New Life

There I was, driving back home after going to Summer Games Fest in hopes that I'd see a Persona 3 Remake reveal in person, just for it to not be revealed there. It was pretty depressing to know that one of my favorite Persona games of all time wouldn't be getting a remake, but I had to move on.

However, my eyebrows would perk up upon seeing a notification on my phone that said "Persona 3 Reload Reveal Trailer." With one hand on the steering wheel, I grabbed my phone and clicked the notification. With a huge smile on my face, I watched as the camera panned up from Aigis's legs before showing the back of her head that began turning toward the camera slowly.

At this moment, tears began to fall from my eyes. There she was; Aigis. Turning to face me once again.

Unfortunately, just as she was going to show her face, I could hear the horn of a truck blaring from my side. I looked over to see a semi-truck speeding toward me, and before I could react, it struck me.

As if I had just blinked, I awoke to find myself inside what appeared to be some sort of futuristic surgery room. There was a nurse wearing a blue nurse outfit in a corner playing a tune on a piano. Next to her, was another woman who appeared to be her twin sister, wearing the same thing and standing next to a microphone. After a few seconds, she began to sing a hymn.

Looking back, I was obviously in the velvet room and the two twins were performing the velvet room theme, however, it seemed that my memories were fragmented. I didn't recognize this as any sort of Velvet Room at all, just a hospital room with blue walls.

The two twins were extremely pretty. They had glowing yellow eyes and light blonde hair that almost looked silver. Both of them had their hair in a braid which fell over opposite shoulders from one another.

I looked down to see that I was lying on top of a surgery table while wearing a medical gown and IVs were attached to my body. I couldn't move, almost as if I had sleep paralysis, as the two twins continued on with their song.

'What? Where am I?' I thought to myself. I couldn't remember anything about what had happened to me or what had led me to this place. The only thing I remembered was that I was driving.

'What is this place?' As I looked around the cold cobalt room, trying to make sense of what I'm seeing, one of the twin nurses looked at me, causing her eyes to widen. She tapped her sister on the shoulder and pointed to me before exiting the room. The singing sister approached me and rested her hand on my shoulder and smiled softly.

"Our master will be here shortly." Her voice was incredibly soft and sort of seductive. Although I have no memory of anything, I could tell that she was probably the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life. I almost fell in love with her on sight. A few seconds later, the other sister walks in, followed by a man with a long nose and a black suit. With his arms behind his back, he stood in front of me and began to speak.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room!" He flourished his hands as he spoke to me with a confident smirk. His boney fingers, covered by white gloves, stuck out along with his arms.

"My, it would seem you have a most unusual destiny lying before you." He laughed slightly before looking directly into my eyes with his protruding, round, veiny eyeballs. I failed to notice his facial features before, but he looked sort of grotesque. As stated before, his eyes were bulging and he had a long nose. On top of that, he had long elf ears and a very creepy long smile plastered on his face permanently.

"I'm Igor. I am quite pleased to make your acquaintance!" As soon as he told me this, the twin nurses both began to speak simultaneously.

"Hello and welcome. We will accompany you on your travels. Allow us to introduce ourselves."

The soft-spoken twin stepped forward with a hand on her chest.

"You may call me, Mary." She steps back, allowing the other one to step forward.

"And I am Shelley." Shelley's voice was much more enthusiastic and spunky sounding compared to her sister's. Of course, they were twins, so she was also very attractive. However, I much preferred the mellowness of Mary over Shelley's spunkiness.

The man spoke once more, pulling a deck of tarot cards out of seemingly nowhere. "This realm exists between mind and matter, separating dreams from reality. Only those who have forged a contract are allowed to visit this room. Perhaps in the future, such a fate will be awaiting you as well."

"I sure hope so!" Shelley spoke with a smile as her hands rested on her hips. "Your journey will be very interesting. I can't wait to go along with you."

"Until our paths cross again." Mary's soft voice was the last thing I heard before I woke up someplace else.

As if I woke up from a nightmare, I found myself sitting inside a train car, surrounded by people on their phones. It was cramped inside, however, there was something unusual about this train. 'Why is everyone Asian?' I thought to myself. Being from the United States, I was used to seeing an assortment of different types of people, so this was pretty strange to wake up to.

As mentioned prior, my memories of my past were fragmented. I knew I was American and that was about it. I didn't remember any family, friends, or anything at that moment, it was as if I were a completely blank slate.

For maybe half a second I thought it was a coincidence that everyone was Asian until I heard a voice speaking Japanese through the intercom, one which I somehow understood. She said we would be arriving at the Naha prefecture.

So, it turns out, I was apparently in Japan. Okinawa Japan to be exact. Somehow, I remained fairly calm, though perhaps it was because I assumed this was a dream. I had no money or any form of transportation to suddenly go from the United States to Japan, so I figured it must have been a dream.

After a few minutes though, I realized that this might have been real. Usually, at least for me, once I realized I was dreaming I would wake up. Well, after about five minutes, I was still in Japan and couldn't remember a thing about myself.

I started to panic, though I remained calm on the outside as the train came to a stop and everyone began spilling out of it like dones. I was the last to get off the train, walking with my hands in my pockets with wide eyes as I towered over all of the Japanese folk walking around me. I was pretty tall in America, but now I was a giant.

At this point, I noticed something in my pocket, it was a flyer that mentioned a college orientation for foreign exchange students at the nearby institution called: Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts. Considering I'm foreign I assumed this meant that I should be going there, and so I did.

As I walked the streets of Japan, I noticed many of the natives looked at me sort of like I was a zoo exhibit. I mean, it made sense since they probably weren't used to seeing people like me, but it still felt a bit weird.

Outside of the native folk's glares, I couldn't help but take in all of the beauty that Japan had to offer. The trees, the architecture, and the roads were all very unique in comparison to what I was used to. It wasn't at all like anime, it was more similar to the States than you'd think, but different enough to warrant appreciation.

Thankfully, some kind of individuals were able to direct me to where I needed to go before asking me a bunch of questions regarding where I'm from and such. I made some details up since I didn't remember, but I did tell some truths if I could remember them.

Before long, I ended up at the university, which was filled with plenty of students who were mostly Japanese, but a few seemed to be from many different corners of the world. The university itself was sort of old looking and not that large, mainly being one large building with slanted roofing, though there were a few smaller buildings to the side.

They said that we first needed to go to the administration's Office, so I headed straight there. I waited in line for a bit, which moved along pretty fast until it was my turn. I approached the lady at the desk who greeted me with a smile before asking me, "Name and ID number?"

As she spoke to me, a hud appeared in my line of vision, which was a pretty odd thing to happen considering I thought that I wasn't dreaming. The name then auto-filled, revealing the name that I had forgotten myself.

"Miles Quinn."

'I guess that's my name.' I thought to myself before telling the lady the name that appeared in my vision. I didn't know my ID number, but she was able to look it up for me and direct me to my dorm room where I would be able to drop off my belongings.

And so, I took the single bag I had over my shoulder and walked to the male dormitory. My room was on the third floor; room 306. Using the keycard I was given, I opened the door, only to find that someone else's stuff was already there, claiming the top bunk. "I guess I missed my roommate." I thought to myself before placing my stuff down on the bottom bunk.

By this point, I was still running through the motions, unknowing of what I should really do next. I was sent her for a reason, I thought. Whether this be a dream or reality, I was supposed to be at this school, that's all I know.

With nothing else left to do but progress, I left the dorm room the same way I came in and headed back to continue with the orientation.