Disclaimer: Persona series belong to their rightful owners. The only thing I own are the OCs.
Exams.
That's a word no one wants to hear.
Mostly because it just adds more stress to your life.
I sighed as I walked down the now familiar road.
I was alone for now.
Hana went sooner, seeing as third years had an extra exam today.
Mioda was already there.
She forgot to wake me up.
And Kurogane along with Kirijo decided to look into that mirror world.
Hopefully they found something.
I soon arrived at the academy and sighed once more.
At least five hours of hellish torture would begin.
I entered my classroom as everyone stressed out over these exams.
They all tried to squeeze in some more information either from their phones or their notebooks. Mioda was coldly looking into her notebook. A guy of average height was trying to talk to her but he was promptly ignored.
Wow.
Ice Queen much?
I smirked before approaching my seat which, was next to hers.
She looked at me as I sat and smiled brightly. Complete 180 of her previous expression.
"Kazuma-kun." She said "What took you so long?"
"Someone forgot to wake me up." I grumbled.
"Oh. I didn't hear anything from your room so I thought you already woke up and came here."
As soon as she said that the guy near us started imitating a fish.
"Something to say?" I asked him.
"You…You sleep together?"
"Same dorm." I narrowed my eyes.
"Oh. So Mioda-san would you-"
"No. Mind leaving me alone?" she sharply spoke.
He deflated before reluctantly going back to his seat.
"Ouch. That was cold."
"It's getting annoying. Constantly hearing them invite me out."
"Sounds awful-"
"Well, well. I thought you were gonna sleep in Dobe."
Oh great.
Not this guy.
I didn't have the mental fortitude to deal with him…
I resisted grunting before turning my head to look at him. He wore a simple black tuxedo that reached behind his knees. I had to stop at that. It probably cost more than my whole outfit…His pants were white and his shoes were black leather Cuban heel boots. Hair slicked backwards and dark brown with green eyes and an ever present arrogant smirk on his face.
"I thought you weren't going to show your face around here. Seeing as Kazuma-kun beat you so easily."
"That was all Kirijo. I know it. You know it. He knows it. Everyone knows it." He snarled at her and I glared "Still, I didn't come here to gloat…much."
"Then why are you here for?" She scowled.
"I came here-" he sat down in front me with his arms resting on the chair's backrest "To ask you if you know anything about a certain Kurusu Takaya?"
Kurusu Takaya.
The prime suspect for the crimes.
All bull.
"He's the prime suspect for the recent crimes."
"Correct. I'm surprised you know." He smirked. I wanted to punch his teeth in "Anything else about him? That's not public knowledge?"
"How are we supposed to know?" Mioda asked.
"Maybe you were friends. I don't know." He shrugged.
"What's it to you?"
"I plan on being a detective someday. The Kuzunoha name shall be mine." He flaunted that name around liked no tomorrow "I shall surpass my ancestor in both duty and skill." He smirked.
Good luck on that pal. The way you are now you're not reaching that legendary status or whatever.
"We don't know anything about him." I said suddenly.
"Even more useless than before, yomawushi." Mioda visibly stiffened at that and her fingers tensed around the pencil she was holding.
Me?
I got used to it.
Everyone can say mean words.
Everyone can say whatever the hell they want.
In the end words won't cut it. Actions matter.
The bell rang before any of us could say anything more.
He turned on his heel and walked to his seat.
The teacher came with a stack of papers in his hands. He had dark bags under his eyes.
…
He must've skipped sleeping.
Wordlessly he handed us the exams and I resisted groaning.
'Consider the functions f(x)= and g(x)= 9x+ 19b+97. In the standard (x,y) coordinate plane, y= f(g(x)) passes through (4,6). What is the value of b?'
…
I only understood the numbers…
I looked at Mioda.
She was already on the move.
Her pen was on fire!
Welp.
I'm fucked.
No…
I shook my head and checked the next one.
