Author note: hey people! This chapter was gonna be boring as hell, so what did I do? Fit in three days instead of two! Enjoy the first moon battle and my poor title namer skills!


"Yo!" Junpei ran towards Hamuko. "Kinda feels weird runnin' into ya in the hall like this. You free today? Wanna go somewhere?"

"Um-"

"Just tell me after school if you do!" When he was about to leave, he turned to Minato and high-fived him. "See ya!"

"…And your friendship was saved once again thanks to Hamuko and her part job!" She struck a heroic pose. "Now if only I could get Junpei to stop stalking me…"

"H-hi!" Both teens turned around and found Chihiro staring at them. She seemed very happy. "I was able to say hi to you! I've been telling myself not to be afraid, but the more I think about it, the more scared I get... I hope I can somehow get better at this..." Minato smiled at the girl with glasses.

"I'm sure you will. So did you think about my offer?"

"I-I-I…!" The girl ran away and Minato could only gape.

"There, there." Hamuko put an arm around his shoulders. "You'll get around making friends with other girls some day."

"I have friends who are girls!"

"Mitsuko doesn't count, Minato-kun."

After class, Kenji began questioning Minato about the infamous bet. After a rather brief explanation, the brown haired boy went on with his next gossip.

"Have you ever heard about our school's gourmet king? Well, I heard he knows more about food than anyone... People are always asking him for recommendations on where to eat." Kenji seemed jealous. "Well, I major in noodles, so there's nothing he can tell me about ramen that I don't already know. I mean, he goes to Hagakure and orders rice-based dishes... What a loser! I guess he's into sandwiches now, so he's always hanging around Paulownia Mall. I wonder who he is..."

Minato decided to find that out by himself and headed to Paulownia. It didn't take him very long to find a rather… Stuffed boy eating a sandwich. Yup, a potential social link. He noticed Minato was staring at him.

"Can I…" He kept munching his sandwich. "Help you?"

"Eh… I just wanted to know what the sandwich is made of."

"...What difference does it make what I'm eating? You wouldn't understand the artful construction of this limited edition gourmet sandwich. Besides, after I'm done with this, there's a restaurant I must visit. Ahhh, I'm sooo busy..." Something told Minato that what he needed to start the Social Link was to attract his attention. He briefly considered using the tactics Hamuko taught him, just to realize how awkward and ridiculous that would be. He had the idea of asking the girl to go with him and help him next time, even though that could be dangerous- she could steal the Social Link. With nothing to do in the shopping centre, he decided to go to Iwatodai and visit Bookworms.

"Minato-chan!" Bunkichi waved at him. "Too bad you didn't come earlier… My wife just left for Gekkoukan."

"Well, I will wait for her here with you, then." Bunkichi seemed happy to hear this.

"Are you thirsty? Here, let's share this." He pointed to a tea kettle. "Wait, where are the cups? …I'm afraid I'm completely useless without my wife." Not much later, Mitsuko entered the store. She seemed really stressed –she even looked pale.

"T…T-tree…" That's all she managed to say.

"What happened?" Seeing the old woman like that really worried Minato.

"See, you have Minato-chan worried too. You oughta know better than to walk that far at your age… Here, drink this, dear. And here's one for you, Minato-chan." He gave him a cup of Cyclon Tea. "The persimmon tree by the walkway, at your school… My wife heard a rumor that it was going to get cut down, and she almost fainted. Do you know anything about it, Minato-chan?"

"No, I didn't, but now you have me worried."

"You're so kind, Minato-chan… I'm worried too; I tried to look into the rumor, but… I think I was "barking up the wrong tree"…" Bunkichi looked at him intently and Minato chuckled, trying to make it sound realistic.

"Minato-chan, if it's not too much trouble, can you tell us if you hear anything about the persimmon tree?" He could feel they were counting on him, proof of a relationship becoming stronger. Hierophant Social Link level 4, go! "I hate to trouble you, but… Please, let us know if you hear anything about the persimmon tree."

