Hamuko's been worrying Theodore, pretty obvious after he gave her tea with eyes pleading to calm down. To her knowledge, he had never served tea before to anyone, even to his sisters. Cute, and very much like a blue attendant who would do anything for her. It warmed her hands, but she couldn't make herself drink it.
Honestly, she was pretty proud that she hasn't broken the cup yet.
She hated this place. The feeling of alienation, whole sadness surrounding the cinema, the lack of her dear friends, but most importantly, Minato, who just went with Ren to fight Shadows. Instead of her.
All things considered, it was logical. She and Minato couldn't fight together, everytime he summoned Orpheus she felt that light plug in her heart that she was unable to shake off. Someone was stealing her identity, her anger, issues, everything that made her Hamuko and she couldn't help but lash out.
Satisfaction that Minato felt the same was small and not enough to make up for it. She would just prefer him to disappear altogether.
Given they were the same person, ironic. Didn't help.
When she was younger and couldn't do anything, just stare at the window, hugging the last teddy bear she was allowed to keep (it was taken from her too. Probably stolen), she wondered about having a sibling. Someone to share pain with, to talk with, to understand. She remembered smiling, because, wasn't it silly? But left her with enough warmth to keep going, although only for a short time.
Elizabeth seemed like a cruel sister, Margaret like someone who you look up to, but can't connect, Justine and Caroline were too young (and there was something wrong about them, Hamuko didn't understand what exactly), so had Theo ever wondered about the same thing but in reverse?
"Have you ever wanted your siblings to disappear, Theo?"
It was cruel, she was cruel, but it was also important. For her anyway.
And Theodore wasn't like his sister so he looked at her for a long while.
"Never."
He was lying, the pause was too long, the word a little bit too forced, but she kept quiet. And anyway, it was good for him that he could only imagine and never experience, he wasn't damaged like she was.
It was nice to wonder about something disappearing and never see it happening.
"Sorry" she said and smiled, because she was Hamuko and the smile belongs to her face. "It was out of blue." She wanted to return the cup, but Theodore stopped looking at her and started preparing something, most probably more popcorn.
"I must agree." And that was it.
How to make your apology more sincere? Suddenly she didn't know and before she could say anything, someone new appeared.
"I'm beaaateeen." Rise, one of their Navigator. Hamuko hasn't interacted with her, not really, only during the battles when the idol was helping. "Fuuka is taking care of everything, Joker and the rest is going back. Theo, you have to make a tons of popcorn!"
"That's great!"
Absolutely not great, because it meant more Minato and she was so mad they had to rescue him. Aigis was enough, Hamuko was enough, who needs him?
Minato was lazy, didn't want to interact with anyone aside from Yu, it was clear how uncomfortable he felt there, he was stealing her Persona, he was blue and blue is the colour of sadness and no one even likes it.
(she hates how similar their eyes look like, different colour, but it still felt like reflection that was judging you more critically than anything else in the world, the emptiness inside was clear, everything was just a game-)
"Hamuko-senpai?" Rise was worried, but she had nothing to worry about, because Hamuko finally knew what to do. "Are you alright?"
"Just peachy." Hamuko got up. Her body felt lighter, more like her. "I have to do something. Thanks for everything, Theo."
Theodore wanted to reply, but before he could open his mouth, she disappeared.
Honestly, Hamuko should've realized it from the beginning. Red was an answer to everything, the life, the fire, the anger. Maybe she didn't, because there were too many new people, she hadn't even acted like this before her SEES, she was a leader, she couldn't allow to lose herself like that.
But there was a first time for everything, wasn't there?
Everyone gathered in the lobby, talking about the adventure, the dinosaurs. She could see girls trying to cheer up Futaba, who were probably torn up about the Ribbon, Joker in the middle with Naoto, Mitsuru and Akechi coming up with the next plan. Yu was weirdly absent, content with staying nearby alongside Yosuke. She ignored the rest, at least for the time being.
"Where's Minato?" She asked the leader of the Investigation Team. Funny that for the first she wasn't trying to get any reaction out of him, he looked surprised. And maybe a little suspicious.
He won't tell, realized Hamuko with anger, squeezing her fists.
"He said he needs to take care of something and will return in a minute." Fortunately, Yosuke hadn't picked up the tension between the Wild Cards. Or maybe he didn't want to?
