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: Credit to Gundam-Knight-Chris for his contribution to the last part of this chapter. Also on another note. if the quality of this chapter seems low I apologise, I lost my desire to write this fic but was able to force these Summer chapters out cause I felt I owed you guys something at least.

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[August 10th, Dojima residence, Inaba]

Later on when it had become dark Yu returned to the Dojima residence.

"You're home!" Nanako ran to greet him. "There's dinner do you want me to warm it up?"

"Sorry, but I already ate." Yu apologised

"You did?" Nanako looked rather downcast at hearing this.

"Oh, Nanako." Yu paused to look at the little girl "Have you heard of Neo Featherman?"

"Course, everyone knows him."

"They do huh?" Yu sighed as he began walking up the stairs again. "Heroes these days sure aren't what they used to be."

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

[13th August, Dojima residence, Inaba]

A few days later that night Yu, Dojima and Adachi were all gathered around the table for dinner. Nanako was currently away using the bathroom.

"Ease up there Dojima!" Adachi tried to get Dojima to relax. "Look I'm glad the case is solved too, but lay off the booze!"

"Hey, Yu!" Dojima slurred pointed his chopsticks at the boy and ignoring his partner.

"Y-Yes?"

"If it isn't some chick, then what is keeping you out so late?"

"The truth is..." Yu wasn't sure whether he should voice the truth or not considering how unbelievable it was but decided to just go for it. "I met this fox and it asked me to get a part-time job, It's caused a lot of problems."

"You're a riot Yu I never knew that about you." Dojima laughed drunkenly.

"He's right" Adachi agreed although not laughing openly like Dojima was "You're freakin hysterical."

"I don't get it" Nanako said as she sat down..

Later on Yu sat on the sofa in his room reading a book and read particular passage that really reflected on his earlier situation.

'Even if I told them, they'd just laugh at me.'

"I hear ya its so true." He sighed to himself.

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

[16th August, day-care, Inaba]

Three days later when August the sixteenth rolled around Yu and Rise were at the day-care once again.

"So you see you do this and-"

"Don't lie!" the voice of Kaneko who was arguing with Yuuta again yelled.

"I'm not lying!" Yuuta insisted angrily glaring at Kaneko.

"Come on no more fighting you two." Yu said coming between the two glaring boys.

"But Yuuta's lying he said he saw Loveline!" Kaneko explained angrily.

"I did! I really saw her!"

"But Loveline only exists in the TV." Another girl stated with confusion.

"So-" Yuuta was about to through his rotor blades at the girl who spoke but froze upon feeling a familiar aura, and noticing that Kaneko had frozen up too. He looked to see a familiar demonic visage peeking out from behind Yu's shoulder. "Eep."

"Now Yuuta, you weren't about to start a fight were you?" Yu asked with a smile similar to the one he gave Kaneko the other day.

"Nope" Yuuta shook his head rapidly in denial "I was just gonna go and listen see what Ms Rise was doing today…er…see ya."

The boy quickly sprinted off to see Rise's show again. At any other time Kaneko would have called Yuuta chicken for running away, but having experienced Yu's scary side he decided that he didn't want to antagonise anyone again.

"That's amazing you stopped potential riot." One of the day-care workers said walking up to Yu with her colleagues.

"Yeah can you teach us how to do that?" another asked.

"Well….its not something I can really teach." Yu replied with slight nervousness "I learnt it by watching it in action. So I just sort of…..do it, I'm not sure how."

"Aw, it would be great to keep the kids in line with it." The third groaned.

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

[August 17th, Tatsuhime Shrine, North Shopping District, Inaba]

The day came and went quickly and before Yu knew it was already the seventeenth. He was currently realizing at shrine where the fox apparently lived.

"There are a whole lot of clouds in the sky today." Yu sighed looking up at the cloudy sky above.

Well at least we get a break from all that heat." Rise chimed.

"This earning money stuff is hard." Yu sighed as he let his head fall.

Suddenly they all perked up at the sound of someone being knocked to the ground and a scooter driving away.

"Thief!" an elderly lady's voice yelled "Someone stop him!"

Yu and Rise ran out of the shrine to help the old woman who was lying on the ground apparently unconscious."

"Ma'am!" Yu yelled at the woman "Are you alright?"

"I'll get him" Rise said, Installing and assuming her Tamamo-chan guise when she was sure no one was looking, she began sprinting at superhuman speeds after the thief and his scooter.

It didn't take long for the heroine to catch him. Even on a scooter a with the power of Heroic Spirit she was still faster. One good leap and some sprinting was enough to get Rise close enough to knock the thief off of his scooter which skidded to a stop without its rider. After knocking him out, calling the police and taking the stolen purse back, she returned just as an ambulance arrived to get the old lady to the hospital.

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

[August 17th, Inaba Municipal Hospital, Inaba]

At the hospital the Yu was getting an explanation of the elderly lady's condition while Rise waited outside the door for him

"It looks like she hit her head when the thief pushed her to the ground." The nurse explained. "There's no need to worry though she'll be fine."

"That's good to hear." Yu said with relief as the nurse stood up from kneeling beside the elderly lady's bedside and walked towards Yu.

"Well, well now, aren't you a little cutie?" the Nurse said flirtatiously putting a finger on Yu's chin "What do you say the two of us hit the town?"

Outside the door a vein throbbed in Rise's forehead, her hearing had improved as well.

"Can't I have to work." Yu said immediately beating a retreat, out of the room.

"Your loss then." the nurse chuckled apparently encouraged rather than put off by Yu's refusal which confused Yu.

