2.1 Identity

The Hollow Forest
Ken Amada

It's quite honestly amazing how someone like Raidou can even exist.

Yes, that's what I've chosen as my first thought. But you'll see what I mean soon enough.

I'd seen her at the market in Shibuya and chose to follow her on a whim – there was no real reason for me to, especially considering how Fuuka had sent me there to get something for her anyway, but I couldn't help but follow her – it had been six weeks since she'd disappeared that night, the infant Yamato in tow, and I'd be lying if I'd said I hadn't been concerned.

People who make their own decisions are one thing. But someone born into a world like this – it never really occurred to me what kind of nightmare someone like Shirogane's son could go through, being born into a dysfunctional society like this one. But purely by chance, I'd seen Raidou by herself this morning – and, somewhat unintelligently, followed her into the black vortex she'd opened in the alleyway behind the store.

I'd found myself in a very strange place – at first I'd forgotten what I was doing or where I'd been, as if my memory had been sucked away from me all in an instant. I almost didn't recognize how empty the sky seemed to be – it was a completely plain white, with no feature whatsoever. The landscape around me, however, was dotted with large bamboo trees and a massive river that seemed to run on forever through it. This place was still dangerous, though – there were Shadows everywhere. I shouldn't have been anywhere near as surprised as I was.

I tried to make sense of where I was, eventually catching Raidou through the corner of my eye – I decided there was no better course of action than to follow her, no matter where she was going.

And so here I am, running through the bamboo forest, watching Raidou cut through hordes of Shadows in single strikes while carrying several bags of groceries in one hand and her tried and true katana in the other without missing a single step. I consider helping her, but without a spear I wouldn't do much good.

Eventually we come to a break in the masses of Shadows and to the riverbed – Raidou vaults over the river without a second thought, balancing the groceries perfectly as she does so. There wasn't any doubt in my mind that I'd never make such an elegant jump, but I had to at least try or I'd get eaten by Shadows. I take a deep breath before stowing away my fears and making a run for it – as I expect, I don't make it any reasonable distance whatsoever – I miss the other end of the river by quite a sizable margin.

Of course at that moment Raidou manages to reach out and grab my hand, pulling me to the other side of the riverbed with relative ease.

"This isn't the sort of place that normal people should be wandering around." She seemingly scolds me.

"What kind of normal? Because I can tell you right now that I don' t fit anyone's definition of normal." I reply. She seems somewhat amused by that, but she doesn't react in a particularly normal way.

"You're here now, so I suppose it's better that we do this now rather than later."

"Do what, exactly?" Did she expect me to follow her here the whole time? For some reason I felt as though she'd allowed me to see her entirely on purpose so I'd follow her like this. Very quickly I begin to feel insecure.

"There's something you should see… I've been hesitant to bring Yamagishi to this place, which is why I called out to you alone."

"Called out to me? When was this?"

"You saw me at the supermarket."

"That's… Not the same thing as calling out to someone. You know… You're supposed to walk up and… talk to someone." I scratch the back of my head.

"You're here either way, aren't you?" So she did know that I'd follow her here. How shrewd.

I follow her down the path – the forest itself was teeming with Shadows, but the ones in this area seemed to distance themselves from her. I would too if I were a Shadow – Raidou was definitely not someone you want to screw around with under any circumstances, even if she didn't want you dead. I'd never feel sorry for the Shadows, obviously, but there had to be better ways of going out than to go out fighting Raidou.

Eventually we come to a much quieter section of this strange bamboo forest – and then I see it. Off in the distance is a massive sphere, floating in the air. I more or less knew for certain that we'd be heading straight towards it – I couldn't help but be curious as to what it was, but I was hesitant to ask Raidou anything. She wasn't exactly all that approachable.

But luckily for me, she seems to read my mind. "Disregard what your eyes see. Our destination is removed even from this world."

"So we aren't going to that huge thing over there?"

Raidou doesn't respond –

A few feet further the forest suddenly vanishes all around us.

And in another instant we're in the sky, on a large staircase high in the sky, above the clouds. The atmosphere has changed drastically – the forest seemed so cold and desolate, but this place seemed so angelic and warm.

