A transfer student? Would it be alright to still refer to them as a transfer student when the school year just started? Whenever Haruto thought about transfer students, he imagined them coming in the middle of the year, or something like that. Of course, this country’s definition of such people was just the new kid, so who was Haruto to argue? The bastard seemed nice enough – he can’t imagine them beings friends though, unless Kazuo also enjoyed Unfortunately Bizarre Adventures.

As for the teachers…well, Haruto made a point to be polite to them, but they still treated him like a delinquent. Was it the eyes? Was it the frown? Was it the lethargy that was ever-present in Haruto’s face? He really didn’t know, but although he continued to be polite to any teacher, it wasn’t the warm kind, and quite frankly, Haruto didn’t even remember the faces of the teachers who walked in.

He was also pretty sleepy. Might be a good opportunity to get some shut-eye – except they were now going out for some fieldwork. Well, fuck; Haruto wasn’t a scientist by nature, so he couldn’t find any enjoyment in that. At least the forest didn’t offer any lurking foes – it was as peaceful as can be.

Noon

Well, it should’ve been peaceful, at least.

Haruto took a while to wake up – his sleepiness naturally made him unconscious for a little while longer. When his eyes shot open, he naturally pushed himself off the ground and straight onto his feet; the perfect acrobatic recovery. Of course, it was more of a surprise reaction – he ended up waking up really quickly when he saw where he was located.

“Wow, shit. The situation got pretty real.”

Was he afraid? Honestly, no. Haruto had what one would call unlimited amounts of courage – he was brave, to the point of being an idiot. He could’ve gave Matt Murdock a run for his money when it comes to being “The Man Without Fear”. Of course, the same couldn’t be said for the chubby Caucasian kid who was being comforted by one of the classmates nearby, but fuck if anyone was going to stop Haruto from having an adventure.

“Then again, there’s no point in having fun with so much apparent danger around,” Haruto muttered under his breath.

As the transfer student, Kazuo, suggested they look around for weapons, Haruto simply looked down at his shoes, with the toughened bottoms that made them very helpful to have around during a brawl. If flesh could not withstand the power of Dr. Scholls, well, Haruto woud simply have to hope that whatever was around here would also fall.

“Anyways, mind if I join you guys in…whatever you’re doing?”

In all his excitement, Haruto still did not realize that the teacher was missing. He thought they were just going out for an adventure.

Saito walked ahead a short distance before more of his classmates started waking up and talking to each other, he spinned his pipe a little bit before laying on his shoulder in a relaxed manner as a female classmate spoke up to him.
"You're correct that's my name, Shinku-san, was it?" Saito asked the red-head remembering her name from the roll call just hours ago. "And like you said it would be best if we stay in groups, don't want others being grabbed by whatever grabbed Ms. Sasaki." He said in a matter of factly tone. One of the foreigners the one with the strange western name told Saito to not worry about his language he blushed a bit, He guess it doesn't matter at the moment. Then Gruffydd continued wondered if she knew a way out of the hole, Saito quickly wondered the same thing but this hole doesn't make sense, it looks like Nichibotsu but not. But now that he thinks about it, this sounds like one of those stupid rumors people back at Koden talked about it, ugh. Now he wishes he listened to those rumors now that he might be a part of one now. He sighed.

He doesn't even know where to start looking for Ms. Sasaki, and some of them are still unconscious and the chubby guy just calmed down. But the Transfer student asked them to find weapons and to keep an eye out on the unconscious students. he already had a weapon, a small smile came on his face when he rememebred his bag, it's a good thing he has this everywhere he goes. "Oh yeah, I have five bottles of Iced coffees in my bag if anybody get thirsty and if you guys find anything of use I could keep them in my bag so it won't bog anybody down." Saito announced to the group. "And yeah that would work the best if they don't wake up soon, but if we do split up we need a place to go when they come to.... How about we meet up at the mall in two hours?"

Such misfortune.

There was barely anyone she knew aside from Yamada over there. Hopefully the lecturer won't try to make them do group work or something.

The professor didn't seem to thrilled to be in the class though. Come to think of it, she didn't even know why she was in this class. Special geography lessons? On field experience? To be honest that does sound interesting; certainly a fresh breath of air from the usual routine of their usual classes. It was just the professor didn't look fit to teach; he looked hungover and visibly apathetic to the students' needs or feelings.

The mention of the transfer student was, at best, mildly interesting. She could barely remember the names of her fellow students in this class, with the exception of Yamada, and another unknown person was hardly of interest. Besides, it was not as if people swarmed to her for something or other.

-Noon-

Once again, she was grateful that the school allowed them to don the opposite sex's uniform, especially since they were trekking around in the forest of all things. True it made her look more boyish than usual, and she would be oftentimes be mistaken for male, but it allowed her to move freely, without fearing someone might catch a look up her skirt. That and there was less places for mosquitoes to bite her.

Natsuki kinda wished she didn't have to lug around this heavy thing around, since the lesson itself wasn't at all that bad.

"Class! Look at this! This is one of the strange geographical phenomena I was talking about!"

It seemed that Ms. Sasaki had already found something of interest. Well, the perfectness of it was certainly interesting, as well as the odd location, but calling it a geographical phenomena? No, it was a bit too perfectly rounded for that, with oddly smooth sides going straight down. If anything, that hole was artificially made. Not that she was going to be the one who said that of course. Natsuki turned around, looking for Yamada, before hearing the transfer student's voice.

Her mind went blank at the sight, some strange thing was pulling the teacher into the hole. Reacting to the sight, her hand reach out to help the transfer student, before everything went blank.



Natsuki found herself on her back, staring blankly at a black and white sky.

She could vaguely hear the transfer student's voice calling them to look at something. Whatever it was, it looked like a blob of shadow carrying away their teacher. Staring blankly at the strange sky again, she tried vainly to make sense of the events that had just transpired.

Huh.

Once again, the voice of the transfer student came to her ears, this time suggesting they find weapons of some sort. As if in a dream, she sat up, taking in the unfamiliar familiar sight that was the strange Lower Downtown district lookalike. Her hand brushed against a piece of wood, which, upon closer inspection, seemed to be an old broom with the end so bedraggled it looked ready to disintegrate at any moment. Oh, that's right. Weapons.

Removing the end, she swung it about a few times to feel its heft. With her long limbs, she could at least monopolize on reach if there ever should be some danger.

Her usual neutral look now had a hint of confusion in it. Where was she? What was the hole in the forest? Everything looked so strange and skewed she was starting to get a headache. Seeking the one familiar element in the whole place, she looked around for Yamada, who seemed to be talking to one of the other students. Well, dealing with strangers was out of her league for the moment; she wasn't really in the mood for making new acquaintances.

Having no idea what to really do now, she simply stood there in place, looking about as she weighted her options.

“Nice to meet you, McKenna. Nice name by the way, but mind if I keep calling you a hot stud?” Dai joked with a playful smile in the face of heavy circumstance. It was a mere automatic response, a way to cope with the situation at hand and hopefully a way to further calm Johnathan’s nerves.

He glanced up in surprised when the foreign student began to move far sooner than he had expected. Patient, he allowed Johnathan to use his shoulder as support and listened as the confused young man began to talk. Dai made sure to make eye contact, a sure sign that he was listening, as Johnathan sorted out his feelings and thoughts. As his ramble continued, Dai’s nerves began to relax.

It was a curious thing about the hole. He was a guy of rumors and gossip, but he had never heard of anyone talking about what’s in them. There were a few who joked about jumping into some but were never followed through. Although, this whole situation explained a lot. There were bound to be rumor busters and dare devils willing to go through a mysterious dark hole in the ground. The very fact that there was a lack of anyone talking about it could only mean that... they kinda ended up in the same situation as Sasaki. Except this time, Sasaki was going to get rescued and lived to tell the tale if the voice of his fellow classmates was anything to go by.

Before Dai could answer the guy’s question about the hole, his expression softened when he heard Johnathan’s decision. This was something he definitely didn’t expect. It was rare to see a person express his troubles, but even more inspiring to see that troubled person rise and place the safety of another as top priority before him.

“No prob, bro. We’re classmates.” Dai stood with a grin and gave the Caucasian kid a good-hearted slap on the back. “Go get ‘em!”

When Johnathan was a distance away, the transfer student approached and thanked him. Dai smiled and shrugged. “Nah, man. To be honest, I needed this talk as much as he did.” He paused for a moment, glancing at everyone gearing to go. “Hey, I… kinda need a favor. If you find an extra weapon, can you hand it to me? I’m not that skilled of a guy to use my kicks as weapons.” He gestured toward one of their classmates – Haruto, was it? - who eyed his own shoe with confidence. He shrugged nonchalantly and grinned. "But it's fine if you can't find any though."

