"Have you ever thought about what happens when you 'kill' a Shadow?" Minato heard Masashi ask.
Minato sighed. "Is now really the time for you to be having a faux philosophical conversation with me?" he muttered to himself. He transitioned to using Whispers and spoke, "I haven't, no. I've been more occupied with trying to keep myself alive in the past. Why?"
Masashi hummed lowly. "Well, I mean… Shadows don't just disappear when you kill them, you know. They're supposed to be a huge part of someone's personality; that isn't something that can just go away."
"You… You do have a point," he observed. "Then when they do disappear, or appear to die, are they not actually dead?"
"I was thinking more like they were reincarnated into a lesser version of themselves which isn't as dangerous as their original forms," Masashi replied. "Like waking up as a baby, no memories of what happened before, but then the whole wanting to kill Persona users comes back to them naturally.
"I'm surprised I'm not doing the sa—"
"Shh. I need to concentrate for a moment."
Rounding the corner, Minato frowned slightly as he lost sight of that lovely, Supreme Hand Shadow, and the large chunk of yen he was anticipating. He sighed and continued to walk, but just as he took another step, a glint of brightness fluttered in the blood-covered cobblestone.
"So that's where the little bastard escaped to," Minato muttered to himself.
Masashi interrupted, "So… Is it just to destroy other beings for monetary gain?"
Just as quickly as the flash of gold dashed into his line of sight, a black something swallowed it up with a low growl. "Shut up Masashi. You're the one with a SAW for a body."
Fuuka gasped. "It's a powerful Shadow! Be on guard, Minato-kun!"
"No need to tell me twice," he growled to himself, searching for the offending beast in the murk ahead. The echoes of the roar bounced off the apartment walls, hammering into every side of his skull. Where the hell was it coming from?
It appeared, then disappeared... Clearly, it wasn't any ordinary, unintelligent Shadow. It was strong too, and somehow, Minato could see why. He almost wanted to try and bring it under his control, but as it was, a kill wouldn't be so much of a loss either.
Then, there was the sound of claws cutting through the air.
Diving out of the way, the wall behind him exploded as the ambushing Shadow pulled a ball and chain out of the remains. His feet had automatically kicked into motion, managing to move him out of the way of the charging attack. He glanced at the debris. Minato would rather not linger on the consequences.
After recovering from the evasive manoeuver, he threw the piece of paper in the direction of the beast. He didn't even have time to think about the creature he released; he just sent someone to do something.
In mid-air, he could see that... Oh nice, it was a Cupid. Maybe he'd be lucky enough to charm the beast and eventually bring it to his si—
The black animal turned around and stood on its hind legs, before bringing both of its paws down on the Cupid, pinning it to the ground before chomping its head off in a single, remorseless motion.
Minato raised his eyebrows. He could barely see what it was before because it was too damn fast. Circling around the beast as it continued to maul the Cupid Shadow, Minato flicked his compendium open to a familiar set of pages and assumed his usual slouched posture. He tore a set of the lowest-level spells in his arsenal out before tossing them into the air. Fire, ice, lightning, and wind began whirling about the beast. Noticing the odd sounds, the lion darted away from the onslaught of spells.
What a pesky little bugger…
Distracted by the remains of the Cupid Shadow (Masashi's words were beginning to take greater root in his mind), the lion let out a bloodcurdling roar, forcing Minato to cover up his ears, baring its fangs, blacker than its hide.
How he wished it could have stayed that way for a bit longer...
Now he had two things in his hands: A compendium and a problem.
"Fuuka, have you finished?" he asked, already opening the book once more, now to search for a specific Shadow.
"I'm almost there!" she squeaked.
The beast now seemed to be getting ready for something, and that gave Minato the time he needed to rip Kishimaru's page from the compendium. The knight appeared by his side, brandishing its lance wordlessly.
Soon enough, the beast glared at the two, its eyes glowing brighter and redder than they were before (what Minato thought impossible), and pounced forward, aiming to rend the two asunder.
To achieve that effect, the lion leaped forward and spun in the air, dodging a lance thrust in its way. Following the motion, the feline extended its claws on both paws and attempted to tear the two apart with two simultaneous slashes as it passed them by.
