I Recognize This

Night 2 - Trouble Makers

Ryuji looks up, "Right on! Wassup Persona... This things rocks. Now I've got this power its time for payback!" Akira and Morgana stand up too, renewed by the display.

The enemy lashes out his sword, "Don't mock me you brat!"

Ryuji points his his persona out towards him, "Kamoshida's cognition ain't changin', right? Then I'll act like the trouble maker I am!"

The three of them make quick work of the main lackey while you use this as cover to sneak off further into the castle. From the terrace you can see morgana praise Ryuji on "also having the potential" and the following confrontation with Kamoshida. 

You are about to turn off and leave them behind until you see, "Ann...?" You can tell Ryuji is about equally confused. 'Wait... This seems vaguely familiar, like dejavu...' You rack you brain trying to understand just what is happening. "Is it like in Inaba?"

"Something seems off" Akira states.

Ryuji manages to stutter in an additional comment, "Yeah, now that you mention it."

'Now that he mentions it!?!? What about when she showed up at all? In this place where everyone has been fake except for you guys??'

Ryuji continues to show his genius by asking, "But why is she even here?" When Kamoshida moves to caress her chin he yells out, "HEY, get off of her you perv!"

You crouch down behind the railing trying to save you stomach. 'Yucky...'

Kamoshida gains another one of his sick smiles as he explains the situation to Ryuji. "This is MY castle, a place in which I can do whatever  I want. Everyone wishes to be loved by me. That is everyone but slow witted thieves like you..."

"Takamaki! Say somethin'"

Morgana turns to diffuse Ryuji's anger, "Calm down. It seems that girl isn't the real one... She's the same as those slaves, a being made from Kamoshida's cognition of her!"

'That's how he sees her!' You shake your head and take off up the stairs when the guards stir up more trouble then they can handle. "Yucky..."

When your near reaching the top of the stairs the room bugs out. Red surges around you and warps everything. You hardly notice you were in the real world when you because you have to put your arms out to catch yourself after tripping on the stairs.

"(Y/N)!" you look back and see that Ryji called out to from the bottom of the stairs.

'I guess I was in range of them... That sucks...' You pick yourself up and turn to him.

"What are you doing here?"

You look up hoping for anything to give you a good excuse. "I uh..."

"You shouldn't even be out here alone its late..."

"I-"

"Either way, have you met Akira yet? He's the delinquent exchange student from the rumors."

'-m never going to get to speak... It's for the best, I guess."

Akira Lazily waves, "Hi"

"Right, nice to meet you Akira. I'm -"

"She's in the same year as us, but a totally different class." Without missing a beat Ryuji turns to look at Akira. "Hey do me a favour, she lives on the way to Leblanc, make sure she doesn't get lost or anything for me?" Without waiting for him to reply Ryuji turns around, "See you tomorrow!"

'I think I can handle it myself Ryuji...' You let out a sigh and turn to now formally introduced Akira. "You don't have to babysit me like asked... It's not really his job to assign my keeper anyway."

"He said you live on the way, but the least I can do is walk you to the train station."

You adjust the straps of you bag and start off towards the station. "If you say so. We better get going fast or were going to miss it though."

Akira falls into step with you. You stare forward, realizing most of this time will be spent in silence. However you're far too polite to put in your headphones in case he does find something interesting to say. 'I wonder if they even remember I was in there with them. I really only came for chaos anyway, so if they didn't I wouldn't be surprised.' You keep walking in a casual silence until you can see the signs for the train station.

"So," he turns his eyes to yours, "that was you right?"

'Okay, you don't know what he is suggesting for sure. So don't give anything away. Play dumb.' You look back at him meeting his eyes, "Who was me?"

"In the castle. Morgana said that people made there are kinda like a hivemind. You stood in front of Ryuji instead of trying to kill him."

You quickly make you way down the stairs to the train and speed walk to your stop hoping that the train is already there. 'If I can just get enough distance...' You sigh in disappointment when the tracks are empty, slowing to a stop so you can wait for the train.

You keep your eyes forward as you notice that Akira is coming up behind you. Your's and everyone else's attention is ripped to the side when you hear banging coming from the tunnel. The train barrels quickly on past the station without even slowing down. 

Without a moment's hesitation you take off ignoring the calls of everyone else there following behind the rackety train. 'This has to do something with all the other accidents.' A blue light charges around you when you clothes change to the persona uniform. You slow down slightly to see the strange occurrence. You see the red walls around you. "GAH" You halt to an immediate stop when you looked up and noticed the tunnel you were running down is now a wall of spiraling tracks.

You take a few steps to full survey the are around you. The red walls, awkward distortions of everything around you. 

"Where am I..."