Author note: Hey folks! I wanted to do some wallpaper involving Hamuko and Minato, but I don't have any ideas :/ SO! If you guys want to see some scene drawn or something (not in the dumb style of those little comics I make, but as in, with some actual effort) just tell me. No I won't draw smut 8U
Awkward silence was the only thing that happened between the Fools during that morning and part of the afternoon. Hamuko had decided to throw a silent fit about the complete ruin her one month long plans had become, and Minato knew better than to speak to her for as long as it lasted. He decided to try and break the ice once she went from twitching with rage to just wanting to punch something.
"So uh… Mitsuru-senpai told me that the Chairman has discovered a relation between the proximity of the full moon and the number of Lost…"
"Really?" Hamuko spoke with indifference. "Poor guys."
"And… She also told me that we'd be subject to observation in Tartarus next time we go…"
"Sucks for us..."
"Hamuko…" Minato glanced around before wrapping his arms around her -they were still in school, after all. It was now time to go on full soothing mode. "I'm also sad about the fact that the full moon mission will take place on Tanabata, but don't let it get to you…"
"But… BUT… IT'S SO UNFAIR!" The brunette decided to voice her thoughts and then proceeded to bury her face on his shirt. "I wanted us to spend Tanabata together! It's not asking for so much, geez!"
"Don't worry about that…" He whispered in a husky voice as he stroked her hair softly. "Forget Tanabata, we can sleep together any night you want, my love…"
"What?" Hamuko pulled away, looking rather shocked. "You think that's all I wanted? To sleep with you?"
Minato considered not answering that. "…Did you want anything else?"
"I wanted to spend Tanabata with you! That ain't only sleeping together!" She yelled, furious -she stopped doing so after realizing that their conversation could be heard by people walking around the contiguous corridors. "If that was all I wanted to do with you I'd have asked you to stay yesterday!" A sigh escaped her lips. "I… I wanted to do things like writing wishes on tanzaku and then burn them together during the Festival and later have a walk around the place... You know, just do stuff and have fun together. And when it got late we coulda gone stargazing or something and afterwards… That…" A soft shade of pink tinted her cheeks and she glanced away, embarrassed. "A-anyway, Tanabata isn't any night because it's a special night, and since it's special I wanted to spend it with you because you're special to me, and that makes you special so being with you would have made Tanabata more special than it already is!" She looked at him with glazy eyes. "…That last part didn't make any sense, did it?"
"Not really, but..." A smile appeared on the bluenet's face. "I understand what you're saying."
"R-really?" Hamuko gaped. "That's awesome! I don't get it myself!"
"I'm sure that one day you will... Until then…" He put a hand over his heart. "I swear that I'll find a way to do something special with you on Tanabata. And I stick to my word."
The Fools would have loved to speak about ruined plans and unlikely promises the entire afternoon, but Minato had promised Kenji that he'd go have some ramen with him and Hamuko was going to arrive late to the Cooking Club.
Kenji was too silent all the way to Iwatodai. So silent that he couldn't avoid telling everything as soon as they arrived to the station.
"H-Hey, man... I was gonna tell you this when we got to the ramen shop, but now's as good a time as any..." He took a deep breath. "I've decided to go to Kyushu with Emiri, so this'll be my last bowl of ramen, dude."
Minato's eyes widened and he was left speechless. What? Kenji was leaving? …And it had been his fault for leaving him to do the thinking alone? "K-Kenji, you can't-!"
Before he got to finish that phrase, Kenji spoke again. "What the-? Is that Emiri...?"
Minato looked in the direction Kenji was pointing. Near the train platform, Ms. Kanou and a man were speaking –at a really close distance.
"Who's that she's with?"
They weren't too far from the couple, so they could easily hear pieces of their conversation.
"...I didn't think he'd get so..." Ms. Kanou spoke in a low voice. "He's just a kid... He must have misunderstood my... I thought he'd be relieved that I was being transferred... He said he wanted to... The other students are..."
"...It won't be much longer..." The man's voice was rather deep. "I'll pick you up... On our wedding night..."
"I can't wait either..."
Some sobs attracted Minato's attention.
"...I didn't even know she was leaving today..." Kenji seemed about to cry. "I thought we'd be together forever..."
