Persona 3 Portable: A New Perspective
Chapter 2: The Dark Hour
4/8/2009 (8th April), Wednesday
"Open your text books and we'll take a look at the first novel by…" Ms. Torumi, the homeroom teacher of Class 2-F and teaching composition, instructed the students. "…Zenzou Kasai." It seemed that when she said the name of the author, she seemed displeased with it. "Why him? I'd rather teach Utsubo Kubota." Ms. Torumi mumbled. Nonetheless, she cleared her throat as she began the lesson.
"He became famous as a singer, but he also produced fine literature. I wonder why it's not in the textbook? Well, I'd just bring Kutoba's book next time…" She then looked at Junpei's seat, where the student had his head rested on the table. A frown formed on her face. "…Hey! Junpei!"
Junpei's head shot up from the table. "Wha…?" He started.
"Who did I just say was my favorite author?" Ms. Torumi questioned.
"U-Ummm…" Junpei rubbed his forehead frantically. He hastily turned around, where Minako was sitting behind him. "What is it?" she wondered. Junpei whispered to her. "Who's her favorite author?" he asked.
"Hmm…" Minako recalled the beginning of the lesson before giving Junpei an answer. "Try 'Utsubo Kubota'." She answered.
Junpei turned around. "Uktsubo Kubota?" he answered.
Ms. Torumi looked surprised, but gave a nod. "That's right! So you were listening to me after all!" she said.
Junpei chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, you know how I like to pay attention!" he said, then he turned around to talk to Minako. "Man, you saved my bacon, Minako!"
"Classmates should help each other, right?" Minako replies with a smile. As she started to read the textbook on her table, she could hear some of her classmates whispering about her. "Minako gave him the answer… She must pay attention in class!"
"Oh, she's back."
As Minako entered the dorm at evening, she noticed Yukari sitting at the nearest couch from the door, with a middle-aged man at the opposite couch. The middle-aged man had long wavy brown hair, glasses worn in front of dark brown eyes, and a less visible goatee as compared to Junpei's. His attire consisted of a tan jacket where a brown turtleneck could be seen at the collar area, tan pants and white shoes.
The man with glasses looks at Minako, with curiosity, it seems. "Ah, good evening. My name is Shuji Ikutsuki. I'm the Chairman of the Board for your school." The man says.
"Shuji Ik…what?" Minako said, completely baffled by pronouncing the man's name.
"I-ku-tsu-ki." Ikutsuki repeated. "…Hard to say, isn't it? That's why I don't like introducing myself. Even I get tongue-tied sometimes…"
'Yeah, the name's hard to say…' Minako thought.
"I apologize about the confusion regarding your accommodations." Ikutsuki continues. "However, it may take a while longer before you receive the proper room assignment."
"Don't worry about it. I am coping well currently in this dorm." Minako said. "By the way, I have a few questions to ask you."
"What is it?"
"Why did you come here?" Minako asked.
"To welcome you, of course." Ikutsuki chuckles. He turned his attention to Yukari. "Speaking of which… where's Mitsuru, Yukari?" He asked her.
"She's upstairs." Yukari replied.
"As diligent as always." Ikutsuki said. "Although, it doesn't hurt to come down and say hello…" He faced Minako. "Do you have another question?"
"Who else lives here, other than me, Yukari and Mitsuru?" Minako asked.
"There are four students living in this dorm, and the student yet to give an introduction is a senior named Akihiko Sanada." Ikutsuki explained.
"Sanada… Oh! Isn't he that boxing champ?" Minako said.
"Yes. I do hope that you will get along with him as well." Ikutsuki smiles. "Are there any more questions?"
"Well… I saw some something strange last night…" Minako began.
"You saw something strange? Like what?" Ikutsuki raises an eyebrow in curiosity. Minako looked over at Yukari's direction, the latter saying nothing. "You were probably just tired. I wouldn't worry about it." Ikutsuki said. "It's bad for your complexion, you know?"
