Julyanne: Hello! We're back~ This is long overdue, so since today is Master's birthday, we decided to update.
So, disclaimers again? Okay... -ahem-
Characters, art, and storylines depicted in the game(and this story) are purely work of fiction. Any similarities to persons living or dead is purely consequential. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of Atlus USA or its employees.
Uena (a.k.a. Yana, Hirume, Rune) is not associated whatsoever with the company of Atlus. If Uena was, Master would have taken Animation instead of ChE or HRM.
Important note: There will soon be a crossover main character placed here, which was long time coming, planned since the early stages of this fic.
Do tell me if you dislike anything in this fic, especially with how I write so that I may work on it. Well, read on~
Edit (November 14 2014): Added more scenes and polished the grammar
Edit 2 (December 25 2014): I'm sorry if you get an alert, I'm just polishing this story up. An update will come soon enough.
Chapter 2: Want to be Close
The day has come for Kiboumi Hamuko to leave for Inaba; the day before, her friends and family threw a farewell party for her. The only guests that were invited are a few of her old classmates, her best friend Rio together with the Tennis captain's boyfriend, and her housekeepers. Those of her friends from the Student Council and others that have already moved away sent their regards, asking her to keep in touch.
Truth be told, Hamuko is happy with the attention, especially since her parents are absent. Strange as it may be, she doesn't mind that her mother and father are nor home to help with the move. Don't get her wrong, she loves them dearly, and them back, it's just that she was raised mostly by her attendants, and so today felt like any other to her.
One might think that Hamuko's parents have poor parenting skills, leaving her all alone especially since she just recovered from her coma. The thing is, her parents are important people. Between juggling multiple million-dollar files, high-profile meetings, and managing thousands of employees, their company will fall if they're not present for an extended amount of time.
Besides, they had faith that their girl can handle herself, with or without her attendants.
Speaking of her attendants, (she detests the term 'servant') only three of them shall accompany her to the estate in Inaba.
The first of them is a man only a few years older than Hamuko called Shirogane Takeru, her carefree, donkan of a driver. Despite his teasing personality, he can be quite selfish when it comes to car care and gaming, which Hamuko thinks would become a problem in the hilly, backwater town of Inaba.
Kagami Sumika, Takeru's childhood friend and the Kiboumi's head maid, would never let Takeru go far without her, so she's coming too. She's a bit of an air-head, but is quite friendly towards others, although she is a bit possessive of people she cares about.
Finally, there's Saotome Haruna, her personal maid and a secret mangaka. She absolutely loves anime, and despite her over enthusiasm , cares deeply for her charge. She'll be with Haumko as a constant companion, which suited the brown-eyed girl just fine, being close in age-gap and all.
The day passed in a flurry of activity, food and conversation, ending with some gifts given by the guests. She received a tennis ball and grip from Rio, a Tennis-themed game from Kenji, a cake baked by the male portion of the class, and clothes and cosmetics from the girls who think Hamuko is too plain looking. Her parents also gave her use of the Lexus in Inaba, which Takeru is more happy about than the one who received it.
Hamuko is touched by their gesture, especially since she has only known the most of them for a short time, not expecting them to go this far for her.
There is one gift that she didn't know who the sender is, wrapped in indigo-colored paper and tied by a smooth, velvet ribbon. Inside are a few knick-knacks like a cellphone, a strap, a fake gun, and a cylindrical music player with orange headphones. At the bottom of the box is a heavy-looking, hardbound book. Hamuko felt the importance of the items to her, like she reunited with a long lost friend, and is grateful to whoever sent them to her, even if she doesn't know why she felt that way.
With the festivities over, it was with a heavy heart did a teary-eyed Hamuko been helped into the backseat of her car, friends and housemates shouting after her as they started for Inaba, the book sitting comfortably on her lap.
Aigis stared at the computer screen in front of her, optical processors not really registering anything being displayed on the LCD monitor given to her by Kirijo Mitsuru.
Honestly, Aigis has no need for computers, what with her being a gynoid. On her own, she could process more in a millisecond than the K Computer, one of the world's competitors for the fastest supercomputer. Her blonde hair, flawless face, and artificial skin are all just a font to appear more human after all. In fact, she could do the job better herself, just give her a decent connection and she could put the most experienced Google-ers to shame. The only reason she isn't doing so right now is that the Kirijo heir forbade her from doing so.
Mitsuru ordered her not to use her processors unnecessarily. Well, not really 'ordered', more like suggestively threatened, but with the tone used by the red-haired woman, there is no doubt that there would be a suitable punishment should she disobey.
It's one of the reasons why the Kirijo heir gave her and her friends computers as they graduated after all.
