I love this series so much, I felt that it was about time I did something like this. Also I have this headcanon that all the protags are related in some way and ugh, I can't help myself. I don't actually know too much about the first two games, so those protag's will be not much more than mentioned in passing or very brief appearances.

I've already posted this on AO3, so I figured, why not put it up on FF too? Since I hate myself, haha.

Prologue – A Matter Of Moments

"One thing I am certain of
is the most meaningful
and compelling
events in our lives
often come and go
in a matter of moments.
Like shooting stars –
you gasp, then they're gone."
~Beau Taplin

Yu was only three years old when his father died.

He did not understand exactly what was going on, like why all these adults were around, looking at him with these sad faces. He could not understand why mother was crying; only that he wanted her to stop. Uncle Ryotaro and Aunt Chisato were there, talking in soft voices to one another. When he saw Yu looking, he gave a sad smile.

Aunt Miho and Uncle Hayate were the last to arrive, bringing with them their two children. Aunt Miho gave him a small smile before moving towards mother. Uncle Hayate joined Uncle Ryotaro and Aunt Chisato at the kitchen table.

Minato and Hamuko eventually found their way to him. The twins were only two years older, but those two years felt like eons.

"C'mon, let's go play." Hamuko grabbed his hand and pulled him away, her auburn-colored ponytail swinging back and forth as she walked. Yu didn't want to go yet; he wanted mother to stop crying. But Hamuko didn't give him much of a choice, pulling him along with Minato trailing behind.

Yu wasn't sure he liked his new dad. He may have been only five years old, but he felt that he and mother had been doing just fine without a dad. But he hadn't said anything when they'd gotten married a year ago, and he wasn't going to say anything now. Not when mother smiled like that.

Mr. Nao smiled down at Yu as he entered the kitchen. "What's up little man? You hungry?"

Yu tried not to scowl too hard at him as he dragged the stepstool out from the pantry, pulling it up to the counter before climbing on top. He opened the cabinet, but found that that his favorite glass—the big tall one with the cartoon deities on it—was still too far to reach.

It was only as he was climbing onto the counter that Mr. Nao stepped in.

"Hey, why don't I get that for you kid?" He had a tight-lipped smile, edging in front of Yu, as if trying to block his way. This time, Yu let him see the irritation at the man on his face before pointedly ignoring him and reaching up. The glass was just out of his reach, but he could brush it with his fingertips. He raised himself on his toes. Just a little more…

Yu didn't register the sensation of falling until he was already being held by Mr. Nao, the man kneeling on the ground. Yu looked up at him; he smiled, white-faced and shaky.

"Hey, little man. Let's not do that again, okay? Next time you want something, just ask me or your mom to get it for you."

Yu didn't understand what the problem was, only that when he looked at the floor, his favorite glass was in pieces.

Mother ran into the kitchen only a few seconds later, her bare feet narrowly avoiding the glass shards on the floor. "Yu, Nao! What happened? I heard something break, are you alright?" She spoke almost too fast for Yu to understand, breathing the way she does after playing tag, her gray eyes big and round and scared. Yu wondered what she was so afraid of.

After that incident, Yu wasn't allowed into the kitchen alone. He hated being babied, but he hated getting in trouble even more. So when mother called him into the living room for a "talk", he spent the entire agonizing trudge downstairs trying to figure out what he did wrong. He hadn't violated the kitchen rule, and he didn't get into any fights. He brushed his teeth and put away his toys and took a bath when he was supposed to. Really, the only thing he could think of was the chocolate bar he'd snuck into his room, but they couldn't have found out about it. Could they?

He peeked around the corner before actually entering the living room. They didn't look mad, but he couldn't be completely sure. Unfortunately, the only way to know was to walk into the lion's den.

Mother smiled at him as Yu tread into the living room with cautious steps. "Come here, Yu, sit down." He sat. Mother and Mr. Nao shared a glance before she spoke up again. "Yu…" A pause. She tried again. "Yu, you're going to be a big brother."

Yu didn't quite understand what that meant, but nodded along anyways. It meant he wasn't in trouble.

"When the baby comes, your mother and I are going to be real busy, and we'll need you to be good and help take care of your little brother, okay?" Mr. Nao smiled, and Yu decided that was the smile he liked the least. It made him feel like a baby. He was a big kid now. Even if he wasn't allowed in the kitchen alone.

