Prologue: Shinjiro
SeekerofDreams
Aspiring Farmer
- Location
- Selphia
In a sense, it could be said that the whole thing, in fact, didn't start with Hikari catching a train to Kusoka. Events had already been set in motion by a number of different players, the train was just the point where the Navigator stumbled into things.
Really, she wasn't even meant to do that. The whole thing had, from the start, been envisioned as a single-player game, a vision that had only made it as far as it did because there was nobody in Kusoka suited to signing a contract with the Velvet Room, as well as the fact that the Phantom Thieves of Hearts had all gone their separate ways, none of them anywhere near Kusoka. (There is, admittedly, a story that could be told about how Haru Okumura met a boy who was more similar to her than she could have imagined. But that's not particularly relevant right now.)
The fact is, however, that before Hikari ever set foot in Kusoka, allowing for two other presences to actually do things about their current situation, things had already started for a number of people.
Here is one of those starts.
On one side of things, it started with a pair of ghosts making the questionably-advised decision to leave their brother alone for a bit and go off to Tokyo. Neither of them believed he'd notice their absence- sure, he was the most likely person that the elder sibling knew who was still alive to figure out he was being haunted, but that wasn't exactly saying much- but it came to mind it would probably have been easier to explore if they'd had a living person to follow around.
The older one- much older, actually, physically speaking- gave a heavy sigh and leaned against the wall. "Remind me again why we thought it was a good idea."
"Rei-san said it'd be good for you to have time to relax."
"...All right, but why did I think it was a good idea to listen to Philei?" Not that he had all that much against her, personally- sure, she seemed to think he was someone she'd known once, which was weird, and made him seriously wish he knew why she thought that, but she was nice enough to keep around either way- it was just that he didn't have much faith in her ideas.
"Rei-san's nice. And she said if you keep worrying about Aki-nii all the time, your hair will turn gray like his."
"Ghosts don't get gray hairs." Of course, they also didn't eat, and yet Philei was rarely seen without a corndog or piece of takoyaki in hand. He wasn't even sure where they were coming from, just that she was always eating them, or some donuts, or...
...On second thought, maybe it would be a good idea, at some point, to ask Philei where she kept getting food from.
His sister was less than impressed. "Shinji-nii..." But then, she'd been excited about the idea about going on a trip that didn't involve attempting to somehow get it through their brother's head that he was making poor choices, the key word, of course, being attempt. Aki was always going to make poor choices, it was just that the ones he made these days tended to involve less physical danger.
"Um..." The newcomer was a ghost who seemed to be just a few years younger, physically, than Shinjiro, with long brown hair tied up in a ponytail. "Are the two of you lost?"
"What makes you think that?" They were lost. Neither of them had any idea where to find a map they could use, and there'd barely been any spirits around, which was was just weird. A big city like this, you'd expect would be at least a bit haunted. And yet... hardly anything.
"This is the fourth time you've passed this street," She replied, silently daring him to disagree. Before he got the chance, it started raining blood. "...Huh. That's new."
New... and yet, far too familiar. "Oh, not another apocalypse..."
"...Another?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"It's raining blood." Okay, yes, but telling someone that at least three near-apocalypses had taken place in the space of just as many years was one of those things that tended to end in disbelief. Probably for good reason. Shinjiro wouldn't have believed it, if he hadn't been involved. "...Actually, maybe we should just go inside."
It was very, very hard to disagree with that.
Somehow, nobody that was alive seemed to notice the blood rain. "Are we sure it's not just a ghost thing?" Yoshizawa asked, watching as the streets were slowly stained red. "...Then again, if it was, my sister probably wouldn't have noticed it."
"It hasn't happened before," Miki replied.
"Could still be a supernatural thing," Shinjiro noted. "Your sister anything special? You know, medium, demon tamer, Persona User..."
"She... does have a Persona..." Yoshizawa admitted. "She doesn't really use it, though."
"That doesn't matter. Long as she has one, it's enough." He wasn't sure he'd managed to curse that fact enough times, while he was alive. "Still... you'd think she'd be doing something about this." Causing it, stopping it... it didn't matter. Whenever something supernatural happened, it seemed like all the Persona Users in the area were attracted to it.
...It just figured that Narukami had moved away from the area years ago.