It would be a good occasion, she realized, to ask if they are a couple, because she spent endless conversation about it with the Yukari, Fuuka and Phantom Thieves girls. In all honesty she wasn't even interested in it, but it was a good topic regardless. What else was there to talk about?
Relationships were the best.
"Arisato, come here for a moment." It was Mitsuru's voice and Hamuko turned her head in direction-
(for one blissful moment she forgot she wasn't Arisato here, because they all agreed to call him by this surname, to avoid confusion-
for one blissful moment, there was only herself and she missed this feeling so much-)
But of course fucking not.
Minato looked unbothered by everything, like always. He was even yawning, still holding his sword, No sign of exhaustion, other than that. Hamuko wondered if Joker went easy on him, and she wouldn't be surprised. Everyone was so concerned about her blue counterpart, like he still hadn't recovered from running away with Aigis from robots.
He had, it was really obvious.
She took one calming breath.
Yosuke was still talking, maybe about Minato, mission or whatever he was interested in, but she couldn't hear him.
Hamuko turned away, to her nemesis. She was moving, she knew that, but somehow her movements felt like there never existed in the place.
How was it possible that no one ever commented how much Minato reeks of Dark Hour? She still could see green in his clothes, the smell of iron he was unable to wash off, the blood in his hair contrasting with the blue, How he always hides his eye, trying to make it less obvious he doesn't belong, that he thrives on battle and not on living.
She wanted to ask him how he was even able to form any bonds. But it wasn't the right place or time for it.
"Let's fight."
Mitsuru gasped "Fight?!" and Minato hasn't even blinked. What a prick. He hasn't changed his posture, his face was blank, although Hamuko was pretty sure she saw a glimpse of a smile. Which made her even more furious.
"Why now?" Minato asked lazily (he knew how much it annoys her, he had to, and yet he decided to say it in that way-)
She opened her mouth to answer, to say, I hate you, you are me but yet you aren't, it's infuriating, please disappear, you're not helping to make me realize that I'm allowed to exist, but she was stopped.
By Yu's hand on her shoulder. He looked furious… His brows were furrowed and his grip stronger than it should've been. Strong enough to leave a bruise. Something you wouldn't expect from such a good-behaving guy.
"Stop."
How easy, how predictable. Say one word and everything is resolved. Hamuko smirked and maybe Yu was trying to stop them, because he could recognize how much she wouldn't be satisfied with a normal fight.
She wanted to see Minato's blood, hear his screams, tear him apart and take everything that belonged to her, because for her, she was original, not this guy.
"There is no need to stop" noticed Minato, seemingly completely relaxed. "I accept her challenge."
"Friends shouldn't fight with each other" said a quiet voice and shit, Hamuko hasn't realized that Hikari was nearby. She shouldn't be, that conversation wasn't meant for her ears. She was too gentle, too soft, to understand why they needed it.
"I agree with you." It's funny how Minato decided to take the leading role now, when usually he says nothing. "But we aren't friends, so there is no problem, you know? Besides" He finally looked straight into her eyes, the void "I've been waiting for this."
"She isnt your friend?" Mitsuru repeated, but with interest, like the idea was appealing for her. "Such a weird thing to hear from you, Arisato. What made you think that way?"
Yu was shaking, like he couldn't bear this thought, and Hamuko couldn't help but wonder, why was it so important for him?
"We are something else." She decided to answer, but even if she wanted to say more, she didn't know what exactly. "And so we need to solve it in our own way."
"You can talk, you can vent to others, you can do so many things and yet you want to fight? You don't even want to fight, you want to kill each other."
She couldn't exactly argue with this. Minato only shrugged his arms, like it didn't matter.
She remembered how often she had to change foster houses. She wasn't eating, she wasn't responding, she was just looking and looking, and that made her 'parents' so scared that she needed to move out. No one wants orphans, they are a sign of no future, of no possibilities.
One of the houses wasn't so bad, she lived with an older lady and maybe it was the calmest period of her life, sitting with her and reading books.
It ended, because of course it did, when boys from her school decided to set the women's house on fire.
Hamuko never was lucky. So she started smiling to the point her mouth hurt, she started being a girl no one would accuse of murder.
She will protect SEES. Someone has to.
"What did you do to them?" She asked Minato and they were thinking about the same thing, she saw it in his eyes. "You're my reflection, what have you done ?"
