Disclaimer: I do not own Persona or Fate or anything in the nasuverse, any resemblance to any other Persona 4/Fate fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please, constructive criticism only.

AN: Shout out and big thanks to SaintinfernalNeos who did the Margaret Slink scene and helped out with the Adachi Scene.

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Meat and wine adorned the table between rows of brilliant and shining candlesticks. In the large Midcuart banquet hall, the Erin nobles were gathered. Now is the climax. On this day, the boasting and drinking contests of ruffians were strictly forbidden. This evening, the uncultured warriors were drunk solely with the fragrance of a graceful flower.

This was a feast for loving the flower. Grainne, the daughter of the High King of Ireland, Cormac mac Airt.

"Fionn mac Cumhaill hero of Ireland, leader of the knights of Fianna and my daughter Grainne are pleased to announce their engagement." The High King announced loudly "Everyone, this night I want you to celebrate!"

Her betrothed was to be Cumhaill's son, Fionn mac Cumhaill, the great warrior who controlled the healing water. Unmatched under the heavens, he was the head of Fianna, a group of knights. The warrior's strength and fame rivalled the High King's. There was no marriage engagement as joyful as this.

Or so it would seem, Fionn old enough to be Grainne's grandfather could see the loveless look and lack of joy in her eyes. Grainne's eyes were fixed on another; Fionn followed her vision to a particular man and jealousy burned in his heart, his wife to be was clearly infatuated.

'That striking man with the mole beneath his eye, what is his name?' She wondered to herself 'He is a knight of Fianna, Diarmuid Ua Dubhine'

"Diarmuid" she muttered under her breath.

For a time it seemed as if she was trapped in her loveless soon to be marriage until she could take it no longer and approached the man that captivated her so.

"In exchange for my love, accept the Geis. My dear, by any possible means, annul this abominable marriage. Please take me away … to the ends of the earth!"

Appealing to him in tears, the eyes of the maiden flared earnestly with love. They could become the flames of Purgatory, burning him to ashes …

The hero understood. Yet, he did not refuse. The weight of a Geis, which tested his honour, and the path of a loyal subject, which he followed—he wondered which was more precious? No questioning or self-struggling yielded an answer. The thing which finally spurred him, a reason without any relation whatever, with his pride.

Upon his acceptance of the Geis the princess kissed the hero in sight of all the knights of Fianna, including the aging captain Fionn, who was enraged.

"Traitor, you shall suffer for this Diarmuid" he declared

"Take me with you" Grainne pleaded "We must run away"

Hero and princess, together they held hands and turned from their brilliant futures, running from the castle together. Even as the Knights of Fianna pursued them and attempted to slay Diarmuid who struck them all down, regret staining every blow he made against his former friends.

Eventually after years in hiding Diarmuid entered the room of their hiding place with news for his wife.

"Rejoice Grainne, Fionn has recognised our marriage." Diarmuid proclaimed causing his wife to smile with joy.

Diarmuid and Grainne lived in peace at Ceis Chorainn for several years. They had five children: four sons and a daughter. Diarmuid had a fort built, which they called Rath Grainia. However, they went for years without visiting Grainne's father Cormac Mac Art and Diarmuid's former comrades. So Grainne persuaded Diarmuid to invite them to a feast, including Fionn and the Fianna.

One night, Fionn invited Diarmuid on a boar hunt on the heath of Benn Gulbain, Diarmuid only took his short sword Begallta and his yellow spear, Gae Buidhe, not his best weapons: his long sword Móralltach and red spear, Gae Dearg. He was badly gored by a giant boar. The boar had already killed a number of warriors and hounds. Water drunk from Fionn's hands had the power of healing, but when Fionn gathered water he would deliberately let it run through his fingers before he could bring it to Diarmuid.

"Did you believe that I'd forgotten what happened with Grainne?" he sneered as Diarmuid passed away from his wound; his last thoughts were cursing the Love Spot which was the cause of all this ruin.

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[04/19 Tuesday, Class 2-2, Yasogami High School, Inaba]

As he was experiencing these strange dreams of a life that was not his own, a loud voice interrupted Yosuke's pre-lunch nap.

"HANAMURA!" Morooka bellowed down the sleeping boy's ear causing him to wake.

"NO, DAMN YOU CAPTAIN BASTARD!" Yosuke shouted as startled awake causing a deathly silence to befall the class, several students and even King Moron was stunned for few moments before he became enraged.

"YOU ARE ON MY SHIT LIST AGAIN HANAMURA!" Morooka yelled with fury.

"Crap, sir I can explain-" Yosuke flinched when he realised where he was and how much trouble he was in after saying what he'd said out loud.

"NO EXCUSES YOU'RE-" However before Morooka could finish berating the boy the bell rang signalling the start of lunch.

"Grr….saved by the bell but don't think this is over Hanamura, detention after school boy. GOT THAT?!"

"Yes sir" Yosuke groaned slumping onto his desk as King Moron stormed off to get lunch, the whole class continued to stare at Yosuke for what felt like an eternity before slowly trickling out to lunch, all murmuring about Yosuke the subject being whether he was really brave or really stupid for yelling at King Moron like that.

"Should we?" Chie looked at Yu for guidance.

"Let's just leave him be." Yu said standing up and heading to the roof to share his homemade burgers with Chie.

"Aw man" Yosuke groaned unable to process what just happened.

One second he dreaming about Diarmuid's life then he was getting chewed out by King Moron. He took out some sandwiches and started eating them as he thought with depression about what happened waving off Diarmuid who worriedly asked if he was alright.

It wasn't so much that he got detention, as it was that he now knew what Diarmuid had gone through. He was a loyal knight who was basically forced to choose between his loyalty and his honour. He was doomed no matter what happened and ultimately chose his honour which in Diarmuid's time meant everything as an honourless knight was basically trash.

Seeing it through Diarmuid's own eyes Yosuke could see that his Persona's life was one tragedy and misfortune after another and his ultimate death caused by his own captain allowing him to die happened because the Love Spot had enchanted Grainne and caused her to cast Geis (which was like an unbreakable oath or something) on him in the first place.

This was the cause of Yosuke's current self loathing state; he'd selfishly envied Diarmuid's ability to woo any woman he wanted without even thinking the spear wielding Persona himself felt. Now he had seen Diarmuid's life or parts of it anyway he felt like a complete asshole, so deep in his self loathing and tiredness was he that he barely noticed when the bell rang signalling the end of lunch as students began filing back in for class.