"Hmm… I suppose so…" Minako said. However, she felt like something was off… "Then… I don't have any more questions left…"
Ikutsuki nodded. "Then, I hope that you have a successful school year." He got up from the couch. "Now, if you'll excuse me…" He walked towards the stairway. He stopped to turn around. "You must be tired from all that excitement. You should go to bed early." He advised. Raising a finger, he continued with more of a carefree tone. "As they say, 'The early bird catches the bookworm!'" He burst into laughter immediately. "Please forgive the bad pun…" he managed to say through his laughter before his laughter intensified.
'That… was just horrible.' Minako thought.
Yukari rolled her eyes and sighed. "Sorry, but you'll get used to his lame jokes, eventually…"
4/9/2009 (9th April), Thursday
Minako passed by the school gates, holding her camera as like the previous day she spent in the school. "Yo…" A voice called out to her. She turned to her side to see Junpei rubbing his neck. His slouched posture clearly showed that he is still sleepy and tired. "Man, I'm so sleepy today…" Junpei mumbled lazily. He straightened himself up before he spoke with more energy. "In times like these, it's best to sleep during class! You ever notice how sometimes taking a nap in class makes you feel more refreshed than sleeping at home?"
"Well… I agree with you. But you shouldn't sleep in class, though." Minako said.
Junpei understandably recoiled. "Whaaat? Why do you have to be all serious?" He said. "That feeling of being completely recharged is awesome…" He lowered his head. "But I'm screwed later since I didn't hear the lecture!" He lowered his head even further, speaking with barely noticeable enthusiasm. "Oh, but we have classic literature today… That means we're stuck with Mr. Nasty ol' Ekoda…"
"Literature isn't so bad, isn't it?" Minako said.
"You don't know how literature feels…" Junpei said in a barely audible whimper.
After school, Minako and Yukari met by the shoe boxes and headed to the dorm together. They stopped by at the local shopping mall, Paulowmia Mall, where Yukari gave Minako an introduction of the services the mall had to offer.
"I see now…" Minako said, lowering her camera after taking several shots of the interior of the mall. "I'm going to stay here for a while."
"Just remember to head back, okay?" Yukari said as she left the mall.
Minako nodded, about to raise her camera, when she noticed a hooded man heading to the alleyway in the mall. 'Hey… haven't I seen him before…?' Minako thought, watching him enter the alleyway. 'Maybe I should take another look at him.' She headed to the alleyway. When she looked in the alleyway, she noticed that it had already lead to a dead end. No doors. Just walls. But that figure that walked in the alleyway was nowhere to be seen. Shaking her head, she decided to head back to the dormitory.
The moon glowed with a brilliant white in the night skies above Tatsumi Port Island Station. At this time of night, several people still hung out around places such as the Island Station. A man sat down on a bench beside a group of three men chatting with one another, his fingers tapping idly on the buttons of the mobile phone on his hand. The man flips the cover to close the mobile phone, leaning on the bench as he yawns loudly.
…And the clock struck midnight.
The male's yawn ended and he looked at his right to notice three black coffins towering in front of him. He gasped as he left the bench and looked around. The other three men that were at his right were nowhere to be seen. There was an eerie atmosphere around him and he looked at the sky to see the full moon, but with that same green appearance like the skies. "What's going on? What kind of messed-up joke is this, you guys?" he demanded. But no one answered. There wasn't anyone present but him at the Port Island Station. The man gasps as he steps back from the ominous sight around him. Then, some sort of black substance started to leak from his head, and in numerous amounts too. The man tried to scream for help, but it apparently proved futile as he couldn't scream but made out short gasps as the black substance poured out at a horrifying rate. There was nothing he could do as the substance completely covered him and as if melting him…
Meanwhile, at a certain room in the dormitory. The room in question had a large monitor on the wall, displaying several figures and images, one of the images displaying Minako's sleeping face. Bookcases filled the remaining space of the wall the monitor was positioned at. There are three individuals in this room; Yukari, Mitsuru and Ikutsuki.
"How is she?" Ikutsuki asked.
Mitsuru looked at a set of figures on the monitor. "…The same as last night."
