To my friends all over the world,
In the Persona Fandom or elsewhere,
Who never gave up on me,
And always showed me how far I had already come,
And how proud I should be of myself,
Even when I was selfish,
Even when I was overbearing,
Even when I was scared of everything,
Even when I hated myself.

" One repays a teacher badly if one always remains nothing but a pupil."

~Friedrich Nietzsche

Chapter 1 - February 26 th

This ball-pen of the well-dressed, middle aged man behind the mahogany desk direly needed to be replaced. That fact was quite obvious to anyone hearing the uncomfortable scratching sounds that it made as it was led across the thick paper it was meant to draw symbols onto, and it hurt the otherwise so professional feeling of what was happening here right now little bit. But the boy decided to ignore this fact. It didn't matter how scratchy the pen sounded. This wouldn't change the ultimate outcome. What was happening here would still happen and it would still be what was supposed to happen. Nothing would change the fact that this was exactly how it was meant to be. That this was 'good'.

Yosuke Hanamura kept glancing at his phone's display. Still no new messages, huh? It was about time. They couldn't just have forgotten, right? Not when he had made sure to message them just a few minutes ago. Slowly, he was growing anxious. It may sound odd, coming from him, but if they just didn't care, just ignored this day, this 26th of February… He was sure he wouldn't be able to help himself and be pretty damn angry with them.

It was friendship. And… Brother's instinct.

He let his eyes off the screen and glanced to his side. The other boy's eyes were still firmly trained on the paper that was being written on the desk. Bright blue eyes followed the trail of the pen in excitement. Finally a bleep reached Yosuke's ears. His eyes darted back to his hands, but before he could look at the display once more, he took notice of the disapproving expression of his mother, who shook her head and made a gesture for her son to just put away the device or hand it to her. Begrudgingly, but understanding the situation, Yosuke tugged his phone away - just in time to hear a voice speak up at the end of the pen-scratching's tune.

"With this, the child has been officially registered into the family's Koseki."

Before Yosuke could turn his head to look at the man behind the desk, who had spoken to them, his attention was already drawn by a different voice's high pitched sound. The boy by Yosuke's side was bouncing up and down in excitement and bliss, almost as if he was about to just up and leap out of his seat. The man behind the mahogany desk closed the book he had been writing into and handed it to Yosuke's father,

"Congratulations on the adoption, Sir."

What followed was another celebratory squeal which broke the room's silent mood once and for all and a large smile was cast upon the face of a rather short blonde, as he stood up from his seat, turned around, and leapt straight into the arms of Yosuke's mother. Teddie's joy was both, contagious, but also shaming-inducing to Yosuke. Regardless, it was just the momentary distraction Yosuke needed to pay a look to his phone screen and read the message he had received. A smile spread across his face as well.

"Oooooooh! It looks so new and shiny!"

The freshly printed plastic card still didn't have a scratch on it. The sunlight reflected on its surface in a glare as Teddie spun around on the staircase as if to present the item to the world and harvest admiration for his new possession. His little commemoratory dance looked everything but safe, but Yosuke didn't even consider stopping him. Teddie was tough and this was by far not the first questionable and stupid stunt he had pulled. A fall down the stairs wouldn't kill that kid, it'd teach him a lesson at most. As long as his - well, now actually - their parents didn't see, it'd be OK. And they wouldn't see. They had gone to fetch the car from the slightly removed parking lot they had left it in. As soon as they would come to pick up the boys the family would return to Inaba. In the meantime, Yosuke could fully devote himself to telecommunication. He felt at ease. If the mails of his friends were to be believed, the preparations at Junes were going well. Good. Now, as long as he could just keep Teddie oblivious-

"Hey, Yosuke! Yooooosuke!"

Slight chills went down Yosuke's back when he suddenly found the touch of a surprisingly delicate hand on his shoulder and the feeling of being watched became all too unavoidable. He didn't need to turn his head to know that Teddie was peaking over his shoulder.

"Aren't you interested at all?! Geez, don't you know what that is? It's an I.D.! That's an I mportant Document! So, respect its importance a little!" As he was speaking, Teddie stretched his neck to catch a glimpse on the screen on Yosuke's phone, "What are you doing there?"

"That's not what I.D. stands for!" Yosuke quickly made an attempt to switch his phone's screen-saver on. "And cut it out! What I'm doing on my phone is none of your business!"

"Were you texting? I see, I see…bearing the glad tidings to everyone before I can get a chance too! You sly, sly fox!"

Eyes wide open, as if marveling at the diabolic qualities of Yosuke's master plan, the boy tried to snatch Yosuke's cellphone from his hands, though he remained unsuccessful. Yosuke was far too skillful with handling the small object to allow for these attempts to come to fruition. Soon, the device was safely stored in Yosuke's pockets and Teddie was pushed away with both hands, making him stumble back a little, so he just barely kept his balance on the stairs. Yosuke stood up straight, giving the blonde a glare.

