Chapter 6

The Devil and the Strength's Hidden Depths

Saturday, April 9th, 2016. That day was sunny.

Sora-senpai asked Yuya, Aiko and me to come with him after school. He led us to an unused room, where Kaien, Shizuka and Jun were already waiting. We sat down, and he started to go other the situation with his usual theatrics.

Sora: My friends, I, Sora Katsuro, have good news! We are now officially our own club!

Yuya: Wait, what? Why?

Jun: I get it: If we were always seen disappearing together without officially being affiliated to each other, people would become suspicious. However, if people know we're all in the same club, they won't get suspicious when seeing all of us together.

Sora: Exactly! By the way, what do you think of the name "Perfection School Network" for our club?

Jun: I think it's stupid, but it's not like our opinions matter on this.

Sora: Well, if you would want to know, I, Sora Katsuro, will let you vote on the name you want. IF a name gets the majority of votes, I may choose it. That is all I wanted to say. Dismiss!

So yeah, from that day forward, we were officially a school club. I decided to hang out with Yuya after we were done, so we went to Kame-Yu to grab something to eat.

Yuya: So Yamihiro, what do you think about Katsuro-senpai's idea?

Shinji: Honestly, I don't really care. If it makes him feel better, good for him.

Waitress: What will you order?

Yuya: Two bowls of Mikudon.

Shinji: … I'll take the "Brave's choice".

Waitress: … Hum… Are you really sure about that?

Shinji: Yeah, why?

Waitress: Well, it has this name for a reason. Are you 100% positive you want it?

Shinji: Yes!

Waitress: *Sigh* don't complain if you end up rolling on the floor.

Yuya: Hey, it's actually kind of giving me the creeps. If a waitress tells you that you'd better not eat something that's on the menu, with that kind of name and no picture of it… Yikes.

The waitress was back pretty quickly, holding 2 bowls that were for Yuya and a black box with chains and locks all over it.

Waitress: Are you really, REALLY sure you want it? If you back out, we won't charge you for it.

Shinji: What's the worst that could happen? Come on, open it.

Waitress: … You've got guts. If you make it out alive, come see me after you're done. If you finish your order, I'll give a special gift. But that's only IF you finish it… I'll open it.

She opened the box, and inside was… Something. It looked like some sort of… I don't even know what it looked like! It was the weirdest thing I'd have ever seen. I took a bite, and it was actually kind of nice. Then I took some more bites, and eventually, when only ¾ were left, I held my stomach and rolled on the ground in pain. My survival instinct kicked in, and I summoned a Persona I got from killing a Zombie the day before, a Pixie. I used its Dia spell to get back up in good shape. I was not going to risk having to think quickly again, and gave up on whatever that was.

Yuya: You okay, Yamihiro? It kinda looked painful! Was that little fairy thing another one of your personae? Why do I get to summon this one beefy Spartan while you get to summon a Knight, Demons, fairies, and probably a whole slew of other crap?

Shinji: Ask the imp, I don't know sh*t about my abilities either.

So I decided to go see that waitress, and she told me her name.

Waitress: My name is Tsukiko Yamenai. You've got guts, and I like guys who do. Come back here anytime, Yamihiro-chan.

So I received the same kind of text I got for the other Social Links, this time saying that it was the Devil Arcana. I had a bad feeling about this, so Yuya and I decided to go somewhere else.

Yuya: Hey, Yamihiro… You can keep a secret, right?

Shinji: Yes, why do you ask?

Yuya: Let's go somewhere no one will hear us at. It's important.

We went at the school's rooftop. Here, he told me something I would have never thought of.

Yuya: See, I have a friend. He got kidnapped by some thugs because… Because reasons.

Shinji: Your friend's a delinquent, isn't he?

Yuya: H- How did you-?... That doesn't matter. I need your help to find him, so can you help me tomorrow?

Shinji: You can count on me.

Yuya: Thanks. It's good to know that someone as good as you is gonna help me out even though you barely even know the guy you're going to help. Generosity like yours is getting rarer each day, y'know? I guess I also have to tell you… I used to be a delinquent. I was part of a gang of dirtbags, and so was that friend. I may have managed to get out of it before it was too late, but he decided to stay. And now that he wants to quit, those bastards decided to kidnap him. I'm not sure what they could do to him, so I need your help.

Shinji: They're just normal delinquents, right? Not Super-powered teenagers?

Yuya: Hey, just because we are doesn't mean everyone around us could be! I mean, that paranoia is justified, but they're just plain old dirtbags.

So with that, since it was 6' PM, we went back to the room in which Sora led us to earlier.

Sora: So, my friends, I have three names for you. What is your choice?

[GO TO TWITTER AT "Persona_ROTGO" TO VOTE FOR THE NAME]

The next day was Sunday, April 10th. I was going to help Yuya out on that day.


TO BE CONTINUED

Author's notes:

-Tsukiko is the biggest example of last-minute addition yet: She was conceptualized as I was making the chapter. There was that Waitress, and I decided "Eh, let's make her an actual character". She went through the Moon and Tower Arcanas before I settled on Devil. Devil was actually the Arcana of a future party member, but I decided to shift her to Tower because it fit more. Tsukiko has black hair folded in a ponytail. She is either seen in an apron at work, or wearing a shirt with a big "GO FORWARD" written on it.

-Yeah, Yuya used to be a Delinquent. At very early stages of development, he was just a guy with barebones personality, so I decided to make him like you'll see instead of plain ol' Cardboard Junpei.