4th June 2015

Disclaimer: I do not own Persona or any of its characters, nor do I make any profit from it. This story is my only pride and (en)joy(ment).

Chapter 25: Hospital Visit

Waking to the scent of antiseptic, Minato opened his eyes to a white ceiling. Déjà vu struck him yet again, not needing so much as a glance at his surroundings to tell that he was lying on a hospital bed.

Time never waits. It delivers all equally to the same end.

You, who wish to safeguard the future, however limited it may be…

You will be given one year;

Go forth without falter, with your heart as your guide.

Minato propped himself up against his bed and rubbed his eyes, thinking about the words that echoed in his mind.

What was that?

A dream, perhaps?

Minato frowned at the familiarity of those words, but soon forgot about it when his eyes fell on the curtains flapping about by the window.

Where the smell of fresh air would normally greet him and take over his senses, the stink of polluted air pierced his lungs, making him cough instead.

The room was white as it always was, but the curtains were an odd beige. He stared at the fabric dancing with the wind from the open window.

Were they always beige?

Minato glanced around his room.

It was grand, a little too grand. It was a single bed unit, complete with a dresser, sofa, television, and hell, Wi-Fi too.

At least, that was what the sign 'Wi-Fi Available' on the wall said.

Either way, the entire room looked expensively modern and… somewhat lonely.

Did the Kirijo Group decide to do some remodelling on Tatsumi Memorial Hospital?

It wasn't until he tried to move his hand that he realized there was a heavy rock on it.

To be precise, it wasn't a rock, but a head.

On a stool next to his bed sat Minako, her head resting on his right hand as she drooled in her sleep.

Minato raised his left hand, heavily bandaged and strangely, filled with signatures.

With a sigh, he tapped her head with the cast.

"Hey Minako, wake up."

She didn't respond. When Minato gave her a gentle nudge, the corners of her mouth twisted upwards into a silly grin.

"Just five more minutes…" She muttered. "The eggs can wait, stupid Shinji."

Dreaming about Shinjiro while she slept on his hand?

"Idiot."

Minato flopped back on the pillows again. It was very soft and comfy, as were the mattress. Heck, even the detergent smelled different.

Talk about a major makeover.

Just then, he heard footsteps approaching, familiar voices chatting and laughing away. The doors slid open and a whole bunch of people walked in.

Junpei walked in first, carrying some flowers he'd picked off the street, evident from the fresh soil still clinging onto the root of the plant. He was laughing as he walked in, where he simply headed to the vase on a cabinet opposite the bed like he'd been doing it routinely.

But before he could reach over and grab hold of the wilting flower in the vase, his eyes turned to the silently staring blunette's direction. All brain activity must've been cut off, for the boy with the goatee stood staring at him with dropped jaws, the flower in his hand dropped onto the floor.

"Ow, what do you think you're doing stopping all of a sudden, Stupei?"

Yukari glared at him, rubbing her forehead where she had bumped into his shoulder, but when she traced his gaze, she let out a shriek.

Raising his hand to wave, Minato grinned wryly at them from his spot beneath the comfy covers.

"Dropped your flowers there. Also, do I really look that unattractive right now?"

An excited voice came through from outside the door from where a stunned Junpei and Yukari held up the line.

"Did I just hear Minato's voice?"

"He's up? Took him ages, man!"

"We're in a hospital. Tone your voice down and get moving, will you?"

One by one, familiar faces from the Iwatodai Dorm popped their heads around the door, each one of them sporting a wide grin on their faces, except for the Ice Queen, of course.

"Oh what, he really is awake!" Akihiko shoved Junpei aside with a grin. "Yo sleeping beauty, I can't say you look extremely fabulous right now."

Minato laughed. "Really? I thought I looked fabulous 24/7."

"Might want to take a look in the mirror, then."

Fuuka ran up to the bed. "I'm so glad you're alright! When I heard you got mauled by a shark, I just couldn't imagine it."

Shark?

The blunette chuckled when Akihiko slipped him a wink.

Mitsuru walked in last. She looked cool as ever, but Minato could tell she was somewhat relieved.

