Akira pulls Ryuji to his feet. "How’d you do all that?” The boy asks. “What was all that?"

Akira takes in his gloved hands, the midnight overcoat. "I don't know." It's true. He doesn't understand what has happened. He knows, instinctually, that Arsene is part of him and not some random hallucination. He knows Arsene is his Persona. Yet, he does not know what that means.

"H-Hey, look!" Ryuji points to the Castle's entrance. Six guards have emerged and charge, swords high, shields ready.

Akira smirks. "No problem." He steps towards them.

His clothes change. A flash of blue, and he is in his school uniform once more. The energy drains from his body, and he doubles over, his hands on his knees. "Huh?"

Ryuji’s eyes widen. "Oh, shit. What's wrong? Can't you do the thing?" The guards get closer. Ryuji takes Akira's arm and shakes it. "Come on, man!"

Akira's mind spins. What's happening? Why can’t I do it? Arsene? There is no response.

The guards are nearly upon them. "Screw it!" Ryuji shouts. "Come on, man! We've got to run!"

"Amateurs," says a high-pitched, boyish voice—a small, black and white flash darts from beneath the platform and moves to intercept the guards.

"Huh?" Ryuji asks as Akira stares. It is a cat on its hind legs, with a bulbous head and dressed with a yellow scarf and tool belt.

It stops before the guards, strikes a pose with its feet squared, head up, and shoulders back. "Come out," it calls, "Zorro!"

A cyclone of blue flame spins up above the cat creature, and a towering, barrel-chested, black-caped figure emerges—one arm behind its back, the other grips a rapier in a mocking salute to the guards.

"Show your might!" The cat cries, and Zorro swishes its blade through the air in a 'z.’ Six pillars of wind-whipped air twist around the approaching guards. They lift off the ground and whimper, briefly, before they collapse back to earth in heaps of black ash.

Zorro vanishes. The cat turns back to the platform and the boys. "You two better be grateful."

The boys look at each other. "Is that a cat?" Ryuji asks.

"Must be."

The thing glares. "I don't have time to correct you right now. You both need to leave before more guards arrive."

To Akira, Ryuji asks, "Do you have the slightest idea about what's going on?"

Akira shakes his head. "I do not."

The cat groans. "Look, do you two idiots want to get out of here or not? I have no idea how you got here from the real world, but I'll have you know I just blew my whole infiltration to save your sorry butts."

"What'd you mean by 'the real world?'” Akira asks.

The cat begins to hop up and down, flapping its arms wildly. "We don't have time for this! Just come on!"

#

“We're clear. Come on."

The cat leads them to a storage room. Near the top of a series of shelves shoved against the far wall is a grate just large enough for Ryuji and Akira to crawl through, one by one. This, the cat says, is how it entered the Castle. When Ryuji and Akira describe how they walked in via the front door, the cat rolls its eyes and calls them fools.

"So, we can get out this way?" Ryuji asks.

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Its task almost complete, the cat relaxes a bit, slings itself against the doorframe, and regards the claws on its paw with indifference. "But I have to say, frizzy hair, I wouldn't have thought you'd be able to summon a Persona."

"Thanks." He looks down at the cat-thing and says, "But what exactly are you? I mean, you look like a cat and-"

"I'm not a cat," the thing replies, an edge to its voice. "My name is Morgana, and I'm a human. Just like you."

"Uh, but you look like a cat, dude," Ryuji says.

"He has a point," Akira puts in.

"Look, I don't have time to explain how distortion and cognition work. Thanks to you two, I've got plenty of backtracking to do, and I haven’t located another Safe Room, so how about you get through that vent and get lost? Once you’re outside, head over the drawbridge and exit where you came in."

Ryuji shrugs and marches towards the shelves. "Fine by me. I'm done with this crazy place anyway." He sets his foot onto the bottom shelf and reaches towards the top. "Akira, dude, you coming?"

"Yeah," Akira says and follows.

Morgana watches them leave.

#

"Navigation Complete."

Akira and Ryuji stand on a sidewalk. The cat had been right. It had taken Akira and Ryuji a few minutes to locate the point they’d entered the strange other world. Once away from the Castle, the city appeared normal, except for the red sky and absent people. It had been Ryuji who pointed out the overhang Akira had been standing under when they’d met, and as they approached, the two had been shocked to find themselves suddenly in broad daylight. Pedestrians, most with their eyes buried in their phones, swung around the two boys, giving them wide berths.

