"Because in the school of the Spirit, man learns wisdom through humility, knowledge by forgetting, how to speak by silence, how to live by dying."

- Johannes Tauler

Chapter 2 – The First Day

April 7th 2009
Minako POV

*Knock* *Knock*

Have you ever had that dream where everything is perfect in the world? You've got the man of your dreams, you've aced your classes and have become a world renowned mega star, and best of all, no one bothers you. Then someone ruins all of that by knocking on your door, waking you from your ecstasy.

Wow, I'm using some fancy words this morning. Mini would be so proud, I thought to myself. I rolled over in bed trying to block out the sound, but the knocking refused to stop. Putting a pillow over my head only drowned the noise out slightly, and then I could hear a person's voice behind the door.

"It's Yukari. Are you awake?" The voice said in a tone that was way too cheerful for this early in the morning.

"…No…" I managed to fumble out in a daze.

"Yeah, your brother told me you'd say something like that. That's why he wanted me to remind you that it's your first day of school today."

I guess she must have woken up bro first. Oh wait, he always wakes up super early, they must have just passed each other.

"…Whatever…" I said as I curled up back into bed. It wouldn't be the first time I missed the first day. I could deal with that when the time came.

"He also told me that a quick glass of cold water over your head was an excellent way to ensure you got up. I don't think he was kidding either."

Of course he wasn't. This is Mini we're talking about. I accepted defeat this time and sat up. I guess it wouldn't do me any favours to miss the first day and Mini would never let me hear the end of it.

"Give me a minute. I'll meet you downstairs."

"Alright, be quick though, you don't want to be late."

After I heard Yukari's departing footsteps, I jumped into getting myself looking as awesome as possible. It didn't take me too long to get ready, but then again I wasn't exactly given as much time as I would have liked. School uniform on, hair tied up, quick dab of makeup and I was all ready to go conquer another school. I rushed downstairs, shaking off my tiredness and after three floors I found Yukari and Mini waiting for me right by the front door. The whole place looked a lot more homey compared to last night.

"Good morning Yukari-san," I called out as I walked towards them.

"Good morning," she replied with a smile. She was clearly a morning person considering how beautiful she looked. It appeared I would have a rival in the near future. I was okay with that though, life was no fun without someone to play against. "I would ask if you slept well, but judging from a little earlier, I think I know the answer," she said with a giggle.

"Nah, I slept like a log actually. I'm just not a morning person is all." I looked over to my brother who was fiddling with his Ipod as usual. Nice to see nothing has changed since yesterday, but it was weird, I could barely remember the other day. I think there was something about the moon or something like that. However, that wasn't the only weird thing. "Mini, what are you still doing here? I thought you would have left by now."

"Oh, Mitsuru-senpai asked me to take you both to school," Yukari answered. Mini just kept looking at his Ipod, barely registering me. "He also wanted to make sure you got up."

"Wow, you actually got something out of him?" I asked, genuinely surprised.

"Well, yeah. He just told me how I should get you up and that he would be waiting downstairs," she replied, a little confused as to what I meant. I couldn't blame her, she barely knew him yet. I could see that Mini was tapping his foot impatiently and Yukari caught on quickly. "A-anyway, are you ready to go?"

"Totally!"

"Yes, we don't want to be late," Mini said as he stepped straight outside. Yukari quickly chased after him and I heard her call out.

"Wait! I have to show you where to go!"

Oh Mini, you'll never change…

I hadn't realised this at first but according to Yukari, we couldn't walk straight to the school. We had to take a passenger train because the school was built on a separate island. Weird. Mini was as quiet as ever but Yukari and I chatted like we were old friends on our way to the train. We didn't have to pay since we were students and I couldn't help but raise my arm in a sense of victory as Mini shook his head at the sight. The train got crowded quickly so there weren't any seats left. That meant we had to use the dreaded handlebars of doom. All of sudden Yukari, who was standing between both of us, nudged Mini and me.

"This is my favourite part… When it feels like you're gliding over the sea. You can see our school from here." We both looked through the window and saw a tiny white structure in the distance. It was built on a small island, or more appropriately, an oversized rock. "See, there it is." It looked nice enough, but I preferred the sight of how the sun shone off the sea below. It sparkled and dazzled, and I don't use big words that often, but it was absolutely breath-taking.