"Don't worry; I won't rest until I have found out if the rumors are true." And with that, he left. In the way to the dorm, he considered visiting Maiko at the shrine, but seeing how late it had become, she probably wouldn't be there anymore.

"Welcome back." Mitsuru greeted him as he entered the building.

"Hey, have you noticed how many of those freaks there are in town lately…? Other than that, nothing's been going on... Man, talk about boring... Let's go to Tartarus!"

"Maybe I should come along… I'm dying of boredom too." Akihiko smiled at Mitsuru, but she just gave him a deadly glare.

"…Akihiko, are you trying to make me angry?" The boy didn't dare speak another word. While signing the sign-in book –which apparently was there for decoration, as no one bothered taking it to school- Hamuko suggested off-handedly to Akihiko trying out "Punching Bag" in Game Panic Arcade; the boy loved the idea. Too bad Mitsuru heard the suggestion: she lectured Hamuko and threatened the silver haired boy with an execution, which prompted him to promise he wouldn't try out that game until he was fully recovered. If the name was anything to go by, Mitsuru's "executions" had to be terrible.

That same night, Minato got a call from Kenji to hang out on Sunday. Well, it seemed like a plan.


"Ah, there you are, Seikatsu-san." Hamuko stopped talking to Junpei and turned around just to find Ms. Toriumi, her homeroom teacher. "I'd like a word with you. You haven't joined any committees yet, have you?"

"Err…"

"I know this is sudden, but there's some positions that just became vacant that I'd like you to take on."

"B-but I'm already in the student council and-"

"Students ARE obligated to join a school committee." Junpei had mysteriously disappeared from Hamuko's side. "I'll let you choose which one you'd like to join. Which of these would you rather join? The school health committee or the library committee?"

"Both sound horrible." "Uh, school health committee…"

"All right, thank you. Well, go on over to the Nurse's Office after school today."

"B-but I had practice and a Student Council meeting and… And…" And the teacher left, ignoring her completely.

"So much for bureaucracy." Hamuko could only nod at Minato's words.

In the afternoon, Hamuko did as asked and went to the Nurse Office. The nurse was Mr. Edogawa, a teacher who fitted every stereotype of a nerdy person both in looks and personality, complete with gigantic glasses and obsession with anything related to magic.

"Now, is everyone here? We have a new member joining our little team here at the infirmary. This is Hamuko Seikatsu from class 2-F. Who's on duty today?"

"Oh, that would be me." The one who said that was a girl who looked a few years older than the rest of students present. She had dark grey hair and matching eyes, really pale skin and a beauty mark under her left eye.

"Please, show her the ropes of what you do here. If you need me, I'll be in the back…"

"Understood." Edogawa walked away. "Well then… Could you come over here so I can explain?"

"U-um Saori-san?" It was one of the female seniors. "Excuse me, but we, um…"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't notice. Please, feel free to go home. I'll take care of the rest for today." At that point, Hamuko noticed that the girl had a bit of an accent. Not as strong as Bebe's, though.

"We're really sorry. See you later..." The rest of members of the committee left.

"Oh, please don't think that the others aren't welcoming you to the club. They're all very busy…"

"Of course." Those words sounded a lot more sarcastic than Hamuko intended them to.

"Um… Let's see, where should I start explaining things to you…? Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't even introduced myself yet. I'm Saori Hasegawa."

"Pleased to meet you!"

"Heh… There's no need to be so formal. I'm a junior, just like you." Really? "You don't have to be so polite to me."

"All right." She decided that it was best not to pry.

"…Thank you. I'm glad to hear that. I'm actually two years older than you. I studied abroad, and took some time off from school. I'm the oldest student in the school right now. That's why the upperclassmen all speak politely to me." Oh, that explained it. "I really wish they'd stop… But I've pretty much given up about it. Still, considering that we've just met, it'd be nice if you didn't feel you had to be like that around me. …Could you just try?"

"Of course!" In fact, Hamuko was glad she didn't have to speak all formal.

