Requirement met. Yu Narukami's name has been changed to Souji Seta. This setting will have no affect on your progress. Day two: Now commencing...
"I'm sorry. But I can't let anyone know. They'll cry if they find out." Glowing red eyes seem to follow me as I run through the alley onto a main street. The sounds of life and humanity put some of my fears at ease, but I know that this is an illusion. That thing might still kill me here.
I try to look behind me but there are too many people to get a clear picture. I needed to get home. I run for the train station, wiping the condensation off my glasses. I get to Scramble Crossing when I feel something slide across my back. No pain registers, just the wind as it tears into the new opening in my jacket, licking at open wounds. Did blood freeze in the cold?
I collapse onto the ground, twitching. A woman is screaming nearby. This was a nice jacket too...
I wake up in a cold sweat, and I can feel the first rays of sunlight peer into my nearly empty room. Traces of the nightmare still linger in the air, but I already feel them disappearing from my memory, slipping through my fingers like sand.
I check my closet for the jacket in my dream. It's there. Of course, there is no sign of the impossible wound. My phone reads 6:12am. Early. Too early considering how late we stayed out last night. After Ryoji's threat I didn't want to stay anymore, but getting back up to the dorm without a car was nearly impossible, and I didn't want to waste the money on a taxi. It's a shame someone's going to kill you soon.
What did he mean by that? For the rest of the night, he'd been nice, even friendly. No matter how many times I brought him back to the subject, he'd feigned innocence. He bought me a drink, and we even played a nice round of darts with some other people at the dorm, so why the ominous words? I check the drawer beside my bed, and I find my stash of knives. I was something of an enthusiast when it came to small combat weapons, another reason my parents considered me clinically insane. Creepy. That's what the people in my class called me.
I leave my room to find a tall man in a yukata walking past me, only to stop in surprise at my presence. "Oh, hello. Futaba told me we had someone new. My name's Yusuke Kitagawa. In room 504."
"Akira. 500." I'm about to ask him who Futaba is, but he's already shaking my hand, and I'm distracted by the almost delicate fingers. He is prim and proper, like someone from a noble family. His hair is immaculate, perfectly combed to the side so that not a strand is out of place. The complete opposite of my uncontrollable curls.
He turns to walk back to his room, which it turns out, is on the opposite side of Ryuji's. "Enjoy the rest of your break. If you'd like to go out for a cup of tea some time I'd be happy to accompany you." The Japanese door to his room slides open, and I can see the walls and floors are covered in large, water-color paintings.
As I go through my morning routine, my mind shifts through the list of people I'd met and had interactions with. Most of them were normal despite what my visions might indicate. The only one who seemed even remotely odd was Ryoji, and that entire exchange could've been a hallucination.
When I get to the dining room, it is quieter than the night before. Lavenza and the managers of the other floors are walking around, preparing the breakfast table with bread, eggs, and a variety of bagels. I give Lavenza a pat on the head as I walk by. "Good morning."
She smiles, a blush creeping under her blond braids. "Good morning Akira. You're up early. Do you have class?"
I shake my head. "Class doesn't start until next month. Just didn't sleep very well."
She nods her head in understanding, oddly mature for a girl her age. She couldn't be much older than 11 maybe 12. "It must be uncomfortable sleeping in a new bed. If you'd like, I can bring you up a futon."
I smile at her earnestness. She was sweet, but a futon wasn't going to solve my problems. "I'll be okay. Is breakfast almost ready?"
She nods, pointing at an older woman in her late twenties, maybe earlier thirties. Her face holds a strong resemblance to Lavenza, and the clothes don't help clear away the similarities. Their blue dresses and black gloves are nearly identical to one another. "I'm just helping Mama set the table."
The woman walks over to me, and bows just slightly, marking things off on a clipboard. "Good morning Mr. Kurusu. My name is Margaret and I'm head manager here at the Velvet Apartments. If you need any help at all, you can always ask. Lavenza has a good head on her shoulders, and I'm sure she'll be able to help you."
There is an element of mystery around her that I don't quite understand. Her smile, while gorgeous, is also cryptic, like she's playing a small prank on me. I awkwardly try to return her bow, and immediately feel uncomfortable. "Uh…Yes. Of course. She's…great. Just great."
