A/N: Sup? If you've read this far thank you :) There's some more Theo in this one, and just some interactions with the social links to make them more part of the main storyline. Enjoy!
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Date 9: Reapers and Rumors
There was anticipation in everyone to see the perfect, divine Mitsuru Kirijo battle alongside them in Tartarus. Mitsuru had on her uniform, and a black rapier for fencing was her hand weapon. Fuuka didn't need the amplifier—her Persona, Lucia, sent her voice directly to them telepathically.
Ezi had gone to the Velvet Room to see Theo and Igor, in order to observe the Persona she had so far—Then on her timeless return, they went in into the labyrinth. When the seal became obscured, they were in a different section of the second block—the walls were still purple, and there was unpleasant statue faces with thin eyes and pale purple skin looking down on those that searched the halls.
The first Shadow they saw were two Haughty Maya—mayas with elongated, purple masks.
"Sempais, do you guys want to take these two?" Ezi asked. Akihiko and Mitsuru nodded. Akihiko summoned his Polydeuces, and it drilled its needle arm into one. Mitsuru did not waste her energy on the puddle-like Shadows to summon a Persona. In one hand, she parried her rapier forward several times, until she slashed down on it, and it turned to mush and vanished.
"Nice, sempai!" Junpei gave her a thumb-up. They continued on, and next they snuck up on a sky balance, and a jealous cupid, which was a red masked shadow the size of a baby with fluttering wings.
"Don't let them use their bow and arrow on you!" Fuuka whispered in their heads.
"Not before I get it with mine." Yukari smirked confidently. Akihiko struck the Balance cross down with his fist, and then Yukari shot her arrow, but her arrow whizzed by the cupid's form. It turned around and did the same action with its bow rather quickly. Yukari gasped, and Mitsuru stepped in by protecting her with her Persona.
"Penthesilea!" The thin thing had woman's knight armor for her blouse, and a knight's tight helmet encased around its head. It had hosiery that reached to its white-laced shoes and heels, and it held a triangular Epee in one hand, and a thin long sword in the other. It crossed the swords together to block the arrow, then it struck back using Marin Karin by whipping its sword at the cupid and unleashing an aphrodisiac like magic upon the Shadow.
The cupid wiggled its head for a moment, then shot its arrows at the other cupids to wipe them out. Ezi jumped in and used a slash attack on the one Mitsuru had seemed to possess with her Persona.
"What was that? The Shadow totally just turned on its other buddies!" Junpei exclaimed.
"Takeba-san, are you okay?" Mitsuru asked.
"F-fine, of course!"
"That was a charm spell, right, Mitsuru?" Akihiko asked with a wild smile. He just wanted to punch more things with his fists.
"Correct. I believe your Persona also has this potential, Takeba. You'll tap into it eventually."
Yukari smiled and nodded, but she was clearly trying too hard. They reached out to higher floors, and the small cupids, Mayas, and Bronze blocks seemed rather fragile compared to the two large Shadows they had fought on the full moon a few nights before. Mitsuru was out to prove herself—Ezi still led, but Mitsuru was still on the brink of moving ahead towards the small Shadows when she could. She lunged her weapon effortlessly, and used bufu ice from her elegant Persona to weaken the cupids and bronze dice Shadow.
"How are you all doing? The large enemy is one the next floor."
It was still new to hear Fuuka speak telepathically.
"I am prepared. How are all of your statuses?" Mitsuru tapped her booted heel on the ground. She hadn't seemed to broken into sweat yet.
"I can keep going!" Yukari was out of breath.
Ezi leaned her staff against her shoulder, and wrapped her hands on her hips to catch some air. "You guys sure? We have gone up a lot of floors. I'm good, but be honest."
Akihiko and Junpei agreed, and the three of them were pulled into the battle on the next floor—
3 golden beetles, the size of school buses, were blocking the large room down the hallway that held the stairways to the next floor. They each had on a fancy red crown, and they made a loud 'buzz' sound when their wings flapped.
"Those are some big bugs…" Junpei summoned Hermes and used fire pellets on one of them, and it roared and went on its hind legs to stand up and flap its wings. Ezi used Orpheus to summon agilao fire, and it roasted the beetle. Mitsuru and Akihiko went for another beetle together—her Persona used its daggers to swipe and push the beetle back. Polydeuces used zio lightning to strike it, and it toppled over on its belly, making it easy for Penthesilea to stab into its guts and defeat it.
The third beetle soared into the air—with an attempt to land heavily on Yukari. She summoned Lo, and it blocked the Shadow from crushing her from above. Lo disappeared, and Yukari jumped away desperately in time and slid face down as the beetle hit the ground, crushing the tile beneath its shelly body. Fuuka proclaimed that they needed to use zio, and Akihiko did so gladly, turning the beetle over again. Ezi summoned Raphael, an enchanting angel with robes and feathered wings, and it used hamo light on its belly, vanquishing it.
"You okay, Yukari?" Ezi helped her up.
"Yeah, fine."
"Good work! We have annihilated the obstacle in our path. Leon-san, what are your orders?"
"Oh—check for any loose items on this floor, than use the large portal to finish up for the night."
They followed the routine quietly, then returned to the dorm when their work was done. Fuuka and Mitsuru seemed to flow well with operations so far, and the SEES team was making progress up Tartarus faster with so much aid. Also, thankfully, Ezi hadn't seen a dark figure that night like before.
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Rio had a face on her, like she was far from where they were presently… Rio and Ezi were the only two girls who had shown up that day to practice, and prior to it, the girls had been disagreeing harshly with how intense their basketball training had become. Ezi liked it, since she didn't mind the extra physical strain to prepare for Tartarus. They were stretching quietly in the middle of the court together when a boy from Ezi's classroom broke their concentration. He entered from the gym double doors from the courtyard. Ezi remembered that his name was Kenji, and sometime earlier that year he'd been caught slacking off in class. He had short, thin, messy brown hair, dark eyes, and a smug grin on his face, wearing only the white shirt and black slacks of his uniform.
He walked hastily over to them. "Sup?"
"You tell us, you came here." Rio said quickly.
"I got some homework I don't understand. Would you mind doing it for me, or at least show me how to do it?"
Again, Rio answered. "Are you serious? You probably just fell asleep in class again."
He chuckled embarrassingly.
"What do I get in return for it?" She demanded.
"Ooh, so you're up for it? Lucky me!"
"Answer the question."
