Author's Note:

I didn't change too much, but there is one character change that's kiiind of (?) important that you might want to check out. If you've been reviewing/keeping in touch with me, you really don't need to be worried. I didn't mean to freak you guys out, haha.

Anyway, so we've hit the 100 review mark, which is super awesome! I'm doing a little award/contest thing, though it won't be coming up for a while. Reviewers 150-165 will be randomized, and the person picked gets to choose a character they'd like to have a chapter focused on. It can be a romantic/couple thing, or just some character insight. Again, that's not for a while, but just letting you know that it's there. :)

L'Effet Papillon
"The Butterfly Effect"
a Persona 3/Portable (© ATLUS) fanfiction

Chapter Nine
Rumor Has It

I will burn my dread
I once ran away from the god of fear
and he chained me to despair

Yoshioka recovers just in time for mid-term exams, and considering the fact that she's mostly been sleeping and trying to process everything, Mitsuru offers to pull some strings and get them rescheduled. Yoshioka declines despite her insistence. "Not like it matters when I take them," she mutters to Yukari once the Kirijo heiress leaves. "I'm gonna fail either way. Might as well get 'em over with now."

"I thought you said your dad was gonna kill you if you got in the bottom ten again," Yukari says.

She shrugs. "I'll just tell him I caught Apathy Syndrome or something."

Six days of testing go quickly, but not quickly enough. In between tests are study groups, the desperation to fill in study guides, and hours spent at the library trying to gain and regain knowledge. By the time it's all over, Minato & Co. feel like they're going to pass out from mental exhaustion.

"That was brutal," Junpei groans, dropping his head against the desk. "I'd rather fight my way through fifteen floors of Shadows than have to do that ever again."

Though she looks just as worn, Yukari quirks an eyebrow. "Should we prepare your grave for when finals come, then?" His only response is a loud groan.

While slowly packing up his things, Minato goes over the exam questions in his head. "I probably should've spent more time studying instead of meeting with Tanaka and Mutatsu. Today's portion was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be..." He sighs, a little disappointed in himself, but knows that there's not much he can do about it now, and moping certainly won't help anyone. "By the way," he says, looking around the nearly vacant classroom, "where did Yoshi go? She left pretty quickly."

"You don't remember? They're moving her into the dorm today, so she had to run home." He does vaguely remember Akihiko saying something along those lines. "Do... Do you think Yoshi's okay with moving into the dorm? I mean, you don't think she felt pressured to join or anything, do you?"

Minato's sure it's out of genuine concern for her friend, but he also senses her distrust and suspicion of Mitsuru's motives. Honestly, he isn't completely 100% sure about the redhead's motives, as she does a good job of giving them information without actually telling them anything, but he doesn't think she's intentionally pulling the wool over their eyes. "I thought she looked pretty scared that night she came in," he says. "Which is pretty understandable. She thought the Dark Hour was a dream up until then."

Yukari bites down on her lower lip. "Yeah, but..."

"She also said that she felt unsafe. I think a lot of the reason why she agreed to move in and help out is because she wants to feel safe," he reasons. "What was it like for you, when you woke up to the Dark Hour?"

The question rattles her; he can tell by the way she shrinks back into her shoulders and how she hesitates to answer. "I was scared," she answers eventually. "I didn't know what was happening, and I thought I was dying or I was gonna die. I wanted someone to help me."

"That's probably what it's like for Yoshi. She wants help, but she can't do it on her own 'cause she doesn't know what's happening. Yeah, she'll be in danger like the rest of us, but at least she'll know how to fight back." Minato stands up and smiles as he places a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it too much, Yukari. Besides, she has us if she really needs any help."

It's a little forced, but Yukari returns the smile. (He also thinks that she could possibly be blushing, but he attributes that to his eyes going wonky because of lack of sleep.) "You're right." She abruptly turns to Junpei and punches him the arm, startling him. "Hey, let's head back to the dorm. You can sleep on the couch there, lazy." Junpei grunts and grumbles, but he tumbles out of his desk and drags himself along Minato and Yukari like a zombie. As they board the train to Iwatodai, she turns to him with an incredulous look. "Did mid-terms really kill you that badly? I mean, they were hard, but..."

