The Fool (II)
Front Row on the Right Girl
"In the beginning, there was nothing except a plan for the end and a will to carry out that plan."
After hearing those words, I got chills so bad it made me freeze where I was standing. It felt like that dream again, and just as real, only now there was no doubt about how real it was. I wasn't dreaming, and if I was, I needed to stop sleep altogether.
"Welcome to the Velvet Room," he says again, "This place exists between conscious and subconscious. Mind and matter. What is considered reality, and what is considered fantasy. This is where dreams become dreams and hope becomes hope. Here locks are unlocked and chains unbound. This is the place that connects you to yourself. Your inner self. We refer to this as… Persona"
Did he just say… my inner self. No way. Is this also connected to that dream somehow. Not that I even believe what he's saying but, is he being serious? How much does he know.
"I'll take it from here, if you'll allow me Igor."
"Feel free Alexander, you need the training."
"This room may appear to look exactly like your room back home, in fact, it does look exactly the same as how you left it, but this room is special in that way. My brother and I created this space nearly twenty years ago for Persona users with high spiritual sensitivity just like us. Any questions so far?"
"Oh, no, just about all of them."
"Good then."
I can't believe he said that smiling. I was clearly being sarcastic.
"This is a place for people who have unlocked the potential or have the potential locked away inside their souls to wield Personas. It helps them with forming bonds with those Personas and other people that can help strengthen their potential. These bonds are part of a phenomenon we call "Social Links" and they play a vital role in developing your skills."
"Okay, I don't know what's going on here, but I don't really believe in all this inner self, Persona, Social Link, whatever else you're trying to tell me. It just doesn't seem realistic to me."
"I want to tell you something and I really want you to take heed of what I'm saying. Just because something doesn't seem realistic, doesn't mean it isn't real. And I would also advise that you take heed of the opposite of that. Fantasy might not be as fantastic as you think."
Igor cut in. "Alexander, you must have been paying close attention to my words. I couldn't have said it better myself."
"Thank you Igor. I'm really excited to finally have the chance to do this for you, and I just want to be the best assistant I can possibly be. I owe it to Theo, Elizabeth, and all of them. They raised me and taught me so much."
Igor made a face that would make you think he just saw a mirror. In case you don't understand that joke, he looked scared. "Yes, I know. You learned a lot from all of them. That's what scares me."
Alexander smiled, and even though he looked completely normal, it was somehow scarier than the smile Igor gave earlier. "I know sir. It scares me too. But back to the matter at hand."
He looks back at me. "I know you don't want to believe in all this, and it might seem strange to you, but I could have sworn you'd talked with your Persona already, did you not? He should have explained things."
"I have no idea what you are talking about."
After all, that dream last night was just that. A dream.
"Oh, according to the compendium, Venus began to awake last night, along with two others. Abyssius and Sasagamine."
"I did have a dream last night where a voice that called himself Venus talked some inner self stuff to me, but that was just a dream."
"No, Matoi, that was Venus, your Persona, communicating with you. The only reason you are here talking to us right now is because your Persona is starting to awaken."
"No, that can't be true."
"Yes it is," said a familiar voice. It was Venus.
We just stood there in a very awkward silence.
After the awkward silence became a really awkward silence, I decided to speak again.
"So, if I'm here because my Persona started to awaken, why is Shisuke still frozen? He was telling me about something called Abyssius talking to him in a dream, just like Venus did to me."
"Honestly, that is a question that has an answer even unknown to me. I wish I could tell you more, but it might just be that his Persona is not far enough along in its awakening to grant him access here. I assure you, the reason he is not here has nothing to do with his level of spiritual power, he has more than enough. It would make sense that you would arrive before the others."
"The others? Are there more than Shisuke and the other person, the one with Sasagamine?"
"Perhaps, but I am unable to disclose that information to you. At least, at this moment. I only mentioned the Persona names, after all, I am not allowed by my superiors to release the names of the actual users of those Personas. That information is confidential I'm afraid."
