RiverMaiden

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

---

| April 10th, 2018 | Hintori Highschool - School Entrance |@Scribe of Thoth@Asura@Lord Orgasmo|

---

Eyes locked upon the mirror, not a single sound escaped Yori's lips. Whether by a wave of confusion, instinctual dread, or silent awe of the unnatural phenomenon occurring before her, the young woman barely even registered Noriaki's warning under the brilliant blue glow that covered the interior of the gym. Nothing about the situation could be conveniently explained, not the disappearance of the butterflies, the mirror becoming a source of light, nor the subsequential shift of blue to black that heralded the appearance of an amorphous something that crawled out from the mirror's surface.

Unable to comprehend what she was looking at, Yori took precious seconds of time to realize that the strange material from the mirror had formed into an otherworldly appendage, and could only watch as it stretched with incredible speed toward one of the boys she had followed to the gymnasium and grabbed him by his leg.

While the others quickly moved quickly, she hesitated despite the circumstances, stuck in place as the boys struggled to wrestle the orange-haired teen away from the abnormal limb. It was only when the redhead looked her way that she began to move, a modicum of resolve rising to replace the confusion and fear in her eyes. Stopping where the hands were wrapped around an ankle, Yori rose her foot and stomped on its fingers as hard as she could, but to no effect. It was as if the appendage hadn't even noticed she had done anything at all.

Abandoning the idea of causing pain to force whatever was dragging her classmate to let go, she instead crouched down and attempted to pull one of the hands off, only to yet again cast aside the idea when she could find no leverage under the fingers or hands of the supernatural arm. Instead, she mirrored her classmates' idea to grab hold of the boy himself, wrapping both hands around his leg in hope of having better leverage as she pulled in unison with the other two.

Still, her efforts seemed to be in vain, and the foggy memory of a dream grew clearer in her mind. Through clenched teeth, she started to repeat words under her breath, barely audible to her classmates as she continued to pull as hard as she could. "Don't slip. Don't let go. Don't slip. Don't let go..."

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

---

| April 10th, 2018 | Hintori Highschool - School Entrance |@Scribe of Thoth@Asura@Lord Orgasmo|

---

Though she could not hear the words the transfer student had muttered under his breath, Yori didn't attempt to hide her expression. It was common courtesy to look at the person you were speaking to, and whether or not his words were meant for her or one of the boys that had met with him first, it was clear with her look of disdain that the sole girl of the small gathering did not approve. The fact that he seemed to be messing with the stray cat that was near him by grabbing its head may have also influenced her attitude.

Her mouth opened, brows pulled together as she prepared to begin what would no doubt be a long, lengthy lecture. "You-"

The words never came, however, as their small yet relatively calm area of the shoe lockers suddenly burst with activity. She only caught sight of the cat running away with two somethings in its mouth before Noriaki quickly moved to follow it, shoving her out of the way in the process. Nearly stumbling, she was able to stop herself from falling by grabbing onto one of the open cubicles. Stunned, if only for a moment, she pulled herself back to her feet around the time she noticed that one of the boys had been knocked over as well. When his question reached her, Yori could only shake her head to convey that she had no idea why the chain events had occurred, just before her brain caught up with what had happened and she started to visibly fume.

While the other two seemed to follow Noriaki out of concern or mere curiosity, the girl briskly walked after them with a fire in her eyes, no doubt inflamed by what she considered to be not only terrible manners but a lack of care for his fellow classmates.

When they reached the gym, it was clear that she had trouble not slamming the doors wide open, physically restraining herself to merely pushing one of the slightly ajar doors to see what was going on inside past the two boys who stood by the entrance. Overhearing the duo's conversation, she added her own commentary to the mix, siding with her orange-haired classmate's sentiments. "The gym was blocked off for a reason. Besides, Hoshino-san's not getting out of here without a stern talking to."

As the transfer student yelled nonsensical words at the cat, who seemed to have stolen his shoes by the looks of things, Yori would've yelled at him in a similar manner if it weren't for a flicker of something that drew her eye. A pair of blue butterflies. Glowing as they settled upon one of the still-functioning mirrors, it wasn't quite clear if it was a trick of the dim lighting streaming into the gym or just her imagination. Unbidden, a faint memory, or rather the remnant of a dream, flickered at the back of her mind.

What had it been about again?

