Chapter 6 – Revelations & Protectors


A/N: As I was writing this chap, I really felt sad by how much time has passed since I first got into P3P. I mean, jeez, it's been almost a decade since it was released, and I'm just barely able to get out this story I've had in mind for at least half that time. *mind blown* I also really feel the weight of growing up and leaving things like this behind, as I don't even remember any details of the game, and I don't have the time to actually play it again. SAD! That's why characters might seem OOC sometimes, but if it's too cringy, please tell me xD Though it is awesome to see I aint the only one still into MinAki~ It always makes me smile whenever I get a pm, or a new follower, so thanks yall for sticking around and being so willing to fangirl with me sometimes. Anway! Onto the chapter! :D


7/24 (Fri)

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." Igor was alone.

Minako didn't respond to his strangely-lonely welcome. Embarrassment, frustration, denial, fear –all of it rendered her mute as she sat in her usual chair. She wouldn't even look up from her hands in her lap as she painfully picked at the skin around her nails.

After a full minute of silence, Igor finally spoke in his usual matter-of-fact voice.

"I see you know now of your delicate state." She looked up at him, his bulging eyes staring at her intensely and his wide smile only partially hidden by his folded hands he had in front of it.

"Wait- Igor, you already know?"

"Why, yes. I have known since the moment it happened." Minako winced at how disgusting that sounded. "However, conception is not enough. It shall be a few more days before we hear the first sign of true life.

"But, w-why is this happening?" Her voice cracked and she stuttered as she tried to put feelings into words. "I'm shouldn't be pregnant… I have so much to do- I have school, and clubs to attend to, and social links I need to make and maintain… I have shadows to kill, my Personas need to level up, and I need to keep training to get stronger, and I still have so many battles still-" She could feel tears swelling in her eyes as anxiety began to overwhelm her. "I cannot be pregnant and keep fighting the way I do. I- I have been hit in the gut countless times by shadows; I have been thrown across rooms and have almost broken bones. I can't do all of that with a huge pregnant belly and a baby growing inside of me."

Igor took the pause she made to breathe and wipe her face to speak. "You have no choice; you signed a contract." Minako only snorted at his comment; as upset as she felt she couldn't help but maintain her respectful limits. Instead of arguing back, she slumped in her seat and hid her face in her hands.

"But Igor… This is too much. I've been working so hard since I've arrived, and I've tried so hard to put on a brave front with everyone but I'm always so scared and weak-" Igor only stared at her, as if analyzing every word and movement she made, which only made her feel more self-conscious and insecure.

"You must continue on your path. This situation has been and shall be a surprise to all, but it is something you must do. Your Personas will continue to be loyal to you for the needed time. They shall protect you, and your progeny, as they have done since conception."

Since conception? Minako lifted her face and wiped her sleeve across her nose.

"Does that mean that even with all the battling I do, nothing will happen to… it?"

"I cannot guarantee that nothing shall happen, but it does seem as though your Personas have decided to not only fight with you, but also protect your child, within their limits. However, I do suggest reducing any chances of being flung across a room in the future." With a tiny sense of relief, Minako chuckled once at Igor's apparent attempt at a joke.

"I still can't believe I'm pregnant."

'Yes. I am also quite curious to see what will happen in your future." He seemed to return to his creepy, almost psycho expression. "For now, we must see how it shall affect your relationships." His eyes and smile widened though Minako only sighed as she immediately felt the weight of it all tiring her out.

"You must rest now. Until next time."


7/29 (Wed)

Akihiko-senpai, I'm pregnant.

Tonight was the night…

For the third time that week, Minako had asked him to meet her. Tonight it was during the Dark Hour at the Shrine. She was already sure that Shinji wouldn't be there that night (he had been too "busy" this past week for their usual meet-ups), so it would just be her and Akihiko for an hour.

With the nerves and the pregnancy nausea twisting her stomach as she slowly made her way from Paulownia Mall to the Shrine, Minako tried to word out her confession in her mind, moving her lips to some of the words.

'Senpai, I know we've tried so hard to get over what happened the last full moon, and believe me, and I've wanted to completely erase that night from my mind and just move on with our jobs and lives, but I'm afraid we can't move on just yet. There's something I need to tell you, and I know it'll be difficult to hear, but you need to know, and it would be best if I tell you before anyone else knows. Akihiko-senpai, I'm pregnant.'

