"She gave the first impression that you gave to me 4 months ago when we first met." – Akihiko Sanada

Chapter 4 – The beginning of an ordeal

"*pant*…..*pant*"

Her breath was heavy from running over a long period of time. The sound of her steps and her breath echoed in the unknown silent place.

Surrounding her was a very unearthly and terrifying view; Coffins could almost be found in every corner. Some gathered in a group and some also stood alone. Blood covered the floor and the wall that she passed. Even the water that used to sprinkle out of the fountain was replaced by the red coloured liquid, adding the creepiness to the atmosphere. Beneath her, a large crescent moon was radiating its eerie bright green light, providing her enough visibility to venture through this place.

It is scary, indeed. However, she had no time to dwell in fear. No time to be afraid. She had to run.

"Why do you run away?"

A distant voice spoke from behind, sending a chill to her spine even though it was still far away, followed by a faint sound of stepping, which grew louder from time to time. Something was chasing her. She knew her life was in danger.

She turned her head to see a colossal silhouette. She could not tell much about the figure, the light from the moon was not bright enough to reveal it.

"It's futile, you cannot escape from your inevitable fate.."

The monster spoke once again. It was louder compared to the previous one and in the same time, more terrifying. It moved very fast, despite of its gargantuan body. Each step that it took enclosed the gap between the two of them.

Shia tried to increase her phase, but it was no use. She just could not outrun that creature. Before she knew it, the dark shadow figure had loomed over her. The short distance enabled her to see the monster's shape clearly; its whole body was covered with fur. Two gigantic horns were pointing out of its head. Both of its small hands were shackled and Its face was covered with a mask labelled 'XII".

"It will always follow you. Time, will eventually bring you back to the destined path."

The giant lifted up its handsand formed a fist, ready to whack her flat to the ground.

"To the ultimate end, DEATH.."

And with that, the monster smashed its hand to the ground

SLAM!

7/9 – After school – 2F homeroom

"Shia-ta~!" Junpei shouted to wake her up. However, Shia's sudden exclamation flinched him.

"No!" Shia yelled as she suddenly woke up from her slumber. Her hands flailed vigorously in respond to the last thing she remembered in her head: the falling monster hand.

SLAP!

Before she realized where she was and what she was doing, she landed a critical hit on Junpei.

"Ow! Ow!" Junpei screamed painfully. A red hand-mark was visible on his right cheek from Shia's sudden hand movement. The voice produced from the slap was so loud and probably could be heard from all over the school. Even Minato, who was at that time had his headphone on and the volume was at maximum, could hear the sound. He chose to ignore it though.

"I'm really sorry Junpei-kun!" Shia bowed apologetically to her blue-capped friend who was currently trying to ease the pain with his hand. "Are you alright? Do I break any of your bone?"

"Don't worry about him, Shia-chan. He deserves it." Yukari said in a cold tone as she approached Shia from her desk after hearing the slapping sound. "Seriously, can you stop disturbing others, Stupei?"

"Ouch! Don't be so mean Yuka-tan! School has ended! I'm just trying to wake her up!" Junpei protested. His sentence somehow struck the new transfer student as her eyes grew wide in shock.

"What? School was over?" She blurted out before Yukari had a chance to reply Junpei's remark. After taking a quick look at the clock and her surroundings, it was true that the school was already over. "Why didn't I notice? I thought this is still lunch break!"

"Lunch Break?" Yukari and Junpei were dumbfounded by their new friend's realisation. Did she sleep throughout the whole afternoon period which has a total of 2 hours lesson? They could not tell since Mrs Toriumi asked her to sit beside Minato (and made some of the boys in the class cried in disagreement and jealousy towards Minato. Why can't she be placed beside them instead? This world is so unfair), while both of them sat in the front row. They wished they could ask her, but they were too shocked at the moment to do it.

Shia, realizing that her two friends would not be able available for the time being, turned to the drowsy blue-haired teenager, who still sat beside her and ignored the three of them, to ask for a confirmation. He was listening to his mp3 player. Sound was blaring out of his headphone which was attached on his ears. She was amazed that Minato had not had any hearing problems. Wait, was he there all the time? If so, why he did not wake her up when the class started?

"Minato-kun, why don't you wake me up just now?" She asked him, but only received his humming as a respond. Shia tried again, this time, she talked louder and shook his shoulder. She succeeded.

