Crystal: Well, here's chapter 1… and may I say, when I saw the little kid in this part when playing the game…. I seriously wondered why a child was wearing prisoner like PJs and why no one else knew he was around. I mean, he kind of stands out. Anyway, to the disclaimers.

Disclaimers: I do not own Persona 3, Persona 3 FES, or Persona 3 Portable. I only own Utako.

Chapter 1: Oddities of a New City

I sat in the train car, listening to some English music to drown out the chattering crowd. Having spent a long time in America, I was used to some of the show tunes there (musicals being my favorite kind of music) and it was comforting to listen to. I mean, how can you not appreciate the Broadway production of The Lion King when they sing Circle of Life? I've never really stayed in one place permanently, not since my parents died when I was seven. The longest I've stayed in one place was three years, and then I moved to America for about six years before moving back to Japan. Spending a year in my home country is nice but… I don't miss the traffic in America. I do miss the musicals I used to see every summer but that's something I can do here as well. But one downside is I'm supposed to be a senior right now but I'll be entering junior year at Gekkoukan High. Different countries, different education system. I had been riding on the train for a while but listening to music was just my way of dealing with it.

Lets see, I finished that… I think, looking at my MP3 player and started playing some Disney songs. I barely noticed the announcement saying the delay of arrival due to some technical problems or something. I'm going to stay at Iwatodai to attend a school at Tatsumi Port Island, paid for by my aunt and uncle. Wonder how they're doing… I think, leaning back in my seat. The train car was practically empty now but that's just how I like it. Then again it is rather late in the night. Most people are probably at home sleeping. I'm just glad I'm transferring at the beginning of the school year rather than in the middle, that would be a big mess. I opened my pamphlet to see the address of the dorm I'll be staying in while my real dorm papers get settled with my relatives.

It's almost midnight… I think, looking at my watch. I hope it's okay to walk around at night… I don't want to get mugged on my first night in a new place. Not to mention school is tomorrow. I should've come a day earlier… I looked up seeing it was my stop and quickly left the train car. I got out of the Iwatodai Station and looked down at my watch. It will be midnight in… I looked up noticing how dark it had suddenly got, the lights, the sounds of trains, the announcement stopped. It was like everything had died. Even my watch and MP3 player stopped working.

"What the?" I looked up and I noticed how large the moon looked. It had an eerie yellow look to it and seemed to be closer than ever before; kind of like that moon from that Legend of Zelda game a friend of mine liked back in America. "I… I need to get to the dorms." I say to myself in a small whisper as I walk down the directions I had made for myself to get to the dorm I'll be staying at. As I walked on, I noticed things that unsettled me more as I went on.

Coffins were lined up in random places around town. Some were on benches, others were standing up right in the middle of the road, it was really unsettling. Not only that but the water in puddles seemed to look horribly like blood. I didn't go near it so I can't really say if it was blood or not. Not only that, screams in the distance in the dead of night did not help my feelings as I feel my heart pounding against my ribs. I had one headphone in my ear and I wish my MP3 was working to drown out the screams, the sound of my heart, and calm me down. But no, my aunt always told me to be careful when we lived in America and it kind of stuck with me. I just needed music to calm me down, to feel some form of safety. It seemed like forever but I arrived at the dorm, quickly getting inside and closing the door behind me. I didn't realize I was holding my breath as I gave a sigh of relief as I lean against the heavy doors of the dorm. I was safe from whatever was out there.

"Welcome." I jumped, nearly falling to the ground at the sound of a voice. I looked and noticed a boy leaning over the front desk counter at me. He was smiling a bit but not in a mocking way as I pulled myself together.

"Um… hello. This is the Gekkoukan High School Dorm right?" I asked, but boy only smiled. I knew it was the dorm, the address was correct. I just wanted to make sure I was in the right place but I was still jumpy after walking through the empty streets with nothing but random screams in the night. The boy only smiled.

"You're late." The boy said, not bothering to answer my question. "I've been waiting a long time."

"You… you have?"

"Yes." The boy said, snapping his fingers and vanished, leaving only a small folder on the desk. Seeing him up close, I noticed he wore what looked like striped pajamas, or some kind of prison outfit. Odd for a boy to wear that, not to mention he looked about maybe nine or ten years old. "If you want to proceed, please sign here. It's a contract." The boy said, gesturing to the folder and it opened to a single page with only a small amount of words on it in bolded letters.

"Um…."

"There's no need to be scared." The boy said, calmly. You know when someone says that, it doesn't feel right at all. It actually makes you worry even more. "It only binds you to accept full responsibility for your actions."

"Oh, okay." I say, some places have me sign contracts since I'm a minor and I'm staying away from my relatives so I'm used to this. But when I saw the contract, it didn't seem like many others I had seen before. In fact, again, it was only one page with only one sentence.

I chooseth this fate of my own free will.

Below that, was a line for me to sign my name on. I looked to the boy, who seemed to almost expect me to sign it. I wasn't informed of signing anything else when I helped finished the paperwork to attend Gekkoukan High but it the contract seems simple enough. Nothing else was on the paper so it should be all right. On the line, I signed my name both in Japanese and in English: Utako Urehara.

