STANDING BACK UP.

Command room, evening.

We had all gathered here to finally discuss matters regarding last night's battle with the Chariot...and the group's current status.

Shinjiro was sitting in the couch, in between Mitsuru and Akihiko. Ikutsuki was sitting in an armchair with Aegis by his side.

Ken and Yuka were out of commission for the moment. Ken just wanted to rest (understandable of him), and Yuka still had to settle things at her mother's shop.

I'd managed to get four other chairs (from downstairs) for Junpei, Yukari, Fuka, and myself. By the time we'd settled, Mitsuru immediately started up on the discussion.

"Last night was a massive hurdle for the entire team. But we managed to pull through and remain victorious thanks to all of your combined efforts...Yuki's in particular."

I gave a light smile.

"Now, despite the fact that the team has more or less recovered from the battle, the Shadows obviously remain a very potent threat against the people of the city. Even more so with the converted humans."

I balled up my hands into fists as I asked a question I'd already known the answer to.

"What do you mean by, 'converted humans?'"

I had to act convinced that I knew nothing of the humans that...had been converted into Shadows. Acting like I'd already known of them would just end up making things confusing.

Which means that I was running the risk of having Mitsuru find me out and then call me out on my lies again. Hopefully, she wouldn't catch on...

"Last night, the Chariot Shadow used its voice to convert, according to it, twenty or so humans into Shadows," she uttered emotionlessly, as everybody around her gave looks of gripping anger or pity (in Fuka's case). "It was about to use them to wreak havoc onto the city. Shinjiro here has told us that, overall, the dog had slain about ten of the twenty."

"Ten...huh?" Junpei breathed out. "Th-they used to be humans, right...?"

"...Unfortunately, once a Shadow converts a human, there is no hope of said human returning to his or her original form. It's far too late."

"You sound like you've seen this before," I noted.

"I have."

...And at that, we all fell quiet for about three seconds or so.

"She's really not kidding," Shinjiro told us.

"I first entered Tartarus when I was but a child." Oh. Oh. "I accompanied my father and several of his men when he decided to take us there and inspect the first floor. After a minute or so, one of Father's trusted associates – Takayama, I think his name was – was transformed into a Shadow."

And speechlessness continued plaguing the team, allowing Ikutsuki to step in.

"After...destroying Takayama, we conducted research into the matter with what little material we had to go on and discovered the harsh truth of Shadow conversion. Yet, we also have a separate theory linked to Shadow conversion."

"Linked, in what way?"

"Although we haven't seen it firsthand...we can assume that the Shadow-converted-humans take on a separate human form outside of the Dark Hour."

"Kirijo-senpai just said that they can't return to their human forms."

"They aren't human anymore," Mitsuru said. "They may appear human and may even act human, but they're essentially Shadows given the ability to operate outside of the Dark Hour."

...To that, everybody gave rather appropriate reactions.

Mitsuru and Ikutsuki had grim faces put on. Akihiko and Shinjiro were surprised and disturbed, as if they hadn't heard of this theory before. Fuka, Junpei, and Yukari had the looks of straight-up terror in their faces. Aegis said nothing.

I said nothing, but was pissed. "So...now they can attack us in broad daylight?"

"That, we're not sure of," Mitsuru admitted.

"What?"

"We aren't sure if they can take on a Shadow form outside of the Dark Hour. Again, it's just a theory, so we don't have much to go on. Shadows that prefer converting humans rather than inflicting Apathy Syndrome on them are beyond rare, so we have very few grounds with which we can base facts off of. Long story short, remain on your guard, even in broad daylight."

Junpei groaned, "Things just had to get worse, didn't they?"

"...I'm sorry for dragging you all into this," Mitsuru said. "I truly am."

"...Not like we can back out now," Yukari snarked. "We've come so far. Don't worry about it."

Mitsuru gave a look that practically stated, "Didn't expect you to say that, but..."

"Is there any good news?" I asked.

"We've got a new member," Akihiko smiled. "That counts for something. I'd like everyone who isn't Mitsuru or Ikutsuki-san to meet Shinjiro Aragaki."

The ogre-man of a senpai got up from his seat and moved over to us, casting a shade over Junpei and Yukari, since they were standing next to each other and right in front of him.

Meaning they were the most nervous of the four of us, and something rather...surprising happened. Fuka blushed as Shinjiro closed in proximity to us.

...I didn't know that the tall, dark, and foul-mouthed was her type. That was kind of funny to think about.

"I wanna get some things straight," he said to us. "Don't stand in my way. Don't order me around. Don't complain about my fighting style, or suggest my Persona learn some new technique. And especially don't get yourselves in trouble while I'm around. I don't wanna have to pick up the pieces you idiots are gonna leave behind."

Bossy, beanie-wearing prick.

"We clear?" he asked us forcefully.

"Uh...," Junpei, the poor boy, started up, "if you don't mind me asking...what exactly is your business with Akihiko-san? You two seem to know a lot about each other..."

