A/N#2: Number of changes to the second half of the chapter. Based on reviews and my own imaginings for what this chapter previously lacked. Cheers. Chapter still needs to be beta read.

A/N: I went through all of the applicable previous chapters and formatted them correctly. Some of the earlier formats were hard on the eyes. Not to mention that it was a bit embarrassing to read through the beginning chapters again as I felt they weren't very good, but it's a learning process. At least, I can say I improved in some areas, but there is always room for more. I'm still not satisfied with the summary, but hey it's there for now. I think it's slightly better than the previous one and helps to portray the overall story a bit accurately. The end of the last chapter was expanded slightly to better explain Yukari's thinking, thanks Yoshikunitsu for pointing that issue out. As for this chapter, there's shifting and expansion of Hamuko's social link with Rio in since I feel that school life is an important facet of the story since it fleshes out certain characteristics more. Though, that brings up the fact that I am only focusing on certain social links because trying to incorporate all of them to this degree would be ponderous and a bad idea. Also, I want the links to be as organic as possible, which goes back to why I don't mention social link ranks as I always felt that it was a bit gimmicky with possible exceptions for establishing and maximizing the relationships. On a different note, I really am bad at character introductions as evidenced by the entrance of the remaining Strega members. Oh well, let's just get it out of the way and move along, shall we? I got a bit carried away with the latter section of the chapter, but that's fine as the stuff that didn't make this chapter can easily be moved to the next one. I got a lot of brainstorming done for future parts as I wrote up this chapter so hurray for that. Thank you for continuing to patiently read my story and providing feedback as we continue our journey forward.

Reader Reviews:

toejam18: Many thanks for pointing out that error. I was able to find the block of text lost in an email chain and updated the chapter. Cheers.

Doom Marine 54: That sounds strangely familiar somehow.

Yoshikunitsu: Nice to see you again as well. I agree that she can be a bit of a hard character to write and I think only by going through some trial and error will I find ways to flesh her out. Oh well, that will be good practice for writing out future characters that I don't feel comfortable writing. Yeah, the last chapter was more plot filling than I would have liked, but it's necessary in parts. I extended Yukari's part a bit to make it a bit more plausible, so it doesn't seem like she is blindly believing everything Minato is saying at the end of the previous chapter. Thanks for the suggestion.

Jozern: Thanks, I try to hit the characterization parts as best I can. Glad to see that you're enjoying them. Ikutsuki always needed a bit more buildup to his character than the game graced him with. There's a bit of a plateau in conflict this chapter out of necessity as you'll see when you read this chapter.

Deniz542: Yeah, the last chapter seemed like a good opportunity to fill that hole so it wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb. Hope to see you again soon.

spacemank: Ah, thanks for the kind sentiments. Writing this story has been a great experience for me overall and I really enjoy that others are willing to stick with me through the inevitable bumps in the road. It's really a two-way street in terms of me improving as a writer and providing something that others can enjoy at times.

InfinityMask: Good job on reading the entire story in one go. The first parts are a bit rough, so I'm glad you stuck through it to the most recent chapter. Here's to hoping you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 25: Conviction

June 22nd, Monday (Gekkoukan High Tennis Courts, After School)

Hamuko P.O.V.

The thwack of a well-hit ball echoed around the tennis court as Rio's forehand blistered its way toward Hamuko's backhand side. Unable to deal with the pace of the passing shot, Hamuko weakly lunged at it with one hand on her racket, causing the ball to carom out of bounds behind her baseline.

"Pick up the pace!" Rio barked, as she grabbed another tennis ball from the plastic crate to continue their practice match. "You should've been able to return that one easily. Move your feet faster next time to get into better position."

"Sorry," Hamuko mumbled indistinctly, trying to keep up with her frenetic companion. As she bent her knees and prepared to return serve, Hamuko wondered if she was getting any better at tennis as Rio still won their matches easily. At least, Hamuko felt that her stamina was definitely improved compared to the start of the school year, but she wasn't really sure if she should attribute that to club practice or running around Tartarus; probably a bit of both. Regardless, she felt it would be nice to have an easy practice now and then with someone else as she considered tennis an extracurricular activity more than anything else. That obviously wasn't the case for Rio though, as she went bull bore every time and would quickly grow irascible at Hamuko if she sensed she wasn't trying hard enough. The rest of the club still refused to show up for practices since Rio's fanatical training methods and at times abrasive personality caused undue tension. When Hamuko saw some of the club members during school hours they would greet her almost sympathetically and ask her how she was able to endure what amounted to private lessons with Rio. She managed somehow, but social link or not, Hamuko wanted her club leader to calm down a bit.

