AN: Hello everybody! After 3 long months without any updates, I finally got the time to complete the 3rd chapter of this story. Granted, this chapter is shorter than the others, shorter than I would like. In fact, what will be Chapter 4, was intended to be part of Chapter 3. But since I decided you deserved some updates after 3 months, I decided just to release this first part, even though it is shorter than planned. Updates will be more frequent since its summer break, so you won't have to wait as long as before.
Again, please review this story so I can improve. If you see mistakes and flaws, please note them so I can improve them. Anyway please enjoy this very short chapter of Persona ND.
EDIT: Derp, forgot to add a chapter title.
Chapter 3: New Arrivals
Thursday, May 20, 2021 Class 2-3, Yasogami High, Inaba
The ambient chatter of the students conversing amongst each other filled the room like a thin layer of smoke was suffocating the classroom, making hearing fairly difficult. Laughs, ranging from soft, controlled giggles to an outburst of sharp laughs, pierced the noise of the lively but calm pre homeroom discussions. Students waited boringly in their seats or standing by the desks of their friends, waiting for the homeroom teacher to walk into the classroom and begin homeroom.
Despite the somewhat mellow atmosphere of the room, there was a certain extra sense of excitement of the room, as the conversations were more lively than usual while still being at an appropriate noise level, due to probably of the anticipation of the arrival of not one, but two, transfer students, into their second year class. Both from the city, one boy and one girl for the eager teenagers of both genders willing to date and delve into the unknowns of the romantic realm. This was a major topic of discussion, especially in all male and all female groups. Bits of their idealistic fantasies and hopes of fictional love could be faintly picked up by Nanako and Miwa.
"They just going on and on about the female transfer student, aren't they?" Nanako groaned, as she overheard some especially risque criteria from a group of male students. "It's not very nice to judge a girl before you meet her. Imagine if she heard what they were saying."
"I argee. Those guys are being so shallow right now. They won't get any girls to date them if they continue to act like that. I know I wouldn't date someone like that." Miwa responded in assent with a hint of irritation.
"If you did, theoretically, get a boyfriend, and he treated you like that, I'll definitely give him a piece of my mind. No one treats my best friend like that, no matter who you are." Nanako repiled, "Then again, that is if you get a boyfriend, because you have such high standards. No boy I ever saw is able to charm you."
"That's because I don't need a boyfriend that with for my looks and my body only. Intimacy is much deeper than that. If you want to be in a relationship with me, try to bond with me on a personal level, instead of staring at my boobs."
"Ah, it's a pity that you're so mature about relationships already. If you said that to boys more often when they try to win you over, maybe you wouldn't be hit on so much? I mean, you're so polite and nice to them even though it irritates the hell out of you."
"You know I'm more on the quiet side, and I don't like to bash other people's feelings, even though I'm sick of all of it."
"I know. You're so formal sometimes with teachers and stuff. It's like you're two different people when talking with me and Yuuta-kun and when you're talking to people outside your comfort zone."
"Whatcha doing, ladies?" Yuuta said, with a smirk, as he walked up to the desks Nanako and Miwa were sitting in, "Discussing your thoughts on our new male classmate, fresh from the big bustling city?"
"No. We wouldn't go that low, unlike you." Miwa repiled coldly, "I heard you when we were walking to school with your friend Daichi-kun. You two wouldn't stop rambling about the female transfer student, and her potential 'measurements'. You are really perverted sometimes, Yuuta-kun."
"Ahh, I could say the same thing. What were you talking about when you left the school yesterday?" Yuuta shot back confidently, with a gleeful look in his eyes. "Not the 'new male classmate', perhaps?" He said that with a taunting and sarcastic tone, as he waggled his finger towards Miwa.
"Shit..we been caught, Miwa." Nanako muttered quietly, with Miwa glaring at Yuuta with a icy stare. "Might at well admit it. The man has done his homework."
"How the actual hell did you know what we were talking about?!" Miwa asked angrily with suspicion, still keeping her serious gaze on Yuuta. "You left for basketball practice before we left, You shouldn't even know!"
