For Persona related info: wiki/Megami_Tensei_Wiki

For Star Trek related info: /wiki/Portal:Main

For a possible year 2378 calendar: /calendar/?year=2378&country=26

Hey everyone, how's it going?

Between work, playing and conquering Final Fantasy XIII-2, and planning to cosplay as Souji/Yu and Junpei for Anime North 2012, I completely forgot that my story's one year anniversary passed a couple of weeks ago. So many distractions…

Anyway, back to the hijinx.


Wednesday, May 3, 2378

Before everyone else woke up, Minako had an early and quick breakfast, and left a message to meet her at Inaba Hill. Considering the spectacular view of the whole town it provided, the top of the hill was her favorite workout spot and a popular tourist attraction. Therefore, it did not surprise her that somebody was already there before her.

There was a tall, Caucasian man with short, dark brown hair taking photos and videos of the area with a holocamera. Though he looked to be in his late 30's to mid-40's, she had to admit he was very handsome.

Leaving the man to his device, she started to practice a little tai chi. The semi-mountain air with that martial art always eased and relaxed her mind, something she really needed after the last couple of weeks.

Her Personae decided to do the same and mimic her movements. She wondered how Izanagi was able to balance himself considering his 'feet' were really knife blades, making him fume while the others laughed.

As engrossed as Minako was with tai chi, the man was too engrossed in his holophotography. Thus, it was not too surprised that her foot nearly collided with the man's face and camera. She was able to stop her kick at the last moment, but he was so spooked that he fell on his behind.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" she said to the man, lending a hand to pick him up.

"That's okay," he answered, graciously accepting the hand. After he got up, he her curiously before the proverbial light bulb went off in his head. "Ah, are you Minako Setamagi, heiress of the Amagi Inn and martial artist?"

"Yes, that's me," she answered, scratching her head in embarrassment.

"I'm Justin Durant, holonovelist."

"Oh, that's why you looked familiar. I've read a few of your novels; really good stuff."

"Why, thank you. I've watched a few of your matches and I'm just blown away at how skilled you are winning all those championships and at such a young age."

"Thanks." Taking a seat on the nearby picnic bench, Minako then asked, "So what brings you to Inaba, Mr. Durant?"

"Your famous hot springs, of course. I needed a vacation. That and a little research."

"Research?"

"Yeah, the vistas here are beautiful and perfect for one of my next novels."

Her face soured. "Let me guess, it's about a couple of grisly murders where the bodies were hung on the top of telephone poles."

"Well, yes. I know it's still a sensitive topic, but I was hoping to update it for our time."

"It's okay. We've kinda gotten used to it."

"Well, I'll get back to my research. Have a good day, Miss Setamagi," Mr. Durant said, extending his hand.

"Have a good day yourself, Mr. Durant," Minako responded, accepting the handshake.

As Mr. Durant descended the hill, Minako went back to her tai chi. For another half hour, she went through the motions of the various forms, punches and kicks, and was thoroughly, though unusually tired by the end of it. She found it odd as she could usually go for another hour and a half, but just summed it up being out of practice. Deciding that falling on her face would not be a good idea, she lied down on the picnic bench with her music player on, listening to various Risette tracks.

"It's good to be home," Amaterasu said.

"And a good day for a workout," added Izanagi.

"It would be nice to remain here," said Eurydice.

"You know we can't do that yet; not until we get what we came for in Iwatodai," said Ryoji.

"Still, I am getting a little homesick."

"So am I, Eurydice," said Minako. "But like Ryoji said, we still gotta a job to do over there. None of us will feel complete until we know what happened to our old friends." Her Personae nodded.

Just then, they heard some shouting over the distance. "Onee-chan!" "Minako-chan!"

She stood up, looked around and saw her friends sans Tammy, Lily and Yuri running up the hill.

"Onee-chan, why did you leave so early?" asked Kana.

"Yeah, you missed the breakfast fun!" Eiji exclaimed.

"More like headache," Kyo groaned.

"Oh c'mon, Kyo-senpai. It was fun," Midori said.

"I don't know how you can all a rowdy meal fun."

"Kyo, relax a little please," Miki said pleadingly. He just shrugged.

"Well, we do like to encourage a fun time during group meals," Minako said. "It can get noisy, especially during dinnertime."

