i fucked up my psvita died on me wOOPS..
this chapter took way longer than i expected it to because of that..
also; last chapter was the longest! im rlly proud of myself haha;;

July 21st, 2009.
Evening.

The group had found themselves in the reception room once again, though this time everyone seemed a little more than overprepared– considering the weaponry that sat by everyone's sides. They had been told to prepare for a battle, and that was exactly what they had done. It was too bad that Ikutsuki had told them a minute too late that there was no need for all the preparations..

"I apologise for all the trouble. Everything is under control now."

"So, what happened to capturing the tank?" Fuuka asks, concern still in her voice. She'd been the most prepared of them all, sitting in her small hands was the glimmering silver of her Evoker.

"Oh, that's been taken care of." There's a certain chuckle to his tone, and he gestures off from the side. "Come here, Aigis."

"Coming." A girl's voice follows his words, and soon the girl they had all met only earlier that day walks into the room. The only difference was, instead of the blue sundress she'd been clad in earlier that day, she now showed off what the clothing had been hiding– pure metal.

"This is Aigis. As you can see, she's a 'mechanical maiden'." She bows rather stiffly, and everyone takes it as a chance to see just how mechanical she was. The plating that welded together her body, the foreboding magazines on her arms which implied that she had weaponry on her somehow, and the way her joints whirred with each moment. It was almost unnatural, and a little frightening.

"I am Aigis. My mission is to destroy Shadows." She pauses between words in an extremely unnatural manner, but her voice was scarily life like. If it wasn't for how clear her robotic parts were, she'd practically be a normal girl. "I have been assigned to SEES, effective immediately."

Yukari speaks up first, the other's all stunned in their surprise. "No way... It's like she's... alive."

"This is unbelievable.." Akihiko points out the obvious, but in this situation, it's hard to blame him.

"She's so cute, but..." Junpei's speaks almost sadly. "She's a robot.."

"Why does something like this exist..?" Kotone asks, her voice quivering a bit. "No... Why does someone like this exist..?"

The chairman simply smiles, and begins to explain. "Anti-Shadow weapons were created ten years ago to combat uncontrollable Shadows. Aigis was the last one to be made... And she's the only one that still remains today."

Mitsuru purses her lips, and stares at the girl with disbelief. "An anti-Shadow weapon... Does that mean she..?"

"Yes, I am capable of operating the Persona 'Palladion'."

"She suffered major damage in combat and has remained in the lab ever since. It's still unclear as to why she suddenly reactivated herself this morning.." He shrugs, and changes the subject. "Well, I hope you all will get along."

They all sit in silence for a few moments, trying to make sense of everything that had just occurred to them. They had just gained a brand new member of their unit, and that was always a good thing, but their new member was a robotic weapon that they had all presumed was a tank. And it wasn't denied. Just what exactly is this girl capable of? It's crazy to think that she has the power and force of an armoured military vehicle, complete with the heavy firepower that comes with them.. Truly horrifying to think that now, that sort of power was in the hands of a group of teenagers.

"An anti-Shadow weapons with a will of her own..." Yamagishi's eyes light up. "This is amazing!"

It really was.

There was a insanely wide array of recreational activities to do inside of the Kirijo Manor on Yakushima. Everyone had decided to go downstairs to the recreational area of the mansion, excitedly playing the large array of games that decorated the area. She was definitely going to join them in a little bit, but for now, she just wanted some alone time.

She was tired after everything that had happened today, and really just wanted to relax for a bit. The home they were staying at was absolutely gigantic, and every corner had a new discovery around it. Something beautiful to look at, whether it was the elegant architecture or the beautiful paintings that decorated the walls. She'd decided to take a walk, praying and hoping that she wouldn't get lost inside of this labyrinth of a house. Part of her wouldn't mind it, but she gets this feeling that everyone would go mad looking for her, especially once the Dark Hour hit.

Her little journey had taken her to a balcony, one that seemed to lead out to the garden. She takes a mental note to remember the path she took coming here, so she could visit the garden some time during their visit. She'd hate to miss it.

"Kotone?"

She jumps– she wasn't expecting someone's voice. She turns, and to her surprise, she meets eyes with Sanada-senpai. He looked as equally confused as she felt, an eyebrow quirked up and his eyes wide.

