Dark Blue Moon Chapter 1: The Moon has Risen, a persona series fanfic

Chapter 1 – The Moon has Risen

Disclaimer: The only things I claim ownership of are the elements of the story that I make up, such as the narrative and any original characters. The music referred to, the Persona and Megami Tensei series belong to their respective owners.

NOTE: This is my first fanfic on this site and is something of an experiment for me, so I apologise for the slow start. Expect anything to change as I improve my skills, and don't worry about pointing out any grammar or consistency mistakes. I'll most likely spot them whenever I reread each chapter.

Chaos.

Complete and utter chaos lay before the eyes of Akane Arisato as she surveyed her surroundings.

From what she could tell, she was on the high street of a city. It wasn't one she visited before, but she could tell that it was a once-bustling metropolis with impressive modern architecture and a large population. But right now all she could experience now was chaos. People lay dead in the streets, all of them appeared to be cut apart with blades or riddled by bullets. Some of them appeared to be the city's police force. There were also bodies of people in strange multi-coloured robes and strange circular masks, along with soldiers garbed in black.

Smoke stained the skies an ugly black. Shouts and screams echoed through the air accompanied by the sound of gunfire and the screech of missiles followed by explosions. Fires blazed from burnt-out cars and what appeared to be the remains of four-legged machines with cube-like heads. And the skies above held host to many fearsome planes that dropped paratroopers, vehicles, strange box-like objects and the occasional bomb from their holds. The entire city was a war zone, and Akane was right in the middle of it.

Hyperventilating while scared beyond belief, she looked around for any island of normality in the ocean of blood and carnage. But there was none. This part of the city appeared to be where the fighting was at its thickest. Heading up the road to the left of where she was facing at the start would bring her closer to the fighting, while heading in the other direction would in all probability bring her face-to-face with the rear guard of the invading army. Akane was at a loss as to where she could run to.

Until she heard something tapping on the glass of nearby convenience store.

Whirling around, she saw the silhouette of someone behind the window, which surprisingly remained undamaged despite the battle that took place here recently. She couldn't make out any details of the person knocking, though. The smoke from a nearby burning car was obscuring the light. So she decided to gingerly walk over and around the corpses and wreckage as she went, taking extra care not to get her shoes stained with any more blood on the way there. As she neared the department store, the figure turned and walked away. Akane quickened the pace, hoping to catch up to the person calling her.

Upon entering, she noted that, apart from the trail of red footprints that she left in her wake, the inside of the store was untouched by the recent conflict. Nothing appeared to have been damaged and the lights were still functioning. She also saw the door at the back swinging slowly, her mysterious watcher had exited through there. After wiping off as much blood as she could on the doormat, Akane went to investigate. On the other side was a short corridor leading to a back room, a fire exit and a staircase leading to the upper floors, which reverberated the sound of footsteps. Akane quickly dashed up; eager to find someone who wasn't a bloodied corpse.

There were six flights of stairs leading to the roof. All of them were steep because of the narrow building, which made her curse the architects as she dashed upwards. At the top of the staircase, the door leading to the rooftop was wide open, allowing her to run through unopposed. Though she was at full speed during the ascent, she somehow managed to stop dead in her tracks upon seeing her observer, who was standing on the railings at the edge of the roof.

From what she could tell from the view of the person's back, they appeared to be a boy who was about a foot or so shorter than her. He kept both his hands in the pockets of the green outfit he was wearing, probably a middle school uniform judging from his supposed age. The rising smoke from the street obscured the sun, making it hard to determine anything above the neckline. His hair was long and dark, from what she could tell. He surely must have noticed Akane's entrance, but kept his back to her and didn't turn his head once.

"Your eyes are a lovely cherry-red." The boy said in a nonchalant tone, completely disregarding what happened on the street as if it were an everyday occurrence. "I like cherries, they are my favourite fruit."

"Uh, thanks…?" Akane replied, perturbed by his statement. Clearing her throat, she began the expected inquiry of someone who woke up in a strange place. "What is going on here? Where am I?"