Ryuji looks at Akira and says, "Dude."

Akira meets his eyes. "Yeah." He feels different. The confidence has leeched out of him, and he feels subdued, regulated, bottled up.

"Hey!"

The two look up as a pair of police officers approach them. Their uniforms are crisp and pressed, the buttons on their caps polished. Their eyes are solid and stern. They are not the same men who arrested Akira that night, but they have the same look. Akira can almost feel the mask of respectful acquiescence slide back over his face. Several facts crash home all at once. Akira and Ryuji are wearing school uniforms, and they are most likely very, very late for school. Akira keeps his eyes on the ground.

"What are you two doing here?" One of the officers asks.

"What?" Ryuji asks. His voice is high and defensive. "We haven't done anything." Akira wants to tell him to be quiet, but Ryuji just continues. "Why're you looking at us like that?"

"Those are Shujin Academy uniforms, aren't they?" The second officer asks. "Mind telling us why you aren't in school?"

Ryuji's response is to pull out his phone. His eyes bulge when he sees the time. "Oh, shit! Akira, dude, it's so freaking late! We were in that Castle for hours!"

"Castle?" The first officer asks. "Are you two high?"

Ryuji's face is one of outrage, but before he can reply, Akira offers a deep bow and speaks. "Please, excuse us, officers. I sincerely apologize. We will be getting back to school right away." He holds the position, eyes fixed on his own feet.

The second officer grunts. "Fine, get going. Don't let us catch you cutting class again."

"We weren't!" Ryuji shouts, but Akira grabs his arm and drags him away. "Dude, what the hell?"

"Let's go," Akira whispers. "Before we get in more trouble."

They get around the corner when Ryuji turns and says, "What was all that about? We should've-"

"They wouldn't have believed us," Akira replies. He hates how monotone his voice is. "It doesn't matter if our story was true or not. People like them see what they want to see. They don't care about the truth. To them, we're just two kids cutting class. Nothing else." He sighs. “Besides, would you believe us? That we just escaped some alternate reality Castle where our school’s gym teacher tried to kill us? And that a talking cat saved us?”

Ryuji stares at him for a moment, then frowns and says, "Fine. Yeah, okay. That’s fair." He leads them down the narrow street towards the school, which has reverted to its standard self. "What the hell?" Ryuji asks. Akira doesn't know what to say. Since waking, the things he has dealt with are not the things he thought he would have to deal with on his first day of school.

The entire week was turning out to be quite different from what he expected.

They head towards the main entrance, but Ryuji suddenly blocks Akira's path with his arm. "Hold up. I just thought of something. It's like, lunchtime. If we walk in the main entrance, everyone's gonna see us. Come on." Akira follows Ryuji back down the street and around to the back of the school. The wall around the campus grounds is low, and the two can quickly scale over a section near the gym. "This way," Ryuji tells him as they climb, "no one will even notice us."

They drop down the other side and land in the center of a ring of first year girls, who all promptly scream. "Oh shit!" Ryuji cries and tries to calm them down with platitudes like, "We're just looking at stuff," which causes the girls to scream more.

Akira, for his part, stands there and tries to look meek. The girls eventually scatter, and Akira turns to Ryuji and says, “You’re right. That was much better than walking in the front door.” Ryuji groans and pulls him towards the walkway that cuts through the courtyard. They're barely on the concrete when Akira hears a throat clear behind them.

Kawakami is standing with her hands on her hips. Her face contorts into a grimace of barely contained rage. "Five hours," she whispers. Several other students are present on the crosswalk. Some of them clear the area, fast. Others turn so they can hear better. "You are five hours late."

"We-" Ryuji starts.

"Quiet, Sakamoto," Kawakami growls. "I do not have the time or the patience to deal with you right now. Get out of here." Ryuji stands still, a torn look on his face. "Now."

"Okaysorrybye," Ryuji says and nods to Akira as he dashes away.

Now, Kawakami's ire is focused solely on Akira. He withers under the glare she gives him. It isn't just a look of anger or frustration; part of her looks sad. The sadness of someone who has had all their suspicions confirmed but didn't want them to be. "Faculty office. Let's go."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

She leads him upstairs, past dozens of students who watch their procession. Akira can almost hear their thoughts. Who is that guy, and what's he done to piss Kawakami-sensei off so much? When they are alone in the faculty office, Kawakami turns on Akira. He can see all the exhaustion in her face take a single, brief hold on her before she pushes it aside and says, "It's your first day, and you're already pulling something like this? Kurusu, don't you even care?"