He wouldn't question that it's his, would he? (No.)

Minako sighed as she tried to calm herself and began walking up the steps of the shrine. Halfway up, she could hear Koro-chan coming to greet her.

"Koro-chyan~ I brought you treats!" Before she had even made it to the last step, Koromaru was already barking and jumping around happy to see her. They made their way over to their usual bench and Minako began feeding him the food she had just brought him. Minako checked her watch as the dog finished his food next to her on the bench.

18 minutes left.

Minako began patting and scratching Koromaru, who definitely looked sleepy; he closed his eyes as she scratched his head and neck. Soon enough, Koromaru was laying his head on Minako's lap, enjoying the massage, as Minako chewed at the inside of her lip, rephrasing her lines. Koromaru lifted his face to look at her and Minako knew he was probably going to be turning into a little coffin soon.

4 minutes left.

Suddenly, his ears went up, listening attentively, and he moved his head from side to side.

"What is it boy? What do you hear?" Minako turned over to the playground –to where he was staring-, but saw nothing. "Is something there?"

When she looked back at him, his eyes were staring at her…

At her stomach.

Koromaru sat up, still staring at her abdomen and turning his head from one side to the other.

No way. (Yes…)

"Koromaru, what is it?" Feeling self-conscious, Minako covered her lower abdomen. The dog looked up at her face, wide eyed and pointed ears still up. He sneezed twice, quickly stretched, and sat up straight still looking at her face. Then, again, he dipped his head to the side and looked down at her stomach. After a moment, he whined softly and lifted his paw to Minako's hands and scratched them gently, as if trying to tell her to move them away.

"Koro-chan… can you hear it?"

At that moment, the lights went out and were replaced by that of the huge moon in the green-tinted sky.

And Koromaru was still there starting at Minako's stomach.


Akihiko was late.

The entire afternoon, since he had received Minako's invitation to hang, he had constantly been thinking of why she would be asking him out again so soon, especially given her behavior those last few times they were together; there always seemed to be something she wanted to say but just wouldn't be able to get out.

He honestly just thought that maybe she wasn't fully comfortable with him yet –even though it had already been almost a month since the last full moon. Then, of course, thinking about what happened always made him angry and frustrated, which he would in turn use to train harder than usual.

For this reason, at 11:50 p.m. he was still hitting the punching bag in his room, sweat soaking through his clothes. He hadn't even noticed how late it was until Junpei knocked on his door to complain about the noise.

Ah –shit. Fuck.

At least he still had enough time for a shower…


By midnight, when the lights went out, he was still putting on his pants.

A shirt, socks, and shoes later, he was already out his door, running his hands through his hair, trying to flick off the excess water.

However, half way down the stairs to the first floor of the doom, he heard his name.

"Going out this late Akihiko?" It was Mitsuru. Knowing fully well he wouldn't be able to ignore her, he quickly turned and just nodded to her. "It seems Yamagishi has found something making its way from Tartarus towards the city. Would you be able to check what it is?" Akihiko raised his brows at the idea of shadows making their way outside of Tartarus.

"Sure. Just let me go back for my gloves."


After the initial shock of finding out that Koromaru was able to somehow hear the baby, and also that Koromaru was not turned into a coffin come midnight as usual, he got closer to Minako and put the top of his head against her shoulder, as if asking for an embrace, which she of course went in for.

And in that moment, Minako felt the relief and acceptance she had been craving so much since she had found out -albeit not from whom she had been expecting it to initially come from.

They were still hugging when they both seemed to have noticed… More than hearing it first, Minako was able to just feel that something evil was coming closer.

Minako pulled away and got up to get closer to what felt so much like a shadow.

'Outside of Tartarus? Impossible… No?'

She walked down the stairs to the shrine with Koromaru quietly by her side.

Shit.

Before even making it completely down the stairs, she could see a huge, purple-glowing shadow quickly slithering down the street.

Minako tried to calculate if she would be able to run back to the dorm before getting trapped by it, though there seemed to be no way to do so as it was already coming towards them. Koromaru hadn't yet seen it and kept walking down the stairs without Minako noticing.

As soon as he had seen the shadow though, Koromaru growled in a surprisingly frightening and menacing way, which only caused the shadow to move quicker. Minako tried to call him back but he only began barking loudly and quickly, clearly also scared of the strange being coming closer, yet so willing to stand his ground.