Upon hearing Saito’s offer, Dai approached the guy, deciding to take it up. “Mind if I grabbed one of those coffees?” He nodded. “Good plan and thanks for the offer. I’ll stay and see if these remaining guys will ever wake up.”

Bride was paying attention as best as he can, he didn’t want to fail at anything once class started, there was a new transfer student apparently in class but…wait… its the beginning of the year so wouldn’t that mean well...maybe he was thinking too much about this, he shook his head slightly and focused back at Ms. Sasaki and Prof. Takano. He raised his hand when his name was called and went back to listening. The new transfer student introduced himself as Kazou, there was something mysterious about him and so...he couldn’t help but too look, that mystery just seemed so, different yet enchanting at that same time. Was he really going to have a new crush already? Yes he did. He tried his best to remove that blush on his face and tried to focus back to class he can’t let another guy bring out of his focus…that why he been failing a bit last year….

Geography, he wasn’t good or smart in a lot of classes but hearing that they were going on a trip top the forest outside of Nichibotsu. Forest means plant… plants mean flowers! He already love this trip already, he would love to pick some wild flowers and try to make flower crowns out of them that would be so pretty. Bride was already excited for this trip and was ready for it though he wont be actually learning geography or doing field work he would just be picking flowers instead and maybe maybe…admiring Kazou…maybe.



A the forest, already he picked at least every flower he had seen and was carrying them like bouquet, he just love flowers, even prickly ones though he knew how to handle them, as his family worked in a florist shop he learned a lot in how to handle certain flower. It has to be delicate and gentle, like an art in a way. As he was wondering around still close to the group picking flowers he saw some of his classmate helping Ms. Sasaki! The hole. He quickly dropped the flowers and ran towards them to help but it seemed like with everyone help trying to save Ms. Sasaki wasn’t enough as suddenly he blacked out. For once he though it was his weak heart but no it was something differently clearly. Suddenly everything went dark, Bride felt scared just like before…the suddenness of darkness taking over.



It was a while before Bride woke up, he was tired and weak…slowly he sat up woozy form what just happened. “uggh….uuhh…..” He looked around to see he was at a twisted…scary version of Nichibotsu. It was like some horror movie for this to happen, maybe he was sick again for him to see all of this maybe, he can’t be seeing this… just a scary nightmare that is all, not real but he looked around to see his classmates as well there, so…it wasn’t a dream it was. “Wh…where are we…” He stood up carefully, he was scared and frighten…also totally innocent. His pure innocent face almost made him look scared look adorable and needed to be protected in some way. How can this happen? They were at a forest a while back but they were…they were in this messed version of the town, again just like some horror movie but what made it worst is that in the he horror movies they would go for the weak one first and he knew that…he wasn’t the strongest and unable to fight so…he might get taken and killed!! Oh dear too much can happen!! “..uuh….W-wh…wher….e ar…are we….?” Bride asked shyly to his awaken classmates, he was shaking a bit and was scared what could happen, Ms. Sasaki wasn’t there as well…what just happened here?!

Masako registered the rest of the students walking into the classroom with little more than a passing glance: a girl with short hair, a face that she certainly had never seen before and she would later learn to be the transfer student, another foreigner a tall one at that probably dwarfing her in height, another blonde male seemingly ready for the day. Next the two teachers came into the room and to say they were an interesting pair would of probably hit the mark on the head. Masako listened as they introduce themselves and began to go through the attendance list and started to read off the names.

She paid attention with little actual invested interests to the names that were called off, but at least made an effort to try and associate names with faces so if their was ever group work or anything she didn't make a total fool of herself. She watched with that seem effort of half interest as the transfer student introduced himself and all Masako did in her head was just file him away as another genius that will probably make her grades look terrible in comparison. But that was kind of unfair to him wasn't it? Even if he was super smart it wasn't like he meant to make her look terrible or anything, no that was all her fault. She made her own observations about the teachers, The professor seemed like he didn't want to be there at all a sentiment that Masako herself could appreciate maybe he wouldn't be so bad. Ms. Sasaki though seemed to be a little too eager for the prospect of learning about geological phenomenons, in a way that Masako could never get excited about it though she seemed nice enough. The mention of field work made her rise her head a little from her slouched position on the desk. No pens or paper, no having to look at boring textbooks with information that she really didn't care about? And they got to go outside? Well maybe this wasn't going to be the worst thing ever.

---

Noon

The forest was nice, definitely better than any classroom that Masako could be stuck inside at the moment. Being able to hear the birds and feel the wind and sun upon her skin was a welcome change. Though Masako could've never imagined that adventuring through a forest could be boring and yet here they were examining the contour of a slope of a hill with rulers and protractors and taking notes on it. I guess it could've been worse though she thought to herself and that was true to a form they could of been doing it with imaginary hills inside a classroom. At least here they got to see the application of the thing rather than just doing science for science's sake. Then Ms. Sasaki got really excited about a hole in the ground.

To be fair, the geological phenomena that Ms. Sasaki wa getting all excited about was strange but as a counterpoint it was just a really big hole in the ground. But something just seemed off about the whole area, Masako listened and she heard no bugs, no birds and it seemed as if the spring breeze that she could feel just a moment ago suddenly vanished as soon as they approached the hole. It was almost as if it they had entered a little bubble or something. Masako was about to make a comment about it when a giant hand darker than any shadow she had ever seen come rushing out of the hole like some sort of great burrowing earthworm and grabbed Ms. Saskai. The transfer student moved into action first calling for assistance and the rest of the students soon followed after. Though despite their desperate struggle, eleven high school students equals little in resistance compared to the giant hand and they all went tumbling down the hole darkness chasing after them.

S^ome_where?

Masako was greeted with a strange sky looming far above her. It wasn't the crisp blue that had pleasantly drifted above them in the forest, no it was now two large chasms of black and white split down the middle where the noon day sun should have been. slowly got up pushing herself to her feet in as composed a manner as could possibly be achieved at the moment. She looked around at her surroundings and noticed very quickly that this was Nichibotsu, the lower district to be exact. Though like the sky above it was distorted, strange, eldritch as if it had been made of washable markers and just dipped in water. The buildings and street looked like a bomb had recently fallen from the sky and cars were flipped or ripped in half. Some of the buildings had been perched at strange angles almost if if they were slowly dripping away and in the far distance the city streets flickered and shuttered as they seemed to have trouble staying in reality.

Masako took a deep breath composing herself and trying not to appear as frightened as she was in her head. Her father had always said a Unmei heir does not show fear. Fear was for the weak and those unwilling to face the challenges ahead of them, fear was for those who did not deserve success. Well yeah that was easy for him to say, he wasn't the one that got dragged through a giant void be an evil hand ended up in some messed up alternate reality. She noticed that many of the others had already awoken and were discussing the plans moving forward. It seemed they were getting ready to go on a search party to rescue Ms.Saskai and maybe find a way out of there. This sounded like the most sensible option of all of them but what then I don't think even Ms.Saskai was prepared for something like this. I don't think anybody was really, and yet here they were preparing to venture out into the great unknown, into whatever this city was.

"Uhh hold on for a second guys. Before we go out on some sort of adventure to go save the day or whatever you are planning have any of us really thought about this for a moment? I mean this isn't some video game guys." She explained as she began to spoke.
"This is real life and we are in a world that we know nothing about beside that it kind of looks like our own and that it is filled with monsters. Monsters mind you that were easily able to overpower eleven of us working together to drag us all down some giant hole in the ground. And we expect to just able to defeat anything we may come across? I know it's our only option and all and I'm not about to let our teacher get eaten or whatever, but did any of you stop to wonder how suicidal we all are sounding right now? So do we have a better gameplan than just hope we find Ms.Saskai and not get killed or eaten or whatever?" She asked the group as they all continued to get ready. Sure it probably wasn't what any of them wanted to hear at the moment but in Masako's mind it was what they had to hear. She needed to at least provide the reality check before they all went gung ho into the jaws of death charge of the light brigade style..

While plans were being made to split up into smaller groups to survey the area and look for anything usable, another student finally woke, or at least was finally getting up. Ito Natsuki - Kazuo remembered she responded to that name during the class roll call earlier in the morning. He watched her as she picked up a nearby broom with a broken end and started to swing it around a few times. She stood idly by and remained quiet the whole time; she didn't seem like she wanted to interact with anyone else. He'll leave her alone to her thoughts for now. Kazuo turned to Saito who offered some bottles of iced coffee. Kazuo accepted one and thanked him. Saito seems like quite the reliable person. It looks like their plan of splitting up won't be necessary anymore as the final two were awake: Minto Hanataba and Masako Unmei. Between the two, Minto looked quite shaken up much like Johnathan initially. Kazuo approached her and did his best to calm her down while explaining the situation. He then offered her the iced coffee he had taken from Saito.

