Spoilers through October 4th, 2009. Hints at spoilers, at least. Actually, I think all the spoilers are in my post-fic notes... But yeah, it's probably best if you've played past that point in the game before reading this. It'll mean more that way. Or some crap like that.
Written well before P3P came out, as well.
Shinjiro is awesome. To show my appreciation for his awesomeness, I shall write crappy fanfiction about him. Go me. This is from Fuuka's POV. There are a couple of parts where I think I screwed up on the tenses. Few notes and explanations at the end, as not to ruin things.
I don't own any of the Persona 3 characters, etc.
EDIT: Mitsuru does refer to Shinjiro as Aragaki: "Aragaki was still new, and he momentarily lost control of his power..."
Climbing a tower that only appears during a time that doesn't exist, fighting Shadows, living in between one day and the next... Experiencing things most people could never even imagine... I guess it's fitting our group's acronym is SEES. But I still can't help but wonder how much we're missing.
Sometimes it feels like, in seeing things that we shouldn't, we've sacrificed our ability to see the things that we should. Like we're overlooking something important, you know? Looking so hard for things that can't be found, that we're blind to what's right in front of us.
Maybe I'm just a little down; maybe I'm just being too hard on myself; maybe I'm just not so confident about my power. I know the others are depending on me, especially now, and I'm worried about letting them down.
"Yamagishi," Mitsuru-senpai calls out to me, breaking my concentration. "Would you please go and get Aragaki? We're going to start soon."
Strange. She usually calls him by his first name. Him, and Akihiko-senpai. The rest of us, though... I bet you, if Koro-chan had a last name, Mitsuru-senpai would call him by it, too.
But not Shinjiro-senpai, and never Akihiko-senpai. I wonder if she's upset? Or maybe just feeling a little off? Everyone seems a little... off lately, come to think of it. Ken-kun seems really down, and just the other day, Junpei-kun was saying something about our next mission, Strega, and protective cups... I don't quite understand, and I don't think I want to.
You know, Mitsuru-senpai probably just said it, without even realizing it, and I'm putting too much thought into it all. Again. Putting too much thought into these sorts of things, and not enough into-
"Yamagishi? Did you hear me...?"
"Of course!" I answer, a little frazzled, sliding my laptop off of my legs and placing it on the table. "Sorry!"
Mitsuru-senpai continues, "Shinjiro should be right out front, unless he decided to take off. In that case, just come back in, and we'll have the meeting without him. I'll get the others and we'll see you upstairs."
"I'll be right back, then."
I open the front door, forgetting to grab my sweater before I do. I'll only be out there a second, though. Koromaru is on my heels. "Do you want to come along, Koro-chan?"
He barks enthusiastically.
Koromaru runs past me as I step outside, and I close the door behind us. I can hear the wind rustling in the trees, shaking a few leaves loose. I watch as they flutter to the ground. It is autumn now. It's chillier than I was expecting, and I wrap my arms around myself to try and keep warm.
Shinjiro-senpai is sitting right at the bottom of the steps, beanie on his head, dark red coat on, and presumably, buttoned all the way up. He's hunched over, holding a lit cigarette in one hand, and petting Koromaru with the other, talking to him. "What do you want?" he asks the dog, pretending to be annoyed with him. I know better, though.
Koromaru looks back at me, then Shinjiro-senpai does too. "Gotcha," he mutters, standing up.
I bow my head a little and wring my hands together. "Hello."
"What?" he asks, his voice rough and sort of scratchy.
Koromaru is the one to reply, with one quick woof. He wags his tail. He really seems to like Shinjiro-senpai, and I don't think it's just because of the gourmet dog food he buys him. I think Koromaru senses that he really is a very kind person, underneath it all.
I explain, "Mitsuru-senpai asked me to come and get you."
Before Shinjiro-senpai can say anything, assuming he was going to, he turns away from me and coughs. It's a harsh, rattling hack, and I can't help but worriedly ask him, "Are you okay?"
"Fine." He clears his throat and spits in the bushes, then brings his cigarette to his mouth without missing a beat.
"...Oh. It's just, you don't sound so good."
"I'm fine," he insists, sharply, and now I'm more certain than ever that he's not.
"I just thought you might be getting sick. I was going to offer to make you some soup or something. Although, I can't say I'm very good at that." I laugh to myself, more from nerves than anything else. "Koro-chan doesn't just refuse my leftovers, he won't even come near me if I'm cooking."
I'm a little surprised Koromaru didn't whine, or bark, or something, over what I've said. I really do believe he can understand us, and he really does avoid me when I try to cook. I guess he's just too busy peeing on the bushes right now to comment.
Those poor bushes. First Shinjiro-senpai, and now Koro-chan...
Shinjiro-senpai is staring forward, and up a little. For a moment, it's almost like he's forgotten I'm even here. I'm not sure what he's looking at, but I decide to look, too. All I can see are other buildings, a few treetops, and the tiniest bit of light peeking through from somewhere.
Still trying to make conversation, I add, "Akihiko-senpai said you were a good cook." I don't have much more to work with, really. All I know about Shinjiro-senpai is that he used to be a member of SEES, but left after some sort of accident a couple of years ago, and that he's known Akihiko-senpai for a long time. I'm not sure what made him agree to come back.
