I've met a lot of interesting people since I came to Gekkoukan, and quite a few of them are mysteriously linked to my ability to create and summon Persona.
I'm not exactly sure how or why, but the strength of my bond with those around me affects the strength of my Persona, and vice-versa. The link between my friends and my Persona is related to the Arcana; every Major Arcana in the Tarot deck is connected not only to numerous Persona I can summon, but to someone living on the island. Igor-san hasn't explained this to me, but I'm sure he knows how and why friendship and Persona are connected...
CLASSMATE
Tomochika Kenji
Kenji is a classmate I became friends with shortly after transferring to Gekkoukan. He's been asking for relationship advice ever since I met him. He likes older women, and is pursuing one of our teachers.
In fact, their relationship got a little too serious...
In his mind, anyway. It turns out she was never interested in him at all, but didn't have the guts to tell him flat-out she was already engaged to someone. Poor Kenji...
Recently, I found out some interesting things about the teacher Kenji likes. Maybe I should tell him...?
Nah, best to let it go.
STUDENT COUNCIL
Odagiri Hidetoshi
Odagiri-senpai is the Vice President of the Student Council. He's very stern and imposing, and constantly harasses pretty much everyone except Mitsuru-senpai about various minor rules infractions at Gekkoukan. Right now, he's badgering everyone about an alleged smoker in the toire; personally, I'm betting it was one of the teachers and not a student, but I've seen how hardheaded Odagiri-senpai is, so I'm even going to bother trying to convince him of that.
OLD COUPLE
Bunkichi and Mitsuko
I've been spending a lot of time with this sweet old couple who run the used bookstore down on the Iwatodai strip. They're incredibly nice. They also get a little sad and lonely sometimes. Their son passed away some time ago, and they've never quite gotten over it.
Still, they're usually pretty cheerful when I'm around. Jiichan's memory isn't all that great, though. They seem to have sort of adopted me as a surrogate grandson. I'm not sure how comfortable I am with that, but if it makes them feel less lonely...
Right now, they're really worried about the persimmon tree at Gekkoukan. Their son was a teacher, and planted it the year his first homeroom class graduated. So it's really special to them...
KENDO TEAM
Miyamoto Kazushi
I met Kaz when I joined the school kendo team. He's awesome at kendo and a great friend, but he's been hiding a secret from the team: his knee is so messed up it hurts constantly, and he shouldn't even be training anymore, let alone competing. But he has his reasons to keep pushing himself, and I can't bring myself to tell Sensei about his knee, even though I can tell how much it hurts...
With a lot of urging from friends and teammates, Kaz finally decided to ease up on himself, so that he won't permanently damage his knee. He's going to have surgery soon that'll knock him out of the upcoming meet, but he'll be back to competing after he recovers.
TREASURER
Fushimi Chihiro
Chihiro-san is the Student Council treasurer. She's very shy and very nice. It took a while, but she eventually opened up to me.
Unfortunately, I think she wants to be more than friends, and I'm already seeing someone. But I can't bring myself to tell her that, because I'm afraid she'll go back to how she was before.
Whenever Chihiro-san calls or tries to ask me out, I beg off saying I have other plans or homework or something. I have to admire her persistence now that she's come out of her shell. I'm starting to get a little creeped out though...
Chihiro-san found out I was seeing someone else and got frustrated with me. She confronted me about it, but all she wanted to know is whether or not I thought she was annoying. I told her no, which was the honest truth. (Because she's not annoying. She's creepy...)
Currently, Chihiro-san is tangled up in the mysterious disappearance of a sum of money...
ONLINE GAME
"Maya"
"Maya" is someone I met playing an MMORPG Junpei got me playing. She likes to confide in me online; she seems to need a confidant badly, and I really don't mind being her sounding board for her gripes.
She might've opened up to me a little too much, though, because I've figured out who she is. I'm not saying, though.
Of course, knowing who she is means I know who all the people she bitches about are. For the most part, I have to agree with her. :)
We only really "hang out" on the weekend, when I don't have school.
Maya uses a lot of lolspeak in the game. Which is weird, considering what she does for a living. In fact, that's kind of how I figured out who she is. I don't think she knows who I am yet, though. If she did, she'd be completely embarassed!!
The MMORPG we played on together is shutting down. Maya decided to stop playing, because when she looked back at her chat logs, she didn't like the person she saw there. (Her, not me. :P) I think she's decided to make some major changes to her life.
MUSIC CLUB
Hiraga Keisuke
Keisuke-kun is an artistic genius and a natural musician, but he's very humble and shy about his talent and doesn't give himself nearly enough credit. Everybody thinks he's going to be a doctor like his father, and he certainly plays doctor all the time (not like that, you sicko!), but what he really wants to do is study music.
I hope he can make his father understand his dreams...I'm looking forward to his first solo recital.
TEAM MANAGER
Nishiwaki Yuko
Yuko-chan's the manager of the kendo team. She's a very kind, caring girl who loves kids. She's a pretty good coach; we helped some neighborhood kids win a race against a bunch of older kids. She seemed to really enjoy it, and now that it's over, I think she might be thinking about doing that as a career.
Or maybe she just really likes having kids look up to her. She's certainly talking about kids a lot lately. Like when I went over to her house, and she started asking whether I'd want to have a boy or a girl, and...
*ahem* Um...we're dating.
GIRL AT THE SHRINE
Maiko
I met Maiko-chan when I was visiting the shrine. She's always hanging out in the playground after school, and she's almost always alone. She told me her parents are getting a divorce. She seems so sad and lonely and lost, except when we play together on the playground. I don't think she has any friends her own age...
The other day, when I went to the shrine, Maiko was crying. She asked her parents why they were getting a divorce, and her dad hit her. What the hell?! What kind of asshole hits his kid just because she wants to know why her mom and dad hate each other?
