Hallway, Yasogami Highschool, Midnight Channel
As I left Hanamura-san at the stairway, I briefly noticed a Bear that has some significant resemblance with that of the host, General Teddie. With the strange creature was a woman with pale blue as her hair color, wearing the summer version of this school's uniform.
"Hey!" I attempted to run after them, but an invisible blocked my way
As I continued to walk on the path set for me. I noticed that doors aren't blocked by this see-through walls.
I opened the door, and walked inside
Music Room, Yasogami Highschool, Midnight Channel
When I looked inside, I immediately saw a piano at the center of the room. There were photographs of famous classical artists on the wall; Beethoven, Mozart, Bach; to name a few. Musical stands are arranged to look like your typical music class.
As soon as I stepped a foot inside the room, the piano started playing on its own.
The song it is currently playing is True Story, one of Risette's songs
"Amada, Amada, can you hear me" I hear Mitsuru-san's voice
I heard her voice the same way I heard our tactical support all those years ago.
She's using her Persona
"Mitsuru-san?" I asked
"Amada, thank goodness you are safe" I heard her as she sighed in relief.
I sat down on one of the stools inside the room, trying to rest for a little while.
"Yes, I am safe for the moment Mitsuru-san" I replied
"What are you doing here in the world inside a TV" aah typical Mitsuru-san, direct to the point like always.
"I was pushed in here Mitsuru-san" I replied honestly
"I see, so you were the fourth intruder that General Teddie mentioned earlier" she concluded
"If I'm the fourth intruder, who are the other two?" I voiced my question
"Akihiko and Aigis" she answered bluntly
I gulped involuntarily, as I realized that sooner or later I'm going to fight either Mitsuru-san, Akihiko-san or Aigis-san.
"I-is that so?" I stuttered
"Yes, we were supposed to retrieve a special material that was stolen while in transit" she informed me
"by any chance is this material, like Aigis?" I guessed
"Yes, though I'm curious as to how do you know this classified information" from her tone, she demanded answers
"W-well you see, from what I gathered, this world is manifestation of the human mind. The shadows of each individual who wander here will manifest and will try to replace the original, but to those people who will accept their shadows, they gain a Persona of their own. With that said, seeing as I can still use Kala-Nemi, and piecing the puzzle piece you gave me. I come up with the only logical answer. A robot that was designed to use a Persona is here" I explained
"I see, great deductive reasoning Amada" she complimented me
"Are there any chances that this robot looks more human than Aigis Mitsuru-san?" I voiced out another question
"That shouldn't be possible, because the robot was built years before Aigis was built" she answered
"I see" Now I am confused, was she the robot that Mitsuru-san was talking about?
"Mitsuru-san? Mitsuru-san" I called out her name repeatedly, but I didn't get any response
"Tch, connection was interrupted!" I angrily muttered as I stood up and walked out of the room
As soon as my foot stepped outside the room, the piano stopped playing
Creepy
Hallway, Yasogami Highschool, Midnight Channel
"But who is she?" I questioned out loud
There two possible suspects of this tournament, it is either this girl's shadow is causing the tournament or it is the Anti-shadow suppression weapon's shadow that Mitsuru-san and the rest are retrieving.
"There can only be one way to find out, and that is to continue biting the bait"
As I continued to walk to the path set to me I came upon a dead end, and there is only one door present.
It does not help that the path I've been walking before is already blocked by the invisible wall
"So my next opponent is here?" I pondered out loud
Imagine my surprise when I saw who was inside
Gymnasium, Yasogami Highschool, Midnight channel
As I entered the school's gym, the first thing I noticed is that my opponent is already here, standing at the center court of the facility's basketball court.
I looked around, aside from the things you usually see when on a basketball court, all I see are foldable chairs stacked as tall as possible, and in weird angles to boot
"Ken?" I saw a half-naked man, whose upper body is covered in scars, wearing a tattered red cape, tattered brown pants, light brown belt with a knife safely put in its sheath, and red combat shoes with white shoe laces.
"Akihiko-san" I replied
"What are you doing here?" he asks me
"You haven't got in contact with Mitsuru-san?" I asked
"No, she may have deemed a priority to contact you first, you were supposed not to be involved in shadow activity again, at least until you graduate highschool"
"Yes, I am aware of that" I looked around the venue, I can still the shadows made to look like human silhouettes
"Aware of what?" Akihiko-san's tone changed, I looked at his face, still in shock at his change in demeanor
When I took a good look at his face, he is glaring at me, his stare at me is full of hatred
"You know what Ken? You are the reason I am alone in this world"
"W-what do you mean Akihiko-san?"
"That's Sanada-san to you brat!"
"Y-yes Sa-sanada-san" I am already dreading this conversation, especially since I know where this is headed
"Not only did I lose my parents at a young age, my sister burning in front of my eyes" he paused
I didn't say a word. I waited for him to continue
"THEN YOU DECIDED TO KILL MY BESTFRIEND! YOU HAPPY THAT YOU SUCCEDED? " he shouted angrily at me, but I need to defend myself, he knows it too
"b-but Sanada-san, it was Takaya who killed Aragaki-san not me"
"THAT'S COMPLETE BS AND YOU KNOW THAT!" he shouted once more "IF ONLY SHINJI DID NOT TAKE THE BULLET FOR YOUR SAKE! HE STILL WOULD BE ALIVE TO THIS DAY!"
