Chapter 10: For Another's Happiness

She hated the world.

Or rather, it was more accurate to say that she had no interest in it.

Things that people did did not interest her and she did not interest them.

So she kept herself out of sight and out of mind.

More often then not, people would ignore or forget her presence even if they were sitting right beside her. It was if she had just faded away.

Except for two people.

"Is that everything?"

"Nice to meet you."

Those were their first words to her.

"W-what is that!?" Kirika shouted as she pointed at Yuu who still had his arms halfway in the TV.

Yuu and the others stared at Kirika for a moment before he pulled his hands out of the TV and hid them behind his back.

"A magic trick," he replied as all the girls turned to stare at him.

"R...That's right!" Kyouko said quickly. "Yuu here's trying to be a street performer! So we're just using this room as a secret practice station for him...ahaha..."

But Kirika wasn't laughing.

"No good?" Yuu and Kyouko asked at the same time.

"You...you know what happened to Oriko don't you?" Kirika asked as she ran and grabbed Mami by her arms. "You know why she appeared on that weird show on the Midnight Channel, right?"

"K-Kure-san, please calm down..." Mami said as she tried to pull Kirika's arms off of her. "...Wait..."

"Did you just say...Midnight Channel?" Madoka asked.

"Kure was the one who told us about it after all," Yuu remembered. "So you watched it?"

"Yes..." Kirika nodded. "Ever since you mentioned seeing something on the TV. I thought it actually worked...even though you said you all saw the same people."

Kirika then turned toward Mami.

"You saw it...?" Mami asked.

"I saw it..." Kirika nodded.

Mami's legs gave out, causing her to fall to the ground and hug her knees as her face turned bright red with tears in her eyes.

"Was her's really that bad?" Kyouko asked as she turned toward Yuu who simply shrugged.

"That's not important right now!" Kirika shouted before making her way toward Yuu instead. "Are you the leader?"

"Leader?" Yuu asked as he looked over at the other girls.

"Works for me," Kyouko shrugged.

"Out of all of us, I think you're the most suited," Madoka nodded as she helped Mami to her feet, the blonde mumbling, "I'm not like that," under her breath over and over.

"What's going on?" Kirika demanded. "Why was Oriko on the Midnight Channel acting like that?"

Yuu opened his mouth to answer but stopped as he looked toward the TV.

"Mikuni is in danger right now," Yuu replied. "We'll explain everything after we save her."

"Save her...so she's really in danger then?"

"Not until the fog appears but she might starve."

"Trust me when is ay that's not a fun thing," Kyouko cut in. "Starving that is."

"In any case," Yuu said as he reached for the TV again. "Please head home for the day and we'll bring Mikuni back safe."

"Wait," Kirika said as she grabbed Yuu's arm. "Take me with you!"

"What?" Kyouko and Mami shouted.

"This isn't a game girl," Kyouko said. "It's dangerous stuff and we've nearly died just training. We can't fight and protect ya at the same time! Well...maybe Yuu can but he's our front line fighter and we'll slow down if he has to hand back!"

"Why do you want to come?" Mami asked, having regained her composure at last.

"Oriko is...Oriko is someone important to me..." Kirika said after barely a moment's hesitation. "I can't just sit back and do nothing!"

"You wouldn't be able to do anything if you came with us either way!" Kyouko rebutted.

"But, Kyubey said that Shadows wouldn't attack anyone 'normal' until the fog disappears, right?" Mami asked Kyouko. "Then there should be no problem in bringing her along."

"Oh come on...you can't be serious Mami-san!"

"What do you think, Narukami-san? You're the 'leader' right?"

Yuu blinked at Mami calling him that as well.

"I'll keep an eye on her," Mami continued. "So there should be no problem, okay?"

"If you say so..." Yuu nodded.

"Ah, do whatever ya want," Kyouko sighed as she stomped her way to the front and climbed on through the TV without pause.

"A...a...what...?" Kirika stammered as she pointed at the TV for a moment before pressing her hand against the screen, only to meet resistance. "How?"

"It's our power," Yuu explained as he stuck his own hand on the TV, allowing both his and Kirika's hands to pass through.

Kirika however, immediately pulled her hand back in shock.

"Changed your mind?"

Kirika looked down at her hand for a moment before shaking her head.

"I'm going!" she replied.

"Got it," Yuu nodded as he climbed all the way through.

"What kept ya," Kyouko asked as she looked at him with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Last minute discussions," Yuu replied, sticking his hand back through the exit, waiting until he felt someone grab it before pulling it back along with Kirika.

"Oh, this is a surprise," came Kyubey's voice as Mami and Madoka came through as well. "So your 'Midnight Channel' has told you of the new person, has it? But who is this?"

"Kure...Kirika..." Kirika replied as she stared at Kyubey with squinted eyes. "What...is this thing?"

"My name is Kyubey. I work here."

