Persona 3: Another Story Chapter 25: Fusion Spells and Yakushima, a persona series fanfic

Here's the new chapter! On time this week, too! In this chapter, a new character appears! Who might it be? Most of you probably know already, but who cares.

Thanks to Girly 411 again for Beta-reading!

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It was unusually quiet at the dorm that evening. There still was that tension between Mitsuru and Yukari, so not even Junpei dared to raise his voice. Minato shifted in his seat beside Akihiko and took a look at his sister. She was staring at her folded hands on her lap. Great. Looks like the awkwardness of my life will just go on for the rest of the week. The boy thought grimly.

Surprisingly, it was Fuuka who broke the silence. "Y-you know, it's almost summer break. Do you have any plans?"

Their Magician nodded. "I wish I could go to the beach. Hot sand, cool breeze, babes in bikinis... Man, it sure would be nice! Somewhere in the south, where the water is crystal clear!" he shouted with the best enthusiasm as he could muster. But then his mood fell for real. "But first we have exams to worry about... Ugh, what a drag..."

The greenette tried to cheer him up. "Now, now. You'll be fine. But yeah, I'd love to go somewhere famous for its beautiful beaches, like Okinawa," she suggested with a small smile on her face.

"Well, it's not Okinawa, but how about Yakushima?" All of their heads snapped to Ikutsuki, who leisurely walked into the room.

Mitsuru rose from her seat. "Mr. Chairman... I didn't realize you were here."

"I happened to be in the area, so I thought I'd drop by and tell you my schedule for next week." He turned toward the red-headed Senior. "Mitsuru, your father will be vacationing in Yakushima during the break."

The girl actually looked surprised. "He will?"

"You'll all have some time off after exams, right? Why don't you go and pay him a surprise visit?"

Junpei's mood was in a high again. "Seriously? We're gonna go on a trip? YES! Beach babes, here I come!"

Their archer rolled her eyes. "Ugh, men."

"How about it, Mitsuru?" the chairman asked the girl again who still looked a little uncertain.

"But... my father is a busy man; I don't want to ruin his vacation."

The smile of the man only grew even more. "Haha, don't worry... No father would be upset with a daughter who came all that way to see him. You've all done a great job. You deserve to relax for awhile. We already know when the next operation will be, so it should be fine."

Their representative leader contemplated it for a few moments before chuckling and nodding. "Alright. I guess everyone needs a break now and then. Let's do it."

Everyone started to cheer, especially the cap-wearing guy in their group. As the others were still talking about what they would bring and do, the bluenette saw how the oldest teen in the group and their archer moved to the stairs. A few seconds passed and he, too, rose from his seat.

"It's getting late. Finals start tomorrow, so I better get to bed early today."

The rest of the team wished him a good night and he left the room. When he got closer to the girls, he quickly hid behind the closet. Like he already mentioned, he was not the type to eavesdrop, but he had to know if there were any problems inside of SEES that his sister did not know of.

"Um, Senpai. Uh... sorry about the other day... I got a little carried away."

The older just shrugged. "Don't worry about it." She was about to go up but stopped before speaking again. "In a way, it's only logical that we go to Yakushima. The Chairman said that no one who was responsible for the accident is still alive, but... in reality, there is one witness who survived."

The younger girl tilted her head. "There is?"

The other hesitated. "...My father."

They went to bed soon after that and the boy followed their example. He was not kidding when he said he had to sleep.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-Site Break!-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Minato hummed a little as he packed his bag after the teacher had dismissed them. Exams were over now and that meant they would be going to Yakushima soon. In all their time Hamuko and he had been moving around, they had never really been near the beach, so it would be his very first time. He had to remember to buy a lot of sun block, though, since his skin got burned pretty fast. He looked up from his desk when he heard Junpei jump to his feet.

"I'm done, baaaaby!" he shouted from the top of his lungs, "The dark days of testing are finally over! The sun is shinin' bright!"

The younger boy could not help but smile. "So, how did you do, Junpei?"

"Hey, check it out! I aced P.E.!"

"And that pretty much answers the question," Yukari said with her usual eye roll.

"Psh, a real man doesn't dwell on the past... I'm thinking ahead to Yakushima!" he said with a sneer and the brunette seemed to realize that in fact, it was.

"Oh yeah, that's coming up soon, isn't it? Are ya ready?" she asked the red-head beside her and the latter grinned.

"Totally."

