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Arashi awakened to find himself in complete darkness. However, it wasn't long after when a bright blue light from above appeared and illuminated Arashi and where he stood: a pure white floor - at least from the circular area that was illuminated. The light was quite jarring to the eyes - harsh - like a searchlight almost. Arashi instinctively placed an arm over his eyes to avoid the strong light but, as he finally placed his arm back to his side, the scenery had changed. He was now in a blue room - a very blue room - as well as sitting on a chair of velvet upholstery. It was a rather large room as well with most of the space being occupied by shelves upon shelves of books. Directly in front of him, sitting upon a more luxurious velvet seat, is a sharply-dressed but rather unusual-looking man with a spectacularly long nose. Between the bizarre man and Arashi stood an impressive table decorated in velvet. Beside the strange man stood a more normal-looking man with combed, pale blonde hair dressed in a blue dress shirt, black tie, black slacks and matching dress shoes, black suspenders, and draped over his shoulder is a blue coat.


"Welcome to the Velvet Room," the long-nose man addressed Arashi. "It seems you have an intriguing destiny." He lightly chuckled. "My name is Igor... I am delighted to make your acquaintance." Igor gestured to the other man. "This is Walton. He is a resident of this place, like myself."

"Pleasure," Walton impassively greeted.

"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a 'contract' may enter. It seems such a fate awaits you in the near future. Now then... Why don't you introduce yourself...?" Arashi introduced himself. "Hmm, I see... A great calamity approaches. The true nature of it, I cannot tell for certain. However, residing within you is a great power. Perhaps great enough to stand against the encroaching danger... Are you aware of the many and varied selves you harbor within you? The self suffused with divine love. The self capable of demonic cruelty. People live by wearing different masks. What masks do you wear?"

"It's time," Walton reported to Igor.

"I'm afraid our conversation will have to end here. But do not worry, this will not be the last time we speak. The next time we meet, you will not be alone... Your destiny is intertwined with others who share a similar power to yours. It is with them that this journey you have started on will see its completion. My assistant and I will be here to aid you by unlocking the truths residing within your hearts. But that is a conversation for another time. Until then, farewell..."

April 9th​ / Sunday / Sunny

A large bus made its way down the road and entered the suburbs of Nichibotsu-ku. On the bus sat Arashi looking quietly out the window. Tomorrow is the start of a new school year at the prestigious Koden Private High School Academy, or just Koden Academy for short. Arashi is a student there; made apparent by the uniform he is currently wearing. He had been accepted into the school a few months back on account of his grades, but it wasn't his idea to switch schools in the first place, his parents had suggested it and he simply complied with their wish. He could care less about what school he attends. In the end, they're all uninteresting anyways. He reached into his blazer's pocket and pulled out an old pocket watch - one could see the signs of its age. "6:42," reads the hands of the watch; evening time.

Soon, the bus stopped at its destination: just in front of Koden Academy. Stepping off the bus with his belongings, Arashi inspected the campus and, my, it's quite the impressive campus, rivaling those of universities. Numerous students are out and about; all of them are dressed casually since the new school year doesn't officially start until tomorrow. Arashi is assigned to Dormitory Building B, Room 214, and so he decides to go there. It took nearly three minutes but he finally arrived at his dorm. He could see various students hanging out around the dorm. They're probably his dorm mates. Walking in, he is greeted with the sight of more people. He garnered quite a few looks because of his uniform but he didn't noticed. He walked upstairs and retired to his room. Setting his things down, Arashi proceeded to change into a more comfortable attire. Tomorrow is the start of his new life at Koden Academy.

April 10th​ / Monday / Sunny
 
April 9th / Sunday / Sunny
Tadashi wakes up inside a white car at the passenger seat , eyes sliding open as he observes a phasing scenary passing by the corner of his eye, his shoulder leant on the car´s door arm rest and his hand clutched pressing his knuckles against his cheek. Apart from himself there was the driver, his father, also buckled with his seatbelt and driving him to his next destination, the all prestigious Koden Academy. The image of the city at first was blurry but slowly became more clear. There was also his luggage on the rearseats. Tadashi wore a simple grey t-shirt and jeans currently and the ring on his index, his right hand resting on the lap.

Briefly after realizing Tadashi woke up, the man spoke with an enthusiastic yet mature tone, sighing in nostalgia. "We´re almost there. You know, this year could be the perfect opportunity to think about deciding what career you´ll pursue. I´ll leave that up to you of course."

Tadashi only yawns, wearing a long face, now his right hand gripping his own face down, sighing back. His hand muffles his voice "Yeah, i´ll think about it..."

An hour and a few minutes later he reaches the gate were he is finally left by himself and his luggage. His general expression shifts when he is met with familiar faces, those who seemed to be rather close to him. Not only his expression but his mood shifts gear as swiftly, sporting enthusiasm to carry on this year with his usual friends. Tadashi chats his way towards the dorms, but as he continues on, his friends spread apart each making their way to their own, quickly realizing he is left by himself, the noise quelling to the echoe of feet clattering, looking at a sheet of paper. It was rugged but it seemed to be indicating he was going to sleep in dorm B this year and more importantly apart from those he knew. This irritated him, still, he strolled accepting it to be futile to think it could be different.

He reaches his room 202 at around 6:00, where he takes his time to settle in and eventually leans back on his bed. He perks up his cellphone and invest himself on conversing with the rest who he´d yet to meet. Eventually they all converge infront and outside of his room to catch-up with their vacations. While their exchange was taking place, Tadashi´s fixation slips on Arashi who wore his uniform before returning to their conversation.

"Does anybody know about new students this year?" asks Tadashi to the group, which strings into gossiping.​

April 10th / Monday / Sunny
Tadashi wakes particularly early, the first rays of sun stroking through his window. At this point he decided to dress the uniform and headed to the dining-room, being one of the first to arrive. This attitude was particularly known of him, after some years of experience, he learnt this was the best way to:

1. Get access to a considerable amount of food.
2. Could enjoy his first meal without having to wait inline.
3. Could take sips of his coffee and eat without having to rush out

This 3 aspects of the morning routine became a dogma for Tadashi. By the time he is done, and the light of day shines clearer he is ready to move towards the facilities for schooling, he reflects upon the day to come. It is now that he remembers today possesses a different shift of events, one pertaining the geography class he has somehow gotten involved with, one he wasn´t particularly thrilled about. His first day of High school follows the same routine just like the two last years, of course, there were new teachers, new subjects, new nuisances, but everyone was waiting to see if there were new lady students joining the class or more importantly, to check if they were pretty.

This tiring tedious routine meets its end and of course, not quite prepared, Tadashi makes his way to the geography classroom during the last shift of school, keeping a hang of a school book bag against the back of his shoulder and nimbly typing with his cellphone with his free hand, maintaining casual conversations that kept his mind busy and ditracted.​
 
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April 9th​ / Sunday / Sunny

"Right this way young master." The elderly man stated with a firmness and humbleness that can only come from years of devotion. Nori was one of those people that made you have a hard time imagining them when they had been younger. He was elegant with crisp clothing and tidy short black hair that was always perfectly swept back. Kaito had once mused that the man had changed his name from a very young age to fit with his image, using the character "典" for code or ceremony. When ask the man simply stated it had been the name he had been born with and Kaito should be focusing his thoughts on more productive areas. That unfortunately was the nature of the relationship between the two of them. While the man stated that he served the family who he really followed was Kaito's Father. There had been numerous times in the past when Nori had been informed to keep a secret and disregarded the order. Even over menial things like a midnight snack.