Ahead of us is a massive dome, built of the purest of ivory. It was the size of a three story building, at the base of which two massive doors built out of the most rustic of mahogany wood stood, roman-esque engravings covering them from top to bottom. Raidou walks up the stairs towards them while I follow, somewhat bewildered at how the doors swing open when she lightly taps on them.

The interior is much smaller than it had seemed – what seemed to be a large platform sat at the middle with the walls seemingly having no face to them but a strange dark haze that surrounded the room. And at the very center, sitting on the floor, was what appeared to be a man dressed in a white robe in some sort of meditating position.

The moment we get close enough to the man Raidou runs to his side almost instantly. I finally notice that he's visibly distressed – he seems extremely weak for some reason.

"I was gone too long." She says dejectedly, falling to her knees at the man's side.

"No, it's of no consequence." The man speaks – I most certainly know his voice from somewhere, but I just can't seem to figure it out.

I glance around the circular platform that made up this room – furnishings from a perfectly normal child bedroom were scattered about this seemingly unconventional space. Yamato was fast asleep in the crib off to the side and some sort of food was cooking on a stove top on the other end of the platform. The television set against the far side of the platform hummed with static. There was a bed designed for a larger person set somewhere off between the crib and an old mahogany dresser that made up what I'd decided was Raidou's 'room,' as it was. Everything from a crib to an assortment of stuffed animals for an infant to chew could be found in this astonishingly makeshift space. There was even something akin to a baby monitor next to the crib. Not that it had any viable purpose, unless Raidou could hear Yamato from another dimension or something.

"Is there anything more… Anything more that-"

"Relax, Raidou. This place is at no risk… The child will be safe."

"If you die, we lose everything. You know that."

He sighs, stifling a cough. "You don't have to fear… I'm the guardian of this domain. As long as I control it, this place is safe."

"You know better than anyone else that you aren't invincible. Before long things are bound to go south – you need to rest."

"I will survive…" He then lets out a cough and turns towards me. I get a better look at his eyes – they were weak and tired, but they gave off a very particular haze to them – but as he seems to focus on me, one of his eyes seems to start glowing with an assortment of colors. Wonderful, another superhuman I need to get acquainted with.

"Ah…Ken Amada." He smiles dimly. Oh, how wonderful, and he knows who I am already on top of it. "So… You've brought him here… why?"

"You have to understand – there's no way that things can persist the way they are… Yamato-kun can't possibly grow the proper way under these conditions, and if things remain as isolated as they are-"

"I see you've finally started to put your faith in your friends… It's a good start."

"…I owe Shirogane a debt. Her son can't possibly survive like this. If there was some other way…"

"But you must trust him enough… You brought him here, after all."

Raidou doesn't have a response to that. I finally take the silence as my opportunity to cut in. "Alright… I take it there's an important reason why I'm here?"

The man nods. "I will admit, that… Despite how my powers aren't as measly as you've probably come to suspect them to be, these are pressing times… I did not anticipate the birth of a child to be tied into all of this, but such are the way things have gone… Raidou seems to think that you're trustworthy."

I suddenly feel dizzy –

In an instant Raidou, the furniture, and everything else really, vanishes around me as I blink my eyes – just this man remains standing before me. But now he holds what seems to be a katana in his hands, poised in an aggressive pose.

I suddenly realize that I'm holding a spear.

"However…" He continues speaking. "Raidou is young – she is young and, despite her personality, is easily deceived. I will test you myself."

"Wait, what's this about a test, now?"

"We're both Persona users here. So we're going to pit our powers against each other."

"For some reason I don't think this is going to be a fair fight." I look over him again – nope, the samurai vibe doesn't seem to exert an 'I'm actually really weak' feeling at all. Oh well.

"The rules are simple. All you need to do is hit me once. With that, you'll have earned my trust."

He's clearly ready to strike me down, while I'm only supposed to hit him once. I doubt the casual demeanor of his words – his eyes betray all signs of calmness. He's ready to kill –

I see it then. His eyes dart back and forth for a few seconds, as though he's following something invisible to me with his eyes. It then occurs to me that he was injured, or in the process of being injured –

Was this not his real body? Was he simply projecting this version of himself to this place while he was off somewhere else, fighting? That would explain it – despite how calm his voice was, his expression was anything but.

