AN - Sorry about the late chapter I had a LOT of Uni work to do over the Christmas break. If you want details on the bow that Minako got, look up the Legend of Zelda Sacred bow.
Reviews:
Guest (You Know Who You Are) – Before I uploaded this chapter I went through and checked for any Grammar or spelling errors and fixed them so it should be okay. Also, I chose a bow and arrow for her weapon because Archery is one of my hobbies so I included it in. I've put parts of what I have either done or am currently doing throughout this story as a way for you all to get to know me better as a person. And finally don't worry I'm not offended by what you said, I welcome all criticism and I'll try and fix the errors.
Winter Arctica - I'm planning on expanding on Minato in the coming Chapters so don't worry :)
10/6/2009
After we rescued Fuuka a few days ago, things have died down again since the twin Shadow attack. There seemed to be less of those people that suffer from apathy syndrome. Also after school was out, Yukari and I would go and visit Fuuka at the hospital, since we are the only two friends she has that are a part of SEES. She also gets visits from Sanada-senpai and Kirijo-senpai, but they are only there to make fill her in about the Shadows.
To take her mind off of the Shadows business, Yukari and I talked about ourselves and how many times Junpei has hit on us both. She laughed at our embarrassing stories. She even wanted to talk about that Natsuki girl, to see if she is okay. Once we told her she had recovered, she asked if she had recovered her memories since the Shadow attack. Once we told her she doesn't remember anything from the night, her face sank but to cheer her up more, I told her that she has been asking to meet you, so once she has fully recovered she is allowed to see this Natsuki girl. When we told her all that we knew, she drifted back to sleep with a plain smile spread across her face.
11/6/2009
When it was lunch time I got a message from Sanada-senpai stating that Fuuka would be released today, so I tried to grab Junpei and Onii-chan, but they were busy with some girl trouble with Kenji-kun. So Instead I walked back to the dorm with Yukari. Once we were getting closer to the dorm, I caught a small glimpse at a small, boy that was walking towards the cemetery. From what I saw, he was wearing an orange turtleneck sweater with tanned shorts. Yukari pulled me towards the small boy.
"Hi, Ken. What's up?"
"Oh... nothing. I was just on my way to the cemetery. I-I'm going to meet my mom." He said quietly, while looking towards his feet.
There was a short silence before Yukari spoke again. "Oh Minako this is Ken Amada. He goes to Gekkoukan Elementary."
Ken turned towards me and looked up. "Hello. As Takeba-san said, my name is Ken Amada. It is a pleasure to meet you."
I was slightly surprised by how well-mannered he was for a by so young. "Hi. I'm Minako Arisato, but you can call me Minako.," I said with a smile.
"U-Uh t-thank you." He stuttered out with red cheeks. "I s-should go; I really need to talk to my mom."
"Oh yeah right, sorry Ken. You can go." Yukari said. She then knelt down a bit and whispered in my ear. "Ken's mother died last year."
I stepped back, slightly shocked and shaken, he lost his mom and a young age, just like Onii-chan and I. It's tough being a kid with no parents. Yukari pulled away and looked towards Ken-kun, I then walked towards him putting my hand on his shoulder.
"Hey Ken-kun, I know what it is like to not have any parents. I should probably go see mom and dad as well, I said I would keep checking in with them." I turned to Yukari. "Do you want to come with me. I think my parents would like to meet you."
"No, no, no. I can't do that. That is something that I can't be part of. Sorry." She said holding up her hands in disagreement. "Maybe Minato could."
I however wasn't going to take that.
"Yukari, Please. I would be very grateful" I said seductively.
She then let out a big sigh. "Fine, you've convinced me." She said as she started to walk towards me, swaying her hips seductively.
As we moved closer and closer together, we failed to notice there was someone else with us, watching. "You two must be pretty good friends, considering how you are both acting."
We both immediately leaped away from each other, as we heard the voice below us.
"Gah! Ken don't do that!" Yukari said scolding the poor child.
"I'm sorry." Ken-kun said looking down towards his feet.
"It's okay Ken-kun. We were just surprised by the sudden voice." I said putting my hand on his shoulder. "Come'on I think they are waiting for us." I said pointing towards the cemetery.
When we arrived at the cemetery, Ken-kun split up from Yukari and I, so we went to find my parents gravestone. After a couple of minutes, of searching through several gravestones starting with the letter 'A', we had finally found it. My family's gravestone was decorated beautifully. In the centre of the gravestone displays my parents' names; Arisato, Yori (My mother. Formally known as Shirogane, Yori) and Arisato, Yoshikazu (My Father). Yukari slowly approached the gravestone from behind me, she put a hand on my shoulder.
"Hey. You okay?" she said in a quiet voice.
I nod slowly. "Yeah. It's just that I would have wanted them to meet you. I think they would have liked you."
"Yeah. I would of liked that." She said as she removed her hand from my shoulder and placed her arms around my stomach. She then rested her head on my shoulder. We stay like that for what felt like hours, until Ken-kun walked over towards us from behind. Snapping us both from our own little peaceful world.
"Wow, you two must be very close, if you are like that Takeba-san?"
"Gah, Ken again. Stop creeping up on us." She said as she removed herself from me and stomped towards Ken-kun scolding him.
After a couple of minutes of scolding Ken-kun, I slowly approached the two.
"Come on Yukari. I think he's learned his lesson." I turned and looked towards Ken-kun. "Right."
He gave a slow nod. "Yes. I am very sorry Yukari-san and to you too, Minako-san."
"I think it's time you go back to your dorm Ken-kun. Come on, we'll take you there."
He shook his head. "N-No. There's no need. I'll just go back myself." he then started to walk away.
But I wasn't going to let that happen. I ran after him and stopped in front of him, blocking him from going further.
"It's okay, I insist. Besides I don't want you to walk alone to your dorm." I said. He nodded shortly after.
Once we lead Ken-kun to his dorm, we went back to ours.
Minato's POV
When Junpei and I had finally solved Kenji's problem with Kanou-sensei, we returned to the dorm for our meeting with Ikutsuki-sensei. However, before I go into the meeting room, Kirijo-senpai pulls me to one side.
"Arisato! Can you wait there for a moment?" She said, while blushing.
I nodded, so Junpei headed inside the room. Kirijo-senpai then pulled me away from the meeting room.
"Now, Arisato. Can I please get an explanation for your rather forward behaviour from the past exploration into Tartarus?"
I stood there dumbfounded for a moment, not knowing what she meant. But after a couple of awkward minutes of silence, I had figured out what she'd meant.
"You're talking about when I called out to you. What about it?"
"Yes that! It was inappropriate of you to be so forward with me by addressing me by my first name. Don't let it happen again."
