Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything.

Answering blazehawkins question: Well, relating to protagonists, in the game, you the main protagonists are the M.C., Masao, Kei, Maki, and one of the following: Hidehiko, Yuka, Eriko, or Reiji. In this fic, I'm using all of them as main protagonists. So, yeah, all of them, including Yukino, will be a group throughout the novelization. As for the zombies and their appearances with the demons, it's part of the plot, that Setsuko and Philemon will explain in this chapter. Wow, I just realized how much angst was in the last chapter, that I'm going to have to counterbalance it with an equal amount of awesomeness, specifically Eriko's Persona (Her awakening is going to be shown), and a little plot expansion, and setting up the main quest, but that won't really start until Chapter Six, when seven of the eight characters are in one group. Yuka Ayase's awakening will be next chapter along with another certain character's. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Four.

Chapter Four: St. Hermelin

Following their escape from the hospital, the four started the fifteen minute trek back to St. Hermelin. They felt the now disconcerting silence on the vacant streets.

Naoya watched his feet as he solemnly walked. "No cars, no cell service, demonic roars, zombies. The quake effected all of Mikage. What the hell is happening? The air is thick with this heavy pressure…"

Masao rested his axe on his shoulder, ready to take a swing at anything. He was obviously tense and anxious. "Man, where are you, Maki. I hope you're okay."

"Damn!" Kei brutally shut his cell phone.

"No dial tone again, Kei?" Yukino asked.

"No dial tone and no service since the earthquake."

"Hey, there's a payphone." Masao pointed down to the other side of an alley to the said payphone, just by the subway.

"Maybe the landlines work." Yukino suggested.

Kei put away his phone. "It is possible. We'll have to cross through the alley. Something on the roofs of the buildings may use the opportunity to strike."

Masao patted his shoulder with the long wooden handle of his weapon.

"I'll take care of it!" Masao, without a word, ran into the alley.

"Mark, wait!" Naoya looked along the edges of roofs of the buildings. Rows of crows, purple-feathered, roosted on the ledges. An odd trait, other than the purple- feathers, were the number of talons. "They each have three!"

Kei also made this observation. "Masao, the birds!"

Masao, halfway, stopped. "Huh?"

At Masao's sudden stop, the squawks and caws of the birds lifting up were heard, the violet wings flapping. Masao titled his head up. "Shit!"

The murder dove at him at incredible speeds. Masao jumped back, the axe slipping in his grip.

"Shit! Shit! I don't wanna die!"

The crows swooped above the ground, aiming for the energetic youth's ankles.

Masao heaved his axe in the air. "Let's do it to it! Persona!"

The velvet mist formed, Ogun arriving with his earthen spear.

"Ogun, kill that murder, Gry!"

Ogun spun his spear, then hit the ground with the blunt end. The incoming crows ceased their flight in midair, forcefully smashed to the ground by a large orb of purple energy. The orb ceased their flight and their ear-piercing calls as the supreme amount of gravity on them broke their bodies.

Masao wiped sweat on his forehead, Ogun vanishing. "Phew!"

Yukino, Naoya, and Kei, during the attack of the three-talon crows, crammed themselves into the cramped, narrow ally, Kei and Naoya humorously sandwiched together by the wall.

Yukino sighed, giving Naoya a hard kick in the rib, the momentum forcing him forward.

Masao made it to the phone booth, dancing over each crows' carcasses. He picked up the receiver, dialing "911." He tapped his foot erratically, dismissing the attack on his life by birds.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up."

Kei approached him with a scowl. He sharply exhaled. "Taking unnecessary risks is how people die!"

Masao waved his hand at Kei, hanging up the phone. "Chill, Nanjo! For the record, the phone doesn't work either."

"Just makes your possible death more pointless."

Masao exited the glass booth. "What did you-" Yukino hit him over the head, Masao's hands immediately nursing the new bump. "Why do you always hit me?"

Naoya rolled his eyes. "You make it too easy for her to scold you."

"Next time, I'll pick off the crows with these." Yukino held a razorblade in between her index and middle finger.

"Hey, Nanjo, let me see your cell phone." Masao demanded.