He considers telling her about the trains. About his involvement in yesterday's accident, his spending the night on a couch, and the delays. But he's five hours late. The delays were terrible that morning, but not that bad. He’d have made it to school on time if it hadn’t been for the Castle. "I'm sorry," he says. He is a humble, harmless student once more. He adds, "Very sorry," for good measure.

She sighs. "You're not even going to offer an excuse? I mean, come on, you were with Sakamoto, weren't you? Of all the people you could've met today, you met him."

"Ryuji?"

"Look, I know you're probably lonely. You want friends. Of course, you do. But Sakamoto? He's a troublemaker. A bad one."

"I don't believe you."

They stare at each other in silence. No, what Akira doesn't believe is that he just said that. Can we have one conversation where you don’t make things worse? His brain chides. More words tumble from him before he can shut his dumb mouth. "He seems like a good guy. Maybe he just-“

"That's enough." Her words are cold now. "Don't speak to me like that."

Akira sucks in his lips, bows, and says, "I'm sorry, Kawakami-sensei."

The woman looks at the clock on the wall. "Lunchtime is almost over. There was someone I wanted you to meet, but I suppose it'll have to wait until another time." She stares up at him for a moment, then says, "I don't want you pulling something like this again. Got it?" He nods. "Alright, then. You've got to introduce yourself to the class. Come on."

She leads him out as the bell rings. Students shuffle back to their classrooms. Akira follows her down the hall to class 2-B. Kawakami slides open the door to the room and steps inside. "Alright," he hears her call. “Settle down." He steels himself and follows her inside.

He notices the blonde girl from the awning and the Castle, the one Ryuji named Takamaki. She sits with her head propped up on her hand, gazing out the window, indifferent to whatever’s going on up front. She glances in his direction once, blinks, frowns and then looks back out the window. That is not the reaction Akira expected.

"...Akira Kurusu," Kawakami is saying. "We had him come late today because he wasn't feeling well." At this, Takamaki does perk up and studies Akira with suspicion. Does she remember what happened in the Castle? "Introduce yourself to the class," Kawakami says.

It is only then that Akira notices how nervous everyone in the room looks. They all regard him with trepidation. Finally, he bows and says, "I'm Akira Kurusu. I hope we get along."

The whispers begin.

"It's him, the one I told you about."

"Quiet, he's looking right at us."

"Do you think he really keeps a knife on him?"

"I don't see a scar. Maybe it's on his chest or something?"

Akira does not understand what is happening. Why are they afraid of him? He glances at Kawakami, who frowns and looks at the ground. She knew about this. Caustic bile sloshes in his stomach as he realizes this. The rumors continue to escalate, even as he stands there, even as he hears them all. "Quiet down," his teacher finally says. She points at a desk near the back corner. It is directly behind Takamaki. "Take a seat over there, alright?" Akira nods and heads for it. For a bare moment, he stops next to Takamaki's desk and glances down at her. She gives him a confused look. "Again?" She whispers. “Sit down, weirdo.”

"Take a seat, Kurusu," Kawakami calls. He steps past the desk and sits down.

Two girls a row over bring their heads together. "Did you see that? Do you think they know each other?"

"Maybe they're dating?"

"If that's true, then she's cheating on him with Kamoshida!"

“Or cheating on Kamoshida with him.”

Akira stiffens at this. Takamaki visibly shakes as well, but both remain silent. Akira stares at the back of her head. He needs to speak with her and find out just what the hell is going on.

#

School does not go well. During the last period, a teacher asks Akira a question about Plato and logic. Akira, trying to structure the previous few days' events into some cohesion, does not know the answer and says as much.

The teacher, some gruff old asshole named Ushimura, admonishes him, and the rumor-loving students take this in stride and erupt in a flurry of gossip.

"He's a delinquent after all. No wonder he got it wrong."

"Of course he wouldn't know. I bet those glasses are just for show."

"Man, he's going to do so bad on the test."

He ignores these as best he can, and when the last bell rings, he shoots out of his chair. Takamaki makes a beeline for the door, and Akira intends to ask her what she knows about the Castle. Kawakami enters the room and blocks his path. She beckons, and he follows her out into the hall. He sees a blonde flash as Takamaki turns into the stairwell further down the hall. Damn.

