I'M SO SORRY ABOUT THE LATENESS AAAAAAA

Chapter 5

The time after the monorail's Shadow is a little on the slow side.

Makoto seems just as distant and cold as ever before, with that edge of nervousness in the way he looks around him as if expecting something to pounce on him from the dark. Kotone had tried to ask him that a few times, but gave up when the answer never came (he's always been stubborn, but never held any secrets from her. Now he does, and Kotone doesn't know what to do—) and just called him weird before being done with it.

"Are you okay, Kotone-chan?" Ryoji says, snapping her out of her own head. She looks up from her book, the passages and equations slipped through her eyes completely without even a part of it managing to stay in her brain. Ryoji gives her a smile before sitting down in the vacant seat beside her, handing her a can of coke. "You sure space out a lot."

"Am I?" She says, even if Kotone herself is aware that she has been lost in her own head far more times that she cares to count, especially when the exam is looming on the horizon. She sighs, accepting his offering before drinking angrily from the can. "I guess so. I just do not understand Makoto. At all!"

Ryoji's pause is small but noticeable; the boy rarely stutters in his thoughts and words at all, so the absence of any comments from him is enough to alert her that he is at least uncomfortable with this subject. But he erases that anxiety off of the atmosphere soon enough, instead humming to acknowledge her words before sipping on his own drink. "I'm sorry about that."

"Not your fault," Kotone sighs, finally having enough and deciding to veer the subject of her conversation away and towards somewhere brighter. "Anyway, exam's coming up! You wanna join me, Junpei and Yukari's study group, Ryoji-kun?"

"I'd love to, but I have plans today," Ryoji says with a wink, and while Kotone shouldn't, she still finds herself raising an eyebrow in a silent question. Ryoji laughs and replies, pointing at the subject of her internal turmoil— "There's this café near the edge of Shirakawa Boulevard we've been eyeing to go together for a while, so I'm sorry for not being able to study with you today."

Kotone couldn't help but arch her brows up higher in disbelief. "You two do realize exams are, like, a week from now, right?"

"Yep," Ryoji says without a smidge of remorse. "Don't worry about it, Kotone-chan. We'll be fine."

"It's your funeral," Kotone mutters.

(It would take her months to know that, at this vry moment, she has missed a certain morbid joke.)

"It is, isn't it?" Ryoji laughs merrily, nudging her shoulder with his own before he leans on the table, his intense blue eyes boring into hers. It is as unnerving as it is calming – as if she's been looked at by two different people of entirely opposite nature; one imposing, one like a dear, old friend. "I'll join you tomorrow, if you'd like? I'm free, after all."

"Sure," Kotone nods, grinning at him. "I think I'll have fun asking you questions to death, because we both know you don't pay a lick of attention in classes."

At this, Ryoji's smile turns into a smirk, lips stretch wide with a mischievous tilt of his head to accompany it. "We'll see about that, won't we?"

She's wrong.

She's so damn wrong!

"You almost got that right, Kotone-chan," Ryoji winks as he points his pen at the last and hardest question she's been unable to get correctly so far – it's not like she's bad at studying or anything, simply that math isn't her best subjects – his cheek resting on his bent knuckles and his eyes as kind as they are mysterious. "You got this part wrong. You forgot to multiply the X with 3 during the differentiation."

"Arg! Goddamnit!" She hiss-yells, trying her best to not be loud enough to earn the ire of Odagiri sitting in the corner reading something she thinks are history books. "How!? How are you this good without paying a lick of attention in classes!?"

"Man, and here I thought you and I are the same! The betrayal," Junpei sniffs, wiping crocodile tears before pointing rudely in Ryoji's direction. She thinks she hears a small, soft chuckle from the side (from where Makoto is), but that's just impossible, so she doesn't pay much attention to it. "But you're kind of a good teacher, though! Have experiences?"

"You could say that," Ryoji hums lightly, scribbling the solutions of the problem into the book before he starts writing the explanations into little snippets on the side and turning the note back to them. Yukari, who has already ditched her seat next to Ryoji – being bothered by his constant flirting Kotone finds is as charming as it is annoying, no doubt – leans into Kotone's shoulder to try to get a glimpse, too.

Ryoji then starts explaining the problem in details, patiently and without any outward feeling of being annoyed radiating from his smile, only warmth. But to Kotone, his warmth seems a little… non-human like, somehow. Not like the heat of life or the spark of a breath, but like a gentle shadow that surrounds the night whenever the moon ascends.

She quickly diverts her mind – one that would, more often than not, think about things that doesn't have anything to do with the present – back to reality, blinking twice to center herself as she follows Ryoji's directions. And while she has no problem understanding the solutions he's provided, she notices that he has worded his thought process quite meticulously, enough for Junpei and Yukari to be able understand and try to solve similar questions on their own.

"How are you this good while paying no attention to class, though?" Yukari comments, pausing her chewing of the end of her pen to speak up before she returns to solving the next problem. "I want that brain."

Ryoji chuckles, leaning slightly to his right – and into Makoto, who has remained silent so far with his headphones blasting music quite loudly into his ears – and nudging the other boy's shoulder with his own before winking at them. "I just happen to have a personal tutor."

This, she knows; Makoto has always been good at studying, especially in subjects like math and sciences, but less so with history and language while she is his polar opposite. They'd always compare their study notes in the past, complimenting each other's weaknesses and plugging that gaping hole left in her heart when their parents died and when everyone around them shunned them away—

"It's already six," Makoto's voice snaps Kotone out of her thought, and she looks up to see Ryoji checking his own cross-strapped watch. "Aren't you supposed to take me to sightsee?"

Ryoji laughs sheepishly, scratching the back of his head as he shrugs. Kotone questions why Makoto would accompany them to the library at all, but that just gives sense to everything— "Oh, uh, sorry. I forgot?"

Makoto sighs, albeit without any real irritation in the way he seems to smile just ever so slightly, as he looks at Ryoji in the eyes with a raised brow. "You wanna stay?"

"Mhm," Ryoji says easily.

