Author note: I am updating earlier than expected. Why? I was bored and I'm almost done with the next chapter as well. There.

Once again, sorry for my grammar and so on.

"Did you hear the rumour…?" Minato turned his head slightly towards the girls standing next to the school gates. "That story about the first-year student! Not only did she stop coming to school, but every time her mother tries to talk to her she only mutters to herself "It's coming! It's coming!" What's with that face? You don't believe me?" After hearing these words, the blue haired boy kept marching onwards, not interested in ghost stories and the like.

The most interesting thing about the day was that Ms. Toriumi asked Junpei about her favourite author after ranting a while about him. Hamuko tried to get Minato to give him the answer, but he was just as spaced out as the student with the baseball cap, so he gave him a wrong answer, earning a groan from the teen and a "thanks for nothing". Minato got the distant feeling that he was missing a chance to be a cool boy and such, but he shrugged it off and went back to sleep.

After school, Minato wandered towards a bench in the gardens of the school, waiting for Hamuko. He was pretty sure she would show up any second, and she didn't disappoint.

"Hey!" she greeted trying to get her breath back after having run all over the building looking for him. "Can we… Can we talk now?" her tune denoted an order rather than a request. She got a nod in response. "Why couldn't we talk about it yesterday anyway? Were you THAT tired?"

"I uh… I don't like the dorm." Seeing Hamuko's puzzled face, he added "It doesn't seem a safe place to talk about such a weird kind of things." Minato then looked down, trying to seize his words. He wasn't used to talking more than needed. "I don't know where to begin." He paused for a second, and looked at Hamuko straight in the eye "How long have you been experiencing that time?"

"I don't remember a moment I haven't lived it. Night after night at midnight, it's been the same as far as my memory reaches." Minato's eyes lit up and Hamuko could tell he was in the same boat. "Let's see… You too see a weird ass creepy moon, coffins, blood and such don't you?" she said that phrase in a whisper, half worried about some student hearing her and think she was weird, half scared that Minato and she would be talking about completely different things.

"I do." The boy got quiet again and a thick silence fell upon the two teens.

"So? Do you have any idea about what is it? Or… Why no one else seems to know about it?" The silence returned, and the bluenette shook his head with sad eyes. "Hey, don't look so down. I mean… We just discovered we aren't crazy! The fact we have found each other here is pretty awesome, don't you think, Minato-kun?" Hamuko tugged at Minato's sleeve trying to cheer him up, but the boy seemed to have zoned out. The girl furrowed her brows in annoyance. "Mi-na-to-kuuuun!"

"…Wasn't Takeba-san fine when we entered the dorm?" Minato questioned after focusing his sight on her again. After thinking about it for a second, another realization hit Hamuko.

"So was Mitsuru-senpai…" she muttered, almost in disbelief. "That's why Yukari asked if everything was fine! They know about it! They live it too! They're keeping information from us! THEY MUST KNOW ABOUT US!"

As Hamuko got louder in her rant, Minato tried his best to quickly take her away from the school garden, where a considerable amount of students had begun staring at them. Those would later confirm that Minato and Hamuko were dating behind Yukari's back, insisting that Hamuko herself had shouted about how they had been discovered by her.

The way to the dorm didn't seem so long the day before. The boy had finally managed to get Hamuko to calm down a bit when they reached Port Island Station, but she still seemed pretty mad. The girls at the dorm would have to give them an explanation or two. As soon as the train stopped in Iwatodai, they rushed to their building.

"Oh, they're back." Yukari commented from her usual seat in the sofa after Minato opened the front door. She couldn't read the slight exasperation in the boy's face- not that anyone could read his expressions —but she didn't miss Hamuko's glare.

A sophisticated looking man shifted his sight from one teen to the other as Minato closed the door softly, just to make sure Hamuko wouldn't kick it shut or something. "So, these are our new guests…" he stood up and walked towards them, not giving them time to ask anything first "My name is Shuji Ikutsuki. I'm the Chairman of the Board for your school. "Ikutsuki"… Hard to say, isn't it? That's why I don't like introducing myself, even I get tongue-tied, so just Chairman is fine." He smiled and motioned the students to take a seat. Minato sat next to Yukari, and Hamuko sat on the armchair, cross armed. "I apologise for the confusion regarding your accommodations. However, it may take a while longer before you receive the proper room assignment. Is there anything you'd like to ask?"

