Author's Notes: Thank you, one and all, for your feedback. It really made me glad that the build up to Metis was worth it. Thanks, as always, to Enact as my beta reader and, of course, to everyone who has read and followed my stuff. I also now have a second editor, Firion316. His input and feedback have been invaluable, so don't forget to drop him a line on your way through. Here are some responses for my beautiful reviewers, and then right into more awesomeness.

Regis JN: I'm glad you liked Elizabeth, since we're going to see more of her in this chapter. Hope you like it!

Cachilla: Nope, this baby ain't dead. RL and personal things got in the way, but Enact and I are back at it, and we have some wonderful things to show you. I'm glad I've made you a believer. Enjoy!

Ramix: I don't know that I was specifically hiding that it was Metis so much as not indicating who it was specifically. I wanted to keep it vague rather than deliberately oblique, if that makes sense, but I will credit your intuition, as well as your taste in P3 fics. I'll answer some of your critiques while I have the chance. First off, thank you for going that deep into the points. It's always heartening to see that someone's put this much thought into my works. First off, the relationship seeming awkward: That was what I wanted, honestly. These are two people who are trying out something new and they don't really have a set template to go off of, despite their respective levels of confidence. Mitsuru's going to be trying different things and have moments where she acts on impulse rather than thought-out intent, which is where the hair-ruffling comes from. Next, I assume you mean that the pace of their relationship is going a bit fast, since I don't know what you mean by "too early." If that is your concern, then that is also deliberate. Their relationship is going to have some rough patches, so it being a bit disjointed in places before it evens out is part of the plan. Metis's abilities will be explained in this chapter. As to the internal damage from using a Persona, I'm not sure why it would feel out of place. Shinjiro and the members of Strega say that using their Personas, even with Evokers, is killing them. The game never explains why one group has that problem but SEES and the entire cast from Persona 4 doesn't, so the discrepancy has a precedent, which I will be addressing in this chapter. In my case, I'm building on the idea that power of the magnitude that Minato has isn't something that comes without a price, and I'll be explaining that more as well. As to the praise, I'm quite flattered. I know you will like some of the ideas and scenes in this chapter, but I am also glad that you like the fight scenes since they are the things I struggle with the most. Thanks for your review, and I hope you like what's to come.

Pradian: There will be more fluff, I can promise you that. And even better, there will be more fluff in this chapter. Enjoy!

Yuki2311: Glad you're liking the story so far. To answer your questions: Yes, there will be a point, before the end of the story, where they will be public about being in a relationship. And second, if you didn't play FES and The Answer, don't worry. I will be using so little material from The Answer and working my own ending onto this piece that you won't have lost anything by not playing it. Thanks for commenting, and enjoy!

zainethedemonking: I have to say, you have great taste in fics. Even more so since this one's not over until it's finished, so you get to see the full extent of my mastery at work. That means lots more Minato and his crew along with Strega, so I hope you enjoy the ride.

kungfootitan: Thanks for the review! To have the "bit in their teeth" refers to horses and bridles. The bit is the piece of metal that pulls back in the horse's mouth when the rider pulls on the reins, which makes the horse know to turn or slow down or stop outright. However, if the bit is in the horse's teeth, they are biting down on it and they are much harder to stop since the bit is not digging into the flesh. In a nutshell, having the bit in your teeth means charging forward without stopping or listening to warnings.

Erin Carde: A fair number of people thought it would be Labrys, so if it being Metis was a surprise, then I'm happy since I was trying to be careful about which details I used. I appreciate the review, and I will certainly try to keep things interesting a fresh for all my lovely readers. Enjoy!

A Dog in Fox Clothing: Glad you're liking it, and I can promise that there's a lot more to come with Aigis in the future. Also, if you like the romance aspects, then this chapter will be right up your alley.

RagnarokTres: That's me for you: winning people over, one chapter at a time. Thanks for the kind words, and I don't blame you for being skeptical. Lots of people make Mary Sues out of silent protagonists, and I've always felt that an audience deserves more than a self-centered power fantasy when reading my stuff. I appreciate the critiques, and if there are any specific examples where something seems off, don't hesitate to let me know since I always like to improve where I can. If you've liked what you've seen so far, then I imagine you will like what's to come even more. Thanks for reviewing!

I'd like to toss in a bit of shameless self-promotion before we get started. A friend of mine and I are putting together a light fantasy self-published project. You can find our website here (beanmepro dot com /stories/mort-rand/). It's an amateur little something, but it's focused on mages going from one crisis to another, complete with catastrophes and antics and a lot of fun for all, so if that appeals to you, give it a look. Y'know, if you want. I won't force you or anything. Really, I won't. At all. Ever.

With that out of the way, on with the show, and Merry Christmas everyone.

Chapter 11 - Prêt

"Thank you for meeting me on such short notice," Mitsuru told her odd guest, taking a seat across from her in Chagall Cafe at Paulownia Mall. There weren't many people around them, and the soft leather chairs and subdued colours of the floor and walls leant the coffee shop a quiet, almost intimate ambiance. The low lighting made it a perfect place to meet with such an unusual person. "I hope it wasn't too much of an inconvenience. I suspect you must be busy."

"I can always make time for Arisato-sama," Elizabeth-san replied, sitting in her chair. "His requests are very important to myself and to the Master. If I may be so presumptuous, it is an honour to speak to one of Arisato-sama's companions. Whenever we meet and once the matter of the Shadows is addressed, he speaks of all of you in great depth."

