(Disclaimer: If I owned Persona 3, the ending would be completely different.)

(Just saying.)

.:SERENDIPITY:.

::-::

1
-will you give me some advice?-

::-::

He hadn't intended on paying this much attention to her.

At first, she was just the new girl: Minako Arisato, bright, cheery, and… nondescript. Sure, she was a little prettier than he was used to, but it wasn't anything he hadn't seen before. She got along with Yukari and Mitsuru, but so did everyone else at Gekkoukan. She had the innate potential of using Personas, but that was why she was in this dorm in the first place. Hair, brown; obsession with headphones, common; eye color…

Well, Akihiko Sanada supposed that was one of the few things that wasn't ordinary about her.

The other unordinary thing was that, despite knowing she was nondescript, despite knowing that she was part of the team, despite knowing that she wouldn't—couldn't—mean much more to him than Yukari and Mitsuru… he still noticed her.

Maybe it was how she walked, or the way she tilted her head when she was thinking really hard about something, or when she made all those funny (cute) faces, or how she'd once fearlessly taken the Evoker—without knowing what it did—and shot herself in the head.

He noticed her, and not like how he noticed Mitsuru's confident air or Yukari's apparent general dislike of the male gender. No, those were clinical observations; at least, that's what he thought of them. But when it came to Minako… He made observations that didn't seem clinical at all.

He noticed how natural her smile was—not forced, never forced—and how she walked with a strange grace, as if she was dancing with every step; and he noticed how her eyes lit up when she was excited, and how she wielded her naginata as if she'd been born with it.

Those weren't very clinical observations.

As the months passed, Akihiko Sanada found that he was noticing more and more little things about her—things he shouldn't be noticing, couldn't be noticing.

How she flew off the handle at the strangest things. How she became unbearably hyper after more than one can of soda. How hypnotizing her eyes were, how pretty her smile was, how her hair was always in the same style but would probably look really good if she let it down—

Those were definitely not clinical observations.

They were the sort of observations that one Junpei Iori might make.

And Akihiko never wanted to make any observations that Junpei Iori might make. (He found most of them unnecessary and the rest of them just plain idiotic. He appreciated several things about Junpei, but way of thinking was not on that list.)

It was around May when that happened. Akihiko didn't really have a name for it—not that one didn't exist, because he was sure that in this world obsessed with love and romance, someone would've come up with a name for it—but he preferred to keep it that way. To him, that was just like Minako Arisato—indescribable, beautiful but ambiguous, strange but endearing, frenetic but compassionate, and above all, more confusing than end-of-the-year finals.

Most people would dismiss it as nothing. It wasn't a kiss; it wasn't even a hug.

It was just… that.

::-::

The lounge was empty this day. An uncommon occurrence, all in all; Junpei or Mitsuru would usually be at the dormitory. Junpei because he was bored: Mitsuru because she was working. (Yukari, on the other hand, was more active than all of them combined, and often was out and about with friends.)

Akihiko Sanada decided to think little of the peculiar absences, and settled down on the sofa with his English textbook in an attempt to study. He had a test next week, and he intended to do well on it. To make sure Mitsuru didn't get on his case? Partially. To impress Minako Arisato because the names and scores were put in very public places? No. (Yes.)

"Senpai?"

Akihiko didn't budge, but his eyes flickered from his book. Minako was paused mid-step on the stairway, red headphones hanging about her neck, dressed in a simple tee and denim capris. He nodded in recognition and turned back to his book.

Faint footsteps. Minako was walking closer.

"Senpai, can I ask you something?"

Akihiko nodded vaguely. "Sure. About Tartarus?"

"Um…" Minako shuffled. "No, Senpai. About… er… teenage love."

Akihiko froze right as he was turning the page. He must've looked insanely stupid in that position—the page held in his fingers, halfway to the left but halfway to the right, bent in the strange way only paper could manage to be bent—

"…Huh?" is all that came out of his mouth.

Minako swiveled her head away. "S-sorry. I know that you're busy. I-if you don't have time…"

Akihiko struggled to maintain his composure. (He shouldn't have had to; she was just supposed to be Minako the new girl, Minako the leader, Minako the teammate.) "No, please. Go ahead." A wry smile curled at his lips. "English is hardly proving to be interesting at the moment."

Minako ducked her head shyly, her eyes beaming with warmth. "Senpai…"

Then suddenly, she took a huge breath. It was so huge that Akihiko was afraid her lungs would burst, because there wasn't any way that someone that small would be able to take a breath that large without suffering some sort of health consequence—

"Senpai, I really need some advice. I can't find Yukari-san and I don't know Mitsuru-senpai that well and Junpei-kun is, well, he's Junpei-kun, and I can't really ask him about this because it's sort of about my friend who's a girl and if I tell him about this he might get all, well, you know, Junpei-kun-ish, and he might want to know who it is, but I don't want him bothering her because she already has so much on her plate—"

It was at that moment when Akihiko Sanada changed his mind. Minako Arisato wasn't ordinary at all.