"Man Narukami you are a master chef, those burgers were delicious they so juicy. Where'd you learn to cook like that?" Chie asked excitedly as she came in with Yu.

"Well I spent a lot of time on my own when I was young so I had to learn to cook for myself and microwave meals weren't always appetising." Yu replied as he took his seat.

"Oh by the way I talked to Yukiko and she's still run down because of everything that happened so she'll taking a few days off before coming be back to school," Chie explained.

"That's good to hear." Yu said.

"I feel so much better now that Yukiko's safe, it's like we can finally get back to a normal routine again," Chie said.

'I would not rest on your laurels if I were you.' Li Shuwen admonished as he appeared in spirit form beside her. 'There is still the matter of who threw Yukiko into the TV World in the first place and who their next victim will be.'

"Plus you are way too perky right now." Yosuke whined secretly wishing to take his mind off his self loathing "Narukami and me have been running ourselves ragged for what seems like forever. Haven't we bro?"

"No I feel pretty good."

"WHAT?!"

"Wow, you held up pretty well through all this. Do you play a lot of sports?" Chie asked Yu.

"No not really" Yu denied as Yosuke complained in the background.

"Well if you haven't signed up for a club or a team I could really use your help with something." Chie requested

"Sure why not." Yu agreed seeing no reason to refuse his friends request.

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[04/19 Monday, Gym, Yasogami High School, Inaba]

After school, Chie had led Yu to the gym. In there were boys playing basketball. Yu recognised Ichijou, as Yosuke had called him, who had asked him about joining the basketball team not long ago was dribbling the ball, being guarded by another boy with a Band-Aid across the bridge of his nose and wearing soccer uniform underneath the basketball practice jersey.

"Ichijo, hey!" Chie called out the boy dribbling turned around and saw Yu with Chie. He passed the ball to another player and told them to take five before running over to Yu and Chie.

"Oh hey Chie the boy greeted her with what Yu observed to be a bit more enthusiasm than normal. " So what brings you here did you need something?

"I came here to bring you a new teammate." Chie answered motioning a hand at Yu who was a little surprised.

"Hey you're that new guy aren't you?" Ichijo remembered with a smile "You did show up."

"Only because Chie asked me" Yu explained but realised that Ichijo didn't seem to be listening "I'm just here to watch..."

"My name's Kou Ichijo" he introduced himself

"Hey I'm with the soccer team, my name's Nagase Daisuke." The soccer boy said coming over and introducing himself "I came here to ditch practice and Ichijo and I go way back."

"I thought you weren't ditching practice but helping these guys out since they're short on members?" Chie asked raising an eyebrow at Daisuke who nodded sheepishly.

"Yeah see they're about to shut our team down since we're way low on players." Ichijou explained "So we'd love to have a new recruit dude."

"I don't know joining sports teams hasn't gone well for me in the past." Yu said thinking back on several incidents where in previous schools when he joined sports teams the others tended to play cruel pranks on him for being a 'loner'. It had gotten so bad that he just avoided sports teams altogether.

"Please, we really need your help man even I swear whatever it was like in the past it won't be like that here." Kou pleaded holding his hands out in a begging position. "I'm begging you even if it's only for a little while."

'It doesn't feel like the guys got any ulterior motive' Cu Chulainn said appearing in spirit form 'And the rest of these goons look like they'd wet themselves at the sight of an angry cat I think your safe with this team at least.'

"I guess I can play for a bit." Yu finally relented with a sigh but not before silently vowing to pay Chie back for pressuring him into this.

"Yes! Thanks you won't regret this I swear" Ichijo excitedly ran and gathered up the team as well as the girl sitting to the side.

"We've got a new temp team member" Kou announced with Yu standing beside him "His name's Narukami be good to him." Ichijo elbowed Yu encouraging him to speak up.

"Happy to help out…" Yu said without enthusiasm, even if he agreed to help out he still didn't want to be here. His past experiences had made him averse to sports teams but, if the Hound of Ulster thought there was no ulterior motive he could give it another chance.

"Thanks man." They all chanted back equally as unenthusiastic as he was. Yu got the impression they weren't here because they entirely wanted to be either.

"Where did everybody else go?" Ichijo asked with dismay at releasing that several other players were missing.

"They all bailed dude" One player said.

"We wanted to work on rebounds but they said they were all tired and left." Another explained.

"Again?" Kou groaned hanging his head before realising that he forgot something. "Oh sorry I almost forgot this is our manager Ai Ebihara." Ichijo motioned to the girl with long, wavy blonde hair who gave Yu and look that told him she thought of him as just another typical guy.

"Typically I'm not even here, so don't go asking for any favours ok?" she stated making it evident that she could care less about the team.

"Hmph! I'm done for today." Ebihara stated heading for the door.

"Hey but we still have to clean up the place." Kou objected.

"Not my problem." She called back as she left.

Seeing this, the other players left as well each giving their own excuses not to have a reason to hang around, despite Kou's imploring them to stay he was left feeling very dejected.

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[04/19 Monday, Velvet Room, Inaba]

After helping Kou clean up Yu left and decided to head to the Velvet Room before going home.

When he entered the boy's eyes wandered through the inside of the strange limousine with surprise. It was the first time that he had come and the slightly sinister but reliable figure of Igor WASN'T there, neither Marie's usual disinterested/annoyed look.

But the third, and perhaps most mysterious, occupant of the room was still in there, reading silently the strange book that he knew recorded the stats and the info of his Personas' abilities.

With a polite smile, Margaret raised her gaze towards his, nodding towards the boy with slight surprise.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room. Sadly, my Master isn't here at the moment, and Marie is busy with a minor task..." the woman slowly closed her book, her smile turning more mysterious. "But...is it said that Fate always has a reason for doing this. Seeing as this room is tied to yours, it's only natural to think that there is a reason for you and me meeting like this."

"You...really think so?" muttered Yu with a raised eyebrow, the usual whispers of his Personas' voices having disappeared from his mind, something very unusual.

"Indeed." nodded the woman while tilting her head. "Tell me...could you perhaps share some of your knowledge with me?" at Yu's confused stare, Margaret decided to elaborate. "I have been reading your Compendium since your journey began, and I have to say I'm fascinated. The abilities and way in which your Personas are recorded in it is totally different at the ones my siblings have worked with before. Even so, I find myself intrigued, because the powers of these...'Heroes' of yours, lack a tale. I can see their prowess and abilities, even partial information of their legendary marks and weapons, but I have not heard their stories. I think it's something that I would really like to hear." the silver-blonde woman once again sent a polite smile at the silver-haired boy. "Would you share one of them with me?"

