Monorail, Dark Hour
It hadn't been long since we arrived at the monorail. Us second-years went on the monorail to the Port Island station.
"So the shadow is on this train," Mako-kun asked.
"Yeah, Mitsuru-senpai said she found it in the first cart," Yuka-chan answered.
"All right, I think we should start heading in now," Makoto instructed. "Alright, I'll go up first."
Yuka-chan climbed the ladder but stopped midway and looked over at us.
"...Don't look up."
I brought my hood over my head to avoid doing so.
10th/11th Carriage, Dark Hour
The inside of the train is empty. Except for the coffins being in here.
"Everyone in this train must've transmogrified. Kinda creepy if you ask me," I stated.
"Yeah, You can say that again," Yuka-chan adds.
"Everyone, let's get moving."
"Gotcha ya, Mako-kun."
I drew out my blade and we proceed down the cart. Before I took a step I felt a sudden stinging sensation in my head
"Argh!"
My head was killing me, it felt like it was gonna split right open.
"Kazuki-kun, are you okay," Yuka-chan asked.
I heard a sort of noise, it was like static, but it was like the static was blocking out something, but I could still kind of hear it through the static. What is it!?
"Kazuki!"
I finally snapped out of it and a bit of clarity came back to me as Mitus-chan called me.
"Wha... What happened," I mumbled.
"You weren't moving, what happened," Mitsu-chan asked.
"Um, nothing, just a sudden headache."
Then, all of a sudden, the doors to the train closed.
"The hell!?"
I try to pry the door open with my sword, but it was a bust.
"Damn, no use!"
"It's okay Kazu-chan, just let the great Junpei handle this."
He cracked his knuckles and stretched his arms.
"Jun, you might not want to do that!"
"Relax, I got this..."
6th/7th Carriage
"Ow, ow, ow!"
"That's why I told you not to do that."
"This is nothing."
"Nothing is getting punched, not having your fingers banged up," I stated.
"How is that comparable?"
"Just is..."
We proceed down the whole car a shadow dropped in front of us.
"We encountered an enemy!" Makoto reported to Mitsuru.
"I noticed but I also noticed that it's not immediately attacking."
I'm gonna say that's not normal for them. The shadow left into another car.
"Hey, it's getting away, we need to go after it," Junpei urged us.
"No, we need to be careful on this one," Makoto suggested.
"I agree, we shouldn't rush this." Junpei ran in front of us.
"Forget that, we don't need your advice!"
He was about to run ahead of us but I grabbed his jacket sleeve.
"Wha...?"
"Calm down. If you go by yourself you might get attacked by more than just that one," I warned him.
"Then what, you want it to get away!?"
"No, that's why we should do this differently," I suggested.
"How so," Mitsuru curiously chimed in.
"Mako-chan, you're right - we need to be careful, however, slowly following behind it doesn't really sound as effective. Plus we are running on borrowed time."
I had thought about this nearly on the fly, but I do agree with Junpei.
"So what you're suggesting,"
"Easy, two people go on ahead and the rest stay one car behind us. If it's okay with you and Mitsu-chan, of course?"
"It sounds risky but not bad, not bad at all... You have my permission."
"Mitsu-chan..."
"I approve as well."
"Nice, as for who's going with me..." I look over to Jun. "Can I count on you?"
"I'm your man!"
"Cool, everyone else, stay one car behind us when while we go after the shadow."
Jun, me, and everyone else set out after the shadow.
4th/5th Carriage
Jun and I almost reached the 4th car, so far, we hadn't seen any shadows pop up yet.
"Huh!?"
I saw multiple shadows behind us, and some shadows in front of us. And upon that, the train started moving.
"Whoa, what the hell!?"
"What's going on!"
"The train started moving," I report to her.
"What!"
The shadows started attacking with Agi and Bufu spells.
"Crap, this is bad!"
We need to get the situation under control.
"Junpei...!"
"I already know what you're gonna say, Let's go!" Junpei and I charge towards the shadows.
I raised my sword above my head, ready to fight.
"Ahh!" As I was about to slash the train rocked forward, causing me to trip forward.
"What was that? Huh?"
