Persona 5: Yuki's Version

Shujin

April 10th, 2016

"Sheesh, men aren't usually allowed in my passenger seat." Sojiro grumbled as he begrudgingly opened the door for Makoto.

The ride to his new school, Shujin Academy was an awkward one, what with Sojiro's aversion to letting men in his passenger seat and the talk show on the radio talking once again about fatal accidents, the tension was palpable. Makoto dealt with this the best way he knew how, he threw on his headphones and started playing music loud enough to drown out what was around him, but not too loud as to draw attention to himself. Not a word was shared between the pair on their way to the school through the busy traffic packed streets of Tokyo.

Arriving at Shujin was quite a shock for Makoto, the school was much larger than any that he'd grown up around, 3 stories tall, multiple wings, gardens in the front courtyard and an ornate front gate.

"Do me a favour and behave yourself, alright?" Sojiro pleaded of the boy. "Don't get me wrong, I don't care what happens to you. But don't go causing *me* trouble."

The two headed into the front gates and quickly made their way to the principals office to meet the principal and his new home room teacher, along with doing the final touches on some paperwork finalizing his admission to the school.

The principal was a large man, not an intimidating one, but one of intimidating posture no doubt. When he spoke, his voice was tinted with a sense of superiority, a smugness all too familiar to Makoto since his move to Tokyo.

"To reiterate, you will be immediately expelled if you cause any problems. In my opinion you're nothing but a liability, but we had our own circumstances to consider. Count yourself lucky to be admitted to our student body. Whatever you got away with in your home town, those days are over. If you're thrown out of here there will be nowhere left for you to go. Please keep this in mind."

The principals tone and speech in general irritated Makoto, but he wouldn't let it show, he'd just nodded his head along in an attempt to be as agreeable as possible.

"This is the teacher in charge of your class. Please don't be causing trouble for her."

The teacher beside him finally lifted her head, quite exasperated.

"I'm Sadayo Kawakami, here's your student ID."

She spoke with a much friendlier voice than the principal had, though Makoto still felt there was some negativity or pessimism behind her words, though he couldn't place it as easily as he could with the principal. When he looked down to take his student ID he found it placed on top of a bright pink pamphlet, seemingly advertising something, but before he could make out what exactly it was, Kawakami reached forward and snapped the pamphlet back away into her bag. She spoke with a slight panic now, attempting to draw the conversation forward from the brief, yet endless moment of silence they found themselves in.

"Be sure to read the school rules. Any violation will send you straight to the guidance office. And, if by chance you cause any problems, I won't be able to protect you."

She turned toward the principal and lowered her voice to a hush. "But really though, why me? There should've been better candidates."

Having finished the paperwork and their introductions, Sojiro was eager and ready to take his leave, Makoto felt similarly, not being a fan of people talking down to him, especially right in front of him. As if Sojiro knew Makoto wanted out of there he spoke up.

"If you're done explaining things, mind if we get going? I got a store to get back to you know."

The principal swapped his attention immediately from Kawakami to Sojiro and Makoto. "Sakura, make sure you keep an eye on him." He said, pompous as ever, giving Makoto a deep side eye.