Persona Series 1. April 6th - The Beginning of a Journey

**Note: I'll lessen the amount of POV switches in the future, I just felt it was appropriate in the first chapter.**

_Do the difficult things while they are easy and the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step._

- Lao Tzu

Chapter 1 – The Beginning of a Journey

**January 1st 2010**

"The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, he sealed his fate. By entrusting his future to the cards, man clings to a dim hope. But the arcana is the means by which all is revealed. Along the beaten path lies the absolute end. It does not matter who you are, death awaits you."

And with that, our fates were sealed…

* * *

_Time never waits._

_It delivers all equally to the same end._

_The two of you, who wish to safeguard the future,_

_however limited it may be…_

_You two will be given one year;_

_Go forth without falter,_

_with your hearts as your guide._

* * *

**April 6th 2009**

**Minato POV**

Burn my Dread. That's the name of my favourite song. It's funny because I don't really know what the songs about. Maybe it's about destroying fear or some kind of deeper meaning. Despite that, I love that song and its multiple versions. In every playlist I have, it's right at the top.

Speaking of which, I was cycling through my playlist to pass the time. For a moment I was tempted to play Time, my sister's favourite song, but in the end I went for some Daft Punk. You can't really go wrong with them. Music helps to distract me when I'm travelling. I get travel sick pretty easily so my parents got me a music player when I was young so I wouldn't think about the journey. I've never looked back since.

It used to be me, Mom, Dad, Miki and Naoto. Now, it's just Miki and I; after that car accident ten years ago. Naoto isn't dead or anything, she just lives with Grandpa Shirogane. I haven't seen her in nine years, if you can believe that, and neither has Miki. Speak of the devil, Miki has apparently decided that my shoulder would be a good place to rest her head.

**Minako POV**

Oh boy, here we go. I know that look he's giving me. That's the "_get off my shoulder Miki_" look. He knows I'll always win though because I have the perfect strategy. Step one, rest head on brother's shoulder. Step two, wait for him to turn to me and he'll make remark. Step three, reply with cute comment and puppy dog eyes. Step four, he relents and I get comfortable.

"Can I help you, Miki?" He asks. Alright, show time. I flicker my eyelashes so my eyes get watery and then open them really wide. With the combination of innocent face and adorableness, he already begins to relent slightly.

"Sorry big bro, I was just a little tired," I said as sweetly as possible. He rolled his eyes and returned to scanning through his playlist. And the winner is, Minako Arisato! I had a small victory dance in my head after defeating my emo brother in adorable combat, but the moment was short lived after a bump in the train line nearly launched me from my seat. Luckily, my brother was there to catch me, as he always did. He grabbed me by my waist and gently pulled me back to my seat. Oh here we go, now he's going to patronise me. Sadly, I have to thank the ass.

"Thank you," I muttered quietly in the hope he wouldn't hear me.

"There's nothing I wouldn't do for my _little_ sister," he said with a cheeky grin.

"Hey, were twins remember! Just because you were pulled out first, doesn't make you my elder."

"Whatever you say, little sister." Sticking my tongue at him didn't show my maturity, but it made me feel better.

Sitting in a train carriage alone is pretty creepy, so I was glad that Minato was coming with me to our new school. Of course, that probably would have happened no matter what school I'd chosen to go to. If I had chosen a school in Tokyo, he would have applied there too. If I had applied to a school in a small town like Inaba, then he would have come too. Even if I had applied overseas, he would have made the effort to apply there as well.

There's something about big brothers like Minato, they're always looking out for their little sisters. Shame I can't go to the same school as Naoto but she's two years younger than us and I don't even know what she looks like now. I haven't seen her in nine years. Far too long. Because Grandpa was always so busy he could only take in one of us and since Mini and I were twins, Grandpa thought it would be cruel to split us up. We ended up living with aunty Arisato, my mom's sister. After this year, I'm going to talk to Mini about going to visit her and Grandpa Shirogane.

My eyes began to wander around the small train carriage we were riding in. We were the only ones in this carriage and the whole thing looked kind of generic. The interior was a silvery metal, with benches to sit on and handlebars to hold on too. What really was odd was the time. It was ridiculously late and I swear we were meant to have been off this train about four hours ago.

"Hey, Mini, wasn't this train meant to have arrived at Port Island ages ago?"

**Minato POV**

Despite trying to ignore the journey, my eyes were brought to my watch, upon hearing Miki's statement. Obviously she hadn't been listening when the intercom had announced that they would have to make a couple of diversions. However, she had a point. Four hours was a pretty big diversion. Actually it was close to midnight. "Don't worry, they said they would have to make some diversions," I assured.

"But what if we're locked out of our new dorm? We don't have a key remember. We were meant to pick one up from a Senpai at the dorm."

"I know, but I have to talk to you about that."

"Oh yeah? What's up?" I pulled out the school pamphlet and skipped to the page with our dorm assignments.

"Take a look here. It says that "All students will be transferred to a male or female dorm if they have no place to live on the island"."

"Alright, what's your point?"

"The point is there are no co-ed dorms. So why are we in the same dormitory?" Miki's head tilted to the side and her nose scrunched up slightly in thought. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her pamphlet and sure enough, it said that we were in the same dorm.