"And especially when we perform," said Taka.

"Speaking of, Midori-chan, maybe you can play your flute with us."

"Sure, I'd be glad, too," said Midori.

"Anyway, so where's Tammy, Yuri and Lily?" asked Minako.

Toshiko answered, "They're still at the Inn. Tammy's going teach them to bake, while the chefs teach them to cook."

"Or at least try to," said Miroku. "They made a mess with a couple of omelettes."

"Well, at least they're enthusiastic about it," opined Miki. "However, I think that's part of the problem."

"Anyway, onee-chan, why did you leave so early?" Kana asked again.

"Because I wanted to get in a little tai chi practice and it's so relaxing from up here," her elder sister answered.

It was then the Iwatodai group took note of the view from Inaba Hill and were quite awed at the sight. The Amagi Inn heiress wondered what they thought of the view compared to the rooftop at Gekkoukan or the monorail to Port Island, but did not bother to ask.

And she did not need to. "I see why you wanted us to meet here, Setamagi-chan," said Miki. "The view is absolutely gorgeous."

"Agreed. Yuri-senpai and Lily-senpai are missing out," added Midori.

"Well, there will plenty of time for that for them to see. Maybe we should come back here before we leave?" Eiji said.

"You actually had a good idea for once, Eiji," snarked Midori.

"I always have good ideas!"

"You mean dumb ones."

Sighing, Kyo stopped their latest argument with another pair of dope slaps, while the others just giggled.

"So where off to next," Hideo asked.

"How about the Satonaka Gym?" Rina suggested. "We could record a fencing demo?"

"I guess we could do that," Miki said. "I would to see where you and Setamagi-chan trained."

"Are you guys sure you wanna do that demo?" Minako asked. She did not want her friends to be considered hypocrites for showing kids from another town how to fence when she chose not to join another school's kendo club.

"It's okay, Minako-chan," her upperclassman responded. "Hanamura-san's mentioned that you don't have a fencing team, so you don't have to worry about the contradiction."

"That's true. Well, let's go then."

As they all descended the hill, Minako could only wonder why fighting was always on the agenda these days.


"That's your family's gym?" exclaimed Eiji. "It's huge!"

"I wouldn't call it my family's, but it is named after one of my ancestors," Rina said, as they walked into the gym.

"And it used to be just a simple dojo until the town expanded to include other facilities. That's why it looks more like a community centre than just a gym," added Hideo.

"Not to mention that they've thought about changing the name to Inaba Civic Centre, but it just felt wrong to change the name, Satonaka Gym," finished Toshiko.

"I see what you mean," said Miki. "I see a couple of basketball courts, tennis courts and skating rinks."

"And here are the actual dojo and fitness areas," said Rina.

When they entered the dojo, Minako was in for a surprise.

"Minako-sensei, welcome back!" shouted some younger students crowding around her.

"Thank you everyone," she said, a little embarrassed.

"Minako-sensei?" Midori asked curiously.

"Rina and I've been teaching the younger ones."

A little girl spoke, "Yeah, they learned everything very quickly, like… um… what was the word?"

"Prodigies?" Rina answered.

"Yeah, that's the word!"

"I'm impressed," said Eiji. "We knew you're good, Mina-chan, but being called sensei?"

"Yeah, I know," Minako said. "I'm still trying to get them to not call me that though."

"Minako-sensei, we always show respect to our elders," one of the boys said.

"I'm not that old though."

"Now, Minako-chan," chided an elderly male, "we don't want to have bad manners, do we?"

"Yes, sensei," she said, bowing respectfully.

All the teens took seats near a wall while the class resumed. They watched as they practiced various karate techniques, including blocks, throws and katas.

After the class finished, the sensei gestured towards Minako and company. "Class, as you already know, we've been graced with the presence of Minako-sensei's friends from another city. What you may not know is that two of them are martial artists as well. Miki Kirijo and Kyo Arisato are accomplished fencers from Gekkoukan High School and have volunteered to demonstrate their skills. Kirijo-san, Arisato-san, please come up."

Kyo grunted, making Miki poke him. "Now, now, Kyo," she said, "we agreed to do this for their class."

"Yes, Kirijo-sama," he replied sarcastically, taking a punch to his shoulder as retaliation.

