A chef must not only be skillful in their cooking, but also fast in finishing it, so that customers won't have to wait long to consume the exquisite dish.
I'm not that chef. No chef would give their customers a half-finished meal.
Anyway, up until now, I've been writing this fic without details and pieces of information from BA anime when it hasn't come out yet. Starting now, however, I'll mostly use BA anime as one of my sources for this fic. It'll become prominent in future chapters.
Lastly, this fic was made before the announcement of Reload, so you may consider this as Persona 3 x Blue Archive, not Persona 3 Reload x Blue Archive. Although there are suggestions to bring new stuff from Reload into this, which I'm still considering.
That's all, now enjoy this half meal.
Abydos High School, Morning
"Here is the cafeteria! What do you think?"
As Makoto looked around the dining hall Nonomi was showing him, one word immediately came forth from his mind.
Empty.
The cafeteria was what you expected. A hall functioned as a canteen where everybody could serve themselves, a type of place that served a variety of food and drinks (ready to eat) with a self-service system. Countless rows of tables and seats were provided and neatly arranged, and a long food-serving counter was placed on the far right side near the kitchen.
It was a cafeteria like any other… if it wasn't devoid of activities. The emptiness here made the place almost lifeless.
He knew that there were only five students in this school, but it was disheartening to see it like this.
"This place has always been without a crowd to make it lively." The girl beside him spoke, seemingly reading his mind. "Even when I first joined the school, it was rarely used and it will keep gathering dust if nobody utilizes the facility."
He nodded. "Do you and the others use the cafeteria?"
"Well… we sometimes use it when we want to. Shiroko-chan in particular goes here a few times to make food, and I've seen Serika-chan use it once." She informed him. "As for me, my skill at cooking is decent at best, but not to the point where it becomes my hobby. I only cook when I'm hungry, and when I don't feel like it, I'd just buy food for myself and also for others."
Makoto gave her a hum. He was like her in that regard. Even after he had learned cooking adequately thanks to spending his time in the kitchen with his SEES friends, it was not something he always took in his leisure time. Whenever he was hungry, he would just go out and eat at a restaurant or, during his stay in Iwatodai Dorm, sometimes have a meal with everyone in the dorm.
"C'mon, Makoto-san," Nonomi turned around, making her way toward the exit. "This tour is just getting started, and I want to show you everything Abydos school has to offer!"
Makoto followed her out. Turns out the cafeteria had its own building and was not connected to the main school building, but it's still close to going back and forth.
Their next destination was the library, which also had its own building that was adjacent to the main building and it only took a left turn from the cafeteria's front door to take them there.
Stepping inside, Makoto got the same instant word the moment his eyes scanned around the Abydos' school library.
Empty.
"This is the library! I think you already know the purpose of this place, but what we are proud of about this library is it's special for having a variety of books popular at Abydos, whether it's manga, magazines, or other textbooks." Nonomi informed him. "We usually come here whenever we have a hard time with some studies we couldn't understand. Other than that, we would borrow some books for personal reading and then return them when done."
Makoto looked around some more as they walked around the room used for keeping books and through the lines of bookshelves. He could tell the library was used more than the cafeteria. "I can see that."
"Yup!" The blonde chirped. "And of all of us, Ayane-chan is the one who comes here often. She has been making use of it ever since she applied to this school."
Somehow he could picture that. The elf girl had an impression of a studious individual, and her glasses only reinforced that.
"Oh!" Nonomi suddenly exclaimed, causing him to look at her as they stopped. "That reminds me; Shiroko-chan told me that you were once a student, right?"
He tilted his head slightly before nodding.
"Then, compared to your school's library, what do you think of this?"
Makoto closed his eyes, thinking back to the library back at his school. "There's nothing significantly impressive about my school's library, but I think this one has wider space…" He looked down at the floor which had specks of sand. "But less tidy."
Nonomi let out a nervous laugh when she saw where he was looking. "Sorry about that. While we do sweep the sands away on occasion, there will always be new ones replacing them. Either they somehow manage to enter themselves or they come from the pads of our shoes when we walk around. It can't be helped, we're in the desert after all."
He supposed it really couldn't be helped. His shoes were polluted by Abydos' sand for every step he took outside and he got rid of it at every chance he had—mostly when he was in an indoor environment like this school—but even doing so didn't completely remove all of it and some of the particles left a mark around the indoor floors. Even the cafeteria earlier had them around, and it must be the same for all—or at least most of—the school's parts.
Nonomi's emerald eyes then went on him. "Can I ask you something else if you don't mind?"
Makoto nodded, not minding at all.
"The clothes you're wearing… it's a school uniform, right? I don't claim to know all the many schools in Kivotos, but I've never seen such a design like that."
"It is," He answered. "Though Shiba-san said my uniform is similar to another school here."
"Similar…? Ah! I think he was referring to Millennium Science School, and I can see why." Nonomi said. Seeing his confused expression, she explained, "Just as the name implies, Millennium is one of the three huge influential academies in Kivotos that specializes in high technology and science. It's the newest to join with the likes of Trinity and Gehenna—the other influential academies—and is famous for its amazing inventions and scientific research. Basically, Millennium is a home for aspiring students who test their skills in the technological department."
The way she talked of this Millennium school was like when someone was talking about his school. Both were popular schools with their own achievements, but whereas his school was general in its aim of study, Millennium was specific and revolved around technology and science as its main focus.
He would like to see this science school when he had the chance.
"Their uniform design can be varied, usually to suit their style and to differentiate which specific study and role you belong to, but their motif is always inclined to how scientists garb themselves. With what you wear, it is no surprise people would mistake you as a Millennium student."
"...But Izayoi, I look far from a scientist."
Nonomi giggled at his remark, then scrutinized his clothes. "Although, if you ask me, your uniform looked like something you'd wear for office affairs."
"Really?"
"Mmhm! I'm sure I would have mistaken you as an employee if I had seen you in any office. Oh, actually, if I remember correctly, Millennium's student council wears less like a scientist and more like an office employee, so maybe that's where the mistake comes from; Seminar is fairly recognizable, after all."