"Kenji…" Minato muttered, furrowing his brows in concern. "It's okay man, don't be sad because she played with you. It's happened to everyone…"
"I don't care about the others!" Kenji yelled. "Why are you trying to make me feel better? I'm an idiot. You should be laughing at me!" Tears began running down his cheeks. "Ugh! I'm such an idiot! A stupid, stupid idiot. I should've known this would happen...!"
"I've been there, man. Really, feelings are a bitch…" Fortunately, it got better for him.
"B-but still…" The brunet cried even more. "Why, Emiri? WHY?"
Under Minato's intent gaze, Kenji dried his tears with the back of his hand and began laughing and sniffing to try and hold back more sobs. "Oh, man... Now my nose is running... Hahaha..." He took a deep breath. "Hey, thanks, Minato... If you weren't here, I'd..."
"Don't say nonsense. You have to face this head on." As he pated Kenji's shoulder, Minato could feel that he had grown much closer to his classmate. The Magician Social Link consequently reached level 9. "Sun will shine again, don't worry."
Kenji nodded slowly. "Y-you know what? I don't feel like ramen anymore… L-Let's go home..."
Minato decided to walk Kenji to his dorm, hesitant to leave his friend in such a state. Despite the brunet kept claiming that he could go alone and was perfectly fine, Minato was sure that deep down he was thanking him for the company.
"Hey Minato!" Junpei yelled as he peeked from the entrance of the kitchen. "Fuuka-chan and Hamu-chan made cookies!"
"Come get some before Akihiko-senpai and Hamuko eat them all!" Yukari laughed.
"I don't know why, but they taste like sugar pancakes, alright?" The silver haired boy shouted back. ...That was probably Fuuka's doing.
"Um… Sorry, but I'm not feeling hungry." Minato excused himself and walked upstairs.
"Huh…" Hamuko saw him walk upstairs. "What's wrong with him?"
"Maybe he's sad because he can't go to the Star Festival." Akihiko commented offhandedly as he munched a cookie. "Didn't you know that the next full moon will be on July 7th?"
"Yeah, I had heard something about that." The girl did her best not to sound hurt. "I should go see what's wrong with him, but… It's time to go to work…" She took the box with the sugar cookies she had made. "I'm taking this with me. Sorry, everyone!"
Hamuko made a silent vow not to speak about Minato at work after Mimi tried to act like the cool big sister she never had and give her what she called 'unwanted advice on the most awkward topic ever!' …And that was just what it was. So unwanted and awkward in fact, that Hamuko decided to blame that talk for the little insomnia she had that night –it was better than admitting to herself that she couldn't sleep because she wanted to see Minato cross her door, tell her whatever was on his mind and then finish what they started the night before.
Somewhere in the floor below, a boy with indigo hair was thinking exactly the same. Well, not exactly, he was also regretting not having had dinner before going to bed, but that was secondary.
"Ah… That last class was so boring…" Hamuko couldn't prevent herself from yawning. "Oh well, lunch break at last!" She revolved the contents of her school bag until she found a perfectly packed bento box which she dropped on poor, zoned out Minato's head.
"Ouch!" He yelped. "What the hell was that for?"
"I saved a few cookies for you yesterday." She pointed to the box which was on the edge of the table. Minato looked at it with disdain. "I know you like chocolate better, but no one says no to home made cookies and lives to tell it!"
"I'm sorry, Hamuko." Minato rescued the package from falling and pushed it back to her. "I really don't feel like eating."
"What's wrong?"
"…" He tilted his head towards Kenji. The brunet was resting his head on his desk, looking incredibly depressed. This contrasted with his usual moronic self, the Kenji who was always doing something dumb with Junpei or telling some stupid joke. "Ms. Kanou was playing with him all along. Apparently she was engaged. We discovered it yesterday as she was about to take the train to leave with her fiancé."
"Oh my gosh…" Hamuko covered her mouth with a hand. "Poor boy… Will he be alright?"
"I don't know. He's completely destroyed." The bluenet slammed his fist against the desk, nearly sending the package to the ground. "I could have prevented this! I should have stopped him from flirting with her when I had the chance!"
"I don't think that'd have changed anything." She replied with a hint of sorrow in her voice. "You'd have probably only managed to upset him."
"Well, yes. But he wouldn't be in that state."
"You don't know that… And anyway, you can't change the past, can you? You'll hafta keep looking forward, and be there for Kenji to help him overcome this." Hamuko punched the air. "I'll be there to help too! Cheer up!"