"I told you to cut it out!" he repeated. "Ever heard of personal space? 'Sides, you got your own phone. If you want to tell the others, why don't you just call them?"

"But I don't want to tell them!" Teddie's face carried a bitter pout. "Yosuke, don't you get it? Big news like these shouldn't be delibeared over something as fickle as a phone, you know! It's much more fun if I surprise them and tell them to the face!"

Yosuke could only counter this by making a face. "Surprise them? Dude, you've been raving about this thing for days! I hardly think it's still gonna come to as a surprise to anyone."

"Well, it definitely won't if you tell them all!"

"Leave your paws off my pockets!"

A struggle erupted between the boys and Yosuke thanked the heavens for his comparably good sense of balance, because unlike Teddie if he were to fall off this stair case, he probably would not get away with a few scratches. After around 30 seconds of dodging the greedy hands trying to seize his pockets, Yosuke found himself back-stepping, almost to the rail-

-It was that moment that Teddie froze in place. The cheeky smile dropped from the boy's face. He pulled back his hands. The speed with which it happened made it seem as if he had been hit by a slight shock.

"…Teddie?" Yosuke carefully left his defensive. "Hey, are you OK?"

Teddie gave Yosuke a confused look, seemingly wanting to ask a question, but not quite sure what to ask. It worried Yosuke, so started approaching the blonde.

He didn't take three steps before an icy-cold feeling hit him, spreading through his whole body. The light in the area was dimming quickly and the air growing thinner and colder. A feeling of unease and heaviness spread. Dazed by the sudden change, Yosuke found himself stumbling. He was just losing his balance and about to trip down the staircase, when Teddie snapped out of his freeze-up and reacted by leaping forward and grabbing on to the taller boy's arm. Becoming steady again, Yosuke straightened his back and looked around.

This wasn't a change in location. The city hall was still behind them and the street layout and buildings were the same as before. Yet, it felt as if they were in a different place entirely. The colors seemed as if they had been drained. The light had changed, the warmth of the early spring sun had but vanished. The sickening feeling in the air was just all too familiar…

A sneaking fear took hold of Yosuke, "No way… Ted… Isn't that?"

"It feels just like…" While Teddie's face didn't take on the same sickishly pale complexion as Yosuke's had upon the sudden change, they both looked about equally worried and alarmed. Then Teddie's ears perked and he turned his head. "Y-Yosuke! Over there!"

The tone in Teddie's voice already gave Yosuke a horrible feeling in his stomach. This premonition was unfortunately all but proven right when he turned his attention to whatever had caused Teddie to shout. With a gulp Yosuke stepped higher and back on the stairs.

"Oh crap!"

What the boys found themselves faced with did not make them feel any safer in their skins. Goo-like masses with arms were crawling they direction, pulling themselves along the floor, dragging, yet speeding, the yellow eyes behind white, expressionless masks glowing, menacing.

"Shadows…"

Teddie's voice carried alarm, but hardly as much fear as one would have expected. The days that a couple of mooks easily scared him into submission were long over. Still, this was a rather unsettling sight.

"What the hell are they doing here!?" Yosuke asked the very legitimate question. "I thought these were supposed to stay over on the other side now! Unless…"

"It's not good if Shadows are here! They're gonna throw off the balance and make a mess of everything!"

While Yosuke's concerns were more of a 'why' nature, Teddie's were clearly more focused on the consequences. What they both were on the same page on about was what their first order of business had to be now…Except, unprepared as they were, they were not exactly sure how to start getting to said goal. Fighting in the human world was rare to them. It didn't help that neither of them was armed; Yosuke didn't carry his knives on him unless deemed absolutely necessary and Teddie wasn't in his bearskin. So for now they were kept busy merely backing off from the quickly approaching enemies. It wasn't until Yosuke failed to consider that the staircase they were on was in fact not endless, and found himself seeking a grip on a decidedly non-grippy "set" of air, that the situation changed.

"Gah…!"

Startled by the sudden unexpected stumble, Yosuke's momentary loss and balance caused him to believe himself to be about to be thrust right into the mass of enemies in the least comfortable way imaginable. In the heat of said jolt, a shattering sound rang out and a flash of light momentarily blighted the area.

At the end of it both, Yosuke found himself in the arms of a 3 meters tall figure and looked sufficiently confused about the situation. It also prompted rather mood-changing laughter from Teddie.

"Pfffhahaha! Yosuke! You were so scared, your Persona came out!"

There were glares of disapproval from Yosuke, "Oh, you shuddup—Wait. My Persona's out?"

At once realizing what this meant, Yosuke leapt off the arms of his carrier, keeping him close behind him. Reaching into his pockets desperately, Yosuke pulled out what he should have resorted to right when the Shadows first appeared: a present from his eighteenth birthday, a five centimeters-long switchblade. It wasn't his twin Kunai, but it was better than nothing.