(He wasn't sure an ordinary person would've been able to talk for that long.)

He quickly held up his hand to stem her flow of words. Her mouth snapped shut, and she looked quite abashed.

"S-sorry, Senpai," she mumbled. "I didn't mean to… Well, you know. You don't have to help me if you don't want to."

Akihiko blinked. "What? No, that's… Just, why don't you start from the beginning? And, take it a little slower, maybe…?"

A faint blush scribbled over her cheeks. "Y-yes. Of course. I… I'm sorry, Senpai."

The apology was completely unnecessary. In fact, some part of Akihiko was just a tiny, tiny bit pleased that Minako Arisato had sought him out for advice. He managed to place that feeling into the 'People-Think-Highly-of-Me' and 'Kouhais-Think-I'm-Sort-of-Wise' category… but if Akihiko Sanada was honest with himself, he knew it would lean more toward the 'Girl-Who-I-Think-is-Cute-is-Asking-Me-For-Advice' category.

(That category didn't exist before Minako Arisato appeared in his life.)

::-::

It was a pretty long tale, but by the time Minako had come to the end of it, she seemed to know what to do without Akihiko putting in a single word.

"I'm gonna go to tennis practice every Monday and Wednesday and Friday," Minako said, her jaw locked in determination. "And I'm going to do those suicides and those pushups and those sprints and—and those awful crunches."

"Even if you're the only one there?" Akihiko prompted softly.

Minako's eyes glinted. "Especially if I'm the only one there," she said cheerily.

And it was the bright smile on her face that alerted Akihiko to their current proximity. At first, she'd been standing very awkwardly in front of him, but at some point in her story, she'd gotten comfortable enough to sit on the same sofa as him—on the opposite end. Now, he realized that she'd somehow magically teleported right next to him so that their legs were touching.

Akihiko wasn't sure he fancied being so close to such a pretty face.

"So… It seems you know what to do," he said easily, trying not to look at that face.

Minako nodded, her smile only getting brighter. "I think I do." She clapped her hands together, her eyes dancing. "Thank you, Akihiko-senpai! Thank you so much!"

Akihiko was just about to say that he really hadn't done anything—because really, he hadn't—when he noticed that Minako's hands were coming up and she was beginning to lean forward, like she was going to hug him—

But then she stopped and stared into his face, her ruby eyes wider than he'd ever seen them.

For a long moment, they sat there, Minako still leaning—well, half-leaning—towards him in the most awkward position he'd ever seen, her face quite close to his, and no one else in the lounge, no one else in the lounge—

Then Akihiko realized that his own hands had come up halfway, as if he'd been about to hug her back.

That fact alone jarred him back to reality, and he quickly pulled his hands in and leaned away, turning his face the other direction.

Minako Arisato disappeared from his side—he guessed that she'd jumped up from the sofa, but he couldn't really tell because he wasn't really looking at her, he couldn't really look at her—and then she was mumbling, probably bowing, too, knowing what kind of person she was:

"I-I'm sorry, Akih—I mean, Sanada-senpai—! That was very… Well, I mean..."

Akihiko swallowed. He suddenly felt as if he had something stuck in his throat. "D-don't sweat about it," he said—and mentally cursed at the tremor in his voice as he did. "You really don't have to be so formal. We're teammates, remember?"

"Yes, but…" Minako suddenly pulled a strange expression, like she'd just stepped on a nail but was trying not to cry out in pain. "I, um, didn't mean…" She paused and changed tack. "…I didn't mean to, um, bother you so much… Look, it's nearly nine…"

Akihiko surreptitiously drew his palm to his chest, attempting to calm his racing heartbeat. "Minako-san." (He felt sort of bad for using her first name because he hadn't asked her permission, but she really needed to relax.) "Minako-san, I'm supposed to help you. If you've got questions, it's best to clear them up sooner than later. When you're confused about something, you can't fight as well."

"O-of course." Minako bowed her head slightly. "Sorry, Senpai. I'll try to do better."

And before he could put in another word, she straightened and—marched, sort of, in a very stiff walk—up the stairs and to her room.

Akihiko Sanada resented the fact that, while Minako Arisato had appeared to regain complete control of her body, his heart was still running wild, his stomach was still rolling over, and his arms were beginning to feel entirely too empty.

(A/N: So, you may be wondering: What exactly is this story, anyway?)

(It's a sort of chronological collection of oneshots detailing the (slightly AU) friendship... and eventual romance, of course... of one Minako Arisato and one Akihiko Sanada.)

(Because as beautiful as angst is, I be needin' some fluff over here before I shrivel into a puddle of depraved sadness.)

(I will update when inspiration strikes again. If you have any suggestions or comments, I'd be delighted to hear them.)