I step forward to gauge this newfound weakness of his – and as I thought, he stiffens, his breathing indicative of an intense battle while ours has yet to even start.

I run towards him – and I swing my spear, not aiming to strike him, but to get a feel for his reaction time – he blocks my strike without any hesitation or delay, but he puts far too much force into it for a block with no follow up attack. I move away, this time moving in to land my blow and be done with it – this time he manages to back away and not only block the strike but close the distance between us in order to push me even further away –

And in that moment where his skin meets mine, I feel it –

An ice cold touch. Colder than Thanatos' hands.

I move forward again, this time calling to Kala Nemi to extend the reach of my strike, but in exchange he calls one of Yuki's Personas – Samael, a dragon-like entity that I've seen one time too many. Samael manages to stop Kala Nemi's advance, but is caught completely off guard when its opponent erupts and explodes from the inside, Thanatos using the force of the blast to move far past the Persona and straight towards its master.

He blocks Thanatos' strike with one of his own, but he's sent back a little too far for someone with a stable fighting stance. I move myself, impaling Samael with my spear before using it as a sort of stepping stone as I leap towards its master. I bring my spear upward, close enough to pierce straight through his skull while he has no room to maneuver.

I stop my spear a few centimeters from his face.

"This is enough." I say suddenly, his eyes giving away a more irritated sort of confusion than made sense for one who had barely even begun to fight. "We have no reason to fight. Persisting with this idiotic game of yours will just leave you even more exhausted."

"What are you saying…? Our fight's only begun."

"You don't think very highly of me, do you?" I shake my head and sigh. "It doesn't take a genius to notice that this isn't your real body. Or to notice that wherever your real body is, it isn't in particularly great condition."

His offish smile seems like a smile of resignation. "But it does take someone capable of coming this far, I suppose…" He drops his katana, the fight ending abruptly.

Once again the interior of that place forms around us, Raidou completely unfazed by our sudden disappearance and reappearance.

The man sits down.

"I should've been more straightforward about all of this. I'm sorry." He apologizes, his breath once again ragged. Raidou once again retreats to his side almost on the spot, giving his chest support as he coughs several more times. "Right now there's very little time to explain my circumstances, but for the time being I am protecting a sacred tomb essential to humanity's survival."

"From who?"

"Would you like to take a guess?"

"King Leo, or is it Nobunaga?"

"Fortunately for all of us, it's the former."

"Then where is this?"

"This is a projection – while the forest itself is the domain in which the sacred tomb lies, it also functions as a crossroad – the only entrance into the world of human hearts. This place is a projection of a human heart – but only one human heart."

"And whose heart might that be?"

"Long ago," Raidou suddenly speaks up, "there was a young girl, pulled away from the world she thought she knew and cast into the world of her own heart. This is what's left of that place, at least as far as we know."

"With my power I removed this place from the world of people's hearts, as the forest itself despite having once been part of it now stands as its own entity. This dimension is separated even further – the only link between this place and anywhere else lies with Raidou and myself. This is as safe a haven as there is." The man continues.

"How reassuring. But what's all this talk of the 'world of people's hearts'?"

"As I've said, there's not much time to explain the circumstances – there is only time for you to be told what you must know. And that is the circumstances of all of this."

"All of this?"

"Surely you must want to know…" Raidou speaks up again, but seems hesitant to continue. "…You saw Shirogane die. You saw her child be born. Surely you want to know the truth behind those things."

"Shinjiro found Shirogane in an alleyway and the two of them started fucking on the side while they were fighting the Shadows. Yamato is Shinjiro's kid, right? Shirogane died because of her injuries from when the tower collapsed, right? That's enough for me, really."

Although I'd said that only a second before, I find myself doubting my words, even if only in the back of my head.

Raidou seems conflicted, but eventually replies. "…I'll ask again. Surely you must want to know. You saw Shirogane die. You saw her child be born. Surely you want to know the truth behind those things, don't you?"

"…If you don't mind me asking," I eventually respond after a few seconds of awkward silence, "how out of the loop am I, exactly?"

