Disclaimer:

I do not own the story and the concepts represented in this fiction. This fiction and all Persona-related fictions belong to Atlus, the wonderful company that created the games.

Author's Note:

Despite my original intentions to keep each chapter light, the following chapters will be increasing in length - not much - for added detail and such. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and liked my story. Special thanks to reviewers:

Blizzardfang, KingPlotBunny, rebfan90, prince of underbrush

Before

4/12

It had been a hell of a day, Akira thought. More so than any other day he'd ever experienced in the past, this today was utterly bonkers. Because at this very moment, he was dancing around like a skilled ballerina, avoiding two demonic-looking rams as they tried to headbutt him. Oh, did he mention the cat?

Yes, there was a talking cat, wielding a scimitar and currently being more useful than Akira and his useless flips. Not that it at all mattered, though. Not two minutes into the conflict, the two rams managed to knock the wind out of Akira and the cat named Morgana.

The pain was all-encompassing, and as he stared at his surroundings, a deep, royal red castle entrance, Akira wondered why he agreed to this suicidal expedition. Something to do with the fact that the school's volleyball coach was a psychopathic scumbag who imagined himself as the school's king. It was simply outrageous.

"Once those two are dealt with, you're next," said the shadow of Kamoshida to Ryuji.

"Ryuji," Morgana cried.

Something deep within Akira told him not to give up. The boy had potential; the voice seemed to whisper. It was the same voice that had urged Akira to fight back, rip the docile mask he wore, and strike back at the world's injustices. It told Akira to be more of a gambler than he'd ever been in his entire life and put all of his bets on the blond-haired delinquent who he had only known for a few days.

"Don't give up, Ryuji," Akira said. "Don't let this monster determine your future! Your life and choices are your own!"

His words seemed to connect because his friend awakened to his persona not a minute later.

"Captain Kidd!"

Akira and Morgana stood, reinvigorated. The fight raged on. As the two rams loomed closer and closer, Akira raised a hand to his mask, and Ryuji mimicked his moments. Morgana simply glared at their enemies, hefting his scimitar over his shoulder. Akira grinned in the manner of a confident thief. He ripped off the mask and summoned his persona alongside the others.

"Arsene!"

Captain Kidd!"

"Zorro!"

O

In the end, they ran. Akira and Ryuji ran from the reinforcements, the shadow of Kamoshida, and the castle itself. Akira and Ryuji also ran from the cat and other shenanigans involved with its master plan. Right now, the raven-haired youth just wanted food, maybe some caffeine, painkillers, and a lot of sleep. He could still feel the ache in his chest from where the ram had struck him. Thankfully, his uniform wasn't too worn from the encounter, and the bruises on his face were minimal. Outside of the school – the real school – Akira and Ryuji took a moment to collect their bearings.

"Holy crap," said Ryuji. "T-that happened."

"It did," Akira said.

"And now, I have Captain Kidd. He's my persona, right?"

"That he is."

"Holy crap." Ryuji leaned against the alley wall, dropping his school bag on the ground by his leg. He was quiet for a few moments with a look of contemplation on his face. Finally, he pushed off the wall and said, "Dude, first, my bad for dragging you around everywhere. You're really cool for just sticking with me till the end. I mean, shit, we could've died, really died. And, y'know, we didn't."

Ryuji fell silent again, mulling over the words in his mind. "I know it's stupid even to think this, but I just can't leave things as they are." He kicked the ground, stabbing it with the heel of his shoes. "Those guys that Kamoshida was treatin' like slaves are just going to keep gettin' that treatment. I say we get them to spill on the abuse and ruin that asshat!"

Ryuji extended his hand. "So, what do you think? Wanna help me look for those guys or any witnesses?"

The same voice urging Akira from the beginning told him to agree. "Sure," he said, allowing his innocent façade to slip for a moment. "I'll help." Akira only faintly thought about how the voice was starting to sound like his voice but darker and edgier before taking the blond youth's hand.

And then Akira felt it. Buzzing in his chest slowly expanded, engulfing his entire body. A sing-song voice whispered to him of the creation of the Chariot Arcana, the means of escaping captivity, and the wings of rebellion. It was like he was a dry river, finally receiving water, albeit a small dosage.

Ryuji nodded, grinned crookedly, then moved to collect his bag from the floor when a person stopped directly in his line of vision. The next few seconds were awkward at best. Haru something-last-name stood at the alleyway entrance, staring at Akira's face, ignoring the blond-haired youth on his knees mere inches from her legs. From Akira's viewpoint, it was quite a compromising position. Akira had to do something, or else his newfound friend would have another negative label attached to his name. It also didn't help that Ryuji was straight-up gawking at the older girl.

"Um, Haru-senpai, what are you –"

"What happened to your face?" The mousy girl's eyes slowly narrowed, taking in his ragged appearance.

Akira blinked. "Oh, well –"

The girl didn't give Akira time to reply, opening her mouth to question him more, when she realized the third party below her vision wagging his tail like a dog. She was seconds from screaming.

Fucking Ryuji, Akira thought.

Two things happened at once, and Akira thanked his quick thinking for the situation's peaceful resolution. Without hesitation, Akira yanked on Ryuji's collar, pulled the youth back (who rolled once or twice before coming to a stop), and placed his hand firmly on the older girl's shoulder. Somehow that seemed to confuse the fear out of her long enough for him to speak. Thankfully, she was calm and accepting of his explanation.

