"Due to some unforeseen circumstances, the time for today's opening ceremony has changed, and it may take up a little extra of everyone's class time."
Teacher Kawakami Sadayo's announcement from the podium successfully elicited a collective sigh of lament from the class.
Having been in school for so many years, these high school students could accurately translate the true meaning of various announcements from the school.
For example, "may" meant "definitely," and "a little while" meant "not only will it not be short, but it's also highly important, and none of you can escape"...
Thinking that the first class was physical education, the students' indignation truly threatened to overflow.
Kawakami Sadayo scanned the sorrowful classroom. Once they had calmed down a bit, she resumed speaking.
"Next, there's one last thing to announce."
"Starting today, our class will welcome two new students."
"Amamiya, Iseri, please come in."
Kurusu Akira walked into the classroom carrying his backpack. Although it was the opening ceremony, he wasn't wearing his school uniform.
He had sent his uniform to the laundry yesterday, and then received a message last night saying that the laundry owner had been caught up in the legendary "out-of-control incident" and was currently on the operating table.
He could only come to school in casual clothes.
Kurusu Akira walked to the podium wearing oversized, non-prescription glasses, deliberately hunching his back, looking like an unsociable bookworm.
"Amamiya Ren, from Kyoto. Please take care of me from now on." He introduced himself briefly, then turned to write his name on the blackboard.
This was Kurusu Akira's deliberate choice; without his Persona summoner in hand, he really didn't want to stand out on the first day of school.
Iseri Nina walked to the podium cautiously, imitating the self-introduction.
"My name is Iseri Nina, from Kumamoto. I like rock music, and my favorite band is... 'Diamond Dust'! I'm not particularly good at anything. Anyway, please take care of me from now on!"
After speaking, she nervously bowed deeply to the students below the podium.
Iseri Nina wasn't good at this; her heart was pounding, and she tried hard not to notice the murmurs around her.
"She's a bit introverted, isn't she?" The boys immediately noticed the delicate and cute transfer student and stopped arguing about their upcoming physical education class being taken up.
But soon, their discussion was drowned out by the excited screams of the girls, and all attention shifted to "Amamiya Ren" as he walked down from the podium.
"Oh, from Kyoto! But I can't hear any Kansai accent!"
"Wait, look at his profile!!"
"Quiet, I see it!!"
"Is this a teen idol in disguise?!"
"So handsome..."
Even with thick, reflective square-rimmed glasses, Kurusu Akira's unique aura still drew more gazes from the boys and girls in the classroom. After half a minute of careful scrutiny from various angles, his face, hidden beneath the lenses and messy hair, was finally clearly seen.
The 2-C Class next door heard the cheers or lamentations about a super handsome guy transferring into their class, and then a few nosy girls escaped the classroom and gathered at the back door of the 2-D Class to watch.
----------------
Saved. Iseri Nina realized the attention on her in the classroom had suddenly decreased and couldn't help but sigh in relief, but then immediately felt a little disappointed.
Even at a new school, she was still as ordinary as before.
All the students' attention was stolen by this super popular person!
She stared at Kurusu Akira's retreating back as he walked towards his seat, but an inexplicable panic welled up in her heart, as if a secret that should have been known only to her had suddenly been made public.
But this emotion only lingered for a short while before her body uncontrollably walked down from the podium and quickly followed Kurusu Akira.
"Wait, are they actually deskmates?!"
"I think I saw them come to school together yesterday."
"Could they be a couple..."
"Eh?!"
The jeering suddenly grew louder, and even when the teacher for the first class entered the classroom, the phenomenon showed no signs of improvement.
Iseri Nina, who had just felt disappointed by her "lack of attention," instantly became the center of attention in the classroom.
The surrounding gazes, as the discussions intensified, gradually became tinged with envy, jealousy, and scrutiny.
Kurusu Akira, who had already sat down in his seat without a change in expression, noticed that the empty seat beside him had been unoccupied for a long time. He looked up and found that his deskmate was standing motionlessly by the desk without any warning. A vivid red color spread rapidly from her cheeks to her entire face, and even her ears, hidden by her hair, were flushed.
A pair of lake-blue eyes were already misty, looking on the verge of tears.
"Why aren't you sitting down yet?" Kurusu Akira pulled a pen from his drawer and tapped it on the desk, making a thumping sound.
Iseri Nina seemed to wake from a dream, apologizing to him with a panicked expression.
Her voice was too soft, mixed with the noisy classroom, so even if Kurusu Akira concentrated, he couldn't hear her clearly.
But at least the girl finally sat down, then dejectedly and frantically hugged her head, burying her entire face in the gap between her arms and the desk. Then she curled her legs and shrank in her chair, like a marmot encountering a natural enemy trying to cover its ears to hide, or like a Siamese cat with nowhere to hide, resignedly giving up on itself.
The tall, well-built man stood on the podium, calmly observing the lively scene unfolding in the classroom.
It wasn't until both transfer students were seated that he picked up the whistle hanging around his neck, put it to his mouth, and blew hard—
A sharp, piercing whistle instantly resounded throughout the entire classroom.