"Why are you here? Shouldn't a Chairman be busy or something?" Minato couldn't avoid thinking that Hamuko wasn't focusing her anger on the right people.

"T-to welcome you all, of course!" the Chairman shrugged slightly "Well, to be honest, I do have other business here. Speaking of which… Where's Mitsuru, Yukari?"

"Upstairs." Yukari answered as she stared back at the red eyed girl who had been glaring at her since she arrived.

"As diligent as always, although it doesn't hurt to come down and say hello. So uh… Is there anything else?"

Before Hamuko could ask something insolent again, Minato spoke up "Are there any other students in the dorm?"

"There are only five students in the dorm: you two, the most recent guests, Yukari, Mitsuru, and a senior named Akihiko Sanada. I hope you'll all get along…" Ikutsuki surely felt the bluenette and brunette's uneasiness "You two seem tired, why don't you go to bed? As they say, "the early bird catches the bookworm!" He he… Well, I've to leave now. Have a good night." He then opened the door and left like that.

"You'll get used to his lame jokes. Erm… I think I'll be going to bed now." Yukari did her best not to run upstairs, but that was just what she did when she saw Hamuko getting up from the armchair. Apparently, she had noticed that those two were after something, most likely the answers to their questions, thing she had promised the night they arrived.

"It's no use. Don't waste energy." Minato whispered to the red eyed girl, who hanged down her head in defeat.

"As soon as we get a good chance to talk, I'm not gonna let them go until we have ALL the info we want." She put her hands on hips and straightened her back in an "I'm-very-serious" heroic pose, which she ended as soon as she realised Minato was staring with an awkward expression. "You need to learn how to make faces, man."

They said goodnight to each other at the stairs, and as soon as they went to bed they found sleep… Or something similar.

"Welcome… To the Velvet room"

A man with a long nose stared at them in their dream. His eyes seemed bulged out, and hair was lacking atop his head. He had a grin like that of the Cheshire cat, which gave both of the teens a shiver. Besides him, there was a person with golden eyes and grey hair wearing a blue suit and wielding a book in their hand. In Minato's dream, this person was a woman, in Hamuko's, a man. Both were pretty good looking, and they couldn't help but to stare at their respective guest with awe.

The dream was placed for both in some kind of elevator covered in velvet, with nothing more than a love seat in which the long nosed man was sitting, a table covered in a blue mantel, and a chair in the shape of a lyre in which the protagonist of each dream was sitting. There was a mirror behind the lyre chair, in which the whole elevator was reflected. In the reflection, everything was blurry save for Igor and the furniture. The assistants' reflection was –apparently—gone, but it actually appeared in the opposite side of the room's reflection, blurred out as well.

After staring for a little longer in silence, the creepy man spoke up. "My name is Igor… I am delighted to make your acquaintance." The man pointed to his companion. Elisabeth was the woman; Theodore, the man. He explained that each were residents there, just like him. "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter… It's been years since we had a guest… Or two, for that matter." He chuckled as he showed the contract which the mysterious boy in the dorm days ago wielded, and carefully placed it open on the table. It had two pages signed, but one of them seemed fuzzy, a different one for each reader. "Only those who have signed the Contract can enter this place. Henceforth, you will be welcome here in the Velvet Room. You are destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require my help to do so. I only ask one thing in return... That you abide by the Contract, and assume responsibility for the choices you make." He then handed a key to each teen, thus finishing the dream.

None of the teens could remember the dream they had that night when they woke up, but they knew it was really bizarre, and abstained from commenting it the following day when they headed to the dorm together, as Yukari seemed to be avoiding them –Minato thought this was because of Hamuko's behaviour—and Mitsuru… Well, she somehow seemed above the whole walking to school with her kohai thing. Having almost reached school, Junpei pretty much assaulted Minato, throwing the sleepy boy to the ground, as he didn't see him while frolicking happily – like a happy idiot, rather.