Did his uniform really look like that? Because he never thought of that when he saw the student uniforms of his school. Maybe the uniforms for boys, but still. Or maybe it's just him styling his own uniform like office clothes without him realizing—even though all he did was not button his blazer—and it didn't help that the color scheme was black-and-white.
He also filed away this student council Nonomi had mentioned for later when he had time to learn about Millennium. Seminar, was it? What a… dictionary name.
"That's beside the point however," she continued. "What I'm asking is, why do you still wear that?"
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, if you're no longer a student, you don't need to wear your student uniform, right?" Nonomi then noticed her question might offend him, so she waved her hands in a bit of panic. "N-Not that wearing it is not okay, I'm just saying if you have to remain wearing that anymore." She gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry, you don't have to answer if you don't want to…"
"No, it's fine." He shook his head. "To answer your question… it's a complicated story, but I just didn't have the opportunity to change."
"Eh? What do you mean? Are you saying you were so busy you didn't have enough time to change?"
"...It's complicated, like I said."
"Oh…" Nonomi wanted to ask more about it but realized they had stopped the touring, so she dropped it to not make him uncomfortable. Before she continued with the tour, she asked one more, "What's the name of your school?"
She saw him looking down at the red and black-and-white checkered circle logo on his blazer before showing it to her. "Gekkoukan High School."
"Gek…koukan." Nonomi tested the name. It sounded and pronounced similarly to Hyakkiyako and somehow had its appeal of uniqueness. Perhaps he came from that district, but it was easily known that he was an outsider.
"Should we continue with the tour?" She was brought back by Makoto's voice who watched her with slight amusement.
"Ah, yes!" Nonomi quickly regained her bearing. "Let's not waste any more time, there is still more I want to show you before we go to the clubroom." She resumed walking to the west of the library until another door was in sight. "This leads to the main building. Let's go!"
For the rest of the hour, Nonomi led Makoto around the school and showed him to many places.
After the library, as they traversed through hallways, she pointed him to the classrooms and some other rooms like the janitor room in the main school building. She also told him the place was kept clean since this was where the current students mainly went about and where the Foreclosure Task Force operated.
Empty.
Next, they went to a different building which was directly annexed to the left side of the main building. Inside it contained several rooms for extracurricular activities, such as the music and science rooms. Nonomi added jokingly that the science in Abydos would never come close to what Millennium has.
Empty.
Exiting from the annex building, they next walked to the nearest place which was the gym building. This building served not only as an auditorium as well as a wide space for indoor sports but also as a storage area for exercise equipment and unused materials. This was where Shiroko—the girl with wolf ears, as he now knew—visited frequently as the wolf girl loved doing workouts.
Empty.
Outside and beside the gym was the school's swimming pool. When they stood on the edge of it, Makoto peered down. The floor was dried up and had cracks, not to mention the lack of use of the pool allowed it to be covered in sand.
Empty… of water.
After that, they backtracked their way before moving to what Nonomi said was the old schoolhouse. It was small compared to the other buildings he'd seen in the last minutes and was originally a place used as a rest area for the various clubs. Now however, it was closed and the door was barred with wooden planks, so they couldn't check inside.
Empty… because no one was in there, obviously.
And now, they were standing outside at the entrance of the school, overseeing the Abydos' playing field.
"And that concludes the Abydos grand school tour, led by your rising star Izayoi Nonomi!"
She struck a pose in front of the boy, seemingly proud of doing it. Makoto however just stared at her, making her self-conscious and embarrassed as she undoed the pose, a faint pink hue on her face.
"Ahaha…" Nonomi laughed awkwardly. "Sorry, that must've been weird to you."
He tilted his head. "No, you were cute when you did that."
The pink hue on her face became almost solid at his word. "O-Oh, thank you." She lightly coughed, dispersing whatever feeling she had. "Anyway, I hope this tour has granted you a good experience. Do you feel impressed by our school now, Makoto-san?"
Impressed as in 'Wow!' and giving off awed expressions? Not really. Not even Gekkoukan—which was more superb than Abydos in his opinion now that he'd seen all—could make him feel astounded outwardly; partly due to his apathy. But impressed as in 'The school is totally not bad'?
"Yes, I did." He nodded to her. "Thank you for showing your school, Izayoi."
Nonomi waved her hand. "It was nothing. I was simply doing this because I wanted to. Also, no need to address me formally; you're older than me. Call me Nonomi, okay?"
"...Understood, Nonomi."
Her smile couldn't be any more brighter or he would think he was standing near a bright star that could potentially blind him if he didn't shield his eyes with his arm. Then she turned and opened the school entrance where they just came. "All that's left is the clubroom where the other girls are. Let's head back inside."
She entered the school building. Makoto followed her in, but not before turning his head to look back at the field once more. A field buried in the sand.
Including all the areas he was shown, he concluded this entire school tour with one word.
Empty.
Foreclosure Task Force Club Room
The rest of the club members heard the door opening, and Nonomi and Makoto entered the clubroom.
"I'm back!" Nonomi greeted cheerfully.
"Oh, you're here!" Ayane said as Makoto closed the door. "I assume you've done giving him a whole tour of our school, Nonomi-senpai?"
"Yup!" Nonomi noticed the assorted bread and some onigiris—alias rice balls—on the table. "Ooo, are those our breakfasts?"
"They are, I visited the convenience store before coming here to buy bread for us." Serika replied.
"And onigiri from me." Shiroko added.
"Wonderful!" Nonomi exclaimed, then walked towards one of the chairs before sitting down.
Makoto in the meantime let his eyes wander around the room of the only active club in Abydos.
The clubroom wasn't as wide as some of the rooms in the school but it was quite spacious enough for maybe ten or so people to fit in here. A table was in the middle with six seats around it—two on each length and one on each width—and two desks facing against the windows where the natural lights came from. Two bookshelves with sliding glass doors were at the side of the room and a whiteboard was in the front of the table. Additionally, hanging on the wall was a frame of what he's certain was the logo of Abydos… and he also saw guns in the room which he still tried to wrap his head around the fact that bringing real weapons into the school—much less in the public—so casually was not illegal.
