Fables and Future Fantasy

by PhillyCh3zSt3ak

Contained within is a repository of random one-shots and pilot chapters on a myriad of different standalone stories and crossovers of different series. Rated M for safety, true ratings and notable content included with each individual chapter. Formerly "Phil's Random Pilots and One-Shots."

106. A P4G x HP (Yu is Harry) pilot

So, it's been a few weeks or months – I don't know at this point anymore – since I released the Persona 5 (maybe Royal) crossover fic with Harry Potter and I've been doing some additional brainstorming. A while back I came across a Persona 4 fic made by Arawn D. Draven called "Personas and Wizards" (id: 10632993) which was a two-shot they made. It was a really well-made story and I really enjoyed it. It's also been quite a few years since I read it and thought that the concept of it really needs a comeback in the modern day mainly considering that we have Persona 4: Golden on PC now. To summarize their story, and I'll keep it super quick since I don't want to spoil it for anyone who wishes to seek it out: Harry gets sent to an alternate universe where he's brought up in the Persona-verse and after the events of what happens in Inaba he gets ported back to Hogwarts with the P4 crew for the events of the film/book and proceeds to complete the events there. Again, it's a great story and this summary is kind of a disservice to it. Check it out, it'll take you maybe a couple of hours to finish if you're on the slower side of reading.

What idea am I proposing, then? Well, in the same vein of the Persona 5 fic I made, I want to do a fic where all of the events happen in the same universe. How do I propose doing this? Well, the events in question happen from April to April, just like all the other Persona games as that's the Japanese school year time-frame, specifically April 2011 to April 2012. Now, scaling up the times – meaning when events take place – isn't too hard as I did so previously with that Persona 5 (maybe Royal?) fic. So, what's the timeframe we're looking at? Well, for October 31st in the evening the Triwizard Tourney choosing happens and the P4 world, nothing really happens. Just school on both October 31st's evening and November 1st. The next major event happens on November 5th for P4's story. On November 24th nothing also happens in the P4 timeline so that means the First Task is all good to go. December 24th – the Yule Ball – happens and the only major event that happens is that you (as the MC) spend time with your lover if you courted one, so that's also good. On February 24th there is nothing listed for P4 (or Golden), so the Second Task is also clear; and finally, the Final Task happens on July 24th which is again after the events of the game and are free (technically depending on the idea I want to run with). Now that I think about it, the events of Persona 4 (Golden) are so much easier to plan around than Persona 5 (Royal)'s. My God. Point being, same framework idea. But now comes an interesting idea, and I have two of them. Idea #1 is what if Yu Narukami was actually an adopted Harry? Idea #2 is what if Harry was just an addition to the cast like Kasumi was to Persona 5: Royal? For the sake of this pilot, I'm going to go with the first idea: Yu is an adopted Harry. The other idea I'll explore that at a later date though it will follow the main beats of the main story as well.

This makes weapons preference and Persona easier as I don't have to come up with a new Persona for him. But again, this is something I'll brainstorm on and when I get an idea, I'll release that specific pilot but that may not be for some time. But let's get into the story proper, shall we? By the by, this will be in the first-person perspective.

Title: Wildcard with a Side of Magic [not final]

Rating: T? For now, this is what I'll run with and we'll see where we go from there.

Pairing: Yu (Harry)/unknown girl. Both Chie and Yukiko have always been attractive for different reasons. On one hand we have Chie, the athletic tomboy who could totally kick your ass on a bad day yet is also feminine in her own way. Then you have Yukiko who is the somewhat reserved housewife-type who would actually laugh at your "dad jokes" before telling you to get back to work at her inn. I know some would say that Naoto is waifu, but she's a reverse trap. Plus, depending on your playthrough (like in my Vita run of the game) you may not encounter her before you already promise yourself to another girl. Then there's Rise, she's alright but she's never really gotten me like Chie or Yukiko have. I may consider a "harem ending" as a joke/side story, but not seriously. Yes, Yu is a Chad, but a harem ending isn't super interesting from a storytelling perspective. If this did turn into a full story, then I'd consider a "harem ending" as a joke.

Summary: Yu Narukami, the newest Wildcard in games between gods, is an interesting young man with infinite potential who has only just arrived in the sleepy town of Inaba after his parents have to travel abroad for work for a year. He has a secret that he himself is ignorant of due to his own mental trauma that he only has flashes of in dreams. Not only does he find himself in a battle between higher beings in a spiritual realm, but also in the physical realm between those vying for him politically and those vying to end his life. It seems like this Wildcard's life will be all the more complex.

Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my copy of MS Word and my desktop. Persona belongs to ATLUS and Harry Potter to JK Rowling. I only own this idea's iteration. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.

XxXxXxX

The sound of gravel crunching slowly underneath rubber tires was the first sound to assault my eardrums, followed immediately after by the sound of a low-rumbling engine. My eyes slowly opened to see a man and woman. The man was hunched over, with his long lanky arms meeting with gloved hands in a folded expression as if he was patiently awaiting something. He was bald on the top of his head, what hair remained was long and it sort of reminded him of the European greats, like Mozart, in how they were portrayed in portraits. The one physical trait that really stood out was his extremely long nose. It looked too real to be fake. He was dressed in a black suit with a thin black tie. It sorts of reminded him of the suits worn by the actors in that movie Men in Black. There was a woman beside him holding a large, leather-bound book. She was quite tall and was dressed in a knee-length midnight blue dress with black nylons and high-heeled shoes of the same blue color. Her silver hair was let down but was wavy, as if it had been freshly styled. The most striking thing about her was the yellow color of her eyes.

He looked up and greeted me, "Welcome to the Velvet Room." His eyes were white with little black specs for pupils, it appeared like he didn't have any color to them at all. They were bloodshot, and if I were to be honest it was sort of off-putting.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see the rest of the interior what appeared to be a limousine. The interior was all colored in a off-blue color, ever so slightly darker than the woman's dress color. The roof had an intricately cut out design in it that glowed of a lighter blue color as if it was a moon roof. There were curtains above the windows that looked more appropriate in a house. The upholstery was of the same blue themed color but was quilted. The seat I was in was quite comfortable, to be honest. On my left was a minibar complete with drinks and glasses, there was even a little CRT TV in it. Directly across from me was where the long-nosed man sat with a table in front of him. To his left – my right – was the woman in a perpendicularly positioned cushioned, bench seat. Like an 'L" shape. To break the bench, there was a table between both halves of the bench's running length. Looking outside was a fog that flowed from the man towards me, meaning that was the direction that this limo was moving. I was near the trunk, him near the driver – whoever was driving this vehicle that is.

"Ah… it seems like we have a guest with an interesting destiny," he chuckled lightly. His voice didn't match with his physical demeanor. I expected it to be more… impish? Nah, that's what I was looking for. But it was more soothing, like he was greeting an old friend who forgot who he was. "My name is Igor… I am delighted to make your acquaintance." As if to immediately answer my next question, he rolled into an explanation, "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter… It is only a room that only those who are bound by a 'contract' may enter… It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future. Now then, why don't you introduce yourself?"

"I'm Yu Narukami," I answer, obliged to do so by his introduction. It was polite to do so.

"Hm… I see." It was almost like he was expecting another name. "Now, let's take a look into your future, shall we?"

"My future?" I asked, clearly confused.

He waved his hand over the table in front of him, a stack of cards appeared. "Do you believe in fortune telling?" he asked.

"Not really?" I reply not entirely sure where he was going with this.

He waved his hand once again and the cards dispersed into a hexagonal grid, with one card at the center. "Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different… Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it?" he chuckled. The card to the bottom right – facing me – flipped over showing a card of a destroyed tower with the markings of XVI. "Hm, the Tower in the upright position represents the immediate future. It seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent. The card indicating the future beyond that is…" The card on the bottom left flipped over showing a moon on it with a lobster near the top of it, it had markings of XVIII on it. "The Moon in the upright position. This card represents 'hesitation' and 'mystery'… Very interesting indeed. It seems that you will encounter a misfortune at your destination, and a great mystery will be imposed upon you. In the coming days, you will enter into a contract of some sort, after which you will return here. The coming year is a turning point in your destiny… If the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost. My duty is provide assistance to our guests to ensure that doesn't happen," he said the last sentence as if it were his life's duty. He waved his hand once more and the cards vanished. His eyes moved to the woman beside him and suddenly remembered she was there. It was if she had just started a job. "Ah! I have neglected to introduce my assistant to you. This is Margaret. She is a resident of this place, like myself."

"My name is Margaret. I am here to accompany you through your journey," Margaret introduced herself. She sounded like a stern yet compassionate person.

"What do you mean by resident?" I ask. How could one be a resident of a limo?

"We shall attend to details, another time. Until then… farewell!" Igor said, he clearly meant for us to meet again.

My vision faded out and I found myself in a sea of blackness once more.

XxXxXxX

Margaret turned to her employer. "Why didn't you show him the other card?" she asked.

Igor waved his hand once more, the cards reappearing and an additional card appearing in the center below the other card that lay there originally. He flipped it over and viewed it before turning it back over. "Our Guest will come to know of that event in due time. However, there are soon-to-be pressing events coming soon that will test our Guest. What will come to pass at that time remains the same with our upright Tower, there will be danger, but not for a little while. You may reveal it in good time, but not for now."

