— –Ryuji Sakamoto– —
Ever since he'd stood up to Kamoshida, Ryuji had been a ghost in his own school.
No, worse than a ghost. Ryuji was an outcast. His old "friends" from the track team looked at him like he was a disease. The teachers breathed down his neck, waiting for him to screw up so they could expel him. And everyone else just saw him as the violent troublemaker who ruined the track team.
All for standing up to that effin' bastard.
Kamoshida had broken his leg, shattered his future as a runner, and yet, Ryuji had been the one to get suspended for "assaulting a teacher."
It was total bullshit.
So, he'd just stopped caring. If everyone expected him to be a delinquent, then fine. He'd dye his hair, slouch in his chair, and give them the scary punk they wanted.
But then, the air in the school had changed. A new transfer student had walked in with a criminal record. To be honest, Ryuji hadn't been all that interested in him at first. Just another guy getting screwed by the system.
But then the new kid, Amamiya, had gone and flipped the whole damn school upside down.
He hadn't just stood up to Kamoshida. He'd walked right into the lion's den, took a beating, and came out with a recording that exposed the King for the scumbag he really was.
Honestly? It was effin' amazing.
For the first time in forever, Ryuji didn't feel alone. There was someone else who saw through the bullshit. Someone else who fought back against the "King" of Shujin Academy and actually managed to knock him off his throne. Hell, that wasn't even the craziest part. Even after looking like shit, Amamiya had just shown up to school the next day like it was nothing.
That settled it. Ryuji had to talk to him. The first time he'd gotten sidetracked ranting about Kamoshida. So now he was currently prowling the halls during lunch, looking for Amamiya.
He felt like he owed the guy. At the very least, he was gonna drag him to Ogikubo for some ramen. It was on him. From the short conversation they'd had on the train earlier, Amamiya seemed like a chill guy, maybe even someone Ryuji could actually call a friend.
Even after searching for a few minutes, he couldn't find the guy, but it was then he'd seen the strangest thing. A small blue butterfly that looked almost as if it were glowing was flying past him. It was as his eyes followed the small bug that he'd finally gotten a glimpse of the guy he'd been looking for. He'd almost missed him across the crowd of students.
Amamiya wasn't alone. He was walking out of the school building with two girls. One he vaguely recognized, Suzui, the girl from the volleyball team. And the other… was that Ann?
What's that about?
Deciding to track them, discreetly, of course, he slipped out of the side exit, trailing a safe distance behind. They turned into the narrow alleyway next to the school, the shortcut Ryuji always used when he was running late.
He crept up to the corner, peeking around the brick wall. He saw the three of them standing in a circle, looking down at Amamiya's phone like they were waiting for a text.
"Alright, here goes nothing." He heard Amamiya mutter.
The next second, the world tilted.
There was a sound like a thunderclap right next to his ear, followed by the roar of a sudden storm. The wind picked up out of nowhere, howling with a ferocity that knocked Ryuji off balance. He stumbled back, his ass hitting the pavement hard.
"Whoa! What the—?!"
He scrambled to look up, and his jaw hit the floor.
The school was gone. Or… not gone. It was replaced. Where Shujin Academy should have been, a massive, grotesque castle now loomed over them. But it wasn't the sturdy fortress he'd expected.
It was falling apart.
A massive hurricane swirled around the spires, tearing huge chunks of masonry from the walls. Lightning, purple and jagged, struck the main keep again and again, causing rubble to rain down into the distorted moat below.
"What the hell!?" He heard Ann shouting over the wind.
Ryuji sat there, frozen, his brain trying to process what he was seeing. It was only then that he saw the three of them step out of the alley and look at him, then the castle, then back at him.
"Well… Shit." Amamiya muttered.
— –Ren Amamiya– —
Clearly, the range in the Metaverse Navigator was bigger than he'd originally expected. They'd been the only three in the alley when he'd activated it, and yet, another person had been dragged in.
But wait, wasn't that Sakamoto? The same guy who had been ranting about Kamoshida to him on the train ride?
Was that a coincidence? Or had Igor also dragged him into here?
So far every person who'd been dragged to the castle with him by force had some sort of grudge against the guy. So it felt wrong to chuck it up to just chance.
Really, how was he supposed to put on a good play when he didn't even have the script?
Well, in the end it didn't matter. What was done was done, so he'd have to adapt. In the end, he could always use more help taking down the castle.
"Congratulations, you have been recruited." Ren told him with a smile as he offered him a hand to stand up.
"Recruited?" Sakamoto asked, sounding absolutely confused yet still taking his offer for help nonetheless. "What the hell happened to the school? Why is there a storm? And what's with your outfit?"