As for the occupants, aside from himself, the club members were doing their own things. He saw Shiroko maintaining her white rifle with a cloth in her seat, Serika writing something in her notebook as she sat beside the wolf girl, Ayane playing with her laptop in her own seat near the window, and Nonomi happily eating her food. Beside the blonde was Hoshino… who had her head touching against the top of the table, likely sleeping.
Shiroko looked up from her rifle when she realized the blue-haired boy hadn't sat yet. "We have some food for you too. You haven't eaten anything, right?"
"Yes, yes, come sit with us!" Nonomi said after swallowing her food.
Sensing that as an invitation, Makoto obeyed, "If you'd have me."
Taking the only unoccupied seat that was facing the elf, he sat. He was a bit hesitant to take the food on the table, but under the urging stare of the Abydos' second years, he eventually picked up a tuna onigiri and a melon bread.
He tried the melon bread first because he felt a longing feeling when seeing it; Gekkoukan sold melon bread commonly and he admittedly liked them. The longing feeling was slowly gone after each bite.
He was aware of the small talk between the girls as he ate, like the blonde asking if they had their share of breakfast, to which they responded with a varying of yes, but overall, they just enjoyed the comfortable silence until the third year stirred up, her halo manifesting.
Makoto blinked. He didn't realize her halo was not there until she awoke.
"Ahhh-haaaa…" Raising her head up, Hoshino yawned as she stared blearily around. "Uhee~ how long have I been asleep?"
"Less than an hour, senpai. Nonomi-senpai had finished guiding our guest a moment ago." Ayane informed her. On the other side, Makoto heard Serika muttering in a barely audible voice, something about always sleeping during important moments.
Hoshino lazily turned her head to her left side where the blonde was sitting. "Welcome back, Nonomi-chan. I hope you didn't have any problems with the tour?"
Nonomi shook her head. "Nope, everything went fine, and he even felt impressed by our school after that!"
"Ehh, really?" Hoshino then turned to the boy.
Makoto must've imagined it, but the way her blue-and-orange heterochromia eyes fell on him… it was like she was analyzing him. He wasn't disturbed in the slightest, but it made him a bit wary.
Still, he nodded as a confirmation to Nonomi's words since he was still munching his bread before the pink-haired girl removed her gaze from him with her lips curled upward, but he still felt that her attention remained on him.
Time passed until Makoto and Nonomi had finished eating. Sometimes within that time, Shiroko and Serika were done with their own task and their focus now was on everyone in the clubroom, mostly on him.
Somehow, the mood became fully awkward when it was not before. Maybe because they weren't sure how to approach the next step as he waited for them to start.
"So, Yuki Makoto, was it?" Hoshino began first. "I know I've said it, but I hope my kouhai has given you a full experience of the tour."
"She has." He replied while the blonde visibly beamed at that.
"I see, that's a relief." The third year continued. "Then, what do you think of Abydos High School?"
What do I think of this school…?
Empty was the first word he was about to roll out in his mouth before he clamped it close. No, even though such an answer wasn't wrong due to a lack of students, saying it in front of them would likely hurt them. Besides, it wasn't as if the school was completely isolated from the sense of liveliness since these girls attended here.
"It was… okay." He settled on that instead.
"Okay? That's all?" Hoshino said. "I mean, I'm aware our school isn't that great compared to some other schools, but I had thought you would say more than just okay; Nonomi-chan said you were impressed before."
"Sorry, I don't mean it as a bad thing." He shook his head. "It's just… on the whole, your school is not that very different from the ones back where I'm from."
Structure and design-wise, the school was similarly the same as the typical schools in Japan. It was as if you put a Japanese school somewhere in the Middle East desert region; which was what Abydos High School exactly is.
"Is that so…" The pink-haired girl muttered.
"Oh, oh, am I correct to assume that Gekkoukan is also like Abydos then?" Nonomi asked him.
"Gekkoukan?" Ayane was confused, equally shared by Shiroko and Serika.
"My previous school." Makoto supplied. "If we're talking about the interior, then I suppose so."
"You… suppose?" Serika asked incredulously.
"I suppose." He repeated.
For some reason, the catgirl furrowed her brows. "You could've just said yes or no rather than that."
"Yes or no."
Her eyebrow twitched. "Now you're just being annoyingly funny! Which is not funny at all!"
The others couldn't help but let out a small smile at this.
"Where was I?" Makoto continued, looking back at everyone while Serika huffed. "Right. I'm not saying this school is bad by any means, but Gekkoukan feels grander." He's not exaggerating for saying that, because it's a private school owned by a multinational conglomerate company, which meant the bar was somewhat high in pretty much every aspect. He didn't know if there would be any that could rival it, at least at the moment.
"Grander? As grand as the big three academies?" Shiroko questioned.
"...Nonomi has told me a little about them. However, I haven't seen them myself so I can't do a comparison yet." He told her. "One thing that differentiates the two is, while Abydos is located in the desert, Gekkoukan is located on a man-made island surrounded by sea."
"Man-made island? Are you saying your school is on an island completely made by human hands?" Ayane asked, curious.
At his nod, the girls became intrigued. To their knowledge, Kivotos didn't have anything like what he just said. The one huge accomplishment in history that the city had allegedly built was the massive Sanctum Tower, but never anything like creating a whole island right on the sea.
"Well," Hoshino spoke first after digesting his words. "Thank you for your honest answer, Makoto-san. Hearing your thoughts on our school pleases Oji-san's old heart, even if it's not much."
"She likes to call herself an old timer." Shiroko answered when seeing Makoto's confusion at Hoshino's way of referring to herself.
"And your school sounds wonderful!" Nonomi added gleefully. "I wish I could see what it is like… Oh, do you have a picture of it?"
Unfortunately, Makoto shook his head. He indeed had some pictures of his school in his cell phone, but it wasn't brought with him as he only had his MP3 player—which was hanging around his neck—and his Evoker in his possession. He's phoneless now.
"Well then…" Hoshino put her hand on her mouth as she yawned a bit. "I think it's best we move on to the real reason why you're here, don't you think? Afraid we may forget if we keep delaying it." She turned to the elf. "Ayane-chan, you tell him."