"Kyubey is the one who helps us find the people who get trapped in here," Madoka explained as she picked the white animal up in her arms. "He's also the one that helped us master our powers."

"Powers..." Kirika repeated. "What do you mean by that?"

"This," Kyouko said, holding her hand out, showing Kirika the spinning Strength Arcana card. "The power of our Persona."

The card shattered and Kaihime came bursting out behind Kyouko in a pillar of blue flame.

"Magic!?" Kirika shouted as she took a step back. "Demon Summoning? What is this?"

"Her reaction is a lot different from yours," Yuu said to Mami and Kyouko.

"Probably cuz we nearly got killed by the Shadows before we really saw any Persona," Kyouko said as Kaihime slowly extended a finger toward Kirika who was leaning back to avoid being touched by it.

"Stop it," Yuu said, tapping Kyouko on the shoulder before flipping his glasses open and placing them over his eyes. "Kyubey. Where is the new area?"

"Of course," Kyubey nodded as it hopped back onto the ground. "Follow me."

The first appeared before her when she had dropped her wallet at a convenient store, causing all her money to spill out.

People just stared at her or just walked passed her as she halfheartedly picked up the coins one by one.

Then, someone stood in front of her.

That person, that girl, did not say anything to her.

The girl simply looked down at the fallen bills and coins and wordlessly knelt down to pick them up.

She didn't know what to think and just stared at the girl in front of her that was picking up her change.

When the girl was done, the two of them stood up and the girl handed her the coins.

"Is that everything?" the girl asked.

"Y-yes..." was all she could reply.

They're first meeting ended when that girl left, but something about that girl had charmed her.

"Is this...a rose garden?" Mami asked.

They stood in front of a towering silver gate that stood at the entrance way of a large hedge that towered above them. The hedges also had countless red roses on it.

"There's a rose garden behind Oriko's house that she liked a lot," Kirika mentioned with her eyes still squinted. "Maybe that's why...? Wait...why would it be the rose garden from her house here?"

"This world changes to reflect what is inside a person's heart," Kyubey replied. "Perhaps it is because this Mikuni Oriko valued the garden that this world chose to reflect it."

"So that's why mine was the church..." Kyouko muttered before turning toward Mami.

"No," the blonde replied immediately.

"I didn't-"

"No."

"Wha-"

"No."

"Hey what was her's?" Kyouko asked Yuu.

"A place where she could make friends," Yuu replied just as Mami held out a hand to stop him.

"So the school? What's so embarrassing about that?"

"Yes...ahaha...the school..." Mami muttered. "It was just the school..."

Mami blinked and looked down to see Kyubey staring right back up at her.

"Why are you telling a l-" Kyubey began only for Mami to grab him and press him against her chest.

"Well let's get going shall we?" she said a little louder than necessary as she and Kyubey crossed through the entrance first.

"Oi! You're supposed to be looking after the 'normal one' remember!?" Kyouko shouted as they crossed through the gate as well. "Geh...what the crap?"

The "garden" was indeed a rose garden, but instead of the same green shrubs and red flowers as shown on the outside, there were black vines and thorns everywhere with the occasional black rose bud.

"This is...wrong..." Kirika breathed as she took a step forward. "This is wrong!"

"Oi, Kure!" Yuu said reaching out to her only for her to break into a run. "Kure!"

"Kure-san!" Mami called out as well, but Kirika ignored them.

"This is why I told you bringing her here was a bad idea!" Kyouko shouted as the other four chased after Kirika. "You never bring normal people with you on things like this. They just become distractions and...oh crap!"

The four of them slid to a stop as black vines erupted from the ground in the path in front of them, cutting them off from Kirika.

"Kure-san!" Mami shouted only for black smoke to seep out from the black rose buds.

"Shadows!" Madoka shouted as as the smoke turned into liquid and splattered onto the ground before rising up in the form of a pair of humanoid figures underneath a spinning black heart with a red face on it. They looked like a pair of male and female mannequins if it weren't the fact that they were swaying back and forth as if dancing to an unheard tune.

The male half was wearing a white tux and black slacks with the female half wearing a long one piece red dress. The male's left hand was wrapped around the female's body while the other hand was clamped around a long rapier with the female also holding onto it.

"A battle couple?" Yuu asked as the dancing pair moved closer to them, the rapier swaying ominously to their unheard beat.

"Soul Dancer," Kyubey replied. "They rank fairly high at two hundred seventy yen per head."

No sooner had Kyubey spoke, the Dancers lunged forward moving in sync with their partner. The rapier struck at Yuu who quickly pushed Kyouko backward before jerking left and right, back and forth, in order to dodge the strikes before a yellow bullet and a pink arrow flew out from behind him, impacting the two Shadows and pushing them away from him.

"Sorry..." he said as Mami and Madoka ran up in front of him.

"Don't mind," Mami replied as a red blur hopped over them.

