Chapter 22

The Velvet Room

?

"*chuckle* It seems our guest is awake."

Kazuhiko opened his eyes and found himself at his usual seat in the witness stand. The long-nosed old man and his assistant were at the judge's chair and stared down at him.

"My, my. To see such a strong soul power through anything in their way; It reminds me of my last guest, how attached he was to his friends. As my assistant once said, he is a guest that 'never ceases to amaze'. But what about you, I wonder?"

Kazuhiko stayed silent, his eyes drifting to Alexandria, who glared at him but didn't say a word.

"If you will mind me asking, was there a way to prevent Rika Colburne's death?"

Igor rested his chin on his hands and smiled.

"The death of that girl was inevitable. Fate decides what we will do and what happens to us. As for the residents of the Velvet Room, we are only here to observe and assist in the minimal way."

Kazuhiko nodded, then Igor turned to Alexandria.

"Now then, I believe that my assistant has a request for you. Do lend an ear to her."

Kazuhiko turned to the girl who crossed her arms, wrapping the book she held with them, and closed her eyes.

"Now that you have achieved the ability to fuse more than two Personas together, I have been keeping a watchful eye on your progress within the Persona Compendium. However, the Personas you make are lacking in the strength and skills; Not to mention that many of the pages within my Compendium are blank. Therefore, I have decided to make requests for you to fuse certain Personas with certain skills. Your efforts will not be in vain, however. I will personally see to it myself that you will be rewarded for the Personas you bring me."

Kazuhiko scratched his chin in deep thought.

"And what types of rewards will they be? Not to be rude, but I don't want to venture into Niflheim looking for Personas and fusing them just for petty cash."

Alexandria scowled at him, but regained her posture.

"Your rewards will consist of access to my extensive compendium. At any moment where you would wish to buy a Persona, you make speak to me. However, the Personas I have are only limited to the amount that you have discovered. As you'd probably guess, this will make fusing much quicker."

Kazuhiko nodded in approval.

"Alright then, I guess that's fair. So, is this all that you called me here for?"

Igor shook his head and chuckled.

"No, you see, we originally called you here to bring you news of another encounter in your journey. Keep in mind that one cannot walk down the path of life without a few stumbles on the way; They are, in fact, what is most significant about human beings. Those times which one may fall, their future is decided on how they pick themselves up."

Igor then picked up the judge's mallet and hit it on the gavel.

"Well, until we meet again, honored guest."

Kazuhiko's eyes dimmed. His last sight was on Alexandria, who looked at him, not with annoyance, but with understanding.

April 29, 2021; Thursday

3:27 PM

Kazuhiko focused on the exam that he had in front of him; His hand quickly circled answers on the paper and before he knew it, he was done. He stood up from his desk, placed the sheet of paper on the teacher's desk, and sat back at his own. The test had been fairly short, but it was just required a lot of work.

There weren't many students in the classroom, probably because some students were just in the mood to go immediately home after school in time for the vacation, but the most of the seats seemed to be occupied. Some time later, Daichi stood up and placed his test on the teacher's desk. Around now, mostly everyone was done, that is, except for some people…

"hrrghh…" Johei grumbled to himself.

He was stuck on a question that he had been working on for the past 20 minutes.

Tap tap tap tap

"Alright! That's enough time! Hand in your tests please!" Mr. Ozuma said from his seat.

Johei started to panic and quickly filled in as many answers on his test before Mr. Ozuma was forced to take it straight from his desk.

"Noooo… I was almost finished…"

Johei sagged onto the top of his desk, his face down. Kazuhiko decided to try to cheer him up.

"Hey, don't worry. I saw some of the answers you had. Most of them were right."

Johei immediately brightened up.

"Yeah! So what if I didn't finish it? At least I got a passing grade! Say, Iselin, how did you do?"

Iselin was laying on her desk with her eyes out of focus.

"Too much… Can't… breath…"

Kazuhiko tried his best to cheer her up.

"Uh, well at least you got something out of studying last night, right?"

Iselin didn't get up.

"I am so behind…"

Daichi sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Relax, Ice Queen. You barely got enough to get by. I saw your answers too."

"Hey, am I coming in at the wrong time?"

Mikan was at the doorway and poked her head in to look. Kazuhiko shook his head and she stepped in.

"Well, the test for me was pretty easy. Besides, I could use the warm up to get ready for mid-terms."

Iselin and Johei both groaned.

"You just had to remind me, didn't you?" Johei said.

"It's like this nightmare never ends…" Iselin mumbled with her face in her hands.