The couple geared up in fencing attire, helmets and practice foils before walking to the centre of the floor. They then saluted each other before taking up typical one handed fencing stances; that being the sword hand (their right hands in this case) at lead and aimed forward and their left hands behind them and pointing upward.

They started with Miki firing off quick stabs while Kyo swatted them away. Then he slashed at her a few times while she parried and dodged. Kyo then changed his stance where his sword hand was behind him and his left hand was forward instead; his posture told Minako that he looked more comfortable like this. Meanwhile, Miki maintained the same fencing stance.

As the demo continued, it was looking a lot less one and more like two kids play fighting. Minako could tell by the flashy, ineffective moves and the laughs they both emitted that they had done this many times before and were just trying to entertain all the young students. They were certainly doing a good job of that, Minako thought; the demo reminded her of a few pirate films with all the swashbuckling and whatnot.

Towards the end, Miki fired off a series of three stabs, followed by a spinning back slash, then another series of stabs and ended with a left front kick. Kyo grunted as he was hard pressed, but able to parry and block all those lightning fast attacks. He then countered with a single hard stab, followed by a spinning back slash of his own and finished with a jumping downward slash. Miki herself groaned as she was equally challenged, but able to parry and dodge his powerful blows.

As they finished the demo with a flourish, the crowd rose to give them a standing applause. Minako, however, was not cheering like everyone else. Quietly reflecting on the end, she was very surprised that Kyo and Miki utilized the finishing moves that her brother and Mitsuru used a few centuries ago. She found that odd because as far as she knew, neither Arisato nor Kirijo were vaunted for being martial artists.

The heiress was stirred out of her thoughts when her sensei spoke up. "Thank you Kirijo-san and Arisato-san for the wonderful demonstration."

Suddenly, a set of boxing practice helmets and gloves were plopped down on Minako's lap. She did not have to guess whom they came from. "You sure about this, Rina-chan? I'm really not in the mood for a sparring match."

"Ah c'mon, we hadn't practiced in a couple of months. Besides, I bet all your students want to see another demo," Rina replied jovially.

"Yeah, please Minako-sensei?" one of the students pleaded.

The heiress looked at her students and saw all their beady little eyes staring at her. Inwardly sighing, she and they knew that she could not resist them. "Okay, if you insist," she replied as she put on the practice gear on her lap.

"Great!" Rina shouted as she donned her own set of boxing gear.


"I see why you didn't want to spar. When was the last time you practiced, onee-chan?" Taka said concernedly.

"Two weeks ago," Minako said, holding an ice pack over her bruised left eye. "I didn't even want to think about martial arts for a while."

"Yeah, you didn't seem that into it," Hideo added.

"And it would explain the lack of training videos as of late," added Kana.

"Still, for someone who hadn't practiced in a while, you still got some good hits in," opined Miki.

"I'll say," Rina said, massaging a sore hip.

"Maybe you two should go to a doctor," said Eiji.

"We will, once Tammy, Lily, and Yuri get here," said Minako.

"They are taking a little longer than the usual bento box prep time," Kana said.

"Maybe your head chef was true to his word?" pondered Midori.

"I'd say that's a good guess," said Toshiko. "Take a look over there." He pointed towards three girls walking up slowly. To Minako, they looked like zombies.

"Hey everyone," Lily groggily greeted.

"You guys look terrible," said Miroku.

"And feel it," answered Yuri.

"And I blame them two for it," Tammy fumed.

"We said we were sorry…"

"What happened?" asked Minako.

"Well, we thought we were doing well making miso soup and baking a basic apple pie," said Lily.

"But, well… we were… um… preoccupied… and… well… the soup overboiled and the pie burnt to a crisp…" added Yuri.

"AND almost caused a fire!" Tammy shouted. "Cooking requires a fully focused attention! Being frisky and inattentive does not help, especially when we had to clean up the mess and the whole kitchen!"

Yuri and Lily were completely shocked by the younger pre-teen, leading them to quickly and repeatedly bow to her. The other four of the Iwatodai group were stunned at her anger; on the other hand, Minako and the Inaba crew knew and felt Tammy's wrath at botching any type of baking and just laughed at the result.

"Anyway, what to do now?" asked Eiji.