She turned away to head back into the meeting room, I however wanted to at last say, what I wanted to say.
"Wait, Senpai! At least let me say something first." I said as lunged to grab her shoulder. She gave me an icy glare at first, but she eventually gave me a slow nod. I let out a small sigh first. "Now, why wouldn't I show affection towards you. After all, that you have done for Mina and I, you could have turned us away like everyone else but you didn't and I admire you for it." I said as I looked into Senpai's beautiful crimson eyes.
Mitsuru looked at me with a slight blush spread across her small cheeks. "W-Wow, u-um. W-Well I admire how you can stay calm and collected, even in dire circumstances."
I was surprised at how much the so called 'Ice Queen' was speechless. "Wow Senpai. I never thought that you of all people would get speechless from what I said." Her cheeks lit up, bright than before.
"W-Well it's not that it isn't true. I admire how you didn't waver when you stayed with me at the roof if the dorm, trying to defeat one of those Shadows. I admire how you stuck by your sister's side when everyone else deserted her, even though they would cause you pain. And I admire how you didn't leave us even though you didn't need to join SEES." Kirijo-senpai said with blood red cheeks.
"Well it's not like I could leave you." I flirtatiously said, as I slowly approached her.
"Well I would miss your blue hair if you did leave." Kirijo-senpai said as she approached me.
We were getting closer and closer together, our mouths were inches away until we heard a voice from behind us. Tearing us away from each other.
"Come on Yukari, I think the meeting is about to begin." A familiar voice said.
"Well you're the one that wanted to stop off at wild duck, before coming here." Another familiar voice huffed out.
"Yeah, well I was feeling slightly peckish."
"A burger and fries doesn't count as being 'slightly peckish'"
As the two voices were getting closer, Mitsuru and I were trying to hide our flushed faces. As they turned the corner they were face to face with us.
"Hi Kirijo-senpai. Hi Onii-chan. What's with the red faces? Did Ikutsuki-sensei tell one of his jokes again?" Mina asked inquisitively.
"Yeah, what is up with you guys?" Yukari chimed in.
"N-Nothing to concern yourselves with." Kirijo-senpai said coldly.
Now it was Mina's turn to be embarrassed. "Yeah... what Mitsuru said. By the way what is this about being 'slightly peckish'." Mina's face was now flushing bright red.
"Nothing, I was just a bit hungry that's all. So where's Fuuka? Is she in there?"
I nodded. "Yeah, Ikutsuki is trying to calm her down. I think she'll once she sees you in there."
Mina nodded and walked towards the meeting door room, opening it.
Minako's POV
When the four of us entered the meeting room we spotted Junpei and Ikutsuki-sensei talking to Fuuka. She seemed to have regained the colour to her face, since the last time I saw her she was as pale as a ghost. She seemed nervous about the whole Shadow and Person situation, so I sat next to her to try and calm her down. She looked at me with a soft and appreciating smile.
"Well let's get started." Ikutsuki-sensei muttered. "You all did an excellent job uncovering the truth. I also wanted to let you know the three girls have all regained consciousness."
Fuuka took a deep sigh. "What a relief."
"From what I understand, they each came to school around midnight and waited for the security guard to leave. They were attacked by the Shadows near the gate, as the Dark Hour began. However, the facts became twisted because of rumours concerning a ghost story" Ikutsuki-senpai continued.
Fuuka started to fidget and brought her legs towards her chest, hugging them. "It's all my fault."
We all seemed shocked, to think that Fuuka blames herself for the girls being hospitalised. Yukari the most shocked out of us all. "Are you kidding? You were the victim. You did nothing wrong."
"But, I made so many people worry."
I put my hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her and said. "Hey, don't think like that. It's like what Yukari said, you did nothing wrong."
Mitsuru also tried to comfort Fuuka, in her own little way. "We could have lost that fight if you weren't there. You saved our lives. You should feel good about yourself. You have a special power that you can use to help others."
Fuuka turned to face me, curiously but soon she understood. "It's called a Persona, right. Arisato-san and Takeba-san tried to explain what it is and what those creatures were."
Kirijo-senpai, nodded. All in all, you could be a tremendous help to us. Will you lend us your strength?"
Fuuka seemed a little surprised by the question. "Are you asking me to join you?"
"That's correct."
Yukari and I immediately darted our eyes to glare at Kirijo-senpai. We didn't want to pressure her into joining. Kirijo-senpai seemed to just ignore our glares. Sanada-senpai obviously didn't see the situation that was happening in front of him.
"I think you'd make a good addition to the team, too."
I nudged Yukari to see if she could speak for us. Thankfully she nodded. "You know, we're not trying to pressure you, so if you need some time to think about it."
"Yeah, we don't want to force you into something you are not comfortable with. So you can take all of the time you need..." I spoke but was interrupted by a voice next to me.
"I-I'll do it. I'll help you!" Fuuka said.
Yukari and I were surprised by how fast she decided. "A-Are you sure? If you join, you'll have to live here."
Fuuka then looked away ashamed for some reason. "That's fine. I'd rather live here than at home anyway."
"We really appreciate this." Kirijo-senpai chimed in. "I'll have the school talk to your parents to resolve any issues."
I however, didn't feel comfortable about how it seemed we were forcing her to join, Yukari seemed to pick up on my feelings. "W-Wait! I don't want it to seem that we are dragging her into this." I turned to Fuuka. "I want you to know that we don't want to pressure you into joining."
She shook her head. "Um. it's okay, really. I mean... it'll be nice to have two other girls in my grade around, too."
I sighed a little before saying. "If you really are comfortable with joining us, then welcome aboard. " She nodded her head and shook my hand.
"Now then... Those special Shadows showed up again. We still don't know where they're coming from. But, Akihiko and Minako are right about one thing. Their appearances seem to coincide with the full moon. We'll take that into consideration from now on." Ikutsuki-sensei explained to everyone.
"So, they're kinda like werewolves then, huh?" Junpei said jokingly.
But Sanada-senpai turned it serious, "It's a big advantage for us to know when to expect them. Now, on the day of the fight, we'll be ready to get in the ring."
After the meeting concluded Yukari and I escorted Fuuka back to her home, and told her to pack all of her belongings to move into the Dorm. On our way back to the Dorm Yukari pulled on my hand. "Hey, Minako... What do you think about Fuuka?"
I was slightly confused by what she meant. "She's a friend, why are you jealous of her.?"
She blushed a bit, but shook her head shortly after, "N-Not what I meant. Doesn't it kinda seem like she was forced into joining us?"
"Well we made sure she knew what she would be getting herself into. Besides we'll be there to support her, if she struggles with it all."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Come on Minako, let's get back."
I nodded, so we walked back to the dorm holding hands.