"Good to see that you're up. Student Council work's been piling since your absence." Tsundere much? "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty comfortable." The blunette patted the bed with his cast and grinned at her. "The pillows, the sheets, the beds and everything; they are the best. Want to join me?"

"W-Who'd want to squeeze with you in that tiny bed!"

Akihiko's grin dropped, his mouth forming an 'O' as though remembering that he had just left out an important detail.

"Ah right, you're kinda not in-"

"Tatsumi Memorial Hospital?" Minato cut in, having a good laugh out of Mitsuru's reaction. "Yeah, I could tell. There's no way they could've had a complete makeover since the last time I got admitted."

At that moment, Junpei unfroze like a computer with a slow processor.

"Minato! Boy, am I glad to see you awake!" Clutching Minato's free arm, Junpei turned to glare at Akihiko from the other side of the bed. "Without you around, that evil boxer shorts have been running us dry in Tartarus again."

"W-What? I've been going easy on you! Also, don't call me that!"

As childish as he was, Junpei stuck a tongue out at Akihiko.

Minato laughed at their antics. Even though he was in a foreign place, the presence of his friends made him feel very much at home. He was glad he didn't give up on his life back then, even if it meant fighting with his skeleton arms. How his arm managed to move about without the aid of his muscles was a wonder.

Yukari filled in the final gap by his bed.

"To be honest, I was really surprised when you ran out of the class like that."

Ah.

She looked him sideways. "So… just what was it that happened back there?"

It was so Yukari of her to ask something like that out of the blue.

Under the deafening stares of his friends, Minato shrugged.

"Hunger… I guess? I desperately needed some… shark meat. I heard it's pretty filling."

Yukari's hazel brown eyes seemed to dig deep into his blue orbs, searching for truth.

"But you were pale as ghost, and you wouldn't say a word when Kenji chased after you. Also, you dropped your bag in the hallway." Yukari raised a sceptical brow. "You couldn't have been starving to that extent, could you?"

Laughing sheepishly, Minato offered a weak explanation. "Well… I guess I was really craving for that shark meat, now that shark fin has been banned. So much so I'd go hunt a shark down myself, y'know?"

Sensing the tension, Akihiko broke the ice.

"Well, since he's just woke up, let's not try to make his sluggish brain run, shall we?" His eyes darted all around, desperately looking for an excuse to change topics. His gaze landed on Minako, still grinning as she drooled over his right hand. "Oh hey, it's Minako! You know, she's always here the moment school is out."

Minato turned to the sleeping girl.

Minako? Really?

Akihiko droned on. "Even if she was still feverish on the day of your accident, she literally flew out of the bed when she heard how you got your hand chewed out by that shark! Oh man, I am so jealous of you."

"Speaking of which," Minato narrowed his eyes at the boxer having remembered something. "I have not forgiven you for what you've done."

"What I have done? I wonder what you could be talking about." Akihiko proceeded to laugh like a rigid robot.

Junpei chimed in, glaring at the silver haired boxer across the bed. "Don't play dumb. You know, that."

Just as the two boys were about to grab each other's throats from over the bed frame, Mitsuru slapped their heads.

She apologized to Minato. "Sorry for disturbing you the moment you woke up. These two have been at it since that night."

"Ah, okay." Minato replied.

"What, that's it?" Yukari made a face. "I figured you'd kick up a fuss again."

The blunette was still wearing the same stoic face as he stared back at her. "I probably would, if it weren't for them fighting over my injured legs."

"Wha- hey, get off his leg, you two." She shoved a hand in both of their faces. "Have some thought for the patient, geez!"

Minato laughed. "It's fine, let them be. With this much of anaesthetic in my blood, I can barely feel a thing. Plus, I think it's great that they're getting along well."

"You call that getting along?"

And to prove her point, Yukari pointed at the two boys grabbing at each other's faces with one hand on each other's throat.

Minato turned to the faces around him. "Speaking of which, does anyone know of the condition of my car?"

At that moment, Minako suddenly straightened her back, sitting up straight with her eyes still closed, something that was creepy in its own right.

