Disclaimer:
The following is a fanfiction of non-canon events that take place in the Persona series. I do not own any locations or characters that exist prior to the publishing of this story. This is a work of fiction and any relations to persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Readers are to have fun following this story and any review, follow, or any other form of support or constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated by the author :)
Persona: A Matter of Time
Chapter 1:
Tick… Tock… Tick… Tock…
The eerie ticking sound filled the boy's ears as he slept. The sounds were spaced out in one-second intervals and grew louder at each passing moment. He slowly started to open his heavy eyelids.
The walls, tiled flooring, the tablecloth laid over a long table directly in front of him. The boy's entire surroundings were coated with differing shades of deep blue. Only the giant, gold pendulum over the table was of a different colour as it swung over the table in time with the ticking noise. The edges of the room consisted of an excessive number of cameras and microphones, all pointing towards the table in the centre of the room. Strangely, the room lacked a ceiling, exposing the seemingly infinite void that hung over the boy. Looking past the pendulum, the boy could see the countless blue clocks that covered the sky above. Each clock varied in size and speed but was otherwise completely identical to each other.
"Pathfinder, welcome to my Velvet Room." The boy mindlessly lowered his head to find that a pair of figures had appeared across the table from him. The seated person - or rather, thing - had abnormally long and pointed ears, absurdly long nose and a dark and a messy brow that hung over his bloodshot eyes. His body was frail and wore a dark suit that one would be expected to wear at formal outings.
The meek-looking person that stood beside him looked to be more human in comparison. She was a girl who looked to be about the same age as the boy. She had bright red hair that almost hung down to her waist and had soft yellow eyes. Her clothing was entirely of the colour blue, from the beret that rested on her head paired with her neat and conservative dress, to her high heel shoes. She looked quite beautiful, though she refused to meet the gaze of the boy, appearing nervous in his presence.
The man with the long nose continued to talk in an almost droning matter.
"This is a place found between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is bound closely to your fate and can only be entered by those bound by a contract. I am Igor. I reside in this place, and am tasked with aiding you on your upcoming journey." Igor's eyes were piercing, as though staring into his soul through his own eyes. The gaze was so intense that he couldn't bring himself to look away.
"To my left, my assistant, Elsa." The man gestured to the girl standing beside him.
"…Hi." The voice was barely audible over the ticking of the clocks as she looked towards a corner of the room as she spoke.
"Now, if you could turn your attention to the parchment in front of you." Doing as the man said, the boy looked down at the multiple pages neatly set out on his end of the table, accompanied by a slick, blue and gold fountain pen. "Before we can assist you in your endeavours, you are to agree to the terms of the contract."
Igor's smile remained abnormally wide as the boy's vision skimmed over the text as the pages turned automatically. Once the contract flipped onto its final page, space for two signatures could be seen, although one of the lines bore nothing but crude scribbles.
"In short, you are required to seek the purpose of your existence and see that you meet our expectations…as a Shepherd of your people." The boy couldn't grasp what the contact was all about, yet he carried an overwhelming urge to sign his name on the untouched second line. Reaching out to the pen to his right, the boy's vision was overridden with a bright white light.
"And with that, my dear guest, perhaps it's time that you introduce yourself."
Sunday, 7th of April
Under the cover of the orange glow radiating from the sun setting behind the distant hills, the train moves at a steady pace. The packed carriages swayed ever so slightly atop of the tracks as it travelled at a consistent and calculated pace. In one of those many carriages, there was one boy incredibly unique from any other passenger. This boy, with unblinking eyes, fixed on the blurring landscape on the other side of the window, was desperately trying to recall who he was.
Blocking from his mind the constant rumbling noises of the train, he pondered intensely on what had happened earlier that day. He remembered almost nothing, the images he pictured in his head were blurred beyond recognition. The boy slowly scratches the back of his head underneath his cyan hair as if it would help jog his memory.
My name... my name is Isarota... Kota Isarota.
That was all he had. No matter how hard he focused on trying to picture another name, a town, a face, nothing else came to him.