12/6/2009
The next day Yukari, Junpei, Onii-chan and I walked to the school grounds, and saw Fuuka in front of her classroom. She seemed a bit apprehensive about going into the classroom. As we were approaching her, we heard voices from her classroom.
"Hey, did ya hear?" One noisy girl said to her friend. "Ekoda-sensei is in hot water!"
"Really? What did he do?"
"I don't know, but it must be serious. Sexual harassment, maybe?"
Her friend started to laugh. "I can totally see that!"
When we finally approached her, I put my hand on her shoulder. She turned around slightly surprised but her face turned into a smile. That seemed to calm her down.
"It'll be okay, besides we'll be here for you, okay" I said with a warming smile.
"Thank you Arisato-san, you really are a good friend."
As we were turning away to head to our classroom next door, we heard a girl from behind us. She ran towards us and pushed me to the ground in order to reach Fuuka. As I fell to the floor she pulled Fuuka into the classroom.
"Fuuka! You're back? Thank god, I thought I would never see you again." We heard from behind the door.
As I tried to get up, Yukari held out her hand to help me up, while Onii-chan and Junpei both looked furious. "Minako are you alright?"
I nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'm okay."
"The nerve of that bitch, doesn't she know you saved her life." Junpei said still furious at the Natsuki girl. He was about to barge into the classroom, however I stopped him.
"It's okay Junpei. Come on, let's go to class."
Once school was finally over, Junpei and Onii-chan came and stood next to Yukari and I while we were both sitting in our seats. They both still seemed angry over the whole Natsuki thing, it was probably a good thing then that no one else was in the room with us.
"I still can't believe you let her walk all over you Mina-tan." Junpei muttered. Hr let out a small sigh. "I'm mean you were laying into her, when we were questioning her. Why the change of heart?"
I looked at Onii-chan then looked down in front of me. "W-We were told not to get into fights. That it was not the correct way to solve disagreements, it's what Grandfather told us."
"But what about what you did to her the other day."
"Yeah that was so unlike you Minako. Y-You scared me." Yukari said concerned.
"That was a mistake, I crossed the line. I just got so caught up in trying to find Fuuka, I kind of forgot what he said to us. I'm sorry." I then looked towards a scared Yukari. I reached out and grabbed her hand. "I promise Yukari; I'll never do anything like that again."
Yukari's face instantly blushed into a red apple. "T-Thank you." Yukari gave me the sweetest smile I have saw coming from her since I've met her. In that moment it felt like we were the only people in the world as I stared deeply into her brown orbs, while she stared into mine. We our faces were mere centimetres apart when we realised Junpei was still in the classroom with us with a wide grin.
"Uh Wah!" Yukari pushed me away with bright red cheeks.
Junpei sighed. "Man! When it was getting to the good part too." Yukari stomped towards Junpei and levelled him with one swift punch. "Hey Yuka-tan pull ya punches next time, that really hurt." I let out a small laugh.
I then felt a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Hey Mina, why don't you come with me? I know someone who is dying to meet you. I'll go and get her. Meet us at Naganaki shrine in about 20 minutes." Onii-chan said as immediately ran out of the classroom.
I turned to face Junpei and Yukari. They both didn't seem to know what he was planning, so I told them both that I would seem them back at the dorm then swiftly exited the classroom and made my way towards Naganaki shrine.
As I arrived at Naganaki shrine, I stood at the Inari wondering who wanted to meet me. Within seconds that question was answered. With onii-chan was a little girl with brown hair that were braided into a bun on either side of her head, a red backpack, a navy blue coat covering a pink top that had a rainbow on it, navy blue shirt with long white socks and green shoes.
The little girl tugged on Onii-Chan's coat sleeve, wanting him to step down her level. The little girl covered her hand around Onii-chan's ear and whispered something to him. After a minute or two of them whispering to each other, Onii-chan got back up and he started to walk towards me with the little girl at his side.
"U-Umm a-are you Mister Minato's sister?" The little girl asked with her arms behind her back.
I looked at her before nodding. "Yep. I'm Minako Arisato, pleased to meet you. So you're the girl that Onii-chan has been spending time with."
She nodded her head fast almost uncontrollably. "Yes. I'm Maiko Oohashi. Mister Minato plays with me here and takes me to Wild Duck Burger."
"I'm glad he takes good care of you."
She nodded then ran forward towards me and grabbed my hand. "Come on, let's play in the park. You too Mister Minato."
Once we finished playing in the park, the little girl wanted to go to Wild Duck Burger so naturally Onii-chan obliged. Since he was paying for the girl as well as himself, I naturally hopped on the free food express.
On the way there, Maiko had grabbed my hand and refused to let go, so we made trivial conversation about if she likes her middle school and as it turns out, our favourite topic... Food. As we muse about our favourite food we had arrived at Wild Duck Burger and were led to our seats. As we ordered our food we saw the familiar face of Kenji Tomochika and another boy with a cast around his leg and with crutches that I didn't know, I think he is a part of the Kendo club that Onii-chan is in. Onii-chan got up "I'll be back." he said as he swiftly left the restaurant. I let out a heavy sigh and I noticed that Maiko was fidgeting rather nervously.
"Hey what's wrong." I asked as I grabbed onto her hand.
"I j-just... No. It's nothing" she said as she looked down sharply down towards her feet.
"Come on, my grandfather always says if it's nothing it's always something."
"B-But I promised Mister Minato that I wouldn't. He'll be mad."
"It's okay he won't be. I promise."
"O-Okay then. Mister Minato said that you don't have parents. What happened.?"
I felt a sharp pain in my chest. I still haven't gotten over our parents dying, but I'll have to move on eventually and grandfather did say that I'll have to move forward. Okay here goes. I took a short breath.
"O-Our parents... T-They died in an accident ten years ago. Along with my cousin's parents. It's just her, Onii-chan, Grandfather and I."
She squeezed my hand. "S-Sorry. I shouldn't of asked."
"It's okay. Grandfather said I should leave it in the past and move forward with my life... It's just hard."
At this point Onii-chan returned. "Onii-chan you're back. What did Tomochika-kun and his friend want?"
He let out a small smile. "Kenji wanted to give me a choker he made for getting him past his girl trouble and Kaz wanted to give me some of his sports tape for covering for him."
Maiko stared at Onii-chan with stars twinkling in her eyes. "Wow! Mister Minato you're so thoughtful."
Onii-chan blushed slightly but brushed it off, claiming he just a bit hot. He then tried to change the conversation. "Come on you two, your food will go cold before you eat it."
At that Maiko and I ate our burgers with tremendous speed. Once we were finished we walked Maiko home on her instructions that I play with her again. I nodded and she waved goodbye to me.
"Such a cute girl."
"Yeah she is. Come on let's get back." I nodded.