"What's up!" he asked as he helped him up "Man, today is the perfect day! The sky is blue... We're young... What more could we ask for? Dude, listen to this... Oh, wait! I'm not supposed to say anything... Sorry, man." He then proceeded to run away almost hopping instead of walking, once again. Minato could swear he heard him giggle while doing so.

"What a lively boy. You should be more like that, Minato-kun! Ah, who knows, maybe I'll even give him a chance next time he hits on me." Hamuko tapped her chin with the tip of her index finger, really considering the possibility. The bell rang almost immediately, and they had to rush to their class.

The morning went by quickly, or at least until it was time for Mr. Ekoda's class. When Hamuko heard around school that literature classes could make you die of boredom, she didn't think they were being literal. As much as she tried to fight, to stay awake and learn something, she stole Minato's role as a sleepy head, and found out her table was the most comfortable pillow ever right at that moment. It was a bit of a dumb act, though, as she was in the first row of desks and Mr. Ekoda spotted her quickly, giving her a bunch of extra assignments to be done at home as a punishment. Minato on the other hand, had used the attention given to Hamuko in his benefit, and had been able to sleep without being interrupted at all.

This time they took different ways to the dorm, as the red eyed girl groaned something about screwing Mr. Ekoda and some homework. Minato preferred to think he heard wrong, and took a walk around Iwatodai before going back to the dorm. When he entered, he saw Hamuko in the kitchen, her face touching the table and her arms hugging each other. She had fallen asleep.

"Maybe she was right about my drowsiness being contagious." The boy considered letting her sleep there until someone came by and woke her up, but he ditched the thought. He went back to the door to sign his name in the sign in book, and then headed to the kitchen looking for something edible. He found some just-add-water chicken noodles, and sat down in front of Hamuko. After a few seconds the girl opened her eyes just to see the boy slurping noodles nonchalantly.

"Did you make instant noodles for me too?" she asked and then added a yawn. She raised her head just to see her homework was still only half done.

"Nope." The boy sank his chopsticks into the soup and put some more noodles in his mouth.

"Then stop being a prick and get me some." She kicked his foot under the table. Homework had made her hungry, and when she was hungry her state of mind was comparable to Minato's when in lack of sleep. Her dorm mate handed her his cup of noodles, which was near empty. "Like I'm going to eat that." She made a sound similar to a snarl as he shrugged and walked upstairs, humming a song from his MP3 repertory. As soon as he disappeared from sight, she took the cup of noodles and began eating desperately.

After she was done with her homework, she headed to her room. In the way she found Minato buying some drinks from a vending machine.

"How did you like the noodles?" he asked casually as he took a sip from a tin of Mad Bull he had just opened.

Hamuko grumbled a "shut up" as she stole a Cielo Mist and abandoned the boys' floor, leaving a snickering Minato behind. He stopped his laughter when he realised that no one else seemed to be in the dorm. They probably were just late with club activities and all, but he had a bad feeling. Being unable to take it out of his mind, he decided to go to bed.

It was midnight already. Hamuko was having trouble sleeping and she could swear she was hearing voices from upstairs. The words were really difficult to catch, but she was able to tell that they belonged to the dorm members.

"…Same as last night."

"…Interesting… Potential… Common symptoms…"

"…Guinea pig."

"…New members... Classmate… Your age?"

"…But still."

She was sure those were Mitsuru, the Chairman and Yukari chatting. Something told her that had she been able to catch all the words, she wouldn't still have understood the conversation. There was a sudden beeping sound which she heard easily.

"..Akihiko?"

"Believe this… Is huge! …Chasing me… Almost there."

"…Bringing that here?" Hamuko felt VERY uneasy when she heard the shocked tune in that voice.

"Mr. Chairman!"

"…Prepare for battle!"

This couldn't be good. Hamuko decided to get up and change into the first thing she found—her school uniform. She was positive she had heard "battle", but she hadn't any kind of weapon at hand. She ran out of her room towards the 4th floor, but found no one was there anymore, so she ran downstairs again, finding Yukari in the 2nd floor, the boys' one.

"What the hell is going on?" Hamuko asked as she took a peek downstairs. She could see a boy with silver hair and a red vest sitting by the door, panting and bleeding, talking about something about to arrive. Before she could even blink, Yukari grabbed her wrist and they ran to Minato's room, breaking in with a half assed warning.