"Heh… I'm glad to hear that." Not quite sure of how, Hamuko had formed the Hermit Social Link. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm supposed to explain our duties here. We met on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but we do get a couple of days off before exams. We have a number of tasks here on the school health committee, but our main job is to be on duty after school. Of course, we can't tend to people who are actually injured, so we need to go get Mr. Edogawa in those cases. He will always be in the small room off to the side, but we're not allowed to go in there."

"He probably has a voodoo sanctuary in there or something."

"Well, there are some rumors that students have gone in there… And never came back." Hamuko wouldn't look at Edogawa the same way for quite a while.

Before going back to the dorm, Hamuko had to go to her class to pick up her school bag. She was quite surprised to find Minato sleeping on his table. Kazushi hadn't probably been to school or something, so that meant nobody remembered to tell Minato that classes were over. She had never had an actual chance to see him up close sleeping, either because she was in class and she had to be paying attention, because there were other people around, or his room was too dark to see anything every time she broke in- anyhow, she was impressed.

"Damn, he's cute sleeping…" Hamuko was a bit hesitant to wake him up, but she decided against letting him sleep; she wanted to go somewhere. "Hey." He answered with some kind of purr, so the brunette tried a different approach to the problem.

"Wake up, you prick!" She slammed Minato's face against the table, making the boy yell in surprise. He yawned and looked at her with an annoyed expression as he rubbed his nose.

"I was sleeping…"

"Not anymore." He got up from the ground, and they left school together. "I want to go to the shrine."

"…Why? Oh, the girl. You think she'll be there?"

"There's only one way to find out." The ride to Iwatodai felt surprisingly long –both Minato and Hamuko had been busy thinking their strategies to get Maiko as a social link instead of talking as usual. As soon as they walked up the stairs of the shrine, they heard a cheerful voice calling them.

"You came!" Maiko was hopping happily. "Let's play!" They decided to play tag around the shrine until Minato begged them to stop, exhausted. "What do you wanna do next? It's up to you, 'kay? Your choice!"

"…Jungle gym?"

"Oh boy! I'm gonna climb way up high, okay?" The little girl seemed delighted with Minato's idea and they played there until it got dark.

"Maiko-chan, it's late." Hamuko was trying to get the girl to climb down the jungle gym.

"But, I don't wanna go home yet. I don't like it there… Can't we stay together for a little longer?" Hamuko helped her climb down, but the girl slid from the metallic structure and fell to the ground.

"Look what you did!" Minato kneeled down to help Maiko get up. She didn't seem hurt.

"WHAT? It was an accident!"

"She could have got hurt!" He was aware it wasn't his fault, but the tension had begun building up when they saw the child and any excuse was good to begin bashing each other. Maiko was getting teary eyes.

"You're the idiot who suggested jungle gym in the first place!"

"STOP!" The teens stopped arguing as soon as Maiko started to cry. They didn't waste a second asking her what was wrong and trying to soothe her. Once she felt a bit better, she stopped crying and started to talk.

"My mom and my dad… They fight a lot." She seemed ready to cry again. "They're going to get a divorce. I tell them I want them to be happy, but they don't listen. They probably hate me, too."

"Of course not! I'm sure they love you!" The little girl didn't answer to Hamuko; she just dried her tears with the back of her sleeve.

"I don't want you to fight as well…"

"We won't. I promise." Minato extended his pinky finger. Maiko's eyes lit up as she extended hers as well; Hamuko somehow managed to create a triple pinky swear.

"Hey, we can play again later, right? I think we're friends now. I have cram school on Sunday, but I'm free the rest of the days." The teens nodded simultaneously. Both could feel the time freeze and the formation of the Hanged Man Social Link, which was represented by a man hanging upside down. It was pretty late, so Maiko said bye and ran to her home.

"…Did you feel that too?"

"Yes." They fell on silence as they walked to the dorm.

"When did she say she was available?"

"Every day except Sunday."

"Oh. I could have sworn she said Monday, Wednesday and Saturday." They were trying to avoid the main "How did this happen?" question.