Mother beamed, reaching out for him; when he came in reach of her outstretched arms, she pulled him into a gentle embrace. For the first time Yu is distinctly aware of the way her stomach has gotten bigger.

"That's my boy. I knew you'd understand."

Yu didn't quite understand, but she was warm, and so he let her continue to hold him.

That conversation would be forgotten until many months later, when Mr. Nao drove him to the hospital. Yu didn't know why at first—he just knew that Mr. Nao was unnervingly calm for his wife to be in the hospital.

"Don't worry, little man. She's not sick," he was saying, but Yu didn't really believe him, "We're going to meet your new little brother."

The parking lot was empty when they got there—but of course, it was a late Sunday night, and Yu had school tomorrow—and the hospital was large and bright in the darkness and kind of intimidating. Mr. Nao took his hand with large clammy palms, and while Yu didn't really like it, he let himself be led along to the doors that slid open in front of you like they did in the Junes down the street.

The first thing Yu registered about the hospital was that it was big and bright and white and smelled funny. Yu wrinkled his nose as he looked up at the old lady in the white dress that Mr. Nao spoke to. She smiled down at him, waved, and gestured for him and Mr. Nao to follow her as she walked down one of the many, many hallways.

There were so many doors; some were closed, curtains drawn and uninviting, while others opened only a crack, just enough for Yu to catch a glimpse of a TV blathering away or an adult with a coat and clipboard and more white. Then there were the few rooms whose doors were wide open, and Yu could see the white beds where people slept or sat as well as the wide windows that looked out into the night. It looked like it might rain.

Eventually, he was pulled to a stop before he could continue walking, Mr. Nao's hand still clutching his in a strong grip. The nurse said something, smiled and waved at Yu once more, and left. They were in front of one of the rooms, this one closed tight.

Yu was smart enough to figure that this was the room mother was in, and he looked up at Mr. Nao's anxious face, not understanding why he wasn't going in. He was the one that had said mother wasn't sick; he had no reason to be scared, right?

In the end, it was Yu that actually opened the door, prying his hand out of Mr. Nao's clammy grip and peeking inside. Mother was there, and she smiled at him, looking tired and sweaty, but she was holding a wiggling thing wrapped in a blanket in her arms.

Yu clambered to her side, hoisting himself up onto the bed as mother shifted to make room for him. Mr. Nao closed the door behind him, taking a seat on a squeaky plastic chair. Yu looked at the wriggly thing—it was a baby, though an ugly one—and its wisps of black hair matted to its head and its tiny nose. It didn't look happy.

"This is your baby brother, Yu." Mother's voice was soft and raspy and full of something like love. "You're going to be a big brother now."

Yu took another look at the baby that was supposed to be his brother. He didn't know how to feel about it.

"Have you decided what to name him?" Mr. Nao spoke quietly, sounding as exhausted as mother, even though he hadn't done anything.

Mother smiled down at the baby. "What do you think, Yu?"

Yu frowned, and took one of his own small fingers to poke at the baby's round stomach, only for his attempt to be interrupted as tiny fingers curled around his own. Bright eyes squinted up at him, and while Yu could tell the baby wasn't quite looking at him, it still filled him with a sense of pride he'd never felt before. The name came to him only naturally.

"Akira."

Akira, Yu quickly learned, was a handful. No one really paid him much attention as Akira became all important. He always needed something—food, diapers, water, milk, comfort. Yu would sometimes peer through the bars of the crib at the thick curly hair and scowl, but Akira only stared back at him with bright eyes.

After a while, he started giggling, reaching for Yu with stumpy little fingers. That giggling always made Yu forget why he was upset, at least for a little while, and he'd reach a finger through the bars so Akira could grasp at it. Most of the time, Yu didn't mind the slobbery fist.

When Akira started crawling, Yu found himself most often being the one making sure Akira didn't get anywhere near the stairs. Never mind the baby gate or the adult always in the same room; when it came down to actually watching Akira's every movement, it was Yu's job.

Yu didn't mind it at all though. It felt like they finally trusted him with something, or in this case, someone. Big Brother was a title that carried a lot of responsibility, and Yu carried it enthusiastically.

On Akira's first birthday, they held a large party. Mother's and Mr. Nao's friends all came over, and the house was crowded. Yu made sure to stick by Akira diligently, though for once he wasn't needed. Someone was always holding him, carrying him somewhere. But Yu made sure to never let him out of sight.

