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“Annabelle? Ianus? Cain? Abel? Guys? Where are you?” Touya examined the training room as he entered for his usual training session with his Personas. The velvet walls were isolated amongst the small benches and the royal blue battlefield that laid in front of him. He noticed that the usual charts and sessions he had previously were still plaque to the wall to his right, where the tallies were counted for how many times he lost, drew, and won against his Personas. Still, it felt weird that they weren’t around, especially in the Velvet Room of all places. “This is strange...and I’ve seen strange…” Touya chuckled nervously but still stretched his body to practice solo. As of recent, Touya has been practicing some new moves here and there, combining his Aikido his mother taught him along with a few acrobatic movements he learned through his travels in the Metaverse. He just needed to hone it down in his body so it would be easier to use.
He stretched a bit more, crossing his arms now as he looked around, and still concerned himself with the thought that no one showed up in the training room. He sighed and continued stretching until he noticed something quite different. He smelled some sort of female perfume, something that he knew Annabelle would never fathom wearing despite her various travels into the real world. This scent felt human, and he stopped stretching and stood where he was for a moment, and shut his eyes out before they slightly turned red and then in an instance moved from his place when a kick launched into positions, graciously eager to hit its target. Touya flipped and took a few steps back, now in positions. He smiled, blowing the strands of auburn fluffy hair that blocked his eyes. “Who’s there?” he asked, still retaining his smile, but no answer came, and then another kick emerged, now heading to his direction.
“Hya!” a female voice around his age now spoke and Touya blinked for a second, losing his footing and fell to the floor before another kick arrived and then a punch. “Crap, you’re fast!” Touya dodged them as he picked himself up, swinging his legs into a breakdancing position to get some space in between the two. Thank god he saw Marika pull this move that one time, or else he would’ve lost already. “Whoa! I always wanted to do that! No fair!” now the figure emerged from the mist that was spreading around the room. Touya took a moment to examine her before he blushed and tilted his head in confusion.
If anything, she was around Touko’s age and resembled a lot like Touko in terms of how she tied her hair in a sort of ponytail that still left some hair hanging loose. In fact, her hair bore some key features that Touya had in his hair: fluffy dark-brown hair that curled nicely at the bottom, yet retained that loose and unkempt feature. Touya now understood the pain of his har by looking at this girl, but then there were those ruby-red eyes, similar to his mother’s in shape and demeanor, except she too smiled. She was wearing gloves of sorts that were for mixed martial arts and a simple purple spots jacket that she had zipped down until the middle, where a black shirt was seen. She still had her legs up from the kick, maintaining her perfect balance along with her black joggers and purple sneakers. “Man you’re fast!” she replied.
“The same with those punches and kicks...I’m assuming you kick-box, huh?” Touya huffed a bit and then prepared for more incoming attacks. “Her movements reminds me a lot like Aunt Sae, so that means I have a few golden opportunities!” Touya placed his fists back and then went to strike first. The girl then stopped smiling and when the opportunity arose, she moved to the left in a sort of twirl, leaving Touya open to his side. “Got ya!” she punched his side and sent him flying in the air, or so she thought when Touya recovered quickly and then summoned his kukri knife to Soul-Warp back into the ground. The girl was impressed by the feat, and Touya patted himself on the back at the sight. “Anyway…” Touya released his weapon. He wanted to fight fair after all.
The two continued a bit more in their fighting, each one blocking and getting the advantage when the time came. Touya noticed a pattern in the girl’s movements: whenever Touya dodged, she shifted her legs to gain ground before landing a hit to the side, which now Touya blocked. As for the girl, he saw that she noticed his patterns too and as he went to strike with his kicks or fists, she would move and go for a grab, swinging him up in the air or sending him down on the floor. “Man...looks like she learned A LOT from Aunt Sae!” the two grabbed each other and then proceed to punch, then block, and then let go of each other before the two took a break to catch their breaths. They were sparring for a long time as it were, and he was acknowledging her speed and strength. It was like fighting Kazuya and Marika at once, except her power was beyond their reach. It was as compatible as his.
“Hey...you got some nice skills,” Touya huffed and puffed.
“The same with you. I haven’t fought someone this long since that one time with my Oba-chan,” the girl stretched her arms and then huffed as well. “I like your fighting.”
“Of course you do Sis,” a third voice appeared, and now Touya looked around once more to locate its whereabouts. His voices reminded him vaguely of Shun of how impassive it could be at times, and then the figure emerged, hands in his pockets and yawning a little. “Besides, I’ve been using watching you two fight for the past few minutes, and I afraid you’re at a stalemate,” he fixed what was one his face and Touya took the time to examine him.