Moving his way into the room Kaito looked around briefly, but finding that it was the same as last year he began to walk to where his room was located. "Bring my bag from the car and get me something to eat as well." Last year he had tried to carry his own bag in and the backlash for doing something, "That was well below his station." had taught him to just let himself be needlessly pampered.

He entered what was designated as his room, though truthfully most of the rooms in the estate were unused so any one of them could have been swapped to better fit him. Not that it would have made a huge difference honestly, the number of possessions that he truly cared about were few and stayed in his bag. Everything else in the room was similar to a hotel room, providing whatever needs he might have but not truly feeling like it belonged to him. It was not uncommon during the summer to move from place to place as his father conducted business with him brought along to get some real life experience. During the school year he would stay at a place where they had an estate for the duration. One of his oddest freedoms was the choice to pick a school for himself. Under certain conditions of course, the school had to have a good reputation. He had chosen this school again this year, it was a good enough school that his father could tolerate it but not so high class as to seem completely like a prison. Not to mention he had come here last year so he wouldn't need to worry about standing out too much for being newer. His father would come around every two weeks and his mother every month to check on his progress. His father alone was rough enough but when the two of them got together every blemish was up for inspection.

By the time Nori had brought in his bag and left to start lunch Kaito had begun studying. He needed to do his best to quickly learn the second years material so that he might have a chance of getting considerably into the third year. If he could manage to skip a grade that would make things a lot easier on him in the long run. Despite the plate of sliced sandwiches arriving only a few minutes later they sat untouched for hours as Kaito had already begun to study.

April 10th​ / Monday / Sunny
The car pulled up to the school half an hour before Kaito's first class would be in session. While some students might view this as arriving earlier to speak with friends it was not the same for him. "Always arrive earlier than you're expected. It shows respect and responsibility." His father had always spoke like that, everything was a lesson. It also just so happened that he was usually correct. "I will pick you up after classes finish." Nori said with certainty. Kaito considered trying to talk his way out of it, it wouldn't exactly hurt him to walk back. But ultimately he just gave a small nod. He would bring this issue up later with his father. He had learned that he could get leeway in certain areas if he explained the merit behind each of them.

He moved through the halls giving small waves to the people that passed by and recognized him. They often gave a friendly greeting but none tried to do more than that. He had been here last year and they had learned first hand that attempts to become more than passing friends met with stubborn resistance. There were also a few darting glances and whispers that he tried to ignore as well. While for the most part his stay here last year had been uneventful there had been a single notable incident. Someone had gotten the idea that because Kaito was rich he was a prime target to try and extort. While only the threat had been made Kaito had foolishly mentioned it during dinner that night, not really making an issue about it. More trying to bring it up like a joke. Kaito had never been what you would call weak, his father had made sure he had taken basic self defense classes when he was younger. He had just hoped to have something to laugh at with his father for the first time in a long time.

Unfortunately his father had taken great offense to it and using... some method the boy didn't return the following week. The rumors were all a darker color than what it probably was. The thinly veiled threats probably more directed at the parents of the boy rather than the boy himself. All of them of course of a completely legal nature. His father had stressed that the best defense was to stay inside the confines of the law, and instead of breaking them learn to make them work in your favor. Whatever methods he had really used the darker ideas that came to people's minds were what the rumors were made of. For all his wisdom sometimes his father did forget the workings of, "Lesser" minds.

Entering his class early he found that he was the first one there. Not really unusual. Bringing out his text book on Math he opened it up and began to learn the material. His day from there passed fairly simply. Moving from one class to another using the day one introductions as a time to quickly get a groundwork on the material for the class, before moving to the next. It seemed he had also wound up in some kind of experimental geometry class? It didn't really matter to him. It was just another subject to learn. Moving into the room he quickly found a seat and took it. Seeing as there was a bit of time before class he pulled out his day planner and began to make small notes in it. Some subjects were harder or easier than expected and he needed to make adjustments to his studying schedule accordingly.
 
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April 9th / Sunday / Sunny

"And that's Checkmate." The chessboard was frankly a mess, and black was dominating it. Sitting on the losing end was Shin, a look of deep confusion on his face as he studies the miniature field of battle. "Wow. That's... You are good at this old man." The old timer across from him gives of a hearty chuckle. "It's because you're too reckless!" Standing up, they trade handshakes before Shin shoves his hands down into his pockets. "Hey, hey. Just because I can move how you used to grandpa!" "Oh, go on and get out of here! Find someone else to bother!" And with that Shin was off, jogging through Hinode Park on his usual route.

Back at the dorms, there were already newcomers arriving. After pointing them in the directions of their rooms, Shin enters his own once more, looking over the still-packed boxes. A satisfied grin slid onto his face as Shin began unpacking, getting things to where they needed to be. Tomorrow was the start of a new year, in a technical sense. And hopefully this one will be as memorable as the last. The last things unpacked were settled onto his desk, a calendar and schedule book. In here, Shin would be able to craft his vision for the future of the school. After that it was just a matter of getting the rest of the council to go along with it. Sitting down and pulling a pair of cheap headphones on, Shin begins his work, his desk lamp illuminating hopeful visions for tomorrow.

April 10th / Monday / Sunny

Running water and the sound of someone being slapped always accompanied Shin Ogawa in his mornings. There was nothing quite like a sink full of cold water and some freshly slapped cheeks to bring someone's mind directly into the world of working. Some more time gets devoted to repairing the damage to his hair's style that sleep had induced, gel helping to get that slicked-back look that Shin kept. One more check of his uniform later and Shin makes his way out of the door, grinning and offering friendly arm-punches to people on the way into classes. Most of them were old friends, or at the least people whom had had contact with Shin before. He slows down to talk to shyer, or newer students on his way in, eating up quite a bit of his morning commute.

Once actually in class, Shin makes no effort to slink away to the hidden back of the classroom, settling himself near the front. From here the tape recorder in his backpack can pick up the teacher's lecture. Already he was chatting with people around him though, getting to know new students, catching up with old ones. Only people who seem actively buried in some kind of work or book find themselves safe from Shin's social assault. There were always one or two, but Shin knew better. Sooner or later they would drop their guards. And that's when they'd get the chatting of a life-time.
 
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April 10th​ / Monday / Sunny

Arashi looked in the bathroom mirror and adjusted his tie. Today is the dreaded first day of school. A year-long bore fest that he has to endure for the sake of his "future". His first class starts in half an hour - some special geography class whose students were picked at random across all age groups. Heading downstairs, Arashi grabbed a quick bite to eat while paying no heed to the other students then headed off to his scheduled class. Along the way, he reached into his pants' back pocket and pulled out a small black book, opening it up to read a few passages as he walks to class. Then, he overheard a conversation from a couple of girls walking in front of him. "Hey did you hear about that rumor?" a short-haired girl asked her friend.

"What rumor?"

"The one about the second library at school."

"I thought the principal said that was a load of crap."

"Principal Hanza? He wouldn't know what goes on at this school even he's in charge of it."

"Which he is."

"Anyways, I heard this second library is really weird. It looks completely different from the rest of the school."