Maiko-chan is sick of her mom and dad fighting all the time, and they yell at her when she asks them to stop, so she decided to run away from home. When they found her note, they got worried and came looking for her. I saw what she meant—they couldn't even stop fighting with each other while they were looking for their daughter! But I helped them find her anyway, and thay all went home together to try to work things out. Of course, her parents are still going to get divorced, but at least now they can sit down and discuss the matter as a family...
MYSTERIOUS BOY
Pharos
You know, I'm not even sure Pharos is real. I mean, he's only appeared to me during the Dark Hour, except for that one last time...
Pharos is an enigmatic, soft-voiced boy who seems to appear and disappear at will. His appearances are usually accompanied by vague remarks about future events, the coming of the end, and that kind of thing. He also seems to value our friendship with a singular fixation, like friendship is some incredibly rare, precious treasure, even though our entire "friendship" consisted of him appearing in my room, being mysterious and vague, then disappearing again before I was even sure I wasn't dreaming the whole thing.
After what happened in December, now I kind of wish I was...
TRANSFER STUDENT
Andre Laurent Jean GerauxBebe
Bebe is a French exchange student who transferred to Gekkoukan earlier in the year. I met him at Bookworm while I was helping Jiichan and Baachan look for a lost wallet.
He seems to really love Japan and all things Japanese. He has a habit of repeating himself in at least two different languages. He's in the fashion club and loves to sew.
Bebe is a little...flamboyant? Sure, let's call it that. And very energetic and enthusiastic. Hmm...maybe I should try to learn a little French? Sock-ray-blue...voo-lay-voo-coo-say-ah-vec-wah...
...okaymaybenot.
BUSINESSMAN
Tanaka-shachou
You've probably seen Tanaka-shachou on terebi; he hosts the home shopping program on Sunday. Seems really charming, doesn't he?
It's complete bullshit.
Tanaka-shachou is a liar, a cheat, a swindler, and a con artist. He bilks people out of thousands of yen and he's proud of it.
At least, he was. Something's changed recently. He's just made an enormous contribution to charity! He says it's an investment in the future—that the children his contribution helps will get rich, then take care of him in his old age by way of thanks—but I think he's really just realized what an asshole he is, and is trying to make a change.
It helps that he stopped with all the creepy fag stuff.
UNUSUAL MONK
Mutatsu
I met this hard-drinking, cigar-smoking old monk at a nightclub, of all places. He seems to spend half the week drinking at Club Escapade.
He's cranky and ill-tempered, and acts annoyed when anyone stops to talk to him, but I think he's a very lonely and depressed old man. From talking to him, I get the sense that he has a lot of regrets about wasted youth. Seems like he had a family and worked hard to earn a lot of money, but now it's all gone, and he's too old to start over again...
Mutatsu-san has decided to retire from service as a priest and attempt to reconcile with his estranged wife and son. I hope he gets what he wants. He's so lonely it hurts to watch.
RIVAL ATHLETE
Hayase Mamoru
They call him the undefeated monster of the high school kendo circuit, and he's certainly earned that reputation. I fought him in a recent tournament, and he totally kicked my ass. But despite his reputation, he's a really nice guy. I've been hanging out with him some afternoons. All the shopkeepers at Iwatodai support him and give him free food.
Unfortunately, his home life sounds like it kinda sucks. His dad died, his mom fell ill from working too hard and now can't work at all, he has a truckload of little brothers and sisters, and it sounds like they're so poor they don't even get to eat every day. I can't even begin to imagine that!
Mamoru decided to quit Kendo and move away to work, to support his family. He's a factory worker now...I hope he can still do all the things he wanted to do with life, but family comes first.
GOURMET KING
Suemitsu Nozomi
MY GOD DOES THIS FATASS EVER STOP EATING?!
Nozomi is a fat, obnoxious, shifty turd who fancies himself the "Gourmet King". I guess if that means "eats five dozen bowls of ramen and then goes to Wild Duck Burger right after that", then yes, he is.
I found out that Nozomi became the cowardly glutton he is because he felt guilt after his younger brother, who he was jealous of, died. I can't say I feel sorry for him, because frankly he's an ass, but it seems he's determined to try to turn his life around.
He knows the secret menus for all the food shops on the island, and is respected and treasured by the local shopkeepers.
DYING YOUNG MAN
Kamiki Akinari
I first encountered Kamiki-kun at the playground, where he was talking to Maiko-chan. They seem to be friends, and she calls him "striped shirt oniisan".
Kamiki-kun suffered from a genetic illness his entire life. This gave him a different perspective on life than most of us have—although he was close to my age, he knew his time on this Earth was short.
Kamiki-kun was a very deep, intellectual person. He spent most of his life reading, and thinking about the meaning of life. In his last weeks, he wrote a story. It's a very sad and depressing story, but it's also beautiful and brilliant. He entrusted it to me; hopefully I can share his story with the world one day.
Kamiki-kun passed away on January 10, 2010.
S.E.E.S.
Members:
Takeba Yukari, Iori Junpei, Sanada Akihiko, Kirijo Mitsuru, Amada Ken, Aigis, Koromaru, Aragaki Shinjiro, Yamagishi Fuuka
S.E.E.S. is the group of Persona users who fight the Shadows and explore the mysteries surrounding the Shadows, Apathy Syndrome, the Dark Hour, and the hidden tower Tartarus. As we've battled together, we've grown closer, and their collective friendship has given me a strength I never knew I had. I only hope, after all the hardships we've endured, I can be as much a source of strength for them as they have for me...
Multiple Arcana are associated with the members of SEES...
About me | About SEES | About my friends | About Persona
