Shin Megami Tensei Fan Fiction ❯ Persona 5: Black Lady ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

The faint hum of the bullet train and the clicks and clacks of the tracks below her put Rin into a trance. Her eyelids fell heavier and heavier as the ride went on. Soon, her head tilted forward. She fell forward in her seat. Groggily, she shot herself back upright as she wiped at her eyes. Sleeping on the train was both a good and bad idea. It wasn’t like she had much to do while on the train. Most of her belongings were in the box she packed at home. She didn’t know if her father sent it out or not last night. Her favorite books and manga, her sketchbooks and pens, and her Vita were all tucked away with the rest of her clothes. She should sleep.

The heel of her hand raised itself to rub at her eyes as she felt herself drifting away.

♥♥♥♥♥♥

Once again, Rin found herself in an abyss. The only source of light came from a tower on the horizon and the faint blue glow of the wildflowers that came up to her ankles. The faintest sound of a soprano and piano drifted towards her from the tower. A large lump appeared in her throat. The air felt thick and heavy. She swayed with every step forward. It was as if the air was made of water, specifically the sea during a particularly windy day. The tide of the water pulled her forward. Stumbling, Rin made her way towards the tower.

Heavy doors greeted her.

Her hair stood up as waves of goosebumps washed across her fish belly pale skin.

The doors swung open and a pair of spindly hands shot towards her.

♥♥♥♥♥♥

Rin gasped as she awoke on the train. Sweat dripped down her scalp as her dark eyes scanned the area. The countryside had turned into cityscape and the sun was getting lower in the sky. Swallowing, she tried to regather her breath.

“These fucking nightmares,” she muttered to herself before slumping into the seat. “It's such bullshit...”

“Shibuya. The next stop is Shibuya. Please exit using the door to your left. Thank you. Shibuya.”

Rin collected her bag and got up to exit the train. ‘Let's see if I can make it to Yongen...’

She slid her headphones on from her bag and put on a song by Rise Kujikawa.

Withered flowers forget
What they wept for day after day…

Sucking in a shaky breath, Rin made her way out of the station. The sight of hundreds, maybe thousands, of people stole her breath. Her eyes flickered across the concrete jungle. She stared upwards. These buildings easily dwarfed the tall buildings of Okina’s. She thought she was prepared for Tokyo but was effectively proven wrong. She scrambled to open up her phone’s navigation app as she made her way across Shibuya Crossing, a place she had only seen in dramas and anime. Her thumb smashed against the screen again and again. It stayed frozen even after she pushed a little harder. Hard enough for the screen to ‘ripple’ under her touch.

Then, it suddenly worked.

A large red eye snapped open on the screen.

Rin blinked and nearly dropped her phone.

The eye blinked at her before shrinking down to an app.

“...That’s enough of that,” she muttered to herself. She dragged the application’s icon down into the trash. Or, rather, she tried to. As she was focused on her phone, the crowd around her slowed to a stop. It wasn’t until she crashed into the back of a businessman that she looked up from her screen. “S-sorry—?!”

She stepped back and bumped into a woman behind her who was also standing still.

The girl spun around in her spot to see what was going on. Time had stopped. There was no other explanation for this. Had she fallen asleep and this was part of her messed-up nightmares? Panic pulsed through her system as she stared at her phone.

The red eye was wide open once again.

Before she could try to close it, something caught her attention. An explosion of intense blue light soon turned into a large inferno of blue, purple, and pink across the street. The girl stumbled backward into the frozen woman again. The flames grew higher and higher until they nearly swallowed the building behind it. Soon, a figure emerged from the fire. Large, black wings jutted out and covered the building as the figure lifted itself from the ground. Long limbs pulled itself from the fire before it was out completely, revealing a thin figure in a pinkish-red suit and black hat. Black chains dangled from its wings and slim waist as it thrashed in the air but ultimately couldn’t escape. A wide, maniacal grin split itself across its face—or at least, what Rin could guess was its face—as it lifted its gaze to meet hers. The flames grew brighter and wilder. Darkness spilled from the creature’s features before Rin’s eyes met a pair of her own glowing in yellow.

