A/N: Short filler chapter is short and fillery.

The morning after the operation was a Sunday, and after the grueling battle the night before, most of SEES was taking the time to sleep off their exhaustion. Mitsuru, however, had duties as the active commander of SEES. The Chairman was who led them on paper, but most of the responsibility for the group lay squarely on Mitsuru's shoulders. And for this reason, she had the most important duty: reporting the results of their impromptu operation to the Kirijo Group… and today, to her father.

Even though Mitsuru had practically lived here in Kirijo headquarters when she was younger, she still could not help but find the place imposing. It was a large facility, built to handle whatever needs the Kirijo Group had. Since Gekkoukan was no longer an option for research after the results of the last major experiment they'd had there, research of Shadows and the Dark Hour were relegated to the underground floors. Mitsuru knew that was where Ikutsuki was now, provided he wasn't deciding to sleep the day through as well. Mitsuru was taking an elevator to the top floor instead.

The elevator came to a stop, and a woman's voice chimed through a speaker attached to the top of the elevator. "5th Floor- Executive's Office. Thank you for visiting Kirijo Group's Headquarters!"

The doors slid open, revealing a small ornately designed room. There were several doors in this room that led to other parts of the floor; parts that even Mitsuru had no access to. Directly between the elevator door and the door to Mitsuru's father's office was a secretary's desk. The woman sitting at it was small and bespectacled, her graying hair tied up in a bun. She lifted her head to look at Mitsuru and frowned.

"Kirijo-san is not in at the moment," she said. "I'm sorry, you should have made an appointment before just deciding to drop in, Mitsuru-chan."

"Do you know when he'll be returning?" Mitsuru asked politely. Of course her father wasn't in. He was never in when she needed him.

"Probably not for a few—" The secretary cut off as a door to her side opened. A man in a suit wearing an eyepatch stepped out and paused when he saw Mitsuru.

"Mitsuru, what are you doing here?"

Mitsuru turned toward her father and bowed her head a bit. She always felt nervous talking to him, even with their relation. "I wanted to tell you the results of last night's operation… Father."

"You should have reported them to the lab instead of coming directly to me." He paused. "Did Ikutsuki put you up to this?"

Mitsuru shook her head. "No, I came up here of my own free will. I thought you'd want to know."

Takeharu Kirijo frowned, then motioned for Mitsuru to follow. The two of them walked through a door into Takeharu's office. The room was furnished with everything you would expect an office to have. A large desk with a single hardwood chair behind it dominated the scene, but there was also a tiffany lamp and a laptop on the desk. The room was mainly lit by a large glass window to Mitsuru's front, though which the bay and an overcast sky could be seen. A few sparse diplomas and photos hung from the walls. Most of the photos depicted a younger Mitsuru together with her father. There was one that Takeharu kept on his desk that, while Mitsuru couldn't see it from her angle, she knew it depicted her father and late mother together while they held a newborn Mitsuru. Neither Mitsuru nor Takeharu sat down, and there was a tense silence between the two of them before Takeharu finally spoke.

"Tell me what happened."

Mitsuru began to explain the events that had happened the previous night, starting with when she'd been up in the command room searching for Shadows. She didn't leave out a single detail of what had happened as she explained, and she made sure to go into very precise detail about the Shadows' behaviors. Even with her long detailed explanation, Takeharu didn't give any kind of emotional response. Mitsuru trailed off as she finished up, and waited for her father to speak up.

"Why did you want to tell me this?"

"It's possible this is one of the Shadows from the incident ten years ago. I thought you would be interested." She looked away from her father as she said that. Of course he wasn't interested. Ever since her mother and grandfather had died, he'd been distant toward her.

"It's too soon to say if it was one of the twelve Shadows. There's nothing we can do but wait," Takeharu said after another pause. Mitsuru hated how he always took so long to answer her. It gave her the feeling that he couldn't figure out what to say to her. And the answer he'd given her was the same as the one Ikutsuki had given her. It was only logical with the information they had, but at the same time it was frustrating.

"I realize this, Father, but if there is a possibility—"

"A possibility is not the same as a certainty. If there is the possibility that it is one of the twelve, then you will have to prepare for any kind of fight with it. Right now we don't even know what triggers these Shadows to appear."