"We grew up in the same orphanage together," Akihiko said for Shinjiro. "After I joined the team, Mitsuru found out that Shinji had the potential, like me. But, then-"

"You don't have to answer for me, Aki."

"Yeah, but I know that you're not very keen on answering and more on just getting things over with."

"So...why'd you leave in the first place?" I asked Shinjiro. "If you had the potential, you must have joined up with S.E.E.S. at some point. So, why-?"

"They didn't pay me enough."

"...Huh?"

"There, happy?"

"...You wanted to get paid?"

"Yeah. So?"

Crack. What was that sound? The sound of the scale of my lie detector breaking.

What a terrible excuse.

Even Akihiko couldn't believe what his supposed childhood friend had just said, letting out a hearty pfft as he covered his mouth.

"What, are you finally able to laugh now?" Shinjiro smirked. "Last I saw you, you were the most broody person on the face of the planet."

"Speak for yourself!" Akihiko jeered. "You've brooded more than I have. In fact, you've brooded more than Yuki over there."

What? "What do I have to do with this?"

"Dude. You never noticed?"

"No, I don't," I answered Junpei. "I-I don't brood very often."

"Well, from time to time, you do look a bit depressed...," Yukari told me.

"I do?"

"Kind of," Fuka cut in.

"...Really?"

"Yeah," said Junpei.

"That's weird...a-anyway, why did you come back if you weren't paid enough at first?"

"Ikutsuki said that you guys found a way to undo the Dark Hour, right?"

"...We defeat all the Arcana Shadows that pop up every full moon. That's...pretty much it."

"Count me in."

"...Just like that?"

"Got a problem?"

"No..."

"...Look, point is, I quit before. I'm back now. You guys have a way to end everything, and I want to help out. Judging from how everyone was doing last night, you need the help. And the fact that we can...somehow now understand the Shadows might somehow do something that'll end up having the odds favor us – I dunno."

"Says the guy who cared about the job up until someone didn't pay him enough," I snarked with an obvious air of exaggeration, much to his irritation and the unease of the upperclassmen.

"Makoto...what're you doing?" Yukari whispered, obviously caught off-guard by my sudden insensitive comment.

I ignored her and kept on staring at Shinjiro. There was a completely different reason he quit, and I wanted to implant the idea that I'd known he was lying into his head.

He shouldn't need to lie to us. Lying would only bring us trouble.

Like I had any right to say that...

"Fine, believe that, if you want," Shinjiro bit back. "You can also believe that I quit because I was too scared."

"Shinji-"

"You can believe that I got lazy and just stopped caring," Shinjiro continued, completely ignoring Akihiko. "You can believe that I got a drug addiction and left the team to smoke s'more crack and meth. And," he loomed over me, "you can even believe that I quit because something real bad happened."

Mitsuru cringed. Akihiko looked away. Ikutsuki's expression was blank.

Jackpot.

"Now," Shinjiro finally said, "I could care less what you think of me. I want to help. And especially since we've got brats like you guys on the team-" that statement annoyed us to some degree, "-Aki and Mitsuru should be glad to have me on board."

"You're, like, a year older than us," I noted.

"So? I've still got the experience."

"And I've got the Wild Card."

"Wild...what?"

"Remember? He can use multiple Personas," Akihiko told him.

"Oh, yeah. Huh. How can he do that, again? Last I heard, that's...not exactly possible."

"Apparently, it is," Mitsuru said. "And that's not the only thing he has."

"...You want me to show him?"

"Yes. It'd be inconvenient to show it to him at a later date," Mitsuru affirmed. "And it'll give us all an opportunity to...get used to it, I suppose."

"...Okay."

Everyone started getting nervous looks. Shinjiro gave a look of curiosity and boredom. While I couldn't even read Ikutsuki's expression. Strange.

Anyway, "Yuka-chan."

And it felt incredibly weird saying that with Yukari in the room...but – m-moving on.

My hand turned white. Everyone, including me, was...fairly frightened by this. I was frightened because I never really bothered to check on how my body would look like when I'd transform. So...yeah. This was...all new to me. And all pretty terrifying.

...Veins emerged from my hand, thickening and pulsating. You'd think their color would pop through my flesh, but they shared the same chalk-white my skin had taken on. My nails also took on a bloodless white.

Thankfully, the white extended only to the middle of my forearm. What I didn't expect was that the white would be glowing.

Once the black fire started generating, Mitsuru had to call it off.

"I-I think we've seen enough..."

I clenched my fist and, immediately, my arm and hand turned normal again.

And you should have seen the look on everybody's faces. Shinjiro included. He seemed the most put-off by how monstrous and deathly (heh) my powers seemed.

"What...was that?"

"I have a...weird relationship with my Persona, Thanatos," I told him. "If I say a certain word, he'll allow me to use his powers. It's very handy when-" I want to kill something horribly and gruesomely and quickly and painfully and-! "-we're stuck in a jam." The voice! Again...ugh. Still had it. "I only use it whenever we face a Shadow too big and too powerful for us to handle."

