Midori opened his eyes and found himself in the Velvet Room again. Igor stared at him again and said with his polite manner:

"Ah, welcome back. I am sure that you have many questions."

The detective leaned forward a little and asked his questions:

"And how I have it! What the hell are arcana? The word sounds familiar. And also explain how I get stronger."

The strange being chuckled a bit and gave him an answer:

"The arcana are different classes of tarot cards. They are all categorized in several categories and represent the personalities of mankind and the social links. Those will strengthen your ability. The more and deeper you contacts are the stronger you get."

"And what do you mean with "You are different than the others"?" Midori did not forget that comment he made at their first meeting.

"You are indeed not the first one to enter this realm. However you ability differs greatly. The ones before you were able to use the "Wild Card". With that they could use several Persona in battle and could fuse new ones. But your power...I believe that your case is the first one in this room. Your ability is to copy the powers, weapons and even the behavior of Persona and inject it into your own one. But be assured that we can still help you. Margaret, if you would be so kind..." Igor looked over to his assistant and she nodded.

"As you wish", the blonde woman did as she was ordered and raised her voice, "we can offer you the bullets you use. Either we will write down the runes to determine what they can do or we will give them to you like that so that you can write them down yourself. Our second service is to show you the information about Persona which are inside of this book." She held up the book she had on her lap all time and laid it back after showing it.

"We can also show you the progress of your social links if you want to." Midori smiled at the whole service the Velvet Room had to offer but his distrusting instinct cried havoc whereby he asked:

"Where is the catch?" Igor expressed his joy with a chuckle yet again.

"Ah, you are truly cunning. The things we offer are sadly not for free."

"...WHAT? Why?! Aren't I your guest?! And for what need beings from another world, dimension whatever money for?!" The only thing the young man got as an answer on the other hand was silence and the starring of the long nosed being which got creepier over the time. Midori then sighed and gave up.

"Fine, whatever...Can I first see my social links before I buy something here?" Margaret opened the book as he asked and Midori looked at its content.

"Tohru Adachi...Naoto Shirogane...Rang one. Thought so...Kou Ichijo...well okay...hold on, Misaki and Joe? Chariot and...Magician...Well, then I know what powers I will get me first!"

A short time later...

Midori stepped out of the blue door and noticed that time in the Velvet Room moved slower than in the real world. He actually thought that it would be already late in night but he had to go home nevertheless. On his way home he shook his wallet around to see if there was some money left – which was not the case.

"Aaaaannnddd...I am broke. Maybe I shouldn't have been that eager to buy things...Well, there has to be a bank in this hole somewhere." He then looked around to make sure that nobody saw him and pulled out the new boxes of ammunition he got.

"So...five medium bullets of each element...ten medium heal bullets...two Megido bullets...four buff and debuff bullets...and one bullet each for the rest. Should be enough for the time being..." He also had a stack of "raw" ammo on which he wanted to practice – when he can remember how that whole rune thing worked.

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The young man was a little wet because of the rain but it was acceptable. He lightened up the house and saw how Adachi was having a nap on his couch, who got slightly angry looks from the foxes. Because of that he looked like that annoying room mate from a sitcom. At least the man on the couch was intelligent enough to protect the house from looks and sounds so that nobody would find out that he was alive. It seemed that the criminal did his homework too: Everything was tidied up except of the knife cuts the other night. For that reason Midori decided to wake him up like an angel – by literally throwing the bag with cabbages on hi stomach. Of course that hurt for Adachi who reacted quite aggressive on it.

"WHAT THE- Uh, food! Finally!" He ate them raw. He ate them raw! Those thoughts flew through Midori`s head. The way the believed dead one ate those cabbages it either showed that he loved that kind if vegetable or he was just desperate for normal food – or both.

"Be thankful, those things cost me my last money. I have to go to the bank later", the ex-policeman coughed shortly at the word "bank", what gave the exchange student a bad feeling but he continued to talk while ignoring that, "Man, these Persona-Information and bullets sure take up a lot of money." He still rambled about it while going to the kitchen to get a small snack since he already ate with Naoto. That time would have been enjoyable if his shadow did not made the sounds of tattletale all the time. In the end he slapped himself in the bathroom a couple of times to make him silent and then had a short awkward rest time at the Aya`s dinner with her.

