadowing figure began speaking loud enough for both of them to hear his words, "You know I love messing around with a few idiots left and right too. We don't have to be work, work, and work all the damn time." His voice slowly dying off as the three went into the back room and on the table sat a single silver suitcase that was slowly opened with a loud click.
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As odd as it sounded, Yo's father was very happy and supportive of him going out on his first night in the new town. He even gave his full support of his new friends, saying that its better for him to have too many friends then none at all. A rather simple logic, for a rather complex situation as a whole but what did Yo really expect from his dad? It was honestly a good time getting ready to head out for the night, until it began to rain.
The same rain that carried the area on the day of his arrival continued to dance on the windows of Ryunosuke's house. His younger maids of his rather large household began to wander about confused, "We heard no such thing of rain for tonight." They all continued to go about the room as though unable to fully understand the words of the younger men. All the while Ryunosuke began to chuckle as his gaze began to shit to Wata who all the while carried a similar grin. Yo's eyes continued to run about in a river of lost glances alongside of the maids.
The final attire that the group agreed on was for a nice combination style of clothing for Yo. He wore a lightly tanned ball cap that matched his overall appearance to boot. While Wata still managed to pull off the rugged appearance of his school uniform with no problem. The same applied for Ryunosuke, completely avoiding changing into his arsenal of clothing from his own closet and stuck to his own school uniform.
Something about the setting seemed to make it impossible for him to relax as he normally would when going out. Even though he would was lax and loose from all the 'adventures' of the day, but something about the night refused to let him relax. Everyone in the room felt something flowing through them, it reached through each one of them in its own style and brand. Yet, they could all tell that something was wrong.
Five minutes outside and it began to rain. It didn't take long for the shining lights of the car's radio to begin shining 11:01 PM. It took a few moments in the rain before Yo began to notice that something was wrong with the radio within the area. Wata and Ryunosuke could only chuckle to them as Yo continued to move about in the backseat of the car. He would close his eyes for a moment as he heard his own cell phone ringing.
Hearing the words of Wata as he spoke to Ryunosuke before he finally gave way and he closed his eyes after such a long day. "11:59, Club Vertigo, N.K." The final words he heard before drifting off into a dream world were the ones released from Ryunosuke's lips. "Because, I want someone to hold me… Does that sound about right?" Ryunosuke's voice carried through his head before his mind carried him off to a world where nothing could reach him short of a false feeling of nirvana.
A cryptic tone continues to run throughout the background of the room. A single dripping of an IV machine continues to fall in the soft floored velvet colored room, a single pale blonde haired female sat by the side of an elderly man whom had his face attached to a mask gasping for air. Unable to open his eyes completely and look over to the young man whom had just walked into his room, the big nosed elderly man turned attempting to look to Yoshuna as the door behind him faded away.
The young lady wore a long town dress that was the same shading of Velvet as the room itself, her hair as snow white as her flesh, and her eyes appearing to be lost in the distance of nothingness. Her short height made it next to impossible for her to be noticed over the image of the half dead long nosed man laying in the bed beside her that Yoshuna began to move closer and closer towards. Yoshuna's head began to beat down a barrage of sweat falling over his eyes, looking over to the female once more as she began to grin slightly and speak in a very thick and high pitched tone.
"My name is Rosemary; I am the acting assistant of the Velvet Room." She spoke as she bowed towards you only to have a raspy voice in the background cut her off. The mask that once gave a half dead man life was now removed and his body was attempting to sit up enough and speak to the people of the room. "Do not worry…" The voice drifted in from the distance. "You are currently fast asleep in reality. I am Igor…" He spoke before coughing loudly and attempting to place the mask back onto his face with his own strength.
The young woman's hand began to run over the mask before she placed it back onto the face of the elderly man known simply as Igor. "Please, I am sorry for his current condition. I am to blame for lacking in such experience as my sisters did before me. This is the world where those who are selected by fate come forth awaken to their own devices and power." The young lady spoke before a ringing of a phone went off in the area. Yoshuna began to look about the room before he noticed that it was coming from himself, a small blue cellular phone was going off and ringing and the call was titled as coming from a "Personia"
"That would be us.." The young lady spoke as velvet colored cell phone appeared in her right hand and she waved it about. A message danced on the screen of Yoshuna's asking for him to input his username. "That is a contract…" The raspy voice spoke once again as Igor attempted to speak to him once more. "It simply states that from this point forward, you are going to take responsibility for all your own actions. Nothing more… and nothing less." His voice finally gave way as he closed his eyes slightly and began to rest.
