Shinkai sighed as he crouched behind a flower bed at the train station. He saw the girl again and was going to say hi to her, but she was talking to Junpei when he arrived. They only exchange a few words then Junpei took off again. Shinkai was going to joined them then buffed Junpei up, but why did he leave? Shinkai rubbed his temper as he started to think up a way he could talk to her and buff junpei up when he heard a familiar soft voice

"What are you doing?" the voice asked with disdain. Behind him stood the girl, who was looking at him questionably. Shinkai quickly stood up and coughed in his hand like nothing just happened

"Fancy seeing you again" he smiled

"What were you doing?" She changed her tense but the question remains the same

"I was just admiring how beautiful these flowers are!" he crouched down again and caressed a flower with his hand "So beautiful!"

She looked at him with a disgusted look and returned to her spot. He quickly followed her and sat next to her, much to her dismay. He leaned over to look at her art again, the color was a little brighter this time, it's full red

"What are you drawing today?" he asked as he looked around, looking for he subject. The flower from a few days back had gone, so he knows that she is not drawing that

"Nothing" That was vague he thought. he looked around trying to find what 'nothing' really is. He gave up after a while and just looked at her art. In addition to a lot of circles from before, there were a lot of lines. He looked at it for a while but still couldn't decipher it so he just gave up with a huff "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to understand your art!" he said frustratingly with his pout face like a ten years-old "What is 'nothing'?"

"It's nothing" she said again in her soft but emotionless tone "And no one can understand my art but myself"

"I supposed. Each of us have our own view of life, right?" He nodded in agreement "That is very philosophical"

"No, it…" she tried to protest but Shinkai had enter full 'Philosophy' mode

"It's beautiful, isn't it? Life? No! That's my view! You can't have a same view as mine! You can see life beautiful because of the same reason as mine!" his eyes sparked with fire of passion "Life is not just a word, it's a painting! We are the one that draw on it! We are the one that decide what life is!"

"That's quite…" she tried to stop him

"But what if we made a mistake? What if we painted something wrong, something that we did not intend to? Too bad, the pain in unremovable, it is permanent! But a good artist will be able to turn a stain, into a masterpiece! He will be able to erase the inerasable, by drawing something new from it!" His fire of passion burned even brighter "Yes! We must not afraid to make mistakes! Because only from mistakes, can we learn new things! Remember! A man who never fail is a man who never learn! Only though failure can you grow! Only through failure, can you paint a better picture!"

"I said STOP!" She said as she smacked his head with her sketchbook, prompting him to stop. Shinkai rubbed his head while looked at her with a pout "I don't want to hear you lecture today!"

"Then how about tomorrow? Or the day after that? Of the day after the day after that?" he asked with sparkling eyes

"No" she answered simply and shortly, which made Shinkai pouted. But then he smiled and started to walk away. She let out a sigh as he disappeared from her sight, finally, she can enjoy her peace again. After a while, she closed her sketchbook and started to leave. That when he came running at her with a piece of drawing paper on his hand. He folded it and gave it to her with a smile

"Whenever you need to hear someone talking to you, or want someone to talk to, just call me!" She opened the drawing paper to see the portrait of herself, focusing on her own painting. Under it wrote the name 'Shinkai' and a phone number. Right next to the phone number, was a question 'What is your name?'

"Chidori" she answered his question. He smiled and took off his hat and did a greeting pose

"Nice to meet you, Chidori-san! I am Shinkai!" he put on his hat again "I hope we see each other again!"


School finally started again for the S.E.E.S. Minako and Shinjiro was asked to take a special exam just before school, it just formally. By some miracle, Shinji passed with just above the average score. That was the result of him being tutor by Minato, Mitsuru and Ginko at the same time for a whole week straight. Minako, however, passed the exam with flying color. Even with her memories lost, she was still able to pass an exam for senior.

So Shinji and Minako was classed as 3rd year, and Minako introduction as the 'cold prince' Minato's sister shook the whole school. She was immediately listed as 'the girls I want to date be never will be able to' on the boys list, top of that list is Mitsuru. 'Victor' Edogawa was extremely happy that he was allowed to return to the school, his lab, his home. Shinkai came and drunk tea with him as to congratulate him. He enjoyed his time at school way more than he did, considered that he never like going to school when he was young. But seeing all the children running around without a care in the world made him want to become a student again, or maybe a teacher. Well, not the kind of teacher he is sitting and drinking with right now

"First day at school and he was already flocked with girl" Toriumi said out of frustration as she downed a can of coffee, since they can't drink beer in school "I can't get close to him at all. It the start of a new semester and I barely got time to breath"

"Well, focus on that first!" Shinkai smiled wryly as he continued to be force to hear his friend ranting "Why not just wait after school?"

"I can't, I had to work late today!" she cried out of frustration "If only there is someone else who can take my spot so I can think of a new way to approach him"

"Well I can do that!" Shinkai offered. But then he received a weird look from Toriumi "Don't trust me? Look!" he held up a finger, telling her not to speak a word as he turned the other way, summoning Tam Lin at the same time. Giving Tam Lin Toriumi's hair, his face changed immediately to hers. He then turned back at her, shocking her

"H-How did you do that?" she asked in shock

"A magician never reveal his trick" he smirked "And about the body portion, don't worry! I know just the way"

"N…No, I promised him that I will change. I can't just slack off on my first day back to word!" she denied his offer, thought her face told the she was tempted

"Are you sure?" Shinkai said in her voice "Are you sure you don't want a cold beer and sometime in a place with an aircon while you think of a new plan?"

"N…no" she tried to resist the thought

"Hmmmm?" Shinkai scooted even closer "If I were you, I would kill for a cold beer right now!"

"I…I can't!" She slowly lost her will. Then, she just let out a cry of frustration and stood up "NO! I will not!"

Shinkai smirked as he made the disguise disappeared, which confused Toriumi greatly, and patted her on her shoulder "Good! You must keep your words! I approve!" he then took out two can of cold beer and handed her one "One should be alright! Cheer!"

"But still, I had hoped that she would accept my offer!" he sighed as he got off the train and started heading down the stairs. Yomi said that she will be at the bookstore, reading all day so now he is heading to join her. But he then saw Chidori sitting on the flower bed, drawing something again. He came closer and sat down next to her, although she didn't oppose much this time "Did you finish the painting yet?"