After thinking it over for a moment, the boy slowly nodded, even as his mind recalled the first and most vivid of the tragic tales he had witnessed, and the only one that he knew in full at the moment. He'd seen flashes of Cu Chulainn but nothing in full just yet.

"Once upon a time, there were a great King and the Knights who served him..."

And as the tale slowly unfolded itself and the gaze of Margaret grew more excited and curious that he could ever remember seeing, Yu could feel how another burning flame formed in his mind as a small link formed between himself and the mysterious woman, this one with the simple character of 'III'.

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[04/19 Junes Entrance, Inaba]

After finishing tell the story of Gawain to Margaret and leaving the Velvet Room Yu remembered that he had been asked to go Junes in order to buy some groceries.

"Huh? Oh, it's you." Adachi said as he looked surprised to see Yu "What's the matter? Can I help you?"

"What are you doing?" Yu asked the detective who was clearly slacking off.

"What's its look like? I'm working here." Adachi lied; it was a lie so transparent that Yu was sure Adachi knew that he knew it was a lie "It's easy to investigate here with all the people around. It's cool in the summer, and warm in the winter. It's a pretty good place to...Yeah; I think I've said enough!

'Yup he's slacking alright' Cu Chulainn commented with a chuckle.

Yu wasn't sure whether to reprimand him for be lazy or commend him for his bravery in risking Dojima's wrath by slacking off while on duty.

'I say commend him, it take's serious balls to slack off when your partner is a guy like Dojima.' The Hound of Ulster commented.

Looking down at his shopping Yu saw that none of it needed to go into the fridge immediately so he had time before had to go home with it all.

"I'll hang out with you too."

"Oh? That's a little strange." The detective commented.

'Stranger than you? Ha!" Cu Chulainn laughed appearing in spirit form on Yu's left.

'Quite dog, do not distract our king when he is talking.' Gawain reprimanded appearing spirit form on Yu's other side.

"DON'T CALL ME A DOG DAMN IT!" the Lancer yelled angrily.

"So what are you doing here? Killing time?" Adachi asked "Tough to do out here in the sticks, isn't it? There's nothing here. It's not like the city at all."

"You can say that again." Yu agreed, there was no need to tell Adachi that he'd found some excitement in the form of the TV World after all.

"I knew you'd understand. You're from the city too, right?" Yu nodded at Adachi's question.
"Get this-my first assignment here was tracking down a cat. My suit got so dirty...and they wouldn't let me expense the dry cleaning bill! Next, I played peacemaker in a spat some married couple was having. I can't believe they've got the police doing that stuff."

" He seems rather dissatisfied with country life." Gawain observed.

"Gee ya think?" Cu Chulainn remarked sarcastically.

"But it's been more dangerous lately, so I can't kick back. There's that one case, you know? It's still not solved yet. The higher-ups don't know what to do. They keep changing procedure on the fly...Oops! I hope I'm not making you nervous." Adachi rubbed the back of his head nervously before clearing his throat "You guys have nothing to worry about, you know. Us police are on the job!"

Yu sense that truly Adachi cared for you. As Yu felt that he could understand Adachi a bit more he felt another burning flame formed in his mind as another link formed between himself and the slacking detective, this one strangely with number '0'. This time he didn't feel another soul from the beyond connect to his own.

"Well time for me to get back to wo-Crap." Adachi exclaimed quietly preventing Yu from thinking any further on it. The detective suddenly hid behind Yu and tried to make himself as small as possible.

A few seconds later an old lady wearing a grey cardigan walked by. She stopped and gave a questioning glance in Yu's direction before continuing on out of Junes.

"Phew that was close." Adachi sigh with relief as he came out hiding.

"A cop scared of an old lady?" Cu Chulainn said sceptically. "She's definitely not extraordinary, not in a way I can sense anyway. Are we sure he's actually cop?"

Adachi didn't seem to want to see that old woman for some reason. Yu considered questioning the detective about but ultimately decided to leave it be.

"I'd better go. You hurry on home, too. Don't tell Dojima I was in Junes, okay?" Adachi pleaded.

Yu nodded before picking up his groceries and exited Junes leaving Adachi alone.

"I'm getting restless when can I fight?" a shadowy figure asked appearing behind Adachi.

"Just relax will ya?" Adachi mumbled to the impatient shadow.

"How can I relax? one the those who stands in the way of my attaining the grail is right there and you won't let me do anything." the shadow growled impatiently "I will not be denied, I WANT that wish!"

"Stop being such a whiner and relax you'll get it anyway if these idiots get themselves killed in the other world saving people and when that happens to all of them it's game over and you'll get your damn wish anyway so what does it matter?"

" It matters because you are underestimating their competence." the figure replied "They are getting stronger with each battle. They may not be able to use their Ultimate Noble Phantasms yet but it is only a matter of time, I do not look forward to fight them all at once unless you have a plan in mind to deal with them."

" Are you really that worried? I find it funny, really. Those kids are trying so hard to be Heroes and save the poor losers that end up inside that world, even though they CAN SEE first hand how a Hero's life always ends. In the end, they will make a mistake, be overwhelmed by the pressure, miss one important detail...and they will fail." a twisted smile appeared on the man's face even as the armoured figure hovered sinisterly behind him. "And when that happens...I will be there to remind them how pitifully pathetic they were."

"I hope you are right Adachi because fighting eight heroes at once is not good odds. So this plan better work or else." With that last warning the shadow vanished back into the depths of Adachi's mind.

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[04/20 Stairwell, Yasogami High, Inaba]

The next day Yu was preparing to head to his next class. After he finished telling the story of Gawain to Margaret and obtaining another bond he returned home and found Adachi had come to eat dinner with them. His uncle had stated that he might get Golden Week off and promised to take the two of them out for a picnic and it had become Yu's job to make the food for said picnic.

He stopped when he approached the stairs; there was the girl from yesterday in the gym, her purse at her side coming down.

"Well if it isn't the new recruit." She observed with a bored tone and she continued down the stairs.

"Your name is Ebi isn't it?" Yu asked trying to remember the girl's full name which escaped him at this moment.

"To some people, to you it's Ai Ebihara." She corrected him before stopping at the bottom of the stairs, passing as she'd thought of something. "Hey whaddya say you ditch class with me this morning?"

"Hmm?" Yu felt reluctant, the last thing eh wanted to do was get another lecture from King Moron.