Mitsuru smiled, both at the comment and at the woman's strange appearance. Unlike when she'd first met Elizabeth-san at school, there was no blue gown to be found here. Instead the woman was dressed in a loose white blouse that was tied in a knot at the bottom, showing several inches of pale, flat stomach, and white capris with a red stripe running up the outside of each leg. In the place of her blue shoes, she was wearing small red flats and had a charm chain around her left ankle. And rather than her blue cap, she wore narrow glasses and a striking red bandana to hold her hair back. A thin watch on a chain and several gold bracelets adorned her wrist, looking perfectly in synch with her skin and yellow eyes, which were peering at her and dancing with a smile. Her entire air portrayed a sense of gleeful mischief and confidence, and it was easy to see why Arisato's classmates had referred to her as his "foreign girlfriend."

"You seem very fond of him," Mitsuru noted, sliding a menu over and perusing her own. "No one else speaks about him like that." It was hard to imagine anyone using the "-sama" honorific with him, actually. She knew that there were quite a few students who would eat a bowl of arsenic before they paid him that kind of respect.

"They simply don't know his significance," Elizabeth-san replied dismissively as she set her menu on the table, apparently knowing what she was going to order. "He shouldn't let such things bother him. It is because of Arisato-sama, and you and your comrades, that those people are allowed to live as normally as they do."

Mitsuru wanted to address Arisato's significance, as Elizabeth-san worded it, but she restrained her curiosity. He and Akihiko would be arriving soon, and they could all hear the details together. "What has he said about us?" she asked instead. Making small talk with Elizabeth-san was easier than she expected. In the past, Mitsuru had often found it difficult to speak to others just to fill up the time, wondering if her vocabulary was too advanced for the other person to follow or if the subject wasn't as interesting as she thought it was. But she felt none of those uncertainties with Elizabeth-san, and that was probably because the woman was so unusual in her own right. "It is difficult to get an unbiased opinion from the students at school, as I'm sure you can imagine." This would also be a good opportunity to learn about what Arisato had said and possibly use it against him later. Mitsuru couldn't deny that he was very cute when he blushed, which was why she ruffled his hair when she could.

"Of course," Elizabeth-san began, smiling and drawing each word out as she spoke. "He feels that Takeba-san uses up all the hot water when she showers, and he sometimes feels that it is out of spite rather than out of a desire for cleanliness. This apparently happened recently and he was quite unhappy about it, but he later conceded that he might have deserved it. However, he says that he relies on her and that he admires her passion, particularly when she is working with her kouhai at the archery range."

Mitsuru chuckled, waving the waiter over and placing her order. "I heard about that. It had to do with a misunderstanding among some of his classmates and some unfounded rumours. Takeba was rather unhappy with him, and she let all of us know it."

"He confesses to knowing nothing about owning dogs, and so he has had to read up on how to look after one," Elizabeth-san continued, "but he enjoys walking Koromaru-san in the mornings. Sanada-senpai has been quite inspiring to him on the subject of his physical fitness, apparently, and he looks forward to spending time running with him. When I was at your school, I heard from some of the students that proximity to Sanada-senpai and Koromaru-san has made Arisato-sama into a "chick magnet." I was not aware that he attracted baby fowl, and I admit that I have not seen the local birds treat him any differently than usual. Is this a new phenomenon that I haven't seen yet?"

Mitsuru nearly choked on some saliva when she heard those words. She knew that Arisato had become more popular with some of the girls in his grade since he'd started caring for Koromaru, but to hear him referred to as a "chick magnet" ruffled her feathers a little. He was her assistant. She was the one seeing him. No one else, no matter how many girls visited him at the hospital or asked about him in the hallways. As soon as he was discharged, she would have to make sure that he worked closely with her on a long-term project. Something that would involve them and only them. So she could make sure his wounds were healed and that his absence hadn't affected his performance, of course. She was tempted to ask if he had mentioned any other girls aside from the ones in the dorm, but decided against it. Much as seeing the younger girls, and even some in her own year, paw over him and make barely-veiled offers, she trusted him to be honest with her where his feelings were concerned. She turned the topic to something less touchy. "Have you ever heard of a dog possessing a Persona like Koromaru does? We were very surprised to see something like that happen."

"Of course," Elizabeth-san answered candidly, accepting her apple strudel from the waiter and taking a dainty bite. "It's not so unusual. Anyone with a strong enough will can manifest one, whether that comes from a human or an animal. I understand that one of your companions isn't entirely human, and yet she possesses one, so the idea isn't that unusual. Actually, it's not impossible for even a Shadow to manifest a Persona."

Mitsuru froze at the idea, her tea stopping halfway to her lips. "You mean that's possible?"

"I've never seen it happen before," Elizabeth-san clarified, "but it could happen, in theory. The Master has been quite interested in seeing if something like that happens."

Mitsuru calmed down a little after hearing that. The idea of a Shadow bringing a Persona to bear against them was truly frightening, but if Elizabeth-san hadn't seen one before, then such a thing must have been extremely rare. More rare than a dog that summoned the guardian of Hades, and hopefully rare enough that they would never encounter such a thing. In fact, with Strega breaking the rules about summoning a Persona and Metis having attacked them on sight, she was thinking of discarding everything she'd been told about Personas from her father and Ikutsuki and only go off of what was happening in front of her. It seemed like a far less confusing approach to take.

"Arisato-sama also likens Yamagishi-san to his deceased sister quite frequently," Elizabeth-san continued, sipping her tea. "He seems fond of her and has even expressed some feelings of protectiveness. He talks about how her cooking is improving, and how it was less than average when she started learning to do it."

"Has he spoken to you about his sister very much?" Mitsuru asked. Whenever he spoke about Arisato Minako, there was something a little bit off. Sometimes his expression was glassy and unfocused, other times he seemed confused like he was looking for a memory that he'd somehow lost. She felt that his family was a topic that held more significance than his record suggested, but couldn't back that suspicion up with any proof yet. "Because I have read the files on his background and what happened to his family, and it seems like there is more to it than what he says or even knows."

