Gathering Arc:
Chapter 19: Challenge
Cloudy - Late Evening – 15/11/2012(Thursday) – Nanjo Mansion, Mikage-Cho
Nanjo pressed the redial button again, and worries began to shroud his mind. Yukino or Eriko usually called him by now to inform the situation at Sumaru City, yet today was odd, really odd. Nanjo roused from his seat in the living room and called out his butler, ignoring the pile of work on his table.
"Yes, Nanjo-sama?" The rather young butler of him responded.
"Prepare me a transport to Sumaru City right away." Nanjo ordered.
Nanjo raised his eyebrow as the butler didn't moved from where his stand. "What's wrong?" Nanjo asked.
"…The news, Nanjo-sama." The butler took him to another room and pointed to the large TV broadcasting live near Sumaru City.
"Today we received shocking news that the metropolitan city of Sumaru. The city has been reported as 'missing' from the surface and no trace of the missing city being found."
Nanjo widened his eyes. "It can't be…" His forehead tightened, "Why is this keep on happening? …Naoya, what are you hiding from us?"
Tatsuya Suou
Clear Sky – Late Evening – 15/11/2012(Thursday) – Sumaru TV, Aoba, AmenoTorifune
The group of Tatsuya and Naoya reached Sumaru TV in search for Hidehiko after a long walk from Konan. Strangely, everyone else acted naturally as if the earthquake never happened except for the persona users. There were no signals to reach outside Sumaru City, although they were lucky enough to have communication only inside of the floating city. Hidehiko called half an hour ago, which was the purpose they barged into the studio. The people inside stared at them only a second before they continued what they were doing. Tatsuya was angry, tempting himself by playing with the lighter. His son Matsuya was under the 'spell' as well when they checked on him at his house not too long ago.
There, in front of them, Hidehiko was waiting patiently at the reception desk and he lunged towards the group.
"It's happening, again! When I felt that shock earlier, I asked around the people but they looked at me as if I'm the one who gone crazy. Then they said something about lord War the savior and some crap I don't understand!" Hidehiko screamed.
"War, one of the Four Horsemen! There must be some kind of connection between all this!" Ulala spoke.
"But as long as they don't bother us, it'll be okay, right?" Naoya said nonchalantly. Upon hearing this, Tatsuya forcefully grabbed Naoya by his suit collar in anger.
"How the hell can you still act like nothing happened?! EVERY SINGLE PERSON in this city right now believed that this city actually floated! Even my son is under this influence! Spill it, Naoya, you actually know everything, do you?! You must know something! SPILL IT! SPILL IT OUT-"
*loud sound of flute and drum*…
"Argh!" Tatsuya released his hand from Naoya and covered his ear in extreme pain as a mystical music started to play in his ear. Where did this instrument's sound came from?! The pitch sound was so loud that he swore he could go deaf in any moment. Strangely, no one other than him heard the eerie music.
"Tatsuya?!" Maya reached for his shoulder as he kneed to the ground, unable to find the cause. This worried the others as well.
In between the tone of the flute, the voice that haunted Tatsuya days ago spoke again with even deeper voice.
"…My 'vessel'… my path… I CAN HEAR MY 'SONG' WAS DISTURBED…"
Suddenly, the sound of flute, drum and voice stopped instantly replaced by Maya's voice calling for him.
"Tatsuya!"
Tatsuya released his hand from his ear and gazed upward to see everyone else was standing beside him with panic. Despite a little angry by Tatsuya's action, Naoya still lend out his hand to help Tatsuya to stand up. Minato stood quietly behind everyone else, observing Naoya and Tatsuya with a blank look.
Tatsuya stood up, and realized that he was sweating heavily and still trying to catch his breath. "Sorry to have you guys worried." Tatsuya said as he removed his coat, revealing his inner white shirt that was wet by his sweat.
"Looks like you have something to spill too." Naoya smirked, crossing arm waiting for Tatsuya to respond. Tatsuya remained silent, but Jun approached Naoya from Tatsuya's back to defend him.
"Tatsuya as we know has the memory of the 'other side' within him. But Tatsuya and I are still searching for the reason as to why Tatsuya was able to hear Azathoth's voice for a few days now." Jun's confession shocked the group.
"Azathoth's voice?! But-" Lisa's word was cut short by Tatsuya himself.