Right after Akira's usual dinnertime, everyone gathered into the kitchen. The room wasn't quite big enough to hold everyone, but Yu was small enough to be able to squeeze through their legs, taking his rightful place in the chair to the right of Akira's baby seat. Akira's cake was big, the biggest cake Yu had ever seen. For such a large cake, there was only one candle placed on it: a sparkly number one.

Akira didn't understand what was going on, as he was too young to know what birthdays were or how they worked, so Yu took the responsibility of blowing out the candle for him after everyone sang.

When he closed his eyes and puffed, everyone clapping around them, he could almost pretend they were celebrating his birthday, which was coming up in a few weeks.

On Yu's birthday, he spent the day watching mother and Mr. Nao croon over Akira as he took his first steps.

Yu tried to be the proud older brother, but envy gnawed at his insides, creating a poisonous, burning hole in his gut. It made him feel ugly, to feel this way towards his younger brother who had done nothing wrong.

He spent the rest of the day after that hiding away in his small room.

Yu didn't like it when mother and Mr. Nao yelled at each other. It had been happening more and more frequently, sometimes even right in the middle of dinner. When it happened in front of him, he'd take Akira by the hand and lead him away into one of their bedrooms, shutting the door and curling up against it while Akira played. Yu's room was full of Akira's toys, and he'd made a habit of keeping his stuff out of his brother's reach.

Sometimes, when their yelling got too loud, Akira started crying, even in the bedroom. Usually, it was a small, stifled whimper and big round eyes bright with tears. Yu would bundle him up on the bed and hold him until he stopped crying or he fell asleep, whichever came first. Once, they had started fighting right in front of Akira's room. Yu had tried to take him into his room, but Akira had started screaming, hot fat tears streaming down his face. It was the only time they stopped.

They had started again in the living room, that day, not long before Akira's bedtime. As always, Yu grabbed Akira's hand, leading him away and up the stairs into the younger boy's bedroom, shutting the door behind him. Akira ambled into the room for a moment before deciding he wanted to play with his red and yellow teddy, tugging at its single blue ear.

Yu tucked his knees into his chest, back flush against the door as he watched his brother.

They were particularly loud today, though for once Akira seemed okay with it.

"Well maybe I'm better off without you! Because you goddamn men don't seem to have any qualms about leaving when I'm not good enough anymore!"

"That's not what I'm saying! Maybe if you weren't being such a bitch, you would understand that!"

Yu pressed his palms over his ears, trying in vain to block the sound of their screaming.

"You're no better than he was! Both of you, leaving me alone with nothing but your son!"

"If that's how you feel than I won't do it!"

Yu squeezed his eyes shut, buried his face in his knees.

"You're already doing it!"

"I—No, you know what? That's it! I'm filing for a divorce! And I'm taking Akira with me!"

There was the sound of a door slamming shut, loud enough that Yu flinched at the bang. Akira had waddled over to him, still clutching the multicolored (and wholly unrealistic) teddy in one hand. The other hand reached for Yu, his bright gray eyes leaking tears and his nose filled with quiet sniffling.

Yu slowly unwound his body from its previous position, tight as a coiled spring, and pulled his baby brother to him, wrapping the smaller boy in a gentle, but tight embrace.

From behind the door, Yu heard his mother's voice. "Put Akira to bed for me, Yu."

She did not say "goodnight"; not even "I love you".

Yu buried his face in the fabric of Akira's shirt and shut the world out.

Right away, Yu had a feeling his newest "dad" would be different.

Mr. Shuuji made mother smile and laugh and act in ways not even Mr. Nao could do. He remembered everything she liked and disliked. And most importantly, unlike the other dads, he stayed far away from mother's bedroom. Mother seemed to like him better too, and they often talked about marriage (never about children).

Yu wasn't sure how to feel about him.

When Mr. Shuuji was around, Yu was unimportant. Mother liked to go out to eat dinner with Mr. Shuuji, telling him to keep the door locked instead of saying goodbye. More and more frequently, she had been forgetting to feed him dinner. She'd taken to slapping a few bills on the counter and telling him to order whatever he wanted.

Yu was good at ordering food, even if the deliveryman didn't seem comfortable with it. He was old enough to make himself a sandwich, and he knew how to make instant ramen. But more often than not, he just snacked.