"The team asked me to go get a few things for them you see and I could really use another hand." She explained trying to push a bit harder. "You ARE a team player right?"

Yu sighed, he really wanted to just get this basketball thing over and done with so he decided to just role with it and agreed to Ai's request.

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[04/20 High Street, Okina City, Inaba]

Yu found himself dragged by Ebihara from store to store, most of the time was spent in Croco fur shopping for female clothing.

"The basketball team sure needs some strange things." Yu commented carrying three bags full of shopping as they walked out of the store even though he knew why the things they requested were strange.

"That was obviously a lie!" Ai commented with a smirk.

"Obviously." Yu sighed.

"I really hope there's more to this girl than this, I don't want our time to be wasted ditching class.' The Hound of Ulster commented.

Ai eventually lead led them to Atzrbucks where they sat down for drinks to Yu's private relief.

"It feels so good to be out." Ai sighed as she stretched arms to relax them "Everybody else is stuck in school with their stupid studies, that's what makes it so much fun."

"It is a nice change." Yu replied as he continued folding a napkin into the shape he desired.

"Wow you really get it and here I thought you were a boring square." Ai said bluntly.

"I've never ditched class before." Yu explained and he worked at the napkin.

"Oh you don't say." Ebihara said sarcastically before focusing on the napkin. "Just what are you making over there?"

Yu revealed the crane that he had shaped the napkin as and set it on the table.

"You're different than the other guys at school." the brunette gleefully stated, admiring his table napkin crane. "I may actually like you. You and me should get together again but next time it should really be after school 'kay?"

"Oh by the way I-"Ai suddenly paused and closed her mouth.

Yu then noticed that her eye was twitching and her fist crushed her macchiato. Despite the hot liquid going over her hand she seemed to ignore it completely despite how very hot it should have been.

"Are you ok?" Yu dared to ask.

"I'm fine. Just dandy." Ebihara said in a low tone that sounded like she was anything but ok, in fact she looked more than angry she seemed downright pissed. Her lips were curled into a smile, it was a kind of scary smile that promised pain and suffering on some unfortunate soul, he had seen it his mother's face when his dad did something especially stupid sometimes. "I'll be right back."

Ai immediately stood up and left the table treading surprisingly lightly for some reason as she walked away. Yu began to work on another napkin to pass the time but was distracted instead of going to get something to clean herself off Ai was circling around another table and headed back to the table. He looked at her questioningly only to receive a gesture demanding that he look away, the boy shrugged and obliged her looking downwards as he did so.

Yu was surprised when he saw hidden on the ground just out of view was a mouse. But this was no ordinary mouse, it was not moving from its position nor was it nibbling at food or searching for it, the creature was looking at Yu intently almost as if it was watching him, he briefly wondering if he was just being paranoid.

The fool raised an eyebrow at the mouse which seemed to widen its eyes, it began scurrying away but didn't make it very far before a pinkish-white high heel smashed the rodent killing it instantly. Looking up the heel in question belonged to Ai whose smile had changed from scary to one of genuine happiness.

"Much better." she sighed sitting back down and scraping the remains of the mouse off on the table leg. "I hate all rodents especially mice and rats I'll gladly crush any that dare enter my presence."

"A woman who destroys that which displeases her, she'd be interesting to have in my court at least. But she's a bit too needy that would need to be crushed out of her before she was worthy of being near me." Yu recognised the arrogant voice making the comment and made to question it but felt the presence vanish before he ask anything.

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[04/21 Gym, Yasogami High, Inaba]

After School the next day the team was practicing basketball passes in the gym. Unfortunately, there was not much in the way of practice going on. The other players, minus Kou and Yu, had gotten bored and decided to start talking about various subjects.

"What no team manager?" one guy lamented about Ai not being present.

"She's the only reason I come to practice." The guy to his left said.

"Me too, she's probably flirting with a bunch of guys right now that girl's super easy."

"I hear she's got a sugar daddy," another glasses wearing guy said looking at Yu and snickered.

"Dude with that face, that body, that ass, of course she's gonna have…."

"Enough! Stop saying those things about her." Yu's voice echoed with an otherworldly power, the players tried but found themselves unable to object.

"He's right it's not cool to be making up a bunch of crap about her." Ichijo agreed with Yu when he shook himself out of the daze Yu's words had put him into.

While this was occurring a mouse that was concealed near the door widened its eye's as if surprised at what it was seeing. So focused was it on the scene that it did not notice a shadow fall over it. In less than a second a black combat boot stomped the rodent into oblivion with only a loud crunch to signal it was there at all.

The sound of the stomp and the subsequent crunch caused everyone to turn to see what he was looking at, it was Ai and she was not happy. She turned around to leave without saying a word.

"Dumbasses what do they expect talking crap about her in place she's supposed to be?" Cu Chulainn sighed.

"Hey, uh…." Kou tried to stop her only to get a rather fierce glare, which froze him on the spot.

Yu ran after her, Kou looked guilty while the other three simply laughed off what they said feeling no guilt at all.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Yu finally caught up to Ai near the bike rack, he knew what it felt like to have sports teams talk about you spitefully like that and wanted to make sure that Ai was alright.

"Wait up are you okay?" he asked when he finally caught up to her.

"I'm fine they're always like that, really it's no big deal." Ai replied waving his concern off "To be honest I kind a think it's awesome, I love it! I find it flattering. You see I totally got the hots...for Ichijo he's so cool." A love struck look crossed Ai's face and Yu could tell that this wasn't an act she was serious about her feelings for Ichijo.

"Yes he is." Yu agreed with her, frankly he did think Ichijo was cool, the boy was nothing like the other captains of sports team's he'd met.

"He's always cheerful and kind, he even stood up and defended from those guys back there!" Ai continued drifting off into her own little world "Hey do you think he's got eye's for anyone else?"

"Don't know." Yu replied honestly not liking where this was going.

"Please you gotta help me here!" Ebihara pleaded grasping Yu's hand "Find out whether he like's anybody or not."

"What a sec, why me?" Yu asked as his feeling was confirmed.

"Cause you have too!" Ai said insistently "You're the only one I can count on o do this for me!"

"Aren't I the lucky one." Yu sighed.

"Yeesh and I thought I had crap luck." Cu Chulainn chuckled.

"This might a case of your luck contaminating our King's own and if so I will have to tighten your leash dog!" Gawain stated with the smallest hint of a smirk.

