Chapter 1
Spring of Rebirth + Vampire
Upon reaching the end of the bus trip, the bus driver said to me, "I know you've been through a lot, but I still feel the need to warn you. Youkai academy is one scary school. He he he…" with that he closed the door and drove off.
As I rolled my eyes at his dramatic statement, I took a look at the place he left me. A high cliff edge, overlooking a red sea, a scarecrow on the side of the road, and a forest that looks to somehow have been grown dead.
'Here there be monsters' indeed.
After chuckling at the irony of the old English phrase, I began walking through the forest along the path, long worn by foot traffic.
The forest reminded me of some of those foreign horror films me, Junpei, and Yukari binged a few days before The Fall. We figured if we could get scared by some made up horrors, it would toughen us up so Nyx wasn't that scary.
It didn't help me or Junpei, but I'm pretty sure I heard Yukari say something about Nyx not being as scary as a xenomorph, so at the least it helped her.
It's strange, to think that for me that was only a couple days ago, but for them? It's been nearly a decade.
The distraction of that thought was just enough to make me drop my guard.
"LOOK OUT!
As I whip my head around to see where that voice came from, I'm greeted with a bicycle tire to the nose.
CRASH!
As I shake the dizziness out of my head, I put my hand out to balance against the ground. Instead, I find purchase on something soft. At the sound of a feminine moan, I retract my hand and open my eyes.
Upon opening my eyes I see that I'm tangled with a girl with long pink(?) hair, wearing what appears to be the girl's uniform for the academy. And after getting a glance at her underwear due to the frankly ridiculous shortness of her skirt, I start to understand what the Bus Driver meant when he said Youkai academy is scary.
"Thou Art I... And I am thou... Thou Shalt have our Blessing When thou chooseth to create a Persona of the Hermit Arcana"
I'm not going to dignify that with a response.
The girl sits up and starts speaking. "I'm so sorry, I got dizzy because of my anemia, and lost control." I got up and reached out mu hand to help her up. "No, I should have been paying closer attention to my surroundings." I respond, as I help her up. She is a bit shaky on her feet but she stabilizes herself after a bit.
She turns to me and seems startled, "oh no, you're hurt!" I quirk an eyebrow before realizing my nose is broken. I shrug and snap it back into place.
CRACK
The sound and sight shocks her and makes her cringe, but she grabs a handkerchief from her… wait, where did she get that? She dabs at my now bleeding nose and suddenly she starts breathing heavy. "Oh, this smell." She practically moans as she falls towards me.
I grab her and help her stay up before I start to connect the dots. Girl + monster school + anemia + this kind of reaction to blood = "I'm sorry, but it smells so good, because I'm-"she starts, but I finish, "a vampire." This surprises her enough that she regains her wits. "oh my goodness, I'm so sorry, I almost…" she blushes and looks away. I shake my head, "you said you were anemic earlier, which I'm sure means you are hungry. I won't get upset at you for doing what you need to survive, especially on the first day of school."
The girl seems somewhat shocked, but she nods and slowly goes for my neck. In a moment of foresight, I mentally disable my omnipotent orb, and she sunk her teeth in my neck. It was a strange sensation, having my blood drained, but it exactly hurt. And the sensation didn't last all that long either as she came back from her meal with a small smile on her face.
"thank you, you are so kind… oh! I don't even know your name! I'm so sorry, I didn't tell you mine either!" she starts to panic and wave her arms around in embarrassment. "Relax, you were clearly hungry. Hunger makes people forgetful. My name is Arisato Minato, nice to meet you." I say before giving a short polite bow.
"Ah! Of course, my name is Akashiya Moka, its very nice to meet you." The girl, apparently named Moka, responds with a slightly deeper bow.
I pick up her bike and check it over. "it looks like your bike isn't damaged too much, you should head on ahead." I say as I wheel it over to her. She looks at me with a sense of quiet nervousness.
"Um… I was wondering if I could walk the rest of the way with you?" she said. "sure, though I'm sure your friends will be waiting for you at the school." I respond.
She feels a lot like Mitsuru and Yukari, beautiful and exotic. She is probably a minor celebrity around here like they were at Gekkoukan. "I actually don't have any friends…" she says while looking at the ground. Well, I guess that's a bad read on my part.
