A/N: This story was done for an English descriptive writing in class. There were three topics, and the topic I chose was ‘describe
a person that is trustworthy/sinister’. Even though we were only asked to pick
one of the characteristics, if possible, we could talk about a person who seems
trustworthy, but is actually sinister. Our teacher also told us that we could
describe a character from a story…and this just seems to scream Shadow Yosuke
and Yosuke, so this is it.
This story is told in Yu Narukami's POV.
As usual, I own nothing. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 belongs to the AWESOME Atlus.
Summary: Yu ponders about Shadows, and it brought him back to his thoughts regarding his partner's Shadow.
Characters: Yu Narukami/Souji Seta, Yosuke Hanamura
Rating: K+. I had to tone down the language and edit some of the speech timings and length to fit it in the 'barely over three pages' limit our teacher set...and is 'hellhole' a curse word? I was using it to describe a horribly unpleasant place, so I don't think it warrants for a T rating...
What
do you think would the personification of the deepest, darkest corners of your
heart look like? Would it look like a demon, or would it look like something
else entirely? Would it look like…would it look like your own self?
It
truly shocked me when I saw another figure stepping out from one of the dark
corners of this strange world’s rendition of the liquor store of Saki Konishi’s
family. It was just earlier that Saki-senpai’s death –no, murder- was
announced, and as it was, Yosuke was devastated by the death of his crush and
dragged me back into this world, which Yosuke, Chie, and I suspected had
something to do with the murder of Saki-senpai.
Yosuke
had run into this world’s rendition of her family’s liquor store and heard
some…confessions of Saki-senpai, saying that she hated Yosuke and thought he
was annoying. Yosuke denied it all, and then here we are, looking at the figure
stepping out of the corner.
At
first sight, this person seemed to look a lot like the fawn-haired, hazel-eyed
teen beside me. He was wearing exactly the same clothing as Yosuke: the
standard school uniform consisting of a long-sleeved, button-up shirt with a
popped collar and a white shirt under it, long, black pants, and red headphones
with a black band hanging around his neck, his own personal touch. The only
difference was that the other Yosuke was not wearing the thick, orange-framed
glasses a creature, specifically, a Shadow calling himself Teddie, gave him
before we entered this…hellhole.
Maybe,
just maybe…I can trust this person. Not all Shadows are the same, as Teddie is
living proof of it. Maybe, this Shadow isn’t out to kill us, just like the
Shadows did to Mayumi Amano and Saki-senpai, from what I assume…if he really
was a Shadow.
Even
so, the other Yosuke gave out an aura unlike Yosuke’s. While Yosuke had a kind,
trusting, and joyful aura, the other Yosuke had a sinister, dark, and
distrusting aura. It even showed in their mannerisms. I had always been a
master of observing people, and I noticed that Yosuke usually had a smile that
seems accepting of everything, and makes you feel like you could actually…trust
him. The other Yosuke, however, had a dark, sinister smirk plastered on his
face, and it could give everyone chills just looking at it, like he has some
ulterior motive behind everything…
Perhaps,
what was most chilling about the other Yosuke was his yellow eyes…the eyes that
seemed to gleam in this dark, eerie room…and the dark, visible aura, spreading around the room…it’s quite sickening,
actually.
“The
only reason why you wanted to enter this world is so that you felt bored living
in the town! You wanted to feel excited, wanted to feel known, so you took the
first opportunity to try and prove yourself, and that opportunity happened to
be the murder of Saki-senpai!” the other Yosuke cackled, his voice distorted.
Yosuke’s
eyes went wide as he denied everything that the other had said. The other only
continued with his speech, his eyes growing madder with each word, the dark
energies surrounding him seeming to spread and grow in size.
“You
put on a show of being carefree and happy-go-lucky ‘cause you’re so terrified
of being alone. The more the merrier, right? You can’t handle the solitude of
being alone!” The other Yosuke continued. That seemed to be the last straw for
Yosuke. He then shouted in a loud, defiant voice, “Shut up! That’s not me.
That’s not me AT ALL!”
…Wait.
Yosuke was…faking it? He only puts on his jovial persona so he will not be
alone? He’s…scared of being alone?