"And...the word is...'Yuka-chan?'" Shinjiro seemed understandably weirded out by what was basically the God of Death's phone number. As did Yukari...

...

"...He has a very weird choice of words," I explained. Weak defense, Yuki. You're horrible.

Shinjiro turned to Mitsuru and Ikutsuki. "I thought Persona-users could only use healing spells without summoning."

"Even we're confused at this development," Ikutsuki smirked. "So, don't ask us."

"You sure we can trust him? With that kind of power...?"

...Mmmph.

To say I was a bit miffed about issues concerning trust would just be poor word choice.

"He can be trusted," Junpei cut in. "Sure of it."

"You don't have to worry about a thing." Yukari then turned to me with assuring eyes.

Both Fuka and I smiled.

Mitsuru seemed amused, as did Ikutsuki.

Akihiko felt slightly off-put by how saccharine this all seemed.

Shinjiro just sighed.

*SMASH!*

Oh, hey!

"Thou shalt be blessed further when thou chooseth to imbue thyself with the Fool Arcana..."

Boosh.


Move.

That was one word that had been on my mind for quite some time. Move. Everything I'd done up to this point in my life was move. Moving from relative to relative, and from place to place. Moving from different stations in life; from being the quiet wallflower regularly insulted by being called insane to the field leader to a team dedicated to fending off black mounds of sludge that threaten the psyches of an entire city (and the world, according to a certain masked douche). And, in my opinion, the most moving I do is when-

"Move, move, move!"

-I'd get stuck in a fight with the Shadows.

Much to the dismay of everybody, since they'd have to move along with me, and we'd get tired easily during the Dark Hour.

But there we were. Fighting Shadows like it was nobody's business. Again. Like usual. The Shadows we'd been fighting were pretty much just grunts that made noises, screamed, and had a limited sense of vocabulary.

So, not really worth mentioning.

...It was practically unavoidable, our trips to Tartarus. With the very real threat of the Shadows growing even stronger, training was imperative. And it didn't help that there were a few other man-turned-Shadows still out there.

Fuka, however, didn't catch them rampaging about on her radar earlier. So, either they'd killed themselves somehow, or they were in Tartarus.

I was in no hurry to fight them, though.

Had my hands full at the moment with this particular monstrosity.

"Junpei, blast it with fire from behind! After that, Aegis has to gun it down from the front! Then, I'll settle things with Orpheus!"

The party was Yukari, Junpei, Aegis, Mitsuru, Shinjiro, and Akihiko. I had Junpei and Aegis on my team, while I'd sent Mitsuru, Akihiko, Shinjiro, and Yukari off as their own separate team. Yukari had been particularly salty about that, but seeing as how nobody would really pay attention to the tsundere of their group, her ramblings were kind of sort of ignored.

...I should apologize. We had a date later this week, after all. Kind of sort of.

Junpei, Aegis, and I seemed to be a formidable team. I had a plethora (by the way, is that pronounced plethora or plethora?) of Personas in my noggin, and I had two powerhouses (well, one powerhouse and one power-cabin) at my side. We were capable enough to tackle things on our own.

But if Shinjiro were in my group, I thought to myself, things might be a little more exciting and a little less-

"Makoto-san! Dodge!"

-life-threatening!

Aegis' words brought me back to reality as a giant fist swept itself downward in front of me. I leapt backwards as the fist crashed into the ground, right at the spot where I'd been.

Close, but no cigar, Shadow.

Speaking of the Shadow, we were battling a giant fish that did nothing but moan and groan like a person high on morphine getting a blow – oh, come on!

...To continue, it had giant hands where its fins should have been. I'm not kidding. It had a Strength mask on, it had blue-green scales, it looked mechanical, and its giant hands were pretty much giant sticks with hinges and massive gauntlets on it.

Massive. Not giant. I used that word a lot in that paragraph...

Anyway!

"Hermes!"

Junpei's Persona chucked a fireball at it from behind and set it ablaze. Its tail was catching fire and the fire was quickly spreading to other parts of the fish's body, all the way to the head. Its stick-gauntlet hands, however, were untouched by the flame.

Leaving Aegis open to attack!

And after our resident android blasted the giant moaning fish with gatling guns emerging from her hands (things I never thought I'd say), our job for the night was practically done.

With a few moans and a lot of pained groans, the big fish died in agony, bullets, and flames.

How hilarious this situation was.

"Makoto, look out!"

Oh, crap.

A giant armoured three-headed horse was charging at me and it had a spearhead coming out right from its chest and there was no time to react so I was so screwed-

"Die, you blue-haired little son of a-!"

"Castor."

-but ultimately, I was alright, in the end.