Kei humored him, placing the device in his clammy palm. "I doubt you using the phone will give it a signal."

"Screw that! I'm cutting some of this tension in my shoulder blades!" Masao winded his arms, chucking the phone in a arc over the descending stairs to the subway.

Kei's eyes widen.

Masao laughed.

Naoya followed the phone. It soared above the subway stairs. The clearing the stairs it fell straight not curved. The phone hit the concrete, breaking in half.

"Masao, you destroyed my phone."

Masao grabbed his stomach. "Worth every instant!"

Naoya picked up the phone. He touched the air in front of him, his finger spreading on a opaque yet translucent screen. Naoya saw the other side of the road he stood on, but an invisible wall separate him and the other side. He streaked his fingers in lines a few feet to his left and right.

"Hey, guys, you might wanna check this out."

Persona: Be Your True Mind

The four sat by the subway for a short time to discuss the situation.

"An invisible dome has surrounded the city, no cell phone service, no service at all, demons swarming the streets. An earthquake couldn't have possible caused all of this." Kei pinched the bridge of his nose, slightly lifting his glasses.

"That's why I'm saying there's more to this than an earthquake. Philemon warned us. He said we'd use our Personas soon. Two hours later, we are and demons infested the city."

"Nao, weren't you the one who said we ought to go home and forgot the dreams." Masao scribbled in a notepad he retrieved from his backpack.

"That's was before the crazy shit. I mean, it adds up a lot better now."

Kei disagreed. "Maki's disappearance, the reasons why the demons are here, the crying girl, are all unexplained, Todo."

Yukino fixed her hairclip. "Kei sounds like he's given up on the illusion theory he had earlier. Though seeing Yamaoka die in his arms probably brought him to the conclusion this is truly real no matter how much we hate it."

Yukino's still felt bad for her friend. Yukino's parents kept tabs on her even when she was in the gang. They cared for her even when she was a punk on the streets. But, the death of Yamaoka honestly caught her in the heart. She'd keep imagining if Ms. Saeko had been the one to die and instead of in Kei's it was her arms.

"Of course, that wouldn't be the first time Ms. Saeko might've been in that position thanks to me."

Yukino remembered the time Ms. Saeko had put herself in the way of gun aimed at her. She tried to leave the gang for good. The fellow members didn't take it kindly. They showed up at St. Hermelin, cornered her outside in the courtyard, threatening her with bokutos and two-by-fours. One of them brought a loaded 9mm handgun.

Yukino's bad tendency of thinking she was invincible reared it's ugly head. She never called for help, she never cried. She took the beating, fighting back as best as she could until the gun was cocked. Yukino froze for a moment, preparing to lunge, but she heard yelling from Ms. Saeko. The teacher arrived in the lobby, panting, stepping in front of Yukino. The gun trained on her. "You six have five seconds to get off this property. The police have been called by the Vice-Principle, they will be here shortly." Ms. Saeko spoke, keeping Yukino at her back. Her voice didn't falter.

All that time the loaded gun was aimed at her heart, meant for Yukino, she stood tall, didn't break, and apparently intimidated the gangs members enough with her threat to force them to leave the school grounds.

"Ms. Saeko protected me during those days like Yamaoka protected Kei all his life. It's a dame shame he died."

Kei dusted his pants off. "We've wasted enough time here. Let us get back on track, shall we?"

A spark of electricity crackled at Kei's back, expanding into an savage woman's face, fangs and talons including, crafted out of the electricity. Jagged blue streaks formed a mane of hair around the face. It shrieked.

Yukino acted before the beast. She pulled Kei forward, flinging a razorblade at the now solidified head. The razorblade gashed the brow, spitting out blue blood. The demon shouted in pain.

"Call out your Personas!" Naoya ordered.

"Come here!" A female voice yelled.

The face instantly contorted into a gasp. More slices appeared, crossing each other. The electric monster faded away, revealing behind her thunderous mane, Eriko Kirishima, wielding a rapier, used to destroy the electrical face, a silver armored, pure white angel above her, a halo hovering over it's cranium and the metallic breast plate displaying cleavage, indicating the gender of the Persona. The wings were the actually arms of the Persona and the head the halo hovered over was armored with silver, a mouth plate covering the rest of her face except for her white eyes, outlined black.

