Chapter Text
"Hmm... Well, that was a little lackluster..." You mumbled under your breath as you completed one of your favorite video games, Persona 5 Royal, for the third time.
On the first of your three play throughs you had gotten the ultimate ending. It took a while to finally beat Maruki and Adam Kodman, but the climax, story points, and ending were definitely worth the sixty dollar price tag. The second time you played on hard difficulty, and once you got the swing of things it was rather easy. So for the third time you set the game to your desired difficulty and tried out one of the different endings instead of the ultimate ending. While it wasn't as satisfactory - which it wasn't supposed to be - the other endings did make sense to the story and the ending they brought.
With a sigh, you set down your PS4 controller and went into the kitchen to make some dinner. You were starving at this point. Exploring Palaces and Mementos was hungry work! You made yourself a quick meal while watching your choice of either TV or YouTube.
You spent the rest of your day reading, writing, drawing, playing video games, or taking care of your pet, if you have one. All in all, your day was peaceful. And you were more than alright with that.
You spent the final hour of your day watching the sun set with your favorite drink. What a lovely way to end the day, and give your eyes a break from staring at a screen for hours on end. When the sky had turned dark blue and stars speckled the sky, you went back inside. You took a quick shower and did your regular night routine before falling into bed with your pajamas. Tomorrow was Sunday, one more day before you had to return to the dull hallways of your school.
Your mother was away on a business trip for about a week while your father was visiting family out of state. They went grocery shopping before leaving to make sure you wouldn't starve, and they even left you some extra cash if needed. But be honest with yourself, it's not like you're eating anything other than pizza rolls and ramen. But in the end, everything was peaceful and quiet. You won't lie, this kind of solitude was nice. You could scream at your video games in frustration all day and no one could tell you to shut up!
You rolled around in your bed for a bit until you eventually fell asleep. However, you didn't sleep all that well. But you weren't having any nightmares. It was like you were only sleeping to pass time, not to rest. So when you woke up a few hours later, you didn't feel refreshed or rested. If anything, you were more tired than when you went to bed. You looked over at your bedside clock to check the time, it was the very early hours of the morning. With a groggy groan, you got out of bed and put on some normal clothes. If your body wasn't going to let you sleep, than you might as well get ready for the day.
Even though you were dressed for the day, you got yourself some ice cream as a very late midnight snack. It was a bit too early to start worrying about breakfast. The cold of your frozen treat also helped you wake up. Once your finished with your frozen treat and your bowl is washed, you head back to your room and turn on your PS4. Time for your fourth play through of Persona 5 Royal! Perhaps this time you'll try to romance all the women. Not like anything bad could come out of it.
You select the game on your menu to be met with all the Thieves, and traitor, with "Let us Start" in the middle of the screen. You swear, every time you look at this art you find something new. Like the annoying text box that was currently blocking off some of the Thieves' faces. Did your PS4 already need a new update? It just had one last week!
The text box read, "Care to Start?" Start what, exactly? The game? Well, yeah, you wanted to start the game, that's why you were here. You pressed continue, as that was really the only button you had available. Then another text box appeared, it read, "Hello, (gamer tag)! You have been chosen to play the game! Not just this game, but THE game! Don't worry, there are only a few rules to the game. Care to play?" There were two options. Yes, or no. Still not really understanding what was fully going on, you pick yes. This must be what happens when you first join the Thieves Guild, or whatever. You just wanted to play the game already.
So when your screen flashed white, then immediately turned black with an audible pop; you were not happy. You got up from where you sat to examine your TV and PS4 to see if this shitty update broke something or bricked your console. When you got to your TV, your screen flashed white again, but was much brighter than before. You were temporarily blinded from the rather extreme light; you fell backwards protecting your eyes with your hands. You felt something, like a vine or tendril, wrap around your torso before suddenly tightening and pulling you forward. You felt your bedroom floor fall beneath your feet as you were suddenly falling, out of the grasp of the tendril. You opened your eyes to see yourself falling in a green vortex. Now how the Hell did this happen!? What is happening!? Where's your room!? Where are you going!?
The vortex turns blue, first dark, but slowly turns into a lighter shade as you continue to fall. Before you can even get a grip of what's happening, you body lands on the ungrateful embrace of concrete, and are immediately knocked unconscious. The last thing you saw was the vortex instantly vanish when you made contact with the concrete.
