Morgana smirked.
“It’s rebellious spirit within, the will to stand against the distortion of this world and not bow to its master. You can’t just ask for a Persona, you need to dig deep within yourself.”
He’s right, you haven’t even tried to rebel.
I shake my head.
What…?
Morgana eyes me.
“You can hear him, yeah?”
I turn to the cat, “hear?”
Morgana mimicked my move of placing a hand over my heart.
“Your inner rebel, the rebellious spirit, he’s speaking to you right?”
How very glib, to think that you could rebel.
The snarl from my lips doesn’t feel like my own.
“I will rebel, I won’t let that basterd get away with what he did. Not to Ryuji, not to the volleyball team, not anyone!”
That’s not enough, altruism is fine, but that is not what your heart cries out for. SPEAK IT!
I thought of my thoughts of the future, I thought about my dead parents.
I thought about how that basterd hurt my family.
Yes, the Crow, he is the prey you seek, the one your soul cries out for. The one on the side of false justice!
I scream, running out of the room.
“W-Wait! Where are you going?”
I run into a knight, and a large claw gauntlet appears in my hand. I slash the knights mask off his face.
“RAWRRR!”
He harmed your kin, he murdered your cousin’s mother, your aunt! Your pack was taken by the crow, do NOT forgive him!
My face twisted in rage as I clawed the horse like shadow beast, rending him with the gauntlets on my wrists.
“I won’t! I won’t forgive him, and all the monsters he serves! I’ll take his false justice and reveal him for the crow he is! I’ll rend him with my hands, destroying his image and breaking the façade. I won’t let there be any more victims!”
You finally say the truth of your conviction, now is the time for the pact!
I am thou, thou art I
This world is full of those who feast on the dead. Whose appetite for lives is never truly quenched.
Let them know the fear of being hunted, let them know the fangs and claws of true justice!
Call my name, and let our hunt begin!
“I hear you, Fenrir!”
My face is covered in a mask, and I rip it off. Blood coats my eyes, pain shoots through my body, and I scream with the anguish of all my grief and agony.
Holding my mask, I stare at the wolf before me.
He’s massive, the size of a semi-truck, with glowing rainbow chains around a collar on his neck. His eyes are a vibrant yellow, and his teeth are coated in red and black. His claws are pure silver, and the rest of his body is colored with a red and black motif, even on his fur.
I turn to the enemy before me, the shadow beast and his other minions.
“Rend them, Fenrir!”
I see the massive wolf howl, jumping on the horde of monsters and slashing them with his claws.
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They all fall to the floor save one.
The massive horse with two horns neighs, trying to impale me with its spikey head ornaments.
I side step the beast and pierce his neck with my claws, overcome with the urge to slash at him with my other claws.
It dies, turning into a mess of shadows and darkness.
Once it’s over, I take a seat on the ground.
“I can’t believe it, you have one too?”
I stare up at the monster cat with a wolfy grin.
“So, can I join the job then?
Morgana laughs.
“I think you more than proved it, but you’re still a rookie. You’re going to need some training first before your ready for a job like this.”
I nod, the action being a lot harder than I thought it would.
“Why am I so tired?”
“It’s the awakening, it drains you pretty hard in the beginning. Once you give it time, you’ll be much better. For now though, lets get out of here.”
I notice a patrol approaching us, the knights looking worried.
“Yeah lets.”
I punch the MetaNav app and leave the distorted castle.
Morgana and I are in the middle of a hallway, but class must still be in session because the hallways empty.
Though he is not a cat.
“So, are you a monster cat or…”
“I’m a human!”
“Right, right gotcha.”
“I am, believe it!”
I nodded with a grin on my face, clearly not convincing the poor feline.
…
The class has already ended by the time I get back.
“Amawara-kun, just what were you doing in the bathroom for a whole hour?”
Kawakami is a bit peeved, and I can see a few people snicker as I walk up to hand her the pass.
“Sorry teach, had an emergency that couldn’t wait. Won’t happen again.”
“It better not.”
“Scout’s honor.”
She looks at me confused but decides to let it go.
Meanwhile I grab my stuff, noticing Mishima is looking at my bag.