"You think that they're acting on a pattern?"

"Something had to have changed for them to start appearing now after ten long years," Takeharu said. He sighed. "You're putting the blame for the incident on yourself again, Mitsuru. How many times must I tell you that none of the blame is yours?"

"But…"

"My father's actions are not your own. If the blame should be placed on anyone, it should be placed on me for not seeing his madness sooner."

Mitsuru didn't say anything in response to that. It always came to this in their conversations. If only he could understand-

"Is that all, Mitsuru?"

"…Yes," Mitsuru said before immediately backtracking. "…About my motorcycle—"

"It's going to take some time before it can be replaced. Your motorcycle was a one of a kind machine, and the mechanisms that allowed it to function in the Dark Hour weren't very cheap to manufacture," Takeharu said. "It may be several months."

"S-Several months?" Mitsuru cried out. Her indignant look quickly dropped, and she looked away. "I understand."

She turned toward the door, and just as she did so, the secretary opened the door. "Excuse me, Kirijo-san, the representative from the Nanjo Group is here to see you."

Mitsuru turned toward her father. "I should go." She nodded to the secretary, who stepped out of the way and allowed Mitsuru to exit the room. There was a man wearing a scarf embroidered with a number 1 standing in the lobby. Mitsuru gave a quick polite nod toward him before proceeding to the elevator. The elevator doors closed behind her, and she pressed the button for the first floor. Mitsuru wiped away a few tears as the elevator began to move downwards. This was how things always went. It had been years since she'd had a normal conversation with her father. Not only had her mother and grandfather died in the incident and the Kirijo Group's reputation ruined, but her father had been forced to take her grandfather's place as leader of the group the moment he was able to walk again.

Both her and her father possessed the Potential due to an experiment they'd taken part in years ago, but only Mitsuru had a Persona. Her father had the Potential, but no Persona. So Mitsuru was the one who had to fight them herself. This wasn't to say that she resented what she was doing… no, she did. She completely did. Now she was trying to lie to herself! She smacked herself and tried to compose herself a bit better. The elevator doors opened out onto the ground floor lobby, and when Mitsuru stepped out of it, her face was stone. She walked past the employees in the lobby and out the door. She felt something hit her face and looked up at the sky.

"…It's raining." She sighed and began her long walk back to the dorm.

Akihiko was in his room, and today, he had chosen to spend the day doing the usual: training. He had to get back in shape again; he'd be back in the fight soon enough, after all. He needed to be ready for any boxing matches he'd have coming up, too; he couldn't just neglect Boxing Club while he was at it. He hit his punching bag with a rather strong left hook and stepped back again before hitting the punching bag with a few more quick jabs. There were a few light stabs of pain in his chest, but he ignored them. Just his ribs again.

His room was really more gym than bedroom, with most of the room being taken up by various pieces of training equipment. The punching bag was just the only thing he was interacting with at the moment. His bed was unmade as usual, with blankets strewn across the ground. Despite the impending rain, he'd left his window open to allow a breeze in.

"Uh, you in, senpai?"

Akihiko turned toward the door and managed to see Junpei just before getting hit in the face by the still swinging punching bag. It managed to knock him right off his feet. Junpei took a tentative step forward. "Uh… you okay?"

Akihiko pushed himself up with one hand. "I'm fine. Just didn't think to stop it before it could hit me, that's all." After judging that the punching bag had stopped moving, he stood up, once again ignoring the pain from his ribs. Being hit in the chest with a punching bag really hadn't helped any in regards to that. He turned toward Junpei. "Why'd you come up here, anyways?"

"Just… thought I'd say hi," Junpei said awkwardly. Akihiko got the sense that Junpei had a reason initially but for some reason had discarded it from that answer, and gave a somewhat critical look. "Er, I mean, everyone else has already gone out for the day, and you're the only one still here, so I thought I'd come and see what you were doing. I can't believe any of them have the energy to do anything after yesterday. I could barely get myself out of bed in the morning."

Akihiko chuckled. He knew that feeling all too well. He grabbed a bottle of water from a table before walking over to and sitting on his bed.

