Persona: The Side Reflected (IC)

[LentWhiteninja]

Persona: The Side Reflected
Hosted by your humble yet devilishly charming GM: LentWhiteninja

Last night, a certain group of individuals had the exact same dream...

Just a little something to set the mood...
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."
-Oscar Wilde

"Ah, it seems you are finally awaking."
The voice of what seems to be a man rings through your ears for a few moments as you slowly stir into consciousness. The more you survey your surroundings, the more you realize that you're not where you last slept. You find yourself buckled into a blue velvet seat. It is extremely comfortable, yet the seat-belt restricts your movement almost entirely. Despite your lack of freedom, you still feel strangely relaxed. You should be panicking; you woke up in a strange place and have no idea where you are or where you're going. However, you still remain in an at-ease, almost dream-like state. Glancing to your side, you gaze out the small window. It is hard to see, due to the lack of light, but you manage to make out the outline of a steel wing, and thick clouds surrounding it. Using your observations, you infer that you are on a plane of some sorts soaring aimlessly through the cloudy midnight sky. When you focus, you can even hear the faint, high-pitched wail of the jet engines. Why are you here? Who brought you here? Did you remember to lock the doors before you went to bed? Questions like these occasionally pop into your head as you fly in silence for what seems like an eternity.

"You seem to be handling the change in scenery quite well. You're faring better than my previous guest when he first stumbled in here."
Where did that come from? Your head quickly pivots to the seat next to you, and find that it is now occupied. Sitting comfortably in the chair next to you is a rather strange looking old man. He was clad in an expensive-looking tuxedo and had balding white hair. That wasn't really special. His most striking features by far were his huge, beady eyes and a gargantuan nose long enough to poke your eye out if he moved too quick. Expecting your reaction of surprise, he speaks, "Do not be alarmed; you are fast asleep in your world. Ah, where are my manners? My name is Igor, and welcome... to the Velvet Room."

Igor explained that the Velvet Room was its own independent dimension, hanging between the realms of dream and reality, mind and matter. He also stated that only those chosen as "guests" are allowed entry, or even know of its existence. You continued to talk to the strange man on these matters, until Igor changed the subject. "Tell me," he instructed with a conniving grin plastered onto his face, "do you believe in fortune-telling?" Despite your answer, Igor pulls a deck of 22 cards out of his breast-pocket. "Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different. I find this fascinating." The strange little man fans the cards out to you face-down. "Close your eyes and reach for a card. Let nothing but your heart and fate guide your hand." You feel complied to obey, closing your eyes and blindly extending your hand to the cards. With caution, you pull the card you feel resonates with your soul the most. After Igor's approval, you open your eyes and look at the card your heart has apparently chosen for you. You show your card to Igor, whom is smiling and nodding in affirmation. "Hmm... This is interesting, most interesting..." He seems lost in thought as he analyzed the results of the reading. You wonder why he's thinking so hard; it's just a card after all. Suddenly, Igor begins speaking again. He talked about the card you chose and its meaning, and you give him your undivided attention. Igor promised that you'd know what to do with this when the time came.

"Lastly, I must give you one warning: in the near future, you shall be issued a challenge. Rejecting it is impossible, for your fate is unchangeable at the moment. This challenge will test every quality of your soul, and I recommend you prepare yourself. It's perfectly alright if you don't understand at the moment. Give it some thought. As of now, I'm afraid your time here is almost over. You can keep your card; consider it a parting gift. Until we meet again, farewell." Without warning, the emergency door to the jet violently swung open, letting a gust of air fill the cabin. Igor seemed to have unbuckled your seat-belt when you were busy staring out into the sky, and you were flung out of the jet with great force. As you fall through the thick clouds, you can feel yourself losing consciousness and black out. The next time you opened your eyes, you were back in your bed. Was it all a dream? It seemed that way, until you notice a strange card resting beside you.