Ikutsuki looked at the figures Mitsuru looked at. He rubbed his goatee. "Very interesting… Even those who have the potential tend to be unstable at first… Memory loss… disorientation… But, this subject is rather unique. She hasn't exhibited any of the common symptoms."
"But…" Yukari sighed from her seat. "We're treating her like a guinea pig…"
Ikutsuki turned his head at Yukari. "I understand your concern, but it's imperative that we recruit new members." Ikutsuki said in a reassuring tone. "I heard she's in your class… Wouldn't you be more comfortable working with someone from the same grade?" He sipped the contents in a cup he had been holding. "A female classmate, at that."
Yukari's head bent down. "Yeah, I guess. But still…"
Several beeps blared in the room. An image appeared in the monitor, revealing the face of a silver-haired young adult with gray eyes. "I've found a big one! I've never seen anything like it!" The silver-haired man said. The image of the man immediately cut off after that. The whole room suddenly shook, but not enough to cause anything in the room to fall. "What was that?" Mitsuru said, heading to the door of the room.
The main doors of the lounge opened and the silver-haired man rushed into the longue. He immediately pushed behind to shut the doors. The silver-haired man slowly slid down, his right hand clutching on a growing red patch on his left arm while his face flinched in pain. "Akihiko!" Mitsuru rushed to the silver-haired man. The silver-haired man, or Akihiko Sanada, wore the standard male top of Gekkoukan High uniform beneath a red sweater vest and black pants. Akihiko wore black leather gloves as well, and a band-aid rested above his left eye.
Yukari and Ikustuki followed behind Mitsuru. "Are you alright?" Yukari asked.
"Don't worry about me." Akihiko said, a confident smile forming in his face. "The big one is coming. It'll knock your socks off!"
"This is no time to be amused!" Mitsuru said.
"Sanada, is it them?" Ikutsuki asked.
Akihiko looked at Ikutsuki, the confident smile turning to a serious look. "…Yeah. It's not an ordinary one—" Akihiko got cut off when the dorm shook violently again.
Yukari yelped. "What is this shaking? This is a joke, right?"
"Chairman, get to the mission room!" Mitsuru said to Ikutsuki. Ikutsuki nodded, heading to the stairs. She quickly turned her head to Yukari. "Takeba, go upstairs and wake her up and escape from the back!" Mitsuru commanded.
"What about you?!" Yukari asked.
"We'll try to hold it back from here!" Mitsuru looked at Akihiko. "You're the one who brought it here, take responsibility for it."
"It chose to follow me on it's own!" Akihiko said. He looked at Yukari, who hasn't left. "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and go, Yukari!"
"O-Okay!" Yukari heeded the order and headed to the stairs.
Minako had gotten up from the bed, staring at the moon from the window. She was wondering about why her room was shaking from the past few minutes. "The moon's huge tonight…" she remarked. Then, she heard plenty of hard and apparently desperate knocking on her door. "Wake up!" It was Yukari's voice. "Sorry, but I'm coming in!" Almost immediately, the door clicked and it was swung open as Yukari hurried to Minako just as she buttoned the black shirt of the Gekkoukan High uniform. "I woke up from the noise. What is it?" Minako asked.
"Sorry, but there's no time to explain." Yukari spoke. "Right now, we have to get out of here!" She revealed a long wooden hockey stick behind her towards Minako. "For your safety, take this." Yukari told her. Minako looked at the hockey stick in confusion before nodding and holding it with one hand at the top and the other at the bottom. "Okay, let's go! Follow me!" Yukari led Minako out of her room, taking the stairway down to the first floor. They were now approaching the rear entrance of the door.
"Alright, we should be safe from here…" Yukari said, her hand reaching for the knob of the door.
"Takeba, can you hear me?" Some voice spoke which was audible by Yukari and Minako.
Yukari stopped and answered that voice. "Y-Yes, I can hear you." She spoke.
"Isn't that Mitsuru-senpai's voice?" Minako wondered, looking around. "Where is she?"
"Be careful. There's more than one of them. It's the real form… is somewhere else!" Mitsuru's voice said.
"Are you serious?!" Yukari gasped.