"Welcome back." Minato closed the door behind him and walked towards the stairs. "...It's odd, really, how quiet it's been."

"You're referring to the shadows, I take it?" Akihiko was interested in anything that involved them.

"It's been a month since the attack, yet I'm certain that won't be the last time they appear outside of Tartarus."

"True... Lately, it seems like the Lost are everywhere. So something must be going on..." Hamuko and Minato interchanged skeptic glances.

"…Is it just me, or people here kind of want to be attacked?"

"As long as they aren't jinxes…"

The day came to an end and as the Dark Hour arrived, everyone could feel an energy rush and an unexplainable urge to battle against shadows; however, since Minato hadn't asked them to go to Tartarus, they had to ignore the call for the battle and spend the energy doing whatever other thing. For example, Minato decided to study; Hamuko decided to salvage the fridge and Akihiko began running up and down the stairs, claiming it was a perfect chance to train.


"Hey Minato." The boy turned around and saw Akihiko running towards him. "How's it going? Have you been training in Tartarus? It never hurts to train while you have the chance. My wounds will heal in no time, and then I'll be able to join you on the front line. But don't just rely on me." Was that inverse psychology?

"We're quite capable too, Senpai. Don't worry." Akihiko nodded and patted Minato's arm to show his kohai he trusted him.

As the day went on, a terrible feeling invaded both Hamuko and Minato. They kept looking at each other in class, trying to find out if the other felt the same way. As soon as classes ended, they decided to head directly to the dorm, trying to find an explanation in the way.

"Um, maybe everyone made us paranoid?"

"Not likely."

"Oh, oh, maybe it's because of the Dark Hour snack."

"Impossible."

"…Belligerent sexual tension?" They kept walking in silence for some minutes, but Minato stopped abruptly. Hamuko looked at him in wonder, but she got an idea as well. They looked at each other and shouted simultaneously: "THE BOY!" Minato ran a hand through his hair nervously while trying to order his thoughts.

"He said something about an ordeal coming with the full moon!"

"But what kind of ordeal?" She tried to remember that night. "Didn't he say one that "one of them" was coming?"

"What the hell does that mean?" He let out a desperate sigh. As much as they tried, they couldn't come up with any good answer. "Let's just keep going."

They spent the rest of the day locked in Minato's room, trying to come up with theories and help each other cool down, but they only achieved ending up even more paranoid. For once, Minato didn't push Hamuko out of his room as it got late; he was just as frightened as her and he didn't want to be alone; furthermore, he knew that a terrified Hamuko was as dangerous as a teddy bear, so he had nothing to worry about.

A few minutes past the start of the Dark Hour, someone knocked Minato's door; the teens didn't dare move from their spot on Minato's bed. After a few seconds without response, Minato's door opened; the teens screamed in fear until they noticed that there was no monster behind the door- only Yukari and Junpei.

"Sorry for coming in like this, but Aki asked me to take everyone to the command room. So uh…"

"Did we interrupt anything?" Junpei sounded more amused than he should.

"N-NO. We're just a bit jumpy today, sorry…" Everyone rushed upstairs and found Akihiko and Mitsuru in the command room. Loud beeping noises could be heard as several radars worked simultaneously. They seemed to be trying to locate something.

"We're here!"

"Where is it? I'll rip it a new one!" The boy with a baseball cap seemed anxious to get some action, but Minato and Hamuko were completely clueless to what was happening; fortunately, Mitsuru noticed this.

"We've detected a shadow outside of Tartarus. We don't know for sure, but we think it's another big one. We have to defeat any of them we find, as quickly as possible. Most people don't know the Dark Hour exists. But, if half the city is destroyed, there will be panic. That must be avoided at all costs."

"In other words, we need to kick some ass, right? Well, count me in!" Yukari sighed in annoyance at the boy's words.

"Junpei…" He tried to get Hamuko's support, but she was kind of zoning out.

"Akihiko, you stay here and wait for the Chairman."

"Wha-! Are you kidding! I'm going!"

"You still need to recover. You'll just be a hindrance." The silver haired boy seemed offended.

