---

What was up with this hand? Four high schoolers could only slow it down, and the hits from the redhead and the green haired girl seemed to have no effect on it. The black hands continued pulling with no signs of stopping. Trying desperately to think of an idea that could stop this thing, he considered his surroundings. Or, at least he would have, if he had the time. Without warning, the black hand reared up, and yanked all four of the students into the blackened mirror.

At first, there was only a black nothingness, but that soon gave way as the four tumbled into another room. The room seemed devoid of anything, except for what looked like a path forward into the unknown. He noticed the black hands still had a grip on his fellow student, but seemed to have stopped dragging them all for now.

Just then, a flash of blue caught his attention, and as he looked over towards it, he could see what looked like blue fire, albeit only for a second. In its place stood a blonde woman with cat ears. The hell was this? Before his brain could even begin to process his surroundings, the woman shouted. Lore-something. And behind her, some sort of transparent ghost lady appeared out of seemingly nowhere, only to just as suddenly send out several icicles at the hand, which seemed to have sent it scurrying. Hoping that the danger had passed for now, Genki let go of the redhead.

Letting out a sigh, he looked to the strange woman. And just as he was about to speak, Hoshino let loose a verbal tsunami of angry words. Though there was something a little off about him now. He was dressed differently, and his eyes looked weird. Genki looked down at himself and the other two that were dragged in. They all still had their uniforms on. As the furious onslaught of verbal weapons continued, it seemed Hoshino knew this cat lady, saying things like "What part of 'I don't want to do this again' do you not understand?!" Or when she called him "Her devil".

As the conversation came to a slow, Genki decided now would be the best time to interject. "Look lady, I don't know who you are, where we're at, or what's even happening. I think some sort of explanation is in order if we're going to be staying around." His eyes flickered over towards the way they came. The mirror was still there. "Actually, hold on a second." Genki jumped up and thrust his hand on the glass. It didn't feel like glass anymore. It felt like... gritty stone. Nothing seemed to happen. "Damn." He turned back around, defeated. Looks like his adventure into wonderland was just getting started. A cat turning into a lady, magic ice ghosts, a big hand thing, and an interdimensional mirror. This was all just... some sort of fever dream. Somebody put psychedelics in his food or something, it was the only way his brain could make any sense of this.

---

---

The second school day promised that the rest of the academic year was to be as typical as the rest of them. As a consolation for the compromise of Kazuyoshi actually staying awake, the teachers didn't call on him as much when compared to yesterday's rapid rounds of Stand Up/Sit Down. As the bell rang to signify the end of regular class time, Kazu had to reluctantly spend the time of respite alone due to his seatmate's new occupational obligations. It seems everyone in their class had somewhere to be except the aimless Asakura. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, he supposed. It meant there would probably be less people on the roof, optimally none.

Wading through the sea of the student body, Kazu would eventually reach the consistently unlocked door leading to the rooftop. Whether the janitorial staff trusted the students not to loiter or were just too lazy to replace the deadbolt that got jimmied by Banri-san (allegedly) last year, the top of the school building was always available for the more troublesome lot of Hinotori High. While most used it to hide from the student disciplinary committee and trade some classic school contraband, Kazu came up here to enjoy the metropolitan skyline. Most might envision a grassy field or a sandy beach as the most relaxing spots to enjoy the midday sun but the slabs of concrete that made up Kyoto was his slice of Shangri-La. Just imagine: Staring beyond the metropolitan horizon with nothing but the distant sounds of chatter, traffic, and buzzing of the school's HVAC exhaust vents.

Maybe it was a few minutes or a few moments but to Kazu it felt like a still hour in time that only got interrupted by a PA announcement addressing him. Turns out that escaping the class recitals didn't mean he was out of the woods. With a sigh and goodbye, he begrudgingly went back down though not without a quick stop at the nearest bathroom. The sterile smell of overused cleaning products overwhelmed Kazu's senses though it was better than the alternative. Turning on the closest tap, he would let the water flow for a few seconds before dipping his hands and applying soap. While muttering a twenty count under his breath, a chorus of familiar voices could be heard approaching. In a hurry, Kazu shut off the tap with soap still bubbling on his hands and hid in one of the stalls. Speak of the devil and he appears it seems as the boisterous voice of Yoshizawa Banri easily drowned out the rest of the gang's. Having personally known what he's capable of and how easily he can be slighted, Kazu seriously did not want to deal with this right now. His breaths became shallow and short but he had hoped they would soon go away. His heartbeat soon drowned out all the voices in the bathroom, including his own internal dialogue.