When you came too, you slowly opened your eyes; only to be immediately blinded. You covered your eyes again as they ached from the sudden light. You groaned in distress. Someone heard you and walked over. You could hear the audible 'click, click' of heels as they walked over to you. You slowly moved your hands away from your eyes, slowly letting your eyes adjust to the white fluorescent lights above. Great, you're in the hospital. A surprisingly small hospital. You tried to get up, but the person by your bed side pushed you back down.
"Don't move, I don't know if you're stable yet," A feminine voice you somehow recognized told you.
You moved your head to look at the speaker. You gasped, choking on your own air. You didn't need a name tag to know who was in front of you. The goth doctor of Yongen-Jaya, Tae Takemi.
While you choked on your own air, Ms. Takemi left to get your poor soul some water. Your mind was racing, and it wasn't just because you were trying to remember how to breathe. Were you IN the game!? Or did you just hit your head so hard that you were hallucinating? You were trying to play the game, but now you're in the game you wanted to play. Or at least, that's how this all seems so far. Is this what the message box said when it asked if you wanted to play the game? Why? How?
Tae came back with a cup of cold water. You downed the drink almost immediately. When your breathing regulated you dug through your pockets. The message box said it would tell you the rules if you played, so there had to be something on you to give a hint what the Hell was going on.
"Are you looking for this?" Tae said, holding out a neatly folded piece of paper. You took it with shaky hands. "The boy that brought you here said it fell out of your pocket. Don't worry, I didn't read it."
"B-Boy?" You asked still in shock. You put the paper away in your pocket. You'd need to read that somewhere private.
"His name is Akira Kurusu. He lives in the café not far from here. If I were you, I'd go down and thank him." Tae said, sitting in her chair and crossing her legs, picking up a clipboard. "Other than that, you look to be fine. I don't know what you were doing passed out on the side walk in the sun, but it looks like you only suffered a minor concussion and a few sunburns. Just stay inside and keep it easy for the next few days." The doctor said, scribbling things off her clipboard. "Stay as long as you need to, but you're free to go whenever you wish." With that, she got up and left the exam room, leaving you befuddled on the bed.
You took out the piece of paper and read it to yourself.
'My dearest (Y/n),' it began. 'You've made a decision that you might come to regret. You are in the world of the video game you know well as 'Persona 5'. We won't tell you why I gave you this choice, that is for you to figure out. However, there are a few rules you must follow.
One: Keep in mind that as time passes in this world, it passes the exact same in your home world.
Two: Control your desires.
Three: Watch who you trust.
Fourth, and finally: If you entertain us enough, things will end just fine with however you want them too.
From time to time we will communicate with you. we am watching you, (Y/n) (L/n). Ta ta!
Sincerely, God.'
... You want to be knocked out again. What does this mean? Desires? Trust? Entertaining a 'God' or possibly 'Gods'? Choices? What does everything mean!?
You lie back down, giving yourself a moment to collect your thoughts. Tae occasionally comes to check on you. She doesn't ask any questions though, and you're rather grateful for that. As you lie there, staring up at the fluorescent lights, you wonder. Where are you going to live? How are you going to provide for yourself? Your parents will be home in about a week, will you be out of here by then? Will you even want to leave when, or if, the time comes? What will your parents think when they've noticed that you're gone without a trace?
You sigh, sitting up again. You push the sappy thoughts into the back of your head. You were burning precious time, you needed to find a roof over your head before the night came. Your only lead was Café Leblanc. At least there you could get advice from Sojiro and thank Akira for his assistance. Acting like you've never known or met these people before was going to be a little difficult.
You thank Tae as you leave the clinic onto the streets of Yongen-Jaya. Everything looked so different from this different perspective. But everything was still where it was in the game, not to mention that everything looked extremely real. If you weren't any the wiser, you thought it would have been real. But it's not. It's a game. Everyone is an NPC, they don't have hearts or feeling, they're AI. They act how they are programmed, and nothing more.
You sigh again and kick the ground beneath your feet, holding back tears and screams of distress. You swallow your feelings and walk to Leblanc. As you walk, you notice it is late in the day as the sun begins its descent. If what the 'God' said was true, then the day in your world is almost over. It was still the very early hours of the morning when you fell, and now it was almost dusk. How could you have been out cold for that long? Oh well. Sadly, nothing could be done about that now. You turn onto a different street with the familiar café. Taking in a deep breath, you walk inside.