The boy chuckled. "Why, you're in Sumaru City, of course. As for what's going on, I'm not sure. The soldiers in black showed up and are suppressing all resistance. They killed my brethren, and would have killed me if I didn't fight them off."

His words made no sense to Akane. She had heard of Sumaru City before. It was something about an incident that happened a few years ago, where a takeover was staged by an armed group that was defeated by the residents of the city. But how was this boy able to fend off people trained to kill without as much as a scratch? And what about his "brethren", the masked ones? There were too many unknowns for her liking, so she decided to pry for more information.

"Who were your pals? Can they help us?"

"They can, if you join the Masquerade." The boy's tone of voice suddenly became more serious. "Master Joker can grant your wishes. He can make anything you want come true as long as you agree to help us create the Utopia we want. Call him, let him know of your desires and, if you have a wish in your heart, he will grant it. There is nothing beyond his power."

"Joker?" Thought Akane. "Isn't that the name of a serial killer from back then…?"

Apparently, this Joker would kill anyone you wish if you call him by dialling your own number on your cell phone. But the way the boy talked about him was as though he were some kind of messiah or a cult leader, not as a deranged killer as people had been informed. These conflicting tales only caused Akane to become even more confused. She was hesitant to say anything. And the boy took that as an opening.

"There is conflict in your heart, Cherry-chan." He said with sad resignation. "You doubt the power of Master Joker? If that is the case, you should not call him lest he reduce you to a mere shadow for having no wish upon your heart. And if you cannot call him…"

He looked over his right shoulder at Akane, and she gasped when she saw the same mask as the ones worn by the robed cultists on his face. A white, circular mask with gold trim and a black circle that connected the eye sockets and a strange stone in the forehead.

"…you cannot join us in our Utopia."

The boy then turned around on his right heel and stepped off the railing, landing gracefully on the roof. He then took his right hand out of his pocket and placed it against the left side of his mask with only the fingertips touching, turning his head to the left while doing so. Once he did that, a strange white aura surrounded him and an even stranger being materialised above. A menacing humanoid creature that stood proud, tall and with an air of dominance.

Akane's legs locked out of fear, her body refused to move as she watched the middle school student in terror. Every neuron in her brain fired at once, commanding her to run, but she remained rooted to the spot. The being held out its outstretched metallic right hand, as if it were issuing a command. Akane's gaze followed its hand to the skies, where she saw a flash of blue erupt from beyond the clouds. Seconds later, a lightning bolt surged downwards. Down towards the intended target, Akane.

Within the next millisecond, the lightning hit. And when it did, she immediately blacked out…

…

…and gentle pop music started playing in her ears.

"A dream?" She thought as she wiped the cold sweat from her brow.

A she regained consciousness, Akane felt gentle swaying rhythm pulling the room she was in to and fro. A slight tug in her gut told her that she was in motion. For a moment she wondered where she was, until a message from the train's speakers reminded her.

"The next stop is Iwatodai. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by the delays…"

"Oh, right. Iwatodai." She mused as she rubbed her eyes, turned her music player off and removed the red headphones from her ears. "That's right, I'm moving here to go to my next school. Guess I fell asleep on the long trip."

After wearily making sure that nobody did anything funny to her or stole something while she was asleep, Akane yawned and stood up, walking to the station-side doors in the empty carriage. Her body worked on autopilot as her brain tried to get itself in order. She was too tired to think of anything other than the basics at the moment, so when the glowing blue butterfly flew past the windows, she was suddenly jolted back to reality. Then just as quickly as it appeared, when the lights of the tunnel advertisements dimmed, the butterfly was nowhere to be seen.

Needless to say, she was dumbfounded. First she had a peculiar nightmare and then she saw a neon insect flit past. She was so weirded out that it took her a few seconds to realise that the doors had already opened and the train would depart with her on it if she didn't move fast enough. So after stepping out onto the platform, she tried to bring herself back to ground zero.

