Part 2 begins… now!
Persona 3: Cosmospheres
Aigis's Cosmosphere
Level 1: Love Master (Part 2)
Inside the cafe... again…
"Luckily, the first floor seems fine. The monster's floating, so..." then he went to the second floor, "Crap, the second floor is all but totally trashed..."
"Arisato?!"
"Ichigami, you're okay! I'm so glad!" said Minato while running towards Ai.
"What are you doing here?!"
"I saw the robot come inside the shop, so I was worried about you…" Minato blushed.
"Tch. You were worried about me? Why?! Shouldn't you be worried about yourself?!" Ai yelled.
"Come on! Let's get out of here together!"
"I… can't…" Ai replied.
"Why not…?"
"Stop worrying about me and just go!" Ai commanded Minato.
Something breaks through the walls. It was the monster…
"No!"
"Whoa!" Minato was amazed by the size of it.
"… Athena found… will destroy her… NOW…!"
"Shoot! We can't get out anymore..." Minato started to panic.
"You're a fool! You should've escaped when you had the chance..."
"But, I couldn't. It's like leaving my friend in a fire… I just can't do that!"
"You're… too nice."
"Grr…" the monster growled.
"Will you promise me something?" asked Ai.
"What is it?"
"Don't tell anyone what's… about to happen," Ai looked at the monster with a grin.
"O-Okay…"
"Do you promise? It has to stay a secret!"
"Yeah yeah…!"
The monster was engulfed in a bright light…
"Hold my hand!" exclaimed Ai.
"W-What? But we just met..."
"You fool! I don't mean it like that! Just… grab it!"
Minato nodded with a sigh.
"ROAR!!"
And Ai transforms…
Note: It's the machine Aigis plus her persona, Athena. Try imagining it… H-Haha…
"… It worked."
Minato stared at his clothes, "What happened to my clothes? What's going on?"
"I'll tell you later! We have to eliminate the monster first! Are you ready?" asked Ai.
"Ready?! Don't tell me… I have to fight, too?!"
"Of course. You're stuck with me now, so let's go!"
A few minutes later, the both of them successfully defeated the monster a.k.a. Shadow…
Back to the cafe after the fight...
"What's going on?" asked Minato.
"Do you promise not to laugh?"
Minato nodded and listened carefully to Ai's explanation…
"This planet is being threatened by monsters called… 'Shadows'. These Shadows absorb 'persona', the source of all human energy and turn it into their own energy. They're strong," she paused for a while and continued again.
"There's a group called Strega. They're trying to manipulate the Shadows to take over the world… I've been fighting them all by myself."
"..." Minato didn't really believe her.
"You don't get it, do you? I never should've told you... But, you can't tell anyone about this..." she glared at him.
"Can I still help you?"
What Minato said prompted Ai to stare blankly at him that meant "Huh?"
"I've seen too much that I have no choice but to believe you... And, you can't take them all on alone. I can help you…"
"...Do you know what you're asking? It could cost you your life."
"I know but, I can't just ignore what's happening…" he said seriously.
"Hmph… Fine...Do whatever you want…"
……
At the café…
"Have you finished cleaning? Then, come over here! I've got more work for you!" the red-haired shop owner commanded Ai.
"Alright. I'll be right there..." Then she complained to herself, softly, "Why do I have to fix up the store...?"
"It's not so bad."
"You think so?" Ai turned around to only see Minato with a smile, "Y-You! What are you still doing here anyway?"
"...Well, I just happened to be passing by…"
"Hmph… You're too nice," she said with a smile.
Minato chuckled and helped her out.
……
After cleaning, they both exited the café and walked together…
"Phew! We're finally done! It took so long, I feel like I actually work there…!" Minato stretched while walking.
"… You didn't have to stay the whole time, you know? You could've just left…"
"Yeah, I know… But I can't stop something once I'm in the middle of it. It's like trying to stop eating a snack after I already opened it…!" Minato said trying to humor Ai.
"What? I don't get it. But, you are pretty funny!"
"Me, funny? Why, did I say something strange?" asked Minato.
"No, not that kind of funny. You just make me laugh. Hahaha!" Ai laughed and laughed.
"Okay, I guess I don't get it."
After a while, they reached a crossroad…
"Well, I better get going. Where do you live, Ichigami?"
"I'm turning right from the crossroad…"
"Oh well, I'm sorry about today," Minato said, feeling guilty.
"Me, too. I didn't mean to get you involved..."
"That's alright. I'll come by the cafe sometime to see you…"
"I'll be looking forward to it! See you around!"
And Ai ran off on her own…
……
Back at Minato's House...
He went to his room and jumped straight onto his bed and stared at the ceiling.
"Man… I'm so exhausted. But, I still can't believe what I saw... Was I just dreaming it all? I can't believe I was attacked by a slimy-looking monster. That waitress transformed...and so did I..."
Then he started to close his eyes…
"I… should stop by the cafe after school tomorrow... That… really was some good exercise..."
And, he slept…
……
The next morning…
"Wake up! Wanna be late for school?" the brunette from the previous part returns.
"Uhh...wait..." Minato said while covering himself fully with his blanket.
"Oh come on! Wake up sleepy head!"
Yukari then hit him… hard… with her schoolbooks that she held in her hands.
"Oh for crying out loud, what are you doing here?!" Minato woke up angrily and glared at Yukari.
"You're gonna be late, sleepy head! Go get yourself washed up and let's get going!!" exclaimed Yukari.
"Oh, no! I have to hurry!" he immediately got out of bed and into the toilet.
Yukari just chuckled and waited outside his house for him…
……
On the way to their school, Moonlight High School…
"Don't you get tired of waking me up every morning?" asked Minato while adjusting his bow tie.
"Hmph. You should be thanking me. Without me, you'd be late for school everyday!"
"I would?" he then stared at Yukari.
"Yes," she nodded, "Everyday."
"I wouldn't be late everyday. More like every other day…" then he started to run, "But, we better hurry!"
"M-Minato-kun, wait up!!"
……
Finally, at the school grounds, plenty of students were there already…
"Phew! You didn't have to run that fast…" complained Yukari.
"S-Sorry…"
"A-Anyway, I was surprised to see a robot like that yesterday. I've never seen anything like it before…"
Minato nodded and looked up to the sky…
"But… I wonder who stopped it. It happened pretty quickly, didn't it?" asked Yukari.
"Yeah! I wonder what happened to it… h-hahahaha!!"
He knew all to well what happened. He and Ai stopped the monster from causing any more chaos…
"...?"
Yukari started feeling suspicious…
In the school building... they were both at the class 2-F, which was also the best class at the school. So on the way to class…
"Hey," she asked Minato, "Did you do your Math homework? It was the basic section on page 23…"
"Homework? Crap, I forgot to do it. Will you help me? Please…??" begged Minato.
"What?! Again?! I'm not your tutor, you know?" complained Yukari.
As they continued talking about their homework issue, a certain 'someone' appears in a school uniform that caught Minato's eyes.
"Hold on… aren't you…?!"
"Oh, are you a student here too?" asked the student.
… To be continued.
Back at the Binary Field...
"Huh? What happened? Why are we back here?" asked Minato.
"I guess that was the first 'episode'…"
"What?! Man… I'm just curious about the rest of the story."
"Next time, we'll continue where we left off, so don't worry about anything, okay Minato-san?" said Aigis with a smile.
"Oh fine. Let's return back here tomorrow. Since it's a holiday…"
Author's notes:
Okay… Level 1 of Aigis's Cosmosphere's done… Moving on to Level 2…