Just as quickly as it had stopped and the figure appeared, everything snapped back to normal.

“Oh, sorry!” the woman behind Rin called out once she knocked into her. Rin nodded as she stumbled to the side to look for the monster but found nothing. A car honked. Rin dashed to the other side of the street, her heart throbbing wildly as if it was trying to catch up with everything she had just experienced.

Yongen-Jaya was a quiet neighborhood. It vaguely reminded Rin of Inaba in some ways. All the local stores that seemed to struggle to stay open, children running around with their moms calling after them, the faint scent of oden wafting in the air from a nearby stand and tired salarymen coming off the trains... it all reminded her of home. Bittersweet nostalgia panged inside her chest. Her lips pressed into a hard line as her eyes squeezed themselves shut. She wasn’t at home. She wouldn’t see home for at least a year, assuming that her parents would take her back after everything.

Tears pricked at her eyes. Another deep, shaky breath. It’d be fine. Rui and Shousuke were stubborn bastards but they’d realize that everything was a mistake, right? Eventually?

She walked down a block and the scent of coffee and curry—something she didn’t think could go together—washed across her. Hunger panged in her stomach. Slowly, she pulled her headphones off and headed towards the source of the smell. It was likely that it was just someone cooking with the windows open but as she turned down an alleyway, she was greeted with the sight of a bunch of shops and restaurants. The scent grew stronger.

‘Sakura-san won’t get mad if I’m a little late, right?’ she thought to herself once she stopped in front of a cafe called Leblanc. This had to be the place. With a loud jingle, the chime above the door rattled. It was a cozy, retro kind of cafe. An elderly couple sat closest to the 15-inch TV that played the news.

Across from them was a tall, thin man with thinning black hair and facial hair and thin glasses hunched over on a bar stool. His hooded eyes were surrounded by wrinkles that did nothing negative to his appearance. In fact, his wrinkles, receding hairline, and outdated clothing only made him hotter to the girl. Whoever this guy was, he was one of the most handsome men Rin had ever seen. He wasn’t pretty like an idol or even a former idol or anything like that... But she knew what she liked and she liked him. This guy was the epitome of a silver fox. The ideal. Hearts might as well have flashed in her eyes as she made her way further inside.

The tall man blinked as he looked up from the newspaper.

“Oh, that’s right...” he muttered. His voice was deep and dark like the coffee that bubbled on the counter. God, as if he couldn’t get even hotter. “They did say that was today...”

The man got up from his spot and strolled towards the girl.

“Are you Rin Amamiya?” he asked.

“Huh? Oh. Yeah.” It clicked. This incubus in front of her would be her guardian. “That’s me.” She squirmed in her spot as her upper arms pushed themselves together in front of her ample chest. Batting her eyelashes, Rin pushed up her breasts as she tugged on the ends of her curls. “Please take care of me~.”

Sojiro stared at her. “...Uh-huh.” He completely ignored all of that. He cleared his throat and straightened his posture for a split second before returning to his intense slouch. “Well, you probably already guessed but I’m Sojiro Sakura.”

“Boss—Sakura-san here makes the best coffee in Tokyo,” the elderly man said with a lift of his cup. He took a long sip before letting the cup clatter on its saucer. “Well. That’s it. Thank you for letting two old timers loiter in your shop for so long.”

“Thank you so much, Sakura-san.” The old man’s wife also got up from the booth. “The payment is on the table.”

With that, the couple walked out of the store.

“Jeez...” Sojiro sighed. “Four hours for just one cup of joe...” He turned towards the girl and motioned towards the dishes on the tabletop. “You mind helping out around here?”

Rin blinked. “Wow, already putting me to work? Rude.”

It was now Sojiro’s time to blink. A huff of disbelief escaped him. “Hey. If you don’t like it, I can just throw you out right now.”

“I was kidding.”

“I don’t do jokes. Now hurry up and I’ll show you around.”

