Apparently, isekai is back on the menu. What do I mean? Well, we have an isekai for one of the new anime this season, that being "TRAPPED IN A DATING SIM: THE WORLD OF OTOME GAMES IS TOUGH FOR MOBS" and apparently people are already making fics based on the concept which is cool (by the concept I mean, dude is thrown into a video game world where he has foreknowledge of everything about to happen but not everything is as it seems). I'll be honest, at times I've been a trend chaser, in the case of today's entry it's going to be somewhat of a trend chaser. What do I mean? Today I intend to go off the primary concept of a guy getting transported into a world and has to live in it now. What world did I choose? Well, if you read the header, we're going to Persona 5, bois.
How am I going to handle this? Well, I'm going to go back to the trope that many have used in the past: OC gets thrown into a main character and has to live their life. Which character? The protagonist. Why? Because I can and want to. That being said, I don't want this to be a point-for-point redo of the original release or Royal. Some things have to remain the same, but others will change. One of the changed things will be Joker's family. We know nothing about it other than he has a father and mother who have a friendship with Sojiro, nothing more. So that being said, I'm going to flesh out his parents and their history. Another thing that I'm going to change is the nature of the Niijima patriarch's death; he died in the line of duty as an officer but to spice things up we're going to make it conspiratorial in the way it happened, almost in the same vein as Futaba's mother's death. Other things may change as the story goes along, should I actually follow through with it; such as Haru being present at her father's press conference to hear his last words up-close as opposed to being on TV when she sees it, or her and Kasumi being more involved with the Phantom Thieves/Joker earlier on.
The biggest change that will be seen is with Joker himself, after all, he's supposed to be the player insert. So, with this, I'm going to bring back another favorite trope of mine that I've implemented once before: the GAMER. However, unlike the previous implementation of this trope that I've both seen and worked with, it will follow the game's logic. Turns taken by characters, while we as players can sit for a while and strategize (or search the enemy on Google to find their weakness) is instant for them. I'm going to use that "gamer's mind" trope to allow for this type of strategy to happen with my Joker character in battle. He'll be able to see stats, levels, experience, and his own social stats/links like we would in-game. The last change to Joker is that since he is supposed to be an audience insert, he's going to follow what I would do in his situation, so you can consider this a semi-OC isekai/reincarnation type of story.
Title: [undecided]
Rating: M for safety, may not go much further than T+ for language and some descriptions of things.
Pairing(s): Jokes/female thief. I have no idea how I want this to end up. Top contenders for me have always been Ann and Makoto just due to exposure time with them (Ann being with you from dungeon 1 and Makoto from dungeon 3) whereas Haru is one of the last two to join and for you to have actual interactions with (as opposed to Kasumi who is always present in Royal but doesn't join until around a similar amount of time). I am open to the hypothetical harem ending, but I have no idea if I'd seriously do that.
Summary: I died. Turns out that when your country is invaded and you have to fight, you may die, and I died. I don't know what Being is out there, but for some reason he/she/it decided to throw me into the body of one Akira Kurusu the night before his altercation that started his journey. How will the journey turn out differently with a different person in control with approximate knowledge of the future?
Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my copy of MS Word and my desktop. Persona belongs to Atlus. I only own individual, independent ideas presented. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.
XxXxXxX
There's a quote from an old video game I used to play:
War… war never changes.
When the war began, I was a twenty-something IT worker with an interest in guns as both a hobby and as personal protection. When it all started, we all thought that an invasion would never happen, at least not on a large scale; nothing on the level of D-Day. But we were wrong. Well, I was partially wrong. When the enemy hit, it was the large cities. New York, DC, Chicago, LA, and Silicon Valley. These were all the major financial and power hubs in the nation. The United States is too large a target to take on. Lots of land to cover and resistance from the locals as anyone and everyone could be armed. How do you defeat an enemy of our size? You cripple our financial centers and power structures to make us leaderless and our money has no meaning. You hit power stations to cripple electronics and cut off communications.