Elizabeth-san's smile went flat, her bearing changing from wily to walled off in a breath. "Have you asked him about this?" she asked quietly, leaning forward a little.

"There hasn't been an opportunity," Mitsuru told her, knowing the excuse was rather weak. "It's more of a feeling I have than something concrete, and I get the feeling that it's not something I can address with words, if that makes sense. Sometimes it feels like he's avoiding the subject and doesn't know he's doing it."

"Arisato-sama's past is his own," Elizabeth-san established, leaning back and folding her hands together, "so there is only so much that I can say on the topic. But you would not be mistaken if you noticed a change in him when he talks about it. Nor are your feelings, that there is more to it than even he knows, incorrect."

Mitsuru leaned in, curious that Elizabeth-san seemed to know so much about such an innocuous detail. "Why? Has he spoken to you about it? Do you know if there is more to what happened to his family than what the reports say?"

"Not in as many words, no. I'm afraid that the extent to which I can speak about this is limited."

"I promise not to tell anyone."

Elizabeth-san shook her head, no sign of her smile this time as even her eyes seemed more guarded. "It isn't about your promises, I'm afraid. There are some things that I cannot talk about, much the same as how my Master's responses will be limited. We are bound by rules, and those rules cannot be broken or avoided."

Mitsuru wanted, very much, to know who or what could impose such rules on someone like Elizabeth-san, but she kept her inquiries to the topics she could get information on. Perhaps this Master she spoke of had sworn an oath of some sort, and if so, then Mitsuru knew she couldn't push too hard. Still, the answer had been about how Elizabeth-san's responses were limited. Not entirely prohibited. "I won't ask about who or what is keeping you from speaking about him, but since you touched on the topic already, can I assume that there are some things that you can discuss?"

Elizabeth-san was silent for several seconds before answering, slow and deliberate. "It depends on the question, and what I can say will be vague at best."

"You don't need to be specific," Mitsuru told her, "but is there a reason why Arisato is different when speaking about his sister? If so, is that reason more than the simple trauma of losing a loved one?"

Elizabeth-san sipped her tea before putting three spoonfuls of sugar in it, smiling a little at the flavour that would have made Mitsuru gag. "There are some things I can say about that. To you and you alone, because I know how special you are to him."

Mitsuru blushed a little at that, and felt a smile grow at the thought of him expressing his feelings for her to others. The sentiment made her feel a little gooey inside. "I will take whatever you can give me."

"The change you see in him isn't only triggered by him talking about his sister," Elizabeth began after a moment, less guarded than she'd been a second ago. "If he speaks about his parents at all, or his life before they died, I suspect you will observe the same phenomenon. It is subtle, sometimes no more than a change in his voice or a shift in his eyes, and I doubt he realizes that he is doing it, but it is present and it is quite real."

Mitsuru remembered how he'd been when she took him to the windmills, the rapid shift in his expression and the way he carefully chose his words. "I've seen what you describe when he speaks about his parents as well. What is the cause of that?"

Elizabeth-san went quiet again, seeming to select her words before speaking them. "When Arisato-sama lost his family, that wasn't all that happened. Something else occurred nearby, something that is at the root of this change you are observing."

Mitsuru went cold as a thought bubbled to the surface of her mind. "I know that his family died when my grandfather's experiments went out of control and the larger Shadows escaped. Is his condition tied to that?"

"I cannot answer that," Elizabeth-san replied flatly.

"Do you know the details of what happened that night? Were the Shadows involved in Arisato losing his family? Was there more going on than what we have been told so far?"

"I cannot answer that," Elizabeth-san repeated. "Please stop asking for those details. I quite enjoy your company and I wouldn't like to have to leave over this."

Mitsuru leaned back a little. That was a sharper reaction than she'd expected. "Pardon me. I didn't realize that this was so dire a topic."

"Those answers will reveal themselves in time," Elizabeth-san told her, easing up a little. "One way or another, you will have your answers. If you survive the trials that are coming. When you get there, you will see the truth for yourself, especially if you remain this close to Arisato-sama. I will say this much, because Arisato-sama's state of mind is important to me and the Master: the source of his trauma is a powerful thing. A dangerous thing. You will know it when you see it, and I would encourage you to remain at his side. He will need you more than ever at that point, so I ask you to look after him when that happens."

Mitsuru's words stopped on her lips. Something about the words and the idea behind them loomed over her, reminding her of the Shadows. A tremor of fear and apprehension shivered through her, and she her voice rattled a little when she spoke. "Is it going to get that bad?"

"He will need you," Elizabeth-san said simply. "And you are closer to him than anyone. No one else can do what you can. When the time comes, please keep that in mind."

Mitsuru had to swallow twice before the feeling went away. "I see. Thank you for the advice, in that case."

"I am sorry for turning this conversation down such a dark route," Elizabeth-san told her. "It was not my intention. I enjoy your company quite a bit, and I can see that this has you concerned."

"I did ask," Mitsuru replied. "I wouldn't have done that if I couldn't handle the answers."

"You are strong," Elizabeth-san told her, smiling and looking like her normal self again. "I admire that. There are not many people who could do what you do, so seeing you accomplish your goals so well is encouraging."

Mitsuru gave a slight bow in response. "Thank you for your support, both now and up to this point. I don't think we would have gotten this far without you."

"You would have been fine; you had Arisato-sama to help you, after all," Elizabeth-san asserted before tilting her head a little. "May I ask a question?"

"Of course. What is it?"

"Would I be able to continue working on my wall mural? I was unable to finish it when I was at Arisato-sama's school, and I feel like it would be a disservice to such a thing to leave it incomplete."