Sighing, Rin dragged her feet to the table and bent over it to get the dishes. She glanced over her shoulder to see him sitting back down on the stool and reading his newspaper. He was kind of a prick. An especially hot and sexy prick but a prick nonetheless. Swallowing, she shook her hips from side to side as she grabbed the dishes. She glanced over her shoulder again. Nothing. No reaction. He simply flipped the page of his newspaper. Huffing, Rin went to the sink and began to wash the cups and spoons.

“Hey, y’know what?”

“What’s that?”

“Father never told me...”

“Never told you want?” he asked as he grabbed his cup of coffee and took a long sip.

“Father didn’t tell me his friend would be super fucking hot.”

Sojiro spat out his coffee.

♥♥♥♥♥♥

Sojiro spent the next hour, maybe less, showing Rin around the neighborhood. “Don’t leave this block at night and we’ll be good, got it?” he asked as they approached a row of houses past the seemingly abandoned movie theatre. “My place is up here but you probably knew that already.”

“I didn’t,” the girl admitted.

He blinked. “Then how did you know to come to my shop?”

“I didn’t. I was just hungry.”

He scoffed. “I guess I can make you something before showing you your room. What the hell did you pack in that box, rocks?”

“Oh, it’s here?”

“Waiting for you in the room.”

He led her back to Leblanc. She slid into one of the chairs at the bar as he slipped into the kitchenette. As she waited for what she hoped was some flaming hot curry, her eyes drifted toward the small rack of books. Her fingertips ran along the spines as her stomach grumbled. Grimacing, she grabbed one of the light novels to distract herself. ‘Restaurant to Another World’. She might’ve heard about this before but wasn’t sure. Of course, it was only volume 2 he had.

Suddenly, a plate of curry and rice was placed before her. That enticing scent that stole her attention earlier washed over her. Saliva pooled in her mouth as she stared at the hearty beef curry.

“What are you waiting for? Don’t tell me you hate curry.”

“No, it just smells really fucking good!”

“Is every sentence that comes out of your mouth going to include that word?”

“I can try if that’s what you really fucking want...”

“Shut up and eat.”

After washing another set of dishes—god, as much of a bitch as her mother was, she at least did the dishes—Sojiro motioned for Rin to go up the stairs. She quickly followed him.

A large, dust-caked room littered with junk greeted her. The scent of coffee beans was still just as strong upstairs. In the middle of the room was the cardboard box she packed days ago. Half of the room was covered in junk; bags full of musty clothes, exercise equipment that probably got one or two uses, and even mustier thick books. At the far side of the room was a bed—it looked like a motel twin mattress sat on top of a few stacks of books—and a workbench covered in even more books.

It took a moment but then it clicked.

“Wait, I’m not staying at your place?” she asked. “What the hell, man?”

“Listen. It’s nothing personal—”

“No one said anything about staying in a literal attic in someplace. Is it because of my record? My bullshit criminal record?”

Sojiro sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Would you just listen to me?”

“Listen to what? Justification for not actually welcoming me into your home because some drunkard tried to rape the bitch who sold me out for her career?! Because I tried to help someone and got bit at the end of my dick? Do you know how unfair that is?”

The man stayed silent.

“Then I get thrown out by my parents who practically disowned me and guilted me for it... Because I’m just a huge pain in the assl.And I’m handed... I...” She wiped at her eyes as her glasses started to fog up. Hiccups escaped her as she dug her wrists into her eyes. “I get... handed to some stranger. A stranger no one ever talked about... in a city I don’t know...”

“...I promise it’s nothing like that. I just... don’t have the room for you in my house. That’s all it is. I’m willing to give you a shot. Now, I’ll go get you some sheets, and you... can try to calm down.” As he left the room, he gave her shoulder a squeeze. “But... if you really hate being up here so bad... I guess the street might suit you more,” he mumbled before ruffling her hair.

“Dick,” she said with a reluctant laugh.

Sighing, Rin dabbed at her eyes again with the sleeves of her frumpy sweater. ‘I guess I’ll clean or something.’