"Get outta the way!" Kyouko shouted as she smashed into the floating heart above the Soul Dancer. It let out a strange rickety noise before Kyouko jumped up, just narrowly avoiding the rapier that lashed out below her feet.

The Shadow's heart lifted back up from the ground as the Soul Dancer immediately spun toward Kyouko, who was still in the air.

"Persona! Rakshasa!" Yuu shouted as he crushed the Arcana in his hand, allowing the red demon to burst forward and catch the Shadow's sword in between its own, allowing Kyouko to land back down safely before jumping up again and slashing through the heart with both of her spears, dividing it into four equal sections, causing the bodies to freeze up for a moment before bending backward at the waist where a pink arrow and a yellow bullet destroyed them.

"Umm..." Madoka began as the Shadow dissolved in smoke. "Is it just me, or are the Shadows getting even stronger?"

"Really?" Kyouko asked as she rested her spears on her shoulders. "They go down with the same amount of pain. Cept for maybe the boss ones."

Kyouko then turned her attention toward the black vines and pointed her spear at it.

"Agilao!"

A pillar of fire erupted around the vines, turning them to cinders in an instant.

"Now lets go get that idiot before she gets herself killed, or lost," Kyouko said before they continued down the path.

She met that girl again.

Or rather, it was more accurate to say that she saw looked for her everyday since their last meeting.

She wanted to skip school to look, but her parents threats made short work of that idea.

Then, one day after school, she found that girl waiting for her train.

She wanted to call out to her, to pretend it was just a coincidence meeting her again.

But...what if that girl didn't remember her?

Wouldn't it seem strange?

What was the point then?

Why should she even bother?

She should just stand leave it be, and remain in the background.

"Oriko! Where are you, Oriko?" Kirika called out as she ran through the garden path.

All Kirika could think about was finding Oriko before she got killed.

Although she herself hadn't seen just what was so dangerous about the place, the pitch black roses and vines along with the impossibly thick fog did little to ease her fears.

CLANG

Because she was too preoccupied with her thoughts and was nearly blind in the fog, Kirika was completely unable to avoid smashing into what appeared to be another steel gate like the one at the entrance of the garden.

"Uu...uuu..." she groaned as the gate slowly opened up, with her still implanted onto the gate.

When the gate came to a stop she fell backwards off of it and backed away from the gate as it closed itself again.

"What is this...?" she asked as she slowly stood up.

"Kirika...my dear Kirika."

"Oriko? Oriko!" Kirika shouted, looking for the source of her friend's voice.

"When the scandal came to light, everyone ignored me," the voice continued. "Those who claimed to 'look up to me' suddenly avoided me. Students, teachers, they all shunned me. But Kirika...she stayed. She didn't leave me."

"Oriko..." Kirika muttered again.

"Of course I wouldn't leave her," a voice that Kirika could tell for certain came behind her said, causing the girl to wheel around and squint through the fog only to see a pair of glowing yellow eyes underneath black hair sneer at her. "After all, I'm worthless without her."

"W-what the hell?" Kirika gasped as she took a step back.

"This world is so boring," her mirror said as it spread its arms outward and took a few steps closer to Kirika. "I hate it all. From hollow conversations that contain nothing but 'yeahs' and 'I know right' to brazenly worthless friendships and love games. All of it is absolutely worthless."

"Why...how...what's going on?"

"What's wrong?" her mirror asked her, the sneer growing larger. "Afraid that I can read your thoughts? Well, who wants to admit that they are nothing after all."

"Kure!"

Kirika spun around at the noise, and saw what looked Narukami Yuu riding alongside a giant skeleton on a horse.

"No...don't come over here..." Kirika said as she looked over her shoulder toward her mirror. "Don't..."

"Another huge Shadow has appeared!" Kyubey shouted. "It's right next to that girl!"

"Persona! Pale Rider!" Yuu shouted as the Persona appeared by his side.

"Wait a minute, Yuu!" Kyouko shouted as the skeletal Persona reached down and pulled Yuu up as it sped down the pathway, only to see the gate slowly close in an attempt to lock him out.

"Kure!" he shouted and the Persona grabbed him by the arm.

Then with a great swing, the Persona threw him underhanded towards the gate.

Yuu felt the wind blow through his ears as he flew through the air.

Though it was more like the sound of a million paper fans smacking his ears instead.

"Make it!" he grunted as his body slipped through the crack in the gate, only to feel a powerful yank just as his head and arms passed through.

Pain.

His right shoulder burned in pain as he fell down to the ground.

Looking to his right, he saw that his bag had been caught in the gate which had pulled him to a rough and painful stop before dropping him to the ground.

"Ow..." he groaned as he rubbed his shoulder.

He'd probably need to get his shoulder checked after this. That and buy a new bag.

"Kure!" Yuu said, remembering just why he did something so dangerous. "Are you okay?"