During another extended rally, Rio managed to hit a volley down the line and Hamuko decided she needed a break and stopped well short of chasing it down, pretending to pull up lame and clutching behind her right thigh.

"Hamuko!" Rio yelled out to her in concern. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah," Hamuko moaned, trying to sound like she was in pain. Hamuko didn't really want to resort to theatrics, but this was the only way she could think of that would allow her to skip another extended practice in the baking sun. So, she waited as Rio hurried over to her and allowed Hamuko to throw an arm around her shoulders. They slowly proceeded to walk to the nurse's office with Hamuko being careful to not put any pressure on her right leg. Once they arrived, Rio waited outside while the nurse, Mr. Edogawa asked Hamuko some basic questions about what happened and took out a bottle from one of the cabinets. Knowing Mr. Edogawa's penchant for handing out unsavory concoctions, Hamuko politely declined the nurse's offer, to which he reluctantly recommended rest and treatment with ice.

As Rio and Hamuko left the office slowly they ending up sitting next to each other on a bench with a good view of the school's entrance.

"I'll be fine in a while, Edogawa thinks I only have a slight muscle strain," Hamuko said, trying to assuage the look of concern on her friend's face. "I think you should stop practicing for today too. It's really humid outside and you won't get much done if you practice alone."

"I'm glad you didn't hurt yourself too much," she replied, looking slightly relieved. "I'm still going to go back and work on my ground strokes against the wall some more. I can't let something as small as warm weather prevent me from practicing."

I can only imagine she would do this all the time if I wasn't here to be her practice partner, Hamuko thought. Any hurt feelings on her friend's part from the other members leaving were thrown aside in light of her goal of doing well in the school tennis tournament later in the year. Though, if only the two of them practiced the team would end up performing miserably when the time came. Maybe, Hamuko was approaching this the wrong way and needed to dig a bit deeper. "You know Rio, are you into anything else besides tennis? Even when we go out to eat it's usually tennis all the time. Not that I think there's anything wrong with that, I'm just curious."

Her friend seemed temporarily flustered, but eventually answered. "I used to be interested in lots of things when I was younger, but I would never finish things when I started them. My parents worried that I would turn into a chronic quitter so they encouraged me to find something that I truly enjoyed."

"You being a quitter? I find that a bit hard to believe, Rio." Perhaps, Hamuko sounded a bit too incredulous as Rio gave her the peeved expression she usually saved for Kenji or the other tennis team members.

"Anyways, when I hit my first shot in tennis things just clicked; I felt so happy that I could do something on my own terms. The pace, spin, and depth of the ball were all things that I could control. That's why I find tennis so exciting because there's always something to improve on. I even dreamed that I would get a trophy with my name on it, but it turned out I could never match up against the elite players, no matter how hard I tried. Maybe that's why I pushed the team so hard because I thought there was a small chance we could win the district team tournament at the end of the year if we tried. Some leader I am. I guess I really did push my own ambitions onto everyone else, huh? What am I even saying? Ignore what I just said, I don't know why I'm spilling this out now."

Hamuko hadn't expected this kind of response. Hearing Rio's sincere explanation helped Hamuko to reconcile the actions behind her friend's behavior. She was truly passionate about tennis and that was admirable. In spite of that, Hamuko decided Rio needed to know the truth and said, "Not everyone is as dedicated as you are Rio and that's perfectly normal. Honestly, I wouldn't mind getting a team trophy myself, but I can't get that pumped up about tennis. I'm pretty sure that the other girls think the same way and won't train much harder than they already do. You could push them, but there's a breaking point as we saw before. After all, they all joined the club for their own reasons, whether it be to socialize or something to put on their college applications."

Rio bit her lip at the blunt assessment and her shoulders visibly sagged in frustration. Her eyes watered, but she looked resolutely at Hamuko and demanded, "Then, why didn't you leave when everyone else did? I pushed you harder than anyone else on the team, but you never complained like the others. Is it only because you felt sorry for me?"

"No, I stayed because I wanted to help you out," Hamuko explained, trying to cool her friend's emotions. "I haven't forgotten how you welcomed me with open arms when I first joined the club. Even though I never played tennis before, it felt like I belonged somehow. Besides, spending all that time practicing together ended up making us friends, so I can't really complain about how things turned out."

"You're so weird, Hamuko," Rio said in a mildly derisive tone.

Hamuko laughed as she recalled the last time Rio told her that. "Well, you can say that again."

(Back Alley, Dark Hour)

Chidori P.O.V.