"Oh, I'm sorry." I say, "if you want, I'll be your friend." That was clearly the right thing to say, because she has a happy look on her face that could probably start a war. Thank gods Junpei isn't here, I don't even want to imagine how he would have reacted to that.
"Thank you! I would love to be friends with you." She says, and we begin our trek to the school. I want to make small talk with her but before I can even think of doing so, a familiar sensation rings out in my head.
"Thou Art I... And I am thou... Thou Shalt have our Blessing When thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fortune Arcana."
Well Keisuke, your contemporary here seems to be as optimistic as you are at least.
The following atmosphere of Moka being in a state of overabundant cheer seems pleasant enough that I won't break the silence. And we walk to the school in companionable silence.
When I catch a glimpse of the school, it reminds me of those same western horror movies I watched with Junpei and Yukari. Is it racist to say that this makes perfect sense as a school for monsters? Old western architecture resembling some sort of sprawling mansion stands before us, the building slowly being covered by ivy and vines.
"Oh wow! Isn't it so full of character?" Moka exclaims as we head to the gymnasium. "Very." I reply.
The opening ceremony is lackluster, though after witnessing Mitsuru's opening speech most anything would be underwhelming. Upon making my way to the class I was assigned I noticed how the interior was extremely similar to Japanese schools, if not for the doors being hinged instead of sliding. Such a mix of east and west felt somewhat odd, but once again it made sense since it is apparently an international campus.
I found my way to class 1-F (funny coincidence huh?) and took a seat in the middle. As I looked around the room I took in my classmates. A punkish kid that reminds me of one of the idiots that Shinjiro took down back in May. A short girl with blue hair and a disturbing aura about her, as if she is sizing me up like a side of beef. A purple haired girl sucking on a lollipop, who seems to be giving off her own air conditioning.
Yes, just what I would have expected. Gekkoukan prepared me for a room full of personality like this.
As I start to question if that makes Youkai academy more normal, or Gekkoukan more abnormal, the teacher walks in. and she is a cat. Or, well, a Nekomata.
"Hi class, my name is Ms. Nekonome, I'll be your homeroom teacher this year." Even her name isn't subtle. "Now as you know, Youkai academy is a school exclusively for monsters. This school was built for helping monsters to integrate into human society so we can co-exist!"
At this point, the punkish boy said, "Wouldn't it be better if we just killed the men and molested the sexy women? heh heh heh." Well, something tells me this guy is going to be a headache.
"The school however does not have any humans, but hurting a human in other public places of earth is illegal because we must hide our existence from them." Wow, she ignored him without breaking a sweat, I wonder if she- wait, did she just write something on the desk with her tail?
As I tried to get a view of the desk she continued her speech, "this brings us to our two most important rules, first" she suddenly became somber, "humans are to never know we exist, bringing humans here, or if a human should find their way here, means the punishment of death ... Or something." She says with a smile on her face. Either she is a ditz, or a good actress. And if I'm seeing the note on her desk right, I'm thinking the latter.
"the other is not to tell others what kind of monster you are." That lines up with the co-existing bit, but something tells me that rule won't be followed much.
Suddenly, Moka enters the room, saying "I'm sorry I'm late, I got lost after the entrance ceremony." Ms. Nekonome tells her that it's fine and sends her to sit next to me.
As she walks, the room comes alive with whispers.
"Who is she?"
"That hair… Those eyes…"
"She's so beautiful…"
Mendokusai…
When she notices me, I politely say, "Akashiya-San, it's nice to se we are in the same class." Her response is at best, disproportionate.
"Minato!" she cries as she all but tackles me out of the chair. "I'm so happy we are in the same class!" her hug is stronger than most humans could manage, but compared to Aegis' hugs, she is only slightly crushing me.
The whispers around the room are by far more intense, and decidedly more bloodthirsty. Though, they weren't as frightening as I'm sure they thought they were.
-P+V-
After class
Moka has far too much strength, and far too little awareness of it. Is the thought in my head as she dashes across the whole campus, practically dancing as she looks every which way in an effort to see the entirety of the school.
With me attached to her hand by my wrist, as she leads me around with no care for the fact that I had long given up trying to follow and simply allowed her to drag me across the ground.
Eventually, we stop and sit next to a vending machine. I get a ciello mist while Moka gets a tomato juice, and we relax a bit.