Still, that doesn't change the fact that she's currently staring at her screen as still as a statue. She could find the irony that a gynoid like her, a gynoid that can process more than trillions of instructions per second is too occupied by her thoughts to even click on her mouse.
It was that way that Takeba Yukari found her friend and roommate.
Fresh from her shower, the newly-graduate approached Aigis, rubbing her light-brown hair dry with a pink towel. "Hey Aigis, is something wrong?"
"It's nothing Yukari-san." Aigis replied in her usual dry tone. Finally unfrozen from her stupor, she resumed the task she began when she first sat in front of her computer, namely researching subjects for her future University course."I'm just thinking."
"About what?" Yukari's voice is tinged with laughter, as if she found the very thought of Aigis thinking too much about something funny.
Aigis paused. She turned around in her swivel chair (reinforced to hold Aigis's above average weight) and faced the pink-loving young woman.
"During Graduation..." The gynoid started, almost hesitant in the question she is about to ask. "did you... feel it?"
"Graduation?" Yukari thought. "Feel what?"
Aigis stared at her friend, seeing the confused stare she gave her. The gynoid shook her head, dismissing the thought that the girl felt the same thing she did.
"So you didn't?" The gynoid went back to typing on her computer. Her roommate huffed, sat on the chair beside it, and tried to get her friend's attention.
"Hey, what are you talking about? How am I supposed to know if you won't tell me?" The girl stood ramrod straight. "It's not... THEM, is it?"
"No, nothing like that." Aigis eased her friend's fears away. The 'them' her friend is talking about are Shadows. Monstrosities born from the psyche of the human consciousness. Aigis was a weapon built to combat these monsters, dubbed Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon. She's one of the few to be able to defeat Shadows, as normal Humans are helpless against them.
Yukari is one of the exemptions to the rule, being able to sense and defeat Shadows herself with the help of her Persona, a facet of her psyche. Aigis has her own Persona, but that is a story for another time. To sum it up, only Persona-users are able to fight and defeat Shadows.
Aigis is tailor-fit for this role, so when she brought up a strange feeling she felt during Graduation, Yukari thought that the Shadows resurfaced again.
"I felt... him." Aigis trailed off, her eyes glazing over as her mind wandered again.
"H-him? A-are you sure?" Yukari felt like a broken record. She kept on answering her friend in questions. But she couldn't help herself, she was so out of depth.
"Well..." Aigis mused. She frowned, looking away. "Yes... At least I think so."
Silence reigned over the two of them, Aigis lost in her thoughts. Yukari simply observed her friend, wondering if she is serious or not. Knowing Aigis, she is always serious, but she was so life-like it sometimes slips her mind.
There are moments when Aigis seemed so... human to her. It's hard for her to keep thinking of her as simply a walking weapon, especially since the moment she saved them that one time and began to develop a more human personality. Then there is now.
Aigis is looking to the side, her gaze distant. To Yukari, she seemed like a lovesick girl waiting for her lover to return home from war. But she knew that he wouldn't ever return. He gave his life to let them live their own.
That isn't to say Yukari herself isn't affected by his passing. She, Mitsuru, Fuuka, Junpei, Akihiko, Ken, Kuromaru and the rest of his friends whose hearts and lives he touched would never forget him. But more so for Aigis.
For Aigis, she built her entire existence around him. She promised to protect him, she promised to be by his side through thick-and-thin. And Yukari felt like her love for him couldn't hope to match the bond the two shared.
She was almost envious.
But then looking at her friend now, Yukari felt quite guilty. Aigis is clearly the most hurt by his passing, hoping beyond hope that he would come back and she has a purpose to live again. Now, the only thing driving her is the thought that he would want for Aigis to live her life that he couldn't.
Yukari may not be the most eloquent speaker, or the most sympathetic, but Aigis is her close friend who knew little about being human. And she knew that what Aigis is feeling right now is something only humans have.
Hope.
"Aigis." She began, laying a hand on the gynoid's shoulder. Her friend turned to look at her, tilting her head to let Yukari know that she is listening. "If you think that he was watching over us... I believe that he was. Without a doubt."
A faint smile appeared in Aigis's face.
"Thank you."
Seta Souji, a somewhat tall silver-haired teen waved at his friends as they said their goodbyes to him. The year has ended, and just like any other year, he now has to move away. He turned away, walking down the street to the station, not looking back as his friends' parting words reached him.
He doesn't really mind, he just knows that he'd forget the names and faces of these people before him. They weren't close, no matter how much his classmates tried to befriend him or include him in their class activities. He didn't talk to anyone, he didn't answer the girl that confessed to him earlier in the day, and he didn't cry at his goodbye party.