A steady flow of blood pooled underneath the latest victim of the revenge website as Chidori looked on dispassionately at the proceedings. The reason for revenge was trivial at best, but that tidbit was outside her realm of concern. Her sole responsibility was to check if the target was alive. After a quick scan, her Persona, Medea indicated that the victim wasn't completely dead, but likely to bleed out by the end of the Dark Hour. Chidori felt this was a sloppy effort by Strega's standards, but Takaya Sakaki didn't seem all too concerned with tonight's results. In fact, he looked weary and disinterested today, though she found that it was hard to discern sometimes. He was a rail-thin, yet fit young man who bore signs of the tumultuous life he led as leader of Strega. Takaya's appearance as a whole was rather idiosyncratic from the way his long, wavy grey hair tapered itself around his shoulders and held together by a wiry circlet that rested above his ears. Furthermore, discolored tattoo sleeves covered both arms of his exposed upper body, along with a pair of tattered denim jeans and an equally worn scarf sticking out of his back pocket. Although, his most striking feature were his lifeless golden eyes, she mused. The ensemble of his ghastly appearance was an artifact that served him well in alarming his victims to the point where they thought he was a ghost, which wasn't too far from the truth.

A quick glance from him was the only indication that he wanted an immediate answer about the condition of the target.

"He's not dead yet," Chidori pointed out in a solemn voice.

"That doesn't matter. We've held up our part of the bargain and this will just look like another random crime." She wasn't surprised to see the third member of their group, Jin Shirato, appear with his customary metal briefcase in tow, the dim light reflecting off of his orange-tinted glasses. The computer hacker's short, slicked hair nearly matched the shade of his wrinkled, dark blue pants. His green jacket had two banded straps that went around his midsection and had sleeves that detached slightly above the elbows.

"Jin, what kept you?" Takaya asked, in a neutral tone.

"There was a last-minute request from the website that I hadn't noticed before, Takaya," Jin replied. "The source was unusual so I took a look into it, which is why I was late."

"Go on," Takaya said.

"I think it's better if you asked her for the rest of the details," Jin answered, turning to look at Chidori who had expected this to happen and decided to keep it simple.

"There's someone I want taken care of," she explained, trying to filter emotion out of her voice. "A bald brute, who bothered me while I was out sketching by the florist. I believe his coffin is in this area."

"Why did you not just ask me directly?" Takaya inquired, considering her words and staring down at her with an unsettling gaze. "You must have your reasons. Regardless, if he has affronted you, then he has sinned against all of us. Jin, I assume you know the exact location of the target?"

"Yeah, he's close by," Jin said, not sounding completely satisfied with the result of the conversation. He gave Chidori a disapproving glare, but pointed out where they would find who they sought.

"Then, let us go," Takaya said. "I'm feeling rather tired. I want to take of this quickly and rest."

Chidori could only hope that this would turn out as she envisioned. No doubt the ingrate would be eliminated. No, that was not what bothered her. It was rather if Minato would realize the indirect message for him to stay away from her. He had visited the same spot in front of the florist that she liked to draw a couple of days ago and it was all she could do then to prevent herself from greeting him. There was a growing sense of attachment she felt towards him and she knew that feeling had to disappear. She never had a friend besides Medea before and knowing how transient her existence was, she had no desire to make another one.

(Tartarus, Dark Hour)

Minato P.O.V.

S.E.E.S. entered the lobby of Tartarus with every member available to fight for the first time ever. The difference this time of course, was that Minato would have an opportunity to actually join in on the action, instead of loitering around in the lobby. Although, he reminded himself of the need to not overdo it, especially around Mitsuru. Thinking about her brought him pause as he watched her talking quietly with Akihiko off to the side. There was definitely a part of Minato that couldn't let go of the disappointment with how frayed their relationship currently was. Even his current Persona seemed to symbolize their ongoing conflict. Orthrus, as it turned out was weak to ice and negated fire, while Penthesilea was weak to fire and resisted ice. The cynical side of him wanted to laugh bitterly at the coincidence. How he missed the old days when his only job was to slay some Shadows and easily build up social links. His train of thought fizzled away when Hamuko walked into his field of vision as she often did.

"Minato, aren't you excited about climbing Tartarus with the rest of us?" she said, sounding rather energetic about the prospect.

"Yeah, just so excited, Hamuko," Minato deadpanned. "I'm really looking forward to risking my life on a more frequent basis." The words had left his mouth before he realized what he said.

"Hey, you don't be such a jerk about it," she retorted, not amused by his sarcasm. "All of us have done this for far longer than you. If you're nervous that's fine, I know I was when I made my first trip."

"Aww, don't let him bother you, Hamuko," Junpei said. "He's just worried about getting embarrassed by your Persona army."