"Moka?" I start. "Yes Minato?" "Does tomato juice actually satisfy your thirst, or is it psychological?" I ask, the question honestly being at the forefront of my head.
"Oh, not really, I just like the taste. Its much better than blood bags. Cold lifeless blood is honestly pretty tasteless." She responds. She looks away from me and starts to say something when I'm suddenly lifted by my shirt.
"hey there gorgeous, what are you doing with a kid like this when you could be with a real man like me?" comes the voice of the punk kid who mentioned murder and rape as an acceptable way of dealing with humanity.
What was his name again?
"Hey! Leave Minato alone! We were having a nice time!" says Moka nervously.
I know I heard his name get called during attendance.
"You can have a much better time with me, trust me." He says with a sick smile on his face.
He's starting to annoy me more than he already was.
He pulls me towards him and puts his face close to mine. "You were just about to take a hike, weren't you punk?" he sneers at me.
"Personal space." Is all I say.
He gets really pissed off looking and he looks like he's going to try to punch me.
Good, now all I need to do is-
"we are going now!" suddenly Moka grabs my hand and drags me away from him at high speeds. Eventually, we reach the school rooftop.
"Oh, that was kind of scary, wasn't it?" said Moka as we sat on a bench on the roof. They don't have fences on the roof here. Guess monsters won't really be that concerned with safety like that. "Not really, he was all bark, but I sincerely doubt he could actually bite me." I respond as I drink the now flat ciello mist still in my left hand.
"you really think he was going to bite you?" Moka asks, though she seems more confused than upset.
"figure of speech, I saw scarier things at my last school." Like the school at midnight. "How about you? What middle school did you attend?" I asked.
She looks upset as she talks. "I went to a human school, it was awful." I quirked my eyebrow. She continued without noticing.
"Everyone was mean, nobody believed me when I told them I was a vampire. They called me a liar and tormented me."
… she actually told them. That's not the smartest thing to do. "you do know that humans don't believe in monsters right? To most of us you guys are just characterizations in fictional stories." I tell her. She looks at me in confusion, so I explain a bit better. "Since as far as humanity knows vampires don't exist, they saw you claiming to be one as an act of attention seeking. And when they saw you keep it up, they probably saw you as a chuunibyou. It's a Japanese concept, meaning someone who pretends to be different from everyone else, and gets way too much into it."
She looks even more confused now.
"How do you know all of that?" she asks.
"I'm Japanese."
"No! I mean how do you know all this human stuff? Ho could you stand to be around them that long? I hate humans!"
Ah
I look at my drink. It really doesn't taste good flat.
"I am human." I say, letting my voice return to its neutral state.
She looks at me with fear. "What? You can't be human. Don't play such a mean prank on me!"
I feel like the bad guy here. I get up and start walking to the stairs. "I'm sorry that you hate my kind. I'll keep my distance Akashiya-san." I suppose she may get over her racism at some point, but for now I should avoid frightening her.
As I head to the dorms to settle in, the punk from earlier once again makes an appearance. "You think you're slick running away earlier huh?" he says as he stands in my way.
"Personal space." I say as I start riling him up again. Maybe this time I can actually take him down.
But he doesn't take the bait.
"Heh, sure thing shithead, you stay away from Akashiya, and I'll give you all the 'personal space' you want." He says as he walks away.
I feel like he's going to get himself killed. Vampires are considered the strongest monsters after all. And even if Moka is sweet, she can still take him out with ease, I'm sure.
-P+V-
As I walk back from the campus store with some food for my dorm room, I hear Moka scream from the forest. I know I said I would give her space, but she sounds like she needs help, so I rush into the forest to do so.
When I arrive I see the punk from earlier standing over Moka.
It seems I may have been wrong.
"Moka!" I shout.
"Minato!?" she replies.
"You little shit!" said the punk.
"I told you to stay away. And now that I'm all riled up by Moka's sexy body, I can't even think of holding back!" he shouts as he transforms.
He looks pretty ugly, and I suppose he could maybe stand up to a cowardly maya or 6. But he is still way too weak for me to take seriously, so I ask Moka why she isn't fighting back.
"My Rosario, it seals my power!" she says.
Yup, I definitely made a mistake in leaving her alone.