"Well, I'm going to be taking a break for a minute anyways. It's bad to overexert yourself," Akihiko said. Junpei looked awkwardly around the room for a moment before seeing a folded chair and setting that up. Akihiko hadn't expected Junpei to hang around, though he really didn't care if he did or not.

"So why did you take up boxing anyways, Akihiko-san?" Junpei asked. Akihiko turned toward Junpei and gave a questioning look. That seemed like an odd question for Junpei to ask.

"To become stronger."

"Eh?"

"I lost someone important once because I wasn't strong enough to help them," Akihiko explained. His hand tightened around the water bottle. "I never want to be that weak again."

"Is that why you joined SEES?"

"Yeah," Akihiko took a drink from his water bottle. Junpei shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Man, all of you guys have such noble reasons to be fighting here. Me… I dunno why I'm here," Junpei said.

"Well, maybe you'll find your reason someday." Akihiko screwed the cap back on the water bottle and stood back up. He walked over to the punching bag and took a few test punches at it before returning to his previous training regimen. Junpei continued to watch Akihiko train before the sound of dripping water made him turn toward the open window. Rain had begun to fall, and some droplets were gathering into a puddle on the windowsill and dripping into the room. Junpei stood up, walked over to the window, and pushed it shut.

Chagall Café was as crowded as usual today. Most of the tables had teenage couples sitting at them, probably Gekkoukan students spending their Sundays on dates. Yukari, on the other hand, was here alone, sitting with a steaming cup of coffee on the table in front of her. She actually didn't want to be here, but she'd promised some girls in Archery Club that she'd hang out with them today. It was probably another stupid group date. It didn't really help that she was just so tired after the previous night's operation. Her muscles ached and she honestly wanted to sleep, which was why she was now on her third cup of coffee.

"They're late," Yukari grumbled to herself. It just figured that she would be the only one who made it on time. She shouldn't have bothered coming in the first place. She took another sip from her cup, and decided that if they didn't make it to the shop in the next ten minutes, she'd head back to the dorm.

A teal haired girl walked past Yukari's table after she had that thought. The girl sat down at a table close to Yukari's by herself. Yukari didn't turn to look at her until she began to hear low sobs from the girl, and was a little surprised at who it was. The girl was Fuuka Yamagishi, a girl Yukari knew was in the class next to hers, 2-E. Yukari didn't really know much about her other than the fact that she was out from school a lot. Now, seeing Fuuka here, Yukari had to wonder just how much of her absences actually were from illness.

Yukari stood up and walked over to Fuuka's table. She lay with her head on the table, shielded by her arms and muffling her sobs more than she was already trying to. Most of the people around her were ignoring her, like this wasn't that all uncommon of an occurrence. Yukari shook Fuuka's shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?"

Fuuka raised her head and wiped some tears from her red tinged eyes. "Oh… Takeba-san, right? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you… I'm quite alright."

"You don't look alright. What happened?"

"Oh, it's nothing really. Weren't you waiting for someone? You kept looking toward the door when I came in."

Yukari blinked in surprise. Fuuka had been paying that much attention to her? The girl was insanely observant… or psychic. Putting that thought out of her head, she said, "Oh, yeah, well, I've been waiting for a while. They probably forgot." She grasped the back of the chair across from Fuuka. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Oh, um… I suppose," Fuuka said. Yukari sat down in the chair. Behind her, a waitress picked up Yukari's still full cup of coffee and began to wipe down the table, but Yukari didn't really care about her third cup of coffee. Not like she hadn't already paid for it.

"Y'know, I don't really see you around school much. Do you have any friends?"

"Oh… um, not really… I spend so much time home sick that I don't have much time to hang out with people." Fuuka was already beginning to look uncomfortable. Upon seeing Yukari's critical look, she quickly added, "I have a weak immune system, you see."

"You should join some clubs," Yukari said. "I met a lot of my friends through clubs, and you don't even have to be at school that day to show up to club."

"Oh, I'm actually in a couple of clubs," Fuuka said. "I'm in the Art Club, and I'm in Cooking Club, though not much of my stuff tends to be edible…" There was a long pause after that. She continued to shift uncomfortably in her seat, and Yukari decided it was better if she didn't bother the girl any longer. She stood up.