"Iwatodai… Iwatodai… This is the final stop before Tatsumi Port Island… Iwatodai." The Conductor's calm voice sounded through the intercom as several passengers prepared to disembark the carriage. The teen switched his focus to his right hand, which firmly clutched a small piece of paper. He opened up his hand, revealing the text on the heavily creased paper. 'Iwatodai' was all that was written. Heaving a frustrated sigh, he carelessly dropped the paper by his feet, seeing that there was no need to keep hold of it.
The train began to slow down as Kota took the time to stretch his limbs. Following the lead of his fellow passengers, he grabbed the bag by his feet and made his way towards the nearest exit.
Having stepped off the train, Kota attempted to make his way to the station's exit through the sea of people. He had no idea where to go from there, but he wasn't going to find out by standing still. The station was packed with so many people that Kota had to push through them to be able to move anywhere.
As he moved away from the train, Kota's head started to spin. He started to feel himself lose his sense of direction after each passing second. Then a voice sounded in his head. It was soft and barely recognisable at first, but what was one voice became many, and they all grew louder as he kept moving.
With sweat forming on his forehead and his breathing becoming more shallow, Kota fell into a state of panic. He desperately forced his way through the crowd to the displeasure of many of those around him. He no longer cared about where he needed to go, he just wanted to get out of that damn crowd.
Then a flash of light blinded the teen and stopped him in his tracks. A dozen images flashed before him, disappearing as quickly as they had come, rapidly changing through the sound of loud chimes. Kota screamed in pain as he let go of his bag and fell on all fours. The teen breathed heavily and swore under his breath as he tried to collect himself.
As he slowed his breathing down, Kota attempted to recap what he had just seen. A giant pendulum. An old man with a large nose. The fact that he seemed to have forgotten everything before the train ride was disturbing enough without him having panic attacks on top of that.
"Uh, hey... Are you okay?"
Kota looked up to see that several people had gathered around him having just witnessed his fall, all with looks of either concern or annoyance on their faces. What he also saw was a pair of glass sliding doors before him that led to the streets of Iwatodai.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Kota quickly grabbed his bag and briskly moved to the exit, not bothering to look back.
Kota sat down on the steps in front of the station and panted. His heart was still racing to the point where it felt as if it was just shy of bursting, but at least he was able to take in the fresh air after spending all those hours on the train. When his shaking subsided and his breathing came much more naturally, Kota switched his focus to his surroundings.
The sun was now barely visible over the building opposite the station, emitting a warm, twilight glow over the city plaza. Locals of a broad range of ages filled the pavement, with many of them donned in casual clothes. The majority of the city's citizens would likely be heading home in preparation for the start of the working week. While it felt like this was the first time seeing the streets of Iwatodai, Kota couldn't help but find the sight strangely nostalgic.
During his moment of reflection, something caught his eye. A small, but bright blue light in the sky above him appeared from seemingly nowhere. It seemed to slowly approach him as Kota kept his unwavering focus on the light. Soon it was close enough for Kota to see what it really was, a tiny blue butterfly. Kota stood up to get a closer look at the insect as it fluttered around him in circles, immensely transfixed in its beauty.
"Mr Isarota?" A male's voice caused him to snap his head in its direction. The man that was standing there appeared to be in his forties, looking at Kota through his thick-rimmed glasses as he waited for a reply. He presented himself rather formally, wearing a buttoned striped dark suit and yellow tie along with having his short black hair gelled into a comb-over.
"W-What do you want?" Kota couldn't help himself from trying to take another glance of the butterfly, but it was nowhere to be seen when he turned back around.
"Oh thank goodness, it's you! If you weren't wearing your school uniform, I would never have found you with all the people here." Kota looked down at his clothes to see that he was indeed wearing a uniform of some sort. It was mostly made up of dark items of clothing. Black pants, black jacket, black tie, but the jacket was unbuttoned to show that Kota was wearing a white shirt underneath. He then slowly turned around to face the man once more.
"Who are you?" Kota asked. The man started to look a little flustered as if he had just been caught doing something wrong.
"Oh! My apologies, my name is Masata Kobayashi. I'm the principal of Gekkoukan High School. I was told to meet you here once your train arrived."
The school didn't ring any bells, yet he was wearing what he assumed was their school uniform. Not only that, but he was also talking to the school's principal. Did he really move over here to attend this school? Kobayashi scratched the back of his head and continued to talk.
