Author note: Okay, you can skip like 3/4 of this chapter, since most of it it's directly taken from the game. If you feel like reading all of the cannon stuff, cheers on you, I only wrote it for a few friends of mine who read this fic without playing P3.

But yeah, outside the whole cannon stuff... You're gonna like this chapter 8D

"Today there'll be a full moon, huh?"

"Yup. And this time we'll be ready for the action!" Hamuko punched the air. "Maybe we should tell the others so they can be ready too."

"Nah, they'll eventually work it out by themselves. If we tell them, they'd just begin asking us questions about why we know that and why do we know more than they do. And I'm not about to go telling everyone that a creepy child visits us at nights when we're alone in the same room."

Hamuko nodded, feeling slightly troubled. The Fools kept walking towards school in silence.

"…Don't stare at the monster this time, okay?" The brunette reached out for Minato's hand as she gave him a playful smile. "I would get mad if you fell for a shadow again."

"Mad? Don't you mean jealous?" Minato smiled smugly. Hamuko was about to retort, but the school bell rang, making them put an end to their talk.

During lunch break, Yukari suggested going to the Faculty Office to talk with Mr. Ekoda about Fuuka's disappearance –which Minato and Hamuko accepted reluctantly, seeing that Junpei was going too. Apparently, she hadn't been the only one with that idea…

"Oh, Mitsuru-senpai." Yukari greeted her. "Why are you here?

"Same reason as you. Mr. Ekoda, I'm here to ask you about a student named Fuuka Yamagishi..."

"No! I-I never thought it'd turn out like this... Fuuka..." The girl speaking had brown hair and really tanned skin. She seemed frightened.

"Wait." The brunette in pink stared at her. "You're that girl..."

"What did you do to Yamagishi?" Mitsuru spoke with authoritative voice.

"Hold on, Mitsuru..." Mr. Ekoda seemed really nervous. "This isn't an interrogation. Natsuki, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to. You wouldn't want to give her the wrong idea."

Disregarding the previous sentence, Natsuki began recalling the events of the night of Fuuka's disappearance. "Fuuka... She... She always looked so frazzled whenever I gave her a hard time...Then, I realized... She's an honour student, but deep inside, she's just the same as us. I knew exactly which buttons to push...We were just messin' with her that day, too! May 29th... We took Fuuka to the gym... And locked the door from the outside..."

"What?" Junpei shouted. "You locked her in?"

The tanned girl ignored his words and kept talking to herself. "That night, Maki returned to school alone. She was afraid we'd get in trouble if Fuuka committed suicide." Hamuko's eyes widened and she clenched her fists, containing the urge to punch the girl in front of her. "But, she never came back... And the next morning... She was found lying on the ground by the gate." Natsuki clutched her head. "I went to the gym to let Fuuka out, but the door was still locked... So, I opened it and went inside, but she wasn't there...We all freaked out. Starting that night, we went out looking for her. But every night, another one of us went missing..." Her eyes got teary and her voice cracked. "And they each ended up like Maki!

"I see..." Mitsuru adopted a thoughtful stance. "By the way, Mr. Ekoda... All this time, you've attributed Yamagishi's absences to "illness." But in reality, she was missing. You must have been aware of that...What was your intention?"

"I was thinking of the students, of course. You children may not understand, but we have to consider the future of everyone affected."

"You mean, you chose not to report this to the police for the 'good of the class.'" The red haired girl was glaring daggers at the teacher.

"It-It was in her best interest. I wouldn't want her records to be stained by something like this. Her parents agree!"

"So to protect your career, you ignored your responsibility as a teacher... How despicable...!"

Mr. Ekoda gasped. "I-I didn't... I was just..."

Mitsuru decided to ignore the teacher and talk directly to Natsuki. "About your friends... Did you notice anything unusual before the incidents? ...Anything at all."

"…They all heard a voice... A creepy voice. ...Right before each of them went missing. They said it was calling their name."

"Oh, man..." Recognition was obvious in Junpei's voice.

"Senpai, could it be...?"

"It's them... no doubt about it. Until now, there was no way of knowing how or why some people are conscious during the Dark Hour... But, it's the voice; it draws them in. It's not a random phenomenon. This whole thing has made me realize... They're clearly targeting humans. Shadows are the enemy of mankind."

