A Necromancer's Wild Card

by Ashen Messenger

Arisato Minato knew he lived an unusual life when he died. But he never thought he would be resurrected by a self-mute necromancer! Now he's a zombie and a servant of the necromancer who revived him? And Magical Garment Girls and vampire ninjas actually exist? Wasn't his life unusual enough already? AU.

3. Crossdressing, Bonds, and Vampire Ninjas

Chapter 3: Crossdressing, Bonds, and Vampire Ninjas

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"Most people live their lives without ever knowing it, but the world is full of weird stuff. Things like magic and monsters and... the thing that I've become." — Aikawa Ayumu

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One Month Later

Tokyo

---

"The tea is ready, Eu," Minato announced, wearing a plain blue T-shirt that matched his hair color and black pants, as he walked through Ayumu's living room while bringing his master, who was sitting at a wooden coffee table, a warm and tea-filled cup that had her name on it and a teapot. He knelt down to hand her the cup of tea and said, "Here you go."

[Much appreciated, Minato.] Eucliwood responded before grasping her cup and beginning to sip from it.

"Anytime," the bluenette answered simply as he placed the teapot on the coffee table and took a seat next to Eu. He noticed that she was watching TV and decided to watch with her. There was a comedy shtick on at the moment, but the routine wasn't humorous enough to make the self-mute necromancer laugh.

By now, a month had elapsed since the Wild Card Persona-user was resurrected by Eucliwood Hellscythe and met the resident who technically owned the house they currently lived in, Aikawa Ayumu.

During that time, things had been rather peaceful and quiet for the zombie teenagers and their necromancer master. Minato and Eu grew accustomed to their new home shortly after Ayumu brought the two of them to it. Ayumu's house was a basic one with nothing special to it, but it was comfortable and nice-looking with adequate space. Conveniently, Minato and Eu each had their own rooms to sleep in. There were also quite a few extra empty rooms that seemed unnecessary for the gray-haired zombie's family of three, however. Speaking of unnecessary rooms, there was one room in particular that was used for the purpose of storing a bunch of miscellaneous souvenirs that Ayumu's parents sent him from wherever the hell they go to in their travels.

Minato couldn't help but feel annoyed when he discovered this. His fellow zombie's parents seemed like they had all the time in the world, and they never spent much of it with their own son, if Ayumu's attitude towards them being gone was any indication. The gray-haired teenager seemed to be quite apathetic about his parents not ever being home. To Minato, family was everything, something he lost when he was only seven-years-old. Although, he felt like he had one again when he bonded with his teammates from SEES and the people he created Social Links with before he passed away.

Minato never said this aloud to anyone, but he never enjoyed being alone. That was his biggest fear when he became the Great Seal, despite his willingness to give up his life for it to save humanity. He knew the consequences of using the power of the Universe Arcana, but in the end, he knew his life could serve as mankind's barrier to absolute demise. Selflessness was more important than being selfish. That was just something the blue-haired teen understood very well when he faced off against Nyx on his own. In that rather short confrontation, he kept thinking of one question: What was one life, when weighed against the lives of millions? Coincidentally, it was the same question that played in his mind when he had the choice of killing Ryoji or not on New Year's Eve.

Nevertheless, he still felt horrible for leaving everybody he knew and cared about behind. Even though he was revived by Eucliwood, allowing him to be able to walk among the living again, his decision will always be one of his deepest regrets, and, at the same time, something he didn't regret.

Right now, with his second chance at life and in an attempt to move beyond the past, he was hoping that he would gain another family while he lived out his undead days with Eucliwood and Ayumu. Speaking of which, for the last month, Minato had ranked up his Social Link with Eu once while he ranked up two times with Ayumu's. The Fool Social Link only increased one time, right when the three had dinner with each other for the first time. It didn't take much for the Persona-user to strengthen his bonds with them. All he really did was talk to them casually and listened to what they had to say, akin to how he normally acted last year when he spent time with the people he previously had Social Links with. Like last year, though, he wasn't bonding with his housemates for the purpose of having maxed Social Links. He truly wanted to have close relationships with both Eu and Ayumu.

The entirety of last month was pretty much dedicated to helping Ayumu adjust to being a zombie, who also wanted to try and keep living like a normal person, with Minato acting as his senpai, more so in an educational sense but sometimes in a zombie sense too, and Eu quietly observing and pointing out important details to them.

One day, Ayumu tried exploiting a zombie ability by utilizing more than 100% of a normal human's strength by punching a tree. While the tree did snap—or really was blasted away from its trunk—Ayumu's wrist then broke, which he then proceeded to whine for a good while. He had regeneration, of course, so the injury didn't last very long. That did, however, make Minato wary of using more than 100% of his physical strength. It could be helpful in overpowering something if only he found a way that wouldn't lead to broken limbs. He had been trying to find a method since that day but deemed that he had all the time in the world to discover it. Literally. He wasn't in that big of a rush or in need of a new technique.

If anything should happen, Minato was a Persona-user, after all. Megidolaon for everything!

"Hmm... Ayumu sure is taking a while to get back from school today," Minato noted after several moments of looking blankly at the flat screen TV in front of him. He looked to his right to see the desktop computer in the room, which displayed the current time. It was almost six p.m.

Typically, Ayumu stayed at his school after it ended until nightfall. As a zombie, he also had the same side effects as Minato had, including the awful weakness to sunlight. Unless the weather wasn't sunny, the gray-haired teen usually had no choice but to wait for nighttime, much to his chagrin. Unlike Minato, who was capable of nullifying his weakness to sunlight with a Persona, Ayumu had no such method to exploit, so he had to use an umbrella to shade himself sometimes. However, he didn't take one with him today because the weather forecast stated that there wouldn't be any signs of sunshine today. By noon, there was definitely sunlight out by then. Were weather people ever right?

The teenager with gray hair had promised to come home early today to cook dinner. For the past month, he and Minato took turns to cook breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. Much to Eu's unnoticeable and silent delight, the two zombies were very exceptional cooks.

"Should we wait a bit more for him, Eu?" The bluenette asked his master. He was certain by now that she was getting hungry, if hearing her stomach growl was any indication.

[Fetch him.] Eu ordered when she finished sipping her tea, tapping her notepad with her pen. [I want to have dinner already.]

'Pretty direct, as always. She must be getting impatient,' Minato mused as he sweatdropped. While he knew Eucliwood was very sweet on the inside, she seldom ever showed that side of her. Hell, Ayumu had on-the-spot fantasies about her and that side when he tried to be motivated about something Eu said to him. The poor, weak-kneed teenager, however, didn't do a good job of concealing his looks of satisfaction whenever he had those fantasies since Minato could easily read him when they happened. Minato also had a hunch that Eu was aware of her newest servant having those imagine spots, too, which surprised him that she didn't say anything related to them yet.

"All right, I'll try and find him," the blue-haired zombie spoke as he began to stand up. He was about to make his way to leave through the front door until...

"Hey, I'm home..." An exhausted, defeated voice made itself known as the living room's sliding door slid open, revealing Aikawa Ayumu, still wearing his school uniform, who also had quite a few noticeable scuff marks on his face and clothes.

'Did he get hit by a truck?' Minato wondered momentarily before he greeted his fellow zombie by saying, "Welcome back, Ayumu. I was just about to go look for you."

"Oh... Heh, sorry that I was late, Senpai," Ayumu apologized, smiling a little and scratching the back of his head.

"Don't worry about it," Minato dismissed. "I'm just glad that you came back... intact, I'm assuming?"

"Yeah, I'm still in one piece." 'Somehow,' Ayumu added in his mind. "Thanks for your concern..." Ayumu then glanced at Eu, who was taking a sip from her tea and watching TV. It didn't seem like she noticed his arrival. "Um... Eu? Did you hear me?"

Eu placed her cup of tea down on the coffee table in front of her, taking a moment to write on her notepad.

[Get the food ready.] She wrote, looking directly at Ayumu as she tapped her pen for emphasis.

"..." Ayumu narrowed his eyes. That was seriously what she had to say to him?

[FOOD.] Eu repeated with capitalized letters.

Ayumu rubbed the side of his head, resisting the urge to sigh. "Oh, sorry. I know I'm late, but I kind of got creamed by a truck on the way home."

"Oh, so you did get hit by a truck," Minato commented, yet he sounded like he was hardly surprised. "I was wondering due to your scuff marks. Lucky guess, I suppose."

Ayumu quietly acknowledged his senpai's words with a nod, thankful that he didn't press the matter further. Though while almost becoming roadkill did take up most of his time, the real reason why he was so late today was because the force of the impact from the truck sent Ayumu flying through trees, subsequently causing him to lose his clothes in branches in the process. He sadly had to go get his clothes back while running around in his boxers, much to his embarrassment as people saw him in broad daylight. 'He and Eu must never know.'

[No problem.] Eu responded. She then wrote, [The menu is Manchu Han Imperial Feast.]

'What? I only made simple sashimi yesterday. Ayumu got something fun to cook today,' Minato lamented in his mind while he sat next to his necromancer master again.

"Geez, this is just your tough as nails exterior, right?" Ayumu asked in exasperation, not looking forward to creating a grand feast. "What you really meant to say instead was—"

---

"Ayumu, I'm oh so hungry! Would you please hurry up and make me dinner?" A mere fascination of Eucliwood in Ayumu's mind asked in a cute voice. "And I feel dirty, so you can scrub me till I'm clean."

---

"...Yeah, of course. That's what she meant," Ayumu muttered to himself, a satisfactory smile and blush adorning his face.

Eu stared at the gray-haired zombie for a brief moment before drinking her tea again.

Minato sighed. 'Almost reminds me of Junpei...'

---

Nighttime

---

"Anything exciting happened around here today, you two?" Ayumu asked his two housemates, now wearing a black V-neck T-shirt with gray pants after changing out of his school uniform. The three of them were currently dining on Ayumu's food, which actually was kimchi pork due to Ayumu trying to reason with the necromancer to which she accepted the alternative, at the coffee table in the living room. The food, in Eu's and Minato's opinions, tasted delicious!

"Listened to my music while wandering through the neighborhoods for a bit. You know, the usual," Minato replied with a shrug before eating some of his rice. "Although, I did check out Tokyo Tower this time around. It was rather nice."

Ayumu smirked. "Heh, Minato went to Minato, Tokyo, huh?"

"Uh-huh. The amusement wasn't lost on me." The bluenette smiled lightly. "So, how was school, Ayumu?"

"The same as usual, Senpai. Nothing particularly new happened. How about you, Eu?" The gray-haired zombie asked the necromancer.

[Slept.] was all the silver-haired girl said.

---

"Ohh... My nap today would have been much nicer with you..." Yet another Eu of Ayumu's imagination said dreamily.

---

"That sounds so nice..." Ayumu responded, eye-smiling. He then opened his eyes and noticed some rice that was attached to the small necromancer's cheek. He reached out to get rid of it. "Hey, you got some rice stuck on your—"

Before the youth with gray hair could touch her face, Eu quickly struck his wrist with the chopsticks in her hand with precision, causing a disgusting sound of bones being fractured to be heard.

"Ahh!" Ayumu then proceeded to roll around the floor while clutching his damaged wrist. He just wanted to be helpful! "Ow, ow, ow!"

"Hold on, I got it," Minato said casually, intended on finishing what his fellow zombie tried to do while stretching out his own hand.

Just like before with Ayumu, Eucliwood attacked Minato's wrist with swift precision.

However, no sound of bones being fractured was heard.

"Good attempt, Eu." Minato couldn't help but smirk a little, while taking the small piece of rice off of the necromancer's cheek and eating it. "I have Beelzebub equipped right now, and it nulls Strike damage."

Very slightly, the silver-haired girl's eyes narrowed. [No fun.]

"Yes because damaging bones is so much fun," the blue-haired zombie deadpanned at her sense of humor. He knew Eu was just having a little fun with her servants. All damages done would be healed, anyway. Minato then glanced at the male who was rolling around the floor still. "How are you holding up, Ayumu?"

"It sucks that zombies can feel pain!" Ayumu proclaimed, making a few more pained noises. Minato had to agree with him there.

With that response, Eu placed her chopsticks down and wrote on her notepad. [If you weren't a zombie, you wouldn't be here.] She stated.

Ayumu then paused, becoming silent as his wrist began to heal and as he looked at his master.

[Problem?] Eu continued.

"Uh, no," Ayumu answered modestly. "If you hadn't brought me back, I'd still be dead. And a fractured wrist is way better than that. I wasn't trying to complain just then."

"That goes for me, too," Minato chimed in, giving his master a warm smile. "We're grateful that you made us into zombies, Eu."

After a short moment, Eu quietly accepted her servants' answers, proceeding to eat her food once more.

"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana..."

'Sweet.' With that rank up, Minato continued to eat his succulent dinner.

'Besides,' Ayumu continued inwardly, his eyes narrowing, 'if I stayed dead, I couldn't search for the person who killed me...'

---

One Hour Later

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Dinner was over. The dishes were practically licked clean due to Eu's and Minato's large appetites. Minato offered to help tonight by washing the dishes in Ayumu's kitchen, leaving the necromancer and the gray-haired teenager at the coffee table. Eu was silently drinking more of the tea that the bluenette had brewed for her.

Ayumu, on the contrary, with a hand under his chin to support his head and his elbow on the table, absentmindedly stared at his master.

