1st Lie

[fictionalize]

Characters: Kumagawa and you!
Setting: Various parts of the tower
Format: Any
Summary: BIG HUGE LOSER exploring the tower
Warnings: Screws, random acts of violence, some gore?

[Dormitories]

[First order of business is, of course, putting on his uniform. He can't wear white! It really just doesn't suit him. Even if he's not on the student council anymore and should really wear the normal uniform. Of course, this didn't really look like Hakoniwa Academy...

Plus, the last thing he remembered was having just rescued Shiranui, so this was pretty mysterious. Had he been hit by some kind of style?

Well, whatever! He's going to look for someone to harass. No matter who you are or how busy you look, there's an annoyingly smiley face bothering you]

「Hi, do you have a few moments to fill out a survey for the latest issue of Shounen Jump?」

[Cafeteria]

[Kumagawa is just. Staring at the oatmeal.

Yeah, no. He doesn't want to eat this.

You, who were passing by, gets a tug on your sleeve or other grabbable piece of clothing]

「...I don't suppose I could get the shiyo ramen instead, can I?」

[Floor 75]

[The snowy of the ruins of the castle here look like they've been through a more recent battle: there's blood and ichor everywhere, the bodies of dead monsters all over the place, ranging from the more mundane and even completely harmless to a few that look like they'd be quite dangerous. The most striking feature of the scene is how they were apparently annihilated: everywhere, there are giant screws stuck into everything, drilling through their heads, their guts, armor, carapaces, pinning them to the ground, the trees, even into the walls of the castle.

Investigate?]

Comments

[evokingfool]

...Won't people jump to conclusions if they see you with that screw?

[You know, in case that idea haven't crosses your mind.]

permission to commit impermanent harm?

[fictionalize]

「You mean because of this? Are you saying their are really people so prejudiced they might assume such horrible things just because I'm holding something like this?」

[He staggers towards Minato, screw raised...]

permission granted!

[evokingfool]

Our experiences in this tower would make many of us rather cautious and wary.

[Minato slowly step backwards, watching him.]

[fictionalize]

「Then you should watch out!」

[It doesn't really matter how fast Minato backs away; it's not fast enough - one moment he's fine, the next moment there's a screw drilling into his gut as Kumagawa grins at him, blood spattering as it grinds through skin and flesh and the scraping of metal on bone as it pierces through to his spine-

And then suddenly its gone. There's no screw, no blood, no injury or even pain. Kumagawa is just standing there a few feet from Minato, still spattered with blood but otherwise innocent looking, though the screw he'd been holding is gone. He just smiles]

「Who knows what kind of crazy people you might meet.」

[evokingfool]

[Just like that, he can see the screw drilling into his gut, the blood spilling and splattering as a result, as it went deeper and deeper...

And then it's over, as if it never happened. One of his hand cover his stomach, over where his gut is, from the memory of it, his eyes slightly widen in surprise. Did he just imagine it?

Or did this guy cause that?]

...Yeah. That's why I walk around with my weapons.

[It's a sign of his level of self-control when his voice somehow didn't waver.]

[fictionalize]

[Kumagawa's pretty amazed - amused? - Most people react a lot worse to that, even if they only had the memory of the pain, the sensation of having their body drilled into... what a stoic guy.]

「That's a good idea! It's too bad I don't have anything like that.」

[He holds out a hand to shake - there's still blood on it]

「I'm Kumagawa Misogi. It's nice to meet you.」

[evokingfool]

[His stoic self is sometimes a good thing. Then again, how does what just happened compare to the memory of his first Persona awakening?

But that illusion - was it an illusion? - was still shocking and took a lot of his self-control to stay calm.]

You can ask someone to teach you how to use a weapon. You'd probably need it to defend yourself.

[But does this guy really need to learn? What if he did kill those monsters?

Minato glance at his hand, before reaching out and shake it.]

Minato Arisato. It's nice to meet you as well, Kumagawa.

[fictionalize]

[He shakes that and rather enthusiastically]

「Learn to defend myself, huh? Is this tower really that dangerous a place? Can't we all just live in peace and harmony together?」

[evokingfool]

[Such a enthusiastic guy. Are the blood dried or still fresh?]

Yeah, it's dangerous. Even if we live without fighting each other, the floors and monsters are still dangerous.

[fictionalize]

[Still semi-fresh... at least, it's not dry]

「It's that dangerous and people still fight each other? Human nature really is depressing in the end.」

[evokingfool]

[He might need to wash the blood off his hand later.]

We have our disagreements.

[To put it very, very simply.]

[fictionalize]

「Everyone should work them out with words then, not violence! This isn't a shounen battle manga!」

[evokingfool]

I agree. But it would take a lot of work because our opinions differs so much.

[Never mind that some people are enemies with each other.]

[fictionalize]

「Doesn't that just mean you're all being lazy?」

[evokingfool]

Quite possibly. Or they're mortal enemies.

[Grudge and animosity like that are hard to put aside, and only in the most extreme cases.]

[fictionalize]

「Life's too short to have mortal enemies! People should really learn to just get over it. Or just hurry up and kill one of them.」

[evokingfool]

...Didn't anyone tell you? Death isn't permanent for us.

[fictionalize]

「What is this, a video game? People die when they're killed, you know.」

[evokingfool]

Not for us. When we die, our souls technically get a new body.

[They still die. It just doesn't stick.]

[fictionalize]

「Reincarnation? Do we come back as dogs and bugs and houseplants?」

[evokingfool]

[Shake his head.] Just another copy of our bodies. It's more like a respawn than reincarnation.

[fictionalize]

「My faith in reality is crumbling. How am I supposed to take things like life and death seriously if we have such an easy respawn?」

[evokingfool]

Everyone might not think the same but...even with this system, life is still precious. I think of it as not giving the admins another thing to be satisfied with if I die again.

[fictionalize]

「Well, it certainly makes killing people meaningless. Where's the point in murder anymore?」

[evokingfool]

You can make a point about it to others, but it'd be a waste of time. [Why fight? Why kill? This tower is bad enough when they have to worry about each other.]