Persona X TWEWY X Kingdom Hearts
Summary: Trapped in an unfair game? Fighting against society? Changing the hearts of evil adults? Save the world? Discovering oneself? Nothing out of the ordinary for these teenagers.
Chapter 3
A whole new world
*Shibuya*
After feeling as though their entire bodies were being shifted and pulled like taffy, the six teenagers feel a great sense of exhaustion overtaking them and start panting. Neku wipes the sweat off his forehead, then frowned when he felt his skin. He looks at his arms and body as a whole and sees he was back in his Shujin uniform. Further glances around him showed, to everyone's relief, they were indeed back in Shibuya.
"W-We made it," Beat pants, hands on his knees.
"You have returned to the real world. Welcome back". A robotic voice calls quietly from Ren's phone. He blinked as the others turned to his phone, questions piling up. But the one question that is finally answered to both boys, without any doubt, is that the world wasn't the UG. At least they can safely say for certainty anyways. The other questions still linger on their minds for sure, Morgana, Kamoshida, the castle, and more. Neku checked himself and tries to see if he was still empowered by Sanada Yukimura but finds apart from the stiffness of his back wound, nothing had changed with him.
He glanced to Sora and Riku, the former was, like everyone else, in his normal (ish) clothing but he looked more exhausted and even sickly from the way he was struggling to just stand. Riku patting his back gently and inquiring about his well-being, fussing over him like an older brother worrying about his kid sibling. Sora himself just looked off and even starts to slur his words, like he was delirious. But before anyone could check on him some more, they were interrupted by a certain work force that Ren wasn't overly fond off.
Ryuji's angry questioning however gains the party the police's attention. Two officers approach the four after identifying their uniforms. Immediately they were accused of cutting classes, and as Neku predicted, Ryuji ran his mouth about EVERYTHING that happened with Beat backing him up. The orange-haired student sighed as he rubbed his face with his left hand, just when his day couldn't get any worse his best friend just had to prove him wrong.
Of course, after talking about the castle, the police demanded they'd open their bags on the grounds of possibly taking drugs. It takes all Neku's strength not to punch Ryuji when he challenges the police's request.
"At this point just saying we took something would make more sense than what just happened today…" he thinks, wondering if this was all just one hell of a fever dream.
The police "assure" the boys that they passed Shujin earlier and there are no sightings of any castles or anything else out of the ordinary. Of course they also "warned" them any further nonsensical garbage spewed from their mouths would result in the police calling the school. Ren instantly steps in and calmly defuses the situation, chuckling shyly and even sheepishly admitting that they were all still just waking from their sleep.
He, embarrassingly, confessed they spent all last night gaming and he, being new to this city, got them lost. Neku chimed in, saying Ryuji was still sleeping walking, and seeing things. They bowed politely and assured the officers they'd make it back to school before the day was over. But then one of the police officers looked at Sora and Riku. He stepped closer to the brown-haired boy and almost interrogated him. Riku however pulled him behind himself and stood in between the two.
Neku and Ren almost stepped in, both out protection for Sora and worry Riku may be the one to instigate the fight. Instead, to their surprise, the police officer backed off from him, almost timidly. Ren quickly dived into the conversation and clarify that Sora was severely ill and his brother is just VERY protective of him, and that they'd be going to the school with them before they headed home.
Quickly without letting Ryuji land them into more hot waters, they skedaddled out of there.
"Dudes! Ya couldn't back me up there!?" Ryuji hissed as Beat leads them to the school. Ryuji had lost his leading privilege for obvious reasons.
"And what the hell did you expect us to say? "Oh yeah officer, we went to a castle, nearly got executed, and then BOOM! We had historical and fictional characters POP out of us and killed monsters!" Neku groaned, running a hand through his hair, "We'd be lucky if getting our asses chewed out was the worst they'd do".
"Neku's right," concurs Ren, "Let's just focus on getting to Shujin first".
He looks back at Sora and asked Riku how the boy was faring. So far he wasn't uncohesive and seems to understand where they are and who was speaking to him, but his walks told them even the small trek to the school is too much for him. The silver haired teenager asks if they know a doctor or someone who could check out the younger boy, but Ren sheepishly confesses this is his third day in this city.
Neku suggested they get him to the school first and maybe have the nurse check on him, least this way everyone will be there.
Thankfully Shujin wasn't as far as he thought it'd be, and in less than ten minutes later here they stood before the school. Not a castle in sight nor any signs of monsters, just a regular old building where all sorts of things could happen. Ryuji was still unable to believe that this wasn't a castle, and even Neku was wondering if they stepped inside, would it be a school hall or the castle foyer. But still, nothing seemed nor felt out of the ordinary.