"..Yes?" Minato asked her plainly as he took off his headphone from his ears and let it hung on his shoulder, utterly oblivious of what was happening.

"I'm asking you just now, why don't you wake me up during the whole afternoon periods?" She raised her voice a little bit, annoyed with Minato's attitude.

"….Well, you look so tired and the teacher did not seem to mind you. So I think nothing's wrong with that right? "He said nonchalantly, looking to the view outside the window as he recalled what he had seen throughout the whole afternoon class; how the teacher just continued on with his lecture despite of the obvious sight that his bench mate was sleeping and also how cute her face was when she did that. He blushed upon remembering it, but managed to hide it from her. "Just try not to do that again. Final is next week. I'm sure you don't want to get a low score for that."

"I know." Shia sighed "I just cannot help it, Okay?"

"Huh? What do you mean Shia-chan?" Asked Yukari who finally managed to recover from the earlier shock.

"Well, I cannot sleep well last night."

" Why? Is the dorm bed uncomfortable for you?"

Shia shook her head, disagreeing." No, the bed is fine. I fell asleep as soon as I hit the pillow. The problem was after that." She paused and her body shivered upon remembering what she experienced last night, this afternoon, as well as the other nights before." I have a nightmare.. Again"

"Nightmare….Again?" Yukari, Minato and Junpei blinked and repeated what she said simultaneously in confusion.

"Yes.. I don't really remember when I started to have it. Usually, it only happened once or twice a week. However, recently the dream starts to appear more often. And the dream is always the same one." Her face became dark and a bit frustrated.

"When do you usually have it?" Minato asked her. He turned his music off so he could hear her better. Her nightmare somehow piqued him, Junpei and Yukari.

Shia tried to remember. "I am not sure, but every time I woke up, the moon was always either full or nearly full."

"Full moon? "It reminded Minato of something, but he did not want to conclude it yet." Then, what are you dreaming of?"

"Er.. Everything happened so fast. I cannot remember the detail, but the place is always full of coffin and blood. There is a moon, it is very big and the colour is green instead of yellow. Oh yes, and there is also a bull-like monster with a mask that is chasing me and is trying to kill me..."

Her three friends' face changed upon hearing that. They seemed to be surprised.

"Dude!But That is.." Junpei blurted out which surprised both Minato and Yukari as he could spill everything about the dark hour and what not. Luckily the capped-teen flinched as soon as he saw the face which Minato put on when Pharos played with his cellphone.

"No Junpei. It's too early to come to a conclusion. ." Minato tried to calm Junpei down.

"It seems you guys know something." Shia said who become curious after seeing Junpei's and Minato's reaction.

"Yes we do, but I'm afraid we cannot tell you yet shia-chan, at least for the time being. As soon as we clear all our doubts, we'll tell you right away." Yukari said to Shia. She felt a little bit guilty of having to hide things from her." sorry.."

"No, it's Alright." She smiled. " It's only a dream after all, it won't affect me much."

" while making you unable to have a good rest and distracting your daily life? You bet.." Minato thought to himself at her point." Tell us if you have it again, alright?"

"I will." She responded, smile coming back to her face. Sharing her trouble seemed to made her feel better. " Hey, do you guys have anything to do now? If not, want to hang out together? Minato and I are going to Paulownia Mall today!"

"I promised to show her around but I haven't brought her there due to time constrain.." Minato added.

"..Man, sorry, I've promised to treat Kenji at Wakatsu today" Junpei replied apologetically." You should've told me earlier, I would love to come! But breaking a promise is not what a man should do."

" I've also promised with my archery buddy to study together today. Sorry Shia-chan, maybe next time." Yukari also replied.

"Oh, okay," Shia said, a bit disappointed. "Then, it will only be the both of us again, today."

After School- near School gate

After they parted with Junpei and Yukari, Minato and Shia walked out of the school together. Along the way, Shia felt dozen pairs of eyes were glaring straight at her sharply, which at first made her feel uncomfortable. She decided to shrug it off though. They did that probably because her face was still unfamiliar to them. As they exit the school building, they saw a group of girls was surrounding someone; A male teenager with a silver hair, grey eyes and well-built body. He was wearing a red vest and black gloves. His face showed that he didn't like the girls' presence.

"Hey, is that.." Shia began, trying to remember the name of the guy.

"Akihiko Sanada. Our senpai, fellow dorm mate, and the school boxing-champ. You met him yesterday." Said Minato

"Whoa.. I don't know he is so popular." Shia remarked amazedly.