When we returned to the dorm, we saw Junpei sitting on the sofa reading one of his magazines and Sanada-senpai drinking something, probably with some of his protein powder. When they saw us enter, Junpei got up and walked over to us.
"Hey guys, you're back." He then turned to Onii-chan, "Dude, you're not allowed upstairs. Senpai and Yukari are upstairs preparing Fuuka's room. No guys allowed. So you, Minako should help them out."
I nodded, then headed upstairs. I saw Yukari with a broom and Senpai with a bucket. "Hey guys do you need a hand." They both turned around with wide smiles.
"Ah... Arisato as punctual as ever. We are just preparing a room for Yamagishi. The boys will help out with all of the heavy lifting."
I looked over towards Yukari who looked like she wanted to fall asleep. "You can take a break now Yukari, I'll take over."
She shook her head. "No its alright. Besides we're nearly done." At that moment Yukari's phone vibrated. She looked to see who it was and let out a small huff. "Guess I'll be taking that break after all." She said as she yawned again. She headed to her room. That was when Senpai spoke to me.
"I'll going to notify Akihiko and the rest so they can start to move the furniture."
I nodded. "Okay senpai. Be careful with that bucket though."
She flashed me a quick smile before she headed down stairs. From another room however, I could hear Yukari shouting from behind her door.
"No I don't care if you get remarried. How do you think Dad would feel? Ugh! Just don't call me again!" There was a couple of minutes of silence before Yukari opened her door again. She seemed physically angry. "Oh, Minako did you hear that"
I nodded my head slowly. "Only a bit. Are you okay?"
"Yes...No... You could kinda guess who was on the phone. It was my Mom."
"Oh."
"She wants to get remarried."
"I take it you are against this."
"I don't really care if she wants to get married again, but I can't stand how she's been living. Running away from life, jumping from guy to guy. I don't think that's fair to my Dad." To calm her down I took her hand. It seemed to work after a couple of seconds.
"Thanks"
"It's okay, besides Grandfather went through the same thing... When my and Naoto's parents died. Back then he lost his two daughters. He reacted the same way, going out drinking, throwing himself at countless women who would take him."
"What changed?"
"One of the family maids reminded him that he has a name to uphold. That he should take care of Naoto, Onii-Chan and I. If not my Mother and my Auntie would never forgive him."
Yukari seemed surprised. "And that worked!"
"Yes! He stopped going out drinking and focused on raising the three of us, with help from the estate staff. He taught us the basics for being a detective just like Grandfather. We all took it in stride. However, when Grandfather was really busy on a case, he had to send us to my Uncle, you know the story about that. After that whole thing, he just refused them any part of the family money and disowned his son." Yukari looked at me as her eye lids were falling heavily.
"Sorry Yukari for rambling. I should've known you were still tired after today."
"There's nothing to apologise for, besides I like your listening to your rambling."
"Thanks, but I still think you should go to bed, we'll handle the rest."
"Are you sure?"
I nodded. "It's okay. Go one off to bed. We'll try not to make too much noise."
Yukari reluctantly headed towards her room, but I managed to hear a muttered 'thanks' before she shut her door. Once Yukari was in her bed. Onii-chan and the others had climbed up the stairs. While Junpei, Onii-chan and Sanada-senpai were moving the new furniture into Fuuka's room, Kirijo-senpai and I were discussing things about the Student Council and Operations in Tartarus. The thing that caught me by surprise is that Kirijo-senpai will be going into Tartarus to fight, since that Fuuka is filling in the role as backup.
By the time the boys were finished upstairs, it was close to Midnight so we all went to our rooms for the night.
Once it was the Dark Hour, I felt a familiar presence like before with the strange boy and girl. Just as before the little boy materialised into my room.
"You've prevailed yet again. Do you remember what I said before? About everything coming to an end? Well I've recalled something else. I'm fairly certain that the end is inevitable. However, as I've gotten to know you, I'm not as certain."
"Everything is inevitable to end. But it's what you do with the time you have let that counts. That's is what I've grown to learn since I arrived here." I said cheerfully.
He seemed to notice my happy mood so he let out a small smile as well. "Hey, if you don't mind can my sister and I be friends with you and your brother? I'm very curious about you two... is that okay?" I don't know why he asked, since he has started to grown on me.
"I thought we were already friends with the two of you."
He lightly chuckled. "You're right. I don't really need to bring it up, did I? After all we've been with the pair of you since the beginning. My name is... Pharos. Her name is... Hamuko."
He disappeared but later reappeared at the edge of my bed. "It's getting late, so I'll go now. My sister as well as I am already looking forward to our next meeting. Bye-Bye."
And so he disappeared from my room.
13/6/2009
The next day at night, we all held a little party to welcome Fuuka into the dorm. Kirijo-senpai had ordered some fancy sushi for us all to have. Fuuka seemed a bit overwhelmed at first, but I think what helped was that Yukari and I were there with her.
15/6/2009
Minato's POV
After School had concluded Minako and I stayed outside of a classroom, while we waited for Junpei to finish getting scolded by Toriumi-Sensei for forgetting to had in a homework assignment. The very same homework assignment that Minako stayed up with last night to help him with. While we were waiting a certain teal-haired girl stepped out from the classroom next door.
"Ah, Fuuka!"
"Arisato-san, Arisato-kun? What are you both doing here? I thought that you both would be back at the dorm by now."
Minako shook her head, with a small sneer smeared across her face. "Junpei forgot his Class Assignment." Fuuka let out a small laugh. She then looked straight down to her feet and started to sway from side-to-side nervously.
"Fuuka, what's wrong?"
"Um... while you're both waiting, can you both try this." She said as she pulled a container out of her bag. Minako and stepped closer to this container. As soon as we were inches away from it, we could smell something... indescribable coming from the container. We both looked at each other then we took a huge gulp as we looked back at the thing that was in the container.
"Man, sorry that took so long guys, I've been saddled with a literal mountain worth of class assignments that have to be due in next week."
At last our hero emerged.
"Hey Fuuka, what are you doing here? I thought you would be at the dorm with Yuka-chi." He then noticed the container of 'food' that she was holding. "Oh, saving that for a certain someone?"
Fuuka shook her head nervously. "N-No I was going to get Arisato-san and Arisato-kun to taste it for me. I-I've been learning to cook."
Who taught her to cook, Satan? I thought to myself.
"B-But you could try it if you want first. We don't mind, don't we Minako." She furiously shook her head.
Sorry Junpei, you have made a noble sacrifice.
"Well if you two don't mind." He said as he grabbed the container from Fuuka and opened it. He took one small bite and shortly after his eyes glazed over."
Minako rushed over towards him, trying to wake him by pushing him. After a couple of minutes of trying to wake him, colour was returning to his skin.