"You only sound a little bit jealous, Junpei," Yukari offered, rolling her eyes at him.

"That's enough you guys," Akihiko interjected. "Mitsuru and I aren't here to babysit you. Minato, if you feel tired at any point let us know and we'll look for a transporter to send you back down. We would normally give you a Traesto Gem in case of an emergency, but I never figured out what happened to the ones we had in the armory."

Mitsuru sighed at Akihiko's mention of the missing Traesto Gems and said, "Since this is your first expedition up Tartarus, we will ease you in and limit your overall participation. Please refrain from doing anything reckless. Yamagishi, I expect you to keep track of Arisato-kun in case he is not fully aware of his own condition due to lack of combat experience in the Dark Hour."

"Of course, senpai," Fuuka replied. "Leave it to me."

Minato gave Fuuka a passing glance as everyone got to the terminal and she responded by giving him a knowing look and a small smile. She knew for a fact that this wasn't his first trip up Tartarus and while it was their own little secret for now, he couldn't expect that to always be the case. Other than that, Minato felt annoyed with how restricted he would be in battle, but Mitsuru wasn't going to do things halfway it seemed. At the very least, he wouldn't really need to worry about showing too much. He ran out of time to ruminate as Hamuko signaled it was time to go.

Hamuko P.O.V.

Upon arrival in the upper echelon of the Arqa block, S.E.E.S. gathered together on Hamuko's command in a room that was comparatively brighter than any of the surrounding sections.

"Fuuka, can you hear me all right?" Hamuko asked. "I want to make sure we're still in communication range."

"Yes, I can hear you clearly," Fuuka replied, her voice sounding a bit hollow in Hamuko's head. "There's no need to worry."

"Okay, thanks Fuuka," Hamuko said, and turned to see the rest of the team following her in ragtag fashion. Having six people in the team didn't seem like much of an issue with everyone scattered out in the spacious lobby downstairs. But now, she wasn't so sure bringing everyone along had been the greatest idea, considering how disorganized they were. Furthermore, since their trip just started, she doubted whether anyone would take an order of returning to the lobby with good humor. She decided it was time to bring out some new tactics.

"Why are we stopping, Hamuko?" Akihiko asked. "We just started, I don't think anyone needs a break already."

"Yeah, well, I thought we could try something different for tonight, senpai," she said, not sounding too confident. "Since we have so many people now I thought it wouldn't do for us to just roam around Tartarus without a formation of some kind."

"A formation?" Mitsuru's expression was calm, but Hamuko thought she saw a trace of impatience in the way her senpai's eyes narrowed a smidgen.

Hamuko stood firm, holding her ground and said, "Back when Minato laughed at me for my battle tactics during the monorail mission, I thought he was acting like a jerk as usual, but recently I thought he may have had a point. So, during my downtime during library committee I read up on a military formation that I thought would be helpful for us."

A dull silence met the end of her explanation and she started to wonder if she had said something offensive. "I thought it was a good idea, but I guess no one else thinks so," she said, disappointed with the outcome.

"It's a good idea, Hamuko," Yukari piped up, giving Hamuko some reassurance. "Honestly, I just think that most of us are a bit surprised that you spend some of your free time looking up that kind of stuff."

There was a murmur of assent from the others and Hamuko flushed in embarrassment, but she decided to take the initiative before they could change their minds. With the embarrassment out of her system, she went back into leader mode and started assigning positions. "I think we should try out a diamond formation since its one of the most balanced formations I saw. Junpei, I want you in the front for tonight's run, Mitsuru-senpai, on my left flank, Yukari, on my right flank, Akihiko-senpai to bring up the rear, and I'll be in the middle."

"What about him?" Junpei asked, pointing a thumb towards Minato.

"Minato, do you mind helping Akihiko-senpai with the rear guard?" Hamuko asked. Minato shrugged his shoulders, but he fell in line with Akihiko. "Remember, to stay within a couple of meters of each other at all times, unless the situation dictates otherwise."

"What are the advantages of doing this?" Akihiko said from directly behind her.

"In theory, we're more mobile and able to keep a high level of battle awareness of our surroundings with each person watching a certain area around us," Hamuko replied.

"Sounds good to me," Akihiko answered. "I've got no complaints."

