Makoto sat in a familiar void, dark yet somewhat comforting. It was often in his dreams that he would be transported to the velvet room but instead of the ethereal orchestra of the velvet room he was drowning in silence, yet it was relaxing. Makoto relaxed in this dream for a while but as he laid back a sharp piercing cry of trains running, flashes of blue masks and a winding void but that soon subsided and as soon as Makoto thought it was over he suddenly became short of breath, or rather that he couldn't breathe, no he was being strangled. Makoto felt spectral, thin, muscled hands wrap around his throat and as he tried to turn around he spotted a familiar iron maw before he was shaken back to conciousness.
Makoto awoke in a pool of cold sweat, breathing frantically for any small amount of air and in front of him Mitsuru bared over with an expression of desperation and tears in her eyes. Realising this, Makoto ignored his current weakness and cupped Mitsuru's face in his hand and brought her close, as to give some form of reassurance. Seeing Mitsuru like this awoke something strong inside of Makoto, a flaming wrath and need to protect and have, he swore that he would never lose Mitsuru ever again and she would never lose him either. Mitsuru allowed herself to be weak, to be held in his embrace, yet it was somewhat intoxicating, even in the off chance that she wanted to let go she wouldn't be able to. Soon, once everything had calmed down they got to talking "What was that? What happened to you?" Makoto looked to the ground in despair "I don't know. Maybe it was a dream or a nightmare, or maybe a vision. I saw things, shadows, a new Tartarus" Mitsuru ignored that "But what happened to you? Why were you choking?" Makoto's eyes turned grave and empty "Something was strangling me. I... I didn't get a good look, If I had... I'd probably be dead. All I saw was a set of metal jaws." This was a lot to shake but Mitsuru tried anyway "Let's leave this for tomorrow, I know someone who can help investigate." Mitsuru looked towards the alarm clock and found that it was actually 8-AM already "Or perhaps today" rubbing her neck in embarassment and getting up to help Makoto get dressed.
A few hours later Mitsuru summoned the available members of the Investigation Team to look into what Makoto had seen in his vision and while Mitsuru wasn't expecting much as some of the members looked quite dull to her it turned out that only agents Narukami and Shirogane had shown up. They settled in the briefing room while Mitsuru explained the situation to them "Makoto had a vision last night that we see as being quite suspicious. We suspect that it may have something to do with the return of the dark hour or something much worse, the return of Tartarus. I have brought you here to investigate into Makoto's vision, our facilities are at your discretion." Mitsuru looked towards Makoto "If you need me, I will be nearby." before leaving promptly. Both agents introduced themselves formally as Yu Narukami and Naoto Shirogane, bowing to show respect, alienating Makoto "Oh, I think perhaps you haven't been entirely told of the situation. I am the previous leader of SEES when it still was SEES, I died to seal away a god and was stuck in a void as my penance which is why I look like an old man" this confused Naoto more than she was initially and so she brought around a whiteboard to start jotting down the information "So Mr...?" "Yuuki" "Yes Mr. Yuuki can you please tell me what happened in this vision?"
Mitsuru went about her business as per usual when she encountered Akihiko on his way back to the gym "Hey there Mitsuru, how's he doing? Akihiko was clearly anticipating a certain response "Makoto is fine at the moment, he is physically recovering faster than expected while mentally not as much." this created a spot of concern in the boxer "What do you mean by mentally?" Mitsuru shrunk ever so slightly trying to answer this "Makoto... he... had a vision. Of a new Tartarus." Akihiko paused from his usual jovial self trying to comprehend this, how could Tartarus return, they destroyed it he thought to himself. While Mitsuru and Akihiko were discussing the meaning of the vision the intercom came on 'Could Mitsuru Kirijo please come to the briefing room.' in a rushed voice. Mitsuru ran there in fear of what may have happened but when she slammed the door open there was Makoto sitting calmly, as if the panic had only been in her head "What happened?" Naoto was still quite shocked by what had just happened "Well we were able to narrow down the possible locations of this new Tartarus." Mitsuru sat down, needing rest after having to sprint down to the briefing room and Yu began to explain "Mr. Yuuki mentioned trains and shadows so we used your computer to find railways and subway stations with high shadow activity and our result is the railway in Shibuya. There seems to be our best bet for Twotarus." Naoto sighed heavily while rubbing her temples "Don't try to coin 'Twotarus' it's disgusting" moving on from that Mitsuru gathered all available members of the Shadow Operatives into the briefing room for explanation "Starting in a month we will be investigating and exploring the new version of Tartarus. I am giving you all time to train for what is to come and for anything unexpected though we are at an advantage due to the higher amount of members we have now thanks to the investigation team. Makoto will be acting as the leader and strategist for our missions while Yu will be acting as a field leader." Mitsuru drew her sword and planted it firmly into the ground in an act of pride and intimidation "Our new mission has begun."