"I swear, this was the way we came before…what the hell is going on here?" Ryuji asked.
"The same question I wanted to ask".
All four blanched in despair when they see, just to add more rotten luck to their names, a school counselor marches out of the building and glares at the four. "We've received a call from the police about four Shujin students cutting classes," he says with a knowing tone.
"Bastard cop snitched on us after all," Beat growled but low and quiet.
The counselor immediately eyes Ryuji, then says: "Its rare to see you alone, Sakamoto. Who are they and where did you roam around this time?".
Ryuji, stupidly, stammers "castle", which of course resulted in the counselor assuming none of them had the intention to say what happened. Neku however was thinking of all sorts of alibis and excuses to save their hides. Maybe they could try that video game excuse and play stupid (despite Ryuji being far ahead of them) long enough for the counselor to just let them go and not deal with their stupidity. How they could explain Sora and Riku however was still in development. They can't afford to be in any more trouble after all, especially since as far as he knows, Ren hadn't even started school yet.
Then a familiar voice inquired about the castle in question. And who could it be other than the very "ruler" of said castle?
"Kamoshida!?" shouts the spiky blonde.
"That's me…you seem so carefree, Sakamoto" he greets with that tone of his, the one where it feigns kindness and makes up for sheer arrogance, "A huge difference from you did the track team's morning practice".
Almost like a switch had flipped in a nano-second, Ryuji snarls at the coach and if the three other teens hadn't been there they'd swear he'd attack him. The counselor instantly shuts down the boy's tone, sternly and even smugly warning him he was already on thin ice with the school. Undeterred, Ryuji aggressively reminds the counselor that Kamoshida was the one who started this fight, which results in the old man asking the spiky-haired boy if he just wants to be expelled already.
He turns to Beat and Neku with that disgusted look on his face and asked their side of the whole situation. Neku casually says he was helping at his part-time job at the café in Udagawa and Beat was there for a short interview, hence why they were together. He shrugged with indifference as he explained they were late because the interview was going so well that they lost track of time, and by then they bumped into Ryuji and Ren, hence why they were together.
"You expect me to believe you?" the counselor questions while Kamoshida smugly glowers at the orange-haired youth. Neku opens his mouth to try and bluff his way out of this…before someone called out.
"Yo, Neku".
All eyes turned to see casually walking down the street is his employer, and a former "associate" of another silver haired boy, Sanae Hanekoma. Black hair with the fringe held up high while wearing a black sleeveless shirt over a white shirt, black pants with black sandals, a pair of dark sunglasses resting on the bridge of his nose. He casually waved to his employee with a smirk and greets Beat and the others with nod. He looks up to the counsellor and the coach with a smile that is anything but pleasant or even respectful.
"Suguru? Here to welcome the students today or just taking a break from being an amazing coach?" he asked with playfulness laced with disrespect.
Kamoshida's smug look shifted into one that held back a great deal of resentment and disgust, his smile false and only worn as a mask. The counsellor turns his eyes to the café owner, who turned around to face him properly.
"And you are?" he asked.
"Huh? Didn't Neku tell you? I'm his boss," Sanae replied with a raised brow, "Sanae Hanekoma, owner of the ever stylish café WildKat".
He then gestured to the boys, reciting exactly what Neku had said to the counsellor and Kamoshida prior to his arrival. Sanae even took out his phone to show the text conversation between him and Neku, to which Neku checked his phone quickly to see. As he suspected, there is indeed a text between him and Hanekoma, everything about the interview and even better.
An alibi for Sora and Riku.
Incensed at the boy's disobedience (or lack of respect), the counselor berates the café owner for delaying the students and his employee's lack of respect for the staff members. In response, the café owner reminds them how quick he was to accuse Neku and Beat for ditching the first half without proper cause. The counsellor huffed, and swears he'll be seeing them BOTH after class for a proper discussion, while he turns back to Ryuji and says he'll be discussing more his potential expulsion.
"Come now. I shouldn't have antagonized him like that, we're both to blame here," Kamoshida says with a chirp in his tone. And just like the three students expect, that counselor just went along with him. Kamoshida however certainly didn't step in for Ryuji's sake when the counselor still demands he follow him to a lecture him about being exceptionally late. Then he turned on Riku.
"And who is this? What is wrong with the other one?" he questions.
"The other transfer students, thank you very much," Sanae says, "They were running late thanks to all those crazy disasters with the subways. So I had Neku, my bad really, go meet them at the station and bring them to Shujin,".
