To the mystery reviewer only known to us as Guest, I have no comment about your sickening feeling. I can only reassure you that I don't have the heart the heart to write rapists. Remember, this story is only rated T.
To Roxas Sandwich, thank you for the compliment. I adore Ken as well. Both as a little brother figure and as a love interest, I feel it could work either way. By the way, I've noticed most of your fics are in Indonesian, but you seem to have a good grasp of the English language as well. Perhaps you may translate some of your KH and Persona fics so that I may fall in love with them as well? Just a thought. I'm just very curious to read.
I've actually been thinking about writing a future fic (not set in the same universe as this fic) where Minako wakes up from the seal and has Akihiko, older!Ken and alive!Shinjiro fighting for her affections. And hey, to make matters even more fun, I may as well throw in P4 characters into the reverse harem too. Assuming I write it. The more I talk about it, the more interested I am about it.
And hey, akahana28 maybe you'd be interested in the whole love octagon. Not a love triangle. Love octagon.
Sorry for the long note. Now onto the story.
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*RING Your affection Your affection Taking pride from fear
Past will tell you when to make yourself a hero RING*
It was seven AM.
Seven fricken AM.
*RING Your affection Your affection Your affection
Past will tell you when to make yourself a hero RING*
"Augh!" Minako groaned into her pillow before blindly reaching out for the cellphone on her nightstand. Clumsily grabbing at the air before her hand even touched the table, she felt around for the item in question. Hearing something hit the floor, she groaned even louder. Now she actually had to get out of bed. All the while the phone continued to ring.
Reluctantly leaving the cocoon of blankets, she left the bed to gather her cellphone, clicking the answer button.
"Hello?" She answered groggily.
"That took longer than expected. I expect better than that, Arisato."
"…..Mitsuru….."
Oh crap. They hadn't spoken in so long. Minako should've sent her a status report ages ago. Not to mention the fact that the last time they spoke, Minako was still bitter over being denied permission to explore the TV world.
"Listen, Mitsuru….. I wanted to apologize…."
"It's okay, Minako. I understood you were simply frustrated."
"But that doesn't excuse my behavior. You're my friend and I don't want to alienate my friend."
"…..Thank you." Wow, Minako could practically hear her blush.
Onto the business talk.
"I'm sorry to report that there has been no new activity on the case. The murderer has been caught, but the Shadow activity is still off the charts. I'm afraid that unless we can explore the other world, we won't get anywhere with this investigation."
"I'm aware of that. I've contacted Yamagishi, however she is currently caught with prior engagements and is unable to travel to Inaba. And I'm afraid my abilities aren't up to par with hers anymore."
"Dammit! At this rate, Ken and I will grow old right here and the case still won't be done." Minako let out a frustrated sigh.
"Minako…. If you wish to return to Iwatodai, I can arrange it."
What? What was saying? Did she want to abandon the operation?
"No way. Ken and I started this and we're going to finish it. Even if I have to graduate high school twice."
" Hmmh." Mitsuru muffled a giggle. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
*DING DONG*
"Sorry Mitsuru, it looks like I got a visitor. I'll talk to you soon."
"Please take care of yourself, Minako."
"You too. Bye."
She ended the call and rushed downstairs to open the door, forgetting she was still in her pajamas. The sun blinded her a bit when she opened the door so she couldn't exactly see her unexpected visitor. She did recognize the voice.
"Minako-san?"
It was her neighbor, Yu. Her visions slowly cleared so she could see his face. It looked a little red….
"Are you blushing?"
Unlike his usual self, Yu seemed to be a little tongue-tied.
"Well you're um ….. you're wearing….."
Wearing? Huh? She looked down only to realize his dilemma. Trying to beat the heat, Minako opted to sleep in nothing but tiny shorts and a skimpy tank top. Just her luck.
"Shit." She cursed before shrugging her shoulders. Nothing she could do about it now. "Sorry, Yu. What's up?"
"Well, um... Rise wanted me to invite everyone out to the fireworks festival tonight. I was wondering if you and Ken-kun would be interested." Yu sputtered out, looking everywhere except at Minako. She resisted the urge to giggle. Teenage boys were so innocent.
"I'm game for it, but Ken's already going with his soccer friends."
"Okay, then I'll pick you up later this evening."
"Sounds good." Minako smiled. They said their goodbyes with a promise to meet outside her door at 6:30. After Minako closed the door behind him, she went straight back to bed. She had over ten hours until the festival, after all. Why not get a few more hours of sleep?
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"Ooh! The crowd's pretty thin here! Nice pick Yukiko-san." Yosuke called out, having been the first to climb up the stairs to the clearing ahead. Behind him in order were Chie, Kanji, Yu, Yukiko, Minako and in dead last, Rise who just barely made it before collapsing onto the ground.