Mitsuru blinked before smiling at the change in topic. It was a welcome reprieve from the direction the conversation had taken up to now. "There have been some offers on it, if you are interested in selling it when you are done. The art faculty have been going over it since you left, looking over the techniques you used and arguing about who your influences were." Mitsuru thought for a second, and then smiled, knowing how her next point would, as they said, send Arisato around the bend. "They have also inquired about your contact information. Some of them would like you to come to class as a guest so that you can teach the students and give them advice."

Elizabeth-san 's eyes lit up. "Aiding in instructing students? I'm very flattered. If Arisato-sama allows for it and doesn't find it inconvenient then I would be most honoured to visit your school again. But I don't think I could entertain any offers to sell my painting just yet. It's not finished, after all."

"Perhaps we can make some arrangements to have you finish it," Mitsuru offered, chuckling at the thought of how Elizabeth-san could shake up Arisato's reputation at school even more. "I have it kept safe and secure for now, so you could stop by and work on it whenever you like."

"That is very kind of you. I will take you up on your offer when time permits." Elizabeth-san took another drink of her tea before smiling. "I said it before, but I would like to emphasize that I am glad that Arisato-sama has met someone like you. You have been a prominent and positive figure for him since he arrived and I feel that he wouldn't have fared as well without your influence as he has so far."

This time, Mitsuru blushed a bit and felt oddly girly at the sentiment, shifting in her chair a little. "That's... very kind of you to say."

"The Master and I have been observing Arisato-sama since he arrived, and seeing his mental health remain consistent has been very encouraging. I believe that we owe you thanks in some part for your efforts in that regard."

"Has he said as much?" Mitsuru asked a bit hesitantly. "That I am a positive influence?"

"That is the impression I get when he speaks about you. It is not my place to say this, but I do hope that you will continue to be a strong force in his life."

"I will certainly try, Elizabeth-san."

"I am glad. Thank you for hearing my request." Elizabeth-san leaned forward then, eyes sparkling with glee. "Now, I must know where you bought that jacket. It looks positively sinful, and I would to love to know the brand of that blouse. Might we go clothes shopping when we are done here? I feel there is so much I can learn from you."


"He'll only be gone for a few hours," Akihiko assured the on-duty nurse. "It's something that can't wait."

"Kirijo-san made the arrangements already," the woman told him shortly. "I won't get in the way, even if I don't agree with it. Fast healing or not, that young man shouldn't be up and around right now."

"I'll make sure he's careful," Akihiko promised, clicking his tongue for Koromaru to follow him. "We'll be back in a few hours." He heeled his canine companion and walked down the hall to Arisato's room. "Are you ready?" he called into the room as he walked in.

"Almost," the younger student replied, letting out a short, pained breath as he tied his shoes.

Akihiko caught sight of the corner of the room and went over to investigate. The table that would normally be where Arisato's paperwork sat was half-covered in get-well cards from the various students who had come to visit him after word of his hospitalization had spread around the school. Judging by the number of pink cards and the calming incense sticks, Arisato was more popular with the girls than he let on.

Akihiko smirked. He couldn't wait to tell Mitsuru about this. He took a picture with his phone so he could send it to her later.

That said, the sentiments weren't all positive. The rest of the table space was taken up by curses from the local shrine, ema tablets stating the virtues of a good afterlife, and quite a few white funereal flowers. Lilies and chrysanthemums the colour of clean bone weighed down the table, and some of the students had even pitched in for a particular breed of hydrangea that was meant to comfort the family of the deceased. Akihiko remembered the looks the nurses and doctors had given the students who had dropped the plants off and how there had been talk of removing them and lodging a complaint with the school. "Leave them," Arisato had said. "They're not hurting anyone, and if my friends at school think they got to me here, then they'll leave my desk and shoe locker alone." In an effort to keep occupied, it seemed Arisato had taken to watering the plants and reading up on how to care for them, and they all looked as healthy as they would in a flower shop.

"Hey boy," Arisato greeted Koromaru, who was running circles and panting happily at the sight of the blue-haired patient. "Come to escort me? It seems that our senpai even have you loaded for bear."

It was true. When Mitsuru and Akihiko had spoken to Arisato and concocted this plan to get some answers from his mysterious benefactors, security had been a paramount concern given the nature of where they were going, especially given that there was less than two weeks until the next full moon. Koromaru was fitted with his Evoker collar, and Mitsuru had taken her Evoker in her purse when she'd gone to meet with Elizabeth-san. Akihiko's was in a holster attached to his belt at the base of his spine, hidden under his summer jacket. Given Arisato's condition, Akihiko and Mitsuru had insisted that his Evoker stay back at the dorm and that, in the event of a crisis, he refrain from getting involved in the fight. He argued with them for a while, but eventually gave ground on the matter when they pointed out the risks to his health that a fight at this point would represent.

Given how carefully Arisato was moving as he grabbed his coat, Akihiko noted, there was still a ways to go before he was back in fighting form. Maybe Takeba could be convinced to come in and try to speed up his healing. They needed everyone in as good of shape as they could be for the next fight with the Shadows.

"That's everything, Senpai," Arisato told him. "Let's go."

"Are your plants watered?" Akihiko asked dryly. "I wouldn't want you to neglect them."

"Watered and fertilized," Arisato replied with a wry smile. "I wonder if Mitsuru-senpai will let me take them home with me. The foyer could use some colour, don't you think?"

"I think you'll need some different colours if you want to convince her of that. Maybe she'll let you get away with it if you start growing roses. Why? Are you thinking of expanding your skill set into horticulture?"

