Thetrueazure: Well then, this is the last chapter of the group's vacation.
Ritsu: Aw! Come on! I like the Moonlight Meadow.
Yuki: Yeah!
Thetrueazure: Quiet! I'm the author and you are my characters, your opinions do not matter to me. Ritsu disclaimer please.
Ritsu: Fine. We own nothing, if we did, Minato would come back in Persona 4 as an optional boss.
"Hey Ritsu!" Ritsu looked to see Sarutaro and Kurogasa "We're going to go hunt for some babes! Wanna join!"
"No I'm good!" Ritsu yelled.
"Suit yourself, let's go Saru." Kurogasa and Sarutaro started their 'babe hunt' while Kitsune sat right next to Ritsu.
"Why didn't you go with them?" Kitsune wondered when Ritsu grinned.
"You'll see." A few minutes later they heard a series of smacks around the beach as Kurogasa and Sarutaro came back with a few dozen handprints on their faces. "So how'd it go?"
"I hate you." Sarutaro said while he and Kurogasa went into the ocean with Hanahime and Yuki, leaving Kitsune and Ritsu by themselves.
"OK I'll admit that was pretty funny." Kitsune's laugh faded. "I wish we could just stay like this and not worry about this whole persona thing."
"I wish that could happen Kitsune." Ritsu said. "But until that time comes, we have no choice but to fight."
"It's only going to get tougher from now on." Kitsune stated as Ritsu nodded.
"Yeah, but I know we'll win no matter what." Ritsu declared while he pushed Kitsune and ran to the ocean laughing "But until then, let's have some fun!"
In the Velvet Room
In the velvet room, Ritsu noticed something different inside; there was one less resident in it. Monica looked at Ritsu and smiled.
"Oh my, I'm very sorry to inform you, but my master is currently out on business." Monica cleared her throat. "Since that's the case; welcome to the Velvet Room. I never get to say that, it feels nice, but I digress, and you have established yet another bond." Monica opened the compendium, showing a picture of Yuki in it. "The Lovers arcane, this represents heart, and connection." Monica looked at Ritsu and smiled "I look forward to see your progress when my master returns, or would you rather us be alone?"
Ch.11 Mysterious Moonlight
At the Moonlight Meadow, sunlight flooded into Ritsu's room, making him open his eyes and groan.
"That's the last time I get a room where the sun rises." Ritsu said to himself as he tried to get up, only to have a slender arm pull him back down. "What the-!" Ritsu then heard a very familiar voice coming from his bed.
"Hmm." Ritsu slowly turned to see Yuki lying in his bed in a black night gown.
"Ahhh!" Ritsu fell out of his bed onto floor which woke Yuki up. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.
"What does a girl have to do around here just to get some shut eye?" Yuki saw Ritsu with a surprised look on his face. "Ritsu? What's wrong, you look like you've seen a ghost."
"Y-Y-Yuki! What the hell are you doing in my room!" Ritsu stuttered. "Actually, how the hell did you get into my room!"
"Isn't it obvious?" Yuki pulled out a key. "I have a key that unlocks all of the doors in the resort."
Ritsu jumped ten feet when he heard someone knock on his door.
"Ritsu." Kitsune's voice was heard. "Are you up yet? We're going to get some breakfast."
"Crap! Of all the people it had to be Kitsune! What do I do? What do I do!" Yuki walked past Ritsu and opened the door and greeted the now shocked Kitsune.
"We'll be down in a minute." Yuki said with a smile before closing the door again, leaving Kitsune standing there in shock.
"What the hell was that?" Kitsune asked herself.
During breakfast Ritsu sat right next to Kitsune who didn't even spare him a glance after the little incident.
"You know you two have been very quiet." Kurogasa said while he took a bit of his food "Did something happen?"
"N-No, nothing happened." Ritsu said and looked at Kitsune who gave him a cold glare.
Kitsune put her utensils down and got up "I'm going to go for a walk." Kitsune walked out of the room.
"Kitsune wait." Ritsu chased after her and stopped her in the hallway. "Kitsune, what's the matter?"
"Like you would care." Kitsune walked right past Ritsu who grabbed her hand. "Let go of me."
"Not until you tell me what's wrong." Ritsu said while giving her hand a gentle squeeze.
"Fine." Kitsune said as they started to walk. "Why was she in your room?"
