May 25:

"It won't be that bad," Yu reassured Junpei as he pat him on the back. "There's plenty of worse students than you."

Junpei shook his head lightly as the monorail swayed as it usually did. "No, I know," he replied sullenly. "But my scores aren't exactly gonna make me feel good about myself."

Yu shrugged. "Stuff like that hasn't brought you down before. So why let it get to you now?"

Again, Junpei shook his head. "You wouldn't get it."

Yu grimaced. "Do you not have faith in me?"

"I'm serious, man. It's stupid." He then turned his head to the window, keeping his gaze hidden from view. Yu opened his mouth to reply, but he just decided to keep to himself on the subject. Sure, he's pried others over bigger issues, but Junpei has shown to be unique when it comes to relatively petty things like pride, even more than Yosuke and Naoto.

"But you know," Junpei began suddenly, "while I've got you, what's your deal with that girl? Fuuka, was it?"

Yu nodded. "It's nothing serious. I helped chase away some bullies giving her a hard time, and I've been keeping tabs on her since."

Junpei looked back at Yu. "And you didn't know she had the potential?"

Yu nodded. "Yeah, I had no idea. It's just not in my nature to ignore someone going through stuff."

"At least you're consistent." Junpei sighed. "Wish I were half the person you were."

Again, Yu patted his back. "Please ease up a little. Your scores don't have to be at my level to be a good person.

"I-It's not that. It's something else."

Yu arched his brow. "And that is?" Predictably, Junpei just looked back outside to avoid the conversation. "Alright, I'll leave it be." A few minutes later, the monorail came to a stop in the station, after which Junpei got up and swiftly left the car. This left Yu to walk to school by himself; this didn't bother him too much, but it made him wish Junpei would get over himself already. There's only so much moody teenager bullshit he wanted to deal with.

"HEEEEY YU!" the always hyperactive Hamuko greeted from a distance as she vigorously waved hi.

I can't believe I prefer talking to Hamuko right now, Yu thought.

Nevertheless, he waved back. "Morning Hamuko," he replied. "You seem happier than usual."

"I guess," she replied enthusiastically as she caught up to Yu.

"Are you ready to see your exam scores?" he asked genuinely as they continued their trek.

Hamuko grimaced. "Not really. I think they'll suck."

Yu shrugged. "I think I did alright, I gotta say."

Hamuko then pouted. "LUCKY! I wish I could focus as good as you!"

"I don't know about that, Hamuko. I think you focused enough to get some decent scores."

"Aww, that's sweet," she replied, smiling genuinely. "You believe in me THAT much?"

Yu nodded confidently. "Better than Junpei, that's for sure."

She instantly perked up at his mention. "I saw him pass by a minute ago. Did you say something to him?"

Yu shook his head. "I tried, but he didn't want to listen to anything I said."

Hamuko snickered. "Then he must think he messed up royally! He looked like he was death incarnate!"

This comparison actually managed to get a chuckle out of Yu. "Now that you say it like that, he kinda did." The two of them continued chatting as they passed through the front gate and to their respective classrooms.

As Yu headed back to the classroom after eating, he noticed Minato and a throng of other students gathered around the bulletin boards. It's no question that they're checking out the exam results, a fact that was all but confirmed by the mix of relief and disappointment on their faces. For Yu, these expressions were all too familiar to him.

Then, in a rare moment of awareness, Minato turned his head and waved to Yu. "Hey Narukami. Check it out." He obliged and walked up to the exam results, starting from the top to the bottom. Ten seconds later, he found not only his name, but Minato's name as well in comfortable spots near the top

"Not bad, Minato," Yu congratulated.

"You're not so bad yourself," he replied with a rare genuine smile on his face. He then pointed near the end of the list. "Better than a certain someone." Yu peeked to whom Minato was pointing at. Once he realized who it was, he snickered.

Junpei Iori.