"I-It's my first year as the school's principal so a lot of this is new to me, ha, ha..." Kobayashi's nervous laugh did a bad job of relieving the tension, so Kota figured that it was about time he had said something.
"It's nice to meet you, Mr Kobayashi." The man quietly sighed with relief and gave Kota a cheesy grin. The grin looked to be almost too big to fit on his face and didn't suit him at all.
"Great. Same goes for you, Master Isarota. As you would know, I'm here to escort you to your school dorm." Kota raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.
"Is that so?" He spoke up before thinking about what he had just said.
"Um… You didn't know?"
Kota wanted to kick himself. Whoever put him on that train probably wanted him to attend this school. Kobayashi looked like he was about to get flustered again, but managed to collect himself before continuing.
"Well, you've been booked to stay in one of our dorms for the next year while you carry out your schooling at Gekkoukan."
"I see..." Kota could only assume that he did have a reason for being here. He just had to go with it, at least until he gets more of an idea as to why he was there in the first place.
"Anyway, we should start heading off before it gets dark," Kobayashi stated. "Would you please follow me to the car? I'll get your bag."
Kobayashi blabbered on during the whole five minutes they were in the car for. He was mostly going on about Gekkoukan High and the place where it was located, Tatsumi Port Island. It all bored Kota, so he ended up ignoring his chatty Principal, but the worst thing was that he wasn't able to ask Kobayashi about things he actually cared about.
"Well, here we are. This will be your new home for the next year." Kobayashi said as he stopped the vehicle in front of a four-story building. It looked a little old compared to some of the more modern buildings on the same street, but it's age only made it look all the more elegant. Upon entering the building, Kota instantly noticed that the interior had more or less complimented the charm of its exterior.
The entrance lounge took up the entire first floor except for the small kitchen area towards the back of the building. The lounge itself looked rather pleasant, containing four lounges of various sizes, but all sharing an almost antique design, around a coffee table and an old television set. There was even a counter to the left of that front door that looked like it had been taken straight from a hotel lobby.
"So where are the all my roommates?"
"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Kobayashi gave a nervous chuckle, "you don't have any. You see, this building has only recently been reopened for you since the other dormitories we have are all full." Kota slightly nodded. The thought of having to stay in a dormitory alone annoyed him somewhat. He had been alone for the entire day on the train over to Iwatodai, so he was looking forward to being in the company of someone his own age.
"Do you have any other questions for me while I'm here?" Kota's face lit up. He had already forgotten that he was hoping to get some information about him from Kobayashi. At the very least, he would know about how he came to be enrolled in Gekkoukan.
"What do you know about me?" Kota asked. Kobayashi just raised an eyebrow at the student in confusion. "I mean... I seem to have suffered a bit of a brain fade so..." No matter how Kota put it, it would have sounded strange, so he remained quiet and waited for Kobayashi 's response.
"Wow, you are the first student I have come across that has suffered from amnesia." For whatever reason, Kobayashi was trying to stop himself from laughing. "Then again you are one of the first students I've met so that's not saying much!"
The Principal burst out laughing as if he had just witnessed a guy run into a pole in some slapstick TV show. As soon as Kobayashi saw that Kota was not laughing with him, he quickly pulled himself together and cleared his throat.
"Well, as I have said before, your enrolment into the school was sudden, which was rather odd. I'll look into it, but I can't promise that I can help." Kota couldn't hold back his groan. He had hoped to have finally been told something about his past, but it turned out that Kobayashi couldn't tell him anything. "Cheer up, you might just be tired from the long trip. Give yourself a bit of time to rest and your memories might become much clearer."
"Yeah… I'm sure you're right." Despite having himself appear as though he was relieved upon hearing Kobayashi's suggestion, he knew that it wasn't that simple. Why would he have his intended destination written down for him if that was the case?
"Well, I'm off!" Kobayashi once again puts on his goofy smile, believing that that issue had been settled. "I'll see you at school, Master Isarota." He gave a small bow and walked out the door.
Minutes crept by as Kota just stood still, not thinking about anything in particular. He went back to asking himself the same questions about himself over and over again, and his confrontation with his school principal only brought up more questions. Sure, the fact that he had a school to attend gave him a starting point as to find out who he really was, but knowing that his path had been set disturbed him the most.