"So, here's the deal," Kawakami says. "Tomorrow, I want you here, first thing in the morning. There's someone I want you to meet. I think she'll be a good influence on you. Not like…" It is only then that she notices Ryuji sauntering his way down the hall. "Speak of the devil. I assume your homeroom teacher gave you a talking to about being late this morning?"

Ryuji sighs and stares at the ground. "Yeah." He glances at Akira and whispers, "Meet you on the roof," before he turns and stalks away.

"So," Kawakami says, having not heard Ryuji's words. "I can count on you being here tomorrow morning, yes?"

Akira keeps his eyes on the ground, nods, and says, "Yes, ma'am."

"You can just call me Kawakami-sensei," she says. "I'm not old enough to be a ma'am yet."

Akira hears the lilt of a joke in her voice, but he doesn’t offer a smile. Kawakami had known about the rumors. She had known the students had some inflated, batshit crazy notion of Akira in their collective heads, and she hadn’t thought to warn or prepare him at all. Yes, there are things of more consequence weighing upon him. The Castle. His Persona. But how can he not care?

Akira keeps his eyes on the ground. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kawakami-sensei."

He spins and walks as fast as he dares to the stairwell. Several students watch him as he goes. He knows he needs to speak with Ryuji, but part of him wants just to go back to LeBlanc. He arrives on the third floor and continues up. He finds a double door leading to the roof and peeks through the looking glass to see Ryuji, alone, perched on a discarded chair. Akira opens the door and steps outside.

Ryuji stands as he approaches. "Hey. Glad you could make it." He wears a faint smile on his face. "I'm guessing Kawakami gave you a pretty big warning about staying away from me, huh?"

"Yeah, she did. She said you’re a pretty big troublemaker. And now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure the Principal said something about that too, when I met him yesterday."

"Yeah, well, a lot of people think that." He leans back on the roof's bulky A/C unit and says, "Anyway, we should probably talk about that Castle." Akira nods. "So, I saw Kamoshida today, and he didn't even blink at me. Like, he didn't remember what happened over there at all."

Akira reaches his hands up to rub his eyes, but his fingers brush against the lenses of his glasses. "Yeah," he says. "That Takamaki girl we saw-"

"Ann?"

"Yeah, her. She's in my class. She didn't say anything about it either."

"When those guards were dragging us to that courtyard, we passed a bunch of cells filled with people," Ryuji says. "I recognized some of them. They're students here! I saw a couple of them today, but it's the same story. No one remembers anything. Dude, what the hell is going on?"

Akira shakes his head. "I have no idea."

"I mean, we weren't tripping on anything, right? I don't do drugs or anything, but it's the only explanation."

"Not to mention that cat thing."

"Yeah! What was up with that? Morgana, I think it said its name was. And hell, while we're on the subject of weird shit, what about you? I mean, your clothes changed into that badass coat, you summoned some kind of giant demon thing, and you moved super fast and kicked some serious ass!"

"As to that," Akira says. "To be honest, I've been having what I thought were hallucinations since I arrived in Tokyo," Akira speaks for a few minutes, bringing Ryuji up to speed. He leaves out the part about the train crash and his collapsing the previous night and sticks solely to the pillars of blue flame and other things he's seen.

"Wow," Ryuji replies once Akira wraps up. "If I hadn't been there with you today, I would've thought you were nuts." A strange look crosses his face. "You said an app on your phone did all that shit?" He lowers his eyes to Akira's pocket. "Like, dude. Is it still there?"

Akira wants to slap himself. How stupid am I? How could he have not checked that since leaving the Castle? Akira yanks his phone out of his pocket and stands next to Ryuji so they can both see the screen.

Sure enough, the red app stares back at them. "That's the one," Akira says, pointing at it.

"Well, don't touch it," Ryuji yelps, backing away. "I don't want to go back there, dude."

Akira gingerly returns the phone to his pocket. "I don't even know how it works. Today, it took us to the Castle, but the first two times I saw it and tried to delete it, it just showed me Arsene." He shakes his head. "This doesn't make sense." A thought occurs to Akira. "But you saw all that stuff in the Castle today too. Have you seen any weird stuff lately?"

"Like today wasn't enough?" Ryuji asks. He shakes his head. "Nah, man. Just the usual crap."

The two look at each other for a few moments, but neither says anything or provides an answer. Akira cracks a smile. "Hey, maybe we were just high. Maybe we still are."

"This would make one involved anti-drug ad." Ryuji chuckles and crosses his arms. "But. Setting aside all this weird shit with your phone, even if all that was some kinda shared dream or whatever, it doesn't change the fact that you saved me in there." He holds out his hand once more. "Thanks, Akira. I owe you one."