"Huh, you've got a point actually. Maybe it's a typo." Maybe, but I wasn't convinced. "I guess we'll just have to talk to whoever's in charge when we get there. And don't worry, I'll do the talking. I know how you are with people."

I hate people. Not my sister of course but I hate dealing with people. It's not healthy, I'm fully aware of that, but I just can't deal with it. Despite being my twin, my sister is my exact opposite. Popular, outgoing, friendly, she instantly makes friends wherever she goes. Me, I prefer to stay at home and study. I'm always that guy in the class that no one really knows or cares about. To everyone else, I'm just Minako's brother. And you know what? That's fine by me. Top grades at nearly every school I've been too make it worthwhile. Wish I could say the same for Miki, but she usually sleeps through class. She has no one to blame but herself when she receives a fail.

I look over to Miki and she's smirking at me now. It takes me a minute to figure why, but it soon hits me when I notice that she's gazing up at the top of my head. It's my hair again. Why does she always have a go at me about my hair? "Go on," I say, "I know you want to get it out of your system." She sits up a bit and start pulling at my bangs slightly.

"You haven't had blue hair for like ten years, or something like that. You were such a weird kid. What kid has blue hair at that age?" I grumble as she keeps playing with it, ruffling it until it got messy. "Seriously, I thought it was hilarious when you had that green mohawk two years ago, but what's with the bangs? Why would anyone willingly block half their vision?" I was thankful we were the only two in this part of the train.

"Y'know, I don't complain about your hair."

"True, but that's because it's perfect."

"Perfectly boring."

"Correction, perfectly cute."

I pretty much gave up on stopping her. The only way to stop her was to put my hands on her and pull her off me. I wouldn't feel right about that, even if I didn't hurt her in the process. Thankfully she got bored and went back to looking at her pamphlet while I did my best to sort out my messy hair. It takes me ages to get it right, only for Miki to mess with it. Before Miki could get up to anymore shenanigans, an announcement rang through the train's intercom.

**Minako POV**

_"Due to a malfunction in the switching system, today's rail schedule has been greatly altered. We apologize to any customers who were in a hurry."_

_Oh thanks, that makes me feel so much better,_ I thought to myself sarcastically.

_"The next stop is Iwatodi…"_

"OH THANK GOD!" I couldn't help but shout out my relief to no one in particular, apart from my brother. Good thing he had put the volume in his Ipod set to max. I lightly tapped him on the shoulder and he looked very annoyed at me.

"What now?"

"They said that the next stop is Iwatodi. We'd better get ready." He grunted but did as I suggested. He stood up and grabbed our bags from the compartment above us and handed me mine which I quickly put over my shoulder. Mini could tell I was eager to get off and despite his quiet nature, I could tell he felt the same.

"By the way," he said, "This is the city, so there will likely still be a lot of people up. Just stick close to me alright. I don't want to lose you in a crowd."

"Relax, it's like midnight. It won't be that bad." Looking back, I should have known not to say those famous last words. Those words are up there with what could possibly go wrong?

The train began to break to a halt and Mini led us to the carriage exit. As soon as the train finally came to a stop, I was a little overwhelmed by what I saw. I've lived in big cities before, at midnight there were still people about, but they were generally thinned out. There were so many people at the station alone. They were all just milling about, talking, drinking and some just seemed to be standing around. Instinctively, my hand grabbed on to Mini's and I held it tightly. I hate to admit it, but sometimes, I do feel like his little sister. It isn't always a bad feeling.

The doors opened and we stepped out into the station. I felt his hand squeeze tighter on mine as he tried to keep me as close as possible. It was my idea to go to the dorm in our new school uniforms, but a little bit of me really wish we hadn't. Especially because of the skirt I was wearing. I could feel a few eyes on my legs but I held my head up high. Thinking about my adventurous sister always made me feel a little braver. I hated heights, but Naoto loved them. She kept dragging me up trees and hills to the point where I wanted to faint. The smile on her face though always made it worth braving the tall peaks. I'll keep going for Naoto.

Mini pushed past the crowd of people in our path. He acted as my shield through the masses of bodies in our way and soon enough, we had made it to the other side unscathed. A small sigh of relief left my lips as I looked up at brother. He had a smile on his face because he loved acting like a big brother. He looked up at the station's clock and his smile disappeared.

"Crap, it'll be midnight in a bit. We'd better hurry," he said. I didn't argue with that so I let go of his hand and we quickened our pace out of the station and into the main street.

*Tick*

*Tock*

*Tick*

*Tock*

*Tick*

**Minato POV**

As soon as we stepped out of the station, everything went dead quiet. That was the first oddity I noticed. I looked around and none of the street lights were on. In fact, everything had a sort of greenish glow to it. The eerie atmosphere made me clutch my bag and my sisters hand a bit tighter. Miki noticed this and looked up at me in worry.

"Bro, what's wrong?

"Everything just got really… quiet." Miki looked confused at first, but I noticed that it was slowly dawning on her as well when her head began darting in all directions.

"Where the heck did everybody go?" That was something I hadn't noticed. Before I could think on it any further, my sisters expression turned to one of shock as she gazed up at the sky.