"I'll give you my love in return. Love, baby!"
"Nobody needs that. How about you buy me a special at Hagakure, instead?"
He closed one eye and looked upward. "Ouch, steep! Okay, I can wait for you until you're done I guess."
"Yeah, yeah."
Kenji without another word went out of the gym, and Rio continued to stretch like nothing had happened.
"…You two get along well." Ezi finally commented.
"Oh? Yeah I guess. I've known him since pre-school. He's like a younger brother to me." She laughed, then her distant eyes appeared again. "Sorry, I guess it's not much of a practice with just us two today."
"They'll eventually come back… I hope."
"Yeah… I mean, it's not like its my fault! I know I should be more mature, but all that stuff about me never having been in a relationship—that's none of their business!"
"Is that their issue with you?"
"They think I'd be less strict if I was in one."
"That's none of their business."
"Right?"
"What is it with girls being so caddy in the halls? I don't get it; do something more constructive than deconstruct other people's lives."
"Exactly! You get me…" Despite this, Rio still seemed vexed. They stood up and grabbed two basketballs to shoot around a bit before doing drills.
Rio griped her ball intensely. "Ezi… do you have… someone you like?"
Ezi stared at her. Rio didn't seem the type to be curious about this. She seemed a tomboy like herself and was usually more focused, professional. She had to think about the question and made a three point shot as she mused.
"No." She was uncertain.
"I-is that so?" She said absently. "I don't get romance. It feels like its too much trouble and there's no big reward for it."
"You might be right." Ezi thought about how comfortable Rio was with Kenji. Maybe that's what brought up the conversation. "I wouldn't know, though. I used to think love was just girls being obsessed with boys, but I've never been in love, so I can't really say."
"Have you ever had anyone like you before?"
She thought about middle school, and high school back in America. "Probably. There was one boy I fancied before in middle school-" She paused, and grimaced.
"What's wrong?"
"Simon. He died from some weird health complications before we got to high school. I-I think he may have liked me, but I never got close enough to him to find out."
"Really? I'm sorry…"
"You did nothing wrong." She winked. "I guess we should finish up practice so you can help Kenji?"
"R-right, but not because I want to go help him!"
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After practice, Ezi walked back to the dorm with Yukari. The girl seemed obsessed with finding some error in Mitsuru's ways.
"I just think she pushed Fuuka, that's all. I hope I'm not being paranoid about this, but it bothers me."
It caused Ezi to think too. Mitsuru was high class and driven, so it would make sense she would want to recruit more help for their ultimate goals. Also, it had been less of a hassle when she worked with them inside of Tartarus. She just wasn't sure.
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Days went by of busy work, and Ezi scrolled it all down in her itinerary, she saw a former page reminding her of the Persimmon tree petition. A few more people had signed, but not a big enough amount to stop the construction. When she took the paper down by the teacher's lounge during lunch, the math teacher, Ms. Miyahara, disrupted her.
"Leon-san," she said unusually sternly, "did you put those petitions up? About the tree?"
Would she be in trouble for this? Hidetoshi from the Student Council had even helped her make copies one day.
"Yes, ma'm."
"Come with me." The lanky, afro-haired elder with glasses turned to go to her desk in the staff's office, and Ezi followed her in. Ms. Miyahara scrambled through her desk to find a dusty black book, and she flipped through it in front of Ezi to show it held pages of black and white photos of students and teachers in old school uniforms.
"Ah- there it is-" She pointed to herself in a line of students in rows for their school picture, from many years ago. "—See that one with the curly hair is me. I never did get much approval from the boys. And here-" She pointed to a boy with a gleaming, wide grin, and straight black hair and beady eyes "—Is the old couples late son."
"You-?" Ezi realized the connection.
"I still know some of these people. I could get their numbers from the directory and see if they could start a fund for the tree here in school. What do you say?"
"That would be… amazing! Would you kindly, Ms. Miyahara?"
"I suppose I certainly could. I wouldn't have thought of it though if I hadn't seen the flyers, so that's why I thought I'd let you know. Don't worry. That boy had many friends—they will definitely help."
She seemed to skip back to class after the good news, and saw Akihiko walking by her classroom ahead of her.
"Sempai? You're not supposed to be here."
"I-I'm not?" He sounded worried.
"Oh, well, I don't know… what's up?"
"There you go being weird again. Fancy seeing you here. Oh, wait… This is right in front of your classroom, isn't it?"
"Yeah! I'll see you later today though, probably."
"Do you want to hangout, then? I'm usually by the club rooms after school."
"Hmmm, I don't know, I should probably do more constructive things than hangout with you! I could be doing community service—saving puppies."
"Oh, well, if you're busy—"
She laughed. "No, man, it's a joke!"
"O-Oh."
"Anyway, I guess we can hang."
"G-good, then, I'll meet you there." He hurried off.
"He's being more humble than usual." She thought to herself, then went into class.
After school, she went to the library committee to see if Saori needed anything, when she didn't, she hurried off to the Iwatodai strip mall. She passed the glorious Hagakure ramen, and went up the stairs to the small, junky Beef Bowl Shop. No matter how good the food smelled, or whom she was meeting, it was still just the Beef Bowl Shop. He was standing outside waiting for her.
"What are you making that face for?" Akihiko demanded. "I like this shop!"
"I know… it's like the ghetto version of Hagakure, though."
"What? No way, stop."
"It's the McDonalds to my Red Lobster—"
"Well, too bad—I'm paying, so we eat where I want to eat."
"Is that so?" She grinned, amused by his retort. "I guess, I can't complain to free food!"
"Sempai!"
Akihiko frowned and looked over her shoulder. There were two girls approaching them fervently. Ezi had recognized them from the school; they were from that group that always fond over Akihiko, but they didn't have on their uniforms anymore.
"Sempai!" One of the girls said, squeakily. Ezi recognized her from Student Council, the girl with the buns.
"I can't believe we pumped into you here!"
"Oh, hi… do I, know you?" He asked honestly.
"We've talked before at school, of course." The other girl said. "This is your favorite place huh?"
The girl with the buns laughed loudly. "You come here all the time, that's so funny!"
"Huh?" Akihiko shrunk. "H-how is that, funny?"
"You should totally come eat with us!"
Ezi swallowed. The thought of eating with them was, repulsive. Akihiko was straight-forward, so he might say no.
He leaned in towards Ezi. "Sorry, my friend and I already have plans." He said politely, and she smiled inwardly.
