Nerusona

Chapter 4

Part 1: April

Chapter 4

“I am thou…” a voice spoke, causing Tanaka to turn around. Hovering in the air was a tall humanoid leopard—who was equipped with two swords and a green cape on his back—staring down at Tanaka. “Thou art I… From the sea of thy soul, I come… I am Ose, the fifty-seventh spirit of the Goetia… I shall lend you my strength…” Ose unsheathed both of his blades, turning around towards the amorphous creatures that were pursuing Tanaka from behind. In a few seconds, the humanoid leopard eliminated them with a few strikes from his swords. Ose moved past Tanaka and then began to slice through the blobs that prevented him from reaching the other side of the hallway.

This was his Persona, Tanaka thought, and no longer would he be powerless. The thought of this caused a grin to stretch on the male’s face. Ose vanished after the gooey monsters were gone, but Tanaka knew that his Persona wasn’t gone completely—he would always be with him. He continued to pace down the hall, his body starting to ache again. The teen had to momentarily lean against one of the blood-covered walls to catch his breath, which stained his hands again. By the time he reached the end of the hallway, he was met with a flight of stairs that lead to the floor below. Hanging on the nearest wall was a small sign that had the number “2”; it was etched in from presumably a sharp object.

Tanaka hustled down the flight of stairs, nearly slipping and falling in the process, and soon reached the bottom floor of the altered school. Instead of abstract, stretched out hallways, everything except the bloodstained walls and other monstrous blobs slinking around was normal. Hopefully he’d reach the entrance of the school quicker than the time he spent running across the lengthy hallway upstairs.

For every time a blob attempted to attack him, Tanaka summoned Ose to slay them. There were a few times where the monsters did manage to scathe him, but it wasn’t anything serious or life-threatening. The drawback of constantly summoning his Persona was that it often made him lightheaded and dizzy, so he often had to stop and catch his breath.

Once he made it to the school’s entrance, the front doors were closed and locked. He yanked on them and even tried having Ose slash through them, but the doors wouldn’t budge an inch. Tanaka dropped down to his knees in defeat, exhausted from running around. He didn’t want to admit that he was trapped in this school, but there was no other way to leave without him scrambling around and encountering other creatures. Maybe other students that “disappeared” found themselves trapped in this place too, and died after being stuck for days. His head was getting light again, and he could’ve sworn he heard some kind of voice ringing in his ears. The teen closed his eyes…

…

When he reopened his eyes, Tanaka was greeted with blue colors practically everywhere. He was inside of a…train car? It looked as if the train was moving, but the scenery outside of the locomotive was foggy and obscure. Instead of sitting in a seat near a window, all objects normally instead of a train car were gone except for a chair Tanaka was sitting on, a table affront of him, and a small blue couch opposite of him that was occupied by a foreign face.

The person sitting in front of him had dark blue hair, a red and yellow bandana, heterochromatic eyes with one eye being red and the other being blue, and ancient-looking attire. Much to Tanaka’s surprise, the stranger had big canine ears.

Standing next to the other male were two youths with blond hair; the female had short hair, a white headband with a bow on top, and a red cord around her neck while the male had similar attire but a blue cord around his neck instead of a red one.

“My name is Hisu,” the wolf-eared man spoke. “It’s always a pleasure to have a new guest here.” An amiable grin was on his visage. “These are Rin and Len. They’re both residents of this place, just like myself.”

The female standing to the right of Hisu said, “It’s nice to meet you.”

The male to Hisu’s left added, “It’s also nice to meet you.”

Tanaka gave a quiet nod to both Rin and Len.

“This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter… Only those bound to a contract may enter here.”

A contract? Tanaka couldn’t recall signing one…

…until the school application he filled out manifested in his hands.

But why? What was so special about it…?

“You have a very interesting ability that will aid you on your journey, and it is my duty to help you hone it,” Hisu spoke. “I only ask that you remember one thing: that you are ultimately responsible for all actions that you take during the course of your journey.”

Tanaka gave Hisu a nod.

“You are always welcome to the Velvet Room,” he continued. “Please, hold onto this.”

A blue light appeared in front of Tanaka, forming into the shape of a blue key.

“I’m sorry that our meeting was so short. Next time, you shall come here on your own free will where we will have no time restraint. Now go forth, dear guest, and begin your destiny.”

…

“…ka…”

“…naka…”

“…Tanaka…!”

Tanaka’s functioning eye slowly opened up. He was lying with his back on the ground, and Yamaguchi was giving him a concerned look as she knelt next to him.

“Oh my god, you’re awake!” she shouted. “He’s awake! He’s fine!” Tears welled up in her eyes. “Tanaka’s fine!”

“What happened…?” queried the male in a raspy voice. He heard the sounds of footsteps approach his body.

“I should be asking you the same thing,” she replied. “I couldn’t find you after I left the bathroom, and searched everywhere for you. I went to the police after hours of looking around, so they conducted an investigation to find you. But then they—”

“Miss Yamaguchi, may you help hoist your brother to my office?” From the sound of it, the voice belonged to the school principal.

“…yeah, sure.” She leaned close towards Tanaka to whisper, “But then they found your body inside of the school.”

Tanaka arched an eyebrow.

“On the surveillance cameras, your body just appeared out of nowhere.”