"Miki, what's wrong?" I asked, unable to hide my worry from her. She didn't respond. Instead, she continued to look up at the sky. I followed her gaze and realised that she was looking up at the moon. At first I was confused as to why she was so entranced by it. Then as I took a closer look, I began to have trouble looking away. I could barely make out my sister's voice beside me.

"Doesn't the moon look really… creepy tonight?" The moon was definitely bigger than usual. In fact, it was emitting a sort of green glow. The moon doesn't actually emit light, it reflects light. That's why it appears so bright in the sky. So the reason it was glowing green was a complete mystery to me. Something was wrong, and my suspicions were confirmed when I spotted a coffin.

I only looked away from the moon for half a second, but in that time I spotted a lone coffin just a couple of feet down the street from us. There was a red liquid leaking from the top of the wooden structure that I assumed was blood. I looked back inside the train station and in the places of the people that were once standing around in the station, were identical coffins. Everyone, besides Miki and I, were now inside coffins.

The one thought going through my head was that I had to stay calm for Miki's sake. At that moment I looked over to her to see her staring wide eyed at the coffin down the street. On closer inspection, there were a couple down the pathway. Her hand clasped tighter on mine as she gazed at the wooden omens that lined the path ahead of us.

"Miki," I whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Stay calm and walk with me. Let's get to the dorm."

Not another word was said between us as we marched towards our assigned dormitory. Along the way, our eyes never stayed on a single coffin for too long.

* * *

**Minako POV**

I should have been more relieved when we made it to the dormitory unharmed, but the feeling of dread that was building inside me refused to leave. More than once, I swore I saw something that wasn't human moving through the shadows. Mini's face had remained stoic throughout the trip but I could tell he was scared too. He was just a lot better at hiding it than me.

We stood in front of the large dormitory building for a moment before venturing inside. To our surprise, the door was actually unlocked. Mini assumed that they left it unlocked because they were expecting us. Of course anyone inside was likely inside a coffin now. I had the idea at one point to maybe take a peek inside one of the coffins, but a stern look from Mini deterred me from that. Every step we had taken seemed to echo eerily around us. I really hoped my mind was playing tricks on me because if there was something out there, then there was more than enough noise to let them know we were about.

"What are we gonna do?" I blurted out to nobody in particular. Mini put his hand on the door handle and turned to me.

"I don't know what's going on, but above all else, we've got each other." I nodded at him as I felt a bit assured. "Everybody inside is likely in a coffin now, but the door isn't unlocked so they must have been expecting us. You ready?" I nodded again. "Alright then, once were inside, let's wait this out."

Mini gently pushed the door open and held it for me as I walked in first. I guess he figured it would be safer inside rather than outside, but I wasn't thrilled about venturing in first. Apart from the creepy glow, everything looked relatively normal. The walls were brown and in front of me I could see a couple of couches, a small TV, and a dining table at the far end. I could also see a staircase leading upwards and beside that were two doors that led to male and female bathrooms. Everything looked pretty normal and with no coffins or blood to boot. I heard the door click shut behind and my brother walked up next to me.

"We're safe," he said with finality.

"Welcome." Both of our heads snapped towards a new voice. We looked over to a welcome desk right beside us, and a young boy was standing behind it. He was kind of creepy with his dead eyes and constant smile, but he was just a kid so I didn't think too much about.

My brother took off his headphones off as they hadn't been working since the moon turned green and the kid addressed us. "You're late. I've been waiting a long time."

Looking at the kid made me totally forget about what was going on outside. I put my brightest smile on and addressed him back. "Hey, nice to meetcha. You haven't been up all night waiting for us have you?" Mini just grunted to himself as he eyed the boy suspiciously.

"Time matters little to me", said the boy, "but I appreciate your concern." He raised his hand and snapped his fingers. I instinctively blinked and when I opened my eyes again, he was now standing right in front of us. "Now if you want to proceed, then please sign here. It's a contract." I blinked a couple of times before looking at what he motioning to. On the desk was indeed something that looked like a contract. "There's no need to be scared. It only binds you to accepting full responsibility for your actions."

Most people would have been wary about signing something they didn't fully understand. I just kind of shrugged and grabbed the pen beside the paper. I signed 'Minako Arisato' on the dotted line but made sure there was enough space for bro. Mini didn't jump at the chance to sign it, instead he took the boring route and read it to himself.

"I chooseth this fate of my own free will," he read aloud. "Although this is worded funny, I don't see anything out of the ordinary. I guess this really is just a contract saying we take responsibility for our actions while living here. Fair enough."

"Yes, something like that," muttered the boy. Minato signed it as well, and the boy quickly picked up the contract with a pale hand. He looked like death. "Time is something no one can escape. It delivers us all to the same end." As he said that, he moved the contract across his face and it seemingly vanished from existence. "Wishing won't make it go away. And so it begins."

Just like that, the boy disappeared right in front of us.

We stood there in silence for a couple of minutes before I spoke again. "Mini?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Did that boy really just vanish in front of us?"

"Yeah… yeah he did."

"… Do you think we would like living in an asylum? I think we've gone crazy."

"Who's there!?"