Then it went silent. They were gone and soon Kazu would be too, as soon as he finishes his rinse. Just as he was done, the deathly stare of his reflection from the nearby bathroom mirror jolted him as it soon fogged up. He wasn't gonna stick around to get scared by mirrors though so Kazu rushed to the faculty room before he gets chewed out even more for stalling. Though he had ran to get there, the pace of his walk would return to normal as he approached the door. No need to get into more trouble after all.

Kazu would knock on the door twice before going in regardless with a smile on his face. He had hoped to win over his judge and jury with charm though this facade soon got wiped off his face. The convenience store girl was here. Oh god, did he accidentally shoplift?!

---

---

Daigo paid little mind to the rest of the room, as lost in his own head as he was. Anything to avoid having to face the reality - or whatever this was - in front of him. In a way, it wasn't that different from the gym they were just standing in; Hoshino was yelling at the cat - who may or may not have been a demon trying to eat him, Genki was trying to figure out what the hell was even going on, and the girl... well, Daigo was surprised she even followed them to the gym in the first place given how dismissive she was back by the lockers. Yeah, just like the gym. The nice, safe gym. There was a joke about curiosity and cats to be made here somewhere, but Daigo definitely wasn't going to be the one to make it while he was still panicked.

He needed to calm down, everything was gonna be fine.

No it wasn't. They were stuck there. He'd gotten all of them killed by virtue of being gourmet demon food. All the hyperventilation had him a bit lightheaded at this point; maybe he'd get lucky and be fast asleep while they ate him. The green-haired girl obviously blamed him, he could tell by her tone. Wait, when did she get so close? He hadn't even noticed her move.

Daigo winced a bit as she extended her hand upward, more out of nerves than any genuine horror in her direction - that was reserved for the purple thing and the catgirl. Still, she might smack him or something. His eyes followed her hand upward until it actually made contact with his fiery locks, then lazily drifted back down to rest on her face. For a moment, he was utterly transfixed on the girl in front of him; his breathing normalized and the tension gradually bled out of his frame with every tangle she worked out of his hair. The motion was weirdly soothing, like he was an animal being petted. It wasn't until she finished and a weight was dropped into his hands that he even processed what she'd been doing.

"Y-yeah," Daigo responded, dumbfounded but far more lucid than he was previously. He turned the glasses over in his hands a few times contemplatively. Sure, seeing was great, but if everything around him was a nondescript blur, he could pretend he wasn't currently stuck inside a magic death mirror somehow. At least until he saw flashes of movement outside the ten-ish foot radius he could comfortably make out and stressed himself out even harder while he waited for his inevitable demise.

Fine, he'd look. He swore Hoshino mentioned a way out, which meant they'd be fine. Naturally, he should help them look for the exit so they could get out sooner. Nothing to worry about! Wait, how did Hoshino even know that?

The redhead slid his glasses back onto his face and immediately recoiled in surprise. Purple demon man looked way too much like Hoshino for comfort. And... Hoshino himself wasn't in the room. So the only explanation was...

"Um, guys. W-why does Hoshino-kun have a tail?" Daigo nervously asked. Unless Osaka was the secret tenth layer of hell, there had to be something else going on that Daigo himself wasn't privy to, even beyond the evil hands and transforming cats.

---

@Asura@RiverMaiden@Lord Orgasmo

---

As they had been speaking with each other, Nakano-san had finally made her appearance. It was odd that she’d be late for a second time. What has been going on lately? She listened as Kinoshita-san continued to further explain the situation with Yamamoto. For one, he may have been an irritating slimeball but violence? She had never heard of him doing that before. He may have said a thing or two to the students and stuck his nose where it shouldn’t have been but Yamamoto was a smart student. He was good at sneakily causing trouble for others without getting his hands dirty like that.