'Eucliwood Hellscythe; Eu for short. Necromancer from the Underworld,' he thought, describing the silver-haired girl and beginning to reflect the undead life he lived for the past month. 'She started living here a month ago with Minato-senpai. ...But I still can't say I really know her.'

It was true. With his two new housemates, Ayumu really only got to know the music-loving bluenette in the past month. Eu didn't have much to say about herself. He had only been given a general explanation of who she is by her and Minato. Not much else, sadly.

"All right, I'm done with the dishes," Minato said as he walked into the living room. "Are you finished with your tea, Eu?"

The necromancer nodded and handed her empty cup to him. [Thank you, Minato.]

"No problem," he replied with a carefree tone, making his way back to the kitchen to wash the cup in his hand.

Unbeknownst to the blue-haired zombie, Ayumu began to stare at him while also thinking about him.

'Arisato Minato. Like myself, a human who became a zombie. He apparently died as a second-year student back in March of this year. Technically, we're in the same grade because he passed away before he could become a third-year, but I refer to him as my senpai since he's older than me and a lot smarter than I am when it comes to academics. He's been helping me out quite a bit with my homework. He also likes music and is a great cook. Although he is a human, he has this unique power called Persona... What did he say about it? Something about it being a manifestation of a person's personality? Well, whatever it is, there are people in the world that can use a Persona, and he can summon more than one, apparently. I saw it all firsthand that one night when I broke that tree. I almost couldn't believe it. He and Eu explained that most Persona-users only have one Persona, but his case is different.'

Despite his senpai's unique ability, Ayumu believed that Minato was a nice person and enjoyable to be with. While Minato never said it, Ayumu sort of got the hint that the blue-haired boy wanted to live a "normal" life, like he did, even though he had an unfathomable power and could potentially raise hell with it. Perhaps his death was what made the bluenette want to live his now-undead life to its fullest.

'...That's strange.' The gray-haired zombie blinked.

Now that Ayumu thought about it, how did Minato die? Neither Minato or Eu specifically stated what caused his death. The news report that Ayumu saw a few months ago said his senpai's cause of death was unknown. Honestly, this world that he lived in was not all it appeared to be once he got to know Eu and Minato. Some supernatural factor could have been the reason. If Ayumu did ask his fellow zombie or necromancer master, would it make them bring up uncomfortable memories they wanted to forget?

'I probably shouldn't ask. Death isn't exactly a pleasant thing to talk about,' Ayumu mused, shaking his head and ending his reflection of his housemates.

---

"Orito. Hey, what's up?" Ayumu asked, answering his cellphone while standing on the balcony connected to his bedroom. Some time had passed since dinner was finished, and everybody in the house decided to go and do their own thing before bedtime. Eu was watching TV in the living room, and Minato had chosen to browse the web on Ayumu's desktop computer, saying he wanted to search for something. Before his friend called him, Ayumu was busy gazing at the night sky on his balcony.

"Holy crap, are you watching the news?" Orito responded to his friend's question with another question, sounding unnerved.

"Uh, no," the youth with gray hair answered.

"Dude, there's been another murder."

With that statement, Ayumu narrowed his eyes. Great. Yet another person was killed by this psychopath, as if Ayumu's own death wasn't enough to satisfy their bloodlust. How long was this murdering spree going to last? This was getting downright absurd.

"How many does this make now?" The spiky black-haired student continued.

"I think one was too many," Ayumu replied, seriousness evident in his voice.

"No joke. Serial killer on the loose is some scary shit, man. You should probably be extra careful since you live alone, you know?" Orito warned, concerned about his friend.

'Not anymore I don't,' Ayumu corrected inwardly before saying in a snarky tone, "Yeah, sure, mom."

"You don't have to be a dick," Orito countered.

Ayumu sighed. "Sorry, man."

"It's cool, it's cool... Just try and stay safe, okay?"

"Sure. You too. See ya," Ayumu said before hanging up.

---

"I'll be honest, this murderer has gotten on my nerves, too," Minato admitted to his fellow zombie, both of them walking down a street filled with street lamps that were lit up. He sighed. "Taking lives like that is just unacceptable."

Ayumu nodded in response. The two were currently surveying neighborhood areas in search of the serial killer that's been plaguing Tokyo as of late. Once Ayumu was finished with his conversation with Orito, he told Eu and Minato that he was heading out for a "walk." Minato volunteered to join him. He already knew what his kouhai was planning to do because of the fact he heard about the serial killer through the news while Eu was watching TV. Ayumu was okay with having his senpai tag along and asked his necromancer master if she wanted to come with them. She declined, though, saying that she wanted to stay home for the night.

So with that, Minato and Ayumu left the house together in search of this murderer. Should the two zombies actually come across this person, then it would most definitely be the end for him or her. After all, they couldn't die anymore, so it would be easier to take this psychopath down.

Ayumu was dead serious about stopping the killer. While part of his reason for being so absorbed in ending this murderer's meaningless killstreak was out of sheer vengeance, Ayumu didn't want anyone else to become a victim like him.

'I've gotta stop them from doing what they did to me—to anyone else in this city.'

---

A couple of minutes later, the zombie teenagers took a break from their search at a graveyard. Like at any other cemetery, the area was littered with copious amounts of gravestones and was giving off a spooky feeling. A light and transparent mist veiled the area.

Minato and Ayumu were resting by a particular tree that was obviously dead and circularly bent at an angle. The bluenette was listening to music from his mp3 with his headphones, and the gray-haired teen was drinking from a can he got from a vending machine they passed on the way here. Ayumu had to admit, he felt more comfortable in this location than he did in his own home. He chalked it up to him being a zombie. Minato, however, hardly shared the same feeling.

"Yup. This is my new happy place," Ayumu said out loud.

"Are you serious, Ayumu?" Minato asked, overhearing what his kouhai said as he took off his headphones.

Ayumu arched an eyebrow to that question. "What? You don't feel the same, Senpai?"

"No. I don't," Minato stated bluntly. Honestly, in the location he was in now, he felt depressed. "Maybe it's because I actually lived in a cemetery for a month. I thought I would be more adjusted to being in graveyards than you because of that, but I'm really not feeling it."

Ayumu shrugged. "Oh well. I guess everyone has their own preferences..." He then took another sip from his drink.

With the conversation over, Minato was about to listen to a track from his mp3 player again until...

"Do you hear something, Ayumu?" He questioned, his eyes glancing left and right carefully.

"Hear what, Minato-senpai?" The gray-haired teen asked, starting to curiously look around himself.

Minato concentrated, closing his eyes so that he could focus better. "Hmm... It sounds like a... chainsaw?"

The sounds that Minato detected then became louder and louder. Sure enough, they did sound like they originated from a chainsaw. It also sounded like it was clashing against metal or something just as hard, repeatedly. The two zombies then looked to their left and saw sparks lighting up in a darker part of the cemetery, their gazes now fixated at the sight. It was definitely getting closer to them.

A few seconds later, they were able to see a huge shadowy figure with glowing red eyes, followed by hearing some grunts as it moved around sporadically.

'A Shadow?' Minato thought with narrowed eyes, his hand reaching towards his pocket to grab his Evoker. It did kind of resemble a creature that Minato and his friends could have killed in Tartarus. And those red eyes... They reminded him of Erebus. If it was a Shadow, how could it still roam this world, especially with the Dark Hour gone?

Ayumu, after seeing the odd dark form, did a large spit-take, effectively releasing the drink that he was storing in his mouth, before loudly shouting, "HOLY CRAP! WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT?!"

A loud explosion then occurred, causing the two zombies to look up.

From their vision, they saw... pink and white striped panties?

"What the...?" Minato couldn't help but arch an eyebrow.

"And now, you lousy bastard, it's time for you to friggin' DIIIIIIIEEE!" A girlish voice bellowed from above, revealing a girl in pink clothing about to directly bring down her chainsaw on Ayumu.

Instantly becoming distressed and screaming his head off, Ayumu quickly dove out of the way, rolling on the ground while clutching his head until he came to a stop at a tombstone. Minato simply jumped back a few feet in the opposite direction, his hands in his pockets. The shouting girl then collided with the spot the two boys were originally at, creating a small but apparent crater as a result.

Confused from what just happened, Ayumu stood up, looking at a newly formed cavity in the ground from where he was standing. "The hell? What was that? Some kind of cosplayer?"

"You all right?" Minato appeared next to the gray-haired zombie in an azure blaze, having activated a Masukukaja from switching to Siegfried in his mind and using his Evoker. He believed that he and his kouhai were in a for a fight soon, so he utilized a status enhancer skill for good measure.

"Somehow, yeah," Ayumu responded. Now he was on edge, wary about will happen. He also felt faster, as if he could run a mile. Why was that?

The dust smoke faded away from the recent impact site, and there was a girl there who indeed looked like a cosplayer, wearing a pink and frilly attire. She was shorter than Minato and Ayumu, from their estimates. She had light and short brown hair, part of which also included a noticeably thin and long ahoge. She also had purple-ish eyes and bared a fang. The most notable thing about her right now was that she was trying to remove her pink chainsaw that became embedded in the ground.

"Hey, wait..." Ayumu began speaking to the unknown female after he grimaced at the sight of the oddly colored chainsaw, trying to put the pieces of what happened together. "If you attacked me, then that must mean..."

"YA!" The brown-haired girl cried, finally able to yank her chainsaw out of the ground but promptly landing flat on her butt.

"YOU, YOU'RE THE SERIAL KILLER, AREN'T YOU?!" Ayumu accused loudly with determination, pointing a finger at her.

'This girl?' Although Minato didn't know for certain, somehow he doubted that this girl clad in pink was the murderer who killed Ayumu, despite having a peculiar object that can potentially be used as a weapon with her. Looks, however, could be deceiving, but Minato couldn't shake this feeling.

"What?! I wasn't attacking you!" The girl, sounding offended and swinging her hand to her side, exclaimed at Ayumu. "You just got in the way of that freak!"

'...Am I the freak?' Minato wondered innocently. The small female didn't clearly indicate who or what she was referring to.

Suddenly, a low but menacing growl was heard from behind the two zombies.

"Huh?!" On instinct, Minato swiftly turned around him and retreated a few feet away from what he saw with his increased speed, unintentionally leaving Ayumu behind, who appeared to be dumbfounded.

The shadowy figure with glowing red eyes from before was back, and with a swipe of its arm, it launched an attack on Ayumu, piercing his torso and his leg with its big claws.

"Ugh...!" Ayumu coughed up blood, his body now limp and stuck on the claws of the figure, which turned out to be a giant bear-looking monster standing up straight and wearing a long-sleeved, buttoned shirt that resembled a student gakuran. The bear then roared loudly with some type of steam shooting forth from its mouth. "Oh... Guess you mean this freak...?"

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Minato complained loudly, clicking his tongue and glaring at what was in front of him. "Even with the speed boost I gave you, you didn't even dodge, Ayumu?"

"HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW ABOUT ANY BOOSTS?!" Ayumu yelled back.

"You could have at least tried to dodge!" The bluenette retorted.

"Aw, man! Dammit, I'm gonna lose points for that now!" While getting up on her feet, the brunette clad in pink complained, too. About what, Minato and Ayumu had no idea. "Anyway, don't worry 'cause I'll avenge you! So be a good boy and rest in peace, okay?"

Minato stifled a laugh before gripping a gun-shaped object in his possession.

"Um, look about that..." The gray-haired teenager tried to talk back while also attempting to suppress his pain, wanting to say that he can't exactly "rest in peace" because he was a zombie.

"Shut up and go into the light!" The brunette boldly commanded. "To the light!"

"I don't see a light, you dingbat!" Ayumu snapped back in irritation. He then sighed a little in annoyance and looked towards the dark sky above him. What an unusual day he was having here and now. "Man... this sucks... Wait, what is tha—"

"Ziodyne." With a transition to Lucifer, Minato shot himself with his Evoker, bringing forth the fallen angel from the sea of his soul and causing a decently sized bolt of lightning to strike down on this bear monster that literally had his kouhai in its grasp. The thunder-based attack consumed the monster entirely in a column of electricity, but thankfully it wasn't large enough to the point in which it could also zap Ayumu. The red-eyed bear let out an anguished roar from being intensely shocked.

"Holy hell!" Ayumu exclaimed, freaking out from almost being cooked alive by lightning.

"Whoa, where the heck did that come from?! And what the hell is that behind you?!" The chainsaw-wielding girl shrieked, astonished at what she was witnessing from the blue-haired boy next to her. When she made eye contact with Lucifer, she could have sworn that the demonic-looking entity glared at her for a second. That sent shivers down her spine.

"Long story that I could explain later. Can you help set my friend free?" Minato hastily asked the girl, Lucifer still floating behind him. He was confident that he could take care of the situation himself, but he believed that this girl with him didn't bear any ill will and that she could take care of herself, taking into account her crashing from the sky earlier. He also didn't mind the extra assistance.

The brunette shook her head many times to snap out of her bewilderment, before she put on a proud face. "Of course I can! Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

'Not really, no,' Minato ruminated concisely. He seriously had no idea who this girl was! "Well, show me what you got, then." He then switched back to Siegfried, leading to Lucifer disappearing and using a Matarukaja to power him and the girl next to him up with one shot to the head.

