Persona 3: The Broken Tower

Within the darkest abyss, there is always a single bright light.

Within a room in the male dorm, a single figure slept silently wrapped snuggly in a white blanket. The alarm clock by the side of the bed on top of the dresser slowly ticked away, before it reached six o-clock, ringing loudly waking the figure inside the blanket cocoon. He groaned as he reaches out from under the blanket, slamming the top of the clock to stop.

He comes out of the blanket cocoon, his tired eyes looking over at the clock reading the time. "…Better get up…"

Entering the bathroom, the shower head turned on with droplets of water pouring down on him. He groaned slightly as his sleepiness is washed away from his eyes. Turning it off, he exited the shower with his tower drying his damp black hair. He looked down at the sink, picking up his toothbrush and toothpaste and starts his morning routine of cleaning his teeth.

After a while, he got out of his bathroom and changed into his uniform, the standard Gekkoukan High School uniform minus the bow tie and his blazer is left opened, along with red converse. He looked to the mirror, checking his rather messy black hair that he won't bother to comb that slightly overshadowed his black onyx eyes. "There, done…"

He proceed to pick up his school bag and walked out of the door.

On the monorail heading towards Tatsumi Port Island, the teen stood there looking over at the sea, the blue water shimmering by the early morning sun. His lazy eyes looked over to the other side, seeing the several Gekkoukan High students either talking to each other or taping on their phone. He reached into his pocket and took out his phone, a black flip-phone that he flipped opened and checked his messages.

He then took notice of the two high school girls standing opposite of him, one of them with brown hair that reaches just past her ear with equally brown eyes with a white choker and a pink sweater over her uniform instead of the standard black blazer talking to the other girl, she have dark brown hair tied in a ponytail with red eyes, wearing the standard uniform but with a pair of red headphones hanging around her shoulder.

The brown haired girl seems to be talking to her about the school and the man-made island it is based on, not that he care about it. He now is checking the net for the latest articles, finding the usual articles about the Apathy Syndrome disease that has been on an outbreak over the past two years. He ignored them and tries to find any good articles, not getting much besides the several about food or the Kirijo Group.

He looked over at the window yet again, the school now in view to him that come over closer. He sighed a little as he placed his phone back into his pocket. As the monorail stopped, the doors slides open as the students flood out into the streets and towards the school gates. He was one of the students and he followed them through the main entrance. He looked over to the bulletin board, trying to find his name on the board.

He read the names until he can find his class, 3-D, with his name there: Tsukiyo Amagi. He read the list, finding the names of a Mitsuru Kirijo on it as well. "Another year with her, huh…?" He muttered walking off, only to find the girl he saw on the monorail looking over at the list from over the crowd of students with a troubled look on her face.

"Need help?" He asked her, the girl turned to face him revealing the hairclips in her chocolate brown hair that formed XXII.

"No, I'm good!" She tells him with a smile before looking over at the list of names yet again.

"…What's your name?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh, it's Minako Arisato."

He looked over to the bulletin board and found her name, "You're in Class 2-F." He tells her.

"Oh, thanks, um…"

"Tsukiyo Amagi." He introduces himself, "I'm a third year."

"Oh, then thank you, Tsukiyo-senpai!" She said happily, before walking off into the corridor towards the Faculty Office. He sighed a little before walking away to his favorite spot by the persimmon tree. He sat down by the roots before reaching into his bag and taking out a small novel and starts reading.

He manages to reach the school assembly on time and slept through the principal's speech, before heading to his class. He sighs slightly as the school day ends and stood up from his seat in the classroom, the re-introduction to his new classmates can be a little tiring. As he was leaving, he bump into someone he did not expect to see, a teen of his age and height with white hair and dark grey eyes in the same uniform with the blazer changed out for a red vest and black gloves.

"Oh, Akihiko." He greeted.

"Hey, Tsukiyo." The teen greeted back, "How's your first day?"

"Boring, as usual." He sighed.

"Surprised that you are in the same class as Mitsuru again." Akihiko stated, "Are you two destined partners or something?"

"Coincidence. That's all it is." Tsukiyo sighed, "Speaking of her, she seems to be troubled by something."

"Probably something to do with the new member at the dorm." Akihiko stated, "It was a last minute call and the chairman is planning to check with the female dorms to see if there is a room available for her."

"That co-ed dorm you and Mitsuru are staying?" He stated, "Why not just let her stay? It's not like you are ever lack of rooms considering how many people are staying there. There are plenty rooms for her to stay in."