He suspected the old lady next door knew, because she was always stopping by to give him homemade pies and cakes. Sometimes, Yu felt he saw her more than mother.

On the nights that mother didn't come home at all, Yu sat in Akira's bedroom. Akira wasn't there anymore, hadn't been since Mr. Nao took him away, but his existence was still evident in the crib that hadn't been taken out, and in the few toys that had been left behind.

He wrote letters on those nights. Short ones, usually, asking Mr. Nao how Akira was and telling him about his day. But he never sent them. He didn't know Mr. Nao's home address and mother would never give it to him, even if she knew. So they piled up in a little box in Akira's bedroom, folded up and placed in gingerly.

In a few more years, all Yu would remember of his baby brother were bright eyes and a small hand gripping his finger.

It was dad that told Yu he had cousins. He said they were on mother's side, not his, and that Yu had the right to meet them if he wanted to.

Mother didn't want to go at first, but dad convinced her, and they took a trip to a city called Tatsumi Port Island. It was the first time they had taken Yu with them on one of their trips, so regardless of why they were going, Yu was happy.

Aunt Miho and Uncle Hayate were nice people. They smiled and hugged Yu and listened whenever he spoke. They told him not to be so polite—they were family—despite what mother always said about being a good boy.

Aunt Miho was quiet, and graceful like mother, but with a different kind of grace. Mother was like a queen, and people listened to her; Aunt Miho was more like a fairy, kind and ethereal with a beauty all its own. Where mother wore expensive jewelry and stuff that made her lips ruby red, Aunt Miho didn't make herself look fancy, but had a smile that lit up a room. They were completely different people, and Yu had a hard time believing they were sisters. He wondered briefly if he and Akira were that different, but didn't dwell on the thought for very long.

Uncle Hayate, compared to his wife, spoke in a loud voice and liked to move his body a lot when he spoke. If he was sad or mad or happy, his face seemed to twist into a whole new expression that Yu didn't think was possible. When he laughed, it was hard and long and other people liked to join in. He wore a lot of plaid shirts and had a bit of stubble that Aunt Miho rubbed when they were smiling at each other.

Their children were two years older than Yu. Dad called them twins; he said they were born at the same time. Yu was shooed off to play with them when the adults wanted to have a Grown Up Conversation.

Hamuko was like her father, in that she laughed loud and long and was always talking. She had her mother's smile, which brightened everything up. She dragged him outside, even if it was raining, running around and pushing him in the dirt and teaching him how to do cartwheels. Unlike other girls he knew, she didn't make him sit down for tea or play house, but preferred games like Cops and Robbers or Hide and Seek Tag.

Minato, on the other hand, was more like their mother. He was quiet, on most occasions, emphasized even more so by the sharp contrast of his sister's personality. He preferred to play video games in the play room rather than run around outside with Hamuko and Yu. When it was raining or if Yu didn't want to go outside, which was often, he sat with Minato in the play room. Sometimes he read, but in most cases he watched Minato play games. After a while, Minato handed him a second controller to play with.

When Hamuko got bored of playing on her own, she would join them, playing board games or video games with them. Sometimes she played a handheld, or just watched.

After that first time—they spent weeks there, staying in that house with that family—they visited often. Compared to the first time, mother was now the one instigating the trips. Dad told him that it was because mother and Aunt Miho weren't fighting anymore; Yu was never told what they were fighting about.

After the third visit, Minato started teaching Yu how to play the violin. Yu had found him playing in his bedroom, and he'd fallen in love with the instrument since. It took days of pleading to convince Minato to teach him before the older boy conceded. Yu had spent two hours just learning how to hold it, because his cousin didn't trust him with the bow yet.

Hamuko, after hearing about, insisted that she wanted to join in too. But rather than learn the violin (or teach it to Yu), she had brought in a trumpet, handed it to the youngest of the trio, and told him to blow. In retrospect, Minato had been a much better teacher than his sister.

Yu told them about Akira, their other cousin. Hamuko was always asking questions, some Yu couldn't answer (even he didn't know how Akira was doing, or if he was even alive), while Minato just listened. Sometimes, Yu preferred telling Minato, if just because the boy was a comforting presence in a way that his sister wasn't. Other times, when Yu needed to fill that suffocating silence, he stuck by Hamuko; she always had something to say, something to do. Yu forgot to even think when she was around.