"Is that what this is about?" Ritsu asked and sighed. "Look, Yuki snuck into my room while I was asleep, she has a key that unlocks all of the rooms in the resort."
"So nothing happened?"
Ritsu pointed at himself. "Do I look like the kind of person that would lie? Come on, you know me better than that."
"Yeah." Kitsune chuckled.
"What Yuki and I have is strictly platonic, I already told her not to sneak into my room anymore, so you have nothing to worry about." Ritsu said.
Kitsune blushed and looked away. "I-I wasn't worried."
"Your blush says otherwise." Ritsu smiled.
"Don't make me hurt you." Kitsune spat out making Ritsu hold his hand up in defense.
"Alright, alright. Let's just go for a walk." Ritsu said while he held out his arm. "Shall we?"
"Um, OK." Kitsune wrapped her arms around Ritsu and they started to walk again.
"Do you guys really have to go?" Yuki asked in a pouty voice while Ritsu and the others were in front of the bus.
"Yeah, can't neglect our studies." Ritsu chuckled when his phone rang, he answered it. "Hello…Really? That's great! Thank you!" Ritsu hung up the phone.
"Who was that?" Kitsune asked Ritsu.
"That was the hospital saying I can take this sling off." Ritsu took the sling off and stretched his arm out. "This feels better."
"Well, come visit again OK?" Yuki said while everyone boarded the bus, Yuki waved as the bus left for Tokyo.
The Next Day
Ritsu was on the rooftop studying with Kitsune when the rooftop door flew open with Kurogasa running with a newspaper in his hand.
"Ritsu! Kitsune! Look at this!" Kurogasa yelled and showed them the paper.
"'Murders have ceased for a week!'" Kitsune said in surprise. "I don't get it; shouldn't the murders increase because we weren't here?"
"I think Alucard is mocking us." Kurogasa said with a hint of anger.
"I don't think that's the case." Ritsu said "I spoke with Lancelot, he said that Alucard's power when we went to save you and Hanahime was very low, I think he didn't do anything because he needed to recharge."
"That seems logical." Kitsune said while piecing it together. "This means we still have time to figure out his new victim."
"We know he targets University students." Ritsu said as he got up. "And he always strikes at midnight."
Kitsune got up as well "How about we think about it tomorrow. Tomorrow's a day off."
"That's true. I'll tell Saru and Hana about this." Kurogasa went back inside with Kitsune and Ritsu not far behind. While Ritsu and Kitsune were walking through the halls, Ritsu accidentally ran into someone, knocking the person down.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Ritsu said and held out his hand. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." A female voice said. Ritsu got a good look at her; she looked 19 with waist length silver hair, sky blue eyes, she wore a dark blue tank top underneath a white swoop neck sweater, a skirt and knee high socks. She took Ritsu's hand and stood up. "Thank you." She shyly said before running off.
"Who was that?" Ritsu asked.
"Her name is Amaya Luna, she's in our class. She's very shy and quiet." Kitsune looked down and saw a silver chain necklace with a strange blue gem; she knelt down and picked it up. "This is Amaya's necklace; she must've dropped it when she ran into you."
"Then I guess we should give it to her when we see her again." Ritsu said before they walked away.
Amaya stopped running took take a deep breath and sat down on a nearby bench.
"There's my workout for the day." Amaya reached for her necklace and realized it wasn't there; she frantically looked around for it. "My necklace, where's my necklace!" Amaya then remember when she ran into Ritsu. "It must've dropped it when I ran into him. Oh man, I don't even know where he lives."
"Excuse me." Amaya jumped and turned to see Ritsu there. He held out his hand. "Is this yours?" Amaya looked in his hand and saw her necklace, her face brightened when she saw it.
"My necklace! Thank you, um."
"Ritsu, Ritsu Himuro." Ritsu said with a smile.
"Ritsu, thank you very much." Amaya bowed towards him and put her necklace back on. "I'm sorry for running into you, I wasn't paying attention."
"Don't worry about it." Ritsu gave a dismissing wave. "Anyways, I'll catch you later." Ritsu waved goodbye and walked away.
Nighttime
Amaya was tossing around in her sleep because of a nightmare, in the nightmare, all she could see were flames and hear screams inside of it. She eventually shot up from her bed in a cold sweat.
