A.N. (11/5/21) - I planned to release this yesterday, but I wanted to finish writing my lab report for next week first.
DNAngel (6) - The Painting
The ringing of the bell signaled the beginning of the lunch period.
Unable to help it, Nagi gave out a loud yawn. Despite suddenly transferring into a new school, it was painfully obvious that he wasn't going to have any trouble keeping up with the school curriculum. Prestigious academy or not, it was still just middle school content.
He felt someone moving behind him. "Yo, Kujikawa. Wanna eat with me and Daisuke?"
"Sure," Nagi turned around to face Saehara. "But I need to buy lunch first, is it okay if you guys wait?"
"No problem," he nodded. "Just meet us at the courtyard once you're done."
Getting up from his seat, he made his way out of the classroom only to blink in surprise as he noticed Hiwatari waiting for him outside. The other boy glanced up once he noticed Nagi exit, and he nodded in his direction.
"I won't bother you much at school. As far as I'm concerned, you can do whatever you want as long as you don't break any rules."
Nagi blinked. For a moment there, he almost forgot that Hiwatari was supposed to act as his pseudo probation officer. "Erm… okay?"
"Good."
With that said, Hiwatari began walking away.
Still not sure what just happened, Nagi gave a confused tilt of his head. From the looks of it, it seemed that Hiwatari wasn't going to go out of his way to interact with Nagi in the future. Even though they were now housemates, it wasn't as if the two of them suddenly became friends or anything.
Shrugging his shoulders, he began making his way towards the direction of the cafeteria.
Hopefully, the food here was good.
}-{
Saehara bore a gaze into Nagi as he finished eating his bread. "Say, I've heard that you've been seen earlier this morning walking around with the younger Harada."
Nagi saw Daisuke pretend that he wasn't trying to eavesdrop.
"Hmm, you mean Risa? Yeah, I guess so. She helped me this morning when I got lost."
"Heh... That's nice of her," Saehara grinned. "You don't know how many guys would kill to have been in your position. Other than Daisuke, she doesn't really interact much with the boys."
"What's that supposed to mean… Is she supposed to be popular or something?"
"Well, pretty much. Both she and the elder Harada are pretty famous in our grade."
"Eldest Harada?"
"Riku Harada," Saehara clarified. He gestured to Daisuke. "She's dating Daisuke now, which was quite a surprise to many. Well, more like a lot of boys are filled with resentment at not having caught her interest instead of him."
Daisuke shuffled in his seat. "H-Hey now, what are you saying…"
Nagi took pity on him and decided to change the conversation. "So, I'm still new to this city. Anything interesting I need to take note of? The only thing I know so far is that this place is pretty popular with tourists."
Saehara thought about it. "Well, that's not exactly wrong. You see a lot of foreigners come here sometimes to check out the art exhibits. But really, what makes things around here so interesting has got to be the phantom thief Dark."
Next to him, Daisuke's body stiffened.
"I've heard about him," Nagi said. "He's supposedly pretty popular, isn't he?"
"Yeah, a few of us have even been to a couple of his heists." Saehara grinned. "Honestly, he's somewhat of a local celebrity amongst our age group, even if he's supposed to be a criminal. Well, in my opinion, I'm of the faction that's rooting for his capture. But I know not everyone's like that. Daisuke here for example doesn't seem to have much of an opinion on the guy"
"Really?"
Said boy shuffled in place. "I mean… I sort of pay attention to the artworks he steals. Since I like painting myself, I'm kinda interested in some of the artworks he steals."
"Daisuke's in the art club, you see." Saehara turned to face him. "Speaking of which, aren't you going to compete in some kind of competition soon?"
"Yeah," Daisuke nodded. "I'm working on my submission. It's still not finished yet, but I've got a general concept down already."
Their conversation trailed off into other topics after that, and time passed slowly as Nagi got used to his new classmates.
}-{
Hiwatari grimaced as he felt the incoming headache.
Currently, he was alone in an empty classroom. Deciding to skip the morning classes, he sat at a somewhat battered desk and recalled what happened this morning.
"The hypnosis was shoddy. He was able to resist the spell and almost remember what happened last night."
"Quite unfortunate," the voice of his other half replied. "But does this not pique your interest? That a normal human was able to resist a spell without any knowledge of magic?"
"You know something," Hiwatari accused. "Spit it out, what's so special about him? Last night, he was able to keep his form during the Dark Hour. As far as I know, only you and Dark should be able to do that."
