Fool's Gamble
Life 96
"Now I do not know whether I was a man dreaming I was a Butterfly"
"What are you talking about?"
"Humans, born of the God's madness, belong to me."
"Or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man."
"This power was not yours to take."
"Where did you go?"
"This world is yours now, there's no place for you to go that we can't follow."
"This path is not an easy one."
"Do you remember?"
"This world is not the one that you left."
"Where did you take them?!"
"This is the end of your story, and mine."
"Who you really are?"
Hunger Arc: Part II
Chapter IX: Soliloquy of Shadows
1986
It had been a festival, one held at their school and had been an event that Naoya had been looking forward to for some time.
His twin wasn't as excited for it as he was, an odd occasion where the elder twin wasn't his usual social butterfly self.
And yet, Kazuya was consoled by their mother stating that he could go see his little friends when they got there, his brother having grown excited at the idea, whereas Naoya felt a little cold inside.
He didn't have anyone waiting for him at the festival.
So on a Saturday night, young Naoya Toudou was left adrift in a crowd of rambunctious children as the sights and sounds of the festival overwhelmed him more than the staggering crowd could ever.
Their mother had seen a friend of hers, running off to go speak to the fellow parent, while Kazuya had disappeared almost immediately to go find his friends.
Leaving the youngest Toudou alone in the mass of sound and flesh, his senses burning as he couldn't catch sight of his mother, let alone where the school even was with so many people towering over him.
It was like being trapped below a blanket of darkness, only the light above him illuminated as people pushed and shoved him aside like an empty can.
And yet, he oddly didn't feel alone, a pair of eyes he felt in his bones fell on his back, a presence that his young mind could only barely comprehend.
A man with pale blonde hair, watching him from the shadow of the concession stands, his blue eyes almost confused as the man looked around, his gaze lingering on Naoya akin to a life line as Naoya felt a kinship to the man.
They were both lost.
But let it never be said that Naoya wasn't stupidly, dangerously brave, and he approached the stranger with a fragile smile.
"Hello there child, this is… quite an interesting place to find another like you." The odd man said with a weary tone as Naoya almost swore the man's eyes flickered red for a second, but the boy merely took a seat on the bench beside the man, eager to have some company considering his family had nearly vanished on him.
"Why? Do you not go to festivals?" Naoya said with the best control over his syllables that he could muster, his words coming out almost perfect as the man only seemed more confused at the boy's attempt to socialize.
"You call this a festival?" The man then looked with scrutiny at the people that passed them by, almost as if they couldn't even see the two of them, but Naoya was more confused by the man's odd accent. "All I see are sheep blind to their own slaughter."
Naoya laughed.
"Something you find humorous, child?"
"You speak funny." And at that the man's face fell as he took a breath, his eyes the color of ice as he almost seemed to notice the boy for the first time, an odd feeling overwhelming him as the air around them seemed to shift.
"You… Why are you so familiar, boy? Do you walk the same road as I?" The man asked as the boy only shared his look of confusion then, a smile coming unbidden then as the boy's face lit up with a warm grin.
"I dunno, I'm Naoya! What's your name?"
At that the man almost seemed caught off guard, such a simple gesture as introducing himself seemed foreign to such an odd man, almost as if he didn't converse often.
"My name… That's a parable in itself." The man let loose a low laugh then as he took a seat beside the boy, the small bench feeling quite crowded now, but Naoya was delighted to have someone to talk with.
"What's a… parable?"
"I've had quite a few names. You can call me… Louis, but… you're not of my game are you, little Naoya?" The stranger, Louis, said then as the boy only looked confused, however intrigued.
"I like games."
"I'm sure you do, but I'm afraid mine isn't for the faint of heart. However, I can see there is a grand fate before you. Much hardship, but I foresee great fortune as well." Louis said as a strange little smile appeared on his face then, the boy looking confused as the man simply poked the boy's forehead with a single finger, a sparkle of light flashing before nothing else lingered.
"Know that even on your darkest of days, you shall never be alone Naoya Toudou. May the road of Chaos guide you, even with our paths diverged. You and I shall walk together, wherever your feet take you. Steel your heart, for the road ahead shall be long, and often dark. You have been chosen for a greater purpose." Louis said then as his shadow seemed to morph behind him, twelve rays of light echoing out from him as Naoya's eyes hurt from the sudden flash, his gaze averting only to find the stranger gone when he looked back.
Naoya was alone once more.