"Maybe something in my suitcase will get my memory going…" The blue-haired teen mumbled as he tiredly turned to the suitcase that sat by his feet. But despite trying to be optimistic, he couldn't ignore the feeling that there wasn't any point.
Kota took a step back from the newly emptied suitcase and had a long look at the bedroom which he had claimed for himself.
The room was rather large and spacious as if it was meant to be custom made for a person who was seven-feet tall. On one side, there was a wardrobe where Kota had already hung his clothes in. The other side had a desk and directly opposite the door was a bed.
Through the one window in his room which was positioned above the desk, Kota could tell that it was now dark outside. He couldn't help but yawn, thinking about the night made him even more tired than he already felt.
He glared into a mirror attached to the inside of one of the wardrobe doors to get a good look at himself. He had a thin, but by no means bony face with sharp facial features, the pointed nose and chin stood out to Kota the most. His hair was quite flamboyant since aside from the fact that its colour was the unusual shade of cyan, it sat atop of his head in an unusual fashion. A long fringe moving from left to right hanging as low as his eyebrows were accompanied by short tufts of hair towards the back of his head spiking outwards. Otherwise, his hair was dead straight and ran down the back of his neck. His eyes had a similar cyan colour as his hair but were much duller.
After spending a few moments looking at himself the teen turned the lights off, crept around the pile of miscellaneous junk from the suitcase that he didn't have a place for and lay on his bed. Kota made an effort to get plenty of sleep before school tomorrow, but time went by slowly as the questions continued to toss and turn in his bed, as he subconsciously mulled over the same questions in his head.
With tiredness finally winning out, Kota drifted into a shallow sleep.
Monday, 8th of April
There was a lot of tossing and turning as his mind refused to rest. Yet, somehow, Kota had managed to get some sleep during the night.
Kota swept his tired eyes across the bedroom. The sunlight was now piercing through the bedroom window, as the singing of birds could be heard along with the traffic several floors beneath him. Emptying his thoughts, the boy placed his hands beneath his head. His eyes glazed over as he looked up at the ceiling. For the first time in his memory, he mind was at ease.
Kota's attention turned to the sound of footsteps echoing from beyond the bedroom door. He got up to investigate the source of the noise as it seemed to stop right outside the door. As he reached for the doorknob, the door swung open quickly and slammed him in the face. As Kota let out a yell of pain as he fell to the ground, a startled scream sounded from the other side of the doorway.
After spending some time returning to his senses, Kota sat upright with a hand on his forehead and looked up to see who had caused him such pain. A beanie-wearing girl was standing there, covering her mouth with one hand. She was relatively small and had a fairly unusual appearance - pale skin, short white hair sticking out from under her black beanie, and bright red eyes. Kota also noticed that she was in a school uniform, bearing the same school emblem on her blazer.
"I-I'm so sorry!" The girl started. "I didn't know you were there. Are you alright?" Kota was very much surprised that there was a girl standing right in front of him since he was told that no-one aside from him was staying in the dormitory.
"I'll live..." Kota got up to his feet gingerly, still feeling the bump develop below his hairline. "Who are you?" The girl's expression quickly changed from being concerning to that of confusion.
"Akina Yonashi. I'm here to escort you to school?" She sounded unsure, almost nervous as she spoke. As Kota thought back to the other day, the name did sound familiar to him and most of what the principal had said during the car ride to the dorm flew over his head. Since Kota couldn't rely on himself memorise anything that had happened before the train ride, it was possible that Kobayashi did say that she was coming.
"Oh..." Kota suddenly felt idiotic for not expecting her as he suppressed the urge to press his palm to his forehead. "I'm sorry… I guess my head was someplace else when Mr Kobayashi mentioned that." To Kota's surprise, Akina giggled at his response.
"The same thing may have happened to me when he mentioned your name." She sounded rather embarrassed when she brought it up. "Mr Kobayashi seems to have a habit of overloading people with his non-stop chatter. I guess it's a requirement if you want the principal position in our school" This time Kota let out a bit of a laugh, mostly out of relief that everything had been cleared up.
"The name's Kota Isarota." Kota gave a rushed bow which was more like a quick nod, though it didn't seem to bother Akina and she responded in similar fashion.
