It was Wednesday. The day we would return to Tartarus.

Again, I and my two cohorts rode the monorail to school in silence, unable to really say anything to each other that would bring the situation some levity.

After the monorail, then schoolwork. Lectures, seat works, passing homework, being told of exams, exams, exams. Being told to study, study, study. As if the Shadows hadn't been enough. I was never good with quizzes. Never good with exams. Never particularly cared much for them. Just pieces of paper, that's all they were. Again, again, again, what did they matter, in the face of recent developments?

Two different Social Links. Two separate bonds. This was just the beginning. I needed to collect more. At least enough to strengthen my Personas. Bonds...bonds were supposed to be like tokens to me now, huh? Just things to forge and establish...all for power. Well, good for me that I had oodles of charisma, the little emo kid that I was...

"Hey, Makoto!"

I was mildly agitated when my capped friend suddenly called out my name as I pondered. I turned to Junpei, and found at his side a peculiar-looking fellow. A bit shorter than I, he looked at me with curiosity in his beady brown eyes. His hazel hair was messy, his skin mildly pale, and his shoulders mildly narrow. Yet he seemed sociable enough, certainly someone whom I could start up a Social Link with—

"Makoto, this is Kenji, the one I was talking about yesterday."

"So you're the new transfer student...," Kenji muttered.

"And you're...," I cleared my throat, "sorry, I don't know your surname."

"Tomochika," he said, holding a hand out to me, "Kenji Tomochika. At your service."

So I took his hand and told him, "Makoto Yuki."

"I know," he said as he smiled. "Your name passes around these parts. 'Specially since you were seen walking alongside Yukari-san on your first day here."

I raised my brows, "So...there're rumors?"

"Well, yeah," he smirked. "She's kinda popular, you know. You close with her or something?"

"Not really," haven't even started a Social Link with her yet, but I'd like to think "we're just friends."

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter," he suddenly said, raising his arms up and clasping his hands behind his head.

I asked him, "If it didn't matter, why'd you ask?" with more suspicion than intended.

He just gave another smirk as he said, "I'm looking for someone with a little more experience anyway. Don't worry, man. Takeba's all yours."

"What did you mean by 'more experience?'"

Like he hadn't even heard my question, he continued on, "Anyway, Junpei suggested we take you to the Hagakure ramen stand down by the station."

"'Hagakure'?"

"Yeah, man! Famous for its delectable beef bowls. Wanna head out?"

I raised an eyebrow at both him and Junpei before pulling the latter over and asking him, "Are you sure? Don't we have to do...you know, later tonight?"

"Dude, we've got plenty of time 'til then," Junpei urged. "The strip mall's not that far away. 'Sides, we need all the energy we can get, don't we? It's not gonna be the end of the world if we decide to eat out at a ramen place, right?"

I narrowed my eyes at him and measured him, my head bobbing evenly before I stated, "You look pretty tired. Don't you need the rest?"

He said, while rubbing his worn and skin-creased eyelids, "I'll be fine. I'll take my leave when we head back to the dorm. Look, it'll be fun!" he hoisted his other arm over my shoulder in a one-arm embrace and declared, "We can still have fun every once in a while, can't we? The D.H. isn't our entire life, you know."

I widened my eyes at him in just dumbfounded awe as he gave one of the most ridiculously self-righteous yet admirable, in a way grins I'd ever seen on anybody's face.

"What're you two talking about?" asked Kenji.

"Club matters," quickly answered Junpei. "Got some recreational activities taking place in the evening and Makoto and I'll need our strength." He turned back to me, "Meaning food."

I didn't know whether to applaud his bravado or to smack him upside the head.

"Sure, I'll join you two."

Weighing my options, I suddenly felt that perhaps going with Junpei and Kenji on this little excursion to a ramen shop could lead to some benefits. Like energy, a Social Link, some relaxation before the coming battle/s, a Social Link, some really good food that perhaps I could try if I were ever sick of the food at the dorm, a Social Link, a Social Link, and most important of all, a Social—a new friend. A. New. Friend.

Then again, I'm really not that big a fan of noodles, but whatever.