After all, why bother? He'd only been here for a year, 11 months if you didn't count his Summer Break. Do they really think they're different from a stranger on the street to him? No, if he formed connections he'd just be back to square one, just like that time…
There was this one time in middle school when young Seta Souji became friends with someone. He remembers the day clearly, as it was special to him. It was also the day that eventually made him start down the path of a social recluse.
The April of 2006. It was in a provincial town, previously named Misakihara until development of the city began. The local middle school was still in construction back then with only the ground floor available for use.
Souji sat under the shade of one of the various tents spread in the school grounds, the rhythmic hammering and zap of blowtorches made holding a conversation impossible. He just transferred in to the school since his mother, a civil engineer, had to move here to be closer to her work. His father, an architect, also had work nearby, so the move was unanimous.
Being a new student in a new city is hard, especially since most of the kids his age in the same class as him knew each other. He found it odd, especially since back then he was the center of attention. Now, he's being mostly ignored, his classmates exited to see old faces and telling each other about their vacations, even if they had to shout at each other to be heard.
Mournfully, he nibbled at the sandwich his mother hastily made, the excessive mayonnaise clashing horribly with the lack of lettuce. Souji grimaced, vowing to learn how to cook so that his lunch wouldn't have to suffer. He sighed, placing the sandwich back in the plastic wrap, and slumped into the plastic table.
"You're going to get thin if you don't eat anything, Seta-kun." Told a voice from behind him. Souji didn't bother to lift his head to see who it was, already knowing who it is. The person took the seat across from him, unwrapped the furushiki, and tapped the boy on the head with a pair of chopsticks.
"Good morning, senpai." Souji mumbled.
"Stop your whining and eat. Mou, you should be glad that your mother prepares something for you." Reprimanded, the silver-haired pre-teen sat up and accepted the food handed to him by his senior. The two ate in silence, exchanging small talk between each bites. Since the two are not on the same year level, Souji being a first year and his senpai a third, they talked about things outside of school.
Strangely enough, the pair had little in common when it comes to interests. The boy liked soccer, she played badminton. She is infatuated with music, he prefers to read. They are, however, in the same situation.
Both are transfer students from out of the city, coming here because of their parent's jobs. They met each other when his parents and his senior's parents brought them together during a dinner meeting. They are quick to make friends and are more than happy to hang out with each other when they learned that they'll be attending the same middle school, at least for the year.
Souji had trouble making friends as all his classmates know each other, Misakihara being a tightly-knit community, and his senior because she transferred in during the last middle school year, not to mention that most are reluctant to befriend someone with high-profile parents.
So it isn't that farfetched to see the two sharing a meal at the school yard.
"Made any friends yet?" the jovial tone of his senior made Souji smile, but something in her voice made him doubt her sincerity. He didn't let it show though, and instead answered her.
"My classmates are trying to include me, but it's so hard to join when I don't know what they're talking about." He said before swallowing half of the egg on his chopsticks, then he gobbled up the asparagus he was trying to avoid when the senior levelled him a glare.
"That's good, at least you're trying." The senior said as she cleaned up their lunches. When they were done, the two students stood up and took a stroll in the school's newly completed garden.
They walked together quietly, relishing in the comfort of each other's presence. It didn't last long, as the senior broke the comfortable silence.
"The school's almost complete." Souji turned his head at his senior's words, a brow raised at her random statement. He nearly tripped over a stepping stone when he saw the senior's sad, melancholic face staring back. She giggled, and Souji laughed back nervously.
Embarrassed and red-faced, he asked her, "Is something wrong, senpai?"
"It's-" She hesitated, thinking of ways on how to word what she was about to say. In the end, she decided to be truthful. "My parents will be leaving the city after their joint project with your mom and dad is finished."
"Oh." Was all he could say. She once told him how rare she is able to spend time with her parents, something he himself is able to do despite frequently moving from one place to another. It's one of the reasons why he couldn't talk back to her when she brings them up.
"And I'm coming with them." This time, Souji actually tripped face-first into the grass. Alarmed and concerned, the senior fretted to help her friend up, dusting his clothes and wiping the dirt off his face with her pink handkerchief. "Are you alright? That was a nasty fall."
"I'm fine." Souji growled, brushing away the helping hand. His senior flinched from the rejection, but he couldn't bring himself to care. The school's construction will finish in less than a month from now, and he learns that his best friend –His only friend- is going to move away soon? And he learns this only now? He felt betrayed, and he showed just how much by shouting at her. "You're leaving me? Why?"
She could only wipe the tears that appeared at the edges of his eyes. "Sou-kun, you know why."