Adachi on the other hand put on a questioning look and turned around to the student.

"Magical blue door that brought me to another world or dimension or whatever that looked like the insides of an airplane. I bought the things there."

Midori was sure that he thought that the student was under drugs if he haven't shown him the bullets. Nevertheless he still looked at him and yelled angrily all of a sudden:

"And you didn't bought me a weapon?!"...Was he serious?

The student only sighted and responded tired:

"First: You have a strong persona. I do not. I have to fight through all the mythology, data and costs first. Second: Where the hell am I supposed to get a weapon for you?"

"Here is a weapons shop. Daidara metal works or something like that." Adachi gave Midori an angry look, which got then followed by an "I finally knew more than you"-face. Beside the thoughts of how the word "weapon law" seemingly didn't exist for local people, the student had a bad feeling about the topic "bank" since Adachi hided something about it obviously. But he stopped thinking about it and searched inside one of his drawers.

"Hold on...here." He walked up to the criminal and gave him his new weapon he would get for the time being.

"A cleaver?! You have two guns and I get a fucking cleaver?!" In that moment the green haired one wished nothing more than to give him his weapons he had on his first day in Inaba.

Sadly they were relatively safe on the police station. He rubbed his temples and then asked:

"Want a coffee too?"

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Midnight

Rain

"Now stop moving around damn it!"

For whatever reason Adachi was kinda restless. Did he had bad memories with that show? On the other hand that event had a strong connection to the case in which he killed two people and came into prison because of that.

"Can't really blame him for that..." Midori thought while noticing the heavy atmosphere since these two were the only ones in the house. The foxes were doing their usual trips and it was really awkward to be alone with a murderer who is supposed to be dead. After a short time the picture was flickering up finally and one could see the usual shadow.

"Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen! Today's program will be short sadly...but interesting! Do you know Rise Kujikawa?"

"I don't like where this is going..." Both of them said at the same time.

"Well, we "kidnapped" her you could say! And someone must safe her because she is at a really dangerous place! Luckily we didn't had to beat the crap out of her like John Connor! Bye!"

…

A creepy silence was in the room and Adachi tried to break it.

"So...is it just me or shouldn't there come...more? From what you told me I think." Midori on the other hand had different worries. The first one would be how not a single soul is throwing a tantrum about that channel. Were humans suddenly able to see that everything in TV is fake? The second thing was the thing with Rise, who was in his class as far as he knew.

Then his eyes widened as if he realized something and had a trace of panic in it. He instantly stared at the criminal and shouted:

"Go into the TV. Right the fuck now." Confused by that statement he wanted to ask what that was for but the student answered it before he said anything.

"You and I know exactly which people will watch that show even if the world I gonna end and they will take it seriously and we also know that they want my TV to get to their usual landing point. Besides is Rise a member of their group as far as you told me the truth ergo...they will get here with a high possibility as fast as possible and try to save her what, according to you theory that would make since, only Teddie would be able to do. And I am sure that you do not want to meet them, correct?" Even if the Japanese American said that he knew he couldn't hide him forever before people who knew about that whole shadow world thing. Adachi seemed to get his point. However that didn't stopped him to moan loudly and went mumbling into the TV with his new little weapon, the cleaver.

"ALRIGHT! PREP-TIME!"

"AHHHHHHH!" The student jumped onto the ground like an airstrike just happened and realized then who just screamed.

"Chill, it is me. Anyways, we have to save her as fast as possible. We don't know when she could kick the bucket!" The young man almost forgot that childish voice of himself in his head. He shook his head from the scream but his shadow was right: From what he heard the victims in the "Hanged-Man"-Case were found only when it was foggy. However he had no evidence that it was in this case too and since he couldn't risk it that somebody would die because he waited to long, he sorted his ammunition in the small bullet boxes he got as a present. Now he waited in front of the door for his incoming visitors. Even if he knew so little about them personally: They did not looked like the kind of people to leave somebody behind.

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Meanwhile...

"Okay, and what are we supposed to say to him when we are there? "Hey, could you leave your house for a few hours, so that we can use your TV as a portal to another dimension, so that we could save Rise?!" Come on guys, we need a plan!" Yosuke was shouting that while he and the others were running down the streets. At least Kanji answered him since they were busy to run.