"I'm fine, leave it for now." Tatsuya stubbornly replied, "Is this all persona users here?"
"I believe this is all of us, I'll call Reiji later. Nanjo is in Mikage-Cho and the others…" Yukino suddenly become quiet.
"…My friends, they must be alright in Tatsumi Port Island. We must seek their help." Minato suddenly spoke after a long silence since their walk.
"But we can't contact them from 'up here'!" Katsuya said, "Is there another way?"
Aigis
Heavy rain – Late Evening – 15/11/2012(Thursday) –Iwatodai new dorm, Tatsumi Port Island
In the lounge, Ken and Koromaru sat patiently for the others to arrive for the good and bad news they will receive today. Mitsuru was waiting upstairs on the second floor. The joyful expression of her was now replaced with extreme worry as she glanced on the signal on her phone. 'Connection failed' was all that was shown. Fuuka was on the fourth floor, the top floor where the meeting room like their previous room was, reading some books. Killing time, Ken turned on the TV and watched the news again.
"Sorry I'm late." The door to the lounge opened as Yukari entered with her pink umbrella soaking wet by the rain. A while later, Junpei entered the lounge completely soaked by the heavy rain as he was covered only with his baseball hat.
"Man, I'm cold!" Junpei shouted as he ran upstairs to his room, "I'll change first. See you at the meeting room!"
"Me too." Yukari said as she ran to her room to get a change of cloth, unaware of the news that was broadcasting on TV in front of Ken. Mitsuru remained silent when Yukari walked past her at the hall, but she averted her eyes away not wanting to be seen with a depressed face.
"Mitsuru, are you alright?" Akihiko's voice awoke Mitsuru from her daydream, "You suddenly called all of us here. Is there something wrong?" Still dressed in his police uniform, Akihiko approached Mitsuru from his room with concern.
"…Meet me at the meeting room." Was all she said as she walked away from him to the meeting room, leaving Akihiko in confusion.
"O…kay?" Akihiko walked back downstairs to his room, still puzzled. This morning, she was happy but now… "*sigh* Guess I'll ask her myself."
Everyone was now inside the meeting room, waiting for the last two people to arrive when they heard the door swung opened. Labrys was standing beside Aigis who was now fully recovered by yesterday's battle.
"My apologies for bothering your rest." Mtsuru said.
"I'm alright now, thank you." Aigis and Labrys took the last two seats on the long sofa.
"Minato said he was grateful of your help yesterday." Mitsuru said. The entire group jumped from their seat. "I've talk to Minato earlier today. He's still in Sumaru City."
"Did you hear that?! That's great!" Junpei said excitedly.
"When will he come back?" Yukari asked.
"…That is my purpose for calling out all of you tonight." Mitsuru's face darkened as she turned to Fuuka and nodded, which in respond Fuuka open her laptop and showed them the shocking news today.
"Sumaru City… has disappeared." Ken said. Everyone panicked. Just this morning everything was fine as it seem but now the entire city disappeared.
"But how?!" Akihiko asked.
"We don't know, even the signal was blocked. I have contacted Shirogane of Inaba as well." Mitsuru replied.
"How could this happen?!" Yukari screamed. She wanted to meet Minato as soon as she can, but what could possibly happen now?
Worriedly, Aigis stood silent as she looked at the news again. 'Minato…'
Yu Narukami
Rainy - Night – 15/11/2012(Thursday) – Dojima Residence, Inaba
Yu reread the book that he borrowed from the library today. The book of Japanese mythology, Greek and included Cthulhu myth about Nyarlathotep. Although he knew he still has school tomorrow, he was planning to stay up late tonight to check on the Midnight Channel in his room, since it was raining anyway. He glanced at the photo of the Investigation Team that he took before his departure during summer holiday that was put on the table next to him, but his eyes was zoomed into Teddie's human appearance… and Marie.
His daydream was disturbed when his phone rang. Curious, he grabbed the phone to see Naoto's number on it.
"What is it, Naoto?"
"You miss the news just now."
"I'm working on where Yomi might be. Anything interesting?"
"Please check the news, Yu-senpai." Naoto's voice this time was tougher than before.
Even more curious, Yu dashed from his room to the main hall and switched open the TV. He almost forgot that Naoto was still on the phone when the news about Sumaru City showed up. He answered the phone.
