Persona 5: Exchange Student's Tale

Chapter 2: Are All Public Planes like this...?

Mom really wasn't just serious about putting me up for the exchange program, she was adamant about it. Over the next two days, arrangements were made to get me to Tokyo. I'm sure they had to pull a million strings to make it happen, but they got me accepted into a school called Shujin Academy. With a quick Google search, I found that it's an, "elite preparatory school." I've always gone to that type of school thanks to Mom's standards, so I wasn't too worried about that. Honestly, even if they had put me in some ratty backwoods shack of a school, I wouldn't be complaining. It would still beat the boredom of home and Mother dearest's ceaseless nagging. Mom had her personal chauffeuse drop me at the airport, and from there, I was on my own. Luckily, the airport staff noticed my cluelessness and helped me out. I showed the staff member the plane ticket Mom had given me, and he pointed me to flight 23, bound for Haneda International Airport. I thanked him and set off for my designated plane. I wasn't used to flying public, but strangers have never been a problem for me, so I wasn't too worried. Good thing I made it when I did, there was only a five minute gap between my arrival and the plane's departure.

With one last backward glance, I mutter, "Catch ya later Arkansas, you've been a half decent host," and was escorted to my seat. They gave me a window seat in the middle, next to an angry looking middle aged woman. I tried to spark a conversation with her, but she just gave me the stink eye and popped open her laptop. I decided not to persist, and took out a Japanese dictionary. For the first time ever, I thanked Mom for forcing me to take foreign linguistic courses. Of course, she thought I'd need them for oversea business affairs, so I figured I was wasting my time. Who'd of thought there would be a silver lining to it? After about half an hour of review, I had impressed myself. I was still fluent in Japanese reading, writing, and speech, despite having not used it outside of lessons. Well, I suppose I was gifted in it to begin with. With that, I decided to pull out my phone and check my email for any updates on my newsletter subscriptions. Before I can even click the email icon, I notice something odd.

"Huh? What could this be?"

It was an icon. Red and black, in the shape of an eye, with a black star for a pupil. Nothing like this has ever randomly popped up before.

"Welp, if everyone were careful, we wouldn't have potato chips," I say as I click the app.

As I make contact with the icon, a ripple effect emits from my phone almost makes me drop it. I turn to face the woman next to me.

"Hey, did you see-"

She's holding perfectly still. But the weird part is, so are the people in the seats across the aisle. And the people behind me, and in front. I tapped the woman's shoulder, and it felt like iron. She didn't even show the slightest sign of being aware.

"What the hell..."

I notice something else weird as my eyes gloss over the window, and it about gives me a heart attack. The plane, seven and a half miles in the air, is not moving at all. 

"What the hell!?"

Something aside from me breaks the silence, and i whip my head around to check it out. I couldn't stop myself from leaping out of my seat and booking it for the front of the passenger area. At the back of the plane, cloaked in an otherworldly shadow, was what vaguely looked like a man on a horse. Pitch black mist emanated from the figure, covering the floor of the plane.

"WHAT THE HELL?!?"

The figure simply stood idle, the horse not moving, the man not stirring. Then, my blood turned to ice as he let out a bone chilling laugh. It was slow and deep, like a non-deafening version of a foghorn. I was trying desperately to get away from what I could only imagine was a demon, but there was nowhere to go. Once it registered with me that I was trapped, I gave up. I dropped to my knees, and waited to be consumed. I sat there for what felt like five minutes, until...

"M-mr. Kessler?"

I slowly opened my eyes and looked up, to see the stewardess crouching next to me with her hand on my back and a worried expression.

"Mr. Kessler, are you feeling alright? You look like you've seen a ghost, and you're pale as one too."

I looked around, and everyone was staring at me, a few people whispering amongst each other. It was clear, they were oblivious to what I just saw. I'll just play it off. I put on a reassuring smile.

"Yes ma'am, I'm just fine. Just a bit of a lapse is all."

She didn't look all that convinced, but she must have been able to tell I wasn't going to go into detail. She just sighed and helped me back to my seat. The middle aged woman next to me gave me a suspicious look, and went back to whatever it was she was doing on her laptop. Whatever that apparition was, my encounter with it had worn me out considerably. I called the stewardess over to me, asked for a neck pillow, and was out like a light.