The town of Umizuo was only a ten minute drive from our home and while the fishing docks take up a considerable part of the area, most of the town was small businesses with a large mall built to the side of the town. The whole town had a bright look to it thanks to the sun and the glistening ocean. As soon as Sasaki and I left the van to walk around the shopping district, a powerful ocean scent filled our noses. Most residents of the town turned their attention to us when they noticed Sasaki and I walking down the roads, my guardian trying to decide which place we should go to first. People must've thought that I looked more like the adult between us since Sasaki had a sort of childish expression on her face as we browsed through the small businesses.

What Philemon said, however, still bothered me.

Both he and Igor had said that a dangerous fate was going to fall upon me. That was all they said about the subject. Nothing else they said gave me any answers or even anything to help me. Igor went on about his philosophy while Irene tried to explain them. Philemon had called her his servant but I don't ever remember signing any form that makes me his servant. Remembering those three only gave me a migraine with all the questions that came with them. Thinking about what happened to the realtor Santou only made my situation even more confusing.

It took most of my willpower to try and bury the questions while I walked with my guardian.

"Don't these stores look just great?" Sasaki asked.

"Maybe instead of looking at them, we should actually buy something," I answered.

"We should get ice cream first, ice cream is always good," Sasaki responded. She looked around for a store that sold ice cream and upon finding an ice cream parlor; she disappeared inside while I waited for her outside on the street.

Standing outside the ice cream parlor while Sasaki ordered allowed me to think about the questions.

But the moment I tried to find an answer to Igor's question about the masks humanity wears, my cellphone vibrated in my jean's pocket. My cellphone vibrating at that moment was strange since it was a new phone with a new number. I haven't told any of my friends in Kyoto my new number and yet when I flipped my phone open; it said I had a new text message. Nobody but my guardian Sasaki knew the number to my phone and any billing information would go to her instead of me.

So how did someone text me?

More questions to an already confusing day.

I sighed as I began reading the text message.

"CONGRATULATIONS! You are one of the chosen few allowed to access our new product!" the text message seemed to yell at me. It sounded like spam but I continued to read the message.

"Have you ever wished that you could relive the best memories of your life? Does any day go past where you do not wish for better times? Well, thanks to our brilliant discovery of the Nostalgia Line program, you can now relive the happiest memories of your life! The program is still in the development stages but thanks to permission from various groups, we are allowed to give the prototype to over a hundred individuals in the given area of Umizuo. Call the number listed below to download your copy."

"Have a great time reliving your happiest memories and remember to tell others your thoughts about our product!" the message ended before listing the number to activate the prototype.

"Sounds like a hoax," I whispered.

"Wouldn't hurt to try it," a man's voice from my side.

I jumped at the sound of the man's sudden appearance. Standing next to me was a man in his early twenties, him having just left the ice cream parlor with a vanilla ice cream cone in hand. The man wore a white leather jacket with an orange v-shirt underneath and dark green slacks. His other hand scratched his slightly unkempt brown hair while he glanced down at the message on my phone.

"It doesn't sound like a bad idea to at least try it," the man said. "It's not asking for any money and you got it for free, might as well try it out."

"I'm sorry but do I know you?" I asked. I didn't even bother to hide my irritation in my voice.

The man, however, didn't seem to notice my tone. He only chuckled at my question. "I'm new to this town so I guess you wouldn't know me," he answered.

"I'm just moved here today," I told him raising my voice a bit. "The only person in this whole town that I know is my guardian."

"So we're in the same boat," the man said smiling at me. This guy must smile a lot since his smile was one of the most natural ones I saw. He threw the ice cream cone into his mouth and swallowed it after chewing it for a few seconds. Then he held his hand out to me. "The name's Yosuke Hanamura, second coolest man of Yasoinaba."

"Second coolest? Who's number one?" I asked shaking his hand.

"That spot is held by my best friend," Yosuke answered still smiling.

Yosuke tried to continue speaking but stopped while placing his hands on his temples. "Brain freeze…" he said through gritted teeth.

Wow, is this guy an idiot? "I'm Kimi Amaya," I told him since it was good manners to give my name when someone else told me theirs. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered to tell him.

Yosuke still held his head as he responded. "Nice to meet you, Amaya-san," he said giving me another smile.

"Kimi-chan, who's this young man?" Sasaki said coming out of the parlor with a strawberry ice cream cone for me and a large banana split with many toppings for herself.

I took my cone from her before answering. "He's Yosuke Hanamura," I answered. "He's new to town, just like us."

"Fuyu Sasaki," my guardian giving Yosuke a small bow. "So what brings you to this beautiful town? Business or personal matters?"

"A little of both but for now it's a secret, Sasaki-san," Yosuke answered.