"Well, he is smart, handsome, cool and masculine. I believe it's very rare to come across a guy like him."

"Umm..he looks frustrated, shouldn't he be happy to be surrounded by girls like that?"

Minato stayed silent. He knew how stressful it is to be surrounded by ton of girls that you don't know who want to be close to him. He had experienced it twice before. Luckily his ability to ignore his surroundings and his deathly glare manage to stir them away. However, he knew that those girls were still lurking in the school, increasing their ranks and waiting for their chances to come.

"…Let's help him.." He finally said before he approached the boxing champ. Shia followed him behind.

"Greetings, Akihiko Senpai." His voice attracted Akihiko's attention and also some of the girls' whose face became red as soon as their eyes saw Minato. They cried hysterically. It made Shia surprised to know that the blue-haired guy was also quiet popular.

"Hey, Arisato. Are you guys going somewhere?" Akihiko seemed to be relieved to see Minato. He knew Minato, unlike Junpei, was not going to tease him of his popularity and instead helped him out of this mess.

"..Shia-chan and I are going to Paulownia Mall, want to tag along senpai?" Minato said to him. Hearing a girl's name being mentioned by the S.E.E.S. leader made some of the girl squealed hysterically

"Why must you go with her, Minato-kun?" Said one of the girls.

"I heard you're dating her senpai, is it true?" Asked another one of them.

"Just go with me instead Minato-kun! I promise you'll have more fun than that new transfer student!"

"Oh brother, must they act like that all the time?" Minato only sighed at those girls, who kept on talking to him like crazy, and ignored all of those comments.

"Nice, Arisato." Akihiko thought happily, a little smirk could be seen from his face." Why not? I can use a little break right now. Studying and training really drain my energy." Akihiko then moved his attention to the red-haired girl who was standing behind Minato. Realising that his two orbs were focusing on he, Shia bowed to greet him.

" Hey Hamuko, how's your first day here?" Akihiko said with a smile he rarely put on, which really shocked the girls and in the same time, amazed them. He never put on that expression to them.

"It's quite fun senpai. Even though I realized I need a lot of catching up to do for the final exam." She tried to reply him with a cheerful smile. However, the girls behind Akihiko stared at her sharply, full of hatred and disgust, which made her smile turned into an awkward expression.

"Well, that's good," Akihiko commented on her reply," If you need help with your study, feel free to ask me or Mitsuru for help. I believe Arisato and the others would also agree to help you out. I'm not sure about Iori though."

"… Sorry to interrupt, but can we continue the chat while walking? " Minato interrupt them, he could not stand the fan girls' presences and pressures any longer.

"Oh, sorry, let's go then,"Akihiko apologized then started to walk to the front gate, Shia followed him from behind and after she managed to catch up with him, they started to talk again, mostly about sports and school club. Minato put on his headphone and just about to walk and turn on the music when he suddenly heard the girls who were still standing behind him talking among themselves.

" *sigh*… Why must the two of them be so cold towards us."

"But again, that's what makes them looks cool."

"Who is that girl anyway? How dare she steal our Minato and Akihiko from us !"

"Yeah, we need to teach her a lesson!"

"Shh! Don't be so loud, Minato-kun can hear us!"

Minato sighed as the girls continued to talk out of jealousy. He turned on his mp3 player and finally walked out of the school with one bothering thought in his mind.

Evening – In front of Dormitory

"That was a lot of fun! Thank you for today Sanada Senpai, Minato-kun!" Shia shouted happily as they arrived at the front door of the dorm. They spent the entire day at Paulownia Mall, playing arcade games where Akihiko punched the boxing machine until it broke, browsing through music album at Power Record where Minato and Shia each bought 3 albums for their mp3 player, and relaxing at chagal café.

Akihiko replied to her," Your welcome."

Minato on the other hand did not hear her words and still lost at his own thought. Shia was too happy to notice the fact that he did not reply and enter the dorm. Inside, she was greeted by Fuuka and Yukari. They were studying together at the lounge.

" You seemed to be really lost today. Did something happen?" Akihiko began to talk to Minato as soon as the dorm's door is closed.

"I thought I do this a lot," Was his only respond.

"Not for the last few weeks. So?"

"I'm okay." He said as he scratched his head." I just had a bad feeling that something is going to happen."

"Again?" Akihiko sighed," Well I hope your premonition this time is wrong. Do you still remember the last time you have it?"

