7/5 Mon - Iwatodai dormitory - Kazuki's room
My eyes open up, I look down towards my chest, she's still next to me. We've been sleeping together in the same room ever since our second date. To be honest, I'm sort of afraid that Mitsu-chan will find out about this, but so far, nothing.
I look over at my alarm clock, it's 6:23 AM. It's considerable early...Maybe we can stay like this just for a few more minutes. Although, if everyone else gets up before us, it could be a problem.
"Hey, Fuu-chan, wake up."
"Nah, we really gotta get going, or else it'll be too late for you to get out of here without being seen."
I get out of the bed, going over to my closet to grab my uniform.
"I'll let you change in my room, like usual," I tell her.
"Okay..."
"I'm locking the door, get changed fast."
I locked the door behind me, and I make my way to the boy's bathroom.
On my way, I see Minako standing in front of Makoto's room, she's staring at it worryingly. I don't have time to ask, gotta get changed.
on route to Gekkoukan high, morning
We just boarded the monorail in the nick of time too. As I'm staring into the crowded car, I notice Minako, who is by herself. That alone wouldn't raise any alarms in me, but she seems to be troubled.
"Yo, Minako," I call to her.
"Oh, Kazuki-chan, didn't see you there."
"Don't worry, but you seem pretty concerned about something. What's wrong?"
"Oh, um, nothing...It's just..."
Minako looks hurt, no, worried...
"Minako-chan...where's Makoto? You usually travel to school with him."
She doesn't respond, she's biting her lip with a pained expression.
Minako looks at the view of the school for a minute...
"I...don't know...He didn't return to the dorm last night."
"Why?
"We were out late last night, the Dark Hour set in. We thought it wasn't anything, so we didn't mind it. But then, we got attacked."
"What!?" My voice echoes within the train. Some of the passengers look at me. Whatever that doesn't matter. "What happened to him?"
"I...I don't know. Before I can help fight back, I was knocked out by something. I woke up in my bed this morning, so I got dressed and went to Makoto's room, but he wasn't there. I'm hoping he got away...but if he didn't, I don't know...what I'll do."
Minako: the strong-willed girl; this girl who always seems to be having the time of her life without a care in the world; is crying.
"Please, please I'm begging you, please help me find him! I can't lose him, not now, not ever!"
I can feel her desperation, it touches the part of me that knows it well. It's compelling me to help her.
"Okay," I simply say. "I don't know how, but I'll help you find him."
Her weeping eyes meet mine with a smile stretched on her face. "Thank you," she says, her voice wobbly.
"When the Dark Hour hits we'll start the search, Fuuka will be able to find him then if he's still in the city."
"I'll do everything in my power to find him!"
"Thank you both."
This all stinks, I need to talk to M.G. about this.
Gekkoukan high, Rooftop, Afterschool
After school, I had Fuuka go home with Minako. I'm waiting on top of the roof for M.G. Sure is taking her sweet time.
"Kazuki," she greets me as she opens the door.
"M.G. we need to talk."
"If you have called me here to thank me for helping you get into the school, and knocking out the guards during your date, don't-"
"Cut the bullshit!"
"Excuse me!?"
"Yuki Makoto, have you heard anything about him!?"
"Yes, a Persona-user what about him?"
"He got kidnapped last night!" "I see, so you assume I did something to him."
"Look, I don't know anything about you, as far as I see it: you might actually be an enemy after all."
"A plausible assumption, but I didn't."
"Then was it Katsu?"
"No, at least I don't think so."
"Then..."
I approach the fence guarding the edge of the school.
"...Who kidnapped him?"
"I have no idea."
Is she lying, maybe she's just covering up for Katsu? No, Minako never said it was him, so I have to assume he didn't do it. Well, guess pressing her for details is pointless if I can't get anything out of it. Guess I should go and get ready for our mission.
"Hey, if you find Makoto, can you help him," I beg her.
"I have no reason to."
"Come on!"
"I only said I'd train you, not help in your affairs. Oh, by the way..."
"Yeah?"
"Your sword is on the roof of your dormitory."
"Nice, thanks for giving it back."
"Just don't kill yourself with it."
"Geez, I know how to use a sword!"