"That's not too surprising," he remarked. "No amount of reassurance we could offer will help him there."

"Yeah," Minato replied before promptly turning around. "Well, see you later." And with that, he casually began his stroll back to the classroom.

Well, at least he's being friendlier today, Yu considered as he checked out the rest of the results. Much further up the list, he saw a cluster near the middle of the list with Hamuko and Yukari basically side by side with each other, with Yukari predictably coming out higher.

"H-Hey, Narukami-san," a friendly voice greeted.

Yu turned around. "Hey Fuuka-san," Yu greeted back. "Did you come to check your results too?"

She shook her head. "Mmm-mmm," she replied. "I already saw mine."

Yu raised his eyebrow. "Then why…?"

"I wanted to tell you something." She had a bright smile on her face as she spoke.

Yu smiled right back. "You seem happier."

Fuuka nodded vigorously. "So I talked with Moriyama-san earlier, and she said she wanted to smooth things over!

Yu's smile faded slightly "Really?"

She nodded. "Mmm-hmm. She want me to go out with her friends Friday night since exams are done."

"I… I'm proud of you."

Fukka's smile darkened a bit, taking note of Yu's stammer. "You're worried, aren't you?"

Yu nodded hesitantly. "I don't want to see you get hurt."

She nodded once more. "I'll be fine, don't worry." Right as Yu started to object, however, she began walking away. "I-I'll tell you how it goes!" And like that, she was gone. Of course Yu was naturally concerned for her safety, but he knows that once someone has their sights set on something, they usually don't budge too easily. On that note, he noticed the bell ring, telling him lunchtime was over, and it was back to boring classwork.

"All right, class, settle down," Ms. Toriumi announced to the classroom of chatty teenagers. "You can show your scores to one another later."

Typical, Yu thought.

"Well, let's go over the test now," she continued as she pulled out her materials pertinent to the exam. Yu did the same, as he did have a few questions he knew he missed. Toriumi contrinued. "The first section was on kanji dictation..." She sighed aggresively. "How could any of you gotten this part wrong? It was a gimme!"

I didn't, Yu remarked smugly in his head.

"Junpei probably found a way to screw it up," Izanagi chimed in.

"You think?" Yu replied back.

She continued to rant. "I swear, you make me embarrassed to be your teacher!" Nevertheless, she recomposed herself and continued. "The next portion was the short essay, reacting to a passage about bullying in schools."

"Oof. Touchy subject for..."

"Finish that sentence, and you go bye bye," Yu threatened. Izanagi obliged.

"This one was also a gimme," she continued. "As long as you wrote something down, I gave you credit for it." She paused, as if she was choosing her words carefully. "You could have complained about the bullying at Gekkoukan, right?" That question made Yu squirm in his seat.

"Are you alright?" Angel asked. "I know you wanted to write about her, but..."

"Yeah, I felt it would've made things worse," Yu replied sullenly. "But on the other hand..."

Ms. Toriumi awkwardly chuckled. "I'm kidding, of course. There's no bullying here! None whatsoever!"

…

"Bitch."

"I-I'm not getting into that," she stammered. Yu looked back to check on Minato, only to find him asleep on his desk.

That sounds nice right about now, Yu commented, but he turned back around to focus.

"Okay, on to the next section." Toriumi rubbed her forehead as if she had a headache. "Many of you got this part wrong, so pay attention." She looked to her notes again. "You were asked to write the correct conjunction in each case..."

This is gonna be a LONG review…

"YU! YU!" Hamuko exclaimed as Yu exited the classroom.

Yu sighed. "What is it?" he asked.

Hamuko pouted. "Geez, you're in a bad mood, aren't you?" She brightened back up immediately. "Anywho, I've got something to show you. Mind walking with me?"

Yu shrugged his shoulders. "Sure. I've got time to spare."

"Sweet! Let's go!" She the took Yu's hand and proceeded to drag him through the hallway.