"*Cough* *Cough* W-What is that?" Junpei shouted at Fuuka.
"Oh, he's alive. Good job not dying." I said while holding back a smile.
"You knew! Why didn't you stop me?" Junpei said slightly pissed off.
"I didn't know precisely, I just sort of guessed by the smell. If it counts for anything, I'm sorry you nearly died from Fuuka's cooking." I said as I held out my hand. However, as he got up, I heard whimpering nearby. I looked around, it wasn't coming from Minako even though she did seem pissed off at me, for some reason. Since it wasn't coming from her then it could only mean it was coming from one other person.
"F-Fuuka, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."
"I-It's okay." She said on the verge of tears, but she tried to brush them away. "T-That kind of why I wanted to talk to you. I-I want to get better at cooking."
"It's okay Fuuka, we'll help you, won't we Minato." She said staring intently at me.
Oh no. now I've done it. She only cases me Minato when she's really angry. "But I was going to Kendo club with Kaz." She wasn't budging however. "Fine. You win." I sighed defeated.
She then turned her terrifying gaze towards Junpei. "You two Junpei. You're a part of this as well."
"But I was gonna go with Kenji to check out the cute chick- Ah I mean go to the bookstore with him." Junpei said trying to back track his statement. Minako however wasn't falling for it.
"Well If that's the case, you can always go another time."
I nudged Junpei and whispered to him, "Hey Junpei, just agree to help or else you'll never hear the end of it otherwise."
He let out a small sigh, "Fine."
"Good" Mina said triumphantly.
"Since we are all helping, can you go see what classroom we can use, I don't want to explain our way from interrupting another club."
"Okay, but don't bale on me."
"Yes, Minako-sensei I promise we won't leave." I muttered sarcastically as she darted off the faculty room.
She was at the stairs before Junpei nudged me. "Want we to go with her? Just in case he's around."
Shit. I forgot he's lurking in Iwatodia. I nodded, so he ran after her.
it was just Fuuka and I now. It was peaceful until the teal-haired girl spoke quietly.
"Um... If you don't mind me asking. What did Iori-kun mean by him?"
I let out a small sigh before I started the whole Mitsuo thing to her.
"A couple of years ago, when we were at a different high school there was a boy... who attacked Mina. She hasn't been the same since then. Whenever she sees him or even hears his name." She looked up. "Her mind makes her go back to the time when he...he...raped her." Anger was then talking control of my speech. I clenched my fist. "After her memories from then come back to her, she collapses. Each time that happens we move to a different high school to help her escape his grasp. I however, don't think she wants to run away anymore. She's enjoyed it here; made some great friends and she also has someone special to her."
She looked confused for a second, but after a couple of seconds answers, "Takeba-san?" I nod.
I gaze back at Fuuka, she looked physically sick. "So... So before you came to Gekkoukan."
I nodded. "Oh my god." She muttered while trying to hold back tears.
"That's not even the worst part. Up till last year, she's went to some extreme methods to take away the pain."
"You don't mean!" she muttered while her tears flowing down her face.
I nodded again. She sank to the floor slowly. "She's come close to dying a couple of times. That's why I vow that when I find him, he'll pay for what he did to her." I clenched my hand tighter.
"Y-You mean t-that he's here in Iwatodia." She asked through her tears.
I nodded "Don't tell her that he's here." I commanded to her. "We've all decided to keep it a secret from her."
"We've?" She questioned.
I nodded. "Junpei, Yukari, Sanada-senpai and Kirijo-senpai. I'm only telling you because, you've officially joined us."
I left Fuuka a while to fully digest all that I've told her, I even gave myself time to calm myself down. She spoke again after a couple of minutes had passed. "I... I didn't know, she just seems happy whenever I see her."
"She hasn't always been like that. Every time we moved it stopped her from making any friends of her own. She then retreated into herself after a time. She would only talk to me, my cousin and our we first got here, she was really shy. She would stay behind me at all times, grabbing my back and refused to let go. But now I think after spending time here with her friends, she's changed. I'm proud of her."
I looked down at Fuuka, there was still tears falling down her face.
"Here take this." I said as I grabbed the handkerchief I had in my pocket and gave it to her. She accepted it. After she calmed herself down and wiped away the tears on her face she got back up.
"T-Thanks... for trusting me."
I smiled and nodded. That was then we heard two familiar voices.
"Fuuka... Onii-chan... I got us a spare classroom."
"Okay." Mina then went to open the door, while behind her Junpei gave me and Fuuka a little nod. we both nodded back.
Once we were inside the classroom, Mina checked to see if any of the ovens were being used. Thankfully there wasn't so Mina turned to face Fuuka. "So Fuuka what would you like to cook first."
"Um... how about we start off with something easy and basic. L-Like Onigiri."
"Okay." She nodded happily, then she went to grab a piece of paper and a pen and started to write something down, for some reason. Once she was finished writing she walked towards Junpei and I. She held out the scrap of paper.
"What's this for?"
"It's the stuff we need, dummy. Did you expect to do nothing? Now hurry back."
Junpei and I let out a heavy sigh and quickly bought the ingredients that Mina needed from Paulownia Mall. Not to make her any angrier with us, we quickly retreated back to Mina.
"Ah, you've both returned. Good I was getting impatient."
As she was preparing to make Onigiri Fuuka walked over to her to watch and take notes, while Junpei stood next to me. We both marvelled at how much fun Mina was having.
"We'll get him." Junpei said quietly so the girls couldn't hear.
I nodded.
20/06/2009
Today was kind of routine, once we all arrived at Gekkoukan however once school had ended, Kirijo-senpai walked into our classroom and spoke to Yukari, Mina and I.
"The chairman will be stopping by the dorm tonight; he has something that he wants to discuss. Please come to the meeting room as soon as you get back."
Mina nodded. "Okay senpai." Kirijo-senpai then exited the classroom.
Since that senpai said to return to the dorm when class had finished, the three of us decided to return.
Once we were back at the dorm, we saw Fuuka playing with a white dog. "Koro-chan, give me your paw!" The dog barked.
"Oh, he did it! What a smart dog." Yukari said.
"H-Hello. Koro-chan go say hi!"
The dog approached Mina and started to nuzzle her leg. 'bark' 'bark' 'bark' Mina mimicked the dogs bark. I looked over towards Yukari and Fuuka, they both looked understandably confused.
"Oh, I forgot to mention Mina has a sort of affiliation with animals. In others words she can communicate with animals."
They both still were kind of shocked... but they seemed to take it well, as Yukari slowly approached Mina. "W-What did he say Minako?"
"Oh, he just said 'Hello my name is Koromaru.'" Yukari looked at Fuuka and she nodded her head. she looked surprised.