Treated by Two Magicians


Hagakure's ramen didn't necessarily look that impressive, at first glance. It even looked, dare I say it, plain; like they'd picked it from some grocery and just cooked it. But the taste...definitely better than what we'd had at the dorm.

"...Whew! Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" Kenji said, after slurping down an abundant amount of noodles. "Well, was I right, or was I right? This ramen tastes great, doesn't it? I bet they put a special ingredient in it. Something no other ramen shop uses," he rambled.

We three stooges had sat ourselves at a round table in the corner of the restaurant, Kenji and I having placed ourselves at the broad sofa seat bolted onto the wall and Junpei having gotten a stool for had drifted off to sleep, his head having cozied up in his folded arms. I suppose he had a bit of trouble sleeping during evenings due to the thoughts of the Shadows and the Dark Hour and all that jazz. So, in his little dive into dreamland, he left me and Kenji to our own devices.

"You weren't wrong when you said this place wasn't bad with its ramen," I admitted, carefully slurping down one or two noodles.

"It's probably some sort of secret spice...," he mused. "Something that adds a sort of texture, flavor—something salty? No, not salty; sweet —?" he noticed me staring at him intently, and as such rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, sorry. My bad. I get all geeked up when I eat here."

"You're really into this kind of stuff," I noted. "Planning to be a cook?"

He blinked, and pondered it for a second, before saying, "Maybe. Would be nice, but I really dunno what I want to do yet. I only really watch those kinds of shows when they cook noodles, pasta, ramen, stuff like that."

"So you're mostly into noodles, then," I stated, mildly intrigued.

"They're my favorite! Ramen, primarily speaking," he said. "And your favorite food is...?"

"Whatever's on my plate at the moment," I replied. "I'm not picky. Although I do dislike it when I eat the same dish over and over."

He smirked, "You say that, but you haven't even—"

He was about to say that I hadn't even finished my bowl. And yet my bowl was empty, despite the fact that we'd just ordered five minutes ago. Those one or two noodles I'd eaten earlier had been my last, and he wasn't even done with a third with his bowl. He blinked.

I gave a small smirk of my own, "Provocation intended."

"Challenge accepted," he grinned evilly.

We then both slammed our hands on the counter we were on and shouted, "Two more bowls!"


"So you can appreciate the subtle yet distinct flavor of the soup?" he asked me, rubbing his stomach as he reclined in his chair, Junpei still sleeping in the seat across from his.

"To be honest, I don't know a single thing about cooking," I said, "but I know what makes a good bowl of ramen." I knew, because I'd lived off instant ramen for most of my life. Not that I'd tell him that, of course.

He raised an eyebrow, "You don't look like the type of guy I'd normally hang around with...but I guess looks aren't everything." His face then hardened into a solemn yet respectful sort as he piercingly gazed into my eyes, "No one has ever defeated me so thoroughly in the consumption of the Hagakure ramen bowl."

His belly was now significantly rounder than it had been earlier. If this were an anime, it'd surely pop out and be exposed to the air. And yet my stomach barely even seemed visibly affected. Eight empty bowls were on Kenji's side of the counter. Twelve bowls were strewn about on mine. We were both stuffed like pigs.

"What can I say?" I, with a jokingly smug grin, replied to him. "I'm hungry."

"Still?"

"Okay, was hungry," I admitted. "Now...," I reclined in my seat, "now, I think I can last all the way till tomorrow without food."

"Nah," Kenji shook his head. "Look at you. You look bone-thin! You'd barely last till morning."

I didn't want to bring up the time I hadn't eaten for days, so I merely said, "I think I can make it, at least till lunch tomorrow."

"Perhaps," he admitted. "Perhaps...," he then sighed. "So, if I can ask..."

I raised an eyebrow, "What is it?"

"What's up with you and Takeba-san?" The extremely knowing grin on his face just defeated me. He then patted my shoulder, "You move fast, boy! She's pretty popular, and you've managed to befriend her just after you've transferred here!"

"Junpei told me she was popular already," I said. "I don't really have any ulterior motives or anything."

"'Ulterior motives,''" he smirked. "'Zounds conspicuously specific of you to say so, friend! Is there a reason for this emphasis, or shall I just be left to my own assumptions?"