'She might see it as a challenge.' Semiramis stated 'Some women who flirt like that want to be refused, she probably thinks you're playing hard to get or something like that and that make's you different from most males who would have jumped at the opportunity. I don't think you've seen the last of her.'

'Great' Yu sighed mentally

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

[August 17th, Nakajima residence, Inaba]

Later on Yu over to the Nakajima's to tutor Shu in math. Rise, deciding to keep trying to catch the River Guardian.

"Now that one…."

"Hey enough math" Shu interjected surprising Yu "mister...Is school fun for? Do you like it?"

"Yeah it is." Yu stated to his pupil thinking back over the memories he'd made with his friends who he wouldn't have met if not for school. "Its lots of fun."

"Really?" Shu seemed downcast at the answer. "Cause it's not fun for me at all. I'm surrounded by idiots all the time."

The reply surprised Yu causing him to looked around the room, he spotted a picture of Shu with his mother standing near a birthday cake. The picture showed the date of his birthday which was only three days from now. A plan came to Yu's mind, he could tell form his interactions with Shu that the boy was lonely, and felt more than a, little pressured. Yu hoped his plan would help ease some of that.

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

[August 18th, Bus Stop, South Shopping District, Inaba]

Today was different for Yu; Rise wasn't she and Tamamo were still trying to, as she put it 'catch that bastard fish'.

"Well, it's the hottie from yesterday." Yu looked to see the nurse from the hospital getting off the bus.

"Ah crap, this looks like trouble." Cu Chullain sighed. "Don't get me wrong she's a looker and seems nice, but I'd be cautious."

"Oh, hi there." Yu greeted back politely hoping she'd leave him alone.

"Were you coming to see me?"

"Not at all." Yu replied bluntly "I was going to see the old woman.."

" Oh are these for me?" the nurse asked ignoring Yu's blunt denial.

"No these are meant for the patient.."

"Well aren't you forward one?" She interrupted him again. "I kinda like that in a guy."

"No that's…." before Yu could finish she started dragging him with her "Wait, where are we going?"

"You just leave the rest to me." She said with a smile as she dragged Yu off.

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

[August 18th, Bar, Inaba]

A little later on the nurse whom he had found was named Sayoko Uehara during her drunken ramblings at the bar she'd dragging him too, had began opening up to him. Although Yu suspected the alcohol had something to do with that.

"I'm over being a nurse!" Sayako complained "The old geezers only boss me around and the ones under eighty just want to look down my shirt!"

"That must be hard." Yu said carefully not wanting to make her angry.

"And you know what the worst part is, they come, they heal and they leave." Sayako continued her rant "They all bail as soon as they can."

"That should be a good thing." Yu said confused at her statement.

"Maybe its time I quit and find another job."

"Well what else would you want to do?" Yu asked her.

"I don't freakin know!" Sayako almost yelled slamming her empty glass down next to the other two. "That's enough talk about that."

'I don't think she remembers that she started this conversation.' Gawain sighed.

"You know there's a big festival coming up soon?" Sayako asked changing the subject "Why don't we go together?"

"I'm going with some friends." Yu objected once again seemed only to encourage Sayako.

"You can take a quick spin through the festival with them, and then ring me when you're done." Sayako explained "I'll give you my number."

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

[August 18th, Bus Stop, South Shopping District, Inaba]

With that Sayako took Yu's phone, put her number into it and left but not before taking the flowers that he'd gotten 'for her'. He made his way back to the bus stop after buying some more flowers hoping to catch the bus to the hospital and visit the old woman. He sniffed himself and sighed.

"I smell like booze now."

However luck was not on his side as Eri Minami got off the bus and spotted him.

"Hey you're from the day-care centre." Eri greeted recognising him.

Before Yu knew he was at the park again sitting next to Eri watching Yuuta play with another boy.

"Look, I found a bug!" the boy Yuuta was playing with said.

"I think there's more over there." Yuuta pointed to a patch of grass beneath a tree.

"Okay!" Yuuta ran off with the boy to go and find the bugs while Eri talked with Yu.

"You see, Yuuta isn't really my son." Eri confessed "He's my husband's boy."

"Oh I didn't know that." Yu stated.

"That's why I'm not sure of how to act around him." Eri said wistfully "I'm not his mom and yet I kinda am, I'm not sure how he feels about me but there are times when I think he hates me."

"Ok, Mom!" the other boys mother came and collected him and the left "See ya!"

"Yeah...

"I wish I knew how he truly felt about me." Eri sighed standing up and walking away with Yuuta, Yu noticed that neither of them made an attempt to hold hands.

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

[August 18th, Bus Stop, South Shopping District, Inaba]

It was the afternoon now and Yu once again tried to catch the bus to the hospital to see how the elderly lady was doing.

"Oh my!" Yu looked and saw the woman he had been trying to visit all day, apparently she had been discharged, she certainly looked better. "Aren't you..."

"Yeah!"

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

[August 18th, Samegawa Flood Plain, Inaba]

The elderly woman who was named Hisano Kuroda as she told him, had requested to be brought to the Flood Plain.

"The grass is uneven, so watch your step." Yu said holding Hisano's hand as he lead her down the embankment.

"Thank you."

A few moments of silence passed before Hisano spoke up again. Rise who had arrived a few moments ago after Yu had called her sat watching in silence.

"I came here because I am moving away fairly soon." Hisano explained as she looked out at the river water which reflected the dying sunlight. "This town holds too many memories of my late husband." She withdrew from her pocket a beautiful black comb with a floral pattern on it. "Pretty isn't it? It was a gift something that my husband gave me a long time ago. However now… I don't need it anymore."