With everyone lined up in their correct positions they started moving. Predictably, their initial efforts were atrocious with everyone bumping into and tripping all over each other. Before S.E.E.S. fought a single battle they had already suffered a litany of bumps and bruises that were self-inflicted. Still, Hamuko felt it was important to work on this kind of stuff now because they would be better off in the long-run. Better to work the kinks out now than make errors in a crucial portion of a fight against a powerful Shadow. Frustrated, but slowly improving, S.E.E.S. seemed to get the rudimentary basics of the formation down through repeated trial and error. Not only were they starting to not fall on their faces, but also managing to reduce the number of times surprise Shadow attacks. It was a satisfying feeling to Hamuko that something she read out of a library could be useful in Tartarus. She decided to thank Saori tomorrow for helping her discover the book.

Minato P.O.V.

Exploring Tartarus with everyone else was a far cry from listening to Fuuka's periodic reports in the lobby. Although, Minato felt that the chemistry in this team was different from anything he had ever experienced. He felt strangely out of place in this group, whether it be due to missing extended time or something else he couldn't tell. Part of this strange feeling he could attribute to Hamuko's influence, whose leadership and engagement were the polar opposite of his. She led with a very hands-on approach and constantly bantered with her teammates. Especially, the way she encouraged each team member through mistakes and praised them when they did well. It was such a foreign concept to him. He had always believed everyone self-sufficient in battle unless they needed healing and he didn't really bother with mental support, since he felt it wasn't necessary. Also, this formation of Hamuko's made it difficult for him to get much action. The only exception to that was when S.E.E.S. downed all the Shadows in a battle and launched an all-out attack. However, even then, there was something to annoy him when his attacks on downed Shadows barely caused any damage. He had a hard time hiding his frustration when Hamuko tried to encourage him after a battle.

"Hey, I think you're doing pretty well. Don't worry about the results. I just want you to get some combat experience tonight."

"Right, whatever you say leader," Minato replied tersely.

She simply shook her head and stopped talking to him afterwards.

Up a couple of floors, he finally got his chance to fight in earnest, with the team caught by a large contingent of Shadows in the middle of an open area that attacked them from both sides of the room. The team fanned out in different directions to fight the Shadows, trying to beat back the threat with a limited amount of success.

"Don't let them surround you!" Akihiko yelled. "Keep your backs against a wall!"

As the battle raged on, a Steel Gigas broke off from the scrum and sprinted towards him, trying to clothesline him. With deft footwork and an awareness of his surroundings, Minato sidestepped the hulking Shadow, and let it smash into the wall behind him unimpeded, where it became stuck. Taking a good hack at the immobilized Shadow, he expected to deal some damage, but once again lacked much of a punch. His display hadn't gone unnoticed by Akihiko, who to Minato's chagrin eventually came over and dealt the finishing blow. Shortly afterwards, the battle ended and S.E.E.S. took a quick breather, during which Akihiko took as an opportunity to chat with Minato.

"That was impressive," he stated. "Using that level of finesse in such a dangerous situation isn't something that just anyone can do. Where did you learn how to do that?"

"You give me too much credit, senpai." Minato answered and tried his best to wave off Akihiko's attention. "I was lucky the Shadow didn't take my head off. You saw what happened at the end." Indeed, his attacks lacked any kind of cutting edge. He didn't realize it when he rescued Fuuka because he was rushing and avoiding battles, but as of now he could tell something felt off-kilter. His technique and movements were sound, but the end result paled in comparison.

"You know, you should stop by the boxing club some time then," Akihiko said in a thoughtful manner. "I could help you build some more strength in your attacks and you could give me some pointers on my footwork."

"Are you sure about that?" Minato said, trying his best to dissuade Akihiko. "I might just get in the way of your club's training."

"Don't worry about it," Akihiko answered him adamantly. "I want you to come by."

"Um, I guess there's no harm in visiting. I'll try to by some time when you're practicing after school." Akihiko couldn't take a hint and his dogged persistence cornered Minato. There wasn't much else Minato could say to deter him and he supposed it wasn't all bad. After all, Minato really needed a way to build his physical strength back up after today's discouraging results and this sounded like a good opportunity as any. Maybe, he could even finally learn why Akihiko dyed his hair silver. Not that the blue-haired teen should say much about other people's hair color choices.

Hamuko P.O.V.