"Is everyone, ok? No injuries? There's no need for concern! My Persona is Nike the goddess of victory. If anything strange were to happen. It would be no problem. From now on, I shall be everyone's goddess of victory!" Eriko face was flushed with glee, practically glowing because of her Persona.

Persona: Be Your True Mind

Eriko lead the group back to Alaya Shrine, explaining the events she experienced. She had played Persona before, also meeting Philemon. "It was a long time ago and I wasn't struck by lightning." she said. She then went on to talking about discovering Setsuko Sonomura, and her Persona awoke when the Kappa-like demon attacked them. Her feeling of immanent death called forth her Persona, Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, modeled after an angel. Setsuko moved into the shrine to keep out of the demons sight and Eriko went to hospital, on the way she noticed the same alleyway the four had gone through to the payphone, seeing the demon attempting to attack Kei.

When Eriko finished explaining, Kei elaborated on the events in the hospital and the situation in Mikage.

"Ms. Sonomura said she knows what's going on. She said it's related to S.E.B.E.C. She tried to stop it, but she was shot at." Eriko said.

Naoya's ears perked. "Is she okay?" Setsuko Sonomura was like an aunt to Naoya.

"The bullet grazed her side. We barely stopped the bleeding."

"Since we're heading back to the school, we'll take her with us. Nurse Natsumi can fix up the wound." Masao stated. "Great, now, Maki's mother is involved in this. I swear if I see her, I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind. How dare she make Maki miserable."

Naoya fiddled with his earring, trying to calm himself done. "First, Maki goes missing and now Aunt Setsuko is shot. All of this is connected to S.E.B.E.C.? It still doesn't make any sense!"

Kei pondered on Eriko's story, taking in the words of Setsuko out of her mouth. "Not enough information to confirm my suspicions right now, but when Setsuko Sonomura fully explains the situation in Mikage involving S.E.B.E.C. I'll see the big picture. I want the head of whoever did this. I have strong feeling I know who. He'll pay for Yamaoka's death."

Eriko arranged her bang with her hand, her other hand firmly grasping the handle of her rapier. "Thank goodness, my sweet Nao is all right. I was really scared he and the others had been hurt or worse. I honestly hope we can fix whatever's causing this. As fascinating as The Cursed City is I'd like to go back to good ol' normal Mikage."

Eriko liked Mikage. It was a city she felted at home in. No major crimes, little pollution, not a lot of traffic congestion. She loved it there as much as she loved traveling on the seas. Her feelings for Naoya contributed to the list of reasons she loved Mikage.

"Here's the Alaya Shrine." Eriko said at their arrival. "Ms. Sonomura's inside."

The group of five entered the veil of a door into the shrine. Each wall was decorated with a hundred of different masks. A giant swallotail butterfly image had been painted on the floor. Setsuko Sonomura was sprawled on the floor, applying pressure to her wound.

Naoya ran to her side in concern. "Aunt Setsuko!"

A yellow light shined on the five. Naoya turned his head, seeing the yellow featureless butterfly emitting the light.

"Oh, what an exquisite butterfly." said Eriko.

The butterfly circled the five.

"Hey…is it me, or is there something strange about that butterfly?" Yukino stated.

The butterfly flew practically in each of their faces.

Masao harmlessly swatted it away. "Wh-what's up with this thing!"

An with Masao's question, a flash of white, the students momentarily losing their consciousness. They did not fall, but stood in a coma-like state for what seemed for Setsuko a total of ten seconds. The five of them were called to Philemon.

Persona: Be Your True Mind

Naoya found himself drifting through the void of gears and darkness, chasing the butterfly, but when he landed on Philemon's platform he wasn't alone. Eriko, Kei, Yukino, and Masao were standing there with him.

"Here again." Naoya said, feeling a cold sweat coming on.

"Isn't much different than last time." Masao pointed out.

"We meet again, my friends." Philemon had appeared, standing in the center of the platform. "Are you used to your Personas?"