"Close. But I doubt you can understand it" she said with her usual deadpan, but then she immediately eyed him weirdly, like she was preparing for something.

"Don't worry, I won't lecture you today" Shinkai only laughed at the scene and gave her a reassuring smile. He then sat in silence as she continued to draw… whatever she is drawing. After a while, a thought came into his mind "Aren't you going to school today?"

"School? Why?" She stopped her hands and turned to him, looking at him questionably

"You look about the age?"

"I don't go to school" she scowled and got back to drawing

"Is that so?" he supposed that is not impossible. Maybe the clothes made her a little younger. Shinkai sat in silence and look at her again, when he noticed that her wrist was bleeding, quite bad. How is she not reacting to that is beyond him but he moved toward his briefcase and pulled out a ton of bandages. He stopped her hands for a moment, which earned him a glare from her, and he quickly wrapped her hand in the bandage, thick enough so that blood can no longer soaked through

"What are you doing?" She asked with her annoyed voice as she touched the place where he patched her up confusingly

"I patch you up" he said as he put the bandage back to the briefcase "I surprise you didn't pass out with that much blood lost. Hell, you can even draw!" Shinkai started wiping away the blood on his fingers "Anyway, you shouldn't be careless like that! Losing too much blood and you might die!"

"Die?" she repeated the word like it sound strange to her. There is just too much about this girl that Shinkai doesn't even know where to begin, but he felt that she is broken, both mentally and physically. Checking his pocket watch, he turned to the still-confused Chidori

"Losing that much blood must have made you hungry!" he said as he stood up and offered her a hand "Do you want to grab something?"


"Eat up!" they were sitting in the Beef Bowl store after Shinkai dragged Chidori away from the station and up the stairs. He then ordered 2 specials for them and forced Chidori to stay when she attempted to escape. The bowl was much bigger and deeper than she expected "You will need to eat a lot in replace of all those bloods you lost today"

"I don't want to!" She pushed the bowl away, but Shinkai pushed it back at her

"Eat, or you won't have any strength to do anything!" he said with a stern face, like a father to a badly-behaved child "And it will feel very uncomfortable"

"But I didn't have to eat the last few days" What does she mean by that? Shinkai thought to himself. Maybe that's why the painting looks like a 1 years-old's scribble "And I'm still fine"

"Try to pick up the chopstick" he asked her simply which she, while annoyed, complied. Not surprise, she was not able to hold a chopstick. Letting out a sigh, he scooched over and help her with her hands "You can't even use a chopstick! I surprise you still have energy to draw!" he gave up after a few tries, and decided to feed her himself. He picked up the bowl and held it close her face "Move closer, I'm going to feed you!"

"You're weird!" you only noticed now, girl? Shinkai didn't pay any mind as he picked up a spoon and start feeding her against her will "Like that Junpei…" that what she was saying before he stuffed the spoon into her mouth, forcing her to eat "Why do you care about me so much?"

"I only doing this because I want to" he answered plainly as he stuffed the spoon in her mouth again, shutting her up "And Junpei is a good kid, I sure he did it because he genuinely cares about you"

"And you do not list yourself as a good person?" although she resisted, she still opened her mouth when he moved the spoon closer

"No" he answered, his voice sound much colder than what she usually hears. They continued like that until she finished her bowl. Shinkai then finished his bowl within 2 minutes. They sat in silent after that. Chidori was about say something when Shinkai's phone rung. He held up his finger in excuse and turned away to take the call

"Shinkai-san! Miki just passed out at school!" the panic voice of Akihiko can be heard from the other side. Shinkai's face turned serious as he said

"I'm on my way" he then hung up and turned toward Chidori with an apologetic look "I'm sorry, but trouble arise! Maybe we can talk more on other day?"

"Ok" Chidori nodded lightly. Shinkai then quickly paid for the meal and was on his way, leaving Chidori all alone in the shop


He got to the school and entered the infirmary, where Shinji and Akihiko was sitting next to Ginko. Because Shinkai was concealing himself, Akihiko did not see him while still focus on the unconscious Miki. He came closer to Ginko and kneeled down next to her

"You're out of time, Lilim!" he whispered into her ears

"I… can… take… this!" Akihiko was a bit startled when Ginko spoke while her hair started to flickering between black and silver. Shinkai placed his hand on her head, and a dim light started to emit from his hand. After a while, Ginko's hair stopped flickering and returned to her usual silver. After a while, she started to open her eyes again, which she then immediately turned to Shinkai, who is sitting next to her in midair

"What did you do?" She asked demanding, her voice filled with anger and confuse. Akihiko and Shinji were a bit shock because they had never seen her express this much emotion before "Where is she?"

"She is still there, inside you" he tapped her on the forehead, causing her to jerk back to avoid him. He then took out his pocket watch and looked at it "Her time is running out, I estimate about… 2 months"

"What do you mean by that?" she stood straight up to his equal, while pulling out a gun under her school jacket and put it at his head "What do you mean by 2 months?"

"Who are you talking to?" Akihiko asked with confused as his sister aiming her gun at no one. then he widened his eyes as Shinkai appeared at the end of the barrel "Shinkai-san? What is happening?"

"Nothing, she just need some rest and she should be fine!" with the said, he quickly left for the door, but stopped as soon as he reached the door. His hand suddenly clenched tight to his chest, where his heart would be, and on his grimacing face, he was sweating like crazy

"Look like we're both running out of time!" Kuroko took control of the body, breathing heavily but still managed to put on a smirk "You should have never let me in!"

"Sleep!" He pointed his finger at her. Her vision started to go dimly as she collapsed on the bed again, sleeping peacefully. Shinkai collapsed to the floor while grimacing greatly, he started sweating bullets as he crumbled on the floor. Motsu turned into her human form while holding 2 syringes on her hands. She quickly jabbed them in Shinkai's chest. Shinkai let out a loud growl as whatever in the syringes entered his body. He started to force his shaking muscles to move as he pushed himself up

"What is happening here?" Edogawa stood at the door, looking at his shaking friends with 2 syringes on his chest, he took the two syringes on Shinkai's chest and inspected them "Morphine? What do you need these for?"