(she would never never never admit that she sometimes saw blue eyes in her reflection and it didn't belong to Pharos)
"Nothing" answered Minato with laziness that seems his only trait of personality. "Nothing at all. They weren't worthy of it. But." He suddenly smirked and something in her soul clutched. Before she could open her mouth, he said. "Have you killed them or just beat them up?"
He knew exactly what Hamuko had done. He also lied because he'd never just do nothing, not when it came to the only woman that gave a fuck about them.
When people see a child alone, some of them would crouch and ask meaningless things like are you okay? Where are your parents? And whenever a child answers them things like I don't have parents, help me, they back off, never to return or ask another kid ever again. Responsibility is a scary thing. Even if Hamuko hated all these people, she could understand them.
That's why this woman was special. She never asked stupid question, she just took matter into her hands. She saw a lone creature and decided that all of the things she would take care of, to show it there existed something better.
Later, she won't not be able to replay the first punch, the surprise on Minato's face, who, for all his smirking and teasing, apparently hadn't thought she would attack for real. She won't be able to remember the satisfying feeling of finally touching his skin.
Minato looked into her eyes, with one hand touching his cheek. Like always, all she could see was an endless abyss, but-
"Persona!" She hadn't expected it, the malice in his voice. And this fucker, before she could react, casted Maragion without caring about anything.
She could hear screams of other Persona users, somebody even touched her, but she gritted her teeth and took her Evoker. It fitted like it never had left her hand, the only friend when everything is a hell.
"Orpheus!" Burn him, burn him to ashes .
The fire, fire was everywhere, she felt it in her soul, hands, body, she was burning, so was everything else but no matter what she did, blue eyes stubbornly stayed.
She didn't have her naginata with her, what a shame, she hadn't thought of that-
"Agilao!" she screamed as loud as she could.
Suddenly in her vision appeared electricity, ice (they're trying to stop us-), without looking at each other, she and Minato attacked unexpected sources of magic.
Because no , Phantom Thieves, SEES, Investigation Team, it was their fight.
She turned her head to her opponent, she- (jumped? walked? ran?) and his throat was in her hands, soft and squeezy thing, the fire hadn't stopped, so maybe, this one moment belonged only to them, the scared blue eyes belonged only to her, the way Minato struggled but never begged, he would never beg-
She felt his legs trying to attack her, but were unable to do so and she smirked, because this is what you get for being you, Minato.
Pain. She suddenly felt a surge of pain in her forehead, that bastard hit her and she felt on her side huddling and then he kicked her, that son of a bitch-
"Persona!" she screamed again and her head, her goddamn head was splitting apart and Orpheus was there again, with her long hair, burning Minato with Agilao. She wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't felt it.
Someone was screaming in her head, probably Fuuka, trying to calm them down with her quiet and nice voice and Hamuko was so tired of them all.
The pile of ice appeared between them and she closed her eyes.
…
"I can't believe you almost killed each other!"
Hamuko groaned, not even because she was in pain, because she was, thank you very much Minato and your fire skills , but Yukari really could keep her comments to herself and focus on healing. She wouldn't be herself if she had done that though.
"Mitsuru-senpai is gonna to execute you two." Yukari informed somehow cheerfully. "You totally deserve it, you burnt the whole lobby, you know how scared all of us were?"
"Where's Minato?" asked Hamuko, because honestly, what was more important at the moment?
"Do you honestly think I'd tell you?" answered Yukari like Hamuko was stupid and ouch, maybe she was, a little bit. "You're banned from seeing each other and we still want to know what the hell happened."
Hamuko was never aware that Diarama could feel aggressive.
"Well, if you really need to know, Yukiko-san's healing Minato-kun right now. Senpai wanted to do it, but no one trusted her, mostly because I've never seen her so mad. Maybe it will be interesting to you, Akihiko and Shinjiro disappeared somewhere and we can't find them, so she's becoming even more mad."
"Great." Absolutely nothing felt great about the situation.
"So…" And now Yukari sounded softer."What happened between you two?"
"Nothing." Good thing Hamuko wasn't facing her friend, she would totally start crying, how was she supposed to even explain this? It wasn't something she understood, just felt, and maybe this was the problem, the lack of words. But Yukari didn't have her counterpart, it wasn't something rational.
