Yu's sword was buried hilt deep into the stomach of his opponent, who let out little more than a yelp in pain.

"I know who you are... I know what you're here for, and I know how true your words are. I am every bit what you said. However..."

The blade was then twisted, as he finally looked up to stare straight into his enemy's yellow eyes.

It disgusted him to see how better his Shadow looked, compared to himself, at that moment.

"I don't want you. You're the part of me I want to forget that exists. It's because of you that..." His voice quivered hollowly for a second. "That everything slipped away from me!"

The copy stared down at Narukami's battered frame. He was at length scarred, from thought to body: reduced to a husk, a shell of what was soon to fade away. His left arm had bent out of its shape and his midsection was badly gashed and bleeding, the wound leaving a trail of blood at his every step.

But he would not stop. Not at a battle. Not at a wound.

Not against his Shadow.

Not against his friend.

Teddie's body lay motionless by the wall, black blood trailing down his chin, washing away the red from the bites. His previously white suit then resembled the TV World's sky, red and black, along with being largely torn.

He was not getting up.

Another one slipped right through his fingers.

"I won't let you into my mind, anymore... Nothing will escape my grasp..." Yu looked at his Shadow's solid yellow eyes with a hatred he failed to show through his features, as much as he willed it to. Rather, his face matched the copy's in its unnatural impartiality.

He knew that. He felt that. That enraged him.

"Never again!" He roared, powered by the hate and anger rising up to his throat as he swiped his sword to the side with his only good hand, cutting through half of the Shadow's midsection.

Black tar stained the asphalt as the doppelganger staggered back and stared at the original.

"Huh... you say that as if you you even had the option of accepting me. Ironic..."

Yu would have shown confusion, if he could.

"You say you won't let anything escape, but you can't even keep yourself from leaving you... Pathetic, through and through.

Even as we speak, I can feel it. The end... of both me and you. You're slowly giving in. Soon you'll be beyond repair, and you know it to be true."

The Shadow cracked a pained laugh through its blank face as it dropped to a knee, not able to support its own weight anymore. "So, you broken toy, let me be the one to say this...

You are not me, anymore."

It said, before looking up and cracking a grin so condescending and self assured, it... it...

There was an anger beyond violence and words rising up within Yu, as he lunged forward with a scream and thrust his sword through the Shadow's mouth, impaling it by thrusting his sword into the asphalt behind the damned thing's head.

Staring down at his deed, Narukami didn't know what to think. His mind drew a blank as he pulled his sword back.

... Broken toy, huh?

The words echoed time and again in his empty mind.

He went to Teddie's body and pulled it by the hair, dragging his deceased friend away.


"Hey, Kanji."

"Hm?"

"Where did you learn how to do that?"

"What? Putting your shoulder back, you mean?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. Both Ma and my old man had to reallocate my shoulder a few times, back then. Hurts like a bitch, doesn't it?"

"You kidding? Of course it does." Yosuke replied with a laugh as he rubbed his shoulder and looked at Rise, expecting a result from her scan. She was still working on it.

Kanji looked away from the brunette. "Man up, boy..." He said aloud.

"Huh?" Hanamura was slightly puzzled. Was that directed at him?

"Uh... oh, no it's nothing. Sorry." Tatsumi replied. Rather vacantly, the leader might add.

"Hmph..." He threw the tall teenager a sidelong glance. Yosuke could swear the guy got weirder every time you looked at him... from the new ability to calm down, to the random strands of black hair. Eventually, he allowed his attention to move away from his underclassman.

Rise then dismissed her persona. "Senpai's closer, now, but not in this floor. He still hasn't moved. I sense Shadows in this floor, though..."

Yosuke sighed. That would be a problem.

"We can try to run, right?" Yukiko pitched in.

Kanji looked at her, but decided against saying anything.

"Yeah. We need to be ready for anything, though. I don't think we'll be able to run every time." The leader replied.

Amagi looked a bit downtrodden, but nodded. Just like that, they resumed their walk through the strange cave.

The only thing that changed from the floor above was the person to break the silence in the long corridors.

"So... was that really your Shadow, Yosuke?"

What was Chie talking about? Of course it-...

Wait.

"Yeah. You never did see my Shadow before, huh...?" Hanamura thought aloud. In fact, none of the people in that group had seen his Shadow. Thank God it didn't spout any of the things from back then...

But then again, they were his friends. He shouldn't have been afraid.

"Yeah. What did it tell you, back then? I'm kinda curious..."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, tell us, Senpai." Rise asked, tilting her head in the most persuasive way possible. "You saw all of ours, that's so not fair..."

Even Yukiko threw a curious look at him.

... Goddammit.

"Well..."

...

"So yeah. Basically I was just in for the thrill and because of jealousy..." Yosuke said, looking straight forward to avoid people's eyes. "Saki's death was just an excuse for me to try and play hero."

Everyone looked at him, but none knew what to say.

Chie was specially speechless. Not because she was mad or anything, but because only then she realized how little she knew him.

Even though they got along very well, that subject had never been touched on, he'd always kept it to himself. Only thing she knew was that Saki disliked him... and that was it. He also used to steer the conversation away from her insecurities, as well, but even though she didn't know why, she was never upset by it.

She couldn't say that was the first time she saw him so weak, no.