"What time is it? She wondered while checking the time on her phone. "A few seconds from midnight? Rats, I'm super late. I'd better get to the dorm as soon as possible and sort out unpacking my stuff some time tomorro… WHY DID EVERYTHING TURN GREEN!?"

Akane quickly looked around and was even more startled by finding more changes other than the sudden switch from white light to sickly green. The sudden shut off of all electric devices, the pools of blood seeping through ticket machines and random places like the large clock she was looking at. Plus, it appeared that the usually distant white moon turned a vibrant yellow and grew larger in the sky. And to top it off, in place of the people who were in the station with her a moment ago were large, ominous black coffins with a red aura swirling around the base of each and every one. All in all, she was not impressed by the way things were going lately.

"Oh, come on!" She complained out loud. "Why does this have to happen on today of all days? Isn't visiting my parent's place of death bad enough?"

Her questions were stonewalled by silence.

Sighing heavily, she decided to get to the dorm since there was nothing else she could do. She got the directions to her dorm out of her backpack and studied them. According to the information, the train station was not that far from her dorms, only a couple of blocks away. The thought would have been comforting if it weren't for the sudden change in scenery. But it seemed as though she had no choice but to go on.

With no other options available, she went on her way with recent events playing about in her mind. The nightmare was disturbing, to say the least, the blue butterfly was just plain odd, and the blood, coffins and moonlight were too darn oppressive. But these things were not at the forefront of her mind as she traversed the suddenly morbid streets of Iwatodai.

"Who was that boy? And why do I feel even more disturbed by him than my surroundings?"

Before Akihiko Sanada was one of the weirdest sights he beheld on all his patrols. A young man around his age dressed in a grey turtleneck sweater with black jeans and blue workman's style boots was dancing around to a Michael Jackson song in the middle of Port Island Station, reciting the lyrics in perfect English as though he listened to the track over and over again to get the pronunciations right. He had to admit; it was impressive to hear a Japanese person singing in English that wasn't horribly butchered by their dialect.

The singer in question was a skinny guy with long blue hair that covered most of the right side of his face. He also had two grey headphones on each ear, connected to a music player dangling in front of his chest. His eyes were closed most of the time, though Akihiko suspected that they were open narrowly. If not, then this guy must have some good spatial awareness to jump onto benches and swing from lampposts with his eyes closed.

Smirking admirably at the young man's motor skills, the boxing champion turned around and decided to walk on to the gates of his school, so he could assess the area and report back as soon as he can. Though he secretly wished that he could stay because he enjoyed the boy's singing, it would make things easier for Akihiko if he ended up in a coffin like everyone else. That way, he could complete his patrol and swing back to walk the guy home since it was far too late for someone his age to be out. Besides, he can't afford distractions while dealing with the Shadows on the prowl during the Dark Hour.

Speaking of which, it should strike very soon now. Akihiko pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and watched the seconds as they ticked down to the advent of midnight.

TICK…

…

His phone died as soon as the hand reached twelve.

Once again, Akihiko marvelled at how the ordinary could change to the extraordinary in the blink of an eye. The hustle and bustle of everyday life was instantly silenced, which then gave way to a serene gloom that resonated throughout the city, possibly the world, for all he knew. It fascinated him while making his blood boil at the same time.

This off-putting hour was the realm of the Shadows, his enemies. Every time the Dark Hour began, he felt as though the Shadows threw down their gauntlet before him. He would take up any challenge they threw at him and then pound them into the ground in response. He would never back down until he was strong enough to overcome any obstacle. The thought of getting more power was thrilling. The idea of never being powerless again was…

The lyrics of Billie Jean interrupted his thoughts.

"What the… He's still singing!?"

Quickly turning around, he confirmed that the blue-haired boy was the only other person not in a coffin. He just kept dancing and singing with his eyes closed, completely oblivious to the fact that his blue boots were stained red from splashing around in a puddle of blood. What's more, Akihiko noticed that he did not share the same symptoms as those who experienced the Dark Hour for the first time. He wasn't struck by memory loss or chilled to the bone with panic, he didn't even seem to notice or care that his music player had stopped working like every other electronic device not tuned to work in the Dark Hour. Not once did the boy break his stride or fumble with his words. It was as though nothing ever happened.