"No more encores…" Which in Rise terms meant she was dead to the world. Well, this was as good a place as any to set up the blanket. Minako unraveled the large blanket from her tote bag and laid it out on the grass for everyone to sit on.
"Hey, good thinking." Yu said as he and Kanji managed to drag Rise off the itchy grass and onto the soft, inviting blanket.
"Yeah, if we only we brought some bentos…." Chie spoke offhandedly. "Mmmmhhmmm, or a picnic basket full of meat."
It's always about meat with her. She sounded like a carnivorous animal. Speaking of animals, where was Teddie? Minako could've sworn he was ahead of the pack with Yosuke. When she asked him, Yosuke mentioned something about revenge for whatever it was he did at the Hanamura breakfast table that morning. When Teddie came around to the clearing, even Minako felt a twinge of pity. Poor Teddie, always in his bear suit, was quite literally as fat as a pancake. When asked what it was that made him this way, he only mentioned a single name.
"Hanako…. Ohtani….."
Minako remained clueless while everyone else prayed for the safe return of Teddie's fluffy fur.
"Big bro!" A voice called out from behind. Realizing it was Nanako, Teddie ran off to change out of his now crushed bearsuit.
"Hey Nanako-chan! Looks like Dojima-san made it in time." Chie called out, thankful that the Dojimas could join them today.
"I almost didn't. I didn't quite finish my paperwork, but I figured Adachi could handle the rest." Dojima explained. Poor Adachi….
And lo and behold, shiny sparkly human Teddie popped out of nowhere, creepily hitting on Nanako. That, in turn caused an uproar among most of the teens who begged Teddie to shut his mouth in front of Dojima. Kanji's ears picked up on the sound of people cheering from far below.
"Sounds like it's heating up down there."
"Does that mean it'll be starting soon?" Yukiko's question as answered by the first bang of the fireworks show, which startled Nanako's sensitive ears. She shut her eyes in fright, but with a comforting pat on her shoulder from her big bro, she opened one eye and saw a beautiful array of colors light up the sky.
Instead of watching the show in the sky, Minako enjoyed the pure expressions on the teens' faces. It wasn't that long ago that she herself held that childlike wonder. How the time flies.
While she was watching the teens, she and Dojima made eye contact. He was also watching the teens in a state of nostalgia. He nodded to her, as did she. He seemed to share the exact same thought.
'How the time flies.'
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"Oh yeah… should we have asked that kid to come with us today?" Kanji wondered aloud after Dojima left with a sleepy Nanako.
"Kid? What kid?" Minako asked, unsure of who he was talking about. Did he mean Ken-kun?
"Uh, well….." Kanji got a little pink-faced. Before Kanji could start stuttering like an embarrassed schoolgirl, Yu finished his thought for him.
"You mean Naoto Shirogane?"
"Oh, him." Yosuke mumbled in recognition.
"Who?" Minako seemed to be the only person who didn't know Naoto Shirogane.
"He's the boy detective. We met him a little while back."
Rise, who'd regained consciousness a while ago, nodded her head solemnly. "I said some harsh things to him last time….. I'd hate to leave it like that…"
"You know," Chie started. "I remember him saying something that sounded pretty sad….."
"Really? Like what?"
"Like, after a case is done, the police don't need him anymore… he sounded like he was pretty lonely."
"Yeah, that does sound lonely….." Yukiko said softly, looking down at the ground. Everyone's expressions changed from happy to sad all at once. They all regretted the way they left things with Naoto. They did technically work on the same case together after all. In a way, they were the same.
Of course, Minako didn't know that. Nevertheless, she spoke the first thing that came to her mind.
"Why not just befriend him?"
"Huh?" was the collective word of the group. Minako explained herself.
"Well, Rise said herself that she felt bad for treating him harshly. Why not just play nice with him? Say you're sorry."
"We…. We wouldn't even know where to start."
"I just said it. Say you're sorry for whatever it was you said. You obviously feel bad right?" Rise nodded her head. "Then there's your answer. If you didn't feel bad, there's no reason for his name to pop into your heads. But you guys obviously think about him. Don't think of it as a pity friendship or anything like that. Just….be nice."
"She's right you guys." Yu backed her up. "We can at least do that much."
"He did help us out a teensy bit." Yukiko thought a bit.
"Not to mention he's not that bad looking of a guy. The girls would have a field day with him."
"Oh damn, you're right. He'd need people backing him up then."
"Then it's settled. Operation: Make Naoto Shirogane Feel Right Home is in effect!"
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Blegh I don't like the ending but I had to stop it somewhere.