"That's true, but…"

"That's a good idea." They were then interrupted by a girl, a stunningly beautiful red haired girl with red eyes and in the standard uniform but the top is a stripped blouse. "It would be troublesome to move around when it hasn't been one semester yet."

"Is that a good idea, Mitsuru?" Akihiko asked, "I mean…"

"…" Mitsuru glanced at Tsukiyo for a moment, "Amagi, mind if I speak to Akihiko in private?"

"…Sure." He stated before walking off into the corridor. He looked over behind, both of students walking away chatting away about something. He sighed a little, 'What has they been hiding…?' He wonders, 'They has been like this since we first met. And they refused to tell me about anything…'

Walking out of the entrance, he came across the same girl he helped at the bulletin board, this time with a teen boy wearing a blue baseball cap and a goatee wearing a blue button shirt under his blazer. "Oh, you're!" She cried.

"Huh? You know him?" The boy asked.

"You're that girl. Minako Arisato, right?" He greeted.

"Yup! Nice to see you again, Tsukiyo-senpai!" She said cheerfully.

"Wait, Tsukiyo?" The boy thought for a moment, before realizing, "Oh! The Gekkoukan Samurai!"

"That title still around…?" He sighed tiredly, "And? Who are you?"

"Me? I'm Junpei Iori!" He chuckled, "Oh man, I've never thought that I'll meet the Gekkoukan Samurai in the first day of the semester!"

"Gekkoukan Samurai?" Minako asked.

"Oh, right. You just transferred so you wouldn't know." Junpei stated, "This man, was a kendo legend of Gekkoukan High! He was never defeated once at all, not by anyone! He even won major tournaments across the country! He is a true-blood samurai of modern Japan!"

"It doesn't mean I became a legend…" Tsukiyo sighed, "I was a member of the Kendo Club and just participated in the tournaments they arranged. Winning them is just a bonus."

"Oh, you're just modest, senpai!" He chuckled.

"That sounds amazing!" Minako stated.

"Like I said, it wasn't much." The senior sighed, "So, you're a transfer student huh? Must be tough, transferring to a new school. I would know, I was a transfer student myself two years ago."

"You too, Tsukiyo-san?" Junpei asked surprised, "Wow, a first year transfer student that took the Kendo Club by storm… Man that sounds like something out of a comic book!"

"It does, does it?" Tsukiyo sighed, "I surprised myself when I made it that far."

"Hey, Minako." Junpei whispered, "You think your time here will be like his?"

"Time would tell." She tells him.

"I've got to go." Tsukiyo stated, "It was nice talking to you." He proceeds to walk out of the school gate.

"He is as cool as the rumors put him to be." Junpei stated, "Man, I sure wish I was as bit cool as him."

"You will be." Minako assures him.

Tsukiyo walked into the strip mall, with the very intention of finding a place to eat for his dinner, after buying some books and stationary. He was considering the Wuck Duck Burger but choose against it, "Their mystery burger still scares me…" He muttered to himself, choosing Hagakure and their ramen. When he entered the restaurant, he was surprised to see Akihiko eating there as well.

"Oh, Tsukiyo. What's up?" He greeted.

"You finished your talk with Mitsuru?" He asked as he sat down, "The special, please." He ordered from the chef, "So, what's the talk about?"

"Just about the new tenant of our dorm." Akihiko explained.

"You mean that last minute one, right?" Tsukiyo asked, "So? Is she staying?"

"For the time being." He tells him.

"I see." The bowl noodles placed in front of the black-haired teen, he took the chopsticks, "Thanks for the food." And he starts slurping away at the noodles, "Say, have you seen the new transfer student?"

"No, I haven't." He stated, "Transfer student, huh…? Reminds me of that time that you transferred in."

"Yeah, a country bumpkin transferring into a private school of all places, right?" Tsukiyo stated.

"Not to mention that glare of yours when you came." His friend said, "Not to mention your complexion. You're the ideal version of a Japanese samurai."

"I wasn't glaring at anyone…" He sighed, "I've lost my contacts and I didn't bring my glasses with me then. It was hard to see so I have to squint."

"It has been two years since then." Akihiko stated, "Back then, you were quite a delinquent."

"Mostly because they all try and make fun of me for being from the countryside." Tsukiyo stated, "But then, I've wouldn't caught yours and Mitsuru's attention. I can still recall how surprised I was when the heiress of the Kirijo Group just walked up and ask if I was alright after a fight."

"That's just how Mitsuru is." Akihiko stated. Tsukiyo carry on eating his ramen as his friend looked down at his own, "Hey, Tsukiyo."

"Yeah?"

"Do you experience any weird thing at night?"