"Ah, I took care of that." She said with an arm raised, teacher-student question style.

"What did you-"

"The whole thing was filled with your blood, so I threw it into the sea."

Minato could've passed out there and then if she hadn't let out a laugh.

"Just kidding! I replaced your car with a brand new one. Ah, but I transferred Bumpy Rock back into the new car. After all, he did save your life."

Bumpy Rock, saving people's lives since the 80's?

What kind of sorcery is this?

Minako extended a finger. "Let's see, ignoring all the mess he made from freaking out 99% of the time, he called Akihiko in the middle of class for help, then he called me while I was sleeping, and then he drove you here. Talk about neat."

Minato felt touched. Was it even possible for an electronic device to hold such humane emotions? His mind wandered to Aigis, a humanoid robot made to fight shadows, who eventually gained a human personality, and he dismissed his earlier doubts.

"I wasn't kidding when I said I threw your car into the sea, though. Also, if I were you I wouldn't want to move that hand I just slept on."

"What?! And whose fault do you think- OUCH!"

Mitsuru stumbled forward, poised to catch him as he flinched and lost his balance due to the two males cat-fighting over his leg. However, she didn't need to do that when Minako pushed him back to balance, only to push a little too hard and the blunette fell to the other side of the bed.

Minako stretched her arms out in a yawn while muttering an insincere apology. "Well, we were told that while we couldn't do anything about the flesh, it would probably be fine in a few days," she paused, "Or weeks, depending on how it goes."

Minato leaned back on his pillows with Mitsuru's help, a troubled frown on his face. "Ah, right. Thanks Mitsuru."

"N-No problem."

He sighed. Ever since the bunch of them came over, it's been nothing but hectic.

"Speaking of which… where am I?"

That made everyone stop whatever they were doing.

"The Arisato Group's General Hospital for Emergencies." Minako said with a tone as though it was all obvious.

Minato blinked. That was the last place he'd think of. "Arisato Group? Isn't that like, kinda far?"

"Well yeah. Considering you were bitten by a shark in Roppongi, this was the nearest hospital."

Heads turned to him, their faces wearing a look of curiosity.

Desperate to avoid answering their questions, Minato laughed awkwardly and adverted the direction of the conversation. "Seems legit, but is that really the name of this hospital? It's weird, and long."

Minako shrugged. "Guess they were too lazy to think up a decent name."

Nobody questioned what Minato was doing in Roppongi during the time of the day where classes were ongoing, nor the existence of sharks in a place with nothing but buildings and skyscrapers.

"Also, you'll have to thank Akihiko for donating his blood to you till he was as lifeless as a zombie."

Minato gasped at the silver haired boxer. "I have your blood running through my veins now? What a shocker."

Akihiko loosened his collar with a slightly embarrassed expression. "How rude. I was the only one who could donate to you at that moment, alright?"

Yukari crossed her arms. "I was pretty surprised to find that Minako and you didn't share the same blood type, though."

Rubbing her head sheepishly, Minako grinned. "Don't worry, I never knew that myself."

Minato glanced at the tube stuck into the vein on his hand. "Huh, I never knew that either. What was my blood type anyway?"

"O."

"Oh."

"Yeah, O."

"Oh no."

"What? I'm telling you that you're O."

"I know."

"Wait guys, what are you guys talking about? I'm lost."

"Shut up, Stupei. As if you understand anything that's happening."

"That hurts…"

"So… how is it that you're the only one that can donate blood to me? Aren't there like, a bunch of people with blood type O?"

At that, Akihiko pinched the bridge of his nose. "About that… you happened to enter the hospital just after a bus full of injured students were rushed in from an accident."

The two males stared at each other.

"Wow…"

"I know, right?"

"Is it me, or are we getting along too well all of a sudden?"

"What, you mean like how we can see eye to eye all of a sudden?"

"Yeah. That."

"Dunno, maybe because you have my blood."

"Can the two of you stop being so gay?"

"Yeah, get a room!"

"We're not!"

Exclaimed the two 'gays' in unison.