"As you wish," she replied obediently.

XxXxXxX

"Get the boys to the other room!" an elderly man shouted desperately. I felt myself being jostled as I was carried along with another who was bawling, I too was scared and tears escaped my eyes.

The woman that carried me into another room, closed the door behind her, and set me and the other boy into a crib and kissed both of us on the forehead. "No matter what happens. Know that grandmum and grandpa will always love you," she said tenderly.

Things got fuzzy and the door exploded. The woman said words and lights shot out. Finally, a green light hit the woman who called herself 'grandmum' and she fell over dead. The figure cloaked in black then walked over to the crib and pointed a stick at me. "This is the one who will fell me?" he scoffed. "Avada Kadavra!" he shouted and there was a green flash once more.

I shot awake and found myself in bed. I picked up my phone and flipped it open, it read 5 am. This wasn't the first time I've had the dream about the green flash. Every time things always cut out and I can never see what's going on with it. It had been the cause of many night terrors I had growing up. Something that my parents had taken me to various doctors in an attempt to help me get a full night's rest. I had been prescribed sleeping pills that claimed would give me a dreamless sleep and for many years it had. It was a Monday morning, April 11th to be specific. I looked at my itinerary for the day which can be summarized as 'grab carry on, go to Inaba City' with the appropriate time tables for trains and transfer locations. It didn't take me long to get ready for the day and to get my baggage squared away. It was just three days' worth of clean clothes in case my things got lost by the mailmen who were supposed to deliver the rest of my wardrobe – what little of it since I'm a guy and need only the essentials – was to be delivered with a few personal effects.

I should probably mention the reason why I'm packing up, and at a weird time at that. You see, my parents work with a company together and sometimes that job has them move all over the place temporarily. I'm… not entirely sure what they do exactly. There's a bit of correction that needs to be made, it was mostly my father that went all over the place and mother stayed at home taking care of me. I'm not sure why, as of two years ago I was pretty good at taking care of myself, but mother would never have it. She always insisted of being home to hear about my day and provide whatever help she could. She's a saint to be putting up with me in my younger teenage years. Something came up recently and mother went back to work a few weeks ago to join my father who would always call at dinnertime to speak with the both of us. She wanted me to finish up this year first in Tokyo before moving out to my uncle's place, on her side of the family, and be under his supervision for the next year as that's how long she expected to be needed for. Again, what job they did was a mystery to me. And believe me, I tried everything from the 'pleading kid with puppy dog eyes' routine to going full 'Detective Conan' on them when I was younger, but I never found anything. I have no idea if they work for the government or the yakuza at this point. They said I have quite the curious mind.

I finished packing up my bag and made sure my phone was fully charged and started to shut down everything in the house, turning off power strips and the like. I turned off the light and turned around looking at the empty house and to no one I say, "I'm heading out," before closing and locking the door to my (surprisingly luxurious) apartment for the last time this year.

I made my way to the nearest station in Shinjuku. As I did, an advertisement played on one of the large displays. The spokesperson was the pop idol 'sensation' Risette wearing string bikini that was white with blue and orange stripes. She danced about and splashed in ocean water as attention grabbing music played in an attempt to entice passers by to look. The frame was cropped, but anyone that had ever been to a beach could tell that the set was made to emulate a beach with the beach umbrella and sunshine being prominent in the lighting. She held a can of something up to her face, the condensation on it dripping down to show how cold it was in comparison to her.

"I'm tired of diets! Enough with going to the gym! Good thing that there's something that even I can handle!" she giggled as part of the screen faded in a bubble/fizz wipe and was replaced with a blown-up version of the can she was holding.

"Slim down this summer with the refreshing taste of Quelorie Magic!" the male announcer added.

The ad faded away with a prominent Tokyo morning show discussing a scandal on-air. I tried to ignore it but it was echoing all across the station's tiled walls. "And, we're back. On to some juicy news— the Mayumi Yamano scandal!" one male anchor said bringing the show back from commercial. They were all dressed in suits to put on the air of professionalism. But I knew what they were, annoying vultures that loved getting their metaphorical beaks into the freshest dead meat up for grabs. "I'm sure everyone's eager—."

It seemed that some that I passed were interested in the news. "Huh? At first he bags a singer, then has an affair with a TV announcer? Do chicks dig politicians?" a man asked a companion of his as I passed him. More like chicks dig power, and that's something that politicians have in spades.

"Isn't it just stuff like money and connections?" the man's female companion asked in return. "When you get down to it, financial and political clout is what matters." She was on the money.

My train pulled up as the man replied, "…Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, what do you think?"

I ignored them as I got on my train and it started to roll down the tracks towards my first transfer. As it did, I had a 'flashback' – if you will – about my final day at my previous school.

"Well, I'm sure you all know already, but at the end of this month, Yu will be transferring to another school," my old homeroom teacher announced to the rest of my class as I stood in front of them. They all let out what sounded like concerned sighs and things like 'aww'. I was actually quite liked at the school and I'm pretty sure a few of the girls had a crush on me. "Quiet down, guys! I'm not done yet!" My little flashback ended and I was back to reality once more. I was going to miss quite a few of my former classmates. I got their contact info and they sent me some farewells, but thus far that was the most I got out of them. My metro connection arrived at the station I needed to get off at. From there I transferred to a more 'traditional' train and took a seat. A few hours passed and I checked my phone. On it was a single message from my uncle stating that they'd meet me at Yasoinaba station at 4 pm.

"We will arrive at the Yasogami terminal in a few minutes," the intercom went off. "Passengers headed for Inaba City and Yasoinaba station, please go to the other side of the platform." The train pulled up to the station and I got off with my single carry-on. I made my way to my final connection line to Yasoinaba.

As I sat in my seat, I nodded off a few times. As I did, I had these little 'mini-dreams'. They didn't last long, but they did last a few seconds until my head bobbed back up. The first one I saw was of what looked like a woman and a man struggling, maybe dancing? It was hard to tell since all I could see was their legs. We went into a tunnel and it happened again, I saw a woman with short hair – maybe in what some called a 'pixie cut' – who looked like she was fighting off an attacker. The third one it looked like she was being grabbed by the throat but it cut away to Margaret and Igor, the two I saw in that weird dream last night. My eyes snapped open as the train exited the tunnel. The hell did I watch last night to bring that on?

The train went over a river, the late afternoon sunlight reflecting on the waters below. The train pulled into the station and the intercom went off announcing that I was, in fact, at Yasoinaba. I got off and walked onto the platform. The first thing I noticed that while Inaba City was a 'city' in the strictest sense, the air here seemed… cleaner.

I walked outside of the station where I heard myself being called out to. "Hey, over here!" a man's voice called out. It was vaguely familiar. I looked over and saw a man dressed in a grey shirt with a red tie and black pants and shoes. He held a suit-coat over his shoulder and had a cigarette in his mouth. Next to him was a girl a multi-toned dress consisting of pink, red, and brown(?) – I'm not quite good with colors if I'm being honest – and had pink shoes on. She even had her hair done up with little cute bows. She was adorable. I walked down the steps and made my way over to them. "Well, you're more handsome in person than in your photo," he said as he shook my hand firmly. This close to him, he had the start of a scraggily beard going. "Welcome to Inaba. I'm Ryotaro Dojima. I'll be looking after you. Let's see, I'm your mother's younger brother. That about sums it up."

"I barely remember you. It's been a long time," I reply. It had been a long time. Maybe close to ten years now since I had last seen him. Didn't he have a wife? Maybe she was working or something.

"Heh. You probably don't remember, but we've met. I've changed your diapers before, you know," he attempted to joke. It sort of fell flat but I pity laughed. "This here's my daughter," he put his hand behind on the girl's shoulder and pushed her gently forward. "Come on, Nanako, introduce yourself to your cousin."

She whined a bit cutely before saying, "'ello." Oh my god she was so cute! She got embarrassed and hid behind Ryotaro.

He laughed in light amusement. "What are you so shy for?" She proceeded to smack him in the back. Normally an action like that would have gotten me a stern talking to, or a spanking. But Uncle Ryotaro? He laughed it off. "Ow, hahaha." She seemed a bit ashamed her of her actions and pouted a bit. "Well then… let's get going. My car's over there." He started to walk away and the most peculiar thing happened as I turned to follow.

A girl ran into me and a piece of paper fell off of her or out of her hand. "…Hey," she said. I turned to see her more clearly. She wore bicep-high fingerless gloves, a sleeveless white button-up shirt with a red tie, a plaid skirt that ended mid-thigh. She also had a belt on that looked loose, a striped pair of thigh-high socks and what looked like punk rocker boots. It was a daring fashion statement that I wouldn't dare to wear. A wild child, perhaps? She leaned down and grabbed the paper. "You dropped this."

"Oh, thank you," I say as I walk over and take it.

"Whatever, all I did was pick it up." It was a piece of paper with uncle's home address and phone number that mother had written out for me. I guess it was mine after all. I gave her a friendly smile as I put it away but she backed away appearing quite grumpy.