"Does Mitsuru-san know about this?"
"Mitsuru-san was the one who inform me before hand."
"I see. I'm going to check the Midnight Channel tonight. We might find some lead toward this case."
"Alright, Yu-senpai." The line was off as Yu rushed back to his room.
Minato Arisato
Cloudy – Night – 15/11/2012(Thursday) – Silverman Residence, Rengedai, AmenoTorifune
Minato once again stayed at Lisa's house after a long discussion earlier today. They were out of options, Katsuya concluded today as they departed from each other. All the possible location that might lead to the gigantic ship's control area was proved to be futile. The only possible answer was only one, the Tower of Seven Chain of Time in Dark Hour tonight to meet with Father Time for solution.
He gazed above the sky for the giant ring and orbited the city, but he was surprise to see that the cloud was thick tonight. Bored enough, Minato close the window in his temporary room and walked outside to search for Lisa.
As he walked down the hall, a light brimmed inside the main hall. Refusing to make a noise, Minato carefully slid open the rather old door only an inch to peek inside. Lisa was currently praying, a picture of an old man arranged tidily beside incenses and a flower. It must be her deceased father, Minato thought. Unintentionally, Minato accidently slid open the door and fall to the room, surprising Lisa.
"Minato-kun? You surprise me, what do you need?" Lisa said as she roused from where she sat.
"I'm just checking on you before we go to the tower tonight, didn't mean to disturb your prayer." Minato replied as he stood up.
"Oh, it's alright." Lisa said, sorrowful emotion was shown on her face, "My father was a great guy, he was always by my side no matter how much hardship I went through. He… he passed away 5 years ago. Now I'm all alone in this house since my sister left the house."
"Oh, you have a sister?"
"*chuckle* She got married years ago, earlier than me. I wonder if I will become a bachelorette…" She sighed. Minato crossed his arms and leaned on a nearby wall.
"I'm pretty sure some guy will appreciate your kindness and beauty soon enough." He said with a barely noticeable smile. Lisa just blushed lightly and smiled at him. She then faced away from him and sighed.
"…If only Tatsuya choose me…"
"…Hmm?" Minato raised an eyebrow.
Lisa quickly shook her head, "No, it's nothing."
Just then, Lisa's phone rang. Lisa quickly answered the phone and talked to Eikichi who was on the line.
"It time." Lisa said, turning to Minato, "We meet with the others at the school entrance gate."
Yu Narukami
Rainy - Late Night – Dojima Residence, Inaba
He closed the curtain after glancing at the rain outside and checked on the clock hanging on his wall. Just a few more seconds before midnight, Yu thought. Patiently, Yu stand a meter away from the screen and wait for the TV to turn on its own.
3…2…1…
Dark Hour
The screen gave a loud buzzing sound as the screen turning on revealing some unclear image of a darkish figure. Yu leaned closer to see clearly, trying to puzzle the mysterious location. It was night, outside, and the figure was standing on some stage like the top of some tower.
Wait, tower? Could it be…
"Applause to all persona users! I congratulate you for surviving this far!"
The figure spoke, shocking Yu. It was Nyarlathotep's voice, even Yu was able to recognize it without the clear image.
"How about we take a little challenge? Within an hour stating now, I shall give you a few surprise! We will broadcast live the entire Dark Hour!"
Surprise? Now he began to worry. Was it another explosion? Or was it kidnapping? Yu rushed outside to Nanako's room and sighed in relieve to see Nanako was transmogrified safely into coffin in her room. He couldn't call his friends during the Dark Hour, which increased his worriedness. What will happen?
Calming himself, Yu returned to his room and prepared for anything worse.
Tatsuya Suou
Clear Sky - Dark Hour – The Tower of Seven Chain of Time
(First 10 minutes)
All the persona users of Sumaru City had gathered in front of the tower's main door, now joined by Maki and Reiji by the entrance. Minato was introduced to Reiji who kept in progress of the prophecy, it not like he can work anyway with all the 'all hail lord War' things in this city. The sooner they stopped this ship from flying, the faster they can resume their life.
"How do you open this door?" Reiji asked, curious.
"Watch." Jun smirked, lifting his hand and pressed it on the door. "Go to… dining room."
Magically, the door opened surprising everyone even Tatsuya. There's a long stairs inside that lead to only one door in the middle. The scenery was different from the last time they were here.
