A Blast from the Past [Hyde]

Two days had passed since Mae's encounter with her Shadow Self. During those two days, she had reported herself sick, as she was so exhausted, both mentally and physically, from that awakening that she'd been lying in bed most of the time resting. Now that she had fully recovered from that endeavour, Mae finally returned to school. Fortunatley for her, some of her classmates had been kind enough to swing by the dorms and give her notes of what she had missed in class.

After school, Mae didn't really have much to do, since she could catch up with the rest of her class during the next weekend. Sure, she had plans, but it was only for one day, and her sunday was completely blank. It was then a thought crossed her mind. She had not seen Hyde in a while. Mae opened up her phone, and sent a text message to her Red-headed friend.


--Hey, Hyde-kun! I'm back to school (finally?) and I'm free this afternoon... Wanna hang out? That is, if you can of course... How about swinging by that sushi resturant you work at? I haven't had sushi for a while now, so how about it? I'll be waiting in the entrance hall to the school. See ya there, hopefully!

- Mae--

She clicked send, and awaited Hyde's response. For all she knew, he could still be in class. Mae didn't know Hyde's schedule very well, but hopefully she didn't cause him any trouble. The Pinkette slid down the phone into her pocket before she headed down to the entrance hall...

Hyde was doing homework when Mae gave him a text message. He wasn’t very happy with doing math homework; it was his worst subject out of all of them. When he received a text message from Mae he was overjoyed that his friend took the time to message him. Instead of texting her back, Hyde decided to head on over in his basic attire, disregarding his homework all together. “It can wait.. it’s been a while since he had some fun.” With all of these awakenings, Hyde would rather have a good time than do any more work. On top of that, it was his day off work today.
Since Hyde was in the dorms, he would have arrived at the meeting place 10 minutes later. He saw mae and gave a smile and wave.”Aye ooooo!! Mae Chan!”

"Oh Hey, Hyde-kun! Glad you could make it!" Mae looked up from her phone, and saw Hyde smiling at her. The girl stood up and ran over to him excitedly. "How are you doing?" She would ask in a friendly manner.


Qilin's voice echoed inside Mae's head. // Indeed that's him. The one and only Hyde Mizumi. // She answered her persona. The two of them were unsure if Hyde was aware of her recent awakening... Her life had changed so much over the course of these two days she was abscent from school. "So, are you ready to go?" The girl asked the redhead with a bright smile. This was the perfect opportunity to ask him about why he had been mentioned on that broadcast... Hopefully that would shed some light on the mysteries surrounding that whole event...

“Mhm, I missed you a lot actually. You haven’t been to school lately, I thought something happened or you had to go back to Tokyo because of something to do with your family. I don’t know, my mind tends to travel all around in times like this. “ Hyde was a little bit relieved, he thought that she was taken from the shadow or something. Hyde was busy these few days, so he wouldn’t be able to handle it, even though he would want to. “Alright, lets get going ! I’m ready to go when you are. “ Hyde would say with a smile.

"Yeah, sorry about that... But you've been missing me? Oh, that's so sweet of you." Mae smiled happily at her friend. "And no, it's nothing like that." The girl waved her hand slightly at the comment. "I've just felt a bit under the weather recently. Trust me, I would never go back to Japan without telling you guys about it first. It just wouldn't sit right with me. What do you take me for, some kind of jerk?" She chuckled happily. Hyde had this aura around him which made everyone in the room slightly happier. That's at least what Mae felt. Zela's own little red-headed ball of Joy, Hyde Mizumi.

"I'm ready to go! There's actually something I need to talk to you about when we get to the resturant." Mae said mysteriously on purpose. "It's just something that has been bothering me for a short while, and I wanted to talk to you about it." Now that Mae was aware of the other world, she wanted answers. And Hyde was one of the few people she felt confident in confiding in. Him, Jack and Julian. Although, Julian knew her "Secret" already, considering he had been the one who saved her.

Jerk? No, of course not. Sorry if it came off that way, I just wanted you to know that I’m not above reason. If something like that did happen, and you couldn’t tell me or Jack, I wouldn’t be mad or anything. I would just be worried about you. “Hyde would say with a small smile as he followed Mae to the restaurant that she was choosing to go to. Then again, that small smile was exchanged with a small bit of worry when Mae said that there’s something she wanted to talk about. “There is something that you wanted to talk about ? Is it about the cold? I know a great remedy to get rid of it. You put the lime in the coconut and then…..” Hyde heard this in a song, but putting the lime in the coconut and shaking it together cures everything, right?

"Don't worry about it, Hyde-kun! I was just messing with you!" Mae laughed cheerfully. "But seriously though, thanks Hyde. You're a great friend to have. And I bet you would be worried. I sure would've been if you had just up and vanished without a word." The girl gave Hyde a warm smile capable of putting anyone's stressed heart at ease.

