Persona 04

Rein couldn’t concentrate on the lesson when he was at school. He had decided to sit beside Konomi so that they could discuss about things if necessary. He tried and tried to focus on the lesson, but last night’s incident was still bothering him.

“Are we going there tonight?” whispered a girl in his classroom.

“Yeah, of course we are,” whispered another girl.

Rein looked around to see who were talking. He saw a long-haired girl with glasses talking to her friend. Where were they going? It couldn’t be to ‘that’ place, right? He tried to convince himself that it was only his feeling that was bothering him. He was looking at his textbook when he heard the girls talking again.

“The train station is pretty creepy at night. I think we can do that ‘courage test’ there. What about eleven p.m.?” the long-haired girl asked. “Sure. We’ll see who the coward is by then,” replied the other girl. Rein heard what they were talking about very clearly. He looked at Konomi. “Did you hear them?” he asked. Konomi nodded. She smiled sheepishly. “So? You’re thinking that the ‘other station’ will appear again tonight?” asked Konomi. Rein shrugged his shoulder. “I guess it’s worth checking,” he said.

***

Rein was sitting in Konomi’s flat as they were waiting for the night to come. There didn’t seem to be anything interesting to do beside watching TV, but since Konomi’s TV had been stolen, they had no choice but to stay still and wait.

“So, where are you from?” asked Konomi.

“New York. My dad’s American, but my mom’s Japanese. They decided to send me here to continue with my study,” said Rein. “I see,” said Konomi. “Will they come here sometimes?” asked Konomi. “I don’t know. They’re pretty busy with their job, so I doubt they’ll have the time to visit me,” replied Rein. Konomi nodded. “My mom used to be a journalist in Japan, but she had never been to Japan since she was married with my dad. You know, traveling from America to Japan is pretty expensive,” said Rein. Konomi smiled. “Don’t you feel lonely sometimes?” she asked. “Maybe…but I don’t know, either,” he said. “Well, if you feel lonely or bored, just give me a call,” she said. “What for? I can just walk outside and call your name in front of your flat,” said Rein. “Oh, yeah, right. I forgot…,” she said.

“Anyway, I’ve bought weapons for us. Here,” she said, giving him a short one-handed sword with steel blade. “I’ll use this,” she said, showing a small sized dagger to Rein. “Thanks,” Rein said. “It’s time to go,” he continued.

They tiptoed toward the train station. It wouldn’t be nice to be seen by their friends when they were walking together at night because someone might get a wrong idea. They saw the two girls entering the station. Those girls seemed curious to see the staircase leading to the subway station. They’re as confused as us, Rein thought.

“Let’s go,” said Rein after the two girls had gone into the subway station. As usual, the subway station looked old and creepy. They couldn’t see the two girls anymore. Maybe they had used the train to go into the ‘other world’. “Let’s go,” said Rein, running into the train which they had used the night before. They arrived in the same exact shopping district. However, there were no open shops. Even the shop where they fought the strange creature was closed.

“Where are they?” asked Konomi. “I don’t know. Let’s go look around,” said Rein, holding his short sword tightly. They walked along the silent street. There was no sign of life anywhere. All they could see were several weak creatures wandering the streets. Rein was able to kill all of them only by using his short sword. “There’s no need to summon my Persona,” said Rein. He ran toward a creature and slashed its head. They arrived in front of an old opera house. “Was this building here before?” asked Konomi. “I don’t think so. We should’ve seen it if it were,” replied Rein. They could hear several footsteps inside the opera house, so they decided to enter the building.

The opera house consisted of many chairs. In front of the room was a huge stage. It was so elegant. It was a pity that it looked old, just like everything else in that world. Rein looked around, but he didn’t see the two girls. “They aren’t here,” said Konomi. Out of the blue, they heard someone screaming from the stage’s backroom. “Let’s go!” said Rein. He ran into the stage and jumped to the backroom. It was as he expected, the two girls were there, unconscious. In front of them, there was a huge creature that looked like a woman with burned skin. Her face had also been burned and she only had one eye. Her sharp claws were pointed at the girls when Rein and Konomi came in.

“What is that thing?” asked Konomi.

“It’s a monster…just like before. We’ll just have to kill it, right?” asked Rein. Konomi nodded. He ran toward the creature and slashed it’s body, but his attack didn’t do much damage. “As expected from a higher level monster,” said Rein. He put two of his fingers on his forehead and concentrated. “Persona!” he said. Oregon, the knight of imprisonment, appeared and struck the woman twice by using his swords. “Oregon, use Agi!” he said. Oregon, who seemed to understand, pointed his sword at the woman and launched a fireball just like last time. The woman seemed to hate fire so much that she fell down and gave an advantage for Rein to do a fatal blow. He ran toward the woman and slashed her throat twice. She was still alive, but Rein knew that she didn’t have much power anymore. Without being told, Oregon ran toward the woman and slashed her head.