'Let l² ≡ 1/N. Choose a number at random between 0 and 1. Choose a second number between l² and 1 +l². Choose a third number between 2² and 1 + 2². Continue this process, until you choose an Nth number between 1 − l² and 2 − l². What is the probability that the first number you choose is the smallest of all the numbers? Assume that N is very large, and make suitable approximations.'
…
What in the world is this?!
No.
I gotta focus.
Next one!
'Assuming that the index of refraction of water is 4/3 and that raindrops are spherical, show that the location of a rainb-'
WOOO!
Double rainbows!
…next.
'Given any five integers-'
Yeah, screw this.
Bullshit luck, don't fail me now. Time to choose the answers at random!
She was at the police station.
The exams were easy. She finished them in half an hour and was long gone before making her way here.
Without her mother's approval or knowledge for that matter.
She resisted grunting at the memory of her mother.
How she loathed that woman.
She shook her head.
Best not to think about all that.
"Kirijo Aoi." She coldly stated her name as she passed by the dumbfounded guards. A couple of prisoners were either wolf-whistling or just ogling her.
That was to be expected.
She had a great figure and that wasn't bragging. That was fact.
Eventually she reached the cell she was looking for.
Cell 2-1
The one in the cell was different from the typical gruff and unclean man.
He had long dark hair tied in a ponytail with two ornamental needles stuck at the base of the ponytail in the shape of an 'X'. He eyed her with mischief behind his globes and smirked as his heterochromia eyes continued to stare at her.
"Aoi-chan!" he smiled as he approached the bars and leaned on them "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"I found someone that can get you out of here."
His eyebrow quirked upwards "Oh? Who?"
"Kazuma Naoki and Mioda Sayaka."
"Are they that strong?"
"He is. Not so sure about the girl."
He hummed before looking away.
"Mkay!" he smiled before plopping himself on the hard bed there "Want to join me?" he winked.
She blinked.
"I'd rather not." She smirked "We are under careful surveillance after what you did to…mother." She sneered.
"Ah. She's still angry that…you know?"
"That we fucked?" she deadpanned though internally she cheered. Away from the prying eyes of her mother and people all around her she could do whatever the hell she wanted. Cussing, drinking, fucking. Whatever she wanted, when she wanted, however she wanted.
It was amazing.
He blushed "Yeah." He never really could get behind cussing and whatnot. It just seemed crude to him.
"She is. But she is angrier that you tried to steal that evoker." She shrugged "Amongst doing other things…" she muttered before sighing.
"Sorry."
"Look. I'm not here to give you shit. It's just…With this whole suspect thing and she trying to get me to run Kirijo corp after she's dead and add the whole getting that Yukimura before you are executed or worse affair ...Everything is just taking a toll on me…" she breathed hard at the end.
A hand touched her downed cheek before she looked up.
She saw him smile and she couldn't help but follow his example.
"I get it. Thank you for doing this for me."
She scoffed.
"I'm only doing this because you're huge."
"Oh yeah. Totally." He rolled his eyes.
"It's not like I care about you on an emotional level! The only thing that attracts me to you is that huge thing."
"I did eat my vegetables when I was young."
"Dick."
"Princess."
They stared at one another before they both laughed.
Bing Bong.
Ah sweet sounds of bells.
How I have missed you.
Mioda smiled as she got up and stretched. Her back popped with a most likely satisfying crack. She sighed contentedly before looking at me.
"Kazuma-kun are you alright?"
"Yeah."
"Then why are you just staring off into space?"
"Thinking about either rope or height."
She giggled at that and I smirked.
"I never got to ask but are you alright, Mioda?" I asked, suddenly serious "With the whole…you know?"
"Oh." She looked down "Yeah. I accepted my resurfaced shadow now. Sorry about the trouble."
"We all got stuff to hide. No reason to be sorry for."
"Thank you." She smiled.
"Ohayo." A quiet voice startled us. I looked back and saw Hana standing there with a three bento boxes in hands.
"Hey Hana." I nodded.
"Hello Atisuto-san." Mioda offered a crooked smile in an attempt to be polite to our new teammate.