"Nice to meet you, but we're going to be late if we don't start making our way to the train station." Only then was Kota fully aware that he had to leave for school. He dashed around the room throwing together all of his supplies that were sprawled all over the floor.
"Where on Earth is my blazer?" Kota crawled around the floor looking for it when it occurred to him that he put all of his clothes in the wardrobe last night. He was about to open the wardrobe when Akina spoke up.
"Aren't you already wearing your uniform?"
Kota gave her a confused look but eventually realised that she was probably right. He looked down to confirm that he did indeed keep his uniform on when he went to bed. Akina giggled at his inability to remain aware of the clothes on his back.
"I understand that people are usually brain-dead by the time the school year starts again, but you really are something else." While Kota still found the whole ordeal almost humiliating, he couldn't help but feel good knowing that Akina was enjoying herself, even if it was only just a little. "So I hope you're used to running."
"… Why's that?"
"If we don't get moving soon, we're going to miss the train. Let's go!" Akina abruptly turned and sprinted down the hallway before she had finished her sentence. It seemed like they really were running late. After quickly slipping his feet into the nearest pair of shoes, Kota bolted after Akina, hoping he could exit the dorms before he lost sight of her.
Kota and Akina managed to slide through the train doors as they were closing. The two of them panted within the crowded carriage, which included several other students from Gekkoukan. As Kota's heart rate began to decline, he could feel the train taking off beneath his feet. When Akina too had recovered from the long run, she turned to the cyan-haired teen.
"Man you're fast. Are you an athlete by any chance?"
Kota found himself perplexed once more like he was for most of yesterday. How was he meant to respond to that when he remembered nothing before arriving at Iwatodai? He couldn't see anything good coming from telling her. What if she finds him strange or boring because of it?
"Y-Yeah, I did a bit of track and such." Lying to someone he just met didn't feel good but Kota felt as if he really didn't have a choice. Akina seemed pleased with the response was all that was all that really mattered to him.
"It's good to hear you actually take care of yourself. A guy at the school which I know is a real slob, so he could learn a few things from you."
Kota avoided keeping eye-contact with his schoolmate in an effort to halt the conversation, instead gazing out the nearest glass pane. For a while, there was nothing out there with the exception of the great ocean, sparkling from the morning sun and stretching out as far as the eye can see.
But as the train continued around the bend in the tracks, an island moved slowly into view. The island was jam-packed with numerous towers. There were four particular buildings at the corners of the square grid of towers that dwarfed those around them. They were so tall that they looked as though they were balancing the sky on the tips of their long spires.
"Wow..." Kota couldn't help but voice his amazement at how huge those towers were. Akina smiled upon hearing his reaction.
"Pretty nice, huh? See that building over there?" She pointed to a lonely white building by the edge of the island, quite some way away from the colossal towers. "That's our school, Gekkoukan. Let's hope that this year will be a good one." Akina had an adorable smile on her face as she spoke. The infectiousness of her smile got the better of Kota, who felt his own smile spread across his face.
A few minutes later the train stopped at Tatsumi Port Island Station. Unlike the dated Iwatodai Station, this station seemed like it was recently constructed, and was completely free of any wear or graffiti.
Kota was happy to know that he and Akina had plenty of time to make their way to the school, and didn't have to do any more running. They exited the train along with the large group of students and businesspeople.
"Why don't you follow me? There should be enough time for me show you some neat places on the island." Akina said. Kota could not have been happier to hear the request. He was so curious about Port Island that he was almost itching to look around.
"Sure! That would be great." He replied. Akina smiled at the cheerful response as she led him astray from the large cluster of people.
Tatsumi Port Island was a place that Kota thought couldn't possibly exist, a metropolis with grand skyscrapers which had only a small fraction of the noise and traffic that other great cities would attract. Kota could even smell the fresh sea breeze as he walked down one of the streets.
Minutes later the pair had left the tall buildings behind, only to be replaced with modest-sized apartment buildings with slick, modern designs.
"So... you didn't happen to come from a country town by any chance did you?" Akina spoke, attempting to start up a conversation. Kota panicked to the point where his feet briefly stopped functioning mid-walk, almost causing him to fall face first on the pavement. "Hey, are you ok?" Unfortunately for Kota, his trip up wasn't subtle in the slightest.