Akira smiles and shakes it, but his grin fades when Ryuji’s face falls. "What's wrong?"

"Shit, man, I don't know how to tell you this, but..." Ryuji reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. "I looked up your name. I was just curious, yeah? But I found all this crazy shit about you online."

"What kind of crazy shit?"

Ryuji frowns and no longer meets his eyes. Instead, he just hands Akira his phone. Akira scans through the site's information. It's all there. The arrest. The trial. The verdict. He recalls the whispered slights from his fellow students. It all came from this. “This is supposed to be sealed,” Akira whispers, incredulous. “I’m-”

“Check the next tab,” Ryuji interrupts. Akira’s thumb clicks the appropriate button. A RINE window opens, and the dense text assaults him.

…already threatened some girls!

(He told the Principal to go fuck himself!!!)

Kamoshida-sensei already spoke to him and set him straight…

(…nothing to worry about…)

(killed someone that’s why he’s here!)

…if that’s true, why isn’t he in jail LOL

(broke out)

…and went back to high school!?!?!?!?!?!

He’ll probably stop showing up in a week or two so stop getting all bent out of shape everyone!

…I could take him…

…do it then!

(…said she saw him talking to Takamaki! Kamoshida-sensei will…)

… RIP Akira Kurusu I guess ROFL

Akira almost shoves the phone back at Ryuji. All the exaggerated bullshit had stemmed from the posted articles and its expose on the newest delinquent to attend Shujin. And once the student body got hold of it, they sprinted.

"Someone leaked it," Ryuji says. "And I bet I know who."

"Who?" Akira asks, exhausted all over again.

"Kamoshida, of course."

Akira isn't sure what to make of that. "But why would he do that?"

Ryuji shrugs. "He doesn't want you here, he doesn't like you, he just likes to have control over everything, take your pick. But I'd bet a hundred thousand yen it's him that did this."

Akira's hands shake as he hands the phone back to Ryuji. "A teacher...would really do that?" Of course, a teacher would, a voice in his head admonishes. Kamoshida leaked your information online. Kawakami knew about it and said nothing. No one will believe a thing you say now.

"Dude, you saw Kamoshida in that Castle! The guy was about to do a lot worse to us than just leak our shit online. And, honestly..." Ryuji's voice lowers a bit. "He did the same thing to me last year."

"Seriously?"

Ryuji yawns and straightens. "Yeah, but that's a story for another time. All I'm saying is, if you were looking to keep a low profile, he's not going to let you. But," and his grin returns, "I think you and I will get along just fine as troublemakers. Let’s just try and stay out of any… I don’t know, weird, other dimensions and crap."

“Agreed,” Akira says.

Ryuji sets out towards the roof's door. "I'll catch you tomorrow, Akira." Then he's out the door and gone.

"See ya, Ryuji," Akira says.

He stands on the roof for a bit longer in the solitude and silence. Nothing makes sense, but at least if someone like Ryuji is around, things might not be so bad.

#

That night, he collapses into his bed, fresh from a Sojiro scolding. The school had called him and informed him of Akira's extended absence. Akira had managed to talk his way out of the issue by stating he’d been halfway to school when he suddenly felt sick. Takemi had recommended he take it easy, after all. He told Sojiro he’d stopped in a café for a few hours, which Sojiro took apparent offense to because said café wasn’t LeBlanc. His guardian reiterated his stance. He’d forgive this minor indiscretion, but that was it.

Akira had not said anything more.

He lifts his phone until his face becomes bathed in the blue light. Don’t, he thinks. He unlocks it and scrolls to the RINE app. You’ll regret this. You know you’ll regret this. Don’t do it. Don’t look at it. Akira ignores all this and opens the app. He reads only a few lines on the Shujin hub before he turns the phone off. They were still talking about him. Hours later and they were still talking about him. After everything that had happened in the last day, this should’ve been the last thing that bothered him. But it wasn’t.

Akira forces his thoughts back to the Castle, Kamoshida, Morgana, and Arsene. He soon drifts off to sleep.

Moments of blissful rest. Then the sound of chains and a low moan. Akira's eyes open, and he finds himself in the destitute cell. "Oh, no." His head turns, and he looks past the bars to the figure sitting behind the familiar rotting desk.

"Trickster," Igor says, his voice a low rumble. "Welcome back."