The Dark Hour. A recent phenomenon that Hiwatari barely understood as something that affected the entire world, with no clear indication as to what caused it. Ever since the Hikari curse awakened inside of him, he was able to experience the phenomenon whenever midnight struck. Or at least, whenever midnight struck while he was transformed into Krad.
And while Hiwatari has never seen Dark during the hidden hour between days, he theorized that it was technically possible for the phantom thief to do so if Krad was able to experience it.
The only other person he knew for certain who was able to experience the phenomenon was his father, and he was the one who told him that it was called the Dark Hour. Other than that, he wasn't able to get any further information out of them over what it was or why it was happening.
"Oh my, it seems you've taken quite the interest in our latest new toy. It almost makes me jealous over how much you're paying attention to him."
"Stop changing the conversation, Krad. Just tell me what I want."
"Well I certainly can't do that," Krad replied with a hint of amusement in his voice. "That would spoil the surprise. But if you truly want to learn more about what we're planning with the boy, I'll give you a hint. Do you know where the name for the Dark Hour comes from?"
Hiwatari blinked. "No. Does it have something to do with the phantom thief?"
"In part," Krad conceded. "Truthfully, it was not always called that. This isn't the first time a situation like the Dark Hour occurred, even if it wasn't quite exactly like this. In reality, there were similar events like this that have already occurred many times throughout human history. As far as I'm aware, the last time it appeared was almost forty years ago."
"Wasn't that during the period of the last known appearances of Dark?"
"Correct. At the time, the prerequisites that were needed for the Dark Hour to manifest were already fulfilled. And for a brief period of time, it did. But something stopped it before it could fully form, and the Dark Hour was only able to last for a few short minutes before disappearing."
"What happened?"
He heard Krad scowl in his head. "Something interfered with its birth, causing reality to return to normal before it could fully stabilize."
"The Niwa family?"
"No, definitely not them. It took us a few years to discover who the culprit was. But once we did, several measures were put in place to prevent it from interfering again."
"So my suspicions were correct," Hiwatari mulled. "My father did have something to do with the Dark Hour. Is this another product of the Hikari family, some phenomenon created by another one of our works?"
To his surprise, Krad snorted. "Of course not. The Dark Hour is something that precedes my birth. In fact, you can say it precedes the whole of humanity. But it's not wrong to say that we've taken advantage of it in the past."
"What do you mean?"
"Ah, ah, ah." Krad tsked. "That's enough answers from me, no more hints from here on out."
Hiwatari frowned as he felt Krad retreat from his mind. It seems that his other half was going to remain stubborn in keeping his silence.
At least I managed to get a clue, he thought to himself. If the Hikari family already dealt with the Dark Hour before, there might be records on their experiences regarding it. It might be possible to learn more by searching through them.
He didn't know why, but there was something about it that itched at his mind. The existence of the Dark Hour was something that he was extremely curious about.
But first, there was something he needed to look into first.
Krad said that the last time the Dark Hour appeared was almost forty years ago. The first thing that came to mind when he learned that was the infamous disaster that struck this town during that time.
While records of that event were scarce, there were many survivors of the incident that he could interview regarding that period. One of them was even his superior in the police force that thought kindly of Hiwatari. It would most likely not be difficult to meet up with him and ask him to recount his memories of that time.
Hiwatari frowned as he realized something.
That still doesn't answer how Kujikawa is involved in all of this.
It seems that he would have to discover what was so special about his roommate on his own.
}-{
Several hours passed.
Nagi found himself passing through the rest of the school day without any trouble. Sure, there were some adjustments to his new lifestyle. But Nagi felt that he handled the situation normally enough.
Walking down a corridor, Nagi decided to look for Hiwatari to see if the two would walk home together later.
At least, that was the plan.
"Heya, how's it a-going Nagi!"
Recognizing her as one of his classmates, Nagi blinked in surprise as the unfamiliar girl suddenly moved in front of him.
"Huh?"
"So how come you didn't see me earlier? If I knew that you were going to walk to school today, I would have shown you around earlier."
He gave her a confused look. "Sorry, do I know you?"
"What do you mean?" She stared at him, and suddenly, her voice changed. "It's me, Mio Hio. You know, your best friend? Don't you remember, we met before when we were kids?"
It took a moment for the ridiculous words coming out of her mouth to even register in his mind. "What?"
"Eeeh!?" She gave a startled cry. "You're terrible, Nagi! Do you mean to tell me that you've forgotten about your beautiful and totally amazing childhood friend?"
No, he certainly didn't remember such a person. But for some reason, her words made him think about it for a moment. Even though it should have been complete nonsense, why couldn't he just dismiss the idea so easily?
"Come on, just think and try to remember."
