No matter how many times you come at me, I will continue to strike you down... None shall stand in my way!

-Mitsuru Kirijo

Chapter 4: Execution Pt. 2

Minato couldn't do it. There was no way. If he got caught, it was over. Instant execution.

Yet his curiosity was getting the best of him. He needed to know who this mystery guy was and what the Tartarus he wanted with Yukari. So when he heard the shower from the floor above start, he knew he only had one opportunity. Steeling his nerves, he grabbed his phone and left his room, and headed the girls floor.

Minato crept up the stairs and peeked around. Coast looked clear. As quietly as he could, he made his was across the floor to the girls bathroom. Sigh. This was it. No turning back after this. He reached for the door handle and half-prayed it would be locked. It wasn't.

Slowly and deliberately, he sneaked into the steam-filled room. The shower was still running, and a soft feminine humming could be heard. In the corner, by the shower, a flash of red above the curtain. No mistaking. This was Mitsuru.

All he had to do was wait for her to come out, take one picture, and he would have his information. As male as he was, he didn't want to look: if he looked once, it would be hard to look at Mitsuru the same way as he used to.

The water stopped running. Minato's chest tensed. He loaded his phone's camera and swallowed quietly. Here goes.

The student council president opened the curtain and stepped out. Click.

He took the picture and slipped back out the door, and waited. No screams. No shouts. No curses. Minato sank against the wall and took a deep breath of relief. She hadn't noticed. However, his phone suddenly felt very heavy in his hand.

Don't look. Don't look. He took one glance at the picture, cursed and congratulated himself simultaneously, and swore never to look at it again. Before he could get up to leave, disaster struck.

Ringgggg. Ringgggg. Ringgggg.

Minato cursed under his breath and answered. "Hello?" he said as quietly as possible.

"YO WHADDUP MAN!" said a voice louder than every shadow in Tartarus combined.

"Kenji? Is that you?" Minato said, still whispering.

"YEAH! HEY YOU WANNA HANG OUT ON SUNDAY?!"

"I can't talk to you right now Kenji, I'm busy!"

"OH, ALRIGHT. TALK TO YOU LATER THEN!" He sounded disappointed.

Minato shut the phone and sighed. What bad timing. At least he didn't get caught. Now he could take his photo and-

"Penthesilea!"

Thwack.

Splinters of wood shot in every direction as the door next to him partially exploded. A couple inches next to his head, a large icicle was sticking through the bathroom door. Minato resisted the urge to scream.

The door collapsed a second later, revealing a wet yet very terrifying Mitsuru, lightly covered in a towel.

"Whoever or whatever is there, prepared to be executed!" she shouted, a powerful aura of ice and feminine danger surrounding her.

Minato knew he had no choice but to come clean, or he risked being speared. Reluctantly, he stepped out in front of the doorway. In front of an extremely angry Mitsuru. Minato swore she had flames in her eyes. Or maybe they were blizzards.

Upon seeing him, however, the blizzards melted a bit. "Arisato?" Her piercing glare softened into a confused one.

The blue-haired hero smiled nervously. "Ah, Mitsuru. I was just, uh, passing by?" he said, not feeling too confident in himself. "Sooo I'llbegoingnow," he said as he turned away. An uncomfortably warm hand wrapped itself around his wrist. "Stop."

Mitsuru grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around. Minato gulped and started silently praying to every god whose name he could remember.

"Well, this is certainly…unexpected," she said sheepishly, an uncharacteristic stutter in her usually confident speech.

"Mitsuru please, I can explain! Don't execute me I'm just a-"

She put two fingers to his mouth and he stopped.

Mitsuru sighed. "I was expecting it to be Iori, and perhaps I would have actually executed him, but…I'm willing to let you go, Arisato. This time," she said, aiming her gaze at the ground and nervously twirling her wet red hair as she did so.

Relieved but still very embarrassed, he silently thanked his lucky stars and made a resolution to start praying more often. "Thank you Mitsuru. I'm sorry. I'll be going now." Minato turned and was just about to start walking away when he heard something. It was faint, almost as quiet as a whisper. But he heard it clearly.

"I don't mind if it's you, Minato."

Minato froze in place and turned, but Mitsuru was already back in the bathroom, drying her hair with an electric blower. She didn't seem to notice Minato staring right at her. Maybe it had been…his…imagination? Speechless and feeling utterly confused with the night's events, he went back to his room and flopped onto his bed, face down. What a day.

The girl spent a whole five minutes staring at the small picture on the phone screen, an intense look on her face. "Yes! I have now committed every curve and detail to memory!" she stated excitedly, finally looking up from the phone. Minato sighed, momentarily wishing he could contract Apathy syndrome and forget he ever heard that.

"Whatever," he said impatiently. "Just give me what you know about the guy."

"Oh, I have no idea who he is. Sorry! Good luck with Yukari though!" she said, before she took off like a rabbit down the hallway, Minato's phone in hand. Oh, Tartarus.

Just as Minato was about to lay down on the ground and quit for the day, Yukari and the mystery boy should up around the corner. And they were still holding hands. The tall boy shot Minato a very bright smile when he saw him. Oh, he is so going down.

Unable to hold himself back, Minato found himself making a rather grim frown. "When were you going to introduce me to your boyfriend Yukari?" he said dejectedly.

"Huh?" Yukari responded, head tilted curiously. She nodded towards the boy. "He's just a transfer student. I'm showing him around the school. He doesn't know Japanese very well, and he's very nervous, so I thought he would be more comfortable if I physically guided him around for today."

Well that explained his foreign appearance. Still, Minato couldn't believe it. "A transfer student? Bu-but, why does he keep smiling at me like that then?" he said, pointing to the still-beaming blonde.

"Oh," Yukari said, slightly laughing. "From what I've gathered, I think that, uhm..." Yukari paused nervously.

"What is it?"

"I think he likes you. Like, LIKES, you."

"Huh?"

"He's gay, Minato."

...Oh boy.

"So you don't have a boyfriend?" Minato asked, maybe a bit too eagerly.

"Nope," Yukari responded, and Minato did his best to hide a grin. "But you might soon," she said, trying her best to stifle a laugh. Huh?

The transfer student had let go of Yukari and was now trying to give Minato a very intimate hug.

"He-hey! Stop!"

Minato was doing his best to fend off the boy, but his defense was crumbling. "Yu-Yukari! Tell him to stop!"

Yukari was now completely lost to laughing. "Sorry!" she said as she pulled the now-unhappy boy back. "Sorry," she said again, this time to the foreigner but still laughing uncontrollably. "I can't let you have him. He's already taken."

Ba-dump.

Huh? Already…taken?

Ba-dump. Minato's heart was on edge.

Yukari saw his puzzled look and giggled. "You and Mitsuru, right?"

C'est magnifique!

-Mitsuru Kirijo