Yu and Rise gasped as she tossed the come into the river where it landed with a light splash.

"But why?" Rise asked quietly "Why throw it away?"

"Well you see things changed by the end." Hisano explained "The love that I had for him had all dried up. That was the memory of a love that's passed so why carry it around now?"

"I'm glad I ran into you before I left town." Hisano said as she turned to leave "You're the spitting image of my husband when he was a young man."

Rise skidded down the embankment and stopped next to Yu as Hisano walked away. They turned to see the River guardian leaping out of the river with the comb stuck in one of its scales. The mere sight of the fish made Rise furious.

"We have to get it back, but that comb means more to that old lady than even she knows. That comb represents her bond with the person she loves; even if she says that it dried up years ago I don't think that's true." Rise said insistently.

Yu felt something was off about this, Rise wasn't acting like herself, she'd never been this passionate about the feelings others before.

'Did she always have fox ears?' Astolfo asked.

"Caster?" Yu said realising that it was Tamamo no Mae he was talking to instead of Rise.

"Yes, I asked my master to install me so I could talk physically without the old lady getting suspicious." Caster stated. "We need to get it back to her and show her that her love outweighs any guilt that she might be feeling."

"Guilt?"

"Yeah, I can just feel it, she feels guilty for outliving him….we have to help her." Tamamo said clenching her fist with determination.

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

[August 20th, Summer Festival, Inaba]

Two days passed and the Summer Festival had finally arrived. Yu was currently hanging around with Kanji and Yosuke.

"Those are some major bags under your eyes, you two." Kanji said through a mouthful of Takoyaki.

"I've been busy." Yu explained as Rise nodded along with him, the bags were due a lack of sleep.

"Nanako was going to tag along with you tonight right?" Yosuke inquired after the girl.

"My uncle said he would bring her along later." Yu stated trying to fight the urge to fall asleep.

Rise gasped as she spotted Hisano sitting on a bench next to a stand. She tugged at Yu's sleeve to get his attention and pointed at the old woman.

"Look it's her." Tamamo pointed out.

"Let's go give it back to her quickly then." Yu said as he began walking past Yosuke and Kanji. "We'll be back in a sec."

"Huh? Okay." Yosuke looked after him with confusion.

The duo quickly ran up Hisano and got her attention.

"Hey wait!" Tamamo called out grabbing the woman's attention as Rise allowed her to take over.

"I had a feeling that I might see the two of you here." She said with a smile "Are you here together?"

"Yes but that's not important right now." Tamamo said as Yu held out the comb that Hisano had thrown away. "We had to give you this back."

"That's my comb... But how did the two of you ever…" Hisano was so shocked she couldn't finish her sentence.

"Well…." Rise scratched her cheek with embarrassment as she recalled yesterday which went much like the day before except they finally succeeded in their goal late into the night hence their lack of sleep.

"Alright this time we'll catch that stupid fish for sure!" Rise growled with a fire in her eyes as Yu prepared the fishing rod and put on his TV world glasses.

"Persona!" he let out his battle cry as he cast his line.

They didn't have to wait long, a large white foamy rippling appeared right where the hook was and Yu felt a bite.

"I've got him." Yu began reeling the River Guardian in while making sure to be just careful enough that the line didn't snap.

All looked good until the tugging on the line intensified and Yu relaxed his grip reflexively so as not to cause the line to snap, but this action only allowed the guardian to begin taking more of line. Yu was dismayed as it looked like the River Guardian would evade them yet again until Rise grabbed onto the rod.

"Not this time you bastard!" she yelled pulling the rod with all her might.

Instead of the line snapping as Yu thought it would, together his strength and Rise's were strong enough that the River Guardian came out of the water and was sent sailing into the air. The comb which was attached to its scale came loose and fell into Yu's hand.

Rise meanwhile used a couple of charms to blow the guardian onto Land, leaving it flopping as tried and failed to make it back to the water.

"This meant a lot to you didn't it?" Tamamo asked rhetorically "After you threw it I could tell that you were very sad. So we got it back for you."

As she hesitantly held her hand out and touched the comb old memories and feelings that she thought buried and gone resurfaced. It was of when her hand first gave her the comb at a Summer Festival so many years ago. It was in that moment of memory that she realised that the well of love for her husband had not dried up, it simply ran deeper than she thought.

"I don't know what to say..." Hisano stammered as tears of joy fell onto the comb "When my husband gave this to me it made me very happy. But through my tears I had a hard time remembering that. I...I truly loved my husband after all."

Yu could definitely see that Hisano was happier than she had been in a very long time, her feelings for her husband had resurfaced once more and were giving her solace with the memories she had made with him.

In back of the boy's mind , a flame with the number 'Thirteen' burned to life and, slowly, another soul started to connect to him from Beyond.

Yu kept smiling at Hisano for a few moments until he saw Shu running with a large round sphere that Yu recognised as a firework.

"Hey isn't that the boy that you tutored?" Tamamo asked watching Shu run by.

"Yeah he's got.."

"Then go after him before he hurts himself." Tamamo said with a smile which surprised Yu "I think I'll stay here with Hisano for a little bit."

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

Shu ran with the stolen firework down into a side path that was empty of people, he hoped to make his escape when he heard a familiar voice call his name.

"Shu!" the boy turned around to see his tutor standing there alone.

"O-oh it's you!" Shu said with relief.

"Isn't that a-" Yu saw that it was indeed a firework. "What are you doing with that?"

