Yukari:
"Takeba" I heard quietly as a crisp knock sounded from the other side of my door. I swung my legs out of bed and was still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes when I opened the door to see Mitsuru. As to be expected, she was already prim and perfect, looking completely awake and ready for the morning. "Yamagishi and I were going to go on a walk, would you like to join us?" she asked, her eyes staying uncharacteristically close to the floor. "Sure. I'll meet you guys in a few minutes" I replied with a half-hearted smile.
She nodded and walked off. I let my door fall closed as I turned around slowly and suddenly it hit me. 'Last night wasn't a dream, was it?' I thought, immediately feeling sour. I got dressed quickly and met Mitsuru and Fuuka, who were both waiting in the lobby. I could see Fuuka quickly scribble down the end a note for the boys as I fully stepped into the room. "Let's go" Mitsuru suggested when Fuuka finished, smiling large enough for all three of us.
We walked out of the mansion and across the beach in complete silence. When we entered the forest near the beach Fuuka turned around and took a chance, breaking the silence. "Ah, the air is so fresh...I never knew a walk in the woods could be so enjoyable. You can't do this in Iwatodai" she offered. I definitely didn't feel like saying much and from what I could see neither did Mitsuru. I felt bad for leaving the poor girl hanging, she looked so happy, but I just couldn't think of anything to say.
We walked a bit farther up, continuing the silence from earlier. Fuuka tried to start a conversation again but I stopped paying attention to her clumsy rambling after a while, zoning out as we walked. "Huh? Oh yea" I said when I heard her finish talking, I owed her that much. Luckily we were saved from a very awkward conversation by Mitsuru's cell phone ringing. She put the phone to her ear but almost immediately pulled it away and put it on speaker phone. "Please continue" she told the person on the other end of the line.
I recognized Ikutsuki's voice almost immediately. He started talking about how some machine left a lab on the island by itself, and it was our job to track it down. "A machine?" I asked him. What kind of machine can get up and leave by itself? It seemed like a ridiculous story to me. After that Fuuka asked him for information on the machine so she could locate it with her persona. "It's a combat vehicle, an anti-shadow weapon, to be precise."
I was shocked by his description. "A combat vehicle? You mean like a tank?" I asked, trying to get some straight-forward answers. Of course I got none. Mitsuru quickly spoke about how we needed to "assemble" with the boys, who were off doing who knows what. The rest of the conversation with Ikutsuki was brief and I didn't listen to much of it as I pulled out my phone and tried to call Minato. If any of the boys were going to be responsible enough to have their phone, it would be Minato. Our leader ought to be responsible enough for that Over the sound of his phone ringing I could hear Mitsuru hang up her phone. I let out an exasperated sigh, voicemail. Clearly I overestimated his reliability.
I turned to the others, "great, no one's answering." I quickly punched in Akihiko's number, figuring it was worth another try. "Don't worry about it. Let's go back and get our equipment. Then we can have Yamagishi's Persona scan the area, though this island is quite large." Mitsuru said "Geez where could they be!" I yelled, frustrated after another failed call to the boys. Had all their phones washed away in the ocean?
"Come on, there's a short-cut back to the mansion this way" Mitsuru said, gesturing further into the woods. We followed her deeper into the forest, but slowed our pace when we heard voices from ahead. "There you guys are!" I called as we walked up behind Junpei and Akihiko. "What are you doing here? We've been looking all over for you!" I continued frustratedly. "Um, what are you doing in the middle of the woods, in your swimsuits?" Fuuka asked with an innocently confused look on her face. "You have no idea what we've..." I trailed off as I looked between the boys, my eyes settling on Minato.
He was just standing there, a stoic look on his face, despite the blonde girl who had her hands on his shoulders. "Huh?" was all I could think to say to express my shock. I tried to stay calm as I briskly walked over to where he was standing and hotly asked "who's this?" "Listen" Mitsuru said, interrupting my train of thought, "we've encountered a problem. I'm sorry to interrupt your vacation but I need you all to go back to the house and prepare for battle."
All three of the boys turned to face her, obviously startled. I was just happy because it got that girl off Minato. "That won't be necessary, we've found what we're looking for" I turned to see Ikutsuki emerge from behind us. "What do you mean?" I asked, clearly voicing the question on everyone's mind. He completely ignored my question and walked over to where the mysterious girl was standing. "You had me worried" he sighed "you don't have permission to leave the lab on your own Aigis."
What?
Twiz: Sorry of the awkward cliff hanger! Next chapter should be up soon!