SEES, the after-school club dedicated to investigating the Dark Hour only had three members at the moment. There was only Akihiko, Mitsuru Kirijo, and Yukari Takeba in the team, not counting Chairman Ikutsuki. They were eager to get more members so they can have a better chance of finding out more about the Dark Hour and the Shadows. If he went to their school, and if Akihiko could convince him to join the group then it would be a great help to their efforts. Plus, it would get Mitsuru off his back for a while for not taking things as seriously as she wants him to.

"Hey, you there!" Akihiko called out.

The boy stopped mid-pose, opened his right eye and looked in the direction of the boxer waving at him over. He looked genuinely surprised to see Akihiko, and so he removed his headphones and toggled the power switch on his MP3 player to the "off" setting before casually walking over to the beckoning student with his hands in his pockets.

"Sorry about that." He began. "I didn't expect to see anyone else at this time of night. I thought you would have turned into a coffin like everyone else."

"Yeah, I thought the same of you." Akihiko said. "It's not often that I see someone else walking around the Dark Hour, especially not as lively as that."

The boy shrugged. "Eh, I only got here yesterday. Didn't affect me too badly the first night, though I was surprised to see how different everything became once the clock hit twelve."

"Only yesterday? Man, you must be made of some stern stuff." The red-vested boxer said with some amusement in his voice. "Name's Akihiko Sanada. I'm a third-year and the boxing club's captain at Gekkoukan High."

The blue-haired teen simply nodded, not bothering to exchange his name or offer to shake hands. "So, what's the boxing champ doing up this hellish time of night?"

Akihiko took a quick glance around to make sure the coast was clear before replying. "You see, it's not safe to be out here at this time of night. There are these creatures called Shadows…"

"Oh, you mean those unreal black things?" Blue hair interrupted. "I saw one munching on the brains of an unlucky passer-by yesterday. Another one showed up and tried to do the same to me, but I kicked it in the mask and it ran away."

Needless to say, Akihiko was astounded to hear this. Not only did he encounter a Shadow, but also drove it off without the use of a Persona? If Ikutsuki heard of this, he would think that Christmas came early with the new addition of an interesting person such as this. Of course, he could be lying, but Akihiko cleared his throat and decided to keep going with the explanations. The others would want to see him later, no matter what story he gave.

"Long story short, I'm part of an after-school club," he gestured to the red armband on his right arm, "that is dedicated to fighting the Shadows and finding out more about the Dark Hour, and hopefully get rid of it for good."

Blue hair whistled in response. "Didn't know that the school was part of the Self-Defence Force."

"It isn't, nobody else knows about what's going on so… you could say we're a freelance group. Anyway, we're always in need of new members, and just by being awake in the Dark Hour is a good sign that you're the material we are looking for. So, will you join us? It doesn't matter if you're not a student at our school, we could use all the help we can get."

The boy stroked his chin with his right hand, his pale blue eyes glancing upwards as a quizzical expression formed on his face. He held this position for a few seconds, before returning his gaze to Akihiko, this time with a warm smile on his face.

"Such a tempting offer, given the chance to do something other people can't do and protecting them from things unseen. I would love to join you…" He paused for a second, before turning around, holding up his right hand with only his index and middle fingers raised together, before turning his hand ninety degrees to the right and extending his thumb while he did so, as a way of waving goodbye before walking off. "Buuuuuut I'll have to pass. Later."

"Wha… Hey, wait up!" Akihiko was dumbfounded by the sudden, flippant dismissal. So he quickly dashed forward and tried to grab the boy's shoulder…

"Oh. By the way, I got this from that shadowy-thing." The boy said, brandishing a strange light blue gem he had hidden in the curled fingers of his right hand before crushing it.

FSSSH!

Akihiko yelled in pain as a Bufula spell encased him in ice before shattering.