With another brief, startled look and a nod, the brunette then took a stance, feeling more powerful and revving up her pink chainsaw as the sound of its engine roared. Pink letters that spelled out "Haruna" appeared on the blade. "Mystletainn! Magical power to full!" A surge of pink light formed around the girl. The bear monster was currently incapacitated due to the intense amount of shock it's been through, if the smoke coming from its body was any indication.

"Let's go! Ultimate technique!" The petite female jumped high into the air, performing many somersaults before coming down while vociferating, "Mystletainn KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!"

'That is so not a kick,' Minato observed as he witnessed the situation in front of him. What he saw was the girl sawing through Ayumu's torso horizontally and, coincidentally, the bear monster's paw with her chainsaw after descending through the air.

Obviously, with a chainsaw currently cutting him open, Ayumu was in a deep amount of pain as he writhed violently and created agonized screams. But apparently, so was the bear. A whole lot of blood was splattering from the two of them.

"CUTTING INTO SOMEONE WITH A CHAINSAW ISN'T A KICK, YOU PSYCHOPATH!" Ayumu angrily claimed before he was sliced in half by the brunette's chainsaw. With him out of the way, the chainsaw found its way to the bear monster's head, cutting through it and the rest of its body vertically with ease. The monster then dissipated into motes of yellow light that soon vanished.

'Perhaps the Matarukaja was unnecessary...' The Persona-user thought to himself, placing his Evoker back into his pant's pocket. If anything, that skill only made the bloody spectacle more overkill.

Feeling accomplished, the brunette in pink stuck her chainsaw into the ground, crossed her arms, and said, "Ha! That may have been a little grizzly, but I got the job done."

Minato frowned and facepalmed. That was something Ikutsuki Shuji would say, and oh how Minato hated that traitor with a fiery passion. Puns now left a sour taste in his mouth. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he calmly stated, "Congrats on killing that bear."

"Heh, thanks!" The girl gave the bluenette a thumbs-up and a grin, which also showed off her fang. "Oh, by the way, what were those giant things that were behind you earlier?"

Before the blue-haired boy could answer or ignore that question, a composed voice interrupted from behind the two of them. "You two forgetting about me over here? Or did you guys mean to do that?" Confused, the girl turned behind her and noticed Ayumu lying on the ground, still in two pieces. Minato walked over to the half-sliced zombie.

"Hey, why aren't you dead, pal?" The brunette questioned. This gray-haired guy got punctured with that Megalo's claws and was bisected by her, so how was he still alive?

"Because I'm a zombie," was Ayumu's answer.

"...Hold on, you mean you're not human?" The chainsaw-wielding female deduced.

"He used to be," Minato responded for his fellow zombie while standing next to him, "but for the last month, he's been living as a zombie."

"Eeugh!" The girl made a disgusted sound from the revelation.

Although Minato didn't feel offended by that reaction because he sort of expected it, Ayumu sure felt offended.

"Show some respect for the undead," the gray-haired zombie articulated as he narrowed his eyes at the girl in pink. "So... You gonna introduce yourself to us or what?"

Placing a hand on her chest, the brunette haughtily specified, "I'm a genius Magical Garment Girl. The name's Haruna; the furball was a Megalo named Kumacchi. A big part of my grade comes from how well I can take him down, and I gotta say, I kicked major ass!"

Ayumu sweatdropped. 'Too bad it was mine.'

Minato's curiosity was piqued. 'Megalos? They certainly don't seem like Shadows since that bear didn't decompose into a black liquid, but what are they exactly?'

"Sorry," Ayumu began, "but if you were a real genius, you would have found a way to stop that bear-thing without cutting me in two." He then glanced up at Minato, giving him a look that signified that he acknowledged his senpai as a genius.

"Oh yeah, Mr. Smart Mouth?" Haruna pointed accusingly at Ayumu before she slowly walked up to him. "Well, I'd love to tell you you're gonna regret that, but you wouldn't remember me saying it. You know why? Because I'm gonna erase your memory." She sat near him and held out her hand towards him.

"Say what?!" Ayumu panicked.

"Wait, don't do this!" Minato insisted, holding out his hand to stop Haruna. He wasn't expecting something like this to happen!

"Don't worry and sorry, Blue, but you'll be joining this zombie in pure ignorance soon," Haruna replied. Her hand began to form a swirling pink vortex directly in front of Ayumu's face.

"No, wait!" Ayumu cried, afraid of losing his memories.

However, for some unknown reason, instead of Ayumu's memory being erased, Haruna's clothes were erased instead as they disappeared in a flash of pink light. Every single piece of clothing on her was gone without a trace.

"...!" In response, Minato immediately shielded his eyes and faced a different direction.

Ayumu, unfortunately for him, didn't look away and was presented to something that he would regret seeing in a few moments. "Your clothes... Um, where'd they go?"

"My clothes?" Haruna asked, blinking from the gray-haired teen's question. "What the hell are you talking about? I'm wearing them, you dope." She then looked down. "Wah!" She cried, blushing in embarrassment. "Crap, I'm naked!"

Anger clouding her thoughts while covering herself, Haruna proceeded to continuously stomp Ayumu's face. This was his fault! It was totally his fault! "Hey, stop gawking at me, you perv, and gimme back my powers immediately! This instant! Posthaste! Lickety-split! Nownownownownow! You dirty creep! You aren't a normal human, are you?!"

Minato didn't have to bother looking at his kouhai to tell that his face was battered and bruised. Looks like he would need a Diarahan soon since he believed that even with a zombie's regenerative ability, Ayumu's face would take a long time to heal.

"I told you... I was a zombie, remember?" Ayumu weakly said. His face hurt like hell. He shakily raised his arm to point towards the severed lower half of his body, which was resting on top of a gravestone near him. "Oh, and on that topic, would you mind grabbing my lower body up there for me?"

Haruna instantly stepped back from the gray-haired zombie, misunderstanding what he meant.

"Lower body?! You pervert!"

Out of vexation, Ayumu cried, "I'M NOT A PERVERT! I'M A ZOMBIE!"

'...Might be a bad time to mention that I'm a zombie, too,' Minato contemplated, still covering his eyes.

---

Unperceived by the intricate group of three, they were being watched from afar.

---

Some Time Later

---

"Is... everything all right, Haruna?" Minato amiably inquired, now wearing a gray T-shirt and worrying about the girl who was now wearing the blue shirt he wore previously today in Ayumu's house.

Currently, after some time went by, Haruna, Minato, and Ayumu were sitting around the coffee table in the living room of the Aikawa residence, including Eucliwood, who decided that she wanted to continue drinking more of the tea Minato made. Haruna, wearing Minato's blue shirt, was glancing around the room with an annoyed look on her face while not making eye contact with a certain zombie that she beat up recently. Ayumu, who seemed to be just as annoyed, was frowning with his arms crossed as he wore a set of new clothes after changing out of his bloodstained ones.

Eventually, once Haruna was finished laying the smack down on the unlucky gray-haired male, Minato himself connected Ayumu's body halves to each other, and with a dose of Diarahan, Ayumu felt like a new person.

Haruna followed the two zombies back to their home because since it was supposedly Ayumu's fault that her clothes disappeared, she wanted him to compensate her for it somehow. Not only that, but she claimed that Ayumu also stole all of her "magical powers" after she made several attempts to get her clothes back by chanting an incantation that seemed like reversed Japanese words while holding her pink chainsaw.

The brunette explained that she was a "Magical Garment Girl", a person with magical powers who hailed from a place called Villiers, which was located in a parallel universe. According to her, it was the Magical Garment Girls' duty to exterminate Megalos, creatures that also came from Villiers, as a means to train themselves. Prior to meeting Ayumu and Minato, she was dispatched to eliminate Kummachi, a Megalo whose class was a B. Haruna also mentioned that her Magical Garment Girl powers can only be activated with her chainsaw. Her powers also include giving her clothes. Both of which she can't get back, apparently.

For Minato, he understood and accepted what Haruna had to say without much hesitation since he was already adapted to supernatural phenomena, like the Shadows and Nyx. Ayumu, on the other hand, had a difficult time acknowledging anything the brunette said, believing it all sounded like bullshit, much to Haruna's frustration.

Minato was all right with having the chainsaw-wielding female come with him and Ayumu, but he had to reason with Ayumu first, saying that Ayumu had to accept responsibility for what he had done, even if it was unintentional. Haruna eagerly agreed with Minato. At his dismay, the teenager with gray hair conceded.

Due to Haruna's clothes vanishing without warning, they couldn't just walk back to the Aikawa residence as if public nudity wasn't frowned upon. When Minato and Ayumu attempted to think about what they could do to help, they came up with the idea of one of them giving at least their shirt to Haruna. However, Ayumu's shirt was still bloodied from being impaled by that bear Megalo, and the small brunette emphatically refused to wear anything from the pervert. So, as the last option, Minato politely offered his own blue shirt to the chainsaw-wielding girl, and she took it while giving him some gratitude. Incidentally, for the whole time it took to return home, the bluenette was shirtless, unintentionally showing off his thin but fit upper body. Haruna commented, on the way back, that Minato looked way more impressive than Ayumu, much to the gray-haired zombie's annoyance.

"Hmph. I'm fine, Blue," Haruna responded, sounding a bit upset. Probably because of Ayumu. "Hmm... What's your name, by the way?"

"My name's Minato," the blue-haired zombie introduced himself for the second time. He actually gave her his name a while ago on the path home, but she somehow already forgot it. What was with her attention span? Minato assumed the brunette only had a first name because of her origins, so he decided to only give away his first name to her. That, and to avoid complications of involving last names, too.

"Minato... Minato... Hmm..." Haruna mumbled the bluenette's name a few times to herself, as if trying to remember it more efficiently. "That sounds like a cool name! Do you mind if I call you Blue sometimes?"

"Um... I don't see why not." Minato shrugged. A nickname like Blue didn't bother him in the slightest.

With a smile, Haruna nodded at the Persona-user. She then glared at Ayumu while snacking on a cookie that Minato brought to the table earlier, effectively causing the gray-haired teen to flinch. "Hey, what's-your-face."

Annoyed that she forgot his name in such a short amount of time, Ayumu replied, "My name is Ayumu."

"This is your house, right?" She asked.

"Yeah...?" Ayumu raised an eyebrow.

"Because you absorbed my magical powers," Haruna continued, "you owe me big time!"

"I didn't even know I could do that!" Ayumu stated, throwing his hands into air. If what Haruna insisted was true, then how was it possible? Was it some kind of zombie ability he had and didn't know about? "And how am I supposed to pay you back?!"

"I'll tell you how," Haruna said as she stood up. "You may be a disgusting zombie and a pervert, but until my powers return, you're gonna let me stay here!"

"So... am I disgusting, too?" Minato interjected as he held up his hand.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" The brunette asked him, wondering what he meant.

"I haven't said this yet, but I'm a zombie also," Minato answered.

Upon hearing his words, Haruna's eyes widened. "You are?!" She exclaimed, her shock at the proclamation being clear as day. She had no idea that this nice blue-haired guy was also a zombie!

The bluenette nodded in response before saying, "I can assure you, though, that other than being a zombie, I'm nothing like Ayumu."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean, Senpai?" Ayumu raised his voice, sounding offended from the statement.

"Well, we really aren't the same people, Ayumu, in terms of personality and mannerisms," Minato clarified smoothly. That was the least meanest thing he could think to say. It sounded a bit nicer in his mind, though. If Haruna was going to live with him, he didn't want her to hate him. Especially since he did nothing but help her.

"Oh... Well, okay then," Ayumu said, believing in his senpai's words. He knew Minato wasn't the type of person to downright insult someone, at least not on purpose. He was too cordial, in his opinion.

"Nah," Haruna finally spoke up, getting the Persona-user's attention.

Minato blinked as he looked at her. "Come again?"

Haruna grinned at him. "You're all right, Minato! Sure, you are a zombie, but I guess you're not a bad person since you helped me out. Unlike a certain pervert..." She shot a scowl at Ayumu after she said this. The target of her anger then felt as if arrows had pierced his body.

'Thank goodness.' Minato let a relieved smile show itself on his face.

"Thou art I... and I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond... Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana..."

'And I was just wondering when that was going to happen,' Minato mused to himself. 'Haruna definitely seems like the short-tempered type.'

"So... You're going to stay here?" Ayumu continued the discussion of having Haruna live with him and his housemates. Haruna nodded her head. Ayumu hesitated for a moment. "Well, um... As long as you don't disturb the neighbors, then I guess I'm okay with that arrangement."

With a satisfied smirk, Haruna added, "Plus, you'll provide me with high-quality meals, snacks, and a bedroom too."

"Now wait just a minute," Ayumu complained. Why did he have to do everything for this Magical Garment Girl, as if he was her personal butler? Why didn't she include Minato? Ayumu already had to take care of Eu with Minato, but now he was saddled up with more labor? How was that fair?

"And who is this chick?" Haruna questioned as she pointed at the silver-haired girl sitting across the coffee table, not letting Ayumu oppose her demands.

'It took her this long to ask that?' Minato discerned mentally. 'She's been here for over half an hour.'

"She's a necromancer from the Underworld: Eucliwood Hellscythe, or Eu for short," Ayumu told Haruna about his master.

Throughout the explanation, Eu minded her own business as she quietly drank tea.

Everyone looked at her for a short amount of time. Haruna, satisfied with the answer she received, sat down again and said, "Oh? Really? A neckwearmancer, huh?" She then carried on munching her cookie.