While she knows that they both are close, so very close, she never thinks that forgetting what she assumes to be a date would not be a big deal. But then again, the Makoto she knows (knew?) never really mind anything, always as forgiving as he is silent— "Suit yourself. I'll go on ahead."

"Alright," Ryoji hums, reaching a hand to pat Makoto's shoulder once as her brother stuffs his stationaries and his books into his schoolbag with a little less finesse than he usually would. When Makoto gets up, Ryoji flashes him another smile, an entire conversation passing in between them as they look at each other, briefly but with so much meaning. "See you at the dorm?"

"See you."

When Makoto leaves, for a while, there is only silence; by now, Junpei and Yukari have both become aware of their closeness, but it is as new to them as it is to her, so for a while, no one says anything. Then, after a pause, Junpei speaks up, "How're you even best buds with Makoto?"

"How?" Ryoji repeats, tilting his head to the side, his reply coming out quickly and without delay. "We just do, that's all. Is there anything about him I shouldn't like?"

"Yeah?" Yukari and Junpei say simultaneously, as incredulous as they are surprised. Out of the two, she thinks Yukari really doesn't like her brother all that much – and she gets it, she really does. After all, he's just as cold as he is deadpan, wearing his emotion deep in his chest with his words curt and cold and uncaring (and it hurts and she just wants to know why). He has never been openly hostile, never appeared outwardly antagonistic, but—

Ryoji's quiet chuckle rings into the tense air between them as he leans back slightly, the math problems in hands briefly forgotten. "I suppose… it's hard to explain, and it's not my place to really say anything. But I owe him… a lot. He had helped me through some grueling periods and vice versa, so we just kind of bonded over it."

She wants to ask more, to find out what these periods of his are, but something stops her; the sound of a lyre plucked as a warning and as a plea, and not one from Eurydice. Orpheus, she realizes – the Persona that is the muse to her mask, the one that appears so different yet with flame as gentle as Eurydice's own. What strikes her odd is that she never feels this with anyone else's, never feels Io's breeze or the sound of Hermes' steel clashing inside her chest, but Orpheus' presence is somehow as prominent as her other masks, as if he is hers and not Makoto's—

"…Right," Yukari says at last, deciding to cut the conversation she wants no part in short, before stretching her hands up in the air and muttering. "Alright! Only a few more to go!"

Ryoji smiles, seeing through her best friend's attempt at changing the topic quite clearly – or she would assume so, seeing that glint in his eyes – but electing to ignore it as he nods, leaning forward and tapping his pen into the book before him. "Well then. Let's do this."

Kotone decides to keep everything else for later, focusing only on the approaching exam and not the strange, hollowing feeling of no longer knowing her brother, or the song of yore sung through the threads of the Sea of Souls beyond the veil of stars.

The midterm is finally over.

Kotone stretches on the sofa, invading Junpei and Ryoji's privacies with her hands and feet (she does not care, and they can't tell her otherwise, mwehehe) while she redirects her focus to Yukari, who's munching on snacks Makoto had made in excess a few days ago. How he keeps doing anything unrelated to studying (just like Ryoji, somehow) during exam season baffles her. But she won't be getting any answers anyway, so what the hell, right?

(She tries to ignore the way her bond with him never forms during these past few weeks, as if he isn't supposed to be her Social Link to begin with, as if they never shared any emotional connections she knows they used to have. And it hurts, it hurts so much she wants to scream at him and cry and—)

"Koto-nan!" Junpei says, knocking the thoughts out of her head as he pushes her hand away, feigning a look of disgust as she laughs, rolling onto her stomach and kicking something (probably Ryoji's hands or his book). "Stop! I know I like invadin' your personal space and all, but ain't this a little over-the-top?"

"Nah," she says easily, turning back to see Ryoji holding back an amused smile, his body tilted slightly away from her waving legs. She decides that she's doing more harm to him than she should, so she angles her legs away from him, and in return is given a small sigh of contentment and appreciation. She then turns back to Junpei with a wicked grin. "I know you love me, Junpei!"

"Yeah, I hate you too," he says jokingly, pushing his finger on her head and making her yelp a small ow, with how hard he actually pushes. "But, seriously, though. At least mind Ryoji! Dude's just chilling, and you're kicking him!"

"Oh, I don't mind at all," Ryoji laughs delightedly as he waves his hand. Kotone could feel the betrayal in the way Junpei makes a sound that is closer to a whine than to a grumble while Ryoji continues to not help at all. "You do you, Kotone-chan. I don't mind it in the least."

"See? He's nicer than you are," Kotone fakes a pout and sticks out her tongue.

"You're such a goddamn tease, and I hate you, really do," Junpei grunts.

"Sure you do," Kotone giggles.

They continue to laugh, banter, and bask in each other's presences, the exam long since dispelled from their minds. Kotone briefly looks towards the kitchen, where she sees Makoto busying himself with the knives and the pan for god knows what, the aroma of seasonings and grilled meat invading her senses and making her drool almost instantly—

She stops herself from focusing on her brother who she no longer knows (who no longer cares about her and it hurts so bad) and decides to just stay idle for the day, leaving the worries for tomorrow's her to take care of.

Sanada, rightfully, is an unforgiving and fierce fighter.

She swaps Makoto out for the day (because while he's kind of competent, working with him is mentally torturing her to death because of his lack of response), and her decision seems to be the right one; Makoto's Persona, Orpheus, is more focused on support than firepower, the songs of battle that flows from the obsidian fingertips and marble-like lyre more suited to healing than to wreaking havoc, and they've been lacking in offense for a while, now. So, yes, Sanada is a welcomed addition (welcome back?) to the team.

"Ten Shadows total that I can see," Ryoji comments softly as Kotone spins around and avoids the first strike from the dark, hitting the Shadow with the pole of her Naginata before kicking it into Sanada's waiting reach. The man grins and nods at her before punching the damn thing to kingdom come. "Alright, make that nine. Good reflexes!"