He looks like he's about to say something to her, but instead he remains in complete silence. And something about that silence bothers her. His face falls, and he begins to look rather deep in thought, and it makes her a little scared. He's always been fairly talkative around her, a change from the quiet and intimidating aura she had received in the beginning. Nowadays, he was a senior that was a little awkward, but genuine. And even a little cute when he wants to be.
And those thoughts scare her. They scare her in the way that she doesn't like the idea of her thinking them, but they also scare her in a way that she can't think what he'd say if he found out about it.

So she racks through her mind; has she done something to upset him recently? Without even thinking, she blurts it out.

"Are you mad at me?" She needs to know. Has she done something wrong?

"Huh?" The shock in his tone says otherwise. "Oh, no. I'm sorry.."

He begins to scratch his head, and his deep grey eyes scan the area in an almost worried fashion.

"Look, you don't need to tell me if you don't want to... But I wanted to know if it was true that you're going out with Junpei."

..That wasn't what she was expecting, and she immediately waves her hands dismissively. "What!? No way!"

She doesn't even know why she's being so defensive about it–– why she doesn't want him to believe something like that. It bothers her a lot..

"Oh.. I'm sorry. It was just a rumour I heard." A rumour? So it wasn't something that Junpei had spread around jokingly... No, thinking that way goes against how he acts. He's a flirtatious idiot, but he wouldn't claim something like that. He had joked around with it, but he was very clear on his stance about getting rid of rumours like that.

"...Don't get the wrong idea, senpai." She doesn't know why she doesn't want him to think that way.

This clearly shakes him a little, as the surprise that had left his face returns, and he bows his head again in apology. "Sorry. It was bad enough that I listened to a rumour, but I even confronted you about it... It was rude of me. When we get back, I'll make sure to tell people off if they say it again."

That makes her a little happy, actually. "You don't have to."

"No, it's fine. I don't like rumours anyway." He nods rather seriously, but he seems to have brightened up a little bit, like a huge weight has been lifted off his shoulders. Could he have been worried about her..? "I'd ask if you wanted to go get some food, but I wouldn't know where to go.."

He sighs.

"When we get back, how about we go eat somewhere you want to go? My treat." She smiles, and she's elated by that decision. And he can clearly tell, as his cheeks flush a little in embarrassment. "What would you like to eat?"

"Something sweet!" She giggles. She hadn't eaten very many sweets since returning to Iwatodai– at least, not counting the ones that Yukari gave her.

"Something sweet, huh.. Yeah, that might be good for a change."

Kotone begins to jump up and down in excitement, and he can't help but laugh a little. She's like a little kid being told they can go to an amusement park. He didn't know someone could get so excited over sugary foods.

"Easy there. How 'bout we go see if the kitchen hands'll give us something to eat?" He holds out a gloved hand jokingly. "Shall we?"

And part of her wanted to take it, but she never did.

"We should get some for the other's too!"

July 22nd, 2009.
Daytime.

It was their third day of the Yakushima trip, so they'd all decided to take a trip to the beach, again. Even Aigis had come along, presumably so the group can get used to her, and get to know who she was.

"Man, it's already the third day of our trip.. It's too bad we have to go home tomorrow... I'd totally stay longer if I could.. " Iori pouts, skulking around the sandy beach with a childish air around him. Minato couldn't help but agree with him though, this vacation had been incredibly relaxing, and was exactly what they all needed. Soon, the goateed teen smiles. "But, I can't complain.. A lot of cool things happened while we were here."

"...How can he be so full of energy?" Akihiko groans. "We were all up so late last night..."

Aigis looks around, confusion painted on her face. "Do we have a mission at the beach today?"

"Nah, it's nothing like that. We just came to have some fun."

Fuuka, who seemed to have appointed herself as Aigis' helper, leans forward with a question on her tongue. "Do you understand what it means to 'have fun', Aigis?"

"Of course." Well, it had to be something in her programming.. It be a little weird if they taught her so many words and didn't at least give her that sort of basic knowledge. "Recreation is the refreshment of one's mind and body."

"Exactly!" Junpei snaps his fingers. "Wow, you sure know a lot about us humans."

He stretches out his arms, and excitedly runs into the water, dragging Aigis along with him.

"Alright, let's take one last dip before we leave!"

"Oh, hold on, Iori-kun.." Yamagishi speaks up, following them and stopping him in his tracks. "Is it okay for Aigis to go in the ocean?"

Yukari snorts, pulling her glasses up and pushing her bangs back. "Oh, I'm sure she's water-proof."

The teenage boy continues to play around in the water, but only Aigis returns back to the group.