Margaret smiles again, leading her daughter away by the hand. Lavenza waves as they leave. I turn to the rest of the room and see that there are more people here than I originally thought. I recognize most of them from Ryuji's montage last night and I head over to sit next to two men who seem to be in a heated conversation.
The first man pauses mid-sentence at my arrival, as if guarding a closely held secret. His once-over is uncomfortable if not completely rude. "I don't think we've met. My name's Akihiko Sanada."
He's in a plain police uniform, his badge still sitting on his shirt. The muscles on his arm and chest are well-defined even under his multiple layers of clothing. Here was a man who had every ability to protect, or to kill. "Akira Kurusu. I officially moved in yesterday afternoon. Mina mentioned your name last night. Did you just come in from work?"
"Yes. I work the night shift." His eyes are narrowed on me, and I can already see that I've started on bad footing. "So you're already friends with Mina? That girl sure gets around." There's a bitterness in his voice that I don't understand, and I can feel another vision struggling to break free from the confines of my sanity.
"Don't listen to him. Mina's nice to everyone." I turn to look at the other man, or now that I look at her closely, woman, next to him. "I'm Naoto Shirogane, Head Detective of the Homicide department at precinct 4."
The words catch me off-guard. Naoto. Souji and Yosuke mentioned her last night in the car, but her appearance shocks me. She has long blue hair extending down her back. Her clothes are modest, hiding any indication of her gender. She's small as well, impossible to reconcile with her title. "Really…? You look a little…"
"Weak? Small? Feminine?" Her eyes are narrowed, almost angry. Clearly a sore subject.
I shy away under the scrutiny, my eyes aligning themselves with the pattern of the table cloth. "I was going to say young."
The expression disappears and she chuckles. It's a clear soft sound, like a bell. "Oh…Well, I suppose I am."
Akihiko sighs, leaning back in his chair. "Naoto is the youngest detective in history, never mind head of her department. She's only 21."
The news genuinely surprises me. "21...? How is that possible?"
"Her grandfather is a famous private investigator and forensic specialist, but she's almost too amazing at her job. Her team has the highest success rate in all of Japan." Akihiko is smiling and it transforms his face. His earlier animosity is gone, and he looks more mature than before.
"It's nothing special. I've got a good team. But Akihiko has turned down nearly every promotion he's gotten AND he has over a dozen busts under his belt." I can see Naoto's face flush as she lists his accomplishments, and I immediately wonder again at the validity of Yosuke's gossip from last night.
"I just don't want to end up like my dad." Akihiko sighs, looking at the empty plate in front of him. "I don't want to sit behind a desk doing nothing my whole life. What's the point of being a cop if I'm not helping people?" His face is pained, conflicted in a way that seems to ignore the people around him. I'm tempted to ask him what he means about his father, but the subject seems too personal for a stranger like me to broach. Instead, I stand up to grab three plates of breakfast for us and Akihiko seems grateful for the consideration.
Our conversation over breakfast afterwards is easy. The two of them have incredible stories about all sorts of crimes. They are in the middle of telling me about one of their cases when Minato enters the room, his sister laughing behind him, steering him by the shoulders. Akihiko shuts up immediately, and I can see he's watching the twins with the same bitterness from before. Naoto's attention follows them for a moment before turning back to Akihiko, and the concern is unmistakable. "Aki -"
"Don't. I need to go. I'm tired." He abruptly stands up, and marches to the stairs, leaving his breakfast unfinished behind him.
Naoto watches him go before sighing, dropping her cutlery to her plate. "Did something happen between them?" I ask.
Her eyes seem to weigh some sort of risk against the benefits of telling me before she sighs again, "Mina and Akihiko were dating for about 3 years before they came to the apartment. Mina tells me the first year after that was fine. They were weeks away from getting married before she suddenly decided to work at a hostess club. It was so odd. She didn't tell anyone beforehand and she wouldn't explain anything afterwards. No one knows what happened. Akihiko couldn't accept it, so they broke up."
I roll the story over in my mind. It explained his reaction just now, and his bitterness when I mentioned her earlier. It was hard to accept. Working at a hostess club was almost akin to being a prostitute. You would be hard-pressed to find any man who would be able to accept it. "I guess I can understand. Does it bother you that Souji works at a host club?"