"Per…sonal… needs!" he snatched back the two syringes and gave them to Motsu, who gave him a piece of tissue to wipe away the blood on his nose. Cloaking himself again, he quickly left the school

"What just happened?" Akihiko asked with confused as he and Shinji sat there, not knowing what to do


"Can… I stay here… for a while?" Shinkai said between ragged breath as he threw himself in the Velvet room. Its residents, who were playing some kind of card at the moment, looked at him with confused as he collapsed on the ground again. From behind him, Motsu followed in. she then pulled out a piece of futon from her mouth and placed it on the ground, before dragging Shinkai and throwing him on the futon "T…hank… You!"

She nodded and walked toward the velvet siblings and sat down "What are you playing?"

"Some form of card known as 'Poker'." Elizabeth said as she juggling the cards in her hand "Shinkai-san told me about it once, a long time ago. He said it is a good game to win some money and have some fun"

"OK" she shrugged "So what are you playing with?"

Each one of them then dumped on the table a shit ton of coins "He said that it plays with chips. But since we don't have any chips. We play with this"

"Interesting" she nodded as she reached inside her and pulled out a ward of cash "I place yen"

"No you won't!" Shinkai snatched the money away and pushed it back into her. It seemed that he forced himself up just to do that. He sighed as he picked her up and placed her aside while he took a seat himself "I'll deal the card"

"Shinkai-san, are you alright?" Theodore asked with concern "You looked quite beat when you arrive"

"It just a little heart attack, I had it from time to time" he waved it off as he started to shuffle that cards "I got careless today and I had to pay the price"

"Ok" Theodore seemed a bit restless, but he let the subject go. Shinkai started to deal the card around

"I got a 2, and a 5" Elizabeth suddenly showed Shinkai her card "What does that mean?"

"I have an old man with a sword and a woman with a rose" Margaret followed the suit and showed Shinkai her cards "What does that mean?"

"I have a 1 and an old man as well" Theodore did the same "What does that mean?"

"It mean that none of you know how to play this game" Shinkai said with a deadpan as he took the card back "I was kinda worrying back then, how did you know how to play Poker while I haven't explained the rules to you yet, now I understand" he then spread the cards out and started explaining the rules of Poker

After a really long time

"Royal flush! I win" Margaret said coldly as she collected all the money in front of her, while Elizabeth can only cry while she doing so. She is extremely and surprisingly good at poker, maybe thanks to her cold face. Theodore isn't too bad either, he managed to keep up with his sister. But Elizabeth is not very good at it, her facial expression and upbeat attitude betrayed her many times. Margaret is currently leading with a fuck ton of money, Theodore followed behind with a shit tone of money, and Elizabeth was at the bottom with a lot of money. Where did they got that much money, Shinkai wish he knew.

"That's the 3rd times in the row!" Shinkai said suspiciously as he collected the card back "Beginner's luck, I guess"

"'Deal' with it!" She made a pun, and the chuckled to herself at her own joke while Shinkai only shook his head

"Why can't I win?" Elizabeth said frustratingly as she jumping around with her pouting face

"Well, you know what they say, Elizabeth, 'the quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it in your pocket'. Maybe you just not cut for it" Shinkai tried to comfort her as started to deal the card again "And games like this relies a lot on luck, and praying!"

"Luck? Praying?" She tilted her head in confused but then popped up like she just had a bright idea "That's it, I know where I want to go next!"

"Well good for you" he started to deal community cards "We have a 3, a 4, and a 7"

"I raised 100,000 yen" Margaret threw in a bunch of coins. Shinkai didn't even border to count

"I call" Theodore threw in a bunch as well

"Hehehe, I'm going to win this time! Call!" She smirked as she threw in a bunch of coins as well

"Again, Elizabeth?" Shinkai asked with a raised eyebrow

"This will not be like the last 7th time! This time, I have good cards!" She smiled deviously as she held to card close to her

"Ok then… we have a King" his revealed made Elizabeth smiled disappeared. After another K, Margaret win with a Full house, while Elizabeth cried out of frustration as her money got taken away from her


After playing poker with the sibling for a very long time, he bid them farewell and returned to his world. He never really noticed it, but time flowed very different in the velvet room. His biological clock told him the he had been in the velvet room for more than 4 hours, yet for less than an hour had passed in the real world since he entered the room. He decided that heading back to the dorm is the best option but then he sensed a presence "Kyouji? What are you doing here?"

A pair of floating eyes and a grinning mouth appeared in midair "I'm here to warn you" 'Kyouji' spoke in an omni voice, which made it impossible to identified 'Kyouji''s gender "The Crow are up to something! You put up quite a show back at the Hyakki Yagyo so they properly sure that you're alive now! They won't be able to come at you directly, but watch your back! When the time come and the order is clear, then I will have to do what I have to do!"

The floating eyes and grin disappeared, leaving a card behind. Shinkai picked up the card to inspect it thoroughly. It is the Queen of Heart, made of metal, but he since doesn't understand what Kyouji was trying to say, he put it in his shirt pocket and headed back to the dorm, with new worry in his heart


The day finally came. 5th of September. Supposedly, it's the day of Rise's concert, but now, it is one of the full moon operation. Fuuka had pinpointed the Shadow somewhere around Paulownia Mall and the group quickly moved out. As they were about to leave, they noticed that Junpei was not around. Ken said that Junpei's backpack is not at the dorm so he properly not back yet, but where he was? No one knew. Shinkai felt even more unease as he can't pinpoint where Junpei is, he tried to scan the whole town, but he didn't pop up. But because the mission is critical and the clock is ticking, they moved on without him

"Right… beneath our feet…?" Fuuka finally located the Shadow after concentrating for a while in Lucia "Some kind of… webbing?"

"Then maybe it got to do with the old power cables underground?" Aigis noticed them of the existence of such thing "They were just left there when the island's construction was finished"

"And it had possessed it" Shinkai continued "That's why Fuuka have trouble pinpointing exactly where it is! It is everywhere!" the group was thrown into a spiral of confused as Shinkai said "But like that Priestess, it must have its own body, the main one! Can you locate it, Fuuka?"

She then closed her eyes, and possibly, held her breath as she concentrated again. After a while, she opened her eyes again, gasping for air "I found it! It is in… this mall!