"So you can talk to animals."
Mina nodded. "Yeah, sorry for not telling you. I didn't think it was important."
Then a little old woman walked past the dorm and saw Koromaru. "Oh... This dog still goes on walks all by himself?"
"What do you mean?" Yukari asked.
"He used to belong to the priest at Naganaki shrine. Every afternoon, the two of them went this way for a walk." The old woman said.
"That explains it..." Fuuka said.
"Well, until the priest passed away."
"He passed away..." Mina muttered quietly.
"It was about six months ago. The priest was hit by a car while walking his dog. He didn't survive. Every day since then, that dog sits patiently by the site of the accident. And he goes for a walk every day, just like when his owner was still alive..."
Mina looked towards Koromaru she looked sad to hear the dogs story.
"Oh, shoot, I have to get going."
The old woman walked away.
"Aww, you're such a loyal dog! Good boy!" Yukari said stroking Koromaru.
We looked over towards Fuuka who seemed upset as well as Mina.
"Wait, isn't the Chairman coming today? We should go."
Yukari and Mina got up, both of them stroking him. "Yeah, see you later Koro-chan."
Koromaru barked and then walked off.
Minako's POV
As we entered the control room, we saw Ikutsuki-sensei, Kirijo-sensei, Sanada-sensei and Junpei sitting on the sofa. Ikutsuki-sensei motioned for us to take a seat.
"Ah, good you're all here. I wanted to let you all know about how my research has been doing. This matter concerns those Shadows that have been appearing during full moons. I want you to listen closely; it might be a little hard to swallow at first." He took a deep breath and then started to explain. "Shadows can be divided into 12 categories, according to their characteristics. This, we've known for a while. It's like their class or order... Now, I've classified the special Shadows we've seen so far, and... It's simply fascinating! Those Shadows you've faced before belonged to Categories I through IV, in order of their appearance! They may have looked different than the more common ones, but the classification scheme still applies."
"Is that some'en to be excited about?" Junpei shrugged his shoulders.
I nodded. "Yeah it indicates that there is only 8 more Shadows left, since there is 12 in all."
"That's right Minako! You're quite sharp." Ikutsuki-sensei said making me blush a bit.
"Uh... But...What do the Shadows actually want?" Junpei asked.
"That's an excellent question, Junpei. However, that's the only thing that we yet to figure out: Their motive. Remember they don't kill their prey, only harvest their minds. It can be considered predation, but is it really? Is there an underlying intent behind their behaviour? The purpose of the Shadows as a whole... That's what we need to consider."
"...This is interesting. But, no matter what, we still have to beat the rest of 'em." Sanada-senpai said while punching the air.
"...I agree. That's about all we can do at this point." Kirijo-senpai added.
"Eight more, huh? Lucky us." Yukari said letting out a heavy sigh.
"Don't worry Yukari, we'll get through this, it'll be easy." I said trying to comfort her, I think it worked since she gave me a warming smile.
"According to the data, each one has been significantly stronger than the last, so we better start training harder." We all nodded at Fuuka, then we all quickly dispersed.
05/07/2009
As soon as the five of us got out of school, Junpei wanted to go into Tartarus since we haven't been there in a long time. I agreed but there was a small problem.
"Where am I going to get a new bow on a short notice."
"Maybe, Kirijo-senpai has a spare one." Fuuka muttered.
"Yeah. Hopefully she isn't mad since that the last one broke."
I felt a slender hand fall onto my shoulder. "Don't worry, it'll be fine." Yukari said softly.
I nodded slowly. "Yeah, maybe."
As we departed from Gekkoukan high, we all headed back to the dorm where we saw Kirijo-senpai next to a large box. "Ah, you're all back." She looked towards me. "Arisato, there is a gift for you." As I was walking forward toward the gift, I felt a stern hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see that everyone looked cautious for some reason.
"Onii-chan? Yukari? What's wrong." I asked.
"Arisato. It's okay." Senpai said. They all seemed to calm down.
I then approached the box that sat next to Kirijo-senpai and opened it. Inside laid an elegant bow. I picked it up carefully and showed it off to the others.
"Heh, cool bow. Now can we go to Tartarus." Junpei said unamused.
"She already said we're going so just calm down. "Yukari said slightly annoyed while glaring at Junpei.
"It's alright Yukari, he just wants some action." I said deflecting the looks Yukari and Junpei were giving each other. I turned back to face Kirijo-senpai. "Besides I want to thank your senpai, you didn't have to do this." I then bowed to show respect. She just waved her hand.
"It's quite alright Arisato. Think of it as payment for doing an excellent job on the Operations in Tartarus and outside as well."
I then heard someone grumbling to himself behind me "Tch. Tell me when you are going to Tartarus." Junpei said as he sulked upstairs.
"What's wrong with Junpei?" I asked.
"Don't know. He's probably just restless." Onii-chan said.
"I hope Iori-san is alright." Fuuka muttered.
When it was the Dark Hour we all headed towards Tartarus, however Kirijo-senpai stopped me before we entered the demonic tower.
"Arisato. Before you go in we need talk about how you organise your team."
"Okay senpai. What did you want to talk about?"
"It's about your team you send into Tartarus. Since we are getting new members, SEES has expanded a lot. This means that some squad members will have to remain behind to watch for any Shadows that might escape from Tartarus and keep them away from Yamagishi. I recommend that you only bring a maximum of four of us, yourself included. And as I mentioned before that Yamagishi will be taking over as our guide throughout Tartarus, I have decided to join you in your exploration of Tartarus. If that is okay, of cause."
I nodded. "Okay senpai, I understand. I was going to recommend that you come with me, to get a taste as to what you can do."
She nodded. "Very well, select your two other squad members and then let's go." she said as she walked away towards Sanada-senpai.
After a couple of minutes of deciding, who to bring with me, I walked over to the two 'lucky squad members that would be joining Kirijo-senpai and I. "Junpei are you okay to come with me."
"About time, you asked me." Junpei said in an annoyed tone as he walked towards the entrance of Tartarus.
I let out a small sigh and walked towards the other squad teammate who would be joining us. "Sanada-senpai come on. Let's go."
"Sweat. Let's go. I'm all pumped up." He said energetically as he walked towards the entrance of Tartarus alongside Kirijo-senpai. Then two rather concerned, squad members looked towards me and slowly approached.
"Minako? What are you doing?"
"It's your job today to watch in case any Shadows come out of Tartarus. You'll have to defend Fuuka from them. While we ascend Tartarus."
"You can let Junpei handle that, come on let us help instead." Onii-chan fired back. Thankfully Junpei was out of earshot when Onii-chan said that or else there would of been another argument when we get back to the dorm.