"Hm?" Tsukiyo stopped slurping and looked at Akihiko, "…No, nothing really. Why?"

"Oh, no reason." The teen carries on slurping his noodles as his friend stare at him with a suspicious glare.

"…You know…" Akihiko stopped slurping turning to face his friend, "If you have any troubles, I'll be happy to help."

"…Yeah, I appreciate that." The two of them carry on with their meal in the silence, the black haired teen glanced over at his friend sighing slightly.

The teen returned back to his room, the night getting late. He placed his bag onto his bed and proceeds to change out of his clothes into his sleepwear. Turning on his radio, he took a pair of grey rimmed glasses and put them on as he opened up a book. Sitting down on his bed, he proceeds to read.

*Tick*

*Tick*

*Tick*

He closed his eyes for a moment as he closed his book, opened them to view the green tinted atmosphere of his room. His lights turned off and his radio silent. 'Again, huh…' He looked out the window, the moon tinted in the eerie glow and blood pools all over the streets below with black coffins all over.

He recalled the first time this happened. It was over a year ago, the beginning of summer break. He received a call from a detective in his hometown, telling him that the case was dropped due to lack of evidence and proof, letting the culprit get scot-free. He remember his anger over the call, how he shouted at the caller for hours on end, begging him to check again and re-opened the case.

He recall being apologized to by the detective, to hanging up his phone before throwing it on his bed in frustration. As the clock strike twelve midnight, the atmosphere changed. The sky turned green and his room turned dark. His first reaction was of shock and fear, unknown of what to think of this.

When he starts hearing voices, he freaked out even more. Usually, he has an affinity with horror and scary stuff, but this is beyond what he is used to. As tempting as the voices' words were, he did his best to block out the voice. When the world suddenly changes back to normal, he went back to sleep exhausted.

From that day forth, he start getting the same event over and over every night. Using an hourglass, he managed to calculate how long this event occurred, which he estimated at about one hour. He began to take notes on what is happening outside, in hopes of figuring out what causes this.

Coming out of memory's lane, he went to his table and took out a red notebook. In it are dates with reports of that certain day. "Let's see… today's isn't exactly a full moon… there aren't any voices this time either…" He wrote those down, "Let's see, people are still in coffins… no black goo monsters tonight…"

He sighed as he closed his book, 'Nothing happened today… maybe's it's because it isn't a full moon tonight…?'

He yawned slightly, before choosing to go back to sleep.

The next day, Tsukiyo was walking in the school when he overhear the gossips between two students. Something about a classmate with Apathy Symptom, on how soulless that girl is behaving, 'Another one… This Apathy Syndrome is definitely spreading…' He thought as he looked through the articles on his phone.

"Tsukiyo-senpai!" He was stopped when he heard the familiar voice of the transfer student running towards him.

"Oh, Arisato." He greeted the girl.

"What a coincidence that we run into each other again!" She said with a smile.

"Indeed."

"So, how are you doing today?" She asked.

"I'm fine." Tsukiyo stated, "And you? Adapting well?"

"Yeah." She stated smiling.

"That's good to know." He stated, "Transferring can be tough, I know. I've told you before right? That I've transferred here in my first year. I believe it was around June…"

They carried on with small talk before they separated to their respective classes.

The day went on without much fail, Tsukiyo got called up to answer a few questions or to read out a passage from the textbook. The bell soon rang to signal the end of the school day, the students scattering into their little groupies as they left.

Tsukiyo left the class too, walking along the corridor before bumping into someone. That caused her to drop her books and worksheets, the papers all spread around on the floor. "Oh, sorry." He kneeled down to help her pick them up. When he was ready to pass it to her, he was stunned. The girl has short teal-blue hair and dark brownish-gray eyes, wearing a blue turtleneck under her school uniform.

"T-Thank you." She stuttered with a small smile, accepting the papers from him before slightly jogging away.

He looked back at her retreating figure, his mind was on how gentle-looking and beautiful looking she is and how her eyes seems rather sad, and scared even. He even found himself getting absorbed into her eyes.

Getting that out of his mind, he left the school.

Finishing his part-time job at the Chagall Café, he went on his way back to his dorm. When wandering around in the night, he came across the white dog at the Naganaki Shrine. He sat down by the bench at the playground, patting the dog a little before the canine walked back into the shrine.

He looked up at the moon, the celestial body almost a full circle.

Standing back up, he carries on walking back to his dorm, bumping into the The Lost along the way. When he opened his door, the clock strike twelve and everything turns eerie green. Not used to seeing the world outside in this color, he quickly stepped inside into his room and closed the door shut.