"Aw, but can't we chat a little before you go?" They hadn't moved from the entrance, blocking their way, and they seemed to dart glances at her.
Ezi felt awkward; these girls really liked Akihiko.
"Excuse us." He pulled Ezi along with him by the shoulders, slinking passed them and the door. They glared with terrible grimaces at Ezi, and it struck her, in an unusual way.
They ordered the special and sat at the bar table. "Those girls were acting strange," Akihiko said.
Even though Ezi couldn't stand girls that were as bubbly as they were, and also, jealous, they were at least trying to be with Akihiko, but she had gotten in their way.
She sighed. "Um, sorry, a-about earlier—"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well, I usually avoid being caught in the crossfire, but those girls really like you, they wanted to hangout with you, but because I'm here, you felt obligated to stay with me instead. Not like you won't get another chance with them, but…. My bad."
"Obligated?" He chuckled. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, don't you maybe—or-or, haven't you ever considered dating before? They seemed to want to do that with you, so…"
"What? You're like that too, Ezi-san? You actually think about, y'know… dating?"
She thought about her talk with Rio. Maybe even strong people needed someone.
"Well, not really. I mean, I have bigger things to worry about then dating someone right now,"
"Oh, so then, I guess it's not true."
"What's not true?"
"Oh, uh, n-nothing." He said. "So, you were upset we didn't invite those girls to eat with us? Look, if I had wanted to eat with them, which I definitely did not, I would have had them join us, so don't worry about it."
"Okay, I was just making sure… I didn't want to get in the way of anything like that for you."
"Don't worry about it." He assured her. "I feel like we've become friends. I wanted to hangout with you today."
He said things so nicely when he meant it. She paused for a moment, tapping the glass of the salt shaker. "So sempai, if you weren't into those girls, then what is your type?"
"W-why are you asking me that?"
She shrugged. "It's just a question. I asked Junpei the same thing, and he said "hot" girl was his type." She laughed at this.
"Darn Junpei," Akihiko stammered, "he told me that when a girl says that, I'm supposed to say something like 'girls like you', but that's just a pick up line!"
She laughed more, feeling relieved. "I guess we should both stop listening to Junpei, then."
He smiled, relieved as well, "Yeah. Come on, l-let's dig in and head back to the dorm, we can go to Tartarus tonight."
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In this fashion, they went to Tartarus again at midnight, and then school, and another night of Tartarus. It had become much easier, in physical feat and strategy, to continue the routine with Fuuka as their guide. On one day after school, she visited the old couple in the shop, and Mitsuko was crying.
"What's wrong?" Ezi cried.
"Ezi-san is here, honey. No need to be sad."
"I'm not!" The old woman wafted at her irritable husband. "These are tears of joy, can't you tell?"
"What happened?"
"I went to the school to see the tree. Some of our sons old classmates were there, getting a petition together to keep the tree."
"No way! The gods our on our side!" Bunkichi exclaimed. "Ezi… you didn't have anything to do with this, did you?"
"Sort of. I met a teacher who helped contact them."
"I knew it! You're not like your other classmates! So kind-hearted to us old folk!"
Bunkichi was grateful for Ezi's involvement, and he gave her fresh lemon bread and soft drinks. She decided to visit the little girl, Maiko, at the shrine and share the snack with her, since she needed some peace and quiet. But…
Maiko was wailing when she got to the shrine, only as a little child could.
"My parents are going to get a divorce and forget my birthdayyyy!"
"Calm down! Have some bread."
Maiko gave a few whimpers of protest as she stuffed her face, calming down.
"Maiko, It'll be okay. Parents split up all the time."
"But, what did I do? How come they don't want to be together with me?"
"You didn't do anything wrong. They just don't love each other anymore."
"What?" She was about to bring the waterworks again.
"B-but that doesn't mean they both still don't love you!"
"Oh… but if they split up, who will I live with?"
"Maybe you can visit both of them. I'm not sure, Maiko."
"How do people just fall out of love?" Maiko asked desperately, and suddenly Ezi felt as curious as the child did. Maybe all this drama was why she couldn't possibly fall in love.
"I'm not sure, dear. Wanna go play on the swings?"
They mingled on the jungle gym for a moment to get Maiko's mind off of things, and she talked about other things like her friends and cram school, and somehow roped Ezi into visiting her again at the shrine so they could play another day.
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Junpei yawned, but otherwise everyone seemed ready for Tartarus. She went to the Velvet Room inside the first floor to look over the Persona she had gained so far, but Theo was standing in the way.
"Hey? Everything okay?" She could see Igor was still sitting behind him.
"Ah, yes. I am afraid I have some news, though."
"News?"
"It seems a person had wandered into Tartarus before you got here. Apparently this person is an acquaintance of yours, too."
"What? You mean someone's stuck up there, the way Fuuka was?"
"Correct."
"Well, where are they? What floor?"
"I can sense them somewhere on the next few floors you have not ventured in yet."
"Well, what should we do?"
"Find them. I regret to say, well…"
"Spill it, Theo!"
"It would seem as the Apathy cases grow, so are the chances of someone getting lost in Tartarus from your island."
"Seriously?"
"Yes. However, I will assist you anyway I can. From now on, I will call you when someone enters Tartarus and is lost, so that you may find them before they are lost forever."
"Okay… thank you, Theo. We should hurry!"
The team assembled, and began their exploration of the purple halls again, with Ezi's clarification that they needed to find a wandering human that night.
"Ezi-san… I hate to ask again," Fuuka spoke to her from the first floor, through her Persona, "but, are you sure there's a missing person between those floors? I haven't been able to sense anything yet."
Yes, the grey-skinned man from the Velvet Room called me and told me there was, she wanted to say.
"I'm certain! Ever since you wandered in, other people who are awake during the Dark Hour have been wandering through as well."
"Well, okay…" She sounded worried, ye Fuuka of little faith. They were pestered by some small Shadows, and it made Ezi worry about the poor soul that was there with them even more.
"There's someone on this floor! I can sense him!" Fuuka cried out.
"Okay, let's split up and look for him!" Ezi decided. Unfortunately, it was one of the bigger floors, and they had to scour many corners and fight several small Shadow on their own paths, as they searched for the missing person.
"We found him!" Akihiko was referring to himself and Mitsuru on the ear buds.
"Great, who is it?" Ezi had stopped running to listen to their response.
