Chapter 9: Nanjo meet Kirijo

Yu Narukami

Early Morning – 10/11/2012 – The moving train departed from Inaba

Yu tapped his feet on the floor rapidly as the nervous feeling kept on getting stronger and stronger. Today was finally the day Yu will meet another man of prophecy, as well as watching Nanako played her piano at the stage with Rise. He turned to his right to see Nanako leaning close to him, her head on his shoulder. Yu smiled and he stroked his cousin head when he saw the nervous expression on her face.

"Nanako, are you scared of the play?" Yu gave a warm smile to cheer her up.

"…Big bro, I'm nervous. What if I can't do it? It seems like they all are expecting high hope from me." Nanako said as she tried to memorize the copy of Apollo's musical note in her hand.

Yu stretched his hand around Nanako shoulder and pulled her closer to him. "Trust me when I say you can, I believe in you. There's no one that can play piano as good as you here. Believe in yourself." Nanako smiled upon hearing Yu's compliment and she slowly began to regain back her confident.

Yu changed his attention to every single one of his friend. Yosuke and Teddie were still half asleep with their eyes barely open. Chie and Yukiko was busy chatting with each other about the luxury they will have at Tatsumi Port Island. Kanji was busy munching his snacks, he's still hungry after the short breakfast they had in the early morning since they have to reach Tatsumi Port Island on time for the meeting. Yu also realized that Tatsumi Port Island has the same name as Kanji's surname. 'Observation skill up.' Yu cheered to himself. Naoto was busy writing some mind map on her note, probably trying to find any clue regarding Minato's stolen body. Yu turned to his front seat to see Rise busy putting her make up for the preparation for Apollo little concert.

"Rise-chan, I don't think you need to wear any make-up for this, there is no audience anyway."Yu said to her.

"But senpai~, I gotta look pretty on the stage to perform better, I mean you're there watching me after all." Rise said while grinning.

"Really? I find you cuter either way." Yu said while giving his charming smile. Rise blushed a bit after hearing this, and proceeded to gaze at the scenery outside the window instead.

Margaret was sitting alone quietly just in front of Yosuke and Teddie. They both tried to flirt with her, but with no success, as they were completely ignored. Yu smiled at her when she looked toward him, causing her to smile as well. As for Tatsuya…

"What are you going to do after we finish everything on the Island?" Tatsuya asked slowly to Yu from across their two seat, ignoring Nanako who was listening to their conversation in confusion.

"What else there is to do? We just need to find the missing body of Minato and the four of us can reunite to meet this Philemon. Then I'll return to Inaba to stay with my uncle until he can get out of the hospital. I still need to find Adachi and the culprit that stole Labrys a few months ago." Yu answered.

Tatsuya sank to his seat and began thinking something in his mind, he then widened his eye toward Yu as if he's still missing the bigger picture.

"You said the 'Malevolent Entity' that stole your friend, Labrys, can take the appearance of anyone and can summon a persona identical to its owner. He is also not human and trying to find something called 'One True Vessel', is that correct?" Yu nodded to Tatsuya confirmation, and he immediately catched a glimpse of Tatsuya's sudden pale face.

"Before Adachi escaped, he also said something about becoming a 'vessel' to someone he called lord Strife, maybe that's what the entity that stole Labrys mean by 'One True Vessel'." Yu began to fit in the mystery, "If we help to find the missing body of Minato, we might have a lead about who the 'Malevolent Entity' is." Tatsuya nodded in respond and turn to Naoto beside his seat as she began to slip in the conversation.

"Do we really need to hide the fact about Minato Arisato's body being stolen from the Shadow Operative? If my theory is right, Minato Arisato could be a close friend of Mitsuru and the entire Shadow Operative when he's alive, which is why Mitsuru said it's something very personal to her when she refuse to tell me about why she want me to investigate Mr. Nanjo. I feel sorry for them." Naoto stated, feeling somewhat guilty.

"No, we're not hiding the fact. We just need to go there and state our information during the meeting so that even my friend can find some lead about him." Tatsuya said to her, stopping her from arguing any further. He shifted his eye to Yu, "And I hope this 'little concert' we planned would be successful."