"The structure of this tower change according to Father Time's desire." Jun explained, "Now come on, we go straight to the dining room."
As they opened the second door inside, they gasped in amazement by the large dining room in front of them. The wall, floor and ceiling were decorated in white-purple colors in tiles pattern. A large chandelier painted in gold hanged beautifully in the center of the room. There, in the middle of the room, a long dining table was decorated with white sheet and candle. Of course, there was no food on the plate. A large TV was placed at the wall opposite the entrance door.
"I love to watch movie with that TV." Naoya said, causing others to look at him weirdly.
"Quit it." Tatsuya growled, still angry at him since that evening. The others looked at the two warily, scared of the prospect of another fight.
'...Troublesome.' Minato thought.
"Welcome everyone, but we invited you here not to have our supper, instead we will solve the mystery of Ameno Torifune." Father Time who sat on the end chair of the long table greeted them.
"Wait, 'we'?" Tatsuya asked, seeing only Father Time's presence.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce him." Father Time said as he shifted his attention to another door behind him.
From the door, came in Ryoji walking into the room and towards Father Time. "Hello everyone, I'm Ryoji Mochizuki, please to meet you." Ryoji said.
"Hmm, Ryoji? What are you doing here?" Minato asked coolly.
"To join you, of course!" Ryoji replied with a smile. Minato sighed and mumbled a 'whatever'.
"Wait, you know each other?" Maya asked.
"He's my persona." Minato replied flatly. Everyone was surprised, but paid no attention afterward.
"Well, as you see, Ameno Torifune caused you all trouble, and you desire to stop it from floating." Father Time said, everyone nodded as they took a seat around the long dining table. "But we got a bigger problem."
Father Time snapped his finger and the large TV in the room turned on and displayed a blur image of a black figure. It began to speak.
"10 minutes have passed in this current moment! Let's begin our first surprise!"
"Nyarlathotep! And this, this is the midnight channel!" Katsuya said. Everyone roused from their seat and gave a few respond upon the image.
"Surprise huh?" Father Time chuckle, but he hid a suspicious feeling underneath that smile.
Clear Sky - Dark Hour – Nanjo Mansion, Mikage-Cho
(10 minutes after)
Nanjo was awake; he was still in his bed after 10 minutes passed in the Dark Hour.
'To think that I'm awake in the Dark Hour, such a bother…' Nanjo mumbled.
As he tried to close his eyes, suddenly he heard an extremely loud scream across the ward of Mikage-Cho. It was multiple elder male's deep voice, but the scream was more like an agonized or anger emotion. Nanjo was panic for a moment, and he decided to rush outside himself to check on what happen.
Just as he stepped outside his gate, Nanjo froze by the scenery in front of him. The sky has turned to dark-sand color, the wind was strangely strong and most of all, the garden that was planted around his mansion was covered in sand.
In the middle of that confusion, Naoya's word 2 days ago rang back to him.
"Oh, by the way, Nanjo, have you visited the SEBEC company building?"
"That building was abandoned for more than 10 years ever since we kill Kandori, I have no reason to visit there."
"Well, you should be."
"The building…" Nanjo mused, he began to increase his pace as he ran to the street. "What are you trying to tell me, Naoya?"
Naoya Toudou
Clear Sky – Dark Hour – The Tower of Seven Chain of Time
(20 minutes later)
"The land of sand has been 'send' to Mikage-Cho! Let us wait for Conquest's empire to rise!" Nyarlathotep announced after 20 minutes has passed.
'So the dungeon has started to show itself. Goddammit Nyarlathotep, and where the hell are you, Philemon?' Naoya thought, ignoring the other's presence.
"What did he mean by 'land of sand'? Ulala spoke.
"A new ship?" Baofu suggested.
"It could be another tower." Yukino said, as the same time glaring at Naoya to which Naoya noticed.
"Stop looking at me, would you?" Naoya said, annoyed.
"Why not, you know more about the Four Horsemen better than anyone else, you're our suspect." Katsuya said.
"Suspect? Do I look like a killer to you?"
"More like a liar." Tatsuya growled.
Around the same time, Minato mumbled something about troublesome adults, causing several people to chuckle. Naoya looked at the boy while Tatsuya glared. Minato just stared at them blankly and yawned.
