Persona: Invoke

[Vii]

Chigusa was left in a state of shock, confusion, a mix of emotions that left her immobile for a few seconds. If not for the dream that tormented her since this morning, she was sure this was nothing but her imagination tricking her into a sense of false panic. But the sight of now and here drove her to believe what her eyes gave her. Unable to take her eyes off the creature, the first-year began to back away slowly. Questions invaded her mind, too many, too left unanswered. "M-Minato..." She murmured his name, as if to reassure herself of his presence. No matter what happened now, she was not alone...right?...
​

 

[Ishi123]

The creature then suddenly shifted forward, as one would try to make someone flinch, before jumping up into the air with one single bound, towards Minato. Minato backed up quickly, grunting, but not taking his eyes off the creature. The thing swiped at him, but he managed to duck under it. However, he failed to evade the second swipe, which hit him hard in the side, and with a yelp he was send into the air, hitting the ground and rolling across the pavement, onto his stomach and away from Chigusa.


Minato writhed on the ground, the shock of pain, hitting him hard. He stayed on the ground, unable to bring himself back up, trying to assess how much damage he had taken based on feeling alone. His vision was blurred, and he panted, his ears ringing from the impact... The creature then turned its attention to Chigusa, and in an instant, drew multiple swords, one for most of its many hands, and slowly encroached on Chigusa, clearly intent on doing more to her than what it had done to Minato.

 

[Vii]

Chigusa drove her body backwards, horrified, as she watched over Minato. Before she could even so much as approach him, the Shadow seemed to shift its focus on her alone as of now. The sight of blades drawn at her, its body crawling towards her, it was too much, far too much. She could not run away, she could not defend herself, what was she to do at this point...? Accept? Give up? Despair consumed her, Chigusa could only stare at the creature with fear in her eyes, her body trembling ever so slightly as she clung to the key around her neck. So...was this the end? Her destiny. Ah, how pitiful, how laughable... Perhaps Minato could take the chance to escape. If one of them survived, at least...
​

I don't want to go yet...
​

She closed her eyes.
​

 

[Ishi123]

Minato struggled, but managed to find the strength to get up. Biting his lip, he grunted and got onto one knee, before standing up, holding his side. He had suffered scrapes and bruises, but at least nothing was broken. His knees buckled lightly when he stood up, but he regained his strength and stood straight. He saw the creature advance on Chigusa, her eyes wide and her body paralyzed with fear. Minato briefly contemplated the idea of running away... he had a chance while the thing was distracted. He should use this opportunity to escape, and he knew he had to. That was the logical answer. But he couldn't move his legs... something was keeping him there.


Somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt compelled to stay. But why? What could he possibly do? What reason would he have to do anything when he could escape now? If one of them could live from this, that would be ideal. It's the only solution he saw right now.


But... then...


I am thou...


A voice rang through his head, so perfectly clear. The voice was foreign, but authoritative. He felt the presence so distinctly... his pain immediately left him... his focus was in his mind. Time seemed to slow down...


Thou art I...


Minato looked skyward, seeing a card flickering into existence, sparkling with blue light. It slowly spun and floated downwards towards him. He held his hand out, the card resting upright in his palm, hovering and spinning. The card was of the kind he saw in his dream... the kind Igor possessed. On the face, was the depiction of a jester laughing close to a cliff, a dog on his heels. Underneath it, the number 0.


Open thine eyes... awaken to thy true self. Call forth your true strength.


Minato instantly saw images pass through his mind... images he recognized. Emotions overwhelmed him as memories flooded his subconscious, memories of his tortured past... he saw them clearly, things he tried to forget... but knew he couldn't. He saw Igor and Catherine, as well as the tarot cards, spinning around in a circle. He almost screamed, but as suddenly as they came, they disappeared... and his mind was calm. He knew what he had to do.


Minato closed his eyes, breathing deeply and slowly.


"Per..."


A circle of blue light appeared around him, the face of the Arcana within.


"...so..."


The circle revolved, glowing brightly and releasing energy in a spiral around him. He opened his eyes.


"...na!"


Minato extended his fingers, before clutching his fist, crushing the card in his palm. Instantly, the card shattered with a distinct sound, and a figure began to materialize behind him. The figure appeared as a silhouette of blue light, before its form began to refine itself, before finally appearing fully as a humanoid figure, dressed in a large black overcoat, a metal mask covering its face, piercing blue eyes seen glowing underneath. The light died down, and the figure behind Minato was seen in its entirety. The creature turned around to face Minato, noticing the figure behind him, it looked at him quizzically.

