Here I am again! I skipped a few days in here, so please don't be confused.
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"I can't believe those two!" Souji shouted as he took a rather large sip of his coffee. The two teens had decided to go to Chagall today and as soon as they sat down, the younger had started ranting. Minato just sat there and listened to him with his hot chocolate in his hands. The loud shouts of the shorter were a change from his normally monotonous and low voice, but not a very nice one. "Now, 90 points are not enough! I have to get over 95 to be good enough for my parents! I'm on top of the class, what's all this for? Do they even remember the time they were my age? If they did, then they would know that I can't just spend my whole day inside to study! I have a life out there!" he slammed his cup onto the table and the older flinched.
"Then why not tell them?" The shorter just huffed and leaned back into his chair.
"I did, but they just said that school was more important than hanging out. I understand that it's very important for my future, but I have to live the here and now, right?" He took another sip of his drink and finally calmed down. He raised his hand to his forehead. "Sorry about that. I don't want to bother you. It's just.. my parents keep on insisting that I have to get better at school. It didn't bother me before but now that I finally got a friend..." He trailed off and looked down at his hands. The bluenette tilted his head.
"You make it sound like it's because of your parents that you barely have any friends."
"Well, to tell the truth, it is partly their fault. They keep on pushing me to the limit and don't really care about how I feel about it. Plus, they are barely home anymore because of their jobs. It's just so annoying." His voice had a little childish undertone as he swung his legs under the table. "I'm sure if I weren't pushing people away on my accord, I still wouldn't have any friends because of them."
"I bet you would have managed. You're very strong person, after all." A sad smile graced the youngers lips.
"If that were true, then..." He quickly shook his head and smiled at the taller. "Thanks for listening. I'm sure that you have better things to do than listening to my ranting." Minato returned the gesture.
"It was no trouble. I enjoy being with you."
"I am Thou...And Thou art I...
Thou shalt be blessed when fighting the Temperance Arcana!"
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6/20/2009 Saturday - After School Classroom 2-F
"Blueberry." The boy looked up from his bag to meet the gaze of his sister. She had her hands on her hips and her own bag swinging at her side. "Senpai told us to meet up at the Command room today. I will not allow any detours." Hamuko grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him out of the classroom.
"Where are Yukari-san and Yamagishi-san?" He asked and only silence greeted him for a few minutes. When they entered the monorail, the red-head spoke again.
"Yukari-chan and Fuuka-chan went home early to do some stuff. Not sure what it was." She mumbled, not looking her brother in the eye. The rest of their trip to the dorm went by rather peacefully and quietly. No snarly remarks or hits. Neither of them said another word until they arrived. In front of the entrance, they saw the other female members of the group with a familiar grey figure sitting in front of them. Immediately, Minato's face brightened.
"Koro-chan!" The canines head snapped to him and a cheery bark echoed in the street. The dog ran up to him and let himself be patted. The girls walked up to the twins.
"Hello Arisato-kun, Hamuko-chan. You know Koro-chan?" Fuuka asked as she, too, leaned down and caressed the soft fur. The bluenette nodded.
"A friend of mine takes care of him and the Naganaki shrine." he looked at his twin and smiled. "You can pat him, if you want to." A blush spread over the girls face but she then nodded and scratched the Shiba-Inu behind his ears. At that exact moment, a woman walked up to them, a grocery bag hanging from her arm.
"Oh, so this dogs still goes out on walks all by himself?" The woman wondered out loud and Yukari raised her eyebrows.
"Huh? Waddya mean with that?"
"He used to belong to a priest at Naganaki Shrine. Every afternoon, the two of them went this way on a walk. Well, until the priest passed away."
"Passed away?" It was Hamuko's turn to ask.
"Oh, you haven't heard the story? It was about six months ago...the priest was hit by a car while walking his dog. He didn't survive. Ever since then, that dog sits patiently by the site of the accident, and he goes for a walk everyday, just like when his owner was still alive...oh shoot, I have to get going! My son will be back soon!" And then she hurried off. The others stepped closer to the dog as Minato gave him a light hug.
