Asphyxia // PERSONA 5 FF [ under editing ]

CH 02 │Fateful Encounter

"I never actually thought that anyone would stand up for me. I thought that I'll never be able to make friends..."

"... but I figured out that wasn't true when she came into my life."

Part 1

A small furry figure was barking happily while running around on the falling leaves, creating a cracking sound under its paws that matched the rhythm of its quick breathing.

Its tail was swinging around as it kept going between and around a pair of slightly-paired legs as if it was urging that person to quicken their pace; the small figure's white fur was brighter than snow.

"Woof, woof!"

"Maxi, hold on! I knew that I shouldn't have left you without your leech..."

A heavy sigh escaped a pair of quivering lips before a set of slender fingers were raised to fix the position of half-rimmed glasses with oval-shaped lenses.

The owner of the dog was a girl who had dark brown eyes, and thin dark brown hair tied in small ribbons by the sides of her face, with the back cut short.

The girl shook her head at her dog before kneeling down to stroke its white fur gently and softly, earning happy barks from it that caused her smile to widen ever so slightly.

"Yes, yes. That's a good girl." She muttered.

"Woof!" Suddenly, the dog ran away from the girl.

"Maxi!"

Maxi hurriedly made her way across the park as she knew exactly where she was heading without ever looking around.

She literally threw herself by another set of legs, rubbing her head gently against them while barking happily and jumping around, trying to earn that person's fullest attention.

When Maxi's owner caught up with her dog, her eyes met with what stole her senses like that.

It was a person, another girl that looked around her age who had a short shoulder-length light lavender hair and a pair of cerulean irises.

She was looking at the dog with such wide and confused looks, having absolutely no idea what just happened.

Despite her outer facial expression, she felt slightly scared at the thought of having a dog near her.

"M-mom... help..." The girl mustered in a low voice, expressing her fear. "It's too adorable to kick though... what do I do?"

"Maxi, no! Bad girl, bad!" The brown-haired scolded while picking Maxi up, causing her to whimper at the distance between her and the mysterious girl.

Then, the gaze of the bespectacled young middle schooler met with the terrified cerulean orbs of the other girl that loosened and softened as soon as Maxi was away from her.

"Ah, what a relief." As if the burden was lifted from her shoulders, the girl sighed.

But the more the brown-haired looked at her, the more she seemed oddly familiar like she'd seen her somewhere before, but can't remember when exactly.
But she shook off those thoughts and took off from the land of daydreaming the moment she heard the other girl's deep and relieved sigh.

"I'm sorry, Maxi wouldn't normally do that. I don't know what happened with her just now." The brown-haired bowed slightly as she apologized.

Hearing the girl's voice, the purple-haired lifted her gaze to meet the other's eyes. The moment their gazes met, she felt that the other was familiar; as if they met before in a certain situation.