"Persona!"
A large gust of wind burst forth, sending the knights sprawling across the room. Black flames sparked into existence, illuminating the massive form of a samurai wearing blood red armor. His arms were crossed in a disdainful manner, and his face was obscured by a black mask. His eyes, however, were clear as day, as golden pupils shone from beneath an elaborate headpiece.
When I met Hachiman's glowing gold eyes, I felt the intense contempt he held for the entire world, and I realized he was a reflection of me.
That disdain, that contempt, that unspoken hatred for all things things that drew breath beneath him. It was mine.
It was something I controlled, something I barely deigned to acknowledge anymore, but it was something I understood about myself. I was someone who simply refused to lower myself to the standards of those around me, and for those who did, I felt nothing but scorn.
This Hachiman was the one who refused to accept the falsity of youth. He was the one who had seen the abhorrent truths lying undisturbed beneath the surface and chose to walk a path that placed him in direct opposition to it. He was the one who smiled when insulted and spat when complimented.
He was the embodiment of my pride.
And as such, he was a weapon I trusted more than I trusted myself.
I couldn't help but stand there for a few moments, awestruck by the events driven to existence by the utterance of a single word. One I had only the slightest understanding of, and yet was born from deep within.
"Are you going to stand there gawking or will you destroy these fools for disgracing our name?" He scoffed, the flames beneath him licking the air.
The sound of his voice reverberated through the hall and shook me from my stupor. It carried with it power and authority, but also a deep and overruling sense of familiarity.
"You got it." I answered him, my tone carrying the surety of an old friend.
On the other side of the room, the armored knights were stirring. Shakily rising to their feet, their bodies convulsed unnaturally as spirals of dark energy rose from their chests. In a burst of light their bodies had morphed to reveal two demonic forms.
One, was an armored knight riding a red horse. He wielded a metal pike and glared menacingly from underneath his helmet. The other was a woman with green skin and hair wearing a long red dress. Despite her generally unassuming nature, she carried a sinister aura.
My next words came naturally to me, and as such, I yelled them with confidence despite having never been in a fight in my life.
"Focused Fire!"
In response, Hachiman drew a massive bow of his own with practiced movements. A light grew at the end of the arrow, and with a flash the arrow sailed through the air and cut clean through the armored figure. It's horse bucked and neighed loudly as streams of energy released from the wound.
"Yes!" I exclaimed, not entirely sure what I was doing.
As I celebrated, the woman in red lifted her hand and pointed it at me. In the air, white mist slowly collected, and then hardened into a spike of ice before being hurled at me almost faster than I could see. My instincts took over and I threw myself to the side, narrowly dodging it. The brick lining the floor where I was standing was uprooted and shards of ice sprayed the air, some of which making contact with my clothes.
I quickly snapped my head back towards her as she was forming another ice spear, and quickly determined her to be the more immediate threat. "Fire again, Hachiman! This time aim for the woman!"
As Hachiman took aim, the cavalryman seemed to have recovered. With a shout, he dug his armored shins into the horse beneath him and charged, his lance pointed at me. At his speed, if that spear was to even so much as graze me I would be in trouble. During his charge, however, I noticed the wound in his side still spilling wisps of malevolent energy. With the precious few seconds I had available, I looked back at my persona and called to him, "Change of plans! Aim for the horse's legs!"
Hachiman silently complied, unfazed by the urgency of the situation. The distance was closing fast, but fortunately Hachiman loosed another arrow just as it made half the distance between us. With supernatural precision, a flash of light shot towards the mounted rider. It pierced directly through the horse's left leg, causing both rider and horse to come crashing to the ground. As they lay there, motionless, the red energy grew in intensity as it escaped from their wounds. I didn't have time to observe the fallen demon, as within seconds another spike of ice came flying in my direction. Without pressure from the cavalryman and the knowledge that it was coming, I found myself having an easier time getting out of the way.
"Let's finish this. Aim for the head." I said with surprising calmness.
In response, Hachiman fired another arrow. This one sailed through the air with ease, striking the woman in the throat. The gathered mist dropped to the ground lamely, and she clawed at the air for a couple seconds, clinging to the last vestiges of her existence. Then, she dissipated in a small explosion of red energy.
The realization that the battle was over struck me, and following that, a wave of exhaustion that brought me to my knees. Hachiman faded behind me, and with him, my confidence as well.
"Look, we can't stay here! Pick yourself up before more show up." Koda flew in close, squawking as she did.
"Alright, alright. Where to?" I groaned as I stood, and as I moved my pace quickened with each step.
"Through this door, and we're home free." She gestured toward a couple of huge double doors opposite to the staircase with her wing.
I half ran and half hobbled my way to the door, and with effort, I opened it. As I pushed it, it made a sharp grinding noise, loud enough that it echoed throughout the hall. Shortly after, I heard voices from a room opposite to where I entered.
"Where are the guys on the next shift?" One asked, the sound of it getting closer as he spoke.
"Stop asking stupid questions and let's find out. You heard the door same as me." Another said.
"Come on! Quickly!" Koda whispered urgently.