Daichi rolled his eyes at the two and picked up his backpack.

"Well, there's no sense of crying over spilled milk; If you didn't make the cut then you only have yourselves to blame. Mr. Ozuma's already got our tests graded so I say we go to the bulletin board in the hallway."

Kyuto High; Hallway

"I can't do this! My heart can't take it!"

"Johei, calm down."

"Please don't make me do this, Senpai! I'm too young to die!"

"Iselin, it's alright."

"We can't look, Master Daichi!"

"Facing our scores would be too unbearable!"

"You guys didn't take the test."

"Oh"

Kazuhiko and Mikan were practically dragging Johei and Iselin along the ground to the bulletin board. Daichi decided to move ahead a ways from them so he wouldn't have to push through the crowd.

"Oh man! How did this happen?!"

"I could have sworn I got a perfect score!"

"What the hell is he doing on the list?!"

The already was a large crowd in front of the board, but after several minutes, the group was able to make it to the front. Johei was covering his face while Iselin gawked at the board.

"Please, whatever my score is, don't load it onto me all at once." Johei said.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Iselin said.

"Yes, yes, I know. My grades are that bad. Please don't make such a big deal out of it."

"We're both in the top 7th spot."

"I guess I'll just spend my Golden week at Ju- wait we're in the top seven?"

Johei walked up to the board and stared at the list.

Top Ten Scores Second Years

Boys Division

1. Shiita Nanahara, 20 of 20 correct

2. Kazuhiko Sukima, 20 of 20 correct

3. Daichi Amasawa, 19 of 20 correct

4. Subito Kureo, 19 of 20 correct

5. Shinji Arabei, 19 of 20 correct

6. Souma Iwasaki, 19 of 20 correct

7. Johei Shiroka, 18 of 20 correct

8. Ryou Takonawa, 18 of 20 correct

9. Isogai Funsaiki, 18 of 20 correct

10. Maehara Sugochi, 18 of 20 correct

Girls Division

1. Yumi Amano, 20 of 20 correct

2. Mayami Himura, 20 of 20 correct

3. Noriko Shiba, 19 of 20 correct

4. Rinka Fujika, 19 of 20 correct

5. Ritsu Malm, 19 of 20 correct

6. Miso Akibaro, 19 of 20 correct

7. Iselin Bjorn, 18 of 20 correct

8. Makoto Yui, 18 of 20 correct

9. Miku Toyoba, 18 of 20 correct

10. Momo Sugahara, 17 of 20 correct

"Wh-what? I actually got 7th place?!"

Johei's eyes went back into his head and he fell forward.

"Only… only two wrong? There is a god…"

Iselin did likewise and both were on the floor unconscious. Kazuhiko rolled his eyes and heaved Johei up.

"Come on guys, let's bring them to the nurse's office." He said.

Daichi nodded and supported Iselin with his arm. Just then, the Personas decided to show up.

"Yo guys! What's- whoa what happened here?" Loki asked.

"They feinted when they saw their scores. We're bringing them to the nurse's office."

Loki chuckled and walked over to the board.

"That bad, huh? Well, then, let's see how bad they really are-"

Loki took one look at the board and froze.

"S-s-s-s-seventh place?!"

"Oh, looks like the studying payed off for Iselin. She got seventh in her division too." Hildr said when she looked at the board.

"Nice job Is- What?! What are you doing to her?!"

Daichi accidentally tripped and was holding onto Iselin's… cleavage to support her.

"Ah! I-it's not what it looks like!"

"What did you do to her?!" Hildr shouted at him.

"I told you! He was spending too much time around Johei!" Skadi said to Mikan.

"Yes! That must be it! He must have spiked her drink!" Hildr said while pointing an accusing finger at the boy.

"What?! I wouldn't do that!"

"Master Daichi! Your wisdom knows no bounds! What a perfect strategy to attract potential mates!" Hugin cawed.

"Precisely! What is this potion that you slipped into her drink to make her so?" Munin asked.

"I didn't do anything!" Daichi yelled at the crows.

"Hm… ? What… happened… ?" Iselin asked as she slowly opened her eyes.

She looked at Daichi holding her up and felt something on her chest. She looked down and saw where his hand was.

"Wh- AH! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"I swear! It was just an accident!"

"Master Daichi! Please, tell us of this thing you slipped into her drink!"

"Aha! So you did do something to her!"

*BAM* *WHAM* *POW*

Johei opened his eyes to see Daichi getting pummeled by Iselin.

"Uh, did I wake up at a bad time?" He asked.