"What's wrong?" Dojima asked.

"Nothing just dropped something," I say as I continue to his car.

The drive was kind of awkward. No one quite knew what to say and Nanako was quite quiet. However, seeing as though the gas was low and Nanako had made mention of needing to use the bathroom, uncle pulled off and stopped at the local Moel gas station.

"Hi! Welcome to Moel!" the eccentric attendant said as they ran up to the car. I guess this still happened in this neck of the woods. Everywhere else I was pretty sure was self-serve.

"Can you use the bathroom by yourself?" Dojima asked Nanako.

"Uh huh," she nodded.

All three got out, I did too manly to stretch my legs. Nanako had stopped at the end of the gas pumps and looked a bit lost. "It's in the back, to your left. You know which way is left? The side you don't hold your chopsticks in," the attendant attempted to help. I did have to bite the remark of 'what if she's left-handed?'

"I know… geez…" Nanako sounded annoyed before she ran off.

"Are you going on a trip?"

"No, we just got back from picking him up," Dojima pointed to me. He must know the attendant. "He just moved here from the big city."

"The city, huh…?"

"Fill up my car while you're at it. Regular's fine," Dojima requested.

"Right away, sir!" the borderline false peppiness was a bit annoying. But that was the service industry for you: overly peppy and you had to fake it even if you weren't peppy that day.

"Good time as any for a smoke…" he walked off to the side away, for safety reasons to light up.

The attendant turned their attention to me. "Are you in high school?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm just transferring here for a year," I reply. "Parents want to make sure I'm being looked after and taking care of myself," I joke though it was completely true.

"Does it surprise a city boy to see how little there is out here?"

"Not really. I've seen less. Went on a trip a few years ago to America with my parents and travelled Route 66. There are these tiny towns that have less than Inaba."

"I'm sure there are and that sounds like an interesting tale; but there's so little to do here, I'm sure you'll get bored fast. You'll either be hanging out with your friends or doing part-time jobs. Speaking of which, we're actually looking for part-time help right now. Give it some thought, why don't you?" he said as he came closer. "We don't mind if you're a student." He held out his hand and I shook it. Maybe I would get a job here to kill time, maybe I wouldn't. I guess that's something for future-me to figure out and deal with. Nanako came back and that snapped the attendant back into 'work mode.' "I should get back to work now," he said as he started to fill the tank.

Nanako started to stare at me strangely. "Do I have something on my face?" I joke. But as I do, I'm stricken with a headache. I rub my forehead and it does slowly go away.

She gets closer and asks, "Are you okay? Did you get carsick? You don't look too good."

"I don't think I did, but I am feeling a bit dizzy though," I admit.

Dojima took this time to come back from his smoke break. That wasn't long though. Did he just inhale it in one go? "What's wrong? You ok?" he asked with concern.

"I just felt a little light headed just now."

"That's understandable. It must have been a long trip for you."

"Or I didn't eat anything for lunch?" I ponder aloud. I don't recall eating anything in between my transfers. Then again, the timing was really tight and due to me just wanting to have the travelling portion of this move over and done with as quickly as possible. That's on me being mister impatient.

"Why not take a little walk, get some fresh air? Just let me know when you're ready to go." I looked around and he explained, "The shopping district is near the house, so you should get to know where all the stores are if you want something or if I need you to run errands."

I looked to Nanako and she looked legitimately worried about her cousin. "Are you sure you're ok?"

I ruffled her hair playfully. "I'll be alright," I reply with a chuckle. She gave me a bit of an indignant look. "Be right back, alright?"

I walked down the street to find the girl from before? There weren't many cars on the road and I could have sworn she was still at the station when we left. As far as I was aware – and I'm happy to be wrong – there's one main road that leads from the station to the city itself. How did she beat us here? Seeking answers, I approached her.

"Hmm…? Have we met before?" she asked.

"I could have sworn I met you a little while ago, at the station?"

"At the station?" she seemed confused herself and started to think deeply. I backed away slowly as this was very odd.

I proceeded to make myself familiar with the stores on main street here. There was a bookstore that was attended by a younger woman who had a ring on her finger. Probably a 'mom and pop' style establishment. I should come back later. Maybe they could special order things they didn't stock normally? There was, of all things, a blacksmith shop next door. The guy inside looked fierce as be banged away at a lump of metal. Kind of strange that there was a blacksmith's shop, but I shrugged it off. Was probably a staple of the community going back many years and was likely needed for all kinds of special orders.

There was an older woman who took notice of him and struck a conversation with me. "Hm… You have something to do in this shopping district?" she asked. "It's a bit run down, but we have everything here."

"Not right now, but maybe later. I'm sort of new here and just needed some fresh air," I admit.

"That's good, we could use some fresh blood- I mean money. It used to be a lot more prosperous back in the day, but we only see regular these days. If only Junes didn't come into town… It's convenient, but it's also a little sad…"

I sympathized with her. That was the issue with big box stores. They shut out the little guys just trying to get by with 'better' prices and a larger selection that you'd only be able to get if you knew about it and special ordered it which would take much longer. I said my goodbye to her as I continued on my way. As I did, I passed the Marukyu tofu shop where an elderly lady tended to the shop.

I passed a pair of students who appeared to be having an argument. "Hey, do you know where my snack went? I had it in the fridge, but it's gone…"

"Oh, I ate it just now. I thought it was leftovers," the older girl replied. She seemed absent minded, like she had a lot going on right now.

"What!? That wasn't leftovers! I was making sure to save it for later!"

"Oh, really? Sorry about that. Well, I'm going to work, see ya."

"What? I was really looking forward to eating it…"

I let them be as it seemed like a family dispute that they needed to work through. It wasn't my place to intrude on them. I looked at the next shop to see a general store with various products on display with a capsule machine outside, it appeared a bit rusty but still functional. As I stepped away, there was what clearly was an out-of-towner (as he looked just as out of place as I did) who said aloud, "Mhm, I really like this shop. It's very nice." That was sort of weird, who says that to a random person on the street. There was something else going on here, but I'm not sure if I want to know what it is. "It's both convenient and inconvenient at the same time. There's a delicate balance. This is what I expect country life to be like."

"Sure…" I say in an attempt to keep my distance. This guy was strange. I looked further down the street to see more shops and I should check them out later, I don't want uncle Dojima worrying about me. So, I proceeded to head back.

I met back up and he asked, "How're you feeling? Ready to get back in the car?"

"Yeah, I'm a bit better."

We all got back in the car and drove the rest of the way to the Dojima residence. La casa de Dojima, if my Spanish was correct. He parked on the side of the house where an overhanging garage kept his 4x4 in the shade. We got out and the two of them walked inside. He didn't even lock the door, must have really trusted his neighbors and the rest of the town to do that. I'd be hard pressed to do that and that'd take some getting used to living in the big city where that was something you always needed to do as you never knew what opportunist was going to do something to you in your place of residence. I looked at the doorway and thought internally. This will be my home for the next year. It will take some getting used to. With that I walked inside.

Over the next hour or so we sat down and relaxed and made myself familiar with the lower level of the house. While I went on my short walk, Dojima had gotten dinner from the gas station's convenience store. Wasn't going to knock him on treating a guest to a home cooked meal, though I could make…

I was knocked out of my musings as Dojima cracked open a beer, the carbonation escaping and it foamed up slightly. "All right, let's have a toast." I took my glass of tea and held it aloft before drinking with the two of them. Us three set our drinks down before Dojima continued. "So… your mom and dad are as busy always… They're working overseas, was it?"

"Yeah, some kind of job that required mom to go along rather than work in the city as she always did," I answer. It seemed like he didn't know what they did for a living either.

"I know it's only for a year, but getting stuck in a place because of your parents… it's rough being a kid."

"I sort of know how my one pen pal feels." Dojima raised an eyebrow. "He's a navy brat. His father works for the US Navy. There was this whole international letter writing thing that my elementary school did and I got paired up with him. We still keep in touch, although through email now since he kept changing locations a lot," I clarify. Dojima could only nod.

"Well, it's just me and Nanako here, so it will be nice having someone like you around." Wait… just them? What happened to-? "So long as you're here, you're part of the family, make yourself at home."

"Thank you for your kindness," I say with formality as it was my default.

He laughed. "C'mon, there's no need to be so formal. Look, you're making Nanako all tense." She did turn away shyly and looked down at her food. Did I mention how cute she was? "Well, anyway… let's eat." Before any of them could partake in the food, Dojima's phone went off. "Ugh… Who's calling at this hour?" he clearly sounded annoyed. Like he put in time off for tonight and was being called into work. What was it that he did for work again? He picked up his phone and answered, "Dojima speaking." He could only hum in acknowledgement. "Yeah? I see… So where is it?" he asked. The other side answered and he hummed in response. "All right, I'm on my way. Looks like I made the right choice to skip the booze…" He hung up and turned to the two of us. "Sorry, but I got to go take care of some business. Go ahead and eat without me. I don't know how late I'll be. Nanako, you help him out, okay?" he asked as Nanako stood up as if to protest her father's leaving.

"Okay," she replied sadly. It sounded like this wasn't the first time this had happened.