I impassively stared at him as small flecks of pink rose up in my cheeks, "She's...attractive," I said, not really understanding how much of an understatement that was, "but we're just friends. Nothing more."

He shrugged, "Can't blame you. Most guys find her attractive, when they first come in school. I think she's okay-looking. Kawada thinks she's smoking, Matsutani thinks she's hot, and even Junpei had a bit of a crush on her, at one point."

I widened my eyes, Wait, what!? "Junpei had a crush on her?" I whispered harshly.

"Way back in eighth grade," he replied casually. "She turned him down hard. They've been the bestest of buds ever since." He then had an expression of utmost seriousness. "Gotta warn you. She's not really one to...open up, so to speak. The common consensus with her fanclub—"

"Fanclub?"

"—yes, don't interrupt, is that she's too...closed off. Hot, but closed off. She's never even had a boyfriend."

"Never?"

"I know, right?"

I stared down at the ground and just retread everything Yukari and I did in the past few days. I then grabbed a glass of water, said, "Man..." and began to down it.

"Don't let it get to you!" he exclaimed, patting me on the back despite me drinking a glass of water like it was alcohol. "A man's gotta be aggressive nowadays. What, with all these women and their meaningless 'rights.'"

I then did a massive spit-take, "Dude!"

"Gotcha," he smiled. "That was my privileged-white-guy impression. How'd I do?"

"Dude!" I started laughing at the absurdity of his statements, despite my mind telling me I really shouldn't have been. "Come on!"

"Sorry, sorry," he raised his hands, "thought it'd be funny, I'll stop."

"Thank you!" I scolded him through my fading laughter. "Please."

"Hey, let's hang out after school again sometime," he suddenly told me, a large smile having grown on his mouth. "We'll get some food and I'll tell you about my secret plan."

"'Secret plan'?"

"Wait 'till you hear it, dude. You'll flip." He then grabbed a glass of water for himself.

"When should we hang?" I asked him. "Got kind of a schedule." Especially with Tartarus in the mix.

He said, "I'll come to you. You just tell me when you're free."

"Does it have anything to do with women?" I asked him.

He smiled, "Great minds think alike, friend." And then he clanked his glass to mine.

*SMASH!*

What!? "AAGH—!"

"Whoa, what!?"

"Thou hast established a new bond..."

It hurts to make friends!

"Dude! What's happening!?"

"Thou shalt be blessed when thou chooseth to imbue thyself with the Magician Arcana..."

A part of me rejoiced at my having gotten a new Social Link rather quickly. A much larger part of me wanted some aspirin.

"You okay, man...?" asked Kenji. "What was that about?"

"It's...nothing," I said. "Nothing at all..."

He looked at me warily. "Really?" he asked, arms crossed and eyes narrow.

And with that, I realized my best course of action was to lie to him. "I get these headaches periodically. Got some medicine for it, but it's not working out as well as I'd like."

I had no choice, of course. Social Links and the Velvet Room were just two gigantic cans of worms that nobody outside from myself really needed to know of. I'd managed to make myself look sane enough to these people thus far; how quickly would that fall apart if I were to be completely honest with them?

"If they're not working, why haven't you gone back to the doctor?" Kenji asked.

"I'm planning to this Saturday," I lied again, hoping he'd buy it; hoping my poker face was just good enough this time.

For some strange reason, despite my rather stoic disposition, I would always have trouble telling lies. Perhaps my poker face wasn't as good as I had thought? Perhaps there would be a slight change in the intonation of my voice? Regardless of the reason, it most likely wouldn't do me any good in the long run.

"Alright, then. If you say so," he said, half-uneasy somewhat. "That reminds me, though...what time is it?"

"Oh, it's...," I opened my phone and widened my eyes at the time. "6:00 PM."

6 PM. 6 PM. 6 PM.

"Really? I missed my show!" Kenji muttered in mild aggravation.

6. P. M.

"Junpei, get up," I said to my capped friend, who was still buried in his arms and trapped in a deep sleep. "Junpei. Junpei." I shook his shoulder, giving him a light tap, "Junpei, get up!"

