So, I joined that Magic: the Gathering club. Everyone there seemed nice enough – there was some guy whose voice I recognised as a gossip, Kenji Whatshisface, and (almost surprisingly) a girl, Fuuka Somethingorother, and a couple of less noteworthy people. Sure, they may all have been staring at me like nervous chickens, but that bothered me less than usual. Going 3-0 in my opening draft with a five-colour control deck, with no fixing or ramp, might have helped that. Hooray for Mana Screw.

(For those who don't know, 'Draft' is a way of playing Magic: the Gathering, in which eight players each take three booster packs and… you know what? If anyone who doesn't already know wants to know the details, they can look it up on the website or something. Suffice to say, it's a format for playing the game.)

Anyway, the club was small, and everyone had to take turns in doing various odd jobs for the club. That day, being the new kid and the winner of the draft, I was nominated with an overwhelming majority. Usually, this consisted of buying new packs for more drafting, or booking places at prereleases and other events (seriously, how had I missed the Alara Reborn prerelease?), but neither of those were currently pressing. Thus, with the help of some sticky notes and coloured pens, I was turning junk commons and tip cards into tokens.

I finished yet another crude stick figure, this one with a bow. That made all fifty 1/1 soldiers. That only left the 1/1 goblins. Then the 1/1 saprolings. Then the 2/2 zombies. Then the 1/1 artifact flying Thopters Kenji had wanted for his upcoming combo deck. And then the 8/8 beasts he'd also insisted on, even if he didn't own the card that produced them.

I sighed. This was going to take a while. I let my head fall to the desk.

…Huh. I could now hear some commotion outside. Some shouting, some laughing, and the pattering of feet. Where did that come from?

A reminder that sound travels better through solid objects.

Fair enough. I should probably go see what's happening.

The club was located by the front door of one of the side buildings. Right outside was a familiar teal-haired girl kneeling on the floor, surrounded by a swarm of fake-tanned, bleached-haired, cold-hearted vultures.

"Please stop, Miss Moriyama…" the girl on the floor spoke weakly.

One of the vultures gave a cold, echoing laugh. "Really, dear Fuuka? Why, we're helping you here. We're inspecting your personal belongings, you know. Here!" She ripped the girl's schoolbag from her hands, tore it open, and emptied it over the cobbled tiles.

"Let's see what you've got here. Notes? Textbooks? Pens? Why, aren't you such a goody-goody? No fun stuff on you at all!"

Like a pack of hyenas, they all began to coldly laugh in unison. "Fuuka, Fuuka, what will we do with you?" "No-one like a goody-goody!" "We're so nice it's scary!"

The lead girl suddenly seemed to actually notice me. "Hey, you there! What're you looking at?"

"Your face. It looks awful. No wonder you spend your time doing all this, picking on people who can't fight back. With a face that ugly, your self-esteem must really be shit." From a moderate amount of personal experience, I found that the most efficient way for dispersing hyenas was to insult their ego and pride (especially appearances for girls). Well, that or a flamethrower, but there'd been a crackdown on lighters after a cigarette butt was found in the bathrooms, and mine had been confiscated.

"Wha- screw this! I don't have to deal with you. Come on. We're leaving." The swarm departed down the path surprisingly quietly, finally disappearing into the main building. The girl on the floor stared blankly on, seemingly mesmerised.

Shaking my head, I crouched next to her and began gathering her books. "You okay, Fuuka-san?"

She seemed startled at my voice. "Oh! Um, Minato-san… thank you for helping…"

"No problem." I handed her a pile of books. "I'll still be at the club if you need me for anything, alright?"

"No! Um… um…" she stammered, and blushed slightly. "It's… I'm sorry to be such a bother."

I tried to give a reassuring smile. "It's not a problem. Don't let them get to you. I'll see you around." I handed over her last books and gave a last wave goodbye.

I felt almost warm inside from helping.

Please. You hardly did anything. When those bitches return, she's probably going to be all meepish and limp again. And hey, she probably won't have enough self-confidence to ask for your help anyway. All in all, you didn't really do anything there.