"It's here?! In this area?" Yukari asked again to confirm what she had just heard

"Yes! It is in a small chamber underground! The chamber is rectangular, so I assume it man-made" she deduced

"I know where it is!" Shinkai grimaced as he said "The manager of Club Escapade told me about some kind of electricity problem, and that they can afford to make any mistake since the concert is coming!"

"What concert?" Yukari asked out of curiosity

"A concert of a small junior Idol who made her debut about a year ago, her stage name is Risette. This club will be a stop point on her first big tour" he said, still grimacing "She is also an… acquaintance!" Shinkai then turned away when people started looking at him questionably. Walking toward the door lead to Club Escapade, he kicked it wide open "I took a look. The control panel is in the basement, and it is rectangular. The control panel is properly hooked to the old power cable, and the Shadow might be gaining access to the electricity through it!"

"So we're ready to go?" Akihiko asked, putting his knuckle brass on

"Not yet! Aigis!" he turned to the mechanical girl, who looked at him in respond "Is there an access point to the old power cable somewhere in the city?"

"Yes, North West of here, just at the edge of the island, there is a stairway that will lead to the cable!" She nodded

"We should cut off it power source if we want to take it down easier" Shinkai said "We should separate into 2 teams, one going for the shadow and one going for the cables"

"Ok!" Minato stepped in after listening the whole time "Team 1, or team Shadow, shall include me. Shinkai-san, Yomi-san, Shinjiro-senpai, Aigis, Hogo-sha and Akihiko-senpai. The rest will be in Team 2, or team Power, shall followed Aigis's instructions and find the source and cut it off! Is that clear?"

"Ok team! Let's move out!" Mitsuru gave them the signal as they all moved for battle

Shinkai prediction was right as a gigantic Shadow, with body made completely out of cables, feeding himself on the energy. As soon as it saw the group, it opened fired on them with a giant bolt of lightning. Yomi quickly nullified the attack with an ice wall, protecting the whole group.

"Alright, love, what do we do now?" Shinkai said as he turned to Minato. Minato looked around a bit before nodded and started his briefing

"We divided into 3 group. Group 1, include me, Yomi-san and Aigis shall attack it while group 2, Shinkai-san and Hogo-sha, and group 3, Akihiko-senpai and Shinjiro-senpai, circle around it, drawing it fire power" They all nodded and got into group like his instructions. Followed his master instruction, Hogo-sha quickly dashed out of the cover with Shinkai followed right behind him, summoning Cerberus who spitted fire at the shadow and shooting at the Shadow nonstop. Hogo-sha then turned to his Sui-ki form and started spitting ice shards at the shadow. Akihiko and Shinjiro dashed out from the other direction, summoning their Persona as they ran. Castor and Polydeuces slammed into the Shadow, but was threw back by the Shadow electric cables. From behind the ice war, a barrage of spells and bullets rain down on the Shadow from group 1. From above them, a giant cable suddenly dropped, crushing the ice wall. Luckily, no one was injured and they resumed to their attack.

The shadow started to charge up, his body glowed with a faint light. Electricity leaked from his body. Seeing this, Yomi immediately put up a wall of ice around group 1, while Shinkai warned group 3 to take cover behind something. With a shriek, the Shadow unleashed an unimaginable amount of electricity. The ice wall crumbled upon contact, shocking Minato, who was standing closest to the wall. Akihiko and Shinji were able to get behind a box before the power erupt, but their muscles were not so lucky as they got all tensed up and hurt a lot. Shinkai was about to shield Hogo-sha and Cerberus with his Onmyouji spell, but he lost quite an amount of MAG doing so.

"Team 2, how the power source doing?" Shinkai yelled into the telecom as he continued to shoot the shadow.

"This place is infested with demons!" Ginko said back, the sound of gunshots and something dying can be heard from the other side. That explained Shinkai worry. There were demons at his place because they are feeding on energy on the other side "It might take a while before we can reach the main power source"

"We'll try to buy some time" he put the telecom in pocket again and jumped in for an attack. Holding his sword with the blade reverse, he batted the cables that were coming for him away. Twisting his blade again, he sliced down onto the Shadow's head. His attack was met with an electric field around the shadow which stopped his blade in midair. Another cable came flying at him almost immediately. Not being able to move his blade, he let go of the blade and grabbed the cable, before swinging on it like a rope and kicked his blade off the electric field, he then fired a few shot at the shadow while still on air, but the bullets were stopped just like the blade. He also noticed a lot of Aigis's bullets were stuck as well. The shadow started to charge up again, and Shinkai tried to shoot again. This time, the bullets actually made through. Releasing the cable, he dropped down next to group 1

"Attack now when it is vulnerable! Aigis, countdown from 40!" he then quickly dashed to get his sword and joined Hogo-sha and Cerberus again. The whole team concentrated their fire on the Shadow until the last moment

"1! Countdown over!" They all dodged as the Shadow released it power again. Even with 2 layers of ice wall, the wall still crumble, but at the last moment. Shinji and Akihiko was about to hid behind their Persona. And Shinkai and Hogo-sha got behind the ice wall at the last second.

"Team 2 report! We have found the source!" Ginko said into the telecom "I'm going to cut it!"

"Cut it!" Minato yelled into the telecom, but his telecom was snatched away immediately by Shinkai

"NO!" he yelled "Do not cut it! I'll be there shortly!" with that said, he summoned Raiho. He then turned to Minato with an apologetic look "Sorry"

Before the group can say anything, Shinkai dashed through the door, summoned 200km/h Fogey, and flew toward team 2 location


"What do you mean by—?" Ginko didn't finish her sentence as Shinkai appeared right behind, causing her to jump a bit. Looking ahead, Shinkai saw that the power core had been completely wrapped in the Shadow's cables. Narrowed his eyes, he walked the core

"I'll defuse it, you head back and help team 1!" Ginko looked at him questionably

"What do you mean by defuse? Just cut it off and be on with it!" Mitsuru commanded "Our teammates are risking their lives up there, we have to do it fast!"

"Which is why I asked you to head back and help them!" Shinkai said irritatingly "It is her first Gig, I'm not going to let anything destroy it!"

"Are you letting your personal feeling get the better of you?" Yukari said out of surprise "We have to cut it off!"

"NO!" he roared, causing a few of them to step back. Putting on hand on the sword, he said coldly "If you want to cut it, you have to get through me!"

"This is idiotic, we have to hurry and help them!" Ken voiced his opinion "I'll cut it!"

