One Last Chance

Chapter 26

Exams

"Hey, M-Minako!" Ema called out, running up to her as the Fool walked out of the Student Council Room. "There you are! I was looking for you," she said with a nervous smile. "I-I was wondering if you wanted to spend some time together."

From behind her, Minako heard Minato scoff as he walked away. "Sure," she said, wanting to kick her 'twin' as he walked away. "Where do you want to go?" Minako took Ema's hand, leading her down the stairs. "The sun's beginning to go down."

When the two walked out of the school, Ema looked down, taking her hand back. "Well...where do you want to do...?" Minako suddenly got an idea, smirking.

"I got an idea!" she snapping her fingers. "Karaoke!"

Ema walked out, blushing. "I-I'm sorry, I'm not a very good singer," she said, looking down. Minako put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, come on, you weren't that bad!" Minako said, squeezing Ema's shoulder. "I can't sing a tune to save my life."

Ema shook her head. "You were wonderful Minako-chan."

"Thanks!"

"W-Well, it's getting late, I should get back home, thank you for the wonderful afternoon," Ema bowed and walked off. For some reason, Minako missed the usual crack and the feeling of another social link rank up. It just completed these dates with her friends.

"Hey there, Minako, wanna head on to Tartarus?" Junpei yelled, running up to her the moment she stepped into the dorm. Minako blinked, staring at Junpei.

"Uh, you're a bit close..." Junpei took a step backwards. "No. You gotta study, don't you?" The cap-wearing teen grimaced.

"I THOUGHT YOU OF ALL PEOPLE WOULD UNDERSTAND!" Junpei proclaimed, clutching his heart as if he had been stabbed. It appears someone has been taking acting lessons from Minato.

Speaking of which... "where's Minato?"

"Oh, he said he was going to take a nap," Yukari said, rummaging through her notes, "before he decided if we were going to Tartarus or not. I don't think I wanna go today. The exams are coming up and all, and I'd rather study now than later," she said, twirling her pen.

"Shouldn't you be studying as well, Iori?" Mitsuru asked, looking up from her book.

"Oh! Uh..." Junpei looked around before grinning, his eyes settling on Minako. He put an arm around her. "Well, Minako-chan and I were planning on studying together, soooo..." he gave her a pleading look.

"All right."

"Sweet!"

Minato yawned as he walked downstairs. Shouldn't have had all of those soda cans. He had to admit, that nap refreshed him and he felt better than he had ever felt. Then he stopped, seeing Junpei, Yukari, and Minako all talking to each other, their notes on the table.

They looked like they were having fun.

With a scowl, he went back upstairs, hands in his pockets.

No one except Minako noticed him.

5/14/09

"Come on, let's go and play!" Maiko yelled out. Minako and Minako nodded. "What should we play?"

"Tag!" Minako said, smaking Minato's arm before running off with Maiko. "Minato's it!"

"Why you-!" Minato had a smile on his face as he ran after them.

The rest of the afternoon were filled with smiles and laughter and the feeling of a relationship growing stronger once more.

5/15/09

"Ugh! More studying?!" Junpei whined, looking at all the notes Minako had place in front of him.

"If you fail, then I will never forgive you," Minako said, annoyed at how much time she was spending trying to tutor Junpei. Yukari felt the same way, shooting him a glare every once in a while. "This is really important Junpei. Do you want Mitsuru to kill you?" The two glanced at Mitsuru, who continued to read her book.

Minato joined them this time. "Pan means bread, right?" Minato said, squinting his eyes to read Minako's tiny handwriting. Minako nodded. "Well, I'm confident I'll pass this test with flying colors, I am a genius after all," he took out a mini-chess set. "This proves it." he smirked at them.

"Tower," Minako said, rolling her eyes.

Minato narrowed his eyes, but that smirk was still on his face.

5/18/09

"The day of the test begins. Everyone is nervous, and-"

"Why are you narrating...?" Minako said as the group, Minato, Minako, Yukari, and Junpei walked together to school. "It's just a bunch of exams and we worked hard these past few days."

"COME ON JUNPEI!" Minako yelled, tackling him to the ground as Junpei made a break for the door.

"I CAN'T!" Junpei cried out, trying to crawl away.

"YES! YOU! CAN!" Minako said, dragging him by his feet back.

"NOOOO!"

Junpei frowned. "I still have bruises."

Minako giggled. "I'll make them permanent if you try to run away again during the midterms," she said, hugging him from behind, a fox-grin on her face. "Don't run away from me." she winked at him, running off to the school.

Minato cleared his throat. "And that's why I'm sure we're related," he said, a neutral expression on his face, walked ahead.

Junpei was sweating, staring at his test sheet. Thank you, Minako, he actually knew a few questions for certain. "Thank you thank you thank you," he whispered. For the most part though, he was a mess. He glanced at Minato, who was facedown on his desk, sleeping. The test started twenty minutes ago. "Damn that smart-ass..." Junpei said under his breath. He glanced at Yukari, who was filling out questions with a bored expression on her face.

Glancing at Minako...she was playing video on her DS out in the open. Nobody cared.

Life was just unfair.

5/23/09

Minako stretched as she stood up. She finally beat the Elite Four! Now Cynthia was the only thing that stood in her way. "Hey, Mina-chan!" Junpei said. "I think I actually did well...ish, on the exams!" he said, grinning. "Thanks for everything."

Minako smiled. "I'm glad."

"Dude, you really pulled through for me. Mitsuru might not kill me or anything."

CRASH!

The Magician Social Link suddenly reached rank 2. She blinked. "It's nothing, really." Minato was suddenly standing right behind her.

"Hey," he began. "We're going to Tartarus tonight. Akihiko's all better," he said, taking out his DS. "Also, Minako when you get beaten by Cynthia, remember that I want to challenge you to a battle."

Minako was fuming as she walked back to the dorms. DS ran out of battery just before the finishing hit.

Ema watched her from the other side of the train station as Minako walked away, putting her DS back in her bag. She never blinked or move from that spot for fifteen minutes.

"Be careful," Mitsuru said as they teleported to the floor.

Minato took out his evoker, grinning. "Time for payback!"

Thank you for reading.

Minako sat in her room, taking out her laptop. She stood up, peeking outside of her room, into the hall. It was 3:30 in the morning. No one made a sound. She walked back to her laptop, putting a CD inside. No one could ever know. She would never hear the end of it. A video began to play as she plugged in her headphones.

"MOON CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!"

"Go for it," she whispered, cheering her hero on.