He was taller than his sister, and appeared younger than her by two years, much like how Seiji and Touya are. He had slick black hair that was rather similar in hairstyle to Ren’s when he was a teenager and the glasses too bore an uncanny appearance. Except he too had the eyes of Makoto, and they looked a bit sulky and tired. He had his hands in his pockets, donning dark green sleeping pants and had a dark blue shirt with Jack-Frost holding one of the Featherman’s bows. “It looks custom made...reminds me of Aunt Futaba,” Touya thought quickly before he stood his ground once more, dodging the girl’s attack as she went for another punch.
Touya jumped and grabbed her shoulders, flipping her down to the ground and then proceeded to gaze his dark-gray eyes at the boy. “Now who are you?” he asked before the girl kicked him upwards and Touya moved quickly before continuing to move back. “Really Masami? You show up now?” the girl yelled a little, clearly showing her older sibling side. Masami yawned once more. “Rin...your movements are now getting a bit sloppy...take a break from here,” Masami replied back and Touya shrugged with annoyance, but then reminded himself that he too had another opponent. “Hey! Masaru or whatever your name is!” Touya yelled and Masami turned his attention, sighing. “What?” he replied.
“Can you fight?”
Masami nodded. “Yeah...why are you asking?”
“No reason…” Touya thought and then yelled at the girl to take a break. Rin sighed and then pulled herself back up. “Alright, Masami, looks like you’re up next,” Rin rolled to one of the benches. Masami nodded and fixed his glasses. “This outcome surely wasn’t in my favor until now,” he said, hands still on his pockets. Touya then proceeded to land a hit first, but much like Rin, Masami was faster, moving around with hands still stuck to his pockets. He moved his head around often and jumped to and fro to dodge Touya’s kicks and then yawned in the middle. “The hell?” Touya tried to hit him, but then Masami finally grabbed his hand and then flipped Touya to the ground with that one hand. “Your moveset is too predictable,” Masami sighed.
“Hey, what makes you say that?” Touya pushed him back and properly brushed himself off.
“No reason at all,” Masami moved back after Touya went for another hit, but it seemed that every time Touya thought of a strategy, he somehow knew what he was thinking in his mind. The two stopped for a moment to catch their breaths and Touya saw where Rin was sitting, and heard that she was whistling a tune that Touya knew. “Hey, that’s the same tune Mom sang to me as a kid!” Touya moved to the side. “Wait...you know that tune too? Your mother sang it to you?” Masami asked, releasing tension in his body as he stood back up. Touya nodded, and then the fighting ceased from there as Masami called a truce. “I believe we have a little mystery to solve.” Masami motioned to Rin and had every one of them to sit down and relax before they all told their stories that would change their perspectives of their worlds.
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“Wait, you’re also Niijima?” Touya blinked and tried to contain the information that Rin and Masami told him. He sat for the past hour trying to understand that Rin and Masami Niijima were from another world, another earth that too had the same events that his parents occurred, except there were lots of differences altogether, and seeing these two was truly a key difference. The siblings also explained that their version of Ren helps their version of Haru with their Cafe Noir, while much like his Makoto, their version was also a Police Commissioner. Touya then recapped what they told him in his head, but his mind exploded in the proces. He then digressed the thought.
“How come you’re in my Ve-in my dream?” Touya had to lie quickly, since he had a feeling that only Masami would know truly what this place is. Between the two of them, Masami seemed like he would be the Wild Card. Besides, wasn’t this a place between realm and reality anyway? A dream is much like that. Perhaps this was a lucid dream for them.
The siblings looked at each other before answering. “We thought it was a dream until we saw you and then I deduced you too were from another timeline, seeing that you’re my sister’s age and appear the same in terms of hair,” Rin played around with Touya’s fluffy hair before he stopped her.
“You don’t say...you remind me of my older brother Seiji with the hair and the glasses, but he’s not as introverted as you.” Touya chuckled nervously, and Masami acknowledged it as he fixed his glasses while looking down. “I appreciate your honesty,” Masami replied.
“So you have an older brother?” Rin asked politely, her red eyes intrigued by what Touya has to say about Seiji. Touya blushed a little, but then stopped it as he was debating if it was weird to sort of gush over a gender-bend version of himself, but he wasn’t going to debate it any further as he went on with what he needed to talk about. “Well, Seiji is older than me by two years and is in college in Uemo studying medicine. Takemi-san inspired him a lot to study that field, while I have no clue as to what I want to do…” Touya sighed and looked down in shame. His self-doubt was kicking in now after a few months of not having it.