"Well, I'm going to get going now. But hey, if you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm always here!" Yukari said. "I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow!"

"Oh… yeah, sure. See you tomorrow," Fuuka weakly waved to Yukari as she left. As Yukari made it outside the shop, she had to wonder if she should have left Fuuka by herself in there. On her way to the exit of the mall, she passed a couple of Ganguro girls who seemed to be laughing about something inside the café. She didn't stop to dwell on it, and continued on to the exit. It had started raining fairly hard outside, and she hadn't thought to bring an umbrella. It had been so dry lately that she hadn't expected any kind of rain today. The phone in her pocket gave a beep and vibrated. Yukari pulled it out, and gained an annoyed expression on her face as she saw who it was from.

-sorry we had to cancel :( try again next sunday?

"You could have told me this before I got here…" Yukari grumbled to herself and snapped the phone closed. She looked back toward the café one last time. "I hope that Fuuka girl will be alright…" Shaking her head, she pushed the doors open and walked out into the rain.

For Minato, the Sunday had been rather slow and uneventful. Unlike the rest of SEES, he had no prior obligations for today and no friends to pester (had so many of his friendships been Social Link based after all?), so he'd ended up grabbing a magazine and going down to the dorm common room. He lay down on the couch to read his magazine in peace. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't interest himself in the magazine. It just wasn't interesting when he'd already read this supposedly new issue a year ago back in his world.

He lay the magazine on his face to shield it from the light and attempted to fall asleep. This didn't quite work out either, as despite his exhaustion from the previous night, the thoughts in his head continued to keep him from being able to relax. He should have known last night wouldn't be a cakewalk. His only plan going into that fight had been "Prevent Arcana Shadow from being killed" and in the end, he hadn't been able to do that. If he was going to stop the Fall, he'd have to do something that kept the Shadows from being killed without arousing any suspicion from the others. If he could just convince them that Ikutsuki was wrong, he'd have a chance, but he didn't see that as being very likely. Hamuko didn't trust him either, but she didn't know the full extent of his plans.

The sound of footsteps nearby temporarily shook Minato out of his thoughts. Without turning toward the footsteps, he said, "Going somewhere?"

"Ah, yeah," Hamuko's voice answered. Speak of the devil. "Where is everyone, anyways? I haven't seen anyone all morning."

Minato raised up a hand and began to count off people on his fingers. "Mitsuru's having daddy issues, Yukari's on a group date and will have dumped the guy she's on the date with by the end of it, Akihiko's up in his room training, and Junpei's sleeping and will go bug Akihiko when he wakes up." He paused and sat up, causing the magazine to fall from his face. "Where are you going?"

It was only now that Minato was able to actually see Hamuko, and his face fell a bit as he saw her outfit. At first, he thought she was wearing her uniform, but upon closer inspection, he realized she was wearing a black suit jacket and skirt. She was carrying a small black umbrella, as well. Her expression and stance seemed much more subdued than usual. She gave a pained smile at Minato's question. "I was going to…" She shook her head. "Well, you know how there's a graveyard near Naganaki Shrine? I've been so busy lately with school and clubs and Tartarus that I haven't had a chance to…"

Minato shot up off of the couch, already knowing why Hamuko wanted to go to the cemetery. "Wait. Stay here. I'll be right back." He ran toward the stairs, ignoring the objections he could already hear Hamuko yelling. He ran into his bedroom and pulled his suitcase out from under his bed. After rummaging in it for a moment he pulled out a white dress shirt, black suit jacket, and black pants. He quickly changed into them without bothering to really try to look all that neat. On the way out the door, he grabbed a black umbrella, and then ran back downstairs to where Hamuko was waiting. She stared at him with a look of disbelief on her face.

"…I'm ready to go," Minato said after a moment of uncomfortable silence between the two of them.

"Why do you want to come?" Hamuko asked with a wavering voice. Minato didn't answer. His reasons were complicated and selfish, and Hamuko didn't need to know them. She looked away. "…If you don't want to tell me, that's fine too."

"Come on. Let's not wait here any longer," Minato said. Hamuko nodded, and the two of them walked out of the dorm.