Arisato shrugged. "It's relaxing, and more fun than I was expecting it to be. And they smell nice, don't you think?"

"If you want your room to smell like a funeral home," Akihiko told him with a shrug. "You're cleared at the front desk. Let's go."

They left Arisato's room and headed for the front doors. Arisato paused only to thank the nurses for their tender attentions, which earned him some giggles and several scowls, before they went to the sidewalk outside the hospital. In no time, a black Kirijo car stopped in front of them, sporting soft leather seats and a cool interior behind the tinted windows. When the three were loaded up, the car carried them down the street.

"How're you doing?" Akihiko asked, pulling some folders out of his attaché case.

"Everything still hurts," Arisato told him candidly. "Not as much as it did before, but my muscles are stiff and breathing wrong sets things off sometimes."

"They have you exercising, don't they?"

"Yeah," Arisato grunted. "As much as I can handle. The doctors say that everything's coming along okay, but the damage still has them spooked."

"Good," Akihiko noted. "That means they won't overlook anything."

"How's Mitsuru-senpai doing?"

Akihiko chuckled. Arisato tried to pass the question of as casual, but the way his voice softened a little when he mentioned her name spoke volumes about what was really going on in his head. If he acted like that in school, it wouldn't take very long before people suspected them of going out. "She's holding everything together. Lots of things are keeping her busy, and even if they didn't, it's not like she'd stay down for very long."

"Is she healing all right? She was in bad shape before."

"I asked her that a few days ago," Akihiko told his kouhai. "She had to get some stitches and patch work done, but she's back to normal now. A few more scars, that's how she said it."

Arisato frowned. "She's downplaying things, isn't she?"

"Probably," Akihiko replied with a shrug. "That's how she does things." Before Arisato could continue the conversation, Akihiko slapped a folder against his thigh. "We have some information on Metis. Mitsuru wanted me to brief you on it before we got to the mall."

Arisato winced and rolled his shoulder when he heard that name, but he nodded gamely. "Let's hear it."

Akihiko opened the folder for Arisato's benefit. He and Mitsuru had already read and discussed the information, and argued with the Kirijo technicians when they got to the end of it. "It seems she was around when the original experiments were going on ten years ago. She was an Anti-Shadow weapon like Aigis, and she was designed for killing or capturing Shadows."

"Capturing them? You mean The Kirijo Group went after the smaller Shadows too?"

"That's right. They did it for her grandfather's experiments. Seems the big Shadows weren't the only ones he had an interest in."

Arisato shook his head. "How does someone keep a Shadow and experiment on it? In a cage?"

"I have no idea," Akihiko replied, "but that's why there aren't many people who survived the lab going up in flames ten years ago. If it had just been the big ones we'd know more, but it's looking like the normal ones were what killed most of the staff and destroyed everything."

Arisato shook his head. "That's insane. I'm amazed that anyone would follow someone like that. How could they look at the Shadows when they went to work every morning and think that being around them was okay?"

"It is pretty crazy," Akihiko concurred.

"It's like something out of a bad anime," Arisato noted. "Evil zaibatsus set on conquering the world with shady research and conducting experiments that wind up killing everyone." He sighed. "What else?"

Akihiko flipped a few pages. "That thing she used that stopped us from using our Personas? That was part of her original programming. It seems like they made her able to restrain Personas, no matter how strong, because they were afraid that the kids they were experimenting on would go crazy or lose control of their powers. She was a safety precaution, if you can believe that."

"Was that common enough to warrant that kind of a precaution?"

Akihiko nodded, remembering some of the stories Mitsuru had told him. "These were kids being pushed until they manifested a Persona. Most of them probably had no idea what was going on. We only know a little bit of what they were put through. I'll spare you the details, but I can tell you that none of it is very pretty. Mitsuru said that some of them were so unstable that they could summon a Persona in their sleep or just by walking down the hall. Someone like Metis would have kept them from bringing the lab down until their powers stabilized."

Arisato looked sick. "They did that to children? Normal kids off the streets?"

"And out of the orphanages, which seems to be where they got Yoshino from," Akihiko supplied.

"That's sickening. Never mind the Shadows, how could the staff see that and still be okay with it?"

Akihiko said nothing. He knew what Arisato was going through, and he'd felt the same way when he was reading the files. It had taken two hours of boxing practice and punching bags before he'd calmed down enough to keep reading those files.

"Still, if Metis could stop them from hurting each other, then maybe they were able to be sort of okay," Arisato conceded. "When you put it that way, that doesn't sound so bad."

"I agree, especially since those drugs Hoshino takes were developed from that process. Seems someone thought they could free Metis up if they could keep the kids stable by drugging them. Of course, it didn't work. The drugs might help the bearer control their Persona, but it also makes the Persona violent toward them, like we've already seen."

"Do we know why she had them? Why is Strega using them?"

"No idea," Akihiko replied with a shrug. "Hoshino won't talk about it, even when we threaten to bring you in to see her."

Arisato gave a disgusted groan, leaning back in his seat. "Another dead end then. Great."

"Only to a point," Akihiko corrected. "Aigis connected with her before she died, or shut down if you want to call it that. We got some information out of that. It seems she met with Strega before we ran into her."

"Did we learn anything? Like why she attacked us?"

"Not really. Hey, I hear you," Akihiko told him when he saw the blue-haired student rolling his eyes. "You should have heard Mitsuru yelling at the techs when they told her that. She tore a strip off all of them and I think they were afraid she'd just fire them on the spot."

Arisato chuckled grimly. "Good on her. Did we learn anything about Strega from Metis?"

