Thursday, December 18th, 2014 – 00:00
Hermes Street

Yuuki stepped out of her house to confront the lone figure under the only working streetlight.

The mysterious woman always revealed herself the night after a central shadow and today was no exception. Hidden behind an oversized black cloak, she spoke with a haunting voice as Yuuki approached.

"I've forgotten what this feels like, though we do this everyday."

Yuuki revealed her wakizashi. "Tell me who you are."

The cloaked woman laughed off her demand. Yuuki gripped her sword more tightly and presented it in as threatening a manner as she could.

"Only three shadows remain. Are you certain that killing them is the right thing to do? Isn't there joy in the nothingness of our world, a pleasure in its loneliness? Sorrow need not hide itself when you possess power such as yours."

It was clear from the mysterious woman's voice that she wasn't in the least intimidated. Yuuki lowered her sword. There was something about this person which frightened her. If she could see her face it might have taken away some of her mystique, but after months of trying Yuuki surrendered any hope of that happening. In any case the last time they met this person had overpowered her with ease.

"Why do you keep coming back here?"

"(Chuckle) no reason."

The figure raised her arm and pointed down the street. Yuuki knew without looking that there was a vision of Bonnie being murdered. The same thing had happened twice before.

"Is that Lorraine?"

Yuuki turned and saw her younger brother standing at the doorway staring at the unfolding vision. She ran towards him and pressed his face against her chest.

"Don't look."

"Look at what," he garbled, "let me see sis!"

She held him tight while keeping her own eyes shut. A cavalcade of noises swept over them. First the disjointed screams of bean-nighe, then the sound of various objects hitting a solid surface, before finally a chilling desperate cry from Lorraine which reverberated and faded slowly. When silence returned Yuuki lessened her grip on her brother.

"What was that about?"

"Ask her," said Yuuki pointing towards the mysterious woman, however she was gone. The Hashimoto siblings looked at one another and wondered what had happened.

aaa

Thursday, December 18th, 2014 – 23:49
Hermes Street

Yuuki put the finishing touches onto her homework. She had struggled to understand continuous random variables and how they effect exponential distribution, but finally, after much effort, she felt she was getting to grips with it. In a way maths wasn't as difficult as English or History since theories were the same in every country. Leaning back she allowed her eyes to rest.

Her ears picked up the faint sound of music and explosions. Yuuki guessed that was her brother playing a video game. With her homework complete she wondered how he was coping with his. Normally Daigo would come to her looking for help but he hadn't done so since he started dying his hair red and wearing contact lenses. Curious she left her room and chapped at his door.

"Who's there?"

"It's me," answered Yuuki as she stepped inside. She saw her brother sitting on the bed a short distance away from his television screen. He had a can of juice on the floor next to his feet and a half eaten chocolate bar resting at his side.

"What do you want?"

"I wanted to see you. What are you playing?"

"Demon's spirits," he replied before returning his attention to the game. Yuuki could tell he didn't want to talk but persisted anyway. She was worried about his grades since he hadn't come to her in weeks.

"How's school?"

"It's alright."

"Need any help with anything?"

"Nope."

"Any subjects you're finding tough?"

"Geez sis," complained Daigo, "will you give it a rest? I can do some things by myself you know."

Her brother switched off his console and stormed past her. When Yuuki asked where he was going he simply stated 'out'. Last time he had done this she decided to follow, this time however she stayed back. Why he so upset with her she didn't know.

Soon the other world arrived. Yuuki glanced out of her window. There was no sign of Daigo. She presumed he was on his way home and sat down. A few minutes past by and still her brother hadn't returned. Yuuki decided to wait for him outside. It was cold and dark, especially since she wasn't wearing her light jacket. Putting it on now wouldn't help as she needed to be touching it at midnight for it to work. Yuuki remembered that Daigo hadn't been wearing his jacket when he left.

"Is he lost?"

Yuuki pulled out her phone and summoned Tamamo-no-Mae. There was no sign of him. She told herself this was a good thing as only an active persona would be noticed during the other world, but became increasingly concerned nonetheless.

