[Ryuji S.] Hey, I decided to go ahead and message you guys

[Ryuji S.] Can you see this?

[Akira K.] Nope

[Ryuji S.] You SO can!

[Akira K.] What about Kyotaro?

[Kyo W.] Yep, I'm here

[Kyo W.] I was busy helping my aunt clean up…

[Ryuji S.] Well, I'll be counting on both you guys tomorrow

[Akira K.] Got it, we won't fail

[Kyo W.] Right

[Ryuji S.] Let's save those guys on the volleyball team, we're the only ones who can

[Kyo W.] Oh my! How inspiring! =-P

[Ryuji S.] Shuddup, Kyo!

[Kyo W.} But I understand, we can't turn our backs away from this. We have to take that prick of a dick, Kamoshida, down.

[Ryuji S.] Yeah! We'll beat the jackass for sure!

Kyotaro put down his phone for a moment to reach for the book at the foot of his bed, 'The Invisible Man'. A pretty fun scientific book about a man becoming drunk with power by means of invisibility. It was an English novel so there were some cultural differences that went over his head, a lot of his collection actually originated from the west. From books such as Alice in Wonderland to Don Quixote, it was an interesting experience to read stories outside of Japan.

He actually got into books like this because of his uncle… Actually, these books were from his library. For every home that he was transferred to, Kyotaro made sure to bring them with him. These were the books that inspired his uncle and they practically raised him throughout his childhood.

Heh, well… Enough reminiscing. It was time to get back to the book–

PI! PI! PI! PI! 'Oh, what now?!' He thought as he reached for his phone.

[Ryuji S.] That thingy on your guys' phones was some red eyeball icon, right?

[Kyo W.] Yeah, what about it?

[Ryuji S.] We ended up at that weird place when we used this nav app, right?

[Ryuji S.] I found it on my phone too…

[Ryuji S.] I don't even remember installing it!

[Akira K.] It must have been downloaded onto your phone when you got your Persona…

[Kyo W.] How the eff does that work? And how do you know?

….

[Akira K.] You got it after your Personas were awakened, didn't you Kyotaro? So I just figured…

[Ryuji S.] Right, makes sense

[Akira K.] With it, we can use it to go back to that castle. But we should probably hold off before we do something like that.

[Ryuji S.] Yeah, but Kyotaro. What's up with YOUR Persona?

[Kyo W.] What do you mean?

[Ryuji S.] Well, ours had names and shit but you never told us yours. And it looked all weird, what's up with that?

….

[Kyo W.] I have no idea

[Kyo W.] Does it matter though? Who cares about this little detail? Once we get those volleyball members to testify against Kamoshida, we never have to go back to that castle again

[Ryuji S.] Right, we gotta find evidence for the beatings. I'm counting on you guys, all right? Don't go ditching school on me.

With that, they ended the conversation there. Kyotaro looked over to his book but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to read the text in front of him. Thanks to Ryuji, his mind was too focused on that mysterious Persona of his.

'Find my true power, find my name, and then we can truly forge our contract!' It's distorted voice rang through his head. He scowled at his lack of understanding by what it meant, how do you find someone's name? No, how do you find the name of some ghost that pops out of him?

It just didn't make any sense…

April 13th: Wednesday

Time: Morning

Location: Shujin Academy

"How annoying..." A first-year in front of them complained, "We've barely started high school, and they're already making us play at a volleyball rally? And why are they pitting us against the teacher team? Kamoshida's gonna crush us."

His friend raised his fists in an eager manner, "We get to see his technique live and in person, though. We should totally get spiked on!"

"Yeah, OK. You're gonna get your face smashed in. Just look at how banged up the volleyball team is. What the hell goes on during their practices?"

"Blind morons…" Kyotaro hissed under his breath as he and Akira made their way to Shujin, he assumed no one would hear him with how quiet he was being. But unfortunately, he noticed how Akira flinched at his cold tone of voice.

"They don't know what we saw, don't get too upset about it."

"Well, I can't help it…" Kyotaro awkwardly scratched his cheek, he could feel a small pit forming in his stomach due to Akira's acknowledgment of his little showcase of irritation.

As the two turned the corner, they noticed a familiar red-headed girl with her hair tied up by a ribbon. Before they could say something, the girl had also taken notice of the two and walked over to them.