Yoshuna began to text his own name back into the message as a reply, the ring tone began to go off and alert Rosemary that Yoshuna had safely gotten the message and replied to her. Yet something still continued to run throughout his head as Yoshuna held onto the blue shaded phone within his right hand. "Our job will be revealed to you in due time, so please don't worry about it too much Mr. Akiraka." She spoke to him with a slight lost look in her eyes before she waved him off.
A bright flash of velvet light began to fill Yoshuna's eyes and the image of the pure velvet room began to escape his thoughts. Simply the windowless velvet room with nothing to support it aside from the constant dripping of the IV that ran into the veins of Igor. He simply heard the voice of the elderly man speaking to him, directly into his mind, "In due time all will be revealed to you." The last words the escaped his mind before Yoshuna's eyes closed once again attempting to avoid the Velvet light.
"So.. I take it either A, he fell asleep and is now trying to laugh at us for taking him out on a school night after you went out of your way to get him drunk on his first day of school. Or.. B he's not sleep and he's trying to fuck with us because we kinda left him out on the details of tonight's little joy ride." The voice of Ryunosuke continued to run through Yoshuna's head as he finally opened his eyes and began to look about the area.
"Damn… Looks like I owe you five bucks then huh Ryu?" Wata continued to chuckle to himself as they sat looking outward at the entrance to Club Vertigo. The time on the car began to read a constant 11:56. The image of one Miss Nitsumo Kinosui stood on the outside of the club running her fingers through her lips end attempting to look about the area as though slightly confused as to what she was really doing there.
"Nitsumo Kinosui, club vertigo, and I think we still have a few moments before it turns 11:59. I'm guessing that means we still have some time left." Ryunosuke's voice continued to run throughout the area as Wata began to pick his nails with a sharpened Switchblade. "I'm guessing its time that we explain a few things…" Wata began to speak as he looked into the window to see Yo's body slowly rising up holding onto a single blue shaded cell phone. "Oh Mr. I ain't got no cell phone in here is trying to sleep while we do his girl a favor."
"What the hell do you mean my girl? I mean I just got here.. to this school I mean. And what favor are you talking about?!" Yo's voice slowly began to die off as Ryunosuke placed a finger to it as though asking him to remain silent for a moment. The darkness that covered the area slowly began to deepen as static began to broadcast itself over Yo's headphones. Yo began to slowly remove them from his head and look into to see if something was wrong only to see that both Wata and Ryunosuke seemed confused as well.
"Question Ryu. I'm pretty sure that the static is normal for this type of ordeal, but what about the two emo figures in the back ground? They normal or what?" Wata spoke with a slick tongue that carried itself to the point that Miss Kinosui heard his voice and turned to notice that three of her schoolmates were across the street from her. In a panic she began to hold onto her head and whisper to herself as though attempting to escape the world around her. "Ok, now I'm shocked and surprised. I mean I knew the kid was the trigger, but who would have guessed that there were others besides us interested in the midnight station…"
Nitsumo Kinosui continued to speak to herself over and over as though chanting something. Two figures in long black robes appeared by her side, each wearing a mask to hide their true face. "Hmmm, shame. I assumed that if we allowed her to sit here on her own then there was a chance that she'd join us of her own accord. However, we have three problems standing before us at the moment." Spoke the smaller of the two figures who appeared as though he had hidden his face with an old style Tengu mask. He had only made it roughly half way through his entire speak before Ryunosuke turned to Yo as though ignoring the men as a whole.
"The reason we brought you out tonight wasn't so that we could sit and party with you Yo. As sad as it is, we had a much darker reason for dragging you out here." Ryunosuke's eyes began to turn to Yo as though he was attempting to pierce through his very soul with his words. Placing his fingers against his own head phones Ryunosuke began to hear a voice speak to him through them, mimicking his movements Yo began to notice it to. It was the voice of Nitsumo Kinosui speaking to them through their headsets as she cried right before them.
"Why is there no one here to help me… Why do they all look at me like I'm some freak?" She began to repeat as the volume of the headphones each of them wore began to blare throughout the area. Wata slowly began to hold onto his as he turned to Ryunosuke with a slight half hearted chuckle. "So… what do we do about Iar and Inignock over there? I mean I don't even think Yo-boy knows what's going on, let alone him being able to help us at the moment." Before Ryunosuke could even answer the taller of the two figures lifted his hand above his head and mouthed to himself as though attempting to summon forth something.
