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Author's Chapter Notes:

I am a huge Persona fan, and to be honest me writing fanfic of them is long overdue. But this only took an hour and a half or so, pretty short, so if you all have any other scenarios you want to see me tackle, I'm open to suggestions!

This is mostly just a breather in between some of the work and writing I already have to do... and to blow off steam as my anxiety gets to me. But enough of that! I hope you all enjoy!

“Thank you for stopping by, and peace be with you!”

 

The Red-Light District of Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward always had every sort of person traipsing through its hazy beams cast down from neon street signs and traffic stops. A merry woman singing loudly in public, only barely sober enough to be guided by her likely boyfriend by the arm as they went. A couple of gaudily dressed men, whistling and swooning as other attractive male specimens caught their eye. Even a teenager, a high school student, trying very hard to look older than he really was as he looked over his shoulder before entering a nearby bar, a devilish grin tugging at his face. If you wanted your vice appeased in Japan, there were few places more accommodating than here.

 

Of course, not everyone was quite so cavalier about it. For every salaryman or OL blowing off some well-deserved steam, there was another who was truly in turmoil. There were as many individuals weighed down almost unbearably by the burdens cast upon them from life, people faced with crossroads in their professional or personal journeys. People who now had to make decisions, but were too inexperienced, or simply too scared to make those choices themselves.

 

And that’s where Chihaya came in.

 

Seated beneath a fairly inconspicuous eave in order to shield her slightly from the sun or rain, sat a young adult woman at a table, before cards laid out in a formation that didn’t betray their true purpose. She had strawberry blonde hair, a lavender dress adorned with clock-like iconography spreading over the fabric like spiderwebs, navy stockings, and wore an elastic headband of a similarly deep, cool indigo. Her conservative style of dress combined with an air about her that was more serious, purposeful, and… airy, than one might expect this late at night might’ve confused some, thinking perhaps she may have taken a wrong turn on the way to the shrine before giving up and setting up shop in sin city. Make no mistake, however, she was exactly where she knew she should be.

 

The man who just finished speaking with her had an air of immense relief about him, and he thanked her profusely, “Thank you, thank you!”, clutching Chihaya Mifune’s hand without warning and shaking it, causing Chihaya’s face to twist uncomfortably. “With this holy stone,” the man continued, “my marriage could be saved!”

 

“Y-yes,” said the young fortune-teller, not expecting him to so easily have been taken in by her explanations of the salt rock’s enchanted powers. As the man’s handshake went on a tad too long, Chihaya applied some gentle force, pulling her hand away, which seemed to do the trick. “Anyway, like I said, peace be with you!”

 

Waving, the man left off, leaving Chihaya to await the next mark. A forlorn sigh escaped her lips, as she thought sullenly to what she had become. No copious amounts of yen from the sale of these “holy stones” could soothe her troubles as she recalled what it was like to be a real fortune teller.

 

The fact is, Chihaya was a real fortune teller. From birth, she had an uncanny ability to sense what would happen before it happened, and it had led her to do a lot of good for a lot of people, guiding them to the right paths and giving them warning before tragedies befell them. Of course, the trouble with having such a skill – aside from people thinking you’re some kind of witch – is that being a bit more in tune with the universe makes one a bit more cynical, paradoxically enough. And it’s sad to see people come to her, bringing with them stories of woe and filled with negative energy, and having no real recourse to tell them that their fates are set. And they cannot be changed. A fatalist position, but Chihaya could not affect the tides of time, as she was only a witness to them.

 

Or so she thought. But recently… she met… a boy.

 

This young high-schooler really shouldn’t have been up so late. But interactions with this young man, his tall, dark smile slightly hinting at somehing deeper beneath them… they caused Chihaya to wonder. A boy who, with apparently no fortune experience at all, was able to instigate a change in the fate of a random stranger. A part of Chihaya wanted to think it was a prank, and the two were in cahoots. But… even if it were a prank… the fact he could dupe her? Someone who was so in tune with the flow of time?! Inconceivable. So, Chihaya decided to take an interest in this young boy, and for the past several weeks, he had been arriving intermittently to get his fortune read.

 

Tragedy surrounded him in the future. It made Chihaya anxious. She liked this boy, after all. He was pleasant, witty, and seemed to have a good heart. Like her, this boy too wanted to help people, but Chihaya cannot for the life of her figure out what it is that will lead to such ruin in his fate! She had her suspicions, of course, about what it was he did that spelled for such disaster, but nothing concrete… nothing concrete…

 

“Hello?”

 

Chihaya jumped up, her cheek leaning on her upright palm on the table. She noticed that she had inadvertently moved one of the cards with her elbow, which had flipped over and onto the ground.