Then his attention was drawn to Masako who explained that they might be in over their heads with their plan to rescue Ms. Sasaki. Her points were valid. They know nothing about this place other than it looks strikingly similar to the lower Downtown of Nichibotsu and that there might be more monsters around. She asked if they had a better plan than to just wander aimlessly hoping to find Ms. Sasaki and not get die to any monster that may be lurking around. "Not really." Kazuo replied calmly. "It could be staying in this one spot will get us killed. Or we'll wander a bit then die. We can't exactly plan for what we don't know." Kazuo walked over to her. "Maybe we'll find an exit then whoever wants to leave can get help. The rest of us will stay and look for Ms. Sasaki. Either way, I'm not going back to school." Kazuo walked back to the others further up ahead. "Saito, Dai, Johnathan, Shinku, Haruto, Gruffydd, Minto, Ito, Masako," Kazuo named each one of them; he even managed to say Gruffydd's name pretty well. "I'm Kazuo Nagashi. It's a pleasure to meet you all," he introduced himself once again with a polite smile.

"Ito-san and Masako-san, if you're thirsty, Saito-san can provide you with something to drink. Now, let's go, shall we?" Kazuo wandered a bit up ahead to survey the area. Whether they go with him or not is their decision. Even though the majority of his thoughts were about Ms. Sasaki and finding an exit for the others, in the back of his mind, Kazuo 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. Some time later, Kazuo arrived at the Nichibotsu police station which, in this place, is nothing more than a crumbled ruin. Kazuo walked inside to look around for anything useful. Maybe since it's the police station, there'll actual weapons. He didn't see any guns around but, after a bit, he found a baton - one that can be extended. Kazuo secured it to his belt than 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 Kazuo. 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 Kazuo wondered if it's their memories.

It appeared that Saito's plan if they split up was not needed for everybody woke up from their forced slumber, he sighed a breath of relief, it was better that none of the group should split up, or else they might die like in a terrible horror movie. Saito looked over the group again especially at the newly awakened group, a girl picked up a stick and swang it around, another girl the one with blonde hair and lastly the black haired girl. Suddenly the male blond student accepted his offer of iced coffee, Which Saito politely nodded at and handed him a bottle, it was somehow still cool. "I don't mind at all, and now that's everybody awake you don't need to stay here so we should stay together." Saito bluntly responded to the blond guy. The Blonde girl awaken in a stupor, but the transfer student talked to her and tried to calm her after he had accepted Saito's Iced Coffee. And lastly the dark haired girl awaken to a state of logic that few of the group had lacked, admittedly Saito didn't consider the things she said but like Kazuo said they don't have a choice in the matter, they can only move forward. Now that he think about it, Kazuo was a bit on the weird side, oddly cool and almost aloof, but he decided against to question it, it won't do much to turn on each other right now, and Saito didn't want to lead the others, he wouldn't be good at leading them he was a follower and Kazuo is the best possible leader for now.

Before Kazuo said the names of all the students Saito found it odd that he didn't wish to go back to school, like this version of the school?
But for now they have to look for weapons and Ms. Sasaki. But before they left Kazuo introduced himself again, which honestly Saito needed since he's bad with names. Saito simply did a small nod and wave of his hand. Saito has decided to follow Kazuo, if only not to be on his own in this world, while walking nearby the strange version of Nichibotsu police station he had somehow walked near a display case with dozens of Televisions, suddenly as Kazuo walked next to him the dead TV's came to live, which surprised Saito, and at first he thought it was an odd spark of power but suddenly the static started to show uclear images but they became clearer and clearer and suddenly he looked at them in horror.
These were his memories for the one he had focused on was replaying a terrible memory from his childhood. And the more he watched the more everything became vivid and alive.



"Let me out!" a young pre-teen voice yelled out to the person beyond the locked door. When silence was his answer he started to bang his small fist at the door with each hit pain rang down his arms, but he didn't care, he wants out. "Please let me out!" The boy yelled as tears swelled up in his eyes. His arms hurt, but he kept banging.

Suddenly the mountains of study books fell off his rickety desk spilling papers and and pencils all over his clean floor and causing a loud banging noise ringing in the boys ears and shaking the floors as if an earthquake just happened. The boy gasped and he tried in vain to pick up each and every piece of paper and pencil but they burn in his hands and arms making him dropping them and he would try to pick them up again.
But to his terror loud stomps of angry feets climbed up the stairs and shaked the floor of the room until more books fell and causing a bigger mess all over the room. And as the shadows underneath the the door danced in place and after a few moments of clicking and finally a louder click and fianlly the door to his room was open. But the boy doesn't want the thing on the other side to see him like this or his room.

Suddenly the door slammed open which caused shadows to exploded into the room consuming every single inch of light until only the boy and the monster was seeable, the horrible monster had glowing orbs of light for eyes that glared straight at him the more he looked at it the more his eyes and chest hurt from looking it, he couldn't break eye contact and he could barely make out the rest of the monster, but he could tell that the monster was tall and thin with hair that looked like wild tentacles that flew all over the monster's head and it had disturbingly long arms and hands that ended in sharp claws. The boy was too horrified to speak or scream and he was scared what this monster would do to him, he tried to look away when the monster took long strides towards him but the monsters grossly long fingers forcefully made him look into it's terrifying glowing eyes. The boy started to cry with his tears running down his face and onto the monster's hand.

"My pitiful boy, you are a crybaby and a failure, you are nothing, you are nothing to me and to everybody you will ever meet."



Saito has been silently watching the video on the Television, he had a look of terror on his face, and he looked like he was about to fall apart at the seams any moment.

This was a scary situation, he didn’t know what to do, it seemed like everyone had plans and such….though Kazuo tried to calm him down and offered some ice coffee to him. He blushed at the offer and accepted it, sipping the bitter drink, honestly he hate coffee much as eating meat but…he just couldn’t disagree an offer form someone, it s rude and he learned to be always polite as he can and maybe just maybe…it was Kazou…maybe. He didn’t want to go all fallen in love already! That just…it would be like in middle school all over again…and boy how many times people dump him after that…. after taking another sip from the very bitter drink he was able to calm down but he was still afraid, it really seemed like a horror movie or something around here and Ms. Sasaki was missing as well, taken by a monster things apparently…that just again from a nightmare probably. They were finding weapons? But that be dangerous to fight monsters! Plus…he can’t fight that well so he would probably just end up making a mess and being useless…

He wasn’t sure what to do after that, should he stay there or do something else then? He looked at some of his classmates, he didn’t realty get to know them at all, he tried to remember their names as well so he can address them properly. There was Saito, Masako, Dai, Shinku, Haruto, Ito…then two foreigners Johnathan and…and...Gr….uff…y? Like fluffy right? It was a hard name to pronounce and he felt bad to ask as well so maybe he should stick by, as Gruffy if so maybe Fluffy for jokes. He saw some of his classmates leaving and he got scared to be left behind so he ran up to them and followed them quietly, he was sticking close to Saito first though, he was scared to be walking alone or to be distant to anyone. “Where sh-should we g-go?” This place was…just a nightmare; they all entered a weird creepy version of the police station and then walked across the street where there was a store with broken TVs on the display window.

“T…tvs?....” He stared at it for a while thinking that they are broken but suddenly they lit up! Bride jumped back a bit, not knowing that could have happen. It was pure static until…his memories… bride stared at them for a while wondering how named why…how was he seeing those memories. He wanted to forget about them…he was happy now he didn’t want to go back and remember any of that at all. He was better, he was better…he wasn’t sick at all…



Beep

Beep

Beep….

A very frail and weak little boy (still looking like a girl) was on the hospital bed with I.V fluid injected in his arm, he had a mask on and beside him were machines making that being sound. The child looked tired, weak and almost about to give up on everything, he slowly turned to see the window beside him, it was peaceful park…children playing with their friends, people walking their dogs and just having a fun time while he just…he was just there watching it. That horrible gut wrenching feeling that he cant do anything about it, he was stuck there waiting just waiting. He wanted to cry so much yet he had no energy at all to so. The more the kid looked slowly things began to grow dark.

Beep…

Beep…

Shadows began to take over, the whole park turned to abyss of nothingness and the hospital room he was in was slowly turning into an abyss as well. There was nothing but darkness around him and that beeping sound over and over again. As much he wanted to scream he couldn’t, he was trap there alone and no one was there to get him out of that darkness at all. That beeping kept repeating over and over again until he heard voices but they were coming out from nowhere.

“Doctor we are losing him!!”

“Get the defibrillator now!”

“Doctor it mIiggghhhtt be too laaaate...”

“You are riiiiight….”

