Chapter 1
It had been about three months since the Melding had ripped the world to pieces. Yosuke Hanamaru had found himself alone among the trees in a lush forest. Luckily despite this being the normal world, or what was now considered normal, he had the power to manifest his Persona. While it had helped to protect him from a few errant monsters it was a different thing when one of the bigger Wily Eggman alliance robots had descended down on him. He would have surely been captured had it not been for the untimely arrival of him.
"I build a nest of a beast in my heart. The fang is growling; Kill... Let's go kill. The fang is crying; Kill... Let's go kill. To calm it down, I have no way but slash men..." Uttered the man Yosuke came to know as Genjuro Kibagami. By all accounts he didn’t rescue the boy out of the goodness of his heart, it had only been in his way. Even so, Yosuke had latched onto the crazed samurai even though he soon found out how utterly detestable he was. In this world however you needed to attach yourself with someone, and with no Yu, Chie or even Teddie, his options were bare.
And that’s how they met the third party of the very dysfunctional group, Shinon the archer. Their original meeting had broken into a fight between the archer and the samurai over a drinking tab. The situation had been fixed by the utter destruction of the bar and being chased out of town by an angry mob. After this the unlikely unlikeable trio continued on. Yosuke assumed that Genjuro and Shinon had found kindred spirits in each other in how awful human beings they were, but considering he was tagging along with him…was he actually any better all things considered? Every bar they ended up in either a fight broke out, which more than often ended with someone dead, or Yosuke himself got rejected by some barmaid. Yosuke couldn’t quite understand that though, women loved him! He was good friends with a lot of them! Clearly it was just the situation surrounding the whole melding business that caused everyone to be on edge, right?
Shinon and Genjuro were also being really rude to him all the damn time, he could be helpful too! Not like they were doing all the work when they were traveling. It wasn’t his fault that horses were smelly and big and didn’t allow him to read them. The problem was after having traveled for as long as they had their coffers were starting to run dry and so another day and another drinking hole, this one situated in a somewhat modern looking town the trio were sitting around a table trying to figure out options. Or in this case Genjuro staring menacingly against the wall while Shinon shot down anything Yosuke took up.
“I’m just saying that if we’re going to survive we’re going to need money.” Yosuke tried for them to see reason but no one seemed to budge.
“Yeah if you’re an idiot,” Shinon replied. “For meat, I hunt. There are fruits and vegetables. Unlike you, I don’t need money to survive that, and I have enough money for a drink a bit longer.”
Yosuke groaned. “Because we’ve seen so much of that since we’ve been walking around this place! You caught one rabbit one week ago. After that we’ve seen nothing and whatever weird farmers we’ve found don’t want to share.”
“We can just steal supplies, not that they need everything. Our survival is a good cause.”
“We really can’t.” Yosuke slumped his head down on the table. This was getting them nowhere. He was so happy there was no one else in here right now or it would’ve ended up with more dead bodies. God, Yosuke wasn’t sure how many had been cut down by Genjuro’s temper. Speaking of he was part of this too so maybe…Yosuke looked up only to find Genjuro ordering a bottle of sake from the barkeep. As he got back to the table both Yosuke and Shinon looked at him with disbelief.
“How did you get that?” Yosuke replied a clear irritation in his voice.
“I thought you were out of gold!” Shinon echoed the high school students’ words.
“I lied,” Came the blunt response as Genjuro removed the cork and started drinking. “If I hear anything else from you I’ll cut you into ribbons.“
Yosuke glared daggers at him but he didn’t want to push it because he knew the samurai did not care one bit about anyone else but himself and his belongings slumped down even further in the chair. As Shinon and Genjuro argued on the question still remained. How were they going to get money to survive?
“Money problems huh?” A voice came from the corner of the bar. A hooded seemingly having materialized from thin sat at one of the tables. “Perhaps I can help you with that?”
“Get lost,” Genjuro snapped at him taking another swig from the bottle.
“Whoa, whoa hold on there!” Yosuke was desperate and he had to hear what the figure had to say. “Ignore him he’s just a little cranky, what could you help with, exactly?”
Yosuke tried to get a peek inside of the robe but the darkness was too much. It was a guy for sure though, no woman had that deep of a voice, and he should know being a ladies man like he was. “I have been looking for talented people in doing a job for me. I am ready to pay handsomely for your services.”
Yosuke wasn’t too sure about this and Genjuro had already stopped listening so it was up to Shinon to try and figure it out. “Well aren’t you in luck. As a mercenary work such as this isn’t unfamiliar with me. Who do you want me to kill?”
The robed figure chuckled. “Nothing so drastic, I only wish for you to retrieve a valuable item from a group of bandits stationed not too far from here. It has sentimental value you and sadly no one else has cared to listen to me.”
A stolen item and some bandits? Even Genjuro seemed interested now as his eyes went from the bottle to the robed figure. “We’ll do it.” The fact that Genjuro seemed so keen made Yosuke ill at ease. This was not going to end well.