Even though he said that seriously, Tatsuya managed to flash a small smile to Nanako. Nanako quickly pulled Yu's cloth to hide her red cheek to cover her embarrassment, which make Tatsuya chuckle along with Yu. 'Ah, how lucky I am to have such a cute cousin.' Yu thought to himself.

"Mr. Suou, can you please let me borrow the 'Contact' card? I want to find my friend who also went missing a few days ago. Since she has a connection to my persona, I can probably find her using the card." Yu politely asked Tatsuya.

"Is this friend of yours a persona user too?" Tatsuya question caused Yu to falter for a moment. Of course it's difficult, being a friend of a fallen Shadow was too weird to be true to the other persona user.

Tatsuya, without waiting for his answer, lend the Contact card to Yu. "Take it. It's not even mine to begin with. Good luck finding your friend." Yu gave a small bow to him as a sign of gratitude.

"Well then, let's hope that the meeting between Nanjo and Kirijo Group will give us more lead to this prophecy." Tatsuya said as he looked outside the window that showed the view of upcoming city that slowly getting closer.

Naoya Toudou

Early Morning – 10/11/2012 – Private Airport near Tatsumi Port Island

Everyone was currently waiting for the limousine that supposed to arrive to take them to the Island. Nanjo looked at his watch again and sigh heavily. It was five minute late from their supposed arrangement, but everyone else was too amazed by scenery to even worry about it.

"The flight was amazing! Heck I don't remember the last time I ride a plane, right guys?" Hidehiko shouted joyfully like a child upon seeing the amazing new view around him.

"I heard that there is a school called Gekkoukan High School in the middle of the Island, said to be one of the most educated school in Japan." Yukino said while taking the picture of the surrounding with her expensive camera for her magazine cover.

"Tatsuya will be at the meeting to share his information and he will bring Yu Narukami, said to be another man of prophecy, with him." Baofu said to remind everyone about their task here.

"I can't wait to meet this Narukami boy! He was the youngest among four of the man of prophecy!" Maya said happily, join by Ulala who is intrigue to see the man as well.

Just then, a sound of car horn was heard approaching them, everyone turned to see a long luxury black limousine stopped in front of them. It was long enough to fit 10 people inside.

"Come on, we don't want to be late for the meeting." Katsuya said impatiently as he rushed to the door and opened it. Everyone began to take their own seat from the front until the back door, leaving the last two seats for Eriko and Naoya.

"Let's go, Naoya-kun." Eriko turned to her back to face Naoya, only to see him standing silently at a distant corner of the airport entrance, apparently reminiscing something to him-self. "…Naoya?" Eriko walked closer to him and snapped him out from his daydreaming.

"Oh, Eriko, I'm sorry. I'm just thinking to myself for a moment." Naoya said as he just noticed the limousine which was waiting for the two of them. "Anyway, let's go. I want to see this Yu Narukami and Tatsuya, and how good are they with their persona." He said excitedly.

Naoya suddenly grinned and he strides quickly to the limousine, while grabbing Eriko's wrist, pulling her with him.

"H-Hey! Naoya, slow down! You don't have to grab my hand like that!" Eriko blushed while she tried to release her hand from Naoya's grip.

Aigis

Early Morning – 10/11/2012 – Kirijo Main Facility front entrance, Tatsumi Port Island

Aigis, Labrys, Fuuka, Yukari and Junpei were growing impatient. They were still waiting at the entrance door for Mitsuru to show up. They changed their gaze to the road as they heard a horn from Mitsuru's limousine. The driver had done that for the 7th time now.

"Stupid driver, you get paid to do this, so why don't you shut up…." Junpei mumbled to himself.

"Where's Mitsuru? She should be ready by now." Fuuka asked curiously.

"Pffft, women. Of course she takes some time to prepare herself. She wants to look impressing in front of such an important man in her meeting." Junpei sighed, thinking it was the most logical reason.

"Excuse me, Stupei, she's not going to the meeting to impress everyone with her look! This is a meeting to discuss about Minato, okay?! She already looks beautiful enough…." Yukari said to Junpei, while mumbling the last part.

"Come on, Yuka-tan! I'm just kidding! I mean why else would she taking so long?" Junpei said, while at the same time preparing for another outburst.

"I'm sorry for my delay." Everyone turned to see Mitsuru well dress for the meeting. She wore her signature furred coat. Beneath the fur was a buttoned black dress along with a black jean to match her clothing.