"It's very beautiful," muttered Mini.

"Our stop is port island station at the end of line," added Yukari. "From there, we walk. Have you two ever heard of Tatsumi Port Island? It's a man-made island. They built our school right in the middle."

"Interesting, that must have taken them some time to build…"

"It looks like a good place for a nap," I added with a smirk. Mini gave me a sideways glance.

"With your grades, I would spend less time napping and more time studying. Your knowledge is barely on two."

"… What does that even mean?"

"Welcome to Gekkoukan High School! I hope you like it," said Yukari with no small sense of pride. The school was a lot bigger than I first thought it would be. Walking inside, we found ourselves amongst the footlockers. Just ahead of us was a group of other student talking around a board with names on it. Yukari stopped us before we got any further. "… And that concludes our tour."

"Wait, you didn't show us the school yet?" My brother argued. "It's not really a tour. You just showed us the way to school." I had to resist face palming so hard after that comment but luckily, Yukari seemed unfazed.

"You two will be okay from here, right?" I quickly placed a hand over Mini's mouth and nodded at her with smile. "You guys should see your homeroom teacher. The faculty office is right there to the left," just as Yukari said, there was a hallway to the left of us, and another to the right. In front of us was a staircase that led to the second floor.

"Yeah, what class are you in?" I asked while removing my hand from Mini's mouth. It can't hurt to have a friend in the same class as me. Yukari seemed a little surprised though.

"Me? I dunno… I haven't looked at the classroom assignments yet."

Mini cleared his throat. "Well, we had best get to the faculty office. Let's go, Miki." Before we could leave, Yuakri placed an arm in front of us.

"Hey… about last night… don't tell anyone what you saw, okay? See you later." And just like that, Yukari headed to the bulletin board and away from us. Mini had a raised eyebrow while I just looked a little confused.

"Did she mean not to mention the time she nearly pulled a fake gun on us?" I asked.

"Probably. I imagine Miss Popular would rather not have anyone misconstrued last night." We began walking down the left hall and passed a French student talking to a teacher wearing a samurai helmet (for some reason) when it suddenly occurred to me.

"What do you mean, 'Miss Popular'?"

"It's obvious isn't it? We always meet them at every school. The girl that every male here will be drooling over and hoard the attention for herself. Don't imagine she'll talk to you or me after this. After all, she said Mitsuru-senpai asked her to do this, likely not of her own accord."

"You're thinking way too much into that. She seems really nice…"

"Whatever Miki. You try to make as many friends as you want, just try and study this year please? I'd rather not see you flunk school."

He was grumpy, but he spoke his mind. I guess he had a point, but there's nothing wrong with making friends. I don't see why he's had to become so anti-social over years, plenty of people have given him the chance to open up, he's just too stubborn to actually do so. We came to the room labelled 'faculty office' and he held the door open for me to enter. We walked through to find a really messy room. I couldn't say much, but I thought teachers were meant to be neat and stuff. The amount of random files around the place just seemed unnecessary.

There was a short haired teacher on one desk, but she didn't pay us any attention. The other teacher was a brunette pale woman who was walking around the room nervously. I guess she might have been worried about school starting again. I could sympathize. She actually noticed us though, and walked straight up to us while looking as in control as she possibly could. She wore a nice light brown suit that really suited her, and she had a kind aura around her.

"Oh, are you the new students?" She asked us, seemingly calming down slightly. Mini looked a little confused.

"Aren't there a lot of new students joining?" He asked.

"Not as many as you might think." She looked at the little board she was holding. "Let's see… Minato and Minako Arisato… 11th grade correct? I see you're twins." We nodded as she switched into full teacher mode. "Wow, both of you have lived in a lot of different places."

"You can't say were not well travelled, huh?" My brother mused aloud.

"I suppose you can't," the teacher replied with a chuckle. The funny thing was when it came to teachers, Mini suddenly became a lot more sociable. I guess he held them in higher regard. If it's a sensei, or generally anyone he deemed worthy of respect, he was actually a pretty nice guy to them. Anyone else he kind of just brushes off. The teacher was still looking through her notes, presumably about us and then she suddenly gasped.

"What's wrong, sensei?" I asked.

