By the time Minako finally managed to get to the dorm, she was ready just to die right here and there. Sure Tennis was fun and all, but Rio could be such a slave driver at times that even the leader of SEES found herself pushed to her limits. And one had to remember that at least once every week she and her team ventured out into a tower, given the Greek name of Hell and fought all kinds of monsters by shooting themselves with fake guns.
"Welcome back, Arisato" Mitsuru Kirijo, her upperclassman, greeted Minako, while looking up from a book the redhead was reading. On this day the heiress of the Kirijo Group was alone inside the lounge. Minako could only speculate where the others went, but at the moment, she didn't feel like pushing any of her social links further, not after today.
"Good evening, senpai," Minako greeted back with a weak smile.
"Are you alright, Arisato? You seem more tired than usual," the heiress pointed out.
"Just peachy, senpai," was the younger girl's reply. The brunette/reddish haired girl collapsed on a couch, opposite to the older girl and sunk into the cushions. "Rio-chan is pushing the team hard these days. She's already talking about the tournament in the summer and wants the team to be ready for it." Minako let out a groan. "Though with each day that passes, she reminds me of Sanada-senpai more and more."
Mitsuru allowed a chuckle to escape her lips, trying to imagine a female Akihiko. She knew how competitive her boxing friend could be and if Arisato was ready to compare her club leader to the silver-haired boy, then it meant that tennis training was rather harsh. Still, in Mitsuru's opinion, this was a good thing, as it allowed the expedition leader of SEES to stay in shape. After the two big shadows appeared seemingly out of nowhere, there was no telling if a third wouldn't appear sometime soon.
Mitsuru was about to return her attention to the book in her lap when she suddenly reminded herself of something. "Ah, that's right. A package arrived for you earlier today. I have placed it in your room."
"Really?" Minako asked in slight disbelief. "But I ordered that stuff from the shopping program just yesterday. Wow, they're fast." Minako shrugged. "Well, I'm gonna take a shower before opening it. Thanks for bringing the package to my room, senpai."
Without further ado, Minako walked towards the girl's showers. Formerly her plan had been to shower at school, however as it just so happened, the showers were currently off limits, because some idiot or other had vandalized not only the boy's but also the girl's bath and shower rooms. Until everything had been repaired, the sports club members would need to go home sweaty. Since Minako hadn't been aware of this little inconvenience, she carried her spare clothes in her school bag, along with a towel and of course shampoo. She was fully equipped to rinse her body of all of her sweat and dirt. Throwing her dirty laundry into a corner of the room, Minako allowed herself to relax under the continuously warm flowing water. She could swear her muscles themselves were sighing in relief as if they had a mind of their own. The wet girl giggled at the silly thought, imagining how it would be if every limb of hers had a mind of its own. That train of thought led her to wonder if there was a shadow out there that had this specific characteristic. After everything she had seen so far it wasn't beyond imagination. She imagined each limb having a mask of its own and each using a different type of attack. That would be a difficult opponent to beat.
After she was done with the shower, Minako dried herself up and put on the spare clothes she brought with her. However, she didn't bother putting her hairclips back on. The dirty clothes she would put in a box with her name tag attached to it, where she put all of her dirty clothes. She'd clean them at a later day. Right now it was time to see what was inside her package.
Once the girl was inside her room at the end of the third-floor hallway, the delivery immediately caught her eye. It just showed how bare bones her room really was and that it was in some serious need of decorating. But before that, she needed to unwrap something. She had been expecting a brown box or something similar to lie on the floor or her desk. However instead what was waiting for her, turned out to have the shape of a picture frame, wrapped up in some brown paper and leaning against her bed. Minako's heart skipped a beat, as she knew immediately what it was that was waiting to be unwrapped.
Quickly Minako closed the door behind her multiple times before she went to her bed and carefully picked up her delivery. With due caution, she began to rip the paper off the picture, careful not to accidentally damage what was underneath. Some might say she was unnecessary cautious, but then again, most people would not be aware of the emotional value it had to her. And if that didn't mean anything to them, then certainly the three million dollars of heritage she spent just to get the picture, plus shipping cost. Her original parents left the girl with a lot of money and what better way to spend it, than on a painting from a world famous artist, who died a couple of years ago?