"I don't know about you guys, but I worked up an appetite," Rina said. "How about some steaks?"

"Figures," Hideo said sarcastically, earning a playful jab to his shoulder.

"Yeah, no Foreign Queasine this time around," Kana said. "We eat there too much."

"C'mon, you know you like the live gagh," Taka teased, making his sister blow a raspberry at him.

"Well, we need to see Brea anyway, so let's go to the croquette shop or Aiya!," said Minako.

After a quick stop to the local doctor's office to heal Minako's and Rina's injuries, the group trekked towards the shopping district. Or at least they were going to until…

"Ah, Hideo-kun," a male voice called.

They turned around to see an older Japanese man with gray short hair walking to them. "Ah, Watahashi-sensei, how are you today?" said Hideo.

"I'm very fine, thank you. Enjoying Golden Week so far?"

"Yep. Just showing Setamagi-chan's friends from Iwatodai around Inaba."

Minako jabbed at his shoulder hard, making him wince. "You didn't have to say my name like that."

"Ah, Setamagi, I thought I recognized you. How goes everything in the big city?"

"It's been good so far. Met some great friends." She gestured towards said friends, who promptly said hello.

"Well, I'm glad that you're enjoying yourself there. But just because you are away from your parents and home, it doesn't give you the right to fool around. You better be behaving yourself, young lady."

"Yes, Watahashi-sensei."

"Anyway, Hideo-kun…"

"Now, Watahashi, these kids are on holiday," a female voice said suddenly. "Don't badger them about rules and discipline on their break."

Everyone looked towards the emanation of that voice, which was a young long blonde haired woman.

"Ms. Farrell, they are at that point in their lives where they need discipline to do well in life," Watahashi said angrily.

"Oh, c'mon, they're still kids. They should still have some freedom to do stuff."

"Not to the point of carelessness like you!"

"Better than your stuffiness!"

From that point, they bickered very loudly, the Inaba group instinctively grabbed the Iwatodai group and pulled the proverbial 'exit stage left.' After running a fair distance away and a little of time to catch their breaths, Miki spoke up.

"Who were those two?" she asked.

"Two teachers from Yasogami High, Yoshihiro Watahashi and Helen Farrell," Rina answered.

"Two of the most annoying teachers ever, I say," added Miroku. "They get into arguments almost every day and it's always about rules and discipline versus freedom."

"I'm surprised they're still employed at the same school," Kyo added wryly.

"Say what you want about them personally, they are great teachers professionally," said Toshiko.

"Which is why most everybody in town tolerates their bickering so much," finished Tammy.

"Anyway, let's just forget about them and go to the shrine," said Taka.

"Agreed," said Kana.

As they all walked towards the shopping district, Minako looked back in the distance towards the still arguing teachers. Those two always leave a funny feeling, she thought. She shook her head and turned around to follow her friends.


"I hope we brought enough food," Midori said.

"I hope we don't swarmed once we enter," Eiji added.

"We should be fine. We can always come back for more and Brea's family haven't swarmed us ever," said Tammy.

That was when said family decided to softly pounce on all of them. They were all pretty giddy at the free lunch, making all the humans laugh. Thus started the impromptu picnic at Tatsuhime Shrine. The shone down on the gilded gates, making the Iwatodai group awe at the sight.

After lunch, all the foxes save Brea played with everyone but Minako (Miki, as usual, had to pry Kyo to get into the fun). The heiress sat on the shrine steps while petting the discreetly talking to the little fox with the pink bandana.

"So," Minako said, "are you gonna stay here now that I'm not alone in Iwatodai?"

The young fox shook her head. "Nope, I'm staying with you for the long haul. My family understands my loyally to you." She then rubbed her face on her friend's. "I'm not leaving you ever."

"Thanks Brea." Minako smiled and kept petting her fox friend.

As she watched her friends still having fun, the heiress had to admit that she liked Golden Week so far. However, she still had some nagging feelings today, most of which were reserved for tonight's dinner and hot springs visit.

I really hope everyone stays in line at the springs tonight, she thought.


Afterthoughts:

No references this time around. I wonder if I made all my characters distinct from each other though. Maybe I should post a character sheet as an interlude.

Not much else I need to add. See you next chapter.