"What do you mean?" Arashi drowned out the rest of the conversation as he gazed back at the pages of his book. As he crossed the campus garden to get to the science facilities, a blue butterfly flew passed him and a strange feeling overcame him, causing him to stop and look back at the butterfly. For some odd reason, he felt an overwhelming sense of nostalgia and melancholy. Strange indeed. When he regained his composure, Arashi continued to the science facilities - particularly the geography building - and made his way into classroom 2-B. Inside were already three other students - all male students. Some of them looked a bit bored which Arashi found amusing. He wondered if they share his sentiments about school. In any case, he put on a polite smile and made his way to one of the seats closer to the back. As he sat down and placed his bag on his desk, he pulled out his book again and continued reading in silence

Once Arashi had settled in, another student arrived: a pretty cute girl with blonde hair who looked a bit disheveled. She quietly took a seat near the front of the room. Then, the door opened again and in came two faculty members. There was a ditzy young woman wearing large glasses who was carrying a bunch of paperwork and the second was a man who looked extremely apathetic. The woman set her stack of papers down and turned to the students. "Good morning class, welcome to our special geography course. I'm Ms. Sasaki and this is Prof. Takano," Ms. Sasaki introduced while adjusting her glasses.

Prof. Takano groaned and took the teacher's seat before grabbing the file atop the stack of paperwork. "Alright, let's take roll, shall we?" Takano began reading off the list of names; the blonde girl's seemed to be Mari Ito. He then stopped at the last name and looked at Arashi. "You're the transfer student, I take it? Unlucky you getting stuck with lugging equipment around" Takano remarked but was quickly interrupted by Sasaki who gave a nervous laugh. "Prof. Takano is kidding!" She protested. "A-Anyways, why don't you introduce yourself to your fellow classmates?" Arashi nodded and stood up from his chair. He then walked to the front of the class and introduced himself with a polite smile before sitting back down at his seat. "We're missing some people. Not that it matters," Takano murmured before tossing the roll sheet onto the desk.

"So it took a bit of effort on our part but we managed to make this class a reality. At least for this year anyways. Umm, so this class won't be the usual pen-and-pad learning but, rather, we'll be conducting field research as a class." Arashi perked up a bit as he heard that. Something different finally. "This region of Japan is quite interesting. Various geographical phenomena occurs here. We're at the forefront of studying these mysteries of nature," Sasaki explained. "So let's not waste another second. Today we'll be making a trip to the forest just outside Nichibotsu. Don't worry about your other classes today. They've been informed of what we're doing. We'll return to Koden at 3 PM."

Takano stood up and headed to the exit. "Huh? Where are you going, Prof.?" Sasaki asked. "You take care of things today. I'm going to take a nap. This hangover's killing me-"

"Oh Prof. Takano, you kidder! Umm, but what about the equipment?"

"You know how to use them. 'Sides, now you got people to carry them. I'll be expecting documents on my desk tomorrow." Takano then left without another word.

Sasaki looked to the students with a nervous smile. "O-Okay, let's go shall we?"

-Noon-

They had arrived at Nichibotsu forest a while ago and were now wandering aimlessly through the woods. Does Sasaki know where she's leading the class? So far, the students' "assignment" has been carrying large, heavy briefcases containing "equipment", whatever that entails. Arashi couldn't really complain. At least he isn't stuck in a classroom taking notes. Sasaki suddenly stopped when she noticed something in the near distance. Without speaking, she hurried over to it, almost tripping on the way. Arashi calmly walks over to her position. "Class! Look at this! This is one of the strange geographical phenomena I was talking about!" Sasaki is way too excited talking about a hole in the ground. Given it is a rather large hole but, more strangely, it's perfectly circular and it, looking inside, it has no bottom - only darkness. Sasaki's eyes lit up as she just kneeled there admiring the hole in the ground.

Arashi looked to the others and set the equipment down. As the other students talked amongst themselves, Arashi just stood there, aloof to the entire situation. Sasaki was taking notes about the hole but wasn't really interested in doing any teaching. Then, she noticed something creeping up the hole. "Huh...?" In an instant, an elongated black arm shot up out of the hole and grabbed Sasaki, attempting to pull her in. Arashi was the first to notice and quickly grabbed Sasaki, wrapping his arms around her body. He struggled hard to pull her away from the hole but the arm is incredibly strong. Arashi called to the others to help and, soon, they were all helping to pull their teacher back. Unfortunately, even with all their strength combined, it proved meaningless and all of them were pulled into the hole.

Sometime later, Arashi woke only to find himself and the others no longer in Nichibotsu forest but... Nichibotsu's Lower Downtown district? Well, an extremely distorted, ruined version anyways. Standing up off the ground just as the others are beginning to awaken, Arashi looked up above him and noticed a sky split evenly in black and white. Arashi then looked to the others and asked if anyone sustained any serious injuries as a result of the fall. There were a lot of different reactions amongst the group but mostly confusion. "W-Where are we...?" Mari asked; she looked quite frightened. Sasaki was nowhere to be found. Once the group managed to regain what little composure they could muster, Arashi alerted them to a terrifying sight. In the far distance, a shadowy, formless creature with a blue mask for a face carried the unconscious body of Sasaki away. The group is too far away to reach her before she and the monster disappeared. Just what the hell was that?
 
April 10th / Monday / Sunny
As other students filed in, Shin is more than ready to give them giant smiles, with a particular nod to the girl sitting next to him. Sadly all of his time to give a welcome speech to the both of them was cut short as the teacher... and another one arrived. He had heard that this was a special class, but as it was explained he found himself more and more confused. The professor seemed far too laid back and the woman seemed to be hiding something. He was pretty sure of it by the time that they told the students that their classes were going to be excused today.

Still, Shin couldn't find himself to honestly care about it. As long as he got good marks, he could get some friends to give him the work that the rest of the classes were going to be giving out. That, and this seemed interesting. He didn't even seem to mind the idea that he'd be carrying equipment, even going so far as to pick up the heaviest one of the bags that he could get.

"So, let's go find out what a bear does in the woods, right guys?"

-Noon-
The trip out was not devoid of Shin trying to get to know people, in fact by the time they had stepped out the door of the classroom, Shin was already chatting the group up, without a seeming care for if any of them responded. "So! The name is Shin Ogawa. I've been around here for a few years, so if any of you new people need help doing... well anything, let me know!" His briefcase full of 'equipment' is casually slung over a shoulder, leaving his other to do things like lightly knocking on people's shoulders in order to point out the cool bugs (which honestly seem to be any kind of insect), and picking up small stones from the path to get thrown into the underbrush.

Once the teacher collects anyone's attention to the the hole in the ground, Shin drops all of his attention into it, specifically meaning squatting at the edge of the hole to try and see into it. But as... something shoots of the hole and Ms. Sasaki starts falling in, Shin lets out a curse, reacting a moment later to grab hold of Arashi's arm and haul with all his might. An action that proved futile.

Falling through that hole felt like eternity.

At the bottom, in the darkness, Shin opens his eyes and lets out a groan. "I feel like warmed over hell." After spending enough time gathering his bearings, he speaks again. "Scratch that, everything here looks like warmed over hell. I think I hit my head." He doesn't actually make a move to get up, instead just lying there, hopefully not making anything that was broken even worse. And then Arashi points out the Thing in the distance. That gets Shin up to his feet. "Oh what the Fresh Hell was that mess? It had Ms. Sasaki! Shit, let's go get her back!"
 
April 10th / Monday / Sunny
People started to file in and pick seats which would most likely become where they would pick to drop their bags for the next semester. He did look up from the marks he was making in the small book once to note that some of the members of the class seemed to be some of the older students. So this class was cross year? Which meant the merit of it was questionable at best. How it had even wound up on his schedule was a mystery he hadn't cared to explore till this moment. If it proved to be a class with little merit he would look into getting himself transferred away. Kaito closed the small planner putting it back into his pocket. He would make some notes about this class afterwards. For now there were a few minutes before class officially started and working on a few math problems that had given him trouble in the past would be a good time killer.

