Minako slept peacefully since she has been practising for the past few days. She suddenly woke up to a familiar voice in her head which belonged to Fuuka. "Sorry to wake you! I detect a Shadow! Please hurry to the 4th floor!" Minako quickly got ready before heading to the 4th floor.

Everyone rushed through the door where they met up with Fuuka and Mitsuru who were waiting for them to arrive. "What's going on!?" Junpei asked.

"There's a Shadow in the city. Yamagishi found it by chance." Mitsuru answered.

"But... the moon isn't full yet..." Yukari said. She started to worry, thinking that the powerful Shadows could pop up anytime.

"Actually, it seems to be just a normal Shadow," Fuuka said. "However, it is outside Tartarus..."

"It's near Naganaki Shrine. Akihiko went ahead since he was in the vicinity. I'm sure he can handle it alone, but let's get ready just in case."

"Gotcha!"

There was a sudden ring from the terminal after Mitsuru finished speaking. Fuuka quickly answered it since it was most likely from Akihiko. "Yes, this is Fuuka."

"I'm here. Sorry, but I think you guys better come, right away."

"What's wrong? Is it a powerful one!?"

"No, the Shadow's been defeated. In fact, it was already defeated when I got here."

"What happened?"

"The little fella has been injured... I wanna save him if we can." Everything went quiet as the transmission from Akihiko cut off.

"'Little fella?' Who's he talking about?" Yukari said.

"Beats me," Junpei said.

"At any rate, let's go."

Naganaki Shrine

Once everyone arrived at the shrine, they found Akihiko kneeling next to a white dog covered in blood. The dog let out a pained whine. Fuuka gasped as she quickly realised who the dog was. "Koro-chan!" Fuuka dropped to her knees next to the dog. "Are you okay, Koro-chan!?"

"You know this dog?" Mitsuru asked.

"Yeah, everyone around here does..." Yukari answered. "We have to help him!"

"First, we must stop the bleeding."

"Man... he's one tough fighter," Akihiko said. "He beat the Shadow all by himself."

"Wait, does this mean... this dog's a persona user?!"

The dog lets out a weak bark. "He says, 'This is a place of peace, so I protected it.'. There are flowers over there." Aigis pointed towards the shrine gate and just like she said, there were flowers placed near the gate.

"Hey, Aigis?" Minako called.

"Yes? How may I be of assistance?"

"Is there anything unique about this dog?"

"No, scans show nothing out of the ordinary."

"Uh, Aigis?" Aigis' attention went from Minako to Junpei. "Don't tell me you can translate dog language too..."

"Canines do not have their own language. However, speech is not the only means of communication."

"This fella really is a rare breed," Akihiko said.

"Confirmed," Aigis said.

"...He's not the only one." Junpei said to himself.

After making sure the dog is okay Mitsuru spoke up. "Alright, let's report to the chairman, so we can conclude this mission. As for a vet... It may be midnight, but I believe I can arrange for one."

"Good job, boy... You're really one amazing dog." Yukari praised Koromaru.

Yasoinaba

After a somewhat long train ride, the Gekkoukan students arrived at the small country town known as Yasoinaba. Eventually, everyone arrives at the small country high school's gate where they were greeted by the students of said school. "It's a pleasure to meet you." One of the Gekkoukan students said politely.

"It's a pleasure for us too!" One of the Yasoinaba students said as they led the Gekkoukan students to where they are going to practise.

At the court, everyone got ready for the joint practice. "Let's start off with basic drills. Might as well try going all the way to the mountains for our runs. Our region's pretty flat, so this'll be good practise."

"...Aren't we supposed to like, bond in a fellowship? Why's she bring up stuff like basic drills...?" An Inaba student said.

"Who's the liar who said that this'd be a paradise with hot springs...?"

Rio ignored the complaining students and continued on with what she was doing. "Afterwards, let's do a couple sets of muscle training, and then a match."

"How about... the losing side cleans up afterwards?" One of the students suggested.

"That sounds interesting. I'm in on that!" Minako said.

"Ugh! You too?"

"Well, it wouldn't be as fun unless something was at stake, right?" Minako said.

"She's right! Then how about not only will the losing school have to clean up... let's add ten wind sprints to the bet!" Rio added.

"It's up to ten...!?"

"We can't lose...!"

After a tough and fair match, the Gekkoukan students lost the match and had to clean up and do their wind sprints. After finally finishing their end of the deal the Gekkoukan students waited near the gate of the school. "Did you hear they have a natural hot spring there? Wanna wash each other's backs later?"