"H-Hey!" Yu stammered as he struggled to break Hamuko's grip. "Let go of me!"

Hamuko paused, then let Yu go. "S-Sorry, I'm just excited to show you this."

Yu huffed. "I mean, why are you in such a hurry?"

"B-Because its not here at the school. It's back in town."

Yu arched his brow in confusion. "Then why don't we ride on the monorail?"

Hamuko shrugged her own shoulders. "I feel like walking there. That a problem?"

Yu shook his head. "I guess not. Lead the way." Before she could take off, Yu placed his hand on her shoulder. "Slowly." Hamuko nodded as Yu dropped his hand, then began walking through the school while he followed. He noticed a few people staring at the two of them, but nowhere near as bad as other blowouts on school grounds.

As they walked down the stairs, Yu popped the next question. "So… Are you happy with your exam scores?"

She nodded. "Yeah! Thanks to you, I did much better than I thought I would." She turned her head to Yu. "Are YOU happy, Mr. Smarty Pants?!"

Yu blushed, but not in a bad way for once. "I-I guess. I guess I have a knack for schoolwork."

"Seems that way," Hamuko then turned her attention back to the walk. They walked down the first floor hallway, through the lobby, and out through the front gate without incident. Even as they walked past both the hospital and the mall, the two of them just made mild conversation.

"You think we'll be able to stop the Shadows?" Hamuko asked out of nowhere as they crossed the Moonlight Bridge. "I mean, we have our Personas, but are we capable?"

This question shocked Yu more than probably anything else she said up to this point. "Where is this coming from? You aren't usually this serious."

Hamuko shook her head. "I dunno. I-I guess I'm just not used to all this yet."

Yu nodded. "Ahh, I gotcha." He paused. "Yeah, this stuff ain't easy to get into. Hell, seeing others risk their lives for the same cause is even harder." Again he paused, but now he's not sure how to phrase the rest of his thoughts. Especially since, given his unique set of circumstances, he's the most painfully aware of where this path ends up.

Yukiko… Nanako…

The thought of those two made Yu collapse to the ground, the sound of which caused Hamuko to immediately stop and face him. "Y-Yu?" she questioned as she rushed to his side. "Yu, a-are you alright!?"

"Y-Y-Yeah," Yu forced out as his voice cracked and tears poured out of his eyes. "I-I'm perfectly f-fine!"

Hamuko pulled him into a hug. "N-No you're not," she replied, a quiver in her voice. "Now t-tell me what's wrong!"

Yu shook his head violently. "N-Nothing is wrong! I swear!"

"Bullshit!" Now her voice had a tinge of anger in her voice. "You're bawling like a baby, dammit! That doesn't just happen out of nowhere!"Again, Yu couldn't say what was bothering him so much. He badly wanted to, but he had to do something to calm him and Hamuko down. Luckily for him, he still had an out.

"I-It's my parents. I miss them! I miss them so much!" It was still true. He couldn't remember how long it was since he had last talked to them. Hell, so much had happened in his life thus far that the very concept of normality was foreign to him, something that he longed for when he got emotional like this.

Hamuko nodded. "W-What? What happened to..." She then gasped, and proceeded to pat his back in sympathy. "Ooh, I'm sorry. I had no idea…"

Yu shook his head, then pulled himself away from Hamuko. "N-No, it's alright," he reassured as he sniffled. "I didn't mean to throw that on you." He closed his eyes, sighed, then continued. "I keep all that bottled in for so long, that when I do blow, it makes everyone miserable."

Hamuko wiped her face of her own tears. "W-Well, that's no way to live." She paused. "Look, I get it. Something terrible happened." She then slowly started picking herself up as she continued her speech. "But the past is behind you. All you can really do is look to the future, and be your best self." She then offered her hand to the still sitting Yu. "So get up and smile! We need you at your best!"