I was in New York at the time on a business trip. I drove because the quiet of the road and having a subscription to an audiobook service always kept me at peace, plus I'd be able to carry. Yes, the state of New York didn't have reciprocity, but I didn't care at the time. It turns out that it was the best decision I made for my survival. Submarines erupted from the bay and soldiers and air support from the arctic assaulted us. My concealed carry is what allowed me to kill for the first time in my life. The kid was maybe eighteen years old when he found a 9mm luger catching him in the throat killing him on the spot. I scavenged his kit and hid in the shadows striking when I could until the Army and Marines showed up. While I was a civilian, they weren't going to say no to an extra gun and patriot willing to die for his country. To the unit I joined with, I was like that adopted little brother despite being older than some of the guys. Normally they'd just send someone like me to the rest of the refugees but these were abnormal times. We had heard the horror stories about what our adversary had done overseas when they invaded their neighbor for resources and land. If I was going to go out, it'd be fighting. I guess that's how I ended up in my situation now, I guess.
A bullet zipped over my head as I dipped down into the mud for cover. We were in a forest in Midwest near my hometown. This was my element and knew these woods like the back of my hand. We stalked close to a town that had been taken over as a small command post by the enemy. However, our encroachment hadn't been unnoticed. My kit was still the AK pattern rifle I had scavenged almost a year prior from the kid. On the stock were tally lines of my own etching of lives I had taken that one day I'd have to answer to Saint Peter for taking. Some had been in rage; some were justified as returned fire. The current tally was twenty. Twenty boys younger than me whose families will weep for their loss. For the faces that I saw, they still haunted me in my dreams. I carried a Sig M18 on my hip and the concealed carry Sig P365 in my waistband as a backup.
Beside me was my 'battle buddy.' He was a kid around nineteen, with fair skin and complexion. Had an appearance that looked like he couldn't hurt a fly. Then again, the rifle he held would convince people otherwise.
"Grenade!" someone called. My eyes watched in slow motion as a sphere of metallic death landed next to us. I don't know what came over me, but the next thing I knew I was throwing myself on top of it. I expected absolute agonizing pain, but there was a sharp pain followed by icy coldness. I was flipped over to see the kid from before trying to tend to my wound, but it was no use, I was a goner. "Medic!" was called out.
"Why?" he eeped out just loud enough over the gunfire.
"I don't know what came over me," I struggled to get out. "You owe me one, huh?" I joked weakly. Even in the throughs of death I couldn't help but make a joke. "Do me a favor?" He nodded. "There's a letter in my pocket, make sure it gets to my family."
"Of course!"
"One more thing," I said struggling to hold on. "Make it out of this alive. Marry that girl you got back home. Have a couple of kids, maybe name one after me?" I tried to chuckle before coughing up blood. "Give them hell, kid." My mind slipped into darkness and knew no more.
I, [redacted], age twenty-nine, died in service to my country as a patriot. I would never know it, but three months later the war would end. I would be buried with full honors despite not being formally enlisted and my name etched into a memorial. The kid would make it out alive and would deliver my final letter. He married his girl and had several kids; he even took the joke seriously and named his firstborn after me, despite her being a girl.
But that wouldn't be the end for me.
I snapped awake, my body immediately sitting up in bed. My hands wandered in panicked motions as I searched my torso for missing chunks of my body. There was none, I ripped off the shirt I was wearing and confirmed visually that there was nothing wrong with me despite feeling a phantom pain, an ache.
"Ren-kun, are you alright?" a woman's voice called out softly.
Right, my mother was a light sleeper. "I'm alright, mom," I called back. Wait… mom? I immediately moved toward the mirror in my room and my appearance shocked me. In the mirror was a teen, maybe sixteen years of age, with frizzy black hair and grey eyes. This was not me, but it also was me. The hell was going on? What the soldiers had taught me is in a situation where you may be stressed was to sit down, breathe, and reassess the situation with the information you had. I sat down on the floor, closed my eyes, and started to breathe slowly as if trying to meditate. I guess it sort of was due to clearing my mind.
A few minutes passed and I opened my eyes, stood up, and walked to the desk with a laptop on it. Instinctively, I knew the password: 'J0ker.' I started to browse social media for accounts I had. It didn't take long since almost a decade of IT experience in various forms gave me insight on how to find information easily, especially when I had the device-wide open. Immediately I noticed the site names were different. Tvvitter, F cebook, TubeYou, and so on; they were completely different from the Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube that I knew. I immediately logged into the Facebook analog. Immediately I gained valuable information about the body I was currently inhabiting.