Finally with a bustle of energy the teachers came in. There were two of them, which was a bit of an oddity for teaching a class. A woman by the name of Ms. Sasaki who seemed young and full of energy. Kaito assumed she was a fairly new teacher, one without the years of uncaring masses to weigh down her enthusiasm. The other was a man who looked friendly enough but had the appearance of a man who would step down from a conflict rather than into it. That said Kaito's impression that this class would stay on his schedule for much longer was dropping by the moment.

Calling his name once roll passed him Kaito turned his attention back to the math problem he had been working on. At least that would be a good use of his time. Though a few moments later his attention was brought back up as the transfer student was told to introduce himself. Kaito's first impression was of his size, it was easy to see that he was quite tall. He seemed to wear a bored expression until he got before the class where it turned pleasant. People probably found him quite charming. Kaito had hated being a transfer student for this reason. Shortly after this people would gather around the new kid probing and questioning. Once Kaito had not minded the attention but now it just seemed bothersome.

After a short explanation it was clear they were going to skip their first day of classes to go... look at rocks? Great. He could feel the sarcasm ooze through his own thought. Whatever he'd play along for today and drop the class when he next got the chance. He just needed to get through today.

-Noon-
He walked with a stoic silence that came from years of practice. He had already managed to brush off conversation from a far too friendly person. He was one of the upperclassmen that Kaito had seen around school last year but had managed to avoid direct contact with. The type that was laughing and friendly with anyone that would allow it. While he didn't hate people like that, they did make it much more difficult on his attempts to avoid social contact. Aside from the fairly heavy equipment he was helping to transport the rest of the journey wasn't too bad. It would have been pleasant if he had been on his own, but he never could relax around other people anymore.

Finally it seems they had found the goal of their ventures. The very excited Ms. Sasaki started going on about a hole in the ground... A hole in the ground? How was that a geological development of any notable... His question was answered by his own eyes as he looked at the hole in question. It was round... too round. It was unnatural. Edging himself over to try to look in the actual hole it was... black. Far too black. How far down did it go unblemished on any side? He had been moving on autopilot before this point but this had snapped him out of it. The thing most unnerving was the complete lack of marks for any digging tools or signs of a massive amount of loose dirt. It was just as if one moment there had been a ground and the next a hole. It was weird to say the least.

Letting out a breath he didn't know he had been holding he took a step back. It was just a hole, he didn't need to think about it so much. Finding a place to let down the equipment he had been carrying an alarmed shout from the new guy brought things back into focus for him. Turning around he saw what appeared to be Ms. Sasaki grabbed by... something from the hole. The transfer student was trying to keep her from falling in. Beside the transfer student was the chatty guy who tried to grab onto him, he wouldn't be enough.

It was a sign of how hard it was to change who you really were that Kaito was the second person to grab onto the transfer student's arm. He had moved without thinking, knowing he had to do... something. His ideal self would have been too busy trying to understand what was going on. For not listening to the voice shouting warnings at him his reward was a trip through the hole with everyone else.

An indeterminate amount of time later he felt consciousness come crashing back to him. Sitting up with a jerk he first noticed the others around him. They seemed to be alive with some regaining consciousness. Next his attention was drawn to the world around him. It was... wrong. That was the only word that came to mind as he looked around. With a shocked exclaim his attention was shifted from the distorted world to the... thing that was carrying away Ms. Sasaki. "What the hell?" He had failed to stop himself before the words were already out of his mouth. This was absurd.

Before a real chase could start in earnest she was already gone. This time he had managed to catch himself before the words slipped out again. The friendly boy said something vague about rescue. "Wait." He said with a much greater steadiness to his voice than he felt. His father had always said that, "When you're least confident in yourself is when you should act the most sure." It was annoying how often he used his advice. Now that he had brought attention onto himself he added with the best force he could muster, "We don't know where she went and running off could put all of us in danger." Really what was going on right now? What the hell was he doing here? This class sucked. "We should... we should try and find a way... back. I don't know what had her but it didn't seem friendly. What are we supposed to do when we find it? Fight it?" His tone gave the idea what he thought of that. Though despite his words there was a part of him wanting to chase after whatever that thing was... to try and save a teacher he barely knew. What he had to do now was suppress those desires to deal with the crisis at hand. The lives of the many...
 
April 10th / Monday / Sunny
As soon as he twist the door knob open and finds himself inside the room he could already hear the so acustomed whispering that seemed to be atmospheric prior to a class, the teachers weren´t there yet. Swiftly with trained eyes he observes and identifies students across the room, as though he had developed a perk for telling people apart from mingling or chatting too much with his group about them. Of course he could vaguely tell new students but the rich kid and the always loud Shin were some of the figures he told apart. Reviewing this mentaly he could tell that for some odd reason this class seemed to host several different grade students, which was particularly odd for the highschool no less . Once again he finds himself in a position where he is on his own, apart from his friends, as though destiny was playing cards against him, putting him to the test. His decision is to seat in the back-row coincidentally near Arashi, but his reasons to be there were exactly to not draw much attention in case he´d attempt to mentaly omit the class or flick his cellphone and continue chatting.

He kept texting till his fixation was drawn to the two teachers entering. He isn´t particularly concentrated on Takano but rather on Sasaki who seemed to have nailed or impregnated a feeling in Tadashi, probably because he thought she might be his type. This made him interested in hearing at least half of what they had to say, now portraying an external smile, his hands moving to cushion the back of his head.

-A geography class? Carrying luggage? This is not exactly my type of thing...- Thinks Tadashi to himself. As time passes he learns of Arashi´s name of whom he had been interested on for some time now. There is something about Arashi that made him think befriending the new student could possibly help him kill the mood, but the boy was already crowded with attention currently, something he understood perfectly fine. He decides that for the time being he´ll just stick to this class, since it seemed like some good distraction and in case he started to slack on some subject he´d blame it on this expeditions.
-Noon-

Tadashi could carry his luggage but to him it only proved a distraction."Hey! Come here for a sec." Using a bit of his social skills to work up into arousing atention between some of the female classmates he convinced them he could pull the strings to hook them up into dates with a few of his more popular friends. This worked perfectly, perhaps a little too well since they didn´t seem to complain one bit plus having adquired some chating partners. "Everything is going honky-dori~" His goal wasn´t them though, but the teacher.

As he was stealthily working his way to her the whole incident began to take place. Sasaki kneels down to show the rest what the fuss was all about, Tadashi now being one of the nearest including other three people coincidentally. He takes a moment to observe the hole as its presence was distracting enough. Something was wrong, he isn´t an expert to actually tell but there was not even a shadow nor seemed to be affected by the changes of light, it was just a plain black hole. As though a considerable jet black dot just decided to randomly show up there, impartial and soundless.

Quite a number of the students began to freak out and jump right on their spots. It is hard not to be surprised by a strange arm that would agressively grasp to the teacher. Tadashi hesitates, standing between doing what was right and what was wrong. He was in fact going to stand out, but as hard headed as he is and seeing three of the student make an effort he couldn´t simply sit this one out, thus he becomes the fourth to make some contribution in pulling the tug like the rest and makes his attempt to plead for help. Unfortunatedly they are tossed inside.


The place were him and the rest wake was almost dreamlike, standing between reality and abstraction. It´s true that he was both upset and somewhat nervous about the situation, nevertheless he accepts the hopelesness of this scenario to escape this feelings.
"...Fuck this place..."

At this point he observes the same than the rest, and hears the conversation they were having. But he couldn´t really help but agree with both Shin and Kaito to a certain level. His voice now breaks into the conversation acomodating right after Kaito. "He is right you know? We can´t really act recklessly here...But we can´t let her be dragged away exactly either right? What are we going to explain if we return without a teacher huh? Don´t you think it´d be suspicious? They´d be all over us!" It looked like he kept his composure but actually he was afraid to die in this place.
 