Naoya stepped forward. "Yeah. We got the hang of them. You mind telling us what's going on?"

"As you have seen for yourselves, events are moving in an unexpected direction. Only those with a strong will are capable of stopping the flow that has gone awry."

"What the hell does that mean?" Masao cursed.

"Quit, Masao!" Kei ordered in his commanding tone of voice. "He's obviously talking about what's happened to Mikage. The unexpected change of events is the demons appearing and the erection of the barrier around Mikage. We're the those with the strong will which can stop these events."

"You are partly right, my friend." Philemon pointed to Naoya, then to Masao, then to Kei, then to Eriko, and finally at Yukino. "You are five of the strong willed. You will discover four more on your journey. Maybe sooner than you can tell."

"What's with the cryptic talk? Just say it to us straight!" Yukino hated to be jerked around.

"I'm sorry. I can not. I, unlike my competitor, cannot break the rules."

"Competitor? Rules? What the hell are you fucking talking about?" Masao was ready to pull out his axe and start swinging.

"I've said too much. You shouldn't concern yourself with my words. Focus on the task at hand, my friends. To save your city, you must use the Personas I have granted you."

Naoya felt his hand trembling over his face. "How do we save our city?"

"The woman may tell."

"Aunt Setsuko?"

"That is the last I can say, I'll bid you farewell for now, until we meet again."

Masao tried to move, but felt his body being elevated into the air, back to the crack in the blue abyss. "Hey, I'm not done!"

Naoya, Eriko, Yukino, and Kei too were lifted with Masao, inching closer and closer to the void.

"Be sure to consult my servant, Igor. He is here to help you. Look for the Velvet Room."

In a flash of black, the five traversed backwards through the void, losing consciousness.

Persona: Be Your True Mind

The five returned, awaking from their comatose state. Naoya's hand still shaking in front of his face.

"What WAS that?" Yukino exclaimed. "It had to be real, not another dream, right?"

Kei puffed up his upper torso, crossing his arms. " 'Truth is stranger than fiction' evidently."

Eriko's face became pink with excitement. "To be present for another once-in-a-lifetime-event is magnificent!"

Masao punched a bare section of the Shrine's wall. "He never let me ask about Maki."

"He said there were four more of the strong willed." Kei stated.

"And a servant of his named Igor. Where are we suppose to find him?" Yukino added.

"The Velvet Room," Naoya answered. "Philemon said search for the Velvet Room. That's were Igor is."

Setsuko groaned in pain.

"Hey, did you forget about Maki's mother here?" Masao asked.

"We have to move her to the school and think of a plan of action from there." Kei replied.

"W-w-wait." She weakly said. "Let me explain what happened." Setsuko tried to stand. Naoya stopped her. Kei and him put their arms around her, supporting her back, raising her gently off the ground.

"You can fill us in on the way to the school, Aunt Setsuko."

Persona: Be Your True Mind

"The gunshot wound," Kei paused, waiting for Yukino to catch up after retrieving a thrown razorblade at a demon. "Who did it to you?"

"Kandori's…goons," Setsuko rested her head on Naoya's shoulder.

Kei ceased walking, nearly dropping Setsuko, he appeared startled. "Kandori! Takehisa Kandori! The president of S.E.B.E.C.?" Kei looked away at Setsuko's nodding head. "I knew he had to be involved in this."

"The alterations to this town…Kandori's behind them all."

"How?" Masao out-right asked. He kept his axe firmly in one hand, scanning the skies for anymore of the three-talon crows.

"I…was involved in the development of a certain device."

"A device," Kei spoke up. "And you're saying this machine is the causing the changes?"

"It's called the Deva System."

"What's Deva mean?" Yukino asked, not having a clue.

"In the Verdic Period, a deva was a member of a class of benevolent divine beings." Eriko replied.

She'd studied several periods of history during her overseas education. She especially enjoyed mythology in the different periods. The variations of the same god or goddess fueled the fire for her occult fascination.

"That's in the Verdic Period only." Naoya stated. He paid attention in history class, knowing the full definitions of Deva. "Nowadays, Deva, is generally defined as a god."

"He's so brilliant!" Eriko gushed in her thoughts, her cheeks red, and eyes locked on Naoya's handsome face.