Minako hadn't felt that much adrenaline pumping through her body, ever since she got chased by the Reaper through Tartarus. The now revealed picture in her hand was relatively simple. Most would say it wasn't worth the price of three million dollars or 314,104,000 yen. It showed a blonde girl with blue eyes, smiling at Minako. The girl in the picture wore a green dress, with a white collar and a blue ribbon, black stockings and brown shoes. One the bottom part were some green, thorny vines, and yellow roses. The background was mostly white with some blue-greyish lines, probably to make it just a little less dull.
"Mary…" Minako whispered the name of both the painting and a dear friend that she had left behind so many years ago. On the outside, the leader of SEES was just simply admiring a picture she bought from overseas. However, on the inside, Minako's emotions were a mess. Regret, sadness, anger, pity, self-loathing, all of those things were currently fighting inside of her heart for dominance. The girl in school uniform could feel her eyes beginning to moisten up. Not wanting to damage the painting in any way accidentally, Minako went ahead and placed the picture on her study desk. She wiped the incoming tears away with her sleeve, before looking down at the picture. "You deserve a special place, Mary."
The leader of SEES opened one of her desk drawers and procured a hammer and a nail. Having long since decided where she would hang up the picture. She climbed onto her bed, carefully minding her balance, before holding the pin against the wall. With a few quick swings of her trusty hammer, the nail was stuck in the wall. She just hoped Mitsuru-senpai wouldn't mind her hanging up Mary's picture there. Minako might or might not have forgotten to ask the older girl just how far they were allowed to customize their rooms.
Nevertheless, the brunette was sure her senpai wouldn't mind the picture at all. At most, she would probably comment on Minako's taste in art and leave it at that.
Once the picture hung secure on the wall, Minako placed her tools back into the desk drawer and then positioned herself cross-legged on her bed. From there, she began admiring Mary in all her beauty.
"I know this isn't what you wanted." The girl took in a deep breath. "You must hate me for what I did back then and honestly? I can't blame you. You see, Mary, I have been thinking all of these years. The things I could have done differently, the pain you must be feeling for being stuck alone in this world for who knows how long. All alone with no one to play with." A sigh escaped Minako's lips. "If I'm honest, I probably would have tried the same thing. I'm sure everyone stuck long enough in your world would eventually lose it and do whatever it takes to get out." Minako looked down, ashamed. "I'm aware of that now. And if there was a way, trust me, Mary, I would get you out. But… those are probably all just empty words to you. After all, here I am, outside with my friends. And you're still stuck in there."
Minako could feel her red eyes getting wet again. A sniffle escaped the girl. However, she did her best to remain steadfast. "I'm sorry, Mary. I am really, really, sorry. I know you want to kill me, but I don't care." The red-eyed girl looked up again. "I just wish I knew of a way to get you out of there. You deserve better than this."
XXX
That evening, Minako only left her room to eat something or use the bathroom quickly. To the others, she explained it as she was stuck with some of the homework they have gotten and thus had no time to socialize. While Mitsuru praised Minako's diligence, Junpei found himself painfully reminded that he had yet to start any of his homework, if the groan and the frown were anything to go by.
What Minako actually was doing inside her room was to stare at Mary's picture. Truth to be told the thing the SEES leader wanted to do was talk about her friends and family, but the brunette knew that this would only anger Mary further. Although just sitting and staring at the girl like some sort of exhibit wasn't probably going to improve her mood either. The problem here was, Minako couldn't come up with something that would help the painting getting over her jealousy. No matter what Minako did, Mary would merely see it as the red-eyed girl taunting the picture.