I noticed something, the was train started moving even faster! Makoto and Yukari had arrived in the 5th car "Kazuki!"
"I know, the train is speeding up!"
"Mitsuru-san, why is the train going faster?"
"It must be because of the shadow in the first car!"
What, so they can drive trains now?
"Everyone listen: you need to stop the train immediately!"
"What's the emergency, Mitsuru-san," Makoto asked.
"You have to make haste on stopping the train, or it will crash into the other train 4-5 minutes ahead!"
"What, you serious senpai!"
"This can't be happening!"
Junpei and Yukari were panicking, hell, I am as well. However, Makoto seemed as calm as ever. Damn it, with this new situation we only have three options. One: we fight all the shadows here, but we would waste 3-4 minutes fighting these things. Option two: we all hope we don't die when the train crashes. But that's too much of a coin toss, and I can't guarantee the safety of the other passengers. So, I'm counting on option 3!
"Kazuki, where are you going!"
"I'm gonna stop this train myself!"
"Kazuki-kun that's insane," Yukari criticized me as I fought my way to the 3rd car.
"I know but we don't have time!"
"You want me to come with ya," Junpei offered. He was too busy fighting shadows to catch up to me.
"No, just stay here and kick some ass! Makoto!"
"Yes!?"
"Keep them safe while I'm gone!"
"Understood!"
I made a run for it, to the first car. I need to hurry!
1st carriage
I entered the first car, and what I saw left me in awe.
"Okay, What in the shit are you!"
I didn't know what I'm looking at. It appears to be a half-naked shadow; the weird part is how the shadow looks too much like a woman. It mischievously chuckled as I entered the room.
"What you laughing at!"
"You...will...die...here...Kazuki."
"How do you know my name?"
"Come...to...me."
It flings ice right at me.
"Persona!"
The left arm destroyed the ice, but not without me getting cut on my arm. Stung a bit but nothing too serious.
"I don't know how you know my name but I do know one thing; It's showtime!"
"Fine...then... Come...my...minions!"
Two other shadows appeared by its side, they seem stronger than the other ones. One of the shadows came at me, I put my sword to my side, waiting for the shadow to get near me. I saw fire forming in front of it.
"Crap!"
I rolled out of the way the moment it came flying towards me.
"Bring it!"
I run straight towards the shadow and I cut it apart.
"What...are you...doing, kill him!"
"Don't feel bad, just stop the train and I'll let you get a free hit in."
"How about...I kill you by making the train go faster...instead."
"That doesn't scare me one bit!"
"I wonder how that, Fuuka girl will react to your death." What did it just say?
"Did you hear me, I just said-"
"Shut up!" I ran towards the shadow.
"Predictable"
The other shadow was standing in my way to defend the bigger shadow.
"Out of my way...!"
The shadow in front of me cast a Bufu and was heading towards me. I roll out of the way. But that didn't stop the shadow from slamming me against the wall.
"Did that hurt?"
"Why you!"
I summoned my Persona.
"That's your Persona? Ha, what a joke!"
"We'll see who's laughing when I'm done kicking your ass!"
The shadow tried to hit me with a spell but I didn't allow it to finish. I had my Persona punch it. The shadow was sent back flying.
"How hurtful of you, you hurt my poor child."
She had created a new shadow.
"Sorry about that."
"If you thought you were a heavy hitter, then you haven't seen what real damage is."
"Oh no, you don't!"
I ran for the shadows in front of me.
"Now, do it...!"
The two shadows began to form ice spells in front of themselves.
"Mabufu!"
When the shadow unleashed its attack the whole car became cold, turning into a mini blizzard.
"Shit this is bad!"
My limbs were beginning to feel numb, I couldn't move anything else. The blizzard was too strong, I was sent flying towards the car door. With my back in pain and my whole body getting colder and colder. This was a hard spot with no good way out.
"Don't tell me... This is...?"
"That's right, this is the end. For all of your friends, and you..."
"No, this can't be the end, I can't accept it... I just can't...!"
"Too bad, so sad." I was beginning to fade in-and-out of consciousness. Maybe this is as far as I go; maybe I wasn't cut out for this.
"Sorry, Fuuka, Naoya. This is as far as I go..."
