"It… It seems like we're back, according to the voice," Sumire told Akira as he pulled out his phone. Ryuji's eyebrows rose and he stared at the black-haired fellow.
"Huh? Returned? Does that mean we got away?"
"I assume so… I mean, look around us." Akira pointed, shoving his phone back into his pocket. "We also have reception again."
"Oh shit… You're right. Huh I… I guess we really did escape." Ryuji scratched behind his ear when he pulled out his phone. "What was that anyways? That castle, and Kamoshida, and that weird cat! The hell's goin' on?!"
Two police officers hobbled their way. One of them spoke with an aggressive tone, "What's with the yelling? Are you students of Shujin? Cutting classes, are we?"
"Uh oh…" Sumire trailed off to Akira. His hands were clammy when two officers approached him. How was he going to explain they were stuck in a castle for who knows how long? "Good luck here…"
"Huh? No! We were tryin' to get to school, and we ended up at this weird castle!"
"Nobody is going to believe that, Ryuji…!" Sumire screamed in her head.
"…What?" The officer responded. Sumire sighed and put a hand over her face in embarrassment. "I knew it…"
"Hand over your bag. You better not be doing any drugs."
"Kugh—! Ugh— Why would you think that?!"
Akira was staying dead silent up until that point where the more timid and kinder officer holding a bicycle spoke to him, "Are you his friend?"
"Uh… something like that," Akira responded plainly. The officer quipped. "Then you should go to school. Take him with you."
"B-be polite! Don't act suspicious!" Sumire ranted. Akira cleared his throat and straightened his posture. Sumire kept ragging on him. "Straighten up more!"
"Like I'm tryin' to say… I don't know what's goin' on—!"
"Yes, of course sir." Akira cut Ryuji off. Ryuji gaped at him when the boy gave him a strained smile. Ryuji grumbled and shut his trap.
"We passed by Shujin on our way here. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it." The aggressive officer crossed his arms and eyed Ryuji. Ryuji seethed in his hatred and anger, his lips in a pout with his eyebrows scrunched. "If you spout anymore nonsense, I'll contact your school. Is that what you want?"
"C'mon, say something…!" Ryuji begged him. Akira gave Ryuji a sideways glance and turned his back to the officers.
"Let's get going. I don't want to be late."
"That's not what I meant…"
Ryuji sputtered out in dismay when he realized he actually wasn't turning back to the officers. "W-wait a sec! Is that guy for real?! …Fine, I'm goin'!"
When they stepped outside of the gates, the sign was there sitting proudly with "Shujin Academy" written on it. It was normal. It wasn't some castle like before; even Sumire was baffled.
"Is this for real…? I'm sure we came the same way… What's goin' on here…?"
"That's exactly what I wanted to ask you."
The school's counselor walked out to the both of them. Sumire flinched again. Yeah, they were in trouble. She looked over to Akira worriedly, but he had a relaxed and tame expression.
"How are you always so calm?" Sumire thought to herself.
"We received a call from the police."
"That damn cop snitched on us after all!" Ryuji fumed.
"It's rare not to see you alone." The counselor commented. "Where were you roaming around until this time?"
Ryuji replied stupidly, "Uhhh… a ca— a castle?"
"So you have no intention of giving an honest answer?" The counselor crossed his arms and looked at them with disdain.
"What's this about a 'castle'?"
Out walked a large man with a whistle wrapped around his neck. Kamoshida… It was Kamoshida.
"You seem so carefree, Sakamoto. Quite a difference from when you did morning practice for the track team."
"Shuddup! It's your fault that—"
"How dare you speak that way to Kamoshida-sensei!" The counselor screamed at Ryuji. Akira could see the hot steam leaving Ryuji from fow fed up he was. The counselor continued, "Hah… There's not much leeway left for you, you know?"
"He's the one that provoked me!"
"Do you really want to be expelled?! In any case, you'll have to explain yourself! Follow me!"
"What?! This is bullshit!" Ryuji complained. Kamoshida smiled at him from the stairs and looked over to the counselor next to him.