"Yukari, what did Mitsuru-senpai mean by—"
Minako didn't finish her sentence as the rear entrance was greeted with large poundings. "Ah!" She shouted. As the poundings became more forceful, the females knew that they should get away from there now.
"W-We should pull back!" Yukari said, grabbing Minako's hand and taking her up the stairway. As they headed to the second floor, they heard the sound of glass shattering. "What was that?!" Minako asked, halting her movements.
"K-Keep moving! Hurry!" Yukari told her, not daring to look at where the sound originated.
"O-Okay!" Minako said, resuming their mad dash up the stairway to the fourth floor of the dormitory. Yukari led her to the rooftop area, swiftly turning around to shut the door. Pressing buttons rapidly on an electronic panel attached to the door, the panel responded with 'Locked' as the door clicked.
"Phew…" Yukari gasped, trying to breathe regularly. "We should be safe from now…"
"Safe?" Minako asked. "Safe from wha-" Her answer was given when they heard some sort of cry. They turned around to look behind them. A black hand gripped the edge of the wall. Another hand appeared holding some sort of blue mask with the Roman Numeral of '1' imprinted on the forehead. The black entity finally rested on the floor of the rooftop. Six of its hands drew behind its mask and it drew out a metallic sword in each hand.
'What… is that?' Minako looked at the strange entity that had scaled the dormitory walls.
"No way… it climbed up the walls?!" Yukari gasped.
'A monster…?! I wonder if it'll attack us…' Minako continued to look at that entity. Her hands which held on the hockey stick trembled. 'I don't think this hockey stick would do anything against it…' She noticed Yukari turning to face her.
"Stay back!" Yukari shouted before directing her attention at that black entity. She reached down for the hoister and drew out the gun. But instead of pointing the gun at that entity, she directed the gun to herself, resting the barrel on her forehead.
"What are you doing?!" Minako exclaimed in shock. "Shouldn't you point that at… that thing?!"
Yukari breathed in and out, her fingers trembled on the trigger. The entity began to charge towards them, narrowing the distance between them. Still, Yukari couldn't pull the trigger.
"Look out!" Minako shouted.
But it was too late. The black entity is already in front of them and it struck Yukari with a hand, sending her flying to the right. She rolled on the floor, not moving. "Are you alrigh–" Minako stopped to return her attention at that black entity that is directly in front of her. The black entity seemed to stare at her, before it turned away, heading towards the motionless Yukari. Minako looked down.
'Yukari's gun!' Minako reached for the gun lying in front of her. 'At least it'll be more useful than a hockey stick…' She turned to the black entity, pointing the gun at the black entity. It didn't seem to notice the gun being pointed at it.
Then, she suddenly saw an image of the boy in striped pajamas. The boy smiles at her, closing his right hand, but leaving a finger as he slowly positions his right hand to point at his head, mimicking the stance of pointing a gun at himself. "Can you… do it?" the boy asks.
"I'm sorry… I've found the main body…" Ikutsuki told Akihiko and Mitsuru who had just entered the room, directing his finger at an image of the rooftop.
"Let's go, Akihiko!" Mitsuru said.
"…Wait." Ikutsuki said. Mitsuru and Akihiko stopped and turned to look at the monitor.
At the rooftop, Minako released her hold on the hockey stick, letting it land on the floor. She began to draw the gun away from the black entity… and directed the gun's barrel at her head. Her free hand rested below her neck as she regulated her breathing. Once her breathing finally regulated, she began to speak.
"Pe…r…so…na…"
And her finger pulled the trigger of the gun.
It felt like something struck in her head interiorly. She could feel her head recoil from that shot. A pale blue mist formed around her. She could feel immense power being released from her. A power that she never knew she possessed.
"I am thou. Thou art me." A feminine, mechanical voice called out as something began to materialize from the column. "I come from the seas of thy heart. I am the Master of Strings… Orpheus!"
The figure that was produced had long brown hair, a mechanical body with a golden torso. She had some sort of red fabric around her head. There was some sort of contraption that looked like a speaker of some sort from her "stomach". Finally, a white heart-shaped lyre hanged from behind her back.