"I am simply showing a hint of concern is all."
"Way to show it."
...
"Curious, why kidnap a Persona-user from the dorm?"
7/6 Tue - Iwatodai dormitory - Command room - Dark Hour
The second the Dark Hour hits the world, Fuuka is using her Persona to try and locate Makoto. No luck so far...
"Did you find him yet!?"
"Not yet..."
"Damn it!"
Can't blame her for getting upset about that report. Actually, never mind that for a bit, where is everyone else?
"Fuuka, did you contact the others?"
"I did, but they aren't responding. It's as if they refuse to wake up, or can't...Huh?"
"What is it Fuuka!?"
"Did you find him!?"
"No, but I feel another presence around us, in this room. W-what is this!?"
Who could it be...
"Hello all, welcome to this fascinating time."
We all look behind us to find a man in his 40s', black hair in a black suit, he's looking at us with a smug expression. However, the moment we looked at him, a sense of fear set in. It's as if I'm staring at a bottomless void. Getting closer is like falling in, and if he were to come close to me, something would come out of it!
"T-this f-f-feeling! What...the hell are you!?"
"A young lady like yourself shouldn't talk like that, but I go by many names..."
In the blink of an eye, the guy takes on Minako's appearance.
"What's happening here?"
"Some can call me Minako Arisato...Others may call me..." He switches appearance again. "...Makoto Yuki..." "Screw you!" Minako bellows.
"Minako wait!"
I attempt to stop her, but she's already got her Evoker out.
"Susano-o"
Her Persona's swords swing towards the unknown intruder.
"...While my real name is-"
The sword crashes into the wall. Did she get him? As the dust settles, the shape-shifter walks out to show us he's taken no damage.
"...Nyarlathotep, that is the name I go by."
Are you serious!? So this is the person or thing? In that case, I'm gonna end this right now! I take out my sword and close in on him, aiming for his neck. However, he catches it with two fingers.
"What the..."
"My, my, what a great effort young man..." He places a hand on my chest. "...It doesn't seem to have fully awakened yet, so that's a shame."
"What the hell are you saying?"
"Hm, nothing."
He kicks me right in the gut with enough force to send me flying backward. The pain is unbearable; it's almost as if I got shot with a cannonball. If the kick had been any harder my chest would've been blown open! Everyone needs to run!
"Kazuki-kun!"
"No, forget about me, just run!"
"No, no, no...we can't let that happen, now can we?"
With the snap of his fingers, we are held place by a force that glues our feet to the ground.
"Now, time for me to operate." He comes towards me, his hand slowly going towards my chest. The moment he touches it, a surge of power shocks my body and him as well. This didn't do anything to me or change me, but instead, it's like something else showed it off; something within me. "Hmm, what a shame indeed...Wait!"
What the hell did he do to me, or what the hell did he try? He shifts his focus and goes over to Minako.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you Kazuki Kei, but instead...She'll do it."
"Huh?"
"Why would I do that," she barks at him.
"I see, I guess you aren't the type for words."
He grabs her head. Minako tries to break away from her confinement but to no avail. The moment his fingers touched her forehead, she gasps. It's a few moments of seeing her twist and turn in agony.
"Get away from her you son of a bitch," I roar.
"Oh no, not yet. We're near the climax."
"AAAHHH!"
After that painful scream, he lets go of her head and she dropped to the ground like a sack of bricks. She then gets back up without trying to lung herself at Nyarlathotep.
"So, what's your answer now? Remember what's at stake here, his life is in your hands now."
His life? Is he talking about Makoto!? Did this bastard kidnap him? Minako faces the malevolent being, her eyes taking on a sharp expression.
"Fine, I'll do it. I'll kill him!"
"Okay, then I'll share a bit of my power with you. Do know that it will hurt, and it might even kill you."
"I'll survive it, I have to. So give it to me!"
"Good, here you are."
Nyarlathotep snapped his fingers, and with that, a surge of energy runs through her. A dreadful scream erupts from her lungs as it runs through her. She claws her arms as she screams her lungs out. Ultimately, she lets out one last yell before collapsing to her knees. Is...is she dead?"
"Minako-chan, are you-"
"Hush, she's about to wake."