"That's a really cool discovery, Senpai. But why are we talking in front of everyone?"

Mitsuru turned to Natsuki, leaving Hamuko's question unanswered. "Stay at our dorm tonight; it's the safest place. If you hear the voice, tell us immediately. And don't leave the room, no matter what. If you can do that much, you should be okay." The brunette nodded slowly. "...Don't worry; Yamagishi should be alright as well."

"Fuuka..." Natsuki began muttering Fuuka's name, as if it was some sort of madness mantra.

The red head walked towards her kohai. "We'll meet after school in the Student Council Room to discuss tonight's operation."

"T-Tonight?"

"We're going to rescue Yamagishi. If my guess is right, she's still inside the school."

"U-Understood!"

Well, that meant that the Fools wouldn't have time to socialize. Minato suggested phoning their boss to warn that they wouldn't be working that night, because of the need to study for a… Surprise test.

Once school had finished, everyone gathered in the Student Council Room. Mitsuru used the chance to scold Hamuko for not having showed up to a single meeting since she joined, causing Minato to snicker at her cost.

"Tonight, we will infiltrate the campus. Our objective is to rescue Fuuka Yamagishi."

"Um, I don't get it... Is Fuuka inside the school somewhere?" Junpei seemed pretty confused.

"And why at night?" Yukari inquired. "At midnight, this place turns into-"

"Exactly." Mitsuru nodded with a determined expression. "That's how Yamagishi wandered into Tartarus."

"Then, ever since Fuuka got locked in the gym, she's been stuck there...?"

"...That's correct." A horrible thought crossed everyone's minds.

"But, that was ten days ago! That means..."

"Not necessarily." Akihiko interrupted Junpei. "We can't jump to conclusions. Tartarus only appears during the Dark Hour. So, what about the rest of the day?"

"Now that you mention it..."

Aki continued speaking. "This is only a theory, but I think time may function differently with respect to Tartarus. So, even though it's been ten days for us, perhaps only ten hours have passed for her. It's possible she's still alive."

"Wow, ya think so? Uh, but the Dark Hour is pretty brutal... We can barely handle an hour; how's she gonna last ten?" Junpei's logic made everyone flinch.

"That's true... And, even if she's still alive, we might not be able to get to her..."

"Are you just gonna let her die, then? Just like that? Without even trying?" Akihiko looked depressed for a moment. "...I have an idea. Let's try to enter Tartarus exactly how Fuuka did. We'll go to the gym, and wait for midnight. That's the quickest way." None of the teens in the room seemed to like the idea, but only Yukari voiced her doubts.

"Is that really gonna work...?"

"Honestly, I have reservations." Mitsuru admitted. "If something goes wrong, you could all end up lost in Tartarus too. But..."

"I won't stand by and do nothing if there's a chance we can save her... I'd never forgive myself. If you guys don't want to go, then I'll go by myself."

"Senpai...?"

"...Alright. We're aware of the risks, but we can't just leave her there." Everyone agreed with Mitsuru.

"Cool, we get to sneak into the school!" The boy with the cap seemed really excited. "Heheh... In that case, I know just what to do..." Yukari shot him a curious look.

After their reunion, everyone headed to the dorm and took a seat in the Command Room while Mitsuru tried to contact Ikutsuki.

"This is a bit worrisome... I can't get a hold of the Chairman."

"I guess we can handle it ourselves." Yukari seemed ready for some action.

"There's one problem, though. Without the Chairman's help, I'm not sure how we can get inside the school..."

"No need to worry." Junpei laughed proudly. "I've got it all set to go."

"Set to go...? An explosive?" Mitsuru chuckled. "Alright, I'll let you handle this." As the Fools abandoned the room, they heard Junpei commenting something about unlocking a door.

"See? We got in no problem. Man, I'm a genius!"

Thanks to Junpei's foresight when opening the school's emergency exit, everyone managed to sneak into the laboratory corridor.

"Is that really something to brag about?" Yukari sighed.

"So, you unlocked it earlier..." Mitsuru smiled. "Tres bien!"