"Ahhh, well, you see, I left my water bottle in my desk in the classroom. So when I was heading back to retrieve it, I saw you two standing still, talking by the shoe lockers. You guys didn't notice me, but I heard some very intriguing bits of that conversation as I went upstairs." Yuuta explained.
"So you eavesdropped on our conversation?! Oh, you piece of shit!", Miwa complained furiously, putting her hand on her forehead. "Now he knows. He's going to dangle this over our heads for months now, Nanako!"
"Come on, Miwa. We got plenty of arsenal to fight back with. Like the incidents he caused in middle school, in our first year, and some this year too…." Nanako said reassuringly, placing a firm hand on Miwa's shoulder. Unlike Miwa's burning eyes of a combination of panic and fury, her eyes were calm but fierce, like a predator eyeing its prey.
"Oh right. Like the one time at the water foundation…" Miwa said, void of all the vivid, ferocious emotion present beforehand.
"And the incident at the change rooms, who could forget that…?" Nanako added. "And what about…."
"Ok! Ok! OK!" Yuuta interrupted desperately, "I get your point. I won't dangle the fantasies of the city boy over your head. Damn, you two, being all passive-aggressive, it scares the living shits out of me." He shook his head in resignation, and left out a sigh.
Upon the noise of a sliding door opening, the chatter among the scattered students in the class suddenly fell silent. Squeaks of chair scraping the floor and the pattering of the feet of multiple students shuffling quickly back to their seats was all that could be heard in the quiet classroom as the middle aged, brown haired Mr. Saruda walked in, tailed by two students dressed in the Yasogami High Uniform. One was a tall boy with a slim, muscular frame with thin,long legs. His cleanly shaved face made him look older than his age, his mouth forming a slight but distinct frown. Under his thinly framed glasses, his brown eyes formed a serious expression, but not in anger, and his short black hair was shaggy but was neatly swept to the side over his forehead. He walked into the class with a confident and orderly posture, his back upright, not slouching.
The student behind him was an extremely attractive girl with delicately smooth brown hair that extended to her chest in soft curls, bouncing her times she made a step. Her face was smooth and radiant as marble, and her green eyes were like polished emeralds, with a natural yet flirty sparkle. She formed a cheerful smile as she walked with a happy bounce behind the tall student, oblivious of all the attention she was getting from her new classmates. Following Mr. Saruda, the short, thin girl stopped with the male transfer student in the front of the class, and turned to face the class, ready to be introduced.
Mr. Saruda cleared his throat and commanded in a "Settle down, class. Homeroom has begun. As you can see, and as you all have heard, two new students will be transferring into our class as of today. One transferred in from Tokyo, the other from Okina, and I expect all of you to give them a warm welcome to this school. Now, I'll let them introduce themselves." Motioning to the students, the tall male student said in a deep voice formally, while bowing slightly, "Hello, my name is Rei Shizuya". The female student followed in an energetic and fast paced voice, retaining her cheerful smile. She quickly bowed to the class before saying "Hello! My name is Saiwa Yutuchi!"
Amidst the quiet muttering of the class, Nanako turned her head back towards Miwa and whispered, "What do you think of the transfers?"
"The girl seems pretty friendly, though she does seem a bit immature." Miwa responded discreetly, not wanting to be heard by Mr. Saruda and be chastised "The guy though, he's very formal and mature. He's giving off a vibe of being a bit cold and unfriendly to others."
"I know, he's more formal and mature than you" Nanako noted, "Though that's only to strangers or adults. You aren't like that with me or Yuuta-kun. Especially Yuuta-kun. Yutuchi-san's hair though.. It's so smooth and pretty... I wish my hair was like that.."
"Alright then, settle down, class", Mr. Saruda announced loudly, cutting through the soft chatter of the class and silencing it abruptly. He turned to the two transfers standing next to him." Now that you two are done introducing yourselves, let's find you some seats."