"…You're right." A smile broke forth in Minato's face. "And there I thought that I was more of the advisor type than you."
"Well… I know a trick or two too!" She snuck her tongue out at him. "So, now you're okay… Are you gonna eat those cookies, or will I have to feed them to you?"
"Well, I wouldn't mind about the later if we weren't in school…"
Before Hamuko could even raise and eyebrow at that comment, Burn my Dread began blaring out from Minato's mobile phone –fortunately, there was no teacher in the room to confiscate it.
"Huh… A message from Yuko. …She wants to go with me to Chagall later…"
"Oh…" Hamuko glanced away. "It's been a while since you two last hanged out together…"
"It's been kind of awkward between us since she kicked me out her house…Well, replace 'kind of' with 'painfully'. I wonder what she wants…"
"I don't…"
It had been a while since Minato last met anyone other than Hamuko at Café Chagall. For some reason he felt that coffee was more enjoyable at night that at that time of the day. Or it could just be the company…
After a few minutes of silence, Yuko finally dared speak. "Um... About last time... C-Can we just forget about that?"
"Sure." Minato replied dryly as he drank some of his cup.
"Oh wow, that was fast…" The bluenette seemed… Disappointed? "…It didn't bother you? I was up all night!"
"I have that effect on girls." Minato thought, remembering that some time before the lunch break ended Hamuko had told him a bit about her little insomnia case.
"Maybe my motherly instincts came out after coaching those kids... It's so embarrassing just thinking about it." She chuckled awkwardly. "Do you remember what I told about how Mr. Ekoda reprimanded me about my Classic Literature exam?"
Minato pretended that he knew what she was talking about.
"Back then, I just wanted to graduate and go to a community college... But after coaching those kids, I started to realize something..." Yuko's eyes were gleaming. "I enjoy helping people who are willing to give it their all. Guess what I wanna be.
"…A coach?" The most obvious answer is always the right answer.
"An athletic trainer, if you will!" She chuckled. "You have to monitor each athlete's diet and help them plan their training schedule. I'll go to professional school once I graduate, and work towards earning my certification. Between the general education requirements and the class for my major, it adds up to over 350 hours." She seemed a bit less eager about that. "That's why I'm gonna start studying right away! ...Improving my writing is my first goal!" Well, it seemed as good of a first goal as any. "I learned a lot from those kids. When I first started coaching them, I was thinking about how I would teach my own kids one day... And I didn't have the slightest clue." Yuko linked her hands below her chin and smiled. "Well, that all changed. If you hadn't been there with me, I'm not sure if I would've been able to coach those kids. And I would have never thought about my future, either... So, thank you."
"It was my pleasure to help you all along." Opposite to what happened with Kenji, Minato had managed to make Yuko's life better, and so his Strength Social Link had reached level 9.
"...Well, I have to go. I've gotta study!" She got up from her chair with a wide grin. "Let's meet another day when I'm less busy, alright? ...Wish me luck, Minato."
Proud of having been able to marginally improve someone's life, the boy decided to stay on Chagall a while longer and enjoy some coffee.
Meanwhile, back at Gekkoukan, Hamuko was wondering why the Student Council Room was empty –or rather, why she bothered showing up to the meetings lately when no one else did. Oh right. Saving trees for Social Links she didn't possess…
"Oh, Hamuko-kun!" Scratch that, apparently there really was someone. And that someone was Hidetoshi, of course. "Sorry, it was a quick meeting. Everyone left already." He snorted. "It's actually kind of nice not having those hyenas around.
"I see… So um, why are you still here?" Dumb question. It was obvious that he lived in that room or something.
"There's something I want to take care of before I go home." Hidetoshi seemed rather troubled. "About the cigarette butt in the boys' bathroom... I have to do something... Soon. ...As you can see, the meeting's over, so you can leave if you want."
"Nah, it's okay. Lemme give you a hand with that! Together we'll find the culprit in no time!"
Hidetoshi seemed really happy to hear that. "Um, before… If you're not in a hurry, can you spare a few minutes?" The strict boy adopted a thoughtful stance. He walked slowly towards a window and looked down at the courtyard. "A man without position, honor, or education... What can he cling to as he struggles through life?"
Philosophy wasn't really Hamuko's thing, so she decided to remain silent at that question. It probably was rhetorical anyway.