"What!"

"They'll fare better than you, in your current state. Have faith in them, Akihiko... They're ready. You'll get your chance, but for now, wait for the Chairman." He could only swear under his breath.

"Relax! I've got it covered!" Well, at least Junpei had his everlasting overconfidence.

"I guess I've got no choice…" He pointed at Minato. "You're in charge."

"Again…?"

"We're counting on you." Mitsuru fixed her eyes on the boy. He hoped they didn't have actual faith in him, and had only been chosen because of the fact he hadn't used his turn as Tartarus leader. Otherwise…

"Heh, looks like you're stuck playin' leader again… Sucks to be you." Junpei didn't even bother to make his envy subtle.

"You four should hurry and go ahead. Mitsuru, you need to get ready, right?"

"Indeed. Let's rendezvous in front of the station." Everyone ran out of the dorm towards Iwatodai Station. They sat on the stairs near the train platform, the same place where Hamuko and Minato tried to beat each other to death the last time the four teens hanged out together. Not a good omen.

"Where is she?" Yukari was pretty impatient.

"She'll be here soon." Minato and Hamuko were waiting away from the group. Their minds were filled with "what if"s steaming from the last big shadow they faced. Not like any of them remembered much of it anymore, but what they remembered was quite enough to have doubts.

"There's a full moon tonight." Yukari's observation made everyone look up. "But, it looks even creepier during the Dark Hour…" She didn't know half of it.

Motor noises could be heard in the distance. "…Huh? What the!" A large silver motorcycle stopped in front of the group. The driver was no other than Mitsuru.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Yukari looked at the vehicle quite surprised. She was jealous, maybe? "Listen carefully. Tonight, I'll be providing support from here. Everything else is the same. The shadow is currently located inside a monorail, not far from the station. To get there, you'll have to walk on the tracks."

"Are you serious? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Don't worry; no electronic equipment is operable during the Dark Hour, including the monorails." Everyone looked at her bike suspiciously. "It's special. Now, if circumstances change, I'll notify you immediately. Let's get started."

"Wait." That had to be the longest time Hamuko had spent quiet since Minato had met her. "What about me?" Mitsuru seemed a bit hesitant.

"While it's true that you are not allowed to be in the same group as Arisato, this is an exceptional occasion. The only thing I can ask you for is extreme precaution. If you see any of those cards you told me about, ask Iori or Takeba to get rid of them."

"B-but it doesn't work that way… Oh whatever." Staying behind and fretting over "what could happen" would do her no good. "Everyone, let's roll out!"

"I'll be expecting a sterling outcome." No pressure or anything. They left the train platform and had to run on the railways for about half a kilometer until they found the monorail.

"This is it… Right?" Yukari stared at the monorail with expectation.

"Can you all hear me?" Mitsuru was using her communication skill.

"Yes, I can hear you clearly. We just got here, but I don't see anything out of the ordinary."

"The readings are definitely coming from that monorail. Proceed with caution and stay together."

"Got it." Mitsuru ended the communication.

"Heheh, my Persona's just beggin' to be used!"

"Well then, let's head on in!" Yukari began climbing the foothold that took the train, but stopped midway when she remembered that her mini skirt wasn't magic. "Don't look up." Minato and Junpei turned around and Hamuko couldn't stop laughing despite the tense atmosphere: Minato, the stoic, had the funniest face she had ever seen- if only mobile phones worked during the Dark Hour! Junpei turned around before Yukari had entered the train, and she got quite angry.

"Hey, Hamuko… What do you say we bury Junpei here and leave him behind?"

"Sounds like a plan." She pushed Junpei. "Go in." She pretty much forced him to get in the train before her. Minato was about to follow him, but Hamuko stopped the bluenette.

"Ladies first." She winked at him and the boy grumbled seeing her intentions.

"Can't you take this seriously for once?"

In the train there wasn't much apart from glowing coffins in which passengers were resting.

"This poor stiff must be a passenger." Junpei was rather tactless, as usual. "He's been Transmogged, huh... Creepy. So... Guys like him don't remember a thing, right? It's probably better that way."