"E-Eh? I can but why?"
"Because I haven't finished my nap time~ so I'll leave it to you as I lay my head down…"
Just as she was about to put her head on the table again, Makoto saw a case hurling and hit her forehead, causing her to fall down from her seat with a thud.
From the corner of his eyes, it was the catgirl who did that, standing up and hand stretching out.
"Hoshino-senpai! You've had enough sleep already so don't just dump all the talk to Ayane-chan! It was your idea of bringing him here!"
…He could've sworn he heard Serika hissing at the pink-haired girl, or were his ears fooling him?
"Nn, the least you can do is pay attention and look presentable in front of him, but letting Ayane do it herself means you are neglecting your duty as a senior looking over their junior." Shiroko supported the catgirl.
Hoshino climbed up from her position. "Yeesh, you're all being mean to me. Throwing an object towards an elder is a high offense, you know~?"
"Don't make that excuse! You're not even that old!" yelled Serika.
Nonomi laughed while covering her mouth with her hand. Ayane sighed before turning to Makoto. "Sorry you had to witness that."
He shook his head to the elf. "It's fine."
In his eyes, these five were really interesting. They were obviously diverse in many senses, be it their nature or their unique halos. And watching them banter like this… it reminded him of his time with SEES, where everyone was different yet getting along with each other.
The thought made him smile, unseen by the Foreclosure girls.
When everything calmed down, all attention was on him.
"Let's begin with this," Ayane started. "Makoto-san, I'd like us to be the first to welcome you to Kivotos. And as the… non-official acting student council of this school, we welcome you to Abydos."
Makoto raised an eyebrow at the title, but he nodded in thankfulness.
"Shiroko-senpai might've told you on your way here, but we're inviting you here in regard to your status as an outsider." The elf continued. "Are you aware of how Kivotos' ruling works?"
His answer was a shake of his head. Master Shiba had told him about the city, but it wasn't much; only the general gist of it like it's a city of academies and its apparent people who lived here.
"I see, then let me explain," Ayane continued, "Kivotos is a huge city composed of various schools and the balance of each school is maintained by…"
Ayane proceeded to explain the administration of Kivotos to him.
From what he could gather through her explanation, the academy city was managed by a central administrative body called the General Student Council, or GSC for short. GSC handled all cases regarding the city—especially the matters of law and its implementation—and had control over the tall structure named Sanctum Tower in the heart of the city, as the tower supposedly held an authoritative power to govern the city.
However, although GSC presided over the entire land of Kivotos and subsequently managed the whole academies, there's a policy that problems within each district were left to be handled autonomously by each school with its own set of rules. One easy example was Abydos High School, which had the right to manage the Abydos district from incidents that dared to threaten the school, the district, and the people who lived in it.
Makoto was silent when the elf finished explaining.
"Do you have any questions so far?" Ayane asked.
"No, not at the moment." Makoto answered.
"...Alright," the elf conceded. It was hard for her to read him with his unchanging face, so she couldn't tell what he was thinking. "Now we reach the original point of this meeting. To recap, you were found unconscious by one of our club members—that is Serika-chan—and brought to the owner of Shiba Seki Ramen. When Serika-chan told the rest of us of the situation, we sent Shiroko-senpai for you to be brought over here."
"Sunaookami said it's to determine me." Makoto said.
"Uh, yes, that's correct." Ayane took a short glance towards the wolf girl whose face could be compared to the boy's face before refocusing back on him. "Please understand, in our eyes, you're someone not from Abydos. Whether you're from another school in Kivotos or from outside of Kivotos, we have the demand to know why you're in our territory. Even after your help yesterday, you're still a suspicious person."
Ayane really, genuinely thought he was not a bad guy, and it was shown when he helped them fight back the Kata-Kata Helmet Gang. But protocol was protocol, and she must do her part to question his presence here.
"I see. I understand." Makoto remained nonplussed; as in, totally unfazed for being called suspicious.
"What we'd like to ask you is, first, what exactly happened to you to end up in our district? And second, what are your intentions here?"
As soon as Ayane said that, the girls were awaiting his response. Those two questions were what they had been wanting to know.
As for Makoto, he went pensive. After he got another day's rest in this school, he had now managed to remember clearly prior to arriving in this world, so he was relieved there was no case of amnesia for him. However, telling them he came from another world—much less the realm of collective unconsciousness—would make them look at him like he had lost a head. They might have accepted that he was from outside Kivotos since that was technically true, but they might not believe him if he narrowed down exactly where to them.
…Well, he had already mentioned Gekkoukan and the man-made island which was Tatsumi Port Island, so if anybody in this club tried to search for them, they would find no results as both places didn't exist in this world, and it would kind of give away his real origin.
As for his intention…
"Makoto-san?" Nonomi asked when his pensiveness became long. "Are you alright? You were quiet for a while now."
That shook him out of his inner thoughts and brought his attention back to the girls. "Sorry, I was lost in thoughts." He reassured them.
"Oh, okay." Nonomi's face was no longer worried.
He should probably begin answering while they were still waiting for him.
"...I don't actually know."
"Wha?" Ayane's confusion was shared by her friends. Whatever answer he was giving, it was obviously not that, given that they'd guessed he had been quiet earlier to think hard of the questions. "Do… do you mean you don't know what happened to you or…?"
"I don't know why I was in your district when you found me." Makoto elaborated. It wasn't a lie, he didn't know why he appeared in Abydos of all places. "What happened to me and why I was there… I think it had something to do with how I was sent here."
"You were sent here? Then you know how you arrived here, right?"
"...I don't know either."
"Argh!" Seemed like Serika was fed up with his uncertainty as she stood up and glared at him. "I'm beginning to think you're lying to us! Don't even know anything before you were on that road? You're clearly hiding something!"
"...I'm not."
"Then tell us what you know! What about your intentions?!"
"Serika, sit back, you're scaring him." Hoshino spoke up to the catgirl, who was now looking at the third-year for being reprimanded.
Serika grumbled before sitting again. Contrary to what Hoshino said, aside from slightly wide eyes, Makoto hadn't appeared scared when Serika was yelling at him.