"Is that so? Well, I should get ready soon, too. I guess I should be more enthusiastic, huh? Anyway, I don't have training today, wanna go somewhere?" She turned her head to the younger Arisato behind her. "You can come, too, if you want, Minato-kun."

"Sounds good! Where we goin'?" The tallest of them jumped into the conversation, a little smug smile on his face. "If you need to buy a swimsuit, I'd be happy to help!"

"As if!" She rose from her seat and started to walk to the door. "Alright, gimme a sec, I'm gonna go grab my stuff from the locker room. Oh, I'll invite Fuuka, too."

When she was out, Junpei walked over to the other girl in the room. "Hey... I wanted to apologize for the way I've been acting lately... I was just in a bad mood and took it all out on you... I know it wasn't too good of me..." He trailed off but their leader just gave him one of her cheerful smiles.

"It's okay, I'm not mad."

The boy seemed relieved. "Alright. Thanks. Let's go back to how things used to be between us, okay?" He held out his hand and the shorter gingerly took it, a big smile still on her face. "Alright, let's get going. You coming, Minato?" He addressed the smaller boy, signaling him that he had not been forgotten.

The bluenette gave him a silent nod and the trio went to the front door of the school. There they met up with the other girls and Akihiko and walked outside. Just when they were about to leave the school grounds, Junpei started to cheer again.

"Wohoooo! Freedom at last! What should I do now?"

Fuuka smiled softly at him. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll think of something."

"Hell yeah, I will!" He turned to the silverette of the group and his face fell a little. "Hey, what're you doing here, Sanada-Senpai?"

The latter just shrugged. "Ikutsuki-san called me. I think he wants to talk about a new candidate."

Minato's body stiffened as his blood froze up in his veins.

"Does that mean another person is going to join?" Yukari asked as she pulled her bag a little closer to her.

Their upperclassman just shrugged again. "Maybe."

While the others started to chat, the Summoner was a nervous wreck. They had a new candidate for SEES. Could it be Saoto? He did have the potential, but he wasn't able to summon his Persona. He had sneaked out once and trained with the boy on the first floors of Tartarus and although he was excellent with his summoning, when they tried to use the Evoker on him, it didn't work. He came out with only minor cuts and bruises but if he were to fight on the same level the rest of them did, it would end far worse. Now that he thought about it, how did they find the Persona-users anyway? He didn't have much time to think, though, since a loud voice ripped through his mind.

"Fuuka!" Natsuki ran up to them from behind and waved her arms. "Do you think you can stay a little longer with me for a mandatory study session? There's, like, no one-" She stopped and looked around the group. Her face fell. "Oh, you're going back to your home home today, huh? Okay, never mind then." She turned away and started to walk back into the school building.

"Hey, wait. It's alright, let's go," Fuuka called out and already started to go after her friend, "Sorry, I'll see you all later back at the dorm." And then she was out of their sight.

Hamuko whistled after her. "I'm surprised at how much she's changed in such a short time!" she exclaimed in awe. Before anyone could respond to that, a familiar voice reached them.

"Ah, friendship! How beautiful! Adolescence is such a wonderful thing! So full of vibrancy!" Their heads snapped around to see the chairman walking up to them, a big smile on his face. "Oh, hello. I just stopped by to pick someone up. I might as well introduce him to you now."

He stepped to the side to reveal a small boy. He could not have been much older than Saoto, although he was good ten centimeters taller. He had fluffy brown hair that was slightly gelled up on the front with big eyes to match. He wore a sleeveless orange jacket over his elementary school uniform, which included shorts. They were much shorter than the ones Souji and his fellow Summoner were wearing for middle school and Minato seriously wondered what was wrong with the head of the Gekkoukan. Did they have a Shotaro-complex or why did those shorts barely cover his ass? He remembered when he had worn those clothes himself and how cold his legs had been in winter. He was so sunk in ranting inside his head that he had not noticed that the others had started talking again.

"Oh, hi, Ken-kun. What's up?" Hamuko asked the boy now known as Ken and Akihiko seemed very shocked that she knew his name.

"You know him...?" the silverette asked, his eyes wide.

Yukari realized something and stepped up to her blue-haired classmate. "Right, you haven't met him yet either, have you, Minato-kun? He's a boy Junpei and I have been helping out lately. He's still in 5th grade, but very mature, more than Stupei at least, but that's not really hard," she explained, supposedly ignoring the 'hey!' of the black-head in the background.