"YOU SHOULD'VE DIED! MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU DURING THE TIME YOUR MOTHER WAS KILLED AND MAYBE SHINJI WOULD STILL BE ALIVE, BESIDES YOU PLANNED ON COMMITTING SUICIDE RIGHT AFTER KILLING HIM YOURSELF RIGHT? ANYWAY, THIS WORLD WILL BE YOUR FINAL RESTING PLACE! CAESAR!" He summoned his Persona
"Oh this is the fight that we are yearning! Time to settle those grudges! Fight!" Risette's voice said through the speakers.
Akihiko-san immediately charged at me then proceeded to punch me like he is in the boxing ring
With his perfect footing, he is able to punch my chest and my back for several times
"Come Caesar!" he shouted as his Persona casted a Zio on himself, making Akihiko-san himself charged with electricity.
I did my best not to get hit by his punch by either dodging all of his punches or by putting my spear in harm's way. Otherwise, I'd be too shocked to attack him, I mean literally shocked.
I continued dodging and defending from his punches, then the unexpected happened
As soon as he was not electrically charged anymore, he summoned Caesar and casted Maziodyne, which means I can't dodge or defend for that matter.
I braced myself for the incoming bolts of electricity
"aaaaah!" I shouted as soon those bolts of electricity hit me.
When I saw him try to recover from his recent attack, I immediately summoned my Persona who then created three set of arrows, one set contained three arrows, other sets contained four arrows.
As soon as I pointed my finger at my opponent, the first set of four arrows were thrown at my half naked opponent, another set of three arrows formed some sort of X in front of, they now serve as my first line of defense.
My attack left him confused because he kept on punching the air while his scarred back is facing me
When I pointed my index finger at my half naked opponent for the second time the last set of four arrows were flying towards him.
Bad Move
He then recovered from confusion, he once again charged at me as soon as I assumed a defense stance, the arrows in front of me started to spin, when he attempted to punch me, all three arrow disintegrated and he staggered, electrically shocked.
He wasn't able to move because of him being shocked and all, I took this opportunity to attack him.
I impaled him and slashed him, well as far as my blunt spear can, performed kicks, then I did sweep, which knocked down Akihiko-san
I was about to perform another attack when he swung a right hook at me, and just like that, he was able to move again.
He charged at me and performed a jab on my chest.
Just like with my fight against Hanamura-san earlier, intense power coursed through my veins again. My opponent then performed a series of attacks, or in fighting games term, a combo, completely sick of always defending, I summoned my Persona which blew him away.
I pointed my evoker at my temple once again
"Let's end this. Kala-Nemi!" I summoned my Persona again who then proceeded to throw me up in the air. After throwing me, he quickly dashed at my opponent. He then pierced the downed boy's body repeatedly, afterwards threw him in my direction as I began my descent.
My Persona started spinning rapidly as the blade of my spear connected with my opponent's chest.
As the two of us started falling, Akihiko-san's back first. Once his back landed on the ground, I then stepped on his stomach as I then regained my balance, then a huge lightning bolt struck my opponent's down form..
"K.O! what a comeback, well fight over, time to leave" Risette's voice rang through the speakers inside the replicated school gymnasium.
"Ugh, Ken you've gotten good" I heard Akihiko-san said.
As expected of the undefeated boxing champ while in highschool, he can't be rendered unconscious that easily
I quickly summoned Kala-Nemi and let him cast Mediarahan on myself and my opponent.
"Akihiko-san?"
"What is it Ken?"
Phew and I thought he really meant what he said earlier
"Oh nothing really"
"That reminds me, what are you doing here?"
"Um, I was kinda pushed unto a Television. The culprit was kind enough to throw a pair of shoes after me" I replied
"Wait you were pushed into the TV while being in Iwatodai?" he asked, quite alarmed
"No, I was pushed in while staying at the Amagi Inn. In fact I just arrived Inaba a few hours earlier
"What are you doing in Inaba anyway?"
"We have an assignment at school?"
"During Golden Week?"
"yeah"
"Akihiko, Akihiko!" Both Akihiko-san and I heard Mitsuru-san's voice
"What is it Mitsuru?"
"We may have a problem, this tournament maybe caused by the 5th generation anti-shadow weapon 'Labrys'" Mitsuru-san confided with Akihiko-san
"Wait, I thought you said, she was stolen?" Akihiko-san said
"That is assuming that she may have awakened and mind controlled the hi-jackers"
"the other possibility is that she was stolen and has only awakened here, and her shadow is what's creating this tournament.
"If I may Mitsuru-san" I but into their conversation
"Amada? I see you fought Akihiko, it is okay, we don't want you getting involved into this any further" Mitsuru-san assumed I lost the fight, which is understandable.
"Actually Mitsuru, Ken defeated me fair and square" Akihiko-san interjected
"I-I see, sorry to downplay your abilities Amada. In that case, as a former member of S.E.E.S, will you assist the Kirijo-group in retrieving Labrys?", She requested my aid, "You will be paid for your services of course" she quickly added
"After all of this is over, I believe you have the right to know what the other former members of S.E.E.S are up to since three years ago" She said
"You should hurry to the announcement room, there is a big shadow there" she added
"I will, Thank you Mitsuru-san" I offered my gratitude
"As polite as ever, heh, something's never change" Akihiko-san commented
"you're one to talk Akihiko, you recklessly charged to Inaba from the airport, without giving much thought on your outfit" Mitsuru-san said
"Says the girl in white fur and a black catsuit" Akihiko dryly commented
"I rest my case" Mitsuru-san said as she cut off the communication, after sending me the location of the announcement room
"you should go Ken, I'll try to find a loophole around this invisible walls" Akihiko-san remarked as he performed a really powerful jab at the invisible wall.
If that was me, I would've been very lucky if I am still alive after being hit a punch that powerful.
I gulp involuntarily as I exited the replica of the school gymnasium.