The boy in red looked at the retreating blue head in shock, before collapsing to the ground in agony. His Persona had an affinity with electricity and a weakness to ice. It might have been a lucky guess on the mysterious boy's part, but the attack nearly killed Akihiko.

"He has a Persona?" Spoke his thoughts through the pain as it dulled his senses, muting the fading footsteps. "I didn't see him summon one. But that gem had properties only a Persona user could utilise… Man, this hurts!"

Groaning in pain, Akihiko was surprised that no Shadows had jumped at him while he was crippled on the ground like that, especially given how close he was to Tartarus. But he wasn't complaining. He needed to let the others know about this guy as soon as possible. It's bad enough having one person with the potential around who won't join for selfish reasons, but the blue-haired boy could tap into that power and was prepared to use it to harm others. That was not something Akihiko would let go just like that.

After fighting off the worst of the pain and shock, he got to his knees and pulled out his Evoker that he hid in his jacket. It was summoning device that resembled a silver gun. He placed it beneath his chin and pulled the trigger, summoning his Persona, Polydeuces.

BANG!

Shards of ethereal glass spiralled upwards out of his head, flowing behind him and merging to form a tall, imposing figure with a squat head that had pale white skin, sunken yellow eyes and flowing blonde hair wearing blue tile-like armour plating over a white body-suit, and had red boots and a red glove on his left hand. His body had odd proportions, the muscles on its torso, upper arms and thighs were incredibly bulky while the shins, feet, left forearm and hand were all disturbingly small by proportion. The only exception was his right arm, which was covered entirely by a steel prosthetic ending with an antenna-like spike protruding from the hand. That was the point where Polydeuces focused all his power, and he pointed it towards Akihiko, bracing it with his left hand, before leaping backwards as it blasted a Dia spell at him to cure his freezer burns.

His Persona faded back into his subconscious after fulfilling its task. Holstering his evoker, Akihiko took a moment to catch his breath before standing up again. He put his hand to the discreet transmitter in his left ear, pressing the send button. "Mitsuru… *cough* ugh, you there?"

"Akihiko!" Came the response. "What's going on? I sensed that you were in pain just now."

After groaning again, he managed to answer his worried classmate. "You're not gonna believe this… I met someone with the potential at Port Island Station. And I didn't see him summon one, but he can tap into the power of Persona."

There was a brief silence on the other side, probably her and Yukari reacting in a surprised manner. Akihiko gave them time to muse over this. There's no sense in rushing women, especially Mitsuru.

"I see. Are you injured?"

"He used a gem with a Bufula spell to freeze me as he walked off, the jackass." He replied, with a slight hint of annoyance. "Managed to fix myself up, though I could do with a hot shower later."

"Can you describe this person?"

"By the looks of things, he's around Takeba's age. Don't know if he goes to Gekkoukan, but apparently he arrived here yesterday, so he could be a transfer student. He has blue hair, grey eyes and a music player with grey headphones around his neck. A guy like that shouldn't be too hard to spot."

"Copy that, I'll check the class rosters for anyone matching his description and make some enquiries with the other…" Once again, the line went silent.

"Mitsuru? You still there?" Akihiko asked, this time being the worried one.

"I sense a strange presence at the train station, it's approaching the dorm. Takeba and I will investigate. You should get back here as soon as possible. We may need your help."

"Roger. I'll be there."

Taking his hand away from his ear, Akihiko warmed up and began jogging back to the dorm. Since it would have taken a long time to go over to the Moonlight Bridge to cross back onto the mainland, he decided to take a chance and run along the monorail line since the power was out. He just hoped that there wasn't a train on his path as he went over the water, as there were few points without any inspection platforms due to maintenance issues. Still, it would give his balance a workout as he jogged along the thin metal line. And his pain tolerance too, his body still stung from that attack.

All the way over, Akihiko kept on mulling over recent events in his head. The Shadows appeared to grow more restless and aggressive lately, this strange boy with the potential appeared, and now something strange is heading straight for headquarters. It seemed that the new school year would bring more than its fair share of problems. But those prospects didn't bother him in the slightest.