"I woke up from the noise." He stated as he finished putting on the jacket of his school uniform. It seemed he had fallen asleep with it once again. "Is there anything wrong?"

"I don't have time to explain! We have to get out of here NOW… But um, take this… Just in case." Yukari handed Minato a knife, and bit her lip worried upon realising she hadn't anything for the girl. They ran downstairs, headed to the backdoor, which was placed next to the kitchen.

"Alright, we should be safe for now…" suddenly, a voice resonated in everyone's minds, leaving Hamuko and Minato utterly confused, but Yukari seemed to know what was up.

"Takeba, do you read me?" the voiced asked. It seemed Mitsuru's.

"Y-yes! I hear you!"

"Be careful! There's more than one enemy! The one we're fighting isn't the one Akihiko saw!"

"WHA-?" Before she could even finish, something hit the door, making even the ground tremble. Everyone stepped back cautiously. "What are we going to do…? They're downstairs! Do we have any choice but to go further up?"

The three teens ran upstairs as fast as they could. Every time they tried to stop and catch their breaths, they noticed the banging noises getting louder mixed with some cracking noises, coming from the door as well. This encouraged them to run for their lives and remembering to breathe later. They arrived to the 5th floor, in which there was only a door and some old unused furniture.

"O-oh yeah if we go through here..!" Yukari pushed the others to cross the door, and after she went through it she shut it with a key and some code. "We should be safe here."

"A roof is your idea of a safe place?" Minato shouted in shock. Before he could say anything else, loud thumps made the dorm shake, and soon a squeaky noise filled their ears. The three teens turned around slowly, just to see a black hand moving its fingers as it reached out for the ledge of the roof. Soon, many other hands followed it, until a hand wielding a blue mask showed up. The mask had the Roman number "I" in it, and a surprised expression. The hand turned the mask to one side and the other, and then it noticed them. Time seemed to freeze as dozens of hands wielding knives produced out of nowhere. The ones which didn't have them were used as some kind of feet which moved the black mass made of hands.

"These monsters… We call them shadows." Yukari explained as said monster kept approaching. She reached out for the gun on her right thigh, which Minato and Hamuko hadn't noticed until now, and, panting, she pointed it to her forehead. Small tornados formed around the monster, yet it wasn't clear whether if it was it or the girl who provoked them. Yukari gasped and pointed the gun to her forehead again. Yet another tornado appeared, and at the same time, the "shadow" hit Yukari with one of its knives, sending the brunette to the ground, and throwing her gun right at Minato's feet, on a blood puddle.

The boy stared at the gun with a blank expression, maybe some surprise. He then looked up to see the girl laying on the ground, and the one next to him, who was staring at him with a similar expression. The shadow headed towards them, but neither Hamuko nor Minato could see it anymore. Instead they saw a boy… The one they had seen at the dorm days ago.

"Go on…" the kid said with a grin. He then pointed his index and middle fingers to the side of his head "Can you…" he made a shooting gesture "…do it?"

The surprise in Minato's face was completely gone, replaced with a serious and calm expression. He picked up the gun and held it carefully with both hands. He could feel his heart thumping, as images of Yukari pointing the gun to her head filled his mind, and he slowly –much to Hamuko's dismay, who the shadow was about to reach—put the gun on his head.

"Per… So… Na." a sound of shattering crystal was heard as he pressed the trigger. He felt a blow freezing his mind, not too far of the feeling Hamuko had and which made her shudder, thinking it was just the impressive image that had formed before her eyes. A figure with black face and white hair, resembling Minato's slightly, had caught everyone's –including the shadow—attention. It wore a red scarf and carried a lyre on its back, over its blue and white armour- wait, it wasn't armour, it was its actual body. In the centre of its torso there was a speaker which thumped as the creature spoke.

"Thou art I, and I am thou. From the sea of thy soul I cometh. I am Orpheus, Master of Strings." The creature then roared as Minato smiled in satisfaction, proud of his achievement. In a matter of seconds, a cracking sound came from Orpheus, and Minato clutched his head as he fell on his knees, throwing his evoker to the ground. The shadow used this moment to throw itself over the boy, cutting him with one of its knives.