"Oui. No time for compliments. Let's go."

"Was that English?" Junpei asked as their senpai walked ahead. "French?"

"Wasn't Tray Ben Bebe's real name or something?" Minato shook his head at Hamuko disapprovingly. And to think she had scored higher than him…

Once in the building, everyone headed to 2-F. Why? Good question.

"Can we turn on the lights...?"

"Aw, you scared?"

"No! ...Stupei."

"Stop callin' me that!"

"Quiet." Akihiko grumbled. "It's better if we leave 'em off. They cut the power at night anyway."

"I don't like sneaking around..."

"It's just another adventure, Yukari!" Hamuko said cheerfully.

"First, we have to find the key to the gym. We'll split up into two groups and meet in the main hallway on the first floor." Mitsuru glanced at her kohai. "Understood?"

"The Faculty Office, huh...? Hey, maybe we'll find some test questions! Heheh..." Junpei smiled mischievously.

Akihiko grinned. "Hmm… Maybe I should go too."

"Are you planning something unscrupulous under my supervision? If so, then expect to be severely punished..." Both teens gapped at Mitsuru's execution threat.

"It-It was a joke! I'd never do something like that! Ha, haha..."

"Come on, Mitsuru. Lighten up a little..." Aki sighed.

"...Perhaps I'd best take Iori and Akihiko with me to the janitor's room."

"Yukari, you should go to the janitor's room too." Hamuko's smirk was hidden by the darkness of the room. "You know, to help taking care of Junpei or something, right?"

"Ugh, you two are friends, why don't you go?"

"Err… I really don't want to deal with Junpei right now. Pleeeease?"

Yukari sighed and mumbled something similar to "whatever". "Wait, Mitsuru-senpai, I'm going too."

"Alright, we'll meet up in the main hallway."

After everyone had stepped outside of the classroom, the Fools walked in silence through the eerily silent corridors. Well, it wasn't the first time they had had to spend the night in school, so they weren't so creepy anymore.

"Hmm, I wonder…" Minato muttered to himself. "Hamuko, you had something to do with the arrangement of the teams, didn't you?"

"…!" Hamuko tried to contain a giggle. "What makes you think that?"

"I don't think Mitsuru-senpai would let us roam together around school at night."

"And why is that?" Hamuko walked progressively closer to Minato to link one of her arms to his.

"Err… Hamuko, this is a stealth mission, we can't afford to-"

It had taken them nearly five minutes to find the stairs to the laboratory corridor; only ten seconds to roll down them after Minato misplaced a foot, dragging Hamuko with him.

"Ow…" Hamuko rubbed the back of her head, a bit dazed. Once her thoughts were clearer, she noticed that there was something laying atop her, embracing her. Her first thoughts were about beating the living daylights out of whoever was there and run, but once she noticed that the person crushing her had blue highlights on his hair, she recalled the events happened a few seconds before. "He's hugging me… Was he trying to protect me?" Noticing she was the one on the ground, it was either a failed attempt to protect her or an attempt to crush her.

Minato grumbled as he lifted his face from the ground. For some reason, the marble tiles felt a lot softer and warmer than he'd expected them to. And much more huggable too. In fact, he didn't know that marble could breathe… "What…"

"Hello there, handsome." The brunette laughed as her friend jumped onto his feet, completely shocked.

"I-I tripped! I swear!"

"Aw, why so shy?" Despite it was too dark to see anything, she could almost feel the glare Minato was giving her. "I jest, I jest… Let's find the Faculty Office, okay?"

There was no one in the main hall, but it was easy to hear the footsteps outside, so the teens rushed into the Faculty Office.

"Alright, gym key… Gym key…" While Hamuko rummaged through a bunch of keys, Minato reached into his pocked and brought out his mobile phone, using it as a flashlight. "You know, we wouldn't have tripped if you had thought of that before."

"…Shut up and get that key."

Once they had what they were looking for, they met with the others in the main hallway.

"Did you find the key?" Minato nodded at Mitsuru's question.

"We'll divide into teams again. Four of you will enter Tartarus, and one of you will remain outside with me. Once the Dark Hour has begun, I'll determine Yamagishi's position."

