AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hello, and welcome to my first fanfiction I've ever written (at least the first I've posted online). First of all, I would like to mention that I, despite my previous WORKS OF ART, I'm an inexperienced writer and my quality of writing might not meet your standards.

Now, for the people that are still here; welcome! I was inspired to write this fanfiction after reading all the other fanfictions on this website, and I have to say that I really like the Minato x Hamuko pairing, and this fic will feature that pairing (with a few others, maybe). Just throwing that out there.

As for reviews and update schedule... I would gladly accept any suggestions whatsoever (even if they're minimal) and any reviews at ALL are a welcome sight (though I can't promise I'll respond to them, depending on the number I get. Chances are though, it'll be small). If you plan to follow this fanfiction, great! I want to try and update at least once a week, but there might be a point where that stops happening and may even stop entirely.

Anyway, I got that ALL out of the way, and thank you if you read all that! Now, onto the story! Enjoy...

NOTICE: Forgot to mention this earlier, but I tend to post chapters and make changes later. I'm not entirely sure if other authors do that often, too, but it's just something I feel is unavoidable. If I were to post a perfect chapter each time, this story would never be updated. Check back often for changes!

Disclaimer: Don't own Persona, or Atlus, for that matter. Now, onto the story!

Moonlight Bridge, 1999

The sky had turned green and all water had turned to blood. A fiery scene had taken place on the Moonlight Bridge, and a single family was in the middle of it.

"H-Hamuko-chan…" A weak and coarse voice said. "Get out… of here…"

"B-but, mother! I don't want to leave you here!" A small, auburn-haired girl was holding onto the shirt of an older woman whose body was crippled and with blood streaming down her face at an alarming rate.

"P-Please, Hamuko… It's safer if you do… Daddy and I will be ok…" The child knew her to be wrong, she wasn't ok at all; in fact she was bleeding to death as she spoke. Her father lay a few feet away, unmoving and mangled.

The auburn-haired child looked over to their overturned and totaled car. A gigantic creature with a terrifying mask, coffins strapped to its back and wielding a massive blade was battling against a female blond teenager who clearly wasn't human either. She fired guns out from her fingers and summoned a monster of her own as well.

"Hamuko, look out!" Hamuko had no chance to process what was going on before she was shoved out of the way with her mother's remaining strength. Hamuko watch as her mother was hit by a flying car and was sent flying off the Moonlight Bridge. Hamuko stated silent with tears streaming down her face when she saw this. "Mommy!" She managed to cry out, but knowing fully that she couldn't do anything about her parents' death.

"(Mother and father always wanted me to cheer up and stop being so quiet, and make friends. But they're not here anymore… What do I do?)" Hamuko thought to herself. At that moment, she felt a new presence behind her. But she ignored this and continued to reflect despite the situation. "(I know. To make sure my parents are happy, I will be friendly and happy. No more being quiet and crying all the time. I'll be a new person and make lots of friends!)" Hamuko nodded triumphantly. Hamuko turned around to see a small boy.

"Target cannot be defeated." A robotic voice spoke. "Attempting emergency sealing procedure!" The blonde girl with bright blue eyes turned to the two children. The newly 'born' boy had dark blue hair and dull, gray eyes. He stood there as if he was perfectly comfortable with everything that had been going on. "Two suitable vessels found. Chance of sealing process succeeding: 90%." She said, with a tone of regret in her voice. The blonde girl summoned her own creature again and engulfed the other monster in a bright light. Splitting the ball in half, she launched it at the two children.

Unsurprisingly, Hamuko was frightened by this and began to scream, but the blue-haired boy's expression remained neutral. The two balls of light hit them, and all they was darkness…

Iwatodai Train, 3/7, 2009

Slowly cracking her eyes open, Hamuko woke up after a long ride on the train. She wore the Gekkoukan High School uniform and had her long hair tied up in a high ponytail, with hair clips organized to read the roman numeral 22, XXII. She also had a red MP3 and headphones dangling on her neck. She checked her wristwatch. 11:45. "(Wow… That late already? I'm gonna get in huge trouble for being 3 hours late, I just know it. Stupid train delay…)" Grumbling, she made an effort to wake herself up fully.

She looked outside the window to see the darkness outside, and... a blue butterfly. It was glowing, and somehow managed to keep up with the train despite its slow wing beats and the fact that it wouldn't be able to fly that quickly to begin with. Instead, Hamuko shifted focus to the moon. "(The moon is a lot larger here in Iwatodai...)" She turned away from the window and huffed.

A few seats to the left of her, a familiar-looking blue-haired teenager was listening to music with his hands in his pockets. He basically was wearing the same thing as Hamuko, except it was a male uniform and his MP3 was blue. Why was he familiar, though…?