"Aw! Koro-chan, I knew you very a pretty cool dog, but to think that you are that loyal to your old owner!" Koromaru pawed his arm and he took the sign and let go, allowing the dog to walk past him and back to the shrine.
"Wait, isn't the chairman coming today? We should go get ready!" The team agreed and as soon as the entered the room, the smile of the Ikutsuki greeted them.
"We've been waiting for you. Please, have a seat." The juniors did as told and sat down onto the sofa. "Now that everyone has arrived, I would like to let you know about the research that I have been doing. This concerns those Shadows that have been appearing during full moons. I want you to listen closely; it might be hard to follow. Shadows are divided into 12 categories, according to their characteristics. We've known this for awhile. It's like their class or order. Now, I have classified the Shadows we've seen so far and it's simply fascinating!" A few moments of silence passed as the teens waited for the adult to continue. When nothing came, Minato exchanged looks with Akihiko and then turned back to the Chairman.
"And that was...?" The man coughed, trying to hide his embarrassment.
"Oh, sorry. Ahem...those four Shadows belong to Categories I through IV, in order of their appearance! They may have looked different from the more common ones, but the classification scheme still applies." Junpei tilted his head.
"Is that something we should be excited about?" he asked and Fuuka gasped in realization.
"I see, if there are 12 in total..."
"..Then there are 8 we haven't seen yet." The bluenette finished for her and the grown up nodded in satisfaction.
"That's right! You two are very sharp!" Hamuko raised her voice.
"Nice to know, but what are they after? It doesn't make sense if they just appear and turn everyone into the Lost without a reason, right?"
"That's a good question, and that's what we haven't figured out yet: their motive. They don't kill their prey; they feed on their minds. It can be considered predation, but is it really? Is there a more underlying intent behind their behavior? 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." Akihiko stated and Mitsuru nodded.
"I agree. That's about all we can do at this point." Yukari sighed.
"Eight more, huh? Lucky us."
"According to the data, each one has been stronger than the last, so we better start training harder..." Fuuka suggested but Akihiko only smirked at her.
"We'll manage. We've got plenty of time."
"What about Tartarus? Why does it even exist...?" The bluenette looked around the room and his eyes fell onto the red-headed senior. He might have not been the brightest bulb in the lighthouse, but even he could see the uneasiness on her face as their archer mentioned the tower. They were quickly dismissed and the young Arisato couldn't help but wonder what the reason was.
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Minato just stood there and stared at those gigantic doors. He heard the people buzzing in and out of the store and the rich smell of grilled meat with sauce filled his nose. Senpai said he knew a great place to eat but.. this place..? The older looked down at him and he took on a defensive stance.
"What's up with that face? Honestly, the beef bowl here is really great here. The serving is big and the sauce they use on the meat is just-"
"Akihiko-Senpai! EEEEK!" The next moment, the bluenette felt himself being roughly shoved out of the way. He swayed for a moment but the silverette saved from his fall with his strong arms wrapped around his waist. He looked up and saw the two high-school girls that were probably going into his grade but whose name he couldn't remember. They were awfully close to them. "Akihiko-Senpai, what are you doing here?" the girls with buns asked.
"Oh, I know! You're here for the beef bowls here, right? It's, like, totally funny that you are always eating here!" the heavily made-up girl responded as she scooted a little closer to the boys. As the shorter awkwardly shifted, the older just tilted his head.
"What's funny about it?" he asked and the girls giggled.
"It means that you are totally cool." The made-up girl answered. That seemed to confuse him even more but he shook his head and gestured to the door the two girl were standing in front of.
"Look, can you get out of the way, please? We can't get in." They just ignored it and got even closer to them.
"Hey, hey, you don't have a girlfriend right now, right?" The girls with the buns demanded as she got even closer. Didn't they know the term 'Personal space'?