Minato was fast enough to barely hop out of harm's way with little more than a scare, while the knight had black tar running down its armour, after that strike.
He didn't even have time to worry about his partner's situation, however, as the beast skidded to a halt and immediately turned around; not only to get its enemies in its field of vision again, but to swing the floating ball towards its inevitable targets.
Minato was first in line.
Without time to react, he was slammed aside by the wrecking ball. Snarling in pain, he skittered, and hit his head against the ground.
"Minato-kun!" A gasp and a call for his name echoed in his head.
To be completely frank... Fuuka could be doing things more useful than screaming his name in worry, as much as Minato appreciated the concern. As he struggled to regain his bearings, he looked up at Kishimaru and decided that maybe putting out a random purified Shadow out on the line without a plan was a terrible idea.
The beast pounced again and leaped forward, this time to pin him to the ground much like it did the Cupid, but despite his pain, he managed to roll back to his feet and hopped back to avoid the creature's grip as it landed on the exact spot where he was just at.
He was afraid he wouldn't be able to do much on his own, there. That thing was huge... He doubted striking it head on would be a good idea.
Come on, Fuuka...
The beast eyed him again, and the vicious glow returned to its eyes. The ball tied to it began floating again, as well.
Nothing but trouble, he saw.
"I got it!" Fuuka exclaimed. Finally! "Its name is the Nemean Beast, and it's weak to fire and dark!"
"Thanks," Minato responded curtly—maybe it was from his nerves. That reminded him to let go of the air he'd been holding since he stood back up, and that little breather managed to calm him down a little; enough to think of his next move.
Whipping out another piece of paper, he summoned an all too familiar companion. Continuing to back up, he tossed it on the cobblestone alley, steeling himself against its all too threatening growls. The Nemean Beast continued to stalk forwards, its claws gleaming malevolently, its shackles, maliciously.
Hopefully… "Come on!" he taunted.
The beast leaped towards him, straight over the trap Minato had set. With a series of sharp hand movements, a burst of flames erupted from beneath the Nemean Beast, its eyes wide as it realised its mistake.
As the Shadow was blasted back, Sho leapt from his page form and rushed towards the beast, too fast to care about the glow emanating from its ball. "Sho, be careful!" Minato warned, managing to catch the sign.
Flipping forward once, the Nemean Beast hurled the ball towards the raging Brave Wheel. Heeding Minato's warning, Sho drifted away from the attack and embedded himself into the beast's now defenceless body. Minato gritted his teeth as he too leaped away from the God's Hand attack the Shadow had just thrown at him.
The flames and force splattered the beast's blood across the pavement, a dark rain of ichor now spreading.
"Heh. I got you, bruh!" Sho yelled, all too ecstatic at their victory.
Good to know, Sho. Good to know. Minato breathed out a sigh of relief as he recalled the Shadow into his compendium.
Fuuka breathed out a sigh of relief. "That was close…"
"Is that teamwork?"
He shook his head. Once again, asking tremendous questions at precisely the wrong moments. Still, Minato decided to indulge Masashi. "Yeah. I'd suppose it was."
…
Junpei himself felt satisfied with the last day of summer. A few nights ago, they'd finished climbing up to the next barrier, and it seemed that the previously fragile team dynamic and their teamwork was on the mend, somehow.
He went back to the same spot. Maybe Junpei would meet her again and if she wasn't there, then tough luck. There was always the manga café to take refuge in.
"So, we meet again, huh?" It seemed luck was on his side that time.
Not looking up, the girl replied, "That's because you keep coming back."
Now was as good a time as any to introduce himself, right? "I'm Junpei. What's your name? Do you live around here?" She didn't respond and simply got up to leave after closing her sketchbook shut. "Hey wait! Your hand!"
She kept walking.
"I said, 'Wait'! You're hurt!" Junpei repeated. Glossy red blood trailed from the inside of her palm, and the rivulets coursed down into his sight.
"What is it with you?! Why don't you mind your own business?!" She clenched her teeth.
"But, you're bleeding, for cryin' out loud!" he implored, grabbing a hold of her hand. "C'mon, show me your hand. You need to put some pressure on it." The wound didn't look deep exactly, but it was definitely enough to draw quite a bit of blood.