In an instant, the boys and girls who had been intensely discussing the transfer students' relationship fell silent.
"On the first day of school, it's great to see everyone so energetic. It seems you all had a very happy spring break."
The man, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and revealing two muscular, full arms, put down his whistle and said with a chuckle, "Let me introduce myself. I am Kamoshida Suguru, the volleyball club's advisor. Of course, from now on, I will also be your P.E. teacher."
"Kawakami-sensei, I'll take over the class now…"
Kamoshida explained a few things to Kawakami Sadayo beside him, then raised his voice, "Everyone, gather outside the classroom and line up. I'll take you to the gymnasium for the opening ceremony. Remember to keep your voices down and don't disturb other classes!"
Kurusu Akira was surprised to find that those restless teenagers actually quieted down, and he could clearly feel a sense of "respect" in the atmosphere of the crowd.
This was rare; it was uncommon to see a P.E. teacher who could earn such genuine respect from high school students.
He nudged the huddled mass beside him, which he wasn't sure was a marmot or a Siamese cat, "It's time for the opening ceremony. Don't block the way here."
Window seats sometimes have this disadvantage: you have to pass by the students outside to get in and out.
If this were in the United States, and his Persona summoner was still with him, he would probably have just jumped out of the window.
Unfortunately, in an ordinary high school campus, if Kurusu Akira were to do that without summoning a Persona, he would most likely give the principal, whom he had never met, a memorable display of defiance.
Hey, old man, I'm about to jump off the building, are you scared?
Before jumping, I'll contact various media for a live broadcast, are you scared?
You're not scared of any of this? Fine, then I'll go to your office and jump out the window.
...
Kurusu Akira shook off these wild thoughts.
He found that after awakening that special Persona last night, his attention had become somewhat unfocused, often his thoughts would scatter and jump to some inexplicable things.
This phenomenon might not only be due to severe energy depletion, but more importantly, he had not yet fully "adapted" to the existence of this Persona.
This nameless Persona possesses the ability to [Save] and [Load] the user's memories.
The [Save] ability is constantly active, and its actual effect is quite exaggerated, undoubtedly a Bug-level existence in reality.
It can permanently fix the user's current mastery of any skill, preventing the user from forgetting due to the passage of time and from skill degradation due to lack of practice.
As for the [Load] ability, Kurusu Akira had already used it last night.
That is, to instantly search for all memories the user needs and completely reproduce all information from that time, including thoughts and sensory experiences.
However, activating this ability requires a large amount of energy and cannot be abused... This might be because the Persona appeared and activated its ability in the real world.
This method of manipulating memories felt particularly familiar to him.
He had seen a similar ability in a manga yesterday—
White Snake, the Stand of Father Pucci, the final villain in "Jojo's bizarre adventure: Stone Ocean".
If this nameless Persona could manipulate other people's memories, then Kurusu Akira would really suspect if he had stolen Pucci's Stand on his way through when he transmigrated.
But in reality, Pucci probably didn't have a Stand for him to steal.
The priest, whose inner sins had been taken away, had sincerely intended to repent, but he found that no matter what he did, he couldn't compensate the families who had been harmed because of him, so afterwards, he simply shot himself in prison.
Kurusu Akira followed the line outside the classroom towards the gymnasium, feeling the fervent gazes of the girls beside him, and couldn't help but sigh.
'When will the Velvet Room send me my employment contract?'
He was already eager to make all villains in the world remember the name "Phantom Thief".
When they arrived at the gymnasium, many classes had already gathered inside.
Dense black heads filled the space, like a dark river surrounding the stage at the top of the gymnasium.
Girls wearing student council armbands were busy moving tables and chairs for the school leaders in the gymnasium, while teachers with megaphones maintained order between classes. Everything was orderly and compact.
Passing by a third-year class, Kurusu Akira saw the senior who came to school in a luxury car.
The senior noticed his gaze and immediately responded with a gentle, friendly smile.
Then they passed each other.
When all the classes had arrived, the atmosphere in the gymnasium gradually approached a solemn calm.
At this moment, a somewhat bald, well-proportioned middle-aged man, surrounded by two beautiful student council members, slowly walked onto the stage and tested the microphone on the already placed podium.
Then he began to speak formally, "Hello, students and teachers. I am Shinba Takakiyo, the newly appointed principal of Private Shujin Academy High School."
"..."
While he was speaking, the two student council girls stood beside him, humble and reserved, like personal maids.
Kurusu Akira looked at this newly appointed principal, his brows tightly furrowed. The intuition formed from years of judging villains gave him an extremely uncomfortable feeling.
Almost instinctively, he reached into his pants pocket to pull out his Persona summoner.
But he found nothing.
So he stared blankly as Shinba Takakiyo spoke eloquently from behind the podium, watching his shadow stretch and extend in the light, until it merged with the curtains at the back of the entire stage.
Ultimately, these objects, outlined by shadows, collectively formed an enormous screen, as if it could obscure all light and conceal all filth and nastiness.
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