"A girlfriend?" The boxer asked innocently and the girls got even closer, if that was even possible.
"We're, like, totally looking for guys to be with right now." The same girl stated, like that would explain everything. While they were bombarding Akihiko with their affection, they constantly sneaked cold glares at Minato. He felt the growing hostility radiating from them and froze. Just what the hell was wrong with them?
"..just let us through, please. If you want to talk to me, let's find some other time to do it. Come on, Minato." The glares of the two other teens intensified and the young Arisato shrunk back a little. After a few moments, he nodded and grabbed the arm that was still wrapped around him.
"Yeah, let's go." He mumbled and with their combined power, they pushed past the girls and entered the shop. They ate their meals for a while and the bluenette had to admit that it was very delicious, although the serving was almost too much for him. When they exited, he noticed that the two from before were gone and he looked around for a bit.
"See, I told you it would be great!" he noticed the blue eyes that were searching the area and leaned down to the shorter. "Hey, is something the matter?"
"Those girls are gone." He simply stated and the olders eyes widened.
"Oh, do you think that they also wanted some beef bowls?" he asked, his face resembling that of an elementary student who had just found out how to make pudding.
"Not in the way you think, Senpai." The boxer looked even more confused.
"Huh? I wonder what they wanted, then..." He murmured and then Minato finally understood why Akihiko didn't have a girlfriend yet, despite his good looks and his high status in the school hierarchy. It was because of his lacking understanding for the signs a girl gave whenever she liked someone. He admitted, he wasn't really good at it, either, but they were so painfully obvious that it was almost embarrassing not to notice. He almost felt bad for those girls. Almost. He tried to change the subject.
"So, what's your type?"
"Huh? You mean my favourite type of beef bowl? Let me think about it for a moment.." The boy slapped his hand to his forehead. Then, the older seemed to get what he meant. "Oh, you're talking about girls! Let's see, what kind of girls do I like..." he paused and gave the junior a wry smile. "I don't really want to think about that kind of stuff. I'm... not ready to carry the entire burden yet.." he seemed to be back into his own little world again as he was looking off into the distance again.
"I am Thou...And Thou art I...
Thou shalt be blessed when fighting the Emperor Arcana!"
"Oh, yeah, the type I like is..." he paused and then his face went beet red. "Never mind. It's stupid." Curious, Minato got closer to him and eyed his expression.
"What? What kind of type do you like?" The others face got even redder.
"I was told once that whenever someone asked you what kind of type you like, the best answer is always "Someone like you"... But I just can't bring myself to say it! Damn that Iori..." At that moment, the boy just was not able to hold back anymore. He burst out laughing, loud enough he was sure that the people eating downstairs could hear him. He wiped away his tears and looked up at his Senpai, still chuckling.
"S-Senpai, I'm pretty sure he didn't mean that you should say it to a guy." The olders face got even redder and he straightened up again. "Come on, we better get home now." he moved for the stairs but then remembered something. He turned back to the senior. "Sanada-Senpai, right before we entered, you called me Minato." The silverette scratched the back of his head.
"Did I? Sorry about that, then." The younger shook his head.
"It's fine, you can call me by my first name, if you want to. It's much shorter than Arisato-Outoto, anyway." He blushed a little at what he asked next. "Can I call you Akihiko-Senpai, too?" The older walked up to him and ruffled his hair like he always did.
"Got no problem with it. No lets go back before Mitsuru flips."
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Minato opened his eyes and looked around. He was standing in the middle of the court just behind the Port Island station where they had last met Shinjiro. He noticed the coffins standing around and knew that it had to be the Dark Hour. He looked down to his hands and noticed that they were almost transparent. Great, another out-bodily experience. The last time he got one of those it had ended with him falling out of the bed and spraining wrist. He looked up and saw a teenager awakening.