The girl furrowed her brow as Junpei examined it. "Why are you in such a panic?"
"Are you crazy? Anyone would freak out over this. You need to see a doctor." She couldn't hide her flinch. "You want me to go with you?"
She just stayed silent awhile before snatching her hand back. "You're weird." There she went, walking again. "Chidori."
"Huh?" Junpei blinked, first at her, then at the remnants of the bleeding on his hand.
"That's my name. You asked, right, Junpei?" So she still paid attention although it seemed she was ignoring him, huh? "I'm almost done with the picture. I doubt you'll understand it, but if you want to see it, then you know where to find me."
Somehow, he didn't have the heart to follow her.
…
Leave it to the start of the second semester to kick start a new whirlwind of activity.
Ever since the first time she'd met Aigis, she'd been mystified by the girl. It would be more appropriate to think of her as an android that possessed an astoundingly advanced AI and she was definitely curious as to how it was she functioned in such a human-like manner.
It was enough that the chairman was curious enough to want to 'study her behaviour in a social environment', but with the way things were going then… Well, Fuuka was less than hopeful to say that Aigis would succeed in assimilating to their school and their ways of life.
Junpei just grinned. "Well, as far as I'm concerned, it's a great idea… Just look at how cute she is in that uniform!"
"Of course you'd say something like that…" Minato muttered to himself as he formulated a way to somehow get past Aigis and to his room. His comment was in response to Junpei, who'd been complimenting Aigis' apparent cuteness in the uniform. Guess he might've forgotten that she was an android for a minute. Her next sentence served to bring them back to reality.
"The camouflage Fuuka-san has provided me with seems to be the appropriate size."
Fuuka hid her face in her hands. Camouflage? There went her hope.
If he walked past now, the probability of her attempting to grab him in an uncomfortable manner (it was hugging, but Minato would never admit it as such) would be somewhere around ninety-one per cent or something like that.
"It looks very natural on you; no one will suspect a thing. But, why does he want you to go to school? It's not like there's anything special about it." Even Ken, as mature and precocious as he might come off, was no stranger to the boredom that sometimes accompanied school. It was even more so, since it was harder for him to talk to other children around his age when he wasn't being open with his interests.
Aigis turned towards him. "With the commencement of the second semester, I intend to synchronise my schedule with the other members'." She gestured to the second-years gathered in the lounge. "If I were to remain here on standby, it could delay our deployment. Therefore, I request to accompany our squad leader."
Minato had to hide a scoff. Of course it was another excuse for her to 'stay by his side'. He already had a girlfriend; he didn't want to complicate things with Sachiko if she saw Aigis wandering around and trying to stalk him. He shivered at the thought.
"Your body temperature has dropped by approximately point two of a degree. Is something wrong, Minato-san?" Aigis somehow had the speed to come over while he was lost in thought and touch his neck. He immediately, and I mean immediately, recoiled from her touch, scratching at the afflicted area.
"Delay our deployment?" Yukari rolled her eyes. "Won't you going to school create more… problems?" She gestured in the general direction of the cringing Minato and Aigis, who was attempting to poke him and gather data on his body temperature.
And he was dodging as best as he could without too much movement!
"I will make any necessary adjustments as problems arise."
Aigis didn't even look to reply to Yukari directly.
Koromaru barked and circled Minato, then Ken, then Fuuka, Junpei and Yukari—he nuzzled the latter's leg affectionately. "He said, 'I want to go to school, too'," Aigis informed, still not ceasing her assault on Minato.
Yukari patted Koromaru. "Sorry Koro-chan… You have to stay here."
He gave a whine in response.
"Why is Minato-kun…?" Fuuka mumbled to herself. Minato's movements were becoming even more erratic as he sprinted around the couch and tables.
While Junpei laughed, Yukari furrowed her brow as she tried figuring out just what was wrong with him. His reaction when she touched his neck was like… "Oh my god. Minato-kun!"
"W-What?" he stammered. And he was caught. Aigis poked Minato's neck, making him twitch towards and away from her.
Yukari snapped her fingers. "Minato-kun, I never would've pegged you on this but…" He stared at her, blinking owlishly as Aigis calculated aloud his body temperature to be back to normal. "Are you ticklish?"