"I don't want there to be any fireworks!" Shu yelled with anger as he gripped the explosive tight. "Everyone in my class made plans to watch them with each other. But no one bothered to ask me if I wanted to come too. They're all just jealous of me because I'm smarter than they are! So now, nobody gets to see the fireworks! Its their fault they asked for this!"

"Shu..." Yu said his name firmly getting the boys attention "I got something for you."

"What is it?" Shu asked watching Yu withdraw a video game from his pocket Othello Eppon Inc. It was fairly new and was one of the few games that Shu was actually interested in but couldn't get.

"It's a present, Happy birthday Shu." Yu said with a smile.

"How'd you know?" Shu asked surprised.

"I noticed the date on a photo in your room." Yu explained "It was clearly your birthday."

"But why did you get me this?" Shu asked still confused by Yu's actions.

"Because It's a game that you can't play by yourself." Yu replied taking the firework from Shu and handing him the game. "You're gonna have go up to someone and ask them to play it with you."

"But everyone I know is so immature."

"Does that really matter?" Yu asked thinking of his own friends and how they could act sometimes. "It's ok to have fun and goof off sometimes."

"Mister, I stole that firework." Shu finally confessed.

"Then we'll give them back!" Shu gasped at what Yu said, his tutor had said we. "I'll go with you to apologize with you later, just give me one sec ok?"

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

Yu arguing once again.

"Look what you did!" Yuuta yelled at Kaneko who had Yuuta's cotton candy near his feet.

"I didn't do it" Kaneko denied "That was your fault not mine!"

"Your lying that wasn't my fault!" Yuuta yelled angrily.

"Calm down Yuu..." Eri placed her hands on Yuuta's shoulders hoping to comfort him.

"That's quite a mouth your kid has on him." Kaneko's mother complained "I'm not surprised though, rotten little kids always have moms like you." The verbal assault caused Eri to flinch. "So I guess the real failure here is you as a mother."

"But I..." Eri tried to argue but no words would come out.

"Yooouuu HAG!" Yuuta charged at the woman with intention of ramming into her but wound up shoving past her and stumbling instead.

"Why you miserable brat!" Kaneko's mother yelled and raised the hand she was holding her purse in with the intention of smacking Yuuta.

"Yuuta!" Eri dove at Yuuta knocking him out the way and receiving the blow that was aimed for him.

"Hey! Come on wake up!" Yuuta begged tearfully shaking Eri as she lay on the ground bleed from a wound to her head.

Yu ran over to her and knelt down to check on her, putting the firework on a candied apple stand.

"She's bleeding but I'm can't tell whether it's serious or not." Yu said trying to examine Eri to see how bad her injury was.

"Mister...help us please" Yuuta begged

"I-It was her fault she shouldn't have-" Kaneko's mother immediately stopped talking upon seeing the look Yu was giving her.

"Do something she's hurt." Yuuta begged Yu "Please help her!"

"Sure thing!"

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

Meanwhile at the parking lot Sayako opened her ring in phone and saw that Yu was calling her.

"Well well, I didn't that think he'd actually call." Sayako said answering the call "Hello?"

"I need your help!" Yu said urgently "She's bleeding from the head. You need to tell me what to do ok?"

"Wait just what is going on?" Sayako asked

"Help me!"

"Yes of course." Sayako got serious upon realising that this was not a prank and began instructing Yu about what to do. "First, find something long and clean to bandage up the wound."

"Ok lemme look" Yu looked around before he heard the voice of Ai Ebhihara.

"Huh? What are you doing down there?" Ai asked as Yu spotted a striped scarf around her neck.

"Look Ebi, I need to borrow this alright?"

"You what?" Yu took the scarf with waiting for an answer.

"What next?

"Keep it cool so it doesn't swell" Sayako instructed him.

Yu ran over to a shaved ice vendor run by old lady Shiroku.

"I-I'm sorry, but we're out of ice." Shiroku said apologetically.

"What's wrong, Narukami?" Ichijo asked

"I need ice..." Yu replied looking around and beginning to panic until he saw Aika who held a metal cooler

"Here's your delivery." She said opening the cooler to reveal a large block of ice.

Yu quickly took a piece of and wrapped in some cloth and applied it to the wound in order to help prevent swelling.

"Mom your awake!" Yuuta exclaimed happily as Eri opened her eyes after a few minutes.

"Yuuta?"

"Mom!" Yuuta hugged Eri tightly and began crying for the woman he had accepted as his mother.

"Hey nice job she looks like she'll be okay." Sayako said as she finally arrived at the scene.

"She does thanks to you."

As Yuuta cried into Eri Yu was suddenly brought back to reality as heard a child point ot the firework at the candied apple stand.

"I want big one Daddy, get me that one." The child begged his father who looked unsure.

"Crap, sorry about this." Yu stood up grabbed the firework and ran return the firework.

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

After returning the firework to where it belonged Yu was joined by Rise who had taken control back from Tamamo as he walked through the festival grounds again.

"Big Bro." The four all looked to see Nanako dressed up as Loveline running towards them.

"Nanako?"

"There you are." Nanako exclaimed as she tackle hugged Yu.

"What's the matter?" Yu asked seeing that the little girl seemed slightly upset.

"I've been looking for you everywhere." Nanako explained to Yu who remained confused.

"Why are dressed up like that?" Yu asked. "And where's your dad?"

Before she could answer a firework launched up into the sky and exploded in a burst of orange green and blue colour. Within seconds more fireworks of different colours joined it in the sky as the display began.