…No he…he wanted to live…just a bit more, he wanted to tell them he was fine, he was okay but there was nothing he could do, he couldn’t lift his arms, he couldn’t yell, he couldn’t get out of the bed…nothing at all. The darkness was creeping up to him, grabbing him, and slowly swallowing him until there was nothing at all….

BBBbbeeeeeeeepp…….

……
…….



“……….” Bride stood there watching in fear, how…how can that happen? Tears from at the corner of his eyes and soon enough he broke down crying. Tears came running down his face as he collapsed on the floor trying to get a grip over himself. That was a nightmare he swear, it wasn’t real it wasn’t yet as much he wanted to believe that it wasn’t a nightmare at all. It was real; it had happen yet…it was much scarier than ever, being alone like that and no one around….

“The silence of a coward…a weak, weak coward…”

As Haruto stared into the television silently, the dark figures that plagued the screen began to twist and transform into more demonic forms – the bodies held no solid form, appearing as dark flames with limbs, and gigantic horns resembling those of a ram’s protruded from the sides of their heads.

“They called your old man a fighter for the ages – but he sure was stupid, and was more of a coward then we thought. He wouldn’t even take the extra step he needed to protect his own kid…”

A loud screech began to play in Haruto’s ears, and he winced, holding his head in pain, as it began to feel like it was splitting open. The demonic figures seemingly left the television screen and began to circle around Haruto, whispering those painful memories straight into his ears.

“You don’t even know if your mother loved you – she certainly never looked back when she walked out of the door those many years ago. You thought you could rely on your father, but it was a matter of months before he left you, too.”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up…”

“But don’t worry, kid. It took a blow to the head with what, a hammer? He died painlessly – probably didn’t even think of you as he went. Most people don’t think of others in the moment of instant death. I’m sure he didn’t care much for you either – just that he ended his career a winner.”

“You didn’t know who he was…shut…shut up…”

“Aw, but you wouldn’t say that if you didn’t see the truths in our words, right? Yes, that’s right. You’re just a loveless existence. You didn’t know your father, nor did you know your mother! You had to turn to that silly anime because oh, Johnny the Buster was the sort of person you wanted to be! Brave, powerful, strong! Well, I had to hand it to you though – you’re certainly braver than your father, if for all of the wrong reasons.”

Haruto wanted to punch and kick and beat and tear apart the shadows that surrounded him, but his hands were glued to his head, and his ears were deafened by the screeching sound and the whispers of the darkness. Even then, he knew that his own personal demons were not weak enough to be taken down like that – Haruto could never defeat, let alone touch, these evils that were instilled in his being.

“The people in the orphanage were nice enough, and then the Father was also kind, but that didn’t heal you at all, did it? And soon enough, people just had to pick on you – you had to fight and fight like an idiot just to get to where you are right now. Congratulations…not that it means much anyways.”

Haruto shut his eyes, whispering obscenities under his breath as the words and taunts continued on, the screeching sound growing louder and louder with each passing second. His head felt more in danger of splitting open, and who knows? Perhaps gray matter will split out, or he’ll find out his head really was empty.

(( Whenever I roleplay Johnathan interacting with Bride, i'm going to use "She" terms as he doesn't know his true gender yet ))

While the classmates approached the police station and gazed at the screens across from it, Johnathan paid them no attention until Bride suddenly began to cry. His heart stopped as he immediately saw her fall. When she fell to the ground, Johnathan instinctively dropped his crossbow and ran over.

"H- hey! A- are you okay? W- what's wrong?" He fearfully called out. ("Was the stress finally getting to her?") he thought, as he thought about ways he could coax and help her relax. He decided to lightly lay his hands on her shoulder, giving her a small hug, in the hopes it could help ease the stress she could be feeling.

"Shhh...! It's okay. We're going to get out of this, okay? L- look, you can have my crossbow, yeah? I- if it helps you feel safer, i'll protect you, okay? i- I'll make sure nothing hurts you alright?"

It was then a voice from the static tv screens called out, showing a picture of johnathan, smirking and smugly grinning at him.

"Don't make me laugh, you? Care? We both know that's just a ton of shit"

Johnathan stopped coaxing her and gasped, staring at the screen, puzzled at why his face was on it. He couldn't even respond before the television... revealed his memories to him, and throughout, johnathan was gazing at hell itself, which his facial features described perfectly.



"Everyone really knows the only reason your coaxing that little girl is because you're afraid people will turn on you. You don't really feel affectionate, you don't truly care about her. All you desire is just a person to carry you, because that's what you are. A parasite. All you do is take. You take peoples love, and give nothing in return, a leech who sucks the blood out of someone, that's all you really are. You should die. You don't deserve life, you didn't deserve to be born... You should have killed yourself long ago...

Everyone else knew this as well! Poor depressed Johnathan, woe is him. You're nothing but a broken record, you know that? Always gurning and crying about yourself. People didn't understand you isn't that right? When did it all start? When you were younger? I mean, everyone knows you're an autistic spastic, but lets start back when you were a kid. You had a fight with mommy... She was such a drunken bitch, always demanding you do everything like she said. She beat you up when you misbehaved, and you didn't really like that did you. You called her a worthless, evil witch before bed and when you woke up, do you remember what you saw?"

Suddenly the television static began to twist and shape, as Johnathan slept beside his mom in bed, she was a foreigner like himself, and her skin was wrinkled and old, diseased almost. That's when her body began to violently spasm, vomit, putrid sludge spat from her mouth, choking on her own vomit, her eyes rolling behind her head as she choked and gaged. A young johnathan woke up, squealing, as his choking mother clutched him by the throat and violently shook him, the two fell out of the bed, and in mere moments, johnathan screamed as much as he could before he saw the colour of his dying mothers face leave, her eyes rolled back and the child was forced to watch as his mother died right infront of his very eyes, a grotesque horror, lifeless...

"Nobody would take you to therapy. Nobody cared, she was just a drunk, but nobody cared about your trauma, and you were left all alone with daddy..."

The televisions screen transformed once more, as his dead mothers face shaped into a different room. Johnathan, a little older now, was sitting on the floor crying, as his face was bludgeoned and beaten, bruises coated in body as his father held a shoe out and brutally beat him, trickles of blood drenched the floor below the boy's feet, as he bashed and smashed him, the child's squeals silencing into unconsciousness the more bashes his abusive father dished out at him. The voice in the television echoed, depressed, lonely and bitter.

"What else could he do? A gay son? A faggot? It was a family ruiner for sure. He taught you a lesson for not following the sheep, for being more than just some mindless drone. You were just a puppet for him to manipulate, and because you weren't obeying, he beat you to within an inch of your life... You deserved every second of it. He kicked you out into the streets, had it not been for your enrollment in the academy, you would have died out there for sure. But at least you still had your friends... right?"

The television once more transformed, showing three people, males, Johnathan's friends, smiling and beckoning him along. Johnathan in the television screen wiped his tears, now at his first year in the Acadamy, he looked brighter, and less destroyed. They hung out together, as the tv screen showed snapshots of them playing videogames together, laughing with eachother and sharing jokes. But suddenly, one of the friends transformed into a dark, malevolent shadow, which slid off, causing the johnathan in the tv to outstretch his hand, his face transformed into a look of sadness.

"Wrong" The voice called out once more. "Osamu. You thought he was fun to be around. He had a happy go lucky attitude, he was witty, he was fun. He was a user... Poor little Johnathan, used as nothing but a piece of entertainment. He didn't care who you were, all he cared about was being entertained, he just used you to have fun. When you didn't have anything he could take, he left you, and enjoyed having reaped all what he could from such a depressed little boy like you. "

The screen then showed a much older friend, with blond hair, smiling in his general direction, he gazed down at johnathan, as the johnathan in the television sat on the ground, crying, tears streaming down his face, as he whimpered out for help. He never recieved it. Instead, all the boy got was a brutal knee to his face from his "friend". The friend stomped on him, brutally beat him, it reminded him of his father... Kazuo could see as the johnathan in the tv was being horrible beaten up, the voice of his depressed more lonesome side spoke once again.

"Seiichi. He was the successful one. He had everything money, looks, intelligence, he had it all, you envied everything he had, you wanted him to lead you, you saw him as a brother you never had. And what did big brother do? He beat the shit out of you. You were a pest, an insect, nothing but trash. You benefitted him in no way, and your depression, he saw it as weakness, as inferior. You were rubbish to be thrown away. A thrown in his side... so he pulled you out and threw you off... You deserved it, you just hold everyone back, you don't help anyone, you just drag people down with you"

Suddenly the screen changed once more, to the final friend. Johnathan was broken down, his body was a mess, he was unshaved, undressed, unclean, broken beyond repair. The area around him was filled with nothing but black smog, a putrid blackness drenched his form. All that was left was this final friend, and that's when this final friend, placed his lips upon his own, and for a moment, the black smog vanished, everything was drenched in white, his mind was clear, he... he was loved? The voice once again returned.