Surprisingly, unlike with Suzui who'd looked as if she were having a mental breakdown from the sudden change of scenery, Sakamoto just looked confused. Yet, at the mention of the outfit, he'd had to look down to notice that he indeed was wearing something different. And as he looked at Suzui, he saw that she was wearing the same strange outfit that had appeared on her after awakening Circe.
"Honestly?" Ren asked, glancing between the castle and him before finally answering. "No idea, we are still figuring it out. But at the moment our best guess is that we are inside of Kamoshida's mind."
Then, seeing Sakamoto's gaze still wander down to the outfit, Ren sent him a shrug.
"As for the outfit, it's uh… a perk of the job. I'm sure you'll get one too if you spend long enough here. We might need to throw you into a life or death situation though." Ren explained before tilting his head slightly. "Or maybe not? Like I said, we are still figuring it out."
"Inside Kamoshida's mind?" Sakamoto echoed, looking around to face the castle. "What the eff?"
"How is any of this possible?" Takamaki finally spoke up, looking equally baffled by the surroundings.
Ren and Suzui exchanged a glance with each other, but they could only offer shrugs in response. The two of them looked like they had fifty different questions he didn't know the answer to, so before they could speak up, he interrupted them.
"Alright, I know it's confusing, like I said, we still don't understand anything that's going on. The only thing I know for a fact is that something weird is going on in that school, and that unless we do something, Kamoshida is going to come back and continue ruining the lives of everyone around him." He began, noticing how both of their expressions instantly became serious at his words.
"Ren's right." Suzui continued. "Ann, Kamoshida is a monster, if he gets away with this then he's only going to come back worse. I don't know what he will do then, but everyone will be in danger if we don't do anything. I know this can be dangerous, but I have a feeling this is the way for us to really take him down.
"This is a bit too…" Takamaki trailed off, glancing around with some hesitation before her eyes landed back on Suzui, who was looking at her with pleading eyes.
"Listen, this is all a bit weird… and I think exposing this place to more people will only make things spiral out of control. But Takamaki, Suzui trusted you enough to reveal this secret, and Sakamoto, this could be your chance to finally have some payback. You two are the only people we can turn to at the moment. So what do you say?"
"Eff it, I'm in." Sakamoto said, extending his hand for a handshake as if to make it official.
Hearing him agree must have been the final push Takamaki needed, since after a sigh, she looked back at them with a far more confident appearance.
"Alright, I'll do it… whatever 'it' means…."
Ren couldn't help but smile slightly at their answers, seeing as Suzui quickly brought Takamaki into a tight hug to celebrate. For a moment, he had to hold back his laughter, because the two of them were really taking this far better than he'd expected.
So far, Suzui had been the only one to show a reasonable reaction. Even he had simply shaken it off, but he had Igor's whole meeting as an explanation for what was happening, even if it didn't make much sense.
"Well then, welcome to the team." Ren announced. "We should head back for now and prepare more for the next time we return. I think the best thing to do would be to meet here after school on Friday. Any time that we spend here also passes outside, so we should give anyone who might worry about us an excuse as to why we might be late to come back home. I'll also see if I can gather any more information about this place."
With that said, they all headed back to where they came from by simply getting away from the castle. Once they'd crossed a certain threshold, the world around them changed again. It would have been almost imperceptible had it not been for how loud the storm that'd been raging in the castle had been. The sudden silence felt almost out of place.
"Wow…" The school's back to normal." Sakamoto remarked as he stepped out of the alley.
Yet, before they could continue discussing everything, the school bell rang once more, causing them to quickly run back inside. They exchanged phone numbers along the way, creating a group chat with each other before running back to their respective classrooms.
Yet if he was being honest, he couldn't really concentrate on the lesson. For one because he didn't care that much, and for another because after seeing the castle being torn to pieces, everything else felt far duller in comparison.
He really wanted to rush back in, but he knew better than to rush his plans again and get him and the rest killed just because of his own impatience. He'd already been bailed out once, and he didn't want to risk hurting or even killing himself and his new teammates just because he was feeling impulsive.
It wasn't until he felt his phone buzzing that he was snapped out of his thoughts, and as he sneakily pulled it out, he saw a message from Sakamoto.
[Ryuji] Yo! I got an idea! We should probably get weapons for that place, right? I mean if it's a castle it's gotta be protected right? I know a place that sells model guns. They just shoot BBs but they look real enough.
[Shiho] I'm not sure the knights in there can be reasoned. They are weird.They either tried to capture us or attacked us on sight.