Of course she wasn't.

The girl had fallen to her knees and was clutching her face in horror.

"No...that's wrong..." she was muttering. "I'm not...nothing..."

"Why deny it?" came Kirika's voice came a distant away and Yuu turned toward it to see Kirika's Shadow standing a little ways away, mocking the dark haired girl like the other Shadows had done. "You're just someone who can't even form their own personality without someone else dictating it to them after all."

"Not again...!" Yuu said as he held out his hand for the Strength Arcana to fall into his hand and crush it. "Persona! Rakshasa!"

The red Persona burst out towards the Shadow and swung its blade at it, only for the Shadow to duck under it and bat the Persona away with a single hand, also launching Yuu away due to the feedback.

"You shouldn't interrupt when I'm talking to myself," the Shadow said as it shook its hand as if flinging dust off of it. "After all, I know myself best."

"You're not...you're not..." Kirika muttered.

"Wait...Kure!" Yuu shouted.

"There's no way you're me!"

"Not again!" Yuu cursed as the black smoke began pouring out from the ground and gravitated toward the Shadow.

The Shadow simply sneered as the smoke wrapped around it before exploding, revealing what looked like a large triple bodied mannequin propped on a pair of legs with two giant axes for arms with a red hat on its head.

"I am a Shadow, the true self," the Shadow replied as Kirika passed out on the ground. It then turned toward Yuu who stood up and looked up at it in defiance. "But I need a new role. How about you one that allows me to be the villain and kill you?"

"I'll pass," Yuu said as he held out both hands, allowing The Fool and The Empress Arcana to fall into them. "Syncrho! Izanagi! Persona! Gabriel!"

As Izanagi's armor appeared around him, he sent Gabriel toward Kirika's body while he went after the Shadow itself.

Taking Izanagi's blade with both hands, Yuu swung it at the Shadow, only for it to be stopped by a single one of its axes.

"You're moving too fast," the Shadow said as it swatted him aside again. "You shouldn't go after the villain until you beat up her minions, right~?"

The Shadow was holding it axes up in front of its head and tilting its head to the side as if tyring to make some kind cute pose. Frankly, it was disgusting in Yuu's opinion.

"Yuu-kun, behind you!"

Madoka's warning came not a second too soon.

Yuu quickly spun around, swinging his blade as he did. His blade cut through what seemed to be some kind of giant maggot with large teeth in its sideways mouth. Strangely enough, it too was wearing a little red hat.

"Thanks! Ma..do..ka..." Yuu said before his voice trailed off.

Madoka, Mami and Kyouko were staring at him from the other side of the gate, which suddenly had a bunch of black vines growing out of it while the bars on the gate were glowing red.

Mami's Persona was also healing Kyouko's hand which was bloodied and very red, making Yuu think that she tried to burn the vines off and grabbed onto the gate while it was still hot and the vines instantly grew back, causing her to get burned and pierced at the same time.

Which meant this was the first time since Madoka's Shadow that he would be fighting alone.

"I'm soloing?" he muttered just before leaping to the side as another group of maggots began forming at his feet. "Gabriel!"

The Persona picked Kirika up from the ground in one arm and immediately flew back towards Yuu's side before opening its wings wide out and raising its blade over its head.

"Mabufula!"

A cold chill blew through the garden area as all the maggots were frozen in a large block of ice. One of Kirika's Shadow's arms also froze but it simple slammed the arm on the ground to shatter the ice.

"No good huh?" Yuu asked as he swung his blade through the frozen maggot-like Shadows, shattering them before the ice could thaw. "Change! Persona! Pale Rider! Synchro! Rakshasa!"

Flames burst forward as Yuu hopped onto the back of Pale Rider's mount.

The two of them rode forward with the Persona of the Pierrot swinging its scythe toward the Shadow like a Reaper. The Shadow however simply bent backwards like it was going under a limbo bar as the scythe soared harmlessly over its body.

Taking his chance, Yuu hopped off the horse and brought both blades toward the Shadow, only for it to weave to the side and smack him back into Pale Rider, blowing both of them away as the Persona skidded to a stop just in front of the gate.

"Yuu-kun! Areyouokay?" came a high pitched and squeaky voice behind him.

"Whyareyoumovingsoslowfor, Yuu!?"

"Kyubey! Whyisn'tAmritaworking?"

Yuu blinked as he turned around and saw the girls saying something to him but they were talking way too quickly for him to understand.

"Slow down," he said. "I can't understand you."

They stared at him for about half a second before turning toward Kyubey and bombarded it with questions instead.

The white creature tilted its head to the side before turning back toward Yuu.

"Can you understand me, Narukami Yuu?" it asked.

"Yeah."

"Right now, it seems that your body is moving at a fraction of normal speed and are most likely perceiving the world in 'fast forward' if you will. It appears that Tomoe Mami cannot cure you of it and you need another way to return your body back to normal time."