He scanned the room carefully until he located two unoccupied desks. Pointing to one which was to the left of Yuuta's desk, he said, "Shizuya-san, you can sit there….and…", directing his hand towards a desk to the right of Miwa, "Yutuchi-san, why don't you sit there?". The two nodded in assent and hastily shuffled their way across the old wooden floor to their respective seats. As Saiwa sat down, she turned to Miwa and greeted her with a friendly smile, "Guess we're sitting next to each other, huh? What's your name?"
"My name is Miwa Atsui." Miwa said in a formal tone, bowing slightly, "and this here is my friend, Nanako Dojima. It's a pleasure to meet you, Yutuchi-san."
"Nice to meet to you, too, Dojima-san and Atsui-san." Saiwa responded excitedly. She then turned her head towards Nanako and gave her a curious expression. " Say, Dojima-san, I feel like I've seen you before, but I can't quite remember it…."
"No, I don't we met before. Maybe I just look like an old friend of yours in the city…?' Nanako repiled skeptically.
"Ah! That's it! You were on some sort of dancing thing ten years ago with Kanami!", Saiwa said with realization, clapping her small, soft hands together lightly. "I was only seven but I still remember you performing on stage with her!"
"Yea...now that I think about it…. I guess I was on stage dancing once. I take it that you're a big fan of Kanami?" Nanako asked with a friendly tone, smiling warmly and genuinely.
"Of course! And Risette too! I heard that she's from here, Inaba, is that true?"
"Yep. She also attended Yasogami High. My 'big bro' went there at the same time as her in his second year while she went on that hiatus. They were pretty close friends too."
"What?! Your brother was friends with Risette?!" Saiwa exclaimed with total shock, her eyes wide in surprise. She pressed the palm of one of her hands down and leaned closer to Nanako, which was met with indifference from Nanako."Does that mean you got to meet her?"
"Yea, I got to meet her plenty of times. We're actually pretty close. And my 'big bro' isn't really my brother. He's just my cousin who lived with me for a year when I was seven. He was literally like a brother to me, so I guess I started calling him my big brother, and the name stuck." Nanako explained nostalgically, recalling the vivid and warm memories of the time spent with her so-called big brother, whether it was ten years ago or more recently, they still had the same special value in Nanako's heart.
"That's amazing! Wow, I'm so envious of you! You got to perform with Kanami, you're close friends with the one and only Risette."She suddenly redirected her attention from Nanako to Miwa. "How about you, Atsui-san? Are you a fan of Kanami and Risette?" Saiwa asked curiously to Miwa.
"Me?" Miwa responded, a bit startled due to being addressed. She had remained quiet for the majority of the conversation, absorbing in facts and information and listening intently. "Personally, I don't really listen to music that much, nor have a interest for idols. But I do enjoy sometimes listening to music from both Kanami and Risette, and Risette being an Inaba native is a plus for me."
"It's true. She may not follow them as intently as me or you, but she still enjoys listening to a good old piece of Risette or Kanami music." Nanako added. She was about to pose another question to Saiwa when the bell indicating the start of the first period rung loudly and the middle aged Ms. Sofue walked into the class. Nanako and Miwa turned from Saiwa, who groaned softly and slightly slouched in her seat, to face the blank but faded whiteboard as history class began.
Thursday, May 20, 2021 Dojima Residence, Inaba
Yu sat in complete silence in the now desolate kitchen at the wooden dining table, sipping on his mug full of now lukewarm coffee, the bittersweet yet enjoyable flavor of the combination of caffeine, sugar, and milk lingering on his tastebuds. A battered and already open newspaper with tiny light stain peppered across it lay on the table in front of him, but was totally ignored, the conversation he had with Nanako earlier this morning during breakfast distracting him.
"Yeah, didn't sleep well."
"Why not?
"Oh...umm..nothing…"
Nothing. My ass. That's obviously a lie. Yu thought. Based on past events, I have a pretty good feeling the nightmares that stem from her kidnapping are the ones keeping her up at night. The question is, why would she hide this, from me and Uncle, her own father? Why would she pretend that the mental scars left behind by that horrid incident have healed when in reality they still linger, dealing anguish and terror to her during the dead of night? I thought I understood Nanako, but it's seems there's a deeper underlying motivation for all this that I yet to have understand. The big challenge is getting Nanako to open up to me and spill it.