 

[Vii]

Chigusa's eyelids slowly allowed her into witnessing what had compelled to Shadow to stay put as inverse to take her down. She turned around, facing a sight that left her just as speechless as the masked monster of many arms. But somehow...she did not felt scared. Rather it gave her a lingering sense of hope... This was Minato's strength, valour. She stepped back, refusing to be a distressed damsel, a piece of weight, no, no more. Her eyes would watch over the Persona by the third-year's side, recalling back Igor's words...
​

 

[Ishi123]

Minato takes on a devious grin as the figure behind him cast its right arm out, a single edged sword materializing in his hand through spiral energy. It grasps the blade and crouches down, preparing to engage its enemy. The creature near Chigusa suddenly shrieked, howling with a terrible noise, as its arms extended, sending its many blades towards Minato. The figure launched itself forward, cutting down the many blades that the creature sent towards it, weaving around its arms before grabbing one of them, slicing downwards with its blade and cutting off the limb, snatching that hand's blade from the air and throwing it towards the creature's mask, slicing into it and cutting it along the edge, to the right of its forehead. The creature reeled back as the figure continue to advance, taking the opportunity to lunge, pouncing on the creature and punching its mask, attempting to slice downward, though the creature retaliated and managed to defend itself, though just barely, losing two more arms in the process. Before the creature can do anything further, the figure jumped backwards, casting its left arm out, an open hand pointed towards the creature.





"Magatsuhi!"


Instantly, a bolt of lightning came down from the sky, piercing the creature from above, splitting it apart. The creature cried out and began to dissolve, falling apart and disappearing without a trace. The figure swung its blade, before disappearing into blue light. It was over.

 

[Vii]

Gone, it was gone at last. Such a display was enough to knock Chigusa out of balance, as it sank within her to the point of leaving her staring blankly at what was left of the battle, Minato standing tall and victorious from his ordeal of vanquishing the creature. She felt her chest burst with awe, her body slowly granting her the control to stand on her own. "...That was..." Words felt cheap to describe it. Closing the distance between themselves, she looked at Minato as she babbled away, her eyes brimming with the purest of excitement. "What was that? H-How did you summoned it? Ahh, you probably are just as at loss at this than I am... But it was amazing! You were amazing!" She clasped her hands together, as if caught in her own little world...
​

 

[Ishi123]

"I... ah..." Minato stammered lightly, clutching his head as he suddenly felt lightheaded, nearly losing his balance. He kneels down to prevent himself from falling over completely, panting lightly from exhaustion.

 

[Vii]

"Ah...!" Chigusa was violently pulled back from her state of awe, as concern assaulted her more feverishly. "Can you stand? Do you need to rest for a while?" That must have been quite the struggle for him to crumble like this... As strong as the senior was, there were limits to what the human body could take. "I'll lend you my shoulder if you need it, here." She was quick to offer her help, though she hesitated deep down, seeing how reluctant Minato was at approaching her prior to this...
​

 

[Ishi123]

Minato grunted and stood up, a little shakily.


"I'm fine..." He said, catching his balance. "I'm... I'm just a bit tired..."


'A bit' was an understatement. He was wiped out... on top of the hit he took from that creature, as well as summoning that... that thing... whatever it was, he was drained, physically and mentally. He put his hand to his head, feeling extremely lightheaded.


"I... um... I'm going home..." He said, slowly starting to walk, though a bit uneasily.

 

[Vii]

Of course, he had to play tough. She couldn't say she was surprised... Even so, she was unable to do as he wished she did, promptly catching up to him. "...Let me just walk you home, alright? You did protect me back then so...think it as a bit of my gratitude to you." She paused for a moment, pondering over her words. "I'll keep quiet too. Just please, let me at least make sure you get home in one piece." Her voice spoke of genuine intentions, even if she could not bring herself to face him properly. She felt too insecure to take him head on...
​

 

[Ishi123]

Minato scoffed a bit, but conceded to her nonetheless. In his state, it wouldn't help anything if he ended up collapsing on the sidewalk... he stopped and nodded, not looking her way. Minato hated relying on others for help. It had to be among his least favorite things to do... but Chigusa wasn't going to let him go on his own, and he wasn't in any position to argue. He'd just have to deal with it.

