A completely random drabble project featuring the SEES members, I can't really say how many chapters there will be and when the next one will come out. Anyways, please enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES.
Thanks to my friend, Takako, for offering to beta for me.
One Year
Chapter 1
Guidance for The Fool
It wasn't recognizable at first but Minato gradually noticed a change within himself. The others would never experience such a thing, they only had one persona after all. He alone could use and store multiple personae within himself. The day he noticed seemed just like any other day to his friends.
As Minato opened the front doors of the dormitory, he felt more awake then he had been since this the day started. Perhaps it was the thought of seeing his dorm mates that invigorated him slightly or it could just be that he was now just that much closer to his bed. He pushed the thought aside as he stepped inside.
"Welcome back, Arisato. You look tired, perhaps you should go to bed early tonight," the greeting came just as Minato heard the front door of the dorms close behind him. Mitsuru sat on the chair closest to the front door, a rather heavy book sat open on her lap.
"I will do that, Senpai," Minato agreed with her suggestion. He was more than ready to go to bed, going to Tartarus tonight was completely out of the question.
Just yesterday night, they had continued their exploration of Tartarus. He now had the persona, Ara Mitama, to show for it. It now sat in his arsenal along with Orpheus, Nekomata, and Pixie. They had even defeated the first guardian of the ever-changing labyrinth. The experience was exhausting though and the three fighters barely managed the trudge home with the worried older classmen. Even the normally energetic Junpei was quiet throughout the school day.
Mitsuru turned back to the book she was reading, satisfied with Minato's answer. She was calm and collected as usual. It was as if the scared frantic voice she used never existed, though he remembered hearing it when a shadow had dealt a particularly punishing blow on him.
His joints seemed to ache in protest as he made his way towards the kitchen. A light snack seemed like a good idea, followed closely by a shower and then lots of sleep.
"Minato-kun, are you alright? Are you still hurt?" Yukari called out to him from her couch next to the side entry way to the kitchen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mitsuru look up from her book. The sound of movement from the kitchen stopped, it seemed all eyes were on him.
"It's nothing. I must be more tired than I thought," Minato answered calmly.
"If you say so," Yukari didn't sound like she believed him. She looked at Minato with an expression of worry and guilt. She had hesitated on using her evoker and because of that, Minato had been on the receiving end of a rather serious injury. Minato didn't get angry or lose faith in her though, he understood how difficult it was to pull the trigger. She put a lot of effort in to healing him afterwards, apologizing profusely as she did so.
As Yukari looked over him worriedly, Minato felt something inside of him stir. It wasn't the nervous flutter he got when an attractive girl had her undivided attention on him. In fact, he suddenly felt more comfortable around Yukari then he ever had before. Something inside him, perhaps even a part of him, whispered guidance in to his ears.
"You did a good job patching me up back there, so don't worry about it anymore," Minato found himself saying.
"Well...okay," although she still sounded a bit down, he could visibly see that she was feeling a bit better. "It won't happen again," Yukari was determined.
"I'll be counting on you then," Minato said without hesitation. He left the conversation at that, continuing his way to the kitchen. Everybody else seemed to have long gone back to what they were doing by now.
"Thanks...," a voice whispered behind him and he turned to glance at Yukari one last time before disappearing in to the kitchen.
"Dude, I'm surprised you had enough energy left to go out after school. I slept all through class and came straight home," Junpei was just sitting down in front of the dining table as Minato entered the kitchen. A steaming cup of ramen was raised just below his face.
From what he gathered, Junpei didn't hear any of the conversation between him and Yukari. There was little doubt that Junpei would tease him otherwise. "And now I regret it, I'm exhausted," Minato admitted.
"You shoulda just stayed here with me. We could have slacked off together," Junpei said with his trademark grin. Once again, Minato felt something inside himself awaken and start to advise his actions. It was a different voice from when he was speaking with Yukari yet the feeling was quite similar.
"Hey, we can't have our leader slack off like that," Akihiko, who was sitting next to Junpei, had decided to cut in to the conversation.
"Aw c'mon, Senpai. A little rest never hurt anyone," Junpei whined.
"There's no excuse to taking a whole day off," the senior said.
Sensing a fight coming and not in any particular mood to sit through one, Minato quickly blurted out the first thing he could think of. "Thanks for last night, you saved my ass."
"No problem! You can count on me any time!" Junpei proclaimed rather proudly.
"Well, I think I'll go to bed early tonight," Minato left the kitchen, his brief craving forgotten. As he ascended the stairs, he heard Junpei boasting his supposed achievements to Akihiko.
About half an hour later, Minato stepped out of the showers and slowly walked back to his room. As he was passing the second floor stairs, he could hear voices floating up from the first floor.
"Minato-kun has gotten used to life here really fast, huh? He seems to be always with someone when I see him at school," Yukari's voice drifted from below. Minato stopped in his tracks when he heard his name.
"It's good that he's doing well," Mitsuru voice floated up next.
"Maybe it's because everyone saw you walk with him to school, Yuka-tan. Rumor has it that you two are going out," Junpei said, his loud voice easily heard.
"I only did that because Mitsuru-senpai asked me to show him the way to school! Besides, you shouldn't be listening to rumors anyways, Stupei!" Yukari shouted angrily. From her tone of voice, Minato could imagine her trying hard not to blush.
"Don't call me that!"
Minato continued onwards to his room, the voices behind him became inaudible as he got closer to the end of the hallway. Right after the door to his room closed behind him, his cell phone began to ring. With a heavy sigh, he picked up the phone from where he had left it on his desk. A part of him felt like pretending to have fallen asleep before the call had came but he reluctantly answered the phone.
"Hey Minato! It's me, Kaz. Are you busy at the moment?" the athlete sounded excited.
"No, what's up?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out on Sunday," it was the first time he would see Kaz outside of practice. As Minato pondered over how to answer, a new part of himself shifted inside of him. It was a part of himself that didn't seem to have existed until recently.
"Yeah, sure," Minato answered.
"Okay, I'll meet you at Iwatodai Station. Don't be late," and with that, Kaz hung up the phone.
Too exhausted to deal with any more interruptions, Minato set his phone on silent. He crawled in to bed and was fast asleep.
It was the next day when he figured out the strange sensations within himself. His personae, they reacted to people in accordance to their arcana.
Pixie, a persona of The Lovers arcana, had helped him cheer up Yukari. Likewise, Nekomata had done the same during his short conversation with Junpei. Meanwhile, Orpheus of The Fool arcana gave him tolerance and the ability to quickly adapt to the diverse personalities SEES possessed. And lastly, Ara Mitama had convinced him to hang out with Kaz on the Sunday coming up.
Tartarus obviously had an immense amount of floors and they had only barely begun their climb up to the top. Any help he could get, Minato would welcome with open arms. Igor had also mentioned that his relationship with people would strengthen his powers after all. His personae's guidance would be a great help in creating and strengthening these relationships.