"If you're going to join our cause, then you have to know everything." The man speaks again. "Right now, it would seem that you know about as much as I expected you to know – you're a generation behind us, so it's understandable… Of course, even if you had been a part of the fourth generation you still might not know any of the details anyway."

"…I take it this has something to do with that town? The one Shirogane was supposed to be from until we found out it didn't exist?"

"Precisely… I know that it must be difficult facing Erebus after all this time, especially considering how he wears the face of your friend. But if Erebus is to be defeated once and for all, we can't fail. The way things are now there's simply no way the world will outlast the chaos all of this has created. Soon the thousands that die will outnumber the millions that are born and our world will become a second hell."

"The Persona-like creature I made use of earlier was a demon." Raidou speaks. "Demons originate from the deities responsible for making them – they come from masses of Shadows that create their own individuality, defying the very laws of our world. If Erebus is allowed to succeed our world will become a world of demons – every Shadow that roams the surface will become a demon and there will simply be no way for humanity to survive their onslaught."

"Sounds heavy." I respond.

"So you must understand – unless you know the entire story, there's no way we can succeed. You first need to know why the Shadows invaded our world. Why King Leo came to power in the first place. And all of it has to do with Inaba." The man's gaze seems to shift. "If you perhaps still feel for your lost friend, I understand, but –"

"I already killed him once." I speak with some resolution in my voice. "It shouldn't be a problem to do it again."

In the days after that evening, I couldn't stop thinking about what he'd said. How he hated us because of what we did with ourselves after he gave his life away for our sakes. There was no way I could ever make amends for what happened – no way except to do what he did.

So I came to a decision. I would never do what he did. I would never give myself up for the sake of humanity. Humanity didn't deserve anything – especially not compassion.

Only he did.

To give up my life for his sake.

That's what I would do.

And the only way to do what would be to save him from the path he's taken or die trying.

I'm sure that Fuuka hasn't come to the same resolution. Considering everything that had happened to her I was content with leaving her out of this for the time being. She definitely didn't need this – the fact that she was still standing upright was more than enough to ask of her.

"So what exactly are you going to tell me about?" I take a seat on the floor across from the man. "Oh, but if you don't mind me asking – what's your name? I mean, I kinda have no clue what to address you as."

"Hm.." He smiles somewhat weakly. "What is my name, I wonder? Has it been so long that I can't remember?" He faces Raidou. "Which was it? Narukami? Dojima? Seta? All of the above, maybe?"

"Forgive me, but I'd rather we not bring this up until Amada knows all of the details." She responds.

"Ah, good point…" He faces me again. "Now tell me, Amada –"

"Just call me Ken. You too, Raidou."

"But Yamagishi calls you Amada – you don't seem to object to her." Raidou points out something I don't usually think about.

"Yeah, well, Fuuka's a bit of a different case."

"Very well then, Ken." The man continues. "How much do you know about the myth of Izanagi and Izanami?"

"Uh… That's the creation story, right? You see, Greek mythology is pretty much my mythology – you know, Thanatos, Nemesis and all – I'm also not religious in the slightest for fairly obvious reasons, so…"

"You're right – that is the story of creation in Japan. It's one of the particularly interesting ones, since it spends less time talking about gates in the sky and more talking about birth and death rates. Long story short, Izanami's husband Izanagi travels to Yomotsu Hirasaka to save his dead wife, promises to do as she says, and then promptly breaks that promise. In response, Izanami vows to kill thousands every year while Izanagi vows to give birth to millions. Izanami is, by this logic, a sort of eternal representation of death in human society."

"That actually sounds a bit familiar. But how exactly is it related to all of this?"

"Every human is formed by Ego and Shadow. Both elements lead to our individuality. Our individuality leads to self examination. Self examination leads to the realization that we cannot understand ourselves, and that realization leads to our need to compare our 'selves' to other 'selves' found in the people around us. This is the foundation for human society… And the fear and malice that come with it when these 'selves' collide. Eventually, once society has been built up, it naturally begins to corrode, sometimes overnight and sometimes over the course of fifty or even a hundred years. When this corrosion happens, society is subject to mass destruction – death will occur, whether it is cultural, spiritual, psychological, or physical."