Her words… something about them… they sounded so convincing… her words filled with a kind of charm to them... as if what she said made complete and total sense…
Ẃ̷̡̤̐r̸̛͓͈ō̸̭̎n̴̘̼̎g̵̙̉́.
Now that he thought about it, didn't he used to meet a bunch of people when he was younger? His father used to take him on a few of his business trips. And sometimes, Nagi would end up meeting with the sons and daughters of his business associates.
Maybe Hio was just another one of those. The daughter of a business partner from long ago.
N̶̠̒o̴̺̓,̴̺͠ ̸̼͗t̸̪͂h̸̤̃ā̶̩t̴̹̉'̷̥̿s̷͉̎ ̶͚̾w̸͚̐r̶̹̿o̶͇̓n̸̜͋ģ̴̀.̶͉͋ ̵̥́Ḑ̵̆ó̵̬n̵̫̓'̵̨͛t̴̲͒ ̶͓͌l̷̮̀ḛ̸́t̸̨͐ ̴̝́h̵͓̾e̷̩̅r̸̫͊ ̶͇͝t̴͖̑r̵̡̄í̶̬c̵̗͛k̸̪̃ ̸̼̊y̸̨̔o̴̻͗ǘ̵̜!̵̙̉
For some reason, he felt queasy all of a sudden.
"Ugh…"
What was it? There was something he was forgetting?
A dim glow began to appear in the back of his head, and a cool feeling suddenly washed over him. Without realizing it, his head cleared up.
"Ah!" A lightbulb went off in his head. "I think I heard about you from Hiwatari. You're someone who his father is also taking care of, right?"
She blinked at his response, a look of absolute confusion on her face. As if something completely unexpected just happened and she didn't know how to process it.
"Y-Yes…" she laughed it off. "That's right. My name is Mio Hio."
She gave off a playful laugh as she said that. But why did her expression just now unnerve him so much?
A sudden headache assaulted him at that moment, causing him to buckle over.
"Ugh…"
Nagi's vision gradually goes white, and sweat starts running down his body. He was suddenly aware of his breathing, and how hard it was to suddenly do so. He couldn't understand what was happening to him, since he has never felt this way before.
Was he having an anemia attack?
An arm suddenly wrapped underneath him, and Nagi found himself being lifted by Hiwatari out of nowhere.
"Excuse me," he said while looking at Hio coldly. "It seems my companion isn't feeling too well, so I'd like to take him to the infirmary."
"Oh, no." Hio sported a concerned look on her face. "Maybe I should help you there as well."
"No, that won't be necessary."
Hiwatari quickly shuts down that suggestion and moves to lift Nagi's arm over his shoulder. Nagi could only watch in confusion as the two stared at each other with narrowed eyes. Both seemed to be having a secret conversation just from the looks they gave each other.
In the end, she backed down.
"Alright then, hope you feel better soon Nagi."
All he could do was groan in discomfort.
Getting dragged out of the cafeteria, Nagi realized that he was probably going to miss the rest of his classes that day. He should probably let the teacher know about that. Maybe Hiwatari could inform them in his place.
Speaking of which…
"Hiwatari, where did you come from?"
"My apologies, but I was meaning to talk to you for a while now. But I noticed that a certain girl I've told you about was already doing so. Even though I specifically warned you to keep an eye out for her."
"I-It wasn't my fault… she just c-came and sat across from me…"
"You still don't understand your situation," Hiwatari gave a frustrated sigh. "The people you messed with have powerful connections. Connections like my father, who already thinks that something about you is strange. You still don't understand why you need to watch out for people after you."
"After me…?"
Another headache suddenly hit him, causing Nagi to wince and rub his forehead. Hiwatari noticed and sighed once more.
"Come on, let's see if the nurse is available."
}-{
School ended.
Nagi realized that it would have been better to continue resting, but he didn't want to stay after school if he could help it. So once he noticed that there was nobody keeping watch over him at the infirmary, he decided to just leave.
"Phew, I think my head's feeling better now."
But what was that earlier? Nagi knew he didn't usually have a problem with headaches, and the only thing that was different today was that he talked to the girl known as Hio.
There was something about her that… unnerved him. He didn't notice at the time, but now that he cleared his head, he realized that there was something strange about her. The way she tried to convince him that he knew her, and the way her voice sounded.
It was almost as if she was trying to hypnotize him.
He scoffed. That was silly, the idea was simply hard to believe. As far as he knew, Mio Hio didn't possess such an ability according to his memories of the series. Even if she did have such an ability, which he doubted, why would she try to use it on him in the first place?
