A/N: Edited as of 4/18/2017; Grammar, characterisation, minor plot points.


CHAPTER 7

The next morning dawned bright and clear, feeling a little surreal considering the previous night's events, and as Souji and Yosuke walked to school together, they kept noticing with growing unease that everyone they passed was gossiping quietly, huddled in groups along the river, a frantic, excited energy buzzing through the air. Was this because of last night? If so, how was that possible?

"Dude, do you have any idea what's going on?" Yosuke asked, looking around them in concern.

"Not one clue."

"Let's find the others; maybe they know what this is all about."

"Good call."

They reached the school without incident and found their friends assembled together in the classroom, clustered around his waiting desk. As it was still a little early before the day would start, Souji found, much to his surprise, that everyone from his Social Links that would be at Yasogami was assembled there, gathered around his and Yosuke's desks as they waited rather impatiently.

"Souji! Yosuke! Get over here!" Chie said, motioning them over with an exaggerated wave.

Ai latched onto Souji's arm as soon as he was within reach. "Ah, it was horrible! What was that thing last night?"

Souji and Yosuke glanced at each other, baffled, and both Yukiko and Naoto caught the silent exchange.

"You mean, you didn't witness it on the TV?" Naoto asked, and Souji shook his head.

"No, what are you talking about?"

"There was this demon on the TV last night, fighting off a pack of those dog monsters!" Kou said from his place beside Chie. "I've never seen anything like it, not at all."

Ayane then gave them an accurate description of Izanagi, and it was all Souji could do to keep a straight face, despite his shock and disbelief. The good news was that it seemed that nobody had seen him transform into his Persona, just the fight after. But the worrying aspect was how many people saw the battle in the first place? And why did it show up on the TVs in the first place? Perhaps some lingering influence from Izanami allowed it to happen.

"How come you guys didn't see it?" Daisuke asked.

"Ah, well, we were... preoccupied. My uncle, the detective, got hurt coming home last night by some of those hellhounds, he got bit and hurt his leg. Also, there was a strange power outage that killed Dojima's car." Souji shrugged. "It was weird; like suddenly electricity didn't exist at all."

"Is Dojima-san okay?" Rise asked, and Souji nodded.

"Yeah, he's fine. He's staying home for a few days."

"Did you know that was going to happen?" Startled eyes turned to stare at Naoki. "You sent all of us home yesterday. It was like you knew."

Souji shook his head, uneasy at Naoki's suspicious tone. The kid, while appreciative of Souji for his help in morning his sister's death, had always had a resentful attitude and had lashed out more than once. "I knew something bad was going to happen, but I didn't know what, exactly. I just had a feeling, that's all; it was like a tangible feeling in the air."

"It's kinda weird, you know?" Yumi stated. "With everything that's been happening, and now your warning from yesterday. You sure you don't know anything?"

Souji could only shrug helplessly. "I've always been perceptive to the weird stuff. I know there's a reason for what's been happening, but it's only a feeling to me. You guys know that I've always been perceptive. I'll tell you what I can, when I can."

Daisuke gave him a somewhat dubious look. "I get the feeling that you're still keeping something from us, but I trust you to let us know about whatever it is if we need to know about it, 'cuz there's not much we can do about all this weird shit. Until then, well, I'll deal."

The others gave their mutual agreement to the soccer player's words before leaving the room for their own respective classroom, leaving Souji alone with his fellow Persona users.

"You will tell us the full details of the incident last night to us during the lunch period, correct?" Naoto asked, picking up her bag and moving to Rise's side as the underclassmen started shuffling around to get to their own classroom.

Souji nodded briskly. "I will."

"Then we'll wait for ya." Kanji said before leading the younger girls from the room. Chie and Yukiko frowned at him and Yosuke, concerned for them.

"Is everything okay, though? You guys didn't get hurt?"

Yosuke shook his head, a wan smile in place. "Only Dojima-san and he'll be okay soon."