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

---

| April 10th, 2018 | Hintori Highschool - School Entrance |@Scribe of Thoth@Asura@Lord Orgasmo|

---

The closing bell's chime signaled Yori to close her books and stow them away in her bag, quickly moving to exit the classroom as the hallways began to fill with students departing for home. With many clubs being closed for the day, the Archery Club included, most of the student body surged toward the bottom floor exit.

The usual cacophony of voices that filled the school hallways was accompanied by the faint growl of thunder in the distance, a potential downpour building in the skies above as dark, ominous clouds slowly yet surely rolled toward the school. Yori stopped for a moment by one of the many windows to watch, her eyes glazed over as they stared unfocused at the rain clouds overhead. She waited for a long moment as if attempting to catch the first glimpse of water droplets falling from the sky, but eventually moved on, either bored or tired of waiting for an event that wouldn't happen until later in the future.

Mind still visibly wandering, it wasn't until she bumped into a stalled student that she noticed what was going on near the school entrance. A crowd had gathered around the shoe lockers, blocking the way for the students who had come from the upper floors or were just late in leaving their classrooms. Nothing too surprising in the current situation, as there were more students in the "Going Home club" than there were usually, but a certain scene within the commotion had caught her eye.

A familiar face, kneeling down next to a small yellow cat that seemed to be nuzzling his legs. Though her face scrunched up at first, her features eventually softened when a name was attributed to that face. Hoshino Noriaki. The transfer student. A memory unbidden came to her mind, of a strange, unlikely trio in her classroom. Yet again, a trio formed once more with him at the center, albeit slightly less interesting compared to the former.

The itching returned, only this time she had no reason to ignore it. With her club closed and her siblings still at school, she had no pressing matters to pull her away. She headed to her own locker first, to switch her school shoes for her outdoor ones, before moving to approach her classmates. Momentarily rifling through the contents of her bag, she pulled out a notebook as she glanced at the cat between the three boys, quickly writing down 'swing by pet store; live bait for Ku-chan' in bold red ink.

"Are you a magnet, Hoshino-san?" Blunt, abrupt, Yori hadn't given her words even a moment of consideration before speaking them, addressing the transfer student directly without even using the cat as a pretense. "This is the second time I've seen other students gathering around you. Is it only because you're new here, or just a coincidence?"

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

---

| April 9th, 2018 | Hintori Highschool - Archery Club |@Hero|

---

Following the archery club captain to the lockers, Yori intently eyed Anzu's hands as her senpai fiddled with the lock. She muttered the combination under her breath multiple times as if committing the numbers to memory, only stopping when she spoke directly to the other girl. "You'd think getting composite bows on top of the wooden ones we already have would be redundant and cut into the budget even deeper, but the advisors must not think so."

With a roll of her eyes, whether that be at the lack of forethought from those in charge of funding or at Anzu's insistence at keeping morale high among the new members, Yori's hand hovered over each of the bows until reaching the furthest to the left. Ordered by height, she had managed to pull out one the largest of the bows they had in stock, sporting two feet and then some over the diminutive sophomore.

"If the newbies can't handle little issues like a lack of funding, they clearly don't have the nerve needed to do well in this club anyway," Yori expressed, just before she exhaled from the force needed to string her bow. Though the bending of the wooden limbs looked like they were dangerously close to snapping, the green-hared girl didn't even hesitate as she looped and tied the bowstring on the side she hadn't done it for yet. "But ignoring them for a moment, what did you mean by 'Tyrant'? I don't think I've ever heard about that moniker before."

With a hefty sigh and a look of pride at her now strung bow, Yori shouldered the longbow as she looked toward her senpai, eyes alight with something that wasn't mere curiosity.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

---

| April 9th, 2018 | Hintori Highschool - Archery Club |@Hero|

---

Yori furrowed her brows as Kogoro explained the club's situation, arms crossed and lips drawn into the beginnings of a frown. "That's unfortunate."

What she saw as 'unfortunate' about the captain's statement, however, was up to debate. During the previous year, when Yori had first joined the club, she was known for her bossy behavior despite being one of the newest members. Admonishing others for the smallest of mistakes, giving direction when none was needed, and generally just being at odds not only with her fellow newcomers but her seniors as well. Though the green-haired sophomore mellowed out a little by the time the year ended, it wouldn't be inaccurate to assume that the green-haired girl cared more about the club itself potentially closing down rather than possessing any concern about the recruitment of new club members.

"At least the club's still standing. It could've been worse," Yori asserted a second later as her eyes roamed the clubroom, darting around as if looking for something in particular. Her cerulean pair hardened as they sighted someone, who clearly never picked up a bow in their life, began plucking at the bowstring of one of the few bows on a rack, but her gaze softened once more as they returned to look toward the captain. "Well, I'm glad you kept it running in spite of the circumstances, Kogoro-senpai."