He then ran toward the power core with his spear readied. But before he could step for more than 3 steps, Shinkai caught him by the jacket and threw him back, far back. Koromaru slipped between Shinkai's legs and started running toward the core when a piece of paper stuck on to his neck. Shinkai whispered something and Koromaru just felt over, paralyzed

"Koro-chan!" Yukari called out and aimed her bow at Shinkai "What did you do to him!"

"I just paralyzed him, remove the paper and he'll be back to normal!" Shinkai paid no mind to the arrow that was pointing at him and just picked Koromaru up, and placed him on the side

"Don't make me do this, Shinkai-san!" Yukari grimaced as she pointed her arrow at his shoulder. Mitsuru placed one of her hands on her rapier and Ginko did the same with her sword "Move!"

"No" he whispered quietly but sternly. Let out a long breath, Yukari let her arrow flies. Shinkai caught it without breaking a sweat and crushed it in his hand. Before she can blink her eyes and load another arrow, he appeared right in front of her. Grabbing her wrist, he threw her back to where Ken is. Moved his head back a bit, he avoided Mitsuru's rapier. He quickly caught her by the wrist and threw her back just like Yukari. He then jumped to the left as he evaded Minako's naginata. He almost forgot about her presence up for she had been silence ever his arrival. Jumping up, he evaded a slashed from Ginko behind him. He grabbed a cable from above and swung himself up, landing right behind Minako. Before she can do anything, he caught her wrist and crushed it, causing her to drop the Naginata. He then proceeded to throw her and her naginata back where the others were. Her naginata landed right next to her head, causing her to hold her breath a bit. He didn't even draw his sword as he caught Ginko's blade with ease, before kicking her in the stomach and threw her and her sword back just like the others.

From his briefcase flew a train of papers, sticking themselves into the ground. Ginko tried to charge at him as soon as she recovered but a wall a fire appeared before her, and behind her, trapping her in a cage of fire. her eyes widen as bad nightmare and images started to overload her mind. She immediately felt over with teary eyes while Shinkai looking down on her from the other side

"If you want to reach me, get over your fear!" he then turned his back away from them and started to walked toward the power core. Ginko tried to move, but she couldn't. Her body would not listen to her command. The heat of fire started to get to her as she started to shake out of fear. Tears rolling down her face as she tried to call for help, but no voice would come out.

"Help… me….! Kuro-chan… Onii-san… Father!" she whimpered as she started to cry out loud helplessly. She tried to look around, but all surrounded her are fire, hot fire, deadly fire. She can feel her heart beats increasing, too fast. Her breaths started to get ragged and she started to feel dizzy. Suddenly, from behind the fire, Shinkai walked in. He sighed as he gave her Koromaru and picked her up by the collar before throwing over the fire, where Yukari and Mitsuru quickly caught her in their arms

"HEAD BACK AND HELP THEM!" he called out the group behind the fire. Grimacing, the group left to head back to the mall leaving Shinkai alone. He brought out his switchblade as he moved closer to the core. Carefully, he indicated which one is the Shadow, and which on belong to the core. Carefully, he started to cut off the possessed on. Almost immediately after the Shadow possession disappeared, he fixed the cable back. He proceeded to do so for another 10 minutes as he continued to cut the cable, and then fixed it with insulating tape and some wiring. He thanked himself in the past for making his gloves electric proof. After finished all the small wire outside, he came to the last cable. The giant cable that connect directly to the core, and cutting it off also mean cutting of the core. He started to cut off around the edge first, then immediately patched it up. He moved slowly for more than 10 minutes until he reached the final wire within the cable. He cut it off and immediately held it together again.

"The power is off! Attack!" he can hear Mitsuru voice from the telecom within his pocket. Look like he succeeded into saving the power core.


"You will not judge me, right, Fuuka?" he said to no one as he left the area

"I-I don't know!" the voice said timidly in his head "Letting your personal feeling got in the way is not good, but…"

"I had done many bad things in my life, Fuuka!" he said as he walked through the street of Tatsumi Port Island "But I can't never ruin a young girl's dream!"

"But putting everyone's lives on stake is…" she tried to say something but he cut her off

"Unfair, I know! But I did that because I have faith in them!" he chuckled "A lame excuse, huh? They won't forgive me for that, for sure!"

"I would forgive you!" Fuuka quickly said to her master

"Thank you, Fuuka!" he smiled "Say, would you like to come to the concert with me tomorrow? It is Sunday after all!"

"I would love to!" she smiled back, he knew she did

"One more thing, can you locate where Junpei is?" He still couldn't take his mind of the problem "I can't find him! I fear something had happened to him!"

"I tried to locate him while you were fighting the shadow, and I think I had found it location!"

"You think?" he asked back in surprise

"There was something blocking my view" Shinkai nodded, the same thing happened to him "But I pinpointed his location! He is at the dorm! But there is something strange…!"

"I'm on it!" Shinkai summoned 200km/h Fogey again and flew toward the dorm "Have you informed the other yet?"

"I had! They are on their way!" she paused for a second before continued "The chairman is there too, but something seemed off…"

"Fuuka, I'm telling you this now for your own good!" Shinkai narrowed his eyes upon hearing the mention of Ikutsuki "Don't trust Ikutsuki! There was something about him that is very off, but I just can't put my finger on it! Just keep your distance, ok? And don't tell anyone I said this! The less people know, the harder it is for information to leak!" he can see the dorm in a distance "I'll be arriving at the dorm soon… I see something!" from afar, he saw a white silhouette. He recognized the dress, and the hair. Chidori standing there on the roof with Junpei at her custody. He made quite an entranced as he landed on the roof, kicking dust all over the place "I should have known"

"Shinkai-san?" Junpei looked back in surprise, the same goes for Chidori

"I thought something about you seemed off, but now I know!" he sighed as he rubbed his forehead "Are you really our enemy?"

"Can't you tell?" She asked sarcastically as she put her axe next to Junpei's neck "Friend would not do this, would they?"

"That is the philosophy for another day!" he sighed as he disappeared from her sight. Widened her eyes, she realized that he is already in front of her "Today, we take about weapons!"