She rolled up her baggy sleeves and got to work. Dust was more or less scraped off all the surfaces that she could reach. The furniture was wiped down. Boxes were tucked out of the way. Dusty books were neatly stacked and dusted. The floor was mopped. All that was left was the junk. She had no idea what to do with it.

Eventually, Sojiro came back up the stairs with bed sheets draped over his arm. He blinked as he stepped further into the much cleaner room.

“I heard a bunch of noise up here while I was looking after a customer but didn’t expect you to be cleaning.”

“What did you expect then?”

“Well, I was hoping that you weren’t trashing the place.”

“Wow, you really do just see me as a delinquent, huh?”

Sojiro rolled his eyes as he gently threw the cheap bedspread and one singular pillow onto the bed-cot-mattress-waiting-death-trap. “That’s right. Listen, we can throw this stuff out tomorrow. Go take a bath and get to sleep. We’re going to Shujin tomorrow.”

“Shujin?” Rin asked as she bent over the mattress. Her knees sank into the firm but surprisingly supportive mattress. She’d still have to look for more stuff to stuff underneath just to make sure she didn’t fold herself in half one night. “That the school I’m going to?”

“Yep. Not every school accepts hooligans like you.”

Rin huffed as she finished tucking the sheets over the corners of the bed and sat to face him. “I’ll be extra careful then.”

“Good. Get some rest, kid.”

Rin did just that. Now dressed in an oversized Pilot Moon t-shirt and sweat pants and still dripping wet hair, the girl let herself flop onto the mattress. Her breasts squished and folded uncomfortably as she rolled onto her side and plugged in her phone. On the screen after the ‘battery charging’ alert was an all too familiar sight.

A red glowing eye.

“Fuck sakes,” she grumbled. Panic trickled its way into her heart as she waited for the eye to shrink back down. She swiped the application into the trash. “I’ll restart it too...”

With that, Rin let herself fall asleep.

♥♥♥♥♥♥

The sensation of her arms being pulled down by gravity once she rolled onto her side is what tore Rin into the world of the awake. Instead of a dust-caked ceiling, she was greeted by ultramarine that glowed eerily in the low light of the room. She thrashed herself upright. The sound of chains rattling against each other and the coolness of metal trapped around her wrists soon caught up with her.

She was in a jail cell.

Rin tried to get up as panic pulsed through her system. Her leg tripped itself in the chain on the ground. Scrambling onto her feet, she wound up falling flat on her face when she tried to take a step. She looked behind her and saw a large metal ball attached to a chain that surrounded her ankle.

“Quit being so dramatic, Inmate!” a small voice rang across the cell.

Rin looked up to see a pair of golden eyes staring at her. Two little girls with pale hair, so pale that Rin almost couldn’t tell where their skin ended and their hair began in the low light, and eye patches on the opposite eyes. The two were dressed in identical outfits; ultramarine blouses with pockets on the breasts, a matching blue cap that sat a top of their heads, and shorts that highlighted their youth. The one on the right had a sneer on her lips and two twin buns. The twin on the left had her hair tied back in a tight braid and carried a clipboard.

Familiarity panged inside Rin’s chest. She blinked as she stepped closer to them, only for the right twin to smash a prong against the bars. Electricity crackled loudly. The sound bounced off the plush walls and ran through Rin’s fingers after she grasped the bar. A yelp tore itself from her throat as she staggered backward.

The twin with buns giggled before they turned towards the center of the jail block. There sat a large, ornate desk with a... uncanny looking man with large beady eyes and a long nose. The man chuckled. His voice was so deep and bassy that it rattled the bottom of Rin’s spine.

“Trickster... Welcome to my Velvet Room.”

Rin gripped the bars with both hands and rattled them. “Where am I?!”

“Settle down, Inmate!” the right twin warned as she wound up her prod again. Her twin reached out and grabbed her hand. “Grrr... Behave.”

“You are fast asleep in the physical world. You are experiencing this world in a dream,” the braided twin murmured. “Please relax and listen to what our master has to say.”

“That is true. This place exists between dream and reality. Mind and matter. It’s a room that those only bound by a contract can enter—”

“Contract?! Who are you! What are you?!”