You had to kill the mood, didn't you?

I sighed and went back to making tokens.

I sighed and leant back against a lamppost.

"Ah, yes… an intimate encounter with one of your world's rarities…"

I'd had some free time, so I took up Elizabeth's request to show her the real world. We were now in Paulownia Mall, and I was watching over her while she was floundering about.

"This must be a fountain…"

Of course, if I'd known that she'd act like a six-year-old kid seeing the world for the first time, all the while hopped up on excess sugar and caffeine, I might have considered a slightly different course of action. Namely, showing her around the place at night. As it stood now, dozens of strangers were standing around, staring at the odd woman in blue, sticking out like a fish out of water.

Look on the bright side. While she's there, policemen aren't looking at you.

That might have been a fair point. I briefly considered liberating some people of their wallets, before deciding against it. I couldn't think of anything I'd want the money for, and hence there wasn't much point of risking another execution.

You used to be more fun, you know that?

Shut up, Lyra.

Elizabeth was oblivious to the conversation in my head. "To make sport of water, well known by all to be the foundation of life… how wicked!"

"It's nothing special, Elizabeth. The…"

She cut me off. "But is that truly so? Is it not rumoured that the enchanting spirit of the fountain grants wishes to those who sacrifice a few coins?"

I scratched my head. "Well, yes, but…

"Wonderful!" She pulled out a bulging purse. "I shall make an opening bid to the fountain's spirit of one million yen."

Wait. One million?

An unreal torrent of coins began pouring out of her small purse. Everyone in the plaza stared on, as every rule of physics seemed to be defiled in that very moment. The torrent continued on and on, and just when it seemed to be dwindling into a trickle, she gave her purse another shake and the flood continued. Finally, after a good minute or two, she finally put her purse away.

"That was exhilarating!... Ah." Her face fell. "I was so caught up in the excitement of tossing in the coins, that I didn't give my wish any thought. This will not do…"

I swallowed. I didn't think that I should say this, but… "There are two more fountains over there. Do you see?"

She gave another upbeat squeal. "A trinity of fountain spirits?" She danced off towards another fountain. "Oh great and merciful spirit of the fountain, pardon my earlier error. This is a peace offering to you." She pulled out another purse.

After she ran off, I waited all of two seconds before plunging my hands into the water and grabbing as many coins as possible.

Didn't you say that you couldn't think of anything you wanted this money for?

Doing this on principle. Negligible reward is still worth minimal effort and zero risk.

I snatched three good handfuls before I was shunted aside by a fat man, who proceeded to dive headfirst into the fountain. Others were similarly trading dignity for money.

I gave a sigh. No more money for me; I wasn't prepared to go that far. I walked away from the splashes and met up with Elizabeth, just as she finished breaking physics for a third time. She greeted me with a large smile. "That was indeed satisfying. I apologise for the brief delay. Let us continue."

I took her around the rest of the mall, showing her anything that looked interesting, mentally facepalming at each of her reactions.

"Most Wanted? If I am correct in thinking of these as your version of my subjugation requests, what do they use as proof that the target has been subjugated? A piece of the body?"

"So this is a Record Shop. To convert sound into solid matter… while this is a marvellous artifice, I fail to see its purpose when one has lungs and voice. Veeelvet, Oh Veeelvet, My Master Has A Loooong Nose…"

"So this place claims to offer Herbal Massage and Spiritual Healing… I am not familiar with these terms. Last time I checked, these things seemed most associated with… what was the word? Placards? Placentas? Something like that, anyway."

"A Pharmacy? What variety of drugs do they sell here? I have heard rumours of a substance capable of inducing untold bliss… do you think they hold it here? I believe its name was Crystalline Methamphetamine."

"Is this a Club? A subterranean garden of uninhibited spectacle… oh? It's not closed, is it? I had hoped to join in on the wild ritual." (She followed this one with thirty seconds of what can only be described as 'dad dancing'.)