 

“Oh my!” Chihaya said, reaching under the table, before a slender hand reached down, grasping the card before Chihaya could get her hands on it. Sitting back up, the woman in front of her was already offering to Chihaya the Priestess card, which Chihaya promptly grasped before she sized up this individual.

 

It was a girl, of high school age. She had brunette short hair and red eyes, wore a dark coat, and was looking at Chihaya expectantly. Chihaya glanced once again at the card she just received before placing it back on the table face-down. Clearing her throat and brushing herself off, Chihaya looked at the girl and said with an air of airy dignity, “Yes, how may I help you today? Are you interested in a reading?”

 

The girl before her smirked, and Chihaya internally drooped. She was familiar with that face, the face of someone who put no stock in the mystic arts, someone who held its practitioners with no regard. The brunette collected herself neutrally again, and responded, “Uh, no thank you. Actually, I was just wondering, you may be able to help me find someone? He comes by here pretty often this time of the evening, tall? Black, messy hair? Glasses?”

 

Chihaya’s own eyebrows raised. That was him, down to a tee. She responded, “I see a lot of people this time of night. Although… he does sound familiar. Maybe if you told me a bit about why you want to see him, I could divine his location for you,” Chihaya said, raising her hands up above the table as she prepared to channel mystic energies.

 

Makoto Nijima finally allowed a chuckle to escape her, which only disgruntled Chihaya further. Makoto collected herself and tried to explain in her scholarly way, “That’s funny, but there’s no such thing as magic or fortune telling. It’s all just parlor tricks designed to steal money from unsuspecting innocent people. It’s exploitation.”

 

Chihaya’s anger rose within her, and she slammed her hands on the table, saying, “No it’s not!”

 

It rattled the cards, but only caused Makoto to look at Chihaya as though she were more unhinged than Makoto’s initial impression of her. Graciously, the street had cleared out for the most part. Chihaya shrunk back in shame, cheeks flushing bright red as she considered how on Earth a high-schooler allowed her to become so distraught.

 

“Clearly,” Makoto said. “Well, I guess I’ll just try somewhere else. Maybe Crossroads is open,” said Makoto, and she adjusted her bag as she turned to leave.

 

Something within Chihaya told her, however, that this couldn’t be the end. Maybe fate, or just her jealous inclination to prove this tramp wrong. “Wait!” she said before Makoto was out of earshot.

 

Makoto turned, seeing Chihaya’s hand reaching out to her. “Yes?”

 

“Just one reading. I can prove to you that fortune is real.”

 

Makoto sighed and checked the time on her phone. “It’s getting late,” she said, “and my sister is – ”

 

“I’ll make it free! It’ll be quick, I promise.”

 

Makoto tapped her foot on the pavement, arms crossed, before finally relenting. “Fine, sure.”

 

Makoto walked back up to the table expectantly. “So, are you going to read my palm or something?”

 

Chihaya, triumphant, rearranged the cards on the table, fully focused now. “No need,” she said. “The cards will hold all the answers we seek.” As she rearranged them, the spiritual energies within her and the flow of time that Chihaya felt privy to were interrupted by a burgeoning annoyance as Makoto looked down on her. She still felt as though this high school girl was… judging her. Who did she think she is?! Chihaya was old enough to be her… well, older sister! And she had a job! And to call her exploitative? Chihaya audibly scoffed, which caused Makoto’s eyebrow to raise.

 

Focus, Chihaya, she thought. Focus on the reading. But the more cards that Chihaya’s hands hovered over, the more her attention went to Makoto. And all that Chihaya now cared for was proving this girl wrong. She put all her energy into making sure this reading was utterly perfect, knowing that if Makoto came back and complained about the reading being inaccurate, Chihaya would likely never recover. She’d always been on the receiving end of bad-faith attacks, but this one felt… different, somehow.

 

Makoto witnessed the dramatic display as Chihaya hyper focused on the table, and scoffed herself, before taking a few deep breaths. She was feeling… woozy for a moment. Maybe the fortune-teller’s incense-laden clothing was the culprit. Nevertheless, Makoto placed her hand on the edge of the table to stabilize herself.

 

Chihaya, meanwhile, was still all in on the fortune, and had finally achieved the apex. Once she turned this card, she would have exactly the information on that boy’s whereabouts that she wanted. And with a dramatic flair, she placed her two fingers on its face-down edge, bending it slightly as she turned it over until…

 

The Death card. A fomentation of transformation, for one. But more importantly, despite her best efforts, Chihaya had failed to divine that boy’s location for her.

 

Chihaya’s heart dropped, and as she prepared to break the news to her latest client, only to discover she was gone.

 

“Hm?” inquired Chihaya, curious. She looked to her left and right. “Where’d you go?”

 

The street still was in a slower moment, and the few people who were on the other side of the road weren’t paying enough attention in their drunken stupors to even register what had been happening. Chihaya allowed herself to rest back in her seat before a shrill, quiet, mouse-like sound caught her attention.

