Persona! Gosei High

[mmdeforrest]

Chrétien Dumas breathed in the heady scent of the trees’ blooms and the Spring Festival’s food stalls. It felt like the light breeze was tousling his hair playfully — inviting him forward into the flow of conversations that he could mostly understand. The mixture was more intoxicating than the wine he would have to forego while studying in Japan. It was a sort of sacrifice but the adventure it brought was more than worth such a small cost — especially since he would be getting the occasional reprieve when visiting his uncle in Tokyo.

He surveyed the scene before him. The world had been sharpened by the newness of the place and culture and everything felt more vivid than it would have seemed in Troyes — although after a few months here, his home city might take on such freshness.

He broke into a smile as he stepped forward to enter the fair, glad that his brief time in Tokyo had permitted him to get over his jet lag and adjust to the time difference. He didn’t want to miss anything.

Chrétien had been to similar local celebrations in France. Such affairs could be found everywhere in the world, marking important dates in the local seasons and calendars. But this was new and he could lose himself in a kind of anonymity. Yes, he stood out but he appeared here without the baggage of personal history or reputation.

His eye caught the glint of sunlight on a nearby koi pond.

Perhaps not entirely anonymous, he reminded himself as he walked up to it. That is, if such gateways could be opened from any place and it had not all been part of his imagination.

The scene here was beautiful enough to be worthy of her so it seemed possible — even if the strange trees and architecture made it seem less likely.

But La Demoiselle followed her own rules — rules he could not even guess at.

Nor was it his place to guess.

He knew he was in her service and subject to her call. That was enough to be getting on with.

But until she called, a new adventure beckoned before him in this faire — the Spring Festival.

“Tres apropos,” he observed quietly to himself. A new start to the year here and a new beginning for him.