"I mean, a group in the area did approach her once... She said no."
"...Huh. Good for her."
That was the last proper conversation he had with anyone for a long time.
He wasn't entirely sure how he'd gotten there, to be honest. One moment he'd been in the middle of an impassioned discussion on how the blood rain compared to the Dark Hour's general existence, and the next he was standing in a dreamlike cinema that looked like it had been abandoned ages ago, where the one thing that definitely worked was the popcorn machine.
...With far too many flavors of popcorn. Really, he'd had no idea that some of those flavors had even existed, and yet, there they were, ripe for the taking. Assuming, of course, that they were still good to eat.
...Well, at least he probably didn't have to worry about getting sick.
It took about fifteen minutes of experimentation to decide that he didn't like popcorn.
With that decided, maybe it was time to start looking for a way out...
There was no way out. The only way Shinjiro could possibly leave was through the front door, and it was locked. Everywhere else just led into a theater, an office, or in one case, a supply closet that felt emptier than it should have been.
There was also a whole fried chicken stuffed under one of the counters, which was apparently still good. Maybe it was ghost chicken, or something. He wasn't going to question it. If the only way to sate his boredom was to eat, it was nice to have food around that was actually tolerable.
Still... he needed to leave. He wasn't sure how long he'd been there, anymore, but the answer was definitely too long. If there was a way back here, maybe he'd direct Philei this way, the food would probably keep her distracted for a while, but he just wanted to go home.
And yet, no matter how many times he tried to force his way past the door, it wouldn't budge.
"Come on, let me through..." He mumbled. Just how strong was this door, anyway? Breaking through this would clearly need a lot of power...
As if it were summoned by that thought, an Evoker appeared in his hand. This was not helpful. He'd never been big on Evokers in the first place, and now... Well, it probably wouldn't be his head it was pointed at.
And yet... maybe it was his best bet. "All right, Castor..." He mumbled. "I know it's been a while, and we've never really liked each other, but... how about breaking down this door?"
To his credit, Castor certainly gave it his best attempt. But the door still didn't budge.
...Even when his Persona was cooperating, they still couldn't get anything done. He wasn't sure why he bothered. He'd just have to sit, and wait, and hope someone eventually found him.
Three months later, he got his wish.
Really, she wasn't even meant to do that. The whole thing had, from the start, been envisioned as a single-player game, a vision that had only made it as far as it did because there was nobody in Kusoka suited to signing a contract with the Velvet Room, as well as the fact that the Phantom Thieves of Hearts had all gone their separate ways, none of them anywhere near Kusoka. (There is, admittedly, a story that could be told about how Haru Okumura met a boy who was more similar to her than she could have imagined. But that's not particularly relevant right now.)
The fact is, however, that before Hikari ever set foot in Kusoka, allowing for two other presences to actually do things about their current situation, things had already started for a number of people.
Here is one of those starts.
On one side of things, it started with a pair of ghosts making the questionably-advised decision to leave their brother alone for a bit and go off to Tokyo. Neither of them believed he'd notice their absence- sure, he was the most likely person that the elder sibling knew who was still alive to figure out he was being haunted, but that wasn't exactly saying much- but it came to mind it would probably have been easier to explore if they'd had a living person to follow around.
The older one- much older, actually, physically speaking- gave a heavy sigh and leaned against the wall. "Remind me again why we thought it was a good idea."
"Rei-san said it'd be good for you to have time to relax."
"...All right, but why did I think it was a good idea to listen to Philei?" Not that he had all that much against her, personally- sure, she seemed to think he was someone she'd known once, which was weird, and made him seriously wish he knew why she thought that, but she was nice enough to keep around either way- it was just that he didn't have much faith in her ideas.
"Rei-san's nice. And she said if you keep worrying about Aki-nii all the time, your hair will turn gray like his."
"Ghosts don't get gray hairs." Of course, they also didn't eat, and yet Philei was rarely seen without a corndog or piece of takoyaki in hand. He wasn't even sure where they were coming from, just that she was always eating them, or some donuts, or...
...On second thought, maybe it would be a good idea, at some point, to ask Philei where she kept getting food from.
