'Bold and Italics' = Mental link communication
'Italics' = normal thoughts
~Squiggly and Italics~ = Fuuka and others communicating through her persona's telepathic abilities
"Normal" = Normal talking
"Bold" = Mitsuru and others through her persona's telepathic skills
"Underline" = Shadow's speaking
A blue haired boy was sitting on a monorail, looking absently out the window with his headphones plugged into his ears, the music could be heard a few feet away from him. 'Nearly Midnight. Coffin Hour starts soon.' He thought briefly as the monorail slowed to a gentle stop and he stood up. 'At least I won't be stuck on this cursed train again.' Stepping off the train he pulled out the pamphlet of a map he had gotten earlier and scanned it before starting towards the dorm he would be staying at.
'I can do this.' Yukari Takeba wrestled with her fear, struggling to overcome the dread that always came with the use of her Evoker. She was kneeling on the ground in her bathroom, her breathing heavy and panicked, holding her silver Evoker against her forehead. The sink was running in the background, creating noise she hoped would soften the sound of using the weapon. 'Come on… Come on!'
Passing many people along the streets Minato's thoughts strayed to one of the things he could remember from his childhood besides the glimpses from the car crash. He couldn't remember the girl's name or what she looked like but he knew she was his age and had bright brown eyes. Shutting down any chances of remembering bad memories he quickly discarded the thought as he looked up at the large clock on the front of one of the buildings. 'Eleven fifty-five. Five more minutes till everyone turns into a coffin.'
Yukari was still struggling, holding the cool silver weapon with both hands, struggling to push the trigger all the way. Her hesitation was born from what she saw every time she used the weapon; silver eyes and blue hair always haunted her, every time she pulled the trigger she saw the boy with silver eyes and blue hair die before her eyes, every time without fail. Her thumb pushed the trigger a fraction farther, the arms now shaking as she squeezed her eyes shut, her jaw clenching.
Minato was nearing the building he needed to go to, feeling a sense of foreboding in his gut that made him weary of the place.
The Evoker slipped through Yukari's fingers as she gave up, unable to push past her fear of seeing the boy die again. Her body trembled from head to toe, short brown hair hiding her eyes as she leaned forward clasping her hands together on her knees and breathing a shuddery breath, brown eyes still firmly shut.
Minato's MP3 player shut off as did all the lights everywhere he could see, the moon going green and the dark sky tinted with the same putrid color. It was silent along the streets, black coffins hovering inches above the ground everywhere, along the sidewalk, propped up on benches, even inside non-moving cars. He showed no reaction even as he pulled open the door to his destination and stepped in.
The first thing he saw was a boy wearing white and black striped clothes, with dark colored hair and eerily bright blue eyes; standing next to a reception desk where a closed red leather folder rested next to a quill and a bottle of ink.
"Hello, sign this form." The boy said in a voice that could've fit in well in a horror movie. Minato glanced at the boy before looking at the form wearily, not convinced this was a good place.
"Just the usual stuff, that you take full responsibility for your actions and all that." The boy said in his mysterious and creepy voice.
Yukari's head jerked up as she heard voices downstairs. 'Everyone's asleep or in the command room… There's an intruder!' Scrambling to her feet she scooped up the silver Evoker pushing it into a holster and clipping the restraint clip into place. Before starting to hurry down the stairs, fear weighing heavily in her stomach.
Minato carefully signed the paper clipped to the folder and the boy took the folder, closed it and it vanished.
"Time is something we can't escape nor control, try as we might life moves forward… Don't dwell on your past and miss all the things around you." The boy then vanished as Minato heard hurried footsteps at the stairwell. Looking up he was met with the sight of a short brown haired girl, her fringe swept to one side revealing milky brown eyes slightly narrowed at him. She was petite, being maybe only five feet four inches tall and dressed in what looked like a modified school uniform; white button up blouse under a pink cardigan with a black mini skirt and what looked like a white heart shaped choker around her neck.
"W-who're you?!" She asked with a worried tone. They stared at each other for a few moments before Minato's eyes widened at the sight of her fingertips brushing a tan colored holster where a silver gun was nestled.