"Thanks!" She says, nodding at the others before taking a few glances around; only a few meters and they'll be at a crossroad. But, only ten Shadows would mean that splitting up into a two-man team would be a waste of time, since these ones are fairly weak, at least to her. "Alright, I think we could split up into four directions. Just run if you see more than two."

"Roger that!" The rest of the team echo before they split off.

She feels that the world is oddly quiet, the shadows shifting and changing like ripples of water. It is as nauseating as it is confusing; it's as if the corridor of this floor, something that should've been straight and without any unexpected twist, is folding into itself. She decides to voice her thoughts out loud, because if this happens everywhere on this floor, then she'd rather not risk everybody. "Hey, Ryoji-kun, Mitsuru-senpai… is there something strange going on? I feel like the ground is folding into itself."

There is a pause, and Mitsuru is the first to speak up, surprised and concerned. "I… do not. Are you seeing anything of note, Kotone?"

"Yeah?" She says, a little unsure herself, as her step slows into a pause. She lets the edge of her Naginata grate along the floor, Eurydice's voice echoing deep into the dark and ricocheting back out weaker and more subdued. "I mean… the corridor should be straight and all, but it looks to me like this thing is twisting and expanding."

"Retrace your steps, Kotone-chan," Ryoji says calmly unlike his usual conduct, the chipper tone of his voice and the lightness of his words gone, replaced by intense focus. "I can still feel you from here. It's either a Shadow's power or a hallucination."

"Okay, I'll do just that," she hums, slowly turning back towards where she comes from. If she can gets to the crossroad, then she's good—

Begone, Fool.

The voice growls from around and within her as a low, deep rumbling of a beast that sends chill down her spine and through her entire being. Her first instinct is to run, but she quickly suppresses the urge and let her battle mindset kicks in instead; quickly, she draws her Evoker into her hand, the other gripping tight on her weapon, sweeping her eyes and her blade around once.

There is nothing within sight, not even a Shadow, her only companion in this strange corridor the blood-stained walls and shattered glasses and dark light that seems to swallow even the brightest flame into its depths. But when she blinks, everything disappears for a moment, and—

"Eh?" She voices when everything returns to normal. Or, as normal as it could be for Tartarus and Dark Hour, with the dark light disappearing into nothing and the warped space reverting back to how it was before. "Uh… well? That kind of fixed it?"

There is a pregnant pause that follows, and Ryoji is the one to break it, with something in his voice Kotone couldn't fully pin; and edge, perhaps, or— "That's… good. Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No, I'm fine," she says, looking around once more to make sure that whatever fuckery it is that has just happened hasn't reoccurred. "That was weird."

"Thread carefully, Kotone," Mitsuru says tersely. "We do not know how Tartarus operates, so something of this nature could happen again. Should you notice anything at all, notify me. But I'll leave any immediate responses to such events in your hands."

"Roger that," Kotone replies.

She decides to push forward, ignoring the incessant buzz from something deep in her chest, ignoring the crooning voice that she has heard just now, distant and faint with words and foul intent clear as day.

(It would take her months to figure out what the owner of the voice is, and by then, the damage would've already been done.)

It starts off innocently enough.

Just a few talks of a missing girl in 2-E, and some bullies being nothing but a bunch of idiots that anger Kotone just so. But what she first thinks of as nothing more than a common story of someone being bullied moving away from their original school turns into something that might or might not have something to do with the SEES.

Most likely does, though, since the girls found passed out in front of the school have all been inflicted with Apathy Syndrome, just like those haunted and devoured by Shadows.

Yamagishi Fuuka is… a potential Persona User, but that isn't the point that Kotone's worried about. She's been missing from school for ten damn days, and if the rumors of this girl turns out to be about her, then there's a chance she's already gone. But Kotone won't allow herself to think of that just yet. She wants to confirm whether the rumors about her being a ghost could be believed in its entirety or not, and if it does not, there's still a chance that she might be alive.

She hopes Fuuka might be alive. Not coming to school doesn't mean she's dead, right?

After a bit of asking around with their efforts bearing no fruits, Kotone decides to trust Yukari's judgement and go for one of the Port Island Station's back alleys where delinquents and party goers frequent; dark and out of eyesight, a perfect place for something to go horribly wrong.

She looks back quickly once, half of her mind still questioning why Makoto would be here – but she thinks it's a given, since Ryoji's here with her, too (it's so weird seeing Ryoji without his scarf, but summer heat, right?). It's at least… slightly more reassuring, having more people on their side when they're walking right into a den full of people who would often resort to violence more than words, more prone to flaunt around their superiority than to listen.

It doesn't take long for the crooks to notice them when they walk into their line of sights – and one of them with piercings in his nose stands up, scoffing and scowling harshly. Kotone feels a strange urge to kick him in between the legs, all of a sudden. "Hah? What's this? Ain't those uniform Gekkoukan High's?"

She decides to ignore it (and also trying hard to ignore Junpei voicing out the mirror of her inner voice) and speaks up, keeping her voice as leveled as possible. "Excuse me, I'd like to—"

"Hey," the punk cuts her off, and she could see some of the guys closing in around them. "I think you're in the wrong place here."

She frowns, trying to keep her anger from appearing as she attempts to ask nicely again. "I just—"

"You don't belong here, get it?" The man snarls, curling his right hand into a fist, hostility emanating from him in waves after sickening waves. Kotone really wants to kick the man's nuts right now, but if she does, they're oh-so -dead, seeing how many people have already gathered around them like wolves circling their preys. "Beat it, redhead."

She is about to try to ask nicely, but Yukari really does not like that – because she suddenly growls out a speech of her own, filled with disgust that Kotone feels in her bones, too. "We don't need your permission to be here, you know!"

"Are you nuts!?" Junpei hisses, and Kotone, yet again, has to agree with him. "This is stupid! Look around you, Yukari-cchi! Do you have a death wish!?"

"I'm not blind, you idiot," Yukari rolls her eyes, and Kotone could see the subtle signs of anxiety in the way that she moves; there's a certain tell in her voice that Kotone would've missed, had she not seen and heard Yukari being uneasy before. But it looks like her heart is getting better of her rationality, because Yukari suddenly adds, "don't be intimidated by these scums."