It hadn't even been six months since Mr. Nao left that Yu and mother stayed with Aunt Miho and Uncle Hayate for a week over the summer. Dad was on a business trip, and it was just the two of them when mother decided their time was better spent away from the big city.

They had been staying there for only two days.

Hamuko's ponytail bounced around on her head as she pulled her brother towards the back door, Yu trailing behind them. The two of them had concocted a plan that consisted of getting Minato outside and away from his electronics, though he had kept a death grip on his mp3 player, even if he didn't have headphones. It was brand new; he'd gotten it for his birthday, and it hadn't gone out of sight since.

They had just jumped off the last two steps of the staircase when they first heard the yelling from the kitchen. Uncle Hayate's voice was only an undercurrent, a calm rumbling voice that went unheard. Aunt Miho and mother were screaming at each other; Yu couldn't understand them, only understood that they were angry.

The three of them peeked into the kitchen where the adults were, not willing to walk into such a volatile situation, seeing Aunt Miho and mother red-faced as they stood each other down, Uncle Hayate between them. He had fallen silent, looking at the three children.

His notice was enough to alert the women, and mother piercing gray eyes whirled, landing on Yu with such a furious intensity that he shrunk into himself, leaning closer to Hamuko and Minato. Mother spat one last remark to Aunt Miho, stalking towards Yu. He shrunk back further; he didn't think she was mad at him, but with the way she looked, he wasn't sure.

"Yu, come on. We're leaving." He didn't want to leave, wanted to stay here where he had other kids to play with and where mother was nice and smiled a lot, but her eyes spoke fury and her words demanded obedience as she grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the kitchen, out of the door, out of that house.

That last glance back before the door slammed shut was the last he saw of his cousins.

The next time he heard anything about the Arisato family, was when he walked into the living room to see mother sobbing. He asked her what happened, but she was buried into dad's chest, and dad gave him a sad look.

"Remember that suit I gave you? The black one? Go set it out."

Yu didn't understand what a funeral was until he saw the grave. He froze, unmoving, and couldn't understand, because Aunt Miho and Uncle Hayate's names were on there. He didn't see any Minato or Hamuko, but if they were alive they should be there, with him and alive, but they weren't. He clutched onto mother's hand almost as tightly as she was holding his.

After the funeral, mother pulled him around as she went and spoke to people who conveyed their grief. In particular, Yu remembered a man mother called Arata.

"What will happen to their children?" Mother's voice was still thick with tears, and as Yu gazed up at them, the old man she was talking to grimaced.

"They'll be staying with their next of kin. Hayate's brother has already agreed to take them in."

"But what about me? Shouldn't I get a say in what happens to them?! Miho was my sister!"

Mother became increasingly upset, her grip on Yu's hand starting to hurt, until dad came with two other people in tow. The old man left, and mother hugged the man with dad. Yu didn't understand who this was, or if he was replacing dad, until the woman crouched down with a sad but nice smile.

"Hello, Yu. I'm your Aunt Chisato, and that's your Uncle Dojima. I'm sorry we have to meet under these circumstances."

Yu asked if they had children. They didn't.

He didn't see them after that, until they faded into a hazy memory, and then nothingness altogether.

After the funeral, mother became distant. She got a new job, even though they didn't need to money, and as Yu grew older, with every year he saw them less and less.

At the age of seven he made his first egg, burnt as it was. After spending three hours cleaning the pan, he decided studying up on cookbooks was a better alternative first.

It wasn't until he was nine that he tried again. He had a sizable collection of cookbooks, how-to books, and recipes from the old lady next door, and he wanted to try making pancakes. Mother and dad were supposed to come home in a week, and he wanted to welcome them back with the best pancakes they'd ever eaten.

They came back three days later with an armful of boxes, and told Yu that whatever he could put in those boxes he could keep. They filled the first box for him, with clothes and toiletries and books they thought were useful.

Yu filled the next box with more books, along with some of his journals and a book of crossword puzzles.

The third box he filled with more clothes, hiding in between the shirts the violin case he got from Minato and Hamuko.

The last box he filled with Akira's things. All the letters and the few leftover toys he knew to be Akira's favorites, and the blanket that they had wrapped him up in when they took him home from the hospital.

Everything else was left behind, along with the house that he'd resided in for nine years.

Yu never quite unpacked after that, unsure of how long he would stay in the next house, and the next, and the next.