"Transfers?" Neku asked quietly, glancing at his employer, "Wait…d-did Mr H knew about…everything?".
"The others are still trying to get everything ready though, so I was told by their parents they wouldn't be arriving for awhile," Mr H continued, "But I'll be in charge of them, so don't worry about anything regarding them".
Satisfied, likely because these kids wouldn't be his problem, the counsellor nodded and requests Ryuji follow him. With defeat in his voice and body language, Ryuji followed him, but not before giving the pervy teacher one hateful glare.
Kamoshida then turned to Neku and Beat, the blonde heatedly glaring while Neku shows the usual gloomy disinterest in the man. Without a word, Neku walks up the steps after giving Ren a nod and a silent "later", Beat followed him with a huff. As Neku passes the coach, the man glowers at him.
"What? Not gonna say thanks, Sakuraba?" taunted the coach.
"…good point," he says with a shrug and turns back to Mr H, "Thanks for coming boss".
"No worries kiddo, thanks for your help today. I'll see ya later", Mr H replied, before gesturing to Riku to follow him.
When Kamoshida glares at the boy, he coldly replied with: "What do I owe you?" as he walks off with a wave. Beat wears a shit-eating grin as they entered the building. Kamoshida curses lowly before returning his eyes to Ren, his eyes narrowed. He asks if they had seen each other before, which catches Ren off guard. Does he know about the events taking place in the castle? But then as he nearly panicked, they have indeed met before.
"Sort've. I was at the station when you gave that student a lift here," he revealed, no sense in lying. Kamoshida nodded with an "ah" then greets him properly with all the false kindness the human could give. And of course, he had to remind the boy of any trouble caused by him and he'd be expelled. But like Ren, Kamoshida wanted him out of his sight as quickly as possible so he told him to go to the faculty office and meet with Ms. Kawakami.
"Oh, joy…time to meet another teacher who will likely be as giddy to welcome me to Shujin…" he thinks remorsefully as he walks into the school.
No sooner does Ren enter the school building he could feel every single pair of eyes glued to him as if Kamoshida walked in nude. Whispers of his criminal past began to sing overhead, everyone looking at him like he was just waiting for an excuse to assault someone. The students who were less than quiet already presented him with the speculations he'll be dealing with throughout his school year here, from possessing a knife concealed within his bag.
Which…in a bizarre sense wasn't TOO far from the truth if his other world form were any indication.
Drugs in his possession, has an explosive temper, beat the snot out of some student for looking at him weirdly, and all kinds of stupid junk. When he climbed a flight of stairs to the second floor, two girls almost jumped off the stairs out of fear of him, and when he turned a corner another student tripped over himself to escape his wrath. Were he not under such terrible circumstances Ren would've laughed at the ordeal and brush it off.
He arrives at the faculty office and finds his homeroom teacher sitting at her desk, looking as defeated as he did when he first woke up. He politely announces himself to her, and when she turns to him, he sees there's exhaustion within her eyes. She mutters "unbelievable" under her breath and turns to him. She is already going on about him being half a day late and like every other teacher asks him where he has been.
"I have a good feeling if I say anything about the castle, she's gonna throw me out the window," he thinks to himself, judging from her eyes. He plays the "I got lost" card and apologizes for causing any disturbances. Unlike Kamoshida, Kawakami relaxed and just tells him she understands he did just move here, so at least she could leave him off with a small warning about behaving himself. Then she brings up "Sakamoto", and upon asking more about him, she just tells him not to get involved with him.
He's just trouble, and unless it was him, she urges gently to avoid him. Even after calling him a troublemaker, she softens her annoyed look into one that is remorseful and sad, recalling he used to be so different when he was on the track team.
"Umm…I, don't know if it's supposed to be an off-limits conversation but Kamoshida said something like that at the entrance and Ryuji was pretty mad about it. What exactly happened?" Ren asks. Kawakami gave him a raised brow, and he justifies this question by insisting he was only curious about the bad blood between him and Kamoshida. She just responds with a "don't get involved" and says she'll introduce him to the class just as the break ends.
It also turns out classes will end in the fifth period due to the subway accident. Hearing that Ren inquires about, not hearing anything about it until now. Kawakami explains that yesterday, the conductor just went mad and sped up the subway train so much he crashes and derailed the thing. Almost collapsed the entire tunnel, got dozens hurt, and of course, got himself killed. So because of that, students will be forced to use other tunnels and subways to find their ways back home, to not cause too much hassle they'd be allowed to go home early.
She then takes him to the classroom, all the while both of them sharing the same thought.