“My name is Igor. I am the master of this place. Remember it well. I’ve summoned you here to speak about important matters. It, of course, involves you.”

“Let. Me. OUT!” Rin screamed. Her hands gripped the bars so tightly that her hands shook and her knuckles turned bone white. “Let me out!”

“Know your PLACE!” The twin with buns screeched as she actually followed through with her wind-up. The electric baton crashed against the cold metal and crackled dangerously. “Do you know who you’re talking to?!”

Igor simply chuckled as he looked around what he called The Velvet Room. Slowly, he blinked as he took in the sight of jail cell after jail cell surrounding him.

“This is quite a surprise, however.”

His voice was calm and level for how deep it was. Rin didn’t know whether to freak out more or be calmed by it. She settled for leaning against the bars as he continued.

“This place is meant to be a reflection of your psyche. Your heart. To think that a prison would appear... You truly are a prisoner of fate, Trickster. Make no mistake... Ruin awaits you in the future.”

“Are you KIDDING me?! What the fuck does that mean?! Ruin? My life is already ruined enough as is! How much worse could it get—if you fucking throw that thing at me again, I will tear off your fucking pigtails or so help me.”

The bunned twin huffed and the braided twin sighed.

“Worry not, Trickster. There’s a way to lose such a fate. Rehabilitation. You must be rehabilitated in order to gain your freedom. Your only means to escape ruin is to be rehabilitated. Do you have the resolve to challenge such a fate? To challenge the distortion of this twisted, unjust world?”

Rin scoffed with a roll of her eyes. “Well... I guess I’d like to avoid ruin if it’d get me out of here.”

Another chuckle from Igor rumbled across the jail cells.

“Then let me supervise your rehabilitation.”

The twins turned towards Rin and stood straight up with their hands packed tightly against their sides.

“To your right is Caroline. To your left is Justine. They are also here to assist with your rehabilitation and will serve as your wardens.”

“Hmph!” Caroline puffed out her chest as she held out her baton again. A maniacal smile split across her face. “Try all you want, you’ll never escape.”

“It is our duty as wardens to protect inmates. We’re also here to help... as long as you are obedient,” Justine said coolly.

“These two serve specific roles but I will explain them to you in due time. Now... the night is waning. It’s time for you to return to the world of the living. Take your time to understand this place. We will meet again.”

The ringing of an old, rusty alarm bell echoed across the jail block. It grew louder and louder as time went on. Rin tried to cover her ears as the sound tried to shatter her eardrums.

“Now hurry up and go to sleep, Inmate,” Caroline said as she and her twin turned their backs towards her.

It was as if all the energy she had was sucked out of Rin. Reluctantly, she dragged herself back to the cot and let herself sleep.

♥♥♥♥♥♥

“I hope you understand, Amamiya-chan,” began Principal Kobayakawa. Rin had no idea what his first name was and frankly, she didn’t care to find out. “We took you in in good faith due to your incredible test scores and grades. If you cause any trouble for us...”

“I do understand, yes,” Rin mumbled. “I... understand.”

Her mind was drifting as she received a lecture from her would-be principal. Specifically, it drifted towards her would-be homeroom teacher’s rack. It wasn’t like it was out or anything. She wore a scooped neckline but it was far from deep. Under a canary yellow long-sleeved top, Miss Kawakami wore a knee-length denim skirt and suitable pumps with a shallow heel. Her rack was just big. Not as big as Rin’s though. It was still something that Rin couldn’t help but get distracted by. Her teacher was a pretty lady. She wasn’t a stunner or anything. It was the kind of pretty that built up over time. A real diamond in the rough. Minimal makeup that barely hid the dark circles under her pretty eyes and messy curls that Rin definitely could relate to trying to maintain.

Kawakami was just hot.

This was going to be a problem.

“Here’s your student ID and handbook,” the teacher said with a yawn. She dropped a small faux leather bound book onto the desk and a top it was the photo Rin took when her transfer was officiated. Then, something slid from Kawakami’s sleeve and landed on top of the handbook. A flyer with pink hearts and frills. Before Rin could even register what she saw, Kawakami swooped the flyer up and placed her hands in front of her hips. “Be sure not to lose them, Amamiya-chan.”