"I'll go." Akihiko stated simply. "You two can lead the group as usual. But no running off on your own, understood?" Hamuko nodded shyly.

"I have reservations about sending both of our main assets in battle into such a risky mission…" Mitsuru commented. "But I guess we have no choice. Who'll be the last?"

"I'll be the fourth-" Yukari couldn't finish her phrase.

"Wait a second...!" Junpei cut off Yukari's words. "Remember how I accidentally screwed up on the monorail? Gimme a chance to make up for that!"

"Oh, come on! It's not always about YOU!" Funny it was Yukari the one saying that. "Besides, you didn't 'accidentally' screw up."

"Alright, Junpei." Aki patted his kohai's shoulder. "We'll give you another shot."

"Sweet! Thanks!"

"Seriously...?"

"What's wrong, Yukari? You don't want to stay behind with Mitsuru?"

"Um, n-no, it's fine, Senpai."

"Grn…" Minato grumbled as he got up slowly, still feeling dizzy. He took a look around the place; it was definitely Tartarus. That meant their plan had worked but… He was alone. They had been separated.

The bluenet began wondering around, eyes squinting the darkness as he held his katana close to him. It wasn't long before he heard a soft breathing breaking the silence that took over between each step. He approached the source of the noise and found Hamuko laying on a blood puddle. After a few seconds of fearing the worst, he noticed she just napping, perfectly fine, from which he deduced that the red liquid didn't belong to her.

"Are you awake?"

"…Minato?" Hamuko opened her eyes and yawned. "Did we trip again?" She noticed that her friend seemed shorter than usual.

"Hi!" The one who spoke the previous phrase wasn't Minato, but that mysterious child who kept visiting them every so often.

"Oh my God, I could have sworn you were Minato." The bluenet gave her a weird look as she stood on her feet and began dusting her shirt, completely ignoring the fact that her back was drenched in blood. "What? He sounds just like you!"

"If you say so…"

"So!" The child exclaimed happily. "This is the first time we've spoken outside of your rooms."

"How did you follow us here?"

"I'm always with you..." Awesome, they had a stalker ghost. "But we don't have much time to talk. Tonight there is more than one ordeal you must face. You should hurry..." He smiled sinisterly. "She's waiting for you. You guys will need her. Okay, then. I hope we can speak again..." He vanished, leaving the Fools alone once again.

"…She? Did he mean Fuuka?"

"Maybe he meant Fuuka's spirit?" Hamuko shook her head as if trying to send that thought away. "Let's look for the others, alright?"

"Are… You… Alri-?" Mitsuru's transmission stopped before she could even finish that question.

"Mitsuru-senpai? Senpai!" Minato shouted at no one. "It's futile, we can't reach each other."

"I guess we're somewhere really high…"

They kept wandering around, receiving fragments of transmissions every so often.

"Who's there?" That voice didn't definitely belong to Mitsuru, but it had sounded clearly in their minds. "...Are you human? Where am I? Why am I here? Please answer me...Is someone there? Please answer..."

"More ghosts?"

A set of stairs and a few shadows later, they finally found the rest of the group.

"Hey, there they are!" Junpei and Akihiko ran towards their leaders. "We were worried about you!"

"I don't think we should enter Tartarus this way again..." Everyone agreed with their senpai.

"Oh yeah! Did you hear a voice while you were in here? Uh, kinda like..."

"Who is this…? Are you human?" The voice didn't sound in their minds any more.

"Th-that's it! That's the voice! It sounded like it came from behind us!"

Everyone turned around just to see a girl with cyan hair looking at them shyly from behind a wall. She walked towards them with difficulty, looking very pale and tired. Hamuko ran towards her and put one of her arms over her shoulder to help her walk.

"Fuuka Yamagishi?" The girl nodded at Akihiko's question. I'm glad you're okay..."

"Thank you so much..." Her voice sounded forced, as if she was about to cry. "I..."

"Looks like we made the right decision." Akihiko smiled proudly. "I'll see if I can contact Mitsuru."

Fuuka looked really exhausted, but she felt well enough to answer simple questions, such as "if she had seen any monster."

"Whaddya mean with "I sense them"? Are you psychic?"