With the successful conclusion of another battle, Hamuko relaxed the grip on her naginata and was not surprised to see the world around her begin to fog up, signaling the start of Shuffle Time. Boiled down to the basics, this was a chance to draw a card with various prizes available; including increased experience, money, weapons, or Persona, among other things. Having long mastered the annoying shuffling patterns of the cards, Hamuko could pick out the one she wanted more often than not. Of course, Shuffle Time didn't happen all the time after battles and recently, the spoils were a waste of time, so she didn't pay close attention as four cards came to the forefront of her vision and flipped over to divulge their various rewards. From left to right, she saw a blank card with a shattered hole in the middle which meant no reward, a card with two yellow coins to receive more money, a card with three green wands to receive more experience, and an unfamiliar Persona card. Intrigued, Hamuko squinted at the Persona card, trying to decipher the figure in it. Upon closer examination, the Persona was the demon dog Persona, Inugami, which had been Minato's initial Persona. She wondered if this was a result of forming the Hanged Man social link with Minato. The only problem was that the card had an ominous, black skull and crossbones imprinted upon it and Hamuko always avoided those cards before because she got an uneasy feeling from them. Nonetheless, as the cards flipped closed and began to shuffle, she decided that she wanted Inugami as it was the first Persona with an affinity for the Hanged Man Arcana that she could have a chance to possess. More importantly, the Persona held significant sentimental value to her because Minato used Inugami to save her from her first encounter with a Shadow the first night when she arrived on Port Island. So, she snatched the card that she hoped held Inugami and turned it over to reveal that she had picked correctly. Immediately, Hamuko felt a sudden jolt of pain and grabbed her forehead with the palm of her hands.

Minato P.O.V.

Hamuko's sudden yelp caught the attention of everyone else and they all looked towards her in concern.

"Hamuko, what's wrong?" Yukari questioned, while putting a concerned hand on Hamuko's shoulder. "You don't look so well all of a sudden."

"No, it's nothing," Hamuko said through a quick smile that didn't seem to quite reach her eyes. "I just stubbed my big toe on the side of my naginata. You guys know how clumsy I am, haha."

"Geez, you had us all worried for a second," Junpei said. "I thought another Shadow showed up."

Something didn't feel quite right to Minato, so he walked up to Hamuko for a better look. Leaning in towards her, he focused his gaze on Hamuko's questioning face, and noticed the loss of color from her usually rosy cheeks. There was no way that she was telling the truth about her sudden outburst. What could've caused her to look this sick in such a short period of time?

"Um, do you want something, Minato?" Hamuko's angry voice interrupted his thoughts. "You're kind of invading my personal space."

"Sorry, Hamuko," Minato withdrew before the situation could become more awkward and tried his best to save some face. "I just thought you looked a bit too pale. Maybe, you should get some rest."

Junpei let out a whoop of laughter that filled the room they were all in, but an urgent transmission from Fuuka stopped the conversation from preceding.

"Everyone, please be careful!" Fuuka pleaded with them. "I sense a terrible Shadow approaching you. Death is coming!"

"Yamagishi, what do you mean by that?" Mitsuru asked, confused by the warning.

Minato didn't need any explanation as Fuuka's words felt like they knocked the wind out of him. S.E.E.S. hadn't been on this floor for long so that left only one plausible explanation. It dawned on him that Hamuko's strange behavior was from drawing a cursed card from Shuffle Time. Minato was a fool for not deducing that faster. Yet, there was no time to examine his own stupidity because less than a minute separated S.E.E.S. and the Reaper. Truth be told, S.E.E.S. had zero hope of survival against the Reaper. Minato had to take charge now or they could all very well end up dying tonight.

"You heard Fuuka!" he yelled, in the loudest voice he could muster, trying to force everyone to move with sheer will. "We need to go!"

"Dude, I think you're overreacting," Junpei said. "It's just one Shadow. What can it do by itself against the six of us?"

Before Minato could argue, a distinct clinking of metallic chains filled his eardrums and his breath seized itself in his chest. Looming at the opposite end of the hallway, was a dark figure draped in billowing, pitch black robes with two separate metallic chains floating crosswise on its chest. Crusted layers of blood covered the Shadow from head to toe, including its face, where yellowing bandages revealed one unblinking eye fixated on the teenagers. Slowly, the Reaper raised its arms to reveal a pair of gunmetal black revolvers that nearly matched the length of its body.

"That Shadow is dangerous!" Fuuka told them.

S.E.E.S. needed no further warning as they retreated as quickly as possible. The smell of burning gunpowder was pungent in the air as the Reaper shot at them relentlessly. Their only saving grace was the faces jutting out of the walls of Tartarus that provided cover for them as they ran for their lives. Any attempts to slow down the Reaper were pointless, evidenced by the way it floated right through Hermes' Agi spell.

"What the hell is this?!" Junpei's bellowed in disbelief as he saw what happened.

"Fuuka, where's the terminal?!" Hamuko said in panic.

"You're getting closer, but you still need to pass the next section of hallways," she said anxiously. "Please hurry!"