**Minato POV**

A panicked stricken brunette had descended the staircase and was staring right at us. She seemed scared, which wasn't unusual considering what was going on outside. However, she seemed especially scared of us. Her eyes held nothing but terror and sweat was leaking from her forehead. Her hand lowered slightly until it was hovering over something strapped to her leg. It was a holster, and in the holster was a gun. Instinct took over at that point as I threw myself in front of Miki. I was far too scared to even utter a sentence as I waited for the brunette to move next. Miki let out a tiny 'eep' but then I heard somebody else enter.

"Takeba, wait!" A tall, beautiful redhead was standing right at the foot of the stairs. As soon as the brunette took her eyes off of us, the greenish glow vanished and in its place was the usual lighting you would expect. My music began to play again too, but I quickly turned it off. The brunettes tension lowered, but the redhead approached us with a quickened pace. Miki stood out from behind me and came back to my side. The redhead stood next to the brunette. I think she was trying to keep her calm.

"I didn't think you'd arrive so late," she stated. "My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live at the dorm." She walked with a certain grace, and I got the sense that she was well off just from her presence. Her clothing looked very expensive as well. I was still shaken up from a moment ago, and I assume Miki was the same because we neglected to introduce ourselves.

"… Who are they?" Asked the brunette.

"They're transfer students. It was a last minute decision to assign them here." That explained why both me a Miki were in the same dorm. "He will be eventually moved to a boy's dorm. She will also be moved to a different girl's dorm."

"… Is it okay for them to be here?"

"I guess we'll see," Mitsuru said with a small smile. I could tell that Miki didn't like being left out of the conversation as she suddenly butted in.

"Oh, I'm Minako Arisato by the way. And this is my twin brother, Minato Arisato." I simply nodded my head. There wasn't any point getting friendly, considering the fact we wouldn't be here long.

"Well met," said Mitsuru. "This is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a junior this spring, just like you two."

"… Hi, I'm Yukari," she said cautiously.

"Why do you have a gun?" Blurted out Miki.

_Real smooth there, Sis._

"Huh? Um, well, it's sorta like a hobby…" I wasn't particularly good at telling if somebody was lying. However, she clearly was. It didn't really matter to me though. "Well, not a hobby but…"

"You know how it is these days," interrupted Mitsuru. "It's for self-defence." That sounded a lot more believable. My sister was wearing her usual goofy grin so she probably didn't get the obvious lie. She was always too trusting. "It's not a real gun of course."

"Oh that's cool. Can I have one?" Minako asked sweetly.

"Absolutely not! Real or fake, you'd find some way to blow your own head off." My outburst sent Miki back a bit. Mitsuru caught our attention again when she cleared her throat.

"It's getting late so you two should get some rest." She pointed to me. "Your room is on the second floor at the end of the hallway."

"I'll see myself there then. Thank you for your kindness." I lightly bowed and carried my bag with me to the stairs. "Good night everyone," I said as I ascended the staircase. I just wanted to put this weird day behind me.

* * *

**Minako POV**

Yukari was nice, she kind of reminded me of myself. As soon as Mini left in a sour mood, Yukari said she could show me to my room. I guess he was still freaked out from earlier but still, he could have made an effort to be nice. We talked a little bit and I explained that Mini was more of the loner type which she quickly understood. Looking at the gun now, it looked very real but at the same time I could see it wasn't loaded. Even if it was real, I'm sure she was just a little freaked out from all those coffins. Although I was surprised that hadn't come up at all. We were on the third floor and we stopped at the last door.

"This is it," said Yukari with a friendly smile. "Pretty easy to remember, huh? …Since it's at the end of the hall."

"Yeah, thanks Yukari."

"Don't mention it," she said with laugh. "So, any questions?"

"Oh yeah I do have one. Does that boy live here?"

"Boy?"

"Yeah, you know. The one with the striped shirt and the dead eyes. He looks kind of pale."

She just looked at me like I had a second head. "What are you talking about?"

"I guess I was mistaken," I lied through my teeth. There was a boy, but I guess they definitely didn't know him. Maybe he was connected to that weird stuff earlier.

"Um, can I ask you something?" Her confusion was gone, and now she looked more worried.

"Sure, go ahead."

"On your way here from the station, was everything okay?"

"Oh, well the moon kind of turned green and stuff. Then everybody turned into coffins and I think there were pools of blood all other the place. Apart from that, everything was cool. Anyway I better get some shut eye, laters!"

I left her standing there, slack-jawed at my bluntness. When I closed the door, I heard her suddenly sprint to her room in a panic. I couldn't help but burst out laughing. It was mean, but kind of funny. I knew right then though that this was going to be a very interesting year.

**Just a note for future reference, Mini is pronounced _Me-Knee_ by Minako. So there have been a few written versions of this classic game, but I can't seem to find a proper one where it features both the male and the female protagonists. So expect hilarity, adventure, friendship and romance from this story. Another note to make is that I will no be pairing everybody up, only if I find it appropriate. However, I am also very open to suggestions so don't be afraid to put one in a review.**


	2. April 7th - The First Day

_"Because in the school of the Spirit, man learns wisdom through humility, knowledge by forgetting, how to speak by silence, how to live by dying."_

_- Johannes Tauler_

Chapter 2 – The First Day

**April 7th 2009**  
**Minako POV**

*Knock* *Knock*

Have you ever had that dream where everything is perfect in the world? You've got the man of your dreams, you've aced your classes and have become a world renowned mega star, and best of all, no one bothers you. Then someone ruins all of that by knocking on your door, waking you from your ecstasy.

