The wind was cold, it was winter after all. The snow drifted down slowly and softly. Snow was known to be pure, white, and beautiful. But it was also cruel too. A lone silhouette walked through the snow. He opened the front door to his house.

"I'm home." Akihiko closed the door. He brushed off the snow on his shoulders and put his winter coat away. He took of the red muffler and held it close, inhaling the smell. It was a Christmas present years ago; it used to smell like her. But now it doesn't. He sat down on the couch and looked at a photograph.

"It's really cold outside. On the news they said that it was the coldest temperature on record… I promised that I would change the world, a world without the wish for death. So I'll keep at it, alright?" Akihiko took the photograph in his hand and gave a sad smile. "It's the 31st of January tomorrow. Everyone will see you."

To Meet Again

Once More Again

It was midnight. There was darkness everywhere. The only thing that was visible was the Great Seal. The golden doors were towering as if it was infinite. What kept those doors shut was a human figure. A familiar voice came out of nowhere asking, "Do you want to see the ones you love?"

"Ryoji-kun? Is that you?" The voice of the human figure came out the same as Ryoji. The figure didn't move, it was still frozen into stone. Both voices had a slight echo when spoken.

"Do you want to see the ones you love?" Ryoji asked once more.

"Of course I do. But if I leave, everyone will be in danger again so I must stay here." Minako voice diminished as if her self-confidence lower as she thought about what she wanted and what she must do.

"I could let you see them, talk to them, feel them, and be with them without endangering others. But unfortunately there are conditions." Ryoji's voice sadden there was silence in the air.

Minako spoke up in the silence. "What are the conditions?"

"To make sure the seal is intact; you must leave your persona as a seal for you. It's acceptable because the persona is a part of you. The conditions are if you live with feelings so strong and that if your feeling is mutual with the other party you are interacting you'll disappear."

"Feelings so strong?" I questioned. I knew that if I see everyone, I'm sure everyone will feel as happy as I am.

"Feelings like love, hate, and the sadness of loss. For example, if you someone say that they love you and you respond to them the same thing. You will disappear, because you will once more again feel one of life's greatest questions."

"That makes sense… What are the other conditions?" Minako thought about it.

"You mustn't say the conditions placed on you or you'll disappear and I can only give you a certain amount of time. You'll soon disappear once that time is up. I don't know how long it will last… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry I couldn't do more." Ryoji's voice was in pain. His words broke down slowly and quietly.

"Uh-uh. You shouldn't be sorry. You're giving me more than enough. You're giving me a chance to be with everyone. Thank you so much, Ryoji-kun." Minako tried to comfort her dear friend.

"You should thank your friends. Because of their thoughts and bonds, they allowed me the power to grant you this wish. Now go." Minako felt a soft push on her back. It was the first time she felt something after years of being the Great Seal.

Minako's statue figure dissolved and transformed into her persona.

"Heeey!" Junpei's voice was loud like usual. Akihiko ran towards the group. Everyone gathered together in front of the stairs of the shrine. "You're late Akihiko-san. Even I got here on time!" Junpei was cheerful like usual.

"Sorry, it toke a while to convince them to let me get out of work." Akihiko was catching his breath after running for the whole way over there.

"Well let's go see her. It's been a while since we all came together." Mitsuru turned around toward the stairs.

"Yeah, our leader is naturally cheerful. So I'm sure she'll be extremely happy to see us." Yukari commented.

"The last one to our leader's grave is a rotten egg!" Junpei started running up the stairs.

"Hey, no fair! You got a head start!" Ken yelled out and started running.

"Hey come on! I just ran over here! Oh well, you won't beat me!" Akihiko started running again. Koromaru start followed Akihiko in excitement. Everyone started running up the stairs while Shinjiro was comment how everyone was acting like a kid.

Koromaru was closest to the goal but he started barking. He was running faster and the group all heard a thump and laughter.

On the way to the grave, Akihiko got there second but he stood there frozen. There, in front of his eyes, was their fearless leader sitting on the ground laughing with Koromaru nuzzling and licking her. "Ahahaha that tickles Koro-chan! Ahahaha stop! I get hehe it, I ahaha missed you too! Ahahahaha!"

Everyone else except Shinjiro was huffing in exhaustion after running as fast as they could. "Hey? Akihiko-san? Why are you just standing there?" Junpei questioned. Akihiko didn't answer. They looked what he was looking at and they saw her. All of them had shock in their eyes. She looked the same as the last saw her. "Hey am I dreaming?" Junpei pinched himself. "Ow! Okay. I'm not dreaming."

"Huh? Oh everyone!" Minako moved Koromaru off of her. She stood up and brushed her uniform. "I suddenly had something jump on me and licking all over my face. And it turns out to be Koro-chan. But it was a happy surprise." Minako was laughing happily. But after she laughed, small tears came out of her eyes. "I'm so happy to see everyone."

Akihiko was the first to move out of the group. He ran up and hugged her. "I missed you so much. You're real; you're here right in front of me." Akihiko inhaled her scent, the scent that was gone from his muffler so long ago.

"Ah-huh." Minako nodded slightly. Akihiko loosed up his hug. Everyone gathered and smiled. The girls all hugged Minako together with tears of happiness. They all spoke how happy and how they missed her. Eventually Mitsuru called a ride to bring everyone to her place. Everyone gathered and talked about what they did over the years, funny stories, exciting stories, and meaningless chatter. Minako was commenting how everyone changed. Especially Ken, he has gotten taller, looked older, and now Ken is in high school. They all had dinner together. It was first-class sushi. It was just like the time when they celebrated beating the last 12th shadow. Akihiko constantly looked at Minako as she talked and listened to everyone. At the end, they had to leave one by one. After Ken left with Koromaru, the only ones left were Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aigis, and Minako.

"Minako, do you want to stay at my place?" Akihiko asked.

"Are you sure? Won't I be a bother?"

"No, I'd be glad if you would be able to come. I live alone in an apartment."

"Me too. I'm really happy"

Mitsuru had a maid go buy clothes during dinner. So there was a suitcase full of clothes given to Minako. Aigis wanted to come with Akihiko and Minako but Mitsuru convinced her to stay. The only way to convince Aigis was that she could visit tomorrow. Minako wore a black winter coat given by Mitsuru and left with Akihiko. Akihiko held onto the suitcase in one hand and held Minako's hand in the other. They walked side by side quietly. Minako's face had a light pink tint on her cheeks. She constantly looked at the ground. They were quiet the whole time they were walking to the apartments. Akihiko lead Minako in his apartment. He told her to get take a bath and get ready for bed so he could get the extra futon ready. Minako did what she was told. Once she got out she went to the living room. She saw the music box that was given to her the last Chirstmas she spent with Akihiko. She opened the music box and saw different kinds of jewelry inside. Akihiko came in the living room and saw her holding onto the music box.

"You idiot. You still kept your promise to me even though I wasn't here." Minako smiled gently.

"I did promise. I said that I would give you something each year to put something inside the music box." Akihiko once more hugged Minako. "You're real. You're right in front of me and that's all that matters." Akihiko stopped hugging and looked at her. "You must be tired. You can take my bed. I'll sleep on the futon."

"Okay." Minako didn't put much resistance. She was tired after all. She fell asleep the moment she hit the bed. Akihiko watched her sleeping figure for a bit to make sure she wouldn't disappear all of a sudden like the time when they fought Nyx. He too fell asleep in the futon.

Author note: A certain anime inspired me to make this fanfiction for P3P. I spent so many hours on P3P. I feel guilty for playing so long. *sweatdrop* Well I still love Persona 3. It's a great game after all.

Please wait for chapter two