"Go on, Aunt Setsuko."

"The Deva System…it's engineered to affect reality. I didn't think it could do this. Kandori said he doesn't care what happens to this town. I have to hurry to the police."

Eriko put her hand to her mouth. "Oh dear, I'd forgotten. Ms. Sonomura, on the way to the hospital, I ran by the police station liked you asked and it was overrun by demons."

"My God! Kandori has to be stopped!"

"How did you escape, ma'am?" Masao asked, moving closer to Kei and Naoya.

"After I was shot, I escaped through the abandoned factory. It has a secret freight entrance. Use my…" Setsuko's voice softened, her words fading. Her eyes shut.

"Aunt Setsuko!"

"Take is easy, Todo. She's fainted."

"She lost too much blood!" Yukino exclaimed. "We gotta get her to the school, quick!

Persona: Be Your True Mind

Naoya sat in Nurse Natsumi's infirmary bed for the second time that day. They had managed to bring Setsuko to the school in time. Nurse Natsumi currently was stitching her wound. She said Setsuko would be unconscious for awhile, but will be fine.

Masao and Eriko sat besides him on the bed. Kei and Yukino were in the two chairs by the door.

"Takahisa Kandori, the president of S.E.B.E.C. and a child prodigy. When I met you back at a business party hosted by my father, you were a despicable man, the worst of the worst. You caused Yamaoka's death, you life is mine."

"Takahisa Kandori, huh? I have no friggin' clue who he is, but I do know his use of the Deva System is how Maki's disappeared. He won't get away with this. Normally, I'd tag up every inch of his building, but with my Persona I'm gonna kick the living shit out of him."

Naoya clenched his fist, the fingers momentarily shaking. "I can't stop shaking. Why? I'm not afraid. I fought zombies for Christ sake. Correction, I didn't fight them, my other self did. Is that what I'm afraid of, that I won't be me anymore, myself as of right now is the façade? I don't know."

Yukino nestled her head on Kei's shoulder. Kei's cheeks showed his embarrassment. She was exhausted. They all were. The fighting, the running, the lost lives, the riddles, Setsuko story behind the recent events, it all was a lot to take in at once and the strenuous actions they had performed left them unable to fully process it all.

Natsumi removed her gloves with an elastic snap. She sharply exhaled her breath, dumping her bloody needle and thread taken from the Home Economics room.

"How is she, Nurse Natsumi?" Naoya asked still concerned.

"She's fine, Naoya. It wasn't a serious injury. It's the blood loss and exhaustion that worries me. So for now, she needs to rest. Why don't you kids go to the cafeteria. Ms. Saeko told me to send you there when I finished. According to Hanya, we have enough bread and milk to last us two weeks."

Naoya's, Masao's, and Kei's stomachs' growled. They hadn't eaten any food since lunch and that was six hours ago. The sun had begun to set.

"So, hurry along, the five of you. I promise, Ms. Sonomura is in good hands."

Persona: Be Your True Mind

"Ah! No way, you guys are, like, alive!" Ayase, drinking a carton of milk, greeted the returned students with a clueless look. "I thought for sure you were done in by monsters."

The other first and second years, crowded at the lunch tables, looked on, flabbergasted expression plastered on their faces.

Eriko smacked her lips, flipping her hair. "Somehow I think Ayase, seems disappointed."

Ayase put on an innocent countenance. "Eh, that's not it at all. How was it? Were there, like, monsters?"

Eriko twiddled her thumbs. "Eh, about that…"

"YO! Congratulations on returning alive and well! We started to think you guys had died!" Hidehiko blurted out, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

Naoya slammed his face into his palm. "Something tells me the ambiguously disastrous duo has started the rumor mill again."

Ayase and Hidehiko generally never interacted, unless your including telephoning. The two had a romance about them when it came to gossip, lying and spreading any information to the other classrooms. Any tiny bit of information, possibly speculation, if it reached their ears, chances are every inch of story would be over exaggerated and ridiculous by the end of the day. In Ayase's case, scandalous, Hidehiko's case ludicrous.