"Shut up!" She threw her axe at him. Moving his head a bit, he caught the chain that connect to the axe with ease before pulling her forward with it. he caught her wrist, and threw her aside

"You should really consider a new weapon!" he said to her as he leaned down to untie Junpei "And you, should really consider dropping your standard! If I had a policy, it would be 'do not stick your dick in crazy'!"

"Now is not a time for joking!" Junpei said irritatingly as he shook the chains off him. He then turned to Chidori with sad eyes "Hey, answer me this: was it all just an act?" She looked at him with confuse as she pushed herself up "Us meeting, your wound, the picture… Were you just setting me up? Now that I think about it, that cut healed pretty quickly!" She just looked down, not saying anything "I see, so that was..."

"Answer me something simpler!" Shinkai cut in "Are you a contractor, or a Persona user?" She looked at him confusingly "No one would be able to escape my scan, unless you were protected by something. Either you have a demon that protect you, or you just have something else that can use magic to conceal you"

"Medea told me that something is trying to find us, so she protected me!" Chidori answered his question, in a way

"Medea, huh? So you are a contractor?" he drew his sword "I have no problem with Persona User, but contractor is another story! I hope your Medea can fight, because I can dispose you within a second!"

"What do you mean, Shinkai-san? What do you mean by disposing her?" Junpei asked with terror in his eyes, shifting his look between Shinkai and Chidori

"There is just one place for a contractor, and that is death!" Junpei eyes widen upon hearing the word. Before he could say anything else, Shinkai dashed forward, and within a second, his sword is already at Chidori's neck "Kada, who we met before, was just possessed by a demon, she never made a contract with him, so she posed no danger. But a person who made a contract with a demon, who sold their soul to it, can only die!"

"But you don't know if she is a contractor or a Persona user yet, right?" Junpei tried to stop him "You can't just kill her!"

"Correct, I cannot pass the judgement unless I know" he took out an Evoker from his briefcase and gace it to her "Use it!"

"I don't need this" she said as she pulled out an evoker of her own, and fired it. From behind her, a dagger came flying for Shinkai's neck. He reeled his head back just in time to avoid the dagger. In front of him now is a humanoid figure, with a bull skull for a head. She had a dagger on one hand and a bowl of fire on the other. Medea held the bowl of fire up, and fire ball started flying at Shinkai. Twisted his body swiftly, he evaded all the fire and cut Medea's head off in one strike "NOOOO!" Chidori screamed as her Persona disappeared and tried to reached out to it. Shinkai quickly caught her wrist and restrained her with a cuff he took out from his briefcase "MEDEA!" She continued to call out her Persona friend as Shinkai picked up her Evoker. At that moment, S.E.E.S kicked the door opened


"Took you guys long enough!" he said as he tossed the Evoker toward Minato, who clumsily caught it, and walked off

"How is the interrogation going?" Shinkai asked as Mitsuru and Akihiko left the room with a distress look on their face while a team of nurse rushing in "I saw Junpei bursting in, and walking out with a sad face, so I presume things didn't go well?"

"She wouldn't talk" Akihiko said frustratingly "And Mitsuru just have to bring up the Persona thing!"

"Let me guess, she started to cry and call out to her Persona?" Mitsuru was going to retort when Shinkai decided that he want to talk first. Mitsuru and Akihiko nodded lightly "You didn't go with the good cop bad cop I told you to, huh?"

"We tried, but she still wouldn't talk!" Mitsuru huffed out of frustration

"Patient, Princess! She'll talk… eventually!" he smiled reassuringly "But you still haven't answered my question, did Junpei held?"

"No, I don't think so" Akihiko shook his head lightly "Anyway, we'll inform Chairman about difficulties we're having today!"

"Not yet!" Shinkai patted him on the shoulder "I'll try and talk to her, don't inform Ikutsuki just yet!"

"Ok, but why can't I inform Ikutsuki?" Akihiko asked out of curiosity

"Akihiko, there are things that I can't tell you" he said mysteriously, but then a smirk appeared on his face "But there is something that I can tell you, and that is: Shinjiro is having a date with Miki at the Beef Bowl Shop!"

"WHAT?!" Akihiko's eyes widened at the news. He immediately started running down the hall and disappeared within a minute

"You can head back too, Mitsuru!" he turned to Mitsuru, who nodded and left as well. He then took a deep breath and entered the room. The nurses turned around to look at him as he entered. They were holding her down and trying to put her to sleep as she appeared to struggle a lot, calling out Medea's name. He signaled them to get out and took a seat next to the delusion Chidori. She continued to call out to Medea and he brought out a book. He continued to sit there for a while until she had finally calm down and went to sleep. She then woke up 2 hours later and started to paint again

"Is the picture finished?" He asked, making her jumped a bit "I did not mean to startle you but you were very busy when I entered the room"

"Murderer!" She grimaced as she looked at him, hatred burned in her eyes "GIVE ME BACK MEDEA!"

"Sorry, that's a no-no!" he closed the book and put it back into the briefcase "But would you like to hear a story? I had just finished that book and it was amazing!"

"GIVE ME BACK MEDEA!" it seemed she didn't listen to him. But regardless, Shinkai continued

"Do you know the book 'The Elephant Vanishes'?" he said excitedly, ignoring her scream and curse and all "10 minutes to come to an understanding of our feelings, that what the first story about. A strange woman, demanding 10 minutes from a man who does not know her, which lead to hilarious events. But isn't that what I'm trying to do, 10 minutes to come to an understanding of our feelings?"

"What are you talking about?" She appeared to have calmed down. Yelling for 3 minutes must be tiresome

"How about you give me 10 minutes, just like always, and I'll blow your mind!" he said confidently "Philosophical, of course"

"What choice do I have?" She asked annoyingly as she tried to move her hand, revealing that it was cuffed to the bed by Shinkai when he entered the room

"One always have a choice" he said with a mysterious smile as he placed an Evoker on the table next to her, just out of her reach. She tried to grab it, forcing her body to reach the Evoker, but she still just a centimeter away from it "But not without consequences! You chose not to cooperate, and this is the consequences! Now you choose to disregard your body and your health in pursuing something that is also, unhealthy!" he then pushed the gun just a little closer, she was able to touch it with her fingertip, but no further "No matter what you choose, consequences always follow! So make your choice, Chidori!"

"What choice?" She screamed as him as she struggled to get out of the cuff and grab the Evoker "What choice do I have?"