"Well, what did I tell you? We ALL want to look good in front of such an important man to Kirijo." Junpei smirked at Yukari to prove his point as he adjusted his crooked tie on his crumpled suit, "I'm all ready to go!" Everyone else sweat dropped.

Then they began to adjust their own dress. Aigis and Labrys especially, hiding any presence of their metal skin as everyone began to walk to the limousine.

As they moved inside the limousine, the first thing that surprise all of them was the presence of a man in a police uniform, he was Akihiko Sanada(Persona: Caesar).

"Good to see you all doing well." Akihiko gave a smile while adjusting his police hat, "My job for today as a rookie was to be your bodyguard in your meeting, Mitsuru."

"Akihiko-san!" Aigis said in glee, it's been a long time since she last met him again after he left the Shadow Operative a few months ago to be a police officer. It's always nice to meet someone who you haven't seen for a long time.

"You guys were lucky that he was given this task. When Mitsuru told him about her meeting, Akihiko take this opportunity to take the role of her bodyguard." Said the limousine driver who was revealed to be detective Kurosawa himself.

'I think I'll take back what I said just now.' Junpei thought to himself while gulping.

"I heard that the detective team from Inaba will be tagging along the meeting. And it will be a meeting about Minato. Strange, but I know this is going to be one hell of a reunion, I wonder what is Chie doing now. Probably training her martial art eh-" Akihiko stopped talking when he saw a glimpse of a strange blue book Mitsuru carried with her in her fancy purse, "What's that book, Mitsuru?"

Mitsuru, realizing the book in her purse being shown, quickly shoved it back properly to hide it from them. Aigis widened her eyes, as she could swear that she had seen the book somewhere.

"…It's nothing. This book is just for me to fill in my time incase Mr. Nanjo didn't arrive first." Mitsuru explained, but somehow it didn't look very convincing, which made Akihiko slightly suspicious by her answer, but he paid no mind to it.

"Can we proceed now?" Kurosawa said as he shifted the front mirror to see their image. "Yes, we may proceed." Mitsuru replied as she sank to her seat, leaving Aigis who continued to recap about the familiar book but refused to ask her personally. As the car began to turn its wheel, everyone began to do their own thing, waiting to arrive at the Paulownia Mall.

Morning – Club Escapade, Paulownia Mall

Every member of the Shadow Operative began to take their seat around the reserved large table on the second floor. Akihiko, however, decided to stand beside the group while Kurosawa stood at the middle of the stair at the first floor, watching every suspicious movement with his precise eye. Mitsuru sighed as she checked her watch for the 5th time.

"I hope this meeting will go smoothly, Mr. Nanjo…" Mitsuru said to herself without anyone hearing it.

Morning – Outside Paulownia Mall

The black limousine decreased its speed and stopped to let the entire group walked out of the car. "Is this it?" Maya said as she observed the mall anxiously.

"According to the map, Club Escapade is inside the mall next to Chagall Café." Eriko said.

"Let's not waste anymore time, Miss Kirijo is probably waiting for us." Katsuya said to the group.

Behind everyone's back, a small smile crept on Naoya face as he observed the mall again. 'Everything is going as expected, Philemon.'He snapped out of his mind when he heard Nanjo call for him.

"What's wrong, Naoya? I thought you're the one that want to meet her the most. You better promise me that you'll behave when the meeting is being held, you understand? I don't want a bad reputation to Nanjo Company."

"I'm not a child, you four eyed freak." Naoya mumbled to himself as he walked towards the group. They began to walk into the mall with different expression on their face.

"This meeting better be good…" Nanjo slowly said as he getting closer to the entrance door of the club.

Tatsuya Suou

Morning -10/11/2012 - Outside Paulownia Mall
(5 minutes after Nanjo's group enter the club)

"See? I know there's a stage in there! We had been here before last year when we're on the trip to this Island, remember?" Rise said happily as she pointed at the mall.

"Of course I remember, Rise-chan. How can I forget the night we played the 'king game'?" Yu said nonchalantly, not caring all the looks his friends are giving.

Chie, Yukiko and Rise blushed a bit, especially the latter two, remembering what they did that night.