"Considering how I witnessed the whole 'mass destruction' thing firsthand, I have to agree." I say with a bit of a sigh. "So then does the whole Izanami aspect of death play into it?"

"Yes – although the death human society is exposed to now isn't classified under any of those four."

"Then what kind of death is it?"

"Ethereal death. Death were every individual person is broken down and killed in every which way imaginable to the point where the terms 'death' or 'being' no longer have any substantial meaning – not truly dead, but in no sense alive. The sort of death that turns man into Shadow and Shadows into demons. The kind of death that will eventually kill the planet itself long before its physical expiration date."

"Sounds like what Nyx and Erebus were trying to do."

"What you experienced was an attempt to subject the entire planet to psychological death. To essentially kill the meaning of life and end all life on the planet as a result. Erebus now seeks to enforce ethereal death, which is simply far worse by comparison. It is an eternity of pain where pain itself is unidentifiable. It is an eternity of nothing but Shadows, where death and life are reversed in nature and meaning."

"Earlier, you mentioned the thousands that die outnumbering the millions that are born. That our world will become a second hell."

"Precisely. Hell is nothingness and a mixture of pain and death is the only state of being. But at the same time Hell is simply a human design – it is because of the nature of our human society that hell came to exist… For quite some time, for several tens of thousands of years, in fact, the domain of human hearts has been degenerating. Hell itself is the world of human hearts."

"But isn't this place in the realm of human hearts?"

"But this place – you saw the exterior, did you not, this is clearly heaven, not hell. It's the one domain in the realm of human hearts that is free of that darkness."

"Well, that's certainly a new spin on the whole heaven and hell thing…" I sigh again.

"There's more to it than simply that, though."

"Well, yeah, of course there is. When is it ever clear cut like that?"

"The world of human hearts, or Hell, or whatever name you've known it by, is more commonly referred to on a more international level as the World of Demons, The Abyss. The corrosion of humanity as a whole and the blackening of human hearts led to its creation. Long ago, the world of human hearts was a tranquil land, but even before the Common Era it became what it is today." He continues, disregarding my comment. "It's all thanks to Izanagi, who was the first to experience the uncertainty that now drives mankind, that The Abyss became what it now is. If Erebus is allowed to succeed in his mission, the mortal world will become a second Abyss and engulf the first one with it."

"Wait – the Abyss? Have I heard that name somewhere before?" I ask him, knowing all too well that I'm going to get an exact answer.

"There have been many entrances to the world of human hearts. The Desert of Doors was a gateway into The Abyss – the world of human hearts, or rather, the world of your heart, and the hearts of all of your friends that were unable to move on from the events of that past year. That is why you all experienced elements of your past memories while you traveled the depths of the Abyss – your own hearts called you to it. All of them are simply entrances to the Abyss' surface – the deeper in one goes, the less human they become until their Ego and Shadow separate entirely. Inaba was subject to this in particular."

It made sense, to some extent. Metis had even called that place some sort of an Abyss herself – it certainly made sense that we were traversing a world of our own creation, especially considering how completely primal most of us had become by the end of that whole mess.

"What about Tartarus?" I inquire.

"Tartarus was essentially a portion of the Abyss that made it through Yomotsu Hirasaka – it stood as a testament to a collective desire for death and deliverance from human failure, as I'm sure you're aware of – it was more or less a dimensional distortion in space in time that the Abyss managed to leak through. The Abyss is a domain of solitude and individuality, as opposed to the socially oriented structure of the mortal world. Tartarus was a collection of every individual desire for death in that city, each manifesting as its own floor in a massive tower – there are millions of towers just like it strewn all about the surface of the Abyss."

That would explain why Tartarus vanished when the Dark Hour was erased. And why it was so damn tall.

"What exactly makes the Abyss different from our world, aside from the whole Shadows aspect? We were a bit special, but we could go in and out of Tartarus and the Desert of Doors pretty much freely."

"By traversing into the Abyss unnaturally – in other words, entering the Abyss while still completely human – those with the power to face themselves are able to prevail against the forces of the Abyss… Surely, you must have noticed that your Personas were effectively unusable outside of Tartarus and outside of the Dark Hour period."

