Ken reflexively caught the pillow that flew at him rather suddenly. [i]Wow, it's not like I just waltzed in on her in the shower or something[/i]

Ken remained silent and just looked at her, clearly flustered, as she stumbled over her own thoughts trying to get out some sort of formal greeting. Not that he was one for formalities.

"Then, Yamada-senpai. Hope we get along."

"Ah, yeah, me too." Ken tried to smile, but it probably looked a little forced. She was a rather, lively person. More people sauntered into the dorm hall now. He recognized those from his own class and a handful he didn't recognize, likely the other years listed on the roster. Ken remained silent as everybody exchanged greetings and gave his own last.

Just as he finished giving his name, the world [i]changed[/i] again. Ken wasn't exactly prepared for it, but he didn't waste time panicking now. "It's the Lhermitte effect again." He thought out loud as Touko-Kouhai* clung to him, seemingly for protection. [i]what's the deal, it's just a hallucination[/i] he thought, but then the voice came again.

[b] "And this, are Shadows. They are extremely dangerous beings which live inside people's minds... Your only opportunity against them is using a Persona, now, I wonder, who'll be the first one to awaken it? After all, to summon it, you need to feel a really strong emotion. I hope you have something at your disposal that will help you in this, let's say, endeavor."[/b]

As Igor finished speaking, a shadow crept up near Ken, and slashed his leg.

Pain

Blood

It was very real. Ken couldn't believe his eyes, something was distinctly wrong here. Igor's words repeated in his mind, seemingly unwillingly.

"Summon a Persona? but, how, I'm not much of an emotional person" He whispered, half wondering if Touko was crying next to him. As he wondered what to do, the Shadow next to him reared up for another attack, but Ken found himself paralyzed by fear. Before it could though, a bright light emanated from his watch, shoving back the Shadow. "Emotion... Emotion..." Ken racked his brain, digging up half repressed memories of the only times he was ever happy. He shoved Touko off of him, not roughly, but not gently either. And pulled up his watch to look at it. On a whim, he pressed the backlight button.

Behind him, a massive card appeared, face down, then rotated to face forward. On it was a vicious monster, looking down at two suffering people. "Persona!"

The card shattered, and where it was, appeared a single Dragon. It roared triumphantly. And crushed the Shadow that was harassing Ken before.

[i]Now this, is cool[/i] He thought as he saw another girl pull out a pen and summon what he assumed was her Persona.