"She has the same power as Mitsuru. ...Maybe even stronger, since Mitsuru's Persona is more battle-orientated."

"Persona...?" Fuuka looked at Akihiko, confused. Her confusion only increased when he handed her an Evoker. B-But, this is...!"

"Think of it as a lucky charm. It doesn't shoot bullets."

They kept walking around, looking for an Access Point, when they stumbled upon a corridor opened to the outside. There was a magnificent view of the city and the full moon.

"Whoa, check out the moon!" Junpei shouted. "...I've never seen it so bright."

"Some research indicates that the Shadows are affected by the phases of the moon." Akihiko informed without being asked. "Of course, the same can be said for humans."

"That would explain Yuka-tan's mood swings. Am I right, or am I right?" He raised his hand and was high-fived by Hamuko. Minato rolled his eyes at them. "Hey, wasn't it a full moon the night we went to the monorail?"

"Yes..." Minato answered dryly, pretending not to know anything.

"Did you see the moon on the night the dorm was attacked, back in April?"

"Yes, Senpai, it was full. Yes, monsters attack us on full moon days. It took you long enough to work it out."

Akihiko gapped at Hamuko. "Wait!" The silver haired boy shouted. "How do you know all that?"

Hamuko and Minato exchanged troubled looks, which were interrupted when the former ran off, deciding that warning everyone else was more important than dealing with their Senpai.

"What are you doing here?" Mitsuru gave the brunette a shocked look. "Where are the others?"

"They're on the way. Look, I came here to-" Hamuko didn't need to explain herself. A black fog wandered into the first floor, coming from outside Tartarus, and settled itself around a great part of the west wing of the entrance. The girls stepped away from it as the gas began taking shape, getting divided into two blobs, from which two figures emerged.

One was an obese figure, with really slim limbs and neck, all the same colour as the substance from which it came, save for a green cape which covered its neck and a white collar behind her neck, reminiscent of the ones queens such as Elisabeth the First wore in portraits. Its mask was white and it was attached to its long, slim neck and acted as its whole face, giving the shadow a smug expression, completed by the sceptre it lifted in the air with its right hand. Seemingly a parody of a queen, Empress really didn't come up as very menacing.

The other shadow looked slightly more solemn than its companion, with a long body and long arms attached to it via shoulder pads, but its really short and arched legs broke the effect. Its scarlet mask had a serious look and the shape of a crown. Both the Emperor and the Empress stood together, looking down at the teens.

The Empress pretty much laughed at Yukari's Io's garu attacks, which didn't seem to do any other thing than tickle it. The Emperor on the other hand, only glared at Hamuko after she tried to slash it into pieces with one of the oldest naginatas she had –she was beginning to miss her hockey stick. Once everyone had called out their attacks, it was the shadows' turn.

"Swift Strike" was a name none of them would forget in quite a long time, as only one of them destroyed all the devices Mitsuru used to strengthen her persona's communication skills, turned her motorbike into junk, and sent everyone flying. A few seconds after the attack, Akihiko, Fuuka, Junpei and Minato appeared at the Access Point, gasping at the situation.

"What did I say about running off on your own?" Akihiko ran towards Hamuko, crouched down next to her and shook her shoulders furiously. "What's wrong with you, Miki?"

"M-Miki?" That's all she managed to mutter.

Minato shoved Akihiko away. "Leave her alone! Can't you see she's hurt?" Aki stepped back, resigned. "Go check on Mitsuru-senpai! Junpei, take care of Yukari-chan and Yamagishi-san! And watch out for their attacks, everyone!" He turned towards her and caressed her cheek. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah... You're flattering me with all this attention…" Hamuko rubbed her cheek against Minato's hand. "…But I'm not a princess, I can care for myself, you know?" She chuckled as the boy raised an eyebrow at her, having just realized that she was in no position to refuse help. "No attacks have worked on those guys." She got up slowly. She didn't have any critic wound but she could definitely use some revitalizing medicine. "I guess we can only keep trying attacks. Beam me up, Minato!"

"You'll have to manage with some Medical Powder, I-" A roar from the Emperor attracted everyone's attentions. It seemed to be getting ready to attack. "It'll have to wait."