"It's an old man… wait, I've seen him before…"
"From the Iwatodai strip mall." Mitsuru added.
"An old man, from the mall? No way… Bunkichi-san?" Ezi said aloud.
"Ezi-san, do you know him?" Yukari asked from her end.
"I think so… is he okay?"
"He's a bit weak. We're heading to the stairs since we haven't found a portal on this floor yet."
"Copy that." Ezi felt a pain in her chest. Bunkichi, the old man she had seen just that afternoon, was in Tartarus. Was this somehow her fault?
Fuuka was making strange mumbling noises. Ezi decided to get back with everyone else, trying to remember where she had come from to get back to the stairway for the floor below.
"Fuuka? Do you sense anyone else here?" Ezi asked her.
"Not yet! I didn't sense the old man until Akihiko and Mitsuru were very close to him. S-sorry, it must be me, because I'm not used to sensing as much as Mitsuru was."
"But you're still good at it, Fuuka." Yukari encouraged. "Well, let's regroup and head out with him using the portal downstairs! Being on an empty floor now is giving me the creeps!"
"Hey, guys? I'm kind of lost." Junpei chuckled.
"I'll guide you all—" Fuuka cut off.
"Hey, everything good?" Ezi ran and turned corners like she knew where she was going, but her mind was just racing on tiredness.
"Everyone-! Run! Get out of there!" Fuuka's voice waned to them.
"Fuuka? What's wrong?" Ezi stopped running.
"Mitsuru-san and Akihiko returned with the old man! But they said it's not safe!"
"What's not safe?"
"Ezi!" Yukari came dashing through the hallway. "We gotta go, now!"
"Yukari?" The adrenaline from running had morphed into extreme anxiety. "What's going on?"
"I'll explain later; we have to find Junpei!" She scoffed. "I knew we were on this floor too long!"
"Death!"
Ezi wasn't sure she had understood what Fuuka had just said.
"Fuuka?"
"Death is coming! I sense it! You all need to leave!"
Yukari grabbed Ezi by the hand. "Come on!"
She could feel her heart pulsating in her steps. Everything slowed down.
Death? How could that be? She didn't understand it, but it made her feel helpless.
Junpei was suddenly in front of them, and he had an old woman wrapped over his shoulder beside him. Ezi realized whatever was coming was going to catch them soon.
"Head for the stairs, both of you." Ezi helped Junpei lift her up. Mitsuko, the old woman, groaned in pain and weariness as she arose. "Yukari, help him!"
"What are you gonna do, Ezi?" She demanded.
"I'll distract it. Head for the stairs, like I said!"
"Ezi, you can't fight it!" Yukari insisted.
"I won't. I'll just keep it focused on me. Go!"
They split up again, and she was running in no apparent direction.
"Be careful! I sense Death is nearby! Ezi-san…"
"Fuuka, where is it?"
"I-I don't know exactly!"
"Try to focus! I need to find it before it finds us!"
"Alright, I'll do my best!" Fuuka sat in silence, and Ezi waited with heavy breaths as she tracked down this thing.
"The stairs! It's approaching from there! Go back to it before the others walk right into it! I'll let them know!"
Ezi sprinted with all of her energy back to the stairway.
She halted again when she could hear it: chains dragging on the floor.
They scraped loudly, and Ezi knew it was just in the hall adjacent to her. She stepped back slowly as the sound grew. Her heart stopped when the shadow of the thing stretched along the wall across the perpendicular hallway, until it was floating there, its head almost touching the tall, tall ceiling.
It had a black cloak, encircled by chains around its long torso from either shoulder. It held two long barrel revolvers in both gloved hands, and its head was incased in a whitish, red sack. It had one white eye that swiveled around until it was fixated on her. Its body twitched and fluttered as it glided slowly towards her. The agonizing pace of it was what was so horrifying to her. All the Shadows she had fought before couldn't wait to pounce. But this thing, whatever it was, was deathly slow before it struck.
It raised one barrel to fire, but Ezi moved to the end of the hall and turned the corner before the explosive bullet could reach. She flew into the next hall from the impact of the explosion, and the side of her body whacked into the next wall. She scrambled onto her feet as she could see it approaching, and just ran, never looking back.
"Ezi! The others made it safely to the stairway. You need to get off that floor as well!"
How? She thought. The stairway was in the direction where Death was coming from.
"Fuuka! Is there a green teleporter around?"
"Give me a second! I'll find it!" She said. Ezi kept running, her legs were twitching from exhaustion.
"There! Head down this hall, then turn left twice, than up right!"
It was easy to follow the directions. The chains were right behind her; she couldn't afford to go the wrong way. She tapped on the green teleporter, just as it fired again, and she toppled and rolled into the first floor.
"Thank goodness!"
"Hey, you alright?" Akihiko asked.
Ezi sat up, out of breath. "That…was…"
"I'm glad you're alright, Leon-san." Mitsuru folded her arms. "Fuuka, thank you for being able to sense the Reaper."
Junpei retorted first. "Reaper? W-what the hell was that thing? All guns and barrels! I've never seen a Shadow so big…"
"Akihiko and I have seen it before, a long time ago, just when we had started using our powers. We were on the second floor too long, practicing our Persona's abilities when I sensed it. We call it the Reaper. Our Personas didn't even have any time to be summoned before it attacked us. I was petrified with fear… I could sense its power was greater than anything we would or will ever face. And there was the feeling of its presence…"
"Yes," Fuuka added, "Just now, Lucia spoke to me when it appeared on that floor. She was just screaming 'death', over and over again—I-it frightened me for a moment."
"You did fine, Fuuka." Yukari patted her shoulder. "It's not your fault that thing suddenly appeared."
"Apparently that thing shows up when a Persona user has been on one floor too long, like it's pressing us to move on…" Akihiko looked to the two unconscious old people behind him. "Sorry, I sort of forgot about it."
"You sort of forgot?" Junpei bellowed. "T-that thing almost got us!"
"I know. It's been a while since we've seen it, but you are right. I should have informed you all of it during briefing." Mitsuru admitted. Yukari was not amused.
"Well, it's over now…" Ezi looked over at the old couple. "How come they were in Tartarus?"
"It's possible the Shadows called to them, like we saw with Natsuki. If you don't have a Persona, you can be easily manipulated." Mitsuru explained. "Still, I'm glad they are okay. I'm glad we're okay."