However, unknown to him, a voice spoke in the back of his mind, unheard and forgotten.
"I am thou… thou are I…"
Mikage-cho, 1996
"What?" Naoya said with utter confusion at the masked man before him, this so-called… Philemon, just stood there with ease as Naoya slowly processed the fact that the man had admitted to not being human.
"You know, I'm new to this all, but I'll give you the basic explanation I was given. Anyway, I am Philemon, I'm the Incarnation of Hope, and I'm assigned to prevent the world from coming to an end on six different occasions… And you're the first fortunate soul to receive my company!" The man said with glee as he threw an arm around Naoya's shoulder, the youth just frazzled as he tried to fight off the man's grip only to be shocked as transparent images began to appear before them both.
"You see, there's this evil guy Nharly, he's the Incarnation of Despair, and he basically wants to exterminate humanity. I'm the one in charge of making sure that doesn't happen. You see, there's going to be a bunch of dramatic and dangerous things happening, and a couple of lucky kids are going to get to experience some horrible things. Those lucky kids, of which you are the first, are called Wild Cards." The man, Philemon explained as the image of a man in a crimson suit appeared, demonic beasts appearing by his side as phantom silhouettes of six teenagers appeared against him.
Naoya could distinctly make out one of them as himself, a look of defiance in his eyes that he had never seen in his own before.
"You see, you and a whole lot of other people have the ability to embody your spirits in physical forms, known as Persona. People like Nharly over there, do the same thing sort of, but in an evil way. Those are called Shadows, or Demons depending on the situation, and it's your job to stop the bad guys. Fun right?" Philemon said with what sounded like glee as Naoya's mind struggled to keep up, his mouth trying to speak words that his mind couldn't put together.
"Now then, I can't stick around here for too long, but I'll be seeing you and your buddies real soon, as this peaceful lull won't last forever. My advice? Get used to revelations real fast, because you have a lot to learn bucko."
And before Naoya could even let loose the wave of confusion that dominated his mind, the man was simply gone as if he had never been there to begin with, and Naoya only found himself holding an odd card in his hands.
An image of what looked like a demon was on the card face, with a simple word at the bottom of it in glowing purple text.
Fool
Without even trying to, Naoya found himself falling alongside his friends as they retreated through the halls to the clubroom they had claimed for themselves some time ago.
They had become the official Literature club of Saint Hermelin, despite the fact that none of them really read any novels, but mostly used the cover to spend time together and work on assignments in relative peace.
Naoya mentally checked out as he looked through one of the old boxes they had in the room, half of their group having signed up to help with the preparations for the school's latest play, though Naoya had taken a step back from that scene after a passing interest in theater.
It was some kinda play about an Ice Queen, and he'd lost interest near instantly.
Until Masao started yelling aloud, bringing the older boy's attention firmly back to the presence, thoughts of weird Owlmen set aside for now.
"It's 'cause you did something pointless Kei!" Masao yelled in frustration as the older boy just stood aloof, his attention firmly on the decorations that they had been talked into helping with, the younger boy just annoyed at the events of their earlier class.
"Because of you opening your big mouth, now we gotta do a report and shit. That pisses me off!"
Kei just shrugged off the blame as he began gluing paper flowers onto the play banner, Naoya merely folding them into shape as he let the sound of his friends fill the void.
"All I did, Inaba, was speak the truth. The one at fault is not me, merely our teacher for his insufferable lack of teaching credentials. One can not be a man and a butterfly at the same time, absurd assumptions of a foolish man." Kei said with a brand of distanced annoyance that Naoya had never seen from anyone else, almost as if the older boy was both upset and didn't care that he was upset.
Masao wasn't having any of it however.
"Nishida-Sensei is completely wrong in espousing such ridiculous pondering, his thoughts and personality notwithstanding, with that level of… Sorry Inaba, I forgot that lesser beings wouldn't understand." Kei said with a side eye full of spite as Masao's face turned bright crimson as the younger boy exploded in rage.
"WHAT?! WHO YOU CALLING A LESSER BEING, YOU RAT BASTARD?!"
"Hey, shut up you two! You're being annoying!" A sudden voice called out from the other side of the club, their senior member making her presence known with a withering gaze as Masao seemed to shrink at her voice.
Yukino Mayuzumi, an upperclassman that had seemed to latch onto each of them and try to corral them into some sort of order, and the person Naoya had to thank for Kei and Masao not having killed each other yet.