My name was Akira Kurusu, though my family had a nickname of calling me 'Ren' instead in non-formal situations. It came at my father's suggestion. Speaking of my family, my mother was a lawyer specializing in financial arbitration between parties. Primarily divorce, worker's comp settlements, and lawsuits. She was working her way to partner level at the firm she was at but it was still several years off. Now, my father is where it gets interesting. He was a native ex-pat. Sometime after he turned eighteen, he left Japan for the US where he became a citizen and joined up with the Navy. Apparently, there was some mad family drama and his side of the family didn't really talk to us. As for him, he met my mother while on shore leave, they hooked up and asked for a permanent assignment here and they got married shortly thereafter. Two years later I was born. He still went on deployment regularly but still came home every few months. I had made friends on base when growing up with several of his men who I saw as uncles and they saw me as their nephew. I was an only child who could fluently speak both Japanese and English, though the latter had a slight accent that got exaggerated when emotionally compromised (anger, etc.).
As for me? I was a first-year who just finished said year in high school and was currently enjoying the break between school years as short as it was. The memories started to flow into my mind as the last couple of years came to mind. Friends, our activities, our favorite hangout spots, hobbies, and so on. I felt dizzy and turned off the monitor and flopped back down on the bed, passing out instantly. All throughout this process, my mind was filled with memories that were not of me but also were me.
In what felt like the blink of an eye, one moment I was falling asleep in the dead of night, the next I was waking up with curtains being opened, the sun blinding me. "Rise and shine, Ren-kun!" the voice of my mother called as she threw open the curtains. I squinted at the sudden light smacking my corneas.
"What time is it?" I mumble.
"Almost ten. Weren't you going to meet with Junpei at noon?"
"That's right," I say aloud. I was supposed to see a friend at noon. The arcade. Junpei was planning on winning a stuffed animal out of the UFO catcher machine to present to his girlfriend and due to Akira's hand-eye coordination, he was willing to buy him lunch and dinner if they succeeded. I wasted no time. I took a fast five-minute shower and got dressed. My mother looked at me as if something was wrong. Perhaps the previous 'me' took long showers?
I made myself a quick breakfast consisting of an egg sandwich with runny yolks. It was easy and cost-effective. Not to mention had good cholesterols and protein. My mother looked at me funny but didn't say anything. I grabbed my wallet and left, instinctually stating, "I'm heading out!" before closing the door behind me.
What greeted me was something short of a postcard from the tropics. In front of the road across from my home was a white-sand beach with palm trees and calm rolling waves washing over the sands. It was… relaxing. I turned behind me to see the home I exited. It was a two-story house with an attached garage. It wasn't a large house, but the upper area was for the sleeping quarters and the main level for entertaining guests, eating, and general family activities. I pulled out my phone and started Moogle Maps to plot a route to the arcade. It was in the actual city itself about a half-hour by train away. It was then I saw where I was: Okinawa. And nearby was one of the many bases for the US military. It wasn't on-base housing but it was close enough for any servicemen that wanted to live off of it. And so, I started my trek to the nearest station.
It didn't take long. I scanned the pass I had and entered the station, boarded a train, and entered the city a little bit later. Arriving at the opposite end of the line, I exited and followed my map to the station downtown. In front of it was my friend Junpei. There was literally nothing to distinguish him from the rest of the crowd other than him waving to me and calling out, "Akira-san!" when he saw me.
The day blew by quickly and the next thing I knew it was already starting to get dark. In the end, we had accomplished what we had set out to do and I had been rewarded for both meals in question. Junpei peaced out at some point and I was left to my thoughts as I walked back home towards the station.
How was I supposed to take over this kid's life? Did I take him over and this was some kind of possession or was this some kind of reincarnation and these were just memories reawakened in a new body? Who was I? Was I the man I was – an IT worker turned patriot – or was I a high school kid with slightly strange family life? Before I could dwell any further upon the absolute existential dread I was facing, I heard a woman's scream from an alleyway.
What happened next came and went in a blur. One moment I'm running down the alley to find out what was going on, the next I'm sitting in the back of a squad car belonging to the regional police branch being driven to the local station. I knew Japanese and American police were different and how they operated. But one thing was certain, don't say anything without a lawyer present as everything you say can and will be used against you. You misspeak, you contradict yourself and even if it was by accident, it will be seen as guilt and trying to cover up something. So, on the ride over I thought up truthful responses to their questions that they were bound to ask once in an interrogation room.