"I was that dream again." Amaya said to herself while she looked at her necklace "Mom." Tears started to flow down Amaya's cheek as she sobbed through the night.
Over at the café Ritsu, Kitsune, Kurogasa sat at a table while Sarutaro and Hanahime helped with a few customers.
"We've already got four people." Ritsu said as he took a sip of his coffee. "Somehow I don't think it's going to be enough if we want to defeat Alucard."
"I'd say you're right." Kitsune agreed. "We honestly don't know how strong he is."
"Well, no matter how strong he is, we can beat him." Kurogasa said while they heard the café door open. They looked to see Amaya standing there with a nervous look on her face.
"Amaya?" Ritsu said in confusion "What are you doing here?"
Amaya blushed slightly. "I, uh, came to see you Ritsu." The moment she said that, Kurogasa, Sarutaro, Hanahime, and Kitsune looked in shock.
"Y-You what?" Kitsune asked in shock, she then glared at Ritsu. "What did you do?"
Ritsu flinched at her question. "Nothing! All I did was return her necklace that she dropped yesterday."
"I really can't thank you enough." Amaya said while she pointed at her necklace. "My mom gave me this necklace for my 7th birthday, so it's really special to me."
"Why?" Kurogasa asked.
"I'd rather not talk about it." They then heard a creaking noise they looked up to see a light fixture ready to fall off of the ceiling.
"I've got a bad feeling about this." Ritsu thought as the fixture finally snapped and began to fall towards Amaya, out of instinct, Ritsu dove towards Amaya in order to push her out of the way when the light fixture crashed on the floor and broke.
"Oh my gosh!" Hanahime gasped while she and Sarutaro ran over to the two with Kitsune and Kurogasa there.
"Are you two OK?" Sarutaro asked as Ritsu dusted himself off.
"Yeah, nothing broken as far as I know." Ritsu said as he noticed Amaya shaking. "Amaya? You OK?"
"I-It can't be." She stuttered. "Not again!" Amaya ran out of the café in a state of shock leaving Ritsu and the others wondering what happened.
"This isn't possible." Hanahime said while she looked at the light fixture on the floor. "This light is in perfect condition, how could it have fallen like that?"
Kitsune then thought of something. "There is a rumor going around about Amaya saying that if anyone goes near her, something terrible happens to them."
"Come on, you don't actually believe that do you?" Sarutaro asked. "It's just a rumor, it's not true."
"Are you serious Saru?" Kurogasa looked at him and then pointed at the light. "That could've killed her if Ritsu didn't save her."
"What do you think Ritsu?" Kitsune asked Ritsu, who was very silent.
"I think Alucard found his next target." Ritsu said.
The Next Day
Over at the University, Ritsu was sitting at his desk, staring into space.
"Ritsu, what are you thinking?" Lancelot asked while Ritsu rubbed his eyes. "It's about Amaya isn't it?"
"Yeah, she seemed really scared after that incident." Ritsu thought while Kitsune walked in. "Hey Kitsune."
"Hey." Kitsune sat down next to Ritsu and looked at an empty desk. "Still no sign of Amaya huh?"
"No, I've asked around to see if anyone saw her but I got nothing." Ritsu leaned back in his chair. "All I know is that if Alucard is going after her, then we'd better be prepared."
Kitsune sighed. "Yeah." Kitsune then looked to see a male student coming their way with something in his hand.
"Excuse me, are you Ritsu Himuro?"
"Depends, what do you need?" Ritsu wondered when the student held out his hand.
"Some man told me to give you this." He opened his palm and showed Amaya's necklace which surprised Ritsu and Kitsune. "He said if you want to meet him, you have to come to the Space Museum."
Ritsu snatched the necklace from the student and ran out of the door with Kitsune following him.
"Ritsu! Where are you going!" Kitsune asked while Ritsu ran.
"What does it look like! I'm going to that museum!" Kitsune ran in front of Ritsu and slapped him across his face which took him by surprise.
Kitsune started to shake. "Have you calmed down? This is exactly what Alucard wants; he wants you to get angry. When you're angry, you make rash decisions that could get yourself killed!" Kitsune yelled as tears started run down her face.
"Kitsune." Ritsu held his hand to his face.
"You're always doing things that could get yourself killed and that makes me worried." Kitsune wiped her tears away. She was surprised when Ritsu pulled her into an embrace.