"The Fireworks have started." Nanako said excitedly pointing at the fireworks.

After watching the fireworks for a few moments Yu heard Shu calling him.

"Hey Mister!"

"I made it just in time!" Yu said to his student who looked happier than he had in a while.

"Wow thank you." Shu said gratefully "You're the first person to go out on a limb for me. You don't know how much this means."

"So how are you Shu?" Yu asked his student who wiped his tears away and took a deep breath.

"There's something I wanna confess to you." Shu took another breath "I think we should end our tutoring sessions."

"End them why?"

"Because you probably didn't know this but I was suspended from school because I cheated on a test." Shu confessed "You see my mom had such high expectations and wanted to prove that she could raise a kid on her own so that's why I had to be the best at everything. But when that transfer student came he became number one at everything. He was like Mr Perfect, that's why I cheated, to try and beat him and make mom proud. I thought that I had to be the best at everything in order to be loved, but I found out from her a few minutes ago that wasn't true. She said she'd always be proud of me no matter what. But now I see that's not true thanks to you…..here take this."

Shu gave Yu what looked like test results.

"I thought that those results were my only bond with my mother but I was wrong." Shu explained "You taught me more than maths and stuff; you showed how to stand up again and believe. I've decided that I'm gonna think about my life and set my own path. I feel like this is just the beginning and not just because I'm young, because I just realised that."

Yu smiled as Shu laughed embarrassed, he could feel the tight bond that he had formed with Shu. Time seemed to again as Yu felt a familiar sensation and heard the voice of a man speaking probably a Persona of the Tower Arcana.

In back of the boy's mind , a flame with the number 'Sixteen burned to life and, slowly, another soul started to connect to him from Beyond.

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

After Shu left Yu and the others found Yuuta approaching them with Kaneko who was slack jawed at seeing Nanako dressed as Loveline.

"No way it's Loveline." Kaneko exclaimed causing Nanako to blush

"See? Told ya she's real!" Yuuta smirked at Kaneko victoriously "I wasn't making it up either, right, Mom?"

"Nope you weren't making this up at all." Eri said kneeling next to Yuuta with a smile before looking at Yu with a grateful smile. The scarf which Yu had borrowed from Ai had been replaced by a proper bandage. "Listen, thank you so much for everything. I was scared of Yuuta and of really trying to connect with him. But protecting someone you care about is a wonderful joy that you showed me."

Again that feeling came again a flame with the number 'Fourteen' burned to life in back of his mind and once again another soul started to connect to him from Beyond.

With that Yuuta and Eri who had finally accepted each other as mother and son walked away hand in hand. It was then that Sayako approached him from the side.

"I think I might've lost sight of what truly matters most." Sayako said with a nostalgic smile on her face as she watched the mother and son walk away.

"And what would that be?" Yu asked the nurse.

"That healing people and saving lives truly is a wonderful thing." Sayako stated wistfully "It's something so obvious I can't believe I forgot it. But you were there to help me remember it. Thank you."

For a fourth time Yu felt a familiar sensation as once again at back of his mind, a flame with the number 'Fifteen' burned to life and, slowly, another soul started to connect to him from Beyond.

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

After meeting up with Yukiko and Chie in Yukata's and after Nanako who had gotten dressed into her own. Yu and Rise made their way through the festival to the shrine to meet up with the other boys.

"It's hard to walk in this." Nanako said as she tried to trip while holding a bag of cotton candy.

"You look so cute Nanako!" Chie exclaimed causing the little girl to blush with embarrassment.

They quickly arrived at the shrine where they agreed to meet up and sure enough Kanji, Teddie and Yosuke were all waiting for them. Teddie was still stuffing his face with food from various food stands.

"I can't believe that you're still eating." Yosuke sighed at the bear.

"Yeah why stop?" Teddie asked not seeing the problem.

"Don't come whining to me when your gut hurts again." Kanji ordered the bear.

"We're here." Chie announced as they approached "Sorry we're a little bit late."

"It took a while getting everyone dressed." Yukiko explained as Kanji looked away from the girls with a blush.

"You girls are all looking hot." Yosuke complimented.

"Yes very everyone's very pretty! I like"

"Hey there!" Dojima greeted surprising everyone with his arrival. "I finally made it thanks for watching her guys."

"How'd that happen?" Yu asked his uncle "I thought you had to work."

"Yeah I did, but I dumped it all on Adachi instead." Dojima said with a smirk. "I'm not gonna pass up this festival!"

"Look they gave me some cotton candy!" Nanako said coming up to her father holding up a bag of cotton candy with Loveline on the logo.

"Really, well how you dig in and after that we'll both go and hit up the shooting gallery.

"Sounds good!" Nanako exclaimed happily latching onto her father.

"Well, you guys have fun." Dojima said waving as he led Nanako away into the festival.

"Big Bro, I'll see you later."

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

[August 22nd, Junes Food Court, Junes, Inaba]

A couple of days had passed since the festival. Yu had decided to spend the day with Marie. After spending some more time showing the strange girl around town, Yu finally brought her to Junes in order to rest.

"I'm thirsty. I want something to drink." Marie stated demandingly "Something that isn't sweet. And not water!"

Before Yu could do anything Teddie suddenly ran up and interrupted.

"Sensei! Welcome!" he greeted excitedly "Oooooh! Who's this girl?"

"Ah yes, Marie has only met, Yukiko, Chie and Yosuke so far." Gawain realised.

"It couldn't hurt to introduce her to more of our friends," Nero said.

"What the heck is this thing?" Marie asked giving Teddie a funny look "It's moving...Gross."