The first words out of my mouth were, "I want my lawyer." They kept trying to intimidate me, stating that it would be seen as guilt if I didn't confess to a crime I didn't commit. But I'd seen tougher, seen actual torture – both victims and performance alike – and these guys had nothing on pissed-off patriots who just saw civvies get war crime'd to Saint Peter. And so, I told them I'd cooperate upon the arrival of my legal counsel.
There's an interesting predicament that they found themselves in, they had a suspect that they wanted to convict that had dual citizenship, citizenship with a country that was their strongest military ally in the world. A citizen whose father was part of said military. This was an international incident just waiting to happen. So, how do you make the person I allegedly assaulted happy while at the same time preventing the US Embassy from sending the Ambassador down or a pissed-off military father less than two hours away storming in with three of his best friends guns blazing (like that'd ever happen)? Not only that, but said individual has never had any crime on his record before this? No misdemeanors, no jaywalking, no internet piracy? A literal blank slate. The answer is simple, an ultimatum.
In return for dropping all charges I'd be expelled from school, my family would have to pay for the legal fees on top of the hyperinflated hospital bills of the man (despite only having a split lip from falling), and I'd have to keep a clean nose with no trouble what-so-ever for a full year. In retrospect, I got off easy. For the next month I had to spend my time on the mainland in a juvenile detention hall while my mother called in every favor she's ever been owed to get me into a school and then on top of that a caretaker (more so a watcher to keep an eye on me to satisfy the criteria of 'keeping my nose clean'). The main issue that she ran into was that people talk, mainly those in school districts and that made it exceedingly difficult.
During that time, I met some… interesting individuals. They came from all over with various backgrounds. Some were kids that were picked up on the street for vagrancy, others for trying to become yakuza initiates, and some for running a scam in Tokyo. That one was the most interesting. It turned out this kid was like me to an extent, that being he plead innocent. He borrowed some money and had to work shadier and shadier jobs for some guy whose name slips my mind. He would keep him in a constant debt loop where it would only get larger until he was made an offer: to traffic drugs. That was when the fuzz picked him up with an illicit substance. I'd have to keep my eye out for things like that to completely avoid them.
The rest of the time was boring. They luckily had a rec room where someone had a guitar donated at some point and I started playing songs. The ones I found ironic were ones done by Johnny Cash considering he too at a point in his life was also a jailbird. They were also acoustic friendly so that also helped. This body didn't have the best singing voice, so I was content with the strumming of the guitar instead. The remaining time I spent working out. If there had been one thing, I learned in regards to both prison systems from a friend that worked inside it as well as the general rule of 'survival of the fittest' I needed to be strong enough to preemptively prevent an attack but not too strong to be the top dog. By being somewhere in the middle I wouldn't be a target for those on top but I also would be a target for someone aiming to be the top dog of the schoolyard. And luckily, no one messed with me which meant I kept my nose clean in there on top of good behavior despite hating every moment of it.
It was a hard month; the day of April 8th came and I was let out. I was given my phone, clothing I walked in with, and wallet which was a thousand yen smaller due to someone helping themselves. Not that I'd be able to prove it and it's not like said individual would admit to it either. I was shipped out to Tokyo where I had to meet with the local police chief. Basically, I had to hand over the address in which I'd reside and the school to which I'd be going to. Two phone calls later to confirm and I was out of there. I stayed overnight at a hotel and the next day I was on a subway train to Yongen-Jaya and my residence for the next school year: Café Leblanc. Due to the different connecting trains, I nodded off.
I found myself in the middle of Shibuya Crossing. You know, the one from all the anime and b-roll footage when people need to show a bustling city like Tokyo? That one. I stood in the middle of a crowd and appearing out of nowhere was a dapperly dressed, yet demonic figure rose from the center and what appeared like black fire flew around me. I jolted awake to find myself on the same subway seat, but several minutes had passed. It appeared that I had taken a small nap. I'm not a person that knows about dream theory or the meaning of dreams, so I had no idea if it meant anything or not, but I'd file it away for later.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for riding with us today. We will be arriving in Shibuya shortly. This is the last stop for this line, please transfer here for all subway lines," the woman's voice on the intercom announced. "The doors to your left will open."
"What? Are you for real? A mental shutdown?" a girl across from me asked.
"It's the truth!" her friend countered.