I sideways glance at him, and see his eyes dart around in a panic.
“Something on your mind Mishima?”
“W-What, n-no nothing on my mind Amawara.”
Now that’s suspicious.
Mishima wasn’t one to talk to me, and I could come off as an asshole at times I know, but he never looked so terrified before.
“Mishima, you look like someone holding you at knife point, what’s up man?”
Mishima got up quickly, grabbing his backpack and started walking away like he was trying to escape a mugging.
“H-Hey! Wait up!”
I start after him as he tries to turn the corner. Grabbing his bag.
“L-Let go!”
“Not until you tell me what's up Mishima, are you alright? Is someone threatening you?”
Mishima froze, and I knew I hit the head on the nail.
“It’s Kamoshida, isn’t it?”
“S-Stop, let go!”
“Mishima, you don’t have to take it from him. He’s supposed to be a teacher, if he’s threatening you with something, you got to let someone know!”
“And who would listen? He’s got the whole school wrapped around his thumb. I-If I just keep my head down for another year…”
“You’ll end up dead Mishima, just look at you.”
He stopped to look at his arms, the bruises that caked over his limbs.
“It’s practice, that’s right… just practice. Sometimes it can get a bit rough but… it’s nothing.”
He seemed to be in a trance, like it was a mantra someone repeated to him.
“Snap out of it! It’s wrong and you know it Mishima!”
He looked at me, his eyes glazed over.
“Don’t worry Amawara-kun, I’m fine. I need to get to practice now.”
He pushed off of me, and walked away.
Holy hell its worse than I thought.
Whether it was a distortion or something else, the whole school was starting to look terrifying.
If he isn’t stopped…
I thought to a young girl, a volleyball star who was trying to make it as a starter.
I thought about the abuse she was taking right now.
I remembered a scene from the game, one that chilled me the first time I saw it.
Of a girl falling from a roof.
…
I was sitting in Kamoshida’s office.
“So Amawara, seems you were skipping class after all.”
I stared at the walking pustule in front of me, barely containing my rage.
“I was in the bathroom sir, it just took longer than I thought.”
“You really expect me to believe that?”
I wanted to be snarky, but I couldn’t afford detention right now.
“I already told Ms. Kawakami about the issue sir, it won’t happen again.”
“Yes, it better not. Also, I wanted to mention something.”
He smirked, which made my skin crawl.
“Seems you were hanging out with Mishima, saying some very interesting things.
He pulled out his phone, and played a video message. There was no actual video, but the audio came through pretty clear.
“’It’s Kamoshida, isn’t it?’”
The whole conversation that I had with Mishima was played out in full detail.
“Slander is a very serious crime young man, especially with no proof involved. Mishima said it himself, didn’t he? It’s practice, and sometimes people get hurt.
What I’m curious about is why you thought it was someone hurting him intentionally, and why you thought it was me?”
He stared at me, not even able to hide the cockiness from his voice.
Mishima, he bugged my bag.
It was the only thing I could think of. Whether or not he did it under Kamoshida’s order was up in the air, but it was obvious that Mishima was trapped into doing it.
I got to stop this basterd.
He waited for my response
“It looked like more than just practice ‘coach’. I told Mishima that because it started looking like abuse.”
“Abuse? Again, where’s your proof?”
I stare at the molesting abusive prick.
“Sir, it’s funny you only speak of proof, when it’s obvious to even me that Mishima is suffering. I wonder, is he the only one?”
He sneered.
“So, you have nothing, then get out of my office. I got better things to do with then deal with troublesome basterds like you.”
I’m shoved, with my arm behind my back as he slams the door closed behind me.
“Well, that went well.”
I stared down at the place where Mishima’s bug was placed, right in the inseam of my backpack.
Staring at it, I noticed that the door was slightly ajar from when Kamoshida slammed the thing.
Tossing the bug inside room, I watched it slide right under his desk.
Now, I hope Mishima is listening to this. Since it’s that basterds office, he probably gets his rocks off there.
I hated that I couldn’t confront the basterd now, point out his crimes and nail him for the pervert sadist that he was.
There will be time for that latter.
For now, I had to get going.