WISH PETAL - ONE

Do you remember the gift you gave me? I once gave you the exact same gift. You lived through those memories twice. I wonder if you felt the same emotions? You're always so calm. You're always so cool.

Crack! The resounding noise of hand to face echoed throughout the library.

"And don't you ever go near my boyfriend again!" the girl screamed as she stomped out of the door. The library fell in to silence as the other girl, who had been on the receiving end of a slap to the face, stood in shock, gently caressing her bright red cheek.

Saori Hasegawa, disliked by her peers and a disgrace to her parents, always tried her hardest. The events that had led to this scene had been a misunderstanding. Saori was always the unfortunate one. She pushed the negative thoughts to the back of her mind, suddenly becoming aware of the people around her. Straightening her uniform, she resolved to reassure everyone that she was okay.

"I'm…" Saori cut off her own sentence as she realised that the library's population had gone back to his or her own business. Those that were still staring averted their gaze as she looked around. She continued to fight the negative thoughts creeping inside of her.

"Excuse me… Can I check this out?" Saori was suddenly brought back to reality by a voice. She turned to see a blue haired boy leaning against the library counter, his hand placed on a book.

"Check out what?" asked Saori. Her thoughts started to gather once more as she suddenly remembered her duties as a member of the library committee.

"The book, not the scene." The boy said with a slight smirk appearing, and then disappearing, from his face. Saori had originally taken this comment to heart, but something about the boy reassured her that he was not trying to be cruel. He had no expression, but Saori could see it in his eyes, which she put down as a benefit of being older than the other students.

Saori bowed lightly and hurried over to the counter. The boy still had one of his headphones clipped to his ear and was casually glancing around the library. She picked up the book from the counter, a light novel about magical girls, and glanced at the boy. He continued to look around the library.

"Are you okay?" said the boy as Saori scanned the barcode of the book. Her cheek still felt numb from where she had been slapped.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Saori glanced back at the counter and ran her fingers across the cover of the book, an impulse brought on through embarrassment.

"I'm sorry I had to see it too, but are you okay?" The boy was staring at her intently as he asked his question.

"I'm fine. Thank you," Saori replied.

The boy handed Saori his library card and she proceeded to type his details in to the school computer. "Well, don't push yourself," he said casually as he resumed his lean against the counter.

Saori went through the normal library procedures for checking out a book. She noticed the boy's name on the screen, 'Minato Arisato', and mumbled it to herself.
"Is there something wrong with my name, Hasegawa-senpai?" The voice brought her back to reality with a shock.
I must have been thinking out loud!

"No. Not at all." She tried to keep a smile plastered on her face as she replied, which came across as more of a nervous twitch. "Wait," Saori said. "How do you know my name?"

"Well, I've been here before."

"Oh? Anyway, you can drop the formalities and just call me Saori. I may be older but I'm still a freshman, just like you."

"You can call me Minato then."

Saori passed the book to Minato, which her carefully slid in to his bag. She smiled to herself for a moment. A brief encounter with this boy had taken her mind off of the events that had just occurred. He seemed nice, and that was enough for Saori. All she really wanted was to make friends.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Minato said as he tucked his bag under his arm.

"I'll be fine. Thank you for your concern." Saori unconsciously rubbed her cheek, which was still numb.

"I'll walk you home later," remarked Minato with a smile on his face.

"No. You don't have to do that."

"My friend, Junpei, would never forgive me if I didn't help the damsel in distress."

"I'm not exactly in distress…" Saori didn't sound confident as she made that statement, which Minato seemed to pick up on immediately.

"I'll see you at the shoe lockers after school then. Any complaints? I'm not listening."
Minato turned away from the counter and clipped his second headphone to his other ear. He nonchalantly strolled from the library with his hands in his pockets.
Saori smiled to herself as she watched him leave. Her parents would more than likely oppose her for walking home with a boy. She couldn't think of that at the moment though. Maybe she had finally made a friend, and that made her happy.

A/N: Hey! Short introduction, I know. I was going to draft out the next scene, but it felt like it was advancing too fast. So here's the introduction to my new fanfic. You might find I've swapped a couple of things around for Saori's back story, and the story in general I guess. It's essential to where I'm going with this plot, so it's AU. Anyway, I hope you liked it.

Quick shout out to VaatiBelmont. We were discussing Persona for ages, which in turn inspired me to start writing some stuff again.