While the boys and Fuuka were running towards the shadows, someone walked into Tartarus.

"F-Fuuka!" It was Natsuki, the girl who Mitsuru had asked to stay at the dorm.

"Why are you here?" The red head shouted.

"...Moriyama-san!" Fuuka seemed shocked. "Please, get out of here! It's dangerous!"

"I... I wanted to tell you... I'm sorry..."

"Hey! Look out!" The Emperor was ready to unleash a Swift Strike over the green haired girl and the brunette.

"Moriyama-san!"

It was all too fast. Fuuka clutched her evoker, and, when Junpei warned her that it wasn't a gun, she only answered a confident "I know" before she pulled the trigger while the cannon was pointing to her temple. Shards of a crystal-like substance came out of the temple opposite to the evoker, and soon, a creature manifested itself, protecting Fuuka and Natsuki from the shadow's deadly attack.

Fuuka's persona was a woman with golden hair clad in a pink dress. Her eyes and throat were bandaged, and a crystal sphere filled with a water-like substance, in which Fuuka could apparently breathe and talk, constituted a big part of her body. Nobody told the Fools that her name was Lucia, but they knew it just by looking at the persona.

"...I can see..." Fuuka's voice echoed in everyone's minds. "I... I can sense these monsters' weaknesses, somehow..."

"...Just as I thought." Akihiko grinned to himself. "Mitsuru, let her take your place. We'll take care of this!"

"You're battling against the Empress and the Emperor!" Fuuka announced. "You can attack the Empress with any physical attack; aim for the neck to cause more damage!"

Minato summoned Oberon and ordered him to use holy arrow on the Empress, making the shadow shriek in pain as it fell backwards, incapable to get up because of the shape of her body. "What should we use on the Emperor?"

"The Emperor is vulnerable to elemental attacks only, overall in the zones which aren't armoured!"

"Leave it to me!" Akihiko's Polydeuces struck the shadow with a powerful zio spell, but it stood on its feet until Junpei casted an agi which made it jump and fall on its back.

"Okay, we'll end this quickly!" Minato ran towards the Empress, ready to stab it right in the face to end its existence.

"Paradigm Shift." Of course, the shadow had other plans. As soon as the bluenet's katana hit the mask, it bounced away, sending the weapon flying towards him. Minato barely avoided its cold iron blade before it ended up on the stairs. On a rather worrying note, the Empress was back on its feet.

"Don't try physical skills on that thing now!"

"Gotcha!" Junpei casted agi on the Emperor once again. It didn't work.

"I think they changed resistances!" Akihiko ran towards the emperor and punched the gigantic figure to the ground, proving his point.

A magaru from the empress threw everyone to different parts of the first floor, landing near the girls. It was then the Emperor's turn to mutter the cast the spell "Paradigm Shift".

"Oh, hey, you came back." Hamuko pulled Minato up and ordered Fortuna to use Media, a multi-target healing attack. "I just remembered about this Persona!"

Minato shook his head disapprovingly at the thought that she could have just used it on herself and the girls before the battle. "We can't battle like this. We have to take both of them down in one 'turn', or my guess is that they'll keep shifting resistances."

"Are you talking about… That attack?" The brunette received a nod in response. "Oh. Well. If you don't have anything against doing that in front of everyone…"

"I guess we can deal with an interrogation, right?" They headed towards the shadows, ordering everyone to keep the distance.

"So what do we do now? Shoot each other?"

"You want to shout a cheesy phrase or something?" They pointed the evokers to each others' temples, much to everyone's shock. They pulled the triggers with utmost synchrony, and, soon, Pyro Jack and Jack Frost were floating above them, holding a microphone.

Once again, no one had a clue of what they were saying. Unlike the previous time when all the Crying Tables fell on their faces, the full moon bosses seemed unaffected. Well, the Emperor seemed to be chuckling slightly.

"…It seems we had a difficult public." Hamuko muttered, unbelieving of the ridiculous scene they had put up for nothing.

"No, wait!" Fuuka shouted in their minds. "The Emperor has let its guards down! You can attack it with anything you have!"

"JUN-KUN! Cleave to the big guy! Yukari and Senpai, get up and hit the Empress with whatever you have!"