That didn't mean that Minako gave up though, quite the contrary. With everything that had happened to her these last two months, perhaps the answer she was seeking laid within the Dark Hour. Of course at first glance, the Dark Hour and the Fabricated World appeared to have nothing in common other than being supernatural phenomena. One takes place across the world, the other in a museum in Europe. Minako did the math, and she definitely hadn't been in the fabricated world during the Dark Hour.
"But if it isn't related to the Dark Hour… how came the Fabricated World to be in the first place?" Minako mused out loud. In the end, though, Minako came up with nothing. Not that she expected to find a solution that quickly, but one could hope, right?
Sighing to herself, Minako began to change out of her uniform and into her pajamas. With any luck, that boy in prison clothes would appear again sometime in the near future during the Dark Hour. She had no idea who or even what he was, but judging from the few exchanges they had, he knew some things about the Dark Hour. It was a long shot, but maybe he knew how to get back into the Fabricated World? With her new skills with the naginata, Minako should have no problem fending off any of the creatures inside that world. And once she actually was inside, she might be able to help Mary. On another note, she thought that maybe the residents of the Velvet Room knew something. The people there definitely knew more than they initially let on, especially that Igor persona. With those thoughts in mind, Minako crawled under her blankets and turned one last time towards Mary.
"Good night, Mary," she said and turned off the lights.
XXX
When Akihiko entered the Command Room, he wasn't surprised in the least to see Mitsuru inside, sitting in one of the chairs in front of the command console. This was an unusual sight, seeing as constant surveillance during the Dark Hour was a definitive must have, in case a random Shadow decided to sneak out of Tartarus and cause havoc across the island.
"You know, it's pretty convenient that only water turns into blood during the Dark Hour," he said and placed a plastic cup from the supermarket filled with coffee in front of the redhead, "and not everything else."
"Thank you," Mitsuru nodded and took a tiny sip out of the caffeine drink. "And I must admit, if every liquid turned into blood, it would be a great inconvenience."
"Mhm," Akihiko nodded back and took the other seat, right next to his fellow senior. "I wonder though why water is turning into blood during this time of the day. And how come airplanes don't crash to the ground when no electricity works?" The boxer shook his head. "I guess we'll just have to be glad that that is the case. Or else, there would be a widespread panic all over the world."
"Yes, that is correct," Mitsuru agreed. "Now that you have returned to active field duty and had a chance to see our juniors acting in combat, what do you think? How are they faring?" the Kirijo Heiress asked.
"Heh, overall? Not bad," Akihiko admitted. "Junpei is still swinging that sword around like a child throwing a temper tantrum, but he makes up for it with considerable strength. But there's still room for improvement in that regard too. Yukari is pretty good with her bow, as expected, but she still hesitates a lot, when using her persona. She also tends to freak out when a shadow comes too close. As for our leader," A smirk crept up on Akihiko's face. "I once asked her how she manages to keep her cool at all times. You know what she answered?"
Akihiko looked Mitsuru directly in the face. "She's more scared of blonde girls with blue eyes and green dresses, end quote."
Mitsuru raised an eyebrow at this statement. "That is oddly specific," Mitsuru replied after a pause. The red-haired girl put a hand under her chin, thinking. "I wonder if it implies her having some bad experience in the past with a girl of that appearance. A bully I imagine."
"Pah," Akihiko waved off. "Probably just some fictional character from a horror movie. She once invited me to one, but I had to decline. Was meeting up with Shinji," the silver-haired boy explained.
"Still that is a bold statement to make. It makes me wonder if she is just foolishly unaware of the danger the shadows possess or if she is just an exceptional individual," the heiress mused.
"Must be the latter. Given that she can summon multiple different personas and sometimes two at once, she's probably pretty strong overall," Akihiko pumped his fist into his palm. "I gotta step up my game or else she's going to go past me without me even noticing."
Mitsuru almost laughed. "You have a one-track mind, you-" The Kirijo heiress interrupted herself mid-sentence when she suddenly felt something inside the dorm! Alarmed, Mitsuru rose from her chair, the coffee discarded on the carpet floor and her fingers practically hammering on the keyboard in front of her.