"So we are going to meet two important people inside the club? I bet there will be some beautiful girls. Oh god, I'm so nervous right now, what if I can't make a good impression?" Yosuke nervously said as he turned to the relaxed Tatsuya. "Can I wait outside while you and Yu go to the meeting? I'll bet that they're not welcoming extra baggage as us, especially the Nanjo's Group."

"Why would they do that? You guys are a fun bunch. Trust me, they're all friendly."Tatsuya stopped and rethought about Yosuke's opinion. "I…..Guess?" He said while rubbing the back of his head.

"Ummm…I think I want to stay outside too." Chie said as she saw a shop for girls which sell accessories not far from the club.

"I'll follow Chie." Yukiko said, while standing close to her best friend.

"I still want to eat. That snack I eat on the train is just not enough." Kanji growled, while rubbing his stomach as he stared at the Wild Duck burger besides the meeting club.

"I want to stay outside with Yosuke!" Teddie shouted happily as he nudged Yosuke's side, at the same time pointing at the karaoke bar. Yosuke and Teddie smirked together, thinking the opportunity to be crowded by girls.

Tatsuya turned to Nanako who's still holding Rise's hand and gave a big sigh. "All right, I'm only going to need Narukami and Shirogane on our meeting. The others can wait outside while we are having a meeting. When our 'little stage' is finish being set, we will come back here as a cue for finishing the stage, Rise and Nanako will then come inside to play the song." Tatsuya gave his word.

"I'm going too." Tatsuya turned to see Margaret walk by Yu's side, giving the look that clearly refusing 'no' for an answer. Tatsuya took another moment to think and he finally nodded.

"Nanako-chan, come here for a second." Yu called out for Nanako. He then patted her head. "Look, I'm going to the meeting for… I don't know how long, but I'll be back to meet you and take you inside. That's when you'll play the piano while Rise sings the song. Be confident, okay? I know you can do it." Yu said while smiling at his beloved cousin.

Instead of being afraid and nervous, Nanako grinned after hearing Yu's word. "I can do it! I'll do anything for you, Big Bro!"

Touched by her word, Yu reached out his arm and hugged Nanako as tight as possible. Everyone just kept silent and smile, allowing themselves to have a moment to watch Yu and Nanako having their little time together.

Upon the view, Tatsuya eye became slightly watery. He quickly wiped his eyes before anyone saw him. He felt this way because Yu and Nanako somehow reminded him and his brother in their journey together to defeat Nyarlathotep 12 years ago. 'Ah I really should stop getting so emotional.' He smiled, as he can't wait to meet his brother again with complete memory of his 'other side', and to meet with Maya…

"Time's up." Tatsuya said to gain Yu and everyone attention, "I think everyone is probably waiting inside the club. We can't make them wait any longer. Come, Narukami, Shirogane and Margaret, follow me." He began to walk to the club as he heard a few footsteps following him.

"Mr. Suou, you may call me by my first name next time. I mean, we're going to be teammates during the day of prophecy, or whatever it's called. So let's get to know each other more." Yu increased his pace and tilt his head to take a proper look at Tatsuya's face, "Eh? …Are you crying?"

"Then you may call me Tatsuya. And no, I'm not crying. I'm too manly after all." Tatsuya quickly responded as he reached his arm for the door handle.

"Miss Kirijo is waiting for you upstairs." Kurosawa greeted Nanjo by the stair upon seeing them and he lean sideward allowing Nanjo and his group to proceed.

"I believe I've already told Miss Kirijo about my escorts." Nanjo said to Kurosawa as he turned to his group. Kurosawa only bowed in agreement, pointing his hand to the table waiting for them. Slowly, they began to climb the stairs. They finally reached the second floor to see the Shadow Operative waiting for them.

At last… After their family being separated for more than a decades, Kei Nanjo and Mitsuru Kirijo have finally come face to face with each other.

"Greetings, I'm Kei Nanjo of the Nanjo Company." Nanjo said in a mature and professional manner as he took the seat in front of her, follow by everyone putting their bags under the table and took their respective seat. Naoya and Maya, however, choose to stand, not wanting to cramp themselves.

"I think I rather stand." Naoya said to Nanjo who was currently glaring at him, his eyes meaning 'behave your-self'. Naoya gave him a smile in return.

"I'm Mitsuru Kirijo, the head of the Kirijo Group." Mitsuru replied as she readjusted her position in chair. "I'm truly grateful to see you."