"Damn, this is pretty bad." Ryunosuke spoke as he kicked off his feet and made his way towards the taller cloaked figure. Releasing a single scream from the depths of his lungs as the larger man finally spoke out loud. Their words rivaled one another's as Ryunosuke placed one of his fist into a blacken glove while the larger man revealed a pair of brass knuckles from beneath his robe. They both took aim at one another as they threw their fist at the other all the while screaming. "PERSONA!"
The darkness was cut through by the image of two beings bathed in light taking form around both Ryunosuke and his attacker. For one, there stood a giant of a being coated in electricity; he wore a crown that was as thick as a forest itself, as a halo of electricity danced across his back. In each hand he held onto bolts of lightning that took aim at the body of Ryunosuke only to fall short as each of his wrist were pinned down by to mechanical hands.
Standing beside Ryunosuke was a mechanical being whose body was better suited for the mobile suit manga that Yo used to read back in middle school rather than the battle at hand. Its body was a full on royal blue shade as its image towered over the other demon like being who stood before him. As the two figures attempted to grab at one another's throats, the beings who fought in their shadows began to trade blows of their own. Ryunosuke planted a single shot into the jaw of the masked figure as his ally looked on.
"So… Yo, wanna do us a favor? It seems like our friends here have the same gift that we have. So I'm going to have to ask you to deal with Miss Kinosui on your own. Is that a problem?" Wata spoke as he placed his hands over his ears attempting to concentrate it seemed.
"What the hell are you talking about powers 'we' have!? Dude I have no idea what the hell is going on here and what the hell is that thing with Ryunosuke?! And what do you mean deal with Kinosui-san. I don't even know who the hell she is!? And I don't know who you people are for that matter either! Hey! Take your ears off your headphones for two seconds so you can listen to me Damnit!" Yo's pleads fell on deaf ears as Wata began to take charge at the smaller of the two figures. The smaller figure knew what to expect so he took off running in the direction opposite of Wata's, starting a chase between the two.
In a confused state stood Akiraka Yoshuna, age seventeen. Upon his first day of school he made friends with one Watanabe Watanu and Ryunosuke Tatuyami. Now, he stands watching as one friend chases off what he can only assume to be a demon, and the other fights with a god to his back protecting him. Given the task of protecting a young lady who is crying her heart out, which for some reason is broadcasting itself over the radio station. And he is, in ever since of the word, lost.
Yo slowly began to make his way over to Kinosui attempting to avoid being trampled by the figures that he could only assume were some form of demon-gods. He attempted to grab ahold of her hand and pull her in the direction of Ryunosuke's car. "Look Miss Kinosui, I have no idea what the hell is going on here but if you don't want to be killed or offered to some demon god whatever, I advise you get in the car." He attempted to speak to her only to hear her voice still speaking in his headphones. "Please, why won't anyone hold me?" She continued to repeat as Yoshuna slowly began to notice what her problem was.
"Well, I don't think I can help you when it comes to fighting against demon-god thingies. But…" He slowly began to sit beside her and hold her hand. Placing his head against hers as he attempted to stop himself from trembling as the ongoing fight between Ryunosuke and his foe kept raging on. "But, I have to admit, if there was ever a time in my life I'd want someone to hold me. Now would be in the top ten." Yo began to chuckle as he watched Kinosui's eyes lift up and look to him with a heart filled glare in them. Yet what he heard was not a soft and reassuring reply from her normally quiet voice. Instead he heard a deepening and dark whine come from her lungs.
"And what exactly can you do coward?" Her voice spoke out in a high pitched tone of annoyance. "I mean sure I might want someone to hold me, but what's a coward like you going to do for me short of pissing his pants whenever things go wrong?" She slowly stood up and began to dance about the area with a wide, unusual, grin on her face as though attempting to lighten her own mood.
"Get away from her Yoshuna! That's not the normal Kinosui-chan!" Ryunosuke's voice echoed throughout the area as he was once again pushed about by the larger figure that appeared to be one of the two men. "Why would it matter if I was normal or not little boy? I mean all men do is run away whenever things get to hard and then when they can't handle things they take the easy way out!"