"I guess that makes sense. The confidentiality makes a lot more sense than anything else that's going on here."
"Yes. I suppose someone that is experiencing this part of reality for the first time must think something like that. I know my brother and I did."
"When you experienced this part of reality for the first time. So… you weren't always in this situation?"
"Oh, no. I'm a human just like you, and one with a very immense amount of spiritual power. The Personas of a person usually awaken when three conditions are met. When an outside force unlocks the ability buried deep inside of a qualified person. When a person with a strong potential for wielding Personas comes into direct contact with their world in some way. And when a person bears a strong spiritual affinity."
"I don't think some of these things have ever happened to me. Not before I was brought here."
"You'd be surprised what has happened to you that you don't recall, Matoi."
"Well… that's cryptic."
"Very much so, but in some rare cases these three things don't necessarily need to occur. Well, not as long as at least one of them does. This is the way it was for me. I had a very strong spiritual presence, and when I was forced into a situation where it was life or death, I summoned my Persona."
Igor cut in, "And soon after my master and I showed up and took him and his brother in. After all, it was the first time in a long time that a human had summoned a Persona outside of the Persona's realm, and for a human child to have did it was unheard of. Even still, this young man summoned his Persona, and it wasn't a weak one either. Rather, Alexander's is one of the strongest we've ever seen."
"Yes. My Persona is one that wasn't even in the compendium, as it is an ancient power that none have summoned in quite some time. His name is Vanitas. I would offer to summon him and show him to you, or to tell you more about my past, but we are almost out of time. 'The world will resume soon, when the blue velvet fades away.' Its from a poem I am writing, and it is very true indeed. The world will resume soon. Feel free to tell Shisuke. I'm sure we'll be meeting soon. Goodbye for now."
They turn and head towards the door.
"Wait, I have another question."
The blue things in my room start to change back into the colors they are supposed to be.
"Stop! I have more questions! I need answers!"
The blue was almost completely gone, and they had closed the door.
"I said wait! You can't just tell me all this stuff and then leave me here without answers! You want me to believe you, but then you run away? Igor! Alexander! Answer me!"
"Igor and Alexander? Who are they?"
Shisuke was awake and as I turned around to answer him, I noticed the clock said 12:01.
He had no idea who those two were and to be perfectly honest, I didn't really know myself. It was strange… I kind of felt safe. I'm not sure what it says about my character and sense of judgment to feel perfectly safe around two strangers who claim and appear to be part of a completely different realm of reality, but I did. And that's the thing. I felt safe and for some reason… I wanted answers about that world. The world I never knew about but am apparently a part of.
Its not normal to have these thoughts, and I barely had much in common with anyone, but maybe… just maybe… I can find people like me thanks to this situation.
I explained everything to Shisuke and after us talking and thinking about what to do, we decided on a plan.
"Okay, so we are going to do two things. First, we are going to keep an eye out for the person with Sasagamine," Shisuke said.
"Yeah, and we are going to answer that phone call at midnight next time."
Sadly, the next day at school was also uneventful. It makes sense since no one was really in the mood yet. Not even our teachers looked like they wanted to be here. Shisuke and I really didn't, because of all the stuff that happened for the past few nights. To be honest, we were excited and intrigued, which I guess is the human nature when they come upon a mystery. Something that was not able to be explained, because whatever this Persona stuff is certainly falls into that "unexplainable thing" category. We kept an ear out for anyone that was talking about something similar happening to them but we never heard anything. We began to think it was just us, and before we headed home that afternoon, we met up outside the school to talk a little bit first.
As per usual, I was there before Shisuke, since that guy seems to be late to everything. It was at this point when some things started to go into play that would change our situation drastically. But, I probably shouldn't be so blatant with my foreshadowing, should I? The point is, when Shisuke FINALLY showed up, I just had to ask him
"What took you so long?"