"That's good then." Yukiko didn't get a chance to say anything else as Kashiwagi called the class to attention and the school day finally got started.

Souji found it hard to pay attention to his classes that morning, for a few reasons, and he could see that the others were also tense, waiting to hear his version of the previous night's events, and what this could mean for them in their fight to save the world.

There were several things to think about, like summoning Personas on this side of the screen, and then there was the method of how to do the summoning; Souji didn't think shooting themselves with actual guns was the smartest of ideas, as his hand was currently wrapped up in several bandages. The bullet wound hadn't damaged his Tarot Card, thankfully, but it caused damage to his hand, although the wound was healing at a greatly accelerated pace; it still wasn't a viable method.

They needed something else.

Then there was the matter of Souji's vision last night. He found that he wasn't really surprised at the concept of other Persona users, but he wondered how many there were in the world; were they close by? Could any of them help him and the others? Were any of them even still alive? There were too many questions, and no way to answer them.

When the lunch bell finally rang, Souji found himself surrounded by the others, and quietly so as to not be overheard, he told them about the previous night's incident, including his vision of the other unknown teen, which had given him the idea to use Dojima's gun to shoot himself. He hadn't even told Yosuke of the vision yet, having needed the time until now to process the whole incident.

Naoto was curious about the teen from Souji's vision. "So he clearly said the word 'Persona'?"

Souji nodded. "Yes, before he shot himself in the head. That part was the most disturbing, but because his brains didn't get splattered everywhere, it gave me the idea of using Dojima's gun to release Izanagi."

"But that was still very reckless of you, Senpai!" Rise pouted at him. "What if it hadn't worked?"

"But it did, so there's no point in thinking about it." Souji shrugged, holding up his hand, wrapped up and bandaged. "But I didn't get through it completely unscathed. As you can see, shooting myself did hurt me, but not nearly as bad, I think, as it would have been under more normal circumstances."

"If you say so, but what are the rest of us gonna do?" Kanji asked, clearly not comfortable with the idea of shooting himself in order to help save the world. Souji couldn't him, or any of the others, if he was honest. If it hadn't been the sheer adrenaline and desperation of the situation last night, he might not have been able to pull the trigger, either.

"And where are we going to get the weapons? Would normal guns even work the way we wanted to? Only Naoto-kun has a permit to carry her pistol, as part of her job as a detective." Yukiko said helplessly, and Souji could only shake his head, feeling much the same way.

"I don't know. Maybe something will turn up."


The train pulled into YasoInaba station sometime in the afternoon, and it wasn't until Akihiko Sanada had shouldered his one bag and stepped off the train and through the diminutive station that he took notice of the abnormal and unusual environment that completely enveloped the town.

Then again, how could he not notice the decaying, rusting infrastructure of the station entrance, or the strange almost-invisible things hovering in the air, or the floating balls of blue fire? It was like he was walking through a book of folktales.

He took this all in with one glance around before digging into his pocket for his cell phone. With a quick tap of a button on his speed dial, he smirked as the other end was picked up before the first ring ended.

"You have arrived, Akihiko?"

"Yes, Mitsuru. Something strange is definitely going on in this town. I'll get back to you once I've found the kid."

"Good luck, Akihiko."

"Thanks." He ended the call, dropping his phone back into his pocket before setting off into town, walking through the streets in the general direction of the Inn he would be staying at. From what he could see, there was nothing in this town, and aside from the strange happenings that were currently enveloping the small town, Akihiko would have guessed that this place was nothing more than a countryside vacation spot, where the most exciting thing to do was fish in the river.

He had a picture of his objective in his leather-clad hand, preferring to wear his customary leather gloves for this investigation. Akihiko knew he stood out in his suit that Mitsuru had insisted on, but he found he was actually comfortable in the expensive clothes his best friend had provided for him. Dressed in cream colored slacks with a matching suit jacket slung over his shoulder with his bag, a black button-down collared dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, accented with a striking red tie, he looked like a prominent businessman or perhaps a lawyer.