"Jiro. You didn't think he would care. You knew him the least, but you thought he loved you. For a time, everything became joyful, you were finally accepted by someone. Someone who didn't care about how you looked, or where you came from. They didn't care. They loved you, and wanted to take care of you, to help you, and heal all your pain. Except, that's not what happened... was it, Johnathan~? Do you remember what happened?"

Suddenly, the black smog returned, and became more monstrous, the putrid darkness completely swallowed the screen, to the sounds of Johnathan squeeling in horror, his voice screamed out, begging Jiro to stop, to stop and let him go, but Jiro didn't listen, and only laughed, and the screams of Johnathan continued.





The television screens returned to static once more. Johnathan let his hands go of Bride and didn't move. He just stared at the screens with a petrified look of horror. His eyes looked as if they dilated, so afraid he was just frozen solid, and without a second though he collapsed. Eyes wide, he laid there, as if he had no control over himself, his lips quivered, unable to respond...

Well, she had no desire to go with strangers, but she had no desire to be alone in this place as well, so it was a hard choice between following Yamada around with that stranger, or that transfer student.

Natsuki was familiar with the layout of the downtown district, but she had no idea if this strange warped place would keep its dimensions intact well enough for her to be able to escape. If this place was a warped imitation of their city, the best place to start searching for an exit would obviously be the forest, where they entered that perfect round pit in the ground.

Well, since the transfer student told people to follow him, Natsuki complied, trailing along the back of the group.

As they walked, there seemed to be only more of these odd warped imitation of their city, as if the one who made it was under the influence of a dream. Or drugs. Some very hardcore drugs. A sinking feeling was growing heavy in her stomach, her initial confusion and shock finally wearing off, as she took in what had actually happened to them, and where they were. On one hand, this was amazing. Another world besides the one they lived in? Some people would literally kill to even catch a glimpse of this odd world. On the other hand, this was more than terrifying. Why now? What if some eldritch abomination crawled on through to their world? Their world merging with this was not something she wanted to think about.

All of a sudden however, the others started acting strangely. One started crying, the other stared blankly into space and another just started breaking down. All had one thing thing in common.

They were looking at the TVs.

"STOP, DO NOT LOOK AT THE TVS!" It was the highest she had ever raised her voice, and she herself was a bit surprised at it. It seemed to be too late however, as she herself had already glanced at the tvs, albeit briefly. She didn't know if it worked that way or how it worked in the first place, but there was no other conclusion why the others simply started to freak out. Just to be safe however, she turned her face away from the screens.

"Natsuki"

Her breath caught in her throat. It was a voice she had never thought she would ever hear again. Unable to resist, she turned towards the tvs.

~Memories of a place far away~

"Natsuki~ C'mon... I still think you look great in those."

The girl, in the red and white garb of a shrine maiden, smiled at Natsuki, trying to cheer her up. Tsubaki was one of her first childhood friends, one who was quick witted and cheerful. She had tried making Natsuki wear some feminine clothes, but it didn't go to well when some of the neighborhood boys started laughing and making jokes at her expense. Tsubaki had to hunt around for a while before finding out where Natsuki was after she burst into tears and ran away. She finally found Natsuki sobbing inside the large hollow tree stump near the shrine.

With a jump, Tsubaki went inside the stump, squeezing into the tight space along with Natsuki. "Tsu-Tsubaki? FWEH!" Without warning, Tsubaki started tickling her, sending her into a hysterical laughing fit as she tried in vain to escape. "Tsubaki! I give up! Stooopp~!"

"Hmm! That's better. I like you better when you are smiling." Tsubaki had a very smug satisfied look, as if waiting for Natsuki to praise her.

She instead gave a small smile, and looked down. "I.. I don't think I'm suited for these kinds of clothing. I'm not as cute as you." Natsuki looked up and gave an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, but I think I'll stick to boy's clothes."

"Oh? That's too bad. I thought you looked great in those." Tsubaki tilted her head slightly, giving a thoughtful look. "But I guess you'll have to be my prince then."



My... memories?

Unable to look away, her slightly shocked expression turned dark as the tv flickered for a moment, before focusing on an autumn forest. It was one familiar to her, for she had spent much time at the shrine and subsequently the forest behind it. That must mean...

"Na~tsuki~, what shall we play today?" the slightly warped voice came from the tv, as Tsubaki spun around and danced amongst the falling autumn leaves. Everything. Natsuki remembered everything. The way she kicked at the leaves, how she spun around trying to make a hurricane, and her expression when she slipped into a pile of leaves they had been raking.

It was a memory Natsuki had no wish of seeing.

Clutching the stick tightly, she smashed through the display window, and swung the stick as hard as she could against the tv. It broke under the swing, but the broken screen still shows the forest, where Natsuki was now sneaking up to Tsubaki. Her hand was hurting, but she gave another swing towards the screen. This time, everything shattered, leaving only a broken screenless tv.

Natsuki jumped visibly as another TV suddenly flickered to life.

"AHAHAHA~ Aren't we jumpy? You hurt my feelings there Natsuki. We just were getting to the good part." Tsubaki was grinning on the screen, her smile devoid of warmth, seemingly replaced with malice. "Didn't you promise me you would do nothing to hurt me? Oh, but then again..."

Without wasting another moment, Natsuki quickly destroyed the second tv. Wiping the sweat from her brows, she stepped backwards, hoping desperately that the TVs won't show anything else. Turning to address the others and hopefully get them out of this area, she instead found a familiar figure walking towards her, the smile it sported familiar but strangely stretched.

"You did kill me after all."

Damn… just… damn. Why does he have to be right!? Gruffydd was, in a word, furious. He was furious at the Professor. He was furious at this hellhole he was in. He was furious at Haruto for apparently thinking this was some sort of game. He was furious at Kazuo for being right when he called for them to stop. But most of all, he was furious at himself for letting his anger get the better of him, again. But Kazuo’s plan for sticking together had a side effect—it killed the momentum of Gruffydd’s anger, causing it to sputter and die. Without the anger to smother his fear, it came roaring back. Gruffydd’s heart leapt into his throat as place out of sight became a potential hiding spot for another creature like the one who took Ms. Sasaki. He nearly jumped out of his skin when, when his foot shuffled into—of all things—a discarded shovel. He wasted no time picking it up—while it might not be particularly affective against whatever abominations infested this hellhole, it would do a hell of a lot more than his fists.

He nodded a brief acknowledgement of Kazuo when he addressed them, having regained some of his composure with his newly acquired shovel-cum-safety-blanket, and wandered in the same general vicinity as his startlingly calm classmate, taking some comfort in the fact that he was able to keep a level head in this mess. I guess we have our de facto leader until we get out of here.

That’s when he heard the sound of television static. He walked over to where Kazuo was to see what was going on, only to see the white ‘snow’ scattered across the screens. ”How the hell are they even working in this dump?” No sooner than he had said that, some of the others began reacting to the screens. But he could see only static. He was about to say something, when he heard a voice.

”You like stories, don’t you? Everyone loves a good story.”

The hell is this nonsense?

”Our story today is that of an invader. Of a monster. Of the vilest kind of monster that exists..”

No… that doesn’t make any–

”The kind that masquerades as a human, pretending it’s some sort of person.” Gruffydd’s breath caught in his throat. It had no place, you see. Its own homeland had moved on from where it remained, so it saw to defile another. The static on the screen shifted and coalesced. Human-shaped blobs of light grey moved between great trees of a much darker grey. A much larger, pure white figure entered the scene. ”But this land’s inhabitants were not the kind to stand idly by.” The grey figures slowly filtered out, and slowly adopted more human skin-tones, eventually becoming recognizable people. Gruffydd’s entire body was trembling. The screen zoomed closer, and while once-grey figures were clearly human, the white-human looked more indistinct, and even more bestial.

When the monster entered their midst, they confronted it. The people circled the bestial figure, and while none of their voices could be heard, their lips were seen to move, and their intent was clear. ”The monster tried to force its way past.” The beast tried to shove its way through, but the people amassed in its way and shoved it to the ground. ”They were not having it, and retaliated.” The humans descended on the beast, fists and feet flailing. “But then the monster chose this moment to show its true colors.” An ear-splitting roar erupted from the television, and the white figure emerged from the human pile, launching one of said humans into the air. He fell upon the ground, and the screen was stained with red. The beast was in a berserk rage, and soon two more humans fell upon the ground, the sites of their impact staining the screen further. The other humans fled as the red spread across the screen, overcoming the beast last of all. Another ear-splitting roar, even louder this time, issued forth. Gruffydd didn’t even think. He swung the shovel at the television. It blinked off right before theshovel connected, wrecking the appliance.