The highlights of Yu's life were the monthly letters he got from Mr. Nao. For his eighth birthday he had begged to have some form of contact with Akira. It was dad that convinced mother to find out Mr. Nao's current address, and Yu had spent days creating that first letter to send.

Mr. Nao told Yu that they shouldn't keep contact. He and Akira would never meet and he didn't want either of them to go through that pain. It was better if Yu just forgot.

Yu had been sent to tears by that letter, but found the courage nonetheless to respond. Even if Akira would never know he existed, he wanted to know, wanted to remember.

It was the second letter that Yu got his first picture. Akira had grown, only three years old but already running around the house. The picture he had received was from Akira's third birthday, a little boy with thick black hair and dark gray eyes that were still somehow just as bright. He was covered in cake, from the fists full of pastry to the frosting-covered face, grinning with a mouth full of baby teeth.

Yu cried again after receiving that letter, but for a completely different reason than the first.

Without fail, he made sure to send Mr. Nao the new address every time he moved houses, and he kept all his photos of Akira tucked into the pages of his favorite book.

His days were spent primarily studying, thinking of his next letter from the Kurusu family, and practicing the violin. His parents still didn't know about it—if they did, they would probably throw it out or pawn it off to the nearest shop—but it was his only connection to Minato and Hamuko, and like the pictures, it was precious, hidden from anything that may taint it.

Inaba was a tiny town; one likely not even on the map, but there was a peacefulness that Yu relished, a change from the stress of both the city and his way of living. He didn't remember Uncle Dojima, but he didn't think he was likely to forget, between him and Nanako, whose smile lit up the way Hamuko's did, bright and chasing away the darkness.

Of course, peace didn't last long when people are being murdered by TVs. It was an utterly ridiculous notion, but one that Yu found himself embroiled in nonetheless.

The empty days spent passing by through hours of homework and studying and learning new cooking recipes were replaced with the rush of clubs and part-time jobs and murder investigations and the first real friends he'd ever had. It was a chaotic rush, interrupted only by the time he set aside for Nanako, but it was a welcome one, and Yu was happier than he'd been for a long, long time.

He remembered the first time Izanagi had appeared, when he and Yosuke had been searching for Konishi Saki. It was surprising, but oddly comforting. There was just something right about it, like he'd had something returned to him without ever knowing it was missing.

"Woah, dude, you're just like the SEES team!" Yosuke's voice had been the instigator of everything that followed, with just that comment.

Everyone knew about SEES. They were the first so-called "Superheroes" in Japan. There had been others, but they were myths, rumors at best. SEES were the first to get publicity, if the rumors were to be believed. Superheroes, known as Persona Users—they couldn't really be compared to comic book characters, when they were still very human—with the ability to summon Personas. No one really knew what Personas were, exactly.

That is, until that day.

I am thou… thou art I…

They hadn't really gone in with the intention of being heroes or helping people, not at first. They just wanted to save their friends, save their town.

It wasn't until they met Rise that she brought up the idea.

"A superhero group?" Yosuke was just flabbergasted, though he did seem just a bit excited.

"I don't know…" Yukiko cringed at the thought.

"Well, I mean, haven't you guys thought about what you're going to do after this is all over?"

That had gotten their attention, and no one really had an answer to that. (Yu avoided thinking about it; he didn't want any reminder about the end of the year, which was approaching far too rapidly for his liking. Every school was the same; in and out, painless if he just stuck to his books. But Inaba was different.)

In the end, she had somehow convinced them, and Kanji had been tasked with making costumes. They'd then proceeded to spend the next hour arguing over a name, but no one could agree on anything other than the Investigation Team.

They ultimately decided just to leave it up to the public. Rise hadn't been very happy about that, but she didn't say anything.

When he first realized that Nanako was gone, Yu had collapsed where he stood, knees giving out on him as the world tilted at a dangerous angle. He took a breath, but his lungs were tight and he couldn't get air in and oh god Nanako was gone.

It wasn't until Izanagi's whispers broke through the haze of panic that he could think straight.

His hands were shaking so hard he could barely hold his phone, much less dial in the right number. Izanagi continued to be a comforting presence in his mind, one that was desperately needed.

That had been his first panic attack.

The second time was on the train.

It had been delayed, Inaba's small town and expansive surroundings already out of sight by the time he realized his hands were shaking uncontrollably. The overwhelming realization that he was alone caused the air to whoosh from his lungs, and Yu keeled over in an attempt to calm the feeling like the world was pulling away from him. Everything was blurred, unfocused, and he felt lightheaded as his hands shakily gripped the edge of the seat.