"Sorry about her, please don't take it too hard." Shiroko told him.
He shook his head, telling her that he wasn't offended.
"Anyway," Hoshino said, staring at him. "I do agree with Serika-chan on one point, though. You haven't told us the reason why you're here; if not in Abydos, then in the city of Kivotos. More importantly, you said you were sent here, meaning someone was responsible for sending you here." Her stare became intent. "Am I wrong?"
…She's sharp.
"Yes, I was sent here by… a friend of mine." Makoto nodded. "Although I do not know how she sent me and why I ended up in Abydos, I was given a reason by her to be in Kivotos."
"And that reason is…?" Hoshino edged him.
He took a breath, trying to remember what a certain attendant last said to him. If he was not mistaken, it was…
"'Continue with your school life.'"
…There was no sound for a brief moment after he spoke those five words to the five girls in the clubroom.
"Or something like that." He added as a finisher.
The girls sweatdropped and would've face-faulted together if this was a comedy anime. Was he uncertain of why he was here too?
"...Makoto-san, does that mean… you are here to study at a school in Kivotos? To finish your one remaining year?" Nonomi asked, head tilting a bit.
"I think so." Makoto replied.
"...Huh, and here I thought it would be something ugly." Serika commented. "Also, can I just say that this friend of yours sounds like she doesn't care for you? What kind of friend would leave you in the middle of a dead road?"
"It wasn't her fault, and I don't blame her." He defended. He firmly believed whatever method that was used to send him here, he trusted his friend-slash-attendant was not in control of which part of Kivotos he'd landed up.
"W-Well…" Ayane picked up, adjusting her red glasses. "I believe that answers his case. His appearance in our territory is purely accidental, and despite the reason given to him, he's truly clueless about Kivotos until now. U-Um, I mean no offense, Makoto-san."
"And he helped us yesterday, remember? That alone dispels any notion of him being a bad person! " Nonomi added.
Seeing that there were no objections, Hoshino said, "Well, guess that's it then. After hearing your reason, it is with absolute credibility from all of us that you're not here to cause bad deeds in our district, on part with the city itself. For this decision, as the president of the Foreclosure Task Force, I hereby declare you are not guilty."
…Makoto stared at the pink-haired girl blankly. "I didn't know this was a court."
"It's not, I was just feeling like saying it." She said lightly, a sheepish smile on her.
"I see."
He recalled the explanation from Ayane before. How this school was independent like any other and it was their job to know every event that transpired in the school and its surroundings. The reason he was taken to this school was they suspected him as an unknown who trespassed in their territory, unintentionally or not.
He hoped they were fully free from worry about him now that they knew his reason in this academy city.
A bestowed reason for the opportunity to live his life again.
"Okay," Ayane spoke up. "With that cleared up, do you have any questions? Since it's apparent you're new to this city, maybe you have some questions regarding Kivotos apart from what I've told you."
Well… there was one thing he was curious to know about, but it was not about Kivotos. Rather, it's about…
"What does this club do?"
Ayane blinked. "Our club? We haven't told you about us, have we?"
As he shook his head, the elf turned to Hoshino. The third-year seemed to understand and made a gesture that it was fine. Turning to the other members, they were also fine with telling him, though the catgirl's face was of begrudging.
Turning back to Makoto, she said, "I guess I can tell you more about ourselves. Since you already know our names, I'll skip that and move to explaining what our club is and our roles." Ayane adjusted her glasses again. "We are the Abydos Foreclosure Task Force, the one and only school club in the desert district where all the students—the five of us—are members. The purpose of the club is… we work to make Abydos better, back to when it was at its glory."
"When it was at its glory?"
"You've seen the state of this school, right? When we toured around." Nonomi spoke up, a hint of sorrow in her voice. "Before us, Abydos had a lot of students studying here and was on a par with the other great academies. Then the huge sandstorm happened, expanding the desert, and with the storm kept coming and hitting the region, the desertification became worse and was gradually caking the areas and buildings to the point it was too much to be taken care of, causing everyone but us to either transfer to different schools or leave the town once dropping out."
Makoto let his eyes wander past the clubroom's window. He knew what desertification was from a natural science book, but even though this was the first time he'd ever been in the desert, he knew the state of what Abydos was experiencing was perhaps much worse than he could imagine. He'd seen the devastation of this district caused by the excessive sands.
"How are you going to bring the school to what it was before?" He asked.
"Currently, the school is on the verge of closure, and we're preventing it by repa–"
"Stop!" Serika interrupted. "Ayane-chan, you can't possibly tell him that! He doesn't need to know more than our club's goal!"
Ayane was left stuck by what her classmate said. Thankfully, Hoshino covered her up by saying, "Why not, Serika-chan? It's not like what we do is a secret. Not like we're doing wrongful stuff, even."
"That doesn't mean we should reveal everything we do to everyone as we please! Besides, he's an outsider and not part of the task force; why would we allow him the liberty to poke into our affairs?"
"Serika, you don't need to worry about that. I trust him to not leak it for evil purposes. Are you still doubtful of his character?"
"That's not the point, Shiroko-senpai! He's not one of us. There's no need for him to know what we're dealing with."
Makoto just watched on in confusion, having no idea what they were referring to. Something personal to the club, perhaps?
"...I'm sorry, Makoto-san, but until we can trust you enough with our profound matters, you only need to know what we generally do today." Hoshino said, sighing.
"No, it's alright." He reassured them. He was aware he was a stranger here, so it was not his place to know anything deep about what they did.
"...Then, I'll continue," Ayane took up. "I myself am the secretary. I'm in charge of keeping track of the task force's agendas."
"I'm the president, as you know." Hoshino said, lazily waving her hand.
"I take the role of treasurer." Serika crossed her arms.
"And I'm…" Shiroko paused. "The field leader, I think."
Field leader? She was appointed to a role he can relate to? That somehow didn't surprise him. Was it because they had the same disposition?
"As for me," Nonomi took her last turn, "I don't actually have an important role like the others. That makes me just a member of the club."
"You're our emotional support for us. That's as important as any other role." Hoshino teased, a wry smile plastered on her face.