"Huh? How the heck did I-wh-what the hell is this?" He shouted as he observed his surroundings. Soon the bluenette heard footsteps coming their way. He looked up and his eyes widened at the sight that greeted him. It was a group of two guys and a girl, each of them wearing rather unique outfits. The tallest and probably oldest of them was probably supposed to be a hippie but just looked like an evil Jesus. The shorter boy who seemed about his age wore glasses and his deep blue hair in an choppy cut. He wore a green bomb expert jacket and a suitcase under his arm. The girl had flowing red hair that reached her waist and a ruffly Gothic Lolita dress. She looked pretty disinterested.
"Good Evening." The pseudo-Jesus said as he got closer. "Are you surprised? Truth be told, we all visit this world every night." The teen in front of them spit on the ground, trying to act tough.
"Wh-what are you saying? Who the hell are you?"
"Didn't your Mommy teach you any manners? You haven't introduced yourself." he pulled out a piece of paper from his suit case. "Take a look...name, address, etc...this is you, right?" The boy stepped back.
"Wha-? Where did you get this?" He shouted but the group remained unimpressed.
"Some has a grudge against you and asked us to get revenge." The glass-wearing boy said and the thug paled.
"Revenge? What kinda bullshit is this? Who put you up to this?"
"Can't tell ya. We're professionals." Now his skin took a sickly green hue.
""Professionals"...? Oh shit...you mean the rumors on the 'net are true?" The pseudo-Jesus stepped forward as did the other back and the teen raised his hands. "Wait, I haven't done anything! Why me! What have I done!"
"That is not of our concern. Your notion of right and wrong is irrelevant. My client's wishes are all that matter. People hear what they choose to hear, and believe what they choose to believe." he raised his gun that he carried around his waist. Minato tried to interfere but no words came out of his throat. He would never get used to not interacting with visions.
"N-No! Stay away from me!" The boy tried to run away from them but soon a gunshot was heard and he fell to his knees. The Lolita girl turned around, her face still emotionless. She oddly reminded him of Souji.
"He's not dead." She stated matter of factly but the guy with the suit case snorted.
"Doesn't matter. We've held up our end of the bargain. Besides, tomorrow this will seem like some random crime."
The bluenette sat up in his bed, gasping for air. He moved one of his hands to his face and tried to calm down. That was even more intense than most of the visions he had ever had up until now. He looked over to his nightstand and noticed that it was still the Dark Hour. So it must had happened just a few moments ago. He just hoped that he would not get one of those special vision any time soon again.
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He had no such luck. The next day, he had been too tired to spent time with his friends and decided to take a nap in his room. This time, it was still daytime, so he was sure nothing creepy like yesterday would happen. It took place inside Hagakure and recognized the figure that was sitting at the counter. A few moments later, the door opened and the cook smiled.
"Hi, how are you today? Just one?"
"I'll have what he's having." Akihiko said as he took a seat beside Shinjiro. The cook smiled again.
"Coming right up!" he said and turned away from the two friends. The boxer turned back to the delinquent.
"How can you eat the same thing all the time and not get sick of it?" he asked and the other snorted.
"Shut up. You always eat that protein shit." he countered and the silverette pouted as he received his order. They ate in silence for a few moments before the active SEES member spoke up again.
"Have still not made up your mind?" The brunette groaned.
"...Is that what this is about?"
"We've got four new members. Things have changed quite a bit since you left. We're more aggressive now."
"I'm not interested."
"Think about it, Shinji. Don't let your power go to waste."
"My power ain't worth shit."
"Shinji!"
"I made up my mind a long time ago. I ain't goin' back."
"You have to let the past go. What's done is done. It's time you moved on." The taller snorted.
"Like you're one to talk. Face it. You're no different than me."
Minato woke up again, this time feeling guilty. Was it really alright for him to eavesdrop on private conversations like that. On the other hand, it wasn't like he did it on purpose. He covered his eyes with his arms.
"Cosmic powers that have been screwing around with my life for god knows how long, what are you plotting up there..?" he mumbled as he fell asleep again.
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Finally done! I've been writing on this for two days straight, so you better be grateful!
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