In the game, the café could be described as homey. But in 'real life' it could be called a sacred space. A space to ignore the world and just relax with its soothing atmosphere. The wonderful smell of coffee gently greeted you as you entered the café, a tiny bell dinging above you. You recognize a pink shirted man reading a newspaper behind the counter. At the sound of the bell he looks up.
"Hey, I haven't seen you around here before." He says, and waves a hand at the counter. "Take a seat." You do, silently.
You noticed Sojiro's gaze follow you the entire time. It doesn't feel completely welcoming, but not threatening either. Suspicious was a good word to describe it. As you sit, examining all the cafe's details that you've never noticed before, Sojiro continues to eye you. You continue to ignore him, along with the other male in the café, who was currently washing dishes. You couldn't look at any of them. This was too crazy. Your heart rate was increasing as anxious thoughts became too loud to ignore. Being shot to death would have been more peaceful than this situation.
"Are you (Y/n) (L/n)?" Sojiro asks. This grabs his attention.
You look at Sojiro dumbfounded. "How did you know?"
"Do you honestly not remember?" He asks, sighing. "You're a transfer student from (home country). You'll be staying here for two years to study abroad. I agreed to protect you during your time here." ... Holy. Shit. This had to be the 'God's' doing.
You don't know if you should be terrified or ecstatic. It scratches off your worries of looking for a place to stay, but that meant you were going to a new school with people you hardly know. But even worse, (or better,) you'll be sleeping in the same attic room as him.
"There's a couch upstairs for you at the moment. If you want something better, you're going to have to buy it yourself. Akira, quit hiding by the sink and at least say hello." Sojiro orders.
The boy turns off the water and dries his hands while Sojiro heads outside, probably for a smoke. Akira walks over to you, his eyes staring down at you. You can't see them from the light reflecting off his glasses. If you didn't know who he really was, you probably would have been scared out of your mind.
"H-Hi." You stutter, not really sure what to do with yourself. "I'm glad I finally got to meet you. Ta-- The doctor at the clinic told me you helped me out."
Akira simply nods. You can tell he's listening, but also observing you intently.
"So, your name is Akira? Oh, sorry, I should probably say Kurusu, huh?" You ask. Desperately trying to start a conversation without blurting information about him no one would know.
He nods, ignoring your little slip up. "Yes, so that means you must be (L/n)." He answers. His voice is so much smoother in person than over an audio speaker. It was smoother than silk. "Boss didn't say anything about your arrival."
"I'm sorry if it's all so sudden, things just sort of... Happened." You answered. He nodded again. It was going to take quite awhile to get him to start talking.
"Here, come with me." He says coming out from behind the counter.
You nod and silently follow him up the creaky steps to the attic. It wasn't nearly as dusty as you thought it would be. It was clear Akira took care of his personal space. His workbench was across his bed with no suspicious material to reveal his true self. A black and white cat slept on his bed. By the wall was a small couch that had a few boxes on it. Must be things the 'God' gave you to survive on. Like clothes and toiletries.
"You must be tired after your trip, rest as much as you need." Akira says, not really looking at you. "I'll show you the school and the town tomorrow. To help you get better acquainted with everything."
You nod with a small smile. "Thank you, Kurusu." He nods, and goes back down stairs. He was still working, after all.
You head over to what is now your couch and try to situate your things. You didn't have any drawers, so you kept the things in their boxes to not make a mess. All the clothes were ones you had in the real world. The 'God' did a damn good job of replicating everything down to a tee. When your tiny space was situated, you walked over to Akira's bed. It was pretty hard, but had some softness too it. You pet Morgana behind his ears, making him purr in his sleep.
A new life filled with people you know, but they don't know you. You must keep their own secrets from themselves while trying to adapt to a brand new situation while also trying to find a way back home. You always thought visiting a fictional world would be the best thing ever. It probably would have been if you weren't sent here by a mad 'God' against your will.
You walked over to the couch and lied down. There was nothing left for you today, and the sun was burning away into dusk. You fell asleep almost immediately, ignoring the tingling of your sunburns. You didn't realize how tired you were, especially from being knocked out earlier. You didn't hear Sojiro lock up the place for the night. You didn't hear Akira climb up the creaky steps. And you didn't hear the boy have an argument with his cat about their new guest. Morgana watched you almost all night. You just didn't feel right to him. It could have been because you were a foreigner, but Morgana was smarter than that. Tomorrow should reveal a few truths. At least, that's what one would hope.