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The first thing I woke up to was a sinking feeling in my chest.
Guilt.
Normally I'd waste the day sleeping it off, but Sakura-san would have killed me if I didn't leave for school as soon as possible.
The birds were louder than usual this morning. I wanted to watch them forever, to join them, to be free like them. The bell was the only thing that broke my trance, though it didn't come soon enough. I still had to run to the gate before they closed it.
The way the other students were talking about me felt all too familiar. Saying we were threatening people yesterday, as if we were the aggressors. It was almost the same as the day I lost him, the day I failed him, the day I killed him.
You didn't kill anyone.
I toy with my pencil as the teacher drones on. I sigh.
"It's ok," he said when we formally met. "I won't hurt you. I won't tell anyone about you, either."
By then, it felt like the entire world knew me, but... maybe no one really did. Not before.
Not anymore.
When I got expelled, I thought things would be different. I thought I would learn, I thought I'd realize my place in the world. And yet, here I am, wanting desperately to save a school that hardly wants me around.
I'm a fool. Nothing has changed. Just a new setting.
But...
"Akuryo-kun!"
I jerk my head. "H-Huh, what?"
Ushimaru-san points towards the chalkboard with a grumpy look. "Since you're so sure of yourself that you don't even bother to pay attention, I'm sure you can remind me of the purpose of there being three branches of government?"
Come on, think, think!
"U-Um, it's for... checks and balances, sir."
"And?"
"T-To make sure one doesn't become too powerful?"
"Is that a question or an answer?"
"...Answer, sir."
He huffs like he's thinking I got lucky, then turns around.
At least I remembered what he was talking about...
"Made up your mind?"
My heart leaps out of my chest at the sudden voice. My desk?! Why is he in my desk?!
"Can you not?!" I mouth to Morgana, trying not to act like a cat is in my desk.
"No matter how much thinking you do, you only have one option. You're better off just listening to-"
"Stop talking, stop talking!" I whisper, reaching for his face to hold it shut.
Ushimaru-san looks at my side of the room. "...Did I hear a cat just now?"
Sweat running down my face, I look around as the others do, pretending I can't find the fabled cat I'm currently wrestling.
I pull my hand away at a sudden sting of pain. I eye the claw marks as Morgana gasps for air.
"You assho-!"
"Please, just please shut up!" I beg Morgana in a whisper, this time only putting a finger to his mouth to silence him.
YOU ARE READING
Shapeshifter - Persona 5
FanfictionAkuryo; It might as well have been a name to him. Well, now it was, anyway. All his life, Ren has known one simple fact: As a shapeshifter, he would never be welcome in the world, never seen as anything more than vermin at best, and hellspawn at wor...