"The choice to cooperate, or to fight us" Shinkai laid it out for her "I have already known that you're a part of Strega. And I have already known where Strega's base is. Do you want to fight me, Chidori?" She didn't answer as she continued to struggle "But if you choose to cooperate and tell us everything, I'll give you back Medea and offer you a place within my group" she looked at him wearily as Shinkai pushed the Evoker even closer "Tonight, I'll obliterate the Strega. I don't care about their backstory or how they come to be. I don't care if they were orphan or abandon. I don't care if they deserve it or not. I'll just kill!" he said coldly "But not you, I offering you an opportunity!" he pushed the Evoker closer, and she grabbed it. she quickly brought it under her chin, but before she can pull the trigger, Shinkai caught her finger "Are you so eager to die?"

"I'm not afraid of death!" she retorted back as she struggle to pull the trigger, but Shinkai took hold of both of her hands

"You should!" he said as he slowly ripped her hands away from the Evoker, causing her to scream in pain "There are faith worse than death!" The Evoker felt onto the bed, and Shinkai picked it up again "I can make you wish you're dead. And even your 'friend', Medea, won't be about to save you!"

"It hurts!" Chidori cried out loud as he dislocated one of her fingers "Why does it hurt?"

"You cut yourself, right? That pain is nothing" he dislocated another one, causing her to scream. Looking at the door, she saw that a piece of paper was stuck on it "When you cut your finger, or your toe, or even your wrist, it's nothing comparing to a dislocated joint. I presume that you think you know pains, that you think you know death" he cracked another one "You said you are not afraid of death, bunch of bull! You're just denying it! No one is not afraid of death! You took it too lightly! Do you think death is just going to sleep and never wake up?" He cracked another finger causing her to cry out in pain as tears started rolling down her face "No, that is the most peaceful one! Death mean that there is no more hope! As long as you live, there will always be hopes! There will always be tomorrow! There will always be light! But not death, death is nothingness, death is a void, death is the end of all!" he cracked the last finger on her left hand "Only when you face death in the face will you truly understand how truly terrify death is! But I can make you welcome it, with open arms!"

"N…o …M…or…e! Pl…ea…se!" She said with teary eyes as she begged him to stop

"Not yet love!" he pushed one of the finger back, causing her to scream in pain again "You made a choice, now you will suffer the consequences! Correcting a dislocated joint hurt just as much as dislocating them" he pushed another one back to its place "You could have chosen to cooperate, but you choose to fight! You choose of your own free will!" He pushed another one back as she continued to speak "Time is irreversible! Time once gone, can never be regain! An opportunity once passed, won't come again!" he pushed another one back "You choose to neglect Junpei when he was just trying to hurt you! You choose to kidnap him when he was just trying to impress you! You choose to push him away when he was just trying to understand you!" he pushed the last one back to where it belongs to. As soon as he let go of the hand, she quickly retracted it, nursing it "But I have no doubt he would not give up! He will come again, and he will try to understand you again! And like him, I would once again offer you the same offer I had before!"

"Medea… Sav…e m…e!" She cried as she called out to her Persona again. Shinkai moved closer and grabbed her left shoulder

"She cannot help you! Only you can help yourself!" He dislocated her shoulder, causing her to scream loudly out of pain "Think for yourself! Liberate yourself from this pain!" He corrected her shoulder again, causing her to scream even louder "WHAT IS YOUR CHOICE?"

"Medea…" She cried as she desperately trying to reach for the Evoker on her lap. But she then heard the clicking sound of a gun as Shinkai pointed his gun at her face

"I said I will blow your mind away with philosophy!" he pulled down the hammer "But it looks like I will have to blow off your brain with my gun! Killing you would change nothing! Tonight, Strega will die! Getting information from the dead corpses will just be a trivial job!"

"Medea…" She jumped toward the Evoker but he caught her by the neck and slammed her against the wall "S…a…ve …m…e!" he shot her in the shoulder.

"Do you know what worse than physical scar? Mental scars, they can't never heal!" he let go of her neck as she screamed out of pain. He then placed a bottle of table salt on the table "What is your choice?"

"I… can't…!" she said between tears "I… can't… choose…!"

"You can and you will!" he slammed the table, causing her to jump in fear "Pain is irrelevant. But I can make you choose with pain"

"No… Please…!" she whimpered as she tried to curl herself up. Shinkai then get up, which cause Chidori to flinch in fear. He then placed one hand on her shoulder and a dim light started to emit from his hand. For Chidori, instead of pain, she felt ease. The wound on her shoulder started to heal and rather fast. When the wound on the shoulder heal completely, he grabbed her left hand and the same light emitted from it. as soon as he let go of her hand, she withdrew it and caressed it. it doesn't hurt anymore, just like her shoulder

"Think carefully tonight!" he said as he grabbed his briefcase and started to left the room "I'll be back tomorrow!" he then threw the Evoker toward him "I trust that you will make the right decision! Summon your 'friend' all you want, I won't stop you now!" but before he left, he turned back with his sadistic smile "And one more thing! Let's keep today 'therapy' our little secret! If you tell anyone, just remember, I can inflict pain!" the last sentence caused Chidori to shake violently in fear. Shinkai smiled innocently and left her alone again


"It almost time!" the producer walked into the prep room "Are you ready?"

"Y-Yeah!" she snapped out of her worries "Just expecting someone…"

"There are more people then we expected, but…" the producer tried to break the news to her "… let's do our best, ok?"

"Yeah!" she nodded as she looked at her phone one last time before leaving the prep room. As they left, they ran into the club manager "Oh, hello! Thank you for letting us perform here at the last minute!"

"It's no problem!" the club manager waved it off "There is something that I had to confess though. We were going to cancel your show…"

"What?!" The producer asked out of sheer surprise. She thought that the show was going to be cancel again

"Let me finish!" the club manager raised his finger, indicated to producer to be quiet "We were going to cancel your show due to some power problem. I was just going to let you perform and hope that the power does not goes haywire. In truth, there have been power shortage all over the town, so I that's why I canceled your show in the first place. But when Shinkai-san, one of our best patron, said that he can fix the power and asked me personally for you to perform here, so I couldn't say no!"

"Oh? Who is this Shinkai person?" The producer asked out of curiosity

"He said he is a fan of Risette, and that he would do anything to see her perform here!" The club manager chuckled as he patted her on the shoulder "In fact I was quite shock when he came to me personally! Just put on a good show for him, ok?"