Kasumi-san greeted with a beaming smile, "Hi Senpais! You guys ready for the volleyball rally?"

Akira sputtered a bit on his words, "Well… I'm not a big fan of volleyball. Y' know?" Kyotaro gave him a small nudge which he retaliated with a light shove of his elbow.

The girl blinked, "Oh. Well, I'm actually not a big fan myself… Hehehe, but it just seems kinda cool that the whole school is taking a part of something." Kasumi paused for a moment as she took a lock of her hair and began twirling it around her finger, "Too bad, I won't be able to participate…"

"Hm? Why so?" Kyotaro asked with a raise of his brow. To be honest, he was kinda jealous if she did have an out of Kamoshida's ego-fest.

"Well… I'm actually here on a scholarship, Rhythmic Gymnastics." She explained with a sheepish grin, "And because of that, I'll be training for my next competition instead."

"Aren't you lucky," Kyotaro laughed as the three of them arrived at the front of Shujin.

Kasumi dipped her head at her upperclassmen once they made it to the steps of the school. She said politely with that same cheery smile of hers, "Good luck at the volleyball rally. Akira-senpai, Kyotaro-senpai. I hope you two have fun!"

"Thanks," Akira mirrored her courteous attitude with a broad smile, "And good luck at your training, and do your best to win that medal." He added with a wink, causing the girl to flush a bit before Kasumi regained her composure with a quick laugh.

"That's the plan, bye!" She waved off as she hiked up the steps and onto campus, the red-haired girl disappeared amongst the small crowd that huddled around in front of the entrance.

Kyotaro looked over to Akira and rubbed his chin with a sly smile on his face, the 2nd year transfer pushed his glasses up with a frown as he bumped his elbow into his arm. The two walked in silence as they made their way into the building, Akira still annoyed at Kyotaro's teasing. Obviously, Yoshizawa-san wasn't interested in him. She was just a bit friendly with him, she seemed like one of those girls to be like that everyone. And he wasn't interested in her, he just met her!

Wanting to get that subject off his mind, Akira brought up as the two of them made their way to their classes. "So what's even the point of this Volleyball Rally anyway? Well, besides stroking Kamoshida's ego…"

"I think it's supposed to draw people to join Volleyball," Kyotaro shrugged, "But it's not like there are many options to choose from in our sports programs anymore." He rubbed the back of his neck with pursed lips, "Guess who got those shutdown..."

"Kamoshida? Can he even do that?"

Kyotaro rolled his neck as he exhaled in a tired voice, "He finds his ways, don't know how but he did."

The two broke apart once they made it to their classes, Kyotaro gave a quick wave to Ryuji in the desk seated behind him. They ran down the whole situation in whispered breaths before class started. Ms. Chouno began class with a clap of her hands, "So everyone, today is the volleyball rally. Once you change, head straight to the gymnasium." The class collectively nodded and got up from their seats.

As they walked out the door, Ryuji and Kyotaro shared a determined gaze. They were gonna knock that king off his throne…

TAKE YOUR TIME

The whole gym winced in surprise seeing Mishima-Kun take a spike to the face, knocking him to the ground. And the so-called 'king' rushed over to the fallen kid as the crowd of students awed in such 'care' he displayed. Holding him up, looking all concerned, and asking someone to take Mishima to the nurse‒ someone, give this man an award because the audience is eating it up.

The three watched it from the sidelines, unimpressed and disgruntled that Kamoshida had painted himself as a hero that could commit murder yet everyone would brush it off with a quick apology and some crocodile tears. Kyotaro's grip on his jacket tightened just seeing Kamoshida's rectangle-shaped face. He looked over to Akira and Ryuji, also silent in their anger but a bit more reserved than he was shown in their stony faces. Seeing their stoicism, he began to calm himself down‒ a few exhalations of breath then he was all good.

Ryuji scoffed, throwing a volleyball back into the court in disgust. "He'll pay soon…"

"Hope so," Akira nodded, "If that's just a taste of the abuse then I'd hate to see it all."

As he and Ryuji hummed in agreement, Kyotaro caught something in the corner of his eye. It was that blonde girl from before, Takamaki-san, giving Kamoshida a blank stare. A stone-face that seemed to lack any movement, not even a slightest twitch of the brow. He opened his mouth to say something to Akira and Ryuji but his jaw seemed to close shut before he could even take a breath. Perhaps he was just reading too much into that thousand yard stare of hers, but the memory of that scantily clad version of Ann Takamaki cuddling up to Kamoshida popped into his mind.