"A Maid Café? I had always wondered about the fascination that men have with maids… could you enlighten me on these reasons, Minato-san? Why are you shaking your head and backing away slowly?"

"Karaoke? The place where one can challenge even professional singers at the press of a button? Truly, this must be what it is to walk amongst kings!"

We ended up finishing the afternoon in the Arcade, where Elizabeth proved to be disturbingly good at Time Crisis III. After the first screen, she sacked me for incompetence, took a gun in each hand, and proceeded to take out every stage remaining without losing a single life.

Evening was beginning to fall when we finally returned to the Velvet Room. "So, Elizabeth. How did you find everything?"

She was positively beaming. "It was most excellent. I thank you for the invaluable experiences you've shared with me today. I consider this mission fully accomplished."

Oh, right, I was doing this because she wanted me to. Still, it felt good. "No problem. I'm here if you need anything."

Something flashed in her eyes. "Really? Well, this may sound forward, but I'd like to accompany you again some time…"

Crap. She wanted to come out into the real world again? Where people were? I considered trying to worm my way out of it, but I had promised cooperation about five seconds earlier, and she was staring at me with her sad puppy eyes again. "Alright. I'll see you around." I stuck out my hand.

She gave a squeal, ignored my hand, and crushed me in a hug.

Crack.

Thou art I… and I am thou…

Huh. New Social Link. Wasn't really expecting it, but I'm not complaining.

A simply-designed card appeared. All it had was a smiling sun on it, with XIX underneath. No prizes for guessing what Arcana this was.

Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Sun Arcana…

Well, I suppose it fit her blind optimism well enough.

"Anyway, your reward…" I got rewards for helping her? That seemed sweet.

Elizabeth pulled something out of her pockets. "Isn't this just delightful?" She handed it to me.

In my hands was a small red dress, seemingly designed for a very large doll. "What is this?"

She smiled again. "This is a Small Cheongsam, specially designed. You know what a Cheongsam is, right?"

"No."

"Regardless, this gift will allow you to fuse the Persona Hua Po. I would like to see how you handle her power."

Fuse… that seemed an issue. "Right… any advice on actually fusing things?"

She smiled again. "Have you looked at the Compendium I gave you yet?"

"No, but…"

"I recommend you do. It will be simplest to use whilst in Tartarus. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck! Come see me again sometime!" Before I could say anything else, she gave a final squee, wheeled back into the Velvet Room and slammed the door.

"Arisato, is that book really necessary?"

I was going to have to work out this stuff with Personas at some time. That evening, we were all in Tartarus again, currently waiting in the lobby. "Yes. Apparently, the weird lady who gave it to me said that it could help with my power."

Yukari looked doubtful. "Really? You're believing this woman who walked up to you in the street…"

"It was in an elevator."

"Whatever. The point is, she's probably crazy."

I smiled. "That's probably true, but hey? What's the worst that can happen?"

Everyone rolled their eyes. "Very well, Arisato. You may take that book with you."

I nodded, and teleported up. Junpei and Yukari followed shortly. "Guys, cover for me. I need to read this."

They sighed and began chatting. I sat on the ground and opened up the Compendium.

That's real leather binding this book. And this paper is really high quality.

Focus on the contents, Minato.

Right. The inside front cover was blank. I started flicking through the pages: title, copyright notices, contents, large sketch of the Pied Piper, something that looked like an RPG character sheet, blank page, blank page, more blank pages, even more blank pages… a few pages were filled with entries for the other Personas I'd found, but they seemed insignificant against the mountains of blanks.

"Arisato, I sense something… be wary."

"Got it. This won't take long." I flipped back to the first spread. Time to try call forth the Pied Piper.

I'm going to save you some effort here. You already have the Pied Piper in your head. He hasn't exploded, so he's still there. You won't be able to summon him from this book, so just save yourself the time.

I sighed, and skimmed forward to the next entry… Nekomata, a half-woman, half-cat thing, of the Magician Arcana. One of the ones I'd found and tested for explosions immediately.