He stepped outside and turned around, suddenly remembering something. "Nanako, it's raining out. What did you do with the laundry!?"

"I already brought it in!" she replied.

"…All right. Well, I'm off!" he said as he closed the door and ran to his car. The engine turning over a moment later and him speeding off. Apparently, it was important.

Nanako proceeded to turn on the TV which currently had the local TV station on which was showing the weather forecast. "—For this week. Next, let's take a look at the hourly breakdown of tomorrow's weather. With storm clouds moving in from the west, expect rain throughout the day tomorrow in most areas."

"Let's eat," Nanako encouraged me. We started, but it was sort of an awkward silence. So, I started to strike up a conversation.

"So… what does your dad do?"

"He… investigate stuff. Like crime scenes. My dad's a detective." Ah, that made much more sense now. Considering he wasn't dressed in the police 'uniform' that I was used to seeing meant that he had some sway in the way he dressed. Probably a senior officer in his department here.

"And now for the local news," the anchor on the TV went on. "City council secretary Taro Nametame is under fire for an alleged relationship with a female reporter. His wife, enka ballad sensation Misuzu Hiiragi, revealed to this station she will likely pursue damages. In response, Eye Television has decided to cancel all of our announcer Mayumi Yamano's televised appearances. Until allegations of an affair with Mr. Nametame is resolved, she'll remain off the air and out of the public eye." Both women that were shown had short hair. Maybe the politician liked women with short hair? Anyway, I hated gossip like this and I have no idea why this is redband news that has to be known. Anything for ratings, I guess.

"This is boring," Nanako declared. I nodded in agreement.

"At Junes, every day is customer appreciation day. Come in and see for yourself, and get in touch with our products!" A jingle started to play, "Every day's great and your Junes!"

"Every day's great and your Junes!" Nanako echoed cutely in her little sing-songy way. It was an annoying jingle, but she found enjoyment in it so I won't say anything about it. "Aren't you going to eat?" She must have noticed that I was staring and I quickly started to consume the convenience store sushi and other assorted sides.

"It's been a while since I last saw your dad and mom doesn't speak a lot about him. He doing alright?"

"He's always busy with work, so I don't get to see him as much as I would like."

"I sort of know the feeling. Dad is always working abroad and I rarely get to see him even now that I'm older. I get to talk to him sometimes on the phone."

"What does your dad do?" Nanako asked, seeing that she had a kindred soul.

"I don't know, when I find out I'll let you know. Maybe he's a yakuza gangster," I joked. This seemed to scare her a bit. "I'm just kidding. Though he keeps a lot of the stuff he does secret. I think he works for the government or something."

The rest of the night was quiet and I helped clean up. If I was going to live here, I had to pull my own weight in the household chores. Nanako sat in front of the TV and watched a shoujo anime about some magical girl or something, I didn't really pay too much attention to it as I was still sort of tired. I said my goodnights to Nanako and walked up to the room I would be using, the room which happened to be uncle's room. It was very spartan with the only additional thing in the room being a CRT TV, a loveseat that appeared to be fold-out, a coffee table, and a desk next to a futon. Pretty much anything that he owned was cleared out. Though, on the wall I could see a fade stain from where a picture once was, but it appeared to have been removed quite some time ago. I moved to the futon and just changed into a pair of sport shorts and an oversized shirt I used to wear and slipped into bed. I fell asleep pretty quickly.

My consciousness faded away until I found myself on a bunch of red squares surrounded by fog. It was weird. I knew I was dreaming as nothing like this could actually exist, and I know I haven't moved from my bed and didn't change into my new school uniform. Is this what they call lucid dreaming? No matter what it was, I felt myself compelled to move forward as I looked back there was nowhere to go. I started to walk and the air felt… staticy. Like if you were to turn on an old TV and lick it. Don't ask, you do stupid things as a child.

Eventually something called out to me, "Do you seek the truth?" it asked. Its voice sounded both male and female at the same time. Androgynous, if you will. I continued to walk a bit further and heard it again. "If it's the truth you desire, come and find me…" The voice was definitely coming from up ahead. I continued to walk until my path was blocked by a red and black checked door. I placed my hand up to it and it opened. The inner square opening and the rest of it rotating clockwise, then opening, then repeating in that pattern until it was completely open. I continued to walk through it.

Suddenly there was a sword in my hand, I don't recall having a sword. It was a single edged blade with the same design principles of the katana. "So, you're the one pursuing me…" There was a figure in the fog. It laughed at him smugly, "Hmhmhmhm… Try all you like…" No one insulted me with smug laughing, especially in my dreams! I charged at him and slashed with my sword. Something connected as I definitely hit something. "Hmm… It seems you can see a little, despite the fog…"

I'm not sure what came over me or why I said it, but I called out, "Zio!" and lightning came down and struck the figure.

"I see… Indeed… That is very interesting information…" The fog seemed to increase a little bit and I struck out again and once again connected. "But… You will not catch me so easily… If what you seek is 'truth,' then your search will be even harder…"

"Well, then stop talking all mysterious-like fog man!" I call out. "Self-fulfilling prophecy, bitch!" The fog really increased now. I could only barely make out that there was a dark figure somewhere out there. I tried to slash once more but whiffed.

"Everyone sees what they want to… And the fog only deepens…" Once again, I tried to slash at them but once again only got air. "Will we meet again…? At a place other than here… Hmhm… I look forward to it…"

I passed out, but before I did, I heard "NO!" followed by a green flash once again. I snapped back to reality and woke up to a knock on the door. It was Nanako reporting that breakfast was ready. I sat on the edge of the futon trying to remember what the dream was about. It was strange but I could only remember bits and pieces from it. I quickly took a shower to try and clear my mind, got dressed in my school uniform, and walked downstairs.

As I did, I found Nanako setting a plate of breakfast goods on the table. Eggs, sausage, and toast. "Good morning," she greeted.

"Morning," I greeted in return. Still a smidge groggy. We both sat down at the table.

"All right, let's eat."

I looked at the food but saw no Dojima in sight. "Did you cook all this?" I ask impressed. Usually, you don't see a kid her age cooking. Well, at least not without an adult present.

"I can toast bread…" To be fair anyone can do that, "and cook sunny-side up eggs in the morning. Dad can't cook, so I buy dinner."

"It looks good," I say honestly. If she's had to cook for herself many times before this, she's likely had practice.

"Thank you," she preened happily. "You're starting school today, right?" I nod. "My school's on the way, so… let's go together." She seemed kind of restless.

"Sure. What better way to know where I need to go than someone who knows where they're going," I accept her request kindly.

We quickly finished breakfast and started to walk to school in the rain. Dojima was kind enough to get a spare umbrella just in case of days like today. There was a bridge that was crossed which went over the river and Nanako pointed towards the west, "You keep going straight from here." She then pointed to the east, "My school's this way. Bye!" I waved as I watched her go off on her own. Guess this was one of those towns where unaccompanied minors were left to their own devices so long as they didn't start trouble.

I continued to walk to the school through another residential area. It wouldn't shock me if teacher housing was in this area. As I did, I saw a student on a bike lose control and crash into a pole. He had fallen off and lost his umbrella. He started to dust himself off, but it seemed like he had gotten a 'twig and berries' special. He looked to be quite in the large amount of pain. Well, he wasn't in immediate danger and was standing, so I let him be and continued to walk to school. The main gate of Yasogami was up a hill and fairly steep one at that, must have been around here for quite some time if that was the case. That one biking student may have some trouble getting up the hill, especially on a day like today. I looked at the main structure of the school and pondered (internally) about what kind of life I would have here.

I made my way to the faculty room, though I did have to ask another student where it was and they pointed it out easily enough. Inside I was flagged down by Morooka-sensei who gave me the riot act about what was expected and the like. It appeared between school in Tokyo and here in Inaba nothing changed in that regard. Morooka was an odd sort of man. He hunched over in his blue pinstripe suit (with unmatching yellow/brown tie). The main standout thing about him was his buck teeth. It had almost seemed like he had never been to a dentist in his life. Or he had and they gave up on him. You can take your own pick on that. He marched me up to the second floor and to the classroom that he was the homeroom teacher of. As we did, I could hear chatter inside. It appeared that I was already talk of the school. Apparently, not a lot of transfers came out here.

"Awright, shut your traps!" he called out and all the students did do so and took their seats. His voice would be grating, that much was certain, but I'd put up with it. Not like I had any choice not to. "I'm Kinshiro Morooka, your homeroom teacher from today forward!" he announced. "First thing's first. Just 'cause it's Spring doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like love-struck baboons." It seemed like this wasn't the first time that had happened. "Long as I'm around, you students are going to be pure as the driven snow!" Weird analogy, but okay. And great job telling hormonal kids what not to do, that won't blow up in your face. Self-fulfilling prophecy. "Now, I hate wasting my time, but I'd better introduce this transfer student. This sad sack's been thrown from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage." Okay, hurtful! I did make sure to give him the side-eye with that one but he didn't see it (but my now classmates did). "And he's just as much a loser here as he was there, so you girls better not get any ideas about hitting on him!" Oh, now it made sense why he was acting like this – obviously overcompensating and taking it out on others because of inadequacies – but that didn't mean it wasn't hurtful! Dick. The way he said 'you girls' sounded ominous, but I don't know why. "Tell 'em your name kid, and be quick."

