Hello everyone! Welcome to Chapter 8 of "Persona Academy"! Sorry this chapter took so long. School and my personal life have eaten up a good chunk of my time and so has homework, which we all know is never fun. Anyways, I should hopefully have more chapters up soon. Without further a due, enjoy! :D

Persona Academy

Chapter 8: Back to Class

Keita felt his consciousness coming back to him, his body fast asleep after last night. It was the first time he had summoned his Persona, so it took a lot out of him, physically and mentally. It was a feeling akin to running a marathon while taking a series of exit exams mid-run, if a comparison is needed.

"Hello...Saeki-kun…? Saeki-kun…?" He heard a voice trying to get his attention.

Keita's opened his eyes and saw Marina and Kaz standing beside him, Marina trying to stifle a fit of laughter.

"Whath stho funny" He asked in a muffled voice.

"You're tongue is sticking out" Marina managed to say before laughing.

Keita realized this and quickly retracted it. "Heh heh, I knew that…" Keita said feeling embarrassed.

"How're you feeling?" Kaz asked him.

"My legs are a little sore, but otherwise I'm feeling pretty good" Keita said with a grin.

"Good to hear" Kaz replied.

"So, where am I anyways?" Keita asked. He looked down and noticed he was in his night clothes, a pair of black shorts and a white t-shirt. "And what happened to my clothes?" He asked.

"We're in the campus clinic right now, we took you here for the night" Kaz explained.

"As for the clothes, weeeeeell, let's just say you made some nurses very happy…" Marina snickered sneakily.

"WHAT?" Keita's eyes felt like they were going to fall out from being so wide.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! You must've changed into them when we left. I guess since you were so tired you don't remember" Marina explained, trying to stop the near nuclear explosion of a reaction Keita was going to have.

"Okay…You'd better not be lying to me" Keita said, pointing at Marina.

"I'm not! I'm not, really! We had your uniform cleaned and sewn up downstairs while you were sleeping" Marina said, scratching the back of her head. A knock was at the door. "Oh, speak of the devil. Kaz, can you get that?"

Kaz nodded as he walked towards the door. A student on the other side of the door handed him a pile of folded clothes before leaving. Kaz handed it to Keita.

He unfolded his uniform and looked closely, seeing a long stitch on the pants leg where he was cut and a few others on the blazers back and sleeves. "Jeez, I must've looked like hell last night" Keita thought jokingly.

"Class is gonna start in a bit, right? Give me a moment to change" He said, jumping out of bed, excited for the day to come.

"Okay, see you then" Marina said as she and Kaz left Keita in his room.

After a quick trip to the dorm to pick up his things, Keita walked with Kaz over to the school while Marina bid them farewell.

Keita entered his class and immediately a few of the students looked at him, giving him nods and smiles, something Keita wasn't used to but welcomed happily. However as Keita turned, his little high moment was brought crashing down. Mr. Kuroki didn't seem too different from yesterday and just looked at him with indifference. "Can't win 'em all I guess…" Keita sighed under his breath.

As he sat down, he looked to his right and felt his stomach drop to the floor. He swore he could even hear it thud out of his body like a lead weight. Ryoko, the girl from yesterday, sat in the row to the right of him. Her expression was still one of aggravation.

Homeroom played out the same as yesterday, with Mr. Kuroki's attitude causing more and more frustration to Keita and Ryoko's glaring beating down on him. Keita had to wonder. "Why was I so excited to be back in class?" He thought with a groan.

The bell rang as Mr. Kuroki left to attend to another class. In the meantime, the class spoke amongst one another.

"You and Kaz fought off a Shadow last night, right?" Ryoko asked, not even facing them.

"Holy crap, she's actually capable of conversing" Keita thought sarcastically. "Yeah, I got my Persona last night, too" He said with a proud smile.

"My guess is Kaz did most of the work" Her eyebrow raised skeptically.

"Keita fought it for the most part. I helped half way" Kaz explained to her.

"Really now…?" She scoffed, unconvinced.

"Yep, would've been dead meat if I didn't have back-up" Keita said.

"Of course" Ryoko said smugly.

"H-hey, come on! Gimme a break!" Keita complained.

"I should've expected nothing less from an amateur" She sighed, wiping her glasses on the flap of her jacket. "Meh, at least you're not a complete waste of space."

Keita shrugged off her statements, seeing as it wasn't very productive to speak with her.

The classroom door opened up as the bell rang for the next period to start. A woman carrying a duffle bag came in. She had long wavy cyan hair and dressed in casual business attire, putting the duffle bag on the desk.