The more she thought about the situation, the more she didn’t like it. Today was even more bizarre than yesterday. Oka looked over at Nakano-san, who’d suggested that they all just avoid him. But since when should the Student Council now turned Disciplinary Squad turn a blind eye to someone actually showing signs of being a delinquent.

“I disagree.” Oka spoke up, her attention turning to Nakano-san. It was one of the few times she’d actually gone against the grain. Usually she would’ve heeded her advice and just went on about her business. Oka was not one to get involved in things that had nothing to do with her but something about this just didn’t sit well with her. ” I think we need to confront him about his behavior. If the administration wants us to crack down on delinquency, the Valedictorian should be no different. What if he goes after some other girl, then what? Kinoshita-san said she was pretty shaken up. He sounds unstable.” Oka grew quiet for a few moments, mostly because she was surprised she was so gung ho about going after this guy. Something in her just said, ‘Nah, something ain’t right.’

---

---

That was... a lot to take in. So, first off, there was only one way out of here: the mirror behind him. Problem is, it's out of commission right now, and the only way to get it back up and running was to kill the "Shadow" blocking it. Presumably that big hand thing was said Shadow, but considering all four of them only seemed to just slow it down, then the cat lady was right: it would just be suicide.

Secondly, there was the talk of "Awakened" and "Corrupted" people. Apparently, devil boy was Awakened, and so was the cat lady. Apparently you could transform and you get a personal ghost thing. Well, he didn't have anything like that, and he looked exactly the same, so... was he Corrupted? He's never encountered anything like this before, so he couldn't be Corrupted, right. Or at least, he didn't think so. Then again, there was that strange sense of familiarity with those butterflies.

Then the cat woman began talking to Hoshino again. She said something about signing a contract. A contract... Genki's eyes wandered down to the ground as he thought and muttered to himself. "Contract. That sounds familiar. Did... did I sign one of those recently?" he wracked his brain trying to think of anything like that, but only that strange sense of familiarity remained. Maybe if he had more to go on.

As he lifted his head, the cat lady and Hoshino were arguing again. He seemed surprised that he now possessed a tail and a pair of horns. He also seemed pretty angry about the whole "responsibility" thing. He also apparently saved the cat woman at one point a few days ago. Speaking, or rather, thinking, of the cat lady. There wasn't really a whole lot he knew about her. Just that she apparently knew Hoshino, had a magic ghost lady, and could apparently turn into a cat.

Once Hoshino had finished speaking, Genki decided to interject once more. "You know, cat lady, just who are you anyways? What's your name, and... where exactly are we?" Genki pondered for a brief second, before realizing he basically knew nothing about these people. He thought he recognized them as classmates, but he didn't really know much about them. "Actually, if we're going to be stuck here together, we should probably get to know each other a little better. I know you're my classmates, but that's about it. My name is Mori, Genki, though I usually go by Genki."

---

---

A phony yet visibly nervous smile was painted across Kazuyoshi's face before letting out an equally forced chuckle. He was on thin ice due to the summer incident but everyone seemed content to dance around the issue, not unlike figure skaters on a freshly frozen winter lake. However, that remark about assumptions did worry him a bit since meeting expectations without doing anything good lately can only be troublesome. Before he could stew on this even further, he needed to explain where he had been. Uh oh.

Kazu's mind raced to find a plausible explanation for his tardiness since spacing out in the supposedly locked off roof of the school would definitely lead to suspicion. Even before he could begin to forge a fictitious fibbery, the fashionable five-to-niner female had given him an idea. "As a matter of fact, yes. I was, uh, meeting up with my good buddy Hinari-san at the Cooking club room since we were going to cook chicken. Something about how he could do better than Family Mart." A smug smirk now etched itself across Kazu's face, content with the sequence of events he had just fabricated. Perhaps he will indeed ask Daigo-kun to cook him some chicken at some later time.

Focusing back on the present, Kazu tried to move the conversation along before his facade would unravel. "Also, saying we were sampling chicken might seem sketchy. We totes paid for those Momoji-sensei, I might even have the receipt on me." Kazu would state as he rummaged through his pockets, finding only lint and loose candy wrappers. Definitely not a good second impression for either his teacher or schoolmate.