Avenger snickered at this as did several of Yu's personas.

"Bwuh!? How rude!" Teddie sniffed with what Yu believed was mock hurt. "How can you say that about cute little moi?"

"And it talks... What's it made out of?" Marie asked with a grossed expression still present on her face.

"This Teddie is fifty percent kindness, by volume," Teddie stated proudly clearing his throat.

"Huh? ...What about the other half?" Marie tilted her head in confusion.

"Teddie fur." The bear replied simply with a grin.

"...Kindness and... fur...?" Marie raised her eyebrow in confusion.

"Don't worry about it, most of the things he says don't make much sense to us either." Nursery Rhyme said appearing in spirit form.

Yosuke suddenly strolled up to them.

"Oh, hey, it's Yu and Marie!" Yosuke said "Soo…..Whatcha up to this time? Taking a tour of Junes?"

"Greetings Ms Marie." Diarmuid greeted her as he appeared in spirit form.

"I don't need a tour. I already saw it." Marie grouched giving a dismissive wave to Diarmuid.

"Whoooooooa! Yosuke got deeeeenied!" Teddie chuckled teasingly.

"Shut up! It's nothing like that!" Yosuke snapped at the bear who kept grinning impishly.

"Actually it kinda is." Avenger quipped before a look of realisation came over him. "Wait she can see and hear us?"

It was then that Kanji arrived strolling into the food court apparently looking for Yosuke.

"Yo, Yosuke. Y'know that CD I was askin' about...Uh, who's this?"

"Who's this old-timer?" Marie asked tilting her head at Kanji.

"O... Old-timer!?"

"I see what you mean." Yu nodded examining Kanji.

"Yeah, same here." Yosuke agreed.

"Who are ya callin' old!?" Kanji yelled angrily.

"Kanji, what are you yelling about?" Rise demanded as she joined them "I thought you came to talk with Yosu- Oh! Sen..." Rise stopped upon spotting Marie, she strolled up to the girl and got very close to her "Whoa…"she turned to face Yu "Senpai? Who is this girl? What is she doing with you?"

"Her name's Marie" Yu informed her simply.

"I know this person" Marie stated looking over Rise "I heard about her from Margaret. 'Someone even I can't handle.'"

"That's not how it goes!" Rise snapped with annoyance "It's 'Something even I can handle!'"

"...That's not so different." Marie said after a few seconds.

"Yes, it is!"

"Yosuke-senpai, what's with this girl!?"

"Me!?" the boy straightened with surprise "Er, she's Yu's mate..."

A sudden silence fell across the group.

"Can he not put his foot his mouth for one day?" Chu Chulainn sighed.

"Drat, another rival, I'll have to rethink our strategy." Tamamo No Mae griped as she began mumbling something to herself.

"What!? 'Mate'...?" Rise looked shocked.

"Sorry... I think I just added fuel to the fire." Yosuke sweatdropped upon realising his mistake

"Huh? Heyyyy!" Chie and Yukiko interrupted the awkward moment before it could get worse walking up to group "Oh, everyone's here."

"Oh, Marie-chan's with you, too? Hello." Yukiko greeted the cap wearing girl.

"Senpais, you know her?" Kanji asked.

"We had fun together the other day. Right, Marie-chan?" Yukiko explained.

"I don't recognise you. Which high school are you from?" Kanji asked curiously "Wait... You're even younger than me. Which middle school are you from?"

"Middle school? What's that supposed to mean? You're pretty rude, old-timer." Marie said.

"Why do you keep calling me old!?" Kanji demanded angrily.

"Hey do me a favour and take off your shirt, and your bra while you're at it!" Avenger cried with a perverted smile on his face.

A silence fell over the group again, the girls had looks of disgust (none of which bother Avenger in the slightest) while the guys wisely decided their mouths were best kept shut, save for Teddie who seemed rather pleased with the idea.

The girls looked ready to yell but were cut off when Marie spoke up, a thoughtful look on her face as she remembered something.

"Margaret told me what do if something like this happened," Marie said aloud as she slowly approached the tattooed persona.

"Huh?" Avenger became confused when somehow Marie's hands gripped his ethereal shoulders, holding in place. "How in the-GAH!" Avenger let out a cry of agony as Marie drove her knee into his crotch with surprising strength for someone of her size.

The persona's dropped to the ground clutching his crown jewels and while crying out about the impossibility of the act as he was still in spirit form. Seeing this, all the male persona's chose to return to their master's souls, not wishing to be around a girl who could crotch shot them while they were in spirit form.

"He had that coming," Yukiko stated.

"Yup." Chie agreed "So how'd you do that?"

"I….just did it," Marie told her, unsure of what else to say.

"Y'know, I don't know much about her, either." Yosuke pointed "How old are you, Marie? Where you live? Are you here on vacation?"

"I don't... I don't remember." Marie confessed sadly as her expression became a sad one.

"Yosuke! You're scaring the poor girl!" Chie glared at the boy angrily.

"Yeah, Senpai. Not very sub-buttle of you." Kanji stated.

"Hey, you brought it up! ...Wait, what?" Yosuke backpedalled realising a problem with what Kanji had said: "What did you just say...?"

"Sub-buttle," Yu said bluntly getting snickers from his Persona's.

"Did you think the word "subtle" is pronounced sub-buttle?" Rise asked looking at her classmate with a raised eyebrow

"Kanji's got a sub-buttle." Teddie joked with a laugh

"Sh-Shut up! Quit talking about my butt!" the boy yelled with embarrassment.