"I'm sorry… I've been so busy I didn't have time to read this beforehand."

"You just read the part about our parents, didn't you?" She nodded glumly. "We're fine, sensei. It was a long time ago and both Miki and I have moved on since then."

"Well then, I'm Miss Toriumi. I teach composition. Welcome to our school."

"We're pleased to meet you," we both said with a bow.

"My, aren't you polite? Students like you two should be an example for others," she said with a smile. "Have you both seen the classroom assignments? You're both in 2-F; that's my class. I opted to take the pair of you since you were twins. I thought you'd feel more welcomed to the school that way."

"That's excellent, it will give me a chance to keep an eye on her," Mini replied while glancing at me.

"Yeah, yeah, I get ya," I said, unable to hide a smirk. "I'll do the work Mini, no need to worry about me." He rolled his eyes. He didn't seem very reassured.

"But first, we need to go to the auditorium," interrupted Toriumi. "The welcoming ceremony will be starting soon. Follow me."

Minato POV

I have a lot of respect for my teachers, generally, but this principal had the most annoying voice I think I have ever heard. It was deep yet high-pitched at the same time, and he took 2 seconds longer to pronounce a word than a normal person would. It droned on and on to an insufferable level, and he had only just begun his speech. I couldn't even pay attention to it as it was painful to focus on. I believe he was quoting an old proverb or something like that, but likely the entire speech was about the New Year and how we shouldn't waste it. Good advice, I just wish it was coming from someone who didn't make me want to tear my ears off.

Miki was sitting next to Yukari, and across the room from me. There were two groups of chairs with a pathway to the stage that separated them. This school had a very large attendance rate, but very few new students, which I found very odd. One thing I had to admit was Miki may have been right about Yukari, as the brunette had chosen to sit next to her. Perhaps I had been a little harsh earlier, but still, I wasn't meant to be in that dorm for very long so there was no real point trying to befriend her. Judging by the looks of the other students around me, all of which were wearing the uniform much neater than I, they were also very bored. They looked dead if I'm honest, trying to block out the sound of the mind numbing principal.

I chose to wear my uniform a bit scruffier, not to appear as a rebel, but more as personal taste. Admittedly I don't hate the uniform, I just don't like to button up the jacket all the way, and I never leave home without my headphones. Judging by some of the other students though, they seemed very lenient when it came to uniforms as many others had already done what I did. I relaxed slightly, mentally preparing myself for the day ahead and then I heard a noise behind me.

"Psst… hey…" I turned an eye behind me to see a fellow student trying to catch my attention. I had no idea who he was, but apparently he really wanted to talk to me because of how anxious he looked. Maybe he was just so bored he tried to start a random conversation, but why wouldn't he do that with the student next to him?

"What is it?" I asked quietly.

"You came to school with Yukari this morning, right? I saw you two walking together with that redhead girl."

Oh please tell me that isn't what this is about…

"I have a question," he continued. "Do you know if she has a boyfriend?"

… Seriously? I just met her yesterday! I felt a pang of sympathy go out to Yukari if this was the height of the male contingency in this school. If we weren't in the middle of an assembly I'd have given him a piece of my mind about minding his own business, but I simply shrugged and said, "I don't know."

"Aw man, that sucks." He seemed visibly annoyed, and I had hoped he'd leave it there but he insisted on talking further. "So, how well do you know her?"

"I hear talking!" A teacher raised his voice near us, and the student behind me immediately sat back in his chair and feigned innocence. "I believe it's someone from Miss Toriumi's class…"

Well isn't that nice of you, trying to get your co-workers needlessly in trouble like that.

I could barely make out Toriumi-senpai. "Shhh! Be quiet! You're going to get me in trouble!"

I couldn't see the teacher she was talking to from where I was sitting, but I already didn't like the guy. The assembly continued on with pretty much nothing else of note.

Several hours later…

And with that, my first day of school was over. It had gone as most first days would. Less on the teaching side, and more on the introduction and getting ourselves comfortable side. I didn't mind that much, but it would have been nice to have actually done something today. In the end, everything we did just felt kind of pointless. My sister took a seat to the left of me, and by coincidence, Yukari was in our class too, so she sat by Miki.