"What's wrong, Aigis?"

She takes ahold of Minato's hands, and begins to drag him forward. "It is best that we all engage in this activity together. An activity in which only one person derives enjoyment is not the optimal method to 'have fun'."

The archer groans. "Ugh, do we have to?"

Despite her words, she follows the pair along with a smile into the water, excitedly playing along with the two. They splash and laugh, and are quickly joined by Mitsuru and Fuuka. The blue haired teen does take notice of how Ikutsuki arrives, still clad in his heavy looking suit, and begins to talk to his sister and Sanada.
...He can barely hear it from here.

"Are you enjoying yourselves?" He asks. "We've been quite busy during our time here, but it looks as if we can relax a bit today."

The silver haired boxer nods in agreement. "..I hope so."

Junpei, with his hands on the trigger to the water gun, yells out towards the two slowpokes.

"Hey, Sanada-san, c'mon! It's your turn!"

"...My turn? What are they doing?"

The chairman laughs. "I'm glad to see that everyone is having so much fun. I've already told you what time the ship will be arriving tomorrow, yes? I'll most likely head over to the port early, so don't be late."

"Okay, I'll let everyone know."

"We can get back to business again once we're back at the dorm."

"Got it."

Junpei cuts in once again, his pitch raising even higher. "Kocchan! Sanada-senpai!"

Akihiko can't help but laugh. "This again..? I guess we should go too, Kotone."

He watches as his sister laughs sweetly, and nods. "Okay!"

Minato's just glad they're back to normal after earlier this month. God, he thought they'd be in that weird silent period forever. It really made their missions awkward. But, soon the two run over, quickly discarding the clothing they had been wearing over their swimsuits and joined the rest of the group inside of the water. He nearly falls to his knees as his sister jumps onto his back in sheer excitement, a sun like smile on her face. He's glad she's able to have fun like this– especially without worrying about the nasty scars on her back. She used to be so afraid of beaches and pools because of it, but now she was having fun with everyone else.

"..You're heavy, Kotone."

"Not getting off! Junpei-kun'll hit me with the water gun if I do!" She huffs.

"He'll hit me then!"

Aigis seems to take this the wrong way, and prepares her weapons to fire. Junpei practically shrieks at her, grabbing her arms and pulling them down.

"Holy shit, Aigis, wait! That's not what 'water gun' means!" To his surprise, he's hit with a large spray of water instead of bullets. "Ack!"

He hits the sand underneath the water, and Fuuka begins to laugh almost uncontrollably.

"Iori-kun is down!"

Yukari too, seems to see what's going on here, and with a large, playful smile on her face, sends a wave of water at the poor teenaged boy. "Alright, here's our chance for an All-Out Attack!"

He chuckles a bit. "Let's do it."

The group all practically pile on, with Akihiko taking back the water pistol and sending a large spray into the other's face, sending his hat flying. He's attacked with plenty of water, and he's squealing his head off and trying to guard himself, though he's laughing the entire time.

"Whoa, whoa, time out! I seriously can't take much more of this!"

Everyone was having so much fun, and that makes him so genuinely happy. He really does enjoy being around these people. It's getting livelier and livelier with every new member, with every new event that comes at them. And he can't tell what'll happen next. That excites him, he's never had anything make him feel this way before. He's never had people he's felt committed to, not people that weren't his sister. He's never had a goal ahead of him like he does now.

That little voice rings in his head: The Fool Social Link has ranked up.

congrats now ur friends are ready 2 die for u

"ya cant do social links on the yakushima trip"
lmao watch me binch
ANYWAY im kinda angry i think i went thru and did the next part of akihiko's sl
without recording down what happens in my log which means
i'll have to watch a playthru of that part and thats a pain in my ass
bc i wont have the dates for when it happened
i dont even remember tho ... i'll have to check when i can
update: i checked. i was wrong, thank god

chapters short so i could wrap up the yakushima arc!
i hope y'all enjoyed..

also.. writingsoul.. my cheeks flared up the brightest red when i read ur review..
im so happy.. im so glad u like this fic and kotone.. its reviews like this that keep me goin

and grimreaper.. YIKES im sorry the dudes comin for u now. and thank u so much!
im working rlly hard to find more confidence in myself,
so i hope that sometime within this fic i'll be able to be a bit more confident in my writing.

i hope everyone enjoyed this one! it was very light and silly..
i loved this arc a lot