He mentally scoffed at the image, whatever those two are doing‒ it didn't matter right now. Because they needed to focus on pulling the curtains on that Pompous Predatorial Prick, Kamoshida. Well, once they slip out of this little ego-trip‒ then the son of a bitch is going down. Just needed to find those students.

TAKE YOUR TIME

Well, they found one. But they got absolutely nothing, and but nothing, they only got whimpers from the beaten up kid saying that they had 'no idea what was going on'. Understandable why, if he tattled then Kamoshida would probably shut it down quickly. But it still sucked that they got nothing from these guys!

The three decided on splitting up and so far, Kyotaro has got jack-all. Though it's a bit hard to ask 'How's the abuse going?' to someone. That, and nobody really wants to talk to him either. So yeah, a double handicap there. Hopefully Akira and Ryuji are doing better, he thought. Because right now, he's just been walking around like a lost child in a grocery store.

"Everybody's been saying a lot of bad stuff about that transfer student in your class, Ann" Kyotaro stopped in his tracks before he turned the corner, he turned his head to his right to see Takamaki and her friend Suzui chatting. He walked over to the wall where he tried to camouflage and turned an ear to eavesdrop on their little conversation.

"I know. I hate rumors already, but they're only getting more and more complex as time goes on." Ain't that the truth, Kyotaro mentally laughed. There were a few morons talking about Akira having a knife on him. It would be amusing if it wasn't so utterly retarded.

"I wonder if he's all right… I hope he's not letting it get to him too much."

" That's just like you, Shiho. Always worrying about other people before yourself. Kinda like when you were there for me…" As Kyotaro was about to step closer, he noticed that the two of them had noticed him.

Suzui blinked, "Hello Wata-"Kyotaro then immediately ran off like a stray kitten.

"Nabe?…" Shiho finished with a perplexed voice. She turned to Ann, "What was that about?"

"I dunno, the guy is a weirdo…" She shrugged, her finger rubbing against her forehead as she saw the students in the hallway give a glance to the guy only to continue what they were doing earlier. "Nobody should really be surprised at what Watanabe-kun does."

Shiho smiled slightly, Kyotaro Watanabe seemed like a hyper child who would pester his parents with antics but had a kind heart. "I guess, he doesn't seem all that bad either."

"I guess so…" Ann rubbed her chin, thinking back to Watanabe's recent actions- which have been quite tame compared to last year. "Actually, I'm pretty sure he's been hanging around with the transfer and Sakamoto-kun."

"Hm? That's an odd group…"

Ann clicked her tongue at this, unsure of what to make of this little fact. "Yeah, they sure are."

TAKE YOUR TIME

"All matches have concluded, please get ready to go home for today." A voice over the intercom announced in a dull tone. Causing Kyotaro to slowly bring a hand to his forehead in irritation. As his fingertips pressed against his skull, he felt his phone ring.

[Ryuji S.] Dammit, we're outta time. How did it go with you two?

[Akira K.] Take a wild guess.

[Kyo W.] Same… If Akira also found nothing, I mean.

[Ryuji S.] Guess luck wasn't on our side today. Mkay, let's regroup for now. See you guys in the courtyard?

With a heavy sigh, Kyotaro slipped his phone back into the pocket and headed to their meetup spot. Where he found Akira by the vending machines, a small frown on his face and his eyes filled with displeasure. Kyotaro nodded, another vexed sigh escaping his lips.

"This day has been such a drag…" Kyotaro kicked the ground with a weak punt.

"No kidding, we got from nowhere to less than nowhere." Akira tugged at a lock of his curly hair. "I'm just imagining that smug bastard laughing at us‒"

"Hey," A familiar voice caught their attention, turning their heads as they saw Takamaki-san walking over to them with a puzzled look on her face. "Can I talk to you two for a sec?"

Kyotaro began, his words failing him. "Uh… I‒"

"You were all weird back in the hallway, why were you spying on me for?"

"I wasn't!" He quickly defended himself, raising his hands. "I was just trying to… find Kurusu here and I happened to stumble upon you and Suzui!"