"No Onii-chan. You've been on every team we've had, either it being in Tartarus or on an operation. I'm worried that you'll burn yourself I don't want to explain to Naoto why you're in the hospital again."
He looked like he was going to say something else but instead mumbled, "Fine!" Then walked over towards the others.
It was just Yukari and I left to ourselves. "Minako..."
I nodded. "Yes Yukari."
She grabbed my hands. "Be sure that you come back."
I gave her a comforting smile. "I promise." She then pulled me into her arms for a warm and enveloping hug.
I let out a small and quiet squeal. "Yu-Yukari?!"
"I mean it." She whispered in my ear.
I smiled again and whispered back, "I promise Yukari, I'll come back."
With that, Junpei, Kirijo-senpai, Sanada-senpai and I all headed into Tartarus.
Once we were in Tartarus we started on the floor that Sanada-senpai left off. However instead of continuing onto the next floor, there was a briefcase that he must of left. I walked over and opened it. Inside was a document similar to the last one. Instead of wasting time reading in here, I decided to read it later back at the dorm.
As we slowly climbed the many floors of Tartarus, I got the feeling that one of the four of us was enjoying themselves, more than usual. I asked Junpei what was wrong, but he would keep on brushing me off, muffling, 'nothing' then stomping away angrily. Once we defeated the guardian that was defending the end of the block, we headed for the teleporter while I grabbed the next document that was in the next briefcase. Once I arrived at the entrance of Tartarus, Yukari practically leaped at me, bombarding me with a range of questions about if I was okay. After reassuring her that I was fine, I could see that Kirijo-senpai was chatting to Onii-chan. They both seemed to be enjoying themselves, however what was abnormal about the pair was that they both were laughing and smiling, a rarity for the both of them. It put a smile to my face that they are both enjoying themselves.
07/07/2009
As midnight approaches, we all were getting ready to face another of those 'special' Shadows, if my theory is correct. I looked around the room, we were all nervous, however I would say the one that was the most nervous was Fuuka, since this is her first operation outside of Tartarus. To make her feel more at ease I approached her and put my arm around her. "Hey Fuuka. What's wrong?"
"Ah, Arisato-san you scared me there."
"Sorry. So what' wrong?"
"N-Nothing, it's j-just that..."
"You're worried about tonight."
She nodded her head. "Yeah."
I grabbed her hand, "Don't worry, you'll do fine. Besides you'll have all of our support."
"Thanks Arisato-san."
"Come on Kirijo-senpai wants to see us in the command room."
Once we were all in the command room, Fuuka summon her Persona, and started to search for any 'special' Shadows.
"Any luck, Fuuka?" Sanada-Senpai asked.
"I found it! I sense a strong presence!"
"Good job Fuuka." I told her.
"Yes! Excellent Yamagishi. As for you, Arisato" Kirijo-senpai turned to face me. "It seems your theory was correct. Well Done."
"It's located in Iwatodia... inside a building on Shirakawa Boulevard."
"Hmm, Shirakawa Boulevard interesting." Ikutsuki-sensei said, and continued. "They've been finding The Lost in pairs lately... Now I know why."
"In pairs, why... Oh, never mind." Kirijo-senpai said.
Fuuka dismissed her Persona before she joined in on the conversation, "Why, what's on Shirakawa Boulevard? I'm not familiar with that area..."
"Yeah, why does everyone look embarrassed for? What's at Shirakawa Boulevard?" I asked not knowing what they meant about 'this' place.
Yukari then looked towards Fuuka and I. "W-Well I have only heard rumours... but"
"It's where all of 'those' hotels are...". Junpei said while smirking. "You've heard about 'em, right Mina-tan? Where people go to… ya know…" Junpei continued while making 'signs' with his hands…
"Oh!" My face suddenly flushed once I realised what he meant. "It's one of 'those' hotels. I don't think there were any of them, when we were here before."
Yukari let out a heavy sigh. "Ugh! You've the dirtiest mind!"
"Nonsense... They're no different than ordinary hotels. The rooms are just a bit fancier, that's all." Ikutsuki-sensei butted in.
"I still don't know what you guys mean by 'those' Hotels." Fuuka uttered.
I stepped closer to her and whispered what Junpei means by 'those' Hotels. She seemed a bit shocked that he even knows about them, as did Kirijo-senpai.
"Huh! I've had enough, come on Minako let's go." Yukari said as she glared at Junpei and while she was dragging me away.
"W-Wait what about who's gonna take the lead." Junpei uttered while trying to keep us in the room.
We all turned to face Kirijo-senpai. She looked back towards me so we all knew the answer. "Arisato! I don't see any reason as to why to change leaders now. And as you probably already know, I want you to handle support during the operation."
"Ye-Yes, Kirijo-senpai! I do my best." She said as she stiffly bowed.
As we arrived at the Hotel that Fuuka indicated, I split the group into who would be coming with me and who will be staying with Fuuka. "Yukari, Kirijo-senpai and Onii-chan you're with me. Junpei and Sanada-senpai can you stay behind with Fuuka, in case Shadows come after her."
"What? I'm not coming with. Why? This is Bullshit." Junpei argued.
"Hey Junpei calm down. Now!" Onii-chan growled at him
"Iori! Enough. She's chosen her squad. Now fall in line." Kirijo-senpai also growled at him.
I tried to calm them both down. "Onii-chan, Kirijo-senpai it's okay."
"Huh. Fine" Junpei muttered as he turned away from me.
I felt bad for not bringing Junpei with me if it would alienate him from the group.
As soon as we entered the 'establishment' we heard the blaring music. When we went up the stairs we came across a series of doors and some Shadows. To avoid conflict with the Shadows we all headed to the next floor, which was when we heard Fuuka's voice.
"I've detected the Shadow, it's near you right now."
I nodded and headed towards where the Shadow is. Thankfully the door was hard to miss since it was decorated glamorously.
"The Shadow is inside, be careful."
As we opened the doors we saw we saw a giant Shadow with what seemed like getting a massage. As soon as we approached it, it started to laugh. It felt like it had casted something on us, I don't think it worked however. What changed my mind on that was that Onii-chan and Yukari looked scared of the Shadow.
With Yukari and Onii-chan out of the picture, Kirijo-senpai and I attacked the Shadow. Kirijo-senpai charged at the Shadow while I covered her with my arrows. She managed to deal a decent amount of damage to it before the Shadow started to laugh again, this time it made Kirijo-senpai scared as well. It was just the Shadow and I left.
"Arisato-san, it's just you left the others are too scared to fight. Try to find a way to either defeat the Shadow or try to cure them."