Damn it. I wish I had Mitsurugi-san's ability to draw information from people. Yu groaned internally while rubbing his forehead with his fingers in a repetitive and circular pattern He's literally a genius at it, using logic and words to completely destroy any attempt of hiding a certain bit of information. I've seen it in action myself, and it is terrifying how easily he does it.
Suddenly, the familiar ringtone of Yu's cellphone rang out, breaking the heavy silence of the empty Dojima residence. Yu snacted his phone and glanced at the glowing bright screen of his smartphone for the caller ID. Yosuke Hanamura, his trusty partner. Smirking a bit, he answered the call and said, "Hey, Yosuke."
"Yo, dude, you're here! What'cha doing right now?" Yosuke repiled happily, his voice slightly distorted over the phone. In the background, Yu could hear faint traces of bustling conversation involving a variety of different voices, ranging from the high-pitched, energetic voice of a child, to the deep, calm, yet controllable voice of a parent watching over their playing children. Using the limited evidence presented to him and some simple logic, Yu made a split second deduction that Yosuke was in a public place, mostly likely Junes. Probably Junes.
"Just sitting at my dining table, drinking coffee. I trust that you called for a purpose rather than to annoy the shit out of me?", Yu responded sarcastically, tipping his black framed glasses up his nose with a single finger.
"Hey! You know I would never do that!" Yosuke said overdramatically, feigning how wounded he was from that light hearted jab from his best friend. Recovering his normal voice, he proposed. "Anyway, since you're finally here, why don't you drop by Junes, at the old 'special headquarters'? Everyone's here dying to see you, Rise-chan, Naoto-kun, Kanji-kun, Chie, and of course, Yukiko-san. Expect Teddie though, he isn't here."
"He still hasn't come back from the TV world? Even when I returned to Inaba?"
"Yea. It's weird. Though, it makes sense. He's been on edge ever since he detected those weird presences and the Midnight Channel rumors began popping out again. Even though they went away and the Midnight Channel rumors were proven to be a hoax...I guess he's actually taking the role of protecting the TV world seriously for once."
"Speaking on the subject of the TV world, let's not forget the second reason I came back….", Yu said, suddenly adopting a somber tone, his eyes narrowing despite him talking via a cellphone. His grip on the smartphone tightened, the whites of his knuckles gradually becoming more distinct and obvious. "...investigating Marie-chan literal disappearance in thin air"
"Oh right….Marie-chan...look, dude, we're trying as hard as we can, but just can't find a trace of that girl anywhere." Yosuke repiled, his usual cheerful, upbeat voice much more serious with a hint of defeat and exasperation.
"Don't worry. I intend to help you guys investigate, even though I have no official investigative authority, as Inaba is under the jurisdiction of Okina City's Prosecutor Office, not Tokyo's." Yu said reassuringly while drumming his fingers along the old wooden surface of the dining table, "Unless I go through a bunch of procedural bullshit, which is allowed in only very special circumstances, which probably doesn't include this situation."
"That's nice to hear. But forget that for now, we can discuss it later with Dojima-san and Naoto-kun. Right now, let's just have some fun, it's your first day back in a while, partner!" Yosuke exclaimed joyfully, reverting back to his old mood earlier in the conversation.
Yu chuckled reminiscently. "Ok, ok. I'll be there in five. Don't do anything stupid while I'm going there. You don't want Chie-chan to deliver another 'critical hit to the nads'"
"Don't worry. I won't. The pain of Chie's 'critical hits' are enough to convince me otherwise. Anyway, we'll see you there, Yu!"
Yu chuckled lightly again before hanging up on Yosuke. Pocketing his phone into the right pocket of his tight black jeans, he began clearing off the old dining table, folding up the abandoned newspaper into halves repeatedly, and draining the contents of the half-filled mug of now cold coffee down the sink. He grabbed his black leather wallet and car keys left lying on the low table in front of the sleek, new looking, flat screen TV, and headed out the front door.