Kotone resists the urge to both sigh and scream. There's a time and place for words like that, but not in the middle of a crowd!

"Hey, what did ya call us?" One of them snarls, stalking closer with his taller frame looming over them. "You oughta learn to shut that trap o' yours, bitch!"

Unsurprisingly, the punk throws a punch, wild and with enough force behind it. Kotone is quicker, though – he's just so damn slow compared to the Shadows they have to content with on a near daily basis – as she manages to grab Yukari and yank her out of the way in time. The second punch then comes, but the unfortunate one is Junpei, who's only been standing right in the middle of it all.

The sound of fist colliding with Junpei's nose makes her stomach drop, and she turns to see him collapse to the ground with blood gushing out of his nose. Before Kotone could think about anything else, the punk sneers as he lifts up his foot. "Here, lemme give you a lesson!"

"Stop—!"

"That's enough."

The voice is rough and deep, rumbling like thunder during the storm. Kotone turns to the owner of that voice, an imposing figure with a strange edge in his tone she couldn't quite place. The punk stops, turning around to the newcomer with a scowl before he snaps. "Huh? It ain't your damn business! Get lost!"

When he steps out of the light, recognition sparks across her temples; dark red overcoat over his broad shoulders and tall frame, eyes as dark as they are warm, and a growl that sounds both like a protective wolf watching over his family and a predator eyeing his soon-to-be-prey. She could feel Eurydice laugh within her as something graces along the edge of her consciousness; a roaring hoof slamming into the ground and a war cry of something that is both gentle and powerful—

"You have three seconds to get outta my sight," the man – Aragaki Shinjirou, she now recalls – snarls as he takes more steps forward, each heavy and unwavering. The punk slowly backs off, and Kotone helps Junpei up while Aragaki grabs the punk by the collar. "If you ain't gonna run, I'm sure as hell gonna stomp your sorry ass to death right fuckin' 'ere."

There's a terrified yelp spilling out of the punk's lips, and before she knows it, they've already scrambled off into somewhere she doesn't even want to think about. After they're left alone, she quickly bows to Aragaki. "Thank you so much, Aragaki-senpai!"

"Hn," he snorts, and when Kotone looks up, she sees the way he seems to look at all of them, as if to gauge something about them. His eyes pause on their trail for a moment, frown deep and mouth set. Then, the man shakes his head, scratching his beanie as he waves at them. "You guys are all idiots. Get lost before punks gank up on your asses again."

"Um!" Yukari speaks up, still slightly startled by all of it. Kotone thinks she's seeing Makoto whispering something to Ryoji, but doesn't pay them much mind as Yukari continues. "There's… actually, we'd like to know about something."

Aragaki gives them a long, hard look before he sighs again, heavy and with reservation. But he finally nods, muttering half to himself. "Did Aki tell you to come here or something?"

"Actually, no," Kotone denies, patting the dirt away from Junpei's shirt as she moves to stand beside Yukari – who has somewhat calmed down from that little frightening experience – and addresses Aragaki with another bow. "We'd like to know about that ghost story. The girl, Yamagishi Fuuka—"

"Figure as much," Aragaki shrugs. "Girls who wound up in the hospital were here talkin' shit every damn night about a girl – this Yamagishi of yours – they were bullyin'. That's why they said it's Yamagishi's spirit that did all this."

"Wait… what do you mean by that?" Yukari inquires. But oh, Kotone thinks she already knows why, and it makes her gut twists into itself, makes—

"You don't know?" Aragaki frowns, crossing his arms. "This Yamagishi girl might be dead. She hasn't been home in over a week."

"Oh my god," Kotone breathes, the weight of that sentence hitting her fully and making her gut clenches; he's saying that Fuuka might've already been killed, either by the bullying or by the Shadows. And oh, she isn't sure which is worse, being offed by some bullies who see her as no more than a source of entertainment, or having her mind ripped apart by—

"That's all I know," Aragaki hums, his voice strangely soft despite the scowl on his face or the way he tenses under his coat. Kotone snaps herself back to the present as the man raises an eyebrow at her, in particular. "Satisfied?"

"Yes, thank you very much, Aragaki-senpai!" Kotone decides to push that gut feeling of dread to the back of her head, bowing deeply at him and smiling brightly like she always does with her brother (who has remained silent this whole time). "You're very kind, Senpai."

She isn't sure if she's seeing things or not, but she thinks she might've noticed a slight blush on his cheeks, or the way he seems to avert his eyes, or the small spluttering sound he makes as he murmur. "Now scram and go home, idiots. Don't let me see you here again."

Kotone only follows him with a smile as he leaves.

Turns out, Fuuka might actually be alive, locked inside the twisted tower for only ten hours simply because Tartarus does not exist during any other time.

Even if the chance of that is slim, she wants to save her – matching her determination with Sanada's own – as they plan their rescue mission. They'll have to leave Moriyama at the dorm, but it cannot be helped; bringing her with them to Tartarus might do more harm than good, after all.

"Is everyone ready?" Mitsuru asks before they depart from the dorm, with the clock indicating the time of 11.45pm – just a quarter of an hour shy from midnight.

Kotone looks around, and at first, she sees nothing wrong; Sanada readying his knuckledusters, Junpei experimentally swinging his sword, Yukari checking the strings of her bows, and Mitsuru sharpening her rapier and cleaning it to a mirror's sheen. She spies Ryoji descending the stairs, but when she waits and waits… no one else (Makoto) comes down. So, she frowns and addresses the problem immediately. "Hey, Ryoji-kun. Where is Makoto?"

"About that," the boy says almost shyly, eyes looking away from them. Mitsuru is already releasing her trademark icy glares – thankfully one that isn't pointed at her, but at poor Ryoji – when Ryoji speaks quietly, a slight frown on his face. "I… Makoto doesn't feel well today. He has a fever, so I'm going to stay with him tonight."