Mitsuru had already made arrangements for him to stay at Inaba's famous Amagi Inn for however long he would need, so with the directions she'd given him in hand; he hurried over to drop off his things before canvassing the streets for his mystery Persona user.

One of the employees of the Inn had told him, upon seeing the photo of his target that the kid was definitely a high-schooler, and was also friends with the Inn owner's daughter, and perhaps they were still at the school.

Now armed with directions to Yasogami High School, Akihiko proceeded into the central core of the town, and was deeply troubled to see the state of the dilapidated Shopping District, and the scale of the destruction. Even Shadow attacks generally didn't cause this much collateral damage.

Something was definitely not right with this town, and he had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't be as easy as just finding his objective target, and was probably more complicated than dismantling the Dark Hour had been. There would be a process, a method to curing the madness, and they, either the kid or Akihiko, would be flying blind before stumbling on the solution.

Why did things have to get complicated?

Who was he kidding; it was always complicated.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Akihiko asked around some of the local stores, and he found out that the kid was a frequent visitor to the Chinese food restaurant, and for some reason the novelty weapons shop; he was friends with the delinquent son of the textiles shop owner, and that Yasogami High was now out for the day, but maybe the kid was still there, since the school clubs were still ongoing.

The kid was apparently the social butterfly.

(But so was Minato...)

Akihiko clamped down the intrusive thoughts and continued his way towards the high school, absently wondering why he couldn't seem to bring himself to call the kid by his name, even in his own mind. Maybe Akihiko didn't want to get personal, too attached, and calling the kid by his name would make it personal for him, mostly because of that weird familiarity he had felt when he'd witnessed the battle last night on the TV, a familiarity that still strongly reminded Akihiko of Minato.

He hated the fact that Minato had chosen to die for them, had chosen to sacrifice himself for them; he hated feeling so helpless as to depend on him to keep them safe, to continue being the barrier keeping Nyx at bay. Worst of all, Akihiko hated that he couldn't help his friend with his self-appointed task, just like he'd failed to help Shinji or even Miki all those years ago.

But even with that ordeal with the Abyss of Time, and learning what had become of his friend, Akihiko still, even given the choice again, would not have changed a thing.

Because despite it all, only Minato was strong enough to keep fighting, and Akihiko had to do his part in keeping Minato strong, since he figured that Minato relied on them, the friends he'd left behind to be his strength.

So Akihiko would continue to be Minato's strength, since it was the only he could figure to repay the enormous debt.

He respected Minato too much to do anything else.

A figure ahead of him, walking towards him, towards the Shopping District behind him, broke through Akihiko's morbid and depressing thoughts, and he frowned as he looked up to inspect the other person crossing his path.

Ahead of him was a tall teenager, just a few centimeters taller than him, and a bit broader in the shoulder, too. Bleached blonde hair that was slicked back, several piercings in both ears, a nose stud, a scar right above one eye, and a skull-n-crossbones tattoo on his arm clearly labeled the teen as a delinquent, possibly a gang member, and Akihiko recalled that his target was friends with the town delinquent. Also, the blond teen ahead of him was carrying a shield of some kind (a shield, really?), although Akihiko couldn't begin to fathom a reason for it.

Keeping his face impassive, Akihiko approached the teen with confidence, completely unfazed by the sudden suspicious glare that was thrown his way.

"Excuse me, would I be able to ask you a few questions?"

The teen narrowed his eyes. "That all depends. Who're you?"

"My name is Akihiko Sanada; I'm a consultant for the Kirijo Group. I'm looking for someone, a kid about your age; maybe you can help me. And you are?"

The blonde hesitated just for a second or two. "Name's Kanji Tatsumi. Who're you lookin' for, and what makes you think I can help?"