"Youstupidgate! Openup!" Kyouko shouted as she lashed out at the gate at an amazing speed in Yuu's eyes, making it look like her arms and spears were nothing more than a blur.

"Sakura-sanpleasecalmdown!" Mami shouted as she tried to calm the redhead down. She then suddenly pointed her hand at the gate, or rather something behind the gate, and by extension, Yuu.

Yuu spun around as Pale Rider rode forward.

The Shadow had taken its chance to go after the unconscious Kirika.

But even though the Persona was the fastest one in his arsenal, with the slow down effect that the Shadow had apparently cast on him.

He wouldn't make it in time. Kirika would get killed right in front of him.

Faster.

He needed to go faster. He was too slow. He needed something that would make him go faster!

And he saw it.

A new Arcana.

A card depicting a twelve-spoked wheel with a sword planted in the center, taking the position of the twelve o'clock and six o'clock positions with a demon above the wheel and a snake below it.

The Fortune Arcana, symbolizing his bond with Kenichi.

"Change!" He shouted as he crushed the card in his hands, causing Pale Rider to revert back to a card and burst into blue flames. "Persona!"

A black bodied Persona with four golden wings shot out of the blue flames. It had a golden helmet around its head with the face of a clock that had three hands for a face.

"Chronos!"

"Anotherone!?" came Kyouko's voice as Chronos cast a green aura on itself and smashed into the Shaodw, blasting it away from Kirika.

"Kure!" Yuu shouted as he ran over to the girl's body. "Are you okay?"

The dark haired girl slowly started to stir as she turned to look at him.

Immediately her eyes shot open in a mixture of shock and fear.

"Ah..." Yuu said as he realized why, barely a split second before the girl let out a screan.

"GAAAH!" she screamed as she tried pushing his face away. "IT'S AN ONI!"

"Calm down," Yuu said quickly as the CAS disappeared. "It's just me, Narukami Yuu."

"Huh...Narukami-san...what was that just..."

"What...was that!?" came a roar as Chronos flew back and placed itself between the students and the Shadow. "How can you still move so fast?"

"What...is that?" Kirika asked as she clung onto Yuu's shirt.

"A Shadow," Yuu replied.

"What's a Shadow?"

"I'm you!" The Shadow shouted as it swayed back and forth, exuding a dark aura and allowing more maggot Shadows to appear out of the ground. "Your worthlessness and incapability of being your own person without someone else telling you how! That is what I am!"

Kirika flinched back as if she had been physically struck by the Shadow's words but Yuu place a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't think that's a bad thing," he said. "Relying on friends to fill your personality."

"Huh?" Kirika asked as Yuu picked her up in his arms. "Whoa! Wait a minute!"

"Chronos, Sukukaja!" Yuu shouted as the Persona cast another green aura around itself before bursting toward the Shadow with a flying kick. The Shadow however quickly raised its axe-like arms in defense. The Persona's foot collided with the axe, doing minimal damage to the Shadow but allowed it to kick off of it without any trouble.

Yuu then used the chance to run back toward the Gate and set her down beside it.

"Look after her while I finish this," Yuu said to the others.

"You're back to normal?" Mami asked.

"For now," Yuu nodded as Chronos landed behind him with one arm across its chest as if it was giving them a respectful bow. Yuu then turned toward his Persona with his hand up. "Synchro! Chronos!"

She met him the day he transferred into her class.

Aside from the fact that he was only planning on staying in the city for a year, there seemed to be nothing particularly notable about him.

During class he would just stare off into space until he was called or someone around him was.

He wouldn't speak unless spoken to or unless it was to greet someone he knew.

Otherwise, he kept to himself as if part of the background.

But in spite of that, he was completely different than she was.

A burst of blue fire spiraled around Yuu causing Kirika to shield her face from the light and heat.

When the light died down, the creature that seemed subservient to Yuu was gone and Yuu seemed to be wearing its black body around his own.

The golden helmet was secured firmly around his head as a pair of golden wings exgtended from his back while another pair curved in front of his chest like a vest. His face was still visible though as the clock face was instead planted on his chest.

"Let's go...Sukukaja!" he shouted as a green aura wrapped around him with the hands on the clock suddenly moving at a heightened speed.

His wings then spread out as he turned toward the "Shadow" creature and charged it with green wind wrapped around his arms and legs.

"What...what is this?" Kirika asked as Yuu crashed into the Shadow, blowing it backwards for a bit. "Is this some kind of weird dream?"

"Sorry Kure, but this is real life," Kyouko said as she cross her arms over her chest. "And that Yuu is just showing off again. That's what, his seventh Persona now?"

"Sixth, I think," Madoka said, counting off her fingers.

"And this one seems like it can recover from the slow down the Shadow puts on him," Mami noted.

"Why are you all so calm about this? You're fighting giant monsters!"