Yu's eyes spread wide in amazement. He was absolutely certain Hamuko was just a pretty face acting like a total airhead; but now, having seen him at his genuine low, seeing her act so compassionate to him felt like the first completely genuine thing he's seen from her.

God, I've been such a dick to her, he thought, mentally beating himself up. And yet, she still wants to know me…

Yu accepted her hand, got back on his feet, and wiped tears away from his own face. "You're right. I'm sorry for showing you that." He then promptly bowed. "And I'm so sorry for being so mean to you. I-I didn't know you had this sensitive side and..." Hamuko shut him up with another hug.

"It's okay," she replied with a smile. "To tell you the truth, I don't usually show it myself either." She sighed. "I just feel like I need to put out a little more positivity in the world so that others don't have to be sad." She then pulled away from Yu to face him directly. "So please cheer up. I hate seeing you sad like that."

Yu nodded. "Yeah. But I just have one request."

Hamuko raised her eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Try to be a little more down to earth. You can be a little much to handle at times."

"Oh, is that it?" She then nodded. "That'll be easy!" The crashing noise finally went off in Yu's head. Not who Yu expected to have this kind of experience with, but at least now he has a newfound appreciation for Hamuko and her company.

"Well," Yu continued, "how about we just head home?"

Hamuko nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I think that's a good idea."

"Oh, it's just you again," Mitsuru "greeted" Yu as he walked into the control room. "Still the nightmares?"

For once, Yu shook his head. "Not today. I just… can't sleep."

"That's unusual," Mitsuru commented. "Did something happen today?"

Yu shook his head again. "Not really. Saw the exam results, but that's about it for today."

Mitsuru nodded. "Your scores were quite good, by the way."

Yu rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks. That means a lot coming from you." He walked over to one of the couches and planted himself in place. "So… are you doing okay?"

Mitsuru glanced to Yu. "What do you mean?"

Yu sighed. "I mean, what are we going to do once you can't sense higher levels?"

Mitsuru glanced back to her screen. "I'll figure something out, even if I have to support you on the front lines."

"That seems unwise, if you ask me."

Mitsuru sighed. "Maybe. But given how many of us there are, we could do that if needed." She glanced back to Yu. "Unless you have a better idea?"

Yu shrugged. "I mean, if it comes down to it, but so be it."

Mitsuru went back to her work on the computers once more. "I'm not too worried about it at the moment." She paused. "More importantly, our goal right now is to prepare as much as possible. There's no telling when another of the Arcana Shadows may strike again."

"Arcana Shadows?"

"To differentiate these large Shadows from the others, I have decided to call them Arcana Shadows. The first one was of the Magician Arcana, the second one the Priestess."

Yu nodded. "Ahh, I see. Naming them after the Arcanas."

Mitsuru nodded. "Precisely."

"In that case, then yeah, we need to be as prepared as we can possibly be. Just one of those behemoths is taxing in its own right. Let alone when they have friends like on the monorail."

"I know," Mitsuru agreed. "But so long as we keep up with our progress in the tower, we should be able to take them on easily."

Yu chuckled. "At least we agree on that." He then got up to look at the monitors himself. "But more importantly..."

"The answer is no," Mitsuru replied bluntly. "You don't need to know anything else about that girl."

Yu sighed disappointingly. "Is she at least alright?"

"She's being monitored, don't worry." She then fully faced Yu. "But for now, try to stay focused on the task at hand, then maybe we can bring an end to this together." Like Hamuko earlier, Mitsuru was sporting a genuine smile to Yu. Granted, it was a noticeably weaker one brought about by exhaustion, but the intent was still there.

Yu nodded. "I like that attitude," he replied as the crashing noise went off in his head. "Well, I'm gonna try getting to bed again." He waved to Mitsuru as he strolled back to the door. "Don't stay up too late."

Mitsuru chuckled. "I'll be fine, but thanks for worrying."

May 26:

"Remember, there are three strong Shadows in the center of the floor," Mitsuru reminded the group as they materialized back into the tower. "Proceed with caution."