"Exams don't affect you the same way they get me, Yuka-tan," he replies, resting his head against the cold window. "It's like... Like when Shadows throw out their wind spells! They hit you a little, but you're fine; they hit me and I'm down and out."

Yukari giggles at the analogy, while Minato does his best to hide his amused smile. "We'll just have to study harder when finals come around," Minato says. "Maybe we shouldn't have gone to Tartarus as much as we did... Those trips probably shouldn't count as study breaks."

Junpei groans. "Naw, man, don't do that! Goin' to Tartarus was like the beacon of light at the end of the tunnel for me. It's the only thing that gets me through dead week and exam week!"

"That's saying something," Yukari murmurs. "Anyway, the weather's definitely warming up, which means we'll be able to wear our summer uniforms soon. The cold usually gets me down and keeps me inside, so I'm excited to finally be able to spend some time outside... Though I hear the heat wave this year is supposed to be brutal. Ugh, which one is worse: over the top heat or frigid cold?"

"Dude, if it's as hot as it was last year, I'd rather stick with the frigid cold," says Junpei. "I was so sweaty my clothes were stickin' to me."

"Ew, Junpei."

"What? I'm just sayin'..."

While the two bicker behind him (a frequent occurrence, he realizes), Minato scans the crowd in the train. It's mostly filled with students heading home, though there are a couple businessmen on the phone and mothers with their children. His gaze eventually falls on a familiar, small figure standing in front of the closed doors. "Ami!" he shouts, raising his voice in order to catch her attention.

She looks around, unsure if she really heard her name or not, when she catches Minato smiling in greeting at her. "Oh, Senpai!" She nudges through the crowd with some difficulty, apologizing every time she accidentally elbows someone or steps on their toe, before joining the second years of 2-F. "I never see you on the train ride back to the dorm! How are all of you?"

"Good," answer Yukari and Minato. Junpei doesn't even try, just grunts.

"Exams were hard, huh?" she asks, smiling sympathetically. "I might have missed a couple of questions on today's exam, but hopefully I did well. Oh, by the way, Minato-senpai, thank you for studying with me last week! It answered a lot of things I was unsure of, and I'm pretty sure I got all those questions right!"

The way she beams at him, like he's some kind of savior, almost makes him blush. "Ah, no problem," he responds, as cooly as he can.

"Leader against the Shadows, track star, musician, student council member, and now tutor? Is there anything you can't do?" Yukari teases.

"I'm not good at cooking," he says, completely serious.

Ami claps her hands together excitedly. "Then maybe I can pay you back by giving you a cooking lesson," she says, dark brown eyes shining enthusiastically. "I mean, we'd have to go shopping in order to get some supplies — we're running low on some things right now — but it'd be so much fun!"

Minato bobs his head as he smiles. "Yeah, that would be fun." Then he bows, which results in Ami's face turning bright red. "I leave myself in your care, Sensei."

"P-please, Senpai...!"

The train rolls to a stop, signaling everyone to file off or get carted around Tatsumi Port Island again. Junpei fights through the hoard of people (having been part of the latter description several times due to inattention), while the others trail behind him carefully. "By the way," Junpei says once everyone's off and the crowd has dispersed in different directions, "I heard Akihiko-senpai's going to see the doctor today. If he gets the okay, then he can start fighting again and come with us to Tartarus."

"That would be nice," Yukari muses. "Just to have another person with some experience. I bet he's really dependable in battle."

"He spends most of his free time practicing his boxing, so he trains in and out of Tartarus," says Ami. "I've never seen him fight, so I can't say for sure, but... I feel like Akihiko-senpai is someone we can definitely feel safe with."