"Well I'm here for both reasons too," Sasaki chuckled. "Umizuo is considered one of the most beautiful towns in all of Japan so it'll be a great inspiration for my paintings."

"So you're an artist?" Yosuke said acting surprised.

"She's one of the most famous artists in all of Japan," I lied. It was a lie but it was more of a stretching the truth rather than outright lying.

"You're that famous?" Yosuke responded now genuinely surprised.

Sasaki blushed a bit. "I'm not that good," she said trying to sound modest but I could easily see through her.

The two continued to talk until the conversation began to sound like playful flirting from Yosuke, which was kind of weird to me. Most men that talked to my guardian didn't do playful flirting; they outright tried to ask her out only to be shot down. Why Yosuke wasn't affected by Sasaki's sexy body wasn't a question since I already the answer, having sometimes seen the rare man talk to my guardian and did not ask her out.

Yosuke was already in a relationship. That was the only logical answer to his playful flirting.

"It was nice to talk with you, Sasaki-san," Yosuke said his smile lasting for what seemed to be forever. He checked his watch before continuing. "I have to be getting back to my plans so… later!"

Yosuke turned around and began jogging to wherever he needed to be, waving good-bye to us before disappearing.

"Hope we meet again, Hanamura-san!" Sasaki yelled waving.

"I hope I don't meet him again," I whispered. The guy was an idiot and just by being around him I felt exhausted.

"The day's already looking brighter, Kimi-chan!" Sasaki said before dropping a big spoonful of banana, ice cream, and various toppings down her throat. "You start school tomorrow so let's buy you all kinds of cute things you can wear with your uniform!"

Shopping is always good to me.

After a few hours of trying on different outfits and accessories, watching the latest big movie in the theater, and eating a big dinner, Sasaki and I finally returned back to our new home. She had the great time she wanted to have with me and was exhausted afterwards. Both of us were too tired to unpack the boxes so we only got out our futons and got ready to sleep in our rooms. Sasaki fell asleep almost instantly, since I could hear her muffled snores in her room while I brushed my teeth in the bathroom. I was just about to change out of my peach camisole and jeans when I remembered about the text message.

I took out my cell phone and opened up the message. I read the message again while leaning against the bathroom's blue-tinted white tile wall.

"Have a great time reliving your happiest memories…" I read out aloud.

If I hadn't met Yosuke, I might have not thought about calling the number. I couldn't disagree with what the idiot said. Calling this number didn't have that many downsides as one might think it would. Even if this was a joke, at least I would know the answer to my question. I would know the purpose of the message and I might manage to find out how they got my number.

My thumb pressed in the numbers at the bottom of the message. "191-9191," I whispered as my thumb pressed the numbers.

I held my cell phone up to my ear and listened to the ringing coming out. The phone rung twice before I heard the call being connected. I expected there to be an automated voice answering but no one spoke. Instead, I heard a sound like a cassette tape being rewound. When the cassette rewinding sound stop…

I heard the person talk.

"Move over, Dad, you're squishing me!" my voice when I was a child yelled from the phone. "I can't see the movie with you squishing me!"

What the hell is this? Why is my voice coming out of the phone?

"Alright, Kimi, I'll move over…" the next voice, the voice of a man, laughed. It was a voice that caused my eyes to water. "Just stop pinching your father."

"Dad?" I felt a lump appear in my throat while the voice continued to speak through my cell phone.

"You look so cute next to Daddy, Kimi," the next voice, this time the voice of a woman, chuckled. "Stay right there while I get the camera, dear."

Tears trickled down my cheek while I heard the footsteps of my mother hurrying to grab a camera while I tried to get away from having my picture taken. I remembered what was happening like it happened just yesterday. I knew just what words were going to be said and that only caused more tears to trickle down my cheeks.

"Stop it, Dad!" I heard myself scream. "I don't want my picture taken!"

"Oh, is my little girl scared of having her picture taken?" my dad laughed.

"I'm not!" I screamed back.

"Stay still, Kimi, or else you'll be all blurry," my mother said having reentered the conversation.

"Stop it!" I cried. I knew that my Dad was holding me down so Mom could take our picture.

A click of the camera came out of the cell phone and I heard myself beginning to cry as loud as I could. I was such a baby back then but my cries stopped as soon as I heard Mom speak.

"Don't cry, baby," Mom whispered into my ear. "Mom and Dad were just having a little fun…"

For a few seconds, the world shifted and I was a child again. I was back in the living room of my parent's house, sitting on the couch with both of my parents. Mom and dad were hugging me and I felt so much warmth that I couldn't help myself. I started crying again while Mom kissed my forehead. So many tears flowed down my cheeks while my parents hugged me tighter.

"We love you more than anything, our little Kimi," Mom and Dad whispered into my ear. "We won't let anything hurt you…"

The sound of a cassette running out of tape rung in my ears, signaling the end of the memory.