"Okay, that's enough. Allow Father Time to speak." Jun said, turning to Father Time and Ryoji.
"So the first Friday is tomorrow." Ryoji said.
"What do you mean?" Maki's turn to ask.
"'Friday', the only day possible for all Four Horsemen to 'arrive'. Tomorrow is the first Friday mark the beginning of the end time, and the first rider will arrive on the next Friday, the second rider on next Friday afterward and so on until the date ends on the last Friday according to Mayan prophecy." Father Time explained.
"The Four Horsemen can only descend upon our world on Friday?" Maya said. Father Time nodded.
"So we got only like… 5 more week before final battle starting this week?! That's close! We won't make it until Christmas!"
"Yes and- Oh." Father Time suddenly roused from his seat and turned to wall and glanced at his watch, "One of the chains has been disturbed."
Suddenly, a small earthquake began to occur, surprising everyone.
"Can someone tell me what happen now?!" Hidehiko screamed.
"The chain of 'abyss'…" Father Time turned to them, "…is being 'pulled'."
Aigis
Rainy – Dark Hour – Iwatodai new dorm, Tatsumi Port Island
(30 minutes after)
Aigis tried to sleep peacefully in her room, but she can't seem to be able to close her eyes. Her mind was clouded with Minato and Sumaru City. Then, she was awakened by a small earthquake that occurred suddenly inside the dorm.
Curious, Aigis rushed outside and to the lounge to find that everyone else was doing the same. The Shadow Operative reached downstairs only to see the passage to the Abyss of Time was struggling itself to open under the carpet, flipping the table that supposed to cover on top of it.
"Move the sofa and table!" Akihiko ordered. Junpei, Yukari, Labrys and Aigis quickly cleared the area to see the square door was trying to open itself but the mysterious lock was tied to a big chain that was supposedly locking the door. Between the open gap of the door, a golden light shined from inside.
"It like something is trying to get out." Mitsuru said, but she suddenly stopped when she glanced at the big TV at the corner of the lounge. "Wait, the Midnight Channel… it's on again. Who is that?"
"We are half way by now! I'm sending you another surprise right now!" Nyarlathotep laughed.
"Wait, is that the entity you mentioned about, Nyarlathotep?" Ken asked.
"Yes, it is the same-" Just as Mitsuru was trying to finished her word, the window besides the entrance door crashed, shocking the group. "What?!"
There, by the window outside, a mysterious giant black creature shoved its clawed hand into the dorm.
"Holy shit! What the hell is that?!" Junpei screamed.
"A shadow! And it's not a normal one, this thing is huge!" Akihiko said.
As the size was huge, nobody was able to see its full appearance, but the hand that entered the window was colored in yellow palette with a symbol on it. The shadow took out its hand and marched for the door, began to slam it.
"That thing is trying to break down our door!" Yukari said.
"Go get our weapon!" Mitsuru ordered Fuuka. But it was too late, the door crashed open and the shadow entered the dorm with its gigantic body and they were now able to see its full appearance.
Arcana Temperance
Arcana: Temperance
The 14th Arcana shadow?! The arcana shadow that came after 'Death' and Nyx as the 13th Arcana shadow, Death. But why such arcana shadow appeared?
The main body was a multiple circle merged together like a mix of string. Four giant hands connected to the main body, these were hand of with a symbol of a yellow bird, symbol of blue cup hand, symbol of red triangle hand and lastly symbol of grey square hand. The bird hand and square hand acted as the leg. On the circle, a mask with numeral number 'XIV' engraved on it was hanged.
"Doesn't this look like an Arcana shadow we used to fight before we faced Nyx?!" Yukari said.
"Urgh! Go, get the weapon! I hold it back-" Akihiko tried to order the rest of the team to get the weapon as the shadow slammed his right side, sending him crashing to the wall.
"Akihiko!" The rest of the team called out for him, it seems that he's fine, but this shadow, it's powerful.
Cerberus- "Woff!" Out of nowhere, the three headed beast attacked Arcana Temperance by biting the hand that attacked Akihiko. Overwhelmed, the shadow threw Cerberus aside like a doll and marched towards the others. Armless without any weapon and Evoker, the Shadow Operative can only dodge its attack while receiving some damage. To counter this, Aigis and Labrys defended them while they rushed to the stairs to take cover.