As they approach the dorm, they can see a number of cardboard boxes and suitcases sitting outside the doors. Yoshioka, who still looks pretty frazzled from the mid-terms, points to a couple and shouts something to the men moving her in. Upon closer inspection, the men are just Akihiko and Ryuu; the way they're struggling with the boxes tells them that she probably brought everything from her home with her. Suddenly, Junpei makes a grab for Minato's arm. "We can still get out of this, man," he whispers urgently. "She hasn't seen us yet. We can get away and we won't have to be her pack mules—"

"Oi! Junpei! Cutie!"

"Aw crap."

The next thirty minutes are spent dragging Yoshioka's belongings into her third floor bedroom ("Why the hell isn't there an elevator in this place?" Junpei hisses when Yukari accidentally drops one box on his foot) and getting her settled in. They all collapse in and outside of Yoshioka's room when it's all done, while she cheerfully takes a seat on her yellow bean bag chair. "Thanks for helping, you guys!" she says.

"Helping?" Ryuu wheezes, from just outside her door. "We did all the work! You just yelled at us for thirty minutes..."

"Yelling burns calories," she says wisely.

Ryuu attempts to glare at her, but he can barely lift his head, so he settles with staring holes into the carpet. Akihiko is the only one (other than Yoshioka) who doesn't look the least bit tired. In fact, the more Minato looks at him, the more he thinks Akihiko is actually glowing from the workout. "I've got some stuff I need to finish up, so I'll see you guys later tonight." He walks off, but with a noticeable skip in his step.

"Why is he so happy?" Junpei growls, like Akihiko has committed a first-degree crime.

"Mitsuru-senpai told me he got good news back from the doctor," Ryuu says, his voice muffled by the carpet.

Yukari sits upright on Yoshioka's bed, her eyes wide. "So he's coming with us to Tartarus, then?"

"Probably. We'll find out tonight, I guess."

The underclassmen spend the rest of their time until dinner in Yoshioka's room, going through her chest of tea and coffee bags, shelf of classic literature, and DVDs of old American sitcoms. Junpei curiously nudges open a large box that she keeps hidden under her bed; Yoshioka is on him like a tiger, tackling him to the ground and closing the box all in one motion. "Stay away from there!" she shrieks, pink in the face and wild in the eyes.

"Okay, okay, okay!" Junpei replies, trying to get her hands away from his face. When she clambers off of him and makes sure that the box is safely hidden amongst her other junk, he turns to Minato and whispers, "I guess girls have that kind of thing under their bed too." Fortunately for him, Yoshioka doesn't hear; unfortunately for him, Yukari does, and she delivers a swift thwack to the back of his head. "Ow!"

Dinner mostly consists of instant ramen and leftover bento boxes. "Geez, you weren't kidding when you said we were out of everything," Yukari says, sighing as she waits for her ramen to finish. "We're gonna have to go grocery shopping sometime this week..."

"No kidding," Yoshioka murmurs as she pokes her head into the cupboard, which is stacked from top to bottom with ramen. "Do you guys live off this stuff?"

"It's cheap and it's food," Junpei says, like it's the most obvious answer in the world. And for high school students, it is.

When Akihiko walks in, everyone greets him with congratulations. "Senpai, I hear you're fully healed!" says Yukari.

"Yeah, congrats, man!" says Junpei.

Akihiko smiles and nods. "I need to catch up on my training. I've slacked off for a whole month."

"Shouldn't you take it easy, though?" Yukari asks, eyeing him dubiously. He's lucky Mitsuru isn't there, otherwise he'd definitely be getting an earful. "You don't wanna reinjure your arm or ribs."

"I've already wasted precious time. Besides, we found another Persona-user." His eyes travel over to Yoshioka, who's filling up her ramen bowl with hot water. "In addition to the one we just received."

Ryuu blinks in surprise. "Wow, the team's really growing."

While the prospect of another Persona-user and the growth of their team is exciting, Junpei is much more concerened with other matters. More important matters. "We did!? Sweet!" He hesitates for a moment before asking, "Is it a girl...?"