'NecRO, not neckwear,' Ayumu corrected in his mind as he sweatdropped.

"Hey, Minato, can I get another cookie?" The brunette asked the Persona-user.

"You may," Minato answered kindly as he went to the kitchen to fetch a cookie for his new housemate.

"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana..."

'...That was fast. This actually reminds me of when I ranked up my Social Link with Eu to two,' the Persona-user pondered. Seriously, what was with these girls and food?

"Thanks!" Haruna expressed her gratitude with a grin. "Oh yeah. Um, hey, what's-your-face," the Magical Garment Girl spoke directly to the gray-haired teenager in the room, still unable to remember his name.

"Again, my name is Ayumu," Ayumu repeated with a sigh. Why the hell can she only remember Minato's name? "What is it?"

"Let me use your phone," she requested.

---

Before Bedtime

---

"This is harder to find than good equipment in Tartarus..." Minato muttered to himself. He was using Ayumu's computer to search for something that had been nagging at him for an entire month.

It was almost time to retire for the night. As of now, Minato and Ayumu were currently not in their own rooms. Eu went to bed already, and Haruna was getting adjusted to her new room in the house as she pondered about cell phones. When she asked Ayumu to use his phone, the teen gave her his cell phone, and she had no idea what it was. She told him that the phones in Villiers were "stylish" ones as she mimicked using a phone from her country that seemed very outdated to he and Minato. Ayumu then said that cell phones worked the same way. Initially awed, Haruna used Ayumu's phone to apparently call her headteacher to inform them about her situation. Minato wondered if Ayumu was going to be charged for that call. Did calls to another universe count on phone debts?

"Huh? Not tired yet, Senpai?" Ayumu asked his fellow zombie, having just finished cleaning some dishes that everybody used for snacks some time ago. He was about to shove off to his room to sleep until he noticed a head of blue hair was still in the living room.

"Yeah, I'm awake still, Ayumu," Minato said, turning to face his kouhai. "I'm just browsing on the Internet for a while before I go to sleep."

Content enough with Minato's response, Ayumu replied, "All right then. Well, I'm gonna hit the hay. Today's been a long day for both of us, and I don't want to be tired for school tomorrow. Good night, Minato-senpai." With a small yawn, the young teenage zombie left the room.

"Night," Minato responded as he waved goodbye. He then turned back to the desktop computer, searching for news articles on websites.

Other than the occasional news of Ayumu's murderer a.k.a. the serial killer still running loose in Tokyo and one story of an adolescent boy around his age who mysteriously disappeared without a trace, nothing worth noting arose in recent past, which completely baffled Minato to no end.

'Surely by now someone must have found my empty grave and coffin. It's been one month since I was brought back, and Eu and I regrettably forgot to cover up our trail. So why hasn't anything related to this hit the news yet?' Minato ruminated carefully. He couldn't find anything that was associated to his disappearance, no matter how hard he looked. It just didn't make sense. 'Unless... Hold on, if word got out to Mitsuru about me being gone, then it's plausible that the Kirijo Group is keeping this information a secret to the public. And if that was the case, then... why have they not found me yet?'

The Kirijo Group was a prosperous and distinguished corporation; possibly the most powerful in the world. Excluding the creation of the Dark Hour and the Shadow experiments they conducted ten years ago, they were the people who made extraordinary achievements, such as creating Gekkoukan High School and Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons like Aigis. Much of their influence was stationed in Iwatodai, but their connections stemmed far and wide to other regions. Minato knew full well that the Kirijo Group were people who weren't to be trifled with, considering their vast resources and money.

It was an odd thought, but why was it taking the Kirijo Group so long to locate Minato? They have the cash and influence to instigate a search party for him, and given how close he and Mitsuru were in the past, then it was a very likely possibility. The redheaded heir slowly ended up falling in love with him during the times they spent alone with each other. She admitted her love for the blue-haired Persona-user after Minato took a stand against this one jerkass who wanted to marry Mitsuru for business reasons. It wouldn't surprise him if she spearheaded an operation to find him because she cared for him so much. If she did locate him, though... there would probably be an execution in order.

Let it be said that although Minato initiated and had solid relationships with the females of his Social Links last year and they consequently fell in love with him, he didn't return their feelings. He did, however, respect them. Having to deal with killing Shadows and stopping Nyx didn't provide Minato the luxury of falling in love since he believed he didn't have time to focus on his love life. He'll admit that he had been getting rather close to Aigis in January. If he didn't have to die, then maybe...

With his second chance at life, maybe now he could follow his heart's desires? Perhaps now was the time to look for a special someone?

If he was lucky, then he might find a girl who could put up with him being a zombie.

But seriously, going back to the original topic, what was Mitsuru doing for the last month?

'Never say never, but I should count myself lucky that I haven't been found so far,' Minato thought as he nodded to himself, feeling sleepy. There was no point in thinking about what-ifs, unless he wanted to become paranoid, which he will admit he was close to succumbing. He decided to mainly concentrate on his new life for now. Anywise, meeting and establishing a relationship with Haruna and fighting a huge, bipedal bear creature today made him feel tired, despite not exerting much of his strength.

Once he turned Ayumu's computer off, he switched the living room lights off and walked to his bedroom so he could rest on his bed and fall into dreamland.

---

Outside, as the street lights switched off systematically, a lone, tall figure stood motionlessly, grinning widely.

"Magical Garment Girl... Detected..."

---

The Next Day

Afternoon

---

Ayumu found himself letting out a sigh.

The school day for him was over, but he was sitting at his assigned desk in his classroom, staring at the approaching sunset outside through a window. Once again, because he believed the weather forecast, he was forced to wait until night arrived so that he could go home without dehydrating. He blamed himself for not listening to Minato's suggestion to bring an umbrella.

Additionally, his mind was troubled by thoughts of his unnatural life being revealed to everyone he knew, excluding Eucliwood, Minato, and Haruna, of course.

'Am I nuts?' Ayumu thought pessimistically. 'Trying to live life as a normal high school student when I'm actually one of the undead? And what happens... if everyone finds out?'

"You haven't left yet?" A familiar voice brought Ayumu out of his thoughts. The gray-haired boy turned behind him and saw Orito coming his way.

"Still here," Ayumu responded calmly to his friend.

"Dude, what's the deal yo? It's like I barely see you outside anymore."

'That's because zombies can't walk in the sun. Well, Minato-senpai can, but that's because he uses a Persona to negate that weakness,' Ayumu mused. Since he couldn't talk about his circumstances, unless he wanted to make himself look like a fool, he told his friend, "Ah, it's these killer allergies."

"Yeah... you could still go home, though," the spiky black-haired male argued.

"Things are a little crazy there now," the zombie offhandedly said, referring to a certain brunette who began to live in his house as of yesterday.

Orito raised an eyebrow to that statement. "But... you live alone."

Ayumu frowned, realizing that he let a bit of important information slip.

"Oh! I almost forgot," Orito said, quickly forgetting about what he and Ayumu were talking about. "I got a new zombie flick! Wanna go watch it at your place?" He pulled out the movie he was talking about from his school bag.

"NO!" Ayumu, without thinking, grabbed his friend's wrist, unknowingly using more strength than necessary and causing him to hurt Orito a little. He wasn't upset from seeing the zombie movie Orito had. He just really didn't want anybody to come to his home.

'It's hard enough keeping a secret of the fact that I'm a ZOMBIE! But if word gets out that I'm living with two female housemates, one a necromancer, and the other a so-called Magical Garment Girl...? I'm. Screwed!' Ayumu was beginning to become very paranoid about keeping his personal life a secret from others. He didn't want people to think of him as a freak! He only wanted to maintain some semblance of a normal life.

As soon as Ayumu let go of Orito's wrist, the bespectacled student quickly placed his movie back in his bag and said, "Okay, no problem! I'm sure you've got a real good reason to say no. Some other time, then, dude! Well, see ya!" Waving goodbye and feeling flustered from Ayumu's reaction, Orito left the classroom in a hurry.

"Yeah, have a good one, old buddy!" Ayumu responded in a happier tone while waving his hand, as if his slight freak out never happened.

---

"This school is spacious. Not as large as Gekkoukan, but still large," Minato noted out loud, wandering through the empty halls of his fellow zombie's school.

The reason Minato was here was because he had nothing better to do at home. He felt like checking out Ayumu's school to sate his curiosity since he never visited it in the past. He already informed Eucliwood and Haruna that he was going to retrieve Ayumu while he was out. The necromancer silently allowed it, and Haruna was too invested in watching "fascinating" TV shows to pay him any mind.

The bluenette had been on the school's campus for a while now, noticing that some students were still present inside the building and outside of it. Not much to his surprise, he caught the eyes of many female students as he passed by them. Minato, being the kind but silent person that he is, gave them warm smiles and waved, to which they blushed and sighed happily.

After having not coming across anyone in the halls for some time, Minato noticed a black-haired student wearing glasses ahead of him, who appeared to have just exited through a classroom door. Perhaps he knew of Ayumu and could tell him where he was?

"Okay, that was weird. What's up his ass?" The black-haired student wondered, looking troubled. He then saw Minato walking towards him but didn't move as he looked at the blue-haired teenager.

"Ah, hello there," the Persona-user said casually while raising a hand in greeting.

"Uh... hi?" The bespectacled student replied hesitantly. Who was this blue-haired bishōnen, and why did he want to talk to him? He didn't appear to be a student of this school. And somehow, he looked even more feminine looking than Shimomura!

"Sorry for bothering you, but do you know where Aikawa Ayumu is?" Minato asked him.

"Ayumu? Do you know him?" The black-haired male speculated, folding his arms.

Minato nodded. "You see, I'm his cousin."

"Huh?! You're his cousin?!" The student pointed at him, sounding and looking surprised as his jaw dropped.

"Uh-huh." Minato pointed at himself with his thumb. "My name is Yuuki Makoto. It's nice to meet you, person who knows Ayumu." He came up with the false name of "Yuuki Makoto" a while ago. It was meant to be used as a countermeasure if anybody asked him for his name. He deemed it very necessary. That way, no one could find out who he truly was. He wanted to hide his past, considering that one mistake he left back in Iwatodai.

He also made up being Ayumu's relative. It sounded believable.

"Oh, uh... I'm Ayumu's best friend. I'm Tulio Orito, but you can call me Orito, Yuuki-san," the boy known as Orito politely introduced himself. "Ayumu's through this door right next to me." He then rolled his eyes. "But fair warning, he seems a bit pissed off right now. Why? I have no clue."

"Is that so..." Minato said, puzzled as to why Ayumu was bothered. "Thank you for telling me where my cousin is, Orito. I appreciate it."

"Eh, no problem, man. You're my best bud's cousin." Orito grinned as he shrugged. "Well, I'm gonna head off now. Hey, you, Ayumu, and I should hang out together sometime!"

"Sounds nice." Minato gave the glasses-wearing teen a thumbs-up as he was leaving. "Bye."

"Later, Yuuki-san!" With that farewell, Orito went on his way.

Shortly after the student disappeared from sight, Minato was left alone in the halls.

'A bit naive, but Orito seems like a nice guy. And why do I have the feeling he's the same as Junpei and Kenji?' Minato thought as he ruffled his own hair. The two people he was referring to were close friends of his before his death and were cool guys overall, but they were also perverted to an extent that would make Yukari feel disgusted and Akihiko feel ashamed.

Finished with his reminiscing, the blue-haired zombie entered the classroom that Orito directed him to. As he opened the door, he spotted his kouhai sitting near a window and looking down at the floor with a bored expression on his face.

"Ayumu."

"Hmm?" The boy whose name was called lifted his head up to where he could see the person who said his name. "Oh, hey, Minato-senpai. What are you doing here?"

Minato closed the door behind him and walked to the gray-haired teenager's seat. "I was bored at the house, so I thought I would come get you and familiarize myself with your school."

"That so? Well, all right then," Ayumu said as he got out of his seat. "To be honest, I was getting bored too. If you want, I can show you around to pass the time."

"Really? I'd appreciate that, Ayumu." Minato smiled.

"Not a problem, Senpai," Ayumu replied with a smile of his own. "Okay, let's—"

Just when the two zombies were about to leave, they heard some squeaky noises that came from one of the classroom's doors.

Through the door's window, they saw a figure's face pushing against it, as if they were trying to get inside and didn't know how to use the handle. A couple of seconds later, the figure did step into the classroom while clearing their throat in order to cover up their shame. The figure looked like an adult male who was wearing a trench coat, an ascot, gloves, and a hat. This person's appearance just cried suspicious.

"Who is this freaky old guy, and what does he want?" Ayumu asked, feeling wary. Minato braced himself as he eyed the suspicious adult with caution.

The man walked to where the two boys were and stopped, looking directly at the gray-haired zombie with a creepy grin.

"What I want, my boy, is you," the man spoke finally, and he was completely talking to Ayumu.

With that answer, Ayumu became totally unnerved, his eyes widened in fear. Minato maintained a calm disposition, despite feeling a tad dispirited.

"I want you..." The man continued, sounding very much like a molester and making his way towards the two teenagers.

"Oh no, does that mean what I think it means?!" Ayumu cried out frantically, dreading that he'll be molested.