"Sorry if I worried you Kitsune." Ritsu said and smiled. "I guess I should break that habit of being reckless huh?"
Kitsune laughed. "Yeah, because if the shadows don't kill you, I will." Kitsune then blushed. "You can let me go now." Ritsu let her go and blushed as well; she pulled out her cell phone. "I'll call the others. We'll have to wait until the place closes so no one gets caught in the crossfire."
Space Museum at midnight
Ritsu and the others were inside of the Space Museum. It was very quiet, it was almost eerie to a point.
"Kurogasa, call Michael and figure out where Amaya is." Ritsu gave his Amaya's necklace. "This should help."
Kurogasa nodded while his persona card appeared in front of him. "Persona!" Kurogasa crushed his card as Michael appeared above him. He then closed his eyes and focused, after a few minutes he opened his eyes again. "She's here; she's at the moon exhibit."
"Alright, what are we waiting for?" Sarutaro yelled until they heard a few cries.
"You and your big mouth." Kitsune summoned Alice "Alice, use Zio!" Alice sent a few lightning bolts at what looked to be giant rocks with masks on the front, but the lightning spell was reflected off of them. "What?"
"Use Agi Sun Wukong!" Sarutaro yelled as Sun Wukong sent a small fireball at the rock but reflected off of it. "Fire won't work!"
Kurogasa then figured it out. "Don't bother trying to use elemental spells because it won't work, try physical attacks!"
"That's my cue!" Ritsu crushed his persona card. "Come Lancelot!" Lancelot appeared above Ritsu with his sword ready. "Power Slash."
"In the name of King Arthur, I banish you!" Lancelot cut through the shadows which caused them to disappear, Ritsu fell to one knee and started to breathe heavily.
"Ritsu don't strain yourself. You know physical spell require a lot of energy." Kitsune said while she helped him up.
"I'm fine, let's go." Ritsu muttered while he walked to where Amaya was.
In the Moon exhibit
Amaya slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room and saw a full moon above her.
"A full moon today." Amaya said to herself until she heard a cackle behind her.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Amaya turned to see her shadow sitting on a railing with an evil grin on her face. "You won't be seeing that beauty for long."
Ritsu and the others made it to the moon exhibit and looked for Amaya. While they were looking, Ritsu heard someone sobbing coming in the center. They ran to see Amaya and her shadow facing each other with Amaya sobbing.
"Her shadow came out." Kurogasa said while everyone prepared for the worst.
"No….Stop." Amaya said between sobs, making her shadow laugh.
"Come on, why the tears? You should know that this moon brings back memories. That night, when the moon was full, your, or should I say my family was killed in a fire." Amaya's shadow grinned. "That's why I believe bad luck follows me, no matter who I talk to or who I meet, they end up getting hurt because of me!"
"That's why she was scared that day." Kurogasa said as he recalled that day.
Amaya plugged her ears. "No! I don't want to hear it! Stop saying you're me! You're-"
"Get ready guys!" Ritsu yelled. "Persona!"
"You're not me!" Amaya screamed, making Amaya's shadow cackle.
"I can't believe you were stupid enough to say that! But that's fine with me!" Shadows started to merge with Amaya's shadow, transforming her into two children like figures back to back, one red and one blue, the red one carried a chain of fire and the blue one, a gem of ice.
"I am a shadow the true self. " The red figure said in a male voice.
"I may have bad luck-"The blue figure said in a female voice.
"But your luck has run out!" Both figures said in unison. The blue female figure held up the blue gem as it started to shine brightly.
Kurogasa caught onto what she was planning. "Saru! Get out of there now!"
"What do you mean?" A very powerful blizzard was sent out of the gem and was speeding towards Sarutaro; he was pushed out of the way by Ritsu who had Jack Frost out.
"Block the attack Frost!" Ritsu yelled as the blizzard was coming closer to them.
"Your strategy is good-"The female said.
"But not good enough." The male figure said as his chain of flames ignited, turning the blizzard into the fire storm and hit Jack Frost and Ritsu, sending them into a wall.
"Ritsu!" Kitsune yelled and looked at Amaya's shadow. "How powerful is her shadow?"
"Be ready Kitsune that shadow can alternate its attack strategies based on its enemy." Kurogasa said while he held up his golden staff. "Saru, get ready as well."