"I'm truly grateful to see you as well. Allow me to introduce to you to my friend." Nanjo said as he raised his hand to point to each one of his group. "This is Naoya Toudou, Yukino Mayuzumi, Eriko Kirishima, Hidehiko Uesugi, Maya Suou, Katsuya Suou, Baofu and Ulala Serizawa. They will be following our discussion today."

"Let me introduce to you my friend." Mitsuru said as she raised her hand toward her friends, "This is Yukari Takeba, Junpei Iori, Fuuka Yamagishi, Aigis and Labrys. And don't forget about him, Akihiko Sanada. They will be following our discussion as well."

The atmosphere suddenly became tense as they finish their introduction; they were ready for any moment to begin. "Well then, let's start our meeting." Nanjo said and everyone leaned closer to focus on the conversation.

"First of all, hand me the profile of Minato Arisato that I request from you." Nanjo stretched his hand across the table toward Mitsuru. Mitsuru took out a thin profile from her briefcase and handed it to Nanjo, but pulled back the file before Nanjo could grabbed it.

"You haven't answers my most important question. Why do you need the profile of him?" Mitsuru firmly said, waiting for Nanjo's respond before she's confident enough to hand the file to him.

Nanjo, already expecting the question from her, folded his arm and sank back to his chair. "…Allow me to explain it in a simpler way. Minato Arisato was 'mentioned' in our… special 'document' regarding the past history of our Sumaru City. Ms. Suou here was the one that investigate the profile of Minato Arisato, but due to his death two years ago, we are unable to investigate any further about him."

The Shadow Operative was clueless after hear Nanjo's statement. Aigis simply sat quietly at the corner, still unable to explain the mystery that grows deeper about Minato.

Mitsuru, who was still silent by his word, began to ask. "What kind of special 'document'?"

Nanjo took off his glass, wiped it and putted it back on to look clearly at Mitsuru's face. "A 'document' that involved Sumaru City's most tragic incident in the past, and if this 'document' was proven right…" Nanjo turned to Naoya who was listening thoughtfully about the prophecy.

'Go for it, Nanjo.'Naoya raised his thumb and flashed his teeth to Nanjo. Nanjo sweat dropped. He returned his attention to Mitsuru, "…It can cause more death than you can imagine."

The first thing that came to the Shadow Operative mind was none other than the act of Shadow. "A tragic incident? You mean…"

"Yes, the Shadow. I know you know about their existence, since I heard a few rumors about your secret spec ops, the Shadow Operative, who works with the government to hunt Shadow. Furthermore, we all are Persona users as well, which is why your rumors didn't surprise us at all." Nanjo said the information he shared with the team the night before. "But the Shadow that you have ever encountered is nothing compare to the Shadow that were mention in this 'document'."

Nanjo was about to continue, but his word was interrupted when Naoya began to speak.

"This meeting is taking too long, let's just finish this fast. Don't you agree? The 'document' that Nanjo mentioned is actually a new prophecy that foresee the arrival of the most powerful Shadow ever, known as the Four Horsemen, who will come to destroy this world before the end of this year. Based on the prophecy, only four persona user can stop this Shadow. I was the first, and then Maya Suou's husband, Tatsuya Suou, and then a student named Yu Narukami from some hidden town called Inaba, and lastly this boy, Minato Arisato."

The Sumaru City group was left speechless by Naoya's action, they shooting a glance while some outright glare at him like 'what the hell are you thinking?!' kind of face. Nanjo especially, giving a death stare at him. He could summon his persona and cast a Megidolaon on him any moment now.

On the other side of the table, the Shadow Operative was left in shock by Naoya's word. They're not sure which word they should react, the prophecy, the most powerful Shadow, the name Yu Narukami or the fact that Minato being the last man of prophecy.

Realizing the awkward situation, Nanjo quickly covered the reason for Naoya's word. "My apologies, Miss Kirijo, apparently my friend here is having a serious health issues and he seriously needs to see a doctor-"

"No, it's alright, Mr. Nanjo. So Mr. Toudou, you're extremely sure that Arisato is the last man of the prophecy that could prevent the end of this world, even though you know he's dead two years ago?" Mitsuru asked. Even though the story is absurd, but living in a world where you can summon historical figures and gods to fight monsters was enough to make the story convincing. Naoya just shrugged in respond.