The world shifted back and I found myself on my knees in the bathroom, tears still flowing down my cheeks and staining my camisole. I brought my cell phone down so I could look at the screen of my phone…

But instead of seeing my cell phone, I only saw hundreds of black tendrils extending out of the cell phone and tried wrapping themselves around my arm.

I screamed as soon as I saw the tendrils and threw the phone by reflex. The phone flew through the air, the tendrils coming out of it following behind. The phone struck the wall of the bathroom and broke apart. The many components of my phone were laid out on the bathroom floor but the tendrils were still coming out of the black screen and were beginning to sprout out of the many other components. Whatever warmth I felt from the memory was gone now, my attention on these disgusting tendrils coming out of my phone.

"I found her! I FOUND KIMI AMAYA!" A voice screamed from my cell phone.

The next second, a massive black hand made out of the tendrils erupted out of the black screen of my phone and grabbed my whole head.

I screamed while the hand pulled me off the floor like I weighed as much as a feather.

Then the hand pulled me into an ocean of black water.

I found myself at a circular area, lying on the grass. I heard the sounds of traffic in the distance and a ringing in my ears. From where I was, I couldn't see any part of the city past the tall trees. I was alone in this area of grass and trees… except for the granite statue of a man and woman holding hands that towered over me. I didn't want to know but I knew that the design of the statue only meant one thing and nothing else.

It marked the ground where a couple was buried.

I got on my hands and knees and crawled closer to the inscription carved into the bottom of the statue.

"Here lies Jun and Kaede Amaya, beloved writers and parents…" the inscription said.

My eyes noticed something carved into the stone further down.

"AND THEIR WHORE OF A DAUGHTER, KIMI AMAYA!"

Two pairs of rotting hands erupted from the ground and grabbed my wrists and ankles. I screamed as the hands tried to pull me into the ground with them. I was the stronger one and I pulled my arms upwards, tearing the hands, along with most of the forearm, out of the ground. I frantically pulled my ankles out of the grip of the other hands and tried to run away. I didn't get any farther than the circle of tree surrounding the area before I found out that something was blocking my escape. I ran into an invisible wall and while I was trying to calm myself down, I heard something pushing its way out of the ground behind me. I turned around in an instant to see what had come out.

I almost fainted the moment I saw the rotting body of my father rising out of the ground with the armless body of my mother following behind. My dead parent's eyes were completely white and their teeth looked sharper than a normal human's. Their attention was on their breathing and living daughter.

They charged like boars towards me, gnashing their teeth while screaming at the top of their visible lungs.

"Don't kill her just yet, my shadows," a man's haughty-sounding voice said.

The zombies of my parents stopped in their tracks, them being just a few feet from their daughter.

I turned my head to the direction of the voice and saw the man it came from. The man had the darkest tanned skin I ever saw, which looked even darker when compared with the tropical fish-themed suit he wore. The man would have been the most handsome man I've seen if it weren't for that creepy expression of his. His handsome face was twisted by that haughty and excited expression he wore. I even noticed that he had a sort of jump in his steps while he walked toward me, stopping the moment he was in front of the zombies.

"I have found you, my raven-haired beauty!" He yelled spreading out his arms. "You don't know how long I was waiting for you, Kimi Amaya! Waiting for you to step into his realm and become trapped in our land!"

I wanted to ask him so many questions but my voice just wouldn't come out. My heart was beating against my chest and I couldn't stop myself from trembling. Just being in this place was sending shivers up my spine. My feet were stuck to the ground even though nothing was keeping them planted there. As much as I wanted to run, my body just would not listen. All I could do was to listen to this man.

"It was only a matter of time before you called the Nostalgia Line, Kimi Amaya," the man continued. "As soon as you called it, you were as good as dead! We had to go through quite a bit of others to get to you but it was worth it to finally have you in our realm!"

The man covered his close to grinning mouth with his sleeve and continued. "It's going to be so satisfying to see the memory of your parents rip your heart out and give it to me," he told her while grinning.

"Go and kill her," the man ordered snapping his fingers.

As soon as the zombies heard the snap, they leapt towards me, ready to rip my body to shreds with their teeth and claws.

So those zombies really are my parents? Is this man controlling their bodies to force them into killing their own daughter? That's the only logical solution that would explain this. My parents would never want to hurt me and yet this man is forcing them…

A new emotion filled my body while time slowed down around me.

I no longer felt anything stopping my body from moving as I raised my hand to the sky. I felt something rising from inside me and whatever it was, it felt enormous and powerful. I remembered the images of my Mom and Dad telling me that they love me. I remembered what they were, not what these things are. The more I remembered my parents, the bigger and more intense the feeling I felt got. The feeling grew until I felt its power spilling out of me. The moment I felt the power spill out, the bodies of my parents stopped as blue aura rose up around me. The zombies were frozen by the aura and could do nothing to breach it while the power continued to grow inside of me.

