Nerusona

Chapter 9

Part 1: April
Chapter 9
April 5th. Saturday.

Before Tanaka departed the classroom to go eat lunch with Yamaguchi, the teen was pulled aside by Roku again.

“Did something happen again?” asked the teacher, referring to the new wounds on Tanaka’s visage.

The student gave a blank stare at the taller male. “…Yamaguchi and I got into a fight,” he bluffed, averting his gaze and staring at his sister waiting outside the classroom. “It was over something stupid.”

“I’m not going to ask any further questions,” Roku replied. “I was just curious.”

Tanaka shrugged and met up with Yamaguchi outside.

…

“The school’s roof is huge,” uttered the female, sitting down on the cement ground next to her brother. “It’d suck to fall off.”

“It’s perfect for talking about secrets.” Tanaka took a bite out of his lunch. “There’s no security cameras.”

“Do you think Roku-sensei actually believed you?” she asked with a mouthful of food.

“I dunno.”

“By the way, today is Saturday. There’s a drama club meeting today.”

Tanaka gave a quick nod in acknowledgement.

“That blonde girl said we’d ‘fit right in’ with everybody.” Yamaguchi touched the tips of her pointy dog ears.

“Her name is Ruki,” corrected Tanaka. “Leo seems somewhat like us, being not exactly human…”

“The chameleon boy?”

“Yeah.” Tanaka continued to eat his food.

Yamaguchi was silent for a few minutes before suddenly turning towards her brother. “Hey, Tanaka?”

He looked up.

“Now that we’re away from everyone’s eyes, can you tell me what happened last night?”

Tanaka took a deep breath and set his lunch down. “You passed out shortly after encountering your Shadow.”

“Shadow…?”

“Shadows are the monsters that reside in that world, I think. I’ll call that world the Distortion for now.”

Yamaguchi frowned. “But that Shadow looked exactly like me…”

“Your Shadow proclaimed that it was a ‘true self.’ It kept lashing out personal feelings that I believe you’ve kept to yourself.”

Her face became a faint red color.

“You denied your feelings because of embarrassment,” Tanaka glanced over at his sister, “which caused your Shadow to transform into a large creature.”

“And you defeated it?” she asked.

“Yes. You now have a Persona.”

The female stared down at the ground. “I’m…sorry you had to see the ugly part of me,” admitted Yamaguchi. “I don’t want to go into the Distortion anymore…I didn’t even think it was real...”

Tanaka started to eat his lunch again after taking a short break. “I want to continue exploring the Distortion. I feel like there’s a secret behind it.”

“I don’t want you going in there, either. You’ll only get hurt again and Roku-sensei will think you’re suspicious.”

“You have a Persona, though. With our powers combined, we can accomplish more together.”