Persona F

The strange new world

            At the dead of the night, Hirozaku climbs the fence in front of the statue with a can of spray paint in hand. "Looks like that fucking Tanimoto ditched on me. Well, more fun for me." He says as he shakes his spray paint but before he can do it, he sees the statue and thinks back to the rumor that Tanimoto told him about. "Tsk. This is the stupid shit that I gotta go through? Where do I even go?" Hirozaku walks around the statue after he rolls his eyes and tucks away the spray paint for safekeeping. Suddenly as he gets in front of the statue, Hiro feels his ears ringing loudly and his eyes burning as if he has a pink eye while looking directly at the sun through a telescope. "I am thou... thou art I..." says a voice in Hirozaku's head as he covers his ears and closes his eyes shut in pain and agony. "I am the true form that dwells within your hatred and anger. Should you enter this passageway, you shall be opened to the world of possibilities. Now pursue your capabilities and dive within this world of the Ten Commandments!" The voice shouts. Hirozaku extends his arm to the front of the statue to gain his balance when suddenly, his hand is in the statue stand, much to his surprise. He quickly pulls it out and lands on his butt. "What the fuck was that?!" He exclaims as his vision and hearing return to him. "Hey! Who the hell is that?!" Shouts a security guard, to which Hirozaku ditches and runs off to his bed without waking anyone. Despite all that, he still wonders what in god's name just happened

April 14th, 2020

            The next day at lunch, he comes to school and sits at his desk rubbing his templates as he didn't get a wink of sleep and has been yawning all day. He sees Rikiya and Tomomi at the rooftop and he knows he hasn't gotten off on the right foot but he has to tell them as they're the only ones who know of the rumor, he approaches them quickly after a quick yawn. "Yo. I need to tell ya something." Hirozaku says. "What do you want, Chiba?" Tomomi asks. "I went last night and some weird-ass shit took place. I dunno how to describe it! It was batshit crazy!" Hirozaku says. "Wait, you actually went? Are you trying to pull my leg?" Asks Rikiya. "If I was trying to do that, you'd be getting your ass kicked for ditching me!" Hirozaku snaps back due to a lack of kindness. "I don't feel comfortable being with you, Chiba-Kun. You're very disrespectful and contemptuous." Tomomi says. "Call me whatever the fuck you want, I know what happened to me!" Hirozaku says. "I will prove it to your asses after school!" "Fine! Geez! We'll go with you after school! In front of the statue, right?" Asks Rikiya asks. "Yes. And you better not ditch me!" Hirozaku says.

            Meanwhile, on the door of the rooftops, a person was there to hear it all. "Hirozaku Chiba. You may be more of a threat than I thought." The person says as he walks away.

            After school, Tomomi and Rikiya meet Hirozaku in front of the statue with not many people around. "Good. You made it." Hirozaku says. "This is foolish. I thought you didn't believe in this whole tomfoolery." Tomomi says. "Not until I saw the shit for myself!" Hirozaku gets to the statue and inserts his hand in, however, nothing seems to happen. "I knew it. You are only doing this just to screw with us." Rikiya comments. "Shut up! I know what I saw and dammit I am gonna-" Suddenly, as Hiro is speaking, his hand is seen going through the front of the statue. "Woah! How the hell are you doing that?!" Rikiya says super surprised with Tomomi blinking several times to make sure she wasn't dreaming. "What's going on?! Should we really do this in public?!" Tomomi asks. "I think I can go further in." Hirozaku says. "What?!" Tomomi exclaims. "Oh hell yeah! I can get a Pulitzer Prize! Come on Tomomi-chan! This is my big break!" Rikiya exclaims as he grabs her hand. "Rikiya-kun! I don't think-" Before she can finish her sentence, Rikiya pushes Hirozaku in with Tomomi and himself as the three fall through.