"We'll figure something out! First we'll squeeze everything out of him what he know! Enough with playing Mr. Nice Guy! I'm gonna break his legs if he refuses!" Naoto on the other hand objected to that idea with a slight angry tone:

"Kanji-kun and the others too! I know we are riled up because of Rise-san, but we have to calm down! Besides I believe that Mi-I mean John is on our side!" They finally arrived in front of his house and stood in front of it to plan their next steps.

"Good...we are here now...what is next? We can't go through our TVs for whatever reason so why should it be different this time? And how can you be so sure, that he is on our side?" Yosuke looked over to Naoto who had to get air like the others from all the running. The young woman looked away a little but that was only for a short time and then answered determined:

"I apologize that I tell you this information only now but...after school he searched for contact with me. We spend the afternoon with each other.

"Would Rise be here now then she would go HAM...So Kanji, want do you-", the boy with the headphones was stating but he stepped back a little after seeing the look on his face.

"Anyways...he gave me a warning. He said...", she took a deep breath, "that "they" could go in and out whenever they want and wherever they want. He said I should be careful and warn you guys. He said that he would explain this to me later. Furthermore...He is not that anti social as he looks like. That is why I believe that he is not a bad person." Silence made his round in the group that was broken by Yukiko this time.

"We should talk later about it why you didn't told us sooner. But we have to get in there. But how?"

"Asking didn't worked at least", Teddie was replying slightly sad. Chie then put her hand on her chin and thought out loud:

"What would Yu do...Oh, sorry Yukiko!" After saying that she remembered that that name became pretty much taboo in the team, since he was gone. Her best friend however faked a smile to show that she was okay, even though only the name was giving her pain. Kanji on the other hand yelled:

"We can't know what senpai would do! He ain't here!

"Kanji-kun!" Naoto was hissing his name since that was quite insensitive, but Yosuke nonetheless raised his voice in favor of the punk-looking guy.

"He is actually right. We can't count on him anyways! He is the one who needs us like Rise! And even if we have to break his legs to get him to help us, we will save them!"

…

"...W-what? Did I said something wrong? I mean, yeah, the leg breaking part went a little overboard but..." Yosuke asked slightly dumfounded. He expected all kinds of reaction only not this one.

"Oh nothing, we only thought that was pretty coll from you. Normally you are-", the tomboy was answering relaxed but the son of the Junes-Manager ended the sentence for her.

"Boring, annoying, uncool, yeah, I got it..." He almost sounded depressed so Chie wanted to tell him something, but that came out as a quiet whisper:

"That's not what I meant..." Naoto cleared her throat to get the attention back on her and the main topic.

"Since M-, I mean, John Connor does know about this case and also about Mayonaka TV, therefore we can certainly convince him to cooperate. If he refuses...then we have to, like Kanji-kun suggested, resort to more drastic ways. Nevertheless our next problem would be: How will we, if we even get inside the TV, fight against the shadows? We all can not feel our Personae." Now Teddie, who was not in his bear costume, raised his hand.

"Well...Actually I think I can feel Kamui again. I had a beary strong pain running through my head in the middle of the night. I think he talked to me too." Before anyone could respond to that, they heard a voice which surprised them. It was not one of them.

"Okay, seriously, are you going to come in now or not? And if you plan to break into somebody's house and event think about breaking his legs, then don't do that under his open window. Besides: Are you guys always talk about those thing in public?" All of them looked up and saw Midori, who was not in any kind of sleep clothes like they expected. He was leaning forward while playing with one revolver in his hands.

"YOU!" For whatever reason Kanji stated the obvious in a loud manner. Because of that everyone else hissed him into silence and went into the house with caution.

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When Midori saw all those people in his house, he realized, that there were enough places to sit on. He looked around and saw their observing and a bit distrusting eyes, which were all over him and his place. The green haired one proceeded to look over to Naoto and said a bit depressed:

"I guess the warning came a little too late, huh? Anyways...tell me everything about the persona of Rise. I do not want to fight against a shadow unprepared again. With your shadow I had luck, that it used such an unstable attack!" He pointed to the blonde shadow, who was surprised a little. Their looks became a bit more suspicious except of Naoto and Kanji. The first one looked pretty calm with her poker face. The latter on the other hand didn't even bother to hide his hostility in his eyes.

