25/4/2009
Class 2-F
"Alright everyone, settle down. We have another new transfer student." Ms. Toriumi called out to her class. "Please, introduce yourself."
The blonde smiled warmly to the teacher then turned to face the class, bowing enthusiastically. "Hi! I'm Kaida Matsumoto. It's nice to meet you all."
Her voice was light and playful, a faint accent giving her words an exotic feel. Her hair was short, spiky, blonde and had a "punk" feel to it. She wore her uniform with a limp bow, and had knee length boots that sported many buckles. She had a few piercings on her ears, and large brown eyes that twinkled with mischief.
"Now, you can sit over there." Ms. Toriumi pointed to a seat that was vacant next to a bored looking boy with blue hair and storm gray eyes.
"Uh, Ms. Toriumi? That spots taken." A boy with a baseball cap and a goatee said, putting his hand up. "He's just playing hookey."
"Which means he's not here. So its free to be used." Kaida smirked slightly, and made her way to the vacant seat.
There was a mild limp, but it was easily mistaken for slight bounce as she half skipped to the seat. She sat down, turned and smiled to him.
"Hey, what's your name?" She whispered over to him.
The boy looked over at her, "Minato Arisato."
"Mind if I call you Minato-kun?" She smiled. "You can call me Kaida-chan if you want."
"Sure."
Class 2-E
"We have a new transfer student joining our class." Mr Ekoda pointed to a brunette standing quietly next to him. "Introduce yourself."
The brunette's brown eyes flickered towards him in a lazy fashion, then back to the class. "Hello, My name is Ekko Shiratake. Nice to meet you."
Her voice reflected her lazy and disinterested stance, and her hand sub-consciously pulled on a brunette bang that hung over one of her eyes. Her long brown hair was tied back low down, and her uniform was immaculate. Her relaxed stance exuded confidence and she wore a cute black hat. On each ear was a different earring, one had a dangling cross, the other just had a stud.
Whispers spread through the room as a few guys commented on how she was "Cute", but were quickly silenced by a glare from Mr. Ekoda.
"Thank you, now please take a seat over there." Mr Ekoda pointed to a seat in front of a teal green haired girl. Ekko nodded and walked calmly to the seat, sitting quietly and looking up to face the teacher for her lesson.
Later that day
"Yo, Kai."
The blonde looked up from her desk. "Ko-chan?"
The brunette looked down at the blonde. "Ready to go?"
"Yup, just a minute." The blonde started grabbing her stuff, and winced as she stood too quickly.
"You alright?"
"Yup, its just-"
"Hey! New girl!" Both girls looked around to see a guy with a goatee and a baseball cap waving enthusiastically at them followed by a girl with a pink cardigan and a blue haired guy.
"Tch. She has a name you know." The girl with lighter brown hair and the pink cardigan on, glared at the boy with the goatee.
"Oh right, uh... Kaida-chan right?"
Kaida nodded. "Yeah, who's asking?"
"My name is Junpei Iori." He smiled proudly.
"And I'm Yukari Takeba. Who's you're friend?" The girl pointed at Ekko.
"Ekko Shiratake." Ekko gave a small nod as she sized up the three. She got the impression that the blue haired guy was very different simply from the way he carried himself. "You?"
"Oh that's Minato-kun." Kaida said as she made to walk forward. She winced again. "Well that's not good."
Ekko looked over at Kaida, then crouched down and lifted the edge of the girl's skirt without warning.
"Whoa!"Junpei and Minato both looked away in surprise.
"You can't just do that!" Yukari snapped.
Ekko glared at Yukari. "She's got shorts on." She pointed at a pair of black shorts now visible above the blood soaked bandages. "What did you do?"
Kaida shrugged. "Stand?" Blood trickled down her leg.
"Dude, you need to see a doctor!"
"Chill. I just gotta change the bandages. You freak out way too easily." Kaida pulled out a tissue and wiped the blood from her leg. "If you saw someone on the street and they were bleeding wouldn't it be better to stay calm so they don't freak?"
Kaida and Ekko walked out the door together.
Outside the Nurse's office
Ekko knew that Kaida would be in there for a while. So she figured she'd go for a walk. She wandered around the school, which was slowly emptying as students wandered off to various after school activities. Ekko was busy admiring a Persimmon tree, when the sound of squealing assaulted her ears. She turned her head to see a group of fan-girls crowding around a senior with silver hair, who, not paying attention, walked straight into her.
"Sorry-"
"Quite the fan-group you've got there." Ekko observed.
"Wha- oh them. They follow me everywhere and give me a headache." The senior sighed.
"Tell them to go away then." That comment granted Ekko evil glares from the squealing fan-girls, who responded with an unimpressed glance.
"I've tried but they don't seem listen."
"Tried the simple 'leave me the hell alone' approach?"
The senior blinked at Ekko's choice of words, and her blank expression while using them, and took a moment to process what she had said.
"Uh, no."