"She confirmed what you and Yamagishi said before about the guy who could summon a Persona without an Evoker. She didn't know why he could do it, but he was part of the reason she moved on. She also got some names on them, confirming what Yoshino told us: Shirato Jin and Sakaki Takaya. We ran some searches and weren't able to find much from anything dated in the last ten years. It seems they move around a lot, so what information we got on a base of operations is useless."

Arisato was quiet for a moment before speaking, his voice contemplative. "Metis seemed to be pissed off at me specifically. She acted like I was going to attack Aigis or something. I don't suppose we have any answers on that, do we?"

"Actually, we have plenty of answers, but none of them really fit," Akihiko replied. "Some of the engineers think her targeting matrix got damaged and she attacked you thinking you were a Shadow. Others said that Strega gave her a virus, which we know isn't the case because we scanned Aigis twice after we got back and she checks out fine. I even heard that they think she wasn't designed to be fighting for this long, so she began to develop some crazy tendencies and she just snapped."

"Which doesn't make sense because she would have been attacking people before then," Arisato concluded. "Is there anything we do know?"

"That we're almost at the mall," Akihiko replied, getting his things together. "And that we have more questions and fewer answers, so pretty much what you expected, right?"

"Very funny," Arisato groused as he stroked Koromaru's ears, taking a steadying breath. "Let's do this."

They got out of the car and walked toward the cafe where they were supposed to meet Mitsuru. Akihiko noticed Arisato stretching and testing his muscles as he walked, and that seemed to give him an excuse to avoid the various girls who cooed and squealed over Koromaru. It seemed the canine was rather popular, especially since he obeyed their instructions without needing a leash. Some of the people gave his Evoker-collar some strange looks, but didn't say anything.

"I'm glad you could make it," Mitsuru told them when they arrived. She was standing outside the cafe with Elizabeth-san standing next to her, and it seemed they'd been chatting to pass the time.

Akihiko concealed a smile at how Arisato and Mitsuru looked at each other almost immediately, and how they relaxed in the same way when they came into close proximity. He wished he'd recorded it so he could bring it up for them later. He'd be sure to tell Shinji about it.

"Greetings, Arisato-sama," Elizabeth-san told the shorter student happily. "I'm glad to see you again."

"You too, Elizabeth," he replied. "I hope we didn't keep you waiting."

"Not at all," Elizabeth-san told them. "We were just finishing up, and– Well hello!" she said suddenly, kneeling down to pet Koromaru. "Aren't you a handsome one! Such elegant fur, lovely red eyes, and perfectly trimmed nails. With such a gallant appearance, you must be descended from canine royalty. What esteemed company you keep, Arisato-sama. What is he called?"

"That's Koromaru," Arisato told her with a rueful smile. "But I don't think he's royalty like you say."

"Of course he is," Elizabeth-san insisted. "Such canny intelligence, such a lithe body, he must come from a long line of canine scholars and runners. That is the only explanation! Now, how are you, Koromaru-sama? Would you like to be carried like a good boy? Yes? Up you come!"

As Elizabeth-san picked up their happy and barking companion, Arisato shrugged to them. "I guess she speaks dog like Aigis does," he chuckled.

"I don't get the impression she's dangerous," Mitsuru told them, watching the strange woman as she lightly tossed Koromaru into the air and caught him before holding him across her chest. "A bit eccentric, but not a threat. Still, be careful."

Akihiko nodded, taking a closer look at his friend. There were stress marks at the corners of her eyes that hadn't been there when she'd gone to the mall. Was Elizabeth-san the sort to inspire concern? Or had their discussions been that tense? Arisato seemed to notice, but when Mitsuru noticed them looking at her, she shook her head and said nothing. Akihiko shrugged, discretely checking his Evoker before squaring his shoulders. "Are we good to go?"

Mitsuru's lips went up slightly in a smile. "As we'll ever be." She turned to their guest. "Elizabeth-san. Might we meet your employer now?"

"Of course," Elizabeth-san told them, still carrying Koromaru and scratching his stomach as she walked. "He will be glad to have company. Please, follow me." She led them to a nearby alley, talking the whole while. "I hope this means of transit is acceptable to you, Koromaru-sama. It is? Why thank you, I had noticed that our colours match as well. A most serendipitous set of circumstances, don't you think?" She walked right to the end of the alley and nodded at the empty space. "Here it is."

Akihiko looked at where she was pointing. "Uh... there's nothing there."

"Of course there is. It's right here, clear as day. Arisato-sama knows what I'm talking about, don't you?"

"I don't think they can see it, Elizabeth," Arisato informed her, stepping forward and reaching into his pocket for something. "Just a minute, let me see if this will help."

"You can see what she's talking about?" Mitsuru asked.

"Yeah. It's a door, and she's standing right next to it. I'll open it for us."

"Arisato." Mitsuru's voice was both sweet and chilling. "Have you known about this for very long?"

He cleared his throat. "I'm going to plead the Fifth on that one, Senpai."

"We will have to talk about this later, I think," she told him in the same tone. "A long, detailed talk."

Akihiko chuckled, feeling a bit more at ease with their banter. This was the first time he'd seen Mitsuru be this free with her feelings in public, and it was refreshing and a welcome change given all the crap they'd been through lately.

"Yes ma'am," Arisato replied as he pushed his hand forward, then pulled back. Like it had always been there, a glowing door with a blue outline popped into existence and swung open soundlessly, revealing a dark room on the other side.

"We should go in quickly," Elizabeth-san told them, stepping forward. "The less time it stays open, the better." Still carrying Koromaru, she swiftly went through the door and disappeared as soon as she crossed the threshold.

"I'll close it behind us," Arisato told them.

Akihiko nodded, checked his Evoker one more time, and stepped through with Mitsuru close behind.