"That's because Yuu-kun always pulls through in the end," Madoka said with a smile.

"Like he's some Shounen Hero or something," Kyouko sighed.

Meanwhile, Yuu was still fighting the Shadow.

He flew back up into the air before raising both hands above his head, creating a large spinning whirlwind in between them.

"Magarudyne!" he roared as he shot the whirlwind down at the Shadow.

The green winds expanded across the field slaughtering several of the maggot Shadows but Kirika's Shadow easily avoided it by leaping into the air. It then swung its axe arm horizontally at Yuu.

"Sukuaja!" Yuu shouted as the green aura surrounded him again.

The speed aura allowed him to just narrowly avoid the swing by planting himself on the side of the axe, letting him ride on the blade as it sliced through the air.

"Persona! Jack Frost!"

The white jester Persona appeared with a laugh as all the maggots around the two of them became encased in a block of ice.

The Shadow snarled as it threw Yuu off of itself and held its arms across its chest just as Yuu noticed felt his body become sluggish again.

In a sharp movement, the Shadow slashed its arms across the air.

"Sukuaja!"

Acting as if on instinct, Yuu cast the speed aura back on himself and threw his body back as Jack Frost flew upward.

The air in between them suddenly popped as a sharp pain shot through through his ear followed by a loud ringing noise and liquid dripping down the side of his face.

"That thing's got Wind Blades!" Kyouko shouted as Yuu landed on the ground, holding his hand against the side of his head. "I want wind blades!"

"You use fire though..." Madoka said.

"Dia!" Mami shouted as Yuu slowly felt the pain and ringing in his ear fade away. "It's okay, you still have your ear!"

"Sorry about that," Yuu said as he flicked his hand to the side to throw the blood off as green the green aura surrounded him again. "Sukuaja!"

"He's back to normal now but that Shadow just keeps slowing him down whenever it gets the chance," Kyouko noted. "Darn it, if we were in there it would be so much faster to beat that thing up. Oi Kure! Is there anyway to open the gate on your side?"

"N-not that I can see..." Kirika shook her head after a quick look at the gate.

"There's got to be something we can do to help!" Madoka said as another powerful burst of wind blew across the field. "If Yuu-kun can just get some kind of edge he might be able...to...win..."

"What's wrong?" Mami asked as Madoka's voice trailed off.

The younger girl was staring down at their feet where Yuu's gym bag was lying with its strap torn and its contents spilled all across the ground.

"Gyaaaah!" Kyouko screamed in horror. "All that food wasted!"

"Isn't there something more important you girls should be worrying about?" Kyubey asked as Kyouko quickly tried to salvage any of the spilled food.

Madoka however, immediately picked up the thermos and opened it up.

"It's still all here..." she muttered.

"What is?" Mami asked.

"Mama's special coffee..."

"You mean that stuff that made Yuu high as a kite?" Kyouko asked, looking up from her arms filled with crushed sandwiches and onigiri.

"Kyouko-chan, please burn the vines again!" Madoka shouted suddenly, causing the older girl to blink in surprise.

"But wouldn't the vines just grow back?"

"It's fine! Please!"

"If you say so...Agilao!"

A pillar of fire rose from the gate, causing it to burn red as the vines shrived and turned to ash.

"What now?" Kyouko began as Madoka took a deep breath and grabbed onto the, still burning, bars with one of her hands. "Oi!"

"Gaaaah!" Madoka let out a cry of pain as her hand burned.

"Wait a minute, Kaname-san!" Mami said as she grabbed Madoka's arm. "What are you doing?"

"Let go!" Madoka said sharply, cuasing Mami to release her in surprise. Madoka then quickly thrust her other arm at the gate, the one holding onto the thermos. There was a loud clang, but the thermos made it through the small metal bars. "Take it, Kure-san!"

"O-okay!" Kirika nodded quickly as she took the thermos from Madoka's outstretched hand allowing the pink haired girl to quickly pull her hands away from the gate as the vines grew back.

"You're freaking crazy, ya know that?" Kyouko asked as Mami quickly started healing Madoka's hands. "Does it run in your family or something?"

"Ouchie...that hurt a lot more than I thought it would..." Madoka cried.

"Umm...what do I do with this?" Kirika asked.

"Hurry and give it to Yuu-kun! Owie..."

"Uhh...Narukami-kun!" Kure shouted drawing the boy's attention. "Catch!"

She then tossed the thermos into the air.

Yuu broke off from his engagement with the Shadow and caught it.

He stared at the warm thermos for a moment before his eyes widened in realization.

"I get it!" he nodded as he opened it and looked at the dark liquid for a moment. "Bottoms up..."

Without missing a beat, he started chugging down the bitter warm liquid.

And once again.

The world slowed.

The two of them were similar, she could tell that much.

And yet at the same time, he was completely different from her.

Although they acted quite the same, he was on another level, as if he had more experience in that regard when it came to switching himself.