But that was surely the closest she ever felt to him. Granted, a small part of her wished that pleasure was all for herself, but that was okay.

Yosuke caught a glimpse of the concerned furrowing of her eyebrows, then at everyone else.

"... But I'm okay, now." He started. "A lot of that has been dealt with, already, thanks to you guys. If it wasn't for you all, I wouldn't have moved an inch... specially you, Chie." He said, turning towards the girl.

"Hm?"

"You helped me get through a lot, believe it or not. From our training to our talks... even the way you protect Yukiko made me move forward. I was't kidding when I said you were a friend I didn't wanna lose, so... thanks a lot for that." He finished, averting his eyes again.

Chie looked at him. She couldn't believe how much he kept inside. Although... he had Yu. The guy probably knew all of his problems.

But why was she so baffled, even if he kept everything from him?

Maybe because she was able to help, even without knowing all there was to him?

Yeah, that was likely it.

It took her a while to notice just how far her smile stretched. Just then, she felt how important she was to him, and, consequently, vice-versa. To know that she had people who could make her feel like that... Not only him or Yukiko, but everyone else...

She thought for fraction of a second.

No. It wasn't everyone that could make her feel like that.

Yosuke looked at her red cheeks, but looked away again when he noticed she caught a glimpse of his eyes.

His glance snapped her to her senses, somewhat. "No problem!" She finally replied to him, punching his arm lightly. "You owe me a beef bowl, though."

"Ow!" The leader rubbed his hurt shoulder. "Dammit, Chie!"

I said 'somewhat'.

She gasped. "Oh crap, I'm sorry!"

Rise, who had been looking at the scene with an amused smile until now, chuckled. "Oh, I know just how you can apologize to him, Chie-senpai."

"R-Rise-chan!" The brunette pouted, looking at the red head, flustered as she'd never been.

Yukiko, who was walking by the idol's side for a change, cracked up. "You're redder than Kanji when when he..." She paused, but laughed in between her words to disguise the big landmine she had just dodged. "... chased us at the shopping district back in May."

"What do I have to do with anything?" Kanji asked.

Rise joined Yukiko in her laugh as Satonaka and Tatsumi turned way for different reasons.

Chie because of the incessant teasing.

And Kanji because of Amagi's lack of tact. She had to stick salt in his wounds... yeah, he noticed what she was going to talk about, and he appreciated the fact that she at least refrained from saying what she wanted, but... the damage was already done.

He sighed to himself as he looked up at the path before them, disconnecting from the conversation.

Yosuke looked at the bleach haired teenager, who was visibly upset. What was up with him...? That little moment of confusion ultimately worked out for him, because it washed the red away from his cheeks, if only slightly.

The walk continued with the light atmosphere created by the small talk, but it was slowly killed by Kanji's infectious silence.

Soon, they reached another door at the end of a corridor.

"There is a Shadow in there... everyone ready to run...?" Rise warned.

People nodded. Yosuke looked at the jacket actin as a sling, then tried to move his shoulder. Figuring that it'd only hinder him, he chose the future pain of removing it before casting a Masukukaja. After handing Kanji the wet jacket, he rolled his shoulder once. "Alright, I'm ready."

Everyone felt a little lighter, so they felt confident enough to follow Hanamura in.

With no more delay, he decided to break the mirror to give them entrance into the hall.

It was as big as the last floor's, and much like before, there was a huge cross standing in the middle of the room.

Only this time, Kanji was the one tied to it.

The bleach haired teenager scrutinized the copy with narrow eyes. Its hair was fully bleached and slicked back, and it was wearing the school uniform the way he used to.

Hm...

Yosuke thought about giving the command to leave it behind at once, but once he saw Kanji's still observation had contaminated the group, he chose to watch what they were going to do. Curiosity seemed to have gotten the better of him, as well.

The copy remained tied to the cross, motionless. It didn't show any sings of falling down like Hanamura's.

Tatsumi eventually went to the cross to see if he there was anything of notice on the copy's person, and sure enough, it held another mirror shard, much like the one he found after Yosuke's Shadow faded away.

People looked confused as he went to get it, but he explained that they could be useful in the long run, somehow. Not wanting to dispute it, they kept going their way, very much glad that Kanji's Shadow didn't go berserk for some reason.

They were but one step closer to Yu.


Cut. Welp, how was it? A breather, for a change, not sure how that came out since, you know, lighter scenes aren't really my forte. But you know what? The downward spiral continues.

Metal Vile: Thank you. Glad you think it's different from the others, that is definitely one of my objectives. :P Also, nice to see you enjoy it, hope you like the rest of the chapters, as well. Cheers. o/

Guest: You're welcome. In fact, thanks for accompanying and supporting the fic, thus far. o/

Oh, look. This has 50 reviews, now. Neat.

Now, ads:

Persona 3: Fallen messiah, and Bloodlust, by Nightly 7.

Persona 3: Alone In The World, by Changling96. These fics are on fire, and you should totally read them.

Welp, you know the drill. Critics and opinions in the review box below, I'm Raidou the 16th and, uh... *reads script* Hol' up. Did I forget something...? Oh, yeah.

"In Soviet Russia, Shadow denies Yu."

There. Now I approve this message. Later! *walks off to fire whoever wrote that joke*