She then moved to stretch, dominant arm extended while the other supported it, beginning to walk around the room. "Do you still have the bow I used to use? I forgot to take it with me last year.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

---

| April 9th, 2018 | Hintori Highschool - Classroom 2-A |

---

As the bell rang to signal the end of the school day, Yori stretched out of her hunched position over her desk until her bones audibly popped, notebook pages filled to the brim with notes detailing everything mentioned in class. From the boring minutiae of a lesson to an off-handed comment Momoji-sensei made about eggs being better with ketchup, anything spoken by her teachers was recorded in writing. A natural occurrence when you wrote down what was heard without thinking about what it meant.

Her things packed away, Yori took a second to glance around the classroom, noting the groups that came together to socialize with class finished for the day. Friends who knew each other from the previous year clumped together seamlessly, newcomers who were in different classes last year and loners left the classroom the first chance they got, whether to go to their respective clubs or find old friends somewhere else.

The only outliers were the third year who spoke on stage earlier that morning, Nakano-san, the transfer student, Hoshino-san, and a popular boy from last year, Asakura-san. A strange trio, all burdened by rumors that Yori couldn't help but overhear throughout the day. It wasn't like people were attempting to hide them, after all. A familiar itch arrived the longer she stared at them, hand twitching by her side as she took a step toward them.

Then she looked at the clock, noticed the time, and walked out of the classroom. There wasn't enough time in the day to waste on rumors alone.

---

| April 9th, 2018 | Hintori Highschool - Third Floor |@Hero|

---

It didn't take long for Yori to reach her destination, with only a single flight of stairs between her classroom and the clubroom she had looked for. Clutched in her hand was a flyer, one of the few in the school, for the Archery Club that somehow still existed in Hinotori High. It was simple for her to reach out to the door and grab the handle, but Yori visibly hesitated for a good, long moment before she opened it.

But as the interior of the club room was revealed, her shoulders sunk down, her grip slackened. Once again, Sasaki Yori was back, not where she needed to be, but where she wanted to be. A home away from home, of sorts.

Though the room was familiar, not all the people were, and so she looked around for the person that was. It was the familiar name on the pamphlet that led her back, knowing that the previous captain was gone, but understanding that the new one could be trusted. When she spotted her, Yori approached with a respectful bow, only to greet the new captain of the Archery Club with a simple, "Kogoro-senpai. Good Afternoon."

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

---

| April 9th, 2018 | Hintori Highschool - Gymnasium |

---

The school assembly started about as expected: long speeches, empty platitudes, pointless words. Yori didn't pay attention, eyes sweeping across the faces of the people in her year instead, lingering minutely on faces she recognized in passing before they continued to move along.

When she was seemingly satisfied with what she saw, the green-haired girl rummaged through her bag to pull out a notebook, the pages flipped open to a list of various points she'd reach throughout the day. In the top right corner, multiple club names were scratched out with only the Cooking and Horticulture Clubs punctuated with question marks and the 'Archery Club' circled in red. At the bottom left was a schedule in faded ink, as if written a year prior, a couple of timestamps written in after her club time referring to various groceries she needed to buy along with three crudely drawn figures dancing beneath.

Most of her time spent was within her notebook, slashing off completed tasks with a red pen while jotting down new ones in blue, the beginnings of a smile on her face as she underlined 'new ball for Kenji?'. It wasn't until she heard the name 'Nakano Sakuya' that she looked up to the stage once more. Though her gaze glossed over in the first half, similar to most of her fellow students throughout most of the assembly, it refocused as the missing students were mentioned.

Reflexively, as she did not look away from Nakano's lonesome figure, Yori's grip tightened, with only the audible crumple of the paper sheets stopping her from crushing it as she pulled her eyes away from the podium. Instead, they stared at the three little drawings within the pages of her notebook, eyebrows brought together. When the unceremonious ending to the assembly came, she was one of the last to leave, lost in her own world until a fellow student bumped into her stiff figure.

---

| April 9th, 2018 | Hintori Highschool - Classroom 2-A |

---

Yori entered her classroom silently, at least half of the students already in a seat that they wanted for the year. She looked over the front row seats, most of them taken, before finally settling on the one farthest from the door, next to the window. Her trip to her new seat was uneventful, with no one attempting to speak with her as she settled in.