"Come now. I should have been more considerate, too. Let's just say that we were both to blame."
"Well, if you say so…" The counselor shrugged before looking back down the stairs to see a completely blank-faced student and another one with a snarl. "Still, you're coming with me. It's undeniable that you're extremely late."
"Fine…" Ryuji mumbled.
"By the way… you're that new transfer student, correct? Kurusu Akira?"
"Yeah, that's me." He responded while Ryuji walked up the stairs, throwing Kamoshida a mean glare before continuing up.
"…Have we met somewhere?" Kamoshida asked him. Sumire cringed. "Hey, Akira, I don't really have a good feeling about this…"
"Well, he's a teacher, what else am I supposed to answer?" Akira whispered out to her before responding to Kamoshida's question. "I saw you earlier this morning with the girl in your car."
"That's right… I remember now," Kamoshida said. "...Well, I'll overlook this just for today. I'm sure you've heard from the principal, but cause any trouble and you'll be expelled. Understand?"
"…I understand."
"At any rate, hurry up and go to the faculty office. I'm sure Kawakami-sensei's tired of waiting." Kamoshida, turning to go inside of the building. He suddenly stopped and turned his head with a smile. "Good luck trying to enjoy your new school life."
"…Oh, yeah. Thanks." Akira said. Sumire shuddered and frowned at Akira as he stepped up the entrance way.
"I already don't like that man…"
"It isn't just you, Sumire." Akira said when he walked in. It was like any other school. People inside of it, lockers, rooms with sliding doors… It didn't have old decrepit cells, chandeliers, and a tyrant king.
Sumire moved a strand of her hair out of her face. "Well, this is it. For real this time… I hope."
When Akira tried to find the faculty office, numerous rumors floated around the school building.
"I heard he's an alcoholic! An underage drinker! He has a criminal record, so it isn't that far off."
"I heard that if you look at him wrong, he'll attack you with a knife…!"
"Yeah! He stabs you with one if you get too close to him."
"Huh? Wait, how? How did your record get leaked so fast? I thought it was school policy that they wouldn't leak it, they even said it during orientation…" Sumire pouted. "I can't believe they're making rumors when they don't even know you yet!"
"People love their gossip," he said, "my hometown had a huge case surrounding a bunch of rumors. It happened while I was little, so I don't know the specifics of it."
"I heard he drives without a license!"
"These are… These rumors are insane!" Sumire thought to herself. They didn't even know Akira yet they were already slapping things onto him that weren't even true! "Who could've leaked his record?"
"I bet he does drugs. The hard stuff too."
"I heard from the grapevine that they dabbled in elephant tusk trafficking…"
"Okay, that one is the weirdest one I've heard so far…" She thought as Akira slid open the door to the faculty office and stepped inside. He walked in front of a woman in a yellow-striped shirt with a long denim skirt. She swiveled to meet him in the eyes.
Kawakami scolded him for being late and Akira said that he got lost. Well, it wasn't a lie. It's just that he got lost in a castle.
Kawakami introduced him to the close that kept spouting out the same rumors. Akira was slightly annoyed by them but he was mostly wondering how they spread so fast; especially his criminal record.
"Your seat will be… Hmm… Over there. The one that's open. Sorry, but can the people nearby please share your textbooks with him for today?"
"Ugh, this sucks…" Akira heard a student as he walked to his seat. While he walked there, he saw a familiar looking girl.
"…Lies." She whispered to him. Akira's eyes widened. It was the foreigner…
"Isn't that the girl from this morning?" Sumire questioned. Akira gave a slight nod and answered the flashy girl.
"…Nice to see you again."
He sat back at his seat and the class erupted with gossip again.
Conveniently, Kawakami placed Akira at a desk where another empty desk sat two spots behind the one Akira was going to be at. Being next to a metal cupboard and a little uneven compared to the other desks, it looked like it hadn't even been used the year before. Akira did find it a little funny how there would be a ghost in his classroom for who knows how long and only he would know, but he could tell that Sumire was just happy to be included in some way.