"Can this day get any worse for me?".
Elsewhere, Neku and Beat managed to reach their next class before break ended and after Neku covers for them again, they settled down in their seats just as class starts up again. Neku heaves a sigh of relief when he finds out his teacher today was a substitute who was as interested in the lessons as he is and allows his student to just finish any homework they had left. So with this, students began to work away in silence while Neku, who already had he done during his breaks at his job, starts to doodle in his sketchbook.
BZZT!
BZZT!
BZZT!
Neku uses his books to cover his desk before plucking out his phone beneath his desk and sees he received a text from the girls.
Misses Mew: "Where the heck have you two been!? Our social studies teacher was going off about you two for literally half the entire class!".
Neku glanced up from the phone and spots Shiki by her desk, books covering her little table with a worried look on her face. He didn't consider what she or the other girls would be thinking while they were fighting for their lives. Part of him wished he'd texted them as soon as they escaped from wherever they came from and reassured them they were still on their way.
Edge lord: "We'll tell you girls later, trust me".
He gave her a sorry smile as she reads his texts to her and with a pout, she nodded reluctantly and resumes whatever homework she forgot to do. Unless it was maths, she never forgets to do it. She just puts it off if she can before academics require her to do them for the sake of passing school. Going back to his doodling, he had already filled out the notebook with dozens of his graffiti ideas mixed with those dreams he had a while back.
Filled with sketch work with plenty of shading and unique designs that were inspired by CAT with a touch of the strange dreams, a little world of his own to create and remake in his vision. Then as he opens a new page, he starts to draw his other outfit self and Sanada Yukimura in the process, his hand freely sketching away with ease and skill as his imagination began to run wild like a free soul.
He lifts his head for a second and suddenly for a split second, he sees the castle again. Neku lets a sharp gasp out and clutches his head, disorientated and a slight panic stirs inside his heart. He takes a shallow breath and when he lowers his hand, he sees he was still in the classroom, just with a headache. Looking at his sketchbook and sees half the drawing complete, Neku places his pencil down and hummed.
"Kamoshida didn't say jack about the castle, about nearly killing us or anything…didn't even recognize Ren…and the castle just vanished…" he thinks. "But that city…was that part of the Game? But that can't be right, Sora and Riku could see us, interact with us and they weren't part of it…".
One thing was certain within the Game, the living couldn't see nor hear the dead. Once you die and you wind up in the game, you're essentially a ghost that can creepily read minds. He remembers for the first three days it was all taking place in Shibuya…but then, one day when he awoke for the fourth day…he and the others were somewhere else. Somewhere that could only be from a dream, a world unlike their own and those creatures.
He sighed in his seat and leaned back to look out the window in thought, if Sora and Riku are here, if they remember everything that's happened, at least Riku does, then what does this mean?
And just what kind of game was that bastard composer playing?
*Later…*
"The first day of school, judgment: I hate it".
That was the conclusion Ren had come to the moment he walked out of the classroom. Of course, the moment he entered, all eyes had been set on him like he was the prime suspect in a murder case, everyone having a horrible opinion on him the moment he introduced himself. Not even Kawakami's words keep everyone from making this already thin icing situation of his anymore risky for him. Already he was missing home and just wished he could have gone ANYWHERE else that wasn't Shujin.
That girl though, the one with the wavy hair was sharing his class so at least he knew someone. To a degree. Not only that, but their short interaction had already sent the school students on a gossiping spree. She was Kamoshida's girlfriend and by talking to him, she was cheating. The fact she was DATING that filthy man made him sick but then again, maybe that was just high school rumors at their worst for the moment.
He had no doubt it's only going to get worse from here…
But as he leaves the room, staring down the hallway, suddenly for a brief second, the place turned back into the castle hallway. He shakes his head, rubbing his temples.
"Hey, are you okay?", Kawakami asks, noticing him. "Sorry if that was tough on you. I…".
"N-No, it's fine," Ren sighed, "I guess I'm just a little overwhelmed by everyone knowing about me".
"Looks like they're already talking about you…and no, I didn't say a word about you," promised the teacher. She sighed and asked again herself why she was the one to deal with this ordeal. Ren rolled his eyes when his face wasn't directed at her. Like she was having a rough time, she's not the one suffering under the eyes of every single gossiping idiot. Then to add more to his order of a bad day, Kawakami reveals Sakura-San (Sojiro) was contacted about him and…didn't sound happy.
"Just what I needed…upset the guy providing food and a roof over my head…" he thinks bitterly.