Shinjiro's Persona leapt into the fray and rammed itself into the three-headed horse, effectively creating the first ever horse-to-horse showdown in Tartarus history. Or, rather, horse-to-horse beatdown, considering that Castor just proceeded to clean house with the horse, kicking and booting and slamming it into wall after wall after ceiling after wall.

"So much for that Wild Card thing you have."

"Shut up."

Junpei chortled a bit at Shinjiro's bluntness as Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Yukari ran towards us.

I still sucked at fighting Shadows. Even after all this time...

"You okay?" Yukari asked me.

"...I'm fine, thanks."

The fact that Yukari was concerned for my safety provided little reprieve at my insecurities concerning how much I suck at fighting Shadows.

I have to train more...or at least use different weapons.

...

Wait, train? Oh yeah...Kendo. I still had to attend it.

Some tournament thing. Coming soon.

...Hmm. I did need to train.


"Come on! Move along! You can't score a hit off Mamoru Hayase like that!"

Well, sorry for being tired, manager, but my blue hair cannot take much more of this training business. I feel incredibly energy-drained, not just because of that horrible Tartarus expedition two days ago, but because I'm doing a school activity when I should be well in my bed reading books, or watching TV, or eating something at the mall, or adjusting the air conditioner in my room because it's supposed to be the hot, sunny season of summer.

My mind was right on the complain train at the moment, as you can tell.

Train harder. Become more competent. Just because you literally beat a tank doesn't mean you can slack off and start faltering.

Thoughts like these kept me going for the duration of the training session. Not like Kaz was going to do that. He was absent. Thankfully.


After practice, Yuko asked if we could eat out. Not really finding any issue with it, I agreed. We ate out at Wild-Duck Burger, where Yuka worked.

"Here's your meal, sir and madam."

She handed Yuko fried mackerel and she handed me a burger. But she didn't hand me my other order.

"Where's the sundae?"

"The dispenser broke. We're still waiting on maintenance to fix that."

"I see."

"...You sure you're alright, being here with this girl?" she asked me. "Takeba-senpai might get awfully mad..."

"Nah, she won't. She's not that kind of person."

"Alright. Fine with me, if you have a deathwish."

I smirked as Yuka turned back to the counter.

"You know her?" Yuko asked me.

"She's a friend from the lower batch. She hangs with me and the people in my dorm."

"Why?"

"Boredom."

"Hmm." Yuko then took a bite out of her meal. "...This mackerel is really good. Even though I eat lunch every day, I still get hungry after practice. I consider this an early dinner...I'll still eat dinner when I get home, though. I really have to stop eating between meals, or I'll gain tons of weight once I'm not so busy with the team..."

I was eating a burger with a woman talking about her weight.

Judging from how Murphy's Law dictated my life ever since the Moonlight Bridge, I prepared myself for the worst that could possibly happen.

"Hey, Makoto-kun, do you think I eat too much?"

...If there was anything I'd learned from my short life here on the mortal plane, it'd be that there was no right answer when asked by a woman, "Do I eat too much?"

I had to choose my answer carefully. Wisely. Lest I'd die a horrible death by an incredibly severe groin attack or a fork to my eyeball.

Murphy's Law! You can never be too careful when Murphy's Law is the closest thing you have to consistency in your frail life!

"Not really."

Was that good, was that good, was that good, was that good-?

"I agree! I just eat a little more than your average girl, right?" It was good! "I'm sure I burn off the extra calories during practice!"

Phew. I was still in the clear.

"You live in the dorm, right?" Yuko suddenly asked me. "Not to pry, but...you must love being around good-looking girls like Kirijo-senpai and Yukari..."

"Well, it's alright," I said.

Mitsuru and Yukari are more or less...okay-looking, from my perspective, I contemplated. Mitsuru looks a bit...old for me (she'd seriously remind me of someone who was at twenty-two, no offense...), so if push comes to shove, I'd pick Yukari. Now, comparing Yukari and Fuka; that's something I have to think about. Both are – I'm rambling about my tastes in women. Oh, right, Yuko's still talking.

"They're skinny, but still have nice figures. I wonder what they normally eat...maybe I should go on a diet... I'm lazy, but it's the only way."

"Hey, you're not that bad yourself. You're fine."

"Really?"

"Well, I don't see anything wrong. I think you're fine just the way you are."

"You're also a guy," she bluntly stated, a deadpan look on her face, "So your input is unreliable."

"Hey, I'm the guy who Kazushi offered the captainship of the team to in the very likely case he'd end up out of commission!"

"And Kaz is the guy who's willing to let his leg rot for the sake of a tournament."

"Hey, that's mean," I buzzed. "A-and he's resting more!"

...Yuko sighed.

"Yeah...I guess so."

Her expression turned so sour.

"You don't have to worry about him," I told her. "He's stronger than you think."

"I've known him for years...he doesn't give up on things easily." Her face turned pink. "That's why I began to like him in the first place..."

"If you like him, put your faith in him," I simply stated. "Trust him. He can make it."

"...You're right," she smiled. "Thanks."