"Very well." The boy said, as I gave him the folder. "Time is something no one can escape. It delivers us all to the same end. Wishing won't make it go away. Escaping from reality is impossible, no matter how many times you cover your eyes and ears. And so… it begins."

"What begins?" I ask but the boy vanished before my eyes. For a moment, it felt like nothing had happened. It was like the boy and that contract had never existed. They had appeared so suddenly that it could've all been just a dream. Maybe it was….

"Who's there?!" I looked towards the stairs and saw a girl dressed in a pink school uniform standing there. She had something strapped to her leg that I could swear was a gun. But she looked more shocked at seeing me standing there than anything else. "How can you be… but its? Don't tell me…"

"Huh?" Was all I could really say and I was shocked to see her pulling that something from her leg. It was a gun. "Now hold on! I'm not a burglar! I'm a student!" I shouted, raising my hands in surrender. Just what I needed, freaky city, weird little boys, and some girl with a gun. This is not my night.

"Wait!" The girl stopped as another girl, maybe a year older than me came down the stairs. It was hard to miss her with her flaming red hair and authoritative voice. Just then the lights turned back on and the sounds of the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack played gently from my loose headphones. The girl with red hair smiled at me, as if the other girl had not tried to pull a gun on me. "I didn't expect you to arrive so late."

"Y… yeah. There were some problems with the train ride here that delayed my arrival." I said, a little confused. What just happened?

"I see, it must have happened recently." I nodded and the girl looked at me with a polite look. "My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who lives in this dorm."

"Oh, pleased to meet you." I say, smiling a little. I heard that Gekkoukan was made by the Kirijo group, guess she's related to them then.

"Who's she?" The girl in pink asked.

"She's a transfer student, it was a last minute decision to assign her here." Mitsuru said, looking to her companion. "She'll eventually be moved to a room at the normal dorm." The girl in pink leaned in to whisper something to Mitsuru and I raised an eyebrow. What exactly is going on here? Mitsuru smiled before looking back at me. "This is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a junior in the spring, just like you."

"H… hi. I'm Yukari."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Utako Urehara." I say politely. Though she looked just as uncertain as I am. Then again she did just point a gun at me a few minutes ago. Maybe she realized I wasn't a threat and got a little embarrassed by it. I just don't want to make a scene just yet since Yukari has a gun and all.

"Anyway, you must be tired. Takeba, why don't you show Urehara to her room."

"Oh, yeah! Sure." Yukari said, giving a small smile. "Come on, it's upstairs on the third floor."

"Your things should already be there. I suggest you tuck in for the night." Mitsuru suggested and I nodded.

"Good night, Kirijo-senpai." I say as I followed Yukari up the stairs. The place looked nice but rather empty, or many people were sleeping right now. It is… midnight? No, it's one at night. It has to be. My watch stopped working during that blackout so that must be why it says it's midnight.

"Here we are." Yukari said, snapping me back to reality and I noticed we had gotten to the third floor and to the very last door at the end of the hall. "This is it. Pretty easy to remember, right? Since it's the last door at the end of the hall."

"Yeah, thanks Yukari." I say, yawning a little. It wasn't like I was being rude or anything. I just realized how tired I was. It's late and after that scare earlier, I think my body is ready to just give out. "So, any questions?"

"Yeah, does that boy live in this dorm?" I asked, thinking about the boy from earlier.

"What are you talking about?" Yukari asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Before you came down, there was a little boy behind the counter who asked me to sign a contract. I was wondering if he's an elementary student living at this dorm." I said but Yukari didn't seem to know what I was talking about.

"C'mon, it's not funny."

"I'm being serious though." I say, but maybe it was all just in my head. Does that mean I'm going insane?

"Anyway… um… can I ask you something?" Yukari asked and I nodded, a hand on the doorknob. "On your way here from the station, was everything okay?"

"Y… yeah." I say, not telling her about the black out, the coffins, the blood, and everything else that happened on my way here. Maybe I am going insane.

"Oh. Well, I'd better get going." Yukari made to go to her room but turned back to look at me. "Um… I'm sure you have other questions, but lets save those for later, okay?"

"Sure. Night, Yukari."
"Good night!" I didn't expect her to walk pass her room and go back down stairs but I walked into my room. It was simple and the boxes with my things were on the floor or on my desk. Looks like I'll have to unpack tomorrow. I'll probably get some other stuff from the market as well. I think as I noticed the new school uniforms I'll be wearing tomorrow. Black with a bit of red on it… not bad at all. For a moment, I thought I had to wear that pink cardigan like Yukari. Not that I mind, I like pink it's just too much is a little garish to me. Right now though I need sleep. Pulling out a pair of purple flannel pajamas from a box, I curled into bed and fell asleep almost instantly. Tomorrow will be a better day, without the creepiness… I hope.

Crystal: Hope you guys liked Chapter 1. Chapter 2 will hopefully be up soon. This is a different kind of fanfiction as I may also do social links… or at least the ones that help the plot move along... also… There's a character in this game that I wish got more love… and I will be working my views into that as well. Anyway, until next time!