Persona 03

Chapter Two: "Persona"

The train stopped in front of another subway station. The station was different from the last one. It was silent and there was no other train car except the car that they entered. “Where are we?” asked Konomi. “I don’t know. But I think we’re pretty far from our apartment,” said Rein. He picked up a steel pipe that he found at the station. “I need this…just in case,” said Rein. They went out of the subway tunnel only to see that they were in an unknown area. There were shops around them, but the shops were close. There didn’t seem to be anyone else except them.

“Why am I getting this weird feeling?” said Konomi.

They kept walking through the shopping district. There was blood everywhere. “I don’t like this place,” said Rein, holding the steel pipe tightly. “There’s blood, but there’s no body,” said Konomi. “Let’s get into that shop, it looks like it’s open,” said Rein. They went into a shop that looks normal, but there was no one inside “Excuse me!” said Rein. He heard someone walking toward them from the back room. “Maybe the cashier,” he thought. The person opened the backdoor and looked at them. Konomi looked back and the moment she saw the person, she yelled as loud as she can.

The person was covered by blood and he was holding a sharp knife on his hand. His face didn’t seem like a human’s face anymore. “Who…what are you!?” asked Konomi. The person didn’t answer. Instead, he pointed the knife at her. “Konomi, stand back!” said Rein, preparing to attack by using his steel pipe.

He tried to hit the person’s head, but he couldn’t. The person was able to dodge his attack and kicked him away. After that, the person looked at Konomi and intended to stab her by using his knife. “Dammit!” said Rein, using his pipe to help him stand. He ran toward the person and hit his face by using his steel pipe. “Thanks,” said Konomi. “Don’t thank me now. This guy is not hurt by that kind of attack!” said Rein. “What should we do?” asked Konomi. “Run!” said Rein. They tried to run, but the front door couldn’t be opened. “I hate it when it happens like this!” said Rein, looking at the person who was still walking toward them.

He felt his head aching in all of a sudden. It felt like as if someone had hit him on the head hard. “What’s happening, Rein!?” asked Konomi. Rein walked forward and looked at the person. His eyes looked different. He felt as if he had the confidence to attack and kill the person.

“Per…so…na…,” Rein murmured while holding his head which was still aching.

He heard a cracking sound and a bluish ray of light appeared around him. As soon as the light appeared, his headache vanished. Then, the light slowly formed a knight with black armor and long twin swords. The knight’s eyes and forehead were covered by a steel armor and his body was covered by dark aura. “Thou art I…and I am thou…I am Oregon, the knight of imprisonment,” said the knight. Rein looked at a being that appeared before him and smiled. It seemed as if he had already known that knight for a long time, even though he actually had just seen it. “Show him your power…Oregon!!” said Rein. The knight, which was known as Oregon, dashed toward the person with the knife and struck him twice. Then, Oregon flew upward and pointed his sword at the person. “Agi!” said Rein. A fireball appeared in front of Oregon’s sword and was launched toward the person. It quickly hit the person, causing him to fall down. “Now’s your chance! Oregon, finish him off!!” said Rein.

“What was that?” asked Konomi. “Persona…,” replied Rein. “Persona…what’s that?” asked Konomi once more. “Well, I don’t know either. Maybe it’s some kind of a guardian or something. At least it can help us in tight situations,” said Rein. “Anyway, let’s get outta here. Just save your explanations for later,” said Konomi. They ran toward the train station and went downstairs into the subway tunnel.

They were able to start the train’s engine and use the control pad to move the train car back to where they found it. “We’d better go back home. It’s so tiring to stay here now,” said Rein. “Yeah, you’re right,” said Konomi.

Rein sat on his bed, thinking about Igor and the Velvet Room. “Will he appear tonight?” he said to himself.

His hunch was right. Once again, he entered the Velvet Room and saw Igor sitting there with a woman.

“Welcome back. It seems that you have awakened your hidden ability,” said Igor. “Yeah. I think you should explain it to me,” said Rein. “Be patient. This here’s Ecarina, my assistant. She will explain it to you,” said Igor. The woman beside him smiled. “Let’s get to the point,” said Ecarina.

“Persona is a façade hidden inside your mind. You were able to awaken that façade because of your own will. That ‘will’ might be a will to protect others, as well as a will to destroy. Simply put, Persona is your other self…a being that will protect and fight for you,” explained Ecarina. “However, your power is special. You can use more than one Persona. But the other Personas will be awakened as you go on,” said Igor. “There’s no need to worry, you will understand soon enough. Right now, the cog of fate is turning. Whether it will be good or bad…that will be up to you,” said Igor. “Okay, I think I understand a bit about this Persona thing,” said Rein. “Good. Here, take this,” said Igor, giving him a bluish key with a strange signet on it. “That’s Velvet Key. The next time you come here, it will happen by your own will,” said Igor.