"Mi-Mitsuru?" Akihiko stuttered in surprise. "What's wrong?! Is it a shadow?!"
Instead of answering, Mitsuru turned on all available security cameras inside the building, which included those inside of the rooms of the occupants of this dorm. Some might say this was an invasion of privacy, but when it came to the shadows, one could not be too cautious. On the big screen, multiple rectangles appeared at once, each showing the view of one camera inside the dorm. Mitsuru scanned each individual life footage frantically until Akihiko pointed with his finger at a certain point of the bigger screen and exclaimed: "There! Arisato's room!"
With a few swift klicks, the footage of Arisato's room took up the entire screen and what the two seniors saw, downright dumbfounded them.
"What the hell?! Are you serious?!" Akihiko shouted on top of his lungs. For what they saw was a blonde girl with blue eyes, wearing a green dress and holding a red rose in her hand. She stood right in front of Arisato's bed. As for the owner of the room, she was wide awake, sitting in pajamas on her bed, with her hair down and giving the blonde girl a wry smile.
"Is that… a shadow?" Akihiko asked.
"I… I have no idea," Mitsuru replied honestly. "But… I do sense something from that girl."
None of the two noticed the painting with the giant hole inside hanging behind Minako.
"You know," the brunette spoke up, making Mitsuru realize that she accidentally turned on the speakers, "I have hoped to find a way to see you again. I just didn't think it would happen so soon."
Mitsuru and Akihiko gave each other a look. "Again?" Akihiko asked.
"Let's watch, for now. But be ready intercept."
A low, slightly high pitched growl could be heard coming from the speakers, indicating the sound came from the blonde girl. She appeared to be gritting her teeth in frustration.
"You hoped?" the blonde asked in a mock tone. "For what? So you could burn me again!?" she shouted accusingly, causing Arisato to flinch.
"I…you didn't leave me with a choice!" Minako argued back. "You were about to-"
"She loves me!" the blonde screamed, ripping a rose petal violently from the green stock.
"Ah!" For some reason, the Arisato girl gasped and grasped her left hand, as if she had just cut herself.
"H-how?" Minako asked through clenched teeth. The blonde girl in return smiled maliciously.
"It looks like you forgot the rules of the game, huh Ib?" the blonde asked. To the confusion of the blonde and the two seniors watching as well, Arisato giggled.
"Ib? It's been years since someone has called me by my actual name."
Once again, Akihiko gave Mitsuru a questioning gaze, but to his surprise, the redhead looked just as lost he was.
"Alright Mary," Minako let go of her head and looked with a grim smile at the now dubbed "Mary." "What did you have in mind we play?"
"What is going on?" Akihiko asked, but Mitsuru didn't know herself. However, she did know they had to do something.
"Akihiko, go wake up the others but do it discreetly. Make sure everyone is equipped and ready for combat. I'll keep monitoring the situation from here on out."
"Right." With a clear goal in mind, Akihiko headed out of the command room as quickly and as silently as he possibly could, while Mitsuru kept watching the feed. The young girl, who couldn't be older than six or seven, had been thinking for the last minute before she shrugged.
"I don't know. Maybe I will burn you to ashes and see how you like that!" The blond practically spat at Minako's face. The red-eyed girl in return smiled sadly at the younger girl.
"Or maybe I will just cut you up and watch you bleed out!" The blonde shouted, her entire body shaking in anger.
"Mary…" Minako sighed sadly. "I know words like "I am sorry," won't cut it. Not-"
"Loves me not!" Mary screamed and ripped another petal of the red rose. Once again Minako gasped, her hand this time springing to her left arm. It was at this point that Mitsuru realized than when the red rose was damaged it somehow appeared to be affecting her underclassman's health in the negative.
"I don't remember it hurting that much," Minako breathed out, hissing in pain. Mary laughed sadistically.
"Don't worry, Ib. I will hurt you a lot more, just like you hurt me! You see Ib, every time you say something I don't like," Mary held the rose up.
"We're going to play loves me, loves me not," Minako finished for Mary.
