Disclaimer: Persona series is owned by atlus games and Honkai Impact 3rd by miHoYo

It was the Velvet Room again. That much was clear the moment my eyes opened, heavy as if weighted by years of dormancy. The air here always felt... off. Not bad, not good—just slightly tilted, like a melody played a quarter-note too sharp.

There's a funny thing about waking up in the Velvet Room: no matter how many times it happens, it never stops feeling wrong.

It's like answering the phone before it rings or stepping into a dream that isn't yours. The surreal blue haze of the place doesn't help. The endless void outside the windows looks like someone spilled paint across eternity, and the furniture is too soft, too perfect, as though it was designed for comfort but never actually used.

And there he was, the man of the hour, sitting across from me as he always did. Igor. His long nose is like an exclamation mark at the end of some cosmic joke. Beside him, the assistant of the season. Their faces were unfamiliar, but the role was always the same.

"Welcome back to the Velvet Room," Igor began, his voice smooth, reverent, and faintly apologetic. "I must first offer my sincerest apologies for disturbing your well-deserved slumber. But circumstances demand your assistance once more."

I said nothing. Silence had always been my armor. Words had weight, and I never liked carrying more than I had to.

Igor continued, unbothered by my lack of response. "You, who once carried the weight of the world, are needed in another reality. One where Earth, though familiar, is plagued by something far different from the Dark Hour or Nyx. It is called the Honkai."

Honkai. The word clung to the air like smoke. I had no idea what it meant, but it sounded... violent.

I leaned back slightly, as much as the Velvet Room's otherworldly geometry allowed, and asked the only question that mattered. "My friends?"

Igor's smile widened, or maybe it didn't. It was hard to tell with him. "They live fulfilling lives, free from the burden you bore. They thrive."

Fulfilling lives.

The words felt heavy. Not heavy like a burden, but heavy like something fragile, something you didn't want to drop.

Yukari. She was the first image that came to mind. Always standing tall, arms crossed, her sharp gaze daring the world to try and hurt her again. She'd lost so much, carried so much, but she never let it show—not fully. I hoped she'd finally found someone who could see past all that and help her let her guard down.

Junpei. The class clown, the fool, the guy who always acted like life was a joke because he was too afraid to take it seriously. But I knew better. He had a good heart, even if he didn't always know what to do with it. Was he still cracking bad jokes, or had he finally figured out that he didn't need to hide behind them?

Akihiko. Relentless, disciplined, always chasing strength—whatever that meant to him. I wondered if he'd finally stopped running, finally realized that the people around him weren't just sparring partners but friends.

Mitsuru. The leader. The queen. The one who carried more responsibility than anyone should ever have to. She was the kind of person who would bear the weight of the world on her shoulders without ever asking for help. I hoped she'd found a way to share that burden, even just a little.

Fuuka. Quiet, thoughtful, kind. She was the glue that held us together, even if she didn't realize it. I hoped she was still helping people, still using her gifts to make the world a little brighter.

Ken and Koromaru. The boy and the dog. Two innocents thrown into a world they never should have had to face. Ken had been forced to grow up too fast, but I liked to think he'd turned into the kind of man his mother would have been proud of. And Koromaru… well, I couldn't imagine him being anything other than the brave, loyal soul he always was.

And Aigis. The one who taught herself to feel. To live. To love. Did she still think of me? Or had she moved on, exploring a world that I could no longer be a part of?

They lived fulfilling lives because I didn't let them die. I stared down Nyx so they wouldn't have to. That was all.

"You think highly of them," Igor observed, his tone dipped in knowing amusement. "It was those bonds that made you strong.. Your resilience, your willingness to sacrifice for the greater good—these qualities make you uniquely suited for this task."

Sacrifice? No, not really. "I'm not a hero," I said quietly. "I didn't do it for humanity. I didn't even do it for some noble cause. I just... didn't want to see them die. That's all."

Igor chuckled. It wasn't unkind. "Precisely. It is not altruism that gave you strength, but your unwillingness to let go of the bonds you forged. A rare resilience, born not of duty, but of connection. That is why you are suited for this task."

The task. Another reality, another crisis. The weight of the world, round two. Wasn't once enough? My body felt too light to carry the load, like it might crumble under even a feather's worth of responsibility. But...

If the Honkai in this world was anything like Nyx in ours, then there were people there—people like Yukari, Mitsuru, Junpei, Aigis—fighting for lives they didn't want to lose. Could I stand by and do nothing, knowing I could help? Knowing I'd been here before?