"This is it, right?" Mae asked Hyde, looking at the big sign with big red letters spelling out "Edogawa Sushi" on top of the building. "This is the place where you work? Man, I'm dying for some sushi right now." Mae smiled at Hyde, but her attention was diverted by a voice which Hyde knew all too well.

"Hyde? What are you doing here? You are aware this is your day off right?" The newly arrived redhead had a suprised expression on his face. Judging by his words, he knew Hyde. "Oh, wait... I think I know why you're here. Hehe, are you on a date? I thought you had something going with Shun?" The redhead chuckled, smiling brightly at the two. "Oh! I should probably introduce myself. I'm Kei Edogawa. My dad owns this resturant. I used to go to Zela together with Hyde here, but I was forced to quit to keep the family buisness running." Kei held out a hand, which the girl promptly grabbed and shook it. "Nice to meet you, Kei-kun! The name's Mae Iharu." The two smiled at eachother.

"Ah, I guess you two need a table and stuff right? Come on, lemme grab a table for you guys." The teen positively pushed Mae and Hyde into the store enthusiastically, and showed them their way to the table. "Alright, here's the menu..." Kei put two folders on the table in front of both Mae and Hyde. "Just gimmie a call when you have your orders ready, and I'll come running." He winked at Hyde and left the two teens alone. The resturant had become quite popular over the last couple of months since it's grand opening. Mae opened up her menu, and looked at the various different options she had.

"You know what... I'll go with the fatty tuna and a Penecia Beach Roll." From what the menu told, the Penecia Beach Roll was the resturant's specialty. A made up piece of sushi unique to this resturant. Everyone's gotta have one of those in order to stand out nowadays... At least, that's what Mae thought. "What are you taking?" the girl asked curiously, looking at Hyde.

Kei!” Hyde would say as he gave Kei a hug, Kei was a good friend of Hyde, and Hyde felt as if he didn’t see his friend in forever. “ Wait I’ll introduce you guys. “ Hyde would let go of Kei and introduce them to eachother. “ Mae, I would like you to meet Kei, he’s one of my best friends. We don’t see each other as often I would like, but he’s one of the coolest guys that you could know.” Hyde would then proceed with Mae’s introduction.”. Kei, this is Mae, she’s the up and doming super idol! Or will be, she’s going to be in the talent show! I think I’m going to be a backup singer, or dancer….” Hyde would then shrug with a smile, he was just glad that he was surrounded by people he liked.
After they were seated, Hyde would order. “Spicy tuna roll for me buddy! No crunch. And an iced tea.” Afterwards, Hyde would look to Mae.. “ So what did you want to talk about?

"Yeah, it has indeed been a while Hyde." The guy named Kei would return Hyde's brotherly hug. The two boys seemed to be very close friends. Or at least, that was Mae's observation. "So, how long have you two known eachother? You seem pretty tight." The girl asked curiously. This Kei seemed like an upstanding guy.

One of his best friends? That explained a lot. "Ahaha, Hyde, I think you give me a bit too much credit there, buddy" Kei chuckled heartfully, and gave Hyde a pat on the back. "And yeah, what's up with that anyway? I guess I'm too busy with work to hang out... Sorry about that, bro." He would look apologetically at Hyde. He did seem really sorry about not being able to see Hyde outside of work as often as he used to.

"Oh, I dunno about that, Hyde..." Mae said modestly. "I mean, yeah, I do sing but, uh... I don't think I'm on the level of Super Idol yet. I'm trying though!" The girl smiled happily at the two boys, and after introductions were made, Kei showed the two Students their way to the table.

"Yeah... You know about that broadcast, right...? You know, the one in the middle of December? Why was your name mentioned there...? Sorry that I'm asking such a weird question... You know about the Power of Persona... Right?" She whispered to Hyde across the table. "I watched that Broadcast online upon Sharaku's suggestion... And well, I'm worried about you guys... You haven't gotten dragged into something dangerous... Right?"

The broadcast?” Hyde remembered the broadcast that angel did, that was something that he didn’t think did him any favors initially. “Well, yea… I’m sorry to say that I am involved, and it is pretty serious. Though, the people that I’m involved with are all on the same page and we are determined to make sure that nothing bad happens. Not if we could help it. “ There is no reason to get her involved for no apparent reason, especially if she doesn’t have the means to protect herself against shadows.
Though, that changed quite a bit when she mentioned persona’s” The power of persona, I know about it, I know a lot about it. Why? Did something happen?