Three, two-

*SMASH!*

-missed it.

"Thou shalt be blessed when thou chooseth to imbue thyself with the Strength Arcana..."


The next day, I trained again.

Kendo was pretty much a part of my schedule at the time. We had to train for this tournament we had for us in a few weeks or so, and I was assigned to practice at this club for the entirety of summer school.

Which seemed kind of...endurable. Not fun, endurable.

But more training meant more power, and more power meant more success, and more success meant I'd be acting more like Akihiko.


"Senpai! Stop!"

"You kidding me? He's right there! We can take him!"

"It's bigger than a truck!"

"Does it matter?"


...A chill ran down my spine. A cold chill that made my back significantly more rigid-

"Dude? You okay?"

I turned.

"Junpei?"

"He's the first one you noticed?"

Oh. Right. Yukari was right next to him. Huh.

"What are you guys doing here?"

Yukari replied, "We decided to check up on you. Heard you're going up against Mamoru Hayase."

That name again. Huh. Who was this guy?

"I've heard that name before...he's pretty famous," Junpei said. "I saw him in a sports magazine. Dude, guys like him are insane. He's gonna wipe the floor with you, so what's the point?

"I take offense to that since I'm actually fairly competent in this club. Guys, have some faith in me."

"I think you can make it," Yukari said. "But then again, I haven't really seen you in a kendo match, so..."

"You've seen my swordplay! And without bragging, I'm pretty good."

"Yeah, you are, but...you never know, you know?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I replied to Junpei. He didn't answer. I groaned, "Well, if you're going to visit, you can wait out the session on the bleachers. We'll go somewhere out to eat."

"Nah, dude. We brought boxed lunches here." As proof, Junpei showed me said boxed lunches, all of which had been placed nicely in a plastic bag. Huh.

"So...you're gonna eat here?"

"We're gonna eat here," Yukari corrected. "We'll wait for you to finish."

"...Huh."

The rest of the team seemed rather amused at this development. Yuko, on the other hand, seemed rather intrigued at the fact that I was eating with Yukari. She seemed to be ignoring the fact that Junpei was also eating with us, which sort of dispelled any romantic mood.

"This okay with you, Yuko?"

"Yeah, totally," she told me. "We'll have our lunch break in fifteen minutes anyway," she looked at Yukari and Junpei, "just don't disrupt the session."

"Sure thing."

"You'll do fine! Don't worry about a thing," Yukari assured me.

"...Thank you, guys," I smiled. "By the way, where's Yamagishi?"

"Fuka went to the hospital. She wanted to check on Moriyama."

"...Hmm."

Nice girl. Shinjiro's awfully lucky.


During those fifteen minutes, I absolutely got time to show off my skills and prowess and I've managed to impress both Yukari and Junpei with how awesome I was.

Mostly because I was playing my favorite song in my head, which motivated me to strive for the title of 'modern samurai.' They didn't let me keep my mp3 player on me, and I understood why. Such a device would be so distractive, what with the glorious gleam of the earphones equipped onto it and such. Oh, that and it'd just get in the way of my movements. Of course.

I decided to discuss this with my friends as we ate on the bleachers.

"So...you pretend you're listening to a song while in a kendo match," Junpei took a bite out of his sushi, "and that's how you win matches?" he asked through a full mouth.

"Pretty much. Listening to music keeps me motivated and energized." Even when studying, I'd just need to pull out some tunes. I'd be distracted, sure, but for some reason, I'd get more information that way. Somehow. I know that's very contradictory, but it's just how my mind would work.

"Well, what song do you pretend to listen to?" Yukari asked, my inner fanboy cheering at how I'd successfully managed to invoke the opportunity to gush about my tastes in music.

"It's called 'Burn My Dread,'" I epically announced.

"...Sounds...emo," Yukari bluntly stated.

"It is not emo!" I defended, "Judging from the title, you can tell it's not."

"So...who made it?"

"Seriously, you guys don't know about this song?"

"Never heard about this song or the artist who made it before in my life," said Junpei.

"Neither have I," followed Yukari.

My friends were missing out. "Yumi Kawamura performed the song, Shoji Meguro wrote it out. It's so good, believe me."

"Well, if it's enough to get you to gush like this...," Yukari held her hand out, "I'll have a listen."

Yes!

I handed my mp3 player over to her and picked the track. I listened in with one earphone as she listened in through the other. I didn't care if this position seemed suggestive, this song deserved to be listened to! With me partly listening to it, of course.

Junpei let this slide, being the unwanted wingman that he was, and watched as Yukari listened in to the awesomeness that was Burn My Dread.

"...Hmm." Yukari hummed after listening to the song, removing the earphone.

"What'd you think of it?" I asked her.

"It was...alright. Not too bad."

What. "Alright?"

"I know it's your favorite song and all, but it's just not my kind of thing. It's pretty good, I do have to say."

Their naive minds were too immature to comprehend the greatness of Burn My Dread. Seriously,

"My turn," Junpei said, plugging one of the earphones in. "I'll have a listen."