Akihiko flashed his target's photo to the teen, Tatsumi, and he smirked inwardly at the slight flash of recognition in the delinquent's blue eyes even as his expression darkened in tone. This kid knew something, and Akihiko was now determined to find out what.

"Have you seen him? I hear he goes to Yasogami High, which, by your jacket, you do too. It's important that I speak with him."

But Tatsumi took a step back, away from Akihiko, suspicion and distrust coloring his body language as he shifted in a way that had the strange shield behind his leg. "Why do you need to talk to Senpai? What's this Kirijo Group? Everything was taken care of, so there'd be no reason for someone like you to need to see him!"

Apparently Tatsumi was protective of his 'Senpai'.

"That is a matter for me to discuss with him, so I suggest that you cooperate, and since I believe that you know where Seta is, you're going to take me to him for our little chat." Akihiko said, and Tatsumi snarled.

"Hell no! Not until you tell me what you need to talk to him about!"

Akihiko was somewhat impressed, annoyed but still impressed. This kid was standing up to him with the intentions of protecting his friend. It was quite admirable, and if Akihiko had been anyone else, he would have quit already in the face of Tatsumi's imposing menace, as the kid was dangerous and full of fire from that temper of his.

He was also intrigued at his own reactions to Tatsumi. Since Minato's death and finding the truth of his soul as the Seal, Akihiko had withdrawn into himself, more and more as time passed. He'd lasted one semester in Tokyo U before Mitsuru had given him an out and offered him a job as one of her top Shadow Operatives. He'd spent the last year and some months slowly driving himself into the ground, if only to stem the tide of helpless fear and guilt that he knew he carried. The delinquent before him somehow made him want to fight again; made him want to live again. He wanted to spar again, to fight for the sake of fun, either verbally or physically, it didn't matter which, and this kid in front of him was also a fighter, strong and powerful despite his self-consciousness.

Akihiko remembered something that Minato had once told him. He had been in one of his rare talkative moods and had told Akihiko that he was the Emperor, and as the Emperor he was strong and would never falter in his convictions, and his strength, his inner strength would never fade.

And Minato's words were true. Akihiko had not once given up on anything he believed in, even when running away, especially since hearing those words spoken so long ago.

It was beyond strange, because this kid called out to his soul, like a kindred spirit; in another time, they might even have been friends, and it certainly helped that Tatsumi was fairly attractive too.

Wait a minute.

Where had that thought come from?

Inwardly shaking his head to clear his wandering thoughts, Akihiko focused his attention back on Tatsumi, mentally sizing him up like he would an opposing fighter in the ring. "Alright, fine, kid. It has to do with the events of last night. Both my employer and I witnessed it, we deal with similar occurrences and I've been sent to search him out."

"And what the hell do you want with him?"

"Again, that's a discussion I'll have with your precious 'Senpai' only."

A frustrated snarl from Tatsumi was his only warning, but it was warning enough, and dropping his jacket and briefcase to the side, Akihiko easily dodged the first punch, ducking under his taller opponent's arm to get in closer.

But it turned out that Tatsumi wasn't at all stupid, and the teen jumped out of the way of Akihiko's retaliating jab long enough to bring around the shield he carried.

The thing was massive, shining and bright, and Akihiko wasn't able to get too close a look at it before the shield made contact with his shoulder, sending him skidding across the pavement. The boxer stared as Kanji settled into a battle stance, holding the shield in one hand against the ground, and he realized that the blond street fighter didn't use the damn thing like it was meant to be used; as a freaking form of defense! Instead, it seemed that Tatsumi using the shield as a literal interpretation of 'defense is the best offense'.

"That all ya got?"

Akihiko grimaced at the taunt, eyes narrowing as he lifted himself off the pavement, dusting off his shirt as he did so. Cracking his knuckles loudly, Akihiko settled into his own familiar battle stance, his fists raised before him in the traditional boxer style.

"You've seen nothing yet."