"That's enough, Temperance." A male voice suddenly called out for the shadow from the outside of the dorm. Everyone turned to see a hooded man standing by the destroyed door, smirking.
"Takaya..." Aigis growled, pointing her machine gun fingers at him.
"Do not fear, I come in peace… for now." Takaya removed his hood and glared at the team.
"Come in peace my *ss! You break the door!" Junpei screamed.
"What do you want?" Mitsuru spoke.
"A surprise for you to celebrate tomorrow's Friday. The 'sign' starts tomorrow as the dungeon of all riders will rise." Takaya said.
"What do you mean?"
"The first Friday, the Friday of the beginning. Lord Nyarlathotep has planned it all. So we will make a challenge for you." Takaya smile widened as he turned to Arcana Temperance and nodded, "Go for it."
In a blink of an eye, the shadow marched towards the team and stretched its hand to slam Aigis with its palm. 'Too fast!' Aigis thought when the giant hand reached her.
"Aigis!"All of a sudden, Yukari came pushing Aigis aside and took the blow instead as she slammed to the wall. Takaya laughed, "We take her."
Arcana Temperance grabbed the unconscious Yukari and rushed outside.
"Yukari!" Mitsuru said.
"Let go of her!" Labrys said as she marched towards the shadow with a rod from her back that transform into giant axe. But the shadow was fast, it slipped past Takaya by the door before Takaya took the first move, "It is time to sleep. Hypnos: Silent Song!"
Takaya summoned Hypnos as cast a powerful sleep ailments to Labrys and the team. The sleep ailment was many times more powerful than what they experienced, where the skill immediately forced the Shadow Operative to fall to the ground with sleepiness.
"…Give… give her back…" Aigis said as her eyes closed as the last scenery she saw was that Yukari was being taken by Arcana Temperance and all her friends fall to deep sleep. The figure on the screen in Midnight Channel laughed hysterically, as if he saw everything that happened.
Clear Sky – Dark Hour – SEBEC Company building?
(40 minutes after)
Nanjo stood in terror by the view in front of him. The building that was supposed to be Kandori's company has just turned into a giant pyramid buried in huge amount of sand on it. The ground surrounded it has been destroyed by the rising pyramid from the ground. The height was as tall as Tartarus and a staircase stood at the middle lead to a large entrance into the pyramid. A very faint hieroglyph symbol of Sobek (Egypt god of Nile) and an ankh was engraved on the middle of the giant pyramid.
"You knew it all along, don't you Naoya?" Nanjo growled as he slowly took a few steps away from the pyramid and turned back to his mansion.
Minato Arisato
Clear Sky – Dark Hour – The Tower of Seven Chain of Time
(40 minutes after)
"We're just sitting here and do nothing!" Tatsuya shouted at Father Time and Ryoji.
"If we tried to interfere, the whole city will be at risk. If we have done something that can mislead us, we will be in bigger trouble." Father Time said, turning to Ryoji. "By the way, Thanatos, don't you have something to ask?"
Everyone turned to Ryoji and widened their eyes.
"Thanatos? Could it be…"Katsuya said.
"Calm down. He doesn't have any will to destroy our world with Nyx again, he's on our side." Minato spoke as he walked toward Ryoji with his hands in his pockets.
"But he's a shadow! How do we know we can trust him?!" Eikichi argued. Suddenly, the room turned cold and they saw Minato staring at Eikichi over his shoulder. His blue eyes were looking at him coldly, causing several people to gulp. Minato then sighed and pinched his nose; he didn't mean to intimidate the guy.
"I do trust him, is that enough?" Minato stretched his hand sideway to block them from doing anything. His blue eyes showed his trust towards the shadow.
"It's okay Minato, thank you, but I don't blame them." Ryoji replied as he lowered Minato's hand, "Like Father Time said, I have something to ask you. Do you mind answer me?"
Everyone remained silent for a moment, before Baofu said, "You may do."
"How you ever heard of Pandora?"
The rest of Sumaru City original residence looked clueless, except for those of St Hermelin student who looked shocked by the statement.
"Pandora? …Why do I feel like I've heard it before?" Hidehiko said.
"Obviously, Brown, how could you possibly forget?" Yukino scolded, turning away.
"Yeah, I know 'her'." Naoya said with sudden pale expression, turning to the woman whom he and the others saved 16 years ago.
