Chapter 41

Typhoon

Days went by quickly, since people's minds were on the Culture Festival.

"Yuka-tan in a lolita maid uniform… with white overknee socks…"

"What about your 'Chidorita'? Ugh, I hope it gets cancelled."

There're people who didn't care much about that too.

"I heard Shinji's a really good cook, but he never cooks for me..."

"He's a good cook, Senpai. Umm aren't you best friends?"

"Three Arcana Shadows left… It's almost the end, Father."

"Why... did it have to be you? Why? ... Why?"

There're people who are never involved in these kind of things.

'All I bring is death and destruction… You have found your place, after all. You have friends. You have bonds. You are happy, and... I'm the one who destroy it.'

"It's not the same, Akihiko."

"Arf."

"It is acceptable if I do not understand this for the time being… but I am a machine, a machine that is created to destroy Shadows. A machine is made to fulfill human desires… but is it what i was programmed to think, or is it really my wish?"

And then there's someone like him, who doesn't know what he's doing here.

And the fortune was being weirder and weirder.

'The golden sky spreads outside the window… A girl, holding a world of white in her slender arms…

'A boy struggles, searching to find meaning in himself and the girl…

'But the conclusion has not yet been written… It is entrusted to the girl and her white world…

'You must stand firmly, and watch things unfold…'

The rain poured down.

The Moonlight Bridge has nice views, even if they looked gray due to the rain and the lack of sunlight. He hated here, but at the same time he loved it. He remembered when the car exploded. He also remembered the exact moment when she smiled.

People ran for cover. Umbrellas were opened. Minato was doing neither of these, simply standing right at that place.

He loved rain. He always do. All the droplets make a gray wall that separated him from the world. Things become monochrome. Everything seems quiet and still, despite the loud sound of heavy rain and wild wind. Being in this gray world and observe the outside are enough for him.

But it's not enough. His mind is not calm yet. He needed somewhere that made him felt more like home, and he knew exactly where. He never believe in superstition, but he still walked to the Naganaki Shrine, to the graveyard. She was his only exception.

Same weather. Same place. Same gravestone. It all reminded him of when he first arrived here. The only thing he could do was fighting, and fighting, and running. He had thrown that knife away. He gave up finding Black and White a long time ago. Well, at least he knew White is Aigis. She couldn't remember a thing though.

"... Same, same," he began. "I have spare money, so I use them. Some, I give my friends. I met some interesting people. I don't fight with delinquents that much lately. I have to fight other things. A lot of things are going on, and it's hard to believe this is actually my life… I don't know what I'm still trying to figure out, but I feel like I start to get it now."

Minato didn't have anything left to say.

It's dark. He should return to the dorm, but he noticed something… orange, and black.

Ken was praying at the gravestone. This was around the time most people went home. Ken knew. He had come too often to not know.

Footsteps. People who visited a graveyard when the typhoon's coming were not normal, so Ken knew who was approaching.

"My mother," Ken said before his leader could ask and continued praying. Minato was standing behind him. It was unnerving. The blue haired boy seemed to be waiting for him. Ken stood up. "I assume you've visited yours?"

Minato nodded.

"I bet you didn't pray."

"I didn't."

"I know you wouldn't." Ken whispered. "What have you even done for your mother?"

"... I can't remember her last word," Minato said. "So I don't know. You?"

"I have a plan," Ken said.

Minato shrugged. "Well, whatever you are doing, do your best, and think about your mother a lot."

"Of course." Ken looked at the gravestone once more. "I know she loves me more than anything else… so I love her more than anyone, too."

"Just don't forget that she can't be back. The weight of the living and the dead are different." How he said that with his two hands in the pocket, and with a blank face, really triggered a nerve.

Hope you get shocked by your own mp3. "I think you are trying to say, 'don't let the dead weigh you down'."

"Something like that."

"You should go back to the dorm," Ken said.

Minato didn't argue. He turned around and headed to the exit.

… Weigh me down, huh? Ken thought. Even if I were pulled to the lowest of the low, so be it.

"Chidori-san starts to open up a little," Fuuka said. "But she's still uncomfortable talking about Personas…"

Akihiko grinned. "Oh well, the three Arcana Shadows are more important. They'll be sorry they ever set foot into this world!"

"Minato-kun? Welcome back. Are you okay?" Fuuka asked as he entered the dorm.

The boy nodded and wiped the rain from his forehead.

"You weren't quick enough, huh?" Junpei grinned. "I ran here and almost didn't make it. The rain just… come, with no warning." His grin got wider. "She warned me though, heheh…"

"What's wrong with him?" Akihiko asked.

"Um…" Fuuka shook her head.

Shinjiro shrugged. "Well, what happens, happens."

"It's not that I was not quick enough," Minato said. "I walked here."

Junpei blinked. "Eh?"

Yukari sighed. "Yeah. I told him to hurry, but he said there's no reason to… What are you thinking, though? Walking under the rain like you don't care."

"I like rain," the boy said.

She sighed. "Yeah? Still…"

The dorm door behind Minato opened.

Shinjiro quickly walked away to go get the towels.

Ken stepped in and closed the door. "I'm home."

"Welcome back… Are you okay?" Fuuka asked.

Ken nodded. "I'm fine."

"You are late," Mitsuru said. "I thought that since you're in primary school, you must have come back earlier. Did you stop by somewhere?"

"I went to the shrine. I always go there to pray," Ken said.

"Uh, I think it's okay to not go if the weather's turned like this," Junpei said.

Ken sent him a smile. "But doing it every day is what gives this some meaning, isn't it?"

Fuuka raised her hand. "According to the news, a typhoon just hit... Ken-kun, are you planning to go again tomorrow even if the typhoon is still on?"

"And if I do?"

"What's it you're praying so hard for?" Yukari asked.

"It's a secret."

"Hey." Shinjiro came back with two warm towels in his arms. "Dry yourself."

Minato took one.

"Take one too," Shinjiro told Ken.

"... I'm fine."

Minato wasn't sure what had happened. He felt a little hot, but also cold. He got a fever and he was asleep… Probably. But right now, he felt like he was floating, floating in a void.

'Hi, I've come to visit you again.'

'Hm? Something's different, you said? Nothing's changed.'

Is he talking himself? To him?

'It's been so long since we met. Time flows quickly, and many things change.'

'Even so, there are some things in this world that can never be changed.'

The voice sounds familiar.

''I wonder about that,' you say? That's a pretty vague answer.'

'Haha… I feel like you've seen a lot of things since last time.'

'That tower… I've been thinking about it a lot lately…'

'Of course, I've been thinking about you, too.'

Minato had the feeling that they'll meet each other for real. Someday, but not now.

'Is the connection between us something that's changing...? Or will it never change?'

'But no matter what awaits us beyond this point, no matter what the future holds… you and I will be friends.'

'Always.'

'I'm right beside you...'