"You should have woken earlier. Daichi just made me proud in such a short time." Loki said while enjoying the scene.

"And you admit to teaching him those things…?" Skadi asked.

"Yup! And I regret doing none of it!"

*WHAM*

"K-HAH!"

Skadi sent a fist straight to Loki's monitor and continued to punch him on the ground.

"Remind me again who we were taking to the nurse's office?" Tyr asked.

"We're still going there, but for Daichi's stitches."

Cemetery

5:32 PM

Only a few people were still at the cemetery after th funeral. The gang had decided to stay for a short while before leaving home to pack up. Iselin had started to make her way to Rika's gravestone when she noticed two people already there.

"Hm? Wait, what are those two doing here?" She asked herself.

Daichi, who had been following along, heard her.

"What do you mean? Do you know them?"

The couple turned around and their eyes opened widely.

"Y-you're actually here?" Mr. Colburne said in surprise.

Iselin quickly changed her expression to a glare.

"Of course I'd be here. I was her friend. But I should be asking the same to you."

Mr. Colburne bowed his head in shame as did Rika's mother.

"Yes… we understand what you must be feeling. You think that we are to blame for this, and we won't deny that had some part in it, but we never had this intention for her."

Iselin tried to glare at them some more, but it wasn't any use; She knew they weren't the cause for her friend's death, but that didn't mean they didn't give her a hard time. Instead, she settled for a sigh.

"So, when did you come here?"

This time, Mrs. Colburne spoke.

"We arrived this morning. Had to put off our jobs, but we didn't think it was right to keep at our desks while our daughter lay in Japan."

"Well, at least you made it here in the end. She would have been thankful for that at least." Daichi said.

The Colburne's attention now turned to the red -headed Japanese boy who accompanied Iselin.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you know our daughter?"

Daichi shook his head.

"No, I'm sorry, but I did know that she was a good friend to Iselin. She seemed like a very kind person."

Mrs. Colburne nodded and started to tear up.

"Yes… *sniff* t-that does sound like her…"

The couple quickly excused themselves and left the cemetery leaving Daichi and Iselin alone.

"Strange… I've never seen them like that before…" Iselin said to herself.

"They seem like completely different people now."

"It's because of what we did in the Mirror Dimension." Daichi said.

"Huh?"

Iselin turned around and looked at the red headed boy.

"One's reflection is the literal reflection of an original's true nature. If we changed their reflection, we could change them as well."

"Yeah… I guess that makes sense…" Iselin said, rubbing her temples.

"Well, we won't have to worry about it for too long. It's Golden Week; we deserve a rest."

And after saying their goodbyes to Rika, the two left to look for the others.

Elsewhere

Johei stood in front of Suzuki's gravestone with Loki next to him. The wind was slightly blowing his hair into his eyes, but he didn't mind, especially if it was in front of her.

"Hey… Suzuki."

"Huh? Are you talking to somebody? I don't think they heard you. HEY! SUZUKI!"

"Goddammit Loki, shut up!"

Loki stopped yelling at the top of his lungs and raised his eyebrow.

"What? What did I do?"

Johei tilted his head in the direction of the tombstone.

"I was just trying to get sentimental here."

Loki quickly nodded in understanding.

"Oh, I see. Continue."

Johei sighed and looked down on Suzuki's grave.

"Well, I… we found out who did this to you. Well… not exactly who… but we have a basic idea."

"Smooth, cowboy." Loki said.

"Loki… could you please not make fun of me now?… Just… for like a few minutes…?" Johei said, his voice shuddering.

Loki picked up the tone and got closer to his user.

"Hm? Hey, did I do something wrong? You alright, man?"

Loki tried to get in front of Johei but his face was covered by his bangs.

"Just… just please… this is really important…"

Loki looked even more confused.

"Well, tell me why this is important. Who's this Suzuki person? Sounds like a bike."

"SHE'S THE FIRST ONE WHO DIED BECAUSE OF THEM!"

Loki flew a few meters back in shock. He met Johei's gaze, which seemed to burn into him, not with hate, but with pain.

"Whoa, dude, chill. Okay, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. But who was she to you? I'm just curious."

Johei looked back down at the gravestone and knelt with his hands on the ground.

"She… she was my friend… I really… really liked her…"

Loki made no indication to laugh and stayed quiet.

"She went through a lot… She could have had a bright future!"

Johei started to have tears coming down his face until he felt a pat on his back.

"Hey man, wherever she is right now, I'll bet that she's really proud of what you're doing right now."

Johei wiped his tears and looked back at his Persona.