"Maki." Naoya spoke. Every eye was now focused on Maki who became pale by the name Pandora. Ryoji was shocked as well as he dashed towards Maki and grabbed her hand by surprise.
"You're… you're Pandora?" Ryoji asked. Maki remained silent. She forced herself to forget about that name, but the painful memories returned back to her. Slowly, she looked at Ryoji in eyes and said.
"I am Pandora, back in my high school day. I'm no longer the Pandora that you expect to be." Maki said.
"I know, but still, tell me about what happen." Ryoji demanded, only to be pulled backward by Hidehiko and Yukino.
"She doesn't want to remember it! Stop forcing her!" Hidehiko shouted.
"You don't understand! I need to know!" Ryoji countered.
"Shhh, Nyarlathotep speak again." Father Time asked them to quiet down as Nyarlathotep spoke again.
"The kidnapping is success! Let's set the rule for this challenge!" Nyarlathotep laughed, shocking the group.
"Who, who got kidnapped?!" Eikichi said, panic.
"Don't worry, it's not in this city." Ryoji said.
"It is from where the chain of 'abyss' tied to." Father Time answered.
"Where exactly is it?" Tatsuya said. Father Time however remained silent. Ryoji was the one who answered.
"It from where our friends are, Minato." Ryoji turned to Minato with a sad expression.
"You mean… Tatsumi Port Island?" Minato took a few steps towards Ryoji. Ryoji nodded. He received many respond from the others.
"Is it Miss Kirijo again?" Yukino asked.
"Tch..." Minato growled lightly.
"Tomorrow, by Dark Hour, all four man of prophecy must gather in front of Tartarus. I care not what method you use to escape from that 'ship', if you failed to make it in time by 25 hours from now, I shall kill the girl." And the TV shut itself, ending the Midnight Channel.
'Is it Mitsuru again? Or is it Yukari, Fuuka, maybe Aigis?' Minato thought for a moment, 'Whoever it is, I need to save her.'
"All four of us must gather at Tartarus? Tatsumi Port Island? Damn, we got to do something." Naoya said.
"You are correct. However, you cannot do anything." Father Time said. Everyone turned to him in confusion, "Ehhh?"
"There are no other control rooms for Ameno Torifune to 'fit' in the city dimension, all the source of this city can only be linked to my tower." Father Time pulled down his hat, "In other word, I will be the one to solve this problem. You just have to wait, unless, you want me to 'fast forward' the time till tomorrow?" They shook their head.
"I'll be helping him, Tatsuya. Don't worry, we're going to make it." Jun stepped up to Father Time, "I share his power, so I can help make it faster. You guys go and have a rest. I'll be staying here for a while."
"Let us delay our conversation about Pandora. But I'll need to know." Ryoji said to Maki who turned away from him.
"I'll tell you next time." Maki said, "Come, let's go home for now."
They left the tower, leaving Minato, Ryoji, Jun and Father Time alone. Before Minato left, he turned to Ryoji and asked.
"Ryoji, why do you want to know about Pandora?"
"It's the only way to seal Erebus without sacrificing anyone for the Great Seal."
"Really? We can save Elizabeth then. I miss her already." Minato replied with playful smile, before taking his leave. "See you tomorrow, Ryoji." He said as he waved over his shoulder.
Minato closed the door behind him. Meanwhile, Jun was seen talking to Father Time about something.
"Well then, let's get to work, shall we?" Father Time said, gesturing Jun to the door to the deeper side of the tower.
Yu Narukami
Rainy – After midnight – 16/11/2014(Friday) – Dojima Residence, Inaba
(The first Friday)
"Have you seen the Midnight Channel? Do any of our team get kidnapped?" Yu asked Yosuke though the phone.
"I know, you need to get to Tatsumi Port Island by tomorrow midnight. I just called Chie and she's okay. I'll call the others as well. We'll accompany you there. Forget about school for now, okay?"
"Thank you, Yosuke." Yu hung up the phone, and glanced at the clock. 'I can't bring Nanako with me again, what should I do? Oh, Uncle is getting well, he can take care of Nanako while I'm away. The problem is…'
Yu looked at the screen. '…Where did the other three of us go?'
A/N: Sorry for the very slow update, my works has been piling up since weeks now. Anyway, not much about this chapter for me to explain, so just stay with me till next chapter.