The adult of the group took the opportunity to talk again. "He doesn't leave during the break because of his... circumstances."

"Oh, I heard about that... Something about his parents," Junpei said as he scratched his chin.

"It was only my mom and me but she got into an accident and she... she died." A few gasps could be heard but Ken just kept on telling his story. "It happened two years ago."

"Right now, one of his distant relatives is paying for his school expenses. But staying at the elementary school dorm all by himself isn't proper for a child his age. So I decided to move him to your dorm for the summer," Ikutsuki further explained the topic.

Yukari looked utterly shocked. "To OUR dorm? Do you really think that's a good idea?"

The man seemed amused. "Well, of course. He has the potential."

"Does that mean... he's the new candidate?" the boxer asked cautiously.

The older nodded. "Yes. But as you can see, he's still just an elementary school student. So it is merely a possibility for now."

The Emperor stayed silent at that statement but not for very long, since the short boy was now standing in front of him, his eyes gleaming in awe.

"Are you... Sanada-Senpai?"

"Uh... yeah?"

The youngest's eyes seemed to beam even more. "I've heard a lot about you. You haven't lost a boxing match yet!"

The older scratched the back of his head and gave a small nod. They then all walked back to the dorm and the Summoner of the group silently walked up to the upperclassman and tugged at his sleeve.

"Hey, everything alright, Senpai?"

The older seemed to snap out of his daze and shook his head. "I'm fine, it's just... I'm used to girls looking at me like that, but a little boy? That's just a little uncomfortable."

The shorter gave a nod in response and the rest of the walk remained quiet, at least between the two of them. They ate out for a bit and arrived home when the sun had already set. Hamuko loudly announced that they would go to Tartarus that night because they had to make up for the time they were at Yakushima.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-Site Break!-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Alright, this is bad. Three gigantic Shadows of the Strength Arcana in front of us and two of our member knocked down. I guess it's time to panic, Minato grimly thought as he looked around the room.

Yukari was lying on the floor with Mitsuru right beside her, trying to get her up. He was standing on the sidelines again while providing support and the rest tried to fight the wrestler-like creatures off. It had started pretty good for them. Yukari had found their weakness and bombarded them with wind attacks. But the monsters had caught on and had attacked the girl into her current state. The bluenette had tried to call out his demons, but they had just been beat up and no big help, so he stopped after the third one. The rest of the team was still trying to attack the enemy and was slowly losing their breath. They had started to use the Soul Candy, that Saoto had explained helped to concentrate, but they had to be careful with them to not use them up. They would not hold out much longer and Hamuko probably knew it. The younger did not have much time to ponder about it before his sister's voice rang through the room.

"Cadenza!"

A strong wind blew through the room and for the first time, Minato regretted only wearing his school uniform. It was clawing on his loose jacket and he had to close his eyes to prevent any dirt from coming in. At first, a cold feeling spread over his whole body, but then warmth took over and all his wounds were healed. He was still a little stunned when he heard the older Arisato shout again.

"What are you guys waiting for? Get up!"

The girls did as told and started to attack again. In their rush, they had not noticed the third Shadow coming up behind them. Wide-eyed, the bluenette rushed over to them, took his gloves off, grabbed Yukari's bow and shot a few arrows at it. He hit it in the eye and successfully knocked it down. He heard a sound from behind him, let the far-range weapon fall to the floor and unsheathed his sword. He stepped in front of the two girls and blocked the fist that was directed at them and pulled the trigger of his Evoker. Orpheus appeared above him and hit the foe square on his face. While it was still dizzy, he gave it a firm karate kick into the knee and let it limply fall to the floor. He noticed that the girls had not started to fight again yet but then he heard the all too familiar shout of their archer.

"Come! Io!" Garu blasted at the last standing Shadow, hitting its weakness and smashing it into a nearby wall. The brunette smirked. "Here's our chance for an All-Out Attack!"

The team stormed at their fallen enemies and as usual, dust was swirled up into the air, making it impossible to see what was happening. Soon, it was gone again together with the black mist of the Shadows.

Fuuka let out a sigh of relief. "Great job, everybody. Please return to the lobby."

The group agreed and after a little search on the floor, they found the teleporter and a few items.

Back on the first floor, Mitsuru walked up to their leader. "I will get straight to the point. What was that power you were using on us to heal our wounds?"