"Heh, things are getting interesting a little too fast." He thought, making it out of Iwatodai station just before the Dark Hour ended.

Akane's first day at school was a welcome break from the crazy stuff that happened to her recently. Not only were there train delays, nightmares, radioactive butterflies and trip into another dimension, but she had to deal with a small boy in prison clothes asking her to sign a contract, and two of her schoolmates with handguns strapped to their thighs, which they seemed reluctant to give an explanation for. That was just too much for one night, so she was grateful for a few hours' sleep.

Next morning, she made her way to the beautifully located school with Yukari Takeba (Sans handgun) via the monorail. She was a good looking girl around the same height as Akane, though her figure was more athletic and she had light brown hair and hazel eyes. Like Akane, she was dressed in the Gekkoukan High uniform, but she appeared to have taken a few liberties with her appearance. She wore a pink cardigan in place of the black blazer and a mini-skirt in place of the standard knee-length one Akane wore. She wore the same style of brown loafers as Akane, though the long black socks with white decal appeared to be pushing the boundaries somewhat. How she was able to get away with that getup was beyond Akane, but she figured that if the school was that lax with the dress code, then she could get away with wearing her headphones.

Despite their awkward encounter last night, the two girls were getting along well. Yukari was friendly and eager to help, a rare quality that most students lacked in her other schools, Akane noted. She guessed that it came with the territory. After all, who would want to share a living space with someone you hate? But she had her suspicions that the girl in pink was trying to make up for last night, or even prompt her to put it out of mind. There was a mysterious undertone to her actions that Akane took note of. This sense came from experience, she had to deal with a few pesky boys in the past who had ulterior motives. But after a few hours together, Akane guessed Yukari was merely trying to help. So she decided to hold her suspicions for now lest she lose a potential new friend.

On their way through the gates, Akane noticed that many people were complimenting her appearance as well as comparing her to her dorm mate. She paid them no mind, deciding to wait until class introductions to worry about news circulating about her. But there were some other rumours that got her attention, namely ones concerning a boy that came in before her. He obviously got the attention of the girls, since they were talking almost incessantly about how handsome and suave he was. Some even joked that he and Yukari might make a good couple; others suspected that just by being another transfer student meant that he and Akane knew each other in some form. Not wanting to give the rumour mill any reason to increase production, she decided to reserve judgment until she actually met the guy. Yukari, however, was not impressed by the gossip and scowled at the rumourmongers as she quickly walked on.

After parting ways with her dorm mate at the shoe lockers, Akane decided to hang out in the corridor for a bit. To get a feel of the school's atmosphere, she eavesdropped on some conversations the other students had while checking out her class placement on the notice board. The list was so jam-packed with names that it took her two tries to find out that she was in 2-F, along with Yukari, she noticed. At least she had a familiar face to ease the awkwardness of introducing oneself to the class. That was usually a stressful situation for her on the first days at every new school. And with that in mind, she turned to walk down to the faculty office to get another stressful situation out of the way: the paperwork.

Upon entering the faculty office, she was greeted by Isako Toriumi, her new homeroom teacher. Akane almost did a double take when she stood up to meet her, for the teacher looked suspiciously like a grown-up version of Yukari. Her hair was the same colour and in a similar choppy style, her outfit's main colour was pink and she had this underlying beauty that was comparable to Yukari's. The difference was that Miss Toriumi's brown eyes were several shades darker, her pink pantsuit wasn't as bright as Yukari's cardigan and her beauty didn't stem from athletic prowess, but from a more academic background. With her confusion quickly dismissed, she returned the teacher's greeting and moved on to the boring admin work.

They went through the usual motions; checking the information to make sure it was all correct and apologising because she forgot to read the part about being an orphan because she was so busy, which Akane brushed off in a cheery fashion. She learned not to make too much of a fuss regarding her parents' deaths if it was brought up in an innocent way like this, though it still pained her to remember the incident. After getting that straight, the conversation was interrupted by the snap of a closing cell phone behind her proceeding a vocal introduction.