Minato's body began to gradually fail him as he began to fall behind his comrades in the dash to the transporter. It didn't help that the path they used featured several winding twists and turns that only increased the stress on his muscles. Having a lack of endurance from a lack of visits to Tartarus was truly coming back to bite him in the worst way imaginable. His breathing began to labor and a throbbing stitch formed in his side. No one seemed to notice him in distress and he couldn't really blame them given the situation they were in. Yet, to him, it felt like a repeat of a bad movie he had already seen before. He always got left behind in the end. Whether it was when his friends moved on with their lives after he passed away from becoming the Great Seal, or how they left him behind again after defeating Erebus, and now it was on the verge of happening again.

"Help me!" he said, his voice coming out in a raspy croak.

The next few moments became an incoherent blur to Minato as he could hardly decipher what was going on. To his surprise, someone's hand had clasped his wrist and tugged him violently sideways. Almost at the same instance, his field of vision became a sea of whiteness as the Reaper unleashed a Megidolaon. Three orbs of light fell from the ceiling, congealing into one large ball of pure energy exploding in a large radius upon impact with the ground. Subsequently, heavy debris blanketed the area as the ground shook violently and Minato struggled to breathe, coughing heavily from the dust floating around. Unable to see, Minato got on his knees and groped in the darkness in a desperate attempt to figure out where he was. Slowly, the cacophony of noise simmered down and visibility improved, which allowed Minato to walk over and see a large crater looming in the center of the floor that looked deep enough to send anyone who fell through it to the abyss. That was when a light tug on his shoulder caused him to turn backwards and a slender finger pressed itself to his lips. Mitsuru watched him carefully for a few seconds and withdrew her finger only when she seemed certain he wasn't going to blurt out anything. The reason for her caution became evident as the noise of chains indicated the Reaper was still present nearby.

"Mitsuru-senpai, Minato-kun, are you two alright?" Fuuka called out to them through Lucia. Neither Mitsuru nor Minato risked to answer considering their current situation.

"Damn it, Fuuka," Akihiko's voice cut in. "Are they safe or not? I can't believe they're the only ones that didn't make it back. What happened up there?"

"I don't know their current status, senpai," Fuuka said. "There's a lot of interference from the Shadow's earlier attack, so it's hard for Lucia to see what's going on. But, before the spell activated, I saw Mitsuru-senpai slow down to help Minato-kun get out of danger by pulling him away to safety."

"I really hope they make it back," said a voice nearby that sounded like Hamuko's. "Just what was that thing, anyways? I think it's safe to say we've never run into a Shadow like that. Even the Arcana Shadows from the full moons so far can't really compare to it."

"I'm not sure about the Shadow, but I felt a strong sense of death coming from it," Fuuka said.

At the very least, it sounded like the rest of S.E.E.S. got back to the entrance safely. Pulling away from his friends' discussion, Minato tried to focus on the task at hand. Mitsuru and he seemed safe sitting in an alcove along one of the walls that collapsed from the Reaper's Megidolaon. With the Shadow still on the prowl, Mitsuru was close enough to Minato that he could smell the fruity notes of whatever shampoo she used and see the debris tangled in her hair. When she began to survey the area around them, it caused parts of her hair to whisk him across the face, making him want to sneeze. He was able to hold it in and felt the resulting pressure ringing in his head.

After not hearing the telltale signs of the Reaper approaching for a while, Minato risked a quick word to Mitsuru. "How long are we going to stay here?"

She met his eyes and said, "I do not know. The size of the crater is too large to bypass and the Shadow is patrolling in an unpredictable pattern. We will need to proceed along a different path and avoid alerting any enemies we may encounter."

"We should contact Fuuka when we decide to move then," he said. "And also thank you for helping me out earlier." There was an uneasiness in his thanks that he hoped she wouldn't pick up on.

"Think nothing of it," she replied briskly. "I am responsible for your safety as your senior."

Minato stifled the urge to retort at her latter statement because it seemed pretentious considering her actions with respect to him the past month. He wanted to say that she considered his safety only when she deemed it convenient, but held his tongue for the moment.

Mitsuru tried to restart the conversation as he didn't make much of an attempt to do so. "I feel that we need to have a contingency plan for the worst case scenario. Our weapons are useless considering the range of the Shadow's attacks. That leaves us with our Persona; Penthesilea who I'm sure you know is susceptible to fire skills and your Persona whose weakness is to light and darkness skills, if I recall correctly."

"Yeah, about that," Minato mumbled, not sure how he should mention that she was mistaken. Still, there was no use in hiding Orthrus since he would have to use his Persona at some point in the near future. Whether that be tonight or the next time they visit the tower.

"Yes, is there something you want to say?" Mitsuru asked.

"I can't summon Take-Minakata anymore," he said, not liking the way her expression immediately darkened. "My current Persona, Orthrus is weak to ice attacks and blocks fire attacks. I don't really know why I'm on my third Persona now."