"Oh, ugh... Why'd you make me think about your butt!?" Rise demanded angrily "You're the most un-subtle person ever."

"The un-subtle sub-buttle..." Yukiko snorted "Haha, hahaha, hahahahaha!"

"Ha... Ha." Marie let out a small chuckle.

Yu spent time with their friends and Marie after a few hours passed everyone decided that they were done hanging out and went home.

"...Those were funny people." Marie said "I don't get them. They're loud and stupid…..So stupid. "Sub-buttle.." Marie let out a snicker.

Despite her complaints Yu could tell that Marie appeared to have enjoyed herself.

"Did they all face their true selves?" Marie asked

Yu merely nodded at her.

"I see..." Marie paused in silence for a few moments "...I was thinking... Maybe I should work on trying to get my memory back. W-Well, one of these days...they look like they're having fun...I wanna be like that."

"I'll help you." Yu offered.

"Please do…..I don't know what to do." Marie explained "I'm not asking you to help right now, but when the time comes; I'm going to count on you. Let's go home now…..Oh, but let's go by the river on the way!"

He had no reason to refuse, so before taking Marie back to the Velvet Room they walked by the river.

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

A couple of days later Yu found himself dragged by Marie to the Samegawa floodplain.

"So, about my memories... What do you think I should do?" She asked Yu who had as much idea on what do as Marie did.

"Are there any clues?" Yu asked.

"No, nothing." Marie reached into her bag and pulled out the bamboo comb she showed him a while ago. "If you remember, I told you that I had this when I first started remembering. Will this help?"

They all looked at the comb for a few seconds thinking of how it could help us.

"It looks its made of bamboo" Cu Chulainn said.

" ...Bamboo? What is that rare?...But this doesn't look like the ones at Junes. They don't look anything like this. " Marie stated with interest "It seems older... Do you know any stores that might sell stuff like this?"

Yu thought about it for a moment until he remembered the perfect place to start searching. Tatsumi Textile's which the store that Kanji's mother ran. Even if they didn't sell this type of thing then hopefully they could at least find out more about this comb and what it might mean. "Tatsumi Textile's which Kanji's mother runs might know what to make of this."

"That old-timer's place? Hmmm... That's kinda surprising." Marie said.

She nodded and they all headed to Tatsumi Textiles, when they got there both Rise and Kanji were in the shop.

"Yo welco- oh, Sempai." Kanji greeted.

"Ooooh, Yu, what a coincidence! Oh, Marie's and the others are with you too?" Rise greeted.

"Oh, I see. Wait... Don't tell me the two of you are on a date..." Rise said nervously.

"No it's nothing like that" Yu replied calmly before the situation could get out of control.

"Sheesh, don't scare me like that. Hey, Kanji! Yu wants to talk to you." Rise said relieved.

"Huh? What's up?" Kanji asked.

Marie pulled out her comb and showed it to Kanji.

"Do you know what this is? Tell me anything you know. Anything at all." She demanded.

"This thing? It's uh... It's a comb. A pretty damn old one." Kanji told her which made.

"We know that we were wondering if you could tell us more about it." Yu pressed for more details.

"That's a comb? It doesn't look like it's very easy to use, with that shape." Rise said.

"So, what do you want from me? You need me to figure out where this thing came from?" Kanji asked.

Marie nodded in confirmation.

"Er, I don't know anything, but..." He looked at Rise as if to ask if she knew anything about the comb, but she shook her head no. "Hey! Mom! Come over here! Yo!"

"I hear you, I hear you. Don't shout so loud- Oh, hello. I haven't seen you in a while. Is this girl another of Kanji's friends?" Kanji's mother asked coming into the room.

"She wanted to know about this comb. You know anything, Mom?" Kanji asked dodging the question.

"A comb? Let me see..." Kanji's mother began examining the comb that Marie held out to her "Hmm…..this is very old, I'm sorry. We don't carry anything like this one."

"Can you tell me anything about it?" Marie asked eagerly "Anything at all."

"...I've never seen a comb shaped like this. I don't think it would be for everyday use." Kanji's mother explained, "You may have better luck asking at a museum or a gallery than at a clothing store."

"Museum? Uh, so it's rare?" Rise asked what we were all thinking.

"Well... I don't know if it's rare, but it's definitely not something that would be sold around here." She explained.

"Huh? If it's not sold, then where is somebody gonna get one? C'mon lady, help us out here!" Kanji yelled. He seemed to be getting into this. A bit too much if you ask me.

"Don't talk to your mother like that!" She scolded her son, it was apparent that Kanji's mother could be scary when she wanted to be. "I'm sorry I couldn't be any help. But I've really never seen anything like this."

"...Why do I have this?" Marie asked herself with a downcast expression on her face "Would I have been given it as a gift?"

"I'm not so sure about that. Combs don't make very good gifts." Kanji's mother interjected gravely "The word for comb, 'kushi' also has the sounds for the words for pain, 'ku' and death, 'shi.' It's an old belief that combs have the power to cause separation. But, I don't know if kids today care about that stuff."

"Oh yeah, my friend Kiyohime used to send love rivals combs in order to keep them away from her beloved, you know before the whole bell thing." Tamamo no Mae commented.

"Huh, I didn't know that. But now that you think about it, it does have those words in it..." Rise said.

"Are you in, Ms Tatsumi?" the voice of a customer asked, "May I have a word with you?"

"I'm coming. Just a moment, please." Kanji's mother stated "Kanji, please see to our guests. I need to speak with a customer. Please, make yourselves at home."

With that, she left the room to tend to the customer.