"Well, this is rare. It's not often that I have company whenever I move to a new school."

Turning around, Akane came face-to-face with whom, she assumed, the other students were gossiping about. He was casually leaning against the wall on the right side of the door, hands in pockets and legs crossed. He wore his jacket open and, strangely enough, he also had the same model of music player and headphones that Akane did (Apart from the different colour schemes, of course). She noted that the girls gossiping were right about one thing; he was a looker. His long blue hair and grey eyes were rare features, plus his voice was warm and inviting.

But the real selling point was his smile. All the while he stood there, he had a smile on his face the whole time. While a feature like that would normally make people suspicious, it seemed to compliment his appearance well. There was no malice in his eyes, just plain sincerity. It was as though that smile was his neutral expression. And yet, there was a nagging doubt about it that made her uncomfortable. As if it were unnatural for him of all people to smile like that.

Miss Toriumi cleared her throat. "This is Shiomi-san, another transfer student who I have been talking with before you came in. I can sort the rest of the paperwork out later since we got the important parts out of the way. But for now, let's go to the opening ceremony."

The boy nodded and stepped away from the wall, walking over to Akane, who was still somewhat unsettled by his appearance. And she was even more unsettled when he raised his right arm before crossing it over his chest to bow with over-the-top elegance. As for Miss Toriumi, she simply rolled her eyes and shook her head at his over-the-top introduction.

"My full name is Sakuya Shiomi. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"...Isn't that a girl's name?" Akane asked on impulse, silently cursing herself when she realised that he probably heard that a million times over.

Although there was a slight wince just hidden by his long fringe, Sakuya stood upright once more with a shrug and a bashful smile. "Yeah... I get that a lot. Don't know what my parents were thinking when they christened me with the name of a goddess. But I've lived with it for seventeen years, so why complain now?"

Surprised by the calm way he handled a subject that would've enraged most people, Akane made a note never to bring the subject up again and simply responded with a formal bow before introducing herself. "Akane Arisato. Nice to meet you, too."

Sakuya gave a polite nod in return before looking to their homeroom teacher. "Well, I'd say we had better get moving."

Miss Toriumi asked them to follow her and led the way to the auditorium with them in tow. Secretly, Akane was somewhat nervous to be seen together with Sakuya, given the rumours going around already. But that was a problem she could sort out in class later. There would be ample opportunity to disprove any theories about him and her. And, if fate decreed it, she did end up dating him, none of that would matter at all. "If" being the key word, of course.

"By the way, Akane-san…" Sakuya casually said as they walked along.

"Hm? Yes?" She asked after being dragged out of her thoughts.

"Has anyone ever told you that your eyes are a lovely cherry-red?"

Author's Note

The idea for this fanfic was bought about when I found out about the Demon Path in a game called Soul Nomad and the World Eaters. The idea of an evil / antagonistic protagonist was an interesting concept that hasn't been played with that much in regards the Persona series. I've seen very few 'fics with this theme on the site. I guess people are more comfortable with sticking with what they know, rather than trying to experiment with well-loved characters.

Some of you may be wondering why I decided to call the Female Protagonist "Akane". Well according to my research, the meaning of her name is "deep red", so I thought it would tie in well with her colour scheme. Plus I wanted to play with the cherry references a bit.

I decided to call the Male Protagonist by the name used in the Persona 3: the Weird Masquerade to make it easier to differentiate between him and Akane. I still get caught up in some fanfics where they have similar names. Plus, "Sakuya" is similar to the name "Sakura", another cherry reference. And yes, I completely forgot to address the fact that it was a girl's name until SilverFlameHaze pointed it out in his review, but I have corrected that issue by the time you read this.

As for the tie-in with Persona 2, there was just too much good material for me to pass up. Hopefully I'll be able to tie it into the plot of this fic without too many glaring errors. Easier said than done, of course.