"Yes, I remember. I had it after we defeated the 'hierophant' arcana"

"And do you remember what happened after that?"

"…." Minato tried to recall his memories again. Right after they defeated the 'hierophant' shadows, he suddenly had a hunch that something bad is going to happen. However, he and the rest of the party members shrugged it off and chose to ignore it as they thought he may be too paranoid at that time. However, to their surprise, his premonition is true. The S.E.E.S fell to the enemy trap and made them had a very 'wonderful 'experience.

" Yes, I do" He finally said after he finished recollecting the memories of the past.

"I'll let Mitsuru and the others know so we can be prepared if anything happened." Akihiko remarked." Nothing's wrong with anticipating, right?"

"no, I think it is a wise decision." Minato agreed with his senpai's decision. "By the way Akihiko-Senpai, may I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"You seemed to be really close to Shia-chan despite of the fact you only met her yesterday. Have you known her before?"

"To tell you the truth, I only knew her yesterday, but…" Akihiko paused for a while. he looked a bit confused too." I'm not sure how to put it, but talking to her gave me the same feeling like the one I had when talking to you right now. It feels like I could say anything to her, I didn't have to hide anything."

"what?" Akihiko's answer seemed to surprise the blue-haired teenager.

"Yeah, weird isn't it? But that's how it is. Maybe it's also because she reminded me of Miki somehow. She was so cheerful and energetic."

"….." Minato once again stayed silent as he stared at his sadden senpai who was remembering his past memories about him and Miki. Sometimes, Minato just did not know what to do or what to say in this kind of situation, so he decided to remain quite.

"I'm getting hungry, let's go inside." Akihiko finally said after some moment of silent.

Minato spent the rest of the night revising for the final exam at his own room. He felt studying with the other would not help him much as there was too much distraction; After some time, Yukari and Fuuka will surely start gossiping which is difficult to be stopped. Junpei will definitely be lost throughout the whole study time. If not, then he will tell jokes which were as lame as Ikutsuki's. So, studying alone is the best option available. He studied until dark hour come. This was actually one of the advantages of being able to function during the dark hour that you'll have an extra hour to finish your staff.

"Hello, what are you doing there?" A voice that Minato was really familiar with suddenly called out from behind.

"…Studying.." He answered him plainly, eyes still focusing on to the maths textbook.

Pharos seemed to be uninterested with the teen's answer as he asked him another question." So, are you having fun the other day? Do you manage to meet my other half?"

"A lot" He said sarcastically, though some parts of it was true," Thanks to you." Minato didn't seem to hear Pharos' final question. He was too angry at him right now.

"I glad you like my surprise." He smiled and chuckled." And don't worry, this is only the beginning. More is yet to come, and it will be much more fun!"

"What?" Minato turned back by Pharos' final sentence. However, he was no longer there, nowhere to be found. Pharos appearance had caused him to lose his focus. So he decided to call it a day and go back to sleep. After he changed to his sleeping attire, he hit the pillow and slept. Slowly, his mind started to drift away from the reality. However, instead of dreamland, his consciousness was lead to another place that he was very familiar with: the velvet room.

.

.

unknown - the velvet room

"Welcome again, my dear guest." Igor greeted Minato, as soon as he regained his consciousness.

"Hello Igor, it's been a while." Minato replied to him, Face a little bit annoyed as he wanted to go back to sleep as fast as possible.

Elizabeth smirked as she took a good look at the teenager's drowsy face ,"I'm sorry Minato, but my master said he wanted to talk about something important."

"Okay, be sure to make it quick."

"Very well, but before I begin, do you notice something unusual about this room? " Igor began his talk.

"Oh, man" Minato grumbled in his thought as he began to examine the elevator-shaped room," Okay, why does the room and the giant clock stop moving?" True enough, the normally noisy room was unusually quiet. Everything was stationary.

"Precisely, this unusual occurrence must have meant something." Igor chuckled before he continued," It seems your journey is going to experience a big change. A very big one."

Author's note: Thanks for those who are still following my story. Finally, some plot update. I hope this one is better than before. More is to come after I finished my exam. By the way. I wondered whether I managed to keep all of the person's character intact. I mean, does some character in the story seemed to be a bit off? I need comment on that! Thank you

PROMISE: AFTER I FINISH MY EXAM, I'LL EDIT AND CORRECT ANY MISTAKES THAT I DID DURING WRITING THE WHOLE FOUR CHAPTERS!