Kotone frowns, unsure if this is some kind of attempt at a comedy or not. But when there's no punch line to be delivered, only heavy, nigh-unbreathable silence, she forces out a sigh. If Makoto is going to be this difficult… "He's being really difficult now, is he?"

"Does he have a real, measurable fever, or is he just lying to you?" Mitsuru says, her voice sharp with icy edge of Penthesilea's frozen glare merging into her words, dropping the temperature around them to an even lower degree. "Because if it is the latter, I will go up there and—"

"It's the former, Mitsuru-san," Ryoji quickly cuts her off, his voice unusually cold, despite being one of the warmest and carefree and anger-less people she knows. Kotone shivers, the cold fury very small but still palpable in the air. But that anger dissipates as quickly as it comes, with Ryoji flashing them a small, tired smile as he shrugs. "I don't know what he did, but he's in no position to fight. My… ability to sense the Shadows' positions won't help with this particular endeavor, anyway, so I just want to stay here with him. If you're alright with it, of course, Mitsuru-san, Kotone-chan."

She and Mitsuru exchanges a look, their frowns deep. It is unusual for Ryoji to ditch them. Not once had he tried to find an excuse to exclude himself from an operation – unlike Makoto, who might not be that vocal but always makes himself known physically that he wants to work as little as possible, even if his entry into the SEES is by his own choice – and him saying this out front makes them think, makes them pause and unsure of what they should do.

The logical, leader-like choice is to ask him to help, since Makoto can live through a fever for an hour. He's not a small child in need of constant monitoring with another close at hand to cater to all of his will, but on the flip side, Ryoji has always been very easygoing, always available for her every mission. In the end, Kotone could only sigh; it is not often Ryoji would ask for a favor, after all, and she'd like nothing more than to let him have his ways once in a while.

Mitsuru seems to think in alignment as she is, since the heiress closes her eyes, exhales slowly, and nods her head. "Very well. It shouldn't affect the mission all that much. We're just going to go in to rescue Yamagishi and not to fight, after all. Just be certain to keep Moriyama under your and Yuuki's watch."

"Thank you, Kotone-chan, Mitsuru-san," Ryoji bows lightly once before he takes a pause, frowns, then adds. "Good luck on the mission. Come back safely."

"We will," Kotone grins as she lets Mitsuru leads the way, letting her mind wander to her brother only briefly before she concentrates on the matter at hand.

When Ryoji comes back, Makoto already feels like he's going to throw up.

Something feels wrong. Something feels very wrong; as if the loss of memories and consciousness during the last two Full Moons aren't bad enough, every climb up Tartarus also saps away his strength more than it did in the previous lives, previous cycles. But those are the last of his worries tonight – because right now, just looking at the moon feels absolutely horrendous that even Orpheus is shifting uneasily in his chest.

Images of white teeth and vile shadows flash in his mind, taking up a part of his thoughts and drawing out the most basic instinct – the most based fear – in him. Even staring up at Nyx never did this, even looking as his friends walked away from him, leaving him to die alone in the cold dark, watching their bonds break into a thousand pieces never did this—

"Makoto," Ryoji breathes, a hand firm on his shoulder. Makoto only shakes his head, unsure of what to think as the small throbs of headaches breach into his mind. There is no evidence, but he just knows deep in his bones that, if he looks at any Full Moon Shadows right now, he might pass out, he might be reminded of things that had come to pass, or things from beyond the edge of time, of space, reminded of the very thing that's fated to destroy the world— "Makoto, stop thinking and look at me."

His command is soft, but absolute, laced with intent and with authority he rarely wields – a mirror of Makoto's own whenever he barks his orders at the SEES as they fought against Shadows in the cycles before this one – but also hiding that smidge of worry he's seen far too often in the past two months that Ryoji shouldn't exist. Makoto could only nod, following Ryoji's breaths with his own, inhaling and exhaling regularly along the silent countdown in his head.

Once he gathers enough of himself in one place, he opens his eyes, the light of the moon shining through the window making bile rise up his throat, and he squirms as he tries to push it all down. "…Sorry, I… I don't know what's wrong, and—"

"—The Moon. Nyx," Ryoji says, placing both his hands on Makoto's shoulders and grounding him to earth, stopping his thoughts from veering into uncomfortable territory. He feels hot and cold and unpleasant, and all of these reminds him too much of the moment he died performing the Seal with his broken, reversed bonds on that one single cycle that turned his heart back to its cold, apathetic state. "The phase of the moon influences Shadows, after all. I think this might have something to do with Nyx. Maybe the time loops happened because of her?"

He frowns. Even if the reason is sound, something in him – the many masks that lurk and stir within him – disagrees, the synchronicity in which they echo their dissents far too loud for him to ignore. The moon is Nyx; her obsidian, stone-cold body and dark red gaze and the bright, milk-colored light are nothing but two sides of the same coin, like night and day. Even if the phase of the moon changes, her influences during a Full Moon and a waning moon shouldn't be this contrasting, this jarring.

He thinks of another god, skittering about at the edge of the Sea of Souls, a name he has somehow forgotten when he should've recalled, a god born of malice and age-old resentment brewing through generations of man, from even before the age of reasons, where only anger and steel and fire rule the earth—

"I don't know," Makoto decides to say, trying hard to cut off his thoughts, to stop them from going too far away from the present. The name of that god would come to him – a god that is not Nyx, one that is far too malevolent to be the Goddess of Death who is neither good nor evil – in time, but right now, he needs to find a way to bypass this crippling headache and fear and fever. If it comes every Full Moon, every time major fights would befall them, then he won't be able to be the Seal for their sakes, won't be able to fight to protect what he (used to) love. "It might be her, but it might not—"

Ryoji tilts his head, realization dawning in his feature as his grips on Makoto's shoulders tighten. "…Do you think it's—"

Ryoji suddenly stops, a heavy scowl settling deep into his face, his blue eyes dimmed and dulled by worry and confusion. Makoto looks into Ryoji's eyes, and when he sees the way the boy looks, as lost as that moment on the Moonlight Bridge, he knows that this is something they're both inflicted with—

"…The name slipped," Ryoji says, with haste and with fear, his mouth hanging agape and his mind reeling, the hand on his shoulders quivering minutely under duress. "I know I remembered the name just a few days ago, but it slipped."