Although she still had her doubts, she decided to give Minato's profile to Nanjo. Nanjo slowly read the pages, letting Naoya and his friend to peek the content of the file. It was all about his family status, his school club, his grade and… the date of his death.

Just then, a few footsteps were heard from the stair slowly approaching them. Everyone turn to see Tatsuya, Yu, Naoto and Margaret stand beside the stair. Tatsuya couldn't help but smile upon seeing his friends waiting for him.

"Sorry we're late, traffic issue." Tatsuya explain his reason to everyone. 'Wow, how believable.' Yu thought to himself.

"Tatsuya!" Maya and the entire group called for him happily. Without hesitation, Maya rushed to Tatsuya side and hugged him, and receiving a hug back. "I miss you, Maya."

Yu, after seeing the rather heart-warming scene, wrapped his arm around Naoto's shoulder. He pulled her closer, giving her a one-arm hug. Naoto blushed heavily, but didn't resist. 'Ah, the power of maximum charm, girls don't beat you even if you hug them like this.' Yu thought to himself happily.

Naoya nudged Eriko's side, seeing as she's the only girl who's his friend and is single. Eriko just glared at him, while blushing slightly. 'Looks like I still got it.' Naoya grinned.

"Yu-san!" Aigis said upon seeing him. Yu doesn't change much from the last time they met in the tournament, although he now wore casual clothing. Their attention was instead shift to Naoto.

"So you arrive, Shirogane-san. And…wow, you look different." Mitsuru commented, feeling surprised as everyone else to see Naoto wearing a feminine cloth, unlike the last time they saw her with her tomboy appearance.

"Then you haven't meet Kanji." Naoto said while giving a small chuckle. She didn't realize that they are also staring at her because Yu was hugging her.

Although they haven't meets each other for a few month, Mitsuru was pleased to see her and everyone had finally attends the meeting. But she changed her expression when she saw Margaret.

"And who's our new guest?" Mitsuru glanced toward Margaret. Margaret, however, just bowed politely while staring at Mitsuru.

"She…she's Margaret." Yu said while eyeing Aigis, "She's… Elizabeth sister." The name had instantly gained the attention from her and the Shadow Operative.

"Margaret? Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in the Velvet Room with Igor?" Maya asked. But Tatsuya raise his index finger as a sign she shouldn't know the rest, for now.

'What's wrong with going out once in a while?' Yu thought to himself. Everyone from Nanjo's side blinked their eye, somewhat satisfied that they finally met a new resident of Velvet Room that Maya had mentioned.

"So you're Tatsuya, huh. Glad to see you face to face. I'm Naoya Toudou." Naoya said as he walked toward Tatsuya and Yu. "And you must be the third man, Yu Narukami. Nice to meet you kid." He gave a mischievous smirk, making Yu step backward, (still holding Naoto of course), after sensing a weird aura emitting from him.

"Good to see you, Mr. Toudou." Yu bowed, "I only bring some of my friends to this meeting. The others are waiting outside, not wanting to disturb the meeting. I will bring them here after Kirijo finish preparing the stage."

Yu glanced to the stage that still stuffed with many musical instruments. 'Wait, why haven't they cleared the stage yet? They should prepare for the concert by now. Oh well.' Yu sighed to himself.

"Huh? What stage?" Maya asked, raising her eyebrow. Tatsuya took out the Apollo's song note from his pocket and handed it to Maya. She read it with interest and passed it on to everyone to read.

"I'll explain the stage later, but now I need to know how far have the meeting gone." Tatsuya said, demanding an explanation from Nanjo and Mitsuru. Only to be answered by Naoya.

"Mitsuru and her friends, or should I call them, Shadow Operative, already know about Persona and Shadow. In conclusion, everyone here is a Persona user, am I right?" Naoya turned to every face and saw them nodding their head. He then continued.

"From what we have found from this profile, Minato Arisato is a former member of the SEES, a school club in his high school. Coincidently, almost every member of the club is currently a member of Shadow Operative, including Mitsuru herself."

"That's true." Mitsuru completed the statement, "SEES is the club that fights Shadow before it was recreated as Shadow Operative. But Minato isn't just a former member of the SEES, he was our leader that leaded us to fight Shadow three years ago, and he is also our dearest friend."