"Try it. I guarantee success. You could also punch them but I don't think you're the type to do that." She said, giving a small smile and raising an eyebrow questioningly.
The senior gave a nervous chuckle, "Uh yeah. I couldn't hit a girl."
"EKKO!" The two turned to see the blonde, Kaida running in her direction.
"You idiot! If you run around you'll just bleed all over the place again!"
Kaida shoved some of the girls out of the way, grabbed Ekko's arm and started pulling. "We have to get out of here! That nurse guy, is evil! He has this foul smelling-" Kaida continued babbling, tugging on the resisting Ekko's arm the entire time.
"Ok, ok! Anyway, laters Senpai." Ekko hurried after the hyper blonde, leaving a bewildered senior with a pack of angry fangirls who were picking each other up off the ground, where Kaida had pushed them.
"Ok, we can stop running, he can't get you here." Ekko stopped in the little hangout spot in the alleyway, behind Port Island Station. "Also we should be heading back, it's getting late."
Kaida shrugged. "We haven't got anything to report. So there isn't much point in heading back."
"Uh, we live there?"
"Meh..."Kaida pulled out her cell. It was almost midnight. With a defeated sigh she turned to leave again.
"Oh, I heard a rumor. Maybe we could check it out?"
"Where?" Ekko asked stretching a bit.
"School."
"Kai, the school is closed. Plus, we just came from there."
"Its not like I'm going in the school. I'm pretty sure its outside the school."
Ekko shrugged. "What was the rumor?"
"I overheard those three from class discussing something about the school. I think they thought they weren't being listened in on."
"Eavesdropping is bad."
"Its our job. We listen, we learn, we report."
Ekko shook her head. "Right, and you hit some people if they aren't saying what you want to hear."
Kaida sweat-dropped. "Ehehehe." She chuckled nervously. They were within sight of the school now.
"What exactly did you hear?"
"Something about a tower, and midnight."
Ekko paused. "You do realize what happens to the world at midnight."
Kaida stopped. "Yeah, that's why I was curious. If they can wander around at midnight, then they must know about 'creeper time'. Also, what's up with saying there's a tower around here?"
Ekko pulled out her phone. "Midnight."
At that moment, the world changed. The night took on a greenish hue, the moon casting a creepy green light over the world. Patches of red liquid, suspiciously similar to blood, oozed in places.
"Hey, Ko-chan."
"What now."
"Whats up with the school?"
Ekko turned around, to see a large tower-like structure where the school had been. "Dude, that's messed up."
"Think we can go in?"
"Kai no!"
It was too late. Kaida was already on her way through the front door.
"Kai!" Ekko hurried to catch the supposed cripple. "You don't know what this is!"
"Exactly why we should check it out."
"It could be illegal!"
"And?"
"Kai!"
"When did you become such a worry wart?"
"Since Creeper Hour started."
"And we're in."
True enough, Kaida had distracted Ekko long enough that she hadn't even realized that they were now standing inside the spacious tower.
"Ok, what happens if this thing turns back while we're in here?" Ekko said, calming herself down with deep breaths.
"Uhh, we'll be in school?"
Ekko smacked her palm against the back of Kaida's head.
"Ow! Ohh, hey, what's that!"
"Kai no!"
Too late, once again. Kaida touched a weird glowy portal-like thing near a staircase and disappeared.
"Oh my word, you stupid freaking blonde!" Ekko stared wide-eyed, cursing loudly at the spot Kaida had just been.
"Whoa, now that's not very lady-like! Wait, you're not supposed to be here!" Ekko spun round, fists up to spot the goatee kid she'd met early that day.
"I don't care."
"Might I inquire as to why you are here? And how is it possible that you aren't transmogrified?" A fancy looking rich girl with a fancy way of talking addressed Ekko. Ekko identified her as a senior.
"I'm here because that idiot blonde tricked me and now she's gone and done it. That stupid glowy thing just made her vanish! And what the hell is transmogrified?"
"Arisato, you, Iori and Takeba go and find her friend. I'll provide backup from here."
"Uh no. I'm going too."
"I must advise against such recklessness-"
"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! KAI IS PROBABLY GETTING HER BUTT WHUPPED RIGHT NOW!" Ekko snapped loudly at the red-head.
"Uhh, ok. I suppose if you can fight it should be alright. Here, you might have need of it." The girl handed Ekko a gun. Ekko eyed it wearily.
"Thanks, I guess."
The four of them headed towards the portal thing, and stepped through it. I hope Kai has enough sense to stay put...
Kaida blinked and found herself standing in a weird room. "Dude, this is some weird stuff. Have I been smoking? I hope not. That stuff smells terrible, it probably tastes just as bad as it smells, and I'm talking to myself. Well done self."
Kaida wandered around for awhile, before coming across a huge monster that looked like a dude in speedos. Kaida wrinkled her nose at it. That's just wrong.
The monster spotted Kaida and with a creepy laugh it lunged at her. Dodging its fast and rather clumsy swings she jumped back until she hit a wall. "Darn."