"Dude, did you hear something?"

"No." I looked up at him. "Junpei, what would you do in this situation?"

"Huh?" He scratched his head. "Well, I'm not sure what you're doing, but it kinda looks like a magic book. Maybe some weird hand gestures?"

"Good idea." Gestures…

I resorted to wildly swinging my hands over the page. After a good ten seconds, a card suddenly emerged from the pages. Success. I crushed the card in my hand, and was rewarded by the tingling sensation of getting a new Persona.

This Persona Compendium business wasn't that hard. I felt I would need some more practice, and that I would need to work out exactly what hand gesture was appropriate for summoning, but that was a good start.

Now, how to fuse these Personas…

I started contemplating various methods when Yukari nervously spoke up. "Um… Minato-san… Mitsuru-sempai… anyone… what's that noise?"

Any words I could have said were cut off by what I heard. From somewhere in the distance, piercing the dead silence of Tartarus, echoed the icy clank of cold iron, mixed with the shrill rattle of chains. With every passing breath, the source seemed closer and closer, step by step.

Mitsuru's nervous voice came through the intercom. "Run. I sense Death."

…Well, shit.

I slowly stood up and looked at Junpei and Yukari. "Don't panic," I whispered. "It might not know we're here. Ready weapons, but draw attention to yourself. Stick together, okay?"

Both nodded in fear.

The next few minutes were some of the tensest in my life. Being stuck in a dark room with an entity called Death was bad enough. Not knowing where or how to get out was even worse; several times we stumbled into dead ends and had to backtrack, silently praying that our path out wouldn't have been cut off. The worst part, though, was when we realised that no matter what path we took, the sound was always coming closer. Whatever was here knew where we were, and it was hunting us. None of us dared to speak.

Then, almost inevitably, it happened. The rattling had grown to a point where we hardly dared to breathe, when we stumbled into another dead end. We returned to the last junction in the halls, and it was there, waiting for us. Like a macabre puppet, it floated, covered in dark rags and bloody chains. Two giant guns, one in each hand, left no question of the danger that loomed. One baleful yellow eye stared, almost mockingly, out of the tattered sack it had as a head.

This was what Mitsuru had sensed, and what had been chasing us.

This was Death.

Actually, to nitpick, it isn't Death. It's death.

As I continued to stand there, rooted to the ground in shock, it spoke. "I've been looking for you."

I gibbered a scream and sprinted down a corridor. Death. I needed to get away from Death.

Not Death, death. There's a difference.

A gunshot rang out, and a part of the ceiling collapsed in front of me. I stumbled on the rubble and fell to the ground, choking on a mouthful of dust.

Someone helped me up. "Got you, dude."

"Thanks, Junpei. Now run as fast as possible."

Shots rang out again and again as the walls and floors all blurred together into haze. Left, right, up, down, all of it became meaningless as we fled for our lives. Somehow, we didn't wind up in another dead end. I don't need to say what would have happened if we did.

Finally, in another cloud of dust, we saw our salvation: a tiny glowing yellow light, almost lost in the darkness. An access point. Safety. Freedom.

Another bullet shot reminded us that we weren't safe yet. Yukari dashed forward first, closely followed by Junpei. I was right behind them.

A bullet grazed my arm.

Yukari vanished.

A bullet grazed my ear. I swear I could hear laughter from behind me.

Junpei vanished.

I took another step towards the light.

A voice echoed from behind me. "I am inevitable. One of these bullets has your name on it."

I ducked in instinct.

Another gunshot rang out.

Blood trickled down my neck.

One more step. There.

As I began to disappear, the voice called out one last time from the darkness.

"Minato Arisato."

I felt my blood freeze.

"You will not escape me again."

I staggered into the lobby of Tartarus, and curled up into a ball.

Yukari rushed over to me. "Minato-san! Are you alright?"

I played over what had happened over and over in my head. Every part filled me with bleak fear, but one thing was more unnerving than anything else.

How had it known my name?

"Minato-san?"

"Let's take a break before we come here again."