As
I was pondering this, the other Yosuke had transformed into another
creature…one that was a Shadow. It had two halves, namely, the human half and
the frog-like half. The human half was all black, save for what seemed like two
yellow stars for its eyes. Its hands were yellow, and it had a billowing, red
scarf around his neck. Its bottom half, the frog-like half, had a camouflage
pattern around its body, save for the hands and face. Its hands were black in
color with yellow ‘nails’ on it, and its face was black, with two red slits for
eyes, and a yellow, savage, grinning mouth, full of teeth.
“I
am the Shadow, the true self. I’ll get rid of everything that bores me…starting
with YOU!!!” The Shadow screamed out as it charged at us.
My
suspicions were confirmed. It seemed like the other Yosuke was really a
Shadow…and it seems like I am forced to fight it, if I were to protect the real
Yosuke, the one with the kind, trustworthy attitude. And so, I called out my
own Persona, the one I had used to protect Chie and Yosuke the other day…Izanagi.
The
battle between Izanagi and Shadow Yosuke raged on as I tried to get Yosuke to
accept his Shadow…since apparently, a person’s Shadow is the personification of
someone’s deepest, darkest corners of his heart, according to Teddie. As
Izanagi landed the finishing blow on Shadow Yosuke, the real Yosuke seemed to
have a resolution as he approached his fallen Shadow, who had reverted back to
its human form.
“I’ve
always known that Saki-senpai hated me. But, I never had the courage to accept
it. And it’s true…I did feel bored in this town.” He sighed. “Sometimes, even I
feel like I put my foot in my mouth a lot. But that’s just who I am, huh? I
guess I just have to accept it.” Shadow Yosuke looked up at Yosuke as he
kneeled down beside him, lifting the Shadow’s face to look straight at Yosuke.
“I
am you…and you are me.” Yosuke had said that time, smiling at his Shadow.
Shadow Yosuke looked slightly shocked, before he gave a small smile as he
closed his eyes in acknowledgement. This time, the smile was neither malicious
nor sinister; in fact, the smile now was a calm and accepting one. Bright,
white lights surround Shadow Yosuke as he began to transform.
When
the lights have faded, a Persona stood in Shadow Yosuke’s place. It had a black
head with two ‘ears’ above its head, with one red slit in each ‘ear’. It had
two yellow stars for its eyes. It wore white overalls with a camouflage pattern
on the edges of the pants and sleeves. The overalls had a yellow, v-shaped
collar, and was red on the top of the overalls. Its hands were much like a
human’s, though it was covered with white gloves, having a camouflage pattern
under it. It also wore a red, billowing scarf around its neck.
The
Persona turned into a blue card, bearing a picture of a flame, surrounded by a
pair of eyes above it, a pair of hands below it, cupping the flame, and the symbol for ‘infinity’
above the eyes. There was also the Roman numeral for the number ‘1’ on the
bottom of the card.
I
then remembered my own card, bearing the picture of a laughing jester about to
fall from a cliff, a dog trailing closely behind him, colored grey, and bearing
the number ‘0’ on the bottom of the card. If my card was ‘0’ and Yosuke’s card
was ‘1’…then are we dealing with Tarot cards right now? If that is the case,
then my Persona must be a ‘Fool’, while Yosuke’s Persona must be a ‘Magician’.
Frankly,
I can see the symbolism between the cards, my own self, Yosuke, and Shadow
Yosuke. I came to Inaba for a new experience, much like the Fool in Tarot
divination. Yosuke comes off as a self-confident person, much like the Magician
in Tarot divination. Shadow Yosuke, however, may have power, but he is also
cruel and misuses his power. It is the meaning of a reversed Magician card in
Tarot divination.
“So
this is Jiraiya…my own Persona…my power.” Yosuke had his hand over his heart.
He then proposed that we could use our strength to save people before they got
killed in this world…which I whole-heartedly agreed to.
He
kept that promise, for he was a trustworthy person. We gained more members…people
that we have saved in this world of Shadows in time. We became known as the
Investigation Team…
And
to think this all started because I saved my best friend, my partner, from his
own darkness.
A/N: Frankly, I think this is one of my better works, even though it is not very true to the story...