"DON'T CALL ME A DOG!" the Hound of Ulster yelled irately.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Later on Yu and Ichijo were in the gym storage room putting away the equipment before locking up. As he helped the captain push the cart full of basketballs into the storage room asked whether Ichijo liked anyone.

"Do I like anybody?" Kou was apparently caught off guard by the question as he blushing slightly "Well what brought that on?"

"So you don't?" Yu asked dodging the question.

"Come on….oh perfect your not gonna let this one go are ya?" Ichijo sighed reluctantly "Promise you won't tell a soul."

"No problem, I swear." Yu swore giving a slight glance to the vaulting horse which Kou luckily did not see.

"I-I like Chie, ok?" Kou confessed after a few seconds.

Yu immediately pretended to cough in order to cover up his amusement, of the all the girls Chie was the last person he excepted Kou to have a crush on. Not because there was anything wrong with the girl, it was just a surprise. He genuinely expected Kou to have feelings for Ai judging by the way he stood up for her earlier.

"Hey what are you acting like that for?" Kou demanded "But man, I'm so jealous that you get to sit next to her every day it blows!" the boy then put his arm around Yu's shoulder pulling him close "Now that you know, you've put in a good word. Thanks man."

With that Ichijo left Yu alone, well almost alone. He was speechless when he took the lid off the vaulting horse revealing Ai who had been listening in. She looked very depressed after hearing that Ichijo had eyes for someone else.

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[04/21 Rooftop, Yasogami High, Inaba]

After hearing whom it was Ichijo had feelings for Ai had bolted off, Yu having a bad feeling gave chase. As it turned out his instincts were correct as Ebihara was now sitting atop the fence that surrounded the school rooftop and trying to clamber to the meagre bit of rooftop on the other side of it.

"I'm gonna kill myself!" Ebihara cried as she tried to climb down only to be held back by Yu.

"Take it easy!"

"I know Chie! She's that frumpy looking girl." Ai screeched "I'm a hundred times better looking than she'll ever be!"

"You've gotta calm down!" Yu insisted continuing to try and pull Ai down carefully.

"Don't touch me!" She promptly slapped his hand away but remained balanced on the top of the fence "Get any closer and I'll jump for sure!"

"Think how your parents would feel." Yu said as gently as he could, he knew that when trying to calm someone down your tone was as important as your words

"So he doesn't even notice me?" Ebihara asked gloomily. "But I'm so cute now… I worked really hard to look like this." Tears began flowing down Ai's face "But if he doesn't love me what's the point?"

Yu climbed up and took a seat on the fence; he was just far enough from her to Ai keep her comfortable. She's was very fragile right now and simply yanking her down could cause her to become even more emotionally unstable.

Yu calmly watched her cry her eyes out for good five minutes as he patiently waited for her to calm down, eventually she did so and began to open up about herself.

"See I used to be the ugly fat girl and everyone teased me; all of my classmate's would gang up on me and call me gross girl and piggy-hara." Ai paused and sniffed before continuing "So I starved myself until I lost a tone of weight. I read magazine's looking for tips on how to be cute and popular."

"I get it, you worked hard for this."

"Yeah but it wasn't enough, I became cute but still…no one loves me." Ai burst into tears once again "Why don't they love me?"

Yu let out a breath before continuing to talk.

"Look you worked really hard to be where you are. I'm sure your going to find a guy who like's you for who you are soon."

"You're…really nice." Ai sniffed wiping the tears form her eyes "I wish I'd fallen for someone like y-yo-woah-waah!" Suddenly the wind began picking up, Yu managed to steady himself sadly the same was not true for Ai as the once gentle breeze became a powerful gust that blew her backwards off the fence sending her plummeting towards the ground below.

"AAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!"

As he heard her scream of terror Yu shut everything else out and stood onto the fence.

"My king what are you-?" Gawain was cut off as the Fool following instincts that seemed to rise within him, dove after the falling girl.

The wind roared in Yu's ears as he fell, made his body as thin as possible to limit air resistance and speed up his descent. It worked and he quickly caught up to Ai and held her in a bridle style embrace.

Yu looked down at the ground which was rushing up to meet him, his mind told him to land in a roll to try and reduce at least some of the impact. However his instincts still whispered to him, so instead of preparing to roll he positioned his body to he would land on his feet, despite common sense screaming at him that his legs would be shattered at best from such a feat.

As his feet hit the ground he heard a loud crack, however it was not the sound of bone but concrete, indeed the concrete where he landed cracked and crumbled making a huge crater

" .Fuck?" the Hound of Ulster's voice stated with disbelief.

Yu leapt up into the air again soaring higher than humanly possible until finally he was over the fence and safely on the rooftop.

Looking at his passenger he saw that Ai had at some point fallen unconscious. He gently set her down on the ground and stood up to look around. Luckily it seemed that no one had seen his superhuman feat which was good because it would be awkward enough explaining this to Ai alone never mind a bunch of other people.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!" Cu Chulainn yelled at his the boy.

"Agreed, while that was brave it was also extremely reckless you could have been killed." Gawain admonished siding with the Hound of Ulster.

"I'm sorry." Yu didn't know what else to say. "I wanted to save her and I couldn't think of anything else, it was like instinct."

"Yeah well try to be less hasty in the future." Cu Chulainn sighed "If you die we disappear too, and believe me it is in fact, a pain in the ass. I get the feeling that your going to be unlocking more Heroic Spirits in the future and not all of them will be as nice about this kind of crap as us so be more careful ok?"

Yu said nothing but mentally agreed to his Persona as he sat down near Ai's head and let out a sigh, hearing a squeak he looked at saw a mouse nearby.

"How am I gonna explain this to her?" Yu asked of the mouse which only tilted its head. "Figures….hey I wouldn't stay there if I were you." Yu told the rodent which seemed to look at him questioningly. Despite feeling slightly odd talking to a mouse he felt the rodent deserved a fair warning, alas it was too late as the unconscious Ai's boot clad foot lashed out sending the mouse into the wall with a splat. "Tried to warn you." Yu deadpanned with a sweat drop, it seemed even unconsciousness wouldn't impede Ai's declaration of war on rodents.

With that the Fool stared down at the rodent hating girl and while thinking about what he was going to say to her he also silently prayed that if he should die exploring the TV world that he not be reincarnated as a rodent anywhere near Ai Ebihara, because his new life would be very short indeed.

Nearly ten minutes passed before Ai's eye's fluttered open and she sat up from her prone position. Yu had managed to find a spare receipt in his pocket and had spent the time folding it into a crane.