"First we have to be able to trust you. Give and take in that case. Tell us all what you know about the TV-World and your relation to it." The exchange student scratched his hair. Did they really had the time for it now? He decided that they had to be happy with a short version.

"Long story short: The culprit came through my TV, kicked my ass, threw me in and I could get out with help."

"Wait, who-", Yosuke wanted to ask, but Midori did not want to be interrupted.

"If you don't shut your trap then nothing, not even a miracle will be able to fix what I am gonna do to you! Clear?" Yosuke nodded, since he didn't want to know what he would do and also because he wanted to hear the rest first too.

"Good. Back to story: It seems I come from a family that knew a ton about personae and I only forgot all that stuff, like my new name. It's Midori Tadashi by the way. So...Questions? Because we or rather I have to hurry with the saving." Chie now raised her hand in objection and yelled:

"Hold on, what help? And why weren't you just killed by him?" There came the question he hoped he could avoid in the beginning.

He breathed deep in and replied:

"To the second question: No idea. I should be happy about it. Most likely it is a game for the culprit or something. There are a lot of people who just want to do random stuff. Now to who helped me...Adachi Tohru." They were calmer than expected but they saw a bit frustrated. Now Yosuke raised his voice that had a hint of aggression behind it.

"And you didn't had another choice?"

"Nope and I will keep requiring his help. He can use a Persona, he didn't show a sign to kill me and the most important thing: He assures my survival and he will also help me to save your girl." If he wants to or not... He could see the conflicted looks on their faces. They could probably not accept that the student in front of them just cared about his survival and that he would use the help of a guy who made their lives a living hell, from what Midori heard from Adachi. Can't blame them for that. Suddenly Kanji stood up enraged and literally screamed:

"We should just buy ya story about that whole Persona-Family and lost memories crap?! We ain't even know if ya can use one!" Now the line was overstepped. They really wasted enough time with that so Midori gave his angry reply:

"Shout one more time and see what happens! I only tell you the truth!" After he said that he let his Persona-card appear after short concentration. Their reactions this time were extremer than he thought, because they really jumped away from him in surprise. Before they could say more he went to his TV after letting his card vanish and put his hand into the television. He turned his head around then and asked with a sarcastic tone:

"So, more questions and risk her life or not?" The others wanted to protest again but Yosuke stepped in front of them and replied with gritted teeth, since his attitude was not even close to what Naoto told them.

"She has an analyzing Persona...Now...just go already. Teddie, keep an eye on him."

Chie looked at him shocked and objected that idea strongly:

"We can't trust him!" The other ace detective in this room however told the tomboy with her regained composure an explanation.

"We do not have another choice then accepting his help...even if he is quite rude at the moment", she gave him a quick and angry look before proceeding, "At out present time he is the only one except of Teddie in this room to enter that world with the ability to protect himself." She then bowed down in front of Midori, which confused him a bit.

"Please...Save Rise-san." The mascot of Junes raised his arm with motivation in to the air.

"Do not worry, I will save Rise-chan and keep a beary good eye on him and Adachi-boy!" The whole team wished them (or rather only the blonde boy) luck and Midori did not like how much distrust he earned. It was understandable because of his behavior in front of them but it didn't felt good anyways. He knew he had to apologize later for his rudeness although he also knew that he wouldn't change his attitude for a long time.

"When we are done here, then we can go. Do you have a weapon?", the young man asked determined and Teddie pulled out a Claw-glove.

"Kay...Showtime!" With those words both of them went through the TV in front of the others...

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Omake: Shopping inside the Velvet Room

"...So, that makes 1000 Dollar."

"Thank you very much."

…

"...Where is my change? There is no way all that costs exactly 1000 Dollar."

"No, it costs 99.354, 20 Yen. Rounded up. Which is about the same amount as 1000 dollar."

"Can we bargain?"

"No, we can not."

"Damn!"

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And with that I pretty much have used up my storage of Chapters i made beforehand. That means that updates will most likely take a while and won't be that frequent like before. Still, I will try to make it at least weekly, though i cannot promise anything.