As the students talked amongst themselves, trying to decide what they should do next, Arashi quietly analyzed the area. Then some of the students began panicking. "W-What if there are more of those things out there?! What if they come for us next?!" One male student with dyed blonde hair asked.

A female student with short brown hair turned to Shin and Tadashi. "Are you guys seriously suggesting we go mount a rescue a mission?! You're crazy! How are we supposed to fight back against something like that?! I mean, even with all of our efforts combined, that thing still overpowered us! This isn't a video game, y'know?! Kaito-kun's right. We should look for an exit."

"W-Well I'm not going anywhere. Who knows what the hell's out there. It's not like we know where we are," a chubby male student told the group. The class of ten students started arguing again about what they should do. After things calmed down a little, Arashi approached the group.

"It could be that we'll die standing around here or we'll wander for a bit then get ourselves killed. Maybe we'll find an exit then some of us can leave and get help. The rest of us will stay behind and look for Ms. Sasaki. Point is: we can't exactly plan for what we don't know so we'll march on." Arashi proposed. He then looked to three students in particular: Tadashi, Kaito, and Shin. He explained that they should all look around for weapons or something to defend themselves with. After that, Arashi followed the street forward, distancing himself from the rest of the students. Whether they'll go with him or not is up to them to decide but Arashi isn't going to waste any more time arguing over what it is they should do. The girl named Mari looked to Tadashi, Kaito, and Shin. "Umm, here." Mari handed over some bottles to the three of them.

> Tadashi received Medicine x2
> Kaito received Medicine x2
> Shin received Medicine x2

"I don't know what good they'll do but I had extras on me. I'll give some to Arashi-kun before he wanders off too far." With that, Mari hurried over to Arashi and handed him a couple of bottles.

> Arashi received Medicine x2

Arashi nodded and thanked Mari even if he's unsure what to do with the medicine at this time. "You're welcome Arashi-kun. Please be careful." Despite the majority of his thoughts were about Ms. Sasaki and finding an exit for the others, in the back of his mind, Arashi felt excitement. He woke up today believing it would be the boring start to his final high school year but he was wrong and, strangely, he's a bit glad. In any case, it's time they get moving. Some time later, Arashi arrived at the Nichibotsu police station which, in this place, is nothing more than a crumbled ruin. Arashi walked inside to look around for anything useful. Maybe since it's the police station, there'll be actual weapons. He didn't see any guns around but, after a bit, he found a baton - one that can be extended. Arashi secured it to his belt then walked across the street to a store with dozens of televisions behind a display window. He stared at his reflection on one of the television screens and, mere moments later, all the screens lit up at the same time. It was plain black-and-white static at first but then the picture on each screen became clearer and clearer until recognizable footage was finally shown. And what they showed surprised Arashi. Five televisions, and each was showing footage of what looks to be the other students in various stages of their lives. It's just an estimation but Arashi wondered if it's their memories.
 
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It's obvious by Shin's stance and face that he was growing impatient listening to Tadashi and Kaito being uncertain about saving Ms. Sasaki, to the point where, as Arashi mentions finding weapons, he claps his hands together. "Alright then! This guy knows what the fuck he's on about!" His move to explore the rest of the city was interrupted by Mari handing him some medicine, to which Shin gives a wide grin and a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Hey, thanks a lot, Mari-chan!" After shoving the bottles into his pants pocket, Shin abandons the heavy briefcase of equipment and makes his own way down the street, following Arashi into the ruined police station.

Some creative digging later leads Shin to a rusted out locker, which he immediately sets to prying open. First the locker's handle comes away in his grip, but after some more prying the rest of the door flies off, the bare metal slicing into Shin's hand to elicit a curse. He examines the wound, spits on it, and rubs the worst of the rust away, before exploring inside the now-opened locker to discover a shelf labeled 'Contraband', upon which rests a pair of brass knuckles. "Man, this is my kinda tool right here, heh heh."

After slipping on the knuckles, and rubbing his bleeding palm off on his pants, Shin makes his way next to Arashi, examining the televisions. When they flicker on, Shin is alarmed, though it's only when they begin playing film that he whispers "What the fuuuuck?"

On the screen, a young girl is being bullied by a group of other girls, who seem to be ripping up her doll. Suddenly, a group of boys appear on the hill line, all riding bikes with flags. The one in the lead stops his bike and points at the bullies before speaking something inaudible, and all of the boys charge, scaring away the girls. That is, besides the one that was bullied. She falls to her knees, crying and clutching at the torn doll. The leader boy stops next to her, offering a hand, and the girl looks up. Though, now she's wearing some kind of mask. "That isn- what?" Soon, the girl is on her feet, the mask stretching as she screams at the boy, it's mouth horrible and too-deep. The doll in her hand begins moving as well, like a living creature that happened to be made of cotton and stuffing. Shin is obviously confused at this point, though it isn't until the girl begins attacking the boy that he shakes his head and stops watching. "Yo, what kind of mess is this? Are we sure we aren't in some kind of hell, here?" He ponders this for a few more moments before shrugging. "Whatever. Come on, we've got to go save Ms. Sasaki."
 
Arashi´s way of dropping the flat truth felt harsh, but despite the unshakable fear, he deep down acknowledged this same truth. Tadashi felt a bit responsible if he were to leave everyone by themselves, but he darn well didn´t stood a chance without having something to fend off nor did he truly believed in himself to be able to protect the group alone. He decides to behave selfishly, as he couldn´t really do anything for the rest. He shifts at Kaito briefly. "You look like a responsible guy right? Maybe you can get this fellas to chill some, i´m counting on ya! I think i might be more resourceful giving those guys a hand..." Tadashi pats Kaito´s shoulder with a grin on his face, before he started jogging to catch up with Shin "Hey wait up!" Mari hands him the medicine to which he replies with enthusiassm "Gee thanks! I´ll make sure to use them sparingly." while he resumes his pace along with Shin he kept thinking about how exactly did he get involved into this, or why exactly he felt like doing so in the first place.

On their way to the station, Tadashi observes the location carefully, the fact it was a place he could recognize to an extent made it more disturbing and mysterious, quite in fact, with all the nerves he was going through before he couldn´t really tell that he was now standing on the downtown district. he could only think of movie examples now but nothing concrete, he kept this thoughts to himself as it would be embarrassing to debate ideas they might find childish.

The station looked awful, but so did the rest of the district for which reason he didn´t pay mind. A more pressing matter was moving carefully always alert, the last thing Tadashi wanted was to be leaped by a creature akin to what dragged the teacher away. Moving behind the lobby counter was a locker room, probably were the police men left their uniforms and own set of tools, this was a good opportunity to scavenge for a weapon. He had learned a bit about picking locks but as soon as he tries, the lock wrinkles, revealing fissures. He picks a chunk of debris out of the rubble and smashes the lock down tearing it from the locker. With a bit of pushing and battering he forces the locker open,screeching , much louder than he felt comfortable with. Inside there was a badge, a pair of handcuffs, things that right now didn´t seem usefull. But apart from that there were a gun and a pair of tonfa batons. Tadashi inspects the gun but unfortunately finds it had no bullets, thus going for the remaining pair of melee weapons. He tests its endurance against the wall for a bit. "This should do enough." Tadashi joins the party again now wielding a tonfa with the length pointing forward and the other held upside down grabbing it by the side handle.