---

Emi stayed quiet and listened to Kinoshita’s explanation, nodding along absently as Nakano arrived and added her portion of the story. She didn’t know much about this Yamamoto boy aside from his father’s influence on the school, but it wasn’t like a powerful man’s son to behave outwardly badly—and even if he did, she would surely have heard about it before now. No, assuming it wasn’t just a few cruel words that were taken harshly by a sensitive girl, this had to be a recent change; one among many, it seemed. A year ago, she would have taken this information to her friends as grounds to scout out the school for Shadow activity, but now? With the mirror unyielding and no one to turn to, Emi wasn’t sure what to do.

She perked up when Naomi spoke up, brow furrowing with concern. “No, we can’t go rushing in and punishing people ourselves. Nakano-san is right, it could be dangerous and we're not equipped to deal with that. Besides, we’re not teachers; we might be the Student Council, but we still don’t have the authority to independently discipline fellow students like that,” she reminded her fellow councillor. Turning in Kinoshita’s direction, she added, “If you’re really that worried about what happened, then you should go report it to the Principal, but…”

Emi trailed off, chin in her hand as she thought. The signs were undeniable: this had to be shadow activity, she couldn’t think of any other way to explain it. But without a team who understood the issue to consult with and very little background information with which to reference, she was feeling much less sure of her conclusion than she’d like.

“Would you say that this is a new development?” She asked suddenly, not addressing anyone in particular. “Not just Yamamoto-san, but everything. The Principal says there’s a rise in delinquency, but since when? How long has it been going on?”

She tapped her cane on the floor in thought for a moment, but suddenly snapped her head back up, holding her hand out to her fellow councillors. “I need you three to tell me everything you know about the recent rise in agitation. Anyone or anything acting out of the ordinary, and where in the school it happened, if you can.” Her tone was urgent, and her demeanour changed, suddenly more confident than she was before; a little closer to her old self, with some extra determination to boot. “I might have an idea as to what’s going on, but I’ve been gone too long to know for sure. But if I can figure it out… I might have a solution.”

It was a gamble. A huge one, in fact. Emi still wasn’t sure how much she wanted to divulge—about the Shadows, corruption, Personas, any of it—and honestly, every last student in the school would think she was crazy no matter how little she revealed. But a terrible feeling that she’d seen this all before nagged too loudly in the back of her head to ignore any longer. There was a good amount of hope that this could lead her to her friends, too, and she’d be a liar if she claimed that wasn’t a good part of her motivation, but regardless, something needed to be done. Corruption bleeding over into the real world threatened everybody, and someone had to deal with it, sooner rather than later.

Even if she had to deal with it alone.

---

---

First Nakano disagreed then Ueno. Now the numbers were tied. She couldn’t understand why her fellow upperclassmen were against confronting him about his behavior. They had just had a meeting yesterday about the adults wanting them to help take care of the issue. Sure, she was against the idea to begin with but now that something had come up they were the two that were backing off. Oka felt a tinge of irritation come over her but she remained cool. She was very much used to following orders and this situation seemed like a direct contradiction.

She didn’t care what Yamamoto’s previous behaviors were. She cared about how he was behaving right now. Initially she opened her mouth to argue back with this point in mind when Ueno’s demeanor shifted and there was a sense of urgency to her. Oka wasn’t sure what angle she was getting at as she asked about details about the rise in delinquency and that she might actually have an idea of what may be going on.

What kind of insight could she possibly have to correct their current situation?

“I’m not sure I know of any other incidents other than yesterday. That was pretty bizarre--the writing on the board. Really, in general, the fact that the administration is asking us to help take care of these issues has been a concern of mine from the beginning.” Oka tapped her chin, thinking hard on if she had noticed anything else. She had been so used to keeping to herself that her awareness of the students around her was low. She had done her very best all this time to keep to herself and stay out of trouble. Sure, she may have voiced a complaint here and there but it never stopped her from completing any duties assigned to her.

Her hazel hues narrowed over to Ueno as her thoughts circled back to her statement about how she may have known what was going on. "What do you know about all of this?” She inquired curiously. Moments before Kinoshita had showed up, when Oka had brought up the strange occurrences, Ueno shrugged it off. So she knew something all along? “I recall earlier when I made note of how strange everything was these past few days, you shrugged it off as the storm potentially riling the students up. So you’re saying...you know something else?”