Minako ran to him and tried to pull his collar to lead him away, picturing in her mind some path to take back to the dorm that might just help them shake off the shadow enough to get the other SEES members. However, Koromaru still wouldn't budge, and the shadow was getting closer.

It seemed that the only option they had was to fight. Minako looked around for something to use as a weapon, though there was nothing actually useful and available… Suddenly, she remembered the sign in front of one of the wells and ran up the stairs, leaving Koro-chan still barking at the shadow only some yards away now.

Adrenaline she rarely felt even in Tartarus was coursing through her veins at she feared the idea of shadows being able to leave the tower, and also at the fear of Koromaru being harmed by it. Once in front of the sign, she cursed at how flimsy it seemed now that she looked at it as a weapon, but she kicked it anyway in an effort to loosen the dirt around the base enough to be able to pull it out.

Minako could tell that the shadow had reached Koromaru by the loud and wild growls and barking he was making. With all of her strength, she wrapped herself around the pole and pulled it out of the ground (it must had been more than a foot buried by how stuck it was), bending it slightly, but at least it was better than nothing… She ran back to the stairs, and saw Koromaru actually battling against the shadow, jumping from one side of the snake's body quickly enough to evade its open mouth.

However, in one of those jumps, Koromaru seemed to have lost his balance and slipped, causing him to lose significant speed- enough for the snake to focus on him and aim its fangs. Minako had already gotten down the stairs without bringing any attention to herself and raised the sign enough, aiming for the back of the snake's large head. Just as the snake went in to attack Koro-chan, the sign went crashing into its head, though no one could predict its actual reaction: the snake's tail came up to its side as it wrapped up in a protective motion. It was so hard and quick, it shoved Minako away as it lowered its head, clearly disoriented, though strong enough to send her crashing against the bottom stairs with a loud grunt -exactly the type of situations a regular pregnant woman should not be in.

As she fell, she heard Koromaru barking in a higher tone and run over towards her, clearly worried. He quickly took a protective stance between her and the shadow as she dusted off her bruised (and bleeding) palms and knees and tried to stand while ignoring the pain coming from her hip which had hit against the stone.

The snake also stood, various feet taller than her, and seemingly also trying to put aside the pain to fight. Minako looked for her makeshift weapon, noticing it a little away from them and tried to calculate how to reach it.

Koromaru was the first to move this time, going directly for the neck, though with the snake's thick skin and neck he wasn't really able to do much but to stay hanging from the snake for a while as it wriggled from side to side. Minako ran over to the sign, grabbed it with both hands and began hitting the other side of the snake's head enough to slow it down as Koro-chan still hung from the other side of its lowered head. As soon as she was able to decide on a probably good place to stab it in, Minako turned the pole onto its side, and shoved the previously buried side of it into an area below its skull.

With a disturbing shriek, the shadow raised its head to the sky, and then curled into itself as it. Koromaru took the chance to go for the neck again in a seemingly more vital place, as the shadow gave one last shriek before turning limp and disappearing into a puff of smoke.

Minako sighed, satisfied though still surprised with Koromaru's work, though when she looked at him, she did notice a large, red slash on his side. Suddenly, he whined and wobbled sideways; She was barely able to run to him and catch him before he fell onto his side.

"Minako!" She looked up again towards the street the shadow had come down from the train station and saw Akihiko running towards her.

She sighed as she watched him coming to her at full speed, glad she wasn't alone anymore.

And so, yet another night was to pass without her telling him.


A/N: Not much romance this time, though I felt I did want to put in some time just Minako and baby, and for her to come to terms with it and understand things by herself first before the guys know. xD I was not expecting Koro-chyan to be the first to find out, but I love watching pets reacting to pregnant loved ones, and they do have heightened senses that can detect certain hormones even before a pregnancy test can… As for being able to hear it, I wanted baby's first heart beat to be significant and recognized, as that is the definitive sign of life (which Igor mentioned ;D).

So, whatchall think? A little too much? xD Who do yall think will be the next person her Personas let in on the secret? Something I have not decided yet is the level of romance… Do yall think it's ok to not have so much (she is pregnant, so that can be a little weird), or maybe precisely because she needs more support, she does fall harder? Hmmmm….