Mitsuru, Akihiko and Ikutsuki stared at the image of the figure that called herself Orpheus from the room with describable surprise, neither of the three able to say anything.
The black entity had ceased its' movements, one of its' blades nearly touching Yukari's neck. It turned around to stare at the new figure. Yukari had just regained consciousness and saw Orpheus. "A Persona…" Yukari mumbled under her breath. "Arisato…"
The black entity soon focused its' attention at Orpheus and charged directly towards her. Orpheus grabbed the lyre from her back and swung it downwards at the entity, knocking it down. She then swung it to the right and knocked the entity away. The entity manages to recover from the air and lands on its' feet, looking back at Orpheus. Orpheus's eyes began to glow red, and an explosion of flames suddenly formed at the entity. The entity shrugged the flames off from its' body and started to scramble around the rooftop. Orpheus continued to form those explosions relentlessly, each explosion narrowly hitting the black entity.
"No! Your psyche won't last long if you keep attacking like that!" Mitsuru shouted. But there was no way anyone could have heard her from the rooftop.
But Mitsuru is right. Minako stood still during the whole battle. Her breathing started to go back into a state of panic. She fell on her knees, her hands clutching her head. "Uuhhh…." Orpheus soon started to jolt, as if in pain, and her head retreated into her body.
"Aaaaaaaaaahhh!" Minako screamed, the tormenting pain in her head refusing to go away. Something emerged from the empty space of Orpheus's head, but it was not her head. It is a pair of white gloves. The gloves grabbed the remaining area of the neck and pushed apart. The body of Orpheus vanished into nothingness. A large black clothed figure is now at where Orpheus used to be. Coffins, about eight of them, bizarrely floated around the figure, each connected by a metallic chain which both ends are as if embedded on the figure's shoulders. It wore some sort of skull-shaped helmet on its' head. It pulled out a blade from its' waist and it flew directly at the black entity. The black entity stretched its' hands, trying to slash the figure, but the figure evaded each move. Until it was directly in front of the entity. The black-clothed figure gave one swing at the entity. The entity was reduced to nothing more than a wriggling hand held by the black-clothed figure's hand. The black-clothed figure crushed the hand and caused the hand to burst into a small rain of black blood. The black-clothed figure floated silently above the searing floor of the rooftop, and it was suddenly gone. Orpheus is now at where the black-clothed figure was. Orpheus soon glowed a blue hue and she vanished from sight.
Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Ikutsuki watched all the scenes from the room. So far, no one has spoken a word at all.
Minako soon felt heavy. She felt completely worn out. She couldn't really tell the difference between a searing battlefield and a regular one as her body now laid on the rooftop.
"Are you okay!? Come on…! Please…! Can you hear me!? Answer me!"
"It's so nice to see you again." A formal voice said.
Minako opened her eyes, recognizing the blue room she is in now. The long-nosed man, Igor, is sitting on the couch.
"This is… the Velvet Room…" Minako said. "What happened…?"
"You became unconscious after awakening to your 'power'." Igor said. He looked at the table, where a card depicting some sort of man with a dog behind him and the number '0' at the bottom of the card. "I see that it was Orpheus that heeded your calling. She is known as a Persona. She is like your alter ego, another side of yourself."
"A Persona?" Minako said. "What is a Persona?"
"A Persona is the personality that you present to the world outside yourself." Igor explained. "You may think of it as an armored disguise that you put on to confront hardships. That said, your power is still weak at the moment."
"An armored disguise…" Minako said.
Igor looked at the card again. "As luck would have it, though, you appear to have the ability to gain new ones." He said. "Every time you emerge victorious in these hardships, you will gain new powers."
"Hardships?" Minako said from her seat.
"Now, then… Time marches on in your world. I shouldn't keep you here any longer." Igor looked at Minako.
"Wait! I still have more questions!"
"Next time we meet, you will come here to your own accord." Igor said.
"How do I get here, then?" Minako asked.
"Until then… Farewell…" Igor waved his hand.
Minako felt like she had no more energy to speak any longer as she drifted off to slumber.