 

[Vii]

She smiled ever so slightly at the prospect of success on her request. Walking in a slow pace, she accompanied her upperclassman without a further word, solely stealing a few glances at him in order to check on his condition. Chigusa never liked this tense, uncomfortable silence that permeated the atmosphere as of now but for once, she was able to restrain herself from corrupting it with her babbling. She didn't want to make this harder for Minato, even when she could not help but be ticked off by his "rude" behaviour... 
​

 

[Ishi123]

Minato hung his head low, clearly barely able to walk. His steps were shaky, and he had a splitting headache. He wanted nothing more than to get home and go to sleep. Despite his previous protests, in some way he did appreciate the fact that the first-year was so concerned... though he didn't understand why she would be. He was a stranger to her, after all... it didn't make much sense to get so worked up. Along the way, he slowly managed to gain more strength, at least to the point where he wasn't about to fall over onto his face. He stayed silent through the rest of the walk to his home, which thankfully went unabated, and once at the steps to his home, he stepped onto the porch and opened his front door, sighing heavily.

 

[Vii]

"...Um, goodnight. Rest well, okay?" She awkwardly bid goodbye to him, deeming the action of going any further to be overstepping her boundaries. Once he was inside, Chigusa took a deep breath, taking in the aftermath of the events that took place tonight. In a rushed pace, she took off into the night, hoping to reach home before her landlady could notice. God knows what she could interpret from her late arrival... Once she arrived at her apartment, she headed to the kitchen and then to bed, feeling famished and tired. A long night awaited her, no doubt.
​

 

[Ishi123]

Minato sighed as he closed his front door after Chigusa had bid him farewell. He flinched a bit at the pain in his side, and resorted to patching himself up a bit before he went to bed. He took off his jacket and his shirt underneath it, noticing the scrapes he had sustained on his right side. He'd be better off if he put some bandages on, so he fished some things from the cupboard, applying first aid to himself as best he can, applying some ointment and covering it with the few sterile pads needed to cover the whole area, before wrapping gauze around his waist to keep it in place. After all that, and making sure everything stayed together, he finally went to his room upstairs to get to sleep. He sighed and wrapped himself in the blankets, falling asleep almost instantly after he shut his eyes.

 

[Raptordude115]

Zack was busy trying to fall asleep, his face smothered into his pillow while groaning quietly. He was so bored from today that his boredom somehow managed to thwart his will to fall asleep, if that makes any sense. He checked his phone to see the time and grunted annoyingly.


"I just wanna sleep..."


Zack debates for a few seconds what to do before banging on his head with his fist. All it did however was make him even more annoyed as he rubbed his now aching head. He continues lying in bed, staring at the wall with his head on it's side.


"This is gonna be a long night..."


Zack would eventually fall asleep, his weary sight fading to black.

 

[Elikacheese]

Amori woke up in the middle of the night. Her stomach growled as she didn't eat lunch, nor dinner. She got up, and prepared food for herself. Amori knew that her parent would be asleep during this time, and slowly went towards the kitchen. She shoveled rice into a bowl, and got out some take out, and put it in the microwave to heat it up. When the takeout food was done, she started to eat it with the bowl of rice. When she was done eating, she felt better, and went back to bed, shortly after washing the dishes, and throwing away the trash.

 

[PyroHunter16]

Tsuna had finished making tomorrow's lunch, then immediately went to bed. He looked at the strange blue key, as he lied down, pondering its existence. This key... why do you exist? He thought to himself before putting the key away and falling straight to sleep. His parents had gotten home just after he had fallen asleep; they went over to his room to check up on him, and smiled as he slept.


"There's our good boy..." Tsuna's mother whispered to his father, to which he responded with a slight nod.


"I wish we could spend more time with him." Tsuna's father whispered back.


"He'll have to bare with it for a while, at least until we can catch a break." Tsuna's mother replied.


"Yep..." Tsuna's father finished their conversation and then ushered his wife to bed, getting plenty of sleep for a hard day of work tomorrow.

 

[Ishi123]

It was lunchtime the next day. Minato went up to the roof, and headed to his usual spot on the far side. He sat down, a bit slowly. His side was still hurting him, but he bore with it and trudged through the day as normal. He brought out his bento and opened it up, starting to eat.


He was lost in thought, once more. He thought about his experience last night... Persona... what did that mean? What was that thing he summoned? It occurred to him that he really didn't know what happened last night, or how he did the things he did... it just happened; he didn't have time to think about it in the heat of the moment. Magatsuhi... he knew for sure that was the name of what it was he summoned. And he was somewhat unsettled when he felt just how familiar that was... it was hard to explain, but it felt to him like that thing... Magatsuhi... it was something he could always do. It's just... last night was the first time he had actually done it.