She had glanced over at a group talking among themselves, catching hints of it being about a third year, but Yori quickly looked away and down at her flip phone as one of them noticed her gaze. With the teacher not present yet, she opened up the one game she had on it, the sound thankfully muted before she had begun moving a little snake with her phone's buttons to consume the small, pixelated fruits that randomly appeared on the screen.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

---

| April 9th, 2018 | Sasaki Household |

---

Blue eyes shot open in the dark, their owner risen to a seated position in a cold sweat as she placed a hand to her chest, the thump of her heart slowing by the minute while her gaze moved to the window where her pine bonsai tree sat with branches wrapped with annealed copper wires. Through the view from the second-story window, one could see that the sun was still absent from the sky, not even gracing the horizon while a blanket of stars continued to twinkle from above.

The electronic clock by her bedside was set at 5:02, and Sasaki Yori sighed as she rose a hand to her temple. Late by a full hour. She was lucky to only have an entrance ceremony that day. "What a weird dream..."

Like any other day, she started with a cold shower to forcibly pull herself from the last dredges of sleep, followed by a change into one of the few, sparse outfits she owned. For the school ceremony, she chose her usual, the fuschia dress and white blouse that she wore throughout her previous year in high school.

She did a quick once-over in the mirror to make sure she looked presentable, seated in front of a vanity mirror left behind by her father's second wife. Yori's eyes drifted down to a makeup kit, also once owned by said wife, left untouched aside from the container of cream concealer. Her gaze lingered for a long moment before she eventually shook her head as if shedding an errant thought, a rueful expression on her face as she merely took a dab of skin concealer with a finger to spread across her dark under-eye bags.

Downstairs, she donned a basic beige apron as she fired up the stove, its burners later occupied by an earthenware pot while the other heated a pan which she would occasionally switch whenever she needed to fry something else. Vegetables were chopped and meats checked to make sure they were defrosted thoroughly, meals were planned and prepared, and she did so while occasionally glancing at a wooden rack currently holstered with the previous year's math textbook, open on the latest lesson the school year had left off on.

It would be half an hour later when her father arose, his presence preceded by his footsteps on the wooden floor as he entered the dining room to see his breakfast already prepared: rice porridge with beaten egg and salted salmon as toppings still steaming within the pot it was cooked in. Yori turned away from the pan she was currently using to acknowledge her father's presence with a polite "Good morning", but very quickly returned to what she was doing when his expression softened with relief.

"Good morning, Yori-chan. Thank you for cooking breakfast again," he began as opened the lid of his pot of porridge and scarfed it down, not slowing down to taste it and only stopping half-way through to speak again. "I would help you out, but I-"

"Worked until midnight and was tired? I remember. I was there," his daughter finished for him, the exchange near habitual as she set a wrapped bento next to him on the table. "I made your favorite. Rice, meatball, omelet, sweet potato and-"

"Baby tomatoes with pepper," the father returned the favor, his pot empty as he stood up with conflicted emotions in his eyes. "Yori-chan, you know I can't come back any earlier, even if you bribe me with a delicious lunch. There's always work to be done."

Yori opened her mouth, the intent to retort such a statement clear in her eyes, but nothing came out as she held her tongue. The silence, aside from the sizzling sound of meat being fried, grew between them, and it was the father who had chosen to break it rather than the daughter. "...I'll be late again tonight. The project my division is dealing with has stalled, and I'm in the group tasked with solving problems to move it along. It'll be more work for me until this little bump smoothes over."

The silence maintained even after his attempt to explain the situation, the father approached with a wet kiss placed on Yori's forehead when she turned to see the movement in her periphery. "It'll get better eventually, you'll see."

With one last pat, the father left the room with his prepared bento, and it wasn't until he was gone that Yori spoke. "That's what you've been saying since forever, Dad."

---

| April 9th, 2018 | Hinotori Highschool |

---

The rest of her morning was uneventful in comparison, her three siblings all fed and walked to their elementary school building before Yori made her way towards her own facilities. Shoes changed in the designated lockers, her pair in the same area as the last year, she headed toward the gymnasium and slotted herself into the fold of Class A-2.

Despite probably knowing some of the students in her class, and being known in turn, she did not approach any of the coalesced friend groups, nor was she approached in turn. At least, not initially. Instead of attempting to socialize, Yori merely waited for the announcements to start, her sleeve rolled up to check the time on her watch as if to make sure the teachers didn't forget when to begin.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

Can I be totally real and say I was shaking in my metaphorical boots for a good three days since I posted my sheet?