He didn't allow the kid to respond, leaping forward with all the speed his leaner frame gave him, ducking low beneath the shield Tatsumi wielded (damn, he was fast with that thing), spinning around and getting behind the blond and with two quick movements, Tatsumi was unarmed, the shield clanging noisily against the concrete, and the kid was on the ground, pinned beneath Akihiko with both arms behind his back and Akihiko's knee digging in.

"Get offa me! Fuck, fine! I'll bring you to Souji-Senpai; just get the fuck off me!" Kanji squirmed beneath the stranger's knee that fucking hurt like hell, digging into his back like that, and it pissed him off that he couldn't move, not even an inch.

Whoever this punk was, he was a seasoned fighter. Kanji knew that only surprise had worked in his favor before.

"That a promise?" Kanji could almost hear the damn smirk. "You'll behave?"

"Goddamnit, I'm a man of my word! Now get off my back before I make you, you little punk!" They both knew it was an empty threat.

Then Sanada's weight was gone, and Kanji's arms were free again, and he slowly picked himself up off the ground, rolling his shoulders to try and relieve some of the ache from being pinned.

The thought of Sanada's firm weight on top of him made Kanji blush a little, although he'd never admit it. Punk was good, damn good, though, at fighting, and if Kanji was right in his guess, he'd say that Sanada was likely professionally trained or something.

Akihiko waited patiently with his arms crossed as Tatsumi got to his feet, glowering at him. The kid was looking a little flushed, but that was probably just embarrassment at having his ass handed to him so easily.

He watched as the blond picked up his shield, slinging it across his back like a school bag before glaring in Akihiko's direction and stalking off past him, heading more into town. The boxer only smirked and gathered up his suit jacket and briefcase from where he'd dropped it to fight Tatsumi before following after the blond.

As they quickly past the Shopping District, heading in a direction to the north of the town, Tatsumi reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a cell phone. Without looking at the older male beside him, keeping pace with him, he dialed a number.

Kanji didn't even wait until Souji fully acknowledged him on the other end of the line. "Senpai, are you home yet?"

Akihiko listened carefully to the half-conversation and he could even hear someone's voice on the other end. A glimpse at his surroundings revealed a residential neighborhood but they passed a wrecked car that was still in the process of getting towed away. He could see scratches on the side of the vehicle, and he wondered what kind of beast had made those scratches.

"Is Dojima-san there, too? 'Cuz you're about to get some company. We'll be there in a few minutes." Kanji hung up, pocketing his phone.

"Dojima? The detective?"

"If you really know what happened last night, you know that he got hurt."

Kanji took him to the last house on the street, knocking once on the door before it was by another teen, a brunet with red headphones around his neck, and upon seeing Akihiko, the other teen's brown eyes narrowed in suspicion as he gave him a once over.

The brunet returned his attention to Kanji, jerking his head in Akihiko's direction. "The company you mentioned?"

"Yeah. Punk's good at scrappin', too."

"Souji's waiting inside with Dojima, and fortunately Nanako-chan's with a friend, so we won't have any interruptions, either."

They were ushered inside, and they removed their shoes before stepping fully into the house. Akihiko could see the kitchen immediately off to the left, opening up into a decent-sized living room.

He recognized the detective from the video as Ryotaro Dojima, still disheveled and bandaged up from the attack the previous night, glaring at him suspiciously from the couch as Akihiko walked further into the room. Then Akihiko caught his first look at his target, and, to be honest, he stared.

Souji Seta was above average in height for his age group, lean in build, but not quite as tall as Tatsumi, with gray-silver hair that swept across gray eyes, and the way he held himself, cool and aloof at first glance, with an unshakable, confident determination that strongly, no, fiercely reminded Akihiko so much of Minato that he almost stopped breathing.

For a moment, all Akihiko could see was Minato standing before him, superimposed against Seta, looking as he had been that fateful night when they had faced Nyx together.

"Who are you?"

