Chapter 21: Kou saved!

The body of the unconscious Kou was still glowing brightly after his Persona Siegfried had entered his body.

"So from now on Kou-kun can...?", Yukiko started.

"It´s still too early to tell.", Souji said and shook his head. "Let´s just get him out of here first." He was just about to enter the podium when Kou suddenly started to disappear. "What?!"

"What the fu--?!", Kanji shouted and stormed towards the podium. Kou was already gone.

"What´s happened to him?!", Chie asked in slight panic.

"Rise!", Naoto looked at the teenie idol.

"I... I can´t feel him anymore...", Rise said, her Persona still veiling her face with the visor.

"But..."

"Kou´s soul´s returned to its body.", Teddie said.

"Huh?", Yosuke looked at him, puzzled.

"His sould had been held here by his Shadow. Now that the Shadow has been defeated and lost its power, the soul is no longer forced to stay here and can return to its body.", Teddie explained.

"Oh, good...", Souji sighed in relief and shouldered his sword. "Okay, guys, let´s get outta here."

"It didn´t work...", a person wearing clothes that made her look like a lift attendant said.

"Hmm...", a second person, taller than the first one, sighed next to her in deep thought. "That is true. But there is still next time."

"Next time...", the first person murmured and looked at the giant golden door they stood in front. Energy was slowly drifting from the Prom Ball From Basket Hell towards that door.

"Help me... Help... me...", a weak sounding voice could be heard from that door.

The first person shivered when hearing that voice, and repeated again: "Next time..."

It was already night when Souji and his friends left the TV world and crashed into Rise and Naoto´s lounge, landing on the ground.

"Urgh! Failsuke, get your foot out of my face!"

"Hey, don´t you dare start that now, too, Rise!", Yosuke snapped and jumped up.

"Ooops! Sorry!", Rise giggled.

Quietly, they hurried through the corridors, professor Takedo who had to patrol through the hallways this night throwing lustful looks at them, and entered Kanji´s lounge that was as messy as ever. Naoto sighed in disapproval, but looked up in relief when she saw Kou sitting upright in his bed.

"Kou!", Yukiko said happily, and the basketball-loving man stared at them, his face pretty pale.

"H... Hey...", he said, his voice weak, and tried to smile. "Guys, that... wasn´t a dream... was it?" Souji shook his head. "Oh... just as I thought..." His body started shaking. "Sorry..." He fainted the next moment.

"I guess everything that´s happened was a bit too much for his body.", Rise said while Souji checked Kou´s breathing, just to make sure.

"Well, what matters is that he´s alright.", Yosuke said.

"Until the next attack...", Naoto said and looked at Teddie. "Teddie, as soon as you start dreaming of that foggy corridor, you´ll tell us right away. Okay?"

"Yap! I´m going to keep my eyes and ears beary wiiiiiiiide open for it!", Teddie promised, face serious. Yosuke looked at him, annoyed. "What did I do now, Yosuke?!"

"Keep your eyes and ears open... while you´re sleeping?", Yosuke snorted and turned towards the lounge´s entrance door. "Well, I thing I´ll get some sleep. 'Night, guys!" He left the lounge followed by Teddie whistling cheerfully and Souji. "Aaah, I can finally relax a bit after the seminars and don´t have to worry about Kou all the time or run through stupid dungeons!"

"Yeah! I can finally play more RuneScape than usually!", Teddie giggled happily.

"Do you even care about anything other than that?", Yosuke sighed.

"!!!", Teddie hooted, but was quickly silenced by Teddie so that the blond Shadow couldn´t wake up the entire building.

"Why do I even bother to ask...", Yosuke grumbled and wandered as close to the wall as possible when he saw professor Takedo who was practically undressing him with her eyes, her tongue wetting her lips. "Anyway...", Yosuke continued when the always horny professor was out of sight. "... what´re gonna do tomorrow after the seminars are over, Partner?"

"Hm... I dunno yet.", Souji said, thinking. "... Do you know if there are some bulletin boards around here? Maybe I could find a part-time job or something like that."

"What?!", Yosuke shrieked, but hurriedly held his hands over his mouth. "You want to work after seminars?! Are you crazy?!", he hissed.

"Well... yeah...", Souji answered and thought about the Social Links he had found while working part-time; why shouldn´t the same thing happen again?

"Hm... Well, actually... that´s not a bad idea at all...", Yosuke suddenly mumbled.

"Hm? So you want to get yourself a part-time job, too?", Souji asked.

"Huh?! No way, dude!", Yosuke shouted and hurriedly held his hands over his mouth again. "Um... I mean..." Souji looked at him, puzzled. "I-It´s nothing... nothing at all... Hah hah..."

Still wondering about Yosuke´s strange behaviour, Souji followed the other two men inside the lounge they lived in.

Junpei Iori´s life had never been the happiest in the worl. His father had always been an alcoholic, and he´d never felt happy and welcomed at home. His school life had been a bit better, because he had found friends there that he could trust with his life, though most of the others in school had only thought of him as the funny clown he´d always had acted as. His time at Gekkoukan High´s dorm had maybe been the best time in his life.

But now, years later, he had reached a low point. At daytime he said inside his small flat, feeling completely useless and trying so hard not to start drinking like his father, while at night he worked at a fast food restaurant smelling like a dump, payment just enough to be still alive.

As always he worked at two o'clock in the night in that stinking restaurant, forcing himself to smile while selling already expired sausages and the likes.

"Hey, Junpei! There´s someone outside who wants to speak with ya!", one of Junpei´s colleagues suddenly called.

"Huh? Who?", Junpei asked and looked up from the counter. He didn´t really know anyone in this area.

"No idea. Some kinda a snobby bitch. She´s waitin´ at the back entrance.", the pretty chubby colleague said and returned to the kitchen to get some more curry.

Junpei stared after him for a while in confusion for a while, but then quickly finished the current order before he threw his apron to the side and went to the back entrance.

"Yeah?", he asked with a slightly hoarse voice. His eyes turned huge though when he noticed the person waiting in front of the restaurant, looking clearly disgusted while tapping her well-manicured fingers against the street lamp: None other than Mitsuru Kirijo, president of the Kirijo Group, was standing near the back entrance, a revolver into which the initials ´S.E.E.S.´ were carved hidden behind the coat she was wearing.

Author´s comments: FINALLY!!! I had been sick the last days and unable to stare at the computer screen without vomiting! And I had just been itching to finally continue writing! URGH!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh well, at least I have managed to arrange some sort of soundtrack for this fanfiction to which I can listen to while writing. ^^