Author's note: Here are the 2nd chapter! Thank you for those who had willing to read the 1st chapter and posted their review! I really appreciate it. This chapter is far longer than the previous one. I'm not use in doing conversation. Also, sorry if it's a bit boring. But I hope you enjoy this! Sorry if this sounds a bit rushing. Review for improvement is much appreciated!


"That name sounds distance, yet so familiar." - Minato

Chapter 2 – the meeting

After Pharos's final sentence, Minato decided to try recalling what the young boy had told him about his other half. He did have some vague memories about Pharos talking about himself, saying that his body was once divided and separated. However, the boy in the striped-shirt remembered neither the reason nor the one that had done that to him, probably because he experienced memories lost during the separation process. The problem for Minato now was: When did he share it to him? Was it during the 2nd full moon? Or was it during the 3rd? He could not remember the detail as he was always sleepy and exhausted whenever Pharos came and talked to him. He also thought Pharos was only joking around. So, he never bothered to take note about it. He pretended to belief it so Pharos will be happy.

However, just yesterday, he started to feel that Pharos was really saying the truth. Since he entered S.E.E.S, a lot of strange thing had happened: the existence of hidden hour, school that can turn into a colossal and towering structure, another realm between dream and reality, the existence of shadows, and the reflection of himself called persona that can be used to fight against the shadow by summoning it through shooting his head with a gun-like-instrument called evoker. So, it should not be impossible for a person to be separated into several segments. Especially if the person can appear out of nowhere and disappear as he liked.

The other reason was because of his last smile. It was clear that he was giving a warning to the wild-card bearer.

"Be careful," that was what written on Pharos's face right before he disappear from Minato's sight.

Throughout the rest of the night, Minato tried to recollect the fragment of his memory again to find out more about Pharos's other half that Pharos had shared to him. However, it was no use. Thus, he decided to go back to sleep. To his surprise, it was already 4 in the morning. It had been 4 hours since the dark hour ended! Without any further delay, he immediately hit the pillow.

Deep inside his mind, he regretted he stayed up all night to achieve nothing but confusion and soon, unknown to him yet, he'd regret it even more.


7/8 – Morning

"Oh, s***" was the first two words that come out from his mouth the following morning. When he woke up and checked the phone, it already showed 9 o'clock, which could only mean one thing: he was late for school.

Immediately, Minato jumped out of his bed and changed to his summer uniform. He took his toothbrush and while brushing his teeth, he took his bag. Choosing his mp3 player over his messy hair, he quickly got out of his room and headed out of the dorm.

He was really glad that the monorail was just about to depart when he reached the station. As expected, the monorail was almost empty. The majority of the monorail users were actually students of Gekkoukan high. Furthermore, as he saw the school from one of the monorail window, he could see from far that the gate was closed. The school must have started.

So, along the way to the station, he tried to come up with a good reason to tell his teacher why he was late. However, as genius as he may be (he ranked first for the previous test); he was never a good liar. In fact, as far as he could remember and belief (he started to doubt his memories since last night), he never lied before. Finally, after thinking for sometimes, he sighed in defeat and decided to tell his teacher the truth as he thought the fake reason that he made will only involve him with more problems. He wished Junpei was accompanying him right now as he was pretty sure that he could come up with a thousand different excuses which was absurd yet was accepted by the teacher.

Mentioning his best friend's name reminded him of the problem he was attempting to solve during the dark hour. However, as he began to think about it again, the announcement from the monorail which informed the passengers that they will soon arrived at the destination brought him back to reality and ended his train of thought. As soon as the door opened, he got off the train and dashed as fast as he could to the school.

As he was getting closer to Gekkokuan high, he noticed something was different. The school was unusually quiet. It should be recess by now and yet he could not hear a single conversation from there. He remembered how the teacher used to warn them to keep their noise level down as they received a lot of complaints from houses around the school that the school was too noisy. Was his teacher wrong? Does something happen to the school?

Again, Minato was too busy with his own thought that when he was about to turn at the final corner before the school gate, he failed to notice that somebody else from the opposite direction was also about to turn

THUD!

Their heads hit each other and both of them fell to the ground. Minato rubbed his head to ease the pain. As he opened his eyes carefully, even though the image was still blurry, he quickly realized he hit someone and immediately apologized to the person.

"Sorry, that's my fau-"His words was halted at the sight before him. As his view grew better, he realized the person that he crashed was a girl. She had a brunette hair that was tied into a stylish ponytail and she was wearing gekkoukan high summer uniform. She also had the same headphone that he used, albeit in red colour. However, what made him surprised was not the fact that she was also late or the fact that they use the same headphone. For him, her face was strikingly cute; almost as cute as Yukari. No, maybe even better than that. But, why he never seen her before? Is she a transfer student?