Another ten minutes past and her brother had yet to appear. She was worried. Yuuki evoked Tamamo-no-Mae hoping to find him, but once again the only thing she detected was the closed space at Bishopmill Stadium. 'He couldn't have gone there', she said aloud. Her hands started shaking. Going into one of those places alone was extremely dangerous, which was why none of them had tried it. Daigo wouldn't be that reckless…

The more she told herself this the more frantic she became. Yuuki collected her bike and began pedalling as quickly as she could. Daigo would need her if he was inside a closed space. She hoped she wasn't too late.

aaa

Yuuki arrived at Bishopmill Stadium and caught a glimpse of someone outside the dome which enclosed it. She was sure this was Daigo. The figure put his hand against the external edge before removing it quickly again, clearly uncertain as to whether or not he should go in.

"Daigo!" shouted Yuuki.

The figure turned in her direction. Yuuki pedalled frantically however he stepped through before she could reach him. She followed. Once past the outer shell she saw Daigo standing there, his arms folded. Yuuki stepped off her bicycle before it stopped and allowed it to collapse to the ground.

"Why did you follow me?" he snapped angrily.

"You idiot!" she yelled whilst marching towards him, "you can't come in here alone!"

"Don't tell me what I can't do! I can do this just as well as you."

"No you can't! You'll be killed!"

"If that happens it happens."

Yuuki paused short of her brother and stared at him. He had never spoken to her like this before. She couldn't imagine that he would act this carelessly.

"Don't talk like that," said Yuuki softly, "you need to look after yourself."

"I can look after myself, I don't need you!"

Daigo hurried deeper into the stadium. Yuuki turned her attention towards the outer wall and touched its surface. As she had suspected, they wouldn't be able to leave without destroying all the shadows. She wished she had got help from James or Iain before following her brother inside. Neither of them would be far away and could have helped immensely. Yuuki shook her head and chased after Daigo. They needed to work together if they were to survive this.

On the playing surface there were six shadows; two beetles, and four Maya. They were congregated close to one another making it impossible to fight them individually. Neither Yuuki nor Daigo had a weapon however they were helped by the stadium floodlights which had been turned on. If they had been surrounded by darkness this fight would have been even more difficult. Independently they could defeat each shadow so Yuuki tried to think of ways to reduce their enemies' numbers.

"I'll use Pangu and distract their attention," she said to her brother, "the ice beetle and the Maya with the blue mask are weak against fire, focus on them. You can also destroy the yellow one. The only thing you need to worry about is the Maya with the multicoloured mask."

Daigo nodded and trailed closely behind her. Yuuki wondered if this was a good idea. She considered having the shadows chase them, which would have spread them out due to their different relative speeds, but elected against it. It was unlikely her brother would have the patience for such a strategy, and could have resulted in them becoming separated.

Yuuki pressed the '1' key on her phone and ran at speed. She used Pangu to hit the multicoloured Maya to ensure it concentrated solely on her. Immediately she felt blocks of ice, an electrical discharge and fire strike her from different directions. Her persona wasn't weak to any of these attacks but their volume caused her excruciating pain. Regardless she had to keep moving. If she stayed still the shadows would focus on her brother.

Daigo sprinted towards the largest shadow, the blue ice beetle. It was turned away from him, giving him the chance to take it by surprise. Pausing a moment to concentrate he coated the overgrown insect in flame, initiating its demise. A wave of icicles swept towards him, which he skilfully skipped past. They had come from the Maya with the blue mask. He made that his next target but found it more difficult to hit.

Yuuki could tell the shadows they were fighting were weaker than those encountered during the last sequence of murders, but not by much. She had to focus on distracting their attention away from Daigo. Darting between the sole remaining beetle and one of the Maya's she managed to avoid their interest however it was a temporary relief. Four different attacks hit her in quick succession, forcing her to fall over.

The six shadows were now down to four; the red, blue and multicoloured Mayas and the fire beetle. Daigo had destroyed the other two. There was only one more he could defeat so Yuuki decided to change tactics. When she got close to the beetle she called forth her persona Damballa and attacked. It had no chance of dodging and fell lifelessly to the ground. Yuuki watched as Daigo finished off the blue masked Maya, evening the odds for the first time, however he was struck to the ground by an unexpected gust of wind.