"Hello class, I'm Suiko Minase, so just call me Ms. Suiko. Good to see everyone's here" She said with a smile as she finished writing her name on the board.

Keita looked around and saw that most of his male peers looked like their faces were being eaten by their enormous grins.

"I'll be covering two subjects for you guys this school year, the first being math" She explained.

"Crap…" Keita mumbled to himself.

"The second one will be Persona training" She continued, seeming a lot more enthusiastic about it.

"Win…!" Keita cheered internally.

"For those who are new, I will be teaching you about your Persona's power as well as how to hone it"

"I like this teacher light years over Mr. Kuroki already" Keita thought. Though he was still confused as to why a good chunk of the male students seemed to be in shellshock…seemingly.

"You don't get it dude?" A student asked him, noticing his confused expression.

"Nuh uh" Keita mumbled.

"She is sooooo hot, don't you think?" Another student added giddily.

"I-I dunno, whatever floats your boat" Keita stammered.

"And she's really nice too!"

"Funny how they mention looks before personality" Ryoko groaned.

"The only other teacher as popular as her is Marina-senpai" The first student added.

"But she's a TA" Keita corrected him.

"Exactly! Oooh, if only those two would teach together, I'd be here every day!"

"Pay attention everyone! Anyways, since it's still early in the school year, we won't be out in the field today. Instead, I'll give you a crash course on skills today" She said, grabbing a chart of sorts and opening it on the board.

"Finally, something fun about going to class!" Keita stood up straight, prepared to listen to the lesson.

"Personas are able to use different skills in battle, all of which are categorized into specific categories. The first are physical skills, such as Bash and Cleave"

"I remember Kaz saying Bash as he fought and I remember Icarus using a sword, so I guess he knows Cleave" Keita recollected.

"The next group is spiritual skills. There are 8 types that a Persona can use, such as Fire; Agi, Ice; Bufu, and Electricity; Zio, though there are plenty more that a Persona can use" She turned towards the class. "Saeki-kun!"

Keita scrambled up. "Y-yes…?" He asked.

"What skill is your Persona specialized in?" She asked.

"Skill…? Well, let's see. I remember Icarus using wind a lot…"

"It's Garu, Ms. Suiko" Ryoko answered, stealing the spotlight.

"I-I was asking Saeki-kun…but uh, correct! If your Persona uses wind, its inherent skill is Wind or Garu" Ms Suiko responded.

Keita grumbled as he sat down, the lunch bell ringing as he did so.

"Aw man! I didn't even get half way through! Hmph" Ms. Suiko pouted as she packed away her chart. "See you tomorrow, class!"

As the class began to socialize, Keita walked out with one single goal in mind. "Need food, need food, need food!" He had been starving ever since last night. He stopped at a small snack stand by the stairs and quickly bought some sweet bread and a drink before sitting down on a bench. He opened the wrapper and quickly took a huge bite. Nothing special, but it was something to munch on.

"H-hey…" He heard a voice speak to him.

Keita looked up and saw the silver haired boy he had met briefly yesterday.

"Hey…uh, Shiki wasn't it?"

"That's me. M-mind if I sit here?" Shiki asked sheepishly.

"I don't mind" Keita shrugged as he moved to give Shiki some room. "So what's up?"

"Nothing really…I figured I'd keep you company Keita-senpai."

"Senpai, eh? That's the first time anyone's called me that" Keita thought with an internal grin.

"So uh…last night, you, Kaz and Marina-senpai beat a huge Shadow, right? Good job!" Shiki congratulated him.

"Thanks. Word spreads fast around here, huh?" Keita asked, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

"You'd be surprised" Shiki chuckled lightly as he bit into a piece of taiyaki, a fish shaped pastry with adzuki bean paste in the center.

"Hey, you're friends with that Ryoko girl, right?"

"Uh huh, she's one of my best friends!" He chirped with an innocent smile.

Keita scratched his head, pondering at the thought of such a shy boy being friends with someone so…unpleasant to say the least.

"I-Is something wrong?" Shiki asked him.

"Nah, it's nothing. Forget about it" Keita regretted bringing the topic up. Shiki looked away and took another bite of his food.

"Anyway, I did actually have something to tell you" Shiki said, his mouth half full. "My uncle wants to speak with you after school. He said he had something to talk to you about."

Keita swallowed hard. "Wh-what…?"

"Anyways, lunch is almost over. See you later Keita-senpai!" Shiki bid his senpai farewell, heading down the hall.

Keita forced himself up and slowly walked back upstairs, four words repeating in his head at the thought of being called to the principal's office.

"I. Am. So. Screwed!"