Gruffydd was hunched over, drenched in sweat, and his entire body was trembling.

Shinku agreed to just go along as a group since everyone was awake. The police station she had passed so many times in the past was in ruins now. Not that it was for sure the one she knew from all her time in the town. "You don't realize how great you have it until after it's all in ruins, do you?" She mumbled to no one in particular. For the most part she made sure to stay close to Ito. Not that the girl couldn't watch after herself, but she knew her parents would hate if Shinku could have done something but didn't if something bad happened.

Following the group, she saw what everyone else was looking at. . . "TVs? In a ruined place like this?" She had to chuckle a little bit. "Someone took the time to bring these to ruins? How od--" She dropped mid sentence when the transfer student moved near and they turned to static. "That's different." She muttered while moving close to one of the TVs. "Static. I remember considering this a secret channel when I was little." Almost as if on command, the TV seemed to change into something. . . Familiar.

"Shin-chan, wait up!"

"Come on Mayoi-chan! The shop is just ahead, I've been wanting candy!"

Shin-chan? A familiar name to Shinku. She heard it a lot when she was little. It was the slightest bit masculine, but Shinku was a bit of a tomboy back in the day.

The sound of coughing eminated from the body of the smaller girl. "Come on, slow down. Please."

". . . Fine, Let's just get going. Hold my hand."

". . ." Shinku had no comment for what she was seeing. It was her past. That much she was sure of. "Mayoi-chan, huh?" Someone she hasn't seen in a while.

"She's gotten worse because of YOUR son." An old man said to another. If nothing else he was quite angry. The vein on his bald head was throbbing quite brashly. "I don't want him near Mayoi again!"

The other man looked sternly at the Mayoi's father, "I don't know what you daughter's problem is, but MY son did NOTHING wrong." Shinku was taking care of Mayoi in the other room, keenly aware of the yelling going on around. The location couldn't be discerned from the visuals alone though, it did seem like a house though.

"Mayoi, I will take care of you. I swear."

"I think I can fathom what happens next." Shinku muttered under her breath as she continued watching with a small amount of ire.

"Sorry, we can't let anyone in to see Mayoi Ebisu." A nurse said, "We've gotten strict instructions from her father. Sorry." The hospital was dark. Darker than it should be. "I suggest you turn around and leave little girl."

Shinku of the time seem to know better than try and make a break for it. She didn't want Mayoi in any more trouble than she was. "If I give you a letter. . . Can you get someone to hand it to her without her dad knowing?" With a bit of hesitation the nurse nodded and the young girl pulled out a crayon and a piece of paper, writing the best she could something along the lines, "I will become a doctor in the future and I will help you."

Handing it to the nurse she made a rush out of the hospital with a strong, but teary face. The screen flickered a few times, advancing to her times in middle school. She had all but forsook her promise to the girl learning of her death only two years later. She continued the next few years believing that bullies had been what had ended up being the end of her friend. It showed flickering videos of her practicing on a punching bag. Her father yelling at her with a report card in her hands. Her yelling back in the next instant with her hands wrapped in in bandages, slightly discolored with frames inbetween showing her punching out some kind of punk.

Everything on the TV went dark. "Are you done yet?" Shinku asked. She wasn't sure if there was anything really.

It wasn't though as words started showing up on the black screen in white. You can see in black and white, but can you see the shades in between? The wording changed from the more obvious white into many shades in between black and white. The screen soon whited out and started fuzzing back to how it was.

Shinku stared a while. That was. . . Odd. . . To say the least. She turned away as she mumbled words. "I see what I need to see. That's all."

Everyone else seemed to have seen. . . Well, something else. Worse for most. She couldn't imagine really. The only one that didn't seem to be affected much was Kazuo Nagashi. . . The transfer student. Or, maybe he was the worst of all? She couldn't read him yet, but he didn't seem like a bad guy or give out what he was thinking. Still, she didn't really think much more. "What exactly is going on here?" She asked to no one in particular. "I don't like this."

Dai followed without complaint. The transfer student was the most level-headed of them all as well as the one who took the initiative first. Besides, they can’t just stand around all day, thinking of a plan in the middle of what seemed to be a ruined down town. Sometime later, when the group stopped by the crumbled remains of Nichibotsu police station, Dai saw something peeking from beneath the rumble – a bow and, with a bit of dusting, a quiver with a number of arrows inside. Taking his discovery as weapons, he tested the familiar strength of the string that joins the two ends of the bow. A pretty basic practice bow; he really needed to rejoin the Archery club when this whole shindig is over.

As he slung the quiver over his shoulders, he jumped when he heard panicked voices and sobs. "STOP, DO NOT LOOK AT THE TVS!" It was a heavy warning that rose over the noise followed by the sound of shattered glass. He whipped around fast enough that he could feel another headache making its way through. Right in from of several televisions were his fellow teammates, each one expressed various degrees of shock. Some looked numb, some looked pained. A couple of them even vandalized what remains of an electronic store.

Ah hell. Was everyone having a psycho breakdown!?

“Hey! What's wrong?” Dai hurried over to the classmate whose chest heaved heavily with a broomstick in her hands. Next to her were two smashed television sets.

He tried his best to heed the warning about the TVs, but as fate has it or a sick higher being's source of entertainment, this is one situation that can’t be avoided. A single television tumbled out of the shattered display and landed right into his line of sight. Oh god, is that--?!

=======Memory Begin========

Their nails were perfectly polished. Intricate designs of flowers and bright colors all within the lines. Oh how entirely sharp it felt as they dug into his skin. Little Dai had no other choice. His capturers towered over him, looking bigger than life itself. Clammy elongated limbs colored his cheeks black and blue with their crab-like pinches.

“Roast pork! Dumplings! Brown sugar and bacon!” Food after food, it was a list that never seemed to stop. The elderly spoke as if they were words to a wicked language. With no signs of hunger, the boy looked pale and pasty. “Lemon! Apples! Turkey and samples!”

“MOM. MOOOOOOOM!” The child twisted and turned against the wrinkled flesh. The strength of these ladies were no joke. Their boney hands, covered in liver spots and moles, were bound to leave bruises from the way they tightly held down his flailing arms. As he peered over his shoulders, a slender silhouette waved in the distance before it turned around and leaved. He shouted at the figure; his voice flushed away by the overflow of chants. His shoes squeaked against the ceramic tiles, leaving scuff marks in his wake to stop his fate, but it was all done in vain as flames soon licked his soles. Wait, flames?

“Oh sweetie pie! Kabobs! Rosemary chicken!”

The child squeaked; the pupil of his eyes trembled when they opened in horror. A swirl of red and orange and yellow spewed embers that melted spots into the tiles. A face of many years pressed her lips against his cheeks; his bruises throbbed painfully beneath the tomato-red lipstick. Her smile was that of decay, a pale yellow like wilted flowers, as she pointed at him with a withered finger so fragile it look as if it could break in two.

“B A R B E Q U E.”

=======Memory End========

His face was an interesting shade of green as Dai quickly turned off the television set; albeit, in a much more peaceful manner than what some of his classmates did. One end of his bow ended up pushing the switch; a single screen turned to static.

What the heck was that? Dai rubbed the palm of his hand against his forehead. It was... The broadcast - what was shown - was something he had experienced. It all felt familiar, a strange sense of bitter nostalgia. The flames, the chant, the pain. No, it did happen. He was sure of it. How else could he be experiencing a burning sensation on his arms, on his legs, right this second? The slow chants of cracked voices that kept echoing in his ears... But has it always been like that? Slowly, he shook his head as he heard Shinku and, taking a deep breath, turned to face her.

“So, uh, you hate crazy old ladies too?” Dai let out a nervous chuckle; although, from the looks of his classmates and the tone of Shinku’s voice, this was clearly not a time for jokes. What they had seen was entirely different from what he had experienced if the broadcast had left this much of an impact. But everything felt so surreal. A crazed rumor turned out to be true and so much more. Black entities, giant holes, a messed up Nichibotsu. Could all this be real? With a sigh, he glanced at the others and ran a hand through his hair. “Fuck, I don’t know anymore. Something is messing with our heads.”

S^ome_where?

While Masako wasn't really content with the answer of while moving is better than standing around and getting killed, it was better to stay as a group right? She let out a sigh looking at the distorted Nichibotsu, and the rest of the group moving down the street and finally deiced that well they might as well die together and ran after them. This whatever this was felt strange very strange, it wasn't just that it was laid out exactly like downtown Nichibotsu but even the air felt off as if it had substance to it. All Masako knew was that she really wanted to get the hell out of there and quickly and the only way to do that was to find Ms.Saskai and hope that she knew the way out? But how did that make sense? She seemed to be as confused as the rest of them when the giant monster grabbed her, Masako highly doubted that she spent her off days jumping into mysterious holes in the ground and fighting monsters. Whatever this was Masako didn't like it she felt imprisoned with nowhere to go.