[Ann] Knights? Like in armor and stuff?
Looking away from the messages, Ren looked out of the window, narrowing his eyes slightly.
'A place between dream and reality. Between mind and matter.' That's how Igor had described the Velvet Room and given that it appeared to be connected to the castle, then maybe that was something to go off from.
It was fairly reasonable to expect that place to be Kamoshida's mind, given how it pictured him as the king of the school. So… if that really was Kamoshida's mind, then maybe something looking close enough to the real thing would be enough?
It was at least worth the experiment.
[Ren] I actually think Sakamoto's idea is worth a try. We can check out the shop after school. Worst case scenario, we lose a bit of money. But best case, it gives Sakamoto and Takamaki something to defend themselves with before they awaken their personas.
[Ryuji] Persona? What's that?
[Ren] I'll explain on the way to the gun shop. At least as best as I can. But if anyone else has any ideas then drop them in the chat. They might turn out to be more useful than we think. Remember, anything goes at the moment. Until we understand the other world, we have to keep an open mind.
[Ann] Should we also bring food there?
[Ryuji] ….
[Shiho] …
[Ann] Oh! And I also have pepper spray! Could that work on the people there?
[Shiho] Maybe?
[Ren] ¯\_(^-^)_/¯
— — —
After school, the four of them navigated the sea of people to make their way up to Shibuya's Central Street. Ren had spent the better part of the commute trying to catch Takamaki and Sakamoto up on everything they knew so far. From the basics of what Personas were, to a condensed version of their near-death experience inside the castle.
Really, the more he spoke the words out loud, the crazier it all sounded. He really wanted to understand this "Metaverse" better, but it was hard to get any concrete information. Maybe it was far-fetched, but perhaps he'd be able to learn more if he hit the school library. It would, at the very least, be a start.
"Yo, Ann, I gotta ask a weird question but, uh…" Sakamoto began, scratching the bleached hair at the back of his head awkwardly. He hesitated before finally blurting it out. "Weren't you and Kamoshida like… dating?"
"No!" Takamaki quickly shouted back, drawing a few curious eyes in her direction and causing her to shrink back slightly. "I mean, well… it's complicated, but we never… I don't… it was all just fake…."
"She was doing it to help me." Suzui interrupted, placing a hand on Takamaki's shoulder. "Kamoshida threatened to kick me off the starting lineup if she didn't play along. I… I don't know why I cared so much about a stupid volleyball team… it's my fault."
Near the end, her voice dropped to a whisper, and she averted her eyes, staring hard at the pavement.
"Ah…" Sakamoto muttered, realizing he'd stepped on a landmine. He looked away, rubbing his neck. "My bad."
It was surprising just how quickly the simple mention of that man's name could suck the oxygen right out of the group. Ren knew he had to fix the mood before they spiraled. He needed to redirect them.
"So, about the guns, what are you all thinking about getting?" Ren asked. "I'm thinking of just getting a classic pistol. Someone I used to know had one, so maybe I'll get a replica of the same one."
Everyone perked up at the question, grateful for the distraction. But it was Sakamoto who all but jumped with excitement.
"Oh! I was thinking of getting a shotgun! Like a pump-action one." Sakamoto said, miming the motion with his hands. "We need some close-range power, right? I'd like to see those tin-can knights try to tank a point-blank blast to the chest."
"Eh…" Takamaki was the next to speak, tilting her head slightly as she imagined it. She shrugged. "I don't really know much about guns. I think I'll just pick up the first one that looks… cool? I mean, we don't even know if it's actually going to work, right?"
"Psh." Sakamoto scoffed at her indecision. "At least I wasn't the one that suggested bringing a bag of chips into a warzone."
She frowned at his words, opening her mouth to retort, but Suzui beat her to it.
"Actually, snacks don't sound like the worst idea if we are going to be in there for a while." Suzui said, backing up her friend with a nod. "If we get trapped in a room or get lost, it would be good to have some food to rely on. Rations are important."
Sakamoto opened his mouth to argue, realized she had a point, and snapped it shut.
For a few minutes, the conversation flowed easier. It drifted from which snack was the most calorie-dense, to whether or not it would be a hassle to carry a duffel bag of supplies. Then, the debate shifted to melee weapons, whether it would be worth it to buy a replica sword or a spear to save ammo. A surprisingly valid question. If the guns worked, then a blunt metal sword should work just fine, too.
Eventually, they'd arrived at the place they'd been searching for, "Untouchable Airsofts."
The store was tucked away in one of the seedier, less-traveled alleyways of Shibuya's Central Street. It was the kind of place you had to actively look for to find; you wouldn't just stumble upon it while window shopping.