Oka was right to find this girl peculiar. Aside from her ability to differentiate individuals in a room, she wondered what other skills she was hiding.

---

---

There was a certain point where it seemed easier to just clamp his hands over his ears than listen any further to the cat... girl... thing's explanation of the shit creek they'd just drifted up without a paddle. He didn't know what 'corrupted' meant, or who she could possibly mean when she said someone close to him, or what that made him tasty to demon hands. Last he checked, nobody he knew was friendly with some giant shadow monster, unless it was Hoshino and his new tail, but kitty seemed to think he was on her side. Daigo believed her too; if he wasn't, he probably wouldn't have bothered to pull Daigo away from the mirror, futile as the act was. The glowing thing she pulled out of his chest was more worrisome anyway. Was Potential what made Hoshino look like that? Daigo didn't want to be turned into... whatever his new friend was, but if devil horns was the preferable transformation, he'd hate to see what corrupted potential looked like. And of course, the only way out was blocked.

The redhead stayed rigidly in place until the girl had walked away. Friendly or not, he didn't want her anywhere near him until he figured out what exactly was happening, and maybe even after that. It didn't sound like anyone really understood what was going on, and everything Mira, apparently, explained left him with more questions than answers. Genki at least seemed to take everything in stride, or maybe he just had a good poker face. He looked like a good person to hide behind for the time being; at least he was still fully human. Then again, if that hand wanted Daigo specifically, he wasn't sure hiding would do him any good. Quite franky, he wanted to pass out and rip up that stupid contract he'd signed while he was asleep if that was the cause of all this. William couldn't just put 'evil hands will murder you' in the fine print and expect to not get a complaint or two!

"Hinari Daigo," He introduced himself bashfully, "Um, thanks. For trying to help. Sorry I got you all roped up in... whatever this is." The boy fidgeted with his sleeves, keeping his gaze downturned rather than make eye contact with anyone. Once he'd collected his confidence a little, Daigo upturned his head and forced a sheepish grin, "I'm sure we'll be okay." He didn't believe it for a second, and his resolve faltered as quickly as it came.

"So how do we kill a shadow?" Might as well get straight to the point; more questions about where they were only led to more answers he didn't like and more stress. If they had a chance, it'd be less time spent in this place. And if they didn't... well, same result.

---

@Asura@RiverMaiden@Lord Orgasmo

---

No, he didn't want to jump right into it. He wanted to wake up and forget any of this ever happened. He didn't care about his 'potential' or corrupted people or anything, he just wanted one of them to drag him out of this hell already before those hands came back. Mira just reinforced what Daigo already knew; they couldn't even hurt that thing, they'd just have to play damsel in distress until Hoshino handled it. He hated being powerless, he never knew what to feel or how to act in that situation. His eyes stung, but he knew he shouldn't cry - no one else was crying. It wasn't his failure to cry over, he was simply a victim of unfortunate circumstance, as usual.

He forced an uneasy smile. "Please take care of us, then." It sounded lame even to him. The redhead trailed along with the group as they moved, wringing his hands together in a constant nervous fidget to stop himself from outright clinging to Genki. Maybe that girl - Sasaki, right; she gave her name - would play with his hair again if he asked. No, he'd just look pathetic if he did. The shadows that descended from the ceiling shortly after left any hopes of comfort unfulfilled anyway.

Mouths were even worse than hands; hands would drag him off to some dark corner, but these shadows left no question whether or not he'd be eaten if they got to him. He was nothing but a burden here. The only act he could manage was to not break down again, no matter how much he wanted to. Hoshino seemed agitated enough that he had to protect them, he'd only start to resent the fiery-haired boy if he had to stop and comfort him every time he was spooked too. Demon or not, Daigo really didn't want his new friend to hate him after only a day. It was easier to just pretend he was coping well enough.

As a shadow swooped past, Daigo finally collapsed on his ass in his best attempt at fleeing. Luckily for him, the creature refocused on the more pressing threat as Noriaki sliced one of its brethren in half. The redheaded teen turned and crawled away on his hands and knees as he sucked in shallow breaths, fighting back tears the whole time. He probably didn't have enough air in his lungs to start wailing that he didn't want to die. Maybe they'd call him brave at his funeral.