“As for your Mom and your Dad?” Rin asked as she saw Touya went astray for a second.
“Mom is the commissioner like how your version of her is, but Dad is a Diet Member unlike yours, who is somehow a hot middle age barista.” Touya scratched his head and chuckled once more. “I see..and does he have the same haircut? Where his hair is like...well yours?” Rin pointed to Touya’s hair and Touya tilted his head. Then Masami asked about Makoto and her appearance. “Well, my version of Mom has her hair long because she keeps a long neck scar concealed. As for Dad...well his face is banged up a bit that’s for sure.”
“I see...our version of our Mom has a pixie cut and sticks to the books when it came to her uniform though. She was certainly not called the Detective Queen on our end-”
“And she never took time off to be a housewife...must be nice.” Rin lamented, a hint of jealousy in her tone. For the first time in a long time, Touya felt bad for his counterparts. Their mother barely had time for them due to police work and he could tell they really wished she did like Makoto did with Seiji and he, singing songs for them, playing with them when she finished her work inside the house, taking them to the toy store and other motherly things. He then hugged them quickly. “Don’t worry about it you two. You’re stronger than that.” Masami and Rin thanked him in return.
Touya then proceeded to compare their friends, and much to his surprise, there was nothing like his gang. “Murasaki’s pretty nice, although I can never tell when she’s joking around. And Yuuto...well....”
“Yuuto isn’t very fond of making friends…” Rin chuckled but then proceeded to talk about Sora Sakamoto and Nobuyuki Okumura. “Nobuyuki sounds like a pretty cool dude,” Touya replied, reminding himself of Kazuya. “He certainly reminds me of Kazuya, my version of Haru’s son. Though he’s not a fan of suits and fancy wear.” Touya told them of one time that Kazuya had to rip a suit apart after he finished attending a dinner with Marika and her family. “He just doesn’t like suits ironically.” he finished commenting about his dear old friend.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Nobuyuki out of a suit. He’s always so proper, with manners to match,” Masami replied back, having his arms sway back to maintain his balance. “I’m sure your Kazuya is the same?” Touya nodded. Rin then asked about Iris. “Oh if you hang out Iris and her boyfriend Satoshi in the room together, you would get a tease-fest,” Touya warned and Rin smiled wide, and Masami scoffed a bit. “And who is this Touko?” he asked and Touya blushed harder than ever before, fiddling with his fingers. “Well she is...someone very special…and also one of my closest friends...” he shyly answered. Masami chuckled, adjusting his glasses once more. “Seems to me you want to be more than friends,” Rin patted Touya’s shoulder and grinned at him for comfort. She truly was like a big sister, and Touya thanked her before he began to talk about how amazing Harima Touko was. “She can take pictures in an instant and still make them look good,” Touya mentioned the story when they went to Destinyland and how fast she took the picture of the bird leaving. “If only I had my phone with me, I could’ve shown you guys the pictures.”
“You can show us next time!” Rin replied back.
On and on they continued chatting and comparing their worlds further, each one excited to hear from their side. They compared their versions of schools, their activities, and the simplest things in life they often take for granted on a daily basis. “Oh, so you’re trying to make your own fighting style?!” Rin said with awe, and Touya almost prompted to call her Sis when he got startled. “It’s in the works at the moment as I train here in this section of the Velvet Room,” Touya replied and turned towards Masami. “And I didn’t know we have a basketball team.”
“Neither did I, although it took me some convincing to join. It also makes sense that you do aikido, track, and volleyball on your end to blend it with your speed like manners in battle. Pretty interesting.”
“And that teleportation too! Those blue glowing lights that made like a hologram of yourself and everything! That’s a cool ability,” Rin gushed.
“Well, Soul-Warp is barely used in combat but more so in traveling and mobility. It’s a Wild Card ability much like my Sixth Sense ability,” Masami blinked when he heard the words ‘Sixth Sense” and looked back at Touya.
The siblings piqued their interest. “How does it work?” Masami asked curiously.
“Mine works like Spider-Sense...oh wait you don’t have that stuff on your world,” Touya chuckled before proceeding. “It’s like a alarm-system. It warns me of incoming danger.”
