Futaba hadn't anticipated actually making friends this year. She had known that all of the Phantom Thieves were to be attending Hashi, and had resolved to spend the year only with them. That was until the other Persona users had been forced into the picture.

It was often way too loud anywhere in the dorms for Futaba to focus, so she often locked herself away in the tech room that the dorms provided. It wasn't as modern as her own room, but it served its purpose. She found herself there more often than not, trying to research why so many Persona users were put into one place.

Once again she found herself walking towards the tech room, barely thinking about what she was doing as opposed to what she was going to do. When she did look up from her tablet, she suddenly noticed that Hanamura was sitting in the tech room.

"Oh, Hanamura, I didn't see you there...s-sorry." He apparently hadn't seen Futaba until she spoke, sending the boy into a flurry. He scrambled to hide a paper and wipe his eyes free of the tears that had been accumulating there.

"Sakura! You startled me." Hanamura sniffed a bit, wiping his face again. Had he been crying? "I was just here because it was quiet."

"Sorry for scaring you. I can just l-leave now…" Futaba felt her face grow hot in embarrassment. She felt as if she had intruded on something private. She moved back towards the door before Hanamura spoke up again.

"You don't have to. Futaba, right?" Now that he looked up, Futaba could see that his eyes were red. He was crying. What could have made someone so carefree cry by himself? "Go ahead and stay. You need this room more than me." Hanamura stood up to leave. "Enjoy the-"

"Were you crying?"

There was an audible jolt from Hanamura, who slowly sat back down. He hung his head and took out the paper he had been holding earlier. Futaba sat down as well, looking at the paper. It was a torn picture, one of Hanamura and some girl.

"I...Yeah, I was." Hanamura's brown eyes filled with sadness. "Some days, it hits harder, ya know? You realize you'll never see them again." It struck Futaba what he was talking about. Oh. He must have lost someone important.

"I know what you mean." Futaba tapped her fingers nervously against the table. She longed for the feeling of keys beneath her skin, but for now she'd just listen to Hanamura. "My… My mother died right in front of me. Sometimes, I dream about seeing her alive again and I wake up feeling so lonely." Her taps got harder, trying to distract herself. Though, she had to admit that talking about it with someone who felt the same was starting to make her feel better. "Usually I'd text Akira. He knows how to help."

Hanamura nodded with a sad smile. "I should have known that you Thieves suffered a lot. I mean, you have to rip off half of your face." He leaned back, letting the tears pool in his eyes. "I was the only one of the Investigation Team who lost someone important to me." He lifted the picture. "Saki Konishi was the second murder victim, and she was a girl I fell in love with last year."

"I thought you were-"

"Gay? Yeah, so does everyone else." Hanamura set down the picture and wiped his eyes. "But Saki had won over my heart rather quickly. I wanted to confess, but… then she died." He sighed softly. Futaba could tell how hard he was holding on. "It's my fault that the Investigation Team formed, because I couldn't handle Saki's death." He slammed his fist into the table, though it was only in anger towards himself. Futaba could tell, she knew what all of that felt like. "I couldn't handle being alone in that tiny, boring town, so I went into the TV world without thinking. It was because of Yu that I was able to survive."

"And so your feelings for him started to form, isn't that right, Hanamura?"

"Not quite, and call me Yosuke."

"You two are having a mourning party without me." Futaba squeaked and instantly leapt from her chair to hide behind Yosuke as Iori entered the room. "Chill out, I just wanted to come here to be alone. But then I saw you two." He sat down at the table as well, a large notebook in his arms. His words were teasing, but his tone was sad.

"So Akihiko isn't the only one in S.E.E.S. who suffered a loss…" Futaba carefully crept out from behind Yosuke and returned to her seat.

"Far from it. All of us…" Iori flipped open the notebook to a portrait of himself, drawn so spectacularly well that it radiated care and love. Was that drawn by the person he lost? "We've all lost someone important. Chidori… She was going to die anyway, but she gave her life to me. I always wanted to see her drawings, but I didn't until she died. I… I was reminded that she's still looking over me, even now." There was a soft smile on Iori's face.

Of course. My mother watches over me now, like she always did. Futaba felt warmth spread through her at the thought. So much so that a soft smile started to spread across her face. "Yeah… It's a nice thought."

Yosuke slammed his fist on the table again. "You… You don't understand." Futaba could feel how he was seething, but his rage was towards himself. She flinched away at the sharp sound. Tears had started to drip down his face. What's his deal? "You don't think I know that Saki is watching? She haunts me." Yosuke's arms were trembling. He's hiding something. Futaba could feel that he was going to spill everything all at once. He stood up, anger radiating from him.

"I almost killed someone because of Saki!"

Futaba felt a shock travel down her spine, and Iori's jaw dropped open. Neither of them could think of anything to say, but Yosuke continued.

"Because of how I couldn't throw away my feelings for Saki or my damn hero complex, I was this close to murdering someone before I was stopped." He can't forgive himself. But something made Futaba's spine tingle. In a flash, the answer came to her.

"But you were stopped by Narukami." Her eyes flashed up at Yosuke. "Because he cares about you and everyone else. But especially you." She couldn't deny Narukami's feelings toward Yosuke, considering how they talked to each other, the way their hands barely grazed to deliver their feelings through such brief touches. "You're still shadowed by this Saki, and despite that, Narukami still cares so much."

Yosuke slowly sat back down. He seemed to be at a loss for words, but a smile started to grow on his face. He laughed breathily. "You're right, god dammit you're right." He laughed again, resting his head in his hand. "I'm sorry, I just...it's hard to forgive myself for doing that. But you're right, it's ok. Yu really is there for me all the time."

Futaba was about to respond again, but her tablet lit up with a message. She looked down and gasped. "Oh no. I just got a message from the NPC."

"NPC?"

"Mishima. He's just told me that a student from Kosei hasn't been seen for two days. People think the butcher in Shinjuku killed him, since that was the last place he was seen." Ping ping. Futaba read over the message and instantly started to research. "He suspects that the butcher is actually a cult member." Her eyes rapidly scanned the influx of information, gathering as much as she could.

"Kosei? Is that a school in Tokyo? Yosuke leaned over to try and read what Futaba was looking at.

"It's the school that Inari went to before he transferred here with the rest of us." That looked important. She started sorting through the info, coming up with what appeared to be several cases of people vanishing in Shinjuku after going to the butcher. "Done. Looks like people vanish after going to the butcher shop, then reappear in those robes, dead."

"We should really tell the leaders." Iori closed the notebook and stood up. "It...it was nice talking to you two." He smiled before leaving.

I never meant to make friends, but I'm glad I did. Futaba watched as Yosuke left the room as well. Well I hope it helps us in this new arising problem.