4/7 - ??:?? - ???
Darkness. Normally that is something that one sees during sleep. However, you don’t always hear a strange singing along with it. Kaze opened his eyes, and saw blue shade, his eyes slowly adjusting to the lighting in the room. Where was he? The last thing he could remember was talking with that purple haired girl from the bus, Misaki. As his eyes adjusted, he began to make out some silhouettes, three to his immediate front sitting on the opposite side of a table. The middle one began to move, the sound of a book’s pages scraping against each other was evident.
”Alright, got it. Persona Persona Persona Persona. Social Link Social Link Social Link.” A man’s voice whispered almost in reassurance to itself.
Kaze’s eyes finally adjusted completely, and he could see that he was in what could only be described as a blue painted lounge. Almost everything in it was blue. Upon a stage in the corner was a woman singing an unending song, In front of her was a pianist, blindfolded with a scarf of that same blue. The opposite corner held a bar that a man with curly hair sat at, speaking to the elderly bar keep. Beside the bar, a man was painting something, but Kaze couldn’t tell what yet. All throughout the room were strange shadows walking around, and a few doors around the room as well.
What caught him off guard the most though, was the pig nosed man sitting in front of him, and the two children sitting next to that man, no more than ten if he had to guess. The man wore a tuxedo with a large flower, while the children wore bright blue uniforms like that of a sailor fuku the girl wearing a beret, and the boy wearing a patrol cap.
“Ah, you’re awake. Welcome to the Velvet Room, a room between matter and dream. You are a guest and only certain people bound by a contract are allowed in here.” The man said. Kaze attempted to open his mouth, but the man continued.
“My name is Quasimodo, and I am glad to make your acquaintance. Now, what is your name?”
“uh… Sh-shison Kaze.” Kaze said still confused.
“Now,” Quasimodo said as he got out a small hand book, and read through it. “Let’s do a card reading. You believe in Fourtune Telling, no?
“Actually –“ Kaze began, again being cut off.
“Alright, let me see here,” he said as he pulled out a deck of cards and the same handbook before putting it back on the table and shuffling the deck, then placing them on the table spread out, ”Pick three…”
Kaze looked confused at the cards, but was given a nod by the twins that seemed to reassure him. He chose the three, and the rest were shuffled into the deck. Quasimodo began to flip them one by one, the first having a picture of a tower upside down, and the second having a moon, the final card a man with a packstick.
“Hmm… I think this deck is rigged. Anyways, the tower means calamity on the way. The mood card represents "hesitation" and "mystery". So, something will happen… a mystery, some kind of misfortune or something, and a mystery that will need to be solved. I believe I’m reading that right. The last one, the fool, is a blank slate. Think of it as a joker in a normal deck.”
The girl twin pulled on the man’s sleeve, “Sir, I you didn’t quite do it right.” She said.
The boy twin chimed in after, “Well, you got the reading right, just not the delivery.” he said.
“He got the gist of it, give me a break, it’s only my 3rd reading ever. Oh, I almost forgot to introduce you two,” he began, before pulling them in closely. “These two precious children are my assistants, they live here, like most of the rest of us.”
”I’m Ploutos.” the boy said, “and I’m Sophia.” the girl said, “reporting for duty.” The two chimed in together. “We’ll be here to help you through your journey.”
Suddenly, a small timer with a depiction of some kind of cartoon devil went off on the table.
“Oh, our time is up for now. But don’t worry, we’ll see eachother again real soon. Bye-bye now.” Quasimodo said as he smiled and waved goodbye to Kaze, the room beginning to blacken as sleep hit Kaze’s eyes once more.
------------------------
4/9 – 16:00 Afternoon - Hinasho Bus Station
”Bro. Bro wake up! We’re here!”
Kaze woke up with a start and was met by his brother’s face two inches from his own.
“Woah! Watch it.” Ishidaiku said dodging his brother.
“Sorry, I had a strange dream and you startled me.” Kaze said.
“Oh, Kaze. Is this your stop? I’ll be fifty miles down the road, so we might be able to hang out during the breaks. I have your email, you have mine, email me.” the Purple Haired Misaki said seeming to just be waking up herself.
”Count on it. Later Misaki-san.” Kaze said as he gathered his stuff and left the bus with his brother. They stood outside as the bus pulled off.
“Kaze got a girlfriend, kaze got a girlfriend.” Ishidaiku said while pulling some yoyo tricks.
Kaze simply scoffed and checked his phone, a text saying “We’ll be there around 4PM.” from his aunt. Kaze leaned against the wall momentarily, while texting back “We’re here.” upon sending it, he saw a purple SUV pull up and park. A tall well-endowed blonde woman wearing skinny jeans and an orange cleavage revealing top stepped out.
“Oh, Kaze-kun! I can’t believe how much you’ve grown! I haven’t seen you since I changed your diapers.” the woman said running over and giving Kaze a surprisingly strong suffocating hug.
“A-aunt Ch-chizuru. You’re crushing me.” Kaze said.
“Oh,” she said releasing him. ”Sorry about that.”
She then noticed the younger brother standing a few feet from her.
“Oh, and this must be Ishi-chan!” she said going in for a hug, but stopping a ruffling his brown hair. “You must be no older than 10. Your cousin is a couple years younger than you, so you might be able to get along.” She said as she waved for someone to come over from the car. The door opened and a small brown ponytailed girl stepped out, peeking around it shyly.
“H-hi.” the girl said.
”C’mon Sakura. Meet your cousins.” Chizuru said. The girl stepped out and slowly walked over to them, keeping eye contact with the ground.
”Nice to meet you Sakura-chan.” Kaze said offering his hand to the girl. Sakura slowly reached for the hand, tapped it, and then receded behind her mother again.
”Hahaha. Come on you three, we need to get home so I can make dinner.”
The three hopped in, the boys putting their bags into the trunk, and the car headed towards town. As they did, Chizuru pointed out the various sights and businesses on the way in.