I nodded and fired a couple of arrows at it, however it deflected a couple of them then it charged right at me. Since I didn't have anyone to heal me, I had to get back up quickly and stay away from it. "Arisato-san! Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm okay Fuuka. Have you figured out how to cure Yukari, Onii-chan and Senpai."
"Yeah, do you have any Me Patra gems?"
I nodded and grabbed them and passed them to the others. They suddenly went back to normal. They seemed particularly angry at the Shadow.
"You bastard!" Onii-chan shouted at the Shadow.
The three of them were understandably furiously when they were attacking the Shadow. When they eventually calmed down the Shadow was no more as it had been turned to black goo, which quickly evaporated.
"Well done everyone. Iori-kun, Sanada-senpai and I will be waiting outside." Fuuka said as we walked towards the door. However, when I tried to open it, it wouldn't budge.
"Yamagishi, the door won't budge." Kirijo-senpai told Fuuka.
"I see, give me a second... Ah, I can still sense a Shadow entity in the room you are all in. Look around to try and find anything out of the ordinary." Fuuka answered.
We did and Yukari noticed a nearby by mirror. "Hey, everyone checks out this mirror. Do you guys see that." Yukari pointed at the mirror.
"What are you pointing at... Wait a sec-"
I was sitting on a ruined bed. I was bare naked. Yukari and I just had our first time together, I was getting ready for Yukari to emerge from the bathroom when I heard mumblings nearby. I decided to ignore it as my beautiful girlfriend came out of the bathroom.
"Well hello there. Ready for round two?"
I nodded, "You first this time."
I lead her to the foot of the bed and pulled the towel off of her revealing naked body. I started kissing her repeatedly, as my hands started to wonder towards her stomach. Before we got started, however Yukari started to stir. "Mina wait. Did you hear that."
I sigh in disappointment. "Hear what. I don't hear anything. Wait how did we get here."
She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, I can't remember..." I then felt a sudden dizziness rush through my body.
"Ah thank goodness O-Oh N-Never mi-mind. It looks like the Shadow influenced you two as well." A voice called out.
Why does that voice seem familiar? Ah "F-Fuuka i-is that you?"
"Y-Yes."
"What's wrong?"
"Takeba-san and you, Arisato-san seemed to be a b-bit busy."
We looked towards each other and saw that we were completely naked. We both pushed away from each other as we frantically searched for our discarded clothes. We didn't look at each other until we were fully clothed. Yukari's face was as red as a rose. Our eyes glanced off one another every couple of seconds. Once we were finally fully clothed Yukari placed her hand on my shoulder.
"Hey if you want we can forget this ever happened."
I however was too embarrassed to answer.
She nodded "Come on, I think Kirijo-senpai and Minato are in a similar situation."
As we got to the second floor we came across a rather embarrassed Kirijo-senpai and Onii-chan. They both seemed to be avoiding each other. We approached them slowly, as we got closer to them however we both notice that they both had reddened faces, just like us. I guess they did do something together. Yukari was right.
"Hey guys, what's up." I said
"A-Arisato, T-Takeba I-I see you two were also caught up in the Shadows trap. Are you both okay."
We both nodded nervously.
"I see... The Shadow will pay dearly." Senpai suddenly had a cold yet determined feel to her.
I nudged Yukari, "I think it would be best to avoid senpai, she looks like she is going to execute the Shadow."
She nodded while smirking. "Yeah, let's leave her alone with the Shadow."
"Ah Kirijo-senpai, I've figured out how to get into the main room. It's the mirrors. Look for any mirrors that seem abnormal. There are two abnormal mirrors that is protecting the door, one is on the second floor, while the other is on the third floor." I nodded and split the group into two.
"Kirijo-senpai can you go with Onii-chan and mind the mirror on the second floor, while Yukari and I will go to the third floor and try to find the other."
"Okay but remain cautious the Shadows has already fooled us before." I nodded as they headed to their floor as we did with ours.
After a while of searching through the doors and repeatedly finding coffins on top of each other, we came across a mirror that didn't show my reflection. I called for Yukari to come in. I turned towards her when she opened the room that I was currently in. "Is this the mirror?"
"I think so. This mirror isn't showing my reflection."
"This must be it. Hey Fuuka can you check this mirror."
"Sure Takeba-san give me a second... Ah, this is one of those mirrors. Well done you two. Kirijo-senpai has already destroyed theirs so they are making their way towards you now."
"Okay Fuuka we are on our way now." I said as Yukari and I both fired an arrow at the mirror simultaneously.
Once the four of us regrouped at the main room we were in before we entered the doors to see a Shadow that looked like a giant love heart with wings.
"Are you ready to die you bastard. No one puts my sister and friends through what you did... No one." Onii-chan growled at the Shadow.
"Yes" Kirijo-senpai pointed her Epée at the Shadow. "You will pay dearly for what you did to us."
Kirijo-senpai immediately thrusted her Epée at one of the wings of the Shadow to try and cripple it. She then jumped into the air and slashed the wing when she came back down. While Senpai did this to one of the wigs, Onii-chan did the same to the other. Soon the wings of the Shadow disintegrated and if flopped to the floor. Fuelled by anger towards the Shadow, we all attacked the Shadow. Within a couple of minutes of attacking it, it disintegrated. Once it was destroyed we all took a deep breath and exited the building. Once we were outside we were outside, we were confronted by a nervous Fuuka.
"W-Well done. I-I'm sorry about not knowing about another Shadow." Fuuka said as she looked towards her feet sheepishly.
Kirijo-senpai approached her and placed her arm on her shoulder. "We wouldn't of succeeded without you today Yamagishi. You did an excellent job. The enemy was sly, but you performed admirably, well done." She then turned towards me. "And to you Arisato. Well done for withstanding the Shadow's mental assault."
I smiled sheepishly. "Y-Yeah, I did try to ignore the Shadow's temptations." I said as I smiled towards Yukari.
"Come on let's go. You look worn out." Sanada-senpai urged.
I nodded so Sanada-senpai and Kirijo-senpai walked ahead, quickly followed by Onii-chan accompanying Kirijo-senpai. As soon as I exited the hotel, Junpei glared and then scoffed at me and then quickly followed them. Why is he angry at me for?
"Oh Takeba-san." Fuuka said to Yukari. "About that thing you mentioned the other day I've found some information on it."
Yukari nodded her head. "Cool tell me later okay. Okay let's get back to the dorm; it's getting a bit chilly here."
"Here, put this on." I said as I took of my blouse and handed it to Yukari.
"Are you sure, I don't want you to get cold as well." She asked.
"No, it's okay Yukari. I'll be okay." I said as she finally put on my blouse.
"Anyway, Fuuka played a big role again this one, so score another for the second years. " Yukari then put her arm around my waste. "And to my girlfriend for doing an amazing job again."
I blushed deeply until I had finally reached my room.