Unwavering Commitment (Persona 3 Fanfic)

Comrades!!

"Hey." Pharos smiles at me.

"Hey...?" I greeted in confusion.

When did I fall asleep? On the chair, right? Umm... What was I doing?

"You have lost one of the most important items..." He looks to the side with a pitiful face.

"Most important items? What is that?" I stand up.

"The shadows that you've defeated... Did you notice something?" He looked back at me.

As always, we walk into a certain direction amidst the darkness. "They're all... people?" I ponder.

He smiles at me and asks another question. "Did you notice anything else besides that?"

"Shadows of my friends?" I answer again and his smiles becomes bigger.

"AnyTHING else?" He emphasizes the 'thing' in his question.

"Umm... They have the same powers and weaknesses as my friends, right?!" I grin widely and so did he.

"Haaaah..." Pharos sighs.

"Oh yeah, I got the persimmon fruit so what do I do with it?" I tell him how I got it and how it was pretty difficult and funny at the same time.

"That's it." Pharos stares at me; almost as if he was able to teach a kindergartener what two times ten is.

"What?" I stare back at him.

"Ugh..." He bit his lip and put his palm on his cheek. "What am I supposed to do with you..." He mutters to himself.

Is he insulting me?

"Soo...yeaaah...? Anyway, Pharos... Tartarus is locked... What can I do to unlock the next floors? And you said to hurry, didn't you? So, like, why is it locked?"

"Only time will tell." His answer was simple but misleading.

"Umm....so you mean to say that... It won't open until like time passes or something?"

"Yes, that's right."

"You could've just said it in that way though." I pouted.

"Hey, so like-This place... can it be changed? Like it's just black everyday..." I looks around and touch the air around me.

I can't even feel the ground. No wall, no ceiling... Like we're just floating.

Pharos's eyes widen a little bit. "Aah... This place is designed to fit your current consciousness."

"So... my mind is blank? Even though I have a lot of problems and stuff?" I somehow get irritated.

"You think that you're having numerous problems but in truth, you are already aware that there is nothing else that you can do, thus making you feel empty. You're just trying to fill your mind to keep in the fact that you're nothing in here." I started getting furious at Pharos's response.

"OR. You have thought of too much things and try to solve them all at once that leads to the chaos of the mind. That is why your cognizance is blank." It looks like he tries to find an excuse when he noticed my sullen expression.

"So when I feel happy, this place will be different?" I ask in curiosity.

"Well, yes but it wouldn't be stable-"

"So like, I'll play a sim dating game before going to bed and then this place will be like a reverse harem paradise! Oh my gosh, I'm a genius!!" I proudly praise myself and Pharos sighs helplessly in response.

While I was thinking of a plan to revise my reverse harem wonderland, I see that the person in front of me is not anymore Pharos but Ryoji.

"Ryoji-kun, why'd you change?" I ask.