A/N: No, Yukari didn't mean a record. She meant, well, spying on him like he's a guinea pig.

Though there actually was a record of Aigis breaking into his room but shhhhhhh she was too much of a pro to leave evidence, don't you think?

Chapter 54

Serious Stuff

Minato scored the highest in his class. He had stopped worrying or being surprised about that. People were all talking about their grades, even back at the dorm.

"I need to work on my strength," Akihiko said. "Time spent worrying about grades should be spent training."

Yukari nodded. "Exam is behind us now. Let's turn our focus back to Tartarus. We're almost done."

"Aigis said she didn't do well on her exams," Ken said. "She must save her concentration for battle."

"Though I performed poorly on most of the subject, I did well in mathematics and chemistry. My concentration is reserved for battle," Aigis said. "When cornered, an enemy will fight at its fiercest… This is a basic premise of warfare." Okay Aigis, why do you have to give me random tactic advice. "Only one Shadow remains. I am sure that this will be the toughest battle of all. Please make sure you are prepared for it."

"I'm not happy with my scores," Fuuka said. "I was obviously affected by what happened to Shinjiro-senpai... I shouldn't use that as an excuse. It means I need to work harder."

"Aw Fuuka…" Yukari patted her back.

Fuuka was already working hard. She worked hard on her cooking too. And she was one of the closest to Shinjiro. That was not a secret.

Yukari and Junpei were wondering where Fuuka was. Minato followed them to the school rooftop.

"Even if we're apart, we'll still be connected..."

"There she is!" Junpei ran forward and Yukari followed. On, Fuuka was on the rooftop.

"Everything's okay now." Fuuka smiled. "I've made up my mind. I'll do as much as I can with my power. For my sake… as well as the sake of others."

"Okaaayyy…" Yukari gave Fuuka a look.

"Uh, are you sure you're alright?" Junpei asked.

"Heehee." Fuuka smiled. "I'll explain."

Fuuka's friend left the town. That bully girl. Minato hadn't expected them to become good friends.

That Natsuki girl remembered him, Fuuka said. That bully girl remembered Shinjiro. She said Shinjiro had been the one asking her group to stop bullying other people. He was the one asking her for more information on Fuuka as well. Fuuka didn't know that.

Fuuka was still smiling. She should be sad, but she seemed so optimistic.

"Did someone switch our Fuuka out for this new one…?" Junpei asked.

Junpei invited him to Hagakure. He slurped the noodles as soon as it was served. Junpei was not here for a while, Minato assumed. Not like Akihiko who came here all the time. The only other restaurants he knew were probably fast food places and ramen.

"Now I know why Akihiko-senpai and Shinjiro-senpai came here so often," Junpei said. "The ramen is just so good!"

Minato ate the ramen. He remembered eating here with Shinjiro once. It was right before the summer festival. That day he told Shinjiro how Ken had fought the Shadow with Koromaru at the shrine. Ken knew, and Shinjiro hated it.

"Man, you ever wonder what we'll be doing in ten years?" Junpei suddenly asked. "I don't really wanna think about it."

"I don't know," Minato said. "I think you'll be fine."

"I guess." Junpei played with his chopsticks. "The next full moon will be the last fight after all... so I'm thinking about what only I can do."

"Making Chidori happy, probably."

"Uh, dude, unexpected but thanks." Junpei chuckled. "I think about this Persona stuff, and it's like I have a personal mission, as a hero, but… maybe it's not like that, and that's what I'm afraid of."

Junpei can be serious sometimes, and people seemed to forget that. His happy go lucky attitude fooled others into thinking that he was shallow, that everything was okay and there was nothing else.

"Of course fighting the Shadows and saving the world is important. But other than fighting, what else can I do...? I've got all these pent-up emotions that I can't figure out." Junpei looked at him. "Do you have anything like that? Like, do you ever think about what you can do?"

"Of course," Minato said. Junpei was a persistent guy even if he didn't know that about himself. He was so willing to prove himself the strongest, or at least, worthy of being a leader. Minato ended up giving him the title of a vice leader, because, well, no one had worked hard the way he did. Everyone worked hard of course, but they were not quite the same as Junpei. "I can do anything that I have my mind on. I'm that great."

"Yeah that's why you're the leader," Junpei said. "Oh, um how did it get to that? I guess talking about serious stuff once in a while isn't so bad." Junpei scratched his neck. "I don't like to ruin people's mood, you know. I wouldn't want people to think I'm too serious."

"It's fine. That's just how you are," Minato said. "SEES wouldn't mind."

Junpei nodded. "Right."

Minato winked. "Chidori wouldn't mind."

"Ack… Why you keep teasing me about her?"

"SEES' grief over Shinjiro's departure has subsided," Aigis said. "Everyone seems to be cherishing their lives much more than they did before. Shinjiro-san's departure seems to have helped everyone grow and mature."

"It seems like everyone has recovered surprisingly well," Mitsuru said. "He'd be proud of us if he could see us now."

Minato invited Ken to go eat at Wakatsu. Ken ordered a ginger pork meal.

"There's a black mark on your wrist," Minato said.

"Oh." Ken touched the water drops on his glass and rubbed the ink off. "Indian ink… um, from calligraphy class."

"Sounds fun." Elementary felt so far away now, Minato thought. The high school had been so hard on everyone. Minato entered the elementary around… ten years ago.

"I hate being dirty." Ken kept rubbing the mark. "The calligraphy class, it was to write the name of something that I like. I couldn't think of anything I should write…"

Minato glanced at the ink mark on the kid's hand. "Though you did write something."

"I know it sounds stupid. I could've written 'goldfish' or 'hamster' or 'Koromaru' or 'heroes' or anything! But I didn't," Ken said. "I wrote… omelet and fried rice."

Minato raised his eyebrows. That was what Ken ate at the picnic.

"Shinjiro was a good cook…" Ken whispered. Minato nodded. "Everyone has been so nice to me... Why can't I see it sooner?"

They continued eating. Ken seemed to be thinking about something.

"Six years… We're only six years apart." Ken said as he munched on the pork and stared at him. "Six years between you and me."

Minato leaned back. "Ken, that's creepy."

A/N: The script for femMC just doesn't work on Minato, you know. Everything's so gay. Not like it's a bad thing, but still. It's awkward for sure.

I keep basing this story from the femMC script. It was supposed to be just for Koromaru...