Fuuka stifled a laugh while Yukari gave them a sideway glance. "Ew."

"Anyway," Minato turned to his sister. "What's your blood type?"

She gave him a grin and a peace sign. "I'm A." Only to invert her fingers to form a proper 'A'.

Akihiko sighed. "And that's the reason why I was left so lifeless for a week. My body was almost sucked dry just like how you had lost your blood till you're almost like salted dried fish, or something."

"A week?" Minato exclaimed. He sat up immediately, and his arms stung from supporting his body weight. "Wait, how long was I out?"

The seven members of SEES turned to each other.

"About… nine days?"

His hand gripped on the covers tightly, but held it tensed in a position as though he was about to rip the sheets off. Eventually, he sunk back into his comfy pillows.

"Again, huh? Something just had to happen; something that lands me unconscious for a number of days in the hospital."

Just then, Mitsuru walked in with a doctor. Nobody had noticed her going out of the room in the very beginning.

The doctor took a glance at Minato, pried open his eyelids and peered into them before muttering something unintelligible. After that, he took Minato's arm and flicked it. Getting no response, the doctor slammed it onto the metal railings of the bed, earning a howl of pain from the blunette.

"What was that for?" Minato exclaimed, while hugging his hands away from the doctor.

Instead, the man clad in white coat only nodded at him with a look of approval. "It's healed up well. You're clear to leave after we've run some tests tomorrow."

"Is that so?" Mitsuru bowed. "Thank you."

With that, the doctor walked out with a small smirk. Minato hugged his hands in between tears of pain.

"Talk about unusual treatment. How rude." He sniffed.

Fuuka offered some words of consolation, saying that "Maybe he meant that if you could feel the pain, you've healed well."

"Ah crap," Junpei exclaimed while glancing at his watch. "I forgot I promised to meet up with Kenji. Catch you guys later! I'll tell Kenji the good news!"

And with that, Junpei dashed out of the room after giving Minato a slap on the back.

After that, one by one they turned to leave. The last one that remained was Minako.

With a little private sibling-time, the two talked about the past nine days, and on what had happened on the day of his 'encounter with the shark'.

There was nothing eventful, Minako herself having kept in bed due to her fever. She explained that she couldn't remember what had happened during the full moon after the headache came in, up until the time she woke up in her bed.

"But what I do remember is that it felt… good. Amazing even."

Minato felt a chill down his spine.

Minako stared at her hands. "I don't know what I did, but I do know that it feels good, and that it feels… right."

The blunette grabbed her open palms. "Listen to me, whatever that happened that night may have helped us, but it is not a good thing. Promise me you won't call out that beast again, even if we need that power very badly."

The auburn haired girl was surprised at the grim face of her brother, but nodded anyway.

Then, Minato told the tale of how he sustained his injuries.

As he did, his thought wandered to his Mentor, wondering if she had thought for him to be dead. After all, he didn't turn up to school for nine days, and was nowhere near the vicinity of 'Tokyo's 2nd branch'.

Eventually, the darkness of the night took over that of the red sunset sky.

Minako bade her farewells, and left the room for Minato to rest.

At the entrance on her way out of the hospital, the auburn haired girl met a man none other than Arisato Keita.

"Dad!" She exclaimed happily as she rushed up to greet him. "What're you doing here?"

He smiled at her softly, the wrinkles on his exposed forehead prominent as he did so. "To visit your brother, of course. Mind showing me the way?"

And that was what Minako did. She was sure that he already knew the way, given that this was his company's hospital after all, but was more than happy to walk him to her brother's room.

Minato was stuffing his face with dinner when the doors opened, where his sister and his father walked in.

"Enjoying your dinner?" asked the older man.

The blunette choked.

"D-Dad? What're you doing here?"

"Is it really surprising for a father to visit his injured son in the hospital?"

"Well no…"

Like the doctor from earlier, his father seemed to eye him with the same strange look on his face. Instinctively, Minato hugged his bandaged hands.

The older blunette sat on the stool that Minako had sat on earlier. He stretched out an arm, motioning for Minato to show him his arm.