Thou art I…and I am thou.

I opened my mouth to speak the single word that appeared in my mind.

"Per…"

"No! She can't be awakening!" the man screamed.

"So…"

"Hurry and kill her before she summons it!" the man screamed at the zombies. "We need her heart!"

Dozens of zombies erupted from the ground, each one with an appearance of either my Dad or Mom. Each one of the zombies tried to get past the blue aura but whenever one tried, that part of their body that touched the aura froze completely.

I have arisen from the ocean inside your soul…

"…Na!" I shouted at the top my lungs while a light exploded from my palm.

The zombies surrounding me were blasted away by a massive wave of salt water that came from the towering figure that was solidifying above me. I turned my head to see the tall woman floating above me. The woman had no clothes other than a thick fishnet that wrapped around her body many times. What was strange about the woman, however, was her skin. Her skin looked as if it were both ice and water, constantly moving like a liquid while still solid. The woman raised her ice-crowned head to the zombies that survived the salt water wave.

"I am Ran, the Norse Goddess of the Sea!" my Persona yelled at our enemies.

"Destroy them!" I yelled. "Don't let a single one of them survive, Ran!"

Ran was more than happy to comply. She raised her arms and swung them back down, releasing another yet stronger wave of salt water upon the zombies. The man stood amongst the salt water waves, unmoving while his zombies were being torn apart by my Persona.

"Bufu!" I yelled.

A bright flash of light shot out of Ran's palms that flash-froze the salt water and trapped every zombie caught in it. I grinned as the ice cracked and the zombies trapped within shattered with it. I looked at the soaked field of grass and didn't see the man amongst the frozen pieces of the zombies.

Maybe he got frozen along with them?

"How stupid are you?"

I was wrong about the man; he survived the attack. A trident pierced through the air as it struck my Persona's neck, slamming her against the barrier surrounding the area. The trident's prongs missed her neck but instead of piercing her body, it kept my Persona stuck to the barrier. Ran tried to pry the trident off but it was stuck. I could feel the cold metal of the trident touching my neck while I turned to see the man right in front of me.

The man's hand shot out and grabbed my neck. I kicked him over and over while he raised my body into the air. His hand was so cold that I thought my neck would freeze if I was in contact with him any longer.

"You are such a fool to think water would have damage the God of the Sea himself!" the man yelled right in my face. "I am the Greek God Poseidon! No one has more control over the element of water than me!

His name's Poseidon? Am I actually dealing with the Greek God himself?

Poseidon lifted his fingers and snapped them again.

"Arise, Giant Demon Gashadokuro!"

The frozen bones of the zombies rolled together, bones piling on more bones until the pile rose. The bones melted and reshaped themselves into a much larger version of the blue-tinted bones. I watched in horror as what was being created grew taller than everything around. In less than a minute, a ninety-foot tall skeleton stood in the middle of the frozen field of grass. The yellow flames in its giant eye sockets looked down on its master and the one it's meant to kill.

"I'll make sure your heart is undamaged when Gashadokuro crushes you under its foot," Poseidon said throwing me towards the skeleton.

I landed on the frozen grass right next to the demon's giant bone foot. Less than five minutes, I thought I had enough power to take anything but now that I'm seeing this demon raise its foot to crush me, I found out that I was wrong. Ran was still stuck to the barrier by Poseidon's trident so she couldn't save me. I'm going to be killed by this freak of nature.

I'm going to die when I still have questions to ask.

"Don't give up, Amaya-san!" A familiar voice yelled from the distance.

The loud engine of a motorcycle echoed through the area while Gashadokuro dropped its foot down on me. Right before I could be crushed by the demon, an arm grabbed my body and I was swept off the ground by a man on a motorcycle. I had the air knocked out of me but whoever grabbed me had got away fast enough for Gashadokuro to stomp on nothing. My rescuer spun his bright yellow motorcycle to a sudden stop while facing Poseidon.

"How the hell did you get into this realm?" Poseidon yelled at my savior. "Only Persona-users can forcefully enter this realm."

"For your information, I am a Persona-user," my savior answered taking off his helmet and I saw his face.

I saw that stupid face and that idiotic smile…

Yosuke Hanamura threw his helmet away and pointed at himself with his thumb, giving Poseidon an even more idiotic grin.

"The name's Yosuke Hanamura, second coolest man of Yasoinaba! And as of right now, the coolest man in all of Umizuo!"

Author's Note: Hope you liked the chapter. I made this chapter longer because I wanted to include Kimi's awakening and Yosuke saving her from the demon Gashadokuro and the god Poseidon.