"Y-Yeah I'm fine and... yeah. The place I came from was pretty... isolated." Even though his response wasn't a confident one, Akina didn't seem to pick up on it.
"Really? Oh man, I'm so jealous of you. It must be nice to live in a quiet town so close to nature and being able to see the stars in the sky..."
"So have you always lived here, Yonashi?" Kota worked quickly to direct the topic of the conversation away from himself and onto Akina instead.
"Yeah, I've always lived here with my parents. Our family has actually lived in Iwatodai since it was first established, well before Port Island became the 'Business Capital of Japan' and people flocked from all over the country to become a part of it." Akina walked under a small shelter positioned in front of a set of tracks, only they were too close to the road to be train tracks, they also didn't look much like them.
"So what's this?" Kota referred to the shelter where a small crowd of people were already gathered. Akina looked rather amused upon hearing the question.
"This is a tram stop. The trams circle around most of the island, so I could give you a tour along one of them."
Right on time, the chime of a bell sounded down the street, heralding the approach of an electric tram. Having picked up everyone at the stop as well as dropping off a few others, the railed vehicle took off once again.
As the tram travelled along the tracks, Akina pointed out some of the more popular spots for students to hang out at including a large mall, a green, lush park and a shopping strip running along the beach, all of which were either new or had recent redevelopments. Finally, the pair disembarked sometime later in another residential area with wide streets. Kota noticed that several other students from Gekkoukan were turning down a large path further up the road.
"And... there you have it. That's pretty much all this place has to offer, so I hope it's to your liking." Akina said.
"Are you kidding? This place is amazing. Of course, I like it." Kota said. Akina laughed lightly, surprising Kota as he found himself mindlessly fidgeting from nervousness. "Uh... Did I say something odd just now?"
"Sorry, it's just kind of refreshing to see someone excited about this place. You don't seem like you're freaking out over being the new transfer student. How are you handling it?"
"I'm a little worried about what to expect, but the best thing I can do is take it all as it comes." In truth, Kota had a much larger problem to concern himself with, so the thought of starting school as the new kid didn't faze him in the slightest.
"I don't deal with stress well at all, so it's good to see that you're keeping it together." The pale-skinned girl bit her lip and looked at the ground deep in thought. "Listen... If you didn't mind hanging out with me today, you could always come to see me... if you want."
"Huh?"
"D-Don't get the wrong idea! If you end up making other friends, you can just forget it." After her outburst, Akina shied away from Kota's confused gaze, her light skin only making the bright red colour that flamed around her cheeks as she clutched her right arm. "Sorry, I'm not used to being a guide or anything like that. That was stupid of me to ask."
"No, it's fine. I was hoping to rely on you to show me around the school anyway." Before things could get any more awkward between them, a series of loud tones from the distance snapped Akina into a sudden realisation.
"Crap that's the bell. Come on, we need to get moving." Akina grabbed Kota's wrist and pulled him towards the school forcing him to run alongside her.
"We're doing this again?" Akina didn't respond, clearly focused on reaching the school building before the second bell sounded.
Thankfully the school was barely one hundred metres ahead of them, meaning that the pair was able to find their names on the class board and head to their classrooms before the second bell rang. Both Kota and Akina were put in the same class, class 2-C. By the time the two arrived, most of the students were already there. They were all busying themselves talking to one another in small groups or seated at their desks organising their belongings, all except one.
A boy with dirty-blonde hair was seated towards the back of the room with his legs resting on his desk. His brown eyes were staring straight up at the ceiling as he was leaning back on the two hind legs of his chair, occupied by the music playing through his earphones. His uniform was accessorised with a large silver watch and four pins clamped on the right breast of his jacket, each bearing a picture of a guitar, bass guitar, drum set and microphone over their red, green, yellow and blue backgrounds respectively.
Akina looked at the boy across the room and sighed out of frustration. She walked up to him and kicked the table from underneath his feet. With a surprised look on his face, the blonde lowered his vision to realise that he was slowly falling backwards. The facial expression that followed had 'Oh crap...' written all over it as he hit the ground with a thud. Several of students nearby jumped as the noise rang through the classroom, but they eventually got back to what they were previously doing as though it was hardly a rare occurrence.