"I see. My apologies for not noticing your friend," she said. "But why…was he looking at me like that?"

"Because, obviously, you are… beautiful, and, I mean, I think he was just stunned by how beautiful you are…." Oh, way to put me on the spot, Akira thought. He quickly thought about possible responses and then decided to go for broke.

The mousey, older girl flinched away from his hand, becoming quiet and flustered. She was making a blatant attempt to look anymore, but Akira at the moment, her eyes blinking multiple times as if to process what he'd just said correctly.

While Akira didn't have a particular type, denying the upperclassman's beauty was hard. Has no one ever complimented her before, the raven-haired youth wondered. Hell, if he were in Ryuji's position, mere inches from her thighs, perhaps he would've gawked as well.

"Oh, I'm flattered," murmured the older girl. She looked at him again, her brown eyes brimming with a question. "And do you…no, never mind. Tell me, what are all of those bruises and your uniform." She cast a suspicious glance at his downed friend. "Did this young man do something?"

"No!" Akira said suddenly, startling the older girl. He cleared his throat, thinking of more excuses for his predicament. An idea came to him, but, mulling it over, he knew that it would come with unpredictable consequences. Still, what choice do I have, he thought. This upperclassman was incredibly nosy. She was his mentor or something if he remembered correctly.

Well, once again, Akira went for broke. "Somehow…my record got leaked."

The older girl gasped. Oh, Akira thought. So, she didn't know.

"Yeah," he agreed, pushing his glasses up. Was it his imagination, or did the girl frown at him when he did that? He pushed the thought aside. "Some guys told me to follow them and, well…."

Haru took a purposeful step forward, gently placing a hand over one of the marks on his face. "They did this to you?"

Akira gulped. Internally, he knew that the web of lies he was spinning would grow until he slipped up somewhere. Oh well, he thought. It's not like anyone could prove anything. He hoped.

The upperclassman bombarded him with questions. "What did they look like? How many were there? Did you catch their names?"

"No, um, I didn't catch anything much. It was really sudden." Akira pointed the finger at the blond slouched on the ground. "This guy here stepped in just in time and helped me out."

"That's good then." The older girl was silent for a moment, showing no intention of removing her hand from his face. Akira cleared his throat. The older girl understood immediately and jumped back like a frightened animal.

"Oh, well, we should take you to the nurse and then report this to the teachers," she said. "I'm sure we can find witnesses if we ask around too."

Involving more people was the exact opposite of what Akira wanted to happen. It'd just make his weak attempts at lying much more apparent. "No, no, really, that's ok. I don't want to cause you or anyone else any trouble."

The girl narrowed her eyes. "Why? I cannot just stand by knowing that you were treated so wrongly."

Something about what she said struck a chord in the raven-haired youth. Since Akira received his record, no one – not one person – had been kind to him. His parents regarded him as a burden on his final days back home. Emotions he never knew were there began to stir, clouding his reasoning. He really needed to convince this upperclassman to drop the entire situation.

"Please," he said, his messy, meshed-together emotions spilling forth. "I…just don't want to attract any attention. I appreciate that you're trying to help me, but this will complicate things in the long term. Please, can you just let it go?"

He had no idea if his pleading was successful or not; the girl simply continued to observe him without saying a word. At last, she nodded. "Ok, if that is what you really want…but (Akira's chest drummed from the dreaded but) on two conditions."

"What are they?"

"One, if this happens again, you must immediately tell me, and together we'll report this to someone."

Akira nodded.

"Two, the first meeting for this mentorship will be tomorrow. I have never mentored anyone. I have no idea what I can do, but let's learn from each other. How does that sound?"

Akira nodded more vigorously than he should've. "It sounds great. Thank you for being understanding and really everything."

"It's my pleasure, Kurusu-Kun. Oh, and please, just in case you forgot, call me Haru."

"Gotcha…Haru-senpai."

"Just Haru, please."

"Then, Haru."

Haru smiled, then exited the alleyway, turning left. She disappeared just as she had appeared: almost magically from thin air. A firm hand planted on Akira's shoulder; it belonged to Ryuji.

"Dude, who was that?!"

"Ah, my mentor."

"You're what now? Like a private tutor?"

Akira shook his head. "No, not a tutor, but an upperclassman who's supposed to make sure I follow the rules and don't get into trouble. The school just assigned me to her."

"Whoa? Man, she was hot! I mean, standing so close to her, I could just tell that she was –"

"Hey," Akira interrupted.

"Huh, what?"

"You're really loud, and I rather not hear the rest of whatever you were going to say. I'm hungry. Want to get some grub before heading our separate ways?"

Ryuji's grin was wide and infectious. "Hell yeah! Follow me. I know just the place."

Akira trailed behind his new friend, his thoughts on the older girl, Haru. Something about her kindness unnerved him, but she seemed genuine in her intentions. Something else, too, was the buzzing he felt building throughout their conversation. It was similar to the feeling he had experienced through Ryuji but different somehow. Somehow it never flourished and expanded throughout his body like before, leaving him with only the faint impression that a connection between them could establish.