“If you guys don’t mind,” Sojiro said as Rin picked up her new belongings. “I have a business I need to get back to.”

“Yes, yes. Please leave whenever you wish. Keep in mind, Amamiya-chan, we will be keeping a very close eye on you.”

“Yep.”

Sojiro scowled at the girl as they left the room and headed down the stairs. “How is it? The school I mean. Think you can manage?”

Rin stretched. “...I think I can squeak by.”

Sojiro opened his mouth, surely to lecture her again.

She shot her arms out and flailed them back and forth. “I was JOKING.”

He sighed. “C’mon. I wanna open the store before the lunch rush.”

“Hey there!” a new voice called out. The sound of heavy footsteps echoed throughout the foyer. “Wait up.”

Sojiro sighed.

Rin turned towards the owner of the voice and gaped at him. The tallest man she had ever seen physically greeted her. His muscles bulged under his too-tight t-shirt and his black curls bounced with every step. She couldn’t stop staring. How was this guy so tall?! Was he mixed? Did that thing about drinking too much milk come true with him? What the hell?

“Hi, I’m Suguru Kamoshida. I’m the PE teacher and coach here,” Kamoshida introduced himself. His voice was like Sojiro’s. Obviously different but they were both deep and made Rin’s knees weak. Kamoshida was a good-looking man, maybe a bit unconventional-looking but Rin was all about that. His voice though... it was something else entirely. She swallowed as he held out his hand for Sojiro—his smile faltering a bit as he did so—and then Rin to take. “I thought it’d be a good idea to greet the new transfer myself... Also, I’m sure you’d be happy to know that I’m in your corner, Rin-chan.”

The girl swayed in her spot as she shook her teacher’s hand. She swallowed as his hand seemed to swallow hers up. She was so taken aback by his appearance that it didn’t register that what he said was possibly insanely weird.

Sojiro huffed. “Nice to meet you. Now if you’ll excuse us...”

“Y-yeah...” she said as she pulled her hand away from the man to play with her hair. It twirled around her finger as she began to walk out of the building. She peeked over her shoulder to look at the man one last time. He waved her off.

Silently, the two drove back to Yongen. Or rather, they tried to. Traffic was absolutely packed and barely moved at a snail's pace.

“Due to a massive train accident this afternoon, all train schedules will be affected until further notice. Traffic is positively packed so do avoid getting on the roads...”

“Of course, this has to happen now of all days. Starting tomorrow? You’re getting on the train,” the older man shouted. He sucked in a deep breath and held it for a moment. Then, he let go.

“Look, I am serious about the train. I have a business to run so I can’t drive you anywhere, got it?”

“Yeah, yeah. I got it.” Rin stretched out the most she could inside the car without smacking her guardian in the face. Relaxing, she slumped against the seat as silence fell between them. “...Can I ask you something, Sakura-san?”

“What’s that?”

“...When’s the last time you even talked to my father? Why’d you even take me in?”

He blew out some air as he ran a hand through his thin hair. “I... I guess when you were a kid? The last time I saw him in person was when you were born. Can’t remember why that was though—don’t worry about it. Your old man asked for a favor and—he already paid. Look, just drop it.”

Sojiro swore under his breath as he slammed his hand into the wheel. Frustration bubbled inside of him as Rin daydreamed about her new life.

For the first time in her life, she was able to think for herself. Sure, she was walking on eggshells all the time back home and would definitely be doing that now in Tokyo if she didn’t want to be hauled to juvie... but it felt different. Everyone thought of the worst here. Or at least they tried to. Something told them that she defied their expectations of what a “violent criminal” looked like. Criminals didn’t have impeccable grades. Criminals didn’t have black hair and no makeup. Criminals didn’t look and act like she did. Supposedly. On paper, Rin was the scum of the earth. No one had any hopes for her. At most, they pitied her and tolerated her. That was probably true back in Inaba as well but…

She was free.

She was free to do whatever she wanted and no one could stop her.