"W-Would you…" she stuttered again "Would you like to have lunch?" she gestured towards the bento boxes.
At that moment everything was silent.
Eyes were on me and Mioda.
They were eager to see what we would do.
Ah.
Reputation.
Even here reputation's all that matters to people of my age.
"Sure." I said as people gasped.
"Kazuma-kun is hanging out with that third year?"
"Maybe he's afraid she'll summon her persona again."
"Damn. Coward much?"
A couple of guys snickered before they found themselves face to face with Mioda.
"Hey boys. I couldn't help overhearing you badmouthing my friend." She spoke sweetly while spinning a pen around her middle finger "Want to see me make this pen disappear?" she asked before her grin turned sadistic.
That was hot…
I sometimes wonder if my taste in women is wrong.
The two guys hurried out of the classroom and everyone else just went back to their things.
"Now that that's done…Shall we?" she giggled as she came back to us.
I nodded and the three of us went to the roof.
"Hmm. Wonder why Naoki-chan didn't pay me some visits." Ayasara spoke before taking a sip from a small cup of coffee.
"The kid?" Eiji Isao spoke. He was a tall man with extremely short black hair and a small beard, who was fair to all students. He was also too kind to them for his own good. As shown during a previous encounter with the school headmaster after giving Atisuto a chance.
"Yeah."
"Maybe he's made some friends." He offered as he stretched. Damn it felt good not to worry about the headmaster's grand plans.
"I doubt that. He's not the kind of guy who just makes friends." She frowned slightly.
What was wrong with her?
She didn't care about Naok-…Kazuma-san. She was sent here to study his behavior and keep him on a leash. As short a leash as she could manage without everyone knowing what was happening.
If there was one thing she was good at it was acting.
And healing…and also biology and anatomy.
Okay four things.
Give her a break. She was never good at math.
"Ayasara-san!"
"W-What?" she choked on the coffee she wanted to drink.
"You were spacing out."
"Oh, thank you Isao-chan." She grinned.
"Wow. So who's the lucky guy?" He smirked before she wound up in his face while glaring daggers into his poor skull.
"Lucky guy? What do you mean lucky guy? I'll have you know I'm still a maiden! I am still looking for the perfect guy! I mean it is perfectly fine for a woman of my age to still be single! All the other girls are just trying too hard!" Her eyes got a crazier look with every word spoken and her voice got colder…sinister. Her sweet smile slowly turned into that of a crazed stalker…
That was probably just his imagination playing tricks on him. Stupid manga with those Yandere girls…
He was pretty sure his back was going to break due to the way he was bending backwards.
How her legs bent that way was beyond him.
"O…kay?" he wheezed out. Man this academy was fucked up.
Conspiracies, crazy teachers, shady headmaster and he's fairly certain that the food served in the cantina is just junk found on the street.
What's next? A group of teenagers start doing the police's job?
"Good." And just like that she returned back to normal. It was like a switch "I'll go and look for Naoki-chan! He's probably awfully hungry." He sighed as she skipped out the room with a pink bento box in hand.
"Huh. Dad was right. Women are crazy…" he looked outside as the Kirijo heiress arrived in her limousine. She felt his gaze and glared through the tinted windows. He tensed and awkwardly shifted his whole body until his back was turned to her "Also scary." He continued before sighing and looking at the newest batch of test papers that arrived.
"Might as well start now." He took a paper and read the name. He cursed himself internally. You never do that. So you don't have a biased opinion based on the name. It was common sense "Kazuma Naoki." He muttered "Huh. Let's see what our newest persona user has in that brain of his."
"I cannot believe you did that." Hana smirked slightly.
"What can I say? The new me doesn't let people fuck with my friends!" Mioda grinned and thumped her chest with her right hand. She regretted that decision as she unintentionally hit her left breast "OW, OW, OW!" she whined and rubbed it.
I blushed and looked away.
Hana grabbed her wrist and nodded towards me.