Minato nodded. "Got it," he replied, more alert than he had been before. It appeared as though he finally recovered from their encounter on the monorail.

"Nice to see you in better shape,"Yu complemented. "Those Shadows are in trouble now!"

Akihiko beamed. "Hell yeah!" He exclaimed as the shimmering light around them vanished, replaced with the familiar corridors they'd traversed the other day. "Now let's show them what's what!" With that, the group, also comprised of Yukari and Hamuko, approached the trio of fire-juggling tables that blocked their path.

"W-What the hell?" Hamuko questioned, confused by what she was seeing. "I'm supposed to be intimidated by THAT?"

Yukari sighed. "You literally traded blows with a nearly-naked Shadow controlling the monorail, and THESE are too unrealistic for you?"

"Now now, Yukari," Yu countered. "To be fair, everyone was in the heat of the moment then." He then faced the Shadows. "For now, let's make sure we don't underestimate these guys."

"Agreed," Minato replied as the group went to their fighting stances. Now the fight could begin.

"Be careful," Mitsuru warned. "But you should be able to take them."

"Let's try an obvious attack," Minato murmured as he raised his Evoker to his head. "JACK FROST! BUFULA!" In a flurry of shimmering blue, his lovable Persona appeared, conjuring up a giant block of ice that covered one of the Shadows, and upon explosion, this blast knocked it down.

"Woooow!" Hamuko exclaimed in awe. "That was AMAZING!"

"AGAIN! BUFULA!" His trusty Persona reappeared, conjuring a similarly sized ice block around the second Shadow that, upon explosion, brought it down in similar style. Once incapacitated, he attacked with Jack Frost for a third time, bringing the third Shadow down with yet another Bufula attack.

Akihiko hopped around with glee. "I've been waiting for this!" he exclaimed, barely able to contain his excitement. "All out attack, Arisato?"

He nodded, a smirk on his face. "Yeah. Let's do it!" In an instant, the group (sans Yukari) rushed the three Shadows, variously slashing, bashing, and otherwise beating the shit out of the Shadows. Once the dust settled, they still remained standing, but they did still take a good beating.

Yu was next to the draw. "Let's see what I can do." He placed his Evoker to his head. "ANGEL! GARU!" His scantily-clad Persona appeared before him, then sent out a gust of wind to one of the Shadows. Again, this didn't bring it down, but the Shadow still, again, felt that.

Yu then looked to Hamuko, who seemed somewhat unsure of herself as she gazed at her Evoker. "You got this?" Yu asked her.

She looked up, then nodded vigorously. "Y-Yeah," she replied as she pointed the Evoker to her head. "GO! TAKE-MINAKATA! MAZIO!" Despite the fact that this was her second time summoning her Persona for battle, her horned companion materialized as if it did this dozens of time before. At Hamuko's command, the giant charged up its lightning, and once the sky started to crackle, it brought down a lightning bolt on each Shadow; as a result, one finally vanished, one took the hit like a champ, and the last one actually got shocked by its lightning bolt.

"Wow!" Akihiko exclaimed in awe before giving Hamuko a thumb up. "Not bad!"

Hamuko's face flushed as she giggled in embarrasement. "Aw, shucks!"

Minato grunted. "Don't let your guard up yet!" he proclaimed as one of the remaining Shadows charged up a fireball; once at full power, the juggling table threw the fireball in the direction of Akihiko. The attack near instantly hit him head on, but this didn't bring him down; in fact, his face was burning with rage once he refaced the enemy.

"Why you..." He quickly pulled out his Evoker and swiftly pulled the trigger to summon Polydeuces. "SONIC PUNCH!" Before his Persona had a chance to fully form, Polydeuces wound up his arm, then smacked his fist against the table that dared strike him. And then… the Shadow was gone without a trace.

Yu whistled. "Damn man," he replied in amazement. "You really showed him what's for."