I still had the chance to show at least one of my friends the light.

"Not bad, but not my thing, either."

"...Really?"

"I'm sorry, man, but I'm more into rock and metal, y'know? I'm not really into this slow kind of techno style."

"...It's not all techno."

Granted, the song had a kind of techno vibe, but I thought every single instrument had a hand in making the song as great as it was.

"And, why's it in English?" Junpei asked.

"It helps with the theme."

"...Sorry, but it's really not my kind of song."

...I sighed.

It felt truly tragic, that my allies weren't able to fully appreciate the beauty of Burn My Dread.

Oh, well.

"Why do you like the song?" Yukari asked. "I thought you'd be into other styles, like...I don't know, punk or something."

My expression was blanker than the whitest canvas. "You thought I'd be into punk?"

She shrugged. "Never really got to know your tastes in music before now. Anyway, back on topic...why do you like this song more than any other?"

"...Well...to be honest, it was the lyrics," I said. "I didn't quite understand them at first...but later on, I managed to find a translation of them, and after finding out what the lyrics meant, I just...fell in love with the song. It's about...escaping through despair. Finding your way through pain and suffering. Appreciating life for what it's worth, and pressing on despite tragedy and horror. It...just speaks to me in a way that's different from most songs."

"...It is emo," Yukari snorted.

"It's not emo!" I childishly spat. "Shut up!"

And then my two cohorts laughed and laughed at how defensive I'd become.

"Sorry...," Yukari said as she tried holding back her laughter, "s-sorry, it's just...weird seeing you so defensive over something."

"I get very defensive over the things I care about!" I started laughing as well, albeit unconsciously. "You guys should know that most of all."

"'Course we do...," Junpei cleared his throat. "But you gotta admit, getting defensive over a song sung in a foreign language that's...not sung very well is kinda funny."

"She's not a bad singer, you take that back," I demanded with a hilariously childish tone to my voice.

"Nahh," Junpei playfully whined, to match my immaturity. "I don't wanna."

"Oh, you can go screw yourselves," I jokingly growled.

Yukari continued chuckling at the sight of the oh-so manly banter between me and Junpei.

Said banter continued, the both of us knowing how childish and downright stupid the entire thing was.

And we just didn't care. I just didn't care.

I had my friends again.


We decided to make another expedition into Tartarus that night. Yuka was still unavailable at the moment (still with her mom's shop and all), so it was just me, Shinjiro, Yukari, Akihiko, Junpei, Mitsuru, Aegis, and Fuka again for another killing spree.

Ken was also still out of order, staying at the dorm. Still wanted to rest.

We were actually doing a pretty good job during this expedition. Two floors had been progressed through, no problem.

But the third floor we were on for the night? It terrified us.

We were walking along our merry way, when suddenly.

=/= There's another Shadow with you! It's right above you! =/=

Aaand then we heard a shrill, loud, banshee-like laugh coming from above.

The worst part was that it was also masculine. So, imagine a noise loud and annoying enough to pierce your ears and yet was deep and booming. Freaky, no?

And then, in a fraction of the second after we'd heard that laugh, something dove downwards, towards us.

"Everybody, dodge!" I yelled, taking notice of the creature about to crash down on us.

We all leapt backwards. And when we got a good look at this new abomination, we were all kind of surprised – and a bit disturbed – at what it was.

It wore a Justice mask. And it was...just...the upper body of a woman.

It had black hair, ivory skin, dainty fingers...and it looked emaciated.

Where its waist and lower body should have been, was a stump.

Its hair covered where its breasts should have been.

It supported itself on its own two skinny arms as we raised our weapons.

"So, who goes first?" Shinjiro asked.

And then the creature, with its horrific and irritating masculine voice, made a statement. "Ahh...finally. An encounter with the Incarcerator himself. I'd waited to meet you in person for so long..."

Of course, Shinjiro seemed rather puzzled the little nickname the Shadows had given me.

"Great, now that we finally have met, how would you like me to kill you? Ripping you in half, or cutting off your head?"

"I don't think that either one will work, to be honest."

=/= Yuki-kun, it's telling the truth. Slashing attacks don't seem to work on it. =/=

"Then I'll settle for crushing you to death by stepping on you like a bug. Kirijo-senpai?"

"Do it."

=/= Wait, that's not all! Yuki-kun! =/=

"Yuka-chan."

I lifted a flaming foot up from the ground and sent it right onto the Shadow's head. Pulling my leg downward sent the Shadow's skull (or whatever excuse the beast had for a skull) to the floor. After which, said skull was reduced to sludge and muck, the bits and pieces of its mask shattering about.

"That seemed to work," I snickered, disturbing Shinjiro. He'd have to get used to that kind of thing – oh, no, the sludge was – it was regenerating!?

I took a heavy step backwards, and so did everyone else.