The force gluing us to the ground is lifted as Minako rises to her feet.
"So, child, how do you feel?
She picks up her weapon, stepping towards me. With a twirl, she tries to slash my head. I barely dodge it in time. Damn, this is bad, she's really set on killing me.
"Minako, you need to stop this!"
Minako picks up her Evoker. "Susano-o: Vorpal blade."
With a bang, the Persona charges towards us with the intent of killing us!
"Kazuki-kun, over here!" I run over towards Fuuka. "Lucia."
I made it inside of Fuuka's Persona in time. The sword is moving too fast for me to see.
"Tear her Persona apart!" The Persona's swords are hitting Lucia. Fuuka lets out a scream as her Persona takes damage.
"Fuuka!"
I grab her before she hit the ground.
"Are you okay!?"
"Mm-hmm. Kazuki-kun...we have to lure her away from the others."
"What do you mean we!?"
"Huh?"
"If I let you come along with me you'll get hurt!"
Susano-o is still bashing at Fuuka's Persona. It looks like it's going to break any second now. Damn I don't have a lot of options here, do I?"
"Fuuka, when I say release you Persona, do it."
"Okay!"
I need to time this right!
"Split it open Susano-o!"
A horizontal slice is coming, now's our chance!
"NOW!"
Lucia disappears after I give Fuuka the signal. She and I duck to avoid the attack. I grab Fuuka and take this chance to getaway.
"Hold on, this is gonna get bumpy!"
I jump from the fourth floor to the third floor and make my way out of the dorm.
...
"Before you go..."
Nyarlathotep materializes a weapon.
"What is this?"
"A weapon that I created for my chosen player. Endless chaos is the name."
"It feels...powerful."
"I should hope so."
I start walking out of the command room.
"What about the others in the dorm?"
"They're all under a sleep ailment. It'll lift by morning."
"Oh..."
"So don't worry about them. I'll also be your eyes and ears, so just go out and have fun."
I walk down the stairs to the third floor. All I hear in this quiet dorm is the laughter of insanity from the entity upstairs. I can't lose Makoto...I just can't. Even if it means I have to kill someone else, sacrificing my soul, I'll never let anything take him away from this world.
Paulownia mall - Dark Hour
My feet keep going forward as I enter the Paulownia mall. I pass several coffins as I zoom through the mall.
"Kazuki-kun, I don't sense her anywhere near us."
"I don't know if that's good or bad."
"You should probably rest for now."
"You're right."
I stop running to catch my breath. My legs are hurting like crazy right about now.
"You think we should hide?"
"Maybe, we can hide out in the mall until the hour passes."
"Okay, but let's..." Fuuka gasps out of nowhere. "Watch out!"
Fuuka jumps at me, pushing me out of the way of something that flies past her back. The object is lodged into the wall next to the arcade.
"What the hell was that!?"
"I-"
Fuuka lets out a pained hiss.
"Huh, what's wrong?"
I move my hand away from Fuuka's back, blood...That's what I see when I remove my hand from her back.
"Are you okay Kazuki-kun?"
"Why are you asking me that, you're the one who's hurt!"
"I'm sorry, you're right..."
"I missed."
Minako edges closer to us with no expression to speak of.
"Minako, what the hell is wrong with you!?" She doesn't respond to me, she just continues her march towards me.
"Fuuka is bleeding, please just let me patch her up!"
"Why would I?"
"So then tell me: what was everything we ever went through, huh!? Me saving you, our meeting, the bickering we always did, your strong-willed personality; hell the threat you said to me about kicking my ass in the afterlife if I made Fuuka cry. Was all that a lie!?"
"No, it wasn't, I treasured all of it and I'll never forget you two, but I need to save Makoto."
It's no use, she won't listen to reason. I guess I only have one more ace up my sleeve.
"Fuuka, I know you're hurt, but I need you to hang to me real tight."
"O-okay..."
I put Fuuka on my back, then, with no other option open to me, I book it for the pharmacy.
"Endless chaos, come." I see the spear return to Minako's hand. I quickly grab the items I needed, but right when I grab the last item, Minako launches the spear at the pharmacy...
...
