Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Persona 3 or any of its reincarnations. All creative rights to the characters named in this story belong to Atlus. I do not profit from this story, yada yada yada.

Summary: Months after The Fall was successfully nipped in the bud by the Nyx Annihilation Team, Aragaki Shinjiro is back at Gekkoukan High, making the most out of a life without Arisato Minako. This is the story of how his life turns upside down once more when his beloved returns in the form of an amnesiac girl. [Note: This story also takes place after an implied Answer. Details of how I twisted it can be found in my post-chapter A/N for Chapter 3.]

Rating: T, for the occasional swear word.

Genre: Romance/Drama, served with a dash of humor, because I can't help it. A better way to put it would be slice of life with some supernatural elements thrown in.

Warning: This piece of fiction is very Shinjiro-centric, so if you don't like him, now's your last chance to back-off. Also, since this is a sequel, expect spoilers for both The Journey and The Answer.

Hello everyone, Kaylee here. I will not bore you with a ridiculously long pre-chapter A/N, so if you want to learn about how this story came to existence, you may visit my profile for a fairly short history lesson.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this fic!

[Edit] Story semi-rewritten as of February 17, 2013

October 3, 2009

"It would be really great if Shinjiro-senpai went back to school!"

The girl turned back and smiled at the man seated on the park bench. The moon was nearly full, and it illuminated the structures around the playground, giving the slides, the jungle gym, and the seesaws a fairly pleasant, bluish glow. The air was pleasantly cool that night, easing the mood of Shinjiro, the man seated on the bench.

His face creased into a laugh. He stood up, approached the brunette, and ruffled her chestnut brown hair, almost messing up her hair pins. She giggled at his touch, blushing a bit at the contact.

"Hey, that's not funny," Shinjiro replied, although he chuckled at the mere thought of going back to school. He placed his hands inside the pockets of his peacoat and added, "And I told you to cut the "senpai" crap. It's 'Shinjiro', and hell if I go back to that…" He chose a very colorful word to describe a certain well-known institution of learning.

The brunette pouted at him. "If you come back, we'll be able to see more of each other!" She grinned at him. "You could join me in Fuuka's cooking club, and teach us how to cook! Come on, it will be fun!"

"Woof!" A gray shiba inu bounded up to them, running circles around them excitedly.

"See, even Koro-chan agrees with me!" she added.

Shinjiro can't help but let out an amused smile. "We'll see, Arisato." He resisted commenting that Koromaru was probably just excited to be back at his master's place, which has been his home for most of his life.

"Hey! I told you to drop that name! I'm Minako!" she glared at him in annoyance, playfully punching Shinjiro on the shoulder.

"If you promise to stop calling me 'Senpai', I think I'll reconsider…" he said nonchalantly.

Minako's eyes suddenly lit up at those words. "So… I'll be seeing you around in school?" She gazed at him with puppy-dog eyes.

Shinjiro slapped himself on the forehead, nearly dragging his beanie down. Damn, those ruby-red eyes were devastating on her. Averting his eyes from her, trying to hide the blush creeping to his cheeks, he replied, "I was talking about how we addressed each other, but since I'm going to hell anyway, why not."

He embraced Minako tightly and kissed her lightly on the forehead, surprising the girl. At this time, the shrine was mercifully empty except for the three of them, so it was safe for him to drop the tough guy act. "You're cold," he said as Minako's cheeks burned red.

"Not anymore." She closed her eyes as she snuggled closer to him, burying her face into his coat.

Using one of his hands, he gently pulled out her ponytail holder and let her brown locks fall into place. "You should wear your hair down more often." he whispered. "It keeps you warm, and..." He hesitated for a moment, then continued, "It suits you, too."

She chuckled at his words. "Alright… Shinjiro." Locking eyes with him, she added, "You'll have to go to school to see that, though."

A pregnant pause followed. Gazing into her crimson eyes, he chose to forget the implications of the next day and said, "It's a deal, Minako."

~o~

September 2, 2010

Another day in this hell hole called high school, Shinjiro thought. That morning, he practically dragged himself out of the flat he shared with Aki in order to make his way to Gekkoukan High.

In fact, it was amazing he had a high school to attend in the first place. Considering that he mysteriously stopped going to school during the second semester of his first year in high school, and rarely attended classes during his junior and senior years, the school was very reluctant to take him back in. Coupled with the reputation he was getting around the streets, things weren't looking pretty for his readmission to the school. Kirijo had to pull a lot of strings to get him back in school. After much negotiation, he was enrolled as a senior student of Gekkoukan High.

Damn, he owed Kirijo big time. He wondered what it said about himself, bothering to keep his promise to a dead girl.

~o~

"Aragaki-senpai, are you going to Cooking Club today?" A teal-haired lady shyly approached Shinjiro at lunchtime. "I need to work on something for the Tech Club, so I might not be able to make it…"

Shinjiro sighed. "I suppose I can drop by, Yamagishi-san," he replied. He had nothing better to do before his part-time job starts, after all.

"Oh, thanks!" she said, a little surprised at his acceptance. Understandable, because ever since that incident, he had been avoiding Cooking Club like the plague.

"Fuuka! Can you help me with this problem? All these sines and cosines are like, confusing me!" A pig-tailed girl from class 3-F approached the girl named Yamagishi.

"Alright," Yamagishi replied to her classmate. "Senpai, I'll be taking my leave now." She gave a light bow to him, and left his side.

~o~

"For today, we'll be making spicy pepper pasta," Shinjiro announced to all the Cooking Club members gathered around the Home Economics Room. "Don't do any shit that isn't written in the recipe, and we'll get along fine."

Every now and then, he went around the room to check on how the others were progressing on their pasta, dropping comments every now and then.