Sarutaro stood up. "Alright. Let's go Sun Wukong! Agi!" Sun Wukong fired a small fireball.
"Alice! Zio!" Alice sent a few lightning bolts at the two shadows.
"Michael, Bufula!" Michael sent out a large blizzard at the two shadows as well.
Amaya's shadows sent out a combined attack of fire and ice that slammed into the three elemental spells and forced them back and hit Kitsune, Kurogasa, and Sarutaro, knocking them down and forcing their personas to disappear.
"Is that it? That was boring." They both said in unison. "The full moon gives us power that cannot be matched; you're fighting a losing battle."
Ritsu slowly got up to his feet. "The…full…moon." Ritsu looked to see that the ceiling revealed a glowing full moon that was giving both shadows power. "How can I beat that? Jack can't stand fire and Matador will be burned to a crisp and my other personas can't take that kind of power."
"It's time." Igor's voice said in Ritsu's mind "To use another wild card power." Two cards appeared in front of Ritsu; the Magician and the Lovers arcana. Out of instinct, Ritsu put the two cards side by side while a mass of energy began to surround him.
"I don't know what you're trying to do but-"Amaya's red shadow said.
"It's not going to work!" Amaya's blue shadow finished as they both sent a combined attack of ice and fire at Ritsu, who brought the two cards together and formed what looked to be a yellow moon tear with a smiling face.
"Let's go Saki Mitama!" Ritsu yelled. "Use Zionga!" Saki Mitama sent out a powerful lightning bolt that brought a power struggle against Amaya's shadow. Ritsu ran towards Amaya and knelt down towards her. "Amaya, are you OK?"
"R-Ritsu?" Amaya looked at Ritsu. "Why are you here?"
"I came to save you." Ritsu gave her the necklace she had. "It doesn't matter what happened in the past, just look towards the future, I'm sure that's what your mom would want."
Amaya wiped her tears away and took the necklace and put it on. "I will look towards the future, I don't care if I have bad luck or not." They noticed that Amaya's shadow was losing the power struggle and was struck by the Zionga spell from Saki Mitama and caused the other shadows to disperse.
Kitsune slowly got up and saw that Amaya's shadow was in her initial form again with Amaya standing in front of her.
"Does this mean that Ritsu won?" Sarutaro asked while he and Kurogasa got up.
"Looks that way." Kurogasa said while they walked over to Ritsu. Amaya walked towards her shadow.
"I was running away my entire life; I thought that if I ran, I would outrun this bad luck that was following me around." Amaya smiled "But I guess I was running away from my actual feelings, you're me, and I'm you're me, the other me." Amaya's shadow nodded and transformed into a beautiful woman in a yukata and carried a lunar disc. She then disappeared inside Amaya.
"Looks like she's awakened her persona." Kitsune said with a smile.
"This is persona?" Amaya looked at everyone as they nodded. She then smiled. "It's incredible."
"Yeah, let's get going." Kurogasa said while everyone left the museum.
The Next Day
Everyone sat at a table in the café with Amaya as they talked about many things.
"I hate tests." Sarutaro groaned.
"You only hate them because you never study for them." Kurogasa said as everyone laughed. "I'm pretty confident I did well. How about you Ritsu?"
"I think I did alright." Ritsu shrugged and looked towards Amaya. "What about you?"
"Me?" Amaya looked around nervously. "I, uh, got my test back early." Amaya showed them her test and looked in surprise at what she got.
"Are you serious? You got a perfect score on it." Kitsune said in amazement.
"Can you tutor me?" Sarutaro said with a smile until Hanahime smacked him upside the head. "Ow! What was that for!"
"No tutor for you bro, you have to study!" Hanahime said while she gave them their coffees.
"Never a dull day here." Ritsu took a drink from his cup and smiled.
Ch.11 End
Thetrueazure: I love spring break, I love Florida, I don't like going to church.
Ritsu: But grandma still wants us to go.
Thetrueazure: Don't remind me. Anyways this is going to be a double chapter update!
Ritsu: So stay tuned!
Kurogasa: Hey guy, on one rainy night, some girl came knocking on my door saying that she needs help. Only problem is that I don't know who's going after her.
Next Time: The Sun's Eclipse
"H-Help me."