"Yeah… yeah, she would be happy…"

Mikan's POV

Mikan knelt before a gravestone praying. On it, it read, "Hisashi Echihiro".

"Hey, Hisashi Onii-san. Well, I can tell you that I've made a lot of friends this year. Good friends. Some that you wouldn't even believe."

Skadi was bowing her head in respect with her sword embedded into the ground and kneeling on one knee.

"May your soul rest in peace, brave brother of Mika-san."

Mikan looked confused at Skadi.

"He's already been at rest for quite some time now. What do you mean?"

"Well, in my time, people who died without a weapon in their hand was doomed to roam the world in purgatory until the end of time. He had the spirit of a fighter and went down in such a noble and selfless way. I just want to make sure that he's respected by both of us."

Mikan nodded and continued praying.

"Well, there have been a lot of incidents recently, people suddenly killing themselves. It's all because of a group. I almost died because of them, but I was saved by my new friends. It's like people will always protect me. But now, I want to protect them. I don't want anyone to get hurt again like you did. So, rest assured that nobody's going to die on my watch!"

Kazuhiko POV

"Kazuhiko, who are these people?" Tyr asked.

Kazuhiko was currently in front of two gravestones that read the name of his parents.

"These people are the ones who welcomed me into the world. I didn't know them for very long, but they were everything to me."

"I see. And without these two, we wouldn't have met."

Kazuhiko nodded.

"Yep. Although, I wish I could have known them longer. If they were alive right now, they'd probably flip when they found out I was exploring a world in the mirror. Tyr?"

Tyr didn't answer and seemed to be frozen in place, just staring at the graves with his breath shortening.

"G…hugh…tch…Ah!"

Tyr's hand shot quickly to his head as if the was a sharp pain.

"Whoa, are you okay?"

Tyr's complexion smoothed and he nodded.

"Yes… I'm fine… So, you were saying about your parents car crash?"

Kazuhiko raised an eyebrow.

"I never said anything about that. How did you know?"

Tyr shook his head and waved his hand.

"I-it's nothing. Say, isn't it getting a little late?"

The sky was starting to darken and most of the visitors were starting to leave. Kazuhiko decided not to press the matter and agreed.

"Yeah, let's get going then."

Kazuhiko soon met with the rest of the group.

"So, let's pack up for the trip and meet together at school so we can be in a group tomorrow." Kazuhiko said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. In groups, we have to be together right?" Loki asked

Johei looked at Loki with a raised eyebrow.

"…Yes… we do…"

Loki continued.

"And we'll have to stick together the entire time?"

"Yeah… of course we are…"

"And we have to go to the same boarding?"

"We can't sleep with the girls, Loki."

"Dammit!"

Skadi glared at the mischievous Persona while Hildr just shook her head.

"Honestly, did you think that they would allow that to happen?" Skadi asked.

"You can't blame me for trying." Loki countered.

"Oh yes, that reminds me. Shouldn't you also make plans of what you would want to see there?" Tyr asked.

Kazuhiko nodded.

"Don't worry, I found a tourist guidebook that can show us all the good places."

"If you are all finished, would you please leave?" A voice said from behind them.

Johei jumped at the sound and turned around. Behind him was a young man with sandy blond hair tied in a ponytail and a grim look on his face. He seemed to have been standing there for quite some time.

"And who were you all talking to? I couldn't help but notice you all facing thin air and giving answers to unstated questions."

Mikan quickly butted in.

"Oh, it's nothing! We… have imaginary friends!"

Daichi face-palmed himself while Johei elbowed her.

"Was that the best idea you could come up with?!" He whispered.

"Well, she's not that far off." Loki said.

"Once again, if you are all done here, please leave."

Not wanting to get criticized by the dangerous looking man, the high schoolers quickly walked out the gates.

"Jeez, what's his problem?" Johei asked as they walked out of hearing range.

Kazuhiko shrugged.

"Maybe he works there? We were probably holding him up. Oh, dammit! I forgot to leave the flowers I had!"

Kazuhiko turned around and started to approach the gate when he came face to face with the man again.

"What do you want now?" The man asked.

"I-I forgot to leave flowers for my parents… You wouldn't mind letting me in for a just a second would you?" Kazuhiko said nervously.

After a few seconds, the man grunted and unlocked the door.

"*sigh* fine. But I'm going to have to come with you."

Kazuhiko quickly made his way back to his parent's graves and placed the flowers in front of them.

"You know, it's a waste of time to get held back by the dead. It's better to just forget them and move on."

Kazuhiko drew back in shock while Tyr felt slightly infuriated.