"I have sensed Shadows weaknesses before, but that Reaper thing…" Fuuka continued, "it was like, all hope had been drained, any possibility of victory was completely gone. You can't win against it."
"Has it ever, you know, shown up on this floor?" Ezi asked Mitsuru.
"No. Like I said, it's only appeared inside the labyrinth, like a guardian, when you're on one floor for a long time. That seems to be the pattern."
"Then, we'll be careful, next time." Ezi had so many questions, but she was too tired to think about it. Mitsuru assured them she would find the couple's residency using her resources and they would be returned safely.
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The next morning she thought of the dragging chains from the Reaper. They had to start preparing the next exams before their summer break, so school kept her mind preoccupied. She had to go see how the old couple was doing after school.
Junpei intercepted her in their classroom.
"Hey! I'm kinda hungry… want to go see if they have the special on sale at Hagakure?"
It was an innocent question, but one of the girls in the class was listening as she packed up her books.
"I can't—I want to see the old couple at the bookstore."
"You gotta eat too, right? Its in the same complex. We can go check on 'em, and then we can eat. My treat."
"Well, since you're paying…" She grinned. "Let's go."
When they reached the strip mall, Junpei went on ahead to order the food, and Ezi went to the bookstore by herself.
"Well, if it isn't our favorite Gekkoukan student!" Bunkichi was cheery, and it brought her relief.
"Are you two okay?"
"What do you mean, dear?" Mitsuko asked, worriedly.
"No reason." She recalled those without Persona's to sustain their souls during the Dark Hour had memory loss, the way Natsuki and her friends had lost their memories.
"Uh, I just wondered how the petition was going."
"I think they're going to cut the tree down anyway." She said quietly.
"No! After all of your hard work…"
"Its okay, dear." Mitsuko smiled gently. "I think we have decided we are okay with this."
"But, your son's favorite tree?"
"Its just a tree!" Bunkichi decided. "There's hundreds more beautiful ones on this island."
"Yes. Our son loved that tree, but I think he also would have wanted another part of the school to be built, where more students would have an opportunity to learn about the world, and all of its splendor."
Ezi beamed. "You guys are amazing. Yes, I think he would like that too."
"Thank you for all of your help though, Ezi-chan!" Bunkichi gave her a thumb-up. "I'm so happy, I could give you a ton of books for free!"
"Really?"
"But, we have to make money somehow, especially since we're going on vacation for a few weeks."
"Oh, good! You guys take good care of this place, you deserve a break! But, who will I buy books from when you're gone?"
"You'll figure something out! But if you need anything, even to just stop by for a chat, we'll be here."
She said her goodbyes to the old couple, Bunkichi and Mitsuko, then joined Junpei in the Hagakure Ramen Shop. The specials were already at the bar table when she sat next to him.
"How were they?" He asked.
"Good! They didn't remember anything. It feels weird, like I'm lying to them, but its for the best. Oh well, let's dig in!"
"I'm glad you're okay after that encounter with the Reaper."
"It was just a big Shadow…"
"You seem to be in high spirits, like always." He seemed relieved for some reason.
"What do you mean?" She slurped some noodles. Junpei hesitated to speak.
"Wait, so you haven't heard? I guess I shouldn't bring it up."
"Well, you have to now, duh."
"Okay, okay. I'll tell you. Don't get mad at me, okay?"
Now, she really wanted to know.
She looked directly at him. "Tell me."
"Supposedly, there's some photos of you going around."
"What?"
"They're not weird or anything! They're just of you in your gym clothes. You're centered in all of them, so I think whoever took them was aiming for you specifically."
"Oh," she pondered this, "that's disturbing, and annoying."
"Yeah, seriously. I mean, school is public, but these photos make it seem like someone's peeping on you. One of the guys in 2-E found them in the boys locker room. I took the copies, but original's could still be out there." He looked troubled.
"Wow, thank you." She was trying to process this, some stalker capturing photos of her in her rather revealing gym clothes she didn't like wearing in the first place.
"Still, you must be really popular. This kind of thing isn't normal, you know. I'll have to find who it was and kick his ass if this were to happen again."
"My hero. Really, I appreciate it. You're probably right, though. I mean, maybe it was just one time." She chuckled and ate her noodles.
"…Seriously though, be carful, alright?" He seemed generally concerned for her wellbeing. "Well, don't worry about the picture too much. I'll think about it more than you, since you have a lot of your plate already. I mean, why would someone want photos for anyway-"
"Stop right there." She shook her head, to avoid any mental imagery.
"Oh, my bad. Never mind." He chuckled.
She felt awkward for a moment. Someone else was trying to protect her; had her back. She liked the feeling, but it seemed too close to the feeling of helplessness as well.
.
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When the weekend came, she went to the Velvet Room to find some more answers. She fulfilled a few of his quests, and now he seemed to have another one.
"…The Iwatodai station?" Ezi was talking to Theo in the Velvet Room.
"Yes, since I quite enjoyed our time from the mall, would you guide me there? I hear they sell interesting foods and there is even a place where you can view moving pictures."
"You managed to use a phone but you don't know what a movie is?"
"Hm?"
"N-nothing," Ezi hesitated. What if people saw him? He sort of stood out… then again, she could come up with some story if she happened to see anyone she knew. "Okay, do you want to go now?"
"N-now?"
"Sure."
"Hm, a-alright."
They strolled out of the compendium room. "I'll keep him in one piece, Igor." Ezi waved goodbye to him, but the long-nosed old man said nothing.
They took the bullet train, and Theo couldn't stop exclaiming about the view, sitting on his knees and pressing his face against the glass like a child.
"Hey, Theo, I had a question about the Shadows, if you could answer." They hopped off the train, heading towards the stairs.
"What information did you need?"
"Well, the last big Shadows we fought could change their arcanas, and they could change their abilities too. Do you think that's the strongest a Shadow can get? I mean, I would like to think we didn't have to worry about Shadows with even more power than that."
"Hmmm," He pondered this, "I am not certain. You yourself can change arcanas practically because you can change which persona you would like to use in battle, so you may not have to worry about that."
"I'm not worried about myself, but my friends did get beat up quite a bit in the last battle,"
"Ah, you are concerned for your friends? How thoughtful."
"Also, what about the Reaper? Is it a Shadow, or what?"
"I believe it is. It is similar to ancient human history involving a creature that takes souls with a scythe, but in this case, it only does so inside of Tartarus, when a fitted soul has been there too long. It is one of the most powerful Shadows ever, not something you could dream of defeating at your current state." He sounded wispy.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence."