"Your awake, I'm glad." Yu said giving her a smile.

"I'm lying down. Did cry myself to sleep?" Ai asked wiping the remaining tears away from her eyes "But that dream seemed so real though…."

"Can I ask what your dream was about?" Yu inquired praying that she take the excuse she'd inadvertently given him.

"Y-yeah I was telling you that you were a nice guy and then the wind blew me off the fence and I was falling, but then you dove after me and saved me." She quickly grabbed his hands causing him to drop the paper crane. "That dreams got to be a sign I know it, you can help me. Please you've gotta act like you love me until I find a guy I really want!"

Yu was rendered speechless and had no idea what to say or do.

"Better run with it." Cu Chulainn said "Unless you want her to get suspicious about her dream being more than a dream."

Seeing no way out of the situation, Yu reluctantly agreed and had a feeling that hardship for both himself and his wallet lay in his immediate future.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[04/22 road to Yasogami High, Inaba]

"Yo, Narukami!" Hanamura called Yu with a waving Chie next to him.

"Yu!" The Fool felt a chill go up his spine as he heard a familiar voice calling to him, sure enough there was Ai running up to him. "Hey Yu! Let's skip school today and hang out with each other."

Yu sighed internally at the loss of his near perfect attendance record and reluctantly allowed Ai to drag him away again.

"When did they hook up?" Yosuke pondered, whispers from other students drifted through the air as Yu had a feeling what the next piece of juicy gossip at Yasogami High would be.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[04/22 Café Chagall, Okina City Inaba]

"Come on" Ebihara whined "I said I wanted caramel sauce!"

"Oh, sorry." Yu apologised having gotten Ai's drink order wrong.

"Your not forgiven until you say you love me," she stated. Yu stammered unsure of what to say. "I'm waiting….say it come on." Ebihara got impatient fast.

"I… I can't."

Luckily for Yu, Ai relented and instead dragged him off to a clothing store nearby surprisingly it wasn't Croco Fur but that was probably because Croco Fur didn't have the photo booth that Ebihara had dragged Yu into.

"Hey let's make out" Ai proposed very into this date.

"What?" Yu choked surprised at her forwardness.

"Come on, its ok no one is watching and we are going out after all." Ai insisted.

"No, I can't! I can-" Yu was cut off as Ai quickly stole a kiss and held it as the booth began taking the photos. Yu was too surprised by her boldness and slightly afraid of the consequences too push Ai away so he let it happen.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[04/23 Class 2-2, Yasogami High, Inaba]

The next day in class Yu sat in his seat, depressed over the brow beating he got from King Moron earlier for skipping school with Ebihara yesterday. She didn't seem bothered by it as she had heard it all before but it was the first time Yu had been chewed out for skipping class, usually he just attended and kept his head down.

"Hey Narukami, we're meeting up at the Junes' food court after school," Yosuke informed him standing in front of the silver haired boy's desk during lunch.

"We need to sit down and review those cases." Chie said.

"Yeah…right….we need to do that…" Yu agreed only half listening.

The normally arguing pair both gave Yu looks of concern however before Yu could say anything a ring tone programmed for a specific caller came from his pocket causing Yu to straighten up and gain a disturbed expression on his face.

"Not gonna get that?" Yosuke asked raising an eyebrow at Yu's disturbed expression.

"Right."

"Too slow! I'm your girlfriend and it took you three rings!" Ai screeched down the phone nearly destroying Yu's eardrums causing him to hang up instinctively.

'That probably wasn't a smart idea.' Cu Chulainn sighed.

"What's that about?" Yosuke asked curiously.

"Oh nothing much." Yu lied 'I should call her back if don't then she's really gonna lay into me.' Yu thought to himself as he took out his phone and walked out the classroom to call Ai back.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[04/23 Food Court, Junes, Inaba]

Later on that day it wound up just being Yosuke and Chie meeting up at the food court with no sign of of their leader.

"What's your take on them?" Chie asked sharply clearly unimpressed with his absence.

"On who?" Yosuke asked.

"On Narukami and Ebihara." she elaborated irritably.

"Oh Them? I think they make a pretty good looking couple." Yosuke answered matter-of-factly.

"Like hell they do!" And Satonaka, with all the energy channelled perfectly due to her kung-fu practice with Li Shuwen, kicked the table making Yosuke a spit his soda out. "They're all playing hooky, and crawling all over each other ! That's not like Narukami at all!" she yelled.

"Perhaps this Ai Ebihara is the problem." Li Shuwen said appearing in Spirit Form.

"I can see that!" Chie interrupted her Persona. "She got him to prioritize a date over reviewing the cases today!"

"Calm yourself my student." The assassin chided "This Ebihara from what I have been able to observe has a strong personality and is not the most emotionally stable of individuals. Combine this with the fact that your leader has most likely never been approached by a girl in this manner due to his constant moving about and you have a recipe for this kind of situation."

"….I guess you have a point." Chie mumbled still unhappy.

"Why are you getting yourself so worked up over all this?" Yosuke asked "Whoa. Wait a sec do you?...Now I get it." Yosuke smirked and squinted his eyes.

"Huh?"

"He's a super cool dude and he can use a bunch of Personas." Yosuke's smirk became a full blown grin.

"My lord I don't think…" Diarmuid trailed off when it became apparent that Yosuke was not paying attention.

"What?" Chie had no idea what Yosuke was talking about causing

"I believe he means that green is an interesting colour on you my master." Li Shuwen sniggered confusing Chie further.

"Huh?"

"It's ok I gotcha." Yosuke said confidently giving her a thumbs you. "You may think your up the creek with a paddle but I'm gonna bail ya out kay?"

"I am so lost." Chie said with no idea what Yosuke or her Persona were talking about.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[04/26, Gym, Yasogami High, Inaba]

The following Tuesday Ichijo had gathered the entire team together for an announcement of some sort.

"Guys listen up, I've put out team down to play in a practice game this weekend." Ichijo announced getting groans for a large amount of the team, save for Yu and a couple of others. Yu felt no sympathy for them at all, he knew what true hardship was and its name was Ai Ebihara. "We haven't done this forever so, so let's get out there and kick some ass!" Ichijo sounded very cheerful.

"Sure." The team echoed their collective voices devoid of enthusiasm.

"Yo! Got a second?" Yosuke's voice came from the gym entrance.

"Oh, Yosuke." the captain acknowledged, then blushed when he saw Chie.

"What are you two doing here?" Yu asked bluntly.

