Persona: Rise of a New Wild Card

Chapter 5: May Blues

"Maki!" Kojiro was running up to Maki as they entered the school. They started talking about how they've been doing better and better training in Tartarus. They've not seen or heard from Takaya or his team Strega for a little while. While they were talking in the hallway they saw their teacher Sanada walk past. "Oh, Sanada-sensei. We had a question for you. Do you know if Maki and I are the only Persona users our age?" Akihiko told them to keep quiet as he said, "Shh. Not so loud, we can't let that info spread around. Talk with me after school today, I'll get your father to drop by too." He then walked off to his class while Maki and Kojiro went to theirs. Ms Toriumi was very strict with her teaching methods after years of schooling. She and Makoto were good friends but they never spoke again about their 'exchange' when Makoto finished his second year.

The day before Makoto died from his use of the Great Seal Makoto had walked into a room with Ms Toriumi and she found out that he was the online persona Tatsuya which helped her get her life on track. She did in fact invite him to dinner one day and they spoke more on their relationship. Makoto told her that he was glad he could help her out. She declined dating a student but was glad to be friends. In the future they now find themselves as colleagues at the same school. Maki and Kojiro were great students, Maki being top of the class while Kojiro was simply helpful to those struggling. He was a fairly tough student even if he didn't get his father's height. Shinjiro was a private security guard for the Kirijo Group, to Maki and Kojiro it seemed like every adult they knew worked for the Kirijo Group.

Once the class ended they found Akihiko and Makoto waiting in Makoto's office. "Good, you two made it. I was speaking to your father Maki. Good news is we've found a new persona user in the student body." Akihiko had a big grin on his face. "Bad news is that they only said they would join if you two came to them yourselves." Makoto finished. Maki and Kojiro understood and were ready. "Their name is Lance Jaden, He's a transfer student from the US. His parents informed me that he wishes to attend a Japanese school to experience the culture. But we did find that he is a persona user. Akihiko tried to talk with him but he was mostly confused, we tried explaining things to him but he said that he'd only help if people in his class came to him. You two just so happen to fit the bill perfectly." Maki nodded her head at her father as the two walked out. They reached the main gate as the saw Lance waiting at the entrance.

"Lance!" Maki ran over. Lance looked up from his phone and Kojiro and Maki walked up. "Yuki-san, Aragaki-san. So good to see you guys. I wished we could have hung out sooner. Your dad talked with me about this Persona thing. I guess he got you two to talk to me about joining you guys? Well count me in then, I wouldn't have joined if I was the only teen but I'm glad I've got people to hang out with during this thing." Lance clearly didn't fully get what was going on nor did it seem like he cared at the current moment. The trio walked home together and Makoto watched over them from a distance. That night they prepared an Evoker for Lance. The Dark Hour soon approached and Makoto noticed it was a full moon. "Oh no." The three teens turned to Makoto who was looking out the window. Lance, Maki, and Kojiro were ready. Mitsuru made things clear that for the time being she had to attend to business and that she needed Makoto to be the navigator while the teens worked inside Tartarus. Unfortunately Makoto sensed a shadow, one far larger than normal. "We need to get to the train station now!" Yukari soon walked in and joined them in.

The group were all walking to the Iwatodai station. Makoto remembered this moment all to well. He, Yukari, and Junpei traveled onto a train as had to rush time to save everyone onboard before it crashed. Makoto stayed at the station providing assistance with Cybele with Yukari. Maki, Lance, and Kojiro all traveled along the tracks and made it to the train. Once onboard they slowly made their way to the end of the train as they faced the High Priestess shadow. Makoto gave warnings both about the train rushing to another, and about the use of bufu attacks. Lance hadn't awakened to his persona yet so when he used his Evoker he was amazed when he summoned Laetitia. Unfortunately for Lance he was weak to bufu skills so Maki and Kojiro had to protect him as they fought. It was a close call but with Makoto and Maki being the smartest members of the team currently they were able to stop the train and save everyone onboard. Makoto congratulated everyone on their success. Things would only progress to a more difficult time however.

Takaya and his new student have been keeping to the shadows after seeing Maki awaken to a very powerful persona. "I must say they're going to become quite a nuisance in the future. Jin, Chidori. What is the extent of our newest members power?" Jin looked to Takaya before answering. "Matsuyama Yoshihiro. A student of Gekkoukan, same as them. His persona, with proper training could be very powerful. Perhaps he could rival the blue-haired guy's daughter. Only time can tell though. Chidori, from what I can tell in this universe you're married to a guy named Junpei. Looks like a total clown, anyway we should be able to put a stop to them. Most of their members aren't in town anymore and wont be coming back any time soon." Takaya laughed as they left their hiding spot. Makoto took everyone home and they slept that night very soundly. The May 5th shadow was defeated. This marked a turning point that no one could turn back from.