Theo stopped walking. He took one look at the escalator and gulped.
"Ah! I have heard of these escalators before, that move on their own…" He tried to sound brave, but he could not step onto it. "Um…"
"We could try the stairs, if you're scared." Ezi suggested.
"N-no no! I am not worried… this should be… fun. Here." He gently grabbed Ezi's hand. "I will escort you on." He followed Ezi's foot movement and hopped onto the stairs, grumbling in worry. "T-these are rather slow."
"Yeah, when I was kid, I would run up and down them all the time." Ezi admitted. She enjoyed watching him scramble and leap off the escalator once they reached the lower floor.
"Ah-ha! Piece of cake!" Theo said, but he was still squeezing her hand for support. "O-oh, sorry." He let go and stared at the glorious, filthy spectacle that was the station.
"There's the theater, and the Takoyaki stand, and the bookstore," Ezi began leading him around, showing him everything. Ezi suggested a movie, but Theo was more dazzled by the takoyaki stand and its aroma.
The exuberant lady that owned the stand greeted them.
"Ohhh you like the smell, huh? You can tell my secret ingredient just by the scent? Here, this squid is so delicious it'll make your cheeks fall off!"
"What?" Theo gasped. "Make one's cheeks fall off?"
"Thanks!" Ezi purchased the food on a stick and gave Theo his own to try.
"It's just an expression, your cheeks will be fine." She told him.
"O-oh, then I suppose I shall give it a go…" He nibbled into the crispy treat, finding it quite delicious. "This is splendid! This is why one's cheeks would fall off, then?" He was still confused by the phrase, Ezi supposed. He pinched his cheek, finding it intact, and with a worried expression, he grabbed Ezi's cheek and pinched it.
"Hey!" She exclaimed.
"Thank goodness, you are still alright," he said, relieved. "Oh, that hurt, didn't it? I am sorry." He reached for her again, this time, caressing the cheek he had enflamed. She looked up at his handsome features, and he was looking at hers, with great sincerity. It caught her off guard.
"P-personal space!" She turned away from him, strolling on. He had no concept of anything, Ezi decided, that's why he didn't think of how odd feeling her cheek was. It was a touch of concern, not intimacy, she thought.
They stood in front of the Wild-Duck Burger as Theo speculated the cell phone strap shaped like an octopus that the Tokayaki girl gave him.
"It's just a trinket, can we keep walking?" She asked. He put the chain in his pocket and smiled. "Do you even need that? You don't have a phone… or maybe you do, since you've called me before."
"Ah, indeed and I have. Would this be considered a souvenir of my time with you?"
"Oh?" More weird questions. "Yeah, you could say that, if you want to keep it."
"How unfortunate… I've acquired something precious to me."
"I think you're getting words mixed up there, Theo."
"Not at all, this is your fault you know."
"It's my fault you have something precious?"
"Yes! One only acquires items with personal feelings attached, correct? That's why I can't allow you to have this."
Her cheeks were hot. She had thought she had not seen any cars, but she had placed one foot on the road, and suddenly a yellow cab was a few feet away, zooming towards her. She snapped back into awareness, and stepped back onto the sidewalk, but Theo had already lifted her from the waist, and spun her around back onto the sidewalk next to him.
"You should be aware of your surroundings. Do not get so lost in thought." He said.
"H-how did you know I was..?" She shook her head. "Uh, thank you."
"Of course! After all, you are a very honorable guest. If anything were to happen to you…"
She looked up at him. He was probably just being polite.
"…E-especially while I am present! It would not be good of me to not take care of our guest."
After they ate, they went to a movie. An American action sci-fi about blue people. The cgi was amazing, and even though Ezi tried to get into it, she had to explain things to Theo every second of the movie.
"That was truly an amazing feature presentation!" Theo said. "The battling, the controversies, the romance…" He stammered. "Your world has amazing creativity."
"It was good, wasn't it? Usually movies lately have been cliché, but this was really something!"
It was dark now, and they headed back towards the Paulownia mall by train. They talked mostly about the movie, and Ezi explained to him the process of making films like that for entertainment; they weren't based on true stories. Upon arrival in front of the velvet room, Theo bowed with his hand on his arm as he usually did, and they departed.
.
.
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The next day for school, Mr. Edigawa, the nerdy health teacher, was rambling more than necessary, like usual.
"Ezi-san, what formed the origins of magic?" He asked her suddenly.
"Oh—Shamanism, right?"
"Very good, you'll be born into your next life as a human again…"
If you believe such things, she thought. Being reborn. There was probably more than one way of performing this. She could be a somebody in one place, and then suddenly, a nobody in another, or vise-versa.
On her way out of school that day, she overheard some students speaking in front of her.
"The Kirijo group was on the news today."
"So?"
"So, that's the name of our Student Council president! I didn't know her family was so in charge of things… apparently, they built this high school too."
A business group created a school? She thought about Yukari's previous concerns. There were things about Mitsuru even Ezi was worried about sometimes… maybe she was hiding something after all.
She caught Mitsuru in the staff hallway, a fast encounter—
"Leon-san, fancy seeing you here." She seemed to stop walking to notice her.
"Sempai." If she wanted to know more about her, maybe she should do what she had been doing with the other members: building a relationship with them. "A-are you free right now? Wanna grab some food before heading to the dorm?"
"I'm afraid I have other things to attend to, but maybe you could ask Yamagishi-san."
Fuuka had joined their team. They had spoken a bit, but this was a good idea. "Alright. Maybe next time."
She went towards 2-E and saw Fuuka in the hallway, holding a boxed lunch and flustered as usual.
"Hey girl!" She ran up to her, probably to startle her for fun.
"Oh, Ezi-san! H-how are you?"
"Good! Wanna get some grub?"
"Actually, I was going to do some studying in the empty economics room."
"Oh, that sounds like a good idea… I'm kind of hungry, though."
"Here!" She held the box out. "Y-you can share this with me! I made it myself."
"Okay, let's go."
They reached the room and took their things out. It was nice to be able to study with someone. The empty room reminded her of Bebe.
"You said you were hungry? Try this!" Fuuka opened the box—the smell was deadly— "I made it myself!"
She tried to be sensitive.
"Um…" She looked at the cold vegetables, and some kind of twisted meat with green sauce on it that made it look unpleasant. She took the plastic chopsticks and took a small piece of the meat and green food.
