~Chapter 10~
"Sorry for making you hear my dumb story…"
"It's fine. You got mine too so it's a fair trade." Akira replied with a smile. "If you have something needed to be let out, just fine me. I can be a good listener."
"Thanks, Akira-kun."
Community Lovers: Rank 1. Archery improved.
At the same time, the Dark Hour ended. Akira said that it was late so he nudged Yukari to go inside first and he would follow in seconds. She nodded and wished him good night before closing the doors.
A nice girl, she is. Satanael commented with a sly smirk. Be careful not to woo her, Trickster. You don't want previous events to repeat.
Hmm, what events? I demand explanation. Demiurge was intrigued.
'Just a moment of weakness, don't worry about me.' Akira waved off. 'Besides, it would be worse if I did that and left her behind when my mission completed.'
Oh no I don't talk about just Yukari Takeba. Mitsuru Kirijo is also in your Gigolo Crosshair.
'Urgh, I don't need a second Morgana right now.'
The next day rolled in with Akira being bombarded with questions from his classmates, particularly Junpei. He came up with the excuse of 'family matters' and that seemed to satisfy them. They already knew Minato was sick so the day moved on. As usual, Akira answered perfectly the questions and earned points from his homeroom teacher and some others. Junpei asked him to pass down his secret art of remembering everything in the books, which he gave the goatee teen a deadpan look.
"No."
Akira went to the Mall afterschool to replenish his recovery items. To his disappointment, they had little to offer but he still purchased a sizeable bunch in case the SEES members needed immediate support. Satanael's Salvation was reduced to mere Mediarama and while his stats made up for it, he was not confident enough to spam it, not when his SP items were low. Demiurge's Holy Grail was stupidly broken as it healed, removed all ailments, cancelled all status ailments and refilled SP pools as well. The drawbacks were acceptable: the caster would not get the SP restoration and the cost was hefty, 120 SP!
But I have Domination as well. Demiurge helpfully chimed in. It drains 40% of the target's HP and 80% of their SP.
'At the cost of 50 SP? Fuck no. Not when it isn't guaranteed. MP Leech is safer.'
Hahaha, serves you right. Satanael got the last laugh as Demiurge sulked in the corner.
For the remaining of the week, Akira kept his schedule as proficient as possible: school = buying items and cooking (which actually got Akihiko to stay at the dormitory and not waste his time trying to tear his arm further apart) = Dark Hour roaming, rinse and repeat. His SP pool was still low due to how excessively he tested Demiurge's skills. Black Barrel drained about 35% of his HP but this was doable in combat so he primarily used the severely weakened Satanael. His elemental skills changed to those that dealt damage based on his magic attribute on random enemies but their costs were much manageable.
Speaking of Black Barrel, he looked up some good revolvers or breach-loading rifles like the Contender, as loading each bullet to a semiauto handgun took too much time, and took note to ask and buy them from Mitsuru's sources; his pride won't allow him to get them from her for free. The cash he had accumulated from various Palaces and Mementos trips should be able to last for a year if he spent them sparingly but Demiurge advised him to get part-time jobs, both to have a steady income and to find potential Confidants.
On Friday, Minato woke up. Akira went to the hospital right after the school ended but Yukari beat him to it. He stayed outside the room to let the two have their talk. Yukari seemed to desperately need someone to share her story with and did not satisfy with just him; Akira mused. And Minato supposedly had a similar past as well. Though, it did not justify just how apathetic the guy was to everything else, even the existence of Shadows and Demons.
Demons?
'Yakasha bled red, unlike Shadows.'
An apt categorization, Trickster.
Akira left, knowing that Minato would be discharged shortly. He wanted to treat his roommate and potentially new teammate his (actually Sojiro's) brand of curry, which got a smile from Mitsuru that Akihiko whispered to him as 'rare as hell'. A bit miscalculation from Akira as when Minato returned to the dormitory, he looked like a walking zombie and just dragged himself to their room and slept. Akira decided to keep a two-dish portion for Minato in the fridge and left a note on his bed that if he felt hungry, there was curry in the kitchen.
When dinner was done, Akira brought the issue to Mitsuru.
"Weapon dealer? Are you unsatisfied with the gun set I delivered to you the other day?" Mitsuru's tone was cold.
"Hey now, I wouldn't easily get bored of such gifts from you, Kirijo-oujou. The thing is, my Persona recently learned a Skill that creates a bullet, real bullet." He conjured a dark cartridge covered in red cracks and showed her. "The problem is, loading it into the magazines of those guns takes too long in a fight. I mean, I did buy a cheapo revolver replica on the net but it doesn't operate like real deal. I need something that takes live ammunition."
Mitsuru looked half-convinced but still not convinced enough to believe him so Akira added.
"I will buy them with my own cash, don't worry. Besides, I like varieties."
With a couple of puppy and kitty-eye tricks, Mitsuru accepted in frustration. She gave him the address and number of a…police officer? stationed in the Paulownia Mall, who was incidentally responsible for S.E.E.S' weaponry as well. Ironic but he would not judge, especially when Mitsuru was giving him too much privilege.
"Thanks babe. I will take you to a restaurant someday –" It was at this moment that Akira knew, he fucked up.