"My name is Yu Narukami and I come from Tokyo. It's a pleasure to meet you all," I greet them all politely. One could say it was very professional in comparison to Morooka's slander. Remember kids, libel is written, slander is spoken.

"What's that look you're giving to that girl back there by the window!? You thought I wouldn't notice!?"

"Sorry, I have a lazy eye. I was supposed to get it fixed before the school year but with the sudden move…" I lied as smoothly as the day I was born. Weird analogy as well, but I'd run with it.

Clearly this didn't fly with Morooka though. "Now listen up! This town is miles away from your big city of perverts and assholes, in more ways than one." Clearly, you're the shining example of the opposite, hypocrite much? "You better not even think of getting involved with the girls here, let alone abusing them!" You first. And now, self-fulfilling prophecy, I'm probably going to be getting hooked up with someone now. "But what do I know?" Nothing, clearly. "It's not like the good old days. Even here, kids grow up so damn fast. Every time I turn my back, you're fooling around on those damn phones, checking your life-journals and my-places…" LiveJournal and Myspace. If you're going to insult it, at least get the name right. But he continues to go on and on. But luckily, there would be savior to stand up in these dark times!

"Excuse me! Is it ok if the transfer student sits here?" a short-haired girl asks.

This jarred Morooka out of his rantings and he forgot the original reason he went on about modern life. "Huh? Yeah, sure. Ya hear that? Your seat's over there." He motioned to a single open seat next to the short-haired girl. "So, hurry up and siddown already!" Taking this moment of brevity, I moved to the seat and quickly sat down.

"He's the worst, huh?" the girl whispered. I nodded ever so slightly. "Rotten luck for you to get stuck in this class… Well, we just have to hang in there for a year." Luckily, Morooka didn't hear her speaking as others were quietly chattering.

I did take this moment to look at her more closely. She had short brown hair cut bob-like. She wore a green with yellow stripes sport jacket and it had little pin-on buttons on it. Like the type you'd put on a bag or something. As for the rest of her uniform, she was wearing the same checkered skirt that the other girls wore, but no leggings like some of the other girls wore. Guess she didn't like them. All in all? A cute, sporty tomboy type.

Another whispered sort of at him, a boy this time, "Sucks to be the transfer student, end up in King Moron's class on the first morning here." Well, I wholeheartedly agreed with the students' nickname for their homeroom teacher and obviously none of them believed the things said about me.

"Yeah, he won't think twice about suspending you if you get on his bad side," a whiny-sounding girl added. Well thanks for the warning but I'm pretty sure he heard that. "Then again, we're all in the same boat…"

"Shut your traps!" Morooka called out. Yeah, he heard. "I'm taking roll, and I damn well expect you to respond in an orderly manner!" He began to read out names, sans mine for obvious reasons, and the rest of the class responded one-by-one with 'here' when their names were called. He proceeded to go on and on about every little thing and it went on for hours. How I didn't fall asleep was beyond me. Eventually, the partial day ended. "That's all for today. Normal lectures start tomorrow," Morooka finally finished.

He started to walk off and students started to chatter and even two girls came over to attempt to speak with me. Before they could, though, the school's intercom went off with a chime. "Attention, all teachers. Please report immediately to the Faculty Office for a brief staff meeting. All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave the school until further notice."

"Hrgh. You heard the announcement. Don't go anywhere until you hear otherwise," Morooka ordered. He proceeded to leave the classroom.

One of the girls near my spoke up, "He's seriously getting on my nerves…"

I was inclined to agree. Police sirens went off and everyone lost their current train of thought for the sound of them. A few students went over to the window to attempt to see out of them and into the street. "Did something happen? Don't those sirens sound really close?" a male student asked.

"Ugh, I can't see a damn thing. Frickin' fog," another added. I glanced over to see that a heavy fog had settled on the city making it thick enough to be cut with a knife. I could have sworn there were old cartoon bits about that same concept.

"Like every time it rains lately, it gets all foggy."

Another student spoke up from the window, "Hey did you hear? I hear the paparazzi's looking all over for that announcer."

"Oh yeah. You mean Mayumi Yamano, right? I heard some guys spotted her in the shopping district."

"Actually, I heard that…" He proceeded to whispers something in his classmate's ear that clearly shocked him.

"Are you serious!?" He looked over and his eyes landed on the girl in the red sweater in the same row as me. He proceeded to walk over and speak to her. "H-Hey, Yukiko-san. Mind if I ask you something…? Is it true that announcer's staying at your family's inn?"

"I can't discuss such things," she replied professionally. Or at least that's how I interpreted it.

"Y-yeah, I guess not." He ran back to the other student and chatted him up again.

The green clad girl walked over to Yukiko and struck up a conversation with her. She sighed, "Sheesh. How much longer is this going to take?"

"There's no telling," Yukiko replied.

"I should have left before the announcement came on." Would have had to be a dead sprint since it pretty much happened right away. "By the way, didja try what I told you the other day?" Yukiko cocked her head in question. "You know… That thing about rainy nights…"

"Oh… No, not yet. Sorry."

"Ahh, that's ok. It's just, I heard this guy in the class next door yell something like, 'My soulmate is Yamano, the announcer!'"

The intercom went off again and the same voice came back on as before. There was something different about the voice this time, it seemed… disturbed. "Attention, all students. There has been an incident inside the school district. Police officers have been dispatched around the School Zone. Please stay calm and contact your parents or guardians as soon as possible, and quickly leave the school grounds. Do not disturb the police officers. Head directly home. I repeat…"

"Incident!?" a male classmate asked

"What, something actually happened?" one of the girls near me asked.

"C'mon, let's go take a look," the other girl encouraged her friend.

I flipped open my phone and texted Dojima, "Should I be concerned that the school said there are police nearby and I could hear sirens from my classroom?" However, there was no response. Must have been driving or had his phone on silence or something. I packed my things up and removed myself from the slightly uncomfortable seat. As I did, the girl in green came up along with the other girl name-dropped to be Yukiko.

"Hey, are you heading home by yourself?" the girl in green asked. I nodded. "Why don't you come with us?" she invited me.

"Sure, but I never caught your name," I say.

"Oh, I nearly forgot! I'm Chie Satonaka. You know I sit next to you, right?"

"Of course," I reply. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Well, nice to meet you too!" She turned to her friend in red. "This is Yukiko Amagi."

"Oh, nice to meet you… I'm sorry that this is so sudden…" she sounded like she was being put on the spot, but she seemed nice. She has long black hair held up by a red hairband and wore the aforementioned red sweater (cardigan?) and black tights beneath her school issued skirt.

"C'mon, don't apologize like that. It makes me look like I got no upbringing. I just wanted to ask stuff. Really, that all." With that we started to walk but was stopped by the boy that had ran into the pole this morning. He looked better but was definitely nervous about something.

"Uh, umm, Miss Satonaka…?" he started sweating up a storm as he greeted all too formally. Super formally. Like he about to be in trouble for something. "This was really awesome. Like, the way they moved was just amazing to see… And… I'm really sorry!" he blurted out. "It was an accident! Please just have mercy until my next paycheck!" he pleaded as he held out a DVD case which Chie took. "See ya! Thanks!" He started to try and move quickly out of the classroom but was stopped by Chie who chased him down. I already knew that he was done for.

"Stop right there! What did you do to my DVD!?" I blinked for a split second but I couldn't tell if he just got kicked in the twig and berries or if he ran into a desk without looking for the same pained result. "What the!? I can't believe this! It's completely cracked…" Chie cried out in despair as she opened her DVD case to reveal the damaged disc. "My 'Trial of the Dragon'…!"

"I think mine's cracked too… C-critical hit to the nads…" the boy said in clear pain and discomfort.

"Are you alright?" Yukiko asked, but I couldn't tell if it was out of genuine concern or just being polite.

"Oh, Yukiko-san… Are you worried about me…?"

"He's fine, Yukiko," Chie said angrily, cutting off any reply Yukiko could have had. "Let's ditch him and go home." She closed the case and placed it in her bag. The girls walked out of the classroom and I spared the boy a glance, but he sort of brought it on himself. Karma maybe? I dunno, spirituality wasn't my strong suit. I proceeded to walk out of the classroom to catch up with Chie and Yukiko.

We chatted about a couple of things. I learned that Yukiko managed the Amagi Inn, an inn that had been in her family for generations. A little fun fact was that one of the former emperors had vacationed there once upon a time when he was in power. It was considered a cultural landmark and was treated kindly by the local government as such so it could keep up appearances to attract visitors to the town as attracted visitors would bring money. Simple economics. It had been originally owned by her grandfather but was handed to her mother as inheritance as she was his only child. I also learned a little bit about Chie as well, she was big into martial arts media – which would explain her despair towards the loss of the film 'Trial of the Dragon' which she had lent that boy – and wanted to become like those marital artists.

"So, you come from the big city," Chie asked. "What's it like?"

"Busy," I reply. "It seems like nothing ever slows down there."

She laughed, "I wouldn't know anything about that living here."