"So I've been talking to Chie here and she wants to become your team manager." Hanamura said with a grin lacing his expression, even as Chie's jaw dropped. "Can she give it a shot?"

"Yeah!" Ichijo said a bit too enthusiastically "That would be great."

"Wait is that why you dragged me here?" Chie whispered angrily to Yosuke.

"I'm telling you, you've got to level the playing field a bit if you want to try and beat Ebihara." Yosuke whispered to Chie conspiratorially.

"Dude what?" Chie remained confused by what Yosuke was saying to her and tried to ignore her Persona sniggering at her.

"Life sure is hard for a girl in love." The prince of Junes whispered to Chie with a nod.

"I so do not get you." Chie said causing her Persona's sniggers to become full blown laughter.

"Thanks a lot man this is awesome we could really use the help with the upcoming game." Ichijo stated.

"Well I guess I could help out for one game." Chie relented seeing no problem only to sweat drop upon seeing Ai giving her a death glare. "It think someone's giving me the stink eye." She mumbled to herself

"Woah, it's a knock down drag battle for love has!" Yosuke exclaimed snickering with excitement.

"What are you trying to do?" Yu asked to the snickering Yosuke.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[04/26, changing rooms, Yasogami High, Inaba]

The other team member had changing quickly and gone home leaving only Yu and Ichijo to change after putting the equipment away.

"Hey Narukami," Ichijo started as he pulled off his shirt putting it lazily into his gym bag. "After this next game, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to quit the team."

"What for?" Yu asked as he continued changing back into his regular clothes.

"You see my parents never really approved of the whole basketball thing team. I'm from a big family and I'm first in line to run things so…" Ichijo began taking his socks off and putting them away. "It sucks….I've only ever talked about this with Nagase but I figured that I could trust you with it too." Ichijo gave Yu a trusting sad yet trusting smile. "This last game I really want to win it. Could you help me out? I know you don't have such good experiences with sports teams but…"

"No problem, I can put that aside for a friend in need." Yu interrupted Ichijo and gave him a smile.

"Awesome!" Ichijo exclaimed as he stood from the bench. "Thanks a lot man and if we win I'm gonna tell Chie how I really feel about her!"

"Huh?" Yu let out a noise of surprise.

"That's not good." The Hound of Ulster commented "If he does that then Ebihara really will go over the edge, no matter if she says you're her boyfriend she still has feelings for Ichijo that's for sure."

"But we cannot break our word to Ichijo." Gawain pointed out "Perhaps we can make sure the game ends on a tie instead?"

"That's it, that's how we'll pull this off." Yu muttered to his Persona so Ichijo would not hear.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[04/29, Gym, Yasogami High, Inaba]

"I just came to cheer you guys on." Yosuke explained pulling at the uniform he was wearing. "So how did I end up wearing a uniform?"

"But some guys were no shows so we're short on players." Ichijo explained.

"Happens all the time, just do your best." Daisuke said walking past Yosuke.

"Yosuke." Yu came up to the boy.

"Hey there's something I've been meaning to tell you, these past few days I've been feeling weird, like I'm faster, stronger stuff like that. What about you do you feel any different?"

"Yeah I know what you mean." Yu nodded "We can use that to our advantage, try to be fast but not so fast that it looks weird. I want to make sure this game ends on tie, can you help me?"

"Yeah…uh…no problem." Yosuke agreed shakily. "But why a tie?"

"Because something….might happen if we win and I don't want to disappoint Ichijo by losing." Yu replied.

"Ok gotcha."

Chie meanwhile was setting up the video camera to get footage of the game when her view was blocked by Ai Ebihara.

"I don't care if you're here for just one game you are not welcome here." Ai said venomously to the meat loving girl.

"Why do you care what happens? I hear you hardly show up for practice anyway." Chie shot back hitting a nerve.

Yosuke watched the two bicker back and forth before looking at Yu who had been passed a ball for practice before the game.

"It's hard being a ladies man right Narukami?" Yosuke smirked.

"What?" Yu had no idea what Yosuke meant.

A few minutes later the teams were assembled and the referee blew his whistle to signify the start of the match.

"Let's play fair." Both teams said at once before the ball was released.

Ichijo jumped for it but the other captain managed to steal it and began dribbling it down the court. Yu saw this and nodded at Yosuke who gave him a grin. The silver haired boy ran mindful of his speed and quickly stole the ball from the opposing captain, dribbling it up court quickly managing to score the first shot of the match. With Yosuke's help Yu was able to easily steal the ball and score while also allowing the other team to keep up without it looking suspicious.

Meanwhile at the bench Chie and Ai were both recording data on the match, neither was happy to be in the others presence.

"Seeing you up close piss's me off even more," Ebihara muttered, loud enough for Chie to hear in a venomous tone. "I can't believe that I lost to a frumpy looking dog like you."

"Frumpy? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't act like you don't know, I'm going through hell because of you!" Ai seethed, gritting her teeth bare restrained anger.

"Well as long as we're sharing I've got something to tell you." Chie said snapped back. "I've seen the way you're pushing Narukami around, it's horrible!"

"Huh?" Ai raised an eyebrow and smirked "You've got the hots for Narukami haven't you?"

"I'm his friend!" Ai's expression dropped and she clenched her fists in anger.

"Great, you're loved and you have a bunch of friends to boot." she mumbled sadly. "You've got everything, you bitch!" she promptly stood up, crushed a mouse that was watching the game and slapped Chie across the face.

"What the hell?!" Chie hissed, standing up. "All I'm saying that if you're going to be Narukami's girlfriend, then treat him better!"

Chie slapped Ai back, which in turn caused her to retaliate. It went on like this until it became a full on cat fight between the two. With Chie admirably holding back due to the serious damage she could do to Ebihara.

"Hey cut it out you two!" Yu yelled at the two Gawain's Charisma skill seeping into his words causing the girls to release each and sit down as if on instinct. "This might be Ichijo's last game!" Those words caused Ebihara to flinch. "So just sit down and watch him!"

"Less than a minute left!" Ichijo called cause Yu to look at the scoreboard and see that he needed one more score to get a tie. He promptly grabbed Yosuke and ran off to continue his plan.

"What the hell…was that?" Chie mumbled so Ai could not hear.

"That young grasshopper was your leader undoubtedly drawing on Gawain's Charisma skill." Li Shuwen explained appearing in spirit form and watching the game. "Even if it is E Ranked, Gawain is a Natural Knight against whom it is very difficult to object, especially for ordinary people such as yourself, you have along way to go yet my student."