Seta's voice, cautious and distant, brought Akihiko back from his memories, and he pulled out his Kirijo Group ID card, handing it over to Seta. "Akihiko Sanada of the Kirijo Group, formerly of S.E.E.S., I'm here to investigate a certain incident that occurred last night."

"Those groups mean nothing to me." Souji shrugged dismissively. "Tell me something that does and we'll talk. Meanwhile, have a seat and make yourself comfortable. You too, Kanji, Yosuke."

The other two teens in the room nodded, and once settled on the couch or around the small table, Akihiko decided to get to the point.

"What do you know of the Dark Hour?"

Confusion flashed across Souji's face, and Akihiko frowned, not liking where this was going already.

"What are you talking about?"

"The Dark Hour, a hidden 25th hour of the day, and the only time in which we can summon our Personas. My group destroyed the Dark Hour, so how did you summon your Persona last night?"

This time, alarm was apparent in Souji's expression. "I have never experienced the Dark Hour!"

"If you know nothing of the Dark Hour, how do you know of your Persona?"

Souji could see that the subject was making the adult sitting across from him uneasy, and he suspected it had something to do with him, but he couldn't figure out why. He knew he had a choice to make, a decision in whether to trust this complete stranger with the truth of their Personas and the world inside the TV, and as he contemplated, a memory surfaced, and he recalled what Igor had said of his mysterious predecessor. He wondered if this Akihiko Sanada was connected to the other Fool and Wild Card.

With these thoughts swirling around in his head, Souji made his decision and explained to Akihiko about the world inside people's hearts, accessed through the TV, and their battle against the combined forces of Ameno-Sagiri and Izanami, explaining in some detail the ordeals he and his friends had gone through to lift the fog on their souls and face their true selves, revealing their Personas.

Silence descended after his somewhat lengthy explanation, and he allowed the man sitting across from him a few moments to go over his words.

"So how is it, Akihiko Sanada, of the Kirijo Group, that you know about our Personas?"

Akihiko smirked at him, pride glinting in his cool eyes. "Because I, too, wield a Persona; his name is Caesar."

"And the Dark Hour? Could you explain that to me?"

The story Akihiko told him sounded almost unbelievable, as he described the Dark Hour, and what had caused it, and what he and his friends had done to bring it to an end. From Akihiko, Souji learned of Tartarus, the Harbinger Nyx, and how they had prevented what he called the Fall, giving the world a future. He also learned the secret about the full moon, remembering that Igor had mentioned it once before.

The largest revelation Souji learned was that Akihiko's friend and leader had sacrificed himself to become the Seal, protecting them forever, and Souji had a flash of memory again, of the previous night when he'd had that vision of the boy with blue hair shooting himself in the head.

"The friend you lost, your leader..." Akihiko frowned as Souji hesitated, not sure of his words to proceed. "He wouldn't happen to have been kind of short with blue hair that fell in front of his face, would he?"

The sharp intake of breath and the widening of blue/gray eyes answered his question, and as Souji studied Akihiko, he could see that his mentioning of the other Wild Card had hit a sore spot in the boxer, since Akihiko's face was pale, a stricken look to him, and his gloved hands were clenched tightly in fists.

It took a few tense moments before Akihiko could speak. "How... how do you know of him?"

Souji suddenly felt guilty, ashamed at bringing up the subject of his Wild Card predecessor. The subject was obviously a sore spot and trying time for the man sitting across from him, and here he was, rubbing his face in it. "He and I, well, we have a mutual acquaintance who helps me with my Personas. That acquaintance has mentioned your friend to me before. I also saw him in a vision, right before I transformed into Izanagi. That vision was what gave me the idea of shooting myself."

Through all the explanations, Yosuke, Kanji and Dojima had remained silent, watching the two of them as they spoke to each other. But now, Dojima leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees with a sigh.