He fell silent at that, ashamed at his outburst. He knows of her want to be close to her parents, and its only natural for her to go with them than to stay here with him. It didn't mean that he won't stop her, even if it was for a petty reason. "Can't you leave after the school year? The new term just began…"
"My parents already filed my transfer forms. We're just waiting for your family's contract to end, then we'll leave the city." She continued cleaning his face, and reprimanded him when he was about to leave. "Oh don't be like that, come on. What are you, twelve?"
That comment, coupled with her playful pouting, managed to steal a smile from Souji's lips. "I am."
"That's right!" She declared, one hand on her hip, the other on the top of his head. "I promise, I'll still be here until you're a teenager."
"But that's tomorrow." He tried to protest, but that reassurance was better than nothing.
Having pacified the boy, both middle school students went back to their class just as the bell signalling the end of lunch time rang.
The day after, Seta Souji is officially a teenager. He received a book on how to make friends from his senior, wrapped carefully in his senior's favourite pink handkerchief. Souji planned on giving it back the day after in school, but learned that she moved out the night of Souji's birthday. He never learned where she went.
Souji thought that that's how his other classmates felt each time he leaves for another school, rejected, never kept in contact. Thanks to the book he received on his thirteenth birthday, he never had much trouble befriending others. However, he always felt some sort of detachment each time he tried to be friends with others.
Come and go, come and go. It was like this ever since his elementary days. Each year a new school, each year new faces and classmates. He finally got tired of being dragged around from one place to another after his second year in middle school. He started living on his own after that, but never managed to build a solid friendship with anyone in his class.
After some thinking, Souji decided to return to Misakihara to see if he can meet some old friends. Although he did manage to reconnect with his old classmates, he never saw the one person he did want to see. And so, Souji continued to go through his dull, high school life.
Which brings everything back to the present. Seta Souji, currently 16 years of age, shouldered his sports bag containing a change of clothes and some of his personal items. Once again, he is moving away to a new city, this time apparently to live with a relative on his mother's side.
The sparse things he owns in his apartment had been sent ahead of time, and he didn't have anyone to drive him there, so he has to go through a long and tiring commute to the countryside. Apparently, his parents earned a contract overseas, and didn't see fit to leave him alone without anyone to update them of his situation, even if he already proved that he could live by himself.
So, it was with these things in his mind did a loud car horn broke him out of his musings. Stepping to the side, he was bemused to know that he was almost run over when he crossed the road absent-minded during a red light.
He apologized with a dip of his head, staring at the angry driver behind the windshield, before stepping back to the sidewalk to let the car pass. When the pedestrian light turned green, he resumed his walk to the train station, full attention on his surroundings to prevent another near-miss like that.
It's just too bad that fate has a sick sense of humor, as Souji would later learn.
"Oujo-sama, are you alright?" Saotome Haruna asked from her seat beside the disabled girl. The brown-haired girl shouted an affirmative, trying to pick up the gifts that were scattered on the car floor from the inertia of their stop. "Takeru! Why'd you suddenly stop?"
"I almost ran over some crazy kid that's off in his own world. Man, the brakes of this thing is on another level! Augh!" The driver said, earned a smack to his forehead from Sumika for his comment.
"You should have at least warned us Takeru-chan! Oow, I bumped my head on the dashboard…" The red-haired maid in the passenger's seat said. She was rubbing a growing lump on her head.
"Hey, give me a break, it's not like I knew that the kid was going to cross! And why'd you hit me?"
"You made me smack my head!"
"It's not like there's anything in there anyway. I'm much more important than you."
"That's it, no dinner for you."
"Will you two stop it? The sooner we leave, the sooner we'll get to the house. You can have your argument there." Honestly, Haruna feels like the two are little kids. She wonders how the girl got the position as head maid. "Are you sure you're fine, Oujo-sama?"
"Yes, yes. I am." Reassured the girl. "Can we go now? Please? I'm tired."
Hamuko settled into her seat as the car trudged slowly down the road, Takeru more cautious in case of anymore ignorant pedestrians. She looked out the window, a glass school in the distance, and watched as the setting sun painted the oddly familiar city with a shade of orange.
To be continued
After-notes:
Nothing exciting in this chapter yet. I had a hard time writing this, since the only thing that's keeping me going is my desire to make this the best fic I ever made. I honestly think it's poor, but I'm working on it. Proofread it as best as I could.
I had more things to write for this chapter, but I ran out of time. Quarter-Semester College will do that to a person.
Well, let's see each other next chapter.
See you next time! And Stay Magical!
Edit (12/25/2014): Yes, I worked on this on Christmas day. Anyway, added another scene, hopefully that takes this chapter up to 4k words.