I simply nodded and stared running outside. As I passed through the door, I was shocked at what I saw. The same ever-shifting fog was there, just like before. I couldn't help but be afraid this time, my anger and indignation no longer fueling my desire to challenge it.
"Are we going through there?" I asked cautiously.
"Yes. Unless you would rather die, we have no choice. Besides, I can lead us through." She responded impatiently.
I took one glance behind me, at the looming castle that was imposing enough to block all vision and my decision was made.
"Then I'm trusting you." I ran forward, and the clanking of armored suits followed quickly behind.
I ran full speed into the fog, and a similar resistance met me at full force. Panic set in as I found myself completely at it's mercy. It swallowed me up, just like before, and the sense of impending doom returned with a vengeance. Time stood still like that for a couple seconds.
And then it relieved.
"Do you hear me?" Koda's voice echoed throughout the fog, like a lighthouse to those lost at sea, she served as a beacon to guide me out.
"Yeah." I answered with a sigh of relief. "Yeah, I hear you."
"Follow my voice. We'll be out of this place pretty soon." She said confidently.
We walked for an amount of time, exactly how long I wasn't quite sure. It did not feel as though it were hours, and yet I could not confidently say it was a couple of minutes. Regardless, at some point, we reached a door that floated listlessly in the fog itself. A distorted image of a familiar bathroom seemed to be inside.
"Is this where I came from?" I asked Koda, who was pecking at her wings absentmindedly.
"I assume so," She answered, "It's where your scent came from, at least."
"Thank you." I looked at her with newfound respect. Well, as much respect as you could have for a crow.
"Oh, don't thank me yet. Me and you have a couple things to talk about. For now, let's just return you to the physical world. From there we can find out our next step."
I rose an eyebrow at her use of the word "we," but figured it wasn't worth the trouble. I just wanted to be home at this point.
With surprising ease, I stepped through the door, and immediately felt as if a weight had been lifted off of my chest. The distinct lack of pressure caused me to release a deep sigh. The air in a men's bathroom had never felt so clean. I still refrained from collapsing on to the floor, though. It wasn't that clean.
"Grimy place you got here." I jumped slightly as Koda's voice echoed slightly in the small room.
"Would it be a waste of my time to ask how it's possible that there's a talking crow in the real world?" I asked, entirely exhausted from the ordeal.
"I could give you an answer, but unfortunately I don't have anything but guesses myself." She said, her head hanging slightly. "Been wandering aimlessly through the real world and the metaverse for a while, searching both for the answer as to how I came to be."
"Damn." I responded. Didn't expect that, that's for sure.
"That's actually what I was going to ask you." She added.
As I looked at her, she seemed to resemble a crow in every way. If I hadn't known, I wouldn't have considered her to posses sentience past that of a normal animal in any way. And yet, somehow, her eyes seemed to convey a deep sadness and desperation that I would be a fool to dismiss. I simply waited for her to speak, patiently wondering what she would want.
"As you can see, I possess the ability to traverse the metaverse with ease. Even more importantly, I can bring others with me when I do." She paused, "I suggest that I help you traverse the metaverse, and in return, you help me search for the reason that I exist. Whether that be my creator, or that I am a freak of nature that exists outside of normal reality. No matter what it is, I need to know, and you seem properly equipped to help me do so."
I thought for a second, and responded, "Why do you think I'm in a need to traverse the metaverse? This is my first time coming here. "
She cawed again, her eerie laughter becoming more and more normal to me, "In all the time I've been in the metaverse, I've never seen anyone do what you do. The very few humans who find there way in by some random coincidence usually end up dead, or worse. I have every reason to believe that you're special, and that means you can help me."
I thought about Igor, and his warning to me. I couldn't help but feel a mixture of shock and relief that his words were beginning to make sense.
Apparently she noticed my expression, . "Don't worry, I'm not nosy. I don't need to know why you can do the things you can do, just that you can. So what do you think? Seem like a fair deal?"
I had to be honest with myself. I needed to know what secret lie at the end of this tunnel. I needed, more than anything else, to know what the truth of this world was. I felt that here lies the key to the question I had been asking myself for years. What, by definition, is truth? What out there would satisfy my indefinite curiosity to know what is truly genuine? People live their entire lives not knowing what I had been staring in the face. It felt as if Igor had spilled a single drop of water into the gaping curiosity stirring in my chest, and in doing so ignited an inexhaustible fire within me.
In short, I would never be able to ignore something like this. No, it was the character of Hikigaya Hachiman to forever strive for it. And Koda? Well, in that sense, she was as good an ally to have as any. Better, even.
"Seems a fine deal to me, yeah." I held out my finger to the tiny creature at my feet.
"Then it's settled. Nice to meet you, uh..." She paused, confused.
"Hikigaya. Hkigaya Hachiman."
"Nice to meet you, Hikigaya-san. I have a feeling this will be a long and enduring partnership." She said, touching my finger with her wing.
"That's funny," I said, smiling in an unfamiliar way. "I was about to say the very same thing."
Unknown To Both, His and Her Resolve Had Grown To Be The Same