"Disgusting," Minato remarked as he and Ayumu started backing away from the adult. Minato brought up his fists in a manner akin to how Akihiko would form his fighting stances. He was prepared to beat the living shit out of this molester if he had to in order to save Ayumu. He also felt a strange yet familiar vibe coming from the man. It didn't feel normal, that much he could tell.

"Now it's time... to get to the bottom of things!" The adult declared creepily.

"Waaaah!" From hearing those words, Ayumu immediately covered his butt with his hands.

"No," Minato said discourteously as he charged and delivered a swift straight punch at the trench coat-wearing man, who didn't have enough time to even register what was happening as Minato landed a blow in his gut. Letting out a gasp of pain and shock, the man then flew and slammed into the classroom's chalkboard, causing several cracks to form on the chalkboard and him to fall slowly to the floor.

"W-way to go, Senpai! You just saved my ass! Literally!" Ayumu cheered, tears of joy streaming from his eyes. Nodding at his fellow zombie, Minato assumed a stance he used to take when he had fist-type weapons equipped last year. He could only rely on his fists because one, he wasn't out to kill, and two, he didn't have any weapons from his times spent during the Dark Hour. His hands would be sufficient enough to deal with just one old guy.

"Do you want a full-powered beat down? If so, I'll gladly give one to you," Minato coldly said to the adult, his gold eyes flaring with fearlessness.

Before the blue-haired zombie could continue his onslaught, the window near him and Ayumu suddenly opened, revealing Haruna wearing one of Minato's shirts—one that Minato didn't particularly like because it was red, and he regretted buying it—and holding her pink chainsaw, Mystletainn.

"Whoa. I like that look in your eyes, Minato," Haruna commented. "I should get that down for myself!"

"Haruna, what are you doing here?!" Ayumu exclaimed at the brunette's sudden appearance.

"That old guy over there," Haruna said as she pointed at the man Minato punched earlier with Mystletainn, who was picking himself up off the floor, "is a Megalo!"

"He is?" Minato and Ayumu then looked back at the "adult". So Megalos could disguise themselves as humans?

"Heheheheh... Looks like the cat's out of the bag." The person that Haruna claimed was a Megalo chuckled as he stood up. His body then began to convulse horribly, like something was about to hatch from it. Before long, a huge pair of claws emerged from the man's back and shredded the trench coat he was wearing as if it were paper, revealing a giant crawfish that was wearing a student gakuran, just like that Megalo, Kummachi, from yesterday.

"Eh, that thing's a crawfish?" Ayumu asked, a bit surprised by the creature in front of him.

Haruna jumped into the room, landing next to Minato and Ayumu. She then said, "Yup. A double A-class Megalo, and an incredibly diabolical one too."

"Do all Megalos resemble animals?" Minato questioned the chainsaw-wielding girl as he looked at her.

"Every single one," Haruna answered without hesitating.

"Just wondering." Minato turned back to the crustacean in the room, which was slowly approaching he and his friends.

"Mwahahaha!" The Megalo guffawed. "I came here because I was drawn to the power of a Magical Garment Girl." It then pointed at Ayumu with a claw. "But I'm perplexed as to how that power resides in this human."

"That's gonna take a while to explain," Ayumu replied, but even he didn't know the answer to that either.

"I hate long stories!" Haruna protested.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Ayumu snapped back.

With an aside smirk, Haruna stuck her pink chainsaw into the floor, revving it up at the same time. "Super Magical Garment Change!" A pink light erupted around her.

As the surge of light enveloped her, she chanted, "Nomobuyo, Oshi, Hashitawa, Dokeda, Gunmīcha, Dē Ribura!"

When she finished her incantation, the light faded away, and Haruna appeared to be wearing her Magical Garment Girl outfit from last night once more. Maybe she didn't lose her powers after all!

"Waah! Oh no! Why is this happening to me again?!" She then shrieked, now naked and covering herself with her arms and dropping Mystletainn. It looked as if she did allegedly lose her powers. Her clothes vanished into particles of light very quickly. Apparently, Minato's shirt didn't come back. It was gone, too. ...Well, he didn't care too much about it, anyway.

Looking away from Haruna, Minato decided that they wasted enough time messing around. "It's okay, Haruna. Stand back. Ayumu and I will handle this."

"We will?" The gray-haired zombie interjected.

The bluenette gave him a stern look. "Are you going to let that over-sized lobster rape you?" The Megalo he was talking about complained that it was a crawfish, but Minato ignored it. Ayumu frenziedly shook his head. "Good. Now, what to do... A little Agidyne or Ragnarok, and that lobster is fried. That'd be too easy, though."

The crawfish Megalo could feel a vein pop in its head. "I'M A CRAWFISH, NOT A LOBSTER, YOU DAMN HUMAN! You may have surprised me with that strike of yours earlier, but you won't be getting the drop on me again!" At that instant, it shot off one of its claws, which propelled forward like a rocket and was heading straight for the Persona-user.

"Oh, I know what you are..." Minato calmly stated to the Megalo as he walked forward a few feet and then stood motionlessly, black shards floating out of his head.

Though she was not entirely sure what came out of Minato's head, despite seeing it last night also, Haruna alerted, "Get out of the way, Minato!"

"Heh, don't worry about him, Haruna," Ayumu informed the Magical Garment Girl composedly. He knew for a fact that there wasn't anything to worry about.

"What?! What the hell do you mean?! Minato's your friend, isn't he?! Are you just gonna let him get hurt, you jackass?!" Haruna cried angrily.

Not feeling offended by her remark, Ayumu simply said, "Just watch." Both he and the brunette then observed the altercation playing out in front of them.

The Megalo's claw sped forward with high-speed, only to be abruptly stopped as it made contact with Minato's body and dropped to the floor like a rock. Minato appeared to be unharmed from the impact.

"...I just don't care," the blue-haired zombie continued from where he left off, sounding kind of bored.

"WHAT?! How could a mere human be unfazed from an attack like that?!" The Megalo shrilled in confusion. The bluenette didn't even so much as budge from the strike. Haruna seemed to be just as stunned as she gaped.

"Well, you could say it's because I'm a zombie, but that isn't the case here." Minato took out his Evoker and raised it to his head, his finger on the trigger. For a second time, another set of black shards emerged from his head. "It doesn't matter what I'll say since you're not going to last much longer, anyway."

The crawfish laughed. "Hahaha! You're going to kill ME?! I'd like to see you tr—"

Tired of the crustacean's rant, Minato pulled the trigger.

"Persona."

The sound of glass being smashed reverberated throughout the room. A large human-like figure materialized out of thin air behind Minato, floating. Its hairstyle was nearly identical to Minato's, instead having a bright yellow color to it. Other than its head, the being's entire body seemed mechanical. A hefty lyre, which had the same color as the being's hair, was attached to its back.

Haruna, at the sight of the humanoid, could sense the raw and seemingly endless power it exuded, and she quaked in fear. Somehow, this being in front of her now terrified her more than those two beings she witnessed last night. Just what were they, and who in the world was Minato?

"Don't be afraid, Haruna," Minato reassured the Magical Garment Girl, his back still turned to her. Without having to look, he could tell she was afraid. "It's going to be alright."

"Wh-What is that?!" The Megalo asked in shock. It, too, sensed the mysterious and sudden being's power.

Minato tried his hardest to suppress a cocky grin.

"I already told you."

The being that Minato summoned, his Persona, Orpheus Telos, then shot forward towards the crawfish, intent on smashing the crustacean with the lyre on its back. Before the Megalo could even react, Orpheus Telos swung its lyre upward and launched the Megalo up into the air. The Persona then ascended and brought its instrument down, causing the crawfish to slam into the floor and creating a sizable cavity as a result. While the Megalo was dazed and hurt, Orpheus Telos appeared next to it and executed a swift, horizontal kick, which led to the crustacean to crash into desks and to be hurled to the front of the classroom. As soon as it landed in the same spot from when Minato punched it earlier, it collapsed to the floor, almost unconscious.

"Ergh... You pretentious—" The Megalo tried to speak before experiencing an intense and sudden amount of pain from Orpheus Telos, with its instrument, bashing the Megalo on the head, blacking out in the process. Orpheus Telos then reappeared behind its summoner, continuing to be maintained.

In every possible way to look at this scenario, the blue-haired zombie was obviously winning. Ayumu and Haruna could only gaze in amazement as their housemate was prevailing in this one-sided conflict.

Minato, with Orpheus Telos, could have ended things right here and now with a Ragnarok that was powered up with a Mind Charge, but he didn't want to have the glory of killing the crawfish himself. It wouldn't feel right, to him.

"Ayumu," Minato spoke to his kouhai, but he kept his gaze on the downed Megalo.

Blinking a few times from witnessing his fellow zombie's clear edge on the battle, Ayumu hurriedly stuttered, "Wh-what is it, Senpai?"

"I don't feel like taking all the credit for finishing off this Megalo. How about we team up to end this?" The bluenette asked.

"H-Huh?!" Ayumu couldn't believe what he was hearing. "But you already seem like you can handle this without my help! I mean, what can I do compared to you?"

While it was true that all Ayumu could really do, as a zombie, was use more than 100% of his natural strength, Minato wanted to give his friend a chance in the spotlight. It was feasible that Ayumu couldn't finish the job, but if he at least contributed, then Minato would be satisfied.

"Listen up, zombie boy who isn't Minato!" Haruna began talking to Ayumu. She still couldn't remember his name? She took the classroom's curtains and wrapped herself in them since she recently lost her clothes. She had to have some type of clothing to cover her modesty. "You gotta use Mystletainn!"

Ayumu looked at her incredulously. "Your... chainsaw?"

"Yeah, since you stole my powers, you can become a Magical Garment Girl!" She informed him.

"What?! I don't wanna become a girl!" Ayumu exclaimed.

"Man up and turn into a girl to help Minato!" Haruna snapped back. The logic in her words was so convoluted, yet it made so much sense that it was actually hilarious in hindsight.

"Dammit..." Ayumu muttered bitterly as he picked up Mystletainn and braced himself. "All right then."

'Not how I was expecting Ayumu to help me, but this suffices too,' Minato thought. Now his fellow zombie had a unique power of his own. Yes, he had the power... to become a... Magical Garment Girl...

Oh, this was gonna get weird.

"Now, say it with me," Haruna ordered, probably referring to the incantation of becoming a Magical Garment Girl.

With a nod, Ayumu and the brunette both simultaneously chanted, "Nomobuyo, Oshi, Hashitawa, Dokeda, Gunmīcha, Dē Ribura!"

One flash of pink light later, the gray-haired zombie was found to be wearing the frilly outfit of a Magical Garment Girl that was similar in the design of Haruna's. Everything she wore last night and a few minutes ago was accounted for on Ayumu. Yes, even the stockings. Mystletainn, the pink chainsaw, had pink letters that spelled out "Ayumu" on its blade.

"What?! Not this getup!" Ayumu said in embarrassment.

"It's gonna make you stronger and way more brave, so don't knock it, you jackass!" Haruna criticized. How dare he mock a Magical Garment Girl's uniform, especially since it looked exactly like her own.

"For real?!" Ayumu quipped.

"...What the hell am I even looking at?" was all Minato could say as he looked at Ayumu. As much as he had seen a lot of strange stuff in his life, Ayumu crossdressing was something he was definitely not prepared for.

Ayumu felt as if his ego was completely shattered. His Senpai, who was also his housemate, was now disgusted by him?

"You... look... great, Ayumu..." Minato wistfully complimented his kouhai, attempting to smile.

"That's not helping, Senpai!" Ayumu whined as he cried tears of humiliation.

"Urgh..." The two zombies and Haruna heard the Megalo grumble. It was starting to regain consciousness. "...Did anyone get the number of that kid who beat the hell out of me?"

"Zero," Minato answered flatly.

"Thank you..." The crawfish said hysterically. It then finally got its bearings straight. It now noticed that Ayumu was dressed in a Magical Garment Girl garb. "Oh...? You're a pervert, too?"

"I am NOT!" Ayumu vehemently denied. "Damn it, I'm sick to death of everybody calling me a pervert!" Enraged, he ran past Minato and swung Mystletainn down on the Megalo's remaining claw in an attempt to saw through it. The Megalo was actually getting hurt from the assault, although it was hard to tell.

"I suppose now we can end this." Minato had Orpheus Telos charge at the Megalo again while it was being distracted by Ayumu. Avoiding the Magical Garment Girl zombie, the blond-haired Persona, with its lyre, flung the giant crawfish into the air, but this time, it flew through the ceiling and went high above into the sky. "Your turn, Ayumu!" Utilizing 150% of his strength, Minato grabbed Ayumu's hand with his own two hands and quickly threw him through the hole he made in the ceiling so that the gray-haired teenager could put an end to this battle.

Unintentionally, Minato's actions caused the students of Ayumu's school who hadn't left yet to notice what was going on.

"Thanks, Senpai!" Ayumu shouted back as he became harder to see for Minato and Haruna while ascending through the air. Ayumu then caught up to the Megalo in the air, focused on killing it. "Now, what was the name of that 'ultimate technique' thing Haruna used? Let's see... Oh yeah, now I remember."

Mimicking what he saw from Haruna last night, Ayumu performed some somersaults in the air before screaming, "Mystletainn KICK!"

Instead of an actual kick, of course, he just began slicing the Megalo's head with Mystletainn, the head leaking lots of blood.