Nanjo slipped in the conversation, "Three years ago, the year where a syndrome known as Apathy Syndrome attack the citizen of this Island, before mysteriously disappear a years later. Is this the work of Shadow?" Mitsuru nodded.

"We have shared our information, what about you, Tatsuya? What do you find?" Naoya asked.

"I'll let Naoto to explain our current information." Tatsuya turned to Naoto who was currently slipping out of Yu's grip, causing him to pout. Some of the girls cooed 'Awwww~'. She then took out a few papers to be read.

"Ehem, thank you Mr. Suou. First of all, we already have the information about the Shadow Operative since we, the Investigation Team from Inaba, have encountered them a few months ago in Inaba, in a quest to retrieve Labrys who being 'stolen' by the entity that may have a connection to the criminal that explode the police station at Inaba a few days ago. Mitsuru has told me about our meeting, and we take this opportunity to investigate more about our suspect. "

Yu continued after her, "However, during our investigation, we meet Tatsuya and he explains to us about the prophecy. And that's not all…" Yu turned to Tatsuya and Margaret and nodded.

"You see, Minato Arisato isn't actually dead, he is 'sleeping'. His soul was separated from his body to perform the Great Seal, he used it to seal Nyx, the goddess of night from destroying the world two years ago. According to Margaret, the Great Seal where Minato's body being held that resides in the Sea of Soul is slowly breaking on its own."

Everyone look shocked, including Naoto who was not told about it during their conversation a few days ago. Mitsuru tried to regain her composure by confirming it with Tatsuya.

"Tatsuya, is it true?" Mitsuru asked him, which greatly surprised Tatsuya.

"…Yes?" Tatsuya blinked his eye. 'She's calling me by my first name, she must be anxious about the news of this Arisato guy.' Tatsuya thought, but he ignored it to continue his explanation.

"So the thing is that there's a possibility that Minato Arisato can be resurrected if the Great Seal is broken, which is why we need to play this song." Tatsuya reclaimed back the musical note from Ulala who was currently reading it.

"I don't understand. What does this song has to do with Minato?" Yukari voiced her curiosity after she finished staring at Aigis the entire conversation.

"Ah, that's because-" Yu wanted to say more, but his bewilderment finally get over him when he looked again at the stage, "…Mitsuru-san, where are the piano that Naoto ask from you two days ago?"

Mitsuru remained silent, trying to avoid the stare she got from everyone. "…Not now, I promise that we can arrange the stage later."

"But you said-" Yu words was stopped by Margaret who walked pass him to Mitsuru with killing intent leaking out of her.

"I'm sorry to disturb this meeting, but can you open your purse and show me what's inside?" Margaret said, looking directly to Mitsuru's eye.

"My purse? No, there's nothing-"

"Mitsuru-san, please open the purse." Aigis slowly stood from her chair while moving away from her, the atmosphere suddenly became tense as the Shadow Operative was stunned by her action.

"SHOW ME WHAT'S INSIDE." Margaret threatened her in anger, surprising everyone in the meeting. Mitsuru slowly reached out her hand and took out the blue book and showed it to her.

"That…that book…that compendium book belong to Elizabeth." Margaret said in mix feeling of anger and sadness, she quickly swung open her compendium book and took a fighting stance. "It was you… you're the one that attack her at the Sea of Soul…"

"M-Mitsuru?" Akihiko tried to make her respond, but like everyone else, he took a few steps away from Mitsuru as he took out his glove and equipped it.

Everyone in the meeting panic as Mitsuru began to smirk, and then began to laugh hysterically. All of the sudden, her eyes started to turn glowed yellow and a black aura began to surround her body.

Naoya, without a second of hesitation, reached for his bag under the table and took out a one-handed sword from the inside. 'How can a sword fit inside the bag, I must learn that trick!' Yu thought.

"EVERYONE…" Naoya screamed the last word as he unsheathed his sword. "…STAY-AWAY-FROM-HER!"

A/N: Finally, three man of prophecy has gathered. Now only Minato was left before they can fight against the Four Horsemen. PS: Remember one thing in this story, whatever mystery being revealed is just a theory that I made, I cannot confirm it myself, like the identity of 'Malevolent Entity'. The 'Malevolent Entity' will show himself next chapter with his ally to fight the entire Persona users, so there is going to be a lot of battle scene. So stay with me.