"Uh, sorry, but, no." Minako rejected. 'Mainly, because it'll be a little awkward... for me at least.'

"Aw, that's too bad." While they were talking about the Inn they were going to stay for the night, they didn't notice a little girl walked up to them. It was Minako who noticed the girl and she tapped Rio's shoulder and pointed towards her.

"...The Amagi Inn sent me to get you." Was the only thing they caught when they noticed her.

"Huh? Oh, th-thank you very much. Um... You don't work there, do you?"

"No, I'm just helping out. I'm Yukiko Amagi, the daughter of the hostess at the Amagi Inn." It was when the group noticed a woman in a kimono walk up to them.

"Ah, Yuki-chan! Did you take the car keys?"

"Oh, Kasai-san. Car keys...? Why would I... Huh? What's this?" Yukiko pulled out a pair of keys that look like they were for a car. "I-I'm so sorry. I must've mistaken them for my house keys..." Yukiko apologised.

"No worries. Well, I'm heading out to get some groceries."

"Oh, do you want me to go instead?" Yukiko asked.

"N-No, that's fine! No need to send you on that kind of errand, Yuki-chan! Plus, they'd be too heavy for you..." The woman said, "By the way, Chie-chan stopped by. She said she needed help with her homework."

"Oh, okay."

"...Oh, are you all guests? Forgive me for rambling on like that. I'm a waitress at the Amagi Inn. I hope you enjoy your stay." She said with a bow before leaving to take care of her errand.

"I'm sorry about the wait. Shall we go? This way please." Yukiko said as she led the Gekkoukan students to the Amagi Inn.

After awhile, Minako walked up ahead to Yukiko. "Hello."

"Hello."

"I'm Minako Arisato. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Minako. I'm Yukiko."

"So, do you really help around with your family business?"

"Yes."

"Must be tough for someone of your age."

"I'm used to it."

"I don't know about you, but I feel like I would be trapped if I was in your position. Having to help around. Having very little free time. Well, I'd probably only feel like that if I had parents..." Yukiko was completely quiet and she had a downed expression on her face. "It'll only be for a short time, but let's be friends, okay?"

"...Y-Yeah, sure."

Iwatodai Dorm

"And we practised for a little while before we left. That's pretty much what happened." Minako finished with her story. "So, how did your tournament go? I was hoping I would have enough time to see your match, but I was too late."

"Well, it went like..."

Kendo Tournament

The only thing that Minato could hear was the roar of the crowd as they cheered for their respective schools. Minato watches the current match with his club mates Kaz and Yuko. "Alright! Your turn is almost up. You nervous?"

"No."

"Good! Now that's what I want to hear. Need to stay calm during a match. Just give it your all. It takes guts to win." Minato nodded before stood and walked away to prepare for his match.

With the competition was over Minato, Kaz, and Yuko sat on the bleachers. The other schools having already left. "Minato-kun, You did it!"

"You did great, dude! Looks like all your hard work paid off." Kaz said.

"But...It's too bad He won again."

"They say Hayase annihilates his opponents. I thought people were just exaggerating, but man, he's insane! We sure could use someone like him on our team..." Kaz stood up and let out a frustrated sigh. "Next time, we won't lose!"

"Hey, what's up?" They all turned to see a guy in a blue and black tracksuit. "Dude... you were good."

"I've been practising."

"Yeah, I can tell," Mamoru said with a smile. "Hey, I was thinking... Maybe we could hang out sometime..."

"Sure..."

"Cool. You still need to work on your technique, but if you keep at it, you could be really great. I think you might help push me to test my limits. I usually grab a bite to eat at the strip mall in Iwatodai after school... Stop by sometime if you feel like it. My name's Mamoru... Nice to meet you."

"You didn't win? Well, that's too bad." Minako said a little sad that her brother's rough training wasn't enough to win. "Anyway, are you going to meet this 'Mamoru'?"

"I don't know..."

"You should! You have a chance to make another friend."

"Fine... I will."

"I still wanted to see your match."

"Come on, let's go to bed. We got a full moon in a few days."

"Right," Minako said as she followed her brother up the stairs to the second floor where she parted from her brother to her room.

AN: I actually tried to think of what I could do with the fellowship since Yoko and Kaz weren't there. But, no matter how much time I spent trying to think of something, nothing came to mind.