_Wow, I'm using some fancy words this morning. Mini would be so proud,_ I thought to myself. I rolled over in bed trying to block out the sound, but the knocking refused to stop. Putting a pillow over my head only drowned the noise out slightly, and then I could hear a person's voice behind the door.

"It's Yukari. Are you awake?" The voice said in a tone that was way too cheerful for this early in the morning.

"…No…" I managed to fumble out in a daze.

"Yeah, your brother told me you'd say something like that. That's why he wanted me to remind you that it's your first day of school today."

_I guess she must have woken up bro first. Oh wait, he always wakes up super early, they must have just passed each other._

"…Whatever…" I said as I curled up back into bed. It wouldn't be the first time I missed the first day. I could deal with that when the time came.

"He also told me that a quick glass of cold water over your head was an excellent way to ensure you got up. I don't think he was kidding either."

_Of course he wasn't. This is Mini we're talking about._ I accepted defeat this time and sat up. I guess it wouldn't do me any favours to miss the first day and Mini would never let me hear the end of it.

"Give me a minute. I'll meet you downstairs."

"Alright, be quick though, you don't want to be late."

After I heard Yukari's departing footsteps, I jumped into getting myself looking as awesome as possible. It didn't take me too long to get ready, but then again I wasn't exactly given as much time as I would have liked. School uniform on, hair tied up, quick dab of makeup and I was all ready to go conquer another school. I rushed downstairs, shaking off my tiredness and after three floors I found Yukari and Mini waiting for me right by the front door. The whole place looked a lot more homey compared to last night.

"Good morning Yukari-san," I called out as I walked towards them.

"Good morning," she replied with a smile. She was clearly a morning person considering how beautiful she looked. It appeared I would have a rival in the near future. I was okay with that though, life was no fun without someone to play against. "I would ask if you slept well, but judging from a little earlier, I think I know the answer," she said with a giggle.

"Nah, I slept like a log actually. I'm just not a morning person is all." I looked over to my brother who was fiddling with his Ipod as usual. Nice to see nothing has changed since yesterday, but it was weird, I could barely remember the other day. I think there was something about the moon or something like that. However, that wasn't the only weird thing. "Mini, what are you still doing here? I thought you would have left by now."

"Oh, Mitsuru-senpai asked me to take you both to school," Yukari answered. Mini just kept looking at his Ipod, barely registering me. "He also wanted to make sure you got up."

"Wow, you actually got something out of him?" I asked, genuinely surprised.

"Well, yeah. He just told me how I should get you up and that he would be waiting downstairs," she replied, a little confused as to what I meant. I couldn't blame her, she barely knew him yet. I could see that Mini was tapping his foot impatiently and Yukari caught on quickly. "A-anyway, are you ready to go?"

"Totally!"

"Yes, we don't want to be late," Mini said as he stepped straight outside. Yukari quickly chased after him and I heard her call out.

"Wait! I have to show you where to go!"

_Oh Mini, you'll never change…_

* * *

I hadn't realised this at first but according to Yukari, we couldn't walk straight to the school. We had to take a passenger train because the school was built on a separate island. Weird. Mini was as quiet as ever but Yukari and I chatted like we were old friends on our way to the train. We didn't have to pay since we were students and I couldn't help but raise my arm in a sense of victory as Mini shook his head at the sight. The train got crowded quickly so there weren't any seats left. That meant we had to use the dreaded handlebars of doom. All of sudden Yukari, who was standing between both of us, nudged Mini and me.

"This is my favourite part… When it feels like you're gliding over the sea. You can see our school from here." We both looked through the window and saw a tiny white structure in the distance. It was built on a small island, or more appropriately, an oversized rock. "See, there it is." It looked nice enough, but I preferred the sight of how the sun shone off the sea below. It sparkled and dazzled, and I don't use big words that often, but it was absolutely breath-taking.

"It's very beautiful," muttered Mini.

"Our stop is port island station at the end of line," added Yukari. "From there, we walk. Have you two ever heard of Tatsumi Port Island? It's a man-made island. They built our school right in the middle."

"Interesting, that must have taken them some time to build…"

"It looks like a good place for a nap," I added with a smirk. Mini gave me a sideways glance.

"With your grades, I would spend less time napping and more time studying. Your knowledge is barely on two."

"… What does that even mean?"

* * *

"Welcome to Gekkoukan High School! I hope you like it," said Yukari with no small sense of pride. The school was a lot bigger than I first thought it would be. Walking inside, we found ourselves amongst the footlockers. Just ahead of us was a group of other student talking around a board with names on it. Yukari stopped us before we got any further. "… And that concludes our tour."

"Wait, you didn't show us the school yet?" My brother argued. "It's not really a tour. You just showed us the way to school." I had to resist face palming so hard after that comment but luckily, Yukari seemed unfazed.

"You two will be okay from here, right?" I quickly placed a hand over Mini's mouth and nodded at her with smile. "You guys should see your homeroom teacher. The faculty office is right there to the left," just as Yukari said, there was a hallway to the left of us, and another to the right. In front of us was a staircase that led to the second floor.