"[ _ ]"

'Ah shit!' The voices bombarded his mind. He could barely figure out what they are saying, only certain phrases are clear for him to understand. He changes into his sleepwear quickly while trying to ignore them and jumped into bed falling trying to get to sleep. Soon, the world returns back to normal and the voices stopped as his mind drifts off into the sea of unconsciousness.

The next morning, he walked to school looking at his phone yet again. He caught on to Minako talking to Junpei, the boy talking about how refreshed it is to sleep during class compared to sleeping at home, which he mentally agreed, 'But you have to remember to study earnestly after school.'

The entirety of the school day was quite fast, in Tsukiyo's eyes it was a blur. The teachers come, teaches them the lesson, ask some students to answer some questions or the surprise quiz from some of the teachers, it passes by quickly for him.

Soon, it was after school and he heads to the Paulownia Mall, mostly to check out the music albums and to see if there are any part-time work he could take for the next month. He heard of a new single that was pretty popular and tries it out. When he left, he bump into two people he did not expect to see.

"Oh, Minako." He greeted.

"Hi there, Tsukiyo-senpai!" She greeted, "You hang out here too?"

"Just here to buy some CDs." He stated, before turning to the girl next to Minako, "And you're… aren't you one of the students staying at that co-ed dorm?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Yukari Takeba." She greeted.

"Tsukiyo Amagi." He greeted, "So, showing her the sights?" The brown haired girl nodded, "Well, if you're looking for a place to hang out, this is definitely the place. There's plenty to do here."

"Why don't you join us?" Yukari asked.

"Huh? You sure?" He asked, "I mean, I don't want to be of bother."

"It's cool!" Minako said cheerfully, "More the merrier!"

"Huh… I see…" Tsukiyo sighed slightly, "Very well then…"

The three of them ended up spending the day in the mall, the senior mostly being dragged from shop to shop by the two girls. After a while, they ended up in the café to rest and have a drink. Tsukiyo at this point is exhausted, slipping his latte as he looked at the scene of Yukari talking to Minako. 'She sure is adapting well…'

"Hey, Amagi-senpai." Yukari asked, "How do you know Minako?"

"I helped her out at the bulletin board the first day of school." He explained, "Other than that, most of the time we meet is by chance. Then again, there isn't many place for students like us to go here."

"That's true." She stated, "…Hey… how do you know I stayed in that co-ed dorm? Are you… stalking me?"

"How on earth did you came to that conclusion…?" Tsukiyo sighed, "I'm acquaintances with Mitsuru. She told me about the students that stay in that dorm. Akihiko Sanada is one of my friends too."

"Oh, that explains it." Yukari stated.

"So Minako is the last-minute student, huh?" He stated, getting quite a surprise look from the two girls, "Don't look so surprised… Akihiko told me about you, but never told me the name. And you being the latest transfer student, the answer was obvious."

"Wow, you're smart." Minako said in awe.

"I personally prefer deductive." He said, "But thanks for the compliment."

"Well, we better get going." Yukari stated as she stood up, "It's getting late, and Mitsuru-senpai is pretty strict on curfew. It was nice hanging out with a senior like you."

"Akihiko can be a pain, right?" Tsukiyo stated, "He may be a muscle head, but he is genuine nice guy once you get to know him."

"I could say the same about you." Yukari stated, "When I saw you, I was sure you're those loner types. But you're actually pretty nice guy. Ah! Sorry if I've offended you!"

"It's fine. Most people think like that as I tend to be quiet most of the time." He stated.

They said their goodbyes and went on their way.

Back in his dorm room, Tsukiyo changed into his sleepwear and is reading his book with his glasses on. His radio on full-blast as he listened to the latest album.

I will-

BURN MY DREAD

I once ran away from the god of fearand he chain me to despair.

BURN MY DREAD

The radio boomed on echoing in his room.

*Tick*

*Tick*

*Tick*

The radio turned off and he looked up from his book. The air changed yet again as he closed his book and walked towards the window. Taking a peek outside, he looked at the green illuminated streets with the coffins all laying around. 'Nothing changed today either…'

He looked up, noticing the large full moon in the green night sky. 'A full moon…'

"[ _ ]!"

"Guh!"

The loud voices bombarded his mind, it is deafening. He can feel his mind slowly being pushed down and ripped apart at the same time. 'W-What is this? This is nothing like the previous times…!' He collapsed on his bed holding his head in pain.

At that one moment, a sharp scream echoes in his head, causing him to scream out in pain, screaming till his throat is sore before the voices stopped. 'W-What was…?' He dropped onto his bed, unconscious.