"I'll tell you this, the lack of the hustle and bustle of the city is nice. And no, that's not a dig at Inaba. It's a genuinely nice change of pace." We got outside and walked to the gate. I could see the silhouette of a man next to the gate post.

He walked out and approached the three of us. He had unkempt hair, eyes that seemed dull and lifeless. Almost creepy, really. He wore a green tie with a black school uniform. It had a shield emblem with red and green squares. He was definitely not a Yasogami student. "You're Yuki, right?" he asked nervously. "Y-you want to go hang out somewhere?" The absolute balls, albeit nervous, on this guy.

"What? Wh-who are you?" Yukiko asked in confusion. Clearly this had been the first time she had seen this person before.

A couple of students came up behind us as onlookers and to provide their two cents. "What's up with him? What school's he from?" one boy asked.

"Nevermind that," his companion replied, "he's going for Yukiko-san? Man, you'd think he'd at least wait until she's alone to make his move…"

"I bet you a can of TaP he gets knocked out," the first boy wagered. Did my new acquaintance know judo or something?

"No bet," his companion declined. "Haven't you heard how difficult the Amagi Challenge is?" The two continued to talk among themselves in hushed whispers.

"Um, s-so… are you coming or not?" the scruffy boy asked. He actually sounded a bit annoyed. This wasn't awkward at all. Or creepy.

"I-I'm not going…" Yukiko replied. I'd make the same choice in a heartbeat.

"…Fine!" the boy spat angrily before running off. I got some real serial killer vibes off of him.

"Wh-what did he want from me…?" Yukiko asked in genuine confusion. It appeared she was unaware she was being asked out (albeit creepily).

"What did he want…? Obviously, he was asking you out on a date," Chie explained.

"Huh? Really…?"

"You really had no clue? Sheesh…"

"Well, he did give off creeper vibes," I add. "Didn't even introduce himself. You know him?" I ask. Yukiko shook her head no.

"Yeah, that was way over the top."

"I get being nervous and all that but…"

"It was also creepy how he called you Yuki all of a sudden."

I turned to Yukiko, "Has anyone called you by that name before? You don't have to answer if it's personal."

"No. The only person that would maybe do so is my grandmother, but she passed some time ago," Yukiko replied. There was a bit of sadness there. They must have been close.

The boy from before came up walking with his bike. "Yo, Yukiko-san. Turned down another lovelorn fool, huh?" he asked. "Man, you're cruel. Got me the same way last year."

"I don't recall doing that."

"Did you at least introduce yourself?" I ask.

"Like any normal person would," he replied. "Speaking of not remembering, you serious? So then, you wanna hang out sometime!?" he asked hopefully.

"…I'd rather not," Yukiko replied bluntly. Well, at least she understood what was being asked this time.

"That will teach me to get my hopes up," he replied dejectedly. "Anyways, you better not pick on the transfer student too much." He hopped on his bike and idled down the hill.

"We're just curious, is all!" Chie shot back.

"U-um, I'm sorry for dragging you into this," Yukiko apologized.

"Don't worry about it," I wave her off lightheartedly with a welcoming smile. "It's not the first time I've seen someone crash and burn and proceed to flip their lid leaving the everyone else awkwardly trying to write it off. In fact, there was this one time…" I started, but a few students started to walk up as the 'brutal rejection' had not gone unseen.

"I hate to cut you off," Chie started, "but people are starting to stare. C'mon, let's go." She started to walk and Yukiko joined her. I shrugged and joined as well. I was only a few steps behind so I caught up quickly. Creep dismissed, we returned to the previous topic at hand: my reason for being here in particular. "So, Mr. City Boy, what caused you to transfer here to Yasogami?"

"Well," I started. "It's a bit complicated. My parents work all over the place. My dad has this job where he's out of the country a lot doing work that I think is for the government."

"You think?" Chie asked, seeking clarification. We had gotten out of the school grounds (well, the property they owned) and we were starting to get into the neighborhood around the school.

I nodded. "He's very secretive about it and speaks about it in code with my mother. She knows what's going on, but I have no idea why they leave me out of it."

"That's strange."

"I know. But I think she's in on it as she was recently called back to work last month."

"Called back?"

I nodded. "Before they got married, they worked together. Same department, I think. Since I came into the picture mom insisted on being a stay-at-home mom to make sure I had someone to come back to every day after school. Making sure I was well fed and wasn't eating junk food. Making sure I was doing my homework. You know, mom stuff. She was called out to the same area my dad was in, saw her off to the airport last month."

Chie summarized the explanation as Yukiko was silent the whole time. "Ah… so you came here because of your parents' job." She laughed, "I thought it was something more serious."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, punching a up and coming politician?" For some reason I feel like this would become relevant in a few years' time.

"No, nothing like that," I wave her off. I pull out my wallet showing a picture from my junior high graduation.

"Huh, they don't look anything like you," Chie observed.

I put it away after Yukiko got a look at it. "I know. I'm adopted."

"Ah…" Chie said in realization. "I hope you didn't take that the wrong way."

"Not at all. You'd be surprised how routine I hear that," I wave her off.

We stopped near a 3-way intersection. She looked around and asked, "There really is nothing here, huh? That's what makes it nice, but there is nothing much we can show people from outside. Though, there is something from Mount Yasogami… I think our dyed clothes or pottery or something is kinda famous. Oh, wait!" she added in realization. "There's the Amagi Inn, of course! Yukiko's family runs it, as the name implies. It's the pride of Inaba!"

The sudden praise ended Yukiko's silence. "Huh?" Yukiko asked. "It's… just an old inn."

"No way, it's been in all sortsa magazines as a 'hidden treasure.'" Sounded like corporate speak for, 'hey check this place out as we paid a bunch of money and want to get paid for advertisement.' Chie turned back to me. "It's a great inn! It's been going for generations, and Yukiko here is going to take over some day." Something about that made Yukiko feel uncomfortable. It wasn't really my place as someone who just met her to pry. Maybe later though as the year went on. "Their inn actually attracts a lot of visitors to Inaba. It pretty much keeps this town going."

"…I don't think that's entirely true," Yukiko attempted to rebut the point.

That conversation thread died very quickly with that. Seeing a new opportunity, Chie got a devilish grin on her face. "So, tell me. You think Yukiko's cute, huh?" Chie asked.

I wasn't quite sure what to say. I glanced over at her. She was quite attractive, and cute. As a young adult, I could see that she would bloom into a beautiful woman one day. Well… not that she wasn't already beautiful to begin with. I started to feel my cheeks heat up as teenage hormones started to rage causing all sorts of adult fantasies to flash in my mind. "I…" I started.

"Whoa! Are you blushing!" Chie giggled.

Clearly this hadn't been the first time something like this had involved the duo as Yukiko complained, "Come on… Don't start this again…"

"She's really popular at school, but she's never had a boyfriend. Kinda weird, huh?" Clearly, she was teasing the both of us.

Now she was blushing, but it was like her cheeks had gone radioactive. "C-come on, stop it. Y-you shouldn't believe that, okay? It's not true that I'm popular or that I've never had a boyfriend!" she said to me. She paused for a moment realizing she had tripped over her words. "Wait, n-no! What I meant to say was, I-I don't need a boyfriend!" She pouted as she glared at her friend. "Geez, Chie!"

Chie laughed devilishly. "Sorry, I'm sorry," she apologized to the both of us. "But this is our chance to talk to someone from the big city, and you barely said a word!"

"I just got here and since we're classmates we'll have the whole year to talk about the city and stuff," I say to try and change the topic.

"Very true."

"As for the other thing, I like to think there's someone out there for everyone. At least that's what the sappy dramas mom watches would say at least," I chuckle.

"And you think your boyfriend material for Yukiko here?" Chie's devilish smile returned.

"Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not," I shrugged. "That's something only time will tell."

I had closed that conversation off quickly. Chie's attention turned to a small gaggle of housewives and passersby. "Hey, what's that?" she asked.

We walked around the corner to see the street blocked off by caution tape and a patrol car parked behind it. Just out of sight there was an ambulance that had a tarp covered gurney loaded into the back. A woman was chatting with one of the other bystanders. "So that high schooler left school early, and as she came down this street…" she started.

"Wow. Who could imagine THAT hanging from an antenna?" another woman said to the first.

"I wanted to see it too."

"Uh, you got here too late… The police and fire department took it down a moment ago."

"Well, I think it's terrifying. I can't believe a dead body showed up around here." The three of us stopped in horror. My eyes widened slightly at the disturbing way they said that too.

"Wait… What did she say? A dead body!?" Chie asked.

"Yes, yes she did," I answer. I look over beyond the patrol officer keeping the onlookers, and that one weird housewife who should probably be on a watch list or something, and I saw uncle of all people.

He walked up to me, a relatively fresh cigarette hanging out of his mouth, his jacket slung over his shoulder. "Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked in such a way that said that 'you will answer this.'

"We were on our way back from school and were passing by. Didn't even know this was here." I glance again just beyond him for a moment. "Did something happen? I sent a text after hearing the sirens so close by."

Uncle Dojima took out his phone and saw the missed text. "Sorry about that, I was busy as you can see."

"No worries."