"…Did you catch that? Do those two know each other? Eww… Does that mean he hit on her before transferring here?"
"That means she's cheating on him with Kamoshida-sensei. Then again, this is Takamaki-san we're talking about…"
"For real. That side of the room is totally awful."
Sumire sighed and spoke to Akira. "It seems there are a lot of rumors here, excluding you. Also, to say this side of the room is awful…"
Akira silently chuckled to himself and played with the strap of his bag. He looked back to Sumire for a second and listened to another student, telling them to rise.
"They don't even know…"
--
Akira could've sworn that the hallway he had walked into from class distorted into a fancy castle corridor, but the mirage slowly shifted away. Sumire also saw it and patted herself on the cheeks.
"Hm? What's wrong?" Kawakami asked him.
"Is this a school?"
"Hahh, are you sure you're okay?" Kawakami sighed to him. "No" is what Akira wanted to say because he swore he just experienced a castle, but he wouldn't say that to his teacher. He didn't want to get pinned as a maniac like Ryuji (or maybe it was already too late for that, considering his record got leaked).
"Also… It seems like people are already talking about you," it was like she had read his mind, "but I'm not the one who told them."
"I can't even catch a break… Why do I have to deal with this?" The yellow-striped shirt teacher sighed. "You should head straight head home without stopping by anywhere. Sakura-san sounded pretty angry."
"Oh, and about Sakamoto-kun. Don't get involved—"
As soon as she said that, loud footsteps sprawled toward the two of them. The stance he walked with and his brightly colored hair were dead giveaways.
"Speak of the devil… What do you want? I heard the police caught you cutting classes today."
"Ugh… It was nothin'."
"And you haven't dyed your hair back to black either…"
"Sorry 'bout that."
Sumire snorted. He was not sorry.
"...I'll be waitin' on the rooftop." Ryuji muttered to him. Akira nodded and watched as Ryuji went up the stairs.
"See? That's why I don't want you getting involved. Understood?"
"Yeah." Akira told her, clearly not paying attention to what she was saying. Akira walked up the stairs after eavesdropping on Kamoshida and the principal's conversation. The principal was buttering the teacher up magnificently.
"Let's go and meet with Ryuji. Isn't the rooftop usually closed off?"
"Sumire, we're both categorized as delinquents. I doubt both of us really care anymore."
"I know, but still…"
When they got onto the rooftop, they all convinced themselves that what happened was a dream. It must've been one, right? A school turning into a castle, a teacher turning into a tyrant… It was just a fever dream. But it was even harder to believe that it was when Sumire saw it. It reminded him of how he felt when he met Sumire.
--
Akira laid in his bed that night and spoke with Sumire.
"Hey, Sumire…"
"Yeah?" She replied from the couch.
"Was that castle we wandered into this morning just a dream?"
Sumire stayed silent for a little. The coolness of April air inside of the basement made it freezing cold. Before she responded, Sumire sat up a little. "You thought I was a dream at first, but you still see me, right?"
"You're right. This app…" Akira muttered, staring at his phone. This malicious app that kept downloading onto his phone without any signs of stopping. "It looks like there's more to this than we thought."
"But that Ryuji kid saw the castle but he didn't see me. And there's that weird cat creature we saw, but he didn't see me either, even if they had those 'Persona' things… Are we missing something? Do you remember anything?"
Akira slumped his arm down and closed his eyes, humming out in thought. He tried to remember, it was right on the tip of his tongue…
Time seemed to stop when he remembered what Morgana had said.
"…If you aren't going to do that, then at least block that torch, Frizzy Hair!" The cat complained to him, rubbing his eyes and turning his face away from the place Sumire was standing. "My eyes hurt…!"
"…He was looking directly at you when he said that. Maybe he can see you? But not in the way I can." Akira noted.
Sumire smiled at the thought of being seen, even if it wasn't in the usual sense.
"Thank you, Akira. For giving me a bit of hope."
They slept that night, exhausted yet slightly ecstatic. Sumire had hope that maybe, just maybe, they had reached the tip of the iceberg with that strange app.