His fear becomes reality, and for a moment, all Makoto could hear is the distant ring of vile darkness and maniacal cackles in the back of his head. He also realizes that they've actually said the name of that god not too long ago, too, with clarity and with full knowledge. Makoto remembers that god being the very thing that the Great Seal was supposed to ward off, supposed to keep from ever reaching Nyx and drawing her single eye towards earth. But something did this to the both of them, not just him, tearing the name out of their heads and leaving only the images and the knowledge of that one being behind.

"I still remember what it is, though," Ryoji frowns, cocking his head to the side as his frown deepens. "Why would it take away only its name, and not what it is, not our memories of it?"

It takes Makoto a moment to formulate a response, one that is but a theory that makes something in him churn almost angrily; "…In some cultures, names are… powerful. It allowed Isis to overpower Ra, stopped Death from taking an ill child away, caused the universe to come to its end… maybe that's why? I don't know, I'm not—"

"It might be so," Ryoji nods slightly, keeping his hand placed firmly on Makoto's shoulder. "But if we can't remember the name, then we'll have to rediscover it somehow. The Velvet Room, maybe?"

"Yeah," he breathes, leaning his head into Ryoji's shoulder, trying his hardest to ignore the way his stomach folds into itself and the hot and cold that wash all over him, freezing his veins and setting him alight. "Maybe."

"We have to try to find a way to deal with this, too," Ryoji states, and when Makoto nods his agreement, Death hums lowly. "How are you feeling now?"

"Nauseous," he states truthfully, the distinct, familiar and terrible taste of acidic liquid biting into the back of his throat and making his gut squirm in disgust. He decides to close his eyes, focusing on the voices of his many masks; of Orpheus' warm flame and the notes plucked into a calming tune. "Headache's worse."

"I think I saw painkillers hidden in the cabinet downstairs not too long ago," Ryoji mumbles, pulling slightly back and placing his hand on Makoto's cheek before he rubs his thumb along the patch of skin just under his eye. When Makoto sighs, content and with slightly less pain throbbing in the back of his head, Ryoji whispers. "I'm sure Kotone-chan and the rest can take care of the Emperor and Empress Shadows."

"What if something happens?" Makoto says, even if he's seen Kotone dealt with the Magician on her own before, even if he's seen her led the others into battle against the Priestess on the monorail just a month ago. A strange gut feeling is worming its way into his head, writhing like some kind of insect being cooked alive— "If we aren't there, and if they couldn't—"

"The others are still with you, right?" Ryoji says, placing a single digit on Makoto's chest. At this, his masks hum, in agreement and as a promise; that they are ready to do whatever he wishes them to, be it fighting against Shadows on his own or on his behalf in another's care. He looks up, and Ryoji is smiling. "This might have never happened before, but you draw out your powers from the Sea of Souls, same as any Wild Cards. If push comes to shove, Orpheus'll be there. Right?"

He speaks the truth, Seeker, Orpheus hums in response, his voice coming from everywhere and nowhere, a dulled but booming voice that is both human-like and omnipresence; and for once, Makoto finds himself slightly more at ease, smiling and humming quietly into the air that is getting colder as the Dark Hour approaches. I shall be there for her should she need my aid. Your wish is mine, little one.

"See?" Ryoji grins, bright and calm, even if his eyes still glint with worry and unshed tears. "They're all in good hands. Right now, let's try to take care of your headache first, so you can be there when the next Full Moon arrives."

After a moment, Makoto nods, placing a hand over his eye to press back down the pain that seems to erode the nerves in his brain and make him feel like someone has poured melted iron into its socket. "I guess. Okay. One thing at a time."

"One thing at a time."

When Ryoji is gone, before he lets himself relax as the Dark Hour envelops the world, he thinks he hears something; like centipedes skittering along the edge of his consciousness, dark plume of dusts and diseases spreading in his chest like coal-fire. But when he reaches for Orpheus, that feeling is gone, leaving only the taste of a forgotten name on the tip of his tongue—

He shakes his head; there is no point thinking about it when he isn't even mostly in the present, his mind being bounced back and forth between one line of thoughts and another. For now, he should focus on the moment, on the matters at hand; to find a solution to the worsening headache that seems to dull something in him, to find an explanation to the strange occurrences that is the time loop that seems to put a wrench into its own unchangeability.

(Somewhere at the edge of his heart, a dark beast stirs, with a sinister smile and eyes as red as blood pulsing in his veins. But when he closes his eyes to look, to see and to find out what it exactly is, that image and that sense of being watched is gone.)

She is so not going to enter Tartarus like this again.

It's a miracle at all that Kotone wasn't ambushed while she was unconscious being pulled into the Tower during its formation just so; in fact, there seems to be so few Shadows around, and ones that she finds are far too weak to pose a problem to her. Eurydice seems as giddy as she is expectant, of something she doesn't quite know what. But if her other self is in good spirit – if squirming inside her chest as she takes more steps through the deserted, twisted corridor of the Dark Hour could be called so – then she supposes she'll take it as a blessing.

It doesn't take too long to find Sanada and Junpei, much to her luck – they seem to have encountered only a small number of Shadows, too. As soon as they convene, though, Kotone decides to start doing what they were supposed to do; "have you guys seen Fuuka-chan?"

"No," Sanada shakes his head, a thoughtful look crossing his feature. "It's strange, though… I thought I heard a voice of someone in here—"

"Shh!" Kotone hisses when the clattering sound of footsteps register. Something in her – a Persona she couldn't quite fully control, walking silently at the far reach of her mind and filling her heart with reassuring warmth, one that is far more powerful than Eurydice's own – seems to communicate something into her, that the voice isn't from a Shadow. So, she cranes her neck to try to locate the source.