Takamaki gave him a flat stare as she pursed her lips for a few seconds. She gave a quick nod as she hummed out a mumble of acceptance before looking over to Akira. "Anyway, what's with you? Like, how you were late the other day was a lie and all. …There's that weird rumor about you too."

Akira's eyes darted to the side, the gears in his head could be seen turning as he struggled to come up with something to say. Softly sputtering and twitching all the while. But luckily for him, their resident bleach blonde came to the rescue.

"Whaddya want with him?" Ryuji emerged from the corner, sounding quite accusatory based on his tone.

Takamaki fired back, "Right back at you. You're not even in our class."

" ...We just happened to get to know each other."

"What're you three planning on doing to Mr. Kamoshida?"

"Huh!? ...I see. I getcha. You're all buddy-buddy with Kamoshida after all."

"This has nothing to do with you, Sakamoto!"

" If you found out what he's been doin' behind your back, you'd dump him right away."

"Behind my back…? What's that supposed to mean…?"

" You wouldn't get it."

Kyotaro slowly slid his head towards Akira as this went on, "This is… real awkward." The curly haired boy nodding his head as his eyes shifted between the two blondes.

"Anyway, people are already talking about you three. I don't know what you're trying to pull, but no one's gonna help you. I'm warning you, just in case. That's all." With a flip of her pigtails, she was gone. Leaving in a subtly hostile tone.

Ryuji folded his hands into his pocket and huffed, "Why's she gotta be so aggressive all the time?"

"What? You two have a history or something?" Akira jested in a monotone voice. A small smile on his face as he rubbed his chin.

"No… We do not have a history." Ryuji said in a dead drawl, "We just went to the same middle school. Anyways, that's not what we're here to talk about. I had no luck on my end. What about you two? Did anything like someone's name turn up?"

"Mishima came up in a few." Akira brought up, to which Kyotaro immediately jumped in.

"Yep, came… up in a few of mine too." He lied, because again‒ nobody wanted to say a word to him out of annoyance. Plus he wanted to sound like he actually contributed to something.

" Huh…? ...Special 'coaching,' huh?" Ryuji sounded quite grim as the words escaped his lips. "True. I always see the guy covered in bruises. Let's go talk to him before he leaves then."

With that, the three rushed over to the front of the school where they found Mishima hobbling. As soon as he noticed their footsteps, he stopped to face them.

"Huh…? What are you three doing?" He sounded quite sheepish, almost like a mouse in broad daylight.

"We've come to talk," Kyotaro spoke up, stern and quiet. "Those bruises you always get… Where did they come from?"

"They're from practice!" Mishima yawped, shaking his head as he did. His volume began to die as he glanced away from the three. "Our team goes through harsh training to improve."

"Harsh?" Akira raised a brow at that, causing Mishima to stagger.

"Sounds like abuse, with all that 'coaching' Kamoshida's been doing." Ryuji insinuated, his expression stoned face and his voice low.

"Certainly not!"

"What're you talkin' all polite for? Anyways… We saw him spike you today. Right in the face." Ryuji did not break, not even making any signs of twitching.

"That was just because I'm not good at the sport…"

"Still, that doesn't explain all the other bruises you've got."

"I said before, it's just practice!"

"Is he forcin' you to keep quiet?"

Mishima once again backed away. He looked to the ground as he attempted to sputter an explanation. But before he could make a sentence, he was interrupted by a familiar commanding voice.

"What's going on here?" As soon as Kamoshida walked up into the scene, Kyotaro could be seen backing up as he drifted a bit to Akira. The other three did a double-take at his arrival while Kyotaro simply looked to the ground.

"Mishima, isn't it time for practice?" The coach brought up, like a king politely calling for his slave to return to his labor.

"I-I'm not feeling well today."

Kamoshida scoffed, speaking in a subtle venom in his voice. "What? Maybe you're better off quitting then. You're never going to improve that crappy form unless you show up to practice."

"Didn't you hear? He ain't feeling well!" Ryuji broke, leaning in to stare down Kamoshida.

But the teacher did not pay any attention to him, " Well, Mishima? Are you coming to practice or not?"

"...I'll go." Kamoshida gave a satisfied smile at that while Mishima hung his head.

He turned to the three who opposed him, starting with Ryuji. "As for you, any more trouble and you'll be gone from this school for sure."

"Bastard…"

"Same goes for you. Didn't the principal tell you to keep in line." He looked to Akira, who only gave a small smile that looked almost genuine.