Exited about his finding he goes to report to his two classmates who were just outside, like a boy getting a new toy "Hey guys. I found this really friggin' co--What the--!" There he see's televisions producing static. The strange part was that it didn´t seem like electricity would be working right now, making it the more spooky. It was for a brief instant but he recognized the sounds of one of the screens. A dog was barking and a boy gleefully giggling. However parts of what he remembered seemed to be completely off, as if they had been tampered with. The dog became aggressive and began to bite the child in the arm, blood gushing, the boy reacting by helplessly screaming. he preferred to ignore that was happening, it did make him go pale as the memory had been radically modified to the point it seemed to tell a horror tale. Tadashi tries to change the subject to avoid thinking about it. "I agree, we don´t really have time to be sitting idle, we got a lot of people back there waiting."
 
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Kaito couldn't help but let out a long drawn out sigh. That hadn't gone as well as it could have. Those three were already headed off to god knows where on a whim. He had thought that maybe he could talk some sense into the group and it looked like a few others had been with him until the transfer student had come and spoken up. It was a... sensible enough plan. Let the ones who wanted to leave try to and the ones who wanted to stay look for Ms Sasaki. Somehow it seemd that he had been included in the group that would join the search. Before he really had a chance to contest this idea the new comer, Tadashi patted him on the shoulder and ran off. It was easy to tell someone pushing responsibility off onto others. With a sigh he accepted the medicine from Mari. He had never really spoken to her for more than a few words before but the thought behind the action was appreciated. "Thanks." Was all he managed. Looking at the group of weary other students he let out a long sigh. The logical voice inside his head told him to be part of that group, just let the other three deal with it. But the thought of someone getting hurt or dying due to his hesitance...

His feet were moving before his thoughts had a chance to catch up. He used to have an annoying of acting before he thought. He thought he had burned away that part of himself... Apparently not. Giving a glance back to the group staying behind he said, "Try and find a way out and get some help. I'll keep an eye on those three." He rushed to catch up to the others.

Following them into what appeared to be a ruined police station he couldn't help but frown. It looked like the Nichibotsu Police Station except like the rest of this world it was wrong. The walls crumbling with large pieces of the ceiling having fallen in. It wasn't the safest looking place, but they needed something to defend themselves and if there was any logic left in this world they'd find something here. Kaito moved in after the others though they all did seem lost in their own searches. Moving off on his own he noticed a large piece of cement which seemed to have crushed some kind of display. Curiosity setting in he moved over to look at it and saw a long cylindrical shaped object. Whatever it was would probably work well enough for now. Positioning to the side of the rubble pushing it enough to pull the object out from underneath it.

Observing it he found it was surprisingly a short ornamental spear. Moving his hand to the tip of it he frowned, it wasn't really sharp at all but it did seem that the cement falling on it had only left a moderate sized dent. It was honestly better than nothing. With that he turned to catch up with the others.

The others were already ahead of him it seemed. They had made their way out of the police station and towards a storefront nearby... They seemed to be watching TV? It was a peculiar sight in this already peculiar world. Moving beside them he started to ask, "What's this over..." His words were caught in his throat at the sight of something impossible. "B-Bro?" His brother was on TV. It wasn't that he was just on TV... it was that this moment which was impossible to be recorded was. His mouth went dry as he couldn't help but watch. His brother stood in between him and a bear. A large bear who looked more confused than angry as his brother held out a hand towards it. "What the hell?" His voice was trembling. It was then that this world twisted even his memories. With a grin of mocking hatred his brother stretched out his arm to the bear. All the while his eyes were staring right at Kaito. The bear which only a moment ago had been docile and confused had become a face of rage. With a roar it bit into his brother's arm. "That didn't happen!" His voice a shout, his hands were shaking. With gritted teeth he couldn't tear his sight away from the screen as the scene continued to warp worse and worse.
 
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Exploring the ruined police station after everyone else had left, Mari soon came across an open locker with an unusual item inside: chopsticks. "What are these doing here...?" Mari asked no one in particular. She picked them up and gave them a thorough examination. They look like plain old, bamboo chopsticks - a lot of nearly two dozen of them - but the ends are sharpened considerably. Arashi suggested they look for weapons and Mari is well-versed in darts and such; she can use these sharpened chopsticks as throwing instruments. After retrieving the chopsticks, she went outside and headed across the street to meet up with the others who were looking at the televisions. "Hey, what's everybody looking at..." Her words trailed off as she caught a glimpse of what was shown on the televisions.

Mari sees a younger version of herself - about eight or nine years old - dressed in tattered clothing and crying into her palms. "W-What is this...?" Mari's voice seemed panicked. As the younger Mari continued to cry, a shadowy, indistinguishable figure appeared. "Useless girl, frail girl, ugly girl, stupid girl," the shadowy figure chanted over and over again in a distorted voice. "N-No... I..." Mice of numerous colors flooded the white room shown on the television and encircled the young Mari. They beared their fangs and hissed at the young Mari but received no reaction from the sobbing girl. "Useless girl, want to run away...? You can't escape. You can't escape. You belong to me...!" The shadowy figure taunted. "T-That's not true!" Mari, almost instinctively, shouted at the television but immediately covered her mouth in response. The shadowy figure let out a bone-chilling laugh as if it were responding to what Mari had just shouted. Then, the mice swarmed all over the young Mari and the television went black.

Mari, shaking, wrapped her arms around herself. Her expression said it all. Shin shrugged and suggested they waste no more time here. Tadashi replied in agreement. Both Kaito and Mari kept quiet after what they had just witnessed. Arashi nodded to Tadashi and Shin in agreement that they should move on but, before that, Arashi told them he witnessed what looks to be their memories but isn't entirely sure about it. "N-No! That can't be our memories. At least, I don't think it was a true representation... Ugh, I'm sorry, I'm not feeling so well after watching whatever that was."

"Make it stop! No!" One of the other students started yelling. Arashi looked behind him and noticed the other students - aside from Tadashi, Kaito, Shin, and Mari - collapsing onto their knees while grabbing their heads as if they're having especially intense headaches. They were also yelling a whole bunch of things that didn't make much sense contextually but is most likely the result of whatever they had witnessed on the television screens. Arashi tried talking to them but they seemed unaware of anything else; it's as if they've gone mad. And this wasn't their only problem. Seemingly rising through the ground were three shadowy forms. Once their masks appeared, Arashi can see they were dealing with the same monsters as the one who kidnapped Ms. Sasaki. The monsters crept slowly towards the group; with most of them incapacitated, it was now left to Arashi, Tadashi, Kaito, Shin and Mari to deal with the monsters and all while attempting to protect the others. Their odds aren't looking so great. Arashi removed the baton from his belt, ready to make his stand, but, who was he kidding? They don't really stand a chance against these things. Then, Arashi's head began to pulsate with an indescribable pain while numerous indistinct whispers can be heard in his mind. He took several steps back while clutching his head with his free (left) hand.

"A-Arashi-kun! Are you alright?" Then, out of nowhere, his free hand was set ablaze with vibrant blue flames and the pain in his head subsided. Arashi grew quiet for a brief moment. As he looked up again, a devious grin can be seen on his face but, more notably, his eyes turned bright yellow. "Arashi-kun?" Ignoring the others, Arashi calmly walked forward, passed the group, and approached the monsters. Placing his burning hand on his face, he uttered, "Per... so... na." The flames engulfed his entire head and materialized into a white rabbit mask; his yellow eyes shone vibrantly through the eye holes. A torrent of blue flames spiraled around Arashi before turning crimson red. Then a voice, extremely similar to his own, emanated from nowhere and said, "I am thou and thou art I..." From the flames surrounding Arashi, a magnificent figure clad in red bursts forward. "From the sea of thy soul, I come. Tempered by fate's eternal flame, I am Sigurd, the sword of destiny!" The flames surrounding Arashi is absorbed into Sigurd and the Persona rushed at the monsters.