He chewed on his lip. Crap.
…
With Aigis at school, how could he ever avoid any more rumours? She was metaphorically and literally uneducated: Uneducated enough that she wouldn't know any better not to say something like, 'This spot will be perfect... Because I wish to always be by his side,' while she was being introduced to the class.
Thankfully, and surprisingly, Akihiko was his saviour from the barrage of rumours and Aigis' stalking methods for that day. He confirmed the text he received from his senior, detailing to meet him after school at the gates for something of apparent importance.
"There you are. There's something I have to do, and I want you to come with me," Akihiko explained briefly, already beginning to set off.
He followed him with a sigh. Akihiko might drag him along regardless. Might as well know why. "What for?" Minato asked. "I thought you would've asked someone else."
"We're going to get someone. An old member," Akihiko explained firstly. "But the reason I'm asking you to come along is because you were pretty much leader before you delegated yourself to patrolling. As much as I wanted to bring along Mitsuru, I think she's kinda busy today."
"R-Right… And you think I'll help in getting this old member to join." Minato deadpanned at Akihiko.
Akihiko chuckled. "Well, if nothing else, he'll probably want to size you up himself."
Size him up? Geez.
Minato followed him to the ramen shop in Iwatodai Strip Mall (he now had some serious ramen cravings and it was definitely Akihiko's fault), where he saw a beanie-wearing teen exit.
Shinjiro looked up at the both of them, his neutral expression turning to one of disgust. "You're getting on my nerves!"
Akihiko frowned. "The situation has changed. Sorry, but this time, I'm not asking." The briefcase he was holding onto was thrust towards him.
The command from his usually, more passive friend, made Shinjiro's eyes widen. He either had to have some balls, lost more brains than was good for him, or had something serious happen. He was almost sure it was a combination of all three. "What?"
"This belongs to you. We have a new enemy. They're Persona users, like us," he tried to coax at first.
He scoffed. As if that would change anything. Typical Aki, getting worked up about their new enemies and whatever. "There's more.
"Ken Amada has joined our team."
That's when he stopped in his tracks, frozen. "What the hell are you talking about?" he snarled.
"He has the potential, and Ikutsuki-san has okay-ed it. He's now a Persona user," Akihiko explained further, waiting for his friend's response.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Shinjiro muttered before turning back to face Akihiko and Minato. "Let me ask you one thing… Was it his decision to join SEES?"
He nodded. "Yeah. He volunteered."
Shinjiro sighed. "Well… Then, count me in…" Minato immediately wondered what Ken's relationship to them was, but decided not to voice that concern. "So, are you the one leading the operations now? If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you fighting for?"
Minato was eyed by his steely glare. "I don't think it matters to you."
He snorted in amusement. "You're right. I don't. You do your thing. I'll do mine."
Akihiko's eyes widened, impressed at how quickly Minato was able to get a grasp on Shinjiro's personality to respond in that way. "Well then. Your old room's still available, so you can get settled in right away."
"Looking forward to it," Shinjiro said flatly.
Right.
…
"Here you go…"
After handing Elizabeth his satchel of Shadow remnants, he slumped into the lyre chair. "Ooh, thank you, Minato." She smiled as she rummaged through it, nodding at the contents.
Something had been on his mind. And for once, it wasn't her. And no, it wasn't the fact that Igor was mysteriously absent from the room. "Hey."
She kept muttering, "Ooh, Tiara's Hair—five of them! And four Knight's Reins…"
"Um, Elizabeth?"
She looked up at him after emptying the bag into a box. "What is it?"
"You know… about other Shadow Whisperers, right?" Minato furrowed his brow.
Elizabeth nodded. "Indeed. And not just Sachiko-san, am I correct?"
"Yeah…" Minato gave a sigh. What should he do?
"Are you unsure of something, Minato?"
He folded his arms. "Sachiko had warned me about another group of Shadow Whisperers. The next Dark Hour, since I'd been resting from that Tartarus run…" Minato pursed his lips. "I saw some people outside the dorm. And I could hear them speaking to me in Shadow Whispers."