"To a person though? That's got to be a joke. You really love all that occult stuff, don't you?" the girl teased before the two giggled.
Mental shutdowns? What the hell was that? Considering the station was coming up, I pulled out my phone's notes app and added 'search mental shutdown later' as a reminder. I walked out of the station and entered Shibuya itself and saw the famous crossing. I had plugged the address for Leblanc into my map app which said to cross to the station across the road there, and so I followed. As I observed the controlled chaos of people from six different directions flowing around each other from the curb, my phone chirped. On it was a new icon I had never seen before: a red and black eye. Before I could do anything with it, it consumed half the screen and started to static itself out. I tapped on the screen both around and near the new icon, but my phone did nothing. Suddenly everyone stopped in place. One man's conversation was stuck in mid-sentence. What really solidified it was a bird frozen mid-flap but it wasn't falling.
On the other end of the street was a growing blue flame which then took the shape of a demonic figure before the almost jack-o-lantern face turned into me, but it wasn't me – I don't think – as this person had yellow eyes that seemed to glow with otherworldly power. As quick as this came, it left and everyone started walking again. Ok, either I'm having one of these 'mental shutdowns' or I'm just having an episode. The icon turned into an app icon. I proceeded to delete it. Just dragged and dropped it into my phone's trash. With that, my journey continued to the next transfer line.
The train would take almost fifteen minutes with stops, so I proceeded to use the limited wifi to search what 'mental shutdowns' were. Apparently, some people would have psychotic breaks when no such episodes had happened prior and commit acts that they wouldn't remember (or live about to tell the tale). There were a couple of notable examples from the site of a conspiratorial forum. A taxi driver had committed a hit and run about two weeks ago and killed a high-school girl, a first-year starting this semester, in front of her sister and the man didn't recall a thing. There was a megathread list created by some internet sleuths on this world's version of Reddit that had some unproven incidents from almost a decade ago, one of the first involving a Doctor Isshiki who just stepped in front of a car in an apparent suicide. Strange. The only connecting thread, these people had established, is that they all happened in Japan only. No such incidents occurred overseas and this is something that these people found out early on as it appeared to have a multinational interest.
My next station came up and the automated system repeated "Yongen-Jaya" several times as I exited. The specific back streets that Leblanc was in were a few blocks from the station itself. Arriving inside the residential block, I looked that the text message my mother had sent me with the address I was to go to as well as a name, 'Sojiro Sakura.' I looked at my map app and it said I had arrived but I hadn't. Spotting an officer, I walked over to him and asked; he was clearly annoyed but answered. He pointed me two side streets down. I thanked him for his time and made my way over.
I noticed that it was a residence. Ok, maybe I had been given the wrong directions. However, spotting the nameplate of 'Sakura' on the gate around the property told me I was in the right place. I saw a buzzer and rang it, but after a few minutes, no one responded as well as the windows were dark.
"Looks like no one's home," someone said behind me. "Oh, yeah… Sakura-san's usually at his café around this time. Well, Leblanc's in the back alley, so I should make my other deliveries first…"
I pulled up my phone and put in the location. There was a presence on the map app which had the operating hours. It was an hour or two before closing. Looking up, I saw the sky was overcast. Granted the weather forecast didn't say there was going to be any rain, but I didn't want to take any chances. It was just around the corner. One quick walk around the corner and I found myself in front of a very western-looking café. Inside I could see a man minding his kitchen wearing an apron before he sat down on one of his stools to read a newspaper. The delivery guy had called it 'his' café and given there was no name tag, I had to have the right place.
I entered with the bell jingling and the TV was turned up for the remaining patrons. Where Sakura appeared to be in his mid to late forties, the two patrons appeared elderly. The volume must have been for their benefit given they were the only two in the shop. "A public transport bus was driven down an opposing lane with its customers still on it!" a news anchor announced. "The citizens can't live in peace if this keeps up!"
"Oh, how frightening," the elderly man commented.
"What could be going on?" the elderly woman asked. "Didn't something similar happen just the other day?"
"And down is… the name of a shellfish used in pearl farming…" Sakura muttered. The answer was either oysters or clams depending on length. He looked up to see me. "Oh… right. They said that was today," he said as he placed his newspaper messily on the counter.
"We'll be going now, the payment's on the table," the elderly man said as he stood up with his wife(?).