The crawfish Megalo, while in a severe amount of pain from its head being sawed, managed to say, "CUTTING SOMEONE WITH A CHAINSAW'S NOT A KICK, YOU CROSSDRESSING PERVERT!" Once its head was divided, the crustacean finally disintegrated into red particles that soon disappeared into nothing.

"I'M NOT A PERVERT!" Ayumu screamed as he plummeted from the sky, unfortunately not able to fly. A crater formed when he crashed into the ground, forming a dust cloud from the impact.

As the dust cloud was clearing, Minato dismissed Orpheus Telos, put his Evoker away, and picked up Haruna in a bridal style, to which she began to blush like mad. Minato then jumped through the hole he created by using 100% of his strength in his legs and descended to Ayumu's location while he switched to using Beelzebub, a Persona that was able to nullify Strike damage, in his mind so he wouldn't break his legs from falling. When Minato did touch the ground, undetected by students, Haruna quickly leaped off of his arms, still blushing, and he immediately went to check on his fellow zombie.

"...That freakin' hurt," the Magical Garment Girl zombie mumbled as he rubbed his head to ease some pain.

"Are you okay, Ayumu?" Minato questioned concernedly as he reached the gray-haired zombie.

"I think so... Yeah..." Ayumu said, trying to get his bearings straight.

"What the hell...? Ayumu?" A voice asked, sounding familiar. The two zombies looked and saw Orito at the edge of the crater. They not only saw him, but a bunch of other students as well that gathered around. And they were all staring at Ayumu, who still had Magical Garment Girl clothes on.

...Well, this was bad.

'Damn, we caused too much of a scene.' Minato gritted his teeth. That fight attracted unwanted attention, something Minato wished to avoid. Now what was going to happen?

"Ew, gross!" A female student exclaimed at Ayumu's appearance.

"Is that cosplay?" One student asked.

"Wait," Ayumu started as he stood up, "it's not what you think! I can explain! Um..."

Orito was beginning to back away, an uneasy look on his face formed. "Don't tell me you're some kind of... tranny?"

As soon as the glasses-wearing student said that, every student in the vicinity whipped out their cell phones and proceeded to take pictures of Ayumu while he was still dressed as a Magical Garment Girl.

...What?

"Wait... This... I don't even... Huh...?" Minato was at a loss for words. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Every teenager here was focused on Ayumu crossdressing, and they didn't care about seeing a giant crawfish in the sky?! What was wrong with these students?!

Not paying attention to his senpai's agitation because everyone's cell phones were snapping shots of him, Ayumu desperately insisted to the students of his school, "No! Don't look! Don't take pictures! Cut it out! You guys have got it all wrong, I swear!"

'Hide your shame, Ayumu. Hide your shame because I'm evidently surrounded by idiots,' Minato lamented inwardly as he facepalmed. He swore this stupidity was even worse than people with Apathy Syndrome! He couldn't comprehend each of these students' logic! No one at Gekkoukan High would act like these students! Hell, Junpei, of all people, would be more concerned about a huge crustacean monster than a crossdresser!

"Hey!" A voice shouted, which turned out to be Haruna's. Her voice managed to make the students stop taking pictures of Ayumu.

Upon seeing the brunette, Ayumu pleaded, "Haruna, please! Tell them I'm not a drag queen!"

"Listen up, folks!" Haruna grabbed everybody's attention as she pointed at Ayumu. "Ayumu, he isn't a drag queen." That answer made the gray-haired teenager feel relieved.

Minato could only sigh. He knew where this was going.

"But he is a Magical Garment Girl! Now and forever!" Haruna stated with finality.

And that was when Ayumu's jaw dropped as the brunette's last words echoed in his mind. Believing his human life and his dignity were seemingly over, all he could do then was sob as he stood motionlessly, as if his soul had left his body, and the picture-taking and rude comments began anew.

"Geez, what a pervert."

"That is so not cute."

"I thought he was cooler than this."

"Oh my god! You're some kind of magical girl now?!" Orito couldn't hide his astonishment of his best friend crossdressing and role-playing.

Haruna nodded to herself, proud that she revealed Ayumu was a legit Magical Garment Girl.

And Minato... He felt like bashing his head against a wall, without having a Persona equipped that could negate Strike damage.

Just what kind of unusual life was he dealing with here?

---

Meanwhile, back at the Aikawa residence, Eucliwood Hellscythe was busy drinking tea that her blue-haired servant made for her prior to leaving.

She also wrote on her notepad, [I'm hungry...]

---

One Week Later

Nighttime

---

"I couldn't get enough of your fried eggs, Haruna. They were very delicious," Minato elated as he sat in his home's living room with his two female housemates. He was having a good conversation with the small brunette in the room. Eucliwood was watching a TV show; this time it was a detective one.

"Heh, I am a genius, Blue, so you shouldn't be surprised," Haruna responded with a grin. She was happy her food impressed the bluenette. Today, she decided to whip up her special food: fried eggs. Honestly, it was the only thing that she could cook properly, but she was pretty damn good at doing it.

A week had passed since the Megalo incidents. Nothing of note occurred in that timespan as the days went by peacefully. Ayumu returned going to his school on a regular basis. Because he was a Magical Garment Girl, he had the ability to erase memories, something Haruna tried on him before but failed. When he realized that he had this power, he deleted every one of his fellow students' memories of him crossdressing without a second thought. Despite him hating the outfit, he supposed being a Magical Garment Girl wasn't all that bad.

Minato still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that the students of Ayumu's school paid more attention to the adolescent zombie crossdressing than that over-sized crawfish that same crossdresser killed. He decided to just stop thinking about it, as he might experience his head exploding from sheer lunacy. He also chose to stay away from his kouhai's school unless he really had to go back for important reasons. He didn't know how much more he could take from being near those students.

"I'm home," a familiar male with gray hair said as he entered the living room.

"Oh hey, Ayumu." Minato greeted with a wave of his hand. "How was your day?"

"It was pretty good, Minato-senpai," Ayumu answered. 'Though I wish everybody didn't eat my lunch...'

Haruna looked towards the student and asked, "And? So?"

"So did I enjoy eating your bento of fried eggs? Not bad for your first time," Ayumu complimented the brunette.

Haruna folded her arms across her chest and boastfully said, "I am a genius, you know."

"Well, you might wanna harness that bright power a bit more, like thinking of some side dishes. A man can't live on eggs alone, you know?" Ayumu stated.

"Shut up! Eggs are the only things I can cook, so you'll take what you can get!" Haruna proclaimed. Yes, she only knew how to cook eggs. "Besides, I bet Minato can probably live on eggs!" She then faced the blue-haired zombie in the room to get an answer.

"Hmm... I do like eggs. I think I can," Minato replied truthfully. Actually, besides meat, he enjoyed eating eggs. And considering how good Haruna was at cooking them, then he had no problem whatsoever.

"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana..."

Haruna smiled. "See?"

"But that's just Minato-senpai," Ayumu retorted. As he left to go change in his room, he added, "He'll eat anything."

"That is true," the Persona-user confirmed. He was reminded about the times he taste-tested Fuuka's cooking that did gradually improve over time. He also thought there was absolutely nothing that could taste more worse than her initial meals.

[Minato, could you start making dinner, please?] A note with those words was held in front of Minato's face. Minato could hear his necromancer master's stomach growling, too.

"I will, Eu. It's my turn to cook dinner tonight anyway." Minato stood up to go prepare tonight's meal in the kitchen.

"I can't wait!" Haruna cheered.

---

"Bon appétit," Minato said with a small bow. For dinner, he cooked kimchi pork, like Ayumu did last week. The reason why was because he wanted to add his own zest to it. That, and Eu told him she wanted to taste his version of the meal.

With a feral grin and her mouth drooling, Haruna professed, "Wow... So this is kimchi pork? I can't wait to devour it!" She then laughed creepily.

"In our world, creepy laughs are kind of bad manners," Ayumu stated before he started eating.

Haruna blinked. "Oh. I guess I'm still acting like someone from another world, huh?"

"Or just plain stupid," Ayumu added, earning a glare from the brunette.

[Could I have some rice, Minato?] Eu asked her servant. [And meat.]

"Okay, anything for you, Eu," Minato responded kindly as he did her bidding.

[Do we have truffles?] She wondered.

"Hmm... Think we're fresh out of those," Ayumu answered.

While nomming on her rice, Haruna said, "I hope this helps my powers. I don't think they're back yet. I'm gonna need seconds, so give me more of your tasty white stuff!" She then held out her empty bowl of rice towards Minato since he was the closest to the rice cooker.

"Alright, give me a moment, Haruna," Minato replied, grasping her bowl, filling it with steamy and warm rice, and giving it back to her.

"Thanks, Minato!" Haruna praised as she began to scarf down on her rice.

"So, since you said your powers haven't returned, does that mean you'll be staying here longer?" Minato wondered. She had been living with him, Ayumu, and Eucliwood for a week, and he was curious as to how long she planned to stick around.

"Sure does, Blue, so make with the thirds!" Haruna declared, holding out her bowl for more rice.

"Oh, me too, Senpai," Ayumu chimed in.

Eu also needed more rice, saying, [I may need a bigger bowl.]

Feeling the amiable atmosphere, Minato let a faint smile adorn his face. This was nice. He really did feel as if everyone here was acting like a real family.

"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana..."

"Well, if you guys need anything else, name it and I'll serve it," the blue-haired teenager annunciated in a bright tone, something he barely ever did but he couldn't help himself.

"In that case, I'd like some miso soup, please."

"Sounds good..." Minato trailed off and blinked. He heard a feminine voice, one that he didn't recognize. Whose voice was that?

When he looked in front of him, an attractive girl, in Minato's opinion, with long, black hair tied into a ponytail appeared out of nowhere, seating herself between Eucliwood and Haruna. She had green eyes and wore a cloak over her shoulders. She also was... very well-endowed. She wore a yellow sleeveless blouse with thin shoulder straps on her person that emphasized her... proportions, accompanied with blue jeans that were supported by a belt. Leaves were whirling around the living room, like she entered with them.

"Um... Miso soup, right?" Minato asked the newcomer for confirmation.

"Yes, please." She nodded her head.

"Another one, huh? Great..." Ayumu muttered in displeasure.

---

Despite not knowing who this mysterious black-haired girl was, Minato decided to be cordial and made what she asked him for. It didn't take him long to whip up some miso soup for her as she waited patiently. By the time she finished eating, everyone at the table, except Eu, was done with their dinners too.

"How was it?" Minato wondered how his soup tasted.

"It was quite delicious. You're an excellent cook," the female stranger commented, wiping her mouth with a napkin. Minato acknowledged the polite compliment with a nod.

'Bossy like Eu and Haruna, but at least she gives compliments,' Ayumu noted mentally.

"Anyone mind telling me who this chick is?" Haruna asked as she pointed at the unknown guest.

"Actually, I kind of assumed she was one of your friends," Ayumu speculated. He turned to Eu, who was eating what was left of her rice with her chopsticks. "So, do you know who she is?"

The small necromancer didn't respond as she ate.

"...Okay, I'll go ahead and take your silence as a 'no'. Do you know who she is, Senpai?"

"I don't know her either," Minato answered honestly, shrugging at the same time. Like Haruna and Ayumu, and perhaps Eu, he was also curious about the black-haired girl.

"Hmm." Ayumu crossed his arms. "Listen, lady, no one here knows who you are, so do you mind introducing yourself?"

"Very well then. Since you insist..." The dark-haired girl began. "My name is Seraphim."

Remembering what he learned in class recently, Ayumu said with a bit of excitement, "Whoa, you're an angel?"

Ignoring what the zombie said, Seraphim continued, "I am a practitioner of the Swallow Return Strike. My special skill is the Swallow Return Strike, and my hobby is the Swallow Return Strike."

"...Well if you're that into it, it must be pretty freaking awesome, then," Ayumu deduced unenthusiastically. He genuinely didn't have a clue as to what she was talking about.

"What brings you to this dump?" Haruna asked.

Seraphim set her eyes on the necromancer at the table, who was sipping her warm tea. "I was dispatched here to enlist the aid of Lady Eucliwood Hellscythe. I've been charged to not only do that, but accompanying Lady Hellscythe back to my village as well."

"And where's that?" Ayumu couldn't help but ask.

"The Village of Ninjas," Seraphim stated.

'And here, ladies and gentlemen, is this week's girl with abnormal abilities,' Minato teased inwardly. Even after being introduced to Seraphim, he felt like nothing was going to surprise him at this point.

"Oh, I was totally about to guess that," the gray-haired zombie deadpanned, clearly not amused. "So if you're from there, does that mean you're a ninja?"

"Yes," Seraphim admitted, "and actually more. I'm a vampire ninja."

Ayumu narrowed his eyes. "A vampire ninja?" He repeated doubtfully. He had met a zombie prior to becoming one himself, a necromancer, a Magical Garment Girl, and he was now in the presence of a vampire ninja? What was he going to meet next in the future? A female android that can shoot bullets?

His attention and Minato's were redirected to the sound of Eu's pen tapping against the coffee table. They both saw the note she had written just now. It said, [Minato, Ayumu. I don't care. Send her away.]

"And how are we supposed to kick out a vampire ninja?" Ayumu asked her.

Eu tapped her pen again, meaning that she repeated her words to her servants.

Ayumu sighed. He and Minato didn't exactly know what they could do to make the vampire ninja leave.