 

Chihaya hopped to her feet, and called out, “Hello?!” She looked around, not knowing exactly what she would find, her slippers slightly kicking up dust and water from the recent rainfall. “Are you… are you still – ”

 

AHHHH!

 

It was unmistakable. A scream, as loud as could be… but… quieter. Coming from below. Almost as if…

 

Chihaya looked down, and then gasped. The card she had been holding fell to the ground.

 

There, only seeming nanometers from the front of her slipper, was the girl, reduced to the size of a coin. She was on her back, looking straight up at Chihaya, and though from her full height Chihaya couldn’t make out her face, she could tell that the girl was utterly pale and fearful.

 

“Oh my… goodness,” said Chihaya, as she crouched, cupping her hands and reaching out for the shrunken form of the student, who rapidly backed away in frantic fear.

 

“H-hold on!” said Chihaya, still trying to push her hand closer, before just grabbing Makoto and cupping her in her hand that way. The girl squirmed and screamed, and she yelled out, “Put me down!”

 

“Can you please shut up?!” hissed Chihaya as she looked side to side. By now, a few people were coming into the area, and they had taken notice of the fortune teller talking to herself on the ground. Yes, they might’ve tolerated her presence before, but if she stepped out of line, Chihaya could be in real danger of losing her vendor’s license. Clutching Makoto, she shifted back into her seat.

 

Her hands, clasped, lay on the table, as Chihaya began to sweat. She thought to herself as the creature in her hands struggled… how on earth did this happen? Maybe… could she…

 

It was out there, for sure. But Chihaya’s own fortune-telling powers were already out there for some people. Was it possible that, just maybe… she shrunk this girl? And her misdirected energies had tapped into Chihaya’s true desires of putting her in her place?

 

It was as likely a possibility as any. Chihaya steadied her breathing, but she still continued to sweat, and she opened up her hands.

 

Immediately, as the nightlights blinded Makoto’s now unadjusted eyes, she took in a massive gasp of air. “Y-y-you… Oh my goodness,” she heaved.

 

Chihaya emptied her onto the table, where Makoto was only able to get to her knees. Like a doll, Chihaya watched her get her bearings, while she still kept on the lookout for any onlookers. Makoto swayed and fell down a few times before finally managing to stand up. She looked out over the table as though it were a football field, and the cards themselves could easily have taken up enough floor space to fill out her own bedroom. And above her leered Chihaya, her nervousness only smothered by her curiosity.

 

“H… how did… what did you do to me?!” screamed Makoto up to Chihaya’s godlike face.

 

“I… I… I don’t know. It was… it could’ve been…” Chihaya weakly gestured to the cards on the table.

 

“Oh, don’t give me that!” spat out Makoto, “This is some sort of… I don’t know, maybe a gas leak or something! Some scientific experiment! There’s no way you… you… magic isn’t real!” she yelled out, her anxiety at having been shrunken causing her to snap.

 

Chihaya leered down at her. She still wasn’t getting it. No matter how hard Chihaya tried to help, she could not make someone believe if they didn’t want to.

 

“I could try to undo this…” thought Chihaya as she picked up another of the cards.

 

“No!” yelled Makoto. “You’ll just… I j-just… you’ll make it worse!” she screamed, though her voice cracked, if only briefly. “J-j-just take me to a hospital! Or something!”

 

“But if I do that, what do you think they’ll do with me?” inquired Chihaya.

 

“I don’t care, I just want to be put back to my old size!” called out Makoto, jumping up and down to punctuate her burning desire.

 

Chihaya’s eyes closed, and she leaned back in her chair as she sighed. Chihaya considered herself… she thought about the line of actions that had led the pair of them towards this most unexpected of fates. She thought of how this all started with that high school boy, barreling toward a destiny he had every inclination to change. And how now this girl who sought him had now been reduced to the size of a pet, a bug, all because she chose to seek out Chihaya’s help in locating him. Fate brought them together, and now that fate had resulted in her reduction, which Chihaya likely caused. But why? What purpose did fate have in putting the two in this situation?

 

Then, Chihaya’s eyes opened. Of course, it was so simple. Why didn’t she realize it sooner?

 

The Death Arcana.

 

Fate had chosen Chihaya to be the arbiter of its will, and in doing so, she awakened a power that would allow her to execute its desired course.

 

Allowing the airy sense of self-importance to take over once again, Chihaya loomed down closer to Makoto, which by pure instinct caused her to fall backward. “What is your name?” she asked, her warm breath enveloping the high school girl, and causing her to shiver.

 

“Why do you – ”

 

What. Is your name?” repeated Chihaya, her cheeks flushing this time again, but not with anxiety. But with purpose, and pleasure at being able to carry out divine will.