"Hello~ Are you okay? Knock -knock, anybody inside there? "The girl's voice and hand motion snapped him out of his thought. He abruptly responded her, face painted in red," Ah! Y..yeah! I'm okay. Don't worry about me! I'm fine yes, yes.. and err.. How about you? Are you hurt?"

" Hahaha, don't worry too much, I'm also fine. And.. Sorry about the earlier" She laughed as she thought his respond was hilarious. Minato also smiled a bit; not really much to his respond, but more to her. Her laugh only made her look even cuter, and he liked it.

"By the way, may I ask you something?" The girl tone suddenly turned serious and she looked a bit worried.

"Yes, what is it?" Minato stood up and then helped her to stand as he answered her question. He managed to compose himself again.

"Is it considered weird here to wear school uniform during holiday?"

"Ah… Not reall.. wait, what? Holiday? I thought today is a normal school day." Minato was quite surprised with her statement. As far as he knew, today was a normal school day. Was he forgetting something? He had checked his phone and he did not see any announcement. He always put a reminder if tomorrow was holiday.

"I don't think so, I checked the schedule before I came here and it said today was a day-off since it is teacher training day. So, I decided to check the school since I will be studying here starting tomorrow. At my previous school, it is compulsory to wear school uniform whenever we want to go to school. I thought this school is also applying the same thing. However, when I walked here, everybody was staring at me like I am a weirdo. So…" The brunette continued her talk without realizing that Minato was not listening.

Apparently, Minato only heard her until the part where she mentioned about teacher's training day. That phrase sparked off some memories. He remembered Ms Toriumi mentioned it during yesterday's last period . Furthermore, he was pretty sure that he was not sleeping and that he noted it down on his phone and put it on today's notification. He immediately checked his cellphone again. He realized that the notification was put on 7/8 whereas on his phone, the date today was 7/9.

" umm.. Hello? Are you listening to me?" The girl asked Minato as she realized he was busy with himself again.

"What is today's date?" Minato asked the girl, ignoring the question that she asked.

" 7/8, why do you ask? " The girl answered him in confusion.

His phone's date was wrong. Somebody must had changed it, But who?

Pharos…

. That name immediately appeared in his mind. Minato remembered yesterday Pharos was playing with his phone. He must have changed the date during that time.

" Hey, I'm asking here~" The girl seemed irritated at Minato's habit of lost in his own thought.

"It's nothing. And about your question, the answer is no. I do see some students wear their uniform to go to school in the weekend to take their thing or do some group projects. I also wear school uniform, but no people stare at me like the one you just experience. Maybe it's just because you are new to this town and none of them have seen you before."

Minato tried to cheer her up and tried to assure her it's just her imagination.

"Hopefully so.." Even though it's not much, Minato could see a relief expression from her face, and that was good enough.

"By the way, the school gate is closed so you cannot go in, so what do you want to do now?"

" Hmm… I'm thinking of exploring this town. I actually originated from here. But, it has been years since I moved from this town. So, I was surprised to see that the town has changed a lot. I'm afraid I will get lost if I explore it on my own." The girl's face darken again as she was buried in confusion. "Oh yeah! Why don't you come with me? Let's explore the town together! I belief it could be fun! Oh yes, but you might already have another appointment. That's why you come to school right? "The brunette sighed again, the excitement on her face was quickly replaced again by an upset and confused expression.

"I don't mind actually. I come here because of some misunderstanding" He said to her with a warm smile. It was actually not a bad idea for Minato, especially to hang out with an adorable girl like her. Also, He need some refreshment after all the trouble he went through today and yesterday, so why not?

In an instant her face's expression brightened and was filled with joy. "Really? You mean it? Then what are you waiting for? Let's go!" The brunette immediately gripped Minato's hand enthusiastically and pulled him with her.

" H..hey, Relax, You don't have to pull me." Minato tried to stop her from pulling him. His hand was in pain. Surprisingly, she had a strong grip for a girl.

" Oh sorry! I'm getting too excited! My bad! "The girl quickly released his hand and bowed down and smiled apologetically.

"Ugh… It's okay. "He grunted a bit as the pain had not fully subsided."…By the way, What's your name?"

" Oh, I almost forgot! Sorry I did not introduce myself earlier. My name is Shia Hamuko. Just call me Shia!"

"Minato Arisato, it's nice to meet you. Now, shall we, Shia-chan? " Minato introduced himself monotonously and immediately, with hands inside his pocket, walked to the direction of monorail station.

Shia followed him from behind, again, confused with the boy's rushing action. He wanted to takes things easy at first. But right after she introduced herself, he acted oppositely.

Unknown to her, Minato was again, busy with his thought right after hearing her name and he did not want her to notice it. She seemed to don't like him thinking to himself.

Her name, to him, sounded alien. However, he had this strange feeling that the name was really close with him. Did he meet her somewhere else before?