"Oh, and about Sakamoto-Kun. Don't get involved with-
Just as she was warning him, said Sakamoto appears from the hallway and approached the two. "Speak of the devil…heard you were having trouble with the police, something about cutting class," she says tiredly.
"It was nothin'", Ryuji says, brushing it off.
"And you haven't dyed your hair back to black yet either…" she says, gesturing his hair.
He gives a short and quick apology before he approached Ren. Quietly he says he and the others will be waiting for him on the rooftop and then leaves Ren. Once he was out of earshot, Kawakami resumes her warning about the boy. Yet Ren turns to her with a look that stops her tirade. He shrugged and thanked her for her warnings but says: "Ya know…he was the one who helped me get here as best as we could, and even helped me. Doesn't sound like a bad guy to me".
As he walks off, he coldly warns her it'd be best to learn who the person is before you assume they're a bad apple. But unbeknownst to Ren, those words cut into the teacher's heart far deeper than he would ever know.
Before he heads up, as he hides behind the wall, he overhears two voices. Laying his back against the wall, he peers over it to see Kamoshida and principal Kobayakawa. The coach was already displaying his disdain for Ren's arrival and the fact he was transferred here, but he seemed more concerned with how it was going to affect his efforts to maintain the school's reputable state. All the while it seemed the principal was just moaning about how difficult his life had gotten but he was mostly just kissing Kamoshida's ass during their talk.
Nothing but praises and expectations that somehow glorified the coach, it seemed to Ren that despite his terrible personality, it seemed Kamoshida being here has benefited the school greatly. But that principal…call the raven a pessimist but something in his gut is telling him that this fat potato was more concerned with more personal goals than the school, and if his lack of faith in people was accurate, he had a bad feeling there was more about that pervy teacher that hasn't concerned the principal greatly.
He sighed as they split, he had other things to focus on.
He reached the rooftop of the school and find Neku and Beat with Ryuji, all three sitting around. "Took your time," Ryuji commented as Ren rests against one of the spare desks. "Sorry for callin' you all up here," he apologizes, "I bet you Kawakami already told you to "not get involved with him" huh?".
"Yeah but…ya know, troublemaker student. Comes with not listening to my teachers…so…" Ren said casually, "But how'd you know that?".
"Cause she says that about anybody who doesn't follow da rules," Beat informs with a huff, "That teach always has a stick up her ass!".
"That…and probably because we look and act like troublemakers," Neku points out. "But hey, think we're all in the same boat, in a way". He looks at Ren and says: "We heard about that criminal record of yours. Whole freaking school's talking about it".
"No wonder you're gutsy," Ryuji joked.
"Gutsy…no. Stupid and desperate not to die? Pretty much the most accurate description," Ren sighed as he runs his hand through his hair. "Speaking of which…".
All four boys pondered the world they visited, trying to make sense out of all of it. Without a doubt it wasn't a dream, Neku had shown everyone his back. There is a faint scar that ran down from his left shoulder to his right hip, but it looked so old and faded it could have been there for most of his life for anyone knows. Not to mention each of them could recollect everything that's happened in that place, yet when they tried to figure out how and why they were able to go there, nobody had an answer.
Neku also pointed out Kamoshida didn't mention anything about what happened and knowing how he acted in there, there was no chance he wouldn't seek retribution for them humiliating him and killing his guards. Yet nothing, he didn't even remember Ren until he brought up the station. So if the coach doesn't remember what happened, they couldn't prove Neku's wound was from his soldiers, then what else could there be?
"Yo…ya think maybe it was just a freaky accident? Like man, we just, I dunno, walked in?" Beat asked scratching his head, "Mean shit…we don't even know how we got there".
"Yeah…" agreed Neku.
Ryuji hummed and turned to Ren. "Well, dream or not, you still saved me from Kamoshida…so…thanks, Ren," he says, grateful but awkward. With a smirk, Ren shrugged it off and claimed it was nothing. Ryuji smirked back but then frowns. He goes on about how different Kamoshida in that castle was compared to the one here, and the other two agreed there was a massive change.
"You guys know this guy pretty well…what exactly is it about him that ticks you off?" Ren asks.
"Apart from him being a dick?" Neku asked with a shrug, "The guy acts like he's the king of a castle here. And nobody says a thing against him because he's a medallist who took the volleyball team to the nationals".
"And that fat ass principal is constantly lettin' him get away with the shit cause of that! And anyone who goes up against him, pfft, they don't get a chance," Beat growled, "Guess that's why he acted like an e-ffing king of that castle!".