The punk monster lunges at me, and I lean all the way back and let him fly harmlessly over me. I jog over to Moka and help her up.
"Why haven't you taken it off? It's just a necklace, isn't it?" I ask. I honestly just thought it was some interesting jewelry. Maybe I should reread that monster encyclopedia.
"I can't take it off myself." She said as she looked at me with fear. At least it was for the rapist monster and not me.
I reached out to it and grabbed it. "Brace yourself, if it doesn't come off, this may hurt." I say as the punk turned back to us.
She nodded and I pulled.
The Rosario came off in my hand with no resistance.
The air grew thicker.
Moka was enveloped in darkness, a cloak of shadow fitting to her body.
As I looked at her, I could see her body proportions change.
Her silhouette matured, filling out and growing.
Suddenly on her face two eyes, the color of freshly shed blood opened.
The shadows receded and her form was revealed.
Her skin was paler, clearer. Her clothes seemed even more 'dangerous' than before. Her hair was white as the light of the heavens.
And then there was the aura.
If the punk could beat 6 Mayas, Moka could beat a couple of the full moon shadows. Maybe magician through empress.
Together.
The sweet, kind look she sported normally was nowhere to be seen. Her face filled with a confident grin that spoke of pride and skill.
She was practically a whole new person.
"~Yawn~ it has been far too long since I've been out to play." She said as she stretched. The effect left the punk almost frothing at the mouth and spouting some nonsense about how she was perfect for him.
What an idiot.
This new Moka seemed to agree, and she showed her stance on the situation as she started to rile him up.
Honestly, I wasn't paying attention to her beating him into next semester. I was focused on the Rosario in my hand.
I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it felt… alive.
As I pondered the strange feeling, new Moka finished the punk and kicked him off to the distance, leaving behind a few teeth, and saying "know your place!"
She walked to me and stared at me.
I stared right back.
I looked over her stance, watching the subtle twitches, and the slight tells.
She is a warrior through and through.
"You are more than just a human." She says at last.
"You are completely different from the Moka I met this morning." I replied.
She smirks and nods. "You hold yourself like you have fought monsters before, like a monster hunter even." She says with an almost unreadable tone.
She views me as a threat.
She's smart.
"The things I hunted were worse than monsters." I say. Best to let her make assumptions. She wouldn't believe the truth anyway.
"Hmm. As absurd as that sounds, you are telling the truth. Or at least your pulse says you are." She says with a large smirk on her face.
"It takes a lot to bother my pulse, so it may not be the best measure of my honesty." And it's true. She's hardly the first vampire I've met that commented on my steady heartrate after all.
After a moment I ask her. "Are you putting the Rosario back on?" she nods and takes it from me. "Yes, I must. I'm far too tired after my long sleep to be walking around doing whatever I like. Take care of my weak outer self won't you?"
I'm not sure if she has the directionality of that relationship quite right, but she most likely knows her own situation better than me. "She doesn't like humans." I say in response.
She rolls her eyes. "She is an idealistic fool, and she will apologize for what she said once she wakes up. She is far too fond of you to leave. After all, the only reason she was in this forest was because she thought you were going to the bus strop to return to the human world."
I put my head in my hand and sigh, she was in trouble because of my mistakes in managing her fear.
I will need to change my expectations of people heading forward. Monsters are certainly different from humans.
"I see. In that case you have my word." I respond. She smiles, more genuinely than her smirks.
"Then I'll trust her to you.'
"Thou Art I... And I am thou... Thou Shalt have our Blessing When thou chooseth to create a Persona of the Empress Arcana".
one person, two social links… that's new.
She puts the Rosario to its chain, and it clasps onto it once more. The resulting light that encompasses her, leaves her looking as she did before.
She crumples, but I catch her, and carry her back to the school.
-P+V-
As she wakes up in the infirmary, I wait for her to reach cognizance.
We talk for a bit, reaffirming our friendship. I let her drink a bit of my blood in order to help her out. And we return to our dorms.
Despite everything this single day has been, it's… nice.
I feel like my life has finally reached its strangest.
And now I feel like I shouldn't have even thought that sentence, I hope murphy wasn't paying attention to that.
-P+V-
"not murphy, but still, chaos is chaos." Says an unknown voice.
"Have fun buddy!"