The thought was heavy. Heavier than silence.

"Do I have a choice?" I asked.

"Of course," Igor replied, though we both knew the answer already.I never had a choice not against Nyx, not now.

My thoughts spiraled, but the outcome was inevitable. If I could stop someone else from losing what I almost lost...

I closed my eyes. "Tell me what I need to do."

Igor's grin, I was certain this time, widened.

--

I found myself in the middle of a road. Not a metaphorical crossroads or some symbolic juncture of fate, but an actual, honest-to-Igor road. Asphalt beneath my feet. Streetlights overhead, buzzing faintly like they were trying to remember how to work. The sky was dark, but not Velvet Room dark. Just night-dark.

When and how I got here? I had no idea. One moment, I was trading cryptic words with Igor, the next... this. Maybe this was his idea of a practical joke. Or maybe he just liked keeping me off-balance. Either way, I wasn't laughing.

"Move, kid!" someone yelled, leaning halfway out of a car window. Their headlights cut through the darkness, a spotlight on my sudden incompetence.

I blinked, realizing with a jolt of embarrassment that I was standing in the middle of the street like some existentially confused deer.

"Sorry!" I muttered, though it came out more like a squeak. I scurried to the sidewalk, my face burning hotter than an Agidyne. Not exactly the triumphant entrance I'd been hoping for, but at least no one had honked.

It was only then, safely out of the way, that I noticed the envelope clutched in my hand. I hadn't been holding it before—or maybe I had, and the teleportation-induced brain fog just made me forget. Either way, it felt... deliberate. Igor's style, no doubt.

Curiosity nudged me to open it. Inside, I found a set of keys, a folded-up map, and what looked like legal documents. The keys jingled faintly in my hand, as if mocking my confusion.

A quick scan of the papers confirmed the essentials: an apartment, some kind of identity, and, presumably, a reason not to panic. It was as though Igor had gone out of his way to ensure I wouldn't spend my first night sleeping in an alley or getting arrested for vagrancy.

"Thanks, Igor," I muttered under my breath, shaking my head. "At least you didn't leave me here without an identity."

It wasn't much of a plan, but it was something. And in my experience, something was a lot better than nothing. Adjusting the envelope under my arm, I glanced at the map. Time to figure out where exactly I'd landed—and, more importantly, why.

--

Nagazora. That was the name of the city. I'd never heard of it before, which was saying something, considering all the random trivia Junpei used to blurt out like he was trying to impress an invisible audience. But no, Nagazora wasn't a name I recognized.

It didn't take long to confirm I wasn't in my reality anymore. A quick search on a borrowed device—turns out people don't take kindly to strangers asking for help without at least pretending to have a smartphone—revealed no mention of Gekkoukan High School. The city of Tatsumi Port Island was nowhere to be found, either.

That was the clincher. As much as I'd wanted to believe this was just a far-off corner of the same world, something about the air here felt... off. Different rhythms, unfamiliar undercurrents. Like trying to hum a song you don't quite know the melody of.

And then, there was the school. Chiba Academy. Apparently, I was a newly admitted student, complete with a tidy transfer history. Neatly fabricated, no doubt, courtesy of Igor's infinite resources. The man—or whatever he was—sure had a flair for theatrics.

The question that loomed over me, though, was why? Was I really expected to sit through classes and exams all over again?

I could almost picture Igor's smug grin as I mulled it over. "What better place to establish bonds than among the youth?" he'd probably say, followed by some cryptic remark about destiny. Or maybe he thought this was poetic symmetry. After all, my last fight began with school, didn't it?

I sighed, shaking my head. School, of all things. I'd saved the world, sealed away a god of death, and now I was being handed homework again? Part of me wanted to laugh. Another part wanted to find Igor and ask if he was serious.

Still, I couldn't shake the feeling there was a purpose to all of this. Igor wasn't the type to do anything without a reason. If I was here, in this city, in this school, it was because something was waiting for me.

For now, though, I had no choice but to play along. If Igor wanted me to continue my education, so be it. But the moment Honkai reared its head, I'd be ready. I always was.

Yaaaaannnnnnn!!!!!!!

I Remember reading a Persona OC x Hi3 fanfic on Wattpad it had long since discontinued but the idea was stuck in my head and now I present this story.

Enjoy!!!!!