"'Sincerity', a man once told me." Hidetoshi rested a hand on the window glass. "...Do you want to know what happened to that man? While gathering information for a story, a TV anchorwoman was injured on the job. The executives for the TV station called it an 'unfortunate accident'. But when a magazine learned they were hiding something, the execs pointed the finger at the script writer. They said it was the writer who had concealed the truth; he was made into a scapegoat. That man is currently serving time for perjury. It was he who taught me the meaning of sincerity." He bit his lower lip. "In today's society, the weak are preyed upon by the strong. You can't survive on sincerity alone!" …A guy who spoke like Minato and had the same power thirst as Minato was telling her as well about the importance of lying. Hamuko could see a pattern somewhere in there. "...As for me, I'd like to build a corporation where everyone is treated fairly. But, to do that, I'd need enough power to make my vision a reality."
"I guess he's just told me his deep dark secrets…" Dark secrets or not, the Emperor Social Link reached level 6.
"...Well, seems like we're done here." Never mind the fact that they were going to look into the cigarette business matter. "I'll walk with you to the door."
When he left Port Island and went back to Iwatodai, Minato found a rather bizarre scene: their dear little Maiko was telling Hamuko off near Octopia. The male Fool considered briefly moving along and leaving the problem to Hamuko, but he eventually decided to go give her a hand.
"…You guys didn't even come to my birthday party!" Maiko yelled as she stomped the ground.
"B-But…!"
"We didn't know where your birthday party took place, Maiko-chan." Minato spoke calmly as he approached the girls, but he managed to startle Hamuko anyway. "We're really sorry…"
"Hmmm… Alright, I forgive you. ...At least Mom and Dad didn't forget about my birthday this year... They remembered!
"That's great!" Hamuko clapped her hands in delight.
"See? They didn't forget."
Maiko seemed euphoric. "And you know what? I got tons of presents! And, I even ate a bunch of cake!" After saying that, her happiness seemed to decay slightly. "...We haven't really eaten together as a family for a while. We used to eat dinner together every night... How come Mom and Dad don't get along anymore?"
"Love is a very complicated thing…" Minato and Hamuko nodded to each other. "So maybe you should ask them."
"You're right! I'll just ask them why they wanted a divorce. If I can get rid of the reason, everything'll be fine, right?" Nice logic. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to get my parents back together! You'll do what you can to help, right?"
"Of course!" One of the teens didn't really mean it. The other was wondering just how many people in Iwatodai expected them to give them a hand. Anyway, Hanged Man Social Link level 4 and what not.
"All right... I'm gonna ask them. Let's play together some other time SOON, okay?"
After that she ran away, leaving the Fools to themselves.
"Why do you always sneak up on me when I'm with people?" Hamuko shot an eyebrow up.
"I miss you." What he actually meant was 'I'm covertly trying to make socializing difficult for you.'.
"Awww, really?" The girl clang to his arm. "Still, it wouldn't kill you to say 'hi' from time to time, geez!"
"Hi? Have you ever heard me say 'hi'?"
"Right." Hamuko grinned playfully at him. "I guess that saying 'good evening, milady' with a knee on the ground will do as well."
"'Milady'?" Minato did his best not to laugh. "What about I just keep rescuing you from awkward situations with the surprise factor intact?"
"Rescuing? …Rescuing…" She gasped. "Oh crap, I totally forgot that there might be people left in Tartarus! We have to go tonight!"
The excuse to go to Tartarus that night was that they needed to train. Training was always welcome, so they didn't meet Mitsuru's arbitrary scepticism. Not like they would have had to deal with it, anyway, since they left her at the base of Tartarus with Fuuka after making up something about group dynamics and how Akihiko and Junpei needed some training.
The exploration went pretty smooth between the forty-seventh and fifty-fifth floors or so. They found the last missing person Fuuka could detect in the fifty-first floor, and after leaving him under Mitsuru's care, they went on with their anti-shadow crusade. The next floors had a few difficulties –being ambushed by a group of energy-loving Maniacal Books was one of them. If anyone got distracted, those shadows would prey on them, surrounding them with their tentacles. After this unwanted hug, the S.E.E.S. members would feel much more tired, and summoning their personas became more difficult like that. Solution? Blade. Tentacles. Run for your life.
