I'm skipping cutscenes again!

Minato and Junpei stood in front of the police station. Despite Minato wanting to go home and sleep, Junpei had been insistent about meeting Akihiko at the station. A sense of duty or whatever.

They entered and were given a brief summary of what Officer Kurosawa could provide for them and found it odd that he sold them swords. Akihiko said that he had other assorted items in the lost and found and to check often.

They left the station with armor and protection for the dark hour and a weapon each to use.

Minato eyed the duffle bag the officer gave them and felt the weight of the swords slightly made him sag towards one side.

"Junpei, I want to talk to you in private about something."

Junpei grinned like an idiot.

They made their way towards the park across the dorm.

They had walked towards a large tree and stayed under it's shade.

They sat there in silence as Minato let the breeze of the day pick up his hair.

"I was concerned with the way that you hold your sword."

"Are you gonna teach me to fight teachers like you?" Junpei asked with some hope in his eyes.

"...No, I'm going to take yours and order that you use a bat instead. Its lighter and allows you to swing as you please."

Minato didn't turn to face Junpei. Junpei's face contorted into dismay.

Junpei stood up and slapped a hand to his chest.

"No way! A sword is a man's way. Its like those old stories where the knight slayed dragons and saved chicks."

Minato looked annoyed.

"You lack training and given your...eager temper I think that having you with a bat is for the best for now."

Junpei looked disappointed but tried his best to hide with his hat. He pulled on the brim and held on.

Minato sighed.

"Bats are easier to use and you don't have to worry about smuggling them at least."

There was silence and the breeze had abruptly stopped.

He looked up to see that Junpei still pulled on the brim of his hat.

Minato thought he had been going crazy when he saw the world had slowly turned gray.

Junpei had been frozen in place as did the pedestrians that were walking about.

Minato had found that he could move still but jumped when a voice had echoed in his head, thou shalt not have the blessing of the Magician Arcana unless thou choosest to try once more.

Ah crap. This is what Igor meant. Minato sighed as he rubbed his temple.

Seeing as how he could not access the Velvet room until the dark hour, he had to wait.

Things went back to normal and he told Junpei that he was heading home.

He found Mitsuru studying at the dinner table and she had greeted both boys.

"Arisato, I should have told you this back in Tartarus but you decide when we should enter the tower. Also ask to check on the status of the others. If we lack a full team, things will get dangerous."

"How is everyone?"

"Akihiko feels tired, Takeba and Iori are fine."

Minato stood blankly, with his hands in his pockets.

Mitsuru had resumed studying but knew she was awaiting a response.

"Very well...we will go in tonight with a three man team."

Minato had arrived at the tower again. Akihiko had been resting while the others went out.

He had entered the room and took a seat.

"I know why you are here, Mr. Arisato. You wish to ask about the bonds of friendship."

"Actually, I've come to ask what you're pulling." He said, deadpanned, a glare almost forming.

"I want to know why I need to manipulate people into gaining power."

"You are concerned with how it affects you. I assure you, what you do to form your bonds is," Elizabeth at this point had manifested the contract, and waved it in front of Minato's face, "entirely your choice."

"How you strengthen your bonds is entirely your choice. Should you choose to manipulate your friends is one way of interpreting your time with them."

"...My time." Minato said breathlessly.

Minato had gripped the arms of the chair he was sitting in.

For as long as I could remember I've always been alone. Thanks to that, I've never really felt at peace anywhere. Perhaps this call to action is a way to compensate for that? If this opportunity to be close to people is true then...

Minato stood up.

"Should you wish to talk to us, there is a way too during the day. Go to the mall and search for the door." Elizabeth informed him.

He nodded and left with a sigh.

–

Minato had been lost in thought during the expedition. He had decided to trust the others and allowed them to split up. Yukari had protested while Junpei nodded in agreement.

They had covered the first floor of Tartarus to find that nothing had changed.

Together they headed to the second floor.

"I swear this place is all the same. It looks no different from the second floor..."

"Yeah. It's like we're on a treadmill and have gone nowhere."

There had been silence after that.

They had gone on ahead

Junpei volunteered to go ahead which made Minato slightly nervous but allowed him too.

Junpei walked quietly in the halls of darkness and peaked around corners like Akihiko had. He had seen a shadow and motioned for the others to come forward.

"Junpei. I want you to be in charge of this battle." Minato whispered.

Junpei had never noticed that Minato was slightly shaking as he said this since he was facing the shadow.

Leading the charge, Junpei threw a baseball at the shadow's mask and was surprised he had hit it.

"Minato set Yukari's arrow on fire and strike that thing's mask."

His teammates were surprised but followed his order. Minato baited the shadow to come into direct contact with Yukari's alignment which she had been ordering Minato to do. He ran and slid behind the archer as she fired the arrow straight into the mask of the shadow blob.

The three teens high-fived each other.

Subsequent battles went by faster because the group knew what they were doing now.

Slowly they trudged to the elevator lift which greeted them with it's usual gold glow. Yukari had been the first to reach and left.

"Hey Minato."

"Yes Junpei?"

"The reason I was upset yesterday was because you had me switch to the bat. You see, when we are baseball practice- depending on the position- we have different responsibilities. I had realized that despite the fact that my coach knew what to do, us players didn't if we had to switch from batter to short stop or be a left field or home base player." He paused to think more as Minato pursed his lips in amazement.

"So when I got upset yesterday I didn't tell you that in baseball, there's a one in three chance of hitting the target. I realized this when I hit that shadow with the baseball."

Minato's eyes had widened.

"Also you being leader is easier on me to just play hero. I don't have to think that much if I follow orders so for now...I don't want to be the leader."

He grabbed the lift and vanished.

Minato had smiled. He felt as though he understood Junpei just a little bit better now. Completely forgetting the reason for his visit to Tartarus, he had been shocked when a voice had called out to him.

Thou hast the permission to access Persona of the Magician Arcana.

The image of a card had manifested itself and he saw the symbol of the Magician tarot card; an infinity symbol at the top; with a pair of eyes and fire in the middle of the card; a pair of hands and the roman numeral one, at the bottom.

One?

How many were there and how would he access them all?

He had heard the sounds of chains rattling but it didn't really register to him because he was deep in thought. He touched the golden elevator and had left before a cloaked figure could meet him.