"Hey, Takashi!" Kouta called out, rapping on the door to his brother's room. The alarm clock inside was blaring loudly inside, so Kouta figured that he was sleeping through it again. He heard a sleepy groan escape Takashi's throat in reply as Kouta stepped into the room. "Oh, come on. Are you not feeling well?" he asked somewhat jokingly. Takashi's health has been degrading over the past few months, which has added even more responsibility on his older brother's shoulders.
"I'm fine. Just give me a minute," Takashi eventually rolled out of his futon and stood up. He still looked sleepy, but he always does to some degree.
"Meet me downstairs?"
"Yeah."
The two brothers went through their usual morning routine in order to look presentable for school and met each other on the 1st floor of their house. With rice balls in hand, they left their house on their way to school. (Takashi had to run back inside because he forgot his shoes.) The walk to Kitamon high school isn't very far, so the boys had plenty of time to get there. On the way, they always walk past a small local police station. "Having a station so close to home and school always makes me feel a little safer. Don't you think?" Kouta commented to his brother, trying to get him to talk more.
"Really?" he replied, "I can agree that police stations make people feel secure; it's almost like the expect them to solve crimes or something." Takashi was obviously not in the mood for talking, and he did look a little paler than usual.
"Are you sure you're all right? You don't have to go to school sick you know."
"I appreciate your concern, but I'm perfectly healthy." Takashi always sounded so unnatural when he talked. People who don't know him might find this unsettling, but Kouta has long since gotten used to it.

The two boys continued to walk in silence until they reached the front door of Kitamon high school. It was the first day of Kouta's last year here, and Takashi's first. Kouta had a lot on his mind, including the speech he was supposed to deliver as Student Council President. What fun, he thought to himself, just more things he needed to worry about. He could already tell today was going to be a long day.

[Stalydan]

"Matsuhide, get ready you lazy punk! You'll be late for school!" he barely heard being shouted from the bottom of the stairs as his hairdryer blazed next to his ear. He stood in his room wearing nothing but his underwear as he just got out of the shower. His uniform hung on the wardrobe, clean and ready to be slipped on as soon as he finished drying his freshly washed hair. Brushing through the last damp parts and reaching for a bobble to tie his hair back on the bedside table, the card that appeared on his lap after he had a strange dream caught his eye.

"What are you?" he thought to himself as he looked it over. Not too sure what to do with it, he slipped it into his jacket as he got dressed to make sure he didn't lose it. As he walked down the stairs, he saw his dad there looking at him as he was tying his shoelaces.

"Have you got everything you need? Phone? Books? Keys?" he asked.

"Yes Dad, I've got them. I don't know why you ask this every time I go to school." Matsu replied, tired of the repetitive questioning as he grabbed his shoes and lunch.

"Okay, have a good day and try your best."

"I'd never try any less, Dad. You know that."

Catching the train just as it was about to leave the station, it was only a five minute journey until he reached his destination. He saw a lot of familiar faces on the train, a few club members and some other people he recognized. None of them were his friends though. His journeys were always in silence, usually sat checking the news on his phone or listening to the radio on it. Today was no exception to that.

As the train pulled up to his stop, he exited and walked the ten minutes to the high school. He could see many other students walking the same way as him, many groups catching up with each other from the break. As he reached the front gate, he saw the school council president and his brother by the doors. He wanted to say hello to them but couldn't think what he would say afterwards and abandoned the idea. Maybe he might beat his grades this year. Maybe.

[Renose]

Reno's eyes widened with a sort of small start after the strange dream that had just occurred. Of course, Reno knew that it was only a dream and was about to dismiss it as such, until he saw what was resting beside him. The same card he had been given in the dream laid next to his hand, and quickly with both his gray and green eyes widened slightly he picked it up and looked at it. "This card..." mumbled Reno in a term of both curiosity and surprise. "It is the exact same one from my dream...but...such a thing should be impossible". He began to rack his brain on what knowledge he had read about on how dreams actually worked from a scientific standpoint.

They could last anywhere from a few seconds to around twenty minutes and occurred during REM sleep. They were comprised of various images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur within the mind involuntarily. Reno could only guess that either someone broke into his house and placed the tarot card on his bed, or that said realm between dream and reality was more plausible then he thought. Of course, being an intellectual, Reno went with the first one and decided to just leave it alone for now and worry about it when he got home. He could investigate the matter later as whilst he was lost in thought he was losing what time he had left to get to school, and Reno was no fast runner so he couldn't afford to waste anytime.