"That's for not replying to any of my texts! Some of us like having a social life, you know." The boy hadn't moved at all after he fell. He remained lying on his chair and staring at the ceiling, stunned.
"Oh, hello Akina, it's nice to see you again... and yes, I did enjoy my holidays... thanks for asking..." The boy sounded as if he was in pain, but somehow he kept still as though he was a statue.
"Maybe if you weren't such a slacker you would actually get nicer greetings from me." The boy finally lifted his head off the floor and pushed himself into a sitting position before rubbing the back of his short spiky hair.
"Look who's talking. I wasn't the one who decided to come to class after the first bell."
"That's because I was asked to show one of the new guys around." Akina then grabbed Kota by the arm and pulled him towards her. "This is Kota Isarota. Isarota, this clown's name is Jaden Gatogi."
"Jay-den?" While the boy didn't necessarily look Japanese the foreign name caught Kota by surprise due to how well he spoke earlier.
"Yeah… I'm half-English, hence the hair." Jaden referred to his natural blonde strands as he ran his left hand through it. "Anyway, it's nice to meet you." Jaden held out his other hand before Kota shook it. "I hope Akina wasn't beating you up every passing minute."
"She did slam a door in my face this morning before I met her, but she was fine after that."
"No kidding? She must like you then." Jaden started to laugh heartedly, oblivious to the eyes that were still looking over at the trio. Looking a little red in the face, the girl grabbed Jaden by the ear.
"Why do you always have to make me out to be some brute? That's no way to talk about a lady!"
"If you want me to treat you like a girl, you should start by acting like one." Jaden looked to be in some discomfort as he simply pointed to Akina's hand pulling at him. Defeated, Akina released her friend and stared solely at the ground.
"Y-You know that the door-thing was an accident right?" She directed her words at Kota. "I don't want you to get the wrong idea about me," Akina spoke awkwardly, not able to look anywhere but the tiles around her feet as she spoke to him.
"That's more like it. You look so cute when you get all embarrassed."
The chimes from the classroom's intercom rang loudly as Akina stomped her shoe over Jaden's foot. With the homeroom teacher arriving shortly after, students moved in all directions to claim ownership of a desk, except for Jaden who had to rearrange his furniture as he was limping from the latest assault. Kota had taken one of the two desks in the centre of the classroom with Akina taking the other one just in front of Jaden.
The teacher had short light brown hair, dark grey eyes and looked to be in her late twenties. She walked up to the podium at the front of the classroom with her white shirt and brown jacket and placed a thick folder in front of her. The students quietened down as they saw that the teacher prepared her speech.
"Welcome, students of class 2-C, to another year at Gekkoukan High. I am Ms Toriumi, I teach Composition, and will be your homeroom teacher for the next 12 months. I would like to acknowledge that we have a few students who are attending Gekkoukan for the first time this year, so when I say your name I would like for you to stand up and introduce yourself to the class…"
The final bell of the day sounded as the Gekkoukan students spilt out of the school hall where the new principal, Masata Kobayashi, gave his opening speech for the year. Just as Kota expected, Kobayashi delivered the speech abysmally. He had given his script to one of the staff members and called out "line" every time he forgot what to say next, which was quite often. On top of that, his jokes were poorly received and he would awkwardly smile and scratch the back of his head when he couldn't get a reaction from the crowd. But to his credit, the welcoming ceremony wasn't as boring as Kota imagined it would have otherwise been.
"Hey, Isarota!" Kota turned towards the feminine voice to see Akina and Jaden emerge from the hall doors. "Are you free this afternoon? We're heading to Paulownia Mall to get something to eat." For a moment, Kota thought about declining so he could talk to the principal about his enrolment, but he didn't want to miss the opportunity to get to know the two. He was about to accept when he remembered that he left his wallet at home during the rush to the station that morning.
"That sounds great, but I left my money back at the dorm in the rush to get here. It would be weird if I just tagged along without eating anything."
"It's not a problem, Jaden here will cover you." Jaden, who was initially preoccupied with his phone, looked at Akina in alarm.
"Wait, what? Shouldn't I the one who makes the decisions with my money?"