His sister was less than impressed. "Shinji-nii..." But then, she'd been excited about the idea about going on a trip that didn't involve attempting to somehow get it through their brother's head that he was making poor choices, the key word, of course, being attempt. Aki was always going to make poor choices, it was just that the ones he made these days tended to involve less physical danger.
"Um..." The newcomer was a ghost who seemed to be just a few years younger, physically, than Shinjiro, with long brown hair tied up in a ponytail. "Are the two of you lost?"
"What makes you think that?" They were lost. Neither of them had any idea where to find a map they could use, and there'd barely been any spirits around, which was was just weird. A big city like this, you'd expect would be at least a bit haunted. And yet... hardly anything.
"This is the fourth time you've passed this street," She replied, silently daring him to disagree. Before he got the chance, it started raining blood. "...Huh. That's new."
New... and yet, far too familiar. "Oh, not another apocalypse..."
"...Another?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"It's raining blood." Okay, yes, but telling someone that at least three near-apocalypses had taken place in the space of just as many years was one of those things that tended to end in disbelief. Probably for good reason. Shinjiro wouldn't have believed it, if he hadn't been involved. "...Actually, maybe we should just go inside."
It was very, very hard to disagree with that.
Somehow, nobody that was alive seemed to notice the blood rain. "Are we sure it's not just a ghost thing?" Yoshizawa asked, watching as the streets were slowly stained red. "...Then again, if it was, my sister probably wouldn't have noticed it."
"It hasn't happened before," Miki replied.
"Could still be a supernatural thing," Shinjiro noted. "Your sister anything special? You know, medium, demon tamer, Persona User..."
"She... does have a Persona..." Yoshizawa admitted. "She doesn't really use it, though."
"That doesn't matter. Long as she has one, it's enough." He wasn't sure he'd managed to curse that fact enough times, while he was alive. "Still... you'd think she'd be doing something about this." Causing it, stopping it... it didn't matter. Whenever something supernatural happened, it seemed like all the Persona Users in the area were attracted to it.
...It just figured that Narukami had moved away from the area years ago.
"I mean, a group in the area did approach her once... She said no."
"...Huh. Good for her."
That was the last proper conversation he had with anyone for a long time.
He wasn't entirely sure how he'd gotten there, to be honest. One moment he'd been in the middle of an impassioned discussion on how the blood rain compared to the Dark Hour's general existence, and the next he was standing in a dreamlike cinema that looked like it had been abandoned ages ago, where the one thing that definitely worked was the popcorn machine.
...With far too many flavors of popcorn. Really, he'd had no idea that some of those flavors had even existed, and yet, there they were, ripe for the taking. Assuming, of course, that they were still good to eat.
...Well, at least he probably didn't have to worry about getting sick.
It took about fifteen minutes of experimentation to decide that he didn't like popcorn.
With that decided, maybe it was time to start looking for a way out...
There was no way out. The only way Shinjiro could possibly leave was through the front door, and it was locked. Everywhere else just led into a theater, an office, or in one case, a supply closet that felt emptier than it should have been.
There was also a whole fried chicken stuffed under one of the counters, which was apparently still good. Maybe it was ghost chicken, or something. He wasn't going to question it. If the only way to sate his boredom was to eat, it was nice to have food around that was actually tolerable.
Still... he needed to leave. He wasn't sure how long he'd been there, anymore, but the answer was definitely too long. If there was a way back here, maybe he'd direct Philei this way, the food would probably keep her distracted for a while, but he just wanted to go home.
And yet, no matter how many times he tried to force his way past the door, it wouldn't budge.
"Come on, let me through..." He mumbled. Just how strong was this door, anyway? Breaking through this would clearly need a lot of power...
As if it were summoned by that thought, an Evoker appeared in his hand. This was not helpful. He'd never been big on Evokers in the first place, and now... Well, it probably wouldn't be his head it was pointed at.
And yet... maybe it was his best bet. "All right, Castor..." He mumbled. "I know it's been a while, and we've never really liked each other, but... how about breaking down this door?"
To his credit, Castor certainly gave it his best attempt. But the door still didn't budge.
...Even when his Persona was cooperating, they still couldn't get anything done. He wasn't sure why he bothered. He'd just have to sit, and wait, and hope someone eventually found him.
Three months later, he got his wish.