Reno got ready in a sort of slow, yet hurried manner. He was not looking forward to going to high school as his middle school life had been one filled with solitude and verbal, mental, and physical abuse from the peers who looked down on him seeing him as an outcast. Unfortunately Reno knew he had to go at least on the first day, after that he could go back into his middle school routine of only coming on select test days and then leaving. He was brilliant enough to the point where the teachers didn't care about him not attending school since his academics were not suffering in any way, shape, or form.

Soon Reno walked out the door, locking said door to the small abode as he left while wearing the high school uniform he anticipated wouldn't get much use as he kept his head low to avoid making eye contact with anyone so they wouldn't see his eyes, his bag holding a laptop and a bento in it held in his right hand. Eventually Reno reached the front gates of Kitamon Gakuen, trying not to notice some of the small looks he may or may not have received as he simply kept his head slightly low as to avoid garnering unneeded attention, whether or not it was good or bad. After all, he would only be attending this day, then after that he would just come to take, and most likely ace, the tests and exams and spend every other day at home, so he had no intentions of getting any unneeded attention on this day.

[Vocalia]

♫Party Rock is in the house tonight...♫

"Nggh..." Hayley groaned under her sheet, arm outstretched to reach for her mobile phone, which doubled as her alarm clock, on the counter beside the bed. When she finally got her hands on her target, her fingers moved around the mobile phone and the music stopped. The sleepy girl pushed the bed sheet away from her body and sat up, giving out a loud yawn as she looked at the time. "Ah, damn it... I don't really want to go to school today..." She muttered to herself, "Then again, spending just one day at school wouldn't hurt, given this is the first day and all... Better than being bitched at by the teachers." Looking around, Hayley saw something lying beside her pillow. Reaching to grab it, she noticed that it was a card, a tarot card to be precise. Plowing through her sleepy brain for clues, she somehow recalled her dream last night rather vividly, which she found surprising; she usually didn't recall much of her dreams. After some thinking for answers, she found herself becoming more confused and decided to push her curiosity for a later time, putting the card inside her bag lying on her bed.

After stretching her sleepy arms, Hayley rolled out of her bed and went through her usual morning routines, leaving her short, blonde hair mostly unkempt, but tidy enough to fulfill the school's bare minimum standards. Strangely enough, she went to school wearing the school uniform for male students. Her teachers often raised a fuss at her for this, but they seemed to stop caring about it as time passed. As she walked to leave the condo she lived in with her mother, she noticed the place devoid of human presence aside from her, but Hayley couldn't care less. She and her mother, despite living together, had almost never seen each other to the point where she believed that she wouldn't notice anything off if she died or went missing. Too lazy to prepare anything to eat, she quickly grabbed a box of milk from the fridge and went on her way.

Waiting at the bus stop in front of the condo complex, Hayley glanced at her mobile phone and noticed that she still had some time before school started. When the bus finally arrived to her signal, she paid her far using her automatic bus card and plopped onto the nearest seat she could find. Kitamon High School was a fifteen minutes bus trip from the condo she lived in and, for the most part, it was usually uneventful. As the bus finally arrived at Kitamon High School, Hayley jumped out of it and looked at the multitude of students coming in, chatting with their friends and looking eager. There was to be an assembly to start of the year and Hayley thought of skipping it at first, but decided against it in the end. "Well, it's not like it's going to be horrible or anything..." She said to herself and shrugged as she walked into the school area.

[Shinuki]

Kyou yawned loudly as he stretched his hands out and cracked the kinks that had developed along his shoulders and neck as he’d slept in a rather uncomfortable position. His hand grinded against someone’s head when he’d stretched out, but that was the least of his worries, the couch he’d slept on was dirty and soiled with all sort of fluids, though the stench that emanated off it indicated that the most dominant was the cheap booze that his ‘friends’ seemed to like so much.