The sludge and the mask reformed into the Shadow's head. Its hair turned sharp and fringed, secreting black liquids. The Shadow laughed and laughed, taunting me of my failure to put it down.

"That didn't work, either. Boo hoo. Though...gotta admit, it did hurt a lot."

"What in the-?!"

"Looks like there are some things even you can't fix."

And from the back of the woman's stump emerged black, vile liquids. And those liquids suddenly began to solidify, hardening and molding themselves into what looked like...a cannonball – a huge cannonball, one that was ten feet in diameter and five feet in height.

And then it stopped being a cannonball when hair started growing from it. Long, flowing hair – as long as a door. At that point, it became a spider's abdomen.

Eight long, gangly legs sprouted out from the abdomen's sides, covered in spikes that bled out black. Said black substance gave the legs a sort of shine to them, adding to the morbidity of it all.

And this transformation had taken place within the span of half a second.

"Let me touch your skin."

Okay, no.

=/= It-it can be hit by ice attacks! =/=

"Jack Frost!"

Frosty lolloped out of my skull and unleashed a blizzard onto the spider-woman, mercilessly pelting her with a torrential pour of cold the likes of which a tundra could never match.

"Penthesilea!"

Mitsuru proceeded to summon her own Persona and got to freezing the spider-woman as well, giving as much firepower as – if not more firepower than – my Persona.

The resulting blast of cold was enough to push the Shadow back-

"This...all you've got?"

-but it wasn't enough to hurt it.

"Other weaknesses!?"

=/= None! It resists all types of damage except for ice attacks! =/=

The hell!? That kind of Shadow existed!?

"You're boring me, Incarcerator," the spider-woman taunted, freezing from our attacks yet not seeming affected in the least, "You'd probably be a good chew toy for my children..."

"...Children?"

=/= Yuki-kun! Kirijo-senpai! Dodge backwards! =/=

Mitsuru and I did so, leaping backwards even further than we already had, just before two black blurs would have come upon us and ripped our spines out.

When they hit the ground, we all got a good look at our new foes.

Two miniscule spiders. And by 'miniscule,' I mean it in relative terms, because they were as big as tires. Their legs seemed to be even spikier than their mother's. A Justice mask was where its eyes and fangs should have been. These spiders had no hair of any kind. Yet on their abdomen was something else.

"...Mama..."

An infant's head. Mouth agape, black emerging from said mouth.

"M-mama...mama..."

"Mam..ma...mama..."

Their voices sounded as if they were being strangled.

Junpei and Yukari looked physically sick at the sight. Akihiko, Shinjiro, and Mitsuru were disgusted as well, Akihiko in particular retching as his skin crawled.

I was just mad that we had more monsters to take care of.

Aegis, however, was less keen on the whole "emotions," thing.

Her arms formed into cannons.

"Fire."

She blasted the monstrous vermin and ignored their very loud, shrieking cries of pain. Everyone else was both horror-stricken and just plain trying to cover their ears from the noise.

The sounds made from these abominations, I could barely make out over the sound of Aegis' arm-cannons firing off. As horrific as the sounds were – strangled babies calling out for their mother – it wasn't as horrific as what else had just spawned into being from above.

"Mamma..."

That came from above us.

We heard several silky, bubbling, gurgling, whining noises coming from above us.

The sound of thick drool dripping and sliding down onto us served to horrify us even more.

The sound of labored, choked exhaling and inhaling followed.

And now, imagine that sound coming from ten thousand different directions all at once.

Lowering down from the ceiling were what seemed to be hundreds of thousands of sickening spider-infants, bleeding out black from their underdeveloped mouths and crying and whining all the while.

Some wailed unbearably loud wails. Others cried and would ignite a sense of pity in me I'd never be able to feel for any human baby. Others still made horrific groans and moans, cooing with a sinister intent in their voice.

And they had us all surrounded.

Yukari and Junpei were sweating, utterly mortified at the sight before them. Mitsuru was in shock – no, shock's too good a word. Akihiko and Shinjiro gritted their teeth. Aegis darted her eyes in every which way, as if looking for an exit.

And I was sick of all these beasties.

"Okay, that's it. Traesto-!" a fireball barrelled to my hand- "-AAGH!"

"Makoto!"

"Yuki!"

=/= Yuki-kun! =/=

Said fireball burnt the flesh of my palm and sent the bag of burning Traesto Gems...into the crowd of infantile spiders.

"Looks like you'll have to go and get it," the spider-lady taunted, one of her legs engulfed in flame.

Dammit all!

"Everyone, follow me and keep these freaks away from you with everything you've got!" I yelled, using my Evoker despite my burnt hand, "Chimera! Charge through!"

After summoning the three-headed monstrosity of Greek legend, I leapt onto the aforementioned monstrosity's back and led the assault right through these monstrous things.

Chimera sped his way through the arachnids, stomping, crushing, and chomping on any that was in his way. Sometimes, he'd hurl fireballs at them as I'd hang onto him for dear life.