Unlike her, he seemed able to change himself depending on who he was speaking to.

When with his cousin, he was supportive and urging.

To the cousin's friends, he was playful and mischievous.

To their classmates, he was often clueless yet helpful.

When left alone, he was quiet and respectful.

To her who could only hold two such personalities, she was in awe as she watched him from afar and noticed how he seemed to befriend those who vanished from school and suddenly came back without much explanation.

The two of them were the same...yet so very different.

Kirika stared as Yuu chugged down the coffee.

She felt its heat through the thermos and was surprised that the boy could chug it down like it was nothing before dropping the thermos onto the ground and look around with wide eyes for a moment before his gaze rested on the Shadow creature.

"Got to go fast!" he said quickly as the green aura wrapped around his body. "Sukuaja!"

Then he just vanished.

A split second later, a loud roar could be heard as the Shadow was sent flying into the air with Yuu standing at its previous spot with his leg extended up into the sky and a green whirlwind wrapped around his leg.

He vanished again and this time reappeared above the Shadow with another whirlwind around his other leg which he used to kick it straight back down to the ground in a large crash.

Yuu then slowly brought both hands up above his head before spreading them out to his side, allowing two more whirlwinds to form around his arms before disappearing and reappearing above the Shadow.

The Shadow, which was broken and chipped in various places as well as having lost both of its armed, opened its single eye which had been placed on the hat and stared at Yuu in fear.

"Garudyne!" he roared as the whirlwinds around his limbs began spinning at rapid speeds, enveloping his body into one giant whirlwind which enveloped the Shadow inside causing it to let out a screech of pain before the whirlwind stopped, causing its body to shatter and for Kirika's mirror to appear out of it and fall to the earth with Yuu landing right beside it.

Then, a creaking noise could be heard behind Kirika.

She turned around and saw that the gate finally opened, allowing the other girls to spill in and rush toward Yuu, save for Kyouko who grabbed Kirika by the arm and pulled her up to her feet.

"You okay?" the red head asked.

"Y-yes..." Kirika nodded.

"Good."

CRACK!

A sharp pain formed in Kirika's cheek as she was suddenly forced off her feet and back to the ground.

"That's for running off on your own and causing us trouble when I specifically told you not to," Kyouko said as she rubbed her fist. "Now get up, apologize to Yuu and face yourself so we can get a move on."

"Face...myself...?"

Kirika turned toward where her mirror had fallen and saw that it was standing up and was staring right at her, along with everyone else.

"Are you okay?" Yuu asked as he straightened himself out.

Kirika wasn't sure how to answer as she turned to the side and looked around aimlessly for a moment before shrugging her shoulders.

"It's not a bad thing, I think," Madoka began, scratching her cheek. "Personalities are shaped by what goes on around you. Having friends to help shape your personality is only natural isn't it?"

"No...that's not right..." Kirika said as she shook her head. "It's not that I was ever worried about something like that...I..."

"You wanted someone to pay attention to you, right?" Yuu asked, causing Kirika to turn and look at him in shock.

"Come to think of it..." Mami began. "You never talk to anyone when you're at school...and people rarely talk to you..." She suddenly looked down at her hands. "I'm sorry...even though you sit so close to me..."

"Hey, Ken tries to invite her to lunch every few days," Kyuko pointed out. "But he always asks after you already disappeared."

"Yeah..." Kirika nodded vaguely.

It wasn't that she hated everyone and everything.

"I was just jealous of everyone..."

She wanted to change.

"I didn't just want to be some nobody who just sat on the sidelines. I wanted people to notice and pay attention to me, not just Oriko...but it's hard. I tried changing myself to be someone who Oriko would get along with but that was it. I didn't know how to be anything else..."

She met Yuu's eyes and the boy simply shrugged and turned his eyes to the side.

"I don't think there's anything special to it," he said as Madoka. Mami, and Kyouko turned toward him. "Just find out what other people like and move on from there."

"You really are amazing..." Kirika sighed. "I wonder if I can really do that..."

"What are ya talking about?" Kyouko asked.

"Nothing..." Kirika shook her head as she walked towards her Shadow. "You are me...there's no getting around that..."

The Shadow simply smiled as it slowly faded away and took the form of a female Persona dressed in a flowing black kimono with butterfly imprints on it. It's face was blank and white, save for her red left glowing left eye and her black eyepatch over its right eye. Several blades could be seen hanging from her obi as well as a pair of large claws stretching out from other her sleeves.

The Persona then faded away, turning into a card that depicted two dogs howling at the moon around a pool with a lobster in it and two towers in the background. Kirika's strength to face herself has been made manifest, allowing her to obtain the façade used to overcome life's hardships, the Persona Kicho.

"This...is the power you guys are using?" she asked as she extended her hands out to the card.

"That's right," Mami nodded. "Or rather, one half of it."

"Half?"