Under the sharp glare of his father, Minato reluctantly gave his arms to his father, feeling as small as a young boy as he did so.

"Minako, could you run down the hallway and get me some clean bandages?"

"Eh? Sure."

But Minato wasn't happy to hear that. "What're you planning to do?"

"Don't you want to see what has become of your arms?"

Minato nodded. He did want to see what was underneath these bandages.

"Are you even allowed to do that?"

The older blunette was already working the wrappings off just as Minako ran off to get the bandages as she was told to. "I told you before, haven't I? I was a scientist, which automatically qualifies me as a doctor."

"Huh, didn't know it worked that way."

"Now you do. Or at least, it works that way in my company."

"Right."

"Hey, it's my company. I can do whatever I like with it. Plus, I've been in enough battles to know how to treat even the most serious wounds. Trust me a little, will you?"

"Right…"

From the moment he stepped in, Arisato Keita had been nothing but cool. There were no words like, 'how are you?' or 'it's good to see you'. His memory of his childhood may be fuzzy, but he was certain his father wasn't this distant of a person; almost like he'd lost his emotions. Sure, he had smiled when they reunited, and he'd laughed on several occasions, but they were a little empty, like he'd smiled or laughed just for the sake of it.

Minato cleared his throat awkwardly. "So, how much do you know about my condition?"

"Everything, I guess?"

Oh, great.

"You did well fighting that Hybrid off. Not everyone survives a one-on-one with a Hybrid, especially not on their first encounter at least. Well done."

The praise surprised Minato, but not as much as the smile that accompanied it.

But just as sudden as it was, the proud smile of a father was gone in a blink.

"Not to kill your buzz, but that was just a juvenile; a baby Hybrid. It's underdeveloped, and that was why you could pierce through its skin easily."

Minato stared at the bandages coiled all over the floor.

"What's the adult like then?"

"A better developed version of what you just saw. There's no two same hybrids, so I can't say for sure. It's been made certain that the adults have rock hard skin, and that pretty much poses a huge problem already, no?"

Minato laughed. He was damned sure it was. Dealing with a beast whose jaws are constantly snapping at you like a piranha was hard enough. Dealing with a snapping rock? Hell no.

Finally, the bandages were off.

It was like someone had peeled his skin off, revealing the reds of his muscles, and the whites of his tendons. The bone was nowhere to be seen anymore, covered by the flesh that grew back miraculously.

His father must've read his mind, for he started explaining how they had gotten the flesh back over his bones.

"We gave you a shot of our specially formulated 'Repair-C'. It's a serum with accelerated cell regenerative powers."

"But my skin hasn't grown yet."

Arisato Keita chuckled with his deep voice. Minato wondered if he would soon develop an even deeper voice like his father's.

"Chill out, son. Your body has already been working hard to regrow all that, so stop asking for the impossible. Had I not taken over the operation, the doctors would've chopped off your arms."

Oh wow, really?

"Thanks, I guess."

The older blunette raised an amused brow. "By the time you got here, your wounds were so terribly infected, it was already a hopeless case. The Repair-C is the Arisato Group's top secret research chemical that can only be used on my authorisation, and I saw it as the only way to stop necrosis."

"What is it made of?"

"Angel DNA."

Minato stared shocked at his father. Had he been drinking any fluids, he'd have spat it all out on his father's face.

"Certain types of angels have intense regenerative power, so I took their DNA to create a serum that gives the user that property." The dull blue of his father's eyes glowed. "Amazing, isn't it?"

Boy, he must've been one of those mad scientists.

"Of course, only those with the potential to weld a Persona can take this serum. Ordinary people will just end up dying from Apathy Syndrome. After all, their bodies were not made for these stuff."

Hearing what the man had to say, Minato realised that his father was far more knowledgeable that he appeared to be. It was almost like he knew the answer to everything.

Maybe even including the answer to their survival.

But with the things he'd created, such as the Repair-C, his father was a man that should be feared. There were so many mysteries surrounding him to begin with, like how he had just sprung up from the dead, or how… different he seemed to be.