"Thanks for coming."
"This place is in the back alley, so there's no worries of a car crashing in here." My face was expressionless but not unwelcome as I thought, 'Give someone enough of a reason and that person will certainly find a way out of sheer spite.'
"A what now?"
"There's been a string of those rampage accidents, you know. I just hope that none happen around here."
"It's none of my concern." Debatable.
"Haha," he chuckled, "we'll see you next time." The couple proceeded to leave.
"Four hours for a single cup of joe," he lamented after the door closed.
"It could have been worse," I say trying to change the mood. "It could have been water instead."
"True…" He couldn't find any fault in my words. "So, you're Akira?"
"Yessir," I nod. "Please take care of me."
"…Uhhuh. I'm Sojiro Sakura. You'll be in my custody over the next year. I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would show up, but you're the one, huh?"
"My feats have been grossly exaggerated," I say flatly but with no disrespect.
"Apparently," he muttered. "Have you been told? A customer of mine and your parents know each other and-."
"Legal or military?" I ask continuing after his trailing off.
"Legal, not that it matters." So, this was the favor that mom was calling in. It sort of mattered, but not in the grand scheme of things. "Military?" he asked.
"My father's work, not that it matters," I echo him accidentally.
"Cheeky brat," he muttered, but it didn't seem like a mad muttering, just muttering in general. "Follow me," he ordered. He brought me into the attic of the café which was being used as a glorified storage space. It looked like once upon a time it was someone living quarters. "This is your room," he announced. "I'll at least give you sheets for your bed."
Hopefully, they're sized right for the mattress. "Thank you."
My eyes wandered around as I started to run the numbers through my head of the space. It looked to be fifteen feet by maybe forty-five, with an operable space of six feet less – three on both sides – wide and excluding the staircase an additional three feet that way. Giving me approximately 378 square feet to work with as a room. But it was cluttered with storage. I'd need to sort through what is garbage, what is actual storage for the store, and what miscellaneous things can be sold off.
"Hm? You look like you want to say something."
"It's a large space…"
"But it's cluttered, I know. It's on you to clean up the rest."
I walked over to the apparent garbage. "How much of this is store use?"
He looked over. "The ladder. The rest is either garbage or needs to get disposed of. Like those phone books." It looks like I'll need to purge a bit. I'll need to browse through the books to see what was garbage and what was just old books left in an attic. "I'll be leaving after I lock up each day. You'll be alone at night, but don't do anything stupid. I'll throw you out if you cause any trouble."
"What about using the kitchen?"
"That's off-limits," he replied quickly. Ok, so convenience store and microwave meals for me, then. "I got the gist of your situation. You protected some woman from a man forcing himself on her, he got injured, then sued you. Right? That's what you get for sticking your nose in a matter between two adults. You did injure him, yeah?"
I had time to think about it, the more time passed, the more I was able to reflect on the gap in my memory. Or, well apparent gap. "Yes, and no." Sakura paused for a moment to allow me to explain. "Yes, I pushed him but he landed on his rear stabilized by his hands. When getting up he slipped on a still drying puddle and fell onto a nearby car causing him to get a gash on his brow."
It was once again my word against someone who apparently had enough power to have the police in his pocket as well as have the woman he was with silenced. "Even so, you now have a criminal record, you were expelled from your high school. The courts ordered you to transfer and move out from your home town which your parents approved." Well, my mother, dad was still unreachable so it was her approval by absentia. "In other words, they got rid of you for being a pain in the ass." Shows how much you know. You contradicted yourself. 'Court order' and 'expelled from high school.' Sure, my parents 'got rid of me.' Keep thinking that. I knew he was trying to get a rise out of me. I act up now and he doesn't have to do anything. "It's best not to talk about anything unnecessary. I am in the restaurant business, you know. Behave yourself for the year. If nothing happens, your probation will be lifted."
"A whole year… I guess the casual Bosnian war crime party will have to wait," I said with faux remorse.
"Shut it, you," he could tell I was being sarcastic. "We'll be going to Shujin tomorrow."
"Shujin?" the name didn't ring a bell.
"Shujin Academy – the school you'll be attending. We'll introduce ourselves properly to the staff there. There's rarely a place that'll accept someone with your record, you know. What a waste of my Sunday…" Serves you right for talking smack. "Your 'luggage' arrived a little while ago. I brought it up here for you." And with that, he left to go back to the shop.