"Sorry, I was talking to someone."
"Did you find someone that had the same dream experience we had?"
"Well, no… I don't know."
This guy. What does he, am I right?
"Who was it?"
"What?"
"The person you were talking to idiot!"
Yes I hit him on the head. Yes he deserved it.
"Ow! It was Front Row on the Right Girl!"
Yes I hit him on the head again. Yes he deserved it again.
"She has a name!"
"Oh, yeah? What is it then smart guy."
"Oh no! I'm not telling you, if you want to figure it out you're gonna have to actually be a good person and listen for once."
"I know what it her name is, I just want to make sure you aren't being mean to me for something you're guilty of too!"
"Fine! Her name is Haku Saijo."
"See, was that so hard?"
He says this while writing something on his arm.
"Shisuke, what are you writing?"
I say this while grabbing his arm.
"Are you serious?"
I say this while reading what he wrote on his arm. Haku Saijo.
"You really didn't know her name!"
"Hey, it's not my fault! How the heck am I supposed to know her name is Haku Saijo if she never told me? Wait, Saijo! As in the school!"
"Yes, her father is the guy over the school. And to answer your other question, that goes back to the being a decent person thing, because the teacher says her name during attendance check at the beginning of every class, so if you just listened to the teacher once you would know her name."
"I can't be expected to know everyone's names. Why do you even know? I thought you said you didn't like her."
"I don't like like her, but I'm also not a moron."
"Neither am I! Don't forget I have better grades than you!"
"Being smarter doesn't mean you aren't an idiot."
"Gah! Can we just stop with this conversation?"
"Sure. So… what were you two talking about anyways?"
He mumbles something inaudible. Which, when he was supposed to be answering my question, is kind of a pointless thing to do right?
"Dude. Didn't hear that."
"I said I wa… (insert inaudible garbage here)"
Really. Really? Really!?
"Shisuke. What the heck were you two talking about? Did you already ruin your chances with her that you never had?"
"No! I was just bragging!"
"Hah! About what. Other than your grades the only thing you're good at is being chronically late."
"I was bragging about standing up to bullies for you and about how some strange stuff has been going on and we're trying to get to the bottom of it."
"Really? Did she know anything about the number or anything."
"She didn't say. She kinda just laughed and walked away. But… she laughed so she must think I'm funny right. Hahaha!"
No one would believe that laugh wasn't forced.
"Unless she was laughing at you, sure."
We both laughed for a little bit. Which is kinda sad considering we were laughing at him getting laughed at by the girl he's crushing on, but whatever. Then he stopped laughing and his look changed.
"On a more serious note though, when you asked if she knew anything about what was going on, I answered the way I did for a reason."
"Well, you just said no then paused and said you didn't know so… I don't see how that's helpful."
"I said I didn't know because after she walked away I kept my eyes on her."
"Because you're a stalker?"
"Yes becau…. No! Not a stalker. What I'm trying to say is she pulled her phone out and called someone almost as soon as she turned the corner."
"How would you know that unless you were…"
"..."
"Dude. Not cool."
"What!? I had to figure out if she was hiding anything from us, like if she knew about the messages from a phone with no number, the persona thing, or like, you know, if she had a boyfriend."
"Dude!"
"Oh shut up! Listen, I didn't catch the whole conversation but what I did hear was something we might need to think about and figure out."
"What was it? Something about a guy she likes?"
"No, something that might be about what's been happening. She said something about a "House" and "Midnight." I'm thinking, either she or whoever she was talking to knows a lot more about what these Personas are than we do."
"Sounds like it."
"So, what do we do? You wanna go chill at my house until midnight since we went to yours last night?"
"Sure, I don't see what it could hurt."
With that, we went to Shisuke's house. His parents weren't there because they were staying in Norikama. Basically, we had the place to ourselves, and in the near future that was going to be a big help to us. And by near future I mean after the events that occurred that night, exactly one minute after 11:59.