“That is a pretty cool ability…” Rin then sighed. “I wish I had something like that…”
“In time, I’m sure you’ll have something,” Masami reassured his sister and then yawned one last time. Touya and Rin yawned as well and then noticed that their time was running short. “Well our time is running short,” Masami fixed his glasses and then went to shake Touya’s hand. Touya rejected it and proceeded to hug the two of them. “We’re family now,” Touya said to them in a mere whisper that left the two Niijima Siblings awestruck by this other counterpart. He had a certain radiance that neither of them had at the moment, yet it resembled a lot like their father, with an added touch of their mother’s radiance. Touya had that within him and they felt that presence deeply. “Yeah, you’re right. We are family,” Masami and Rin hugged back and then let go of Touya. They proceeded to walk back towards where they came from and waved back at Touya with glee. “Hope to see you again!” Rin yelled back while Masami didn’t, his hands back in his pockets but now with a confident smile on his face. That made Touya smile too and waved them goodbye until finally, they vanished within the musty scenes of the training room.
“Hope to see you guys soon too,” Touya stopped waving and looked around once more before coughing loudly as he stood there, hands to his sides. “You know, the next time you wanted to hide, just hide in the main lobby of the Velvet Room, you guys!” Touya unveiled the mist now and all of his Personas were now revealed to him. Ianus coughed loudly as well, tipping his fedora hat to his partner, and the other three were graciously hugging him to oblivion. “How did you know we were here, hee-ho?” Jack Frost asked him as he was watering his eyes.
“When Rin pinned me to the ground, I noticed something different in the training room. Normally when we fight, there’s not this mist surrounding us, and second, I saw Cain’s fiery fists from afar within the walls. That’s when I noticed that the room felt too small than what it usually was.” Touya sighed and then saw Cain fired up as always while her kind-hearted sister was worried for her well being. “Sis, you can stop this now,” Abel kindly asked while Cain shouted her lungs out and proceeded to mock fight. “I want to fight that Rin chick so badly! I have to copy her movements and her flow of battle! I have to! I have to-” she was bonked in the head by Touya as he approached her and then sighed in defeat. “No, you’re not fighting her,” Touya then gathered them around in a circle. “Anyway...we still got time on our end before I’m called to get some sleep, so let’s start strategizing for Nakamura’s Palace,” Touya proceeded to guide his Personas into various methods and movements they should utilize when the time came to fight in the upcoming Palace. Nakamura’s heart needed to be saved.
Yet the Niijima couldn’t stop thinking about the other Niijima siblings he had encountered, and truly hoped to see them in action once more as he sat there chatting with his Personas and then doing the usual stunts and training that were done in the training room. As he went through his usual plans, Annabelle was sitting back on the benches and took notes about the Niijima’s growth while also smiling at the fact that what he had witnessed would soon unfold in the time to come. For now, she needed to finish writing the letter that would be given to her sister…
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Rin and Masami awakened to the chirping of birds from the window of their rooms. The two of them looked around their respective rooms and then blinked a couple of times before realizing they were now back in the real world. In their real world. Rin jumped out of bed and got dressed for her usual Sunday morning, grabbing her casual clothes and then proceeded to head to the bathroom to fix her usual ponytail get-up. Masami focused on getting out of bed and he too proceeded to fix himself up for the morning. A message pinged when he was combing his hair. Once he was done, he read them:
"I’ve got a lot on my mind lately. If it’s okay with you, would you mind meeting me at the secret spot today? I could use the time to relax and I’d enjoy if you came.” -Nobuyuki
He replied that he’ll show up to the place later and then took a moment to look at himself in the mirror, and saw a glimpse of Touya within him. The medium auburn hair boy that had Ren’s eyes. His similar height yet triumphed a bit over his, and how eager he was to hear about them. “We’re really that different despite having the same parents and last name, hm?” Masami sighed and then left the room, meeting up with Rin who was still trying to wrap her hair around.
“You could get a brush stuck in that vast forest of fluff you have,” Masami smirked while Rin mockingly laughed. “Come on, ya big dork, let’s get breakfast,” Rin ran downstairs quickly. Masami followed. Their father was waiting for them at the kitchen table, grilled fish and a spicy omelette already on their plates. They exchanged pleasantries with him as they both dug into their meals. Rin and Masami went back and forth, teasing each other for most of the meal. Until a certain greeting made them turn their heads. “Good morning.” It was their mother!
Usually, their Makoto would be out on Sundays doing a quick rundown on her office before arriving at around eight, which meant she needed to leave the house before anyone woke up. Except for this time, their mother was walking calmly into the room, wearing casual clothing for the first time in forever. The kids looked back at her with utter bewilderment.
“Mom, what are you doing here?” Rin asked as she grabbed some toast. Makoto looked at her daughter and then her son and smiled. “I decided to take breaks on Sundays now,” the two siblings were shocked by this statement. Was their mother sick? Rin went to check on her mother’s temperature and Makoto looked at her daughter with concern. “Okay so you’re not sick,” Rin let out a sigh of relief and then sat down to drink some coffee that Ren brewed in the meantime, who also looked at them with confusion.