"…Do you need something?" The blue-haired teenager asked with a bored tone in his voice. Hamuko had been staring at him without even noticing. Catching her mistake and becoming red in the face, she managed to stutter, "U-Uh, n-nothing. Sorry for bothering you…" He accepted her apology easily and went back to listening to his music. His music sounded oddly familiar to Hamuko, for some reason.

"The next stop is Iwatodai Station. This is our last stop, so please leave the train as soon as we reach the station. Remember to take all your belongings with you and thank you for riding with us today." The inter-com voiced. That was the only talking there was to fill in the painfully awkward silence. The boy didn't seem to mind, however. "He must like quiet," Hamuko thought bitterly. Those two were the only people on the train at the moment.

"…" Hamuko heard an annoyed sound coming from the bluenette. She had been staring at him again. Again, she blushed and looked away. But instead, he sighed and spoke for the first time on the train. "…Seeing as you can't seem to get enough of me, I suppose we should introduce ourselves. Arisato Minato." He stuck his hand out. He introduced himself with a slightly annoyed and tired expression. Wait, she had heard that surname before. It was…

Hamuko extended her hand in response, but with a bright smile and cheery tone. Just like her parents would have wanted her to. "Arisato Hamuko! Nice to meet ya!" Minato nodded. "And we have the same surname, too! Though I don't think we're related. Oh well, good to see you anyhow!" He nodded a second time, and then he returned to his seat. Hamuko saw this as an effort just to get her off of Minato's back, but ignored it nonetheless.

Instead, she attempted to start a conversation. "So… Are you going to Gekkoukan High as well?" A nice and easy question to start off. "Yeah, I am." Silence again. She was beginning to get frustrated. She met people like this before, but she was usually able to get them to be friendly after a few minutes. But in this case, she was faced with a tough shell to crack.

Sighing in defeat, she slumped into her seat. The inter-com turned on again.

"Attention all passengers. We will arrive at Iwatodai Station momentarily. Please do not forget any of your belongings, and we hope you have a good night." The sound of a microphone being set back on its stand reverberated throughout the empty train. Hamuko checked her watch again. 11:59. "(It's almost that time again…)"

Getting up after the train stopped, Hamuko and Minato exited the train, but Hamuko wisely stayed behind him, thinking that it would be strange to him if a girl walked in front of him and all of a sudden, she would disappear. Her watch's time changed to twelve and right on cue, the world changed. The sky became an eerie green, the unusually large moon glowed bright green, and all water became blood. All people became coffins and now they lined the streets. Except for Minato. He was still walking around at this time.

Greatly uncomforted by this, since Hamuko had never seen anyone active during this time (except for 10 years ago), she began to walk at a brisk pace, trying her best to get away from the unusual boy while trying not to raise his suspicion. Unfortunately, the casual teen caught onto this and grabbed her sleeve. Hamuko's cheeks had a slight dusting of red on them. "Are you headed to Iwatodai Dorm as well?" Hamuko gave a cautious nod. She could deal with anyone that tried to attack her or follow her. After all, it had happened before, and she gradually learned how to defend herself. Right now, the guy in front of her was almost asking for a kick to the face. Minato could see the untrust in her eyes. "Relax, I'm not going to do anything." He reassured. Somehow, his voice was especially soothing and calming. "I happen to be heading over to Iwatodai Dorm as well. Want to walk together?"

"Uh, sure…" She nodded in confirmation. She had never been here before, so having another person along to be the scapegoat/bait for creepy blobs of black was good. For her, at least.

After 15 minutes of walking, the two teenagers had arrived safely. Without hesitation, Minato walked up the steps and opened the door and walked through, keeping it open for Hamuko as well. What they didn't expect was a creepy kid in prison garb to be the first person to greet them. His pale skin and cerulean eyes that almost glew in the green darkness didn't help, either. "You're late. I've been waiting a long time." The child began. Then, he seemed to have pulled out two pieces of paper from out of thin air. He placed them on the counter to the left of the two. "If you want to proceed, then please sign here. It's a contract." Hamuko and Minato walked towards the counter and began looking at the contract. The auburn-haired girl was eyeing it carefully, looking for impossible-to-see fine print, while the other person was just signing the paper with an ink-dipped feather without any hesitation whatsoever. To Hamuko, this guy was weird, almost like an enigma that could never be understood. The boy clothed in black-and-white striped clothes sensed her hesitation. "There's no need to be scared. It only binds you to accepting full responsibility for your actions." Somehow, his voice and tone were strikingly similar to Minato's voice. Hamuko read what seemed to be the only visible line on the contract. "I chooseth this fate of mine own free will…" She muttered, trying to comprehend what it meant and if it meant anything else.

Still slightly hesitant, she picked up a feather dipped in ink that also seemed to appear out of nowhere and signed her name. Arisato, Hamuko. The boy grinned at seeing that, and took the two contracts and made them disappear into thin air. "Time is something no one can escape. It delivers us all to the same end. Wishing won't make it go away," He continued. "And so it begins…" He stated eerily.