The worried and horrified Junpei and Yukari summoned Hermes and Io, their Personas blasting aside any spiders aside as they ran forward, following Chimera as he continued his charge.

Mitsuru and Akihiko, with enraged expressions, used their Personas to repel these horrors, following Junpei and Yukari's example of running right behind Chimera.

"You play nice and clean, now! Don't make a mess of things, sweeties!"

Sweeties? Who said that anymore...?

"Shinji, what're you-!?"

Huh?

I turned my head and looked behind me, beyond all the people charging straight alongside me.

Instead of running in the direction Chimera was charging, Shinjiro was standing in the opposite direction, face to face with the mother spider, who was recovering from all the frost she'd been dealt with.

"And what do you want-?"

"Castor!"

Shinjiro's Persona rammed itself straight out of its user's skull and right into the mother spider, making her scream in outright pain as she flew into the wall behind us.

With a hit like that

Our newest member then made his way over to Akihiko as Castor continued relentlessly pounding away at the mother spider.

"Good work," Mitsuru commended, Penthesilea freezing up a couple of spiders in the background.

I was inclined to agree. Now, we didn't run the risk of another fire attack to the hand, did we?

...Should've taken care of the mother earlier. Anyway...

We blasted and cut through and slaughtered and killed and massacred our way through, black spilling all over our clothes and all over the walls and the ceiling and everywhere and it was horrible and brutal and beautiful and everyone was scared out of their wits and I smiled and smiled and SMI – until we finally found out where the Gems were.

Right. Smack-dab. In the mouth. Of a baby spider.

I got down from Chimera and mentally ordered it to kill everything around us.

As everyone and their Personas – including mine – continued murdering everything within a two-foot radius, I sat down and gently tried to get the burnt bag of gems (the fire had been put out by the black inside the infant's mouth) out.

And then it chomped onto my not-burnt hand with teeth sharper than a dog's.

It opened its eyes – which were white and lifeless, like a sculpture's eyes – and grinned.

I gritted my teeth. "Yuka-chan."

The fire burnt the arachnid from the inside out, reducing it to a mound of flaming flesh and meat.

The bag was unharmed. I made sure Death's flames wouldn't harm it.

"Traesto."

In a second, we were back in the lobby.

Junpei fell to his knees, breathing and sweating in abject terror. He looked ready to puke.

Yukari was crying, visibly weeping at all the impossibly gruesome things she'd witnessed tonight. Fuka immediately ran to her side and comforted her.

Akihiko sat at the stairs leading to the portal into the first floor and hung his head low, cupping his forehead in his hands as he made labored breaths.

Mitsuru grimaced and crossed her arms, leaning against a pillar for support as she shook and trembled.

Shinjiro was hunched over, his hands on his knees as his eyes twitched and his teeth clashed.

At first, I didn't quite feel as...troubled as everyone else had felt.

And then the realization that I'd just finished slaughtering things with babies' heads hit me.

I covered my mouth and suddenly, my legs couldn't support me.

I'd have fallen to the ground, if not for Aegis catching me.


"Narukami."

I entered the shop without so much as a knock.

Yuka came up to me, obviously surprised at my sudden entrance.

"Senpai, what-?"

"You need to come with us to Tartarus tonight."

"T-tonight?"

"Yeah. We need your help."

"My help...?"

"Yeah. We've encountered something big, and we need everyone we can get."

"...I think I'll be able to make it tonight. H-how big is this thing-?"

"Pretty big."

"...Okay, then. Um...so, we're all heading out?"

"Everyone, including Amada and the dog."

"Really?"

"It's that bad. We have an infestation."

"...I...see..."

"...Look," I sighed, "If you don't want to come, then you don't have to."

"No. I'm going," she said. "I wanna help you guys out. And I have a few tricks up my sleeve now that might help."

"Tricks?"

"Like you wouldn't believe."

"...Alright, then. I'll see you tonight-"

"Yuka."

We both turned our heads.

Yuka's mom. Oh crap.

"M-mom...?"

"Be careful. That's all I'm going to say."

"...Of course."

"And you," she glared at me, "don't let any harm come to my daughter. And I mean any harm."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"Good," she broke into a smile.


AUTHOR'S NOTES:


So yeah, um, gonna remove the Persona List and the Social Link List. They were a bit obtrusive and kind of pointless in the long run.

Anyway, things are REALLY gonna pick up with the Social Links, though. Lots and lots and LOTS of them will come out in the future, and the next few chapters will be little more than these Social Links. I'll prolly try to do one S-Link in an entire chapter.

But! In true Alternity fashion, you can be certain that the Links will play out a little...differently than usual.

Yes, the woman-spider was a Dark Souls reference (though I didn't play the game, watching Yahtzee's review of the game stating a giant spider woman was a boss certainly inspired me). BUT! I kind of have leeway since Dark Souls is a sequel to Demon's Souls, which was published by Atlus.

Also, Merry Christmas.