"Yeah, what class are you in?" I asked while removing my hand from Mini's mouth. It can't hurt to have a friend in the same class as me. Yukari seemed a little surprised though.

"Me? I dunno… I haven't looked at the classroom assignments yet."

Mini cleared his throat. "Well, we had best get to the faculty office. Let's go, Miki." Before we could leave, Yuakri placed an arm in front of us.

"Hey… about last night… don't tell anyone what you saw, okay? See you later." And just like that, Yukari headed to the bulletin board and away from us. Mini had a raised eyebrow while I just looked a little confused.

"Did she mean not to mention the time she nearly pulled a fake gun on us?" I asked.

"Probably. I imagine Miss Popular would rather not have anyone misconstrued last night." We began walking down the left hall and passed a French student talking to a teacher wearing a samurai helmet (for some reason) when it suddenly occurred to me.

"What do you mean, 'Miss Popular'?"

"It's obvious isn't it? We always meet them at every school. The girl that every male here will be drooling over and hoard the attention for herself. Don't imagine she'll talk to you or me after this. After all, she said Mitsuru-senpai asked her to do this, likely not of her own accord."

"You're thinking way too much into that. She seems really nice…"

"Whatever Miki. You try to make as many friends as you want, just try and study this year please? I'd rather not see you flunk school."

He was grumpy, but he spoke his mind. I guess he had a point, but there's nothing wrong with making friends. I don't see why he's had to become so anti-social over years, plenty of people have given him the chance to open up, he's just too stubborn to actually do so. We came to the room labelled 'faculty office' and he held the door open for me to enter. We walked through to find a really messy room. I couldn't say much, but I thought teachers were meant to be neat and stuff. The amount of random files around the place just seemed unnecessary.

There was a short haired teacher on one desk, but she didn't pay us any attention. The other teacher was a brunette pale woman who was walking around the room nervously. I guess she might have been worried about school starting again. I could sympathize. She actually noticed us though, and walked straight up to us while looking as in control as she possibly could. She wore a nice light brown suit that really suited her, and she had a kind aura around her.

"Oh, are you the new students?" She asked us, seemingly calming down slightly. Mini looked a little confused.

"Aren't there a lot of new students joining?" He asked.

"Not as many as you might think." She looked at the little board she was holding. "Let's see… Minato and Minako Arisato… 11th grade correct? I see you're twins." We nodded as she switched into full teacher mode. "Wow, both of you have lived in a lot of different places."

"You can't say were not well travelled, huh?" My brother mused aloud.

"I suppose you can't," the teacher replied with a chuckle. The funny thing was when it came to teachers, Mini suddenly became a lot more sociable. I guess he held them in higher regard. If it's a sensei, or generally anyone he deemed worthy of respect, he was actually a pretty nice guy to them. Anyone else he kind of just brushes off. The teacher was still looking through her notes, presumably about us and then she suddenly gasped.

"What's wrong, sensei?" I asked.

"I'm sorry… I've been so busy I didn't have time to read this beforehand."

"You just read the part about our parents, didn't you?" She nodded glumly. "We're fine, sensei. It was a long time ago and both Miki and I have moved on since then."

"Well then, I'm Miss Toriumi. I teach composition. Welcome to our school."

"We're pleased to meet you," we both said with a bow.

"My, aren't you polite? Students like you two should be an example for others," she said with a smile. "Have you both seen the classroom assignments? You're both in 2-F; that's my class. I opted to take the pair of you since you were twins. I thought you'd feel more welcomed to the school that way."

"That's excellent, it will give me a chance to keep an eye on her," Mini replied while glancing at me.

"Yeah, yeah, I get ya," I said, unable to hide a smirk. "I'll do the work Mini, no need to worry about me." He rolled his eyes. He didn't seem very reassured.

"But first, we need to go to the auditorium," interrupted Toriumi. "The welcoming ceremony will be starting soon. Follow me."

* * *

**Minato POV**

I have a lot of respect for my teachers, generally, but this principal had the most annoying voice I think I have ever heard. It was deep yet high-pitched at the same time, and he took 2 seconds longer to pronounce a word than a normal person would. It droned on and on to an insufferable level, and he had only just begun his speech. I couldn't even pay attention to it as it was painful to focus on. I believe he was quoting an old proverb or something like that, but likely the entire speech was about the New Year and how we shouldn't waste it. Good advice, I just wish it was coming from someone who didn't make me want to tear my ears off.

Miki was sitting next to Yukari, and across the room from me. There were two groups of chairs with a pathway to the stage that separated them. This school had a very large attendance rate, but very few new students, which I found very odd. One thing I had to admit was Miki may have been right about Yukari, as the brunette had chosen to sit next to her. Perhaps I had been a little harsh earlier, but still, I wasn't meant to be in that dorm for very long so there was no real point trying to befriend her. Judging by the looks of the other students around me, all of which were wearer the uniform much neater than I, they were also very bored. They looked dead if I'm honest, trying to block out the sound of the mind numbing principal.

I chose to wear my uniform a bit scruffier, not to appear as a rebel, but more as personal taste. Admittedly I don't hate the uniform, I just don't like to button up the jacket all the way, and I never leave home without my headphones. Judging by some of the other students though, they seemed very lenient when it came to uniforms as many others had already done what I did. I relaxed slightly, mentally preparing myself for the day ahead and then I heard a noise behind me.