 

“M-M-Makoto. Makoto Nijima,” said Makoto.

 

“Hm… very well, Makoto.”

 

Chihaya leaned back again, and this time, she propped her foot up on her right leg, revealing the dusty bottom of her slipper. With care, she tugged it off and deposited it on the table, causing the cards to shift again and making Makoto jump. “W-what are you doing?!”

 

“My job. As an arbiter of fate,” said Chihaya, now pulling her deep dark stocking down, as it gathered up the remains of sweat that had permeated its fabric in her fits of nervousness now, finally freeing her toes as they wiggled in the night air.

 

“We have been brought here together, Makoto, for a reason. And I think I know what that reason is.”

 

Makoto gulped as her heart pounded. She could see that look in her eyes. That determined look, dead-set on success or victory, no matter who she had to crush that got in her way. It… disturbingly reminded her of someone she knew. She was silent, and allowed Chihaya to finish her spiel, fearing any potential retribution if she tested her luck.

 

“You see, this boy you mentioned. I know him. And I know that he is heading down a path that will lead to a terrible fate. But he is insistent that fate can be changed. I disagree… but now… I think that I see where I am positioned in the story of his life. You see, it’s me.”

 

“You?” asked Makoto, quivering.

 

“Yes, me!” And Chihaya opened up her stocking right before Makoto, the earthy scent surrounding and invading every part of Makoto’s nostrils. It wasn’t even particularly unpleasant, but it was overpowering, and caused her eyes to water.

 

I’m the one the fates have chosen to help him correct his course! And you…

 

Chihaya used her free hand to pick up up Makoto, who immediately began to flail and struggle, screaming, “L-let me go! Stop! Please! Let me go!

 

Chihaya was indifferent, continuing on, “are the individual in his life who must be expunged from it, if fate is to proceed unopposed. This is why I drew the Death Arcana. Because your shrinking is not the only transformation you will be embarking upon tonight.”

 

Makoto gulped, and tears began to stream down her face. She was disoriented, swinging all about in Chihaya’s fingers, only catching brief glimpses of light as her heart was beating a million miles a minute. Until finally, she was released.

 

AHHHHHHHH!” she shrieked, sliding not long after into the fabric interior of Chihaya’s stocking, until she eventually landed at the moist, damp, trampoline-like bottom. Using her nails, Makoto tried to claw her way up, her sense of self-preservation insisting she not give up, and try her best to get out of this horror show, but the smooth weave of the stocking made it a fool’s errand, and after every attempt, she would only slide back down, just to start over again.

 

“There’s no need to fear, you know. You’re doing the universe a service! I’m merely delivering you back to the universe, rather than here, where your presence mucks up the turnings of destiny.” Chihaya smiled giddily as she guided her bare foot back to the mouth of the stocking, sliding it in. Makoto’s climbs were interrupted as the fabric walls all at once became more and more taut, and the light that leaked in through the lip of the garment was blocked out.

 

“Oh no,” she mouthed, and she once again shrieked as Chihaya’s pale foot came barreling toward her, an inescapable wall. Makoto’s fear and anxiety skyrocketed as she was pushed up against the ball of its sole, and her escape attempts ended as she was utterly plastered, the damp foot on one side of her and the damp sock fabric on the other. The scant light that Makoto saw through the fibers of the stocking were soon utterly extinguished as Chihaya put her shoe back on, still in her lap.

 

“Anyway, time to die. May peace be with you! And be grateful you can assist me in allowing the universe’s course to proceed unhindered!” cheered Chihaya.

 

“N-no! No! Stop, STOP! STO –

 

Chihaya stood up. A soft squish sounded from the bottom of her shoe.

 

Chihaya took a few more steps around her table, stomping hard on the ground a few times and grinding the sole of her show into the asphalt, just to ensure she could fulfill what the Death Arcana requested of her.

 

Chihaya felt a warmth flood into her at this point, and she somehow knew the right choice had been made. In fact, it felt like perhaps one of the only correct decisions she’d made in a long, long time.

 

Gathering her deck and folding up her table, Chihaya began to trek home, the warmth of the body beneath her foot awaiting a wash, despite how good it felt to have a reminder of her role as executioner of fate’s desires. And more importantly… she had a new ability that she could use to assist that boy in his exploits. She couldn’t wait to show him!

Chapter End Notes:

And that's that! Let me know if you all enjoyed, and if you are into more Persona fanfics!

And also, I've been considering... would anybody donate to, like, a Patreon or a ko-fi if I opened one up? I've had some, but didn't have much of a following back then. I don't mind if you say no, btw! I just want a bit of an idea of what you all think. It would result in me writing more often as well. Tell me in a review, or on Twitter, if you'd be interested or not. But more importantly, just tell me if you like the story! Thx!

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