Something tells me just wanting to know isn't a good enough reason for asking.
Koromaru, done marking his territory, is back at my feet. The wind kicks up again and I shiver a little. Without a word, Shinjiro-senpai puts his cigarette in his mouth, then unbuttons his coat and sort of throws it at me.
I barely catch it. The bottom of it smacks Koromaru in the face, and if I were to translate his annoyed-sounding yelp, I'd guess he was saying, 'Hey, watch it.'
"Sorry, Koro-chan," I apologize.
Koromaru snorts once, then scratches at his collar.
"I can't take this," I insist, clutching the coat to my chest, nonetheless.
"Don't make a big deal out of it."
"You should keep it on, the way you were just coughing."
"Doesn't matter."
Shinjiro-senpai raises his arm, bringing his hand to his lips, and takes a long drag. It's strange to think he's so close to my age. He's the same age as Mitsuru-senpai and Akihiko-senpai, after all. He just seems so much older. He doesn't really look much older, though. He looks like the rest of us, as much as we look like each other, anyway. Except in his eyes, I'm reminded, when the wind blows his hair away from his face for a moment. He has such light eyes, yet there's a darkness in them, a sadness so strong that I have to turn away.
I pull the coat tighter around me, hugging myself. It's a nice, long, warm coat, even though I can tell it's wearing thin in some places. There are a couple of loose threads, and buttons that could stand to be sewn on a little tighter, but that's easily overlooked.
Hmm...
I'm not sure how long it's been, when I finally glance at Shinjiro-senpai again, but I see something I didn't notice before. I don't know how I didn't see it. It stands out so strongly, next to the black shirt and pants he's wearing. Wrapped snugly around his bicep is his SEES armband. All this time I'd thought he was too cool to wear it.
"What are you looking at?" Shinjiro-senpai asks me, somewhat harshly, making me jump a little.
"Nothing!" I say, louder than I probably should have.
"What do you need?"
"...Nothing." I'm much quieter this time.
"Then what are you waiting for?"
I sheepishly reply, "I was waiting for you. To finish with your cigarette, I mean," I add, needlessly.
"I know what you mean." He chuckles a little. I don't think I've ever heard him laugh before.
"Then what's so funny?" I ask, a little embarrassed, now that I realize he's probably laughing at me.
"I've been finished." Koromaru barks once, as if to second the statement.
I feel a blush coming on. "I'm sorry! Why didn't you say something?"
He shrugs. "I was waiting for you."
"Waiting for me...?"
Shinjiro-senpai starts to walk away from me. Glancing over his shoulder, he says, "Tell the others I'll be a little late tonight. There's something I've gotta take care of first."
"I-" Something's not right about this, but I don't dare question Shinjiro-senpai."...I'll tell them."
He nods, and I think I see a small smile on his face. If I had a little more nerve - okay, a lot more nerve - I'd tell him he has a very nice smile and that he should do it more often, but I don't. I don't say anything, and his pace quickens as he makes his way farther and farther from me.
"Wait!" I shout, suddenly.
Shinjiro-senpai looks back at me. I run toward him, with Koromaru right alongside me. The coat suddenly feels very heavy on me. I take it off and hand it back. "Your coat."
He puts it on, silently, and buttons up. His armband is hidden, once more, but I know it's there. I may not know much about Shinjiro-senpai, but one thing is for certain: he's one of us on the inside.
I smile and whisper, "Thank you." He waves me off, walking away without a goodbye. I watch him until he's out of sight.
Koromaru lets out an unhappy little whine, and I'm made to witness maybe the saddest doggie-expression ever. I try to sound cheery, as I say, "Come on, Koro-chan. Everyone's waiting for us."
But I hesitate a moment, wondering if I should have just let Shinjiro-senpai walk away like that. I take a deep breath, lift my head and gaze up at the sky. It's now and only now that I see he had been looking at the full moon.
Couple of notes then I'll shut it.
1. This came about because I'm not quite sure what Fuuka meant when she said Shinjiro had just notified her that he would be late for the October 4th full moon mission. Did he tell her telepathically...? Did they have an actual conversation...? My vote is obviously for the latter, because, well, if Fuuka could hear Shinjiro's thoughts, you think she'd have been able to figure out where he was, at that point. Or something. Who knows. I could just be typing out my ass. Really, it boils down to me wanting to write something involving Shinjiro. As for the Fuuka-ness, I just think the two of them could have had an odd little friendship, short-lived as it would've been.
2. Yeah, I totally don't see Shinjiro being all gung-ho about sporting that SEES armband on the outside of his coat.
3. Shinjiro smokes, 'nuff said. Least, in my mind he smokes.
4. Man, I was sooooo bummed when he died. I went from thinking, 'The broody dude in the red coat really needs to quit being a dick' to him being one of my favorite characters. And then he croaked.
5. Yes, this takes place before Mitsuru refers to Shinji as Aragaki, but I just wanted to have something there to acknowledge that no, it's not unheard of for her to call him by last name, as the claim in the review was that she did not do this at all.
6. I'm sorry this was so depressing. Something much more entertaining is on the horizon... Heh.
7. This was written well before P3P, if it matters. In terms of the amount of time Shinji and Fuuka spent together, it just may.