"Psst… hey…" I turned an eye behind me to see a fellow student trying to catch my attention. I had no idea who he was, but apparently he really wanted to talk to me because of how anxious he looked. Maybe he was just so bored he tried to start a random conversation, but why wouldn't he do that with the student next to him?

"What is it?" I asked quietly.

"You came to school with Yukari this morning, right? I saw you two walking together with that redhead girl."

_Oh please tell me that isn't what this is about…_

"I have a question," he continued. "Do you know if she has a boyfriend?"

_… Seriously? I just met her yesterday!_ I felt a pang of sympathy go out to Yukari if this was the height of the male contingency in this school. If we weren't in the middle of an assembly I'd have given him a piece of my mind about minding his own business, but I simply shrugged and said, "I don't know."

"Aw man, that sucks." He seemed visibly annoyed, and I had hoped he'd leave it there but he insisted on talking further. "So, how well do you know her?"

"I hear talking!" A teacher raised his voice near us, and the student behind me immediately sat back in his chair and feigned innocence. "I believe it's someone from Miss Toriumi's class…"

_Well isn't that nice of you, trying to get your co-workers needlessly in trouble like that._

I could barely make out Toriumi-senpai. "Shhh! Be quiet! You're going to get me in trouble!"

I couldn't see the teacher she was talking to from where I was sitting, but I already didn't like the guy. The assembly continued on with pretty much nothing else of note.

* * *

**Several hours later…**

And with that, my first day of school was over. It had gone as most first days would. Less on the teaching side, and more on the introduction and getting ourselves comfortable side. I didn't mind that much, but it would have been nice to have actually done something today. In the end, everything we did just felt kind of pointless. My sister took a seat to the left of me, and by coincidence, Yukari was in our class too, so she sat by Miki.

There was the teacher introduction, who of course was Toriumi-senpai, and she went over what the school year would be like. There were a few basic math problems but the day went quicker than we had expected. As Miki began to talk to Yukari again while packing away, I took this chance to go home and find a way to amuse myself. I stood up, but a lanky student in front of me blocked my path.

"'Sup dude!?" The boy was very tall. He wore a blue shirt instead of the mandatory white shirt under his school jacket. On the top of his head was dark blue cap, and he gave off a very relaxed aura. He also had a goatee that stood out at the end of his chin. "How's it goin'?"

_Did I know him? I don't recall meeting him before._

"Who are you?" I asked. I was justifiably confused as to why he seemed so relaxed and treated me as if we had met before.

"Me? I'm Junpei Iori. Nice to meet you."

_Ah, so we haven't met before. He has an odd way of introducing himself._

"I transferred here when I was in eighth grade," he continued. Normally I would have tried to politely excuse myself, but he clearly wanted something. I decided to humour him a little.

"So, you've been here for a long time then?"

"Yeah, I know how hard it is bein' the new kid. So I wanted to say, hey… See what a nice guy I am." He seemed suspicious, but harmless enough. At that exact moment, Yukari locked eyes on Junpei and squinted at him. It didn't take a rocket scientist to tell they had history, and both Yukari and Miki walked up to us.

Junpei spotted her and seemed slightly alerted. "Hey, it's Yuka-tan! I didn't think we'd be in the same class again."

Yukari rolled her eyes and sighed. "At it again, huh? I swear, you'll talk to anyone if they'll listen. Did you ever think you might be bothering someone?"

_This girl can be more antisocial than me… I think I like her._ I lightly chuckled, but not loud enough for them to hear. Miki looked completely confused as to what was happening, and I couldn't really blame her. Junpei seemed to pick up on this, and capitalised to take the subject away from him.

"You look like a deer in headlights," he said with a laugh. "I'm Junpei Iori. Nice to meet ya." He gave the exact greeting he gave me, as if it was rehearsed.

"I'm Minako, I see you've met my brother," she replied with her award winning smile. Junpei looked between the pair of us and grinned.

"Oh, so you two are twins, huh?" Junpei's innocent enough question seemed to annoy Yukari as she sighed again. She must have known something we didn't. Junpei rubbed the back of his neck, his nervousness showing through. "What? I was just bein' friendly," he pleaded.

"If you say so," replied Yukari, clearly unsure if he was telling the truth. "Anyway, some coincidence that we'd be in the same homeroom, right?"

"I'm glad to have a friend," Minako chimed in cheerfully. I non-committedly grunted.

"A friend? Oh… you mean me."

"Um, hello?" Junpei caught our attention. "Are you forgetting that I'm in this class too?" Yukari rolled her eyes again. "By the way, I heard that you two came to school together this morning," he said motioning to me and Yukari. "What's up with that? C'mon, gimme the dirt!" my cheeks grew hotter, and my eyes opened wide upon realisation.

"Hey, I was there too? Why did people leave me out!?" Minako argued pointlessly.

"B-b-but you're his sister!" Junpei recoiled in horror.

"You idiot! Nothing's going on," I answered. "It's just stupid rumours and peoples' wild imaginations. Can two people not simply walk together?" Only now did I realise how red Yukari's cheeks had been, and she added her agreement.