"No. Not at all. Why would it?"
"You know, since the two of you are dating." I press.
Her head is tilted slightly to the right, her face pulled into a frown. The confusion is genuine. "Where did you hear that? We're not together."
"But..." I stop myself before I can say another word. There were several explanations. Yosuke could've been lying, playing a prank on the new guy. Maybe Naoto was lying, too shy to tell something personal to someone she's just met. I would not jump to the third conclusion. Instead, I push the contradiction to the back of my mind. "I see... I might've... misheard someone earlier."
She nods thoughtfully, and we fall into quiet as we finish our breakfast. She heads off to work shortly after and I mull over everything I've learned about the complicated relationships around the dorm. I'm almost tempted to draw a chart, but as I reach my room, I see the fluffy-haired girl from yesterday standing outside my door. I try to dig through my memories for a name but draw a blank.
"Hi Akira, we met yesterday? Makoto asked me to take you over to the school to fill out your paperwork." She's wearing a pink jacket over a plaid skirt and polka-dot tights, a strange outfit to be sure, and combined with her puffy hair, I'm again reminded of a dog, something like a cross between a dalmatian and a poodle.
I nod, and she pulls me outside the building into the overhang where all the two-wheeled modes of transportation are parked. Two bicycles are sitting there, one for herself, and one, strangely, for me. "Kanji on the fourth floor is a student-teacher at the academy so he drives us to school most of the time but it's out of session right now so I asked Ryuji if you could borrow his bike and he agreed." She says the entire sentence all in one breath, as if she's not sure when to breathe.
The two of us get down the steep hill in almost no time at all. As we travel, I learn her name again, which is Haru, and she points out several prominent locations along the way. The town is bigger than I expect. There are cafes, clubs, restaurants, and a variety of different recreational shops. As it turns out, the high school campus sits on the edge of the college one. "I will be starting college here in April, so I'll see you pretty often, I think. If you can get on Kanji's good side, he might even give you a ride."
The paperwork is tedious, but understandable. Not many people transferred into a new school in their senior year. It would have an adverse effect on university exams. I didn't want to do it, but my parents didn't give me much choice.
As we're riding back to the hill, Haru points to a small shop by the main street. It's quaint and very simple from the outside. A bell rings above us as we walk through the door. The smell is instant: both familiar and nauseating. An image of Uncle Sojiro's body being torn into like a fat juicy steak floats just below the surface of my every move. I excuse myself away from Haru almost the minute I walk in.
She appears beside me a few minutes later, a chocolate machiatto in her hands. "Are you alright? You looked pretty panicked in there."
I can feel my hands shaking so I hide them in the pockets of my jacket. "I'm fine. I don't like the smell of coffee."
She looks down at her drink, her face pulled into a frown. "Oh...I'm sorry. I didn't know."
I shake my head. "Not your fault. Let's head home."
The short ride back to the hill is quiet. I don't make any effort at conversation and Haru seems too uncomfortable now to try. We climb off the bikes as we reach the base, and she immediately bows in apology. "I'm sorry for dragging you off to a cafe when we know nothing about each other. It must have made you uncomfortable."
My immediate reaction is to brush her off, but that seems like the wrong move given the circumstances. We'd spent nearly the entire day together, and she'd been a big help. Plus, she didn't get angry when I talked about my house plants. There wasn't any reason to be too polite. "Hey, it's fine. It's not like you tricked me into drinking elephant poop."
The cup of machiatto drops to the ground, splashing her shoes and the bottom of her tights. She shows no reaction to the fact that her clothes are now covered in brown coffee stains. "You...you've read about it too?!"
I didn't. I had no idea what she was talking about, "Yeah. Of course."
She is practically beaming with joy, and I have no idea why. "It's such an innovative idea. I can't wait to try a cup. I know it sounds really gross to a lot of people but I hear it really brings out the flavor." She goes on a really long spiel as we climb the hill back to the apartment and it takes me a few moments to piece the strange story about elephant poop together. We're almost at the top when Haru abruptly stops mid-sentence. I'm about to ask her if something is wrong, when she presses her finger to her lips.
I strain my ears to pick up the sound, but then I hear it too. Two people are shouting at each other in front of the apartment complex.
"...You're 25 years old! Stop acting like a child. Sae-" I immediately realize the voice belongs to Makoto, and I can see the same spark of recognition on Haru's face.
"I don't care what Sae has to say, and I definitely don't care what you have to say. Leave me alone. I need to get to work." I don't need to wonder at all who the second voice belongs to. It can only be Akihiko. This was clearly a private conversation but there was nowhere to go. We needed to go into the apartment, but moving forward now would reveal that the two of us had been eavesdropping. We inch forward enough just to see the conversation through a hedge of tulips.
"You're my brother! We're family! Dad-" Makoto's voice is strained, and despite her controlled appearance, she was clearly angry.
Akihiko walks around her, and I can see him pull on a set of black gloves as he pushes her out of the way. "You might remember that I grew up in an orphanage. The only sister I have is Miki, and the only sibling I have left, is Shinji. So no. You're not my sister. Both you and your sister should go play house somewhere else." He slams the car door before revving up the engine and pulling out of the large courtyard. Haru and I press ourselves into the wall so he doesn't see us as he passes.
We wait until Makoto goes back into the dorm before we make any substantial movements. The front lawn is quiet now that the exchange is over. The two of us return the bikes to the shelter in silence until Haru breaks it. "We didn't hear anything!"
Her strange outburst catches me by surprise, "...What?"
"We didn't hear anything between Makoto and Akihiko! Nothing! Do you understand?! Nothing!" Her face is frantic, and her eyes appear almost crazed. Her poofy hair seems downright frizzy now. Her fingers are clawing into my wrists, the pain making me wince. I nod, speechlessly, half in fear and half out of desperation for her to let me go.
"Good...Good..." Her claws detract, and she disappears into the building. The lawn is quiet, and I'm almost convinced that I imagined the entire episode. I check my wrists for any sign of damage but they're clear. No bruises or claw marks. The walk up to my room is tiring, and I wonder vaguely why such a tall building doesn't have an elevator.
"It does."
My head snaps to the source of the voice. Ryoji is standing against the railing, similar to the way Rise had been yesterday afternoon. "Did you just read my mind?"
"You were talking out loud." His smile is cordial, as friendly as can be. I can feel goosebumps pop up on my arm, alert to danger. "There's an elevator behind the dinning room. The staff here use it to get where they need to go. If you ask one of them, I'm sure they'll let you use it, but it won't operate without one of their keys."
Logic dictates he's lying. I've never had a habit of thinking out loud, but the idea of him being a mind reader was equally as impossible. I go with the most neutral response: walking past him to the next flight of steps. "Thanks for the tip."
"Why are you still here?" His smile is still cordial, but there's a glint in his eyes. Every sensor in my body is telling me he's dangerous, not to be trusted.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I want to leave, but my body doesn't respond. My feet feel like cement bricks, pinning me to the spot.
"Are you feigning stupidity or am I actually that untrustworthy?" He walks to lean against the wall at the foot of the stairs. "I warned you last night. Someone is trying to kill you. Why are you still here? You need to leave."
I don't answer him, but the weight in my feet lifts. I can walk again. I run up the steps three at a time. His voice calls after me, perpetually friendly. "It was nice talking to you! We should get a cup of tea sometime."
My room is a picture of normality. Peace, quiet, simplicity. My house plants look healthy and well-cared for. I didn't want to leave them behind. I could go home, have my parents call the apartment to send it all back. Lavenza and the rest of the staff were nice enough. They would probably do that for me. But what would I tell my mom and dad? Someone threatened me so I came rushing home? And what would happen after that? They would ask me who it was. They might even storm here, and ask Ryoji what he was trying to pull. He would deny the whole thing and I would appear even more insane than before.
No. I couldn't run away just yet.
Ryoji Mochizuki.
The man seemed almost unhinged. I needed to learn more about him. That was the logical thing to do. I check my clock, before walking out into the hall, and knocking on Ryuji's door. There are sounds of intense shuffling inside before it opens, revealing the blond man without any pants on. "Yo, what's up?"
"Are you going down for dinner?" His room is incredibly messy behind him. Food containers and clothes are scattered throughout the floor. I can barely identify his bed underneath a pile of what looks like discarded and out-of-date magazines.
He reaches behind him to pull out a modern cellphone to check the time. "Oh, shi- Yeah. Hold on. Just let me get dressed." It takes him less than two seconds to pull on a pair of pants and we're on our way.
The dinning room is just as crowded as it was the day before, but now I recognize more faces. Naoto is having a conversation with the twins, and it's almost striking how similar she looks to Minato. Souji has a lunchbag slung over his shoulder and two paper plates in his hands. He calls to Mina and the two hurry out the door. She waves to me as she goes by.
Haru and Makoto are also talking whilst sharing a bowl of fruit and they wave me over, but I ignore them. My strange afternoon had not been forgotten, and I couldn't risk saying too much. Plus, I was here for other reasons. I grab a plate and walk across the room to Ken and Junpei instead. The man named Shinjiro is sitting next to Junpei with Ken across from them. All three look up at my approach, clearly surprised. "Can I sit here?"
They look at each other briefly, but nod. There's a white dog I've never seen before at their feet, and he moves out of the way to let me sit. "Is that your dog?" I direct my question at Ken and he looks sheepish to be directly spoken to.
"No... Koromaru is... it's actually a long story. Not very interesting." He looks away. The other two look equally as awkward and I don't press the subject. The three of them are clearly uncomfortable in my presence so I skip the small talk and get directly down to business. "So do any of you know that Ryoji guy?"
Shinjiro only shakes his head, but Junpei and Ken share a look that I can't quite place. It looks like a cross between disbelief and anger. Junpei is the one who answers me. "Ryoji... Are you sure you're not talking about Ryuji?" He's pointing at Ryuji who is directly on my right. I'd brought him for this exact reason.
"No... Ryoji Mochi... something." Junpei's anger seems to surge whereas Ken's disbelief looks stronger and I automatically sense something is wrong. Their reactions didn't make sense. It isn't too odd that I would meet him and learn his name, especially since we all went to the bar together last night. Ryoji had been in Junpei's car, hadn't he? He wasn't in Souji's or Mina's, so that was the logical conclusion.
"..." Junpei says something I don't quite catch.
"I'm sorry. Can you say that again?"
"...How do you know that name?!" Junpei reaches over the table to grab my shirt. I'm too shocked to stop him. Shinjiro, Ryuji, and Ken immediately reach for his arms, trying to wrench them back. The room is in an uproar, everyone is screaming. Two of the attendants in the building immediately rush over, one male and one female. The woman slaps Junpei's wrists and he immediately lets go. The woman is about to reprimand him when he turns and walks away. The anger is unmistakable. Junpei is seething.
Shinjiro, Ryuji, and Ken watch him go, none of them saying a word. I apologize quickly to the attendants, and they calm everyone else down. Unexpectedly, Shinjiro is the one who broaches the subject first. "What the hell was that?!"
Ken jumps at the exclamation, clearly still shocked. "But... Never mind...You were in the hospital when it happened..." Ken turns to look at me, studying me like a dangerous animal, "...How did you know that name?"
I'm scared to tell him the truth but I can think of nothing else. There is nothing to formulate a lie with. I have absolutely no information to work with. "I met a man yesterday when we were at the bar... That's what he told me his name was. He'd... He'd been odd! But he told me he lived on the third floor...so I decided to ask you about him!"
Ken shakes his head, his eyes clearly disbelieving, almost suspicious. "Someone's playing a cruel prank on you but I can't guess who."
"What... What do you mean?"
"He transferred into the school in Junpei's second year. Around Halloween. The two of them became close friends right away. Junpei didn't have many... but then, Ryoji joined that cult. The one that kept talking about the Fall, the end of the world. You probably don't remember." I didn't. This must have happened years ago, in a city far removed from Tokyo.
...he..." Ken swallows, and I can see his hands are shaking. Ken's eyes are scanning the room, as if searching for some sort of escape, but then they lock on Shinjiro. The older man nods, urging him to continue. "He... Ryoji...He called himself the Avatar. The Bringer of the Fall... He came to the school with a bomb. Junpei's girlfriend died in the explosion."
Flag: Flee back to Tokyo [default], confront the man named Ryoji [Requires: Bravery x2] , seek help from NPC [Requires: Motivation x3 and name of NPC].