"Exactly." Mary smiled. "See, that is something I actually like about you, Ib. You're smart."
Minako chuckled at those words. "Not smart enough, I think. I did kinda decide to hang your painting right in my room," Minako turned around with her head and it was at that time that Mitsuru noticed the odd looking picture hanging behind Arisato.
'Her painting?' Mitsuru repeated in her head.
"I did it, even though I knew the first chance you got, you would drag me back. Well, I totally didn't expect you to appear here, but isn't that a good thing?" the brunette asked the blonde. Mary in response looked around the room she was in, but only for a little while, before returning her attention to "Ib."
"Oh it's not only good, but it's also great!" Mary shouted with true glee. That glee disappeared the next moment and was replaced by malice once again. "But you have been a bad girl Ib and bad girls need to be punished," she said and held the next petal between two fingers. Minako involuntarily flinched, before realizing the petal was still on the stock. Mary laughed at the fear her "friend" was showing.
"Well, how about, I buy you a new dress?" Minako offered. "Or make you something to eat. You know real food. The others say I'm a pretty decent cook."
"Others?"
Minako realized her mistake too late. She only had a split second to mentally prepare herself, before Mary ripped another petal off the stock, shouting: "She loves me!" Minako's leg cramped up for a split second and she needed to grab the limb with both hands in order to endure the pain.
"Okay," she said through closed eyes. "That's definitely worse than it should be."
Mitsuru turned her gaze towards the door. "Damn it, Akihiko. What's taking you so long?"
"What others?" Mitsuru heard Mary speak up, causing the heiress to return her attention to the feed. Arisato didn't answer immediately, as the girl still needed to recover from whatever she had to endure. Mitsuru took this opportunity to count the petals on the rose Mary was holding. Due to the angle of the camera, the heiress couldn't be too sure, but it looked like there were between six and eight left. Mitsuru didn't want to imagine what would happen when that number dropped low enough.
"Classmates!" Minako exclaimed before Mary could pull off another petal. "This is a dorm. Everyone who lives here is a student at the local school we go to." Mitsuru noticed that Minako was talking quickly, as if in fear that the patience of this Mary character could run out at any second. "Each week, someone else has cooking duty. They simply complimented my cooking, that's all. I can cook for you too, you know?" Minako looked up at Mary with a hopeful gaze. "You never had anything real to eat, did you?"
"Loves me not!"
This time Minako couldn't suppress the shriek that was escaping her. Her entire body jerked up for a split second, causing Mitsuru to almost bolt downstairs and break the door open. But then the heiress realized if she startled the blonde girl somehow, it could end up with all of the petals of the rose being ripped off and for all Mitsuru knew, this could be fatal for Arisato.
Minako in the meantime was taking in deep breaths and let them out almost immediately. Mary in the meantime caressed the remaining petals in her hand with one finger, grinning like a madwoman.
"You will cook for me?" Mary asked, looking down at the rose. "Is that all?"
"I can do lots more," the brunette replied, slowly calming down. "Cooking, show you around town, playing, there's a lot we can do together."
"Together?" the blonde looked up and gave Minako a flat stare.
'Oh no,' Mitsuru thought to herself, holding her breath. But luckily Mary let go of the petal and smiled at Minako.
"Isn't that what you promised me last time?"
"And I intend to keep that promise this time," Minako said with determination. "Look, Mary, you have all reason to hate me, I don't blame you. I could never blame you. But, if you give me just one more chance than maybe we could start over?"
Finally, Mitsuru heard the door to the command room being opened. Akihiko ran inside, the three remaining juniors behind him and fully equipped. "Sorry it took so long," the boxer apologized. "What's the status?"
"Hey, what's…is that Mina-tan? Who's that girl?" Junpei asked, looking at the big screen.
"More importantly, what's she doing in Minako-chan's room?" Yukari asked with a raised eyebrow.
Before Mitsuru could explain, Mary on screen spoke up again.
"And what stops you from breaking your promise again?" Mary asked in a threatening tone.