Pushing himself up off the couch and ruffling his own hair, he kicked aside a few beer cans that littered the ashen floor, cigarette butts, beer bottles, empty food packets and even an occasional condom defiling the floor of their little hangout. Last night had been a tough one, a small little fight had broken out between his gang Jormugand, and the neighboring Fafnir group. Kyou could even dully remember the sound of a bullet or two being fired, though fortunately for him, the armed idiot hadn’t been skilled in its usage in the slightest and had been quickly disarmed by that guy he couldn’t be bothered remembering the name of.

Wading through the rubbish Kyou made his way to the shower, stripping himself casually before folding his clothes neatly before placing it on the cleanest part of the bench. An amused smirk crossing his face as he could still hear the unsurpressed snores of his friends coming from the adjacent room even over the sound of running water. The sound was random, vulgar and unpleasant, just like the guys that made them. Fortunately for Kyou it had been these undesirable traits that had lured him to the alleyways. He’d have enough of pristine perfection. Once upon a time he’d been a child genius, top of his school and achieveing 100% in his tests as easily as he breathed. But that was a time long past, and nowadays he was the guy people pointed out with fear and disdain. His association with a street gang was known to a fair portion of the school, but having never been caught the school couldn’t take any action until he’d at least been arrested for some sort of crime….. though that didn’t stop them from calling him out to the student counselor and being lectured about the right way to live.

Turning the water off and quickly drying himself, though thought suddenly remembered that he was supposed to attend school today. Normally he wouldn’t be too interested in the prospect of turning up, but he didn’t want to miss the class placement and have to go through the hassle of finding out from a teacher later on. The less he interacted with those stuffy stick heads the better.

Letting out a weary sigh, he quickly got dressed in casual attire, as his uniform was back at his apartment along with his textbooks and bag. He’d probably get chewed out for it, but he’d deal with that when it happened.

“Gonna go deal with school, see you guys later” he waved, strolling out of the showers and straight towards the broken door that was pouring in morning sunlight. A few of his friends groaned their response, a few of them even bothering to wave their hand in acknowledgement.

“Rightio Kyou dear, your boxed lunch is in the gutter, did you forget anything dearie? Fake passport? Drug stash? Pistol?” one of the guys who were awake called out in a sickeningly motherly tone, earning a smirk from Kyou who shrugged his arms upwards to show he wasn’t carrying anything besides the clothes he was wearing.

“Good, was gonna smash the crap out of you if you were actually prepared” the guy chuckled "Give them hell for us got it? Open a textbook while away and we're disowning you mate" another chuckle later the Kyou waved at the other and then set off.

[Vietmyke]

"Hello! You've reached Kai Kuroi, I'm unable to answer the phone right now. Leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can! Later!" -Click-

"Uh, hey bro, its Tai, again. You still haven't contacted us, and sis is getting really worried, can you please call us back when you get this? thanks, stay safe."

TK sighed as he carelessly tossed his cellphone onto the bed beside him. Still nothing. It had been almost a month since the last time his brother had contacted him. He knew his brother's team was involved with a case regarding a recent springup of gang activity, but TK was sure police work wouldn't keep his brother away from the world for up to a month. TK had started fearing the worst, though like his sister, he had been trying to keep the thought far from his mind. TK sat back down on his bed, his forehead in his hands. He shook himself, there was no use worrying over something out of his control. He picked up the card again and looked at it once more, finally sighing and slipping it into his pocket. The desk sat in front of a window, that overlooked a good portion of downtown Ichihara. The room was clean and kept, with a red carpet floor and white walls that reminded one of a recording studio. At the foot of the bed where a pair of instrument stands, one holding a guitar, the other holding a ukulele. In the corner of the room was a nice electronic keyboard.

With great effort, TK pushed himself off his bed and grabbed his jacket, hanging off a hangar by the door, quickly pulling it on before he left his room, walking into the kitchen-living room that made up most of the apartment. It was plain, but modern, featuring lots of clean woods and whites. Lea had already left, as usual, leaving behind a warm breakfast and a bento for TK. As usual, there was an assortment of letters and mail piled up on the table. One had been left open, the contents laying slightly folded on the table, and the envelope with a uneven rip in it.