Chie pondered her Persona's words loosing herself deep in thought as failed to notice the game ending.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[04/29, Aiya, Shopping District, Inaba]

The Game ended had ended and Ichijo, Daisuke, Ai, Chie, Yosuke and Yu were all at Aika's although the mood was a bit more cheerful than most would think it would be. Apparently Ichijo was still happy that they hadn't lost. A tie was a first for the Yasogami basketball team in a long time.

"We did our best!" everyone cheered clinking their glasses together before drinking.

"Thanks for waiting. One beef over rice." Aika announced as she came towards them with a hot bowl of nikudon.

"Ah. Here!" Ichijo said excitedly, gazing at the hot bowl with gusto. "I'm digging in!"

Dig in he did, Ichijo began eating the nikudon with delight on his face.

"Ichijo, I'm sorry man…" Nagase said looking down.

Ichijo looked up and stopped inhaling his food for moment looking questioningly.

"Huh?" he made a questioning sound.

"I've let you down…" Nagase continued glumly. He totally knew. It doesn't take a psychic or some fluffy bear's nose to sense that.

"It was your last game too, we're sorry we could bag a win." Yu finished feeling bad for lying, he could have easily bagged a win, but Yu didn't want to risk Ai becoming unstable again should Ichijo actually confess to Chie.

"Oh," Ichijo gulped his food. " I changed my mind about that."

Everyone collectively looked at the boy questioningly.

"That game made me realize something important." Ichijo spoke calmly before smiling and looking like he was in high spirits. "I really love playing basketball."

He toyed with his chopsticks and gazed at the remainder of his drink with a pensive look on his face. "I really hate losing and even though we got a tie this time, I can't end it like this, we were only able to compete with those guys 'coz you joined and we tied thanks to your skills." he continued, speaking jovially. "I seriously owe you one, Narukami. Thanks, man."

"No problem" Yu replied

"And someday when our team actually does win a game I'll tell her how I feel." Ichijo whispered excitedly.

"Yeah."

"So what do you say? Are you gonna stick team and help us win some games?" he asked.

"I'll come along if you can get another real match going." Yu replied.

Satonaka then chimed in while Hanamura rested his elbows at the counter, waiting for his food.

"I'd love to stick around but I can't, it seems that I don't seem to mix well with a certain someone." Chie chimed in crossing her arms and pouting.

"Hey Ichijo?" Ai got the attention of the captain. "Do you mind if…" she started, blushing lightly "I stick around the basketball team?"

"Of course not!" Ichijo said excitedly.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[04/29, Shopping District, Inaba]

The rain had long since let up when they walking home together through the shopping district.

"Man. That last shot I made? You saw it right? It was so awesome!" Ichijo bragged to Daisuke.

"Of course I did. I would have covered for you if you missed." Daisuke replied.

"Oh yeah like that would ever happen!"

"Hey, Yu." Ai ran up to Yu "I'll be okay on my own now."

Whoa. Breaking up huh? I'm a little surprised since I heard that relationship endings should be done in private, plus it's a little bit rushed, but of course, I already know the reason why.

It's Ichijo, right?

"Your really nice and I wanted you around to spoil me, at least until I got over being rejected." Ebihara explained softly watching the object of her affection getting his head bashed by the taller soccer team captain. "For a second there, I thought there was a chance that I might end up falling for you."

She promptly held up the photo's that had been taken a few days ago in the photo booth.

"Here I want you to have this as a memento" Ebihara continued. "It's a major pain in the ass but I'm gonna try to act like a good manager from now on. You helped me come to that decision and its time that I followed through, thanks so much for all that you've done."

So she winked and ran to catch up with Ichijo, she slowed to walk alongside him and began talking to him. Yu smiled at the two as he felt the strength of the bonds he'd established with them. Deep within, two more souls connected to him from Beyond, with the numbers XI and XVIII representing Ichijo and Ai respectively.

"God damn!" Cu Chulainn exclaimed appeared in spirit form walking beside him. "It's starting to get crowded in there, there's now five stiffs in that noggin or yours would it kill ya to make more room?"

Yu simply smirked at the Persona as they walked along the path.

"I do wonder though, on the rooftop how did I do that?" Yu wondered aloud yet quietly enough so only Cu Chulainn could hear.

"Beats me" the Hound of Ulster shrugged "I've never heard of situation like this before."

Yu fell silent as he continued walking home.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[Wizard Marshal Zelretch's office, Clock Tower, London]

Wizard Marshal Zelretch currently sat in his office, for once not making someone else's life hectic for his own amusement. It had only been a short time since Narukami had awakened the new modified Persona ability and already he had a hang of the Wild Card's power. The bond's he created had given him more connections to souls in the Throne of Heroes. Everything was going according to plan and by the end of this mess Nyarlathotep would be tearing his non existent hair out having lost again.

Just as Zelretch was about to take reach for his drink the door slammed open reveal a very angry looking Waver Velvet a.k.a Lord El Melloi II.

"You" he pointed at Zelretch "You're behind this, admit it!"

"Alright I'll bite what have I done now?" Zelretch asked with an infuriating smirk.

"Don't play stupid with me, you know what I'm talking about. That Ebihara girl." Waver yelled angrily.

"What about her?"

"In just nine day's she's managed to kill sixty five of my familiars, which are supposed to be watching Narukami and his group. A loss of one or two is something I can take but sixty five! I KNOW THAT YOU'RE BEHIND THIS!" Lord El Melloi bellowed.

"Sorry Waver, but I can say with complete honesty that I have nothing to do with this." Zelretch answered with an amused grin.

"If not you then how does she keep finding my familiars?" Waver growled at the Wizard Marshal.

"Mystic Eye's of Rodent Detection?" Zelretch suggested getting an infuriated growl from Lord El Melloi.

"THERE'S NO SUCH THING AND YOU KNOW IT!" Waver yelled infuriated.

"Relax, it's not like they're that hard to replace." Zelretch replied casually waving him off. "Anyway, anything important to report?"

"Yes" Waver stated calming down and clearing his throat "From what my familiars have observed it would seem the attributes of Heroic Spirits are somehow leaking out into the hosts, I have yet to determine why or how but I suspect it may linked to the nature of Persona's."

"Hmmmm…..keep watching them, we might need to step in if this starts getting attention." Zelretch ordered receiving a nod of confirmation from Waver who wandered off to carry out his orders.

After that, a new smile crossed the face of the Old Man of the Jewels. It seemed that things would certainly get interesting in the future.