Yu was gasping, at a loss for air, and Izanagi pulled him back from the edge. The edge of what, he didn't want to find out.

His hands were still shaking as he dug into his duffel bag and pulled out his favorite book. Akira's photos were still tucked in there, but in addition to those, pictures of the Team and Nanako and Dojima had been added in there.

Yu pulled out the most recent photo of his brother, barely able to keep himself from dropping it.

Akira was already twelve, a soft-spoken, but cheeky boy with thick curly hair and dark eyes that defied their color with a brightness befitting his name. Mr. Nao never said much in his letters, but Yu could always tell as much from the pictures alone. The picture of him was a candid one, the preteen completely focused on what looked to be a crossword puzzle. The sight made Yu's heart soar.

He'd sent in the little book of crosswords along with his letter a few years ago, asking Mr. Nao to give it to Akira. It didn't matter if Akira knew it was from him or not; he just wanted to get something for his birthday, at least once.

Mr. Nao never said much in his letters, aside from pleasantries and the most basic of explanations to say Akira was okay, that he was happy. But he still cared about Yu, at least a little, and it showed in his photos. Little things like the crosswords that spoke all the words he never said.

He knew he'd be going to Tokyo University. It was something that had been decided for him, the same way his major was. Although, if Yu were being honest, it's not like he himself knew what he wanted to do. Of course, with all the expectations laid upon him, the last thing Yu expected was to see the Investigation Team there as well.

Before he knew it, he'd been dragged to a large table at a food court, everyone babbling around him excitedly.

Yosuke and Yukiko were going to join him at Todai, Chie and Naoto both were planning to attend a nearby police academy, and Kanji was interning under a local designer. Rise was back in her idol work, though she was thinking about picking up a degree as well, and Teddie was… well, Teddie was just there to visit, for the moment.

Yosuke had immediately gotten the two of them a dorm together, with Yukiko in the same building just a few floors away (Yosuke had insisted on a co-ed). They were all in vastly different majors, what with Yosuke heading into music and Yukiko looking at business and hotel management, but some of the required basic classes (and perhaps a few extracurriculars) they'd do together, and everyone was insistent on maintaining a free Sunday to get together.

It was, ultimately, like the old times in Inaba again, only with the added joys of watching each other get very, very drunk.

Yu didn't even realize it at first when the letters stopped coming.

University was tasking and arduous, and he spent most of his free time hanging out with the others or attending clubs or his job. It'd been a few months since they discovered Mementos, and since then Yu and the others became heroes in earnest, after a long and tense discussion.

Shadows appeared frequently in a place as large as Tokyo, and they went out nearly every night. The public had caught wind of them, but for the most part it was rumors that floated around about another SEES. While (Yu didn't mind being compared to them, it wasn't like they were actually associated with SEES, so it seemed horribly inaccurate.)

When he realized the next letter hadn't come in, he panicked. Akira was supposed to start his second year at high school in the next month, and if Yu was being paranoid because of his own experiences in his second year, he couldn't really be blamed.

His attack had been right in the middle of exams, and a classmate had to stop in the middle of their own to help him to the infirmary. It lasted only half an hour before he calmed down enough to go back to his dorm and write his own letter.

A reply didn't come for another two months. No photo, no update on how he was doing, only a single sentence.

Akira was arrested for assault.

Yu stopped breathing. It felt as if his heart had physically stopped beating in his chest, and his vision became dark, threatening to disappear entirely. It was Yosuke's hand grabbing his shoulder that kept him grounded in reality, in the present moment.

"Dude, are you okay? What happened?"

Yu didn't say anything; couldn't say anything. He handed Yosuke the letter with trembling hands, gasping as he tried to get air into his constricting lungs before he passed out.

There wasn't a word either of them could say, and they knew it. But Yu was grateful for his best friend's presence, never too far for the rest of the night.

For your information, Todai is like a nickname for Tokyo U.

But uuuugggghhhh I'm so excited for this in case you can't tell. Not all the chapters are going to be this long; this was mainly just a prologue that is basically just Yu's life story. The chapters will go back and forth between Akira's and Yu's POV because why not.
Updates will probably be really irregular, so I apologize for that ahead of time.

Also yes this is going to be a Superhero AU. I can't help myself.