There was the teacher introduction, who of course was Toriumi-sensei, and she went over what the school year would be like. There were a few basic math problems but the day went quicker than we had expected. As Miki began to talk to Yukari again while packing away, I took this chance to go home and find a way to amuse myself. I stood up, but a lanky student in front of me blocked my path.

"'Sup dude!?" The boy was very tall. He wore a blue shirt instead of the mandatory white shirt under his school jacket. On the top of his head was dark blue cap, and he gave off a very relaxed aura. He also had a goatee that stood out at the end of his chin. "How's it goin'?"

Do I know him? I don't recall meeting him before.

"Who are you?" I asked. I was justifiably confused as to why he seemed so relaxed and treated me as if we had met before.

"Me? I'm Junpei Iori. Nice to meet you."

Ah, so we haven't met before. He has an odd way of introducing himself.

"I transferred here when I was in eighth grade," he continued. Normally I would have tried to politely excuse myself, but he clearly wanted something. I decided to humour him a little.

"So, you've been here for a long time then?"

"Yeah, I know how hard it is bein' the new kid. So I wanted to say, hey… See what a nice guy I am." He seemed suspicious, but harmless enough. At that exact moment, Yukari locked eyes on Junpei and squinted at him. It didn't take a rocket scientist to tell they had history, and both Yukari and Miki walked up to us.

Junpei spotted her and seemed slightly alerted. "Hey, it's Yuka-tan! I didn't think we'd be in the same class again."

Yukari rolled her eyes and sighed. "At it again, huh? I swear, you'll talk to anyone if they'll listen. Did you ever think you might be bothering someone?"

This girl can be more antisocial than me… I think I like her. I lightly chuckled, but not loud enough for them to hear. Miki looked completely confused as to what was happening, and I couldn't really blame her. Junpei seemed to pick up on this, and capitalised to take the subject away from him.

"You look like a deer in headlights," he said with a laugh. "I'm Junpei Iori. Nice to meet ya." He gave the exact greeting he gave me, as if it was rehearsed.

"I'm Minako, I see you've met my brother," she replied with her award winning smile. Junpei looked between the pair of us and grinned.

"Oh, so you two are twins, huh?" Junpei's innocent enough question seemed to annoy Yukari as she sighed again. She must have known something we didn't. Junpei rubbed the back of his neck, his nervousness showing through. "What? I was just bein' friendly," he pleaded.

"If you say so," replied Yukari, clearly unsure if he was telling the truth. "Anyway, some coincidence that we'd be in the same homeroom, right?"

"I'm glad to have a friend," Minako chimed in cheerfully. I non-committedly grunted.

"A friend? Oh… you mean me."

"Um, hello?" Junpei caught our attention. "Are you forgetting that I'm in this class too?" Yukari rolled her eyes again. "By the way, I heard that you two came to school together this morning," he said motioning to me and Yukari. "What's up with that? C'mon, gimme the dirt!" my cheeks grew hotter, and my eyes opened wide upon realisation.

"Hey, I was there too? Why did people leave me out!?" Minako argued pointlessly.

"B-b-but you're his sister!" Junpei recoiled in horror.

"You idiot! Nothing's going on," I answered. "It's just stupid rumours and peoples' wild imaginations. Can two people not simply walk together?" Only now did I realise how red Yukari's cheeks had been, and she added her agreement.

"Y-yeah, what he said. We live in the same dorm. There's nothing going on, okay? Why are people even talking about it!? Now you have me worried…"

"Relax Yukari, people can just be idiots sometimes," assured Minako. "Rumours like these blow over as quickly as they start." Yukari seemed to calm down slightly, and Junpei seemingly faded into the background.

"Hey… you two didn't say anything to anyone about… you know what, did you?"

"You know what?" Questioned Minako. Yukari suddenly got angry, and stomped her foot on the classroom floor.

"Don't tell me you forgot already! Seriously… don't say anything about last night, alright?" Minako nodded, but my eyes caught the look on Junpei's face. Junpei had still been standing there, and he looked at Yukari and Minako in sure awe. He blinked several times and I think some saliva dripped out of his open mouth. Miki and Yukari caught on too, and looked at him with caution.

"Wh-what?" Asked Yukari.

Junpei managed to squeak out, "L-last night…?"