The multicoloured Maya was attacking her brother but Yuuki resisted helping him. She was tired having been the focus of their enemies' efforts and thought changing personas too often would weaken her further. She attempted waves of attacks against the fire breathing red Maya only to achieve glancing blows. Seeing Daigo in pain forced her to give up and run towards him.

There were two personas she could use but Yuuki chose Lila. She positioned herself between her brother and the shadow and pressed the number eight on her phone. A woman in saffron with an indigo third eye on her forehead appeared. She produced a gentle glow by singing in a lyrical voice which surrounded and enveloped the Maya. When the light faded it was gone. Just one more enemy remained.

The shadow Yuuki had abandoned to help Daigo now struck her from behind. It hit hard, making her tumble. Intense pain resonated through her lower spine, telling her she wouldn't be able to cope with much more. Struggling to her knees she looked at her red masked opponent. It was dragging its ill-defined body towards her slowly, as if taunting her. Yuuki kept her thumb poised over the keys of her phone. She would only get one chance to defeat this thing.

Then a rain of black and white spheres fell upon the shadow. It orientated its mask upwards only to be caught in a bright and noisy explosion. Yuuki covered her head. She felt the shockwave of the blast due to her close proximity. When the reverberations died down she saw the Maya was no more. Daigo was standing there, breathing heavily. They had done it.

The stadium floodlights switched off and darkness enveloped them. Only random flickers of light existed in the commercial boxes in each of the stands. The other world was over. Yuuki's body was still sore, but not to the same extent as before. She returned to her feet and walked over to Daigo.

"Are you alright?"

"(Pant) I'm fine. (Pant) that was fun."

Yuuki shot him an angry look before closing her eyes and giggling softly. It had been an extremely dangerous, stupid thing to do, but a part of her enjoyed it. Besides, she didn't want to upset her brother any further.

"Let's not do that again, agreed?"

Daigo nodded.

"Thou hast enhanced a bond. From hence forth the Magician Arcana shall bless thee."

The pain she was experiencing made her think about the other world. It seemed to her that each of them had a certain tolerance level beyond which the wounds they received would be carried on to reality. Yuuki considered this further. Whenever she had been rendered unconscious she would recover in a number of hours and in a great deal of pain, and after her tussle with the mysterious woman her body felt the full effects beyond the other world. Were their recoveries linked to their personas? And if someone was badly hurt while unconscious, would the full extent of their injuries be carried forward into reality, crippling them or possibly killing them?

Her head began to hurt. Iain was better at thinking about these things than her, especially after a long and hard fight. With weary legs and tired eyes Yuuki and her brother returned home.

aaa

Friday, December 19th, 2014 – 16:01
Mayne Road

The coffeehouse Mocha's Chocó's was busier than normal.

Considering how many of them would be there, Yuuki and her friends went to the back of the shop and 'commandeered' two tables. There wasn't anywhere else they could meet up.

Earlier today Lorraine 'Bonnie' Reilly, the forth central shadow target, was released from the hospital. Now capable of summoning a persona she was intending to join the Afterschool Shadow Hunters. Everyone was gathered to confirm her membership.

The group was split in two. Yuuki, James and Iain were against the window whilst Rebecca, Daigo and Senga sat at the adjoining table. Everyone, bar James, was still in their school clothes.

"Bonjour!"

The voice came from the entrance. Stepping towards them was Lorraine who was clad in the grey Oakland High uniform. She wore trainers on her feet, knee high white socks and a multicolour scarf underneath her bob cut brown hair. Next to her was someone else.

"Hello Terrance," said Yuuki, her voice starting to trail off.

"What are you doing here?" interrupted Senga.

"Ah my dear Agnes, it's good to see you too."

"Don't call me Agnes, you know it pisses me off."

Lorraine sat opposite Yuuki while Terry moved next to Senga. There was silence for a moment.

"Is he joining as well?" asked Daigo.