Six hours until the Dark Hour. Until Tartarus. Until the Shadows, and the battles, and the swords and blades and blood and death. Six hours left, but four hours to prepare. Rough estimate of time from strip mall to the dorm? Hour, maybe forty-five minutes. Another hour to get to the school before midnight. Last trip had been hectic, chaotic, unacceptable. We needed enough time to...

Definitely, I'd have to buy some more food for all of us. A little sustenance never hurt anyone. Perhaps medicine as well. Wait, medicine? Perhaps if there were ever going to be a case where Yukari or Mitsuru would end up exhausting their Personas somehow, we'd need them. Did we also need bandages? Medical supplies? Was I just overthinking everything? Possibly. Probably. But it didn't matter. I needed to act fast, think on my wits. I was the leader, after all.

"Makoto, calm down," Kenji urged. "Whatever it is, it can't be that demanding. Dude needs the rest. Haven't you seen his eyes throughout the day?"

"You telling me I should just let him sleep here?" I grunted at him, sighing and running my hand through my hair. "We've got something extremely important going on tonight," I said to him, my throat dry all of a sudden despite the fact I'd just drank water. "We can't waste any time."

And then all of a sudden my phone rang, and a mere half-second after it rang I whipped it out of my pocket and put it to my head. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Yukari," said the voice on the other end. "When are you and Junpei coming back to the dorm?"

"That depends," I sighed. "He and I met up with a friend and we're now in a ramen shop. He fell asleep and he won't wake up."

"He's asleep," she repeated, her tone of voice one of disappointment. "Seriously...?"

"Yeah. Unfortunately. We need to be there soon?"

"The senpai are planning to give us something to help us when we head back to Tartarus," she said.

"Okay." I then suddenly remembered my minor freakout from earlier, quickly spurring me to ask, "Do I need to buy anything for tonight?"

"What do you mean?" she asked back.

"Y'know..." Quickly taking notice of the young man with whom I'd just established the Magician Social Link with, I turned to my right and made my voice somewhat quieter, "medicine, food, bandages; those kinds of stuff. Should I buy them for tonight?"

She gave something like a chuckle, to which I blushed mildly upon hearing, and then said, "You don't need to be worried about that kind of stuff. I and Mitsuru-senpai are pretty good healers, so we can patch all your wounds up."

I narrowed my eyes, "Well, what about food?"

She replied, "According to the senpai, if you train hard enough, you'll feel energized enough to make it through the Hour without any real need for food or water."

"Oh," I muttered, rubbing the back of my head. "Okay, then."

"You shouldn't be so nervous," she suddenly said to me. "We've got everything we need. And if we ever do need something, I'm sure the chairman's gonna supply us."

"How are you so sure about that?" I then asked, my voice somewhat grave.

"Ikutsuki used to be a scientist under the Kirijo Group," she said. "Senpai said he knows exactly what to do when it comes to the Shadows."

"Hmm," I said, more than a little iffed. "So he can help us, then...?"

"What's up?" she asked me. "You don't sound very confident in him."

"There's something about him...," I said to her, scratching my head. "He's just a weird guy. I don't know what it is, but something about him...doesn't really sit right with me," I admitted.

"Is it the jokes?" she asked. "Don't worry, he weirds me out too."

"No, it's not that," I said. "It's just...to me, he kind of has that face..."

"What 'face'?" she asked.

"You know, that face...the kind of face that makes you wanna punch the person wearing it," I bluntly told her.

She scoffed, "Well, that's one way to put it," now having broken out into mild laughter. "Still...I think I get it. It's only been a few days since you joined up. It's only natural you won't trust everybody you meet during your first few days. So don't worry about it. I think he's an okay guy. Even if his sense of humor needs a little work."

"I actually don't know why I think of him the way I do," I mused. "Maybe in a past life, he and I were enemies...?"

She said, "Well, whatever the reason, you don't need to buy anything for us. We've got it under control. In fact, senpai's got something for us we'll apparently need for the next venture."

"She say what it is?"

"They're called Traesto Gems," she said. "See them for yourself. I don't know exactly what they do, but they're apparently gonna help us a lot."

I blinked. "We're using magical items, too?"

"I...think so...?" she said, like she was beginning to wonder that fact herself. "That'd be pretty interesting."