Mioda stopped and glared "What?" she looked at me and then at her hand still on her left fun bag "…Well. I guess my savior is a prude!" she grinned and went right up in my face. She had to stand on her toes to get there.
"Or maybe you just love to flaunt your body around." I smirked before she tried to hit me.
Keyword is 'try'.
I dodged before she could really lay into me "What?" I laughed.
"You perv! You totally enjoyed that!"
"I'm a healthy young man. I simply have an interest in the female body." I said that before I dodged again. I couldn't help but notice the smile on both her and Hana's faces as we messed around.
~Recharging complete~
~All systems functional~
~Booting up~
He opened his photoreceptors and surveyed his surroundings. He was in the room assigned to him in the dorm. Computers and every hacker's dream was located here. He got up and moved to the main computer before typing some things in it. His emotion modulator worked overtime as he found something after he cracked into Kirijio Corp's servers.
"Project Moon…" he blinked and he was kicked out suddenly. The security did their job "…What could it mean?"
Thankfully the only project that had this kind of security was this one. The others were fair game.
He stared at the screen as the information was registered in his processor.
"…I will need to inform Kirijo comma Aoi."
Unaware to Naoki, the school nurse was behind the door, listening on to their conversation. She looked down to her brightly colored bento box.
She frowned…
Why did him having fun with others trigger an aching in her chest?
Why did it hurt…?
She shook her head and started walking away.
No.
She couldn't think that.
She had a job to do.
And she'd be damned if she wouldn't succeed.
I sighed at the large number of customers. At this rate I'll be late for the meeting back at the dorm. I looked around to see if there were any people I knew…None. Great.
"Excuse me." Speak of the devil. I turned around and a young woman a little shorter than me stood. She had large tinted glasses with long black hair styled into a sideways French Braid I think the style was called. I remember Mioda talking about wanting to get her hair done like this.
I personally thought it wasn't all that great but it suited this woman. In any case she had a black choker around her neck with a heart broken in two attached to it. Her clothes were a plain black shirt and blue jeans along with high heels showing off her small feet.
"You are staring." She muttered.
I shook my head "Sorry." I apologized "Was there something you needed?" we made another step towards the counter.
"May I take your place in the line? I only have this." She gestured towards the cranberries yogurt she had.
I wasn't anything interesting "Oh sure." I moved away a bit and the two of us switched places "You look familiar." I couldn't help but say. It was true.
She was familiar.
…I saw her somewhere before.
"I get that a lot. I guess I just have a very common face." She shrugged and I narrowed my eyes before she paid for her magazine and left. I quickly did the same and caught up to her. I rounded around her and put my arm on the wall near her.
"Do you mind?" she asked while squirming in place.
I didn't say anything. I stared her in the eyes before sighing "Sorry. I really thought you were someone else. She owes me money you see?" I lied. No reason to get her to panic.
"I know that feeling." She muttered before she started walking away. I followed "Why are you following me?"
"Who said I'm following you? My house is this way."
"Oh."
"So what's your name?"
"…Rin." She hesitated for a moment before she answered.
"Alright Rin. If you see anyone suspicious do you mind if you let me know?"
"I guess I don't…"
"Naoki. Kazuma Naoki. Pick whatever name you want."
"Alright Kazuma-san. I'll let you know." We exchanged phone numbers.
CRASH
Here we go again.
Thou art I. I art thou. You have acquired the Devil Arcana. May its insidious power help carve your path.
Devil huh?
This was interesting.
Who knows? Maybe this leads somewhere.
Time resumed and we said our goodbyes after reaching an intersection.
"Here." Rin sighed as she handed the yogurt to the woman lazily lounging on the couch while flipping through TV channels. All about her.
"Thanks lil' sis." She tore the lid and dug in with a spoon "Something happened? You usually sneer more at me than this." She pointed with the spoon while a bit of yogurt fell down on the carpet. She paid it no mind and resumed eating while watching her dear little sister.
"Nothing. I was almost mistaken for you." She grunted while preparing to clean the spot before her sister registered what she said.