"Forget about the fallen?! Who does this man think he is?!"

Kazuhiko kept a level head.

"What do you mean? We were brought up by our experiences with others. We are everything we are now because of them."

The man shook his head.

"That's a pretty naive way of thinking. But then again, you're still just a kid. You'll learn eventually."

Kazuhiko furrowed his eyebrows in frustration.

"And you're pretty stubborn on your thinking. But you know what? I'll be willing to deal with that. You've got some spunk in you, so I guess that this won't be the last time we meet."

The man stuck out his hand.

"I'm Shirou Amenogawa. Call me whatever you like though, I really don't care."

Reluctantly, Kazuhiko shook his hand.

"Kazuhiko Sukima; Right back at you."

Shirou nodded his head and turned around.

"Well, that will be all the experiences we have for today. I'm closing the gate for good today, so don't expect me to be here."

Kazuhiko nodded and suddenly felt a strange yet familiar sensation. A voice started to ring into his head.

I art Thou, Thou art I

Thou hast established a new bond

It shall be the realization of how precious one's life is

I present to thee, the Death Arcana

"Hey! You okay there?"

Kazuhiko blinked several times and rubbed his eyelids.

"Yeah, don't worry. I just space out from time to time."

Shirou raised an eyebrow but didn't ask anymore.

"Well, have a nice Golden Week."

Kazuhiko waved goodbye.

"You too."

(Evening)

Matsuhito Hotel; Kazuhiko's Room

9:40 PM

"I'm just saying, I really don't like that man." Tyr told Kazuhiko.

Kazuhiko was reading a book that he got from Yu a few years ago.

"So you've said for the past few hours. I know, the guy isn't really one of the friendliest people I've known, but he's a social link for a reason. I even checked with Igor on that and he said that Shirou is somebody that can help me with Death arcana Personas."

Tyr sighed.

"I know. Sorry. So, now that you've packed everything, all you have to do now is wait for tomorrow. What are you reading anyway?"

"An old book that I had. Something about a girl moving to a town and meeting vampires… Geez, this is almost physically harmful for me to read."

"Really? Let me read some. It could prove to be an effective training method."

Kazuhiko left the book open for Tyr.

"Be my guest, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Ten minutes later…

"*huff* How were you… *puff* able to… *huff* read it… *puff* for an hour?!"

Kazuhiko shrugged.

"Well, whatever the case is, I'm never reading that in my life again. How did Narukami-san finish this?"

Kazuhiko felt his suitcase next to his bed filled with his clothes, chargers, and other necessities. His eyelids started to feel heavy.

"Oh well. Goodnight Tyr. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight Kazuhiko."

Aaaaand we are back! Sorry for the late updates. I had to organize my story so that all the characters fit into it. Also, a very important question, should I, or should I not bring Nanako Dojima into this? I have so many hilarious moments that I could make if she was a main character, but I was planning on making her cameo appear. I'll let you guys decide this. Anyways, please give a warm welcome to my new follower Grothnack! Give Grothnack a big hand, everybody! Also, the new main character will appear in the next chapter, so you know what that means: The aftershow interview will come again once they have their Persona! I hope you all had a fun and safe Hallowen and I will see you in the next chapter!

Loki's Pearls to Dating Women

Johei: Whoa, look at that girl over there!

Loki: She is showing so much thigh! How is that even legal?!

Johei: All the other guys are drooling over her! I gotta make my move quick! Hey, give me some tips.

Loki: Alright. So, the key to holding a conversation with a girl is to radiate confidence; With that, you can say anything to her. If you show any signs of nervousness, you're as good as dead. I'll tell you what to say.

Johei: Alright! Let's do this!

Girl's POV

Johei: Hey there, good-lookin'!

Girl: Excuse me?

Johei: The name's Johei Shiroka, but you can just call me… What?! I can't say that!

Girl: … Who are you talking to?

Johei: Uh, nobody! So, uh, I know this great place at the mall. Maybe we could grab a bite?

Girl: Um, sorry, I've… already got other plans.

Johei: (Oh crap, I'm losing her!) Uh, wait! (Loki you'd better have something good)

Grabs her wrist

Girl: W-Hey! Let go of me!

Johei: Sorry! Sorry! So, um, maybe the restaurant wasn't a good idea? Maybe we could head to my place and fu- Wait, what the hell are you making me say, Loki?!

Girl: …What?

Johei: Uh, nothing! I didn't mean to say anything! *gulp*

*SMACK*

Later…

Loki: You didn't have the confidence, man. She could have been sucking your di-

Johei: Oh shut up!