A frightened girl's voice grabbed the attention of the two. "Who's there?!" The voice demanded from the shadows. Hamuko noticed a slight glint at the person's waist. Almost immediately, she recognized what it was and what it could mean for the two new residents. "(A-A gun! Crap, this isn't good! I know, I'll use Minato-san as cover while I try to make my es- Wait, how is she still active during this time?!)" Hamuko thought. Apparently she and the unknown girl with a gun thought the same thing. "How can you be… But it's… Don't tell me…" The girl drew her gun lightning quick but instead of pointing it at them, she pointed at herself, like she was hoping that would do something, or thinking that she would kill herself before anyone else could. Either way, she was stopped when a feminine voice with a tone of authority suddenly shouted, "Takeba, wait!" The terrified girl paused. Then, the lights came back on. Music began to play noticeably from Minato's MP3. He grabbed his music player and hit the pause button.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think you two would arrive so late. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live here in this dorm." The student who was speaking had flowing red hair and a white blouse with a red ribbon on. She was wearing a black skirt that reached to her knees and had high heeled boots on. She looked beautiful, but had an air about her that told people not to cross her, under any circumstances, otherwise they would regret it dearly. "…Who are they?" The girl beside her still looked shaken. She wore a pink blouse with the same red ribbon, and a miniskirt that showed off her legs. She also had light brown hair, which was notably uncommon in a place like Japan. "They're transfer students." Mitsuru responded. "It was a last minute decision to assign them here. They'll eventually be moved to a different dorm." The brunette seemed somewhat satisfied with her explanation, but still looked wary of Minato and Hamuko. "I-Is it okay for them to be here?" She asked Mitsuru. "I guess we'll see." She waved a hand in front of the brown-haired girl. "This is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a second year, just like you." Yukari gave a shy and quiet wave. "Hi." She greeted quietly.

Seeing Yukari's clear discomfort, Hamuko gave her brightest smile and introduced herself. "Hi, my name is Hamuko Arisato! It's very nice to meet you, Takeba-san!" But her aura of distrust didn't let up. "(What is with the people in this town?!)" Hamuko was beginning to become even more frustrated, even though she didn't show it. "…Yeah, nice to meet you, too." Minato began to speak, "My name is Minato Arisato. Pleasure." Yukari nodded. Meanwhile, Hamuko stared intently at the gun strapped to her leg. Yukari blushed and looked at her feet. "U-Uh, well, it's…" Mitsuru saw her discomfort and began to explain for her. "It's for self-defense. We've had a number of break-ins in the neighborhood recently, and we can't afford to take a risk. It's not a real gun, of course." Hamuko broke her stare and nodded in understanding. "Makes sense. It's always better to be safe than sorry!" Mitsuru nodded as well.

"It's getting to be quite late. The two of you should head off to bed. The male rooms are on the second floor, and female rooms are on the third floor. Both of your belongings should be in your rooms." Mitsuru turned to Yukari. Yukari nodded. "I'll show you the way. Follow me." The group ascended the stairs and stopped on the second floor, while Mitsuru continued up. They continued down the hall, and stopped at the end, with a door to the right.

"Pretty easy to remember, huh? Since it's right at the end of the hall." Yukari chuckled nervously and awkwardly. The girls fidgeted uncomfortably, while Minato simply enjoyed the peace and quiet and simply stood there. "So, um, any questions?" The transfer students looked at each other for a brief moment, then turned to Yukari again. "No, I don't think we do, Takeba-san. Thank you." Minato answered with the same calming voice. Yukari noticeably eased up and relaxed her shoulders. But then she started to fidget again and looked down. "Um, I wanted to ask you two a question." The transfer students nodded simultaneously. "On your way from the station, was everything alright? I mean, did you see anything weird, or…?"

Minato spoke up first. "No, I don't believe we did. Everything was perfectly normal and familiar, wasn't it, Hamuko-san?" Hamuko looked puzzled for a second, but snapped back into reality and replied. "Yeah, it was pretty ordinary, as far as I could tell, Takeba-san." The girl had what looked to be a sense of relief and confusion on her face. "I see… Never mind then." She nodded. "Um, I'm sure you have other questions right now, but let's save them for later, alright? Good night, Minato-san." And with that, she walked away with Hamuko.

"Good night, Minato-kun." Hamuko spoke sleepily, as she walked towards the stairs with Yukari.

"You too, Hamuko-chan."

AUTHOR'S NOTES: And that, my friends, is the first chapter of what I hope to be a good Persona 3 fanfiction! I've got a few ideas up my sleeve for what will happen next, but you can feel free to pitch any ideas of yours towards me. See you for the next chapter!