She sat down… in Igor's usual spot. "Welcome to the Velvet Room. What are your troubles, Minato-sama?" His lips pursed in annoyance. He'd already had so much trouble dealing with Yukari and Junpei teasing him about him being ticklish and that wasn't even mentioning the fact that Aigis was in his classroom, still on about the whole 'I must stay by his side' schtick.
"They asked me to… join their group. With Strega and all," he answered after a moment.
…
There was one of them in plain view. "Minato-kun," Kishimaru whispered.
Reluctantly, Minato opened the window. He could hear it faintly before, but it had been lost through the glass. The cold made him reluctant. This was even worse than the visit that Pharos gave him a few days ago, reminding him about the next full moon.
He knew that even if people were still watching him on grounds of 'observing his behaviour' like he had the feeling Ikutsuki would have no qualms implementing, they wouldn't be able to hear or translate a thing of what he, or this person was saying, regardless of the way he acted. "Is it you?" Minato asked.
His jaded eyes met Minato's stone ones. "Yeah. Kishimaru," he breathed out, watching his breath fog up.
Minato recalled the mass of Shadows he escaped from. He hadn't forgotten. He also hadn't forgotten about who Kishimaru was and why he knew him. That persuaded him to say, "What are you here for?"
Blunt and straight to the point, as always. Kishimaru's mouth set in a line as he suppressed some fading nostalgia. "You know who I'm aligned with. Those other people; Takaya-san and Jin-san. Along with Strega, the other three Shadow Whisperers and I have free reign in the Dark Hour by our command of Shadow Waves."
Taking his pondering as an invitation to continue, Kishimaru did just that. "We… want you to join us." Minato narrowed his eyes, but said nothing, waiting for his seeming friend to elaborate on the why and their motivation.
"We are working together as a team to prolong the Dark Hour," Kishimaru stated. "Eliminating SEES is a part of that effort."
His fists tightened and his brow furrowed. "Are you telling me this just because of your goal? Or because you don't want me to get hurt as part of it?"
He snorted. "A little bit of both." Kishimaru paused. Then chuckled. "Heh. I want you to join. We have some catching up to do, don't we?
"How our lives went in that ten year timespan. How we might've suffered. I don't really remember you smiling a lot back then either. Were you… happy while you were away?"
Minato flinched on his emphasis and the wry smile Kishimaru had. "I know your powers. I won't discriminate. None of us will. We'll welcome your power and you can put that sorry bunch behind you."
"They're getting better," he said firmly. Was he patient enough for them to fully accept them when they—his friend—was waiting for him with open arms? "Kishimaru, I don't know if now is the time for me to be thinking about betraying them. I'll give it some thought, but no promises."
He just laughed, mirthlessly. "No, I understand. But… come whenever. Back of Port Island Station. You know the place."
…
"Then, he left me alone." Minato closed his eyes as he leaned back in the lyre chair.
Elizabeth seemed thoughtful. "I'm surprised that you're coming to me for consultation, Minato, but I suppose Sachiko-san has already made her stance on the matter quite clear." She turned back to him with a gleaming gaze. "But alas, you have made your decision. Would you like to hear my opinion? I only hope you are sober enough in your mind, in this place, that you will not disregard what I say."
Minato furrowed his brow. "Uh…" He had a feeling he knew what she was talking about.
"Be careful. Always, always re-evaluate what you think. You may never know what your thoughts truly are, and which the voices of someone else are if you don't think everything through," Elizabeth warned.
"Think deeply. Re-evaluate, always. Listen to your heart, if you can. Maybe you will find what you are looking for."
His mind wandered back over to his little brother friend. "Thank you."
Edited: 16/12/16
AN: Just a redone lead up to the Hermit. To make up for removing the fight scene using Masashi, I decided to have a bit of bonding time with him instead.
A huge thanks to Changling96 and Raidou the 16th for contributing to this chapter! They were the beautiful sons of guns who wrote the beginning fight scene for me. I just meshed their two accounts together and added some dialogue, so yes! Many thanks to the two of them! Otherwise, this chapter would be very much fight-less, and that's a sad kind of lead up chapter.
Btw, as Changling96 so graciously told me, a SAW is a squad automatic weapon.
Thanks so much for reading and hope you enjoyed the chapter!