Without any particular interest, TK picked up the envelope and letter while he ate his breakfast. The first thing TK noticed was the police emblem, and the seal of the commissioner of the police. TK's food suddenly grew tasteless in his mouth as his face paled. The egg-toast was dropped back onto the platter as TK roughly swallowed and turned his full attention to the letter, pouring over it with his eyes as a sour taste began to appear in his mouth.

To the Kuroi Family,
It is with deep regret that we inform you of the death of Kai Kuroi.
On April 12th Mr. Kuroi responded to a call involving an armed gang conflict.
He was....

-----

"Can I sit here?"
"Oh uh, yes of course." TK said absently as made space for the stranger to sit next to him on the train. He sat there, texting his sister as he waited for the train to pull up at his stop.

After a short ride he had reached his stop. He casually got up and left the train, making his way towards Kitamon high, his jacket unbuttoned, and his bag slung over his shoulder. TK made his way into the school grounds and began looking for the class listings.

[Verbande]

Mornings.....they were about the only time you wouldn't find Gakuko full of pep. Scrubbing the sleep from her eyes, Gakuko got up to greet the new day. The new day, and the new year of education that lay waiting for her and others at Kitamon High. Even though it was a fresh year, in reality, Gakuko figured it would be more or less the same experience as the last; meet people, take classes, pass exams, and then a break before the next one. Indeed, there was likely to be nothing that would even stand out for this one. And certainly nothing stood out about her day so far. Brush teeth, get clothes, walk downstairs and have breakfast. Routine, nothing but. But then....

"Oh, Gakuko, what's this?"

"What's what, mother?"

"This card.....'Fortune'? This is a tarot card....oh my god....YOU'RE DABBLING IN THE OCCULT, AREN'T YOU GAKUKO!? OH MY GOD, I KNEW I SHOULDN'T LET YOU BE OUTSIDE AFTER 6PM!! AAAHH, I'M A FAILURE AS A PARENT!!!" Gakuko attempted to interrupt her mother's hysteria, but to no avail. When she got an idea in her head, she ran with it, and was impossible to deal with. Fortunately, her father was better at dealing with these things then she was...

"Calm down, Aoi. You haven't even given Gakuko a chance to explain herself before you jumped to conclusions. Now, Gakuko; can you tell us where this card came from?"

Gakuko took another look at the card. She knew she had seen this before....but she wasn't about to say anything about that. "Um, I don't know, honestly." She put on a very puzzled look, and she was very good at putting on faces. "I guess it could be another one of those weird presents from someone at school. They do always have the weirdest tastes in gifts..."

"Well I guess that will have to do. I certainly don't believe our daughter would be doing anything sinister, even if Tarot Cards were an indication of anything at all." He shot a brief glance at his wife, knowing she had the tendency to overreact. She just looked at her feet and returned to her own business. "But more importantly, it's time for you to get going, Gakuko. It won't look good if you're late on your first day."

"You're right, father. Well, see ya!" She gave her parents a big hug before grabbing her bag and skipping out the door. Now, school was just a short walk and train ride away. But first, she would end up meeting with a certain person. Unintentionally, but it was just like every day of last year...

"Oh hey, Gakuko! All ready for the new year?"

"Yep! You too, Kensuke?"

"Yeah. So you're okay with me walking you to school like before, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure. But we have to go through the alleys, okay?"

"Oh....yeah. Hehe, I mean, they're dangerous...like last year....but I can't refuse you, Gakuko, hehe...." Kensuke was hesitant because due to the nature of Gakuko's rumored 'curse', something bad happened almost every time he tried to walk her to school. He'd ended up getting trash dumped on his head, a mob of birds attacked him for some randomly placed birdseed in his pocket, and half the time some thugs showed up to take his money. He honestly had no idea how Gakuko always passed through here unharmed while he got the rough end of the stick. But being a hardheaded, smitten fool, he kept trying to come with her.

"Oh, I need to use this restroom. Wait for me, kay?"