Nagi paused.
Then again, wasn't there another case where somebody tried to hypnotize him? Either it was Hiwatari, or it was someone before that…
Ẃ̷̡̤̐r̸̛͓͈ō̸̭̎n̴̘̼̎g̵̙̉́.
His headache came back, and Nagi realized that it might be connected to his previous line of thought.
If he really thought about it, weren't there supposed to be several ailment skills in the Persona games that allowed one to manipulate a foe's mental status? Such as fear, rage… or charm.
His eyes widened.
Was this another issue caused by the mixing of the two fandoms? What else did this mean, and would he be caught unprepared in the future by another surprise like this again?
If it wasn't for Hiwatari, who knows what else Hio would have tried to do to him. But now that the thought has crossed his mind, why did Hiwatari help him?
Taking a deep breath, Nagi turned a corner.
Since school ended a while ago, there weren't any students around him as he walked down the hallway. He planned to just leave since he didn't want to stay behind while everyone else had already gone home for the day.
Suddenly, he passed by an open door.
All he did was casually glance into the room and see what was inside it, but he froze once he did.
H̴͓̱̑̇ȩ̶̪̅l̴͚̂p̵̗͠
A single painting laid on the easel in the middle of the room, an image of a snowy landscape with a snow-covered forest in the background.
Nagi looked up and saw that this was the art room. He glanced back inward and made a decision. Entering the room, he closed the door behind him and moved closer to the canvas.
Even to Nagi's untrained eye, he could tell the painting was made to give off a sense of loneliness from the scenery. The choice to change the color of the shadow to blue instead of gray gave it a completely different feeling. Closing his eyes, he could imagine the falling blizzard as if he were in a snowy field himself.
Ȟ̷̖e̴̗̓ļ̷̀p̷̧̀.
A headache came to him again, and Nagi stumbled.
H̸e̵l̵p̶ ̵m̴e̸.̷
That voice… Nagi's eyes widened.
P̸l̴e̵a̷s̶e̴,̵ ̷h̷e̸l̴p̴ ̷m̷e̷.
His heart began beating faster as he stared at the painting, urging him to do something.
He had to help.
Pressing a hand against the canvas, he yelped as his hand easily slipped into it like water. A strange sucking sensation began pulling on him. And the next second, Nagi realized what was going on.
He was being pulled in.
Nagi knew that he should resist, that he should struggle and try his hardest to not get pulled in. But he continued to hear a voice calling out to him, forcing him to lower his guard and feel compelled to listen to what they said.
The struggle stopped, and he fell in.
}-{
Daisuke walked into the art room.
"Strange, I didn't close the door when I left… didn't I?"
Catching sight of his painting, his eyes brightened. "Ah, I almost forgot to take it home today. Guess I better clean up now."
Grabbing the canvas and wrapping it up properly, he exited the room and blinked as he saw someone familiar.
"Oh, Hiwatari!"
"Hmm," Hiwatari looked up and blinked as he saw Daisuke. "Hello there, Niwa."
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm waiting for an acquaintance of mine," Hiwatari replied, his answer surprising Daisuke. "He was supposed to be somewhere around here, but I lost track of him."
Hiwatari? Waiting for someone?
"Is he your friend? It's rare for you to care about someone at school." Daisuke immediately realized how that sounded once it came out of his mouth. "N-No, wait. T-That's not what I meant…"
Hiwatari chuckled. "It's alright, I am well aware that my social circles amongst my classmates aren't as developed as most my age. I'm referring to the new transfer student that joined our class today."
"Kujikawa?"
"That is his name, correct." Hiwatari sighed. "Maybe he left already. I've checked most of the school, and I haven't been able to find him."
"Oh…" Daisuke trailed off. "Well, I hope you see him eventually."
"As do I. Then I'll bid you farewell, Niwa."
Daisuke nodded before walking away, still carrying his school supplies and the canvas of his painting in his arms. He didn't notice as Hiwatari's gaze settled on the object in his arms, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Nor did he notice the dim glow emitting from his painting.
For some reason, I had trouble having Nagi interact with others in this chapter. Because of that, he kinda comes off as bland. I'll try to see if I can fix this in future chapters.
So about what's been revealed so far, it seems that the Dark Hour is pretty involved with the lore of the DNAngel universe. It's been mentioned in the Persona 3 Club book that the Fall almost occurred several times before throughout history. I took that idea and mixed it a bit with some of the history from DNAngel, giving birth to the idea that Krad might have experienced something similar to the Dark Hour before.
The inspiration of Nagi falling into the painting comes from P4.