"Huh? Wait a minute..." Yukari seemed to have come up with something. "We're not at a station, but the doors are wide..." The door they used to enter proceeded to close itself despite Junpei tried his best to keep it open.

"Jinxes. All of you." Yukari looked at Hamuko with a weird face. "Seriously, don't say anything like that again."

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"My finger got all jacked up an-" Yukari hit Junpei so he would shut up.

"It looks like we're trapped inside..."

"It must be the Shadow... It knows you're there. Be ready for anything! Proceed with extreme caution!"

"R-roger!"

They didn't have more options than to go on, so that's just what they did. The wagons were surprisingly empty save for the coffins.

"It's so quiet it's creepy…" Suddenly, a shadow appeared out of nowhere.

"WHAT did I say, Yukari?" While they talked, the shadow ran away and Junpei tried to follow it.

"Wait! Something's not right... The enemy is acting strangely."

"But if we don't go after it, we're gonna lose it!"

"Minato, you're in you're in charge over there. What do you think?"

"We need to be cautious."

"I agree. It would be foolish to blindly chase after it."

"…Fine, I'll go by myself!" Junpei ran after the shadow.

"Junpei, wait!" …And Hamuko ran after him. Minato couldn't help but to face palm as two shadows appeared behind them.

"…Stupei."

Fortunately, the battle was short. Minato only needed to slash the shadows a pair of times with his new Juzumaru in order to kill them. Yukari… Did her thing and failed most of the shots.

"This is just what the enemy wanted…"

"We have no choice. You have to go after him, or you'll be picked off one by one."

"Dammit, Stupei! What were they thinking?"

"They were NOT thinking." Yukari could only nod at Minato's harsh words.

"From what I can tell, Seikatsu is only a car ahead; Iori is a tad farther."

"Okay, we'll catch up to-" Three shadows appeared in front of them, blocking the way to the rest of wagons.

"Yukari-chan, at risk of speaking like Hamuko… Don't say a word more. PLEASE." This battle was a tad more difficult because of being outnumbered, but they managed well and continued their path to the next wagon. The only thing there was was some black substance in the ground, but no shadows or anything. Maybe Hamuko and Junpei had taken them out?

"They're not in this car, either." Yukari sighed. "Junpei should know it's too dangerous to go alone… Don't you think he's acting weird? Did you say anything to upset him?" Minato shrugged. "Well, we can ask him once we've caught up to him!" They went on to the next car and… "There they are!" Yukari could only gasp at the scene: never before had they seen so many shadows together in such a small space. Hamuko had some bad wounds but Junpei was in a critical state. Minato was the one carrying all items and last he heard Hamuko had no healing personae; they pretty much went on a suicide mission.

"Heal Hamuko." And with that he ran into battle. "Junpei!"

"W-what?" Minato threw him a bottle of Bead which he took as fast as he could; he looked quite revitalized, but of course he was still in a bad shape. "I had it under control!" He proceeded to smash a shadow. "Take this, you freak of nature!" After checking Junpei could indeed keep battling, Minato ran towards Hamuko.

"Hey Minato-kun!" Hamuko seemed annoyed. "What took you so long?" They had to jump to avoid a powerful agi.

"You two are the imbeciles who ran ahead, so quit complaining!"

"Hey, don't call me imbecile, you dick!" They ran towards one of the shadows, a Spurious book, and slashed it simultaneously.

"Garu to the cross thing!" The Heat Balance Minato was talking about was thrown away by Yukari's attack, crashing against another shadow in the process, making both explode. Junpei had the pleasure of killing the last creature, a Dancing Hand, with an accurate agi. Everyone celebrated the victory and sat down, needing some serious rest. Junpei looked at his arms, noticing some soon-to-be serious bruises.

"See? That's what happens when you don't listen!" Junpei looked offended as Yukari scolded him. "…So, are you alright?"