“Well, it’s time to bid you farewell. Till we meet again…,” Igor said.

Rein woke up. This time, he was not alone. Konomi was sitting beside him. “You’re awake?” she asked. “Umm…yeah,” said Rein. “I’m afraid you’re too tired because of last night’s incident. But I guess you can go to school after all, huh?” said Konomi. Rein got off of his bed and smiled. “Of course I can,” he said. He brushed his teeth quickly and walked to school with Konomi. “I’m still wondering if last night was real,” said Konomi. “Yeah, it was. Anyway, I haven’t explained to you about Persona. Someone told me that it was some kind of our façade to fight any obstacles,” said Rein. “Who told you about it?” asked Konomi. “There was this guy called Igor. He had appeared in my dream twice. It seemed that he knew about Persona pretty well,” said Rein. He kept explaining about Igor as they were walking to school.

Persona 02

Rein woke up in the morning. He was all sweaty. “A…dream?” he thought. He prepared himself to go to school and quickly went out of his apartment. He saw Konomi getting out of the room beside his place. “Oh, you live here too?” asked Rein. “Yeah. It’s nice to see you again,” she said, smiling. “Yeah, same here,” replied Rein. “So, you’re going to school, right?” asked Konomi. “Yeah,” replied Rein. “Well, since we live so close, why don’t we go to school together?” asked Konomi. “Sure, why not,” replied Rein.

The school ended before they realized it. Of course, it was just a welcoming ceremony so it didn’t take long to end it. Konomi decided to went home with Rein.

“See you later,” she said before she entered her room. Rein waved his hand. “Anyway, wanna come to my place tonight?” asked Konomi. “Err…what?” said Rein. “Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s so boring to be home alone, you know,” said Konomi. “Well, okay, I’ll see you at seven,” said Rein.

“Hi,” said Konomi when she saw Rein standing in front of her room. Rein smiled and entered her apartment. The moment he sat in Konomi’s living room, he heard something on the roof. It sounded as if someone was running around the rooftop. “Did you hear that?” asked Rein. “Hear what?” asked Konomi. “That sounds…footsteps,” said Rein. “Hey, come on, don’t scare me like that,” said Konomi. “No, I’m serious. There’s something or someone on the roof,” said Rein. “Oh, well, let’s just see it to make sure,” said Konomi. The rooftop was dark and pretty spooky. Rein was holding a flashlight on his right hand. He tried to find movements, but he did not see any. “Strange…I’m sure I heard footsteps,” said Rein. “It’s probably just your imagination. Let’s get back to my room,” said Konomi.

“What!?” asked Rein when he heard Konomi yelling. He quickly entered the room to see what had happened. “My TV…it’s gone!” said Konomi. “Are you sure?” asked Rein. “Of course I am!” said Konomi. Rein looked at the cabinet where the TV was before they went to the rooftop. “The thief must’ve been waiting for us to get to the roof!” said Konomi. Suddenly, they heard someone running in front of the door. “The thief is still here! He can’t jump down from this floor!” said Konomi. Rein understood and quickly went out to find the thief. He wondered why he didn’t see the thief while he was still outside when he heard Konomi yelling. He saw a shadow running away from them. “Over there!” said Rein. They chased the thief downstairs and before they realized it, they had run all the way down.

“Where is he!?” asked Konomi.

Rein caught a glimpse of movements near the bushes. “There!” he said. He kept chasing the thief until they arrived at the train station where Rein and Konomi met that afternoon. The thief was nowhere to be found. Instead, Rein saw something was different about that place. Even though he had only gone there once, he knew that something that didn’t use to be there was there. “This is a normal train station, right?” asked Rein. “What do you mean by ‘normal’?” asked Konomi. She was still upset about the stolen TV. “This isn’t a subway station, right?” asked Rein. “Of course it’s not!” said Konomi. “Then what’s that?” said Rein, pointing at a large staircase that went downstairs. It seemed that it lead underground. “A subway tunnel,” Rein continued. “How can it be there? There’s no subway station in this city,” said Konomi. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Something strange is going on here,” said Rein. “Hellooo…do you watch anime too much? You’re not saying that some kind of ‘unknown force’ is taking place, are you?” said Konomi. “That’s not what I meant,” said Rein. “Anyway, let’s just see what’s down there,” he continued.