"Y-yeah, what he said. We live in the same dorm. There's nothing going on, okay? Why are people even talking about it!? Now you have me worried…"

"Relax Yukari, people can just be idiots sometimes," assured Minako. "Rumours like these blow over as quickly as they start." Yukari seemed to calm down slightly, and Junpei seemingly faded into the background.

"Hey… you two didn't say anything to anyone about… you know what, did you?"

"You know what?" Questioned Minako. Yukari suddenly got angry, and stomped her foot on the classroom floor.

"Don't tell me you forgot already! Seriously… don't say anything about last night, alright?" Minako nodded, but my eyes caught the look on Junpei's face. Junpei had still been standing there, and he looked at Yukari and Minako in sure awe. He blinked several times and I think some saliva dripped out of his open mouth. Miki and Yukari caught on too, and looked at him with caution.

"Wh-what?" Asked Yukari.

Junpei managed to squeak out, "L-last night…?"

"… W-Wait a minute! Don't get the wrong idea!" Yukari said in a panic.

"Oh, now I get what's he's saying. That's kind of hot," Minako chimed in, catching Yukari, and myself, completely off guard.

"Listen! I just met the pair of them yesterday, and there's absolutely nothing between us! Geez… I've got to go. I've got something to take care of for the archery team. But, you better not start any rumours!"

Yukari swiftly left the classroom. The vagueness of what she had to do left me to believe she had no commitments, but desperately wanted to leave behind the awkward situation. I couldn't really blame her, but both Junpei and Minako seemed oblivious to this. In that entire time though, none of the other students around us paid any attention. I suppose stuff like this must have been a regular occurrence. Miki waved her goodbye while Junpei rolled his neck.

"Ah, who cares?" He so eloquently put. "No one takes rumours seriously, anyway. She's so paranoid…"

"And rightfully so," I interrupted. "People can take rumours far more seriously than you think, Junpei-kun."

"Whatever," he shrugged. "But, hey! It's your first day here and people are already talkin' about you," he said directly to me. I noticed Miki pout for a moment, and then instantly perk right up as she so often did. "Believe it or not, she's actually pretty popular, so you da man!" He raised his hand up, signalling for high five.

"Uh… thank you." I did what came naturally and slapped his hand to complete the high five. The action felt… foreign to me. I had seen others do it, yet I had never done anything like that. Weird.

"Heheh, this is gonna be a fun year. I can feel it!" Junpei exclaimed with a large grin on his face.

"Well _Mr. Popular_," Miki mockingly teased me. "Shall we head home now?"

"Yes, I think that's a good idea." As we began to walk away, Junpei ran up to catch up.

"Can I tag for a bit? I ain't got nothin' to do."

I got the feeling that even if we had said no, he would've come anyway.

* * *

**Later that evening…**

On the way home, we learned a few interesting things from Junpei. Clubs were opening soon, general rumours about the area and other random bits of information. In all honestly, I didn't mind Junpei, as he seemed friendly enough even if he had little concept of personal space. Miki didn't mind him as they were yakking it up all the way back to the dorm. I blocked their conversation out, but I did note that Junpei followed us all the way back to our dorm. We said our goodbyes and I hoped to get an early night to make up for yesterday.

We ran into Mitsuru on our way inside and she gave us a "Welcome back." Yukari was nowhere in sight, but we assumed that she had not returned yet. Miki made no counter argument when I suggested she turn in early, but when we were about to break apart on the second floor, she stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, Mini?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you feel like… we've forgotten something? Something kind of important."

"Honestly, you might be right." It had been bugging me the entire morning. Something in the back of my head was screaming at me to remember, that it was an event that occurred recently. For the life of me though, I couldn't remember. "Why don't we sleep on it? We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Miki agreed and wished me goodnight. Hopefully she would be less tired tomorrow. I soon found myself in bed, looking around my bland room. Despite how tired I was, there was something else that kept me awake. Some sort of block was in place that prevented me from drifting off, but I fought against it with all of my will. _I need to sleep, I just need to sleep, I just need to sleep, I… just… need… to…_ Finally, my eyes shut and I fell into dreamland. As I did so, a ghostly voice called out to me, one I could barely make out.

_I am thou, thou art I. Soon, you shall call upon me… and we shall be one…_

* * *

**?**

"I'm going out for a bit."

"… Hm?"

"Have you seen the newspapers lately?"

"… I know. People who had no problems before are suddenly developing acute cases of apathy syndrome. I've seen it on the news quite often lately. They say it's due to stress, but…"

"Yeah, right. It has to be THEM. Otherwise it's not worth my time…"

"You have a one-track mind. Will you be okay on your own?"

"Don't worry. I'm just getting a little practice."

*Step* *Step* *Step*

*Creak*

"…"

*Sigh*

"This isn't a game, Akihiko…"

* * *

**Things are starting to get a move on now, and I'm sure much to your relief. I've lessened the number POV switches, I might even rewrite the first chapter to cut them down. Do you prefer it like this, or like before where there was more? I'm just curious really. Now I will be doing some different things with this take on P3. I can't really say anything without spoilers, but I'm not diverting from the main storyline. That will mostly be intact.**

**Let me know what you liked with a review please :) Have a nice day.**


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Persona Series, Adventure, Romance