"What's the gun for?" He asked with a blank face, hiding his nervousness. She didn't reply, instead she narrowed her eyes farther and her breathing started to go haggard as if she was bracing herself to do something she didn't like doing. Just as the girl was quickly pulling the silver gun out a shout stopped them her in her tracks.
"Takeba Stop!" The girl evidently with the name Takeba stopped with the gun half raised and turned farther up the staircase. Minato followed her gaze and saw a pretty red haired girl standing there, a calm expression on her fair skinned face, her eyes matched her hair, red like rubies. She was also dressed in a modified school uniform, long sleeve white button down blouse tucked into a knee-length black skirt with high heeled boots and a red ribbon tie.
"Mitsuru-senpai!" Takeba said in a confused tone, watching the redhead as she walked down the stairs towards them as the lights flickered back on along with Minato's MP3 player.
"We weren't expecting you so late." The redhead Mitsuru said, ignoring Takeba's silent question.
"The train got held up," Minato responded carefully, wary of the girl with the gun.
"Ah, well Minato Arisato, meet Yukari Takeba." Muttering a greeting Minato started towards the stairs, watching Yukari with the gun. "Takeba, take him up to his room and make sure he doesn't have any questions."
"Yes, Senpai. It's nice to meet you Arisato-san." She tucked the gun away and led the way up the stairs to the third floor. "This is your room, any questions?" Since he didn't get an answer about the gun thing earlier he didn't bother to ask again, instead he shook his head and went into his room, missing the curious look Yukari was giving him.
The next few days were uneventful, it wasn't until the third night he was there when everything wasn't a secret anymore.
"Why are we waiting like this Chairman?" Mitsuru asked. They were in the command room watching the radar for shadows and watching Yukari and Aristato in their separate rooms.
"Because it's time for Yukari to show us she can fulfill an assignment."
"But this is essentially suicide!" Akihiko yelped in shock.
"If it gets that far you will stop it-"
"Look." Mitsuru interrupted, pointing to the large shadow that nearly skewered the poor archer through a window. Falling backward off her bed Yukari scrambled to her feet, scooping up her Evoker and racing to Minato's room, knocking urgently on the door before barging in and hauling the previously sleeping boy up to his feet and running up the stairs towards the command room.
"Lock the door." the chairman said, and Mitsuru obeyed locking it and blocking off the easiest way out. Yukari tried the knob and let out a curse before mumbling an apology and running farther up the stairs, pulling Minato down as a sword went through the window. The shadow squeezed itself through the hole in the window and Yukari let out a yell and promptly did a maneuver nobody thought she'd do. Rather than using her Evoker and summoning Io she ran towards the shadow and pushing herself off the ground with a handspring the archer kicked the shadow in the mask, the force strong enough to knock it back out the window, shattering the rest of it and propelling herself out the window. Grabbing hold of the ledge she shouted to Minato to run up to the roof and she'd meet him there. After hesitating briefly the boy obeyed, running up the stairs towards the roof.
"She's doing a better job than we thought she'd do." the Chairman said coolly as they watched the PJs clothed teen painfully hauled herself back up through the window and start running up to the roof.
"Maybe you underestimated her chairman," Mitsuru said with a bit of pride coloring her tone.
"Perhaps," he replied as they watched the confrontation on the roof. Minato was looking open mouthed at the shadow, at a loss of what to do. Yukari came running from the stairway before she body blocked a sword slash which sending her flying to the edge of the rooftop, her Evoker skidding to a stop next to Minato. He looked down at the silver weapon at his feet before glancing at Yukari who was sitting up and limping back over to him, the left side of her leg was cut open from the Shadow's sword. After she blocked another blow for Minato was thrown into a wall the shadow shifted it's attention to her, skittering over to where she was and raising its weapons. Yukari coughed, fear glinting in her brown eyes behind a mask of calmness. Something in Minato snapped.
Authors Note: So I bet you've all noticed that Yukari's different than she is in the game. There is a reason for that and I'll upload a chapter called "Yukari's Modifications" She is a bit different, a bit braver and focused on her assignment. There's a reason for that but you'll have to wait till I upload that chapter