"I'll finish this," Minato as he summoned Jack Frost once again to summon one more Ice block around the remaining Shadow; and like its buddies before, the Shadow vanished as the Ice combusted, leaving a flurry of snow behind. That was it, the fight was over as quickly as it began.

"Very good, everyone!" Mitsuru praised. "Everyone seems to be in top form today!"

Minato nodded. 'Yeah, everyone is doing great so far."

"Well then… shall we continue climbing?"

Yu nodded. "Let's."

"There's strong Shadow in the center of the floor," Mitsuru warned the now weary group. They had been clearing floor after floor with relative ease, although their performance on the floor prior was starting to show that they were possibly reaching the end of their winning streak.

"C'mon, everyone!" Akihiko bellowed in between light wheezing.

Yu shook his head. "I think we should quit while we're ahead," he suggested. "We'll be no good to the world dead."

Hamuko nodded. "H-He has a point," she replied. "Hey M-Mitsuru-senpai, what do you think our odds are against it?"

"Well, its of the Empress Arcana, so it will undeniably put up a tough fight." She then sighed. "And while I think you all could take it, I'll leave that decision to Arisato."

Minato nodded. "I think I agree with Narukami on this one," he replied, siding with the majority. "We could take it, but I think we've earned the right to take it easy."

"Fair enough," Mitsuru agreed. "Well then, good job everyone. Head on back using the… what the…?" Mitsuru's voice cut out suddenly, leaving the rest of the group on edge.

"W-What the hell?" Hamuko stammered, panicked. "D-Did something happen to…"

"Maybe," Akihiko suggested before shaking his head. "It's more likely a Shadow made its way in, and she needed to dispatch it."

Yu arched his brow. "Has that happened before?"

Akihiko nodded hesitantly. "Not often, but it has."

"So what you're saying is," Yukari began in a soothing tone, "it's nothing to be concerned about?"

Akihiko nodded. "If she were really in trouble, she would have told us."

Minato nodded as he activated the teleporter. "In any case, we should hurry back so that we can… GAHHH!" Everyone pivoted their heads to the teleporter, where a half-formed figure dashed out, knocking Minato flat on his ass.

Yukari was the one to rush to his side. "M-Minato-kun!" she exclamied. slightly fearful. "Are you alright!?"

"Ehh, he's fine," the figure replied as their regular form became visible to the group, and to some of them, there was a lot familiar about them. Slender, shiny legs and arms. Long blue hair up in a ponytail. And, most importantly, a face that sticks out like a sore thumb.

Yu pointed at her. "It's you!"

Akihiko looked puzzled. "Who?

"It's that girl," Minato replied as he rubbed his head.

Yukari looked to the girl, visibly confused. "Seriously?"

Hamuko huffed. "HEY! What the hell is going on?"

The girl faced Hamuko. "What's YOUR problem?"

Akihiko rubbed his forehead. "I actually miss Mitsuru's nagging right now."

"More importantly," Yu butted back in, "how did you get here? I thought you had been taken away!"

The girl nodded "I was. But I, ya know, got away from those people."

"What people?" Yukari blurted out.

"Get ahold of yourselves!" Izanagi bellowed as he appeared before them.

"Seriously, do you guys have to do this HERE?" Polydeuces added, expressing his master's own frustration.

The girl looked visibly puzzled at this point. "Why?" She then looked down the hall to find the Guardian, an angelic statue bathed in pure white and gold. "Oh, is that why?" She then began walking down the hall, much to the group's horror.

"H-Hey, stop!" Yu shouted as he took the girl's hand to restrain her, but to no avail. "Y-You can't face that thing! You don't have..."

"A Persona?" She asked, much to Yu, Yukari, and Minato's shock. "Don't worry, I got this." Before anyone could object further, the girl took a fighting stance as she shimmered in a blue light.