"I see." Mitsuru then gathered herself to her full height, voice brimming with displeasure as she unloaded on him. "Has it ever occurred to you that you should discuss these types of matters with me? It is exasperating that you continue to keep important matters to yourself. What if you became unstable due to the sudden changes in your ability? Not only could you compromise yourself, but your teammates as well!"

"But I didn't become unstable," Minato replied, jabbing his index finger on his chest for emphasis. Having an argument with Mitsuru while the Reaper was on this floor was a bad idea, but he wasn't going to back down from this. "Besides, this happened when you suspended me from all S.E.E.S. activities, remember? So, there was no need to inform you of anything. Why should I talk to someone who makes no effort to treat me fairly? I should just stay back and keep my mouth shut since all I do is to cause trouble for your highness. I'm tainted in your eyes because I'm always reckless, yet if it wasn't for me, the Kirijo Group would still be trying to pick up the pieces after the monorail disaster."

For a moment, he thought he may have gone too far to get his point across as Mitsuru bit her lip in a struggle to regain her composure. After a deep breath, she continued in a frosty tone and said, "We are living under the same roof, aren't we? I have an open door policy that you have never taken advantage of before. If you are this frustrated with your situation, then you should have told someone sooner. Is this why are you so withdrawn from everyone else in the dormitory? All of us are your friends and allies we are not going to hurt you. I just do not understand your lack of trust in us. Look at Arisato-chan, for example, she joined the team at the same time as you did and look at how much she has grown her relationships. Why can you not at least attempt to emulate her?"

"Don't patronize me," Minato said, shaking his head in disgust. "S.E.E.S. is full of misfits that you glued together in a dorm close to Tartarus. As for Hamuko; the only reason you advocate for her is because she reveres you and doesn't ask too many questions."

"I do not treat Arisato-chan like a pawn," she snapped at him. "I chose her because she was the one most suitable to shoulder the burden of leadership. Her diligence and dedication to her duties is admirable."

"You have a funny way of choosing people you like then," Minato said. "I obviously don't belong in that category."

"At least, tell me this then," Mitsuru demanded. "What was your motivation to join S.E.E.S.?"

"To find my life's purpose," Minato answered. It was a truncated version of the truth, one that Metis had pointed out to the other members of S.E.E.S. near the Great Seal. "Now, I think we should contact Fuuka and continue this chat another time when we aren't in Tartarus."

Mitsuru gave him one last look of enmity and proceeded to reach out to Fuuka. "Yamagishi, Arisato-kun and I are unable to proceed with the Shadow still moving about on the perimeter. We need an alternate path to the transporter."

"Thank goodness, you two are alright!" Fuuka replied, sounding relieved. "The only other path to reach the transporter is going to take a while to navigate. I'll make sure to guide you two the best I can."

"We're depending on you, Fuuka," Minato added on. "Which direction should we go?"

According to Fuuka's analysis, the transporter on this floor was the only one for the next few levels, so they didn't have much choice. Walking closely to each other out of necessity, they kept their ears honed for any indication of the Reaper's presence as they looped around the staircase to the next level. Thankfully, the earlier attack had caused all of the earlier Shadows to abandon this level, which allowed them to watch out only for the Reaper.

"It seems that Shadow did us one favor at least," Mitsuru said.

Minato shrugged nonchalantly, he didn't really want to give her an opening to start talking again.

An extended silence fell between them as they continued on, following a circuitous route that Fuuka instructed them to take. After what seemed like ages, Minato could see the soft, green glow of the transporter casting an eerie glow from the shadows around the last corner they would need to turn. Before he could take another step a bullet flew by, just missing his ear, and lodging itself into the wall.

"Move!" Mitsuru yelled, and they were off and running again.

He took a quick look behind his shoulder only to see the Reaper unleash a Maragidyne that filled the hallway with a vortex of scintillating flames that devoured everything within reach. Knowing how dangerous the attack was to Mitsuru, Minato pushed her ahead and she managed to return to the lobby first. Minato wasn't far behind her as he made one last push to jump through the transporter and escape the Reaper's clutches. One disorienting trip later, he tumbled forward, the cold marble of the lobby feeling good against his body. There was a sudden burst of noise as everyone around him yelled incoherently and he wondered for a moment if the Shadow had followed him somehow.

"You're on fire, Minato!" Hamuko's shrill voice cut through the din. Collecting his bearings, Minato automatically reached for his Persona card and crushed it within his palm. Soon after, the blaze vanished as Orthrus loomed over his head watching in amusement at the display.