And once she does, the voice comes closer. Junpei and Sadana are quick to have their guards up, but that is proven unnecessary when the origin of the footsteps come into their view; a girl wearing Gekkoukan's uniform with small frame and unsure eyes. "Who is this…? Are you human?"

Kotone quickly smiles, relief flooding over her as she says with as much confidence as she has. "Yes, we are! Are you Fuuka-chan?"

"Y-yes," she murmurs meekly, tugging a strand of stray hair behind her ear and ducking down, as if to avoid being detected by something.

Kotone thinks it is a miracle to have survived in the Shadows' nest this long without a Persona, but her questions are left unanswered with Sanada steps in. "I'm glad you're okay. Come with us, we'll get you out of here."

"Thank you so much," Fuuka says, clutching the front of her shirt nervously. "…Where are we? I was at school, and then…"

"It's hard to explain, but we'll get to it eventually," Kotone says, looking around. Oddly enough, there are not as many Shadows within Tartarus as there usually would be. But something in her tells her that this is not right, that something terrible is going to happen. "Anyway, Fuuka-chan, are you hurt? Have you run into any monsters?"

"Huh? Oh, so there are strange creatures in here," Fuuka murmurs. Kotone detects that subtle shake in her hands, and reach out to take them both into hers, smiling slightly to reassure Fuuka that she's alright. At least it works, because Fuuka nods again before half-whispering. "I… I've managed to avoid them so far."

"Avoid?" Kotone repeats. When Fuuka nods, the first person she thinks of is Ryoji – someone who could pinpoint a Shadow's location so perfectly as long as they are within a certain radius, or with Mitsuru's aid – and then of Mitsuru—

"I can, um… sort of tell where they are."

"You're thinking what I'm thinking, right?" Sanada says. When she nods, he grins slightly. "She has talents, for sure. Just like Mitsuru and Mochizuki – maybe even stronger than both, since Mitsuru's Persona is more battle-oriented, and Mochizuki couldn't use an Evoker."

"…Persona? Evoker?" Fuuka repeats, her expression enough a sigb that she is as confused as she's curious – a trait Kotone finds quite like herself. "What are those?"

Sanada pauses, seemingly contemplative, before he pulls out a spare Evoker and hands it over to Fuuka. Before the girl could speak up her protest, he smiles reassuringly. "It's alright. This is not a real gun. Just… think of it as a lucky charm."

Kotone waits for a moment for everyone to get ready, her eyes shifting towards the Full Moon beyond the twisted glass of Tartarus. She ignores the comments from Sanada about Full Moon's effects on Shadows and focuses on something that nags inside her, that the moon looks… oddly familiar – and while it should, it's not so much as the sight itself as the feeling that comes with it that sets her on edge. It feels like a disaster is waiting to happen, the collective malice of mankind is merging and combusting into flame of destruction—

She gasps, realization dawning on her when she remembers exactly what the Full Moon means. The last two times they were faced with unusually strong Shadows, those nights were— "Full Moon. Both of those unnatural Shadows came with the Full Moon!"

It doesn't take Sanada too long to get into her line of thoughts, and when he does, terror fills both of their expressions – that means that, tonight, too, one of them would come. "Shit! Mitsuru, are you there!?"

The voice is staticky and with so little coherence, but the urgency in her tone is enough to make Kotone's heart sinks to the floor. And when she sees the look on Sanada's face, all she could think of is a single order that would allow all of them to move with haste; "we have to go. Now!"

When her vision warps from the sickening green veil that separates the insides of Tartarus from the entrance, she could feel her adrenaline kicking into her system at an alarming rate at the sight.

"Mitsuru-senpai! Yukari-chan!" She screams their names on her lips as she races downwards, Sanada and Junpei close behind her. At her voice, the large, black Shadow turns its head to look at her, its enlarged hand still clutching onto Mitsuru's form, crushing the air and the life out of her, and she can't allow that— "Let go of her! Eurydice!"

Eurydice responds to her command, the flame bursting out from her fingertips and into the Shadow's head, scorching it black and sending it stumbling away, its fingers loosening from around Mitsuru. Sanada is quick to follow, diving in and catching her before she could hit the floor. "Mitsuru! What the hell happened!?"

"They came… from behind us," Mitsuru grits out. Kotone glances around to see Yukari's body crumbling not too far away, but she's still twitching, still moving her fingers and arms just slightly, so Kotone allows herself to look away to focus on the monstrosity before her. "They came from outside—!"

"That means our theory is right," Sanada says with a slight frown. "It's Full Moon today, Mitsuru. And those two Shadows we fought came on the Full Moons, too. The phase of the moon and their appearances are definitely connected."

"We can talk about that later, Sanada-senpai," Kotone says, ordering Eurydice to slam her lyre into the smaller, bloater Shadow and sending it skidding away from Yukari. "Junpei! Get 'em!"

"You got it! Let's go, Hermes!" Junpei commands, drawing out his own Evoker and firing it. Without delay, Hermes lunges into the fray, his steel-clad wings slicing through one of the Shadows' torso, his flame sending another onto its back, spraying on the floor as if it has lost all its power to even stand. "Awright! Got them!"

"Be careful!" Mitsuru hurriedly shouts when their attentions stray, and Kotone looks back in time to see something like magic circles spinning before both of their forms. When she commands Eurydice for another Agi, something changes— "Normal attacks won't work on them!"

The smoke engulfs the Shadows when the spark from her spell explodes, and for that single moment, everything is silent; a muted hum of the Dark Hour penetrates through every nook and cranny of this place, bathing them in its oppressive sound and silencing their thoughts. But then, the crack and click of footsteps and steel ring through the smoke—

"Kotone, watch out!" Sanada bellows.

It takes her far too long to see the gigantic, obsidian blade swinging down through the smoke of her own flame, but Junpei is there in time, tackling her out of its path and sending them both sprawling on the ground. She quickly scrambles up to her feet, pulling Junpei along and out of harm's way as the blade swings sideways, drawing a large, horizontal arc that would've decapitated them both otherwise.