The brunette girl gasped and she no longer could hear her own thoughts, drowning in desperation. She had seen what Minato and Yukari did, and what the little boy told them to do, yet she still had her doubts when she picked up the gun and shoot herself, making another creature appear out of the crystals shot by the gun. She opened her eyes just to see the creature was awfully similar to Minato's, except that it had a white head with long brown hair covering it. Its lyre was heart shaped, and its body was yellow instead of blue.

"Thou art I… And I am thou." Hamuko didn't have time to enjoy the creation of her mind. She fell to her knees immediately, holding her head in pain as purple flashes blurred her vision. The shadow wasn't willing to attack anymore, it seemed to be… Frightened.

Floating above them, the creatures seemed to suffer the same as its owners, as they mimicked their owners' movements. The cracking noise got louder, and suddenly, the creatures began attacking each other and twitching violently. Yukari, who had recovered a bit around now, could only stare at this event as she had crawled away from the battle zone.

Giving a last sharp cry, the creatures broke each other's faces, and a black mass came from both of them, taking some consistence in the air. It bit the air with its metal jaws as it strove for freedom. It let out a blood freezing roar as it swung a katana in the air, making both Minato and Hamuko move forward as if the monster's action affected them. They could see the monster better now and noticed some coffins floated around it, all attached to a chains coming from the shoulder pads it was wearing. The monster was, in a single word, overwhelming.

The shadow tried to escape, run for its life, but the new monster didn't allow this. It bit the shadow morbidly, and it ripped off its arms one by one. When there were only a few left, it raised its katana and cut right through the shadow's mask, putting an end to its existence. It then proceeded to take one of the remaining arms and crush it with its bare hand, until it melted and the weird black substance dripped from its fist. It made the creature groan in pleasure or some sort of horrendous laugh. Once it was done with its fun, it roared again. It disappeared for a second, and the next only both male and female Orpheus were in the place just standing in the air. They vanished like nothing had happened, and Minato and Hamuko finally gave up and fell completely to the ground, hearing the distant voices of Yukari and the others.

Next they knew they were in their respective Velvet Rooms. "It's so nice to see you again." Igor's greetings seemed sarcastic "You became unconscious after awakening to your "power". It's nothing to worry about, though. So just relax. By the way... I see it was Orpheus who heeded your calling." He made a short pause and continued speaking "That power is called a Persona… It is a manifestation of your psyche."

"Wait…" Minato and Hamuko had the same idea at this point, but only Hamuko voiced it. "Why did I get an Orpheus too?"

Igor's grin seemed to decay a tiny bit, before it came back with an explanation. "The way see it, you two must be more similar than you'd think. You can think of a Persona as a mask that protects you as you brave many hardships." He seemed to know more than that, yet she didn't pry.

His speech went on the same way for both guests. "The ability evolves as you develop your social links, your emotional ties with others. The stronger your Social Links, the more powerful your Persona ability."

His tune changed to a more serious one "In the past, social links did not play an important role, and we could welcome several guests who honed their power without their acquaintances help. There was an… Occurrence which severed deeply the power of the personae. I would much rather not talk about it." He shifted in his chair and his smile was gone for a second. "We are assisting two guests now. You might remember I mentioned it the first time we met. Ergo, I am afraid that the power we can give you has been consequently limited, just as much as your capability to obtain social links has."

"What does you mean?"

"What I want to say is that you, Fools, are on a race for strength. Let me help you understand with an example: If your intention is to approach a person by helping them overcome an issue, but someone performs this act before you are able to, you will find that you have no means to fulfil your objective, and this friendship will never be born. Hence, it will be impossible for both of you to share strong, unbreakable bonds worthy enough of constituting a social link with the same person. Do you comprehend?"

"I… Think I do."

"Excellent! That means the only obstacle left in your way is figuring out who is the other Fool. I believe you might have a hunch already." Igor lowered his head a bit, apparently reconsidering something "In spite of my previous words, you should not forget that you might be able to find a great ally even in your worst enemy. It is the most noble, yet hardest way to achieve your aims. Please, remember that." He made a short pause and his creepy grin was fully restored. "Now then, time marches on your world. I shouldn't keep you here any longer. Next time we meet, you'll come here of your own accord. Until then… Farewell."