Vertigo rippled across them, and Akihiko had to steady his steps as he walked forward. The alley and the noise of shoppers around him disappeared, and instead of stepping onto concrete, his feet sank into plush rug. Instead of the skylight of the mall, the room was dark with rising lights at the back. Was that the grate of an elevator? It must have been, because just above it was the old model of floor indicators that looked like a clock. Were they in a museum?

"I see we have guests," a low voice tinged with knowledge and power told them from a chair and table in front of the grate. "Welcome to the Velvet Room. Elizabeth has spoken of you. Ahh, there you are, my dear young man."

"Thanks for agreeing to meet with us, Igor," Arisato said. "My friends were hoping that you could answer some of their questions, and I have a few of my own."

"We are here to serve our Contractor," the short hunchback in a sharp suit, apparently named Igor, told them. "Some proper introductions are in order, however."

"Yes, Master," Elizabeth-san replied formally. "This is Sanada Akihiko, and this is Kirijo Mitsuru. And this lovely fellow," she gushed, scratching the dog under the chin and getting reflexive kicks in return, "is Koromaru-sama, Arisato-sama's prized companion of canine royalty."

Arisato smiled a bit ruefully as Mitsuru looked around, eyes narrow and genius mind no doubt trying to figure out just where they were. Akihiko bowed politely, and no further down than was polite. "It's a pleasure. Thanks for having us."

"I am Igor," the man said, "and you have already met Elizabeth. She has spoken of this since you first made the inquiry, and I am glad to see her so pleased. We don't often have new guests here, so please, make yourselves comfortable."

"This is wonderful, Master," Elizabeth-san told him, taking a seat with Koromaru curled up in her lap. "I have never met such an esteemed fellow as Koromaru-sama."

"You no doubt have many questions, so shall we begin with your inquiries?" Igor asked, gesturing for them to come closer. Two more chairs flickered into existence, plush and well made.

"You go first," Arisato told them as he sat in one of the soft chairs near the table. "I can wait."

Akihiko nodded to Mitsuru, letting her take the stage as they took seats of their own.

"We have some questions regarding the Shadows," she asked, "and why they seem to be linked to Arisato. We have observed what seems to be a connection between him and the Shadows that appear on the nights of the full moon. I'm sure you know the ones I'm referring to."

"I do," Igor replied simply. "They are the ones who are driving events to their conclusion."

"It seems that the information we have is inadequate to properly understand just what they are and why they are here. Can you enlighten us? We would appreciate any information that you can offer."

"There is only so much that I can say," Igor informed them. "They are Shadows that cause the appearance of the Lost by devouring the spirits of those who are caught in the Dark Hour. Without them, the Lost would be so small a problem as to be unnoticeable. You know this already, don't you?"

"We know about that much, yes."

Igor shrugged over his folded hands. "Then you know as much as you need to. You know what the Shadows do and how to prevent more Lost appearing."

"But the larger ones exist," Mitsuru insisted. "And we know very little about them. Where did they come from?"

"You will learn that in due time," Igor told her. "There is no way that you won't. Knowing their origins wouldn't change anything. You are on the course of destroying them, and that is what you must do if you want to prevent the Lost from growing in number. Beyond that, there is very little to say."

"You're speaking like you can see the future. Is that the case?"Mitsuru asked. Igor shrugged but said nothing. Elizabeth-san kept playing with Koromaru, but otherwise didn't address the question. Mitsuru tried a different angle. "How much of this, the Shadows and the Dark Hour, has to do with my grandfather's experiments?"

"Your grandfather? Who would that be?"

"Kirijo Kouetsu."

Igor shrugged again, a look of indifference on his face. "I do not know the name. He was not a Contractor, nor did he meet with us. Whatever his ambitions, and whatever role you say he played in affairs up to this point, his importance is insignificant."

"He caused all this, though," Mitsuru told him. "He experimented on the Shadows and he caused the Dark Hour. His research caused an immeasurable amount of suffering to people and we are still seeing the effects of his actions today. No one else was trying what he was, nor did anyone else have the resources to do what he did. In the face of all this, how can he be insignificant?"

Igor shifted his hands a little, but otherwise didn't change in the slightest. "Just because he was the cause of things as you see them does not mean that he was the only reason those events occurred. I mean this respectfully, but if you feel that all of what has happened is tied to one person, a person you are related to, then you should let go of your filial guilt and overactive sense of responsibility. Not everything that has happened up to this point has occurred solely because of him. In fact, many of these things would have happened anyway, had someone else set the events in motion or not. This Kirijo Kouetsu of yours was simply someone who brought things forward before they were originally planned, but his actions were not so grand that he caused the Shadows and the Dark Hour on his own."

"Wait," Akihiko spoke up, "you mean this was supposed to happen? Like fate? How does that work?"

"If you throw a rock at a pond, was the rock always fated to be there?" Igor inquired. "Or was that just a logical event to happen given where the pond and rock were located?"

"We're not rocks and ponds, are we?"

"But we are subject to the same rules," Igor insisted. "Throw a rock into the air, and it will fall to the ground. Or back into your hand, but in both cases, the rock will fall. Some would call this fate, an intangible thing that we cannot see or understand. Others say it is the effect of gravity, a universal force we are all bound by. I am partial to the second view, myself. Your Kirijo Kouetsu might have been the one to throw the rock up, but the rock was going to go up anyway. He was just the means the rock used to get there. Where you and our Contractor are concerned, these events were set into motion and the rock was already beginning to fall when you became aware of the direction you were going in. That it was in the air because of Kirijo Kouetsu and that it might hit the hand of the person who threw it, or perhaps roll once it lands, is just a detail to the fact that the rock rose into the air before and is now falling. Similarly, there is only so much that can happen or change before the rock hits the ground."