"Pain and death, huh. Yeah, I guess I wouldn't want to give someone that." Kanji said agreeing with what his mother said.

"She said separation? I didn't know that combs are actually bad luck." Rise said.

"I didn't know combs had any kind of luck," Yu said agreeing with Rise.

Marie repeated the word separation, and started thinking about what Kanji's mom said. It looked to Yu if she started to remember something.

"Marie, are you alright? Does your head hurt?" Rise asked, concerned.

"Whoa, you okay? Sit your ass down and get some rest." Kanji said in a panicky tone.

"Did you remember something?" Yu asked curiously.

"I don't know... But... There's something..." She shook her head before continuing "Ugh, it's gone. I can't remember... Something came up in my mind. I was about to recall it." Her expression seemed to darken a little.

"What, you can't remember? You don't remember anything about that comb?" Kanji asked.

It was at that moment that Yu remembered that they never mentioned Marie's amnesia to anyone.

"Huh? Wait a second. That's not your comb?" Rise asked in a scandalised tone.

"It was on her before she lost her memories. Perhaps it was supposed to be a curse from someone?" Semiramis suggested.

"She said this isn't a normal comb, what did she say? A Moozium? A Galerry?" Marie stumbled over the words, Yu chuckled a bit at her mispronunciation earning him a glare from the girl.

"Maybe I'll remember something if we go to one of those. You help, too." It was more a demand than a request but Yu didn't mind; this was important to her and planned to see this through to the end. With this case over or at least on hold, until the killer made their next move, Yu had plenty of time to help Marie.

"I'm tired. I'm going home today, but let's continue this later." She then left the store and headed to the Velvet Room entrance on the wall next to Daidara's store.

"What's up with her?" Kanji asked.

Yu quickly followed her, when he finally caught up to her the girl she said goodbye before returning to the Velvet Room.

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

Looking around Nanako Dojima couldn't see much. There was the inky blackness of the night sky with stars twinkling in the distance.

"W-where am I?" the little girl asked walking forward "Daddy? Big Bro where is everyone?"

Suddenly she bumped into something and screamed falling onto her behind as she looked up to see a man wearing a dark robe and skull mask looking down at her.

"There's nothing to be frightened of." A feminine voice reassured her. "He's sleeping right now."

Nanako looked to see a woman wearing white with tanned skin looking at the man who upon closer inspection was greyed out, like a statue. She could make out about four more figures equally as frozen as the man before her. The lady approached the skull masked man and placed on hand upon his chest. When this happened the man was washed briefly in a triad of colours, pink, green and blue. which quickly faded away.

"W-who are you?" Nanako asked.

"No one you should be concerned about." the woman answered before turning her back to Nanako. "I wonder how a human like you is here? No matter, unless you feel like wandering this darkness for a while try going in there."

The woman thumbed to a building with a blue sign above it that Nanako had not noticed before. The Velvet Club' flashed above the building. Before Nanako could say anymore woman walked away, her body seeming to melt into the inky blackness.

Nanako had no idea why but she felt that the pretty lady seemed lonely. Maybe when they meet again, they could be friends! The little girl smiled at the thought then realized that the woman told her to go into this weird club so with nothing else to do...she went inside.

Nanako could make out a whole collection of different people, ranging from knights to magicians and even archers. Most of them were rather handsome men and the rest were beautiful or cute girls. It was like she had just walked into a clubhouse for fairy tales. Suddenly, she realized that all the occupants in the club were staring at something. Oh right, they were staring at her.

She fidgeted nervously, unused to so many people looking at her. Nanako wished her big bro was here to help her.

One of the strange people stepped toward the girl, a pretty blonde woman dressed in a red and white dress. She had this boisterous smile on her face.

"Hello, you must be Praetor's little sister Nanako." The blonde woman kneeled down in front of her. "I am Emperor Nero Claudius." She introduced herself with a flourish.

Nanako shyly waved at Nero. "H-hello, Miss Nero." The way she blushed slightly in embarrassment due to her nervousness was enough to strike at all the heartstrings of the Heroic Spirits even Berserkers and Avenger Jeanne.

Nero squealed with joy. "You are just so cute! I can see why our Praetor dotes on you quite affectionately."

The little girl gasped in surprise. "You know, big bro?" She asked innocently.

Gawain, who was at the bar of the Velvet Club, was drinking a mug of beer then in a drunken banter stood from his seat.

"Of course we know, my king..." He declared with a slight hiccup. "We're part of his soul."

Atalanta quickly silenced the drunk knight by clamping her hand over his mouth. "You idiot!" She hissed through her teeth. "Don't tell her that!"

Nanako, being the innocent child she is, tilted her head cutely. "Part...of his soul?" She repeated until she came to realize something. She had seen this on TV once. "Oh, are you part of his... Um, ha-rem? Yeah, harem!"

The resounding looks of shock and surprise from the Personas seemed to convince many that the child heard something rather...unsettling.

Nanako fidgeted and glanced around the room at the stunned silence, although she thought she heard a few chuckles. It was then that she started looking upwards.

Meanwhile from the seconds floor a certain man with red eyes watched the scene below. He was dressed more casually, in a white t-shirt and black trousers. Watching the mongrels below interact with the girl who had somehow made her way into this place. He took sip of some wine before looking down again, she was looking up but before he could dismiss it he realised that she was looking right at him. She could see him. Maybe there was some amusement to be found in this after all.

As Nanako locked eyes with the red eyed man she felt something pull on her whole body and suddenly….she found herself back in her own bed. The suns rays shining upon were through the window.