            They appear in some distorted location. It is like going through some mirror as many things are reversed or in a different location with some objects even being upside down. "What is this world?" Tomomi asks in fear. "This is great! An alternate reality! This couldn't get any better!" Rikiya attempts to snap a photo but he can't turn on his camera. "That's weird. It was charged a minute ago." Rikiya says. Then an explosion was heard and something is sent flying straight at them. It was a hog-nosed skunk that looked badly injured. "Ow ow ow... that really smarts!" The skunk exclaims in the voice of a male child. "The hell?! A talking skunk?!" Hirozaku exclaims. This skunk looks up and sees the three teenagers before it, widening its eyes as if it has never seen humans before "Humans?! That's a thing in this world?! I thought nobody could get in!" The skunk asks in shock. Then some strange figures fly straight at them. The figures are somewhat like octopi with their strange tentacles arms and some masks that people would see at a Halloween store. The shadows transform into some distorted figures, transforming into some knights that bear a cape around them, a blue beret with a feather sticking out, two belts, a white robe, and some boots, plus of course a sword. "Oh crap!" Exclaims Rikiya. "No! This can't be happening! I can't die here!" Tomomi shouts understandably scared. "Tsk. These are just some jackasses with swords. I can still beat their weeaboo asses!" Hirozaku says as he cracks his knuckles. "What are you, nuts?! Don't fight them barehanded, you idiot!" The skunk shouts at Hiro. Hiro doesn't listen as he rushes to one of the holy knights, to which he aims his sword and fires a zio from above to strike at him, paralyzing him and putting him out of action. "Chiba-kun!" Shouts Tomomi as the holy knights get closer to this foolish brute. "I am thou..." Hirozaku hears a familiar voice ringing in his mind, this time not as painful as the first time. "Thou art I... You become a grouch simply because you feel frightened..." The voice says. "The fuck would you know?!" Exclaims Hirozaku. Meanwhile, the shadows don't strike at Hirozaku, instead they back away as if they are on edge. "Dude..." Rikiya comments and they feel some energy coming from Hirozaku. "How? I didn't think humans can do that, let alone enter this world!" The skunk exclaims. "I know all of you, boy. You roar at the slightest hint of compassion because you didn't want to feel pain again, your trust was broken as your father has broken your trust." The voice says. He then receives flashbacks of him with his dad, living a happy life. Unfortunately, around 5th grade, the family was starting to fall apart as his father was so impatient, getting angry at even the slightest bit of mistakes, never supportive, and constantly guilt-tripping to the point where Hiro would lay awake in his room and cry himself to sleep until his mother divorced him finally and thus she lives with her boyfriend, Unshou Sada. "You are frightened that you'll lose yet another should you feel connected to them. Am I wrong?" The voice asks. "Well... n-no." Hirozaku replies. "I know because I share the same pain as you have. Now that we've come to understand one another, let's tear off our blinds and unplug our ears to reach the truth!" Suddenly, Hirozaku is seen with a blindfold and some earplugs. "What's happening? Why did those appear?!" Tomomi asks in fear. Hirozaku grabs his blinds and takes them off his face. His eyes are closed and he opens his eyes, to which blue flames sprout everywhere around him. He grabs his earplugs and tears them off to which more flames appear from his ears. Then out appears a creature. A giant brown furry being that looks like a lion with torn clothes that once seemed nice as if it is a werewolf who has turned when attending a ball. He bears a purple cape and some kickass horns. Then it does a mighty roar. "I hear you. Now, let's kick their ass, Beast!" Then an aluminum baseball bat with rubber grip tape, a faded green label and a large dent on one side is summoned at his hands, as a representation of how he would solve several problems with his bare hands. The holy knights fire Zio at him but he somehow dodges their attack. Beast then uses Grio which extends a plant in front of Beast at an angle to impale them and make them vanish. He smacks the last one to the head with the bat he was given and then defeats it by slamming his foot on their face. "Is... is it over?" Tomomi asks. Hirozaku falls to his knees to which the other two rush to his side. "Hey man! You good?!" Rikiya asks the unconscious man. "He's fine! More importantly, how did you guys get here?!" The skunk behind them asks. The two were on guard because A. It's a skunk and B. It's a talking skunk. and C. IT'S A GODDAMN TALKING SKUNK! "We uh... we got through a portal..." Rikiya replies. "Really?! A portal?! That means that other humans can find their way in here! Did you even think of closing the door?!" The skunk exclaims to which both Tomomi and Rikiya look at one another confused. A door? "Whatever! I'll do it myself! By the way, my name's Kap. I am not of this world." Kap introduces. "I have many questions and doubts." Tomomi comments. "Well, I don't think we should stay here much longer. Let's just get back!" Rikiya replies.

            They exit the statue and they appear in front of the school. Nobody around at all. The three are outside with an unconscious Hirozaku. "Are we back at school?!" Asks Rikiya. "I believe so." Tomomi replies. "So this really is a portal to the real world." A familiar voice is heard. They turn and see Kap as a black haired 5-year-old boy with said black hair being very short. He has a black sweater with white stripes across it. He also has some pink sandals and a backpack. "I still have trouble wrapping my head around what went down. Humans managing to enter this plane of existence. But we can find that out later, for now, what are your names?" Asks Kap. "I'm Tomomi Oshiro." Tomomi replies. "I'm Rikiya Tanimoto. This guy is Hirozaku Chiba. What was that thing that came out of him? It was like some monster!" Rikiya replies and then asks. "That's his persona. They are your inner powers. Like a soul. Your personality and fighting spirit. Of course, he'd be tuckered out. You gotta get him home now! I'll see you all later!" Kap runs off. "Who the hell is that kid?" "There's no time, Rikiya! Hirozaku-kun has to get to his home now!"

            Meanwhile, Hirozaku wakes up in the dark space while on a chair. He looks around and it almost seems like a principal's office but it's closed for now. A tap on Hirozaku's shoulder is felt and instinctively, he gets up prepared to throw a punch at whoever plans to take him out, but to his surprise sees an old man in a wheelchair. He has a bearded face and seems quite plump. He has a walking stick and some sunglasses. And if one were to see within his ear, they'd see hearing aids. This old man appears to be blind and deaf. He makes some movement with his hands as if they are sign language, signifying his lack of voice. "Who... who are you?" Hirozaku asks with his guard up. The man taps on the floor with his walking stick and suddenly, a tablet appears in his hand. He hands it to Hirozaku to which he takes it and sees what appears to be a contract with the "I accept the terms and agreements" on it with a square for him to check off. "You... want me to sign this?" He asks as he turns to the old man who simply nods. "Okay?" He taps on the square and hands it back to him. The old man turns off the tablet, then moves it across his face as it disappears like a magic trick. As the place gets even darker, so does Hirozaku's vision. He wakes up in his bed. "What the fuck was that?" He questions out loud with no reply from anyone whatsoever.