"Okay..." Gakuko disappeared inside, and Kensuke waited for her. The whole time, he just prayed he wouldn't be accosted on his first day. "Well....I don't see them coming from anywhere....guess I'm sa-"

"Hey, it's Kensuke! Hey dude, came to donate to the church of the knuckle sandwhich again?" It was the same thugs from last year. They had just come out of the men's part of the public toilet. Kensuke hadn't looked in there....

"Uhhh...." He only had a second to hesitate before he saw Gakuko exit the place herself. "Hey, Ga-" One of the thugs grabbed him before he could speak, and held his throat. Gakuko, in what seemed to be a blissfully unaware state, walked off with a serene smile on her face, seeming to have forgotten she had even come down here with Kensuke at all.

And that was the 'curse' of Gakuko Taido. Nothing that reflected badly upon herself, but it seemed that anyone that approached her much like Kensuke ended up in the worst situations. They could never say it was her 'fault', cause it mostly seemed to be simple bad luck. But then, it was so uncanny, people started to think something was up. Kensuke was to dumb to see through it, but it had certainly colored the perceptions of others during her first year. Now, it was to be seen just what would come of her second.....

[Psyker Landshark]

Marina awoke with a groan, groggily rubbing her eyes as she rose up out of bed. Despite her fatigue, the strange dream she'd had last night shone rather prominently in her mind. After all, there was no way she'd forget someone with a nose like that. And with Igor's bloodshot eyes, her uncle would no doubt have had some quip about said nose being used to snort cocaine. Quirky half-American bastard. Then Marina finally noticed the card in her hand. Jerking surprise, she dropped it on accident as soon as she felt the weight in her hand.

"What." The brunette muttered under her breath in deadpan shock as she picked the card back up, examining it. "Wait, this is the same card from the dream..." Turning the card over onto its face, Marina was unsurprised to see that the number three was on the bottom, with the symbol of the Empress above it. It really was the exact same card she'd drawn from Igor's deck. Still in shock, Marina went through the process of getting dressed and brushing her teeth in a daze, her mind racing with questions as to what the hell was going on. She did manage to recover after splashing some water on her face, and calmed down rather quickly after that. There was no point in worrying about that right now. Best to just keep the card on her in case there would be a use for it later. Slipping the tarot card into a pocket on her uniform, Marina stepped out of her room and headed out into her apartment's kitchen.

Her uncle was already in the kitchen, pouring hot coffee into a thermos for himself. As Marina walked in, he turned around and smiled, reaching into the pantry for her usual morning curry bread and grabbing a bento from the fridge before handing both to her.

"Morning, kiddo." The half-Japanese, half-American man grinned, grabbing his car keys from the counter. "Minako's already taken the twins to school, so you're stuck with me if you want a ride."

"I'll be fine, Uncle Lucas." Marina replied, stuffing the bento into her bag before popping open the packaged curry bread and starting to munch on it as she walked out of the apartment alongside him. "It's only a ten minute walk anyway."

"Alright, fine. Have fun and don't skip class. I'll probably be busy until late tonight, by the way. You're going to have to order out for dinner. Got another hacker trying to tunnel into the company's network again, and this one actually knows what he's doing." Lucas grumbled.

"That promotion to head of network security's gotten you really busy, hasn't it?" Marina asked rhetorically as she left, starting the walk to school as her uncle just sighed and started up his car.

___

Ten minutes later, Marina arrived at the front yard of Kitamon High School. Being student council treasurer, she wouldn't have to make a speech on the first day, but she'd still have to sit on the stage with the other student council members, so she'd have to get to the auditorium early. On the way, though, she saw a familiar female face in a male uniform. Raising an eyebrow, she headed over next to one of her only friends.

"Oh, look. Someone's actually here for once." Marina deadpanned, waving hello to Hayley. "Does this mean I don't have to waste stun gun darts on idiots after school today?"

[Zombehs]

Ota grumbled to himself, bags under his eyes and a sour mood to start off the morning. How long had he slept? An hour, maybe two? Felt like he’d simply been awake all night. Certainly he’d been awake when his parents had left the house, their idle conversation filling the empty house. Then came the doors closing before silence filled the house once more. With a moan, the boy managed to pull himself back from the past and into the present, where his omelet required his attention in the form of a flip.