Minato couldn't remember the last time he'd been to a graveyard like this. He hadn't been to one since before that fateful incident on the bridge ten years ago, and after that incident, they'd shipped him off from Port Island before he could even see his parents' grave. The rows upon rows of crowded graves were an image vaguely familiar to Minato; perhaps from a relative's death when he was much younger, or a visit during the Obon festivities. During the walk to the graveyard, the sky had noticeably darkened, and there were low rumbles of thunder in the distance.

The plot for Hamuko's parents' grave was near the back of the graveyard, situated between two identical appearing gravestones. The gravestone itself was weathered, but not so much that the names engraved upon it were unreadable. The two names, written vertically on the grave, read Souta Arisato and Hisako Arisato. The names of Minato's parents.

Hamuko bent down and placed a bundle of flowers on the stone slab in front of the gravestone. She straightened up and looked down at the grave before beginning to pray. Minato didn't say anything. It had been ten years since she'd even had a chance to come to this city, after all. She deserved a moment to properly honor her parents' memory.

She lowered her hands from in front of her face and gave a pained smile at the grave. Minato was sure he saw a few tears begin to roll down her face, but Hamuko quickly wiped them away with a handkerchief. "Hey, Mom, Dad. It's been a while since I've been here… Ever since you died, things have been hectic for me. I've been moving around a lot, but I managed to get a scholarship for the high school down here, so I've been able to come back. Didn't do much for my free time, though, so that's why I had to wait until I had a Sunday off. I've been doing a lot of things, too. Like, helping people… Though most people don't know I'm actually helping them. But that's okay with me."

"Telling them all about what you've been up to?" Minato asked. Hamuko wiped away another tear and nodded.

"Mm-hmm," Hamuko said. There was another rumble of thunder, and both Minato and Hamuko looked up at the sky before turning back toward the grave. "They were the best parents I could ever have… well, they were the only parents I ever had. They were strict, but they were kind, and they were always able to do the best for me. While everyone else… after Mom and Dad died, there was just so much squabbling about their inheritance; everyone just… forgot I existed. I got moved around so much, always to another relative's house before they moved me again."

"It must have been hard," Minato said in a low voice.

"Yeah… I always wanted to come back here to Iwatodai, even after all that had happened. Neither of my parents were from here, but they loved this city so much… I remember them taking me on walks around the city and sometimes Dad would take me to Gekkoukan. He was a teacher there before he died. It wasn't as shiny and new looking back—" Hamuko cut off as she saw how Minato was looking away from her with a pained look on his face. She gave a gasp. "I-I'm sorry… I'm so insensitive, I completely forgot—"

"No, keep going."

Hamuko had a look of confusion on her face before turning away from Minato once more. "Back when Dad taught at Gekkoukan, I remember him saying that someday I'd be able to go to school there too, if my grades were good enough. I didn't really understand any of it back then. I was just six, after all. It wasn't until after he was gone that I finally started putting any kind of effort into my studies."

"What about your mother?"

"She…" Hamuko laughed. "I mainly remember her chasing me around the house trying to give me a spanking after getting into something I shouldn't have done. I was always getting into trouble, so this happened a lot. I kind of wish I'd been a better kid. Maybe even thanked her once for everything she did for me."

"You miss them a lot, don't you?"

Hamuko nodded. "Yeah… they were my family." She turned toward Minato, who had returned to staring at the grave. A single drop of moisture rolled down his cheek. "Minato-kun…?"

"It's raining."

Hamuko looked up toward the sky. The rain had begun while she was talking. "Ah, yeah…"

Minato opened his umbrella and turned toward Hamuko, who did the same with her own umbrella. "Come on; let's go before it starts raining any harder."

Hamuko nodded, and she began walking toward the exit of the gravesite. Minato began to follow after Hamuko, only to stop upon seeing a flash of blue in the corner of his eye. He turned around again in time to see a blue butterfly land on the grave. He stared at the butterfly uncomprehendingly for a moment before walking away from the insect, which fluttered away once more. Whatever message that butterfly had wished to send, Minato had gotten it. He exited the graveyard together with Hamuko, and the two of them returned to the dorm.