Not that Naoya wouldn't have enjoyed watching the fight, as no doubt they'd both fight extraordinarily well, a true spectacle of might.
"Let's hurry up and get this done! You all promised to help, and I have to get to my job this evening." Yukino said with a harsh flame as Masao grew quiet and did nothing but nod as he went back to painting the banner, the brush heavy as the color began to come together.
Hidehiko, who previously had been silent, rose up then in question.
"Hmm, Yukino, this is pretty rare of you. You usually leave right away, what's the occasion?" He said with an unusual interest as the boy finished folding a flower of his own, he and Naoya served to arm the others in their preparation as Yukino kept the two most volatile of their group from burning them all alive.
"It can't be helped, Sensei Saeko personally asked me to help out, and you all agreed after all." Yukino said with a rare grin as a chuckle echoed from the corner, Yukino's eyes twitching at the predicted sound.
"You seem to do a lot for Sensei Takami, don't you Yukino. You wouldn't happen to actually, sincerely, truly, like our teacher, would you?" Eriko Kirishima, a prime part of the theater program and future fashion extraordinaire, was always up for taunting those she claimed to be friends with.
Yukino's eyes just narrowed in turn, a slight blush on her cheeks as her eyes promised nothing but pain and suffering.
It wasn't exactly a secret among the group that Eriko's feelings for their theater teacher weren't exactly puritan.
"Eriko…"
"Eriko, cut it out, the last thing we need is to fight each other so late. Let's just finish the last banner and head home." Naoya spoke up in a rare display of diplomacy, an attempt to calm the tides between them as his friends fell quiet, as he didn't speak up very often to begin with.
"Rather than doing that, why don't we do something different?" Hidehiko said with a tinge of excitement, a glint in his eyes as he came up behind Masao, the trickster sporting a sharp grin as Naoya's interest was piqued.
And a part of him thought back to the odd man he had met the day before, who spoke of hardship…
"What did you have in mind?" Erika asked with an eager grin, the girl always up for a capable distraction, especially if it was fun.
"We could play the Persona game."
A flash of a monstrous being flashed before Naoya's eyes then, a familiar burning sensation in his skull as he fought off the sudden pain and tried to remain in the present, the words in his mind only a distraction.
"Persona Game? That's… ambiguous." Kei said with interest as he stepped forward, the group all doing the same as Hidehiko took center stage among them, his gaze blazing in mirth.
"You haven't heard yet? I thought most of the school had heard. It's a game you play as the sun begins to set, and they say it'll give you a vision of your future. Probably an exaggeration, but it's quite a spooky time they say." Hidehiko said with quiet persuasion as the others began running over his words.
A glimpse of the future…
"Total bullshit. No one can see the future, especially not by playing such a stupid game." Masao said with a huff as he threw off his interest, his eyes once more on his paintbrush as Erika's eyes seemed to grow a bit wider.
"Is this Persona game accurate?"
"Nooopppeee. I don't believe a word of this shit. It's just another one of Brown's tricks, I'd even bet 2000 Yen that it doesn't even work." Masao said with blatant disregard as Hidehiko's grin rose even further.
"That's a bet I like."
"Oh yeah, hope you enjoy paying for my lunch fucker." Masao asid with a grin as the group seemed to divide into sides then as belief and suspicion warred between them.
"I'm quite interested in such an idea, Uesugi better come through." Eriko said with a violent smile as Naoya just shook his head as he recalled the talk he'd had with… Philemon. He had said he was capable of summoning a Persona, a spirit.
This couldn't be a coincidence.
"I too would like to see what Hidehiko has to show us." Kei said with a growing intrigue as the older boy went to stand beside them, the two sporting mutual looks of desire to learn their supposed future.
"I'm out, I've got things to do." Yukino said with a wave of her hand as she strode out the door, the others just staring back as they looked towards Naoya, the only one that hadn't pitched out belief or disbelief.
With a breath, he just looked up at them.
"Fine, I'm in."
"The game's simple everyone. Each of us stands in a corner of the room, we each recite the incantation, we walk over to the person next to us and touch them. When all of us have finished, the Persona game takes us to another world, to the future." Hidehiko said with an odd focus as they each found themselves in a corner, Naoya standing in the center of the room as Hidehiko had said there was a thing about an odd number of players.
Supposedly, it meant Naoya was the odd one out, and he would only be able to see their futures and not his own.
He already feared what was to come, so not getting to see it was honestly a relief.