"B-B-B-B-BABE!?"
"Ohshitohshitohshit!"
Told you so.
Later that night, Akira was having a chat with Minato who woke up and looked for something to eat as expected. He learned a bit more about the blue-haired boy: after his parents' deaths, he had been bouncing off from relatives to another until he got admitted to Gekkoukan. While he was lucky that he did not share the same situation, the Trickster felt that his life prior to the encounter with Shido was not that different: his father was constantly away and rarely showed affection to him while his mother just obediently listened to him. Even during the weird fog incident in 2011, they did not care much for him and opted to run to the city, leaving him behind in Inaba. Akira pretty much discarded his trust and love towards his parents since then.
"I feel you. Mine aren't dead but they acted just like your relatives. Dad completely ignored me and Mom, at first, tried to love me but she followed his orders so obediently that she too abandoned me. Eventually, they dumped me to an acquaintance for few years and went away. In fact, living with my guardian is much better than with them." Akira said, gazing at the windows with a sad smile. He envied Ryuji as even though his father left him, he still had a loving and kind mother, real mother. He only found a second dad in Sojiro few months until he had to surrender to the police for his friends' sake.
"…I see. Sorry for bringing that up."
"'s fine. Glad that we are on the same boat."
Community Fool: Rank 1. Dual Elemental Skill Fusion unlocked.
When the Dark Hour began, Akira took Minato outside and gave him his Evoker.
"Try it. You will have to get used to the feeling sooner or later."
"Hmm, just point to your head and shoot?"
"Yeah."
Minato held the Evoker and stared at it intensively for a moment before slowly leveling it to his forehead. His finger was trembling and a drop of sweat rolled on his cheek.
"Per…so…na."
*Bang*
Blue glass fragments burst out from Minato's other side and made a whirlwind around him. They gathered and formed the mechanical body of the Persona: Orpheus, who hovered above the teen.
"This is…my Persona."
"Orpheus is an another 'you' that acts as your Mask and Weapon against the Shadow, the negative aspects of human being. Think of Persona as a tamed Shadow." Akira explained. He closed his eyes, feeling like part of his soul was cut off as the silhouette of Satanael came into existence. He was not as gargantuan as usual but God's Second Son was still twice as tall as Orpheus, staring it down to show off the difference of power between them.
"There are alternative ways to summon Persona. What I just did is one of them, though it drains your lifeforce each use. I wouldn't recommend it." Akira caught his breath and said.
Minato looked at the looming Satanael as memories that were not his began to play in his mind. An auditorium with white empty seats, two men about his age in black attires and an older one in white suit, a red haired girl crying in the middle of the stage, Minato himself and…Akira? who appeared to be taunting the man in white and the girl while holding a red card emitting miasma between his fingers.
"What…was that?"
"Hmm? You mean this big guy? He is Satanael, my Persona."
"The images…" Minato tried to recall them but did not work. The memories seemed to vanish completely from his mind. "Nevermind, just seeing things. Gotta be the drugs."
"If you say so." Akira dismissed Satanael, feeling at ease as the draining stopped. He led Minato to the spot where the Shadows mostly spawned and there they were, leisurely skidding on the ground.
"Usually, your Persona will upload a set of skills into your mind and they have certain costs. I remember you using an Agi spell that night so try it."
Minato nodded and leveled the Evoker next to his temple. His eyes locked to a base Shadow that did not transform and muttered the word 'Agi' before pressing the trigger. Orpheus appeared and played a tune from his lyre, sending a small fireball into the monster and burning it to a crisp. Other Shadows were alerted and headed to his direction as Minato repeated the command multiple times to wipe them out. Immediately, the teen dropped to his knee and panted.
"Be careful, you will exhaust yourself if using skills wildly." Akira used a Snuff Soul on Minato while shooting a Tiara without even looking at it. Tonight he brought the M1911 (read: prototype STI M2011) with him, a pistol with superb fire rate, and Akira made short work of the weak Shadow bunch in rapid succession.
"Let me handle this." Akira took back his Evoker from Minato and glared at the Cross and Gigas reinforcement. "Demon's Rage!"
Satanael clenched his hand and swept at the Shadows, sending a wave of dark energy that knocked the Gigas out twice and consumed the weaker Cross. Akira noticed that they were unusually many tonight; must have devoured a human or two, he mused.
"I got an idea. Minato, apply Agi into my gun. The pistol, not the Evoker."
"You sure?"
Akira shrugged.
"We are having a field test anyway. Do it."
"Don't blame me if you get burnt. Orpheus!"
His Persona directed the fireball toward Akira, who raised a hand to catch it. The flames did not burn it, they got absorbed into the pistol instead. He rested the barrel on his left arm and calibrated his right foot to steady his stance and fired. From the muzzle, a bullet empowered by fire element spiraled into the remaining Shadows, striking through a line and setting the rest on fire. The result was a spectacular explosion.
"Heh, nice." Minato let out a small laugh.
"Glad you liked it." Akira looked at the timer on his mechanical watch, one of the few items worked in the Dark Hour courtesy of Mitsuru, and found that it almost ended.
"Let's head back to the dorm. We still have school tomorrow."
A/N: That was the Flame Shot combo from Digital Devil Saga.