"Nothing," Minako replied. "Just like nothing stops you from killing me right now."
"She loves me!" Mary exclaimed, ripping the fifth petal off. Minako's scream lasted for a couple of seconds this time. The girl almost fell off her bed, but somehow managed to keep herself on it, by putting her hands on the mattress.
"What the- What the hell?!" Junpei exclaimed, his cap almost falling off.
"What's wrong with Minako? What did that girl do to her?!" Yukari exclaimed in confusion.
While the Minako on the feed recovered from her recent experience, Mitsuru explained the situation to everyone else. "That girl is possibly a shadow."
"What?! That little blondie?" Junpei asked in disbelief. Glares from both Mitsuru and Akihiko shut him up.
"I don't know how, but she is somehow inflicting damage to Arisato through the rose she's holding. Every time she rips a petal off, Arisato is experiencing more and more pain."
"This is nuts," Yukari whispered. "Since when do shadows take on the appearance of little girls?"
"Does that matter?" Akihiko shouted at the pink clothed girl. "We need to do something about this! If Arisato is hurt every time a petal goes off, what do you think will happen when there's none left?!"
Junpei and Yukari paled at the implication.
"Exactly," Mitsuru nodded. "Before we engage the enemy, we must first secure the flower, before it's too late."
"You're right," Mary's voice interrupted the conversation of the remaining SEES members. "I could just kill you here and now."
"What?!" Junpei and Yukari exclaimed.
"You know, back then, you would have been dead already," Mary explained. "Your rose only had five petals, just like right now." The blonde showed Minako the rose, who looked at it wearily.
"Yeah, your life is in my hands. Literally."
Mitsuru refocused on the group of people again. "Listen up. If we burst open the door, we risk startling the blonde and that may result in her accidentally ripping the petals off."
"But what can we do instead?" Junpei asked, gritting his teeth.
"You'll head in through the fire escape," Mitsuru explained.
"But, if we bust open a window, then-" Yukari began, but Mitsuru interrupted the younger girl.
"Look at those drapes," Mitsuru pointed towards a specific pair of drapes inside Minako's room. "Notice how they're floating back and forward as if the wind is blowing in?"
"The window is open!" Akihiko realized and grinned. "Perfect."
"Right," Mitsuru nodded. "Get into position and wait for my signal. We only get one shot at this, understood?"
Everyone nodded and headed out.
Mitsuru returned her attention to the feed, where she saw Mary nodding at Minako. "And you're ready to kill me again?"
"I didn't say that," Minako shook her head. "What I meant to say is that you have to trust me. You have to trust me that I won't burn your picture again, just like I trust you to keep my rose safe."
Mary looked at Minako like she was a confusing riddle that needed to be solved. "Again, trust you?" the blonde asked, readying her two fingers to rip another petal out. "Why?"
At this, Minako smiled triumphantly. "Because you will keep my rose, obviously."
Mitsuru's eyes widened in realization. "If I burn your picture, I'll burn my rose. If you die, then I will die simply as that."
Mary's eyes too widened in realization. All she really needed to do was to keep the rose to close to her at all times and then she and Ib could become real friends. Not only that, but it also assured the blonde that she could "punish" Ib, whenever the girl did something "naughty."
"You're even smarter than I thought," Mary compliment, still in shock and awe. "This is perfect!" The malice in Mary's eyes seemed to disappear, at least somewhat and was replaced with genuine happiness. Minako for her part allowed herself to relax finally. From the looks of things she somehow managed to satisfy Mary and prevent the painting from killing her. Although the brunette had no freaking clue how the blonde was outside of the Fabricated World in the first place, she was only glad that she even got the chance to make everything up to Mary. Even though, there would always be the chance that the girl got into one of her random moods, like in the Fabricated World and decided to end Ib's life on a whim.
'I wonder how Gary will react to this.' Minako aka Ib thought to herself, as she slowly began to realize just how shitty her situation had just gotten.
~Thou art I... And I am thou...~
~Thou hast established a new bond...~
~Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Hunger Arcana...~