It tasted worse than it smelled, she couldn't even chew it. The meat was hard and the rice was stale, and the green sauce flavoring tested funny. How could someone mess up so much food?
"H-how is it?" She asked timidly.
She thought to lie, but they were on the same team.
"…It's not quite right…"
"Oh, uh, I-I see… well then, thank you for your honesty."
"Sorry… Uh, you like to cook?"
"Yes! In fact, did you notice the chalk board?" Ezi looked up to see it said 'Cooking Club'.
"Ta-dah! I made the club myself!"
"Really? That actually sounds like a useful class. You know, we don't ever have decent meals at the dorm."
"Well, I like to cook things so I can save money. I am actually the only member so far, but this room is available two days out of the week." She lowered her head, contemplating. "Uh, the reason I had you try that so suddenly was because I wanted you to join as well."
"Me?"
"I don't understand a thing in these cookbooks, but maybe you could help me get better at cooking…. Uh, Natsuki said I should do things I love to do."
"Are you guys friends again?"
"Y-yeah. She doesn't remember me saving her, but somehow it feels like that doesn't matter. She knows I've always wanted to be her friend, and she's treating me right now."
"That's good, Fuuka."
"Well, I won't pressure you too much into joining if you're too busy—I know you're very smart and have a lot of responsibilities. I've seen you lead everyone in Tartarus, after all."
"And, you chose me to join?"
"Of course!"
Ezi was flattered. "Yeah, I can meet you here when I can to make and try some of your food."
"Would you really? That would be incredible! Thank you so much!"
The girls finished studying and headed home to their dorm. Fuuka's quiet spirit was in a sense unnerving, as she was also the seer of their travels to an unknown time, cleansing all the dark creatures from their path with her knowledge, sort of like a Priestess.
The next day, Mitsuru interrupted their lunch in class to inform them the Chairman was going to meet them in the Command Room after school. Curious of what he had to say, Yukari and Ezi and Junpei left together to get back to the dorm. Fuuka was outside on the steps training a beautiful wolf-like dog without a collar.
"Koro-chan, give me your paw." She ordered.
"Woof!" The dog placed its light grey paw in her hand.
"Good boy!"
"Oh, he did it!" Yukari added. "What a smart doggy!"
"Dang, I need to get me a dog. The girls seem to flock to them." Junpei decided.
"Koromaru, go say hi! You can do that, right, boy?" As Fuuka spoke, the dog nuzzled Ezi. "I've seen him sitting by the steps at the shrine."
A woman in an apron was walking by. Ezi was used to seeing those with Apathy stalk down the sidewalk, but this woman seemed like just a nosy neighbor.
"That dog! He still walks this way, huh?" The lady stopped and talked to them.
"Whaddyah mean?" Yukari asked.
"That dog used to belong to the priest, but he passed away… that dog goes to the site he was hit by a car every so often, and still takes where they used to, I guess."
"Oh, how sad." Ezi frowned. Koromaru was clearly loyal, and lonely.
"What a good boy you are, Koromaru-chan!" Fuuka rubbed his neck intensely, and he wagged his tail.
"He seems to be doing alright, though. He is so friendly, and people give him food. His home is the shrine, for now. Anyway, I have to go pick up my son, see you!" The woman left.
"Ah, shouldn't we be going in to? The Chairman is coming by, right?"
"You're right, Fuuka. Let's go!" Yukari and Fuuka stood up to head in.
"W-what about Koromaru? We can't leave the poor guy here alone!"
"He is a very independent doggy." Fuuka assured.
"Yeah, besides, there are no pets allowed in the dorms. Let's go."
The girls had a snack with Junpei while they waited for everyone. Then in the dormitory command room, Ikutsuki-san made his announcement to the SEES once everyone was gathered.
"Hello everyone! I wanted to let you know how my research has been going. This concerns the Shadows that have been appearing during the full moons."
"Great! What'd you find out?" Ezi was excited.
"Shadows can be classified based on their abilities, or arcana, and we've known this for a while. I was able to classify the last ones you have seen so far—You have all faced one through four, out of the twelve large Shadows that will appear during a full moon."
"Is that something to get excited about?" Junpei asked, confused more than he led on.
"Oh, I see." Fuuka nodded. "There are 12 Shadows, and the team has fought four… There are eight we have not seen yet."
"That's right Fuuka! You're very sharp!"
"Okay, so there's 12 big Shadows… but, what are they after?" Junpei asked.
"We haven't figured that out yet. The don't kill their victims. They feed on their minds. Is there an underlying intent behind their behavior? The purpose of these Shadows as a whole is what we need to consider."
"This is interesting." Akihiko added. "But, no matter what, we still have to beat the rest of them."
"I agree." Mitsuru jumped in. "We only have one action to consider: defeating the remaining Shadows that appear."
"8 more, huh? Lucky use." Yukari grumbled.
"According to this data, each one has been stronger than the last, so we better start training even harder." Fuuka realized.
"What about Tartarus itself though? Why does it even exist?" Yukari wondered, frustratingly.
"Yeah! If we knew more origin stuff, maybe that would help." Ezi sighed. Mitsuru turned her head down and sighed also, and Ezi and Yukari both noticed it seemed forced. The pieces were falling together, one by one. Ezi wondered what the purpose was of the Shadows that appeared every full moon. Eight more remained… They still had a ways to go. Maybe, this would reveal the key to her lost memories as well. It couldn't all be a coincidence.
.
That night, 3 conscious people awoke a teenager from his coffin in the outskirts. They shot and killed them, then left the way they came, claiming to be apart of a revenge website, that obviously hunted defenseless people during the Dark Hour.
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Ezi had asked Akihiko if he wanted to grab food after school, and while he had wanted to ask her something, he had something he needed to take care of.
He went to the Beef Bowl Shop, and ordered the special, same as what the boy in the maroon pea coat next to him had.
"Don't you get tired of eating the same stuff?"
"You a always eat that protein shit." Shinjiro retorted.
"We have 4 new members since you were with us. We are much more aggressive now."
"I ain't interested."
"Come on, Shinji! Don't let your power go to waste."
"I'm not interested in joining your damn crew. Don't ask me again."
"Why can't you let go of the past?"
"If anything, its you who can't let go."
"Wait-"
Shinjiro stood up and turned to go, leaving his unfinished bowl there. Akihiko cursed himself for failing again, then he ate his food and went home.
.