"Tell me, what exactly is yours and the one with blue hair's relationship with Lady Hellscythe?" Seraphim wondered.

Before Ayumu could have another one of his "Eu fantasies" or sound perverted, Minato said, "We're her servants, Seraphim."

The vampire ninja nodded at the bluenette. "Then please, allow me to become your servant, too," Seraphim urged the necromancer. "You may address me as Sera, if you wish, my lady."

Eu then wrote to Sera, stating, [Two is enough.]

"Please, reconsider," Sera insisted. "Allow me to at least replace the lowly maggot who has gray hair since I am far more intelligent and capable than he is. I will be your servant, along with the blue-haired one."

Minato couldn't help but feel intrigued by her remark. 'Weird. She doesn't hate me. I wonder why.'

"...Wait. Why only me?!" Ayumu exclaimed. Why was he always the target of girls' ire?!

"Because, maggot, I can tell the blue-haired one is a far superior person compared to you," Sera retorted harshly.

In all honesty, Minato was not expecting an answer like the one Sera had just brought to the table. Sera's commendation kind of flattered him a little. The bluenette did feel bad for Ayumu, though, since the second-year student was getting so much hate for reasons unknown.

"...You didn't have to say it like that," Ayumu murmured, feeling small and pushing his two index fingers together.

"Since it appears you are the stubborn type who will not surrender their post willingly, maggot, I suggest we take this matter at somewhere more private," the vampire ninja declared.

Putting on a more serious face, Ayumu sternly looked at Sera.

"I'm real sorry to disappoint you, but I make it a habit not to fight girls," Ayumu argued. "And I have a feeling Minato-senpai doesn't like to fight girls either."

"You both will," Sera dissuaded, including Minato in this near future fight, apparently, "and I shall make perfectly clear to Lady Hellscythe which of us is more suited to be her servant. If you both lose, then I shall replace you, maggot."

Minato remained silent while Seraphim spoke. She sounded very serious about becoming a servant of Eu's. Why? He didn't know, but it looked like he was in for an unavoidable battle, yet again.

Ayumu frowned before sighing. Why did this have to happen?

---

Although Seraphim was the one who challenged the two zombies, she allowed them to choose where their battle would take place. Minato didn't have a place in mind, so he let Ayumu choose. The gray-haired zombie eventually decided on going to that graveyard where he and Minato met Haruna for the first time. The atmosphere of that area made him feel more relaxed.

Prior to reaching their destination, Minato transitioned from using Beelzebub to Siegfried while he thought no one was watching, in case he needed a Masukukaja for himself and Ayumu. Hopefully this time the gray-haired teenager could actually dodge with a speed increment. Or better yet, just dodge in general.

After some minutes had passed, the three of them arrived in the cemetery, with Haruna coming along as a spectator because she had nothing better to do. She brought some cookies as snacks to eat while she spectated.

Eu elected to stay home for this match. She didn't bother to go see who would prevail. She already knew what was going to happen.

Minato and Ayumu stood across from Seraphim, each of them assessing the vampire ninja. Sera was assessing the two zombies herself, but she seemed to be more fixated on Minato, for some reason. The three were neutrally silent for a period of time.

'What Persona should I use against Seraphim? I need to analyze her fighting style before I know which one would be more effective,' the Persona-user contemplated to himself. He hadn't seen the vampire ninja in action yet, nor did he know about what kind of weapons she used. It was stereotypical, but he considered the possibility of her using shurikens, maybe even a blade of sorts. Perhaps a Persona that could negate Slash damage would suffice? He seriously wished he had one of his weapons from his Shadow-killing days.

Haruna, deciding she was tired of waiting, spoke up as she sat on a tombstone. "Hey."

"Relax, we've got this," Ayumu pronounced almost arrogantly.

"I wasn't offering to help. I just want you and Blue to get this thing started already," Haruna replied as she gave the gray-haired zombie a flat stare.

Ayumu looked at her incredulously. "I'm sure I'm not the first to tell you this, but you're a real piece of work."

"Taking your eyes off me is dangerous, maggot," Seraphim elucidated to Ayumu.

"If you think you're just gonna be able to kill me, I've got some pretty disappointing news for you," Ayumu affirmed as he focused on the vampire ninja again. What could she do? He couldn't die because he was a zombie!

"If completing my mission means killing you, then I shall," Sera made clear with no hesitation. "Even if it is a bit trickier, seeing as how you're one of the undead."

Now that just made things more atypical. How in the world did Sera know about Ayumu's condition?

"How do you know he's part of the undead, Seraphim?" Minato calmly asked her, perplexed. He was pretty sure no one mentioned anything related to Ayumu being a zombie.

Seraphim's green eyes altered into glowing red ones before she said, "Ninjas know everything." 'And I even know about you,' she briefly mused to herself. A light breeze passed through the area, leaves scattering about.

Minato and Ayumu readied themselves, guessing their battle was about to start soon.

"I'll slice you until you're incapable of fighting," Sera declared, a sword made purely out of leaves forming in her hand.

"Hmm... Should I, or should I not?" Minato pondered aloud, deciding what to do to prepare himself.

"Um... You do know that zombies can feel pain, right?" Ayumu questioned anxiously. 'Oh man... Why do I have a bad feeling about this?'

Sera pointed her leaf katana towards the two zombies, primarily at Ayumu, and announced, "Spare yourself and yield!"

With an uneasy grin, Ayumu replied, "Sorry, no can do because me and Minato-senpai were asked to send you away."

"All right... So be it!" The vampire ninja charged forward with speed that slightly surprised Minato, but he managed to avoid her assault with ease by jumping to the side. However, he didn't notice that she was going straight for Ayumu, and the gray-haired zombie began to dodge some of her slices, albeit a bit sloppily.

After Ayumu dodged a few of Seraphim's slashes, Minato noticed that she managed to cut through a gravestone that was made of solid stone. Now he knew her leaf blade was the real deal.

Seraphim then disappeared, vanishing with leaves that traveled through the air. As Ayumu's and Minato's vision darted in various directions to locate her, from somewhere, she proclaimed, "I'm a practitioner of the Swallow Return Strike. My special skill is the Swallow Return Strike. And my hobby...?"

"AAAUGH!" Ayumu suddenly screamed. Minato quickly turned to witness Sera horizontally bisect Ayumu through his waist, effectively dividing the zombie into two halves.

"...That's right. The Swallow Return Strike!" Sera finished as she observed one of her opponents falling to the ground into two pieces.

"Brutal!" Haruna commented from afar, crushing the cookie that was in her hand in excitement.

"Ayumu!" Eyes widened, Minato rushed to the severed upper half of his friend's body.

"If that pitiful excuse was all the fight you could muster up, then you aren't worthy of being Lady Hellscythe's servant, you undead maggot!" Seraphim ridiculed, the redness in her eyes fading back to green. "At this rate, I will replace you as Lady Hellscythe's servant!"

'She's certainly not pulling her punches,' Minato thought as he reached Ayumu. "Hey, can you hear me?"

"Eh... ugh..." Ayumu grumbled, still in pain from being sliced. He then looked up at Minato, his eyes filled with sadness. "I'm sorry, Senpai... I couldn't... be of much help to you... I'm... useless..." He said sadly, looking as if he was on the verge of tears.

The blue-haired zombie shook his head. "No, you're not. In fact, you did help me. You put up a good fight, Ayumu," he reassured his fellow zombie sympathetically. "Take it easy, now. I'll handle this from here."

"Senpai..." Ayumu gave the bluenette a warm smile.

"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Temperance Arcana..."

"Hey, what's the deal with you singling me out?!" Ayumu then angrily shouted at Seraphim. Why did it always have to be him who gets horribly injured?

"You aren't worth the trouble, you filthy maggot," Sera responded bluntly. Her eyes were then focused on the other zombie in the area. "Besides... I am more interested in him."

"Me?" Minato pointed at himself. Why was she so interested in him?

Sera nodded. "I feel that you will offer more of a challenge than that maggot you're comforting. I know this."

'Does that mean she knows I can summon a Persona?' Minato deliberated. He then shook his head. That didn't matter. What did matter was that he had to defeat Seraphim now and swiftly. He really didn't want to have to hit a girl. It would make him feel terrible if he did.

"So, will you face me by yourself?" Sera asked the Persona-user.

Taking a deep breath, Minato faced the vampire ninja. "It's been a long time since I had to give it everything I got," he stated. Truthfully, last week, he barely used much of his strength when fighting those two Megalos he and his friends encountered. Sera truly might give him a challenge that he had to take seriously.

"I've been holding back as well," Sera replied, readying a well-disciplined stance as she held her leaf blade, prepared to strike.

Without further hesitation, Minato retrieved his Evoker from his pocket, holding it against the side of his head. Seraphim merely watched and waited in amusement.

"Go get her, Minato!" Haruna yelled encouragingly.

"Have at her, Minato-senpai," Ayumu said from behind.

'Thanks, Haruna, Ayumu.' The blue-haired zombie smiled briefly. "Persona."

Followed by uttering that word, the Persona known as Siegfried appeared behind Minato, casting a Masukukaja on him and then disappearing. Black shards floated out of Minato's head a second later.

At first, Sera seemed startled upon seeing the famed hero who hailed from Norse mythology, but she instantly regained her composure.

"Are you ready?" Minato asked.

"One question before we start: Do you think that you can win against me?" Sera inquired him with a question of her own.

"I don't think I can win. I know I can win," the blue-haired zombie answered back candidly.

Seraphim smiled to herself before her eye color changed to red.

"Very well then. Come at me!"

With boosted speed, Minato blasted forward as Sera did the same. As soon as the two were in close proximity of each other, the vampire ninja swung her sword horizontally but hit nothing. Immediately lifting her head up, she saw Minato, who had jumped into the air, and he was waving at her in a carefree manner and holding his Evoker to his head. Confused at first, Sera then noticed a large white gloved hand about to snag her when she looked down. On instinct, she retreated a few feet back to escape. Upon closer inspection, she could fully see a figure that wore dark clothing and had a beak-like helmet with a hinge located at the jaw, and it was wielding quite a large sword. She noted that the being surrounded itself with coffins that were connected by chains.

"Tch." Minato clicked his tongue. Seraphim was evidently agile enough to dodge Thanatos at close range. He thought that even if he did command the Greek god of death to charge at the vampire ninja, she would still be able to avoid it. As he was momentarily in the air, Minato tried to think of something to catch Sera off guard. When he did come up with an idea, he mentally ordered Thanatos to toss him its blade. With a silent nod, Thanatos threw its sword to Minato.

"What does he think he is doing? He can't possibly wield a blade as large as that," Sera commented as she glanced upward, unsure of what the Persona-user planned on doing.

'In a sense, I will have to borrow their ultimate technique,' Minato thought. "200%." Performing some somersaults in the air, as Thanatos's sword was about to reach him, the blue-haired teenager lifted one of his legs up and kicked the blade down at the bottom of its hilt with his increased strength, although slightly injuring himself in the process. At a high velocity, Thanatos's sword was then sent careening towards the vampire ninja on the ground as it spun continuously.

"Huh?!" Not expecting a method like what she just witnessed, Seraphim barely avoided becoming skewered as Thanatos's blade stuck itself in the ground from where she was originally positioned at.

"Behind you." Minato warped behind Seraphim as she was being distracted. He was still experiencing the effects of Masukukaja, and he tried to land a kick from behind. Before he could land one, however, Seraphim suddenly sprouted devil-like wings from her back and ascended to the sky by leaping backwards as Minato missed hitting his opponent.

"Impressive display, but now it is my turn. Let us see how you'll handle this!" Sera said as she raised her leaf blade. "Swallow Return Strike!" Red crescent energy blasts shot forward as she slashed her sword multiple times.

This vampire ninja was full of surprises, Minato had to admit. He was seemingly wide open. It didn't look as if he would be able to avoid Sera's energy attacks.

"Oh no!" Haruna cried.

Her worry was for naught, in the end, as Thanatos appeared in front of Minato to shield him and took the blasts head-on. Upon impact, the blasts merely damaged the Greek god of death a little since it can resist Slash attacks.

'Hmm... That creature appears to be unfazed by my strikes,' Sera examined as she levitated in the air. 'I doubt I will gain any advantage just by slashing from afar. I will have to approach him at close range in order for—'

While the vampire ninja was busy contemplating, Minato had Thanatos return to the sea of his soul, along with its blade, and switched Personas again. With the one he recently switched to, it would knock Seraphim out of the sky.

"Norn," Minato said as he shot himself, and a burst of black energy surrounded him. A being, whose entire body was gold, materialized behind Minato. It looked like it was a statue of three women, whose bodies encircled the clock it had with it. The Persona, Norn, the goddess of fate, then created strong gusts of wind that rippled throughout the cemetery, stirring up leaves and dust into the air.

Feeling the severe currents affecting her flight, Sera was forced to land as the wind caused her to fall uncontrollably, but that didn't stop her from attempting to slash Minato with her energy attacks. The wind, however, induced the blasts to miss their target as they went in miscellaneous directions.

Minato ran forward to where Sera was going to touch down, unleashing some extra strength with his zombie ability and intending on delivering a corkscrew punch as Norn kept flaring her Magarudyne to keep the vampire ninja off balance.

"Nice try," Minato informed as Sera was about to fall head-first to the ground, aiming his fist at her torso and dismissing Norn. Another set of black shards escaped from his head.