"As for your question, you could say something like that." He sighed in annoyance. "That damn principal. We told him to not let them through here…"

"You know this guy?" Chie asked.

"Yeah, he's my uncle and caretaker slash guardian for the year."

"I'm Detective Dojima," he introduced himself. "Uhh… Well, how should I say this… I hope you get along with him." He went from introduction mode to cop mode. "But you three really ought to stop wandering around and head straight home," he ordered and I nodded. Another officer dressed in a black suit, red tie, and white shirt came running out of the scene and found a patch of grass… and proceeded to blow chunks all over it. This annoyed Dojima. "Adachi! You long are you going to act like a rookie? Do you want to be sent back to the central office!?"

"I'm sorry," he apologized before wiping his mouth and clearing his throat.

"Go wash your face," Dojima sighed. "We're going to go around and gather information!" Uncle walked back inside the scene and Adachi followed a way behind him, running to catch up.

As the three of us were left alone again, we were left to ponder what we had just found out. "Was this what that announcement was about…?" Chie asked.

"What do they mean… it was hanging from the antenna…?" Yukiko asked.

I already put the pieces together. Someone had died and their body had been found in a TV antenna. They must have been brutalized or so mangled that it had made a rookie cop blow chunks outside the scene. "I… don't want to know," I lie.

"Hey, Yukiko…? Why don't we go to Junes some other time?" Chie suggested uneasily.

"Good idea," Yukiko agreed.

"Alrighty then, we're taking off. Starting tomorrow, neighbor, let's do our best!"

I nodded. "See you tomorrow, then," I say as the two started to walk away. I glanced once more at the crime scene, uncle going about his job and his partner Adachi scribbling notes on a notepad. He was a mousey type, Adachi that is. Slouched a bit too much for someone of his standing. Seeing as there was nothing else to do, I started to walk back to uncle's house – I guess it was now my home too now.

I reversed my path to school back home and passed through the Central Shopping District. As I did, I took a few extra moments to look at the other half of the shopping area I didn't get to see yesterday. There were a few more shops here. A liquor store – though I wouldn't be shocked if they sold other things too for children – family owned of course, a small street food stand which when I got close, I could smell the frying oil and hear it sizzle, and a small shrine that did give me some spooky vibes. I continued to walk down the street and passed by the bookstore. The same woman from yesterday was in. Well, I may as well ask now.

I walked inside where the door chime went off. "Welcome!" the woman said.

"Good afternoon," I greeted in return. "I just wanted to ask if it would be possible to special order books?" I ask.

"Of course!" she replied gleefully seeing the opportunity for a repeat, return customer opportunity. "Just give me a list of books you're seeking and I'll order them. The more you order, the bigger of a discount I can give on them! You can still order a single book, but I will have to charge a little extra because of shipping."

It sucked, but it made economic sense. Buying in bulk always did save more in the long run. "I will keep that in mind if I hear of some books that interest me. Sorry, but with the stuff going on the other side of town, they want us getting home."

"Of course, I look forward to your future business," she said as I walked out of the door and made my way back home.

The trip back was uneventful. As I walked past a couple of the housewives or random bystanders made mention of what happened in the school zone. It was disturbing how... fervent they were about the topic. Like, it's one thing to talk about the passing of a person and the odd circumstances behind it – I had and heard many of my former classmates doing the same thing back when I was in Tokyo, but it was always in a 'what happened?' type of air rather than whatever this was – then there's gossiping about it in the way that it's the most exciting thing that's happened. It was like when that one book came out a while ago – I forget the name as the genre's not my cup of tea – where the leading woman is pretty much abused in a BDSM relationship but it's upheld like it's some sort of romantic thing. What's the word I'm looking for... 'Out of touch?' That's the phrase. I think.

I finished my walk home overhearing another housewife, the next-door neighbor in this instance, speaking with another neighbor about both the death – luckily that was short lived, no pun intended – and they continued to speak about the small plot of land next to uncle's house that could be used as a garden (it could also technically be used as an area for a shed if one desired too, but uncle already had one of those). I glanced over at said plot and saw potential. I always had a bit of a green thumb, even back in the big city. On the roof of our apartment complex had a small community gardening plot. It was part of the monthly payment to the landlord, but you'd be able to use the plot for whatever small crops you wanted like tomatoes, etc. I found myself more often than not when not doing homework and just needing to clear my mind up there weeding and watering the small patch that our apartment was allotted. There was a lot of potential that could be had here.

I walked inside to see Nanako had already returned home from school herself and was watching a quiz show on the TV. "Welcome back!" she greeted.

"I'm back," I replied. "Did you get sent home early too?"

She nodded. "Uh huh. My teacher said that everyone had to go home right away."

It appeared that no one had told her what had happened. Probably for the best. "What are you watching?"

We sat down and watched TV for a time, swapping channels as we went along. I found where the stash of tea was and made myself a glass, getting a juice box for Nanako as well. There was a bit of awkward silence between us as the sun went down and uncle hadn't come home yet. "I wonder if dad's not coming home again tonight…" Nanako wondered.

Before I could reassure her that he'd be back sooner rather than later, the TV program changed to the local news (which incorporated a few towns too, but still local). The male news anchor started to start his report, "Our top story this evening concerns a bizarre case in a quiet suburb. Around noon today, a woman was found dead near the Samegawa River in Inaba." I noticed that on the TV they were showing b-roll footage of the school zone. This couldn't be the dead body that was found near… oh, who am I kidding? It was the body. A woman's picture came up on screen. Wasn't that? "The deceased has been identified as Ms. Mayumi Yamano, a 27-year-old announcer at the local television station. The initial results of the Inaba Police Department's investigation have revealed…"

"AH! The Inaba Police Department! Th-that's where dad works!" Nanako said in alarm. She started to pout, more out of annoyance than anything else.

"It'll be alright," I say in an attempt to cheer her up.

"…I know. That's his job, so this stuff happens."

"The body was found hanging from a large television antenna atop a local resident's roof. Authorities are uncertain as to why the body was in such a state," the anchor continued his report. I'm calling it now: serial killer. Strange way of a body ending up in an antenna? Body in a bad enough state to cause an officer, albeit maybe a bit of a probie, to bring lunch back up for a second tasting? All the hallmarks of a serial killer. Not unless there was a freak skydiving accident or something. "With the cause of death also uncertain, police continue to investigate whether the death is an accident or homicide." Homicide. "A thick fog common to the area has slowed their progress, and plans to canvass the area are delayed until tomorrow." Now why would you say that on TV? I mean, I'm pretty sure it's standard SOP, but still you're tipping the guy off to start covering his tracks. Or girl. But it was strange, she was in the news yesterday being bunk buddies with a local politician and now she's dead. Some kind of warrior of virtue punishing the sins of the wicked? I've been watching too many anime.

"They found her on the roof? That's scary…" Nanako said bringing me out of my thoughts. There was the regularly scheduled paid advertising which distracted my young cousin. "Oh, it's Junes!"

The commercial showed the department store downtown's exterior and some of the items that they sold. Was that a machete? "At Junes, every day is customer appreciation day. Come in and see for yourself, and get in touch with our products!" A jingle started to play, "Every day's great and your Junes!"

"Every day's great and your Junes!" Nanako echoed sing songedly. The jingle was apparently catchy. Was it written as an earworm or something for the younger crowd? Because it wasn't doing anything for me. She looked to me expectedly.

Aww fuck it, anything to keep her mind off of the dead person. "At your Junes," I sang. My baritone voice is a distinct difference to hers.

"You memorized it already?" she asked happily. It wasn't that hard, it's a jingle, kiddo. I have to start getting her into some good music. Maybe AC/DC? "I'm the best in my class!"

"I'm sure you are. You have a lovely singing voice," I complemented her. She preened at the praise and hummed the jingle over and over again. She forgot about the story on the news for now, which was probably for the best.

There wasn't much else for me to do and I said my goodnight to Nanako and went up to my room and spent the time getting the boxes that were sent placed out of the way. When I was done the loveseat and coffee table were now available for reading, or napping. It really depended on how would feel when I use it. Feeling tired, I got ready for bed and checked my phone once more before actually going to sleep. Still, no one from my old school had texted me. I had a few messages yesterday when I left of best wishes, but that was all. It was very… cordial. Like it was done out of obligation more than anything else. As for my parents? There was a voicemail from when I was in school wishing me the best and that I would make many new friends. Dad even joked that I should find a 'country cutie' to settle down with.

I called their phone back but also got their voicemail. "Hey, just wanted to let you know I got your call. I'm doing okay so far. Uncle Ryotaro's aged a bit since we last saw him last. He looks more grizzled than that photo you have in the living room, mom. I met Nanako too. She's the most precious kid. I'm not sure if you knew, but auntie is out of the picture somehow. I didn't want to pry with either of them, but…" my eyes trail to the stain on the wall where the picture was. "I have a feeling it's not a particularly happy memory. I met a few girls too, dad. Both of them cute as well, one more tomboyish and the other cuter in the 'traditional' sense. I should probably get to bed; it's getting late here." I paused for a moment. "I'm not quite sure what you two do for a living, but considering you've kept it quiet from me for years… something tells me it's dangerous. Just… stay safe, alright? I want to tell you all the misadventures I get into this school year in person, okay? Love you guys." I hang up my call and get into bed. It didn't take long for me to pass out.