They didn't get many things on the way up. Well, Akihiko got shoved to the ground by an Adamant Beetle, dropping a few cards he'd picked up in the exploration in the process. After some struggling with Junpei, Minato managed to steal a card with a Persona called Narcissus, which looked like a really pale and blond guy with a few flowers on his hair… Going around half naked. The boy swore to himself that he wouldn't summon unless extremely necessary. Hamuko only managed to steal a Pixie before Aki pushed her away from the cards. She then proceeded to rant about the poor battling quality of the creature.
The fifty-ninth floor had the biggest surprise of the night. Its name was Intrepid Knight and its Arcana was Emperor. The shadow stood on almost four meters; it consisted of a metallic knight riding a floating armoured horse. He had a lance instead of a left arm, and he seemed rather capable to use it, but that wasn't the most terrific thing he had; its strong point resided on the capability to send Junpei flying against a wall, consequently knock him out only with a little tornado he casted. Akihiko grabbed Junpei and the group ran away as fast as they could, coming back five minutes later with replacement Mitsuru and a Persona called Rakshasa for Hamuko.
The female leader took the initiative in the fight. After a quick analysis of the possibilities of her new Persona, Hamuko started the battle with an attack called Getsu-Ei. After commanding it, the warrior… Mermaid… Persona thing ran towards the Tartarus guardian and, after doing a flip on the air, crossed it with the two claymores it carried. It was quite an awesome move, but rather impractical as it barely scratched the knight's shoulder pad.
Minato's turn came next. He focused on the list of Personas he knew he had and called Gurr forth –a wind resistant Persona would grant him protection against any garu-based attacks the Knight could cast. Much to his surprise, Gurr had Getsu-Ei as well, but much, much weaker –did it even tickle the shadow?
The Shadow took its chance to attack after that. It muttered something like 'Kill Rush' and then charged towards Mitsuru with its lance, hurting her rather critically. Hamuko ordered Yukari to go give her one of the aptly named 'Revival beads', which did a world of good for her.
Akihiko decided to make a distraction with a Rakunda spell, which would supposedly lower its hideously high defence, while Rakshasa attacked yet again, following the same strategy with few variations.
At least twenty minutes had passed since the beginning of the battle. Things weren't looking good for S.E.E.S. First off, the Intrepid Knight had brought an old 'friend' back; mahamaon, that one attack that almost cost the Fools' lives the day they met Death face-to-face and that now insisted on knocking off someone randomly every so often, and a new one, Counterstrike. That meant they could attack the shadow as much as they wanted, but there was a chance that any physical damage would reflect on them -Hamuko learned this the hard way. Second off, the shadow was running on its last breath –if Shadows breathed, that's it- but it completely refused to die, stubbornly clinging to its aim of finishing with the teens. This leaded to a third problem, the shortage of medical supplies. Everyone knew things were going bad when Minato used the last Revival Bead on Yukari.
The Intrepid Knight threw its arms ups and a blue light surrounded it. That looked dreadfully similar to one of the attacks they had seen when fighting the Steel Gigas, called 'Mind Charge'. It made the next spell much more powerful –and seeing the state the party was on… A simple blow of breeze could put an end to their existence. They needed some energy to ignore their wounds and finish the battle, but a simple Media spell wouldn't be able to heal them enough for that…
"Seems you require the assistance of perfection itself…" A masculine voice spoke seductively in Minato's mind. It kind of freaked him out.
"Free us and we'll help you put an end to this arduous battle." A funny, high voice claimed in Hamuko's.
This was pretty familiar… Oh right, the conversation with the Jack brothers during the Crying Tables battle.
Minato and Hamuko brought their Evokers to each others' temples. "Frolic!" They shouted instinctively, noticing only afterwards the stupidity of the name. But that wasn't the dumbest thing of the attack…
Narcissus just stood in front on Minato, posing seductively as roses began surrounding him out of nowhere. "…Are those sparkles?"
The Fools didn't want to know how or why it happened, but their party was suddenly revitalized completely and ready to make a wreck out of the Intrepid Knight. …The Fools were so flabbergasted that they pretty much missed the rest of the battle.
Well, at least they got the Third Old Document… And a guarantee that they wouldn't be able to have a moment of peace as soon as their Senpai began making questions.
I need sleep. I'll see if there are any stupid mistakes tomorrow.
...So she did mean stargazing and having sweets after all.