"That would be my part," the white creature that had been sitting silently on Madoka's shoulder said as it hopped down in front of Kirika. "I have contracted these four into finding out why the Shadows are agitated in return for the power to Synchronize with their Persona for more power. If you'd like, I can offer the same terms to you."

"If it will help me save Oriko, then I'll do it," Kirika replied and Kyubey nodded its head.

"Then contract established," Kyubey recited mechanically again. "Holder: Kure Kirika. Terms: With the power to fight Shadows, find out the cause for the unrest. Time limit: None. Power granted: Synchronization with Holder's Persona."

"Persona!" Kirika shouted, remembering what Yuu did but instead of crushing the card, she stuck her hand outward and stabbed through the center of the card instead. "Kicho!"

A blue pillar of light blasted through the fog as Kicho appeared and knelt down behind Kirika.

"Synchro!" Kirika shouted as she spun around and placed her hand over the Persona's face. "Kicho!"

A blue flame erupted around Kirika as a black suit wrapped itself around her body with coat tails that went past her knees with an eyepatch over her right eye. The cuffs around her wrists were white and extended far past her hands, hiding them from view as she spun around to face the others while black shoes and white stockings appeared on her legs. She held her arms out in front of her as she pulled down a pair of white gloves that appeared on her hands and allowed a large claw with three long blades to appear.

"I...feel weird..." Kirika muttered as she looked down at her hands, causing the claws to vanish so she wouldn't cut herself. "Not in a bad way...just weird..."

"With those giant ass claws, you look like an assassin," Kyouko said idly, to which Kirika simply tilted her head to the side without comment. "So what do we do? Do you think you can go on, Yuu?"

"Yeah," Yuu nodded as he flexed his hand before placing it on his chest. "Change...Izanagi!"

Chronos's armor disappeared as the Fortune Arcana flew out of his chest and changed into the Fool Arcana and reinserted itself into him, forming Izanagi's armor instead.

"Let's go," Yuu said as he turned toward a new gate that had appeared when he defeated Kirika's Shadow and ran toward it.

The girls nodded and followed him deeper into dungeon, with Kirika giving one last look at the field before turning her back to it.

They only ran for a few minutes when they came to a large double door gate. Yuu turned toward Kyouko and the girl nodded back at him. The two of them took a door and held their weapons up. Then, with great strength, both of them swung them at the gates, blowing them open before rushing inside with the other three behind them.

There, in the center of the new field was a figure in a long black cloak with their back turned toward them, seemingly unaware of their presence.

"Oriko!?" Kirika asked.

"No that's..." Yuu began as the figure turned around, revealing it to be something that looked like Mikuni Oriko, save for its glowing yellow eyes. "A Shadow."

"Oh, it looks like those that would destroy this world have come," the Shadow said as it raised its head up slightly and looked down at them.

"You...who are you and what did you do with Oriko!?" Kirika demanded.

"What are you talking about, my dear Kirika?" the Shadow asked. "I am Oriko, and Oriko is me."

"Cut the crap!" Kirika snarled, causing Yuu and the others to look at her in surprise.

"How vulgar," the Shadow sighed as it turned its back toward them again. "I have nothing to say to villains. I shall have someone else deal with you."

"Get back here!" Kirika shouted as she ran toward the Shadow only for Yuu and Kyouko tor each out and grab her just as three Soul Dancers appeared out of the ground with two Cupid types floating behind them as Oriko's Shadow disappeared.

"Calm down," Yuu said as he released Kirika. "We'll find her, together."

Kirika looked at him and then at the others, who all nodded at her with encouragement and she nodded back at Yuu as her claws extended out of her sleeves.

The five of them then turned their attention back toward the Shadows before Yuu, Kyouko and Kirka charged straight at them with Madoka and Mami preparing to support them from behind.

Chapter's End Corner

Harouki: Okay...so I missed my set deadline, but at least I got it out!

Sayaka: You can't be trusted anymore...

Harouki: Now now, no sulking. Anyway, we get a return of the Uber-Coffee which gives a bonus to hit/evasion!...if it was an item in the game. Here it just makes Yuu even more hyperactive with Sukuaja. Now...Chronos isn't actually a Persona you can create/summon in Persona 4 and his design is actually taken from Persona 2. The main reason for this is because the Fortune Persona are all either non-humanoid or dressed in skin tight wool clothing. I did NOT want to put Yuu in one and I didn't want to use Yamato-takeru/Sukuna-Hitona since a Persona that could use Almighty attacks is a bit "overpowered" at this stage so I chose Chronos...since I needed a Wind Persona anyway. Look forward to the next chapter and maybe you can guess what Kichou's abilities/spells will be!

I didn't like this chapter overall, since I realized that I got Kirika's personality COMPLETELY wrong due to not having properly read Puella Magi Oriko Magica recently. Oh well...I'll just have to make the best of it.