A voice that sounded almost like his own reverberated through Daigo's head, each syllable rattling in tune with a throb of sudden pain in his skull. The boy clamped a hand to his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut on instinct, curling in on himself on the floor. Was this the demon hand's doing? Or one of those mouth things? He dared a glimpse back up at his surroundings, his eyes now alight with a familiar golden hue. At least the mouths hadn't begun circling him like a pack of hungry dogs yet, but that was a small comfort.



The second bout of speech forced his eyes closed again in a futile attempt to alleviate his headache. Renewed nausea followed, which caused Daigo to instinctively clamp a hand over his mouth and left only a wobbly arm to support his slumped-over torso - not that he could bring himself to even sit up. What did the voice even mean? He had no choice but to cower behind Hoshino, unless it thought suicide was preferable to whatever those hands wanted to do to him.



When he peeked an eye open again, Daigo was greeted with an unexpected visitor; a butterfly, glowing an ethereal blue. The insect descended listlessly to the ground and perched just within arm's reach. That was what started it all. That damn butterfly. William, Mira; they were all connected somehow, they all tricked him into a fate he didn't want. Daigo reached out tenderly at first, a pleading hand extended to beg the little creature to save him. His limb paused just before they touched. It was this thing's fault. It led him to the mirror on purpose. The cat might've wanted Noriaki, but this thing had wanted all of them in here. It wasn't salvation, it was just taunting him in his final moments. Steeling the rest of his resolve, Daigo forcefully slammed his hand down to crush the butterfly underpalm. It didn't feel like he'd just splattered a bug into paste. It didn't feel like anything but the ground, as if he'd imagined that anything appeared in front of him at all. Even so, he hoped the little bastard had felt even a fraction of the pain reverberating through the ginger's skull.



The pain shooting through Daigo's head ceased immediately as he curled his fist around the butterfly he'd crushed. But it was no longer a butterfly; it was a key - the key from that weird dream, from that damn contract that dragged him into this mess. A card laid on the ground before him, depicting a sun with a face on it. It didn't interest him; he knew what he had to do now. Daigo rose to his feet calmly, despite the shadows now closing in on the easy prey.

The key felt smaller in his hand now, lighter. It wasn't a key. It was a match now. He didn't question it, just struck it along his sleeve to produce an unnatural flame of the same cyan hue as the butterfly. Daigo extended the match out toward the encroaching shadows, letting his eyes briefly follow the hypnotic dance of the fire rather than size up the foes before him.

"Carve a path," His mind supplied a name as surely as he knew his own, "Khepri." He dropped the match with the intuitive knowledge it would land right where he desired - right on the sun card. It caught with the same turquoise flame as the match, which smouldered only a moment before the whole card flared in an inferno that engulfed Daigo utterly. A horned figure rose out of the blaze, all sharp points and chitinous armor, glaring down at the shadows before it as intensely as the sun beats down upon the desert at noon. Daigo swept his arm aside as the looming creature mirrored him, dispersing the pyre around them in a single gesture.

The boy stood now in archaic clothing, his hair catching the light in all the colors of the sunrise as it shifted in the updraft of the supernatural flames. Gold-trimmed black lamellar, reminiscent of samurai of old and emblazoned with a prominent orange sunburst across the breastplate, rested over a dark shitagi that clung to his form despite its bagginess. Daigo was still hardly the picture of a fierce warrior; the cuirass lacked spaulders and provided nothing to hide his narrow shoulders, and his glasses still framed his face as boyish and unthreatening, though the rims had darkened a few shades. Nevertheless, there was a determination in his eyes that promised he wouldn't stop until he'd reached some far-off goal, as if the enemies before him were negligible obstacles that could be bypassed effortlessly.

A mote of light burned to life inbetween the forked horns of the Persona at Daigo's back, and its elytra spread angelically like wings about to take flight. A thin beam shot forward from the glowing ball above its head that seared a trail in the ground as it swept right through a shadow before him, which left the bisected halves of the monster to fall to the ground in a sizzling heap before dissolving back into the formless goo they'd originated from. Daigo then took an assertive step forward and Khepri responded, gaining altitude as golden flames burst forth from beneath its elytra like thrusters on a rocket.

---

@Asura@RiverMaiden@Lord Orgasmo