"Oh come on Jaden, you're loaded. A few hundred yen wouldn't hurt." The corners of Akina's mouth started to curve up upwards. "Now that I think about it, Jaden, would you please pay for my food while you're at it?" She spoke as sweetly as she possibly could while having one of her toes pivot on the spot.
"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on." Jaden waved his hands in front of him in an animated fashion. "You can pay for your own food, can't you?"
"Well considering that you owe me for prioritising your video games in front of me, I would think that buying me lunch would be a great way to make up for it."
"You're still upset about that?" Kota noticed something about Akina change. While maintaining her innocent outward appearance, her eyes suddenly became cold and were directly gazing at Jaden, daring him to continue to argue. In what was probably a wise move by Jaden, he gave up. "Alright, I'll pay for your food too. Just expect the food to be cheap ok?"
"I'm fine with that as long as you don't make me eat at Wild-Duck Burger."
"Why not?" Jaden seemed incredibly disappointed but didn't wait for a response. "Fine…" he sighed. It turned out Akina wasn't someone that should be messed with, Kota made sure that he made a mental note of that.
"So what did Yonashi mean by you being loaded?" Kota asked Jaden as they left they headed towards the tram stop with Akina.
"Well, my father's head of the Japanese National Bank branch in Port Island. The branch opened here about a year ago, so I'm still kind of new to this place."
"Yeah, to think you're the son of someone like that and I still hang out with you," Akina spoke.
"Huh?" Kota gave her a confused look, not understanding why she felt like that.
"Oh right, you wouldn't know." Akina rubbed the back of her head as if she felt she was foolish in bringing it up. "My parents help organise the Iwatodai Future Preservation Group, it's an organisation that looks at protecting the wildlife near the Iwatodai region amongst other things. They've been at odds with the JNB because they've been investing in developments that require the destruction of the surrounding animal habitats."
"Well, I don't see what the big fuss is about. I mean the trees aren't doing much for us by just standing there." By saying that, Jaden clearly hit a sore spot on Akina who had started to tense up before yelling at the blonde.
"I'll have you know that while money-hungry folks like yours don't see much use in trees, the wildlife there relies on them for both food and shelter! Yet they choose to eradicate their habitat for the sake of building another baseball stadium or a shopping mall that we don't even need!" Akina blew up and lucky for Jaden, he had Kota walking along in between them so things wouldn't get too hostile. Looking to desperately defuse the situation, Kota interjected.
"So that makes you guys star-crossed lovers or something like that, huh?" Akina pulled an emotional one-eighty and chuckled once the sentence sunk in.
"No no no, you've got the wrong idea! We're not like that, not even close."
"Ouch... you don't have to look so pleased about it." With that, the three of them arrived at the tram stop just as the tram came into view.
As the sun begun to set, Kota arrived at his dormitory after having a bite and strolling around the mall with Jaden and Akina. While the pair wasn't what he was expecting when he thought about the sort of friends he would make, they were certainly fun to hang out with, even if Kota had to put up with their bickering from time to time.
He turned his attention to the dormitory. It was as quiet and empty as it was when he first arrived yesterday. Kota couldn't help but feel a little sad now that he didn't have any company. Knowing that it can't be helped, he headed straight to his room. Kota turned on the lights and was about to stride in when he noticed something laying on the floor inches from his foot. He picked up the small device and closely observed it.
Simply put, it was a wristwatch, only there was something a touch unsettling about it as he looked into the clock's face. The strap and case of the watch were made of a worn, silver metal with only small patches of it being reflective. The case bore one solitary crown on its side. The crown would be typical of watches that could be used to adjust the time. However, this watch didn't appear to display the time.
The glass appeared to contain nothing but darkness with not a number or hand in sight. It felt as though Kota was looking into an empty void. Not only did Kota not remember seeing such a device while he was unpacking his things the other day, but it was also a model that he wasn't familiar with.
Figuring that he was just too tired to remember seeing it, Kota placed it on top of his neatly organised desk. He changed into his sleepwear and got into bed as darkness swept over Iwatodai. Holding onto the thoughts of living out a peaceful life at his school free of worry put a rare smile on Kota's face, as he drifted into what started out as a pleasant sleep.