"Mou, it's not a real role. And if you all didn't have extreme personalities then I wouldn't be in that kind of position." The blonde pouted, though it didn't look like she minded being one.
"Like you're not without an extreme personality either." The pink-haired girl chuckled before turning to Makoto. "There you have it. Satisfied about us now?"
He nodded. So the Foreclosure Task Force was a group of five people whose task was to save Abydos from its current state, and each of them played a part assigned to them, doing what they do best. He understood that much.
Once again, he was reminded of SEES. Though obviously, this group was nothing like the elite group he was in, and both groups had entirely different objectives they had to accomplish. That didn't mean the task of these girls was less arduous, however.
"You're not going to ask?"
"Hm?" Makoto looked at Serika who suddenly spoke up.
"You're not going to ask why we're still in this school? Why we're not moving out like the other students?"
"Serika-chan…" Ayane frowned, noticing what she was implying.
Makoto merely stared at her. "Should I?"
"Well, no, but…" The catgirl stopped herself before sighing. "No, never mind, forget I asked anything–"
"You love this school, don't you?"
"Huh?" Serika looked at him, only to find he was facing the front yet his eyes were addressing all of them.
"I won't pretend to know how long this has been affecting your land, but it must be daunting that disasters on an unimaginable scale harshly hit this land constantly, leaving behind many consequences. Such an occurrence would surely drive everybody to feel demoralized, give up, and abandon the desert altogether; students are no exception. No one would get reproached for thinking that." He told them. "Yet, you all remain here. You could have joined with the rest of your colleagues in quitting school to avoid making efforts against the phenomena's remains anytime. Instead, you chose to stay. You understand better than anyone the difficulty of facing them, but even so, you stand resolutely, because Abydos is a place you've lived for so long. A place you call home."
He then gave them a small smile.
"That speaks of your resolve. One I am wholeheartedly proud of."
The Abydos students were collectively taken aback by his speech. They have gotten so used to it being called impossible by onlookers that for someone to actually praise it was... nothing short of surprising.
It was… something they didn't know they needed to hear.
"B-Back to the topic of clubs," Serika quickly voiced, purposely changing the topic. "There's something I've been meaning to ask."
Makoto looked at her. "What is it?"
"When I found you, I saw a red armband on you." Serika said to him, but her eyes were on his left arm. "I don't see it right now. Where is it?"
"An armband?" Shiroko asked as she looked at him.
Rather than telling them, he took out his SEES armband from one of his pants' pockets and showed it to the girls. He'd been storing the armband when he changed back into his Gekkoukan uniform back in Shiba Seki Ramen since there was no reason to put it on at all times.
"Etto, it has four letters." Ayane fixed her glasses as her eyes narrowed to read the inscribed letters on the armband. "It says S dot E dot E dot S. What does it mean, Makoto-san?"
…Was saying the dots really necessary? Anyway, he supposed it wouldn't hurt to tell them about it, as a repayment for telling their club to him.
"SEES is the abbreviation of Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad. I was a part of it." Makoto informed them.
"Wow! So you were a member of a school club?" Nonomi asked.
"Something like that." It was technically not wrong; SEES was listed as an after-school club in Gekkoukan.
"A squad? Then were you in a military group or something?" Hoshino questioned, strangely interested.
"No, it's not a military group. It's…" He paused a bit. "It's more of an expedition group."
"Expedition? So your club is an exploration type? The one that goes to seek some kind of treasures or maybe diving into old ruins?" She said jokingly.
"...Yes."
Hoshino noticed he wasn't trying to rectify her on his club, so she moved on, "And what about the execution part?"
"...It most likely means taking action, not actual execution." He never questioned it, but he had a strong feeling it was Mitsuru who chose the peculiar word.
"What's the purpose of your club?" Shiroko chimed in. In her opinion, the name of his club sounded cool. She wondered what this club he was a part of did to have such an intriguing name.
Oddly, Makoto was quiet, as if contemplating whether he should tell them or not. Then, he sighed.
"To eliminate dark monsters."
…Huh? What?
That was the initial thought of the Foreclosure girls when they heard that statement from Makoto as they looked at him in disbelief.
"I– Hold on," Serika decided to speak after that. "Are you saying… your place has actual honest-to-God monsters? Like, very real?"
He flatly stared at her. "Yes."
Serika just looked at him a bit longer, then she sighed too. "I don't know anymore whether to take you seriously or not. First your school, then your arrival here, now this…"
Makoto didn't respond to that.
"Um," Shiroko suddenly spoke up. "These monsters… what are they?"
How to explain Shadows to them without going into depth and in a way they could understand…
"Where I'm from, there were monsters that appeared every midnight and preyed on humans who… didn't hide themselves from them. Those were what the SEES fought to eliminate."
"Wow…" Nonomi mouthed. To her, it sounded like this SEES existed to protect people from baddies far from your run-of-the-mill thugs.
"...You said your club was an expedition group. Why does it sound like it's more of a combat group than anything?" Serika said dubiously.
"It is, just that we were trained to fight." Makoto answered. "Is it really surprising? Your club doesn't sound like a combat group either, but you're all armed with guns and fight like soldiers."
"That's different." Placing her elbow on the table and her head resting on her knuckle, Hoshino said, "In Kivotos, disputes are commonly settled with gunshots. You won't see people—mainly students—walking around the city not carrying guns on their backs. Heck, you'd see us naked more than us not carrying our guns."
"Senpai?! That last part's unnecessary!" Serika and the other girls blushed at the naked part.
"What? I'm right, aren't I?" The pink-haired girl wore a grin, finding their blushes amusing and adorable.
Ayane turned to Makoto, though her red face—and her elf ears, he noted—hadn't yet receded. "I imagine your place handles disputes differently and more peacefully, but peace is often hard to hold here before it gets ruined. It's unfortunate, but that's how it is."
…He wanted to complain about why he got sent to a world where gun battles were commonplace, but that would be pointless. He'd have to accept it just like he always did.
"I see." He said before he turned to Shiroko. "Anyway, that's all I can tell you about your question."