I most certainly had – Junpei never shut up about it. Maybe once a week at the least he'd complain about how he couldn't beat up people with his Persona outside of the Dark Hour.

"Yeah, that was kind of a bummer, I guess. So you're saying it's because we were Persona users that we could enter the Abyss freely?"

"Precisely. With your Persona you could enter the realm of human hearts – the Abyss itself is everything that mortals are not, and the two normally cannot co-exist. One must ultimately expunge the other, but with the power of Persona you could avoid all of that, even defy the laws of death itself… Surely, many of you fell in battle at one time or another."

"Yeah, and then our leader would throw a bead at us and we'd be fine… Wait, so because we had our power and we could deny the Abyss, which at the same time was trying to deny us, we could come back to life, because dying in the Abyss had no real meaning for us?"

"That's about as much sense as it's going to make – although it would never be possible to bring yourself back on your own. Every person is an individual in the Abyss, removed from others entirely – that's why you must have been traveling in a group to avoid death in the Abyss."

That made sense as well – thinking of Junpei I remember Chidori, who seemed to be one of the biggest outliers to the whole idea. She could use her Persona outside of the Dark Hour and had survived during it, but if what this man said was true, then knowing her moment of death all her life was likely some form of ethereal death, which made her the opposite of us – a creature of the Abyss, roaming in the world of the living, voiding our laws of death to be revived despite her loss of memory.

It all also explains how the Shadows always seemed to come back – aside from the twelve that I suppose could die on our terms because humans theoretically created them and Ryoji, the combined form of them, was clearly human, it would seem that the Shadows in Tartarus and the Shadows in the Abyss itself couldn't die in our terms of death. They could now, only because the line between the two dimensions was clearly harder for both sides to see, and at the same time we could now die on their terms as well as use our Personas outside of an apparent dimension like the Dark Hour.

So all of us were now essentially like Minato and Ryoji. The Ego and Shadow aspects of ourselves were now as amplified as was possible. We were all combined humans and Shadows like Chidori. So now anything could happen – no Plumes of Dusk could ever change that.

Something suddenly hits me. His words from before –

"Wait, but if that's the case, are the Shadows coming straight out of the Abyss like before?"

"How kind of you to point that out. Essentially the end result of Erebus' actions will be an ethereal union between the world of humanity and Yomotsu Hirasaka, which is the only direct entrance into the heart of the Abyss. With Yomotsu Hirasaka bridging this world and the Abyss together, the evolved Shadows, or simply put the demons of The Abyss, will cross through and as a direct result the world will experience ethereal death and will for all intents and purposes end."

"But how did the merger even begin? You're saying that death and life are going to be reversed or something like it is in the Abyss, right? And if Izanami is supposed to be the ruler of Yomotsu Hirasaka –"

"I see you've already reached the conclusion on your own… For death and life to become reversed in such a way, then surely, the embodiment of death must have voided its own rules… The mortal world has entered a state of Megami Tensei – a state of Goddess Revival. In this state, the line between the mortal world and Yomotsu Hirasaka is blurred severely to the point where the Shadows can cross into the mortal world freely. In order for the gates of Yomotsu Hirasaka to fully open, the world must give rise to a state of True Goddess Revival, where Izanami will fully revive and Yomotsu Hirasaka will give rise to the demons of the Abyss, who will reduce the world to ashes. Erebus wishes to invoke the state of True Goddess Revival on his own terms and control it – I can only imagine that he wants to rule over the impending ethereal world of demons himself… Right now the key to the state of True Goddess Revival lies within the tomb you saw on your way here – right now, King Leo seems to be well on his way to a design similar to Erebus'."

"But why has Erebus not attacked yet?"

"It might be because he is unaware that the secret is here – but I doubt that's the case. Perhaps he's waiting for someone else to bridge the gap."

"But what good would that do him?"

"I can't say."

"Huh… I was wondering when you were going to run out of answers… But that being said, I've got to know-"

"What this has to do with Inaba? With the town that no longer exists?"

"…Well, yeah."