The corner of Akihiko's lips twitches in amusement. "Actually, it is. She's a junior who goes to our school. Fuuka Yamagishi.. Do you guys know her?"

"Oh, she's in my class," Ryuu says. "But... She gets sick a lot, and I haven't seen her in class lately. To be honest, I don't know her very well."

"She was at the same hospital as me. That's how we found out about her. But, maybe she's not cut out for battle." Akihiko sighs, already lamenting the loss of someone they never had. "I had an Evoker made for her, but..."

Even if everyone else has given up, Junpei is not one to back down (especially when it comes to cute, Persona-wielding girls). "What!? We're giving up on her already!? I was gonna offer hers ome private lessons..."

The room quiets down at his statement, with the guys lowering their heads ("I can't help you here," Minato whispers) and the girls looking at him with mild disgust. Even Ami can't contain her look of disdain. Eventually, Yoshioka breaks the silence with an oddly chipper, "You're a perv, Junpei."

"C'mon," he says, sinking down into his seat in embarrassment. "I'm a guy. Whatddya expect...!?"

Minato wipes the sweat off his forehead with the back of his arm once he finishes putting away the stands in the music room. "Is that all we need to do?" he asks, turning to Ami.

She bobs her head as she checks off the final box on the page. "Yes, that should be it for clean-up. Thank you, all of you, for staying back and helping! I don't know where the rest of the first years are..." She shakes her head, reminds herself to talk to them at the next club meeting, then goes to hang up the clipboard. "Practice went pretty well today. Shiori's really good on the piano, don't you think?"

"That would explain why she got piano for the next recital," Yoshioka mutters, doing nothing to cover up her bitterness.

Ami laughs nervously, having forgotten her upperclassman's sensitivity to the issue. "Well… You get to play cello at the next recital! That's exciting, isn't it?"

"I'm the only cello player in the club," she replies, deadpan.

"Yes, that's true, but… You're still a wonderful musician." That seems to satisfy Yoshioka enough. "Keisuke-senpai spent a lot of time trying to come up with a line-up for the recital. It's been stressing him out, I think. I mean, more than usual."

"By the way," Yoshioka says as she puts away her sheet music, "do you guys know what's up with Keisuke-senpai? He's been super stressed lately, which is really unlike him. Usually he just wears that goofy smile and makes sure everyone is taking their vitamins."

"Umm, I know he's being pressured by his parents to go to medical school," Ami murmurs. "So it's a little more difficult for him to devote time to Music Club. Do you know anything, Minato-senpai?"

It's true that Minato's acquainted with the club president, but there's not much more that he knows that Ami hasn't already said. "No. It's probably just hard for him because they're making him pick or something. Whatever it is, we just need to be here for him if he needs us." Ami bobs her head in agreement. "Anyway, since we're done here do you guys wanna head back to the dorm?"

They stop by Paulownia Mall before going back, mostly because Yoshioka is complaining about caffeine withdrawal. Before they can go into Chagall Café, Minato is distracted by the neon lights and, most importantly, the free samples outside of Otaku's Paradise. "It's free," Minato insists, dragging a reluctant Yoshioka away from the doors of the café.

Makiko, as usual, greets him with an enthusiastic grin. "Oh, hello, Minato-kun! It's been a while since I've seen you." Her dark green gaze drifts to Ami and Yoshioka, who are cooing over the sweets on the table. "We're giving out free samples to show off our new menu," she says. "A lot of it is French because I've been getting some help from Bebe. Do you know him?"

"Yeah, I met him when I was at Bookworm," Minato says as he picks up a chocolate-filled croissant.

"Isn't he the sweetest?" she gushes. Sweet isn't the first term to pop into his mind when he recalls the eccentric foreign exchange student, but he does seem nice enough. Minato makes a mental reminder to visit the fashion club at some point or another as a he takes a bite out of the pastry. "By the way, Minato-kun," she begins, in a more solemn tone, "did you hear that the number of victims of Apathy Syndrome are on the rise again? Apparently, the decline was only temporary."