"Mhm," Shiroko hummed. Then she had another thing she wanted to ask; something she had been keeping for a while. "Can I ask something else?"
He nodded, allowing the wolf girl to continue.
"When you helped us yesterday… when you helped me. I want to know what you did that time." Shiroko said, her curiosity finally leaking out. "That ability of yours."
It didn't take long for Makoto to understand what she meant.
"Oh, I want to know too! Shiroko-chan told us you attacked the Helmet Gang by summoning a tall being and it unleashed fires everywhere!" Nonomi exclaimed.
By now, all the girls couldn't barely restrain their curiosity. He was someone who looked relatively ordinary and could be passed as an average citizen. Not to mention, his lack of halo made him seemingly weak compared to the haloed students in Kivotos.
So imagine their surprise when they heard his feat from Shiroko's report of the event. Only three of them hadn't seen it completely so far, but even just hearing his ability that's akin to magic was totally unbelievable and out of the ordinary in this city.
Meanwhile, Makoto let out a sigh under their curious eyes before taking out the Evoker from its holster and presenting it to them.
"Oh, is that your gun?" Nonomi asked. "Hmm… that model, I feel like I've seen that somewhere before…"
"It's a Ruger pistol from the looks of it. The model's design is supposed to be the toughest and it's built for tough conditions, last I read." Hoshino provided, and then she extended her hand. "May I see it?"
Makoto gave it to her. Hoshino inspected the silver gun in her hand.
In her eyes, it was a good-looking gun, but it didn't look like it was customized based on the user's liking. The only thing worth noting above everything else about it was the capital letters of his club engraved on one side of the gun, similar to his armband. It's also light and of a smaller size than Ayane's pistol and her own backup pistol. When she aimed briefly with it, she knew instantly it wouldn't be of any help during a gunfight.
She rotated it for a good appraisal then checked under it. "I don't feel any cartridges inside." She commented, seeing no hole to slot a magazine.
Makoto shook his head. "It was never built as a real gun. It's an artifact."
She stared at him. "According to my kouhais, you use this 'artifact' to manifest your power…" She dragged out a bit. "By shooting yourself."
The others couldn't believe their ears too. When Shiroko told them about it yesterday, they thought she was speaking nonsense, but they knew the wolf girl wasn't the type to make up reports and she was so convinced when reporting it. This was supported by Ayane who had also seen what the wolf girl saw through her drone.
No matter how much they heard it, what he did was very much unheard of in Kivotos.
"Yes, that's how I manifest my power." He answered. He could guess what they were thinking. To people who weren't familiar with the SEES' method of summoning a Persona, they would see this action as nothing more than a suicidal attempt. And likely got a heart attack too.
Example was Shiroko's reaction when she saw his method up close yesterday.
"Um…" Speaking of her, "I want to see it." When he turned to her, she added, "Can't you?"
Makoto was silent, then he turned to the other girls. "What about you all?"
Ayane gave her answer first. "If you're okay with it. I won't deny I am also curious."
"Me too! I'm excited to see the ability Shiroko-chan told us about! " Nonomi said happily.
"W-Well… I suppose I am a little curious about it…" Serika admitted.
"Well, if my younglings are on board, then Oji-san will follow as well." Hoshino gave her last consent.
Makoto saw the girls were in agreement. He guessed a demonstration wouldn't hurt.
He lent his hand out to Hoshino to get his Evoker back, to which she complied. Once the Evoker was in his hand, he brought it to his right temple.
As soon as he did that, the girls but Shiroko had the sudden impulse to stop him from doing it out of fear but immediately stopped themselves, remembering he had done this before and the gun's empty of bullets.
That didn't mean watching him willingly point his gun to his head made them less apprehensive.
They watched as Makoto's face remained calm even when the barrel of his gun was touching the side of his head.
"Persona."
Triggering the gun, a sound of shattering glass was heard in the clubroom and shards of glass were flowing out from the other side of his head.
A form slowly grew from his side until its shape became clear. When the process was complete, a short snowman-like creature wearing blue jester attire appeared in the clubroom.
"Hee-ho!" It greeted as it momentarily floated before landing on the floor.
Lowering his Evoker, Makoto saw the girls' mouths go agape. Shock, awe, and befuddlement were imprinted on their faces as they stared at the being who had appeared. Well, he had expected these reactions honestly.
"Oh my gosh! He's so cute!"
…But that.
Nonomi was the first to react, and her squeal caused the other girls to be brought back to their senses.
"Hey, Makoto-san, is it safe to hug him?" The blonde asked.
He looked at his Persona who showed nothing against it. He looked back at the blonde. "Go ahead."
"Wait, Nonomi-senpai, don't you think it's dangerous to–"
Serika's warning fell on deaf ears the moment Nonomi was within distance and squeezed the snow creature tightly to her chest.
"...get close to it." The catgirl finished lamely.
By now, the other girls had inched closer to the Persona. Their curiosity and wonderment couldn't be more palpable.
"Ooh, his body feels cold to hug. Really nice when under hot weather." Nonomi commented before turning her head to Hoshino. "Hoshino-senpai, you should try hugging him."
Hoshino stared at the snowman-like. She noticed that he's almost the same height as her. "Well, sure." After the blonde removed the hug, she hugged him, immediately getting the chilly sensation from him. "Woah, you're right. And he's super comfy, like hugging a big doll."
"Yup," Nonomi agreed, but then remembered something as she turned to Makoto. "Does he have a name?"
He nodded. "Jack Frost."
Ayane scrutinized. "I've never seen anything like him. What's he supposed to be?"
"A snow fairy."
"He's a fairy?! Amazing…"
Shiroko watched the fairy named Jack Frost still being hugged by her senpai who seemed to be comfortable. "That's not what I saw yesterday." She said to Makoto.
He turned to her. "If I summon Orpheus here, his height and body will likely be cramped in the room."
"Ah. Make sense." Shiroko acknowledged. "Then, you can summon different beings?"
"I can."
"...Do you think you can sho–?"
"Ne, ne, Makoto-san, what can he do? Can he do magic?" Nonomi asked, interrupting the wolf girl.
"He can conjure ice magic." He replied, not realizing the small pout on the wolf girl.