Once he was done with his pasta, he mused about a certain incident that happened a few months back.

~o~

April 26, 2010

During the start of the term, he agreed to join Yamagishi's cooking club, thinking that it will be just the two of them, and maybe a few enthusiasts. Every student was required to join at least one club, so he might as well stick with something he enjoyed doing. All was well for the first few weeks, but things took a turn for the strange during one fateful lunch break.

"Wow, Fuuka-chan, these fries you cooked taste amazing!" a classmate of hers commented, taking another fry and biting into it.

Yamagishi blushed at the compliment. "Thanks!"

"Mmm, this is even better than what you usually make," another classmate approached Yamagishi's table and took a fry and bit into it. "Oh, I didn't mean anything bad by that!" he hastily added, noticing Yamagishi's alarmed expression. "I mean, your cooking has improved since the beginning of the semester, and I'd like to give thanks to your mentor for your wonderful cooking…"

"I see…" Yamagishi gave an involuntary glance at Shinjiro, who was seated on his armchair by the back, near the window. He looked up from his book, sensing her eyes on him. Their grey eyes met, and the girl quickly looked away. Male A and Male B were following her gaze.

"No way!" the two exclaimed in unison, catching the attention of their classmates. Since lunch break was close to an end, many were back in the classroom. Everyone fell silent at the outburst, staring at the two. Their gaze shifted to Yamagishi, who was blushing wildly, and then to the man who was reading a book. Unable to ignore the deafening silence and all the eyes boring down on him, he closed his book with a loud slam. He carefully met each person's gaze. Most of them looked away pretty quickly.

The teacher arrived shortly thereafter, and his classmates hastily made their way back to their seats.

Since then, people have considerably loosened up towards him. Some even dared to joke around him, others even asked for cooking tips from him. In addition, more people felt inclined to join the Cooking Club, all thanks to his unusual hobby.

~o~

Once everyone was done, Shinjiro closed the lights, made sure every electronic device was off, and locked the door of the club room. Deafening screams greeted him as he was exiting the Home Economics Room.

"Oh my God! It's Akihiko-senpai!" A gaggle of girls crowded around one of the exits. A silver-haired man emerged from the throng, ignoring the fawning and gushing over him. He had to shrug off a few girls clinging onto his arm.

He approached Shinjiro, who was standing outside the Home Economics Room, hands folded over his chest.

"Looks like your fanclub is still going strong, Aki." Shinjiro commented as they started walking down the corridor.

'Aki' groaned. "Don't remind me, Shinji. I thought things would die down once I graduated, unfortunately I underestimated their determination."

Shinjiro held back an amused smile. As usual, Aki was still hopeless when it came to understanding members of the opposite sex. "Tch, makes me wonder why you accepted the coaching position in the first place."

"Hey, I had to make sure they weren't slacking off after I left!" he replied defensively.

"Tch." Shinjiro rolled his eyes at his friend's excuse. "By the way, what's with that get-up?" he asked, eyeing Aki's outfit a little dubiously.

"Oh, you mean this?" The silver-haired man was wearing a brown, long-sleeved shirt, together with a red necktie, topped by a black vest. He still wore his trademark black gloves, black slacks, and black loafers. "We had to dress somewhat formally today, since the school had a special guest."

By then, the two have reached the entrance gates of the school. "I see…" It was the first time he saw that outfit, which he knew was too dressy for Aki's taste. He wouldn't discount the possibility that Kirijo has something to do with picking it out. "Here's dinner, it's leftover pasta from Yamagishi-san's club." He handed over a plastic bag to his friend. "I have to go to work, so I won't be back until midnight."

Aki accepted the bag. "Thanks. See you later, then." He palmed his friend on the shoulder, and left.

Shinjiro was about to walk in the opposite direction when someone came out of nowhere and crashed into his side. His black messenger bag slipped from his shoulder. The zipper split, promptly spewing its contents on the ground, where it lay.

He swore as he crouched down to pick up what were once the contents of his bag.

"I'm so sorry!" The person who crashed into him started to apologize profusely.

He looked up after hearing the female voice, which sounded strangely familiar. She was already bent down, helping him pick up his things. He first noticed the pale hands that were placing his things back inside his bag. He paused for a moment, studying the girl. She was a student from his school, judging by the school uniform she was wearing. In addition, she had long, wavy, chestnut brown hair that reached up to her back, bangs pulled back by some unusual hairpins styled to look like the Roman numeral XXII.

The hairpins should've given it away, but it was those ruby-red eyes that sealed the deal and made the color drain out of Shinjiro's face.

"You…"

So far, that's it for the first chapter. Sorry for the cliffhanger! I'll try to write a longer chapter next time. xD Next update will probably be next week, since I have some exams coming up.

Random: Why is Shinjiro back in Gekkoukan High? I assumed that he rarely attends class, but manages to pass the exams, so the teachers have no choice but to move him up a year every time. To a certain extent, the Kirijo Zaibatsu's clout played a role in his continued admission to school. Unfortunately, he was out cold for majority of the second semester, so I assumed there was no way he'll pass senior year. Not even with Kirijo's influence.

Honestly though, I thought it would be really interesting to see him back in school, even if he was older than most of the students. Ohohoho.

Another Random Note-slash-Trivia: I know that this particular chapter is very short compared to my later chapters which are about two to three times longer than this. Originally, I planned for each chapter to amount 2000-3000 words (a habit back from my high school days), but a good friend encouraged me to write longer chapters, and thus the word count of the upcoming chapters inflated to 6000-7000. The latter would be the standard I'm aiming for. I just thought I'd clarify that matter for those who are confused regarding it. This also doubles as an explanation for those people who might be turned off by this chapter's word length.