“What has gotten into you two this morning?” Ren asked, his confident tone unwavering, sipping his coffee.
“Nothing,” the two of them replied and ate breakfast with their parents. “So how did you sleep?” Makoto asked them. Masami and Rin looked at each other and then reminded themselves of Niijima Touya...but it was nothing but a foggy memory now unlike before. Did they really meet the boy? They don’t remember as much now. “How was your sleep last night?” Makoto asked them to bring their attention back into their reality.
“It was good,” they both replied.
“Any good dreams?” Ren asked.
“Well I had a dream about meeting this guy in some room,” Rin started twirling her fingers around the thicket of her fluffy hair. Ren and Makoto raised an eyebrow as they wanted to hear more as to what the girl had to say. “He was about Masami’s height, and he had the same colored hair as me but it looked like your hairstyle Dad. Actually he sort of looked like you too since he had the same dark-gray eyes...but it wasn’t you though.” Rin tried to make sense as to what she was saying when she described Touya.
“I also had a dream just like that,” Masami chimed in. “We fought for some reason too. Said he needed to train to practice some fighting style he was trying to create.” Masami too was trying to make sense, but the more he described Touya along with Rin, it was all nothing but the mere mist that surrounded them. Only the name stayed, but the mere image of him was fleeting their minds. Ren then chuckled and sipped his coffee again before he replied. “Sounds like you two hung out with a pretty cool guy,” Ren joked and continued talking about the customers that would arrive in Cafe Noir and the recent renovations they were making. But that was nothing but background noise as Rin and Masami pondered to themselves about what really happened. Rin kept the thought to herself without knowing that her brother that was humbly sitting next to her was busy channeling his thoughts and reading hers as he placed his hand on chin, much like his mother did when she was busy processing the information. As he cleared his mind, he found what Rin was thinking, and boy was it the same thing he was thinking:
Touya Niijima ...who are you?
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“Man….we should’ve stopped training once Cain decided to sucker punch me like that…” Touya yawned loudly while Kiryu was busy jumping on his stomach, his new way of begging for some food. Touya grabbed the little puppy and placed him gently down to the side of his bed and got up, feeling his muscles stiff as he was busy relaxing and then shaking his tiredness away. He then went straight to the bathroom and placed freezing water on his face to fully wake his aching body. “Man that hits the spot!” Touya smiled and then got his casual clothes for the day, getting ready to start his day of his reality.
As he was walking down his stairs to get his breakfast, he saw the usual tired Ren and Makoto waving back at him and yawning much like he did. Makoto had her hair tied to a ponytail, still somehow blocking the scar she had at the back of her neck. She was rubbing her eyes a lot, and Ren stopped her from doing so. “Morning you two,” Touya said cheerfully as he whistled the tune that his mother sang to him. He also reminded himself of Rin...but somehow she was nothing but a foggy memory as well as her brother, Masami. Their presences was felt by the Niijima as he was training in the Velvet Room when they showed up, but why are they fleeting from his mind now?
He ignored this feeling and then grabbed Kiryu’s food before his and headed down to the table, sitting down with his plate and graciously eating. Ren then spoke once Touya ate his first bite. “How’s Nakamura?” Ren asked as he was rubbing his eyes now, this time Makoto stopping him from continuing. Touya gulped. “So far it’s good. I think we should be at least a quarter done,” Touya ate some more and the two sighed of relief. “Glad to hear,” Makoto replied. “Besides that, how was your sleep?”
“It was good. Igor didn’t pull me out of my dreams like he always does this time around.”
“Did you dream about Touko?” the two looked at their son with the usual teasing manner. Touya blushed hard and shook his head as per usual before he sipped, no, gulped his water before rejecting such a claim. “Even if I was,” Touya now calmed himself. “It probably wasn’t that good of a dream,” Touya laughed nervously and the two back off and smiled devilishly. “If you say so,” Makoto said and then grabbed her coffee and drank it while Ren read the usual papers. Kiryu happily finished his food and sat down next to Touya, another sign that meant he needed to walk the dog soon. Touya petted its luscious fur as he continued eating.
“Niijima Rin...Niijima Masami...the same last name yet from another world...what is this, Kingdom Hearts or something?!” Touya thought as he was busy eating his breakfast and starting his day, all the while thinking about the two Niijima Siblings that would perhaps return to make their dashing debut once more with the Saviors of Hearts.
All in good time.