"Teddie! Focus!"

"Ah-! O-OK, OK!"

Teddie was slow sometimes, but far from dense, and the fact that Yosuke was preparing for battle now was enough to inform him of what he was supposed to do. Briefly focusing –in a quite overdone way, if one might add – the blonde's giant, rocket-shaped guardian was quickly summoned and joined Yosuke's Takehaya-Susano'o in the lines behind the boys. Though still unarmed, now Teddie at least had a way to battle.

"C'mon! Kamui-Moshiri!"

Burning up his energies, Teddie commanded his Persona to bombard the enemies with a burst of ice, which spread wide. The ice crystals formed in split seconds, encasing the bodies of the Shadows. Those which didn't manage to break free remained immobilized. Those that did, however, proceeded to direct their angered response right back at the boys. Fortunately, this was a great opportunity to clean through their numbers and one which Yosuke wouldn't miss. Proving that his speed had not left him over the past few months, he dashed, rammed and tore his knife through the bodies of a couple of smaller Shadows, destroying them instantly. He knew the weak points, the right spots to his, to cut and to slice. It was experience. A hunter's wisdom. Yes, even if they both looked like bumbling teenagers on the surface. Teddie and Yosuke were hunters. Well, at least that was how Yosuke liked to think of it.

"You take the ones on the ground, I'm gonna wing-clip the flying ones!"

"Got it!"

The boys' coordination was surprisingly perfect. 'Surprising' in that even they themselves hadn't expected this. It was rare for them to fight in a team of two. Actually, this was the first time they had done so. Yet, they knew each other well enough to coordinate each others moves, predict and plan ahead accordingly. Maybe this was only natural, though. They were brothers, after all. The months had passed and strengthened that fact. Twenty months, to be exact. One and a half years of a shared room, shared duties, shared quarrels, shared pains, shared shenanigans, shared laughs, shared disagreements, shared scoldings… In the end, Koseki were only pieces of paper. Time was real. The fact that they were brothers had long been real.

Just like their friendship to Chie Satonaka and Yukiko Amagi, despite all occasional animosities was very much real. Just like the friendship to Kanji Tatsumi, regardless of all teasing. And the bond with Rise Kujikawa. And Naoto Shirogane. And the fact that Yu Narukami, 18 years od age, returned to this town, every few months, without fail. It was home. It was family. A place of mingling for them. Friends. Siblings. Brothers and Sisters. Because time was real and time forged bonds. It brought them together and made them into Hunters of Truth. So what was actually strange about them making such a great combination? Nothing was. It was a simple matter of time. Just like the fall of the last enemy here by their hands was. Inside, they knew this fact. And so, the elation of their approaching success overtook their surprise at their own skills quickly.

The last strike dealt came when the enemy was on its back. All Out. No mercy. A strike from two sides with no hesitation. A knife tore through the monster's soft stomach and two Persona Guardians unleashed their magic. And so, the figure of the dark being soon blurred and dissolved into black smoke, a quickly evaporating puddle of wasted energy. As it did so, changes occurred to the environment. Light returned. The muted colors regained life. The heaviness disappeared from the air. The world seemed to come back alive. Yosuke gazed upon the now clean spot which had held the remains of their foes just a few moments before and took a few deep breaths.

"…What the hell just happened?"

These were the first words that came to his mind after the ordeal had passed and he was allowed to just flip-shut his knife – no blood that could prove the battle had ever occurred had remained on it – and process the bizarre events mentally. This had been their first Shadow Encounter in months and only the second which had happened in the so-called 'real world'. And yet, it was entirely different from the first time; the moment they had defeated the enemies the world had returned to normal, continuing as if nothing had ever happened.

(What's up with that…?) Yosuke found himself thinking.

Searching to find an answer, he turned his attention to Teddie. But soon he had to realize that he wouldn't find it here, and not for the reason one would assume. Before he could even open his mouth to speak, he saw that something was wrong with the boy by his side.

"Yosuke…"

Teddie's expression was unusually dazed now, very unlike what it had been like during the battle. He staggered and swayed. Finally, he leaned over, first placing his head on Yosuke's shoulder, then slipping away and almost falling to the side.

"W-Whoa! Ted?"

Yosuke caught him. After that, Teddie wouldn't respond anymore. He wasn't wounded, or at very least Yosuke couldn't see any wounds on him. His breathing seemed normal as well. What was wrong? It seemed so unlike the little guy, to just tire out in battle. And when Yosuke thought about that, he began to feel worried. Was Teddie really just exhausted? No, when he looked at the boy's sleeping face, something told him that it wasn't that. What told him that? Well, if Yu were here, he would probably call it 'brother's instinct'. Yosuke preferred to think it was hunter's instinct. In truth, it was probably both.

They were a family, after all.