As they continued to explore they moved past the ruins of one of Nichibotsu's toy stores, now bombed out and looked like it was set on fire with little toy soldiers and teddy bears with half melted faces scattered about the street. Something is this carnage caught her eye and she quickly leaned down and picked up something that had fallen in the street. It looked like a children's rubber band gun with a handful of rubber bands. Instinctively she picked it up, sure it wasn't the best weapon was it? No not really but a rubber band to the eye hurt a lot right? Even to monsters she hoped. She held it by her side and it was kind of funny but it did bring a little bit more sense of security to herself as she moved forward to catch back up with the group. From where she was they seemed to be approaching the ruins of the police station. She followed suit and soon they entered the distorted ruins where everyone was transfixed by a set of still functioning TVs upon the wall.

Masako found this odd as to her currently they seemed to just be transmitting static until she faced them directly and a picture came into play, almost as if they were waiting for her. Masako knew the scene being portrayed out in front of her. It was from a long time ago and she would of frankly preferred for it to have stayed buried in her head.



It was a bright and sunny day and Masako and her mother were walking down the street together. Masako at this point was a little girl at this point no older than four today was a good day because they got to go outside of the house. Masako's mother walk beside her carrying a bag of food from the store that would serve as this weeks food. She was a tall women with long black hair, gentle brown eyes and a calm face who liked the sunshine. She was a biologist who worked with the local university on studying the bioluminescence of firefly's to learn more about the ways they communicate with one another. She and Masako's father were an unlikely pair but they met in university and had been together even since and they made a relatively good team. He was always off somewhere in a business meeting having little time to stay at home. As a result Masako had bonded to her mother, becoming not only a caretaker but kind of her only friend.

It was a beautiful day in Spring and the cherry blossoms where falling from the trees coating the ground in a pink snow. There was not a cloud in the sky and the spring breeze playful brushed against the skin before floating away. They were taking the long way home, to enjoy the day which would take them past the railway tracks. Masako was having fun pointing at all the insects and the birds, generally in love with life. Her mother would tell her some fact about the animal trying to make the sojourn as educational as possible as she usually did. Eventually they reached the tracks and that was when Masako saw the cat. It was across the way, a fluffy white snowball of a thing cleaning itself as it looked across at them curiously. Masako had one goal in her mind, she wanted to pet the cat and throwing caution to the wind she ran across the tracks towards the cat. She did not notice the alarm sounding as the barrier began to close.

Masako's mother saw it all though, she saw her child break free and run for the cat, she saw the barrier began to lower and she heard the train come roaring forward from the distance. Her daughter would never make it in time and in that moment she deiced to act as her own maternal instincts went into overdrive. She slipped under the barrier and ran towards her daughter ignoring the roar of the train is it blew its horn getting ever closer. She ignored it all as a sort of tunnel vision came over her and all she could do was focus on her little daughter still in the path of the train looking at it dumbstruck. She leaped at the last moment reaching her hands out coming into contact with Masako's side and sent her flying out of danger towards the other side passed the path of the train and near the cat.

Masako landed with a thud surprised and a little bit in pain as she scrapped her legs against the ground in her fall. She was able to look towards the way of what pushed her towards her mother who rather than struggling to get up as the train slammed on its breaks creating a terrible demonic screeching noise. But it was already too late, her mother knew that and calmly composed herself together like a proper lady and mouth something to her daughter, before giving her a smile. Seconds later the train came barreling through. Blood was thrown in each direction some of it splattering across Masako's face as the fluffy white cat came up next to her and began to nuzzle the side of her leg.



The screen at this point flickered and changed screens as it began to display a different scene a little bit later. It was raining heavily and Masako was with a group of people all dressed in black. They were in some sort of cemetery and Masako was standing next to her father. Her father was a large and muscular man with tired eyes. He had flown in right away from China when he had heard the news, canceling every meeting he had and given up on a million dollar contract. He had spent the last couple of days arranging the funeral and when he wasn't doing that locked in his room so his daughter would not see him cry. Masako was confused, tired and wondering where her mom was. The last couple of days had been numerous different adults asking her a lot of questions and none of these questions making sense, and whenever she asked for her mom all they did was look at her sadly. All she wanted was her mom, where had the train taken her? Why didn't her dad tell her where she was. And why were they watching this box be lowered into the ground? As this happened and the resulting days and years flashed by picture after picture showing as she continued to be a disappoint, large text appeared on the screen.

S^ome_where?

The TV cut back to static as Masko came back into the present. She hadn't notice it at the time but tears were running down her face and she quickly wiped them up hoping that nobody had noticed them. She took a deep breath and centered herself, that was nothing just a dream or something nothing more. Just this batshit crazy world trying to play tricks on her. No you are better than that, you don't let the past deiced the future you make your own options. You still have to get out of here, so you can cry later damn it. It was at this point she spoke her voice shaky as she replied to Dai. "Yeah.... fucking with our heads would be a good way to describe that, whatever that was. I'm starting to hate this place more and more every second. So all in favor of never looking at creepy televisions sets ever again?"

The memories shown of his classmates were horrific to say the least, some more than others. Kazuo watched silently with an unpleasant look on his face. He couldn't begin to imagine what his classmates were going through. After all, his own memories are the only ones that weren't shown on the televisions. Ito reacted rather violently to her memories as she took her broomstick and smashed the glass display window. Kazuo covered his face with his arm but the glass shards dissipated into static like that shown on the TVs. Ito then proceeded to smash two of the TVs followed by Gruffydd who destroyed another one. The others, including Saito, Minto, Haruto, and Johnathan just collapsed with terror on their faces. Fortunately, Shinku, Dai, and Masako seem somewhat fine after their experiences but saying they were unfazed by it would be a lie. Shinku expressed her confusion while Dai suggested that something is messing with their heads. Masako agreed with Dai's statement and asked that they never look at "creepy television sets" again.

"Agreed," Kazuo simply said, still with an unpleasant look on his face. He explained to Dai, Shinku, and Masako that he witnessed all of their memories and that they should try calming the others down if possible. Unfortunately, they won't have the time to do such a thing. Seemingly rising through the ground were three shadowy forms. Once their masks appeared, Kazuo 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 Kazuo, Dai, Shinku, and Masako to deal with the monsters and all while attempting to protect the others. Their odds aren't looking so great. Kazuo 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, Kazuo'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 hand.

Then, out of nowhere, his free (left) hand was set ablaze with vibrant blue flames and the pain in his head subsided. Kazuo 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. He 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 Kazuo before turning crimson red. Then a voice, extremely similar to Kazuo's, emanated from nowhere and said, "I am thou and thou art I..." From the flames surrounding Kazuo, 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 Kazuo 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. Kazuo turns back around to face his classmates and his mask shatters away; his eyes also revert back to their normal appearance. Kazuo took a few steps towards his classmates but stops when he sees something ominous. "Move," he called out to Dai, Shinku, and Masako. Behind them, their other classmates rose back up to their feet but, this time, shadowy masks in the shape of different animals enveloped their faces; their eyes are also bright yellow like Kazuo's just moments ago but, unlike him, they possess a sinister aura.

Saito silently watched the static of the television unable to peel his eyes away, it was almost like he wasn't there any longer, trapped in his mind inside a terrible memory unable to think of the present. Saito didn't even noticed the others speaking or even destroying the Televisions.
Somehow he has dropped his bag from his shoulder which dropped near the people who weren't affected by it like him. His only reaction to the world around was grasping onto his pipe harder until his knuckles were white and if he could noticed it, a pain that is far too similar to his past.

The last bit of consciousness Saito had was hearing Kazuo say
"Per...so...na."
With that Saito mind vanished and a mask appeared on his face causing his eyes to shine a brillgent glow, much like the monster in his memory.



With the Wolf mask on his face, Saito had a nasty grin across his normally stoic face, Saito spinned the pipe in his hand, and suddenly smashed it down to the ground, making a loud scraping sound and even some sparks from the end. And Saito did a low grumbly chuckle and finally spoke "Heh...Heh...Heh...Let's see how much you value your meaningless existence, and if you're like me then you won't do anything at all...Ha!" The Masked Saito spoke in a silently bitter tone before he ran up ahead which sent his bag even closer to the group he had his glowing eyes on. And when he was at arm's length from the first non-masked person he swung the pipe overhead and swung it down to the nearest person which was Shinku.