To be continued…?

XxXxXxX

And with that, that will be it for this pilot. Now, I'm pretty certain that some of you have questions in regards to my choices in what is said and the like. Well, I went with first-person specifically because in the game you are the player, but we rarely hear internal monologues regarding situations or conversations. I do want to address this almost right away, but there may be some that think I'm ripping on Nanako, I'm not. Allow me to explain as this does come from personal experience. I'm the second eldest in my extended family on my mom's side. When I was growing up, pretty much all of my family had kids at around the same time roughly when I was twelve, placing a good gap between the eldest and youngest cousins in the family (a few more for my one cousin who is two years older than me, obviously). When I was eighteen, those younger cousins turned six – the same age that Nanako is and considering that there's not much of a difference between mental maturity between the ages of sixteen and eighteen I considered – and did – use my personal experiences and remembered reactions to my younger cousins. I do hope that it makes it feel more real in some instances. I don't intend to have this rendition of Yu be malicious towards his cousin, but you will see that some of her 'childish' antics, like with Junes, will annoy him but he'll put up with it because she's family. Also, because of the whole 'big brother' thing too and eventually becoming extremely protective of a person who becomes a little sister to him because he's an only child anyway. TL;DR, she'll grow on him just by the mere exposure effect. On to other topics about this idea.

Alright, so the whole concept of Harry being an adopted boy and given the name of Yu Narukami; but I can hear someone asking, "but where's the magic?" This is something I'm still highly debating on doing and is the reason why it is missing from this pilot/rough draft idea. I am unsure if I want to have Harry/Yu be a magic user or not (Squib). Obviously, his origins in terms of how he ended up in the care of the Narukami's is different as the people killed were his grandparents and he has a sibling. And I clearly went with a fanfiction staple of it being a younger brother. Unlike my previous delve into the crossover-ness with Persona and Harry Potter, I'm not doing a transport to Hogwarts scene because I have no idea what I want to do with it, and all of it hinges on whether or not Harry is perceived to be a squib, is a squib, or is a wizard but doesn't know it. This is one of the many challenges that I will cover in a bit. The other thing is I have no idea how I want Yu/Harry's character to go, more of the anime, more of the manga/game, or more of Harry in the books/films; another challenge, if you will.

Challenges:

1. The first challenge is of magic. What role will it play in the story's idea? While not displayed in this current iteration of this idea, will magic before the transportation to Hogwarts be freely available and if so, how will it be restricted? Magic can do so many things, so much that it is sort of a deus ex machina or cheat code. For those who have beat P4(G) this is not a spoiler, but to those who have it sort of is. But then again, this game came out in 2006/12 so you've had time to be spoiled for almost ten plus years now. If Harry/Yu knew about magic and were competent either through independent studies or formal education, he could use a Point Me spell with just "Point Me Mayumi Yamano's killer," and [poof] we find Adachi. I told you there would be a spoiler. In order to keep this interesting though, this may be a situation where we have "godly intervention" by Izanagi to mask Adachi and his actions. Now, if I go with him being magic ignorant and amnesiac at least during the beginning of the game's events because of the mental trauma he experienced could make him a "magical mute" because of it. But there is also the Eastern Magical community as well. Why would they ignore a potentially powerful wizard, if for nothing else to prevent them from going apeshit and causing insurmountable damage? This may also be a situation where I use the "Potter Luck" trope to provide us an option for why Yu appears to be so lucky yet unlucky at the same time. Considering the antics that he does get in to, this would make sense. Again, it's something I would have to consider more before deciding upon.

2. The second challenge is transposing an RPG story to literature form, yet deviating from it to make an interesting story that people would want to read. I mean, how do you make dungeon crawling interesting and the battles within worth reading? There are some writers on this site that have mastered this and the ones that have seem to have done the best are in the Pokémon sphere. So, the question becomes whether I skip every battle except the select few (sort of how the anime did it) with the exceptions being the boss and minibosses? Or do I do the entire "dungeon crawling experience?" The latter of the two would be quite exhaustive. After all, the drama of the Persona games is the primary focus in the game, the battles are secondary sans the boss fights it seems – whereas in the Pokemon games the battles are the primary focus in the storytelling in the anime. This will be another of the things I'll need to consider. Then also begins the idea of battles themselves. Battles don't progress like they would in a turn-based RPG. This is another thing I must take into consideration.

3. The third challenge is the choosing of the romantic partner. Pretty self-explanatory. Even if someone says "go with who you want" that doesn't really help me. I've always liked the selection of female characters for your Yu to romance. In my Vita run-through (before I found out that P4G was coming to PC and I got a Vita secondhand and a still-wrapped physical copy of the game) I romanced Yukiko and sealed that before even meeting Naoto officially. Technically, I could have done the same to Chie as well but that's more of an aside. Then there's of course both Rise and the aforementioned Naoto. All four have their attractive points and different reasons as to why. Though, I'm sure there are some that will tote the "tomboy meta." Then there is the aspect of the Potter-verse girls too, but I think that there would be very few candidates – only Luna, Hermione, or Fleur would maybe (and I stress "maybe") make the cut – mainly due to the lack of time spent with them. I do intend to have the time surrounding the Hogwarts events flow like I had proposed in that P5(R) fic where he's there only for the needed events and is elsewhere outside of that. That being there for the events and Yule Ball, not there otherwise. This would limit their exposure to him and the only likely thing I would see happening are friendships possibly (maybe new outside TV World arcana?).

4. The fourth challenge would be anything related to Hogwarts. The main reason I bring this up is mainly due to the ending of challenge #3, his limited time there and interactions with the characters there. Speaking of limited interactions, how will he react finding out that his family of which he was sure was dead due to being – you know – adopted? Or that he has magic (assuming I go with the "muted to magic" route)? How will the other characters at Hogwarts react seeing that there is another Potter (considering that no one in the family speaks of him like he's already dead to them for one reason or another – still undecided) who is older? Will there be any other Potter siblings? Things like this are drama related, but I'm uncertain of how to handle them. Do I make a whole dungeon for this entire side-arc (initially until it becomes a full arc) in keeping with the Persona 4: Golden plot points?

5. The fifth challenge is external content. By that I mean things such as Persona 4: Ultimax, the Persona Q duology, and the dancing game. Do I make them canon to this story concept, or do I not? Do I make references to other mainline Persona games like 3 and 5?

6. The sixth challenge is post game/movie (book) content. Obviously, this story idea would take it past the April event that takes Yu back to the big city as the final event for the Goblet of Fire is on July 24th. But I'm talking beyond that which fits into point #5. I'm talking beyond that. Do I make this Yu/Harry who may still be dealing with the ramifications of the Tournament have a cameo in Persona 5 (Royal) like how Rise/Risette has a poster cameo in it? Do I pull some kind of MCU moment where the organization that Yu's parents work for are actually the organization from Persona 3 and invite him and his team in? Oops, that was a bit of a spoiler but oh well. But then there's also the Potter-verse aspect as well. All of this and more are things I'd need to take into consideration.

7. The seventh and final challenge may not seem like a challenge to some. It's transposing the dialogue from the game. For context, this story idea, minus the ANs here, is 13k words. I covered the first two days of the game, in-game time roughly an hour's worth of playtime. Persona 4: Golden, according to "How Long to Beat," is approximately 69 (nice) hours for the main content, and 84 with side content. And this is if you're going "speedyboi" time (not quite speedrun, but fast). If you're going at a leisurely pace, it's closer to 122 and 141 hours respectively. Now, remember what I said. This was an HOUR of play (approximately). Doing the math – and I despise math – this project would be looking at 897k words sans notes for main content, and 1.092 million words for the side content included; God knows what it would be with the Harry Potter stuff added. We're talking a monumental task here and creative choices needed to be made in order to save time and sanity. Perhaps on the non-rescue days the content is kept more like a journal of the events that happen. Or use implications on days that do not matter to the story. Disappearances, investigations, rescues, main character development interactions would still need to be covered. But at least the stress of having to cover dungeon crawling outside of the mini and main bosses could be minimized. Still, even with such shortcuts to help with both reader and my sanity, I don't think it will be enough.

Alright, so my sanity sort of went out the window there at the end. But you do get my points on the challenges that would be involved in making this fic. I may do a pilot of journal entries as a prototype to see how that may work with this same scenario. If that ends up fairly well received that may push me closer towards making this idea a reality. As you can see though, I'm teetering between no and an extremely hesitant maybe.

As for other fic stuff, I've been going through some older files to find some older stuff I created proposals for (the beginning notes at the beginning, they're as much for you as they are me) a few years ago. I need to re-read the source material on it though. There's one other fic that I'm contemplating right now, I've completed the proposal and am now trying to research the second part of the crossover. Once that's done, I can actually start writing it. I've also been looking at some other ideas as well.

I have been looking at some other manga and anime as well. I've got a lot to catch up on. Though, I have been enjoying the new Star Wars show Bad Batch. Hopefully it will keep the momentum going with it.

But that's all I have for you this time around. Let me know what you think in the usual places. Until next time.