I walked over to the remains of the pharmacy. So far I, don't see any dead bodies. Did they get out in time?
"What the...!?" I found a hole leading into the ground, leading to the bottom floor. "That crafty bastard!"
Port Island station - Dark Hour
I sit Fuuka down so I can treat her.
"Fuuka, this is going to burn a bit."
"I know...I'll be alright"
I begin to apply the disinfectant on Fuuka's back. She grins and bears it as I'm applying the disinfectant. Why did this have to happen?
"Okay, I'm finished, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine," she weakly replies.
"Good, now all I need to do is wrap some bandages around that wound."
"Can I do it myself?"
"Why?"
"Umm, you know."
"Oh, right, sure...Go ahead."
I hand Fuuka the bandages as she gets off the ground, and I let her get some privacy in the girl's bathroom.
"Kazuki-kun...c-c-can you help me?"
"Umm, ahh...sure."
When I enter the inside of the girl's restroom, Fuuka's jacket is lifted halfway up to see the wound, but not high enough to see anything else. I like to keep it that way; it would've been more awkward than it already is. I begin to tie the bandage to cover the wound.
"What do think will happen now," Fuuka asks me.
"I think we'll have report this to Mitsuru."
"But..."
"I know, I don't want to either, but you saw her, she nearly killed us back there. She wants us dead, and she'll probably do anything to make sure we do turn up dead." We sure are in a predicament, if we try to run back to the dorm, there's no telling if Nyarlathotep is still there. "What do we do?"
"Um, Kazuki-kun..."
"What's up?"
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, but what about yourself? You got hit with a weapon that literally destroyed a store. Nobody can shake that off easily."
"Actually it still hurts, but I know I'll be fine."
"You really are a trooper."
"I am?"
"Yep, you are."
I wrap the bandage around one last time before I stop.
"Done."
Fuuka rolls down her uniform down, covering the lower half of her back again. She still lost a lot of blood from that wound, maybe I should get her something to drink.
"Wait here," I tell her.
"Where are you going?"
"Going to get you a drink."
I get up from the floor, heading over to the vending machine outside. Since it doesn't work properly now I have no choice but to use my Persona.
"Skeith." It tears open the vending machine with little effort. I grab two cans for both of us. "Okay, time to get back."
I return to the girl's bathroom, she's still on the ground.
"I'm back," I cheerfully announce. "Here."
"How did you get this?"
"Um, I ripped the front of a vending machine off."
"Seriously? I don't think you should have done that!"
"Sorry, sorry, but I had no choice."
She stares at the can for a second, she then opens it, taking a sip out of the can.
"It's okay, thank you for the drink."
"No problem."
I finish my drink in a matter of seconds, running away and protecting someone at the same time leaves a person parched. Fuuka finishes drinking the juice.
"That was good...Oh no, Kazuki-kun, we need to run!"
"Damn it!
I pick up Fuuka and I run out of the bathroom, making it out just when the Persona destroys the bathroom.
"Brave blade."
I see her Persona behind us after it comes out of the destroyed bathroom.
"Persona!"
Skeith hits Susano-o's sword, but its sword knocks me, and my Persona into the middle of the station area.
"This is the end, Ziodyne."
Lightning rains from the sky.
"Goodbye..."
"Lucia!" Fuuka's Persona takes the hit for us. She lets a scream out inside of Lucia.
"Fuuka!"
She collapses to the ground. I get on my knees, taking ahold of her shoulders, lifting her.
"Fuuka why did you do that, I could've taken the hit instead!"
"Because...I don't...want to see you get...hurt."
"How you think I feel!"
"I'm sorry...you're right..."
That's it, no more running! I don't care what her reasoning is, the fact she went this far is enough for me to burst!
"Slay her, destroy here, obliterate her! Destroy her with all of your rage and bloodlust."
The voice is growing louder, and louder, and louder! I don't care to argue with it, or even talk with it. Right now, the only thing I want to do is destroy her! I draw my blade out, throwing the scabbard away. I'm going to do it, I'll do it...
"I'll destroy you!"
"Are you sure you could kill someone?"
M.G. drops from the sky, coming in between us.
"Why are you here!?"
"To talk, nothing more, nothing less."