"…wonder if we could go back," Ryuji mumbles to himself. Then he huffed and gets off his chair, deciding it was probably just some freak accident and that it'd be best to just get over it. The other trio agreed in unison, that was enough craziness for a lifetime. "Anyways, sorry for dragging you all up here. That's all I had to say, anyways" Ryuji confesses. Then he smiled. "Ya know, as weird as this is gonna sound, we're pretty similar. Think we'll get along as "troublemakers".
"You and Beat sure well…" Neku groaned, "I dunno which one of you is louder…or dumber".
"BWAA!? What'cha say Phone!?" cried Beat, glaring at him.
"…maybe Beat's JUST a smidge ahead…" Neku clarifies.
After a small chuckle is shared between the four, they start to part ways after everybody properly introduces themselves to each other and head off.
"But hey, how'd you guys know about Sora and Riku?" Ryuji asks, "I mean I've never seen them around".
"We met them outside of Shibuya, I think they're from further up the country…" Neku excuses, "Sure as hell look older though". The less they talk about the Game, the less PTSD can be conjured up again. Though saying that…
Ren urges everyone that, even if they would chuck it up to a dream or a freak accident, they'd keep it to themselves. Ryuji just laughed.
Who'd believe such a story anyway?
*Afterschool*
"A talking humanoid cat?" Shiki asked gobsmacked.
"Personas? Monsters?" Rhyme questioned with wide eyes.
"Kamoshida wearing NOTHING but pink undies!?" Eri nearly shrieks.
"Yes, yes, yes and tragically, yes," Neku groaned as he sipped his coffee.
Settled in a ramen restaurant in Shibuya before they returned home, the gang of five Shujin students gathered up after meeting at the school gate where Neku explains to the group what happened to cause himself and Beat to miss half a day. After they made sure they weren't going to be overheard by some random customer and had a few cups and treats, Neku started from the beginning about how they entered that castle and how they escaped.
While Rhyme and Shiki had an easier time accepting this story, Eri was the one who probably had checked her caffeine and pinched herself more times than not to ensure she wasn't dreaming. After they returned from the UG, Shiki had confessed to the girl about her death and how she came back to life. Of course where it anyone else there'd never would have been a need to reveal this adventure to anyone, but the four had realized that keeping such a thing from Eri would have been impossible.
"And you guys are SURE you weren't on anything?" Eri asked.
"Didn't ya see the freaking scar on Phone's back!?" Beat says with a light slam on the table, "Dude sure as freak didn't do it himself!".
"T-That's…" Eri starts but Shiki stops her.
"Beat's right, Eri. Neku didn't have anything like that before today," she says confidently.
"And you know that how?" interrogates Eri.
Shiki turns pink at the implication of her confidence and stammers a meek response, while the girl coyly teases her more. "Tell me Shiki~ How do you know Neku doesn't have any sexy scars on his back? Or better…why did you see him without a shirt?".
The poor girl grows smaller and her cheeks glow brighter with all the implications, holding Mr Mew up to hide her lower face. The one time she asked Neku to try on a shirt she designed for Eri's job had finally come back to bite her in the butt.
While the poor girl is teased, Rhyme looks at the two. More questions came from her about the Persona aspect and Neku explained what Morgana said about "masks within people" and how he was only awakened by his rebel spirit. Though Rhyme questioned why he was someone like Sanada Yukimura, who by all accounts, didn't "rebel" like someone like Arséne.
"And Kamoshida didn't say anything to you guys? Nothing regarding…the castle?" she asks.
"Nothin'. Maybe he doesn't remember or somethin'," Beat huffed, "Don't care anyway. We got off from him reporting to fatso".
"But you two still don't know how you got there? Like, did anything tip you off?" she persists.
"Nope. We just followed Ryuji to the school but then bam, a castle," Neku sighed.
"Sheesh…sounds like a more messed up UG or something…least you don't have to, ya know, die to get there," Eri sighed.
Truth be told Neku wasn't sure which was worse at that point. All he does as his friends shift the conversation into something neutral was stir his coffee and ponder. "Rhyme had a point about Sanada…maybe there's something about him I could read on," he thinks to himself. He pulls out his phone and downloads an app that focuses on the Sengoku era of Japan.
"But for real man…Sora and Riku…" Beat sighed while sitting back in his seat with his arms crossing, "Can't believe it".
"Who and who?" Eri asked, "Ya never mentioned those two".
"Well…you remember when we told you about the Game? For the remaining four days of the third week, we ended up in what I thought was…a new world," Rhyme explains softly.
They explained to Eri the final days of the Game, how they were in a new city, strange creatures both good and evil while also this weirdo in black, and finally how thanks to those two they managed to win the game.