Everyone was stunned at her straight-forward attitude, but did not interfere. The shorter red-head just stared at her for a moment before pulling out a bunch of cards from her skirt-pocket. They looked very similar to the demon-cards of Minato.

"Those are skill cards." Her voice was as blunt as her face was. "With those skill cards, I can use spells that my Persona can't and in some very rare occasions, I'm able to fuse certain spells to make a new, stronger one. Those are fusion spells. The one I used on you was Cadenza, a fusion of Sukukaja and Media. Enough information?"

Again, the group was too stunned to say anything. From all the things they had expected, from denial to cheers of joy, they had not expected a blunt explanation of what those cards were. Minato decided to be the first one to talk again, since no one else wanted to make the first step.

"So, uh, where do you get them, Aneki?"

His sister seemed sincerely surprised when he asked that but the emotion passed her face fast enough to escape without anyone else noticing. "They are lying on the floor of Tartarus. The Shadows seem to leave them behind." She crouched down and started to take her naginata apart. It was a different from the one she had used the last time they were there, her brother noted. "It's late, so we should better get back to the dorm. We need to get ready for Yakushima, anyway." And then she started to walk to the entrance.

The team had many open questions, but decided to leave it at that and also moved to leave the tower. Before the Summoner reached the gigantic doors, Yukari stopped him.

"That was incredible, Minato-kun! I didn't know you were such a great archer! Hey, if you want, as the captain of the Archery Club, I could get you a spot." She winked at him. "Just call me if you are interested." And then she left, too.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-Site Break!-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Are you alright on your own?"

"Damn, you've been asking that for the last three days and the answer will always will be the same. I'll be fine! I'll just stay at the shrine for the time you are at Yakushima and in summer vacation, I will be in Tokyo with my family. No big deal," Saoto answered for the third time during their conversation.

Minato played with a strand of hair. "I'm just a little worried, that's all. You are living all alone and the shrine isn't the safest place around."

"Don't worry. If anything happens, I have my demons and Koro-chan around. Plus, I know how to use that stick I like to keep in my bags. Heck, I have weapons hidden inside my clothes everywhere! So don't think I can't handle myself!" he said with an obvious smirk in his voice.

The older chuckled and leaned onto his knees. "Alright. Man, I always thought that ships were exciting, but they are so boring, I almost fell asleep before I called you."

"Almost?"

"Alright, I fell asleep. Happy?"

A small laugh. "That's so you. Hey, did you know that Souji was returning to Tokyo as well in the break?"

"How do you know that? You are not stalking him, are you?"

"How can you say that, Minato!" he exclaimed in mock-shock, "Of course I don't! Anyway, you better get back to your teammates now before they notice how long you've been away."

"Fine, see you in a week."

"Bye."

The boy closed his phone and walked over to the rest of SEES which were gathered at the peak of the ship. Most of them were silent as Fuuka and Junpei were leaning over the railing.

"Awesome! There it is! Ya-Ku-Shi-Maaaa!" Junpei shouted from the top of his lungs.

The youngest got closer to them and dared to look up into the ocean. He had never told anyone about his fear of heights. He had always thought that it was silly to be afraid of something as small as that, so he just kept it to himself. It was hard for him, since most of his friends liked places like roof tops and other places. He shielded his eyes from the bright sun until his eyes started to focus. He was met with a beautiful green island. A big hill was coming up from the middle and white beaches were surrounding the area. He let out a sound of awe.

The greenette seemed to have difficulties to form a proper statement. "W-Wow... So many... tropical plants...!" she stuttered and pointed to a particularly big one on the coast, "H-Hey, take a look at that one!"

No response from the other girls.

The air still hung thick around them and the Summoner slumped his shoulders a little. Now it was his turn to try to cheer them up a little. He straightened up again and pointed at the beach.

"Hey! Those beaches look really great! I've seen one in Sumaru before, but this one is so much bigger! I wonder what kind of animals are living here!" he said with all the enthusiasm he could muster.

Again, the atmosphere stayed heavy.

Junpei gave it another shot. "I-It's totally amazing, huh! Man, this is awesome… I'm not even kidding!"

Again, only silence greeted them. They all let out a sigh. Minato really hoped that the rest of their vacation was not as awkward as their arrival was.

Another one done! I hope you like this one! Next chapter: Yakushima! I'm looking forward to writing Operation Babe Hunt!

Review or your pet will turn into a Marshmallow that sticks onto your wall and won't get off!

Your Shadow!