"Uggh...What in the world...Just happened-?"
Saito's spoke as he awaken from the somehow familiar floor he has found himself on. but once he see finally sees his surroundings he was speechless. He was back in his childhood room, or more like childhood prison. He remembered every little detail that is scattered all over, each spilled paper on the floor was a test he had failed which what caused him to be locked in here every night and weekend he could remember when living with his mother. The heavy books on the desk that shouldn't be holding them still wavered even when he walks past it. The mixed stains on the pillow for when he cried on it and when he had to clean his bloodied hands from hours of banging on the door. Even with the bloodied pillow the bed was still comfortable the only thing that made his prison feel safe.

He didn't want to be here anymore, but something inside made him pull at the closet doors open, which to his shock didn't open to the closet he always remembered being there but instead into a dark hall which the walls were lined with books, book spines and paper, even the floor seemed to made out of papers and pencils were all over the floors. Saito looked at the strange place which should be his closet, but he took a breath and already started walking over the hardy paper floor, most people would try the normal door, but he knew that it was locked. It was always locked.

Jonathan whimpered and began to weep. He could barely budge, only and to crawl on his hands and knees like some form of worthless, pathetic dog. That is when he heard Kazuo's voice... He saw their memories. He saw HIS memories. He saw... HIS pain. His heart froze with fear. Did he think he was worthless too? Did he want to laugh at him as well? To bully and pick on him? These questions did not seem like they were going to be answered as Kazuo's body was engulfed in blue flame, and spoke the words... summoning his persona. That is when Johnathan's innocent side fell into unconsciousness, as the mask of a Sparrow merged over his face, and with a pained grin, he laughed, followed by a wheeze... Possessed by his shadow it seemed.



"You... saw it... You saw me...?" Possessed johnathan murmered, standing onto his feet. He raised his head, arrogantly while he smiled, but his face hid his sorrow. Despite him grinning smugly, tears steamed from his yellow ominous eyes, and he sniffed, obviously in a lot of emotional pain.

"Are you going to love me...? Do any of you care? Aren't I just a fat, ugly foriegner to you? Do you care that I live? You saw who I am... Kazuo-kun... Are you like them? Mmm~? Do you want to... overpower me aswell? Destroy me? Consume my heart and soul?"

Possessed Johnathan slowly picked up the crossbow and smiled, but continued to weep tears, pointing it for the others who did not possess a mask.

"You're like them... I just know it... YOU JUST WANT TO USE ME AS WELL! i'm just your PUPPET, aren't I? I should crush you... You don't deserve perfection... WHY DO YOU GET EVERYTHING WHILE I GET NOTHING?! Why am I the inferior one!? Why am I a worm?! I deserve better! I deserve HAPPINESS! ... But you just wish to use me too. Or maybe you would just ignore me. Maybe you'd just think i'm an idiot who deserves to be ignored. I'm that worthless aren't I? I don't deserve life, but i'm too much of a coward to kill myself. Such a pathetic slimeball... I deserve to die but I don't have the balls. I'm the very definition of a LEECH!"

Possessed Johnathan laughed and fired his crossbow, intentionally missing his mark as it imbedded into a wall, grinning at him.

"Why bother explaining myself, you already know i'm worthless, you just want to use me as well, like everyone else! You don't understand my sorrow, You don't even care... PEOPLE LIKE YOU DESERVE TO DIE!"

It was then the possessed johnathan squeeled in agony his last few words, firing one of his bolts toward Kazuo, in the hopes of hurting him, engulfed in his own misery.



Johnathan slowly woke up, groggery. He laid on his rear and stared around at himself, only to see the appearance of a gargantuan castle around him made entirely of black onyx. Purple silk drapes coated this black and purple castelian behemoth of a castle, and across every surface were paintings, sculptured, poems, messages, all cluttering the entire hallway, of Johnathan, but his face was scratched out of every single one of them. Paintings of him were coated in black along the face. Sculptures of him had their heads removed. Messages spoke of how move people loved him for his excellence and perfection only his name was crudely etched out of them. Johnathan knew exactly what they all meant.

... "What I want... but don't deserve... A skilless, jobless, talentless fat loser... who wants to be perfect... I'm selfish... I want... But I want... so I can finally give... I .... I just want to be worth something...!"

Johnathan began to cry like a child, gurning as he fell to his knees rubbing his eyes fearfully.

"I... I just wanna give myself to be useful! I... I just want to give! I don't want to be a Leech!" He cried, and his cries echoed sadly through the halls, all by his lonesome.

How can all of that happen?! Why did that had to happen!? Bride was in utter terror not even noticing Johnathan trying to calm him down at all it was pure madness to see that all. A nightmare … Bride cried out a river of tears, as he was scared beyond relief, he couldn’t move he was paralyzed by seeing that awful messed up memory. He wanted to call out for his mom and dad to help him but it was impossible…being alone in that hospital room, the darkness, that…beeping sound over and over again just remembering it all just wanted to make him break down and run away. Just why he had to see that again!? Did he do something wrong to let him see that? Any answers…just why he had to see that why he felt like he had to relive that all.

Suddenly he felt pain in his heart…oh dear...not now… “…n-n…no….” He clutched his chest and began to breath erratic. Ever since he was small child he was born with a very weak heart though within the years he became better he still had that heart. Heart attacks were rare for him now a days but maybe because seeing that terror ….All the fear and terror must have brought it as he felt his heart racing and his breathing shortening. He can’t have a heart attack now! There was no doctor anywhere else and…and…he didn’t want to die yet, he already brushed death so many time he can pull it through this! The pain was hard, he couldn’t keep sitting up and as slowly he felt light like it was over he heard something…

“Per….so….na….”

…pe…pers..sona? Then the pain was gone …everything was gone, as a mask appeared on his face and slowly his eyes turned to a golden yellow.



As a beautiful butterfly mask appeared on his face something changed in bride. He slowly stood up with a small smile. He chuckled sweetly and looked at some of his…classmates with that small smile, this wasn’t Bride at all yet it was still…maybe. There was a mall garden rake on the street floor, he picked it up and twirled it around his hand then turning back at them and posed like an innocent girl pretending nothing bad had happened. “What should I do? I am..soo scared and helpless right? So clueless and...useless….maybe you thought about it…leaving me behind…right? It so easy to just throw me out like some weed….Did you think of that when I woke up?“ There was a bitter tone with this…masked Bride, though it wasn’t lying at all…he chuckled again sweetly once again maintaining that pure innocent girl image he had all this time. “it…would be so easy…to do so…” He smiled again then lowering his head and he held the rake tightly.

“No…no one seems to care anyway, just leave the poor little girl be…she wouldn’t hurt nothing, don’t tell her you cheated on her…it would just be fine she wont hate you… just a little sprout…nothing can bother her. Don’t tell her the truth, let her suffer in it….escape from it…continue to be a happy innocent little welp who doesn’t know the truth about anything….it just so easy isn’t?" The masked Bride looked at his unmasked classmates with a big grin yet it was a grin that had a lot of pain in it, almost like he wanted to cry but he didn’t want to show anyone how much of a pathetic piece of shit he was. He slowly walked towards them like it was true…he wasn’t going to hurt anyone then smashing the rake on the ground. “I am tired of that bullshit! Why wont anyone take me serious!? Why won’t anyone tell me the truth?!...He doesn’t know…he doesn’t know at all…the truth…the reason why…."



As Bride woke up he felt dizzy and sick, he wasn’t sure what just happened but he looked around to notice a familiar room…the hospital room he was staying in his childhood before….that plain white room with nothing in it except for that bed and those machines… “…W…wha…” Bride was shocked…how did he get there? Wasn’t he with his classmates in that…messed up town? How did he get here? He looked around for a while and noticed there was no window, there was always that window he used ot look at out, he always felt jealous watching all those kids playing out side and he…he had to stay there and do nothing. Tears almost formed at the corner of his eyes until he heard something.

“Min…to…”

…That voice, he slowly turned hearing that familiar voice again. Suddenly at the white room became dark and there was a door with flowers on it….his bedroom door when he used to live back home… “What….what….” He knew that door it was his old bedroom door, those flower stickers he put on there when he got out of the hospital and his parents bought them for him…why as it there?

“Mi…nto…”

That voice…it was his dad….Bride even though knew it would be dangerous to continue he felt like he had to…his dad was calling for him, he trusted his dad and knew if he found him maybe he would be safe but it was the opposite but sadly he didn’t knew that yet. He opened that door up when he opened it wasn’t his bedroom it was a garden. A beautiful garden with flowers and trees surrounding everywhere. It was gorgeous and stunning like his dream garden yet it had an awful sinister feeling to it like they were looking down on him. Bride stepped back almost wanting to head back in that white room but when he turned around the door was gone. “W…” Bride was speechless, how can this happen? Then he heard his dad voice again…

“M..minto…”

“…Daddy…” He turned where he heard that voice, he knew it would end up bad but there was no where else to go…he was alone and there was no one there at all… carefully he began to follow the voice in the flora filled labryinth wondering where was his dad and why was he calling for him.