My eyes were beginning to feel heavy. My mind was about to go blank until... "Te-."
"Huh?"
That voice. It was coming from the static in my head.
"Te-"
Little by little, it was breaking through the static, the voice was getting through. Finally, I heard what it said,
"GET UP AND TEAR IT APART!"
The blizzard was subsiding, I was still laying against the door.
"What the hell am I doing!?"
"Huh?"
"What the hell am I doing! I need to get back up; I don't have time to waste here. I need to stop this damn train!"
I got back up, despite my limbs being frozen over.
"I can't die, not until I tear you apart!"
"Then I will make you perish with my own hands!"
I gripped my sword with my arms still feeling like crap, I ran towards the shadows in front of me.
"Kill him!"
The shadow was moving towards me with ice forming in front of them again.
"Get out of my way!"
I summoned the arms again and I had them punch at the shadow rapidly this time.
"How dare you kill my child!"
I didn't come up with a response, instead, I just ran for the shadow.
"FREEZE TO DEATH!"
It cast Mabufu on me, but this won't be like what happened last time it used it on me. I jumped at the shadow, moving against the icy wind. Now's my chance!
"PERSONA!"
The moment my Persona's fist made contact with the shadow's face, it was over. My Persona was punching fast enough to make it seem like they were dark-blue blurs. The shadow was trying to blast me with another ice spell but I was doing too much damage for it to do that now. Its endurance was good, I'll give it that, but it wasn't enough.
I delivered the finishing blow by slicing its head off.
"You piece of...shit!"
The shadow started falling apart. It had dispersed into a black mist. Good, now I only have one more job: stopping this train! I moved around the shadow trying to reach the controls for this train, I don't have much time left. I ran over to the controls, I looked all over the place to see what to press or to pull. I saw a lever, I grabbed it and pulled it down immediately.
The train came to a screeching halt. I had closed my eyes as the train was near colliding with the other train. When I opened my eyes up, seeing that I was still alive and the windshield was still intact. Holy crap, I did it!
"I...actually did it!" I fell back to the floor, relaxing my whole body. "I DID IT!"
I heard several footsteps approaching from behind me.
"Yo, you stop the train!?"
It was everyone else, they were all okay (minus some of their bruises).
"Kazuki-kun, you're hurt!"
"I'm fine though."
"No, you aren't fine! I need to heal you, now!" Yukari wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"Fine, guess I'll let the team nurse heal me."
"Team nurse?"
"What, I thought everyone else thought the same?"
"No, I don't feel like it's a bad thing, but..."
Yukari pointed over to Jun.
"If she is the team nurse, then she's gonna need a nurse outfit! And it has to show off the goods," Jun creepily mumbled to himself.
"You see what I mean?"
"I definitely see it."
Jun should use his indoor voice. Makoto came over to us.
"Kazuki..."
"Yeah..."
"That was a pretty risky idea you executed!"
"I'm sorry. I should've brought you along"
"No, that wouldn't have worked out, there were quite a lot of them."
"So I made the best call."
"Yes, You knew we didn't have many options, so you chose a risky, yet, the only option that was present at the moment."
"Yuki, what are you saying! If Kazuki wasn't lucky, he could've died," Mitsuru interjected.
"You're right, but yet, luck is a fundamental aspect of a fight, so I see nothing wrong with it." Makoto had shrugged. "...And if Kazuki stayed and helped us fight off the shadows from earlier, we wouldn't have made it in time to stop the train in time.
"I see...I guess might be right. Kazuki I'm sorry, I thought what you did was rash, but it turned out to be the best course of action in that situation."
"It's alright. To be honest, I had some doubts, too."
I look at everyone. I'm glad, no, happy that everyone is all right. And with that being said.
"Okay, everyone, I think it's time to get going. I think we have 20-19 minutes left in the Dark Hour," I stated.
"Dude, you wanna get something to eat then? Ya know, before the Dark Hour ends," Jun suggested.
"Yeah, I'm down. Fighting in the Dark Hour makes a man hungry to death," I accepted.
"Makoto, you up for it," Jun asked him.
"I am a bit famished... Sure, I'll tag along."
"All right." Jun pumped his fist.
"Yuka-tan...?"