"He's here to sign up too!" enthusiastically stated Lorraine. "When I told him what happened he said he wanted to help, isn't he wonderful?"

"I'd like to reserve judgement," remarked Senga cynically, "so you said what happened and he believed you."

"That's right."

Senga let out an audible sigh. A waitress came over to the two tables to take the next round of orders. When she left Lorraine looked directly towards Yuuki.

"You can make him a persona user too by touching him, right?"

"How did you know that?" asked Yuuki.

"I might have dropped the bomb on that one," admitted Becky.

"I just know my little snookie wookie can help, pretty please?"

Lorraine's eyelashes were fluttering wildly towards her, giving Yuuki little choice. She reluctantly agreed.

"Great!" cheered Bonnie, "and to celebrate I have a treat for everyone. I've bought tickets for us to go see a pantomime tomorrow! It'll be like group bonding."

"What's a pantomime?" asked Daigo.

"It's a show with colourful costumes and jokes, it'll be great!"

"Aren't we a little old for that?" said Senga coldly.

"Oh you, don't be silly. It's my way of saying thanks. It's the least I can do. We'll all meet up here at 7pm and walk down to the playhouse together."

Yuuki smiled gently at Lorraine. She could tell they would get on well together. Her bubbly personality made her fun to be around and she didn't appear to be frightened by the prospect of fighting shadows. However Yuuki was concerned about Terrance. Involving others unnecessarily troubled her and the fact that he was her friend didn't help. She tried to shake this ill feeling but couldn't. Throughout the rest of the conversation Yuuki remained quiet.

aaa

Saturday, December 20th, 2014 – 06:37
Hashimoto Residence

Yuuki had three reasons to be cheerful. Firstly, the Afterschool Shadow Hunters had two new members, Lorraine Reilly and Terrance Clyde. Second, there were only two more days of school this year, giving her a long break over the winter period to relax and third, she and her friends would be going out that night to watch a pantomime, although what that was she wasn't sure.

She had woken unnaturally early and was making breakfast for herself in the kitchen. For some reason she was feeling peckish. Yuuki prepared crisp, golden brown toast and coated it in margarine which slowly melted on its hot surface. Taking a bite tickled her taste buds, forcing her eyes to close with pleasure. She loved having something this simple in the morning.

Sitting at the kitchen table in her yellow pyjamas, Yuuki was enjoying her meal in silence when she heard footsteps approaching. She glanced towards the door only to find her mother, Mhairi Hashimoto, standing there. She was dressed in a white blouse and navy skirt, with modest earrings hidden behind her dark auburn hair. Yuuki returned to eating.

"Are you busy?"

Yuuki looked at her mother who was pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"You could join me in the shop today. Don't do it if you don't want to. I'm leaving in ten minutes."

Her mother carried her drink out of the kitchen. Yuuki never enjoyed long conversations with her but this was even more one sided than normal. Is that how she asks for a favour? Confused, but also intrigued, Yuuki quickly finished her breakfast and changed into her school uniform. This was the first time she could ever recall her mother asking her to do anything.

aaa

At 5pm 'Hashimoto's' closed.

Yuuki slumped over the counter exhausted. This was worse than the feeling she would get after fighting shadows. All day she and her mother had been serving customers with little rest. Yuuki didn't know how busy the shops could get right before Christmas.

By contrast Mhairi was sweeping the store quietly, appearing unfazed by the 10 hour shift she had just completed. There wasn't a misplaced hair or smudge of makeup on her face, nor any complaints uttered from her lips. It was as if she was just starting work as opposed to finishing. Yuuki made her way to the back, gathered her yellow coat and sat down on one of the storage boxes. She couldn't wait to return home and lie down, even though she would be going out with her friends later. Soon her mother entered the room with the brush.

"Is everyday like this?" asked Yuuki.

"No," was the instant response, "today was busy. Go home; I'll be doing the accounts now."

Yuuki wasn't in the mood for arguing so she returned to her feet. As she was leaving the store she heard her mother speaking to her. It was an uncharacteristically gentle voice.

"You helped…thanks."