Her eyes began to glow a deep dark red shade as the aura about her grew darker and thicker. "That's what daddy did to mommy when mommy didn't want to sit at home all day and cook his meals twenty four seven. He ran off to his new family with a better mommy and more perfect children!" Her aura began to deepen in as the darkness around her began to take form. Behind her now stood a female figure with her eyes covered by a single blindfold. In one hand she held onto a sphere, while in the other she wielded a snake. Her aura dark and dank, while her hair transformed into a variant of several snakes tied together. "And you think your different from other men, why?! Because you held onto me out of fear?! No one else would ever hold me unless they were afraid of something so much they thought I could act as their shield!"
She screamed as the being beside her took a single stab at Yo with her spear in hand. If not for Ryunosuke screaming to him to look out, there's a chance that the spear might have cut Yo in half at that very moment. Barely evading the spear, Yo continued to look onward to Kinosui, who despite the vengeance in her voice, her body still seemed cold and lonely.
"I am thou…" A voice began to speak to Yoshuna as Kinosui went back around for her second attack, this time screaming something incoherent as she made her way closer to Yoshuna. "I am thou, and thou art I…" The voice spoke again as Kinosui began to yell once again. The headphones once again picking up slight static as the whimpering of a young lady could be heard through them. "Speak my name and I will…" The voice in the back of Yoshuna's mind began to fade away as the voice of Kinosui's inner self began to speak through the head phones in tears. "I want someone to hold me!"
A slight glimmer appeared before Yo as he felt his lips moving on their own. Before he could even think he had already spoken the words that his mind ordered him to mouth. And in a brief second, the image of Kinosui's 'demon figure' was stopped in its tracks. "Save Her…" Yo's voice carried off as he felt his face run red with tears before an image appeared beside him. "Oinari!"
The figure of man wearing a long sleeved Kimono appeared to Yoshuna's side. A ribbon that had nine loose clothes to its back bound Kinosui and her image in their tracks making it impossible for her to move. Her eyes and her aura began to die out as her energy was slowly drained for her body. The ribbons so warm and enlightening as they tied around her body, it was impossible for the dark aura to stand as the ribbon of the figure illuminated the area as a whole.
"Damn Straight!" Wata's voice was heard across the area as he made a quick run back just in time to see that everything was under control. Ryunosuke's foe had also taken it upon himself to leave during the confusion. Each of the two men looked over to see that there now stood a holy figure beside Yo, and that Kinosui had now fallen asleep due to the fatigue of the attack that was just unleashed upon her.
Yoshuna could only feel his head hitting the hard ground beneath him as he fainted due to a combination of stress and what he can only assume was demon magic. As his eyes slowly closed he could hear Ryunosuke and Wata speaking to each other. "Do you think we should have filled in on exactly what the hell we brought him here for, prior to the outcome?" Ryunosuke's voice carried throughout the area as Yo felt his body being lifted by the young man. "Well, where would all the fun be in that?" Wata's voice carried throughout the area.
Six hooded figures stood looking over a single camp fire, two of which still wore masks hiding their face, while the others began to sigh heavily upon coming to the realization of what had just taken place. The other four figures each began slowly shaking their head in disapproval. While one of them began to move about the area and take a different seat to better see the two whom had just returned. "Ok, so we have a problem. Apparently there are other persona users aside from ourselves out there… which… is bad." The larger of the two spoke as he fell to a single knee as though attempting to get some level of understanding from his fellow men in cloaks.
"And oddly enough they ain't no rookies either." The smaller of the two spoke before he felt a cold wind brush across his face, a sign that their leader had turned his back on them for a brief moment. His robe was spun at such a high rate that he didn't even bother to waste his time avoiding them, it was as though they didn't even exist to him at the moment. With a quick turn of his direction he began to sigh heavily as he looked onward to his fellow man.
"Well then, I suppose we can't send you two to mess it up again now can we?" He began to laugh as the two masked men began to shake slightly, knowing that they had fallen out of their leaders favor now. However, all the six men knew that if there was someone else capable of using the powers of persona, then it was a good chance that any plans they had would have been met with an undesirable force.
All six of the men stood with mask covering their faces as they turned away from the flames of the night. Each of them with their own design atop their mask, and each with a slight alteration to their physical build from the next. Each with the same tone of voice upon exiting the area where the flames still danced red hot, "Long Live, the Deep Six…" Each spoke with their own sense of pride behind their words.