Speaking of which…

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

Minato kept a close eye on his father's face, which was twisted into a slight frown working on the bandages. "What's your blood type?"

"My blood type? I'm sure it's O."

"How about mom's?'

By now, Arisato Keita was looking more cautious with his question. "Why are you asking of such things?"

Minato played a shrug, suspicion creeping in. "Just curious. Are you going to answer me?"

His father regarded him with narrow eyes, and after a moment of silence, he answered him.

"Her blood type is B."

B?

When Akihiko mentioned that he and Minako had different blood types, he thought it to be weird, but given they were fraternal twins, it was possible.

Still, he has always had his suspicions.

Minako never grew to resemble him, nor did she resemble anything like their mother. Even if genetics have their way with physical appearances, there was no way parents of blood groups O and B can produce a child with a blood group of A.

"The truth about Minako…" Minato started, his eyes still trained on his father's face. "She's not my sister, is she?"

As expected of an adult, Arisato Keita barely showed any signs of vulnerability. "What could you mean by that?"

He knows, Minato thought.

"You know what I mean. You're an O, and Mom is a B, so how did Minako end up as an A?"

The two males stared at each other in silence.

However, even that was ruined when the door crashed open, and Minako bounded in with a roll of white bandages in her hand.

"I'm back! Whoa, is that your arm? It looks cool! Can I touch it?"

Her excitement died down when she noticed the deafening silence.

The older man turned to her with a kind smile. "Minako, could you close the door? The three of us are going to have a little midnight chat."

Confused as she was, she followed his orders anyway.

When the door was shut and the blinds rolled down, Arisato Keita started talking.

"The truth is not kind, and the two of you know that well. Oblivion is bliss. Do you still want to hear this?"

He was looking straight at Minato, giving him a chance to back out. For Minato, he couldn't care less about anything else. All he wanted was to secure their survival, and for that, every bit of truthful information was worth more than a truckload of gold.

"Yes." He replied firmly.

Minako on the other hand, was starting to feel uncomfortable. "Minato? Dad? What's going on?"

"Your brother wants the truth about your parentage."

That did nothing to clear the confusion. "But, aren't we family?"

"Your blood type…" Minato started. "It doesn't match either of Mom's or Dad's."

Her eyes widened. She wasn't dumb, for she too held the knowledge of the Universe, and she understood what that meant perfectly well.

This time, their father's gaze was directed at Minako. "Do you want to know the truth?"

Her crimson eyes were darting back and forth between her brother and her father in disbelief, but she retorted anyway. "If you're asking me that, haven't you just confirmed what Minato said?"

But the man didn't say anything in response. Minako slumped down on the bed, her body trembling ever slightly.

"Please…" she muttered. "I want the truth."

Her eyes were downcast, and her fingers interlocked as though in a prayer. She was getting emotionally unstable. Anyone could see that.

"Are you sure-"

"Yes!" She raised her voice impatiently.

With a look of resignation, Arisato Keita took a deep breath.

"Sixteen years ago on the day you were born, I did something that should never be forgiven."

A/N: Another year, another update. I think I am going to win the award for the longest update ever. I guess you could consider me on hiatus previously, but I was always looking to publish a chapter sometime. I just couldn't find the time to do it. To those still following this story, rejoice. For the following weeks/months, updates should come by more frequently.

Before that, I apologise if this chapter had several mistakes. Feel free to point out any discrepancies you encounter. I did run through the chapter for mistakes, but in my haste I might've overlooked them. I also have no idea where my beta might be, so I guess you all shall be my beta.

The content of this chapter may have come across as plain and somewhat nonsensical, but do not underestimate it! A few things has been pointed out in this chapter, which may seem minor at first glance, but will be a recurring thing in the later chapters.

The next chapter might just kill off many readers, but considering how invested I am into my own fanfiction, I'm going to proceed anyway; even if I become the target of an angry mob of readers at the end of this story, which might be years later at this rate. (lol) For some reason, I'm somewhat confident you will hate me for the next chapter.

Constructive criticism is much appreciated, considering how long I have been away from the keyboard.