"You see…" He trails off, seemingly hesitant to continue. Raidou seems to shift a bit before Yamato suddenly wakes and she moves away from us to tend to him.

The man continues to remain silent, contemplating how to continue.

Eventually he speaks. "…I am like your friend – I have the power of more than one Persona, as you likely know by now. And I, as you did, traveled into the Abyss with my close friends, battling the byproduct of human nature that we subsequently strengthened during our journey. When the end came I knew that our lives were being controlled by inevitability – a fifty year cycle of sin and punishment, on loop for all eternity. And so I tried to deny that inevitability. I tried to leave the confines of my destiny. And I succeeded."

"And this resulted?" I pause briefly. "…What exactly did you do?"

"…Can you take a guess?"

"…"

"…The look on your face says all I needed to hear – that's right. I revived the goddess. I brought Izanami back to life – when it comes down to it, I'm the one responsible for the future this world now faces."

"…And why?"

He smiles somewhat sadly, his eyes darkening. His next words convey all that he needs to convey – for there was no better reason than the reason he gave.

"Because I loved her." He says, as his tale of the small countryside town that never will be again begins.

Yasoinaba Station
April 11th, 2011
For Now, My Name Is Souji Seta.

My arrival in Inaba, the least interesting place on Earth, had gone on without any sort of interference. The train hadn't been delayed, although I would've rather had it be prolonged for as long as possible. This is the part of the whole transition that was the most peaceful – I didn't have anyone to answer to yet, and at the same time I didn't have any sudden or new obligations to fulfill. It was nice, at least for as long as it was going to last.

I glance at the photo on my phone – I'd known I'd forget the actual photo before I left so I took a picture to ensure that I wouldn't be wandering around this out-of-the-way town like an idiot for a few hours – my new immediate family as it was seemed to be a single father and his daughter. They looked like a typical loving family in the picture, save for the obvious lack of a mother – Ryoutarou Dojima was the man's name, his daughter being Nanako Dojima. They were related to me on my mothers' side – fantastic, considering how all of my mother's relatives up to this point have been complete wastes of grey matter.

It was never my fault – my mother's relatives were always assholes to the core. Those that weren't just weren't friendly in the slightest. I was lucky in a sense that my parents always move around so I didn't have to waste my time with any of them past a certain point. Although my parents are another topic entirely. But soon enough I won't have to deal with them either – once I'm eighteen those two are going to split up anyway. Mom is too obsessed over her work to give a shit, while Dad is just kind of submissive to everything. It's pretty much evident that I'm the sole reason they're still together at all – mainly because neither one of them really wants anything to do with me these days anyway but don't have much of a choice in the matter until I'm of the 'right age'.

Ryoutarou was evidently a detective, so I had to assume by association with the word that he was a hard working man with a lot on his plate. Must be tough, raising a daughter by himself. And now he's got me to deal with. Three mouths to feed on one man's salary, no matter how decent he was being paid, couldn't have been good for anything. They were even living in a normal house on top of that.

At least it would only be for a year. Any longer and the country would likely absorb me completely.

As it stands I'm going to live this excursion out like any other. All I need to do is fit in – that's all I need to do to keep myself from going nuts. Not pissing off my uncle would probably be a solid idea too. Having done this too many times I already know that getting close to Nanako is pretty much off the table – the kids always have their own mental issues and she would likely be no different. Even then I'd still probably stick out like a sore thumb until mid May. Provided that I don't stand out as someone who clearly doesn't give a shit. Otherwise I'll be the talk of the school until December.

I get off of the train, taking my time. It wasn't as though I cared if I didn't get off in time – I'd probably be living near the next stop in due time anyway. So this was Inaba – even though the countryside was supposed to be 'different' it seemed like the same old shit to me – lots of littering everywhere, a lot of people screwing around on their phones, people missing their train at the last second because they were too busy getting a drink – the same basic crap.

I find myself in the late afternoon sun – god, did I hate the sun. I know we'd be screwed out of roughly ninety percent of consumable material without it, but it's not like it ever does anything else but make it really hard to see anything.

But not that far off I see the main road leading into the town – I had to assume that my uncle was somewhere in that general direction.