"Yeah, I think Mitsuru-senpai mentioned something about it." The rise in victims means that their journey is far from over. It does make him wonder, though, how many Shadows he has to kill before things go back to normal — if things ever can go back to normal. Granted, doing something is better than doing nothing, but by how much?

"Be careful," she says, placing a hand on his arm.

He blinks. "Huh?"

"Strange things have been happening lately, and I'm afraid you might get hurt," she says. "I know you're pretty popular at school, so it probably won't happen to you, but I also heard that bullying's been pretty bad at school lately. The teachers keep insisting otherwise, but the students are saying otherwise." Makiko is used to being teased (it comes with the bright wigs and her affinity for costly), but if she can help in any way, she will. High schoolers are cruel, but no one should be subjected to bullying because it's the norm. "If you have any problems or need to talk, I'm here."

Minato senses the concern behind her words, and he smiles gratefully. "Yeah, thanks, Makiko."

Her grin makes her eyes sparkle. "Of course, Minato-kun!"

"I think the lemon ones are my favorite," Yoshioka murmurs.

"Really?" Ami asks. "I really like the strawberry… Do you wanna switch?"

"Ooh, yeah, deal."

Minato chuckles as he grasps both girls by the elbows before they can steal anymore samples. (Though, at this point, there's only half of what was originally there.) "I'm gonna take them home before you run out. I'll see you around, Makiko."

She's too stunned by how quickly two (small) girls ate all of her snacks to respond immediately. "O-oh, right. Have a safe trip back! I should probably go get some more before I'm out…"

"You said they were free," Yoshioka says when Minato gives her a pointed look. "Besides, they're like little pieces of heaven in your mouth. Watch, say 'aahhh'!" He opens his mouth to protest, which gives her the opportunity to promptly shove a raspberry tart between his lips. "Heaven, right?"

"Hm, you're right, that is pretty good," he acquiesces after chewing on the tart. "We should buy some and bring them back to the dorm."

"Good idea!" Ami agrees. "We can use them to celebrate?"

"Celebrate what?"

She taps her chin thoughtfully. "Well, Yoshi-senpai's joined the team and Akihiko-senpai recovered, so I definitely think those are things to celebrate. Oh, and we might have another Persona-user. The reasons to celebrate are endless!"

"Ha ha ha ha!"

"So, I pretended to take a picture with my cell phone."

"And?"

"She freaked out and started crying. Like it was the end of the world! You should've seen the look on her face… It was priceless!"

"Oh my God!"

"I've never laughed so hard in all my life!"

Hiyu looks up from his book to glare at the laughing girls underneath the archway. They're so wrapped up in their conversation, however, that they fail to notice him completely. (The fact that he's basically hidden underneath the shade and leaves of the persimmon tree probably don't help either.) "Seriously," he mumbles as he tries to focus on the words on the page, "what does a guy have to do to get some peace and quiet around here?"

"Huh…? Where's that voice coming from…?"

"What voice? I don't hear anything."

He lifts his head again upon hearing the latest part of the conversation. One of the girls, the one with blunt bangs and high pigtails, wears an expression of mild fear, while the other is concerned. He notices another girl in the archway, though she's towards the end and looks disgusted; perhaps she overheard what they were talking about? "Wait," he thinks, squinting to get a better look at the female in pink, "isn't that Yukari Takeba?" She mutters something to herself, shakes her head, and heads into the building through the double doors. "Hm…"

"What's wrong, Maki? Maki!"

"… Huh?"

"Are you okay!?"

"Sorry… What were we talking about?"

Hiyu stands up and dusts any stray leaves off his trench coat, then proceeds into the archway. The girls immediately stop talking, surprised to see him (and his trench coat, considering the warm weather), until he follows Yukari in suit, back into the building. "Bullying, huh?" he asks, looking over his shoulder at the girls through the window. "What a shame."