His sword's blade grew bright orange from heat and, with one vertical slice, cleaved one of the monsters cleanly in half. As its bifurcated corpse fell to the ground, it dissipated into nothingness. The second monster leaped at Sigurd with its numerous clawed arms but he blocked the charge with his shield and then impaled the monster. Flames burst outward from the blade and burned the monster into ashes. The last monster is made quick work of with a single flaming slash. With all the monsters defeated, Sigurd disappears. Arashi turns back around to face his classmates and his mask shatters away; his eyes also revert back to their normal appearance. Arashi took a few steps towards his classmates but stops when he sees something ominous. "Move," he called out to Tadashi, Kaito, Shin, and Mari. Suddenly, their other classmates rose back up to their feet but, this time, shadowy masks enveloped their faces; their eyes are also bright yellow like Arashi's just moments ago but, unlike him, they possess a sinister aura. Grinning deviously, the students with masks charged at the others as if to attack.
 
all of the events taking place were starting to pick a toll in his composture, this could be reflected on Tadashi just chuckling, his left hand now pressed against his own face, he was visibly shacking. "You must be kidding me. Theres just no way that would be a real thing...It feels like we are in one hell of a god dam reality show. THIS ISN´T FUNNY!!!" Yells Tadashi, now whipping his hands away from his face. What once was fear started to shape into anger, breathing heavily.

Although the feelings were building up on him, he is distracted from this by the multiple students going through crisis. Right before the creatures began to appear, Tadashi could imagine something was about to go horribly wrong. The situation became worse by the minute "Shit! What do we do!?" While hope came to the edge of breaking, someone stood their ground, that was Arashi. In Tadashi´s eyes Arashi was far from a regular transfer student, he gave off the impression to be completely different than any other person he met in fact and this was further proven when the blue flammes bursted wildly. At this point he couldn´t do else but watch as this huge humanoid entity materialized. Whatever it was it seemed to have been triggered by the new student and had untold reasons to fight against the monsters. While its motifs remained a mystery, it was clear as day that it wielded an awesome power, Tadashi could only do but gape in astonishment.

As it dissipated and Arashi seemed to revert from that state, he seemed to have regained some control, perhaps because it made him feel safe, but that wasn´t the situation yet, more trouble was coming their way. He was about to ask Arashi if he was conciuss of what just happened, as it felt he handled it so naturaly, but there wasn´t any time, more students now disguised behind masks of different shapes and sizes headed their way radiating a malicious sensation. He is alarmed by Arashi´s order but does nothing but nod and obey. He was a bit too worried about himself to actually express any words of care for him and thus he attempted to flee back into safety.
 
Shin watches all this in slow motion, the students collapsing, the monsters with masks. The... thing that happened to Arashi. He wasn't sure of what any of this was, but as the students rise back to their feet, it's obvious that this was something that was actually happening. The pain in the palm of his hand from his earlier cut let him know that.

Stepping forwards, Shin holds up his hands, both open to be nonthreatening. "Hey! Come on guys, snap the fuck out of this!" He addresses the group of students moving towards him as if they didn't seem demonically possessed, but rather as if they were his normal school friends, people he had casually joked with and said hi to practically every day. "Look, just take those fucking masks off, and we can all go find Ms. Sasaki together, right? Come on!" Looking back to Arashi, he motions towards the students. "Dude, help me out here. You're the one with the rpg super powers." His face is caught in a mix of apprehension and confusion. Obviously, Shin doesn't want to fight those he considers innocent.
 
Kaito could not break his view from the screen. It was intoxicating, like a train wreck. The picture had already morphed into something hellish and while a part of him felt sick what was stronger was anger. To say he was insulted by what he saw would be an understatement. Finally something broke his attention from the screen. The shouting of a fellow student, and with that his anger had mostly subsided. This was probably exactly the reaction those screens had been trying to bring out in him. Like hell he'd give them the satisfaction. Turning his attention to the students who had begun to collapse... and found three of the shadowy forms appearing. Would they be able to fight those things with the weapons they had found? What the hell was he even doing here? As he tensed preparing to use the spear when one of those things advanced on them something... unexpected happened instead.

The transfer student walked forwards by himself. The idiot! Kaito had stepped forward as if to stop him when suddenly the thought was blown from his mind. Blue flame suddenly wrapped itself around Arashi before turning to a deep red as a figure burst into existence. Kaito was stunned as the figure hastily dealt with each of the dark figures. What was that? He couldn't help but take a step back as Arashi turned and began to walk towards them. What the hell was going on? Kaito noticed the transfer student's expression drop suddenly as he told them to move. His mind was racing as he turned to look at whatever it was. The other students had risen again, but there was something wrong. Their eyes had taken on a golden color with sinister grins. Something was clearly wrong with them.

Tadashi and Shin beside him spoke in panicked tones, probably how he had sounded a moment ago. He himself was simply stunned... this was just too much at one time. "There will be times when you wont have all the information. Doesn't mean you can just sit there and hope for the best." He remembered his fathers gruff voice as he stared at the tainted students before him. "Make the best decisions and judgments you can at the time. You can think about the details later." It had been advice regarding dealing with other companies. It was not uncommon that they would try and take advantage of a moment of weakness... and if you did not know that the weakness existed before then it could be catastrophic.

He could think about all the details later... for now he had to live with the best decisions he could make with the information at hand. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for only a moment. Another piece of advice his father had taught him, it wasn't something you normally could do in front of your opponent. But if you had a moment calming the storm in your heart was always the best path. Opening his eyes he felt calm, he could panic and stress about what had happened later. For now he needed to act. Raising his own weapon he looked to the other two, Tadashi had used this time to begin falling back like Arashi had asked but Shin had stepped forward. Though not prepared for combat... he was trying to talk to them. He stepped forward putting a hand on Shin's shoulder to try and pull him back. "They're coming at us whether we like it or not." His voice was calm and strong despite the situation. "If you want to help them we need to back off." Hopefully the transfer student had an actual plan that didn't involve harming the other students... He couldn't think about that right now, they had already begun to move towards them. If it came down to it he would fight them, he would attempt to knock them out of course.
 
((Read my OOC post first before posting))

The masked students lunged at the others and attacked with their bare fists. Fortunately, because of Arashi's warning, Tadashi, Kaito, and Shin managed to evade the assault. Shin attempted to talk some sense into the masked students but they seemed unresponsive or maybe they just didn't care. Kazuo looked to Shin and explained that he sensed a sinister presence in their classmates; in other words, something has possessed them. He continued to state the the presence felt similar to the shadowy monsters they had just encountered. "Is there anything you can do to help them, Kazuo-kun?" Mari asked. But before Kazuo could respond to Mari's question, the masked students began to clutch their heads in pain, screaming while they do so. Then, they vomited a black slime-like substance before collapsing onto the ground. "What's happening to them?" Mari's question was answered when the students' bodies began to dissipate in a TV static-like effect.