"Okay but what's so bizarre about those two? I mean even if they weren't players or whatever, they managed to keep your butts from going poof, right?", Eri asked.
"That's the issue. You can only use Psych when you are a player, but those two…they can fight without them. And Sora he…it's like he's a wizard or something. The way he moves, fights and hell, half the monsters we can barely match, he wipes the floor with them," Neku replied.
"Riku ain't nothing less! Dudes like an anime guy who could sneeze, and everything is going boom!" Beat groaned, "Pretty shitty he couldn't do half of that at the castle…".
"…are they hot?" Eri asked.
"Eri…" Shiki sighed.
"…Sora's cute…" Rhyme quietly mentions.
"OOOOH~ And didn't you guys say Mr H said they were transfer students too?", she asked with a wide grin.
As the girl asks more questions about the two students, Neku resumes his search for the
Then just before he closed his phone, he spots an app that he didn't download.
An app a certain Trickster has on his phone…
*WildKat*
"Welcome to your new home, boys," Mr H welcomes as he walks into his café with the boys in tow, Sora still in a barely wake state of mind.
The café itself felt modern yet somehow retro with the décor of the café, a lot of graffiti style art was painted on the blank walls but were far from cringy or gaudy. Riku couldn't deny they held a certain appeal behind the sleek black and white outlines, the colourful variety of the art, the low hip hop music playing above via the small radios made the place feel calm and even cool vibe to it. On the far left looked like a lounge section with dark red bean-bag chairs, several couches and tables with high stools.
The floors were black tiles while having a clean shine to them, ahead was the bar with several jars of coffee beans, drinks of varying kinds of sodas and other minerals.
Mr H gestured Riku to settle Sora down on a couch nearby while he goes around her bar and grabs something. Settling his best friend down on the couch, he winced lightly when he hears Sora groaning weakly and almost slumps in his seat. The master of the key frowns worriedly and rubbed his long lost buddy's back just before Mr H returns with a tray carrying three drinks and one small cup of green liquid.
Placing them down on the wooden coffee table between them, Mr H picks up the green drink, asks Riku to help keep Sora up and then gently helped the boy swallow the drink. Once he drains the cup, Mr H leaned Sora back on the couch for a moment. Suddenly his body is enveloped in a green glow, and when its faded from his form, Sora lunges forward with a gasp and almost slammed his face into the table, caught by Riku.
He grabbed his chest as he pants shakily, his skin pale and sweaty while he shook. Riku's eyes were wide in alarm while Mr H sighed with worry.
"Guess you didn't recover entirely from your little trip to the Palace, huh kiddo?" he states while picking up his mug of coffee. Sora shakes his head with a light shudder and rubbed his chest to try and calm down his heart's rapid beating. Slowly he looks up and surveys his new surroundings, blinking before he turned to Riku with a questioning look in his eyes.
"Where…are we?" he asked.
"We're in a…city, called Shibuya," Riku explained, carefully choosing his words.
"You are not in your own world kiddo, nor a world you've been yet,".
They both jumped and snap their head back to Mr H sipping his coffee, smirking knowingly at the boy. "Oh don't give me that look, ever since we had to move the Game to Traverse Town, it's kinda surprising Neku and the others don't know about other worlds".
"The Game?" Sora asked, remembering something relating to such terms mentioned by Neku.
"That's another subject for another day, kiddo. Right now, I bet you two have some questions regarding your current situation that I'm sure has you as confused as explaining algebra to Beat," the smooth talker bragged.
"That…was oddly specific…" Riku comments.
Mr H rolled his eyes, gesturing the two drink up their beverages while he goes into detail about the state of things. "So lets get somethings out of the way for now, first off, where the hell did you guys end up? Where did that castle come from and why were there two Kamoshida's prowling around the area, and for you, master Riku, why couldn't you use your keyblade?" lists the owner.
Riku frowns in suspicion while Sora hummed in approval of the coffee given to him, complimenting on the choice of beans used for it. Mr H gave him an approving smirk as he settles in his seat before he dishes out the information the two boys have been seeking.
"Well…bit of a dick move on my end but I can't exactly tell you about the Palace or that world you visited today," he says.
"Huh? But you said-
"AH, AH…I said you have questions about that place, I never said I'd answer that part".
"So are you going to answer why I couldn't summon the keyblade or fight like I could have? I nearly lost Sora again," Riku says with a grunt.
Mr H sighed.
"See kid, you may not know, nor do the others. But…you're all part of a new Game," explains the owner, "If you don't know about it, essentially my, well lets call him "partner" has decided to play a game with someone who is pretty interested in two teens now, now he's got his eyes on our lovable spiky haired boy".