"You have an amazing spike, just wanted to let you know." His tone was lined with sarcasm hidden behind fake wonder.

Kamoshida was not amused. "Hmph. Just don't get in the way of my practice. All these unsettling rumors are making the students anxious after all." He gave a short laugh that attempted to be unheard, "I'm sure you'd know all about that, huh?"

"That's your own goddamn fault." Without hesitation, Ryuji quickly bit back.

"This won't get us anywhere. Let's go, Mishima. Shujin Academy is a place where those with aspirations come to learn. Unworthy students like yourselves don't have any right to be here. Get with the program!"

"Yes sir…"

Kyotaro felt his chest tighten as Kamoshida looked over his shoulder. The man spoke in a low volume that could shake the ground. "And Watanabe… I suggest you find the right crowd."

With those words, he left the four of them in an uncomfortable position. Ryuji growled as soon as he disappeared from sight. "That asshole... He's gonna pay for this!"

"There's no point. Proving that he's physically abusing us… is meaningless." Mishima's meek voice caught them off guard, he barely raised his head to talk. "Everyone knows; the principal, our parents… they all know, and they keep quiet about it."

"This has gotta be a joke…" Ryuji spoke, shocked as if that bit of information had hit him like a truck.

"...Don't be a pain. You don't understand what I'm going through. Shouldn't you of all people know that nothing's going to help…!?" The blonde turned away, unable to look at Mishima as he left the three in silence.

"Dammit…"

Akira spoke up, his voice low and steady. "So, are we going to leave it here?"

"No, I ain't givin' up." Ryuji attempted to gain some control of the situation, his tone struggled to be stern and determined . "...I'll try one more time to persuade the other guys. That's… all I can do."

Kyotaro sighed, "I guess that's all we can do…"

After that, the three broke apart and left to change in their uniforms. Kyotaro struggled to keep his mind off of the abuse and its lack of acknowledgement. If the authorities didn't care about it, then how the hell were they gonna get it to stop?

"Kyotaro?" A familiar voice knocked him out of his funk. Turning his head, he saw Makoto behind him who looked quite puzzled. "Hey, how was the volleyball rally."

"Yeah, it was okay. Made a few friends, I laughed, I cried. It was beautiful." He jested, forcing a smile on his face. Makoto's expression did not change but she could be heard exhaling out of her nostrils.

"I'm assuming these friends of yours are Sakamoto and Kurusu?" Kyotaro did a double take at this before giving an awkward laugh.

"Oh, you caught me! Yeah, we're just… just hanging out. It's nothing really. Heck, I would say that they're really nice guys. Despite… what people might say." Makoto only nodded her head, humming at his words. Kyotaro furrowed his brows for a second, trying to understand her reaction.

"Well, alright. I suppose I can't control who you spend time with." She giggled in her hand, "I'm just glad that you have other friends."

"Uh-huh… Thanks, mom." Kyotaro deadpanned, leaving the two in a prolonged silence before he hesitantly brought up something that bounced in his mind. "Hey, Mako… Kam- Mr. Kamoshida… I've heard some rumors about him."

She locked up at the mention of the PE teacher but she quickly recovered before Kyotaro could take note of it. He continued, "Just some stuff about… uh, special coaching or whatever."

"I see."

"Well, is it true? As president, you would know this stuff right?" Makoto furrowed her brows and glanced to the side, causing Kyotaro to reel back a bit.

"They're rumors…" She said while her head was tilted to the side yet her posture was frozen still. She continued with her mouth hidden behind her fingers. "I can't… I can't tell you more about that, I don't know what's going on with Kamoshida and his team. I…"

"I get it." Kyotaro feigned a light smile. "I was just a little curious. But hey, maybe you can tell me any other juicy stories instead. Huh? C'mon Mako, you gotta know something floating around!"

Makoto recovered, brushing her bangs as she sighed. "My role is student council president not your little journalist."

"Yeah whatever." Kyotaro laughed, trying to hold back his disappointment. He turned around, letting his smile falter. "Well, see you later Mako!"

As soon as he broke away from Makoto, he let out a sigh. She was lying about not knowing what Kamoshida was doing, it was written on her face. Even Makoto wouldn't do anything to stop Kamoshida's abuse.

So what the hell were they supposed to do?