"Interesting?" I smirked. "Just interesting?"

"After everything we've seen? Pretty much. I'm surprised you're reacting to it the way you are."

"True. Well. I hope this Traesto Gem or whatever is as useful as the senpai say it is...," I said, heaving out a bit of a worried breath. "Or else..."

"We'll be fine," Yukari said to me. "I'm sure of it. At least we kind of know what to expect."

I hung my head low, my voice somber and my free hand shaking a little at the memory of two nights ago. "We don't, though. They're beyond unpredictable. They're monsters. If one of us messes up, it could lead to—"

"Hey." Her voice halted mine, and she then spoke to me as she would to someone who was suffering from a breakdown. "We'll be alright. Whatever happens, happens. I'm...honestly kind of afraid, too. But I trust your judgment. And I think we'll make it. We know how bad Tartarus is..and we're also aware it can be a lot worse than that. Considering that that's pretty much all we've got to work with, I'm gonna take what we can get. I know we can do it. And I know you can pull us through."

Of course, she was afraid.

She didn't even need to say it. I heard it all in her voice alone. Courageous yet frightened. Emboldened yet uneasy. Determined, yet still just a girl who was incomprehensibly small in the face of the garish yellow of the moon. So, I couldn't help but wonder: was she really doing this for her father, like she'd said so way back at the hospital? To avenge his loss?

What about her mother? She had mentioned the two of them had somewhat of a tumultuous relationship. What if she was doing this to prove something to her—I'll never be as weak as you, things of that sort? Was she just telling me these things just to calm my own nerves for what would happen later tonight?

Or perhaps...she was just trying to prove herself to herself. To prove that she was able to do something worthwhile with her life—something beyond the menial things of the world. Something that truly mattered.

When I thought of all of that, I decided to be as honest as I could have ever been at that very moment: "I don't want you to die."

She stayed silent for a moment that might as well have lasted hours. And after this endless yet fleeting moment in time, she found it in herself to speak again. With all the fear and unease and nervousness that she had held back just minutes ago. "I don't want you to, either. I don't want any of us to."

Another silence then rose, one that felt like days. Time seemed to bend in on itself at this one singular moment, between just us two out of the seven billion other people in the world, keeping us at an impasse that seemed content to last forever unless one of us would either hang up or say something else.

So to end it all, I decided to speak again, "Takeba—"

"You should come home as soon as you can," she cut in, like she didn't want the conversation to continue. "Senpai's implemented a curfew. You should be in the dorm before 8:00. Or else you and Junpei will never hear the end of it."

"R-right," I stammered, trying my best to sound as natural as possible but obviously failing. "I'll see you then."

"Take care."

Those two words had been all she'd said before she ended the call. I thought of no other words that could have been more appropriate.

"What were you two talking about?" Kenji asked me with a not-so-subtle grin.

"Club talk," I said simply, turning my eyes over to Junpei's corpse. "He still asleep?"

"Out like a light. Tried waking him up a few times, no cigar. You need him that badly?"

I remembered how Junpei had said he had cried like a baby when Akihiko had first found him in the Dark Hour. How that was supposed to be completely natural. Maybe sleeplessness during evenings was a side effect of the Hour. Maybe deep sleep during daytime was one as well. Might as well have been. I turned over his body and saw the face of someone in Heaven. The kind of sleep Junpei was in? I wouldn't be able to wake him up even if I were to try my very best.

Alas, there was no time to waste.

I handed Kenji ¥300 out of the ¥700 that had been my change from buying our weapons, telling him to "Keep the change," as I hoisted Junpei up on my back.

"Dude, you serious!?"

I wrapped Junpei's arms around my neck and kept my own around his legs, nodding to Kenji, "I am. We'll see you tomorrow."

"Makoto, wait—!"

I booted myself and Junpei out the door and took to sprinting, making my mad dash to the monorails—to the dormitory, to Yukari Takeba. To the rest of the members of S.E.E.S., ready to face the horrors that awaited us in the Hell that was our school.

And I'd run so fast and so far that I couldn't hear Kenji calling out to me, "We ate ¥4,000 worth of food! This ain't nearly enough, man!"