"And that's who?" Riku asked.
"Oh well one of them you know already, the other guy? He's a bit of a bizzarro freak who could give Pinocchio a run for his long nose money," he jokes. He gave Sora a knowing smirk at the surprised look before continuing. "This guy and my partner have a bit of a wager going on between them, but the problem is someone has kinda rigged the game to tip the scales against the Trickster, IE good ole Ren Amamiya and Neku…and now you, Sora".
"But what does that have to do with me not using the keyblade?" Riku asked.
"See that's one of the rules of the Game our competitor is taken advantage of. In order to enter the game, a fee is required. Normally its something you cherish, like memories of someone you care deeply for, a precious item you couldn't live without or worse, someone you hold dear to you," he reveals, and sees in the eyes of the two keyblade wielders, they comprehend the stakes. "But my partner found a little loophole in the rules for you all, and tweaked the rules a bit. Instead, you guys lose your powers".
"But that's not fair! If we can't fight like we normally can, then how are we supposed to win?" Sora asked.
"That's easy for you kiddo, you've got your Persona to help," he reveals. Sora blinks and then thinks back to the Palace before he frowned with worry. Mr H explains how the Personas worked, revealing they act something like the armor of the heart when confronting worldly matters. The mask Sora removed revealed his other self within the Palace, unlocking his inner powers that he never knew he possessed. However Mr H states that his Persona was different from Ren and Neku's, citing that their forms stem from historical and fictional figures of this world.
Bahamut, however, comes from another world like Sora and Riku, there fore he technically doesn't exist here. Riku points out to the owner that when Sora first revealed his other self, he had two forms instead of just the one, referring to Neku's awakening. In response, Sanae states that it is because Sora's power temporarily awakened him to a more powerful form then what it should have been. Because of their powers prior to integrating into the Palace, they were able to draw power from their hearts and almost achieve greater powers.
But Sora wasn't ready for it, he accidentally performed this and hence his sickly form after they escaped. "Chances are, Riku, once you find out how yours works, you'll be able to fight with the kiddo again…".
"So what about Ren and Neku? Are they players too?" Sora asked.
"Neku? Kinda. Its Ren that Igor has the most focus on," Mr H says, "And chances are sooner or later you guys will be brought back to the Palace, with the rest of the gang forming".
"Beat and Ryuji too? What about Morgana?", asked Riku.
"Whose Morgana?" asked the owner.
"The cat? He's got a Persona too!" Sora says, "At least, I thought I saw him with one…".
Mr H shrugged and said they've enough talking for today. He gets off his seat and says to the two that tomorrow they would be attending Shujin academy. If they were going to be stuck here until they either find a way out or more likely until they win the mystery game. He gestured a door nearest to the staff room, telling them their rooms were behind that door along with the needed necessities, as well as their uniforms.
The two boys finish their drinks and after everything that's happened today, they agreed to head to bed and just get some shut eye.
Leaving the café and heading through the door, they climbed a flight of stairs and entered another door. Inside was a small hallway with two doors facing each other, the first letters of their names stamped on the wooden doors. No brainer whose room was who's…
But they both entered Sora's room, both needing to talk before they went their separate ways. Inside the room, too their shock, it was an almost perfect replica of Sora's bedroom back on the islands, minus the view of the islands of the windows. It even had some spare clothes that reminded him of his island world, just more fitting for him along with some of this world's fashion senses.
He was mind boggled by the size of the shoes of this world, so small.
But fashion crisis aside, he sits down on the bed with Riku, hands clasped together as they finally have time to wind down and clear their heads.
"…how long was I gone?" he asked softly.
"…a year…" reveals Riku, "The others hadn't stopped looking for you since we lost you".
"And…Kairi? Is she ok?".
"…she went to sleep for a year, thinking her dreams could help us find out where you were…heh, funnily enough, she was right. Turns out…oh jeez," Riku says with a light laugh, "There is a lot to unpack there, Sora".
"Tell me…tell me everything," he begged.
"…Well…you ever heard of a fictional world existing like an actual world?" Riku starts.
A/N:
And now we're nearing the start of where we last off with the original story. I'm sure a lot of you are sick of the rehashing.
Next time we'll have the boys attend Shujin, new Personas will show up and who knows?
Questions:
Q1: Thoughts on this crossover so far?
Q2: How was Mr H?
Q3: Explanation of why Sora and Riku can't use keyblades?
Q4: The inclusion of the game?
As always everyone, thanks for reading and supporting this story! Stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!