It had been about three months since the Melding had ripped the world to pieces. Yosuke Hanamaru had found himself alone among the trees in a lush forest. Luckily despite this being the normal world, or what was now considered normal, he had the power to manifest his Persona. While it had helped to protect him from a few errant monsters it was a different thing when one of the bigger Wily Eggman alliance robots had descended down on him. He would have surely been captured had it not been for the untimely arrival of him.
"I build a nest of a beast in my heart. The fang is growling; Kill... Let's go kill. The fang is crying; Kill... Let's go kill. To calm it down, I have no way but slash men..." Uttered the man Yosuke came to know as Genjuro Kibagami. By all accounts he didn’t rescue the boy out of the goodness of his heart, it had only been in his way. Even so, Yosuke had latched onto the crazed samurai even though he soon found out how utterly detestable he was. In this world however you needed to attach yourself with someone, and with no Yu, Chie or even Teddie, his options were bare.
And that’s how they met the third party of the very dysfunctional group, Shinon the archer. Their original meeting had broken into a fight between the archer and the samurai over a drinking tab. The situation had been fixed by the utter destruction of the bar and being chased out of town by an angry mob. After this the unlikely unlikeable trio continued on. Yosuke assumed that Genjuro and Shinon had found kindred spirits in each other in how awful human beings they were, but considering he was tagging along with him…was he actually any better all things considered? Every bar they ended up in either a fight broke out, which more than often ended with someone dead, or Yosuke himself got rejected by some barmaid. Yosuke couldn’t quite understand that though, women loved him! He was good friends with a lot of them! Clearly it was just the situation surrounding the whole melding business that caused everyone to be on edge, right?
Shinon and Genjuro were also being really rude to him all the damn time, he could be helpful too! Not like they were doing all the work when they were traveling. It wasn’t his fault that horses were smelly and big and didn’t allow him to read them. The problem was after having traveled for as long as they had their coffers were starting to run dry and so another day and another drinking hole, this one situated in a somewhat modern looking town the trio were sitting around a table trying to figure out options. Or in this case Genjuro staring menacingly against the wall while Shinon shot down anything Yosuke took up.
“I’m just saying that if we’re going to survive we’re going to need money.” Yosuke tried for them to see reason but no one seemed to budge.
“Yeah if you’re an idiot,” Shinon replied. “For meat, I hunt. There are fruits and vegetables. Unlike you, I don’t need money to survive that, and I have enough money for a drink a bit longer.”
Yosuke groaned. “Because we’ve seen so much of that since we’ve been walking around this place! You caught one rabbit one week ago. After that we’ve seen nothing and whatever weird farmers we’ve found don’t want to share.”
“We can just steal supplies, not that they need everything. Our survival is a good cause.”
“We really can’t.” Yosuke slumped his head down on the table. This was getting them nowhere. He was so happy there was no one else in here right now or it would’ve ended up with more dead bodies. God, Yosuke wasn’t sure how many had been cut down by Genjuro’s temper. Speaking of he was part of this too so maybe…Yosuke looked up only to find Genjuro ordering a bottle of sake from the barkeep. As he got back to the table both Yosuke and Shinon looked at him with disbelief.
“How did you get that?” Yosuke replied a clear irritation in his voice.
“I thought you were out of gold!” Shinon echoed the high school students’ words.
“I lied,” Came the blunt response as Genjuro removed the cork and started drinking. “If I hear anything else from you I’ll cut you into ribbons.“
Yosuke glared daggers at him but he didn’t want to push it because he knew the samurai did not care one bit about anyone else but himself and his belongings slumped down even further in the chair. As Shinon and Genjuro argued on the question still remained. How were they going to get money to survive?
“Money problems huh?” A voice came from the corner of the bar. A hooded seemingly having materialized from thin sat at one of the tables. “Perhaps I can help you with that?”
“Get lost,” Genjuro snapped at him taking another swig from the bottle.
“Whoa, whoa hold on there!” Yosuke was desperate and he had to hear what the figure had to say. “Ignore him he’s just a little cranky, what could you help with, exactly?”
Yosuke tried to get a peek inside of the robe but the darkness was too much. It was a guy for sure though, no woman had that deep of a voice, and he should know being a ladies man like he was. “I have been looking for talented people in doing a job for me. I am ready to pay handsomely for your services.”
Yosuke wasn’t too sure about this and Genjuro had already stopped listening so it was up to Shinon to try and figure it out. “Well aren’t you in luck. As a mercenary work such as this isn’t unfamiliar with me. Who do you want me to kill?”
The robed figure chuckled. “Nothing so drastic, I only wish for you to retrieve a valuable item from a group of bandits stationed not too far from here. It has sentimental value you and sadly no one else has cared to listen to me.”
A stolen item and some bandits? Even Genjuro seemed interested now as his eyes went from the bottle to the robed figure. “We’ll do it.” The fact that Genjuro seemed so keen made Yosuke ill at ease. This was not going to end well.