Soon, all of the possessed students were gone. "T-They're all gone..." Mari seemed quite frightened with the fact. Kazuo walked over and examined the slime on the ground. It reminded him of the shadowy creatures' bodies. Suddenly, from behind the others, the same shadow creatures from before launched a surprise attack. Kazuo turned around and saw the monsters rushing at the others but it was too late to do anything; he could only warn them of the impending danger. Mari turned around instinctively after hearing what Kazuo had shouted and one of the shadows grabbed her mouth and forced itself into her body; other shadows did the same to Tadashi, Kaito, and Shin. As the shadows forcefully wrest control of their bodies, their eyes turned an ominous yellow like the possessed students before and shadowy masks appeared on their faces. This time, however, the masks resembled animal faces rather than a featureless face like with the other students. Tadashi had a dog mask, Kaito had a bear mask, Shin had a boar mask, and Mari had a mouse mask.

They collapsed onto the knees, clutching their heads in pain like the students before but without the screaming. Unlike before, it seems they aren't attacking Kazuo. He'd hate to admit it but Kazuo has no clue how to help them. Then, more shadows came with the intent of harming them. Tadashi, Kaito, Shin, and Mari are currently incapacitated so Kazuo has to protect them and fight off the shadows, but there are a lot of them. Kazuo placed his hand over his face. "Persona!" The rabbit mask and Sigurd appeared once again.
 
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And so he kept running, now hearing only himself breath in agitation. Tadashi´s hope of escaping the assault became null the very moment he spots a shadowy creature block his escape route. He halts taking a few steps back, growing paler in painfull anticipation, instinctively he knew there was no escape. Swiftly the monster leaps on Tadashi, which he reacts by flinching and raising his arms infront of himself, regardless of his puny attempt at defending, the student is pounded againstg the ground. He starts to scream but before he could raise his voice, the slime was already pushing its way inside Tadashi´s mouth, his eyes wide open and crying. "It can´t end like this! Not this way!!!" Thought to himself while his conciusness was being devoured. By the time it made half way into his body, Tadashi stopped putting any resistance his pupils glowing yellow and his body twitching while it convulsed eraticaly. A mask was crawling its way through the skin in his face untill it shaped out to be just like a dog.

Light just fades untill he finds himself in a very different place, one which was even more distorted. It was like being in a blank void yet different, as there were signs of a corridor like structure made out of words written in a phone like black font. He could hear the clattering of letter cases being freneticaly pressed at a pace and rythm, almost melodical. The texts written were continously shifting positions moving, some simultaneously being written. As he regains conciussness in this new enviroment he realizes he´s been laying in a platform expressing "¿Tadashi-kun?" . When he stood up he realized the crude truth, the meaning behind the words written in the walls and floor, those were all names and nicks. "What a Jerk Sousuke-kun" ; "Oda-kun such a loser" . The list went on, he could recognize all of these. By the time he does so a mirror like image of himself stood at the oposite end with a door made of question marks behind his back, he smiled smugly. "So what kind of person is Tadashi? How do you portray him to be? Either way he is only just but another stupid name." Says the image tauntingly.

"I am Tadashi, is there a problem with that? Now just move away." Tadashi began to walk foward but his progress is halted by glass like wall which projects his evil looking figure again. "No...Both of us know Tadashi is just another stupid name. Why can´t you tell the difference? Are you ashamed of our name? The name your parents gave us? " Tadashi averts his eyes from the figure. "No..No i´m not it´s...it´s just-" "It´s just you can´t be us anymore right? Because the person we are is a laugthing stock. So it´s simple, when you don´t want people to mock you, you just go and try to forget who you are and pretend you are another person. We lack some back-bone, We are weak. " He grinds his teeth and tries to smash the glass. "You just don´t understand anything at all!" But the glass remains unsullied, he was having a hard time proving him otherwise.
 
Kaito moved to avoid the students in front of him. Their malice filled grins brought up an uneasy feeling in Kaito's stomach. What the hell had those things done to them? Had they reacted like that because of what they saw on the televisions? Before the other students could lunge at the group again they seemed to suddenly fall to the ground in intense pain. After a few moments of coughing up a black substance the other students simply faded out of existence. Kaito grit his teeth to prevent the confused words from slipping out of his mouth. He needed to seem confident and in charge of the situation. But what the hell was going on here?

The transfer student cooly walked over to check out the spot where the others had disappeared. Somehow he had managed to keep his head despite all that was going on. Kaito needed to keep his cool as well. Stepping forward he said in a tone far more calm than he felt, "I don't know what happened to the other students but we shouldn't sit around to..." What he was about to say was cut off as the transfer student exclaimed that there was something behind them. Kaito turned trying to raise his weapon to stop the advance of whatever was there but failed as a dark shape crashed into him sending him falling to the ground. He tried to put the handle of the spear in between him and the thing on top of him but his attempts were foiled as the thing already had something connected to his head. Was it a hand? That was his last oddly calm thought as the thing began to force its way into his mouth. After that the world grew dim.

Suddenly he found himself somewhere else... and he was alone. Looking around he saw the familiar walls of his families estate. He was home? The thought was a short lived one as his eyes fell on a nearby door. Unlike the western style doors that the house had there were thick metal bars in the shape of a door. The door to a jail cell? The uneasy feeling that something was wrong only grew greater as he took steps forward to investigate the door. "Yo." A voice called out from the other side of the door. Kaito was surprised and as he looked up preparing a response whatever he had been about to say was instantly lost. Standing further down a hallway past the door was for lack of a better way to put it... him. It was akin to the other students with golden eyes. His face also held that evil grin. "You look shocked. But that simply cannot be! We are the great Kaito heir to the Sugiyama family!" The voice oozed sarcasm before it began to cackle. "W-what the hell are you?" Kaito asked in a breathless voice. This brought another grand laugh, "I knew I was stupid but blind as well?"

Kaito was dumbfounded. Was that thing really claiming to be him? "Well it's only natural that we can't understand. We were never really that smart. We're not like our brother." Kaito's breath caught at that. Before he could think to respond the twisted version of him continued, "How could we hope to replace someone like him? Especially when we're so worthless? If we try hard it'll all work out? We don't believe that bullshit." The voice was filled with a mocking tone. Was this all a joke to that bastard? Kaito felt his teeth clenched as he tried to open the door finding it held firm. He turned and walked away from the door. There had to be some other way around or out of here.
 
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Shin half-turns as Kaito touches his shoulder, before clenching his teeth. "Fuck, Fine!" He takes one last look at the students while Arashi explains possession. "I don't give a fuck if they're possesed or not, they're still my friends." Shin's retort was muttered, but before he could turn away the students fell to their knees screaming. "W-What the fuck?!" He stares blankly as the bodies static-away, leaving some kind of black sludge. He rounds on Arashi, yelling at him. "You! Did you just kill them? What the fuck did you do?!" His anger is interrupted only by some kind of shadow being sliding up behind and merging with him.

And then, the world was darkness.

The student council room was always a dark place. Shin kept it the massive curtains drawn in there when no one else was around, to make it cooler. So waking up in that dark room wasn't immediately distressing to him. In fact, for a split second, Shin thought that everything had just been some horrible dream. Until his hand started aching from the cut he had gotten back in that ruined place. A sudden movement causes Shin to look up as the chair at the head of the council table turns around... revealing himself. "What the-" "Fuck. Really, come on man. You're getting predictable. Stop giving us a bad name." The Shin with golden eyes shakes his own head, picking up the notebook he had been working on just last night. "The only thing more pathetic than that is this. Face it, we suck at this whole council thing. Let's just pack it up and make a gang. That would be So much easier." "Wha- No! We're more than that! All we have to do is prove it!" "Ha! Like you could fucking prove anything! Remember elementary school?" Shin stands and clenches his fists together. "Fuck you! I tried my fucking best!" "Whatever, just being around us meant someone was going to get beat up! Remember Iwao?" This makes Shin act, flinging himself up onto the student council table and charging forwards at his own form. "I'm going to break you!"
 
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