"Foods by the counter if you guys are, like, hungry." Ayase and Hidehiko bolted to their seats.

"Definitely started the rumor mill. I hope a plaque isn't in the material this time."

The five grabbed their bread, sodas, and rice situating themselves at a table far away from everyone else.

Masao bit into his bread roll and drank a sip of his Cielo Mist (A/N). "So, what do we do?"

No one answered.

"Come on, isn't it obvious. We're going to march over to S.E.B.E.C. and shut down that bastard, Kandori." Masao gritted his teeth, anger on his face and distress in his eyes. "Then, everything'll be finished!"

Naoya propped his head up. "I wonder if it'll go that easily, Mark."

"What, Nao?"

"S.E.B.E.C. is supposedly to have a private army of secret police. If something happens at S.E.B.E.C. then we need to know how to deal with it. We should wait for when Aunt Setsuko wakes up."

Masao slammed his hand on the table, spilling his Cielo Mist. "We're supposed to wait that long?"

"Mark?"

Masao ruffled his hat, rising to his feet. "It's not necessary to be that careful. We have Perso-"

Kei cut him off. "Masao." They had agreed to keep their Personas a secret as best as they could.

"We have "those" don't we? We don't have to be scared of S.E.B.E.C. or anything! Let's just march over there now and-"

"You say something about S.E.B.E.C., Masao?" A student standing behind Masao, had overheard his outburst.

"What? You want something?" Masao said, trying to draw attention away from S.E.B.E.C.

"What's this S.E.B.E.C.?" Another student asked.

The first student replied. "You don't know? They built that giant building that looks haunted."

"Ah, uh," The second student stammered.

"No way! You, like, didn't know that!" Ayase yelled, sitting on the top of a lunch table. When Ayase opened her mouth sooner or later the whole room would start talking. "It's because this city is jinxed! S.E.B.E.C. is like totally super famous! Maybe even the monsters are because of the jinx!"

A female student sitting near Ayase panicked at her theories. "Hey, quit it!"

A third male student challenged Ayase's opinion. "I'm telling you that's not it! I've thought about this! That company definitely has to be making biological weapons! Those monsters around the city are guys that escaped from there!"

A fourth student challenged the third's opinion. "Isn't that from Citizen Evil (A/N)?"

Two other female students began to converse out-loud. "What? What are they talking about?"

"S.E.B.E.C., you know that."

Several students joined in on the open discussion.

A quiet student, his dark purplish hair covering his eyes, nonchalantly ate his bread. At every bit his chewing became more and more aggressive due to the consistent amount of mindless chatter.

"Hey, now that you mention it, about two months ago didn't Chisato and Yosuke go missing. Could that be because of the jinx?"

"Eh? That was an elopement wasn't it?"

A roughed-skinned finger rose in the air, directing the attention to the student who raised it: Tsutomu, the Devil-Boy, as the students and the teachers called him, because he often wore an Noh Mask with a pentagram etched into the forehead. The other reason was his ridiculous obsession with the occult. Far beyond Eriko's fascination, Tsutomu lived, breathed, and sweated the occult and demonology. It would be either spouting factoids of demons in history class or making absurd statements in the cafeteria about how the demons would one day walk the streets. Unfortunately, now everyone who previously though he was an idiot, followed his exact words.

"Muwahaha…That's wrong." Tsutomu said, empathizing each word in a deep voice. "It's not because of something like a jinx. This St. Hermelin High School has a curse handed down." He wagged his finger. "You didn't know? This high school has a history of students disappearing around the time of the cultural festival, when the Snow Queen (A/N) play is enacted. This case to is defini-"

A shower of milk out of Ayase's carton splashed in the masked face of Tsutomu. "GEEZ! Stop talking about unpleasant things, jerk! We have to, like, stay here tonight!" Ayase apparently forgot she brought up the subject in the first place, but that's just how her brain worked: not at all. "I'm super pissed, you insensitive jerk! What are you, like, thinking?"

The student who originally overheard the conversation, turned to Masao. "So, you guys are okay, right?"

Masao put his hands behind his head, pulling his hat over his eyes. "We were lucky." he lied. "Besides we can't go home anyway."