He shook his head, finding himself drifting off, and decided to focus a bit more on his lunch, as well as the lecture he had sat through beforehand.

 

[PercyJacks]

<p>


Kotone had stayed awake watching anime the previous night until 2:40am when she slept. She woke up at her usual time for school, albeit very sleepily, and managed to stay awake for her classes with the help of a powerful energy drink at breakfast. At lunchtime, she drank another energy drink to keep herself focused for the rest of the day. She chatted with her friends, making the usual small talk and comparing each other's packed lunches to see who had the best-looking food. She was half glad and half disappointed with the lack of events, due to one part of her glad that everything was fine and the other unsatisfied with her normal life. All Kotone wanted was a little variation, or uniqueness, or maybe someone new and interesting to spice up her otherwise flavorless existence.


</p>


<p>


</p>


<p>


"<em>As long as it's not life-threatening…</em>" she thought.


</p>

 

[Vii]

After a good night's rest, Chigusa found herself feeling rather refreshed after the incident of last night. In spite of its presence still vivid in her mind, that did not trouble her any further than she would allow. Waking up earlier than usual, she was able to make up for the night before by preparing a substantial meal for lunch. Once again, she was drawn to the roof, moreso than ever perhaps. Doubt consumed her when she found Minato up there, though... In the end, she chose to settle with a friendly wave of her spare hand while the other held her lunch box, accompanied by a faint smile. It was for the best, to be honest, seeing how little he cared for social interaction... The question was whether or not she would be able to keep it up. She wanted answers and her only lead as of now was the upperclassman and his otherworldly ability of the night before...
​

She wore her key plain in sight. There was yet one more like her and Minato and if he was going to make this any more difficult, she could might as well focus for now on the other person. Could they be from Yasogami as well...? Destiny wouldn't be cruel enough to have their other "partner" located in another school or town for that matter, right? She hoped so at least. Focusing on her meal for once, Chigusa set aside her concerns in order to replenish herself, even just for a while.
​

 

[Raptordude115]

Zack walked up to the roof of the school, bento in hand as he remembered to pack a lunch this morning. He sighs as he feels the breeze of the wind before sitting down on the same bench he sat at yesterday, near the exit of the roof. He notices the same people he saw yesterday. He raises an eyebrow as he chomps down on some fried rice.


"Guess this place is popular..."


Zack continues to eat his rice, crossing his legs together and tilting his head from side to side as he chews.

 

[PyroHunter16]

Tsuna sat down at his usual spot on the roof. His suspicions about the girl from yesterday with the blue necklace was confirmed when he saw the blue key dangling from the necklace. Guess I was right. He thought to himself as he ate his lunch. The day had been boring to Tsuna so far, and his cynical views on reality didn't help him find anything amusing. Perhaps, something else lie in wait. Maybe I should go and eat out tonight. I've been craving Aiya's for a while, and I don't really want take out... Mom and Dad won't mind, they're busy with things already. Tsuna thought as he ate his rice. He knew that one other person here had a key, now he just needed to know who the remaining key-holder was.


"I need to pick up some books later." Tsuna thought out loud before opening a can of iced coffee and taking a sip. "Maybe some art books for reference material... These aren't gonna cut it."


He thought back to his in-progress manga, and took it out to look at while he ate. He looked over the characters he had drawn, noticing several disproportionate limbs now that he rereading it. The dialogue seemed a little bit cringe-inducing, so he decided he'd tweak that later. The weapons he had drawn were very well-detailed and most bore unique designs aside from any sort of background/"standard-issue" type of weapon.


"At least those are okay." He noted before taking another sip of coffee.

 

[Ishi123]

Minato sat quietly eating his lunch. He had noticed Chigusa, but she went to sit somewhere else on the roof, away from him. Perhaps that was for the best. He finished his lunch and sighed, putting the box back in his bag and getting lost in thought once more. He wondered who the third key holder was... it was most likely that it was also someone in Inaba, and with any luck, also someone from Yasogami, meaning it would be someone he's most likely seen before, but cast a blind eye over, just like everyone else he saw here. He'd most likely rely on Chigusa on that front, considering she was the one who was actually making an effort. Since she knew he was a key holder, once the third showed up, the group would be complete... but then what?