"Yes!" Risette smiled and nodded. As she walked toward the door, she took a deep breath and opened it

"RISETTE! RISETTE! RISETTE!" people chanting her name as she walked through the door. The room was filled with people. Police man, monk, scientist, mechanic, and all kind of sort

"There were as many people before?" The producer looked around in awe. From the balcony, Shinkai smiled as the club manager joined him

"I told you this would work!" He smiled seeing how many people were standing down there "She may not be that famous now, but she will be a big star later! And when she does, she will remember you for that!"

"I told you, Shinkai-san, I did this not for money, but because of the respect I have for you!" The club manager patted Shinkai on the shoulder "Enjoy your show!"

"I will!" he smiled and pulled out an envelope from his jacket "But some side money wouldn't hurt, right?"

"You got me" the club manager chuckled as he took the envelope and put it in his jacket "Thank you again for fixing up the power source, Shinkai-san!"

"Don't worry about that! If you have any problem, don't hesitate and find me!" he said confidently as he bided the manager farewell and returned to his seats, where the everyone in S.E.E.S were sitting "How do you enjoy the VIP seats?"

"It's cool!" Minato said with his usual deadpan "It better than being outside!"

"The show is about to start!" Junpei called out to the group as he leaned over the balcony excitedly "Risette is about to sing!"

"Yeah she is" Shinkai smiled as he leaned over the balcony as well. Maybe it his imagination, but he thinks the girl smiled back at him as well


"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Junpei said as they left the place "I can't believe it was a secret show"

"The show was said to have been canceled, but then it was on again. She tweeted it the last moment though" Yukari said as she checked on her phone "But still, I can't believe that many people came. I think I even saw Edogawa-sensei among the crowd"

"Yeah, I think also saw Officer Kurosawa as well!" Akihiko said out of surprise "I can't imagine him being into J-pop"

"I never really like J-pop, but I must admit, she had a wonderful voice" Mitsuru noted "I having trouble hitting high notes myself"

"She was so cute too!" Minako remarked "Too bad we didn't have a chance to ask for autograph"

"I wonder if she's a voice actress as well? I swear I had heard her voice somewhere before!" Ken narrowed his eyes as he tried to think "She is not in Phoenix Ranger Featherman R, right?"

"This almost make me forgive Shinkai for putting us through all those troubles last night! Almost!" Minato said which earned a nod from the group

"Now that you mention it, where is he?" Kuroko asked as she looked around, and Shinkai was not among the crowd

"He said that he need to talk to a few people so he asked us to go ahead first" Yomi informed them as she walked out of the restroom "He said he will join us at the dorm later!"


"That was a great show!" the club manager applauded as he caught Rise just before she entered to prep room "I must say, you have some talents kid!"

"Thank you!" she bowed politely "I wouldn't be an idol if I don't have talent, wouldn't I?"

"True! True!" the manager laughed at the joke "You will, no, you must become a big star one day. And when that day come, I'll be the first one to buy that concert ticket!"

"After me, of course!" Shinkai said as he walked up from behind. Rise eyes sparkled as she immediately ran toward and hugged the man "And that day will come very soon, you'll see!"

"Shin-niichan, thank you!" She hugged him tight and he patted her on the head "Where were you the last five years?"

"I was on a business trip, it took me longer than I thought" he petted her head as he said

"Will you come back to Inaba then?" She asked with high hope

"No, not until my business here is finish!" he crushed her hope with one sentence "Rise, you know that I'm a detective, right?"

"The servant of the Truth?" she said playfully "The one who will purge this world of lies?"

"Wow, that was… 8 years ago. I'm surprise you're still remember that" he chuckled "But tell anyone I said it, ok?"

"Why? It's cute!" she smiled innocently

"I remember how cute you are" Shinkai smirked back "Crying and running around the house, trying to hide the futon away? Tried tofu for the first time and spitted it all over my face then cried? Felt down, cried, stood up, stumbled, felt down, cried?"

"That was when I was three!" She pouted "I'm 13 now! And I'm still cute now!"

"Right, you're in middle school, right? Making any friends yet?" her smile suddenly disappeared as sadness took over her face for a moment. She then put up a smile again

"Yes, I made a lot of friends in my school!" he nodded, but he knew she lied. But for the sake of reunion, he would just smile and be supportive

"Rise! Are you done yet?" the producer walked up to them from afar "Who is this man?"

"I'm her friend and kind-of brother" Shinkai decided to introduce himself, lest the Rise might introduce him in a wrong way "I presume you are her producer?"

"Yes! I would like to thank you personally for making this show real!" she shook his extended hand

"No problem!" he smiled back "Please take care of Rise for me! I afraid I can no longer take care of her since she is no longer a baby! Make her famous!"

"I will!" She smiled confidently "And don't you worry, she is still a baby, a very big baby!"

"I know that" he chuckled as he patted Rise, who was pouting next to him, on the head "But I'm not who I used to be anymore, so…" he then stopped for a moment, causing Rise and the producer to look at him with confused eyes "Don't mind what I have just said! I'm sorry! I… am busy!" he then turned around and started running toward the door, before vanished into thin air, leavin Rise and her producer dumbfound


"That was close!" Shinkai said as he leaned against a wall. With shakin hands, he put his un next to his temple "Motsu, can you help me pull the trigger?"Motsu nodded as she took his shaking hand, and pressed his finger. Loud sound of several unshot can be heard afterward

"You, Shinkai Taichou, are to keep using your MAG to pump your bloods all over your body as replacement to your missing heart forever! Even when you sleep, even when you eat, even when you're about to die, keep that bloods pumping! You must not die! You must not forget!" Motsu said to the hypnotized Shinkai as she placed a piece of paper onto his head and said something. The paper glowed, then burned up. She then snapped her finger, bringing Shinkai back to reality

"Good! Then let's get to work!" he grunted as he got up with Motsu help "Let's hunt ourselves some Strega!"


You're still reading this? I mean, there is no review, the summary is suck, and the writing is not even that good! Even I started to have doubt in my ability to write! Well, thank you, i guess! i'm having a hard time at school as well as at home, so having people reading this is a great encouragement. I love you! and sorry because there is no Jack or Omake, just me, complaining! Bye!