"Hn." The vampire ninja smirked, which confused the blue-haired teenager.

As soon as Minato was about to make contact with Sera's body, a puff of smoke was released, and Minato found himself punching a wooden log instead of a female. From the force of his attack, which the bluenette tried to hold back on, the log was promptly launched and slammed into an obscure part of the graveyard.

"Where did she go?" Minato lost sight of Sera due to her use of ninjutsu to escape. He looked around and couldn't locate her anywhere.

"Over here!" Lifting his head up, Minato saw the vampire ninja quickly flying towards him, prepared to slash him with her sword. Sera slashed diagonally, but Minato hastily evaded her attack by crouching down, a single strand of his blue hair being the only thing that was cut. Slamming his palms onto the ground, Minato used them for support as he kicked Sera in her abdomen, sending her upward.

Nimbly getting back on his feet with a front flip, Minato pressed the trigger of his Evoker again once he raised it to his head. "Orpheus Telos. Maragidyne."

Seraphim regained her balance in the air, but she decided to descend to the ground and retract her wings, thinking that she would be at a disadvantage if she remained aerial. She tried to determine what Minato was trying to do next. This time, she saw him summon a humanoid being with a hairstyle reminiscent of its summoner that appeared to be playing the lyre it retrieved from its back. But when the being finished playing its instrument, nothing happened. No energy blasts of any kind were fired at her immediately, and it didn't look like Minato did anything to get near Seraphim. What did he just do?

"You should probably take a look around you, Seraphim," Minato called out to her, waving at her with the Evoker in his hand.

Perplexed as to what he was talking about, the vampire ninja listened to his words and found a multitude of fireballs that were almost as large as her, all of them suspended in the air as they surrounded her in every direction she glanced in.

"Nowhere for you to hide. Do you yield?" Minato asked Sera with Orpheus Telos levitating behind him. He really didn't want to have every single one of the Maragidyne fireballs converge on her. This was solely a stratagem he thought of to have her admit defeat. Now the question was whether or not she would take the bait.

Sera carefully surveyed her surroundings once more. She smiled and then quickly threw something at Minato, who was sincerely not anticipating any projectiles.

At that instant, Minato immediately found an emerald shuriken stuck to his forehead, his fiery ruse and Persona disappearing due to him losing concentration from sudden pain. Naturally, he winced. He also let go of his Evoker when it flew off of his hand after being hit. Minato's blood started to drip down on his face. Sera's shuriken didn't hurt him as much as he thought it would, possibly because he had Orpheus Telos as his current Persona. It was rather convenient for Orpheus Telos to resist everything.

'I was too careless. I shouldn't have dropped my guard like that. Where is she now?' Minato gritted his teeth, now feeling a tad ashamed. Sera had used Minato's injured daze to vanish again. He couldn't believe he let her do that! If he didn't find her soon, she would end up slicing him like she did to Ayumu! Up to this point in time, after becoming a zombie, he had never lost a limb at all, and he would very much like to keep it that way.

'Wait... This may be my chance...' Minato instantly realized a golden opportunity.

"It's over!" Seraphim reappeared in Minato's blind spot in a rustle of leaves, already swinging her leaf katana at him. Minato attempted to dodge by jumping away, but he felt his foot hurt when he put some force into it. It was the same foot he used from when he kicked Thanatos's sword earlier, and it still hadn't healed. Seraphim was so close to him, it seemed like he didn't have time to avoid her or use his Evoker to summon a Persona to shield him.

Haruna leaned in a bit closer from her spot, eager to see how this will turn out.

'Gotcha in my sights,' Minato mentally remarked, as he remembered which Persona he was using right now.

"Swallow Return Strike!" Saying the name of her favorite technique once more, Seraphim swung both of her arms as she tightly gripped her blade. Minato raised up one of his arms in defense. Seraphim noticed this but continued her assault. "A good effort, but my Swallow Return Strike will render that arm of yours useless!"

Seraphim was expecting her Swallow Return Strike to cleave through Minato's arm, effectively leaving him wide open to be sliced with nothing else left to protect him. After all, it was strong enough to cut through solid rocks. With this, she would be able to become Eucliwood's servant. Compared to the maggot she downed earlier, her current opponent was a worthy one indeed, and she respected him for offering such an entertaining challenge.

However, despite seeing blood from Minato's arm being cut, it didn't sever like Sera had thought it would, and her leaf katana became halfway embedded in Minato's arm as he forcefully pressed on, his determination evident in his gold eyes.

Sera's eyes, Ayumu's, and Haruna's widened.

"H-How?!" Sera exclaimed, unable to comprehend what was transpiring.

"It's because I'm a Persona-user and a zombie!" Minato responded, ignoring his injury as he took the opportunity to headbutt Sera while she was distracted and strike in her abdomen with a 100%-powered straight punch, letting it fly without restraint. Instinctively, the vampire ninja shut her eyes as she was injured and pushed back with an intense amount of force, sending her flying towards a gravestone as she inched closer to it by the second.

...But she never collided with it.

When Seraphim re-opened her eyes, which had turned back to their normal green, she saw herself being held in a bridal style by Minato, who displayed a relieved smile at her. Because he had his speed increased, Minato managed to catch Sera just in time before she came into more harm and his Masukukaja effects left him entirely.

"Are you all right?" Minato wondered worriedly, slightly avoiding Sera's gaze. "Sorry for hitting you. It was the only thing I could think of to end our fight. I... never really wanted to hurt you, Seraphim... I will admit, though, that our fight was enjoyable. You're pretty amazing as a vampire ninja."

'As I expected...' Seraphim thought to herself, showing a satisfied smile and having her leaf katana dematerialize into leaves that proceeded to be blown away as a breeze passed by.

"Can you stand?" Minato asked her, looking into her eyes.

Sera nodded. "Yes, I can." The blue-haired adolescent gently lowered her so she could stand on her own two feet. As she stood on the ground, she noticed Minato's arm was bleeding from her attack earlier, a noticeable gash in it, along with the shuriken she threw at his head. "Ah... your injuries."

"Hmm? These?" Minato looked at his injured arm and glanced at his forehead. He waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, I'll be fine." In a short timespan after he said that, his arm slowly but miraculously healed, appearing good as new. Lastly, Minato removed the shuriken from his head and the injury there healed also. Being a zombie and utilizing Orpheus Telos's Victory Cry were definitely advantageous. Minato hesitantly returned the shuriken to Sera, initially not certain as to whether or not she wanted it back. She took it back without wavering.

'So he can heal himself at a remarkable pace... I see... That's a relief,' Sera mused, feeling a bit of guilt leaving her.

"Hey, Minato!" The blue-haired zombie and the vampire ninja turned to see Haruna approaching them while dragging Ayumu's upper body by his hand. She didn't bother to combine him to his lower half yet?

"Haruna, hey." Minato waved to the Magical Garment Girl.

"That was so cool what you did there at the end!" Haruna said excitedly. "I thought for sure you were going to end up like Ayumu!"

For a moment before the duel concluded, Minato thought the same as well.

'I honestly didn't think my arm would handle Seraphim's Swallow Return Strike, considering what it did to Ayumu. But I was fortunate to have Orpheus Telos as my Persona back there,' Minato ruminated. He will admit he took a huge gamble on letting Sera approach him, but in the end he realized that the vampire ninja was continually hounding him with close-ranged attacks. And at least it worked out with Orpheus Telos's resistance capabilities. Minato's eyes flickered towards his fellow zombie. "How are you feeling, Ayumu?"

"Well... I've been better, but I guess I'll be fine once someone decides to link me together," Ayumu replied while giving Haruna some glares. At the very least, he wasn't going to be replaced as Eu's servant. "Anyway, that was a good fight, Senpai. I'm glad you won."

"Thanks." Minato turned to Seraphim, who was oddly and intently staring at him. "So... What do you plan to do now, Seraphim?"

"I've already made my decision, Arisato Minato," Sera responded politely. "Though, I must apologize for injuring you during our battle."

With those words voiced, it did not take long for Minato and Ayumu to realize that something was truly wrong with this picture.

'Wait, she already knows his last name? Did Minato-senpai ever say it to her? I don't think he did,' Ayumu pondered as he noticed something was off, trying to think back if Minato's last name was ever uttered near the vampire ninja.

"...You can forget about my arm and head, Seraphim. It's alright, I forgive you. But how do you know my last name? Do you know me?" Minato inquired, legitimately feeling perplexed as he perceived Sera having knowledge of his last name.

"Indeed," Sera started, "because you are a Messiah of this world. And due to the fact that you have soundly defeated me in combat, I am now your humble servant." She bowed courteously before the bluenette and spoke with a noticeably respectful tone.

"Pleased to be at your service, Minato-sama," Sera said to Minato as she showed her beautiful smile.

Minato could only stare at Sera blankly, as did Ayumu and Haruna, whose jaws were dropped.

"...Huh?"

"Thou art I... and I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond... Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fortune Arcana..."

---

Iwatodai

---

"Ah, I'm glad you came," Kirijo Mitsuru said as a small figure entered her office. "I'm sorry you had to come all the way here so we could discuss this, but this is a matter that shouldn't be discussed over the phone. This matter... This matter is something important that is related to me."

"May I ask what it is?"

"You will know soon. In fact, it might be better for you if you read this." Mitsuru handed over an envelope, containing several amounts of details of what she, her corporation, and her friends could gather on the inside.

The words "Arisato Minato" were written on the envelope.

Shirogane Naoto's eyes, for a moment, faltered upon seeing the name, but she smiled to herself.

Finally, some closure.

"I sense a case in the making."

---

Next: Chapter 4: Halcyon Days of the Dead

---

Social Links:

Fool (members of Ayumu's house): Rank 4

Chariot (Haruna): Rank 3

Fortune (Seraphim): Rank 1

Death (Eucliwood Hellscythe): Rank 4

Temperance (Aikawa Ayumu): Rank 4

---

A/N: Hi, everyone! Sorata Shioya here, and may I say what a chapter this was to write! It's the largest one I've ever written at this point, which I feel sort of proud of. What did you all think of this chapter?

This story is apparently getting popular as of late. Not really sure why... I guess I'm being a bit pessimistic, am I? Many of you enjoy it, so I must be doing something right.

To some, I'm sure, Ayumu had some focus in the earlier part of this chapter, and he went through a lot of abuse. Like I said, he's still an important character, not just a complete punching bag, physically and mentally. He has to... set himself apart from everyone instead of just being a total side/support character. It's all significant to his character development. Also, yes, I'm aware that Eu wasn't shown much this time around, but this chapter's main focus was introducing Seraphim and Haruna, along with establishing some development for Minato and Ayumu. Don't be afraid because next chapter will have everybody spending time with each other.

I've read the light novel, manga, and watched the anime versions of Is This a Zombie?, but I'm mostly following the anime for now because of its ridiculous amount of black comedy that it handles well. So, for those of you who dislike seeing Ayumu abused, take caution. Do not get me wrong. I love Ayumu (no homo) as a character, but I find him more fascinating in the anime because even with the shit he goes through, he somehow comes out to be awesome.

So, about this story being a multi-crossover: some say yes, some say no. It's pretty much split down the middle. There were some good arguments as to what would be right.

I've decided that A Necromancer's Wild Card won't be a multi-crossover after much thinking and debating. Thanks to everyone who gave their opinions, which helped me decide!

Thanks for reading! As always, reviews are very much appreciated!

Also, yes, I will be giving Minato a vampire ninja wife. ...Though I can assume most of you will know who it will be.

Update: A few of you have been asking when this story takes place. As of the end of this chapter, it's May 2010. So the events of A Necromancer's Wild Card occur a year before the events of Persona 4. I also went and altered some of the dialogue and added a few words here and there. Nothing too drastic changed.

Reviewers:

llat-2 & Darklight of the 0 arcana: Did this chapter answer your question?

BruceNadeauJr: Thanks for your words, sir!

Argorok: It wasn't soon, but I hope you like this chapter!

SilverIceRing: He will get one! And thanks for your review!

Nunas The No Name: Oh, stop. You're making me embarrassed. I appreciate your words!

Kinunatzs: Ayumu as a Persona-user? Maybe.

crazie194: True, Minato's past Social Links are unbreakable. I never said they weren't.

Sixth Ranger BetaHalo: All the way to the events of Arena, huh? It does sound plausible...

Sacchin: Well, they brought in a certain someone to help them!

The bradavol: I get what you mean because I see that a lot in most fanfics I read. Yeah, Japan does have a common practice of cremation for the dead, but that doesn't necessarily mean every person in Japan uses that practice.

Seeker213: Did you catch the reference?

Kibou no Nanaya Zero: Wow... Thanks for your detailed review! It did help me become motivated in making this chapter. Also, this chapter was so long already, I didn't want to include any omakes. Perhaps in the future!

Obersturmfuhrer: Thank you for your review! It made me think about many things for this story's future.

rubytiger & Guest: Sorry, but it's unfortunately not.

HellKing666: Maybe.

Mr. Haziq: I recognize you! Nice to see you here, and thanks for your words!

Driliviel 2: Souji/Yu might make an appearance! Thank you for your words!

Slyr3x: Yes, it would be fun if he did. Yes... and no. Now that'd be a sight to see.

ZairiX: Well, sadly no kisses were in this chapter.