"O-Of course I am… I was doin' just fine…" Hamuko glanced at Junpei with a worried expression. Why did he have to be like that? He would have died without her aid, and the girl could have suffered the same fate if the others hadn't showed up; it wasn't something so difficult to admit.

"Excuse me!"

"Be careful, you four! I don't detect any movement, but stay alert!" The wagon began shaking and in a few seconds, the train was advancing at top speed.

"What's wrong with people here?" Minato couldn't avoid thinking that as he muffled a rage scream with his hands.

"Whoa, what the! …Why are we moving!"

"It seems the monorail is under the enemy's control."

"Whaddaya mean, "it seems"?"

"Uh... This doesn't look good..." Junpei, as usual, offered some critical insight into the situation.

"If we can't stop that thing, it'll crash into another train!" Mitsuru's words left everyone speechless.

"FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC!" Hamuko couldn't have defined the situation in a better way.

"What are we gonna do?" Everyone was panicking badly.

"Calm down and listen. I sense a strong presence in the front car. That must be the one we're after. You'll have to defeat it to stop the train!" Right after she finished talking, three shadows appeared out of nowhere. Yay.

"What kind of messed-up ride is this!" The creatures didn't last alive much longer; they were over killed with fire in a matter of seconds.

"You have approximately seven minutes to stop the Shadow."

"Avoid the shadows, as much as you can!" As they advanced, the train began moving faster.

"With the new speed, you have about six minutes left!"

"Gee, that's great… NOT." They kept their pace steady through the few remaining wagons. Saying they played ninja to avoid the shadows all around the place wouldn't be too farfetched. When they arrived to the last wagon there were barely five minutes left.

"Your primary target is up ahead… Are you ready?" Minato and Hamuko interchanged a worried glance as they muttered a "no" and opened the door.

"Oh man." What they found in the last wagon was a shadow shaped like a semi-naked woman with the right part of her body pitch black and the left white as the snow and the letters "B" and "J" –representing Boaz and Jachin, although the teens would never find that out- partially covering her breasts. She wore curly ponytails which defied gravity and from the back of her head came some sort of paper tentacles. The worst was that, despite wearing a long blue skirt, her legs were wide spread, showing more than any of the teens would have wished to see. "That's so gross."

"Minato-kun, stop staring." He quickly denied Hamuko's accusation and proceeded to engage battle against the shadow that just stood there, moving her mouth without saying anything. As he put brought the evoker to his head, Jack Frost was Minato's first thought: the little demon proved why with a strong Sonic Punch to the Shadow's face.

Hamuko's turn followed the bluenette's: she summoned a succubus called Lilim who wore a half opened white short top, really short shorts and posed seductively. It… Kind of fitted Hamuko, in Minato's opinion. The devil casted a zio spell which made everyone rush away from the shadow, as it electrified the metal around the creature, making it rather dangerous to approach it and consequently battling became more difficult.

Yukari hit the shadow with a garu that didn't even make her skirt tremble whereas Junpei casted a Cleave which, despite effective, looked awkward as hell. Once they were done with their stream of attacks, the Priestess –as Mitsuru identified it- whispered something which made two Muttering Tiaras appear out of thin air.

"Ignore the mooks, they're a trap!" Hamuko commanded Lilim to use agi, which wasn't as effective as zio, but certainly safer.

"Hey, I'm the leader here! …But yeah, you heard her!" Minato shot himself and told Jack Frost to use bufu; shards of ice began growing all over the Priestess's body, which, thanks to the extreme temperature change from the previous agi, dealt a lot of damage.

Seeing the poor results of her previous attack, Yukari decided to begin shooting arrows- surprisingly enough; they did seem to hurt the shadow. Junpei told Hermes to use Cleave again, earning yet another squick from the group.

The reinforcements were "a bit" annoying. Their slash attacks were rather pathetic; their Dia spell wasn't. Fortunately, they weren't good enough as to heal all the damage caused in one turn, but it certainly classified as inconvenient seeing that there were only three minutes left.