The staircase looked old, so it couldn’t have been built a while ago. The subway station looked spooky. It only had very few lights. There were some train cars being parked on the railway. The strange thing about them was they were parked in line, just like other vehicles. “It’s uncommon for trains to be parked in line like that,” said Konomi.

Rein looked around. Most of the train cars were locked. There was only one car that was open. “Follow me,” said Rein. They went into the car to see what was inside. It looked like it was the front car since it had a control panel near the front window. Rein touched the control pad slowly. “It seems like it’s still good to go,” said Rein. “Don’t be silly. These train cars look very old, how can they still be good?” asked Konomi. Rein didn’t listen to her question. He pushed one of the control pad, causing the doors to be closed. “Oh my…what’s happening?” asked Konomi. “The train’s moving!” said Rein. “Moving!? There are still some other cars in front of this one! We’re going to crash if it moves!” said Konomi. They felt the train moving slowly. “What should we do now?” said Rein. They closed their eyes but they didn’t hear anything hit the car where they were in. “We didn’t…crash?” said Konomi.

Rein looked outside from the window. It looked as if the train was moving through a dark tunnel. “How did we pass the other cars?” asked Konomi. “No idea. We should just wait and see where we are going,” said Rein. They kept waiting and waiting, but the train kept going through the dark tunnel without stopping. “I’m starting to get bored,” said Rein. He recalled what Igor said, “Remember that your journey in life will lead you somewhere.” Maybe this was what he meant, Rein thought.

Persona 01 - revised

Hi, I'm trying to write a fan fiction of Shin Megami Tensei Persona. It's not for commercial use, but I hope everyone can enjoy it...

PERSONA
~Futatsu no Kioku~
(Memories of Two)

It was raining in Atsuka City. The temperature was quite low whenever it was raining over there. For no reason, the rain had been occurring much more often lately. Atsuka was a pretty crowded city since it was one of the trading cities in Japan.

Chapter One: "Meeting"

Rein Averion was sitting in a train that was heading toward Atsuka City. He was a transfer student from New York. Actually, his mother was Japanese, so it wouldn’t be strange for him to go to Japan. It was pretty silent inside the train. There were only few people sitting near him. Some of them looked sleepy and gloomy. Rein wondered what kind of place Atsuka City was.

“Excuse me,” said a girl who was standing in front of Rein.

Rein looked at her without expression. “Can I sit beside you?” she asked. “Sure,” replied Rein. The girl sat beside him and smiled. She was a cute girl with long reddish hair. She was wearing a school uniform which could easily show where she was studying. Getsudo High School, those were the words that were sewed on her uniform. “You’re from Getsudo High?” asked Rein. “Uh-huh, why do you ask?” she said. “Well, I’m going to enter that school,” said Rein. The girl nodded. “By the way, I forget to introduce myself. I’m Konomi Mitsuyo, second grade of Getsudo High,” said the girl. “Rein Averion,” Rein replied.

The train stopped in front of a station in Atsuka City. “Okay, see you later,” said Konomi, smiling. Rein left the station to the opposite direction to where Konomi was going and looked for an apartment which he had booked a few months ago. He saw a building with red paint and entered it. “Excuse me,” he said. He met a receptionist sitting in front of a desk. “You’re Rein Averion, correct?” the person asked him. Rein nodded. “We’ve been expecting you,” the person said.

Rein’s room was a pleasant place and it was also pretty comfortable. Rein sat on his bed and took out some stuff from his backpack. “School’s starting tomorrow, huh?” he said to himself. He felt that his eyes were very tired, so he decided to go to bed as soon as possible.

He felt himself entering some kind of a dream world. His vision was blurry and he couldn’t see what was in front of him. He tried to focus, but he could only tell that he was walking into a square-shaped thing, probably a door. A moment later, he realized that he was sitting in a wide room with velvet color. There was a large table in front of him. On the opposite side of him, sat an old man with a long nose. He was smiling at Rein.

“Welcome,” said the man with a long nose.

“Who are you? Where am I?” asked Rein slowly.

“Be patient, my friend. My name is Igor and you are currently in the Velvet Room,” explained the old man. “I don’t get it,” said Rein. “You will understand as you go on through life. Remember that your journey in life will lead you somewhere,” said Igor. “Can you just get to the point?” said Rein. “There’s no need to hurry. Your life has been destined to change. Soon, you will see the meaning of my words. Still, the string that ties your fate will be untied soon and you will realize what it means to be here,” said Igor. “Whatever you say, old man,” said Rein. “There’s one thing that you ought to know…only those who are bound by a contract can enter this Velvet Room,” Igor continued. Rein realized that it was time for him to leave. The bluish door behind him was opened, showing a radiance of light emitting from inside.

“Till we meet again…,” said Igor with a slow and eerie voice.