It swung at her again, and she ducked down, pushing away from the wall with her feet and sliding under the monster's legs. She got up quickly and sprinted down the hall, and just tried to get away. Thugs she could take on, but she found it was a much smarter plan to run from creepy men in speedos. Especially GIANT creepy men, with creepy laughs, during Creeper Hour, in speedos. She ran headlong into another monster, this one shaped like a beetle. "You have got to be kidding me!" She cried catching its horn and launching herself over it. She felt a painful twinge from her leg, and a quick glance confirmed that her leg was bleeding again.
"Ekko! Where are youuuuu! You win! I give up!" Kaida stopped in a dead end. She spun around to find a variety of monsters had cornered her.
"Oh no! I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die-NO! GET AWAY! I'LL KNOCK YOUR BLOCK OFF!"
Ekko hurried after the blue-haired leader, keeping up better than the other two. She could, however, already feel this place draining her energy.
"I detect a large concentration of shadows gathering on the floor above you. There also seems to be a human up there. Hurry, I believe this is the person you spoke of."
"How many other freaking people could be here? Of course its Kai! Stupid blonde-" Ekko continued to mutter many other curses under her breathe. If the monsters here didn't kill her, Ekko would. They sprinted up the stairs, and following the senior girl's directions, came across the group of monsters. The could just spot the blonde girl pressed against the wall. Kaida had a vaguely panicked, yet pissed expression as she pressed herself against the wall, clearly getting more and more worked up. Before anyone could move, one of the monsters lunged at Kaida, and with the sound of a massive window shattering, a monster, shaped like a fox, appeared beside Kaida. It caught the other monster and threw it back at the group, taking out a few others in the process. It flicked one of its tails and fire burst in the group. Kaida was charging the group now, punching some of the monsters hard, dodging a few blows, as she danced between their attacks. One got a stab at her, cutting her cheek, another punching her hard in the gut. Kaida coughed, and staggered slightly. The fox monster vanished, and the other monsters began to close in on Kaida.
"NO! I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO GETS TO KILL HER!" Ekko charged at the monsters herself.
I am thou.
Ekko punched a monster, then with some martial arts, managed to get the monsters off Kaida. She was breathing heavily and seemed to be favoring her leg and ribs, but seemed otherwise alright.
Thou art I. Call me, and I will answer...
Ekko snapped her fingers in front of Kaida's face, hoping to keep the girl focused, and a massive bat-like creature appeared and crushed a few monsters, with a glass shattering noise echoing around her. A few new monsters appeared and seemed to be helping the bat-like creature. When it was over, the bat-like creature hovered in front of Ekko. It stared at her for a moment then disappeared.
"Whoa. You can summon your persona without an Evoker? That is awesome." Junpei said, awe written on his face.
"Perso– " Ekko swayed for a moment. She was waaaaay tired now. She shot Kaida a glance. "Are you... ok?" She asked between breaths.
Kaida nodded, vaguely. She was breathing heavily, and Ekko couldn't tell if it was exhaustion, adrenaline, damaged ribs, or a combination of all or some.
"Then lets get outta here. I'm already sick of this place."
Kaida nodded again and limped with them.
"Ahh, thank goodness you were able to retrieve her-" The senior girl cut herself off upon seeing the state the blonde girl was in. "Sacre bleu! What happened to you?"
Kaida's uniform was messy, bloody and her normally messy hair was messier than usual. The cut on her cheek had a thin line of blood trailing down to her chin. She clearly looked like she had gone through hell and back.
"Those stupid buttwipes ruined my boots." Kaida commented to Ekko, ignoring the senior girl.
Ekko glared at Kaida, "Your own fault for not listening."
Kaida shrugged, "Whatever, I'll have to see if they can be saved."
Ekko shook her head.
"Hey Senpai, these two can summon personas." The pink cardigan girl, Yukari, said pushing past them, receiving dirty looks from both girls.
"Ah, this is interesting indeed. If I might, what are your names?"
"Ekko Shiratake."
"Kaida Matsumoto, who's asking?" Ekko noticed Kaida swaying slightly, her eyes slipping between focused and otherwise.
The senior chuckled, "I am Mitsuru Kirijo. Perhaps if possible I might contact the two of you tomorrow? I could explain anything that you might have questions about, concerning everything you have seen tonight."
Ekko was about to say something, when Kaida fell over, the blue-haired boy catching her as she did so. "Kai!"
"Oh my gosh is she ok?!" Yukari rushed over.
"Obviously, falling over always means you're alright!" Ekko shoved her aside and checked Kaida's pulse. "Damn, it's worn off."
"What?"
"The adrenaline has worn off and her heart rate has dropped too far." Ekko spoke slowly, as if explaining something basic to a child.
"We must get her to the hospital immediately then. Arisato, can you carry her for me? Iori, Takeba make sure Shiratake doesn't collapse herself."
"Gotcha." Ekko shot Junpei a warning glance before allowing him to support her. She was exhausted.