"What? We can't get out of the city? What do you mean by that?"

Yukino threw her bread roll at the back of his head. "You idiot! You weren't suppose to tell them that." she muttered under her breath.

Masao quickly tried to change the subject, again. "W-well, I don't really know either, but until we can go home, we have to come back, here!"

"No way are you serious? Then what are we suppose to do?"

"Nooo! I want to go home!"

The quiet student, brutally devoured the last morsel. He tugged on his crimson fingerless gloves, an annoyance in his clenching fists at the continuous spree of worried blabber.

Masao tried to resolve the situation. "H-Hey, calm down,"

The quiet student canceled the chatter with a bang of his massive fist, like a judge's gavel, on the top of his lone table.

The students occupying the cafeteria scrutinized the student, including Masao, Naoya, Kei, Yukino, and Eriko. The student, other than wearing fingerless gloves, wore a choker on his neck, a chain hanging off it The most interesting part about the student, on his forehead, was a perfect "X" shape scar between his outstretching dark purple bangs.

"SHIT! Don't make such a goddamn fuss over stupid-ass rumors!" he spat, his canines showing and seeming especially sharp. He rammed passed the students in his way and slammed the door to the cafeteria behind him.

The students returned to their respective tables to finish their food before Hanya called lights-out for the night.

Eriko put her hand to her mouth. "Oh my. This is the first time I've seen him speak so loudly."

"Reiji Kido, doesn't talk at all normally." Naoya added.

"He's a transfer student, right?" Yukino asked.

A female student with Ayase swooned over Reiji. "He's so cute isn't he, Ayase?"

"Knock it off! That guy's like so unsociable." Ayase enjoyed to flirt with the guys at St. Hermelin as much as Nurse Natsumi, but was only interested in handsome, rich, and sociable boys.

"Eh, but he's so masculine and handsome and cool."

Hidehiko sat himself at the table, a sly grin on his face. "That guys definitely a coward at heart y'know?" Hidehiko threw his arm around the girl. "The real big-shot is me y'know, smiling brightly like always. Demons or whatever no big deal. I'm much more cooler and handsomer."

Hidehiko's ego was usually the size of a blimp. He'd constantly rave on about his good looks and cool demeanor, but at heart he was a coward. He'd never get into any conflicts if he could help it. He would talk himself out of the situation or lie it away.

Masao sat back in his spot, eating his bread.

"We were saved by that commotion." Kei said, fiddling with Yamaoka's glasses in his breast pocket. "Truly, if word of the Personas were to get out. I don't know what we would do. This is something we need to keep a secret."

A banging on the cafeteria doors was heard. They slide open, a shinai swinging in a circular motion poked through. "Time for lights-out! If you aren't done eating, package it up! We need to conserve our food supply! When you are done, head to the gym and find a cot or mat!"

Persona: Be Your True Mind

(A/N) Cielo Mist is a little personal reference to Persona 3 and the major fans of it. Of course, it's a play on the similar drink and Cielo is a reference to the character Cielo in SMT: Digital Devil Saga. Citizen Evil, a play on Resident Evil, which is actually a thing from the manga were the student is talking about biological weapons and another said "Isn't that from Biohazard." Biohazard being the Japanese name for the Resident Evil franchise. So, I thought I role with the reference, but with a play on it. For the record, I am a fan of RE. For the Snow Queen thing, I was refering to the Snow Queen Quest in which in the towers which are the dungeons, the masters of those towers are people who played the part of Snow Queen in the play and disappeared. I was a little reference to the Snow Queen Quest, because as I said I can't fit it in this novelization.

Okay, that's Chapter Four to a close. I will admit, I rush the beginning a little bit, didn't like how it turned out, but near the end I liked it. Now their originally was suppose to be more to this chapter, but as I said last time I'm not trying to cramming a crapton of content into one chapter like last time. The reason that the scenes I had planned to end the chapter off with were moved because I'd forgotten I had to introduce the barrier around Mikage. Plus, it would've ended with a cliffhanger anyway. Also that means the next chapter will be longer than originally intended. Either way, I hope you enjoyed Chapter Four of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter Five: Maki.