"Each of you, repeat after me, even you Masao… and remember, you have to finish the incantation, you can't stop halfway. Everyone ready?" Hidehiko said with a grin, his eyes shimmering from behind his glasses as the room seemed to grow a little darker, Naoya's nerves burning as he swore he saw things moving in the shadows.
"Let our hearts burn, awaken our minds. Persona." Hidehiko said aloud with conviction as the light above his head began to dull, the others not seeming to notice in the excitement of the moment.
Kei was the first to speak after him, a tinge of almost worry in his tone as the boy muttered out the phrase, his own light fading as the game continued.
"Guess I'm doing this shit… Let our hearts burn. Awaken our minds. Persona." Masao said half heartedly with skepticism, the boy not even noticing the room growing ever darker through his blind denial.
Erika spoke up then, her eyes narrowed then as a wide smile spread across her face.
"Well then, it's my turn, isn't it?" She said with a small laugh as her eyes fell closed, the air itself changing around them as Naoya felt a chill stab through his spine. "Let our hearts burn, awaken our minds. Persona."
With that, a final light faded as the room was plunged into darkness, a weakening feeling falling over Naoya as he felt the ground fade away from beneath his feet, his gaze wavering as a light flickered into being beside him.
It felt… familiar.
"Help… me."
Who dares call to me?
Ah, it's you, I remember you…
You who have crossed the threshold, behold the fire you have thrown yourself into, the flame that keeps the shadows at bay.
You who know loneliness greater than any other, though you have never truly been alone.
I know your plight young one, our roads have joined, may we never split again.
Know my name and say it, save yourself from the abyss, and allow my strength to be yours.
Hold fast Naoya, this is merely the beginning.
The room seemed the same, the darkness fading as a dull crimson light began to fill the room, the students coming to as they found themselves awakening in a different realm than that they had known, though completely unaware.
However, except for the sudden appearance of a young girl at the door to the classroom, a girl in a black school uniform, a sharp smile on her lips.
"What… what happened?" Masao said with confusion as they began to crawl to their feet, each of them watching as the girl began to step into the room, her eyes glowing an ominous red as she stepped closer, their way out blocked even if they didn't know that was where they should have headed.
"You wanted to play a game… And so did I… Now we'll play together, until I have to throw you away of course." The girl said with a sadistic glee as the shadows began to form and squirm behind the girl, eldritch creatures coming to life as they sprung up from the floor, glowing eyes and fearsome claws forming from the sludge of darkness around the girl.
And somewhere, a bell began to ring.
"Don't you want to see your futures…?" The girl said as her mouth drew open, sharpened teeth filling her gaping maw as the students fell backwards in fright, the monster and her beasts blocking their escape as one by one they felt the cold aura filling their veins with ice, each of them fading a little in her presence.
"Begone." A sudden voice echoed out in rage as the youths turned on the spot, Naoya standing behind them where he hadn't been before, his eyes glowing a fierce blue as the air around him began to ripple and shatter, shards of reality itself falling to pieces around him as the image of shadowy wings formed behind him, the visage of horns growing from his skull.
The girl froze in her place then, almost like a predator noticing another on their hunting ground.
"You… you shouldn't be here… This is MY GAME." The girl screamed aloud in absolute rage, the shadowy creatures surging forward to attack as Naoya only lifted what seemed to be a coin in his hand.
In a second, he flipped the coin in the air, an image of a silver demon emblazoned on the coin's face as the metal began to burn and crack, the sound of glass breaking drowning out the creatures as a brilliant light began to blaze across Naoya's form.
And a creature both horrible and mighty stood behind him, a beast befitting such a hardened soul.
With a single gesture, the nearest beast was impaled on a spear of flames, Naoya merely grinning sharply as flames began to crawl across his arms, his other self doing the same.
"How… HOW?!" The girl called out in rage, only for her to be silenced as the beast of Naoya's own left out a rumbling roar of aggression.
And Naoya felt inclined to do the same.
"Lucifer, tear them apart."
And the beast did as he commanded, and his friends could only watch in horror as Naoya's laughter drowned out the sounds of the creatures writhing in pain, nor the sounds of the monstrous girl running away.
With ease the demonic shadow of Naoya's began to quite literally tear the creatures apart, their teeth doing nothing against the beast's hide as it merely sunk his claws through their flesh, and they had nothing at all they could do in retaliation.
It was pure… chaos.
"Run, specter. Run while you still can…" Naoya said with a mad laugh as his eyes changed from blue, to a piercing yellow. "Because I'll find you."