A light shake of the pain had it the eggs loosened and a sharp jerk of his wrist had his meal sailing through the air perfectly. Landing back in the pan, it sizzled and the smell filled up the room. Ota was too tired to care though, his attention for focused on siphoning some of that god damned coffee. God damned miracle of the universe he thought to himself as he removed the heater. Two more minutes of waiting and he’d be able to finally eat, after all staying awake the entire night made him feel as if he was starving to death the next morning.

~

Ota closed and locked the door before heading to school. Not terribly far, it was a 10 minute walk or so and today’s morning was actually fairly pleasant. It would be if Ota didn’t feel like turning 360 and walking back inside the house and trying to get some sleep. School waited for him and would not care about any amount of moaning, groaning, whining or cheese. So holding his mug of carefully brewed coffee gingerly, the boy trudged along the school’s building visible just a short distance away. An occasional sip of coffee brightened his day only for his sleep deprived body and mind to make everything worse. The continuous cycle that never ended. Joy.

Walking through the gates, Ota couldn’t really say he felt relieved to be at school. If anything, the gates simply made the boy feel more trapped, but a small sip of his coffee had paranoid delusions off his mind. Glancing about Ota saw a few students he knew, Marina the school treasurer and her friend Hayley, Kouta the president, etc. No one he really called friend though. About to take another step, Ota winced and felt around his pocket, managing to procure out a card at last. Wha… Oh yeah…. Ota thought as he gazed at the strange Tarot card. It had all but slipped his sleep derived mind, including the strange dream that it had come along. Staring at the words below, it was written in a strange form of English. “The Han….Hanged Man?” he muttered to himself, slightly confused. He wasn’t exactly sure of its meaning, but it certainly could wait until after school. Pocketing the card in a slightly better position, Ota shook his head and continued on his way.

[Joshua Tamashii]

"Oi Toshiro, Sakura, you ever seen a card like this before?" Joshua asked, holding up the card he had found next to him when he woke up this morning. He remembered having a dream the previous night. Some guy with a nose that was WAY to long and eyes that looked like they should've fallen out of his skull ages ago. Either that or the dude never blinked. Either way the guy had been way creepy and not something you could just make up

"Let's see here... ah a tarot card. You know about these things more then I do Sakura, why don't you explain it." His older brother Toshiro said

"Tarot cards? Let's see here. Often associated with fortune telling and the occult, although originally they were made to play card games, similar to War anf Go Fish. Such decks were similar to the playing cards we use today" Toshiro's twin summerized" However a divination tarot deck is slightly different. The two principle groups are the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana are like the Spades, Clubs, Hearts and Diamonds of a regular deck of cards, only they are Cup, Sword, Wand, and then either Pentacle or Coin, depending on the printers prefrence.

The Card you have is one of the Major Arcana. There are twenty-two Major Arcana, number 0 through 21. The one you hold is Number 4: The Heirophant, though I don't know what I represents or what it could possibly fortell in divination"

"... You spend too much time reading I think" Joshua said before getting up" But anyway I gotta go and get to school"

"Walking again?" Toshiro asked

"Been doing it the past couple of years, why stop. Sides you know I hate crowds" Joshua said, as he grabbed his bag and accepted the bento his sister handed him. He pocketed the card and left the house, grabbed a black fedora on the way and putting it on, angled so that it would cover the eyepatch over his missing right eye.

It took him a good hour to reach school on foot but by this point he was used to it. The only thing that threw him off slightly was that he was in highschool now, and thus he had to go to a different building and change his route slight He arrived shortly after the busses did and he was not happy to see the large crowd already there. He scanned the crowd breifly to take notice of anyone he knew. This revealed only the faces he had roughed up on at least two occasions, if not more.

~~Well, this year is going to be eventful. Was rather hoping it would go by peacefully this time~~ He thought to himself as he walked into the crowd. As he did so he bumped into what he had assumed was a male student, but when he turned around to look he saw that it was infact a female student dressed in the male uniform. He would've appologized the several other students pushed him forward before he got a chance.~~ That's a first.~~