The Priestess herself wasn't very strong, but she had something they hadn't: Marin. Fucking. Karin. She just whispered the name of the spell, and before he could even blink, Minato was running towards Hamuko wielding his katana and shouting in rage something incomprehensible.

"W-What the hell!" Hamuko backed away just in the precise moment not to be slashed. "M-Minato-kun?" She could see that the boy's gaze was completely unfocused as he struck again. His movements were much slower than usual and they seemed rather awkward… Like a zombie's!

"He's been charmed!"

"Err… Guys, keep hitting the shadow! I'll take care of this!" She turned around to face Minato, holding her naginata in attack position. "Don't make me hurt you." Minato answered with a fast and deadly swing of his weapon which resulted in a gash in Hamuko's shoulder. "AAAAH! A-ALRIGHT. You wished for it!" Both teens' weapons began clashing, trying to keep each other at a reasonable distance. "Seriously, you just had to fall for the giant naked woman in the middle of a battle!" She slashed his leg, provoking a rather deep cut- she got a sharp cry in response as he fell to the ground. "I told you not to stare, I TOLD YOU!"

Yukari and Junpei weren't handling the situation very well by themselves, but they managed to make a decent amount of damage –just enough to rival the healing powers of the Muttering Tiaras. Two minutes left.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Minato clutched his leg –he didn't seem able to move it.

"Y-you were charmed and—Hey, I don't have time to explain this. Try to heal yourself, I've to help them!"

"Like hell I'm letting you go alone…" He tried to stand up but his legs faltered and he fell down again; that didn't prevent him from fighting, though, as he proved by getting Jack Frost to Sonic Punch the Priestess even at that distance. The attack spam at the Shadow continued, and although it didn't seem to have much energy left, time was against them… One minute, now."

"We have to do something!" Hamuko encouraged everyone to force themselves even more, but they were getting very tired. Minato, who was fighting the need to faint, had been trying to recall the last "boss" they fought. What did that monster that came out of them do? Eat the shadow and… The mask. It cut the mask. It was then when the Shadow died… Forty-five seconds left.

"THE MASK!" Hamuko looked at Minato in confusion. "SLASH THE MASK!"

"How am I even going to get near?"

"Just DO IT!" Hamuko looked at the shadow and then at Minato… And then she closed her eyes and began running as fast as she could.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" She jumped on the one of the Muttering Tiaras and used it as a trampoline to reach the scarlet butterfly mask the Priestess was wearing. The shadow didn't have any strength left to try and stop Hamuko, so it just vanished as she cut it in two halves. Cool as that movement had been, she couldn't avoid falling on her face as the shadow disappeared. "WOOOO! SEIKATSU POWER!"

"Did we make it in time?" Thirty seconds remained, and the train was still moving. "Hey, we're still moving?"

"We're going too fast! We have to put on the brakes or else...!" Yukari was panicking again.

"What are you waiting for? There's a train ahead!"

"Dammit, I don't know how to stop this thing!" Certainly, everyone would have been surprised if Junpei did.

"How realistic do you think the Train Driver Simulator was?" Hamuko stared at Minato intently waiting for a response. Twenty seconds.

"There's… O-Only one way to find out..." It took Hamuko several seconds to help Minato up and take him to the control panel of the train. They remember staring at the hideous amount of levers and buttons and… Nothing else. Next they knew, Yukari was shouting and they could only hear an intense thump which wasn't inherent of a train wreck… It was more like the heart of two frightened teenagers who had just saved the day. After some seconds, Hamuko began laughing. It wasn't a nervous laugh or a frightened one—it was just a happy laugh, which Minato soon joined. Both of them fell to the ground laughing like idiots as they heard Yukari and Junpei wondering how the train had stopped and talking about how scared they were.

"Hey, you okay?"

"You saved me again…" They felt the S.E.E.S Social Link reach level 3… And then someone said something about food and everything went black there. Minato and Hamuko fainted, much to their partners' dismay, who had just noticed the impressive cuts they sported everywhere.


I'm not good at setting up a tense atmosphere for battles, am I? Regardless, rate and review if you want :)