Shuya fidgets with the sleeves of his new winter uniform, as well as the black beanie concealing his headset. Though the clothing doesn't itch or feel uncomfortable, he can't help but recognize that he stands out from everyone else wearing their summer uniforms. Already he's received plenty of questionable glances and stares. "How do I look?" he asks.

"Fine," Sasaki grunts. He turns to the side and folds his arms across his chest. "Seriously, Phil, what the hell are you thinking? Sending this guy to school…" He glances at the robot, who's tended to by Shiori and Kanzeon. "It's like he wants everyone to figure out that something's up."

"You're worrying too much," Kanzeon replies as she fondly pulls Shuya's beanie down further. "No one should suspect anything, so long as we play it cool." She takes a step back to admire Shuya in the Gekkoukan uniform, thinks that he might look a little toasty underneath all those layers, but overall is pleased with the final product. "Besides, people should be worrying about themselves rather than their classmate's appearance. You look wonderful, Shuya."

He smiles. "I see. Thank you."

"We should probably head to class," Shiori advises.

Sasaki jams his thumbs into the pockets of his pants and heads up the stairs. "Yeah, yeah, let's get goin'…"

"I understand that my primary function here is to gather information," Shuya states as they follow. "Early this morning I overheard students discussing the discovery of a second year student in front of school grounds today. A girl from class 2-E went missing yesterday night, and when they found her this morning she was unconscious. Currently, nobody knows what occurred or how she came to be in front of the gate, but she still has yet to recover. Students are suspecting the involvement of phantoms."

Shiori's eyebrows raise in surprise. "Ghosts, really? Well, everyone does look pretty spooked… People have been on edge lately because of the bullying allegations, too. Still, the rumors that circulate around this school are pretty incredible."

"Rumors or not, we should try to investigate and gather as much information as possible," says Kanzeon. "I've always believed that behind every myth, there's a bit of truth. Perhaps we'll discover something that will help us in the long run. Phil is getting particularly antsy, what with SEES's movement."

"That guy just has a perpetual stick up his ass," Sasaki grunts.

Shiori barely manages to contain her snicker. "True, but I think he has good reason to worry. They have been getting pretty far."

"So hunting down rumors and ghosts is gonna put us ahead of them?" Sasaki asks, scoffing. "Whatever, I'll leave that to you guys and the information gatherer. I'm practically deaf anyway, so I won't be any help to you."

Kanzeon gives him a hard look that he barely manages to deflect. Despite taking up the motherly role in the group, she can be a hard ass. "It would be a lot easier if it was a team effort," she says, sickly sweet despite her glare. "Don't you agree, Shiori?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah…" She noticed the grimace on Sasaki's face and leer on Kanzeon's, and knows better than arguing the dark-haired female. "Yeah, definitely."

"Whatever," Sasaki mumbles, giving in without much of a fight.

Kanzeon, who always does well to keep a repressed expression, claps her hands together and smiles brightly. "Excellent. We'll all have to do our best, then."

While she turned to Shiori and exchanged a couple of strategies, Sasaki scrunched up his face in distaste. "Dammit, I hate gossip."

The strange boy in striped pajamas is in Minato's room again, but he's gotten used to his appearance. "Good evening," the boy greets as he takes a seat at the edge of his bed. "I came to see you again, as I promised. How are you?"

"It's you," Minato murmurs as he rubs at his eyes. No, the boy is definitely still there and Minato is definitely not dreaming.

"I'm glad you remembered me." He smiles, and this action stirs up feelings of nostalgia within Minato. He's not sure why. "Now… In another week, the moon will be full again. And the next ordeal will be upon you. So, be careful." Before he can ask anything (or even think of something to ask), the boy disappears. "… I'll come again."

"That kid really needs to learn some manners," he thinks as he falls back onto the pillow. Ghosts, rumors, voices, and now this…? "I need a break."

Closing Song: "It's Time" - Imagine Dragons

A little shorter because getting into Fuuka's involvement would make the chapter too long. I'm also planning so more fun/not-so-plot-heavy scenes, which'll probably come after the next chapter.

Thanks for reading!

xx, der kapitan