Akihiko's eyes widened in shock. "You can't be serious," he proclaimed in disbelief.

"I think she is," Minato replied.

"But what are the odds of that?" Yu added as a figure appeared over her head. It featured a similar design to the girl herself, like similarly-designed limbs, the mask-like face, and flowing blue hair; the one notable difference is that the figure had paler blue skin, whereas the girl had more mechanical features to her look.

The girl opened her eyes. "Ariadne, let's mop the floor with this sucker." She then dramatically pointed at the Shadow. "BEAST WEAVER!" The Persona then pulled back its own arm, lurched forward, then threw a punch at the Guardian; the force of the punch sent a shockwave back toward the group, and had the added benefit of knocking the Guardian down onto its back.

The girl then turned to face the group, whose jaws were hanging so low, it was a surprise they weren't physically on the ground. "Not bad, eh?" she asked bluntly. However, everyone was still so stunned by what they just experienced. Like on the one hand, no one could believe that this girl was a Persona-user, regardless of how much each one of them knew about her.

On the other hand, Yu, recognizing the situation they were in, stood up to take charge. "W-What are y'all standing there for?" he shouted as he pointed to the Guardian. "That bastard is down, so let's take care of it before it gets back up!"

Akihiko nodded, jittering with glee. "I like the sound of that. Let's get it!" Just then, the three of them rushed over to throw down.

Hamuko stumbled to catch up. "W-Wait for me!" she exclaimed as she dragged her naginata on the floor. In an instant, the four of them were caught up in an impromptu all out attack on the Guardian they didn't intend on fighting. And while this attack didn't bring it down, the Guardian's arms and head noticeably sagged from exhaustion.

"It's almost down!" Akihiko shouted. "Let's raise some hell!" He then summoned his Persona. "POLYDEUCES! SONIC PUNCH!" His Persona, like it had before, wound up its arm before smacking against the Guardian.

"IZANAGI! ZIO!" Yu's Persona summoned a familiar bolt of lightning down on the Shadow. Again, It's not enough. Hamuko's response? Slashing the shit out of the Guardian with her naginata. Unsurprisingly, this didn't bring it down.

"Damn, it's strong!" Hamuko swore.

"'S a'ight, I got it!" The girl then resummoned her Persona. "MIRACLE PUNCH!" Like before, the frail-looking Persona wound up its arm to punch the Guardian, albeit with a weaker attack, but like with the others, the tough enemy still didn't want to die. In response, the angelic figure opened up like a door, sending person-sized tornadoes to each combatant. This knocked Yu back, while the others took the hits like champs.

"My turn," Akihiko proclaimed as he summoned Polydeuces once more. "ZIO!" Like Izanagi before, Polydeuces summoned a lightning strike down on the Guardian, and only now did it vanish into a mess of sludge. Yukari then ran up to Yu to heal him as he forced himself up.

"Damn," Akihiko swore as he wheezed with exhaustion. "I dunno how, but we did it."

"Yeah," Minato nodded as he approached the group, particularly the girl. "But more importantly, what's her deal?"

"Huh!?" she replied, slightly repulsed by his comment. "'S that supposed to..."

"H-Hello? What in the world is going on up there!?" Mitsuru worriedly asked, her voice finally audible to everyone. "I don't sense the Guardian up there anymore. Can anyone hear me?"

"Y-Yeah, we hear you," Minato replied. "But, uhh… I think this is gonna be hard to explain."

"Try me."

Phew! This one was a pain to write. I was on this chapter across several sessions, as I had trouble figuring out where to take this one. But I powered through, and here it is, so thanks for your patience on this one. Next chapter will hopefully be a lighter one in terms of content, but then again, I say that to myself every time I start writing, so who even knows anymore?

Anywho, here's a small social link update:

Mitsuru (Empress) – Rank 4

Hamuko (Hanged Man) – Rank 5

And with that, I bid you all adieu, until next time!

Read on!

-rjm324