Hoshino removed herself from the fairy once she had enough hugging. "Heee, that's cool." She chuckled. "Get it? Because ice is cool."
"Yeah, yeah, we get it." Serika rolled her eyes at the pun.
Nonomi crouched down to the same level as Jack Frost. "Nee, can you make ice? Can you show me?"
"I don't think it's a good idea." Makoto answered for the snow fairy.
"Why not?"
"It may cause the room to freeze and accidentally be destroye…" He trailed off when Jack Frost conveyed a mental message to him. "...Actually, I think it's okay."
That seemed to make the blonde elated and the others curious. Waiting in anticipation, they watched closely as the snow fairy held his palms up.
At first, they could see a small chunk of ice materializing above his palms, but gradually it grew as big as his head and formed a pointy tip at each end of the ice.
Hovering above Jack Frost's palms was now an icicle.
By now, the girls were awestruck and gaping in amazement. Why wouldn't they? They had just witnessed a real magic in front of them, something not found in this city full of gunfire wars.
Shiroko reached out her hand to touch the ice, but when it was two inches away, the ice suddenly broke and vanished.
"I wouldn't recommend touching ice intended to inflict harm." Makoto said, not caring about the disappointment sent to him.
A minute later, after the girls had their time admiring Jack Frost, he allowed the fairy to be dismissed into blue fragments.
Then, he abruptly dropped his head on the table.
"M-Makoto-san?!" Ayane exclaimed in surprise. "What happened?!"
He used his hand to grip the edge of the table as support and slowly rose to meet the elf's worries. "Sorry, just exhausted."
"Exhausted? Wait, is it because you were maintaining your power to keep him from disappearing?"
At his slow nod, they felt a pang of guilt. If they had known of this, they wouldn't have to agree to show his ability to them. The same thing must've been the cause of his exhaustion when he helped them yesterday.
He didn't lose consciousness this time though, so that's a good thing.
When he looked like he was no longer exhausted and everyone sat down again, Nonomi spoke up, "I believe we should wrap this up, don't you all think? He already proved to us his situation."
Ayane nodded before facing him. "Thank you for taking up your time with us, Makoto-san. It was a real pleasure talking to you, though we hoped it could've been less interrogative."
He returned the gesture. "Same here, and no worries."
"Then, if there's nothing else–"
"Wait," Hoshino stopped her. "Before we end this, I want to ask you one more thing."
Makoto gave the pink-haired girl a quizzical look. For some reason, there's a conflicted expression on her face.
"I'll say that your power is certainly unique in the eyes of Kivotos. I imagine you'll be using that a lot here to defend yourself since you don't have protection like us. But…" Hoshino faltered, unsure if she should continue. Eventually, she kept going, "Why such a method? Why the gun and the suicide pretense as your way of summoning your power? Don't you think doing that… is morbid?"
"It's morbid because it's intended to be morbid."
"Wh-What?" Hoshino didn't expect his quick response.
"Shooting yourself to manifest a power like mine isn't easy. You won't be able to awaken it if there are no mental challenges when you're about to shoot yourself." He explained, closing his eyes. "My Evoker was created to be an imitation that can be passed as a real gun, so that it would stir stress and nervousness within you. But most importantly, it was created as a symbolism."
"A symbolism?" Shiroko said.
He reopened his eyes to the Foreclosure girls.
"You must embrace death."
All the members of the Foreclosure Task Force had their eyes widening at that.
"Embrace… death…?" Shiroko slowly repeated.
"The Evoker acts as a reminder that we will die someday. That we are mortals unable to escape dying." He continued. "Committing acts of suicide is one of the shortest routes to make our system go frenzy. It does that because we're afraid of the act that could end our lives. However, the function of Evoker isn't to reject. Rather, it's to accept. Accept our mortality, face your fear of dying, and overcome it. Only then, what comes afterward is calmness over dread."
He breathed in and out. Speaking long wasn't really his thing.
"That's how you awaken to the power of Persona, by confronting one's darkest part. That darkest part… is death." He concluded.
…
…
…
"...I see. Thank you for answering my question." Hoshino drawled. The lone third-year was hiding her indiscernible expression by looking down. She then looked up, donning her lazy attitude. "In any case, what would you do now? Would you like to stay at the school a little longer?"
Makoto shook his head a little. "I think I will return to Shiba-san's place. I was doing a waiter job before Sunaookami–"
"You can call me Shiroko."
He glanced at the wolf girl before he continued, "...before Shiroko came over and brought me here."
Normally, the mention of him being a waiter for Master Shiba would raise a surprise in Serika who had also a similar job for the adult dog. However, the girl in question was still stunned by his earlier talk, even if she, Ayane, and Nonomi were slowly recovering from that. Although Shiroko was quicker to recover than the three, even she was not unaffected by this if the stoicism leaving her face earlier was any indication.
Makoto internally frowned. He was more than aware that bringing the concept of his Persona summoning would cause some kind of discomfort to them, but this level of discomfort plus shock was more than a simple mild surprise. It was as if they had never had a topic of death in their entire lives.
He felt like he was missing something here.
"Oh yeah, I think Shiroko-chan said you were working with the owner of Shiba Seki Ramen before she arrived." Hoshino said. "Since we're pretty much done confirming your presence here, you may now go on with your unfinished work." She turned to the wolf girl. "Shiroko-chan, could you…?"
"Nn," Shiroko stood up while looking at Makoto. "I'll take you back there."
He stood up from his chair as Shiroko went for the door. The rest of the girls were already caught on he was about to leave. Nonomi was waving him a bye, Ayane bowing to him, and Serika opting to just stare. Giving a final bow, he moved to follow Shiroko and exited the clubroom.
As he trailed behind the wolf girl, he realized one thing that he should've realized sooner.
Did they already call me by my given name in just a day?
He shrugged lightly. Even though this world had some Japan-ness in it, maybe the formality in addressing people's names here was less strict than in Japan.
…Oddly, or not oddly, he was reminded of a certain female android, as she was the only person in the SEES to refer to him by his given name with the honorific '-san'.
…He missed his friends, and he missed Aigis.