Ren looked up at the sign. It made sense. An airsoft store that specialized in "realistic" models wouldn't exactly be front and center in a country with such strict gun regulations. It felt shady.
It was perfect.
Entering the store, the electronic chime above the door announced their arrival. They were immediately greeted by the smell of gun oil and the sight of a middle-aged man with short gray hair sitting behind the counter. He had a rough stubble, and peeking out from the collar of his shirt was the edge of a tattoo that looked dangerously like a gecko.
He was engrossed in a sports newspaper, the radio humming quietly in the background. Even as they shuffled in, he didn't bother to look up.
At least, not until Ren walked up to the counter, rested his hands on the glass, and offered his most disarming, polite student smile.
"Hello. I'm looking for a Desert Eagle replica. Do you have one in stock?"
The man finally lowered his paper. He blinked, his tired, heavy-lidded eyes scanning Ren up and down, assessing him.
"We got a shipment last week. I got a few different models, heavy weight, blowback... depends on how much allowance you got burning a hole in your pocket. You need anything else?"
"Yes, actually." Ren answered, glancing back at his teammates.
They were looking around the cramped shop like kids in a candy store. Ren watched, flinching internally, as Takamaki picked up a submachine gun and squeezed the trigger a few times to test the spring, unknowingly aiming the barrel directly at Sakamoto's chest.
'So much for trigger discipline.' Ren thought, making a mental note to give them a safety briefing later.
"We're starting an airsoft club at our school." Ren lied smoothly, turning his attention back to the owner. "My friends, they're… well, they're beginners. I was wondering if you had some solid starting gear you could recommend. Something reliable."
The man behind the counter leaned back in his chair. He looked at the group of loud teenagers, then back at Ren, before letting out a long, gravelly sigh.
"Fine." Iwai grunted, standing up and stretching his neck. He walked around the counter with a heavy gait. "I'll grab some of the beginner stock. They're on the cheaper side, so you won't cry too hard if your... 'club' folds in a week."
He paused, fixing Ren with a sharp look.
"Oh, and no refunds. Unless the thing explodes in your hand, you bought it."
As the store owner shuffled off to the back room, Sakamoto quickly approached the display case.
"Yo! Ren, look over here! Doesn't this shotgun look amazing? We gotta make sure we buy some fancy shit, right?" Sakamoto exclaimed, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "Imagine blasting those armor-heads with this!"
"Ooooh, Shiho! Look at this one!" Takamaki called out from the other wall, pointing at a sleek, dangerous-looking tommy gun. "Wouldn't I look cool with one of those? I could look like a femme fatale from one of those old mafia movies."
"I can definitely see it." Suzui answered with a chuckle. She wandered past the assault rifles, her eyes scanning the top shelf until they landed on a long-barreled rifle. "Do you think they'd sell me one of those? A sniper rifle?"
"A sniper?" Sakamoto asked, looking at her with genuine surprise before shaking his head. "Dude, with one of those you'd have to be way in the back. Where's the fun in that? You need to grab a shotgun like me. Get in their faces!"
"Who says I want to be in their faces?" Suzui countered with a small grin.
Looking at his teammates getting into animated discussions about the various replicas, debating stopping power and aesthetics as if their lives didn't actually depend on it, Ren couldn't help but chuckle.
They are really treating this like a school field trip, aren't they?
It was an atmosphere he wasn't used to. It was light. It was normal. And if he were being honest, it was infectious. For a moment, he felt tempted to let himself get lost in the discussion.
After hesitating for a moment, he decided to give in.
Their "show" had just begun, and everything was bound to be an uphill battle from here on out. He might as well savor the lighter scenes while he could.
"We need a name for our group, don't we?" Ren asked, catching their attention.
They all turned to him, expecting something cool, something leader-like. Ren let a stupid, lopsided grin spread across his face.
"How about we call ourselves... the Persona Pals?"
The question was met with dead silence. Sakamoto looked confused. Takamaki looked pained.
Eventually, Suzui burst out laughing, unable to hold it in. The sound broke the dam, and the other two followed suit, groaning and laughing at the terrible name.
Yet, even while he stood there enjoying the moment, the smile on Ren's face stopped reaching his eyes.
This is just the start, isn't it?
He'd accepted the fact that he was nothing but entertainment for Igor. He'd accepted his role in the Grand Theater quite easily, in fact.
But standing here, watching his friends laugh, realizing that their genuine joy was just another plot point for an audience he couldn't see... it was only at this moment that he started to feel the slightest traces of annoyance at the notion.