"Sanada-senpai!" She calls, pulling out another Persona from within her. If flame doesn't work, then all she has to do is use something else— "Come, Inugami!"

The spirit canine bursts forth, and with an ear-splitting howl, summons gusts of verdant wind that rips and tears through their very being. But something feels off, as if what she's done is not exactly correct, not something she should do. But she decides to ignore it as Sanada snaps. "Here I go! Polydeuces!"

Thunder strikes through the dark, ripping through the storm of wind and creating another explosion that rocks through the very space around them.

"Did we… get them?" Kotone says, mostly to herself. Her breath is getting a little short, the atmosphere around these two Shadows heavy and barely breathable. But when she sees spots of red shining through the dust clouds, she grunts. "Of course not."

She readies herself again, but those magic circles erupt, and something in her tells her that those lights must've been their abilities – what do those do, though? She has no idea. But when she is about to pull the trigger to her Evoker, she hears someone from behind her, a voice of that girl they've harbored in the dorm for her own protection—

"Moriyama!?" Kotone hisses. Shouldn't Makoto be looking after her? How is she here, then? And Ryoji was with them both, too! "How in the hell!?"

The situation has gone from bad to worse, and Eurydice's presence does nothing to help with something boiling deep inside her; something that she couldn't pin, an emotion born from fear and resentment and anger bleeding into one another like paint in the water.

(How could Makoto have failed a task so simple, and inadvertently endanger an innocent? How could he have been this much of a burden, how could he have been—

No. She refuses to think about any of that here. Right now, she needs to focus on getting them all out of this mess alive. And after that – after that, they'll see.)

That… turns out a lot better than how Kotone thought they would.

Fuuka's powers are a godsend against Shadows that can shift their weaknesses like these Emperor and Empress Shadows, and thanks to her help, they somehow managed to scrap by, even if they had taken quite a beating for themselves.

Kotone collapses as soon as the Shadows are defeated, burned to a crisp and shocked to death by her flame and Sanada's lightning, respectively. Fuuka sighs in relief, even if she looks dead tired and ready to fall asleep on her feet. She couldn't help it, though; she's just been trapped inside Tartarus for ten damn hours, and it's already a miracle that she could find it in her to even pull the trigger.

"Roll call!" Kotone says with a sigh as she leans back against her hands, feeling the rush of adrenaline falling off of her limbs. "Everyone's still alive, right?"

"Yep!" Junpei says from beside Sanada, spraying like a starfish on the marble floor of Tartarus. There is a pause before he adds, "no Tartarus for a week, though. I'm beat."

"On that, I agree," Yukari finally sits up, the bruises on her arms darkening ever so slightly as time passes, as the beats of the Dark Hour continues to flow. "If we have to fight one of these on every Full Moon, I'm so going to stop complaining when you take me up the towers."

"Glad you think so," Kotone deadpans, without a bite in her voice. When Yukari laughs, she grins. "Well, I guess we all survive another day!"

"But to think Makoto and Ryoji would flop hard looking after one person," Junpei rolls his eyes slightly as he gets up to his feet, slightly unsure but with more vigor than a few minutes ago. He walks over to help Fuuka stands. "You okay, Fuuka?"

"Uh… yes," she murmurs, her face pale with beads of sweat forming on her forehead. "I… am just tired, I think."

"Normal reaction after the first summoning," Sanada explains with a hum as he half-carries Mitsuru in his arms. "It'd tired you out, not to mention that you've been stuck in here for hours. Of course you'd be tired – but I'm still surprised you've not passed out yet."

"I think… I could feel something else, too," she pauses, a frown creeping up her features. At this, Kotone could feel something being pulled inside her chest, like a string of warning, like a bell of war tolling in the distant as a reminder that the fight has only just begun. "It's… hard to describe, but I—"

"Don't push yourself too hard, Fuuka-chan," Kotone says, finally getting to her feet and walking over, taking Fuuka's hand in hers and squeezing gently. "We're safe now. You can rest for a b—"

Before she could even finish her sentence, the ground quakes under her feet, sending all of them tumbling about like a rag doll. She manages to catch herself in time with the pole of her Naginata, and when Fuuka's eyes seem to look past her shoulder into the owner of an encroaching darkness that starts to cover them and choking their lungs with the scent of death and decay, Kotone finds herself following Fuuka's line of sight, into—

"What…" She trails off, unable to form a proper sentence at the sight; it's just like the Shadows they've fought before, but significantly larger and exuding disastrous aura that makes her instinct screams at her to run—

"Kotone!" Mitsuru bellows when the Shadow suddenly moves, and before Mitsuru could even say anything else, the mass shifts its congregation of mangled limbs and eyes and teeth into a limb, one that falls down in her direction with such speed that all she manages to do is bracing for impact—

"Castor!"

The voice is rough but oddly familiar, calling for a name she hasn't heard before. She opens her eyes in time to see something ramming into the Shadow's side, sending it skidding into the ground with a loud, screeching voice accompanying its fall. Kotone takes a moment to look up at the knight-like Persona, his one-legged steed rearing back in a victory cry before dissipating into shards of dusts and moonlight.

"Shinji!?" Sanada hisses the name, and Kotone follows his eyes to see Aragaki standing there, with the ephemeral smoke still oozing through the barrel of his time-worn Evoker. "I thought you—"

"Yeah, about that," Aragaki snorts, takes a quick look at all of them, before stepping up to her side, his broad shoulders as steady as the immovable mountain. He looks down at her shortly, then back at Sanada. "I'll tell you 'bout it later. There's an ass in needs of kickin', right? Who's in charge?"

"Her," Sanada points at Kotone, and when Aragaki's dark eyes fall on hers, adds, "she can use multiple Personas, just so you know."

"That so?" Aragaki hums, taking another step forward, the Evoker back to his temple. "You can still fight, brat? If so, I'll charge ahead."

"Um, yes!" She quickly replies, trying her best to push away the creeping exhaustion that starts to hang to her shoulders and sifting her mind through Personas under her command.

The fight isn't yet won, and she'll make damn sure they all live through this.