I proceeded to look through the box. Inside was a week and a day's worth of casual clothing, a week's worth of uniforms for the school I'd be attending, an envelope, and an extra pair of shoes. No laptop or anything. Wouldn't shock me if it was confiscated or something. I put the clothes away in repurposed plastic bins on one of the shelves and opened the letter. Inside was one hundred thousand yen. Doing the math, it'd be enough for a year's worth of subway traveling from school and home as well as general food usage. Beside it was a letter.
'Dear Ren-kun,
I hope you found your way alright to Sakura-san's Café Leblanc. Your father and I agree that you were in the right that night, but due to things beyond our understanding, you were found in the wrong. For now, don't worry about your father and I will do what is needed, you focus on yourself. Stay out of trouble, even if your sense of justice says otherwise. My phone's always on.
Love,
Mom'
I would be lying if I said that didn't make me tear up. I put the money in a safe place and started the clean the room itself, the trash is thrown into a corner to be taken to the bin in the back. I had gotten most of it organized by the time night fell. The last thing I got around to was getting the sheet and blanket made on the bed. My noise-making didn't go unnoticed as Sakura came up to check on me.
"What the heck?" he asked sounding annoyed. He then noticed the attic looking different. "I heard you making all sorts of noise up here but I didn't think you were cleaning." He looked around and gave his non-verbal approval. "Actually, the place doesn't look too bad. Though, it's only natural you'd want to keep your room tidy. Why don't you go to bed tonight? You don't have anything better to be doing, right? I'm going to close up shop and get out of here myself. I won't be the one looking after you if you get sick from staying up too late, you got that?" He didn't say anything further and left.
He was right, I didn't have anything to do outside. Inside, though, I had a few options. I proceeded to do a light workout. Pushups, situps, and pullups utilizing one of the rafter beams and a chair. Satisfied with what I had, and the oncoming exhaustion from both what I had to do today on top of the workout, I changed and started to nod off as soon as my head hit the pillow. As I did, I had time to reflect on my past life on top of the current one I found myself in.
Why was I put in the body of a teen in what appears to be another universe? Why was I in Japan of all places? Why was I here?
These existential thoughts followed me into the oblivion of sleep.
To be continued…?
XxXxXxX
Preview…
Ryuji looked over to me and handed me a model gun, it was something I thought I'd never see again. My Sig P365. "Hello, old friend," I said in quiet English as I started to function check it. It was just like my real one in every way. "Time to get to work, Ryuji," I say as I racked the slide.
XxXxXxX
And that's all I have for this idea. There was going to be a second preview, but that got put into a note in my Word doc since it didn't really pan out. I may come back to that second part of a preview later but I have no idea if that's in the cards or not. But anyway, this is the idea that I had with this. One thing is that you'll notice that the enemy is not named itself and that is by intent. The main reason is that I don't want to point at a specific country for it as this is a work of fiction.
The main difference between the canon Akira and this OC derivative is that we have an adult in a teen's body with all the experience of already going through that tumultuous time in someone's life as well as war. The former will allow for cooler judgment and actions, especially with the inevitable confrontation with Kamoshida as well as others that may try to get a rise out of him or those that think they're master manipulators like Kanoshiro on top of knowledge already provided about his scam but just without the name. But I do plan to have Akira sort of "tortured" by his past life's actions in-between visits to the Velvet Room. Eventually, he'll need to come clean about memories of a past life and I will need to decide how his friends act towards him in regards to it, and whether or not our infamous Pancake person is present either for it. Lots of stuff to consider. But for a pilot, I'll leave it here for now.
On to real-life stuff. Something slightly exciting has come my way, I'm going to be moving in a month or so to a different area but within the same radius of my work. So, there is a possibility you may not hear from me during the month of June as that's when that's all supposed to be going down. The reason is primarily due to life circumstances with the property holder of my current residence. As for the Odysee venture, I completed two projects and after editing those should be up on my channel there. I've purchased more manga which means that backlog has increased, unfortunately. I've also got a few new ideas I've been working on as well for fics, so hopefully, I'll be able to let you guys see them soon.
That's all I have for now; let me know what you think about it. I'll see you in whatever I decide to work on next. If you feel like directly supporting me in whatever I do, I have anonymous addresses listed in my profile.