"Normally, girls don't eat in the middle of the night," She replied.
"Please, Yuka-chan, it'll be twice as fun if all of us dined together." I pleaded.
"Fine, I guess I can go for something to eat. But I'm only gonna eat a bit and that's it!"
"Then it's settled."
We all started making our way out of the first car.
"Wait..."
"Huh?"
I look behind me to find the shadow was still alive.
"Aren't you...going to...finish me?"
"Nah, you'll probably die off soon anyway."
"Pretty cruel of you, huh? Well, whatever. I wanted to tell you something interesting."
"Fine, the least I can do is hear you out, but let me ask you something."
"What..."
"How do you know my name, also how do you know who Fuuka is?" "You are always being watched by unknown forces."
"By who?"
"My master."
A master?
"Okay then, what were you gonna say earlier?"
"...You know that Fuuka girl you're sweet on..."
"Yeah, what are you getting at?"
"Let's treat this as a hypothetical: If you knew she was able to move around in the Dark Hour, but better yet, if she had a Persona, and finally but not least, your team discovers this - how would you go about it?"
"I, don't know... But I don't want her to be involved in this any way possible."
"Then you're lucky it's only hypothetical."
"Good thing I am."
"Hehehe, You really are."
I got up from the floor and moved towards the exit.
"Everybody has a secret...everybody... Sooner or later, yours will show itself..."
After that, the shadow melted into nothing. I looked at the shadow one last time before leaving.
"Everybody has a secret... You don't need to tell me that."
I started walking on the Monorail bridge, I'm still kind of disturbed by what the shadow said earlier; regarding the fact, it knew about Fuuka and me. But how did it know who we are? It said it had a master, but who exactly is that things master? All of this was giving me a headache, and a stomachache.
?/?, Unknown
"Kazuki Kei, we meet again."
I open my eyes to find Philemon. Upon that, we were both standing on the rooftop of a building. I looked around my surroundings, and all I saw were buildings. They look ordinary, but that's the thing; they're just ordinary, there's nothing different about any of the buildings except height.
"You're probably wondering what this place is," Philemon asked me.
"Umm, I am, actually."
"Well, this is the sea of your soul."
"SEA!"
After realizing this, my lungs start getting filled with water.
"Kazuki, calm yourself, this isn't real water."
Immediately after Philemon said that all the water that was filling my lungs was gone.
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Good, I have many important details to tell you, so I'll keep this brief."
He had changed postures.
"As I said before, there were gonna be more tests coming, this was the second one."
"These tests, how many more are there?"
"I do not know."
"Really...that's a shame."
Didn't expect a straight answer that easily.
"So then tell me this: are the shadows a part of these tests!?"
"Yes, they are."
"Alright then, let me ask you something else: did you tell them about a certain person?"
"Fuuka Yamagishi."
"Did you!?"
"No."
"Can I trust you?"
"Yes."
I believe he's being sincere about his response, or at least that's what I think.
"Fine, I'll give you the benefit of a doubt. Wait, how do you know about Fuuka anyway?"
"Hmm. In a sense, you can say I am connected to everybody on this planet."
"I see... Now, I have one more question before I leave."
"Yes?"
"Why are we here?"
"I'm only able to maintain that place within the Dark Hour," he stated.
"So how did you get inside my soul?"
"As I said before, I am connected to everybody."
"Oh...okay."
Philemon looks up to the sky that seems to be shifting like calm waves in water.
"Our time seems to be up, I should let you leave now. Goodbye, for now, Kazuki."
Like before, everything started to shroud in darkness until I couldn't see anything anymore...
4/10 Su - Iwatodai dormitory - Kei Kazuki's room, Morning
My alarm clock was going off. Is it morning? I do remember getting something to eat with everyone. (minus Mitsu-chan and Aki). After that, I got full, then I came back to my room and went to sleep, without changing out of my uniform.
"I must've been really tired."
Today's Sunday, right. Well...I have nothing better to do, I might as well do it. I got out of bed and I take out the notes I jotted down in some of my notebooks, and some notes Fuu-chan helped me make.
I sat down at the desk, and I began studying for my most dreaded enemy of all... Midterms! This is gonna be a long day.