Yukari hummed.
"Well, just you know, I think Narukami-san is also ready to execute you."
"Great."
…
Living in the theater was a weird experience. They didn't exactly have sunlight or moonlight, watchs weren't working as they should, so telling actual time was difficult. They needed it especially after spending time fighting Shadows, when some of them couldn't move anymore, out of breath. At first, they wanted to make two groups, when one of them would explore while the other slept, but as dungeons became more and more dangerous, everyone went in at the same time.
Hamuko could see this, how anxious lack of time made SEES members, so used to living that way. Personally, she didn't have anything against it, it was refreshing to finally not worry about walking around coffins, trying to do as many things as possible in an one hour, because they didn't have more time until the next day.
Right now, it certainly was a blessing.
She wasn't expecting how much they damaged the lobby, the whole place looked burned, comfortable couches were only a memory now, even ash got already cleaned up.
"Don't worry, it will appear again."
Nagi, the mysterious woman was standing nearby, smiling even as her home got destroyed. It was unwavering, making your heart beat faster, out of fear what will happen next.
"The theater will rebuild itself, as it has done in the past."
Hamuko looked at her suspiciously.
"How do you know?"
Now Nagi was smiling mysteriously, like they had just shared some kind of inside joke.
"He's waiting for you behind these doors."
Hamuko glanced at her once again, and started walking, careful to be as quiet as possible. Others were sleeping in other rooms, but it doesn't mean she exactly wanted to meet them, especially Yu and Mitsuru.
The one she walked in was just a storage, full of various videotapes that made her faintly remember her father really liked that kind of stuff. She couldn't remember if he ever showed anything more to her or talked about it. She hated herself, just a little.
Yukari was an amazing healer, capable enough that not even scars remained on Hamuko's body, although she warned her the skin will be delicate, so if Hamuko wants to fight again, she's definitely not getting another healing.
Yukiko seemed to be a fine one as well, Minato looked well, like they hadn't almost killed each other a couple hours ago. He was hiding behind this haircut of his, sitting next to the wall, trying to look like he was sleeping.
Not fooling her tonight, Minato.
"So, how are you feeling?" She asked cheerfully, taking a seat next to him. He glanced at her, obviously exasperated.
"Peachy."
For some reasons, he didn't quite resembled Pharos now, he looked more like his own person. Weird.
"I haven't really expected you'd attack me." Minato finally was sincere, but his voice still sounded bland and uninterested, yet again making her want to punch him. He really was too punchable for his own good.
"What did you expect after all this teasing? I wanted to punch you for God knows how long, of course I'd jump into a chance!"
And now, for some reasons, he was smiling. Faintly, she couldn't ever imagine him smiling with his teeth, because that would be a sign that would make people faint, but still. Something about him was soft right now and she couldn't understand him.
"So I was asking for it, wasn't I?"
"Yep."
"I can't understand you" continued Minato, "so I didn't want to get in the way."
"Bullshit." She didn't mean to be harsh, but she also didn't want to listen to this. "You want to bond with others almost as much as I want to, you just won't admit it. I didn't mind at the beginning, but now? Do you have any idea how annoying it was to see your longing eyes and know you won't make a move, you chicken?"
"Chicken." Of course he focused on the completely unimportant part. "At least you could choose something blue."
"You don't deserve blue. Anyway, engage with others, because next time I'll seriously kill you for taking up space without doing anything."
It was so easy, wasn't it? She always focused on how she couldn't bond with SEES, how she felt like a stranger with them and yet she wasn't and this freaking guy decided to just… Leave them in everything but body. Because he didn't want to bother her, didn't want to make anyone choose between them, completely forgetting he also had emotions.
They ended up hating each other.
Not for a long though, such is the life of Wild Cards, you never know when one fight will completely change the dynamic of everything.
"Chicken" he murmured again and screw what she said before, she was going to punch him now . "I… We can't have fights, they get too intense and we don't even know when and how. Did you know I wanted to summon Thanatos to just end everything and take my place?"
"Aigis would stop you."
Minato hadn't said anything for a moment.
"Yeah, she would."
Hamuko couldn't quite remember if they talked about anything more or just agreed silently it was time for the relaxation. What she knew though was that Minato's shoulder was surprisingly comfortable.
She also found out later that running away from Yu and Mitsuro wasn't, in fact, fun.