"Well... I suppose it was the right call to turn to you then. Hyde... Remember how I suddenly vanished? Well, I was dragged off to... Another world so to speak... Heh... I'm a persona user now." The girl said, with a sheepish smile on her face. "I guess you now know the reason why I've been sick for the last two days huh?". Now the cat was out of the bag. "There's no reason to worry though. As you can see, I made it out alive. Julian was the one who rescued me... So, tell me, Hyde. What exactly is going on here? Who's that girl on the broadcast? What was that thing I saw? The thing that gave birth to my persona that is..." Mae honestly did not know where to start, so she threw all the questions she had right at Hyde relentlessly. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to bombard you with questions... But aside from Julian, you're the only one I can turn to... Are there any more of us? Persona users that is?"

You're a what now?!" Hyde would say with a surprised look on his face, he didn't know that she was persona use too. Though, Hyde would try to be discreet and start to feign a cough in order to avoid the look of people staring at him. "Ah...sorry..." Hyde would say with a silly laugh. " Anyway, i didn't know that Julian saved you. It must of been scary, right? I mean, facing your shadow and all. I really wish i was there, i'm sorry Mae, i would of took it down hard!" Hyde was a bit protective of his friends, he really wanted to be there for her.

"Well, with that being said.... yes... am one too. there are many of us... jack included. Also, the girl in the broadcast is Angel, shes an angel that's hosting this contest between angels or something like that. Ill tell you ore about it, but what do you mean by "thing?" Your shadow? Doppelganger with red....yellow eyes?

"Y-yeah, I am... I'm not sure why I even got this power in the first place... I'm not that special, am I? What is really going on here...? And don't worry about it, Hyde-kun. So... What are we Persona User's supposed to do? I can save other people, right? Like how Julian saved me? Because, well... Now that I have the power to help... I can't just sit back and watch. I wanna join in, and fight. Otherwise, These powers of mine would go to waste..." Mae's face was filled with determination. She now held the power to change things. And she was going to put it to good use. "Wait, Jack's a User too?!" The girl sat there slackjawed. "Wait... Don't tell me... Is Sharaku one too...?"

"Yeah, you bet it was scary... I had nightmares for two days straight after that. And that it was Julian of all people that rescued me... I dunno if it's a good thing or a bad thing, considering the two of us are going on a date on Saturday..." Mae looked slightly troubled about this. "I mean, w-what if he doesn't show up?" The possibility was certainly there. Sure, Julian was probably used to stuff like that, but still... It wasn't everyday you saw a 5'4" tall girl turn into a 6'7" tall minotaur that could breathe fire after all. Anyone would've been spooked by that.

"Alright, here you go!" Kei returned to the other two with their drinks and the food on two trays. "Enjoy." He said with a smile, before turning around, and started helping the other guests. "Wow, this stuff looks delicious! Let's eat, Hyde-kun! Hehe~"

““Of course you’re special; you are one of the most special people that I know. Talented Idol tuned into a persona user, nothing more than a reflection of great potential, that’s what I always say. Though as to what we do, the purpose of our powers govern from each person. What I believe that a persona is for is to help people. Shadows are dangerous creatures and there are people who can use their powers selfishly to cause harm, I want to protect those people. What you want to do is up to you. Though, I’m thankful Julian saved you. You guys are going on a date, I’m pretty jealous.” Hyde would say with a slight wink while sticking out his tongue.

“Though, Julian is a pretty standup guy, he will show up. I know I would, hehe. As for groups, there’s the Ego Riders, my group, and the Featherman, Jack’s group. We both are working had to stop the primordial gods from waking up the creator that’s going to destroy the world. Sounds straight out of the comic book, but this is the realness of the situation, were kind of screwed. So right now, we are looking for angels, for each island there is an alternate world, for each alternate world, there is an angel.”

The food came and hyde started to dig in “Yay! Foods here!”

"Well, I wanna help. Now that I can make a difference, it would be such a shame to let my powers go to waste. So, you guys are basically trying to save the world, if I'm not mistaken... Then count me in too! I can't just sit idly by while my friends go out there, knowing full well that you may not come back alive. Besides, I wanna help others as well, just like how Julian helped me..." Mae's determination was fierce. She wouldn't let her friends put themselves in harms way, and having her standing by, watching. She could make a difference, that much Mae knew. "I'm not doing this because I have to... I do it because I want to. I have people to protect... People close to me..." She was mostly talking about her adoptive mother and her friends back in Japan, as well as Hyde, Jack and Julian. She had grown quite fond of the three, and if they were fighting to prevent the end of the world, then Mae wanted to be a part of that too... She were well aware that this was dangerous stuff, but she couldn't just sit on her ass doing nothing when she had the power to make a difference.

"So, that girl on the broadcast... She was an angel?" It was a little difficult wrapping her head around all this, but slowly the pieces fell into place... The world was in danger, which was something Hyde and his friends were working on all cylinders in order to prevent such a tragedy.