? - ?

"Over here . . ."

A boy and a girl are standing in front of me. The scenery is a blur, their faces are clouded. I can't tell who they are. Despite that, it feels as if I know them... However, I know that we're in an empty classroom. The reason I know this is unclear, but I know this place. This is...

Iwatodai dormitory - Kazuki's room - ?

I sit off my back, gasping for air. My heart is racing a mile a minute as my brain is pounding. That dream... It was so bizarre. It had a warm and reminiscent feeling. The building suddenly rumbles, interrupting my thought on that dream.

"What the hell was that? An earthquake?"

I get up from my bed in response to the rumbling. My uniform is laying on my desk chair. If I'm going out to see what's going on, it won't be in my PJs. I change into my uniform as the rumbling intensifies. Finished dressing, a loud bang on my door makes me jump back toward my bed from the unexpected sound.

"Kazuki-kun, please open up! We have to get out of here!" Yuka-chan? What is she doing knocking on my door so late? I think it might have to do with the earthquake. "I'm sorry, but I'm coming in!"

'Hang on, I'm coming out.

She opens the door to my room, even though it's locked. Did Mitsu-chan give her a spear key to my room?

"Kazuki-kun, I'm gonna need you to follow Yuki-kun and me to the roof!"

"What's going on!?"

"I don't have time to explain, just take this."

Yukari gives me a pocket knife.

"Why do I need this?"

"It's for-" The sound of glass shattering emanates from outside my room, cutting off Yuka-chan. "We need to go, now!" Yuka-chan grabs me by the sleeves of my jacket and drags me out of my room, and up to the rooftop...

Iwatodai dormitory - roof - ?

When we made it up to the roof.

Yuka-chan locks the door behind us. "Okay, we should be safe here."

"Safe from what, an earthquake?" I ask her.

Searching around, there are no lights on from the buildings I can see from here. And this tint of green… Don't tell me.

"Everything's green, no lights. This is...!?"

The building shakes as if a bulldozer is knocking the building on the sides

I move toward the edge of the building. Before I can look down, a blue face pops up from below.

"W-what in the..."

Black hands grab on the ledge of the building. The mask is on a shadow, goo-like monster with multiple hands and swords in each of them. A scream erupts from me as my heart nearly explodes from the shock. I fall on my ass as the monster presents itself. An instinctual fear kicked in, my legs move on their own as my brain is paralyzed by fear. They take me back to the others.

"What is that thing!?"

"That is a Shadow," Yukari explains, too calm to be shocked by its appearance.

A Shadow? What the hell is that? No matter what it is, it's coming for us, moving with its several arms as legs.

Yukari put a gun to her head. "Both of you stand back!"

"Are you crazy!? You point it at that thing!

Fortunately, she's hesitant about pulling the trigger. All of a sudden, fire appears out of nowhere. Yukari is sent flying towards the other end of this rooftop.

"Yukari!"

I make a run for it toward her. She's been knocked down to the ground. Damn, what the hell happened to her? Did that fire come from that monster? Checking her pulse, she's still alive. The explosion seemed to have singed her clothes and nothing more. The monster throws four swords towards us. You gotta be kidding me! I roll us away from the oncoming attack. Looking back at where we were, the swords it threw are lodged into the ground. If we were still there, we could've... died! Its attention is off us, I have a chance to strike it with the pocket knife.

I take out the pocket knife, sliding the blade out. I charge for the thing with my knife. Its hands grab me as I'm about to stab it. It throws me towards the entrance/exit to the roof. My back aches just from that one throw. It retrieves its swords as it charges at us… Are we going to die here? Despair washes over me like a blanket of water from the thought. My mind gives up on trying anything else. No, there's nothing we can do; that thing is a monster!

"Huh?"

Makoto picks up the gun and puts it to his head as I watch on in horror. Did he give up too? But that isn't right. That's just…!

"Wait, don't!"

"Per-so-na."

A gust of blue swirls below his feet. Something is forming, coming into existence. A humanoid figure with a lyre on its back appears above Makoto-kun. Persona... Why does that sound familiar?

"Thou art I, I am thou. From the sea of thy soul, I cometh: I am Orpheus - Master of strings...!"

A speaker-like thing on its chest, a red scarf around its neck. It somewhat resembles Makoto. To say the least, it's a beautiful sight that calms my heart and lights hope. But then, something begins to rip it apart from the inside. Tearing it apart violently, as if something is desperately trying to get from the being. Makoto screams in agony as this thing is coming out. A ghastly roar emanates from the thing in question ripping apart the other being. Horror, that's all that is needed to describe what I feel by the new beings' arrival. A Grim Reaper has come for this monster. Wielding a large sword with coffins connected and on to it, it flies towards the monster.

"W-w-what is that thing!?"

With a battle cry that shakes up my soul, it begins smashing, tearing, and slashing at the monster. It's vicious, raw, and unhinged as it tears its opponent apart. Makoto passes out as the being crushes one of the monster's limbs.

"Is it...over?"

I get up from the ground, pain surging through my back as I get up. I slowly walk to Makoto. He has a pulse, but he's out cold. How did he make that thing come out of himself? Persona, that's what he said when he summoned it. Well, whatever, it's all over now, so…

"Huh?"