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Since she had been rejected, Ezi caught up with Rio, and it was just the two of them at basketball practice when they were interrupted.
Yuko from the soccer team, and Kenji, one of Rio's classmates, walked into the gym towards them.
"Well, it looks lively in here." Yuko said. She was a tawny girl with short blackish blue hair she always had up in a ponytail.
Ezi grinned. "Heyyyy Yuko!"
"Heyyy Ezi!" For some reason, Yuko and Ezi had decided to be silly with one another when they spoke.
"Hey kiddos," Kenji said, "is Ms. Kanou here?"
"The sponsored coach?" Rio said, bitterly. "She's never here, I'm basically in charge."
"Of course she isn't here! Ms. Kanou has more adult things to deal with, not this child stuff."
"Child stuff?" Ezi echoed.
"Heh, I-I was just joking," Kenji withdrew, "anyway, I bought these tickets for her like she asked, so I was hoping she was here…"
"Tickets?" Rio sounded discouraged.
"Uh, Kenji, isn't she just using you?"
"No way!"
Yuko cleared her throat. "Well, I was hoping Kaz was in here for some reason, so if he's not…" She strolled out, sensing tension.
"Why do you hang out with her? Isn't it inappropriate to hang out with a teacher as much as much as you do?" Rio stated.
"Do you like Ms. Kanou?" Ezi asked, jokingly, but Kenji blushed.
"Well, I-I like older girls, so…I don't know, love just happens!"
"You do?" Rio sounded even more upset, Ezi could tell.
"Um, you shouldn't furrow your cute face like that, Rio," Kenji said, changing the subject.
"B-b-but, you can't say something like that to me!"
"Why not? We've been friends forever, it's okay to say that." He shrugged. "Anyway, if she's not here, I better get going. See you guys!"
…Rio was quiet. She finished stretching in silence.
"…Ezi, does love just happen?" She finally said.
Ezi shrugged. "Looks that way, although, I'm not certain…"
"Heh," she choked, "S-so you don't know either, huh?"
"No…" She felt bad, knowing Rio loved somebody who didn't love her back. "H-hey, let's do some drills, then call it a day."
"Okay, sounds good." Rio tried to perk up, and they did a few drills before calling off the short practice. Ezi completed a request for Theo, and they explored Tartarus that night, but Yukari could not attend.
.
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At lunch the next day, she was thinking about Yukari's disdain towards Mitsuru. The senior was frustrating her as well—she wasn't making it easy for anyone to get close to her, unlike Akihiko. Even though he seemed to have a hard time expressing himself explicitly, at least he seemed to genuinely care.
Thinking of whom, Akihiko approached her before she reached her classroom. It was possible some of the onlookers around them observed, for some reason.
"Ezi-san…" He sounded distant.
"Hey," she looked to the right—some girls scurried away, a boy too—"is everything okay?"
"Er… I have something I wanted to ask you."
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Well…. I'm sorry. My mind is just stirring, never mind."
"What?" The lunch bell ring.
"I have to get to class…"
"Akihiko-sempai, I'm going to ask you about it after school today."
He nodded, and left quickly. After school they walked home together, and they discussed how their training was going.
"We were supposed to be running buddies! I guess we got too busy."
"Oh. Y-yeah." Akihiko seemed to be walking quickly. Maybe he didn't want to talk, but she had to know. He was quiet as they stood in front of the dorm.
"…All we did on the way here was talk about our school day in detail, awkwardly," Ezi pointed out, "why did you want to talk to me earlier?"
"Um, don't get mad, okay? You don't even have to tell me if you don't want to."
"Spill it, boy!"
"I-is it true that you and Junpei are dating now?"
…She had to find a clever way to react to this.
"Well?"
"Yes, we're insanely in love with each other. I just love his perverted humor and goatee."
"S-seriously?"
Ezi laughed. "No way! Are you joking? I couldn't even see that happening between us!" She continued to chuckle. "We're just friends!" She settled down, though, when she saw he was still grimacing. "Oh… sorry, is that what you were so concerned about?"
"Yeah… man, I'm the worst. I listened to a rumor, let alone think that it was true. It's just, I've seen you two hangout together a lot, and the other day you went to the movies together…what an idiot I am."
She raised her arms up to her chest and waved them. "No-no! Don't get the wrong idea, sempai."
He pursed his lips, but said nothing.
"Uh, really it's okay. I mean I didn't even go with Junpei yesterday, just some… girlfriends." It was easier to say that than to say she went with a servant from the Velvet Room. "We just happened to return to the dorm at the same time. And, I'm glad you confronted me about it instead of just assuming the rumor was true. That's a good thing."
"Still, I'm sorry. If I hear them talking again, I'll set them straight, 'tell them that's not true."
"Don't worry about it. People have been talking about me since I got here; what's it gonna do to me?" She wisped her hand over her forehead. "Oh no! Someone's gossiping about me! I don't have any confidence now to save lives during the Dark Hour!"
Akihiko laughed at her dramatic acting. "Yeah, I guess that's true, huh? Sorry for worrying."
"It's okay, you don't have to worry!" She grinned. "I'm totally focused on the Dark Hour, I'm not dating or distracted by anything right now."
"Huh?"
"That is why you were having such a hard time asking me about the rumor today, right? You have a tougher time with confrontation than Mitsuru-sempai does!"
"Oh, y-yeah! That's right. I guess I talk better with action than words." He said.
"Well, let's put this behind us? I would like to be as focused tonight as ever while we venture into Tartarus; these Shadows just seem to be getting stronger and stronger!"
He held a confident smirk on his face. "Yeah, let's do it. Oh, did you want to go get some food? Well, I guess we're already at the dorm."
"That's okay. I'm craving something spicy!"
"Yeah, spicy sounds good." He smiled gently. She wondered if their conversation could have gone in another direction, then they walked on to get food.
That night, Yukari took her concerns to action. She kept quiet, even to Ezi, about her plans, so there would be no rumors of her agenda. She recruited Fuuka to gather information on incidents that had happened at Gekkoukan High related to the Kirijo Group, in order to find the ultimate truth about the Shadows.
TO BE CONTINUED
I may just not split the chapters up. Sorry if they're too long for you, but I had this planned out a while ago! I may break them up again when Shinjiro joins the team because those chapters are extremely long with lots of added detail and goodness ;) Anyway I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know if there's anything I can do to make it more awesome or anything I can fix!
Review please!
Farewell, my dearest~