"What are you doing?" Minato, being used to letting everyone follow their own ideas, was surprised to see the S.E.E.S. working with order.

"Your job!" Hamuko kept shouting orders. Once everyone had complied, both shadows were on the ground, laying on their backs, having just casted Paradigm Shift again. If they guessed right, they could just finish the shadows before they had a chance to attack; if they didn't guess right, they'd have to attack once again.

"So how do we choose what to use?"

"…Wild guessing?"

"Sounds fine to me." Minato and Hamuko walked towards the Empress. "Zio or Holy Arrow?"

"Um, err…" Hamuko rubbed her temples. "Zio! Use zio! Or no wait, Holy Arrow! No, zio! Err… Choose by yourself!" Cold cobalt eyes were gazing at crimson ones intently.

"…Should we do it at the same time?"

Minato faced the Emperor, Hamuko faced the Empress. They sighed and put their evokers to their respective temples.

"Bufu!"

"Holy arrow!"

The Emperor got his mask frozen, proceeding to explode in a mass of fog as a shinning arrow killed the Empress as well. Hamuko was about to give Minato a hug after realizing they both had had the same idea, but she had to restrain herself as everyone ran to them to congratulate them.

"Are there more of them...?" Fuuka asked as Lucia vanished. She seemed exhausted.

"Don't worry." Aki smiled. "It's over."

"Fuuka... You..." Natsuki muttered.

"A-Are you alright...?" The brunette nodded. "Thank goodness..." After she had ended her phrase, Fuuka collapsed.

"Fuuka!"

"It's alright." Mitsuru patted Natsuki's shoulder. "She's just exhausted."

"Fuuka... Fuuka, I..."

"Um, what are we gonna do about Natsuki?" Yukari asked, seemingly troubled. "She saw the Dark Hour, and the Shadows..."

"Don't worry, she's not like us, so she won't remember any of it." Akihiko explained. "The good news is, she didn't fall victim to the Shadows, even though she obviously heard their call. She should be safe from now on."

"But, that means she'll forget Fuuka saved her life, right? That doesn't seem fair..."

"I think…" Minato muttered as he watched Natsuki repeat over and over again that she was sorry. "I think she's learned her lesson."

Everyone left Tartarus as the Dark Hour was about to end. The Fools were informed that they would undergo and interrogation of sorts about the "fusion spell" and the knowledge about the full moon events. It really sounded 'promising', so they decided to stay behind, at quite a distance from the rest of the group to decide on what to tell.

"How do we explain the full moon issue?"

"Magic. Instinct. Err…"

Both teens looked at each other. "Wild guessing!" They began laughing after saying it simultaneously.

"Such a coincidence we thought the same, huh?"

Hamuko casted her eyes down and reached for Minato's hand, intertwining her fingers with his. "Do you really think it was a coincidence?"

"…" He ogled her, lips pressed like he was deep in thought.

"Hey…" The brunette began tugging at his hand, trying to get an answer. "C'mon Minato, don't give me the silent treatment!" Hamuko kept shaking his hand. She didn't see his next step coming…

Minato cupped her cheek with his free hand and leaned in suddenly, stealing a kiss. "I… Tripped." That was all he said after pressing his lips against hers. It had been only a moment, barely a caress, but enough to make both teens' faces blush furiously.

"…You tripped, huh?" Hamuko took a hand to her lips, flabbergasted, while Minato began fidgeting with the knot of his bowtie. They turned their faces towards the others' and just stared deeply at each other for what seemed an eternity. Minato was becoming increasingly afraid that she'd do something to let him down, when he felt her arms wrap around his neck; next he knew, he was being pulled down by Hamuko, who was kissing him with all the energy she had left after the battle –just enough to turn Minato Arisato into a stuttering and adorably flushed mess- only letting him free when they began running low on oxygen. "We're going to pretend this is the first kiss I've given you, alright?"

"W-whatever you say."

Hamuko giggled as she walked away. "C'mon, let's go back before they begin missing us." She stopped and turned around seeing that the blue haired boy was not following her. He was still there, just staring at her; this caused an innocent smile to bloom in her face. The –other- Fools Social Link reached level 4.

SMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCH.