Chapter 3: The Kingpin and The Emperor II

- Reviews

Rosalinda Lancaster Leonhart: Wow, that's a long name. Anyways to answer your question... this chapter!

AmeYuuki: Theodore will definitely be in the story. As for the FeMC...

Guest: Minato will be here shortly. Hmm, doesn't Tatsuya have brown hair? I thought you were talking about somebody else...

Extraneous: Maybe I should apologize for taking a few months to update this…. yyyeeeaaahhh. Anyways, the semester ended last week and I'm free until early January! So here's somethin' for you guys!

Let the chapter commence!


The train slowed to a halt, the wheels letting out a large screech against the rails as its momentum slowly but surely faded. The conductor's voice came through the intercoms located above the windows of the train.

"We have arrived at Sumaru City; we will be departing for Kyoto in thirty minutes. Passengers, do not forget your belongings as you exit the train." Soon, passengers began to rise from their seats, being sure to take their stuff with them, lest they lose them forever. Groups of people soon began to file out, making the center aisle quite stuffy for others.

In the front, Yu removed his gaze from the window and turned towards the still sleeping Naoya. He found it kind of funny how he was able to sleep the entire hour and a half ride without at least waking up for a quick second. He extended his arm and shook Naoya's shoulder.

"Hey, we're here. Come on, wake up Naoya." Naoya's loud snoring told Narukami that it wasn't working. With a sigh, he grabbed him by both shoulders and shook him more vigorously, receiving quite the amount of stares from bystanders. "Come on get up! You don't wanna miss your stop do you?!"

Apparently, the combination of his near violent shaking and yelling seemed to do the trick as Naoya's snoring abruptly stopped and he shot up like a rod.

"Wha-?" Naoya looked left and right, his bangs covering his left eye, and drool seeping from his chin. He wiped his face and fixed his hair, quickly standing from his seat and smiling as hard as he could. When the magnitude of people in the aisle decreased, he hopped into the line and motioned for Yu to join him.

"Come on Yu stop being lazy, we're at Sumaru." Yu let out a sigh, before giving a forced smile.

He was on a mission.

Sumaru City was... gloomy to say the least. Sure, Inaba was located in the middle of nowhere and it was a silent city. But Sumaru just made Yu feel flat out depressed. There were more people here than there were in Inaba sure, but the all-around atmosphere made him want to jump off of a bridge. His thoughts were interrupted when Naoya slapped him on the back, and gave him a concerned smile.

"You alright there, pal? You seem to be thinking a lot. Is that a hobby of yours I should know about?" Naoya innocently questioned.

Yu looked towards Naoya, nearly forgetting he was with him due to Sumaru's depressing atmosphere. "Uh n-no, it's just the vibe the city is giving me is all. I think I see what you mean about the feeling you get from here. It's almost like..."

"Like there's more to be found out. Like there's a force calling out to you, correct?" Naoya finished. Yu was flabbergasted, he couldn't have worded it better himself. It's like he quite literally read his mind.

"Y-yeah..." Yu managed to utter out. Naoya walked in front of him, gazing out towards the brick buildings and passing pedestrians.

"Well this clearly means we have to perform an investigation. Detective Narukami...that's your last name right, I forgot (Yu nodded). Great, Detective Narukami, it's time we get some answers to this mystery." Naoya began walking in a random direction with a noticeable pep in his step, determined to accomplish whatever goal he set.

Yu smiled at Naoya's enthusiasm towards their shared curiosity, but that smile quickly vanished as Yu watched him walk away. 'Potential ally or not, I'm not going to let that little remark on the train go unnoticed. Naoya, I will figure out just who you really are!' He straightened himself out and jogged towards the speed walking Naoya.

To say he was bewildered would be the understatement of the century. At the moment, Yu found himself seated next Naoya at a Ramen Shop located in the shopping district of Hirasaka. They had managed to find bus earlier after Naoya got them lost in the Yumezaki ward. They didn't necessarily know where the bus was going to take them, but then again, they didn't know much about the city in the first place.

The Ramen Shop (Shiraishi Ramen if he recalled correctly) was small, quaint and very underpopulated. Besides him and Naoya, there were only a few (from what he could infer from their clothing) detectives on their breaks and the owner of the shop. She was a smoker that looked to be in her late forties; she always seemed to be squinting, as if she were searching for something or was suspicious of everything.

"Now this is a menu I could get behind; I mean they got it all! From Shoyu to Char Siu Ramen, it's anything you could ask for! What's the first thing you're going to order?" Naoya was enamored with the options of food at his disposal. Yu gave him a questioning look.

"What happened to investigating the city?" Naoya looked at him, a cheeky grin plastered on his face.

"How far can we get without being distracted by the unbridled pain of an empty stomach?" It was at this point, that Yu finally understood attempting to contest Naoya would only lead to self-doubt. "Now I'm getting the Miso, what are you deciding on?" With a sigh, Yu looked back down to the menu. He was right, there was a lot to order from here. He took a moment to look through his options and stopped when he spotted something weird.

"Banana ramen? That sounds gross." This earned Naoya's attention, he snatched Yu's menu from him and observed it deeply.

"Who in their right mind would order something as disgusting as this?! I mean, ramen with banana? Who's twisted idea was this?!"

"That'd be me." Naoya and Yu both looked up at the person who just spoke. There, staring them down was the shop owner, cigarette in her mouth and voice laced with poison.

"You got something to say about my restaurant?" She was intimidating, her presence easily instilled fear into the hearts of the duo. Naoya audibly gulped out of fear, looking towards Yu for guidance. He only received a look that begged for help. He turned back to the owner before speaking up.

"N-not at all ma'am. In fact, my associate and I were just getting ready to leave this very fine establishment... isn't that right?" Yu nodded his head vigorously, eager to leave before this woman killed them.

There was a pregnant silence in the room before the owner grunted in approval and turned back to whatever she was doing. Naoya stood up, grabbed Yu by the shoulder and ran out of the restaurant, not daring to look back.

"That was a close call. Sorry about back there, I guess I just can't keep my mouth shut."

Now they found themselves on the sidewalk, casually making their way to who knows where. Yu nodded Naoya off, giving him a sideways glance.

"Don't worry about it, I'm just glad we're safe for now." He wasn't lying, he had faced a God and solved a murder case, but never before had he ever felt so frightened.

Just what was this place?

"Yeah, you said it." There was a long pause in their conversation before Yu chose to speak again.

"So, what was your life like when you were younger?" Yu looked towards Naoya, hoping to get some answers. Naoya let out a sigh, followed by a chuckle.

"Alright, so you want to know more about me then, huh? Ok, I'll humor you for a bit." Naoya stopped and sat at a nearby bench, motioning for Yu to sit beside him. Of course, Yu followed, wanting to hear about his past. Naoya looked up and began to reminisce.

"I'll start with my days in—hey look, what's that?" Naoya interrupted himself, pointing into the distance. Yu looked visibly frustrated, there's no way in hell he'd fall for this trick.

"Hilarious, now please back to the story." Yu went to place a hand on Naoya's shoulder but he was too fast. Naoya quickly stood and then made a mad dash across the street, making a beeline for a very fancy schoolyard.

"Whoa wait!" Yu yelled out, chasing Naoya with vigor. A few seconds later Yu caught up to Naoya, mildly aggravated. "You know; we won't be able to move on with this 'investigation' if you keep getting distracted by every little thing!"

"Oh, but that's the thing Yu, with this discovery, we might just find out what Sumaru City really is!" Naoya turned to face Yu, face shining with glee. "I present to you the answer to our problem: Seven Sisters High!" It took Yu a moment to process what was going on.

They were going to find answers…. In a school?

"We're going to find answers…. In a school?" Speaking out loud what he just thought to himself.

"Yes, now let's go! Solutions await!" With that, Naoya ran off into the building, leaving a confused Yu behind.

Yu shook his head and smiled, he'd be lying if he said Naoya didn't amuse him at all.

'This was going to be interesting, maybe we'll both get the answers we seek.' He began to walk into the school when a blue butterfly flew in front of him.

"Huh, a blue butterfly; and quite beautiful too." Yu extended his arm for the butterfly to flutter onto his hand. Slowly, it landed onto his fingertips and faced him directly. "What are you doing here little guy?" Yu placed his other hand on the butterfly to attempt to pet him.

And that's when it happened.

The moment he touched it, an all too familiar rush of nausea slammed into him. Yu staggered backwards, clutching his suddenly aching head. But just as suddenly as the wave of sickness hit him, it disappeared.

"Just what in the hell was that?" He looked around for the butterfly only to notice that it had vanished from his sight. It must have flown off shortly after Yu reeled back. He still found it strange for something like that to have happened out of the blue like that.

The last time he felt like that was when….

Shaking off the thoughts, Yu walked forwards into the school, hoping he hadn't lost Naoya.

He failed to notice the man with a mask watching him in the distance.


By the time Yu had found Naoya, he had already explored half of the school. When asked what took him so long to get in, Yu simply told him that somebody asked him for some help. Naoya gave him a weird look, before shrugging it off and moving onwards.

They toured the school for what seemed like hours, entering different classrooms, the janitor's room (they were both confused as to why the Janitor had such a homely place to stay at a school of all places), and even went back outside to the schoolyard.

Eventually, they found themselves on the third floor of the school.

"Anyways, I'm getting some weird vibes from this school, and not cause it's basically empty. Like, I can feel it in my very soul." Naoya stopped and but a hand to his chest, as if to add dramatic effect. But his face was still and serious.

"I kind of see what you mean, like a sense of familiarity here. It's pretty strong too, almost nauseating in fact." The atmosphere around them was tense, it was quiet and it felt as if they were almost waiting for something to just magically appear.

"Hey!" Yu jumped a little while Naoya gave out a, rather feminine scream. They quickly pivoted towards the source of the voice.

"What are you two doing here?" There stood a woman who seemed to be in her mid-thirties. Her hair was dark blue, so dark that it could be easily mistaken as black, although both Yu and Naoya could notice a very minute amount of greying hairs. She was wearing a white blouse tucked into a yellow skirt, all the while holding a yellow coat over her shoulder with her right hand. She gave off a friendly aura but her face at the moment seemed to say otherwise.

She took a step forward, she looked at the two men in front of her, raising an eyebrow at their appearances. She turned towards Yu first.

"You, I'd be able to recall a head of hair like that, you don't attend this school do you?" It took a moment for Yu to register what she just said before he quickly shook his head and looked downwards.

"Hmm, I figured as much, though you don't seem hostile." With that, she looked towards Naoya, who seemed to look just as solemn as she did. They looked towards each other with looks that could pierce Yu's very soul. There was an elephant in the room before they both seemed let out a hearty laugh.

"You look like you haven't changed a bit, Naoya!" She walked towards Naoya and pulled him into a tight hug. One that he reciprocated almost immediately.

"I can't say the same to you Ms. Saeko, the years have treated you well." His voice carried a genuine air to it, making Yu assume that he was on good terms with this woman. They pulled away, before Naoya spoke again.

"What are you doing here?" His voice was louder than usual, but innocently curious. The woman (Yu recalled Naoya called her Ms. Saeko), slapped Naoya on the back of the face while chuckling at his question.

"What the hell kind of question is that? You know I got transferred here years ago. And to somebody who isn't my student, it's Takami and not Ms. Saeko. You're making me feel old." Yu heard Naoya mutter something along the lines of 'You're tellin' me.'

Naoya turned towards Yu, a large grin stuck on his face. "Yu, I'd like you to meet one of my old teachers and closest friends, Ms. Sae—uh, I mean Takami!" Yu looked in her direction, extending his arm for a handshake.

Ms. Saeko, returned the action, smiling all the while. "It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am."

"Ah please, the pleasure's mine kid. Don't take offense to the hair bit earlier, I actually like it, it's fresh." Yu blushed slightly at her compliment.

"But anyways, what are you guys doing here? School's out, there's nothing interesting here."

Naoya spoke up. "Ah, we were in the area and decided to have a quick tour of the school. Heard good things about it so we decided, 'why not', y'know?" Naoya turned towards Yu. "Ain't that right?"

"Uh, yeah, I actually know a couple of people from this school and I wanted to see what it was like." He lied. He hoped that it would've fooled her, but Ms. Saeko seemed like a woman wise beyond her years.

True to his thoughts, Ms. Saeko gave them both a look that seemed like she wasn't buying a word either of them said. However, she merely shrugged, seemingly not caring about their true intentions, brushing them off as good people.

"Well, you never gave me a reason to distrust you Naoya so I'm sure you'll be fine, but for old time's sake, be careful alright?" With that, she turned on her heel and walked back towards the stairs. Naoya let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in, wiping imaginary sweat off of his forehead.

"You alright over there?" Naoya looked towards Yu, flashing him a grin and giving him a thumbs up.

"Yeah man, I'm fine. It's just that…. She never fails to get me so scared. You ever know somebody like that? Who just easily leaves you shaking in your shoes?" Yu put a finger to his chin at the question. He let out a small hum as he looked upwards.

"Nope can't say that I do."

"Ah well, I guess it's just me. Never mind that, let's get back to what we were doing."

"Right."

"Alright, we've pretty much covered every inch of the entire school and there ain't much up here to gawk at."

"You're right. Maybe if we-," Yu stopped talking as suddenly, there was an intense pressure in the air that surrounded him. Naoya seemed to feel it too as he immediately straightened up and became serious almost instantaneously. The hallway felt almost hot due to how much pressure was being exerted.

Naoya and Yu turned their heads to where they assumed it was coming from.

"The clock tower." They both announced, looking towards each other in shock, before shaking their heads and walking to the door that lead to the clock tower.

When they opened the door, the pressure that they felt seemed to intensify to near maddening levels before subsiding almost instantly. Yu and Naoya both looked around searching for the source only to see a man standing on a gear.

His back was facing them, but he had what appeared to be black hair tied up into a ponytail. He was wearing a black turtleneck that matched his black pants and shoes. Slowly he turned around, and let Naoya and Yu have a good look at the golden butterfly mask that covered most of his face sans the bottom right and his eyes.

"You're…" Naoya started.

"Philemon…" Yu finished. The name just rolled off of his tongue easily. As if he had known him for years. But from what he knew, Yu never met this man in his life.

Or so he thought.

"We meet again, Naoya, Yu." From what little of his mouth was showing, they could tell that he was smiling ever so slightly. He had an invisible aura that could be easily sensed by the two of them. He seemed like he meant no harm, but that didn't mean that he couldn't eradicate them before they realized it.

"What going on? If you're here, then that means that trouble shouldn't be far behind." Naoya spoke. He sounded curious, yet Yu felt a bit of venom from his voice.

Philemon chortled slightly. "You're quick to catch on, of course you are, it's why you're one of the chosen." Yu turned towards Naoya, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"One of….the chosen?" he asked. Naoya sighed, and then stood straight.

"Yu, I didn't want you to find out like this. But I, like you, am a Persona-user. I have been for years in fact. It's how I was able to see you had the potential within you as well when we first met."

"A Persona-user?" Of course! That had to be the aura that he got from him, it just had to be. How didn't he figure it out sooner? He said, that he'd had the potential for years now, so that raised the question: how adept was he at using it?

"Yes, the person you see before you is what granted me that power, and you as well"

"Him? N-no, I received this power from somebody else. I received it from-" he was cut off.

"Izanami, correct?" Yu nodded. "Wrong. If you recall, she told you that you always had it within you. She just gave you…"

"A little push." Yu looked down into his hand and opened it. Soon, a tarot card formed within it. Out of shock, Yu jumped back, it had been so long since he had used it, and even more so, he was able to form a card in the real world.

Philemon's smile faded and he looked at both of them. "I'll cut to the chase as it appears we've not much time to spare. I need you once more, the both of you."

"What for?" Naoya asked. He took a step forward, but then stopped when he realized that any further and he could've fell.

"There's something powerful and deadly approaching the Earth. Something stronger than anything you've ever faced before and the only people who stand a chance of eliminating it are my chosen guests." Yu took this chance to speak.

"Just what is this thing you speak of?" Philemon looked at Yu, smiling once more.

"His name is Nyarlathotep. He's my other half. Long ago, he was banished to parts unknown to those of your kind BY those of your kind. In fact, one of them was also chosen guest. However, he's returned, with power that seems to surpass mine."

"So what makes you think that us two can take him out?!" Naoya yelled. He seemed like he wasn't too trusting of Philemon at the moment.

At this, Philemon let out a hearty laugh that seemed to shake the entire building, or that's what it felt like to Yu.

"Funny, I don't recall saying you were the only two I chose to request help from." He snapped his fingers and the door that Yu and Naoya entered from flashed with a magnificent light. Yu had to shield his eyes while Naoya just tilted his head to the left ever so slightly. When they looked back, the door was a bright blue with an intricate engraving on it.

"The Velvet Door." Naoya commented.

"Yes, you two, I beg that you choose to join my cause, for I fear that if you don't, then the universe will fall to his might." Yu looked towards Philemon, he just had one more thing to ask.

"What about Earth?" Philemon's mouth turned downwards.

"I'm afraid that we can't save it from his wrath?"

"What do you mea-" it was as if he just couldn't finish a good sentence today to save his life. The high school soon begun to shake violently, the gears that Philemon was standing on began to break apart and fall, forcing him to float towards the platform they were on.

In the sky above them, the sun was suddenly blocked out by large, ominous clouds. The whole Earth seemed to be rumbling as an immense energy built up from the center of the city. Instantly, a blood red light appeared from the sky and then exploded, decimating almost everything in its path.

"There's no time, he's here! Quickly, through the door, now!" They didn't have to be told twice with what was going on. Yu and Naoya made a mad dash for the door. Yu grabbed the handle and pulled the door open, only for both of them to be engulfed by light.


Hehehe, two birds with one stone. Or, two guests with one door...hmmm. Anyways, that two down and two to go.

Critique is always welcome and reviews are always appreciated.

Stay Golden!