"You didn't lead them here did you?" her hand crept towards her new evoker.
"And have you kill us like you did mom and dad. Yeah, sure. He's right behind the door."
"Don't get snarky with me!" her sister shouted and got up while glaring at her "Dear old mom and dad deserved it. They held our powers back."
"…With good reason…" the younger muttered as she cleaned "How much are you going to stay here? Can't keep the police off this place forever you know?"
"Ah don't worry your dumb little head with things like these. I'll be gone tomorrow. A job came in." she got up and stretched "And you don't mind if I borrow a bit of money do you?"
"How much?"
"Around fifty…thousand."
She wanted to scream but she knew her sister would just kill her on the spot if she didn't comply. It's how it's always been.
Instead of screaming she simply looked down and nodded.
"Good girl." She smiled with spoon in the mouth "Now get the fuck out of here. I'm trying to watch me." She laughed as another channel showed her photo.
Rin sighed and walked away, phone feeling heavy in her hand.
Perhaps it was the added weight of a second number she had.
She looked at the number before closing her flip phone with a flick of her wrist.
What could he do anyway?
"I thought I told you to get the fuck out of here! Go to your room. I can't watch with your ugly ass being in the same hallway as me!"
She growled and entered her room, slamming the door on the way and sliding down. She stood there, with her legs to her chest and her head on her knees.
"Mom…Dad…I'm sorry." She muttered before she fell asleep, tears continuing to flow down her face.
Such was the life in the Yukimura residence.
"I'm back." I said as I went through the doors. I widened my eyes as everyone stood still. Everyone was just…frozen in place.
"Ah." A familiar voice spoke "So this is the place that you live in." Eliza came from around the corner. Now that I got a better look at her I could see that she was older than me, probably by a few good years. She was also taller, way taller. Around 180 cm if I had to guess "It is marvelous. I have hopped to see the human world as the others before me but to be here brings me great joy."
"Why and how are you here?"
"Because I wanted to and I simply walked through the door." She smiled happily "Though I cannot stay for long. As you can see a being from the room affects everyone around them."
"I got the gist of it. Any reason why you are here? Besides cause you wanted to?" I said as I sat down on the comfy sofa there.
"I wanted to congratulate you on the bonds you have created up till now. You work quite fast." She grinned while fiddling with a clock "Tell me, what is this contraption?" she pointed at the fridge.
"It's a fridge, it holds food so it doesn't expire."
"Food can expire?"
"If you don't eat it fast enough." I shrugged before I realized something "Hold on a second what do you mean congratulate me?"
"Ah thank you for reminding me. Congratulations."
I blinked.
The fuck was wrong with my life?
"May I offer a deal Kazuma-san?"
"Shoot."
"Shoot what? I do not have a gun…" she looked disappointed.
"Yeah…you don't get sarcasm right?"
"Sarcasm? Where can I acquire such a thing?"
I sighed "Metaphors and all that just fly over your head huh?"
"Nothing flies over my head. I am nimble, I will surely catch them."
"Anyway, what deal do you want to make?" I asked before she sat down across from me.
"Ah yes. I would like you to show me around the world when you can. A previous attendant of the Velvet Room has done and I would like to see what she witnessed in this wonderful world."
"Sure." I shrugged.
"But you have not listened to what I offer…"
"Sure."
"…Very well. I shall reward you with increased capabilities of the Velvet Room if you show me around." She smiled "I hope to create a bond with you as other attendants have done with their guests."
Crash!
Thou art I. I art thou. You have acquired the Star arcana. May its twinkling light guide thee on your darkened path.
"See you soon, Kazuma-san!" she smiled before vanishing. Everyone suddenly started moving and doing whatever they were doing before. No sign of full stop.
"Kazuma-kun! Since when are you here?!" Mioda yelled suddenly alert of me.
"A few minutes ago?" I asked jokingly. I laughed slightly at her reaction before seizing everyone else. Kirijo was unnaturally tense and she looked troubled. Hana was calm as always and Kurogane was baking something.
Flashback!
"So, here it is. Your new home." I said while helping her with her luggage. It was surprisingly light. Then again she did only bring her canvases, paint and brushes along with the obvious clothes.
"Thank you." She nodded before she entered room and observed the surroundings. Nodding to herself once again and sizing a piece of a wall using her hands as a makeshift window. She nodded once more and started unpacking, first her canvases, then her clothes and then finally her paint and brushes "Naoki-san."
"Yeah?" I was staring at how diligently and robotically she worked. It showed that she did this hundreds of times.
"Will Mioda-san be alright with me staying here?"
"She'll have to get used to it." I shrugged "Not my fault she can't forget that persona of yours."
She flinched and I sighed "Sorry. Shouldn't have brought it up."
She shook her head "I'm sorry."
"Don't be." I laughed "You'll help us out a lot. That persona was strong as hell." I grinned.
"I cannot control her."
"You can learn. I'm still learning the ropes of having a persona, I'm amazed my gut feeling got me this far. Want to learn together? That's what friends do I guess."
"…Sure…Friends" she muttered at the end but I heard her.
The soft shy smile she had lit up the room.
Either that or the setting sun.
Crash!
Thou art I. I art Thou. You have strengthened the Aeon Arcana. May its understanding help you find yourself.
Flashback end!
"I have some bad news everyone." Kirijo said while sighing deeply "Kurogane discovered what that world truly is."
"So? What is it?" I asked.
"It's…It's the collective sins that humanity has, given form. We were in the circle of Lust."
"So basically like Hell huh?" Mioda spoke up.
"What?" I asked.
"You know that Hell basically has nine circles right? Well Lust is one of them."
"Correct Mioda-san. Kurogane discovered that the place has been created by…a terrorist organization by the name of Hell's Children. Due to recent events the barrier between the two realms cracked and now we can access them through the use of mirrors."
"Wait a minute. Hell's Children?" Mioda asked "Didn't they disband a few years ago?"
"Yes. They did, but they did create the Mirror World before that and some have escaped."
"You're thinking Yukimura works for them aren't you?"
"Yes. There is no other way that she could have known about it."
"Plausible." Hana approved of that "Motive?"
"For killing all those people?" I asked, she nodded "Maybe she needed information?" I shrugged "I mean Mioda's dad did work for Kirijo Corp right?"
"Could be. But why not go for someone higher up on the food chain? My mother for example."
"Maybe she couldn't sneak in."
"I have a feeling that we will find our answers both by capturing Yukimura and traversing this…I do not know how to call it."
"Mirror Hell?" I joked.
Hana cracked a smile before she too came with a suggestion "Why not go with Circles?"
"Simple, gets to the point…I'm in favor of that."
"Same here."
"I guess I can go with it. It lacks a certain flair to it though!" Kirijo said while getting up "Since exams are done, we shall investigate this new world tomorrow night. During the day we shall get as many provisions as we can."
We all nodded before a beep was heard "Ah. I believe that the cake is done. Shall I go fetch it?" Kurogane asked. Kirijo nodded.
"Cake?"
"To…celebrate the creation of the team of course!" She laughed as Kurogane put the cake on the table. We all smiled as we dug in the chocolate goodness.
As we ate, Mioda bickered with Kirijo, Hana looked over her sketches and Kurogane stared at me, I couldn't help but feel it.
Crash.
Thou art I. I art Thou. You have strengthened the Fool Arcana.
I couldn't help but notice.
May its endless potential give you strength.
That this is how I imagined a family to be.
A/N: SO! It's been a long time hasn't it?
Yeah...I simply had no drive to write with Persona 5 crashing into my life. All I was doing was pretty much like this:
Wake up.
Go to school.
Quit after a few classes.
Come home and play P5.
Rinse.
?
Profit.(Yeah not so much.)
Repeat.
Welp. Got no clue when the next chapter's gonna be out but check the profile in the next few...hours? I'm thinking of posting some things about the characters there.
See ya in the next chapter ;)