"Thou hast established a new bond. From hence forth the Empress Arcana shall bless thee."

Yuuki returned home.

aaa

"You'll love this, I just know it! I saw this company do Aladdin last year."

Lorraine sat down next to Yuuki near the centre of the hall. The other six members of the Afterschool Shadow Hunters were lined up in the same row, waiting for the pantomime to begin.

Bishopmill Playhouse, the venue for tonight's show, had two performance areas beyond the reception desk. Yuuki and her friends were in the first. The seats were red with golden tints at the edges. The stage was a raised wooden platform which was currently vacant. All around above most of the crowd were gantries, each with their own private set of maroon curtains.

"They're also hosting 'The Snow Queen'," stated Lorraine over the noise of people finding their seats, "but I like this panto better."

Yuuki leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. Despite enjoying an hour of sleep she was still tired from her long day at 'Hashimoto's'. She knew she wouldn't doze off as the sound of Terrance munching a packet of 'Stroller's' crisps continued to penetrate her ears. She hoped he wouldn't do that during the show.

Suddenly there was thunderous applause and whistles coming from the crowd as dramatic organ music started playing. Yuuki looked up at the stage and saw a man in a bizarre purple costume enter. The crowd changed its cheers to jeers.

"Mwahhaha! Mwahhaha! Oh shut up."

For a moment Yuuki wondered if this was part of the act or if something had gone wrong. She glanced towards Iain beside her and noticed his expression was unmoved. She then remembered that he might not be the best barometer for normality.

"Yes I am evil. Evil pays don't you know? How else could I afford the rent for this magnificent palace? And you lot," said the man pointing towards the audience, "You have that silly shirt. Look at you, with your strange shoes and nonsensical sweaters; you make me sick, Mwahhaha!"

The younger children near the front were laughing and booing in equal measure, as was Lorraine.

"I have amazing magical powers. Any cheek from you lot and I'll turn you all into hideous toads! Which for some of you would be an improvement."

aaa

The show ended with all the cast on stage singing a song at Aladdin and the princess's wedding. The crowd were clapping in time with the rhythm until the final note when they applauded freely. Yuuki was one of them. She actually enjoyed the farcical scenes, the rude jokes and how the actors would break the forth wall. Hearing a hundred or so people yell 'he's behind you' was also fun.

Once outside Yuuki checked her watch. The time was just after 9pm. She was feeling extremely tired and wanted to go home, however the others had different plans.

"L'Oreal," said Terrance, "nightclub, comedy or movie?"

"Nightclub!" cheered Bonnie, "oh but I don't have my costume."

"Costume?" asked Senga.

"I have this black leather outfit were I attach-"

"Forget I asked."

Wearily she remained with her friends and followed them to Karma Palace. It was a short journey, no more than a ten minute walk. Yuuki drifted to the back of the group and found herself joined by Iain.

"Are you unwell? You appear somewhat pale."

"Huh, oh I'm fine, just exhausted. I was working at my mother's store all day today. It was busier than I thought it would be."

"I didn't know that," interrupted Daigo, "how come you were there?"

"Mother asked and I didn't have anything better to do."

"But I thought you hated being around mum."

Everyone had now stopped walking and was looking at her. Yuuki waved her hand dismissively.

"Do you not get on with your parents?" asked Rebecca, "they seem really nice to me."

"It's not that…wait, when did you meet them?"

"A couple of months ago," chirped Becky, "your mom offered me a discount at her shop and everything. The food she makes is almost as good as Senga's!"

"You can cook Senga?" said James, a surprised expression written upon his face, "and it's edible? Who would have guessed?"

"Some people truly are unpredictable," added Iain.

"W-What's the big deal? We're picking on Yuuki right now not me, remember?"

Yuuki sighed. She didn't want to talk to her friends about her parents. "I get on fine with them; it's just Daigo saying misleading things."

After her brother made an aggrieved grunting noise the group continued to their destination. When they arrived they were told Daigo couldn't enter. Yuuki used this as an excuse to leave. She and Daigo returned home with Iain for company. He left them once they reached Hermes Street.