A wet sound impacting against the ground catches my attention. Peculiarly squirming on the ground, the monster uses its swords to stand back up. The mask acting as its face is cracked by the top of it. How is it still alive? That grim reaper thing killed it!? The monster is heading towards us. Makoto can't do anything since he's out. I still have my knife.

Taking out my knife, I throw it at the monster's head. Bulls-eye! The blade found its mark dead-center on the mask, splitting it in half. Take that, bastard! Let's see you walk that off! As if to respond to my challenge, continued crawling at me.

"The hell, how is it still alive!?"

It's coming over to me, I look over to the door leading back into the dorm. I make a run for it, the monster summons fire out of nowhere again. It didn't hit me directly but the explosion did happen near me, so it sent me flying into the wall next to the door. All the air inside my body is pushed, nearly killing me from the shock of it.

"Come on... I'm almost there!"

It's no use, I don't have enough strength to move my body, it hurts too much to even move. The monster aims its swords at me, lifting them to the air... Is this how I"ll...die? On a rooftop!? Well, I guess it doesn't mean much to me, dying is something that never bothered me all that much. Actually, the idea of death was something that never scared me, to begin with… However, that's not right, my heart is racing faster than it ever has before, my blood is pumping quicker than it should be, and my mind is racing as the threat of death draws near… Am I afraid to die?

"That makes no sense, why am I afraid now?"

I don't wanna die, I'm scared of the thought! The bones in my body are quaking from the idea of dying. "Why am I afraid"? The question repeats in my head over and over again, desperately trying to come up with an answer… Then, with the flash of an image, my head comes up with an answer: because I made a friend. The idea of me being afraid is not it, no, it's just the idea of me dying now is unfair! I finally got the chance to experience normal school life, but an abrupt end.

"That's not fair," I whisper to myself. The words aren't filled with sadness or despair, but bitterness, contempt, and anger towards the monster threatening to kill me. "...This is...bullshit! Why the hell do I have to die!?"

The anger swells within me as I lift myself off the ground with all the strength I have left. This feeling has power behind it, a power that is unknown to me but feels familiar. An idea forms in my head to give this feeling, this power a form. I close my eyes as the shadow swings its swords at me. The time is now, I don't know why this power suddenly appeared, but I know something needs to happen, and that is... TO TEAR THIS MONSTER APART!

"Persona!"

Everything goes quiet, even the wind that was blowing against my ears seems to have died off. Opening my eyes validated that my life is still permitted in this world. The monster is on the edge of the building, trying to climb back up. Pieces of its body are splattered all over the roof, like paint on a canvas. I did that, and I was certain of it. "Kazuki-kun, your Persona...!?"

Yuka-chan's words snap me out of my stupor. My Persona is only two arms that have no design to them. They're covered in a dark hue that meshes in with the blue energy swirling around me. The name is not clear to me, but I can tell that it and I have an inseparable connection.

"So, this is mine…"

The monster in front of me gets back up to the roof, its swords used as extra arms to crawl with. The feels I accumulated until now are at their peak, making my determination to see this thing destroyed stronger.

"Wanna fight, then bring it on!"

Immediately, the shadow jumps at me, pointing its swords at me. My Persona punches the monster's hand with a precisive and swifter than thought blow. Its swords clatter to the ground, producing a loud, metallic sound that hits my eardrums.

"Oh yeah!"

I pump my fist into the air. The shadow gets up again, squirming over to me. "All right, round two!"

A series of clashes between swords and fists erupt, causing the wind to be shaken up by our bout. My Persona is attacking quicker than the monster can move. Unfortunately for the enemy, my Persona destroys all of its swords and delivers a devastating blow to its head as a final blow. The attack splits the monster apart, going down the middle. Victory is definitely mine! However, its one hand is still moving, despite being split apart.

Quicker than I can guard, it delivers a slash across my chest. Fresh blood comes gushing. A scream was supposed to come out of my lungs but my voice seems to have gone silent. The only place I can scream now is in my head.

"Kazuki-kun!" Yukari screamed.

As the shadow melts into nothingness, I fall to the ground, unable to control my fall, so I hit the floor like a wet piece of paper.

"Kazuki-kun, are you okay!? Come on, say something!"

My hearing is going in and out as Yuka-chan is yelling my name. The wound on my chest is burning as blood leaks out. The door to the rooftop is forced open, two sets of footsteps rush over to me.

"Takeba, turn Kazuki over! We must treat his wounds immediately! Akihiko, you'll switch in to heal Kazuki once Takeba runs out of energy." I wanted to call her name to show her I'm still alive, however, I'm only able to grunt. "Kazuki, We're going to get you to a hospital!"

A soothing wave of comfort eases the intensity of my wound. Yuka-chan's hands are covered in a glowing aura, hovering over my wound.

"Akihiko, get Yuki," Mitsu-chan commands.

"Got it."

My consciousness is beginning to fade. I feel scared although calm at the same time. How can I feel two things that are opposite of each other at the same time? All I can think about at this point is everything leading up to this moment. It's funny, comical even. I fought so I can stay alive, but I don't even know if I'll be alive in the next few minutes… I wonder how Fuu-chan would react to seeing me like this?