"… W-Wait a minute! Don't get the wrong idea!" Yukari said in a panic.

"Oh, now I get what's he's saying. That's kind of hot," Minako chimed in, catching Yukari, and myself, completely off guard.

"Listen! I just met the pair of them yesterday, and there's absolutely nothing between us! Geez… I've got to go. I've got something to take care of for the archery team. But, you better not start any rumours!"

Yukari swiftly left the classroom. The vagueness of what she had to do left me to believe she had no commitments, but desperately wanted to leave behind the awkward situation. I couldn't really blame her, but both Junpei and Minako seemed oblivious to this. In that entire time though, none of the other students around us paid any attention. I suppose stuff like this must have been a regular occurrence. Miki waved her goodbye while Junpei rolled his neck.

"Ah, who cares?" He so eloquently put. "No one takes rumours seriously, anyway. She's so paranoid…"

"And rightfully so," I interrupted. "People can take rumours far more seriously than you think, Junpei-kun."

"Whatever," he shrugged. "But, hey! It's your first day here and people are already talkin' about you," he said directly to me. I noticed Miki pout for a moment, and then instantly perk right up as she so often did. "Believe it or not, she's actually pretty popular, so you da man!" He raised his hand up, signalling for high five.

"Uh… thank you." I did what came naturally and slapped his hand to complete the high five. The action felt… foreign to me. I had seen others do it, yet I had never done anything like that. Weird.

"Heheh, this is gonna be a fun year. I can feel it!" Junpei exclaimed with a large grin on his face.

"Well Mr. Popular," Miki mockingly teased me. "Shall we head home now?"

"Yes, I think that's a good idea." As we began to walk away, Junpei ran up to catch up.

"Can I tag for a bit? I ain't got nothin' to do."

I got the feeling that even if we had said no, he would've come anyway.

Later that evening…

On the way home, we learned a few interesting things from Junpei. Clubs were opening soon, general rumours about the area and other random bits of information. In all honestly, I didn't mind Junpei, as he seemed friendly enough even if he had little concept of personal space. Miki didn't mind him as they were yakking it up all the way back to the dorm. I blocked their conversation out, but I did note that Junpei followed us all the way back to our dorm. We said our goodbyes and I hoped to get an early night to make up for yesterday.

We ran into Mitsuru on our way inside and she gave us a "Welcome back." Yukari was nowhere in sight, but we assumed that she had not returned yet. Miki made no counter argument when I suggested she turn in early, but when we were about to break apart on the second floor, she stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, Mini?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you feel like… we've forgotten something? Something kind of important."

"Honestly, you might be right." It had been bugging me the entire morning. Something in the back of my head was screaming at me to remember, that it was an event that occurred recently. For the life of me though, I couldn't remember. "Why don't we sleep on it? We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Miki agreed and wished me goodnight. Hopefully she would be less tired tomorrow. I soon found myself in bed, looking around my bland room. Despite how tired I was, there was something else that kept me awake. Some sort of block was in place that prevented me from drifting off, but I fought against it with all of my will. I need to sleep, I just need to sleep, I just need to sleep, I… just… need… to… Finally, my eyes shut and I fell into dreamland. As I did so, a ghostly voice called out to me, one I could barely make out.

I am thou, thou art I. Soon, you shall call upon me… and we shall be one…

?

"I'm going out for a bit."

"… Hm?"

"Have you seen the newspapers lately?"

"… I know. People who had no problems before are suddenly developing acute cases of apathy syndrome. I've seen it on the news quite often lately. They say it's due to stress, but…"

"Yeah, right. It has to be THEM. Otherwise it's not worth my time…"

"You have a one-track mind. Will you be okay on your own?"

"Don't worry. I'm just getting a little practice."

*Step* *Step* *Step*

*Creak*

"…"

*Sigh*

"This isn't a game, Akihiko…"

Things are starting to get a move on now, and I'm sure much to your relief. I've lessened the number POV switches, I might even rewrite the first chapter to cut them down. Do you prefer it like this, or like before where there was more? I'm just curious really. Now I will be doing some different things with this take on P3. I can't really say anything without spoilers, but I'm not diverting from the main storyline. That will mostly be intact.

Let me know what you liked with a review please :) Have a nice day.