"Yosuke, could you grab some Advil from above the sink, please? My leg is killing me. And Souji, I still think it was stupid idea to use my gun like that." The detective nearly snarled, but it lacked any heat behind it. Akihiko looked at him, frown in place.

"You have an Evoker? Where did you get one?"

" An Evoker? What the hell's that? I've just got a standard police-issued automatic." Suspicion gleamed in Dojima's eyes, and Souji felt his stomach sink.

Akihiko seemed to realize the severity of the situation and pulled the small briefcase he'd been carrying onto the small table. "A foolhardy idea, and you were very lucky. Only one person in my group of Persona Users didn't use an Evoker, but then again, she was an android, built and programmed to not need one. The rest of us had to go through the disturbing process of summoning our respective Personas using this."

From the briefcase, Akihiko removed an object that Souji had only seen once before, in the vision of his predecessor. It was sleek and shiny, obviously brand new and had never been used, the metal gleaming in the light of the room, and Souji could only stare at it.

He reached across the table; hand shaking slightly as he took the imitation gun from Akihiko's gloved hand. It fit perfectly in his palm, and for a brief second, Souji flashed back to his vision from the previous night, and he could hear, just barely, the soft whisper invoking the being inside his mind.

"The Evoker you're holding is a gun, a weapon, but at the same time, it isn't, not in the conventional sense as we know it." Akihiko explained. "I don't know the specific mechanics of how it works like it does, but it does function as it should. The feeling you get from shooting yourself in the head is real, too."

Kanji spoke up for the first time since the explanations started. "How can you do that?"

Akihiko smirked at the bleach blonde. "It wasn't easy, and some of us had some serious problems with the method, but it was the only thing we had."

"I assume you have permits for these... Evokers?" Dojima spoke up, and Akihiko nodded.

"Of course. Not that I ever carried my Evoker outside the Dark Hour before, but Mitsuru, my boss in this case, felt it was a necessary precaution. I also have permits for each Evoker I have with me; they only need to be filled out with some names and filed." Akihiko smirked at Souji. "I have one for each person on your team, and some extras, since I was unaware as to how many I'd be needing to bring."

Yosuke had stopped paying attention to the conversation, instead looking at his boyfriend with a frown. The silveret hadn't responded since he grabbed the Evoker, gray eyes slightly vacant, as though listening to something none of them could hear.

"Souji?"

His partner blinked suddenly, staring at the weapon he held. "Akihiko, can you hear your Persona when you hold the Evoker?"

The boxer was taken by surprise by the sudden question. "Um, no. Caesar doesn't really have a voice."

Souji glanced at Yosuke, and his uncle and Kanji, then to Akihiko, hearing the unvoiced query hanging in the air. "Izanagi spoke to me just now, swearing to fight beside like he always has, and when the time comes, he will choose."

"Choose?" Kanji asked, bemused. "Choose what?"

Souji could only shake his head. "He didn't say."

"I don't know about you kids," Dojima announced, breaking the uncomfortable silence that followed Souji's ominous words. "But it's been a long day, my meds are starting to kick in, and I want to get to bed, even though it's still early. Night's over."

The others assembled nodded, and the detective recruited Kanji to help him upstairs to his bed, since he still couldn't put any real weight on his leg, and the pain pills were starting to make him unsteady. Akihiko removed two more Evokers from his case, along with the paperwork for them, leaving them for Yosuke and Kanji before taking his leave with a nod to Souji.

"Hey, Akihiko?"

The boxer turned back to glance at Souji. "Yes?"

"Don't leave town anytime soon. I have the feeling that you will play an important role in the events to come."

Akihiko snorted, a small grin in place. "You sound just like him. Don't worry; I won't go anywhere. I'll be at the Inn if you need to reach me."

Yosuke heaved a huge sigh as the door clicked shut. "Man, this is too much. Who would have guessed that there were other Personas than ours, huh Partner?"

Souji looked back down to the Evoker in his grip. "Yeah. Who would have?"