As I head down the stairs, I accidentally bump into the railing. A few feet later and I realize that I dropped my phone. Off to a wonderful start, huh?

I turn around – someone is already where I'd been, my phone in their hands. It was a girl with black hair, wearing a white dress shirt and striped thigh-highs that had no business existing.

"You dropped this." She says. "This is yours, right?"

"Uh… Yeah, thanks." I take my phone back from her. She turns away and heads off into the train station. I had to assume she was some kind of traveler too – I wonder, does this town make you adopt awkward clothing styles? Because if so I want to go somewhere else right now.

I turn around – a few feet away stand the two people in the photo.

"Hey, over here!" Ryoutarou calls out to me. As he does so, Nanako seems to cower behind him.

I head over to them without delay. He shakes my hand.

"Well, you're more handsome in person than in your photo." He jokes. I try my best to pull a smile out of my ass – it wasn't a great line to open on, but hell, I can't do any better. "Welcome to Inaba. I'm Ryotaro Dojima. I'll be looking after you… Let's see… I'm your mother's younger brother, and that about sums it up."

"It's nice to meet you." I reply.

He then pushes his daughter forward. "This here's my daughter… Come on, Nanako. Introduce yourself to your cousin."

The girl seems to look my way for all of a moment before her eyes dart away. "…'lo." She squeaks before hiding behind her father again. It was actually really cute, cute enough to get me to admit it was cute. And I for the most part hate cute things.

Ryotaro laughs. "What're you so shy for?" Nanako responds by punching him in the leg. He laughs it off before continuing. "Well then, let's get going. My car's over there."

And with that we wordlessly walked to his car and drove off towards his house, stopping for gas along the way. I took the opportunity to spend a substantial amount of time out of a moving vehicle for the first time in a few hours. Nanako takes the opportunity to use the bathroom while Dojima seems to be off doing his own thing.

"Hi! Welcome to Moel!" The attendant greets us. He was somewhat odd looking, his silver hair and red attire not going well together at all his red eyes were somewhat odd looking too – and at that point I realize that he's not a he at all and in fact a she. "Are you taking a trip?" she asks rather politely despite her somewhat rough voice.

"No, we just went to pick him up. He just moved here from the city." Ryotaro explains while gesturing to me.

"The city, huh…?" The attendant seems to go off in her own world for a moment, looking me over with curiosity.

"Fill up my car while you're at it. Regular's fine." Dojima says.

"Right away, sir!"

Ryotaro goes off to smoke, leaving me alone with the attendant.

"Are you in high school?" She asks innocently enough.

"Uh, yeah, I am." I reply somewhat awkwardly.

"Does it surprise a city boy to see how little there is out here?"

"I've been in worse places, believe me."

"I don't know… There's so little to do, I'm sure you'll get bored fast. You'll either be hanging out with your friends or doing part-time jobs." I almost grimace when she mentions the word 'job.' For all the crap I give people about not doing anything to contribute, the idea of contributing myself isn't a very luxurious idea. "Speaking of which, we're actually looking for part-time help right now. Give it some thought, why don't you? We don't mind if you're a student."

Working at a gas station? Well, it's nothing stupid like folding cranes or making envelopes – maybe it'd be a nice place to start out.

"Alright, I'll think about it."

She extends her hand – we shake, and in that moment I get a better look at her eyes.

There was something about them – something that I just couldn't quite grasp –

"Oh, I should get back to work." The attendant suddenly snaps back to reality, moving away. We'd both evidently been lost in each other's eyes for some time.

How strange. The last time a girl got me stunned like that was –

At this point Nanako has come back and opened the car door. But my attention shoots straight past her, when in the distance I catch a glimpse of something – Ryotaro was talking to someone fairly young, perhaps my age, standing next to a fairly elderly looking woman.

The young girl several feet away turns in my direction –

She looks different. Very different. But I know for certain –

Our eyes meet for all of a moment. But it was enough for us both to know the other was there.

It's her.

Yukiko Amagi.

How wonderful. It looks like my past is starting to catch up to me.

Maybe everything leading up to now did matter.

After all, here she is.

Someone I never should have seen ever again.