"Then what set all these events in motion, if it wasn't my grandfather?" Mitsuru asked. "And what is the bigger picture of the rock, to use your analogy?"

Igor sighed. "That is a question beyond my capacity to answer. As I said, there are some things I simply cannot discuss."

"So you have rules, maybe even other masters, to answer to?"

Igor chuckled, and the sound wasn't very pleasant. "We all do. Elizabeth and myself are simply here to fulfill a purpose. That purpose may be minor or of paramount importance, but it is why we are here, and we answer to our own masters in order to accomplish those goals. I cannot share the details, but the events of years far before now set these days in motion. How they happened and why we are here is a question of semantics, whether you call it fate or the logical steps of history. What matters is that they were always going to happen, and Elizabeth, myself, and a Contractor are here to see these events through to the end."

"Is that why you can't tell us certain things?" Mitsuru asked. "Because we might interfere with that outcome?"

"Interfere..." Igor tested the word, rocking back and forth in his chair. "That is not the best word for what I am talking about. My concern is that you will act in a way that lowers your chances of victory. Understand that we are very interested in seeing our Contractor prevail, but knowing too much will make you act in ways that might render victory impossible. For your best chances of survival to be preserved, there are things you cannot know until later. Ideally, you will learn them on your own and adapt accordingly."

"It seems insane that these Shadows were always going to be here," Mitsuru noted. "What could have that kind of power? What governs them? In fact, where is the rock going in the first place? And why is it in motion?"

"The answer to those questions all come back to one place. I cannot give you that answer, however, for the reasons I already stated."

"I have a question," Arisato told him, stepping forward. "Is this where the Appriser comes in?"

Elizabeth-san drew in a sharp breath, and Igor's eyes narrowed. Koromaru squirmed his way out of Elizabeth-san's lap and moved next to Arisato's leg, beginning to growl. The air went tense, and Akihiko reached for his Evoker.

"Where did you hear that name?" Igor asked coldly.

"From the Shadow we fought just around the corner in the mall," Arisato supplied. "It seemed to recognize me, and it said "Appriser" before it died. The other Shadows have recognized me to some degree, so it can't be a coincidence. If you're talking about something that is bigger than the Shadows, something that could set all these events in motion and go to one place no matter what we do, then is this Appriser part of the equation?"

"The Appriser is different," Igor told them after a long, uncomfortable moment. "It is tied to the Shadows, but different from them. You are not the cause of these events, young man, if that is what you are wondering."

"But there is something at work that the others don't feel, right?" Arisato pressed. "Something unique to me? Is that why I'm your Contractor?"

"That is difficult to answer," Igor sighed.

"I don't think I can leave here without some answers, Igor. I need something to go on."

"No, my dear young man, you do not," Igor replied bluntly. "As I said, you are on the path you should be on, and it is taking you to the conclusion that we are waiting for. The answers you have are sufficient for you to continue killing the Shadows. All will be revealed in time if you do that."

"But I'm asking you the questions, here, now, as your Contractor, because I want to know what's going on. Otherwise I can't be sure that I'll be able to succeed how you need me to."

There was another long silence, this one a bit less tense than before.

"Very well," Igor conceded. "I will tell you what I can, which is still very little."

Akihiko let out a hard breath and pulled his hand from his Evoker. Koromaru had stopped growling and walked back over to Elizabeth, who picked him up and continued patting him but remained silent.

"Anything would help."

Igor waved his hand and the cards of the major arcana appeared on the table. "The Appriser is the edge on which all this rests. You might say that he is the reason that, after falling, the rock rolls to one side or the other. In some possible futures, the Lost overtake the world and the Shadows devour us all. In others, the Appriser is what destroys the Shadows and saves the world of man. It is the Fool in the arcana. Raw potential with the power to accomplish the impossible, or to fail to fulfill his purpose and allow events to progress as they would have anyway. It will not be by a single choice that you make, nor by many small ones, but you will be at the centre of the events that shift the world from one side to the other. That is the Appriser, and his path is revealed through the Shadows he kills. That is why there is little more I can tell you: you are already on the road you were set to be on. As you walk down that road, more of your questions will be answered, as will the questions that you will have as you progress. Nothing else you think or do will change where you need to be or what you need to do."

Arisato let out a bracing breath. "That's a lot of responsibility to carry."

"The Contractor's power is such that he will have the potential to be strong enough to fulfill his goals. Whether he does so or survives that long is unknown, but we would not have given you this task if you weren't able to achieve it. Continue as you are and everything will become clear."

"Do you know who Pharos is?" Arisato asked suddenly.

"I do not know the name," Igor admitted.

"He's a kid, looks around ten years old, and he's been visiting me after the Shadows die ever since I arrived."

The old man tapped the table and didn't answer.

Mitsuru and Akihiko shared a quick look. They'd heard nothing about this. "Wait," Mitsuru brought up. "Is he the boy you were asking about when you arrived? You asked if anyone had a little brother at the dorm, and I just thought you were seeing things."

"He is also something you cannot change," Igor replied, this time speaking carefully. "Knowing more about him would alter how you act and respond, and that is an unnecessary risk. I will say that he does not mean to harm you, and he will guide you to the conclusion of this affair. While he is not your ally, he is also not your enemy."

"I don't mean this in a bad way, but that sounds like you and Elizabeth in a way."

Igor chuckled. "That is an apt description, yes. We orbit your star, young man, and while we can give you direction, we are not able to directly interfere."

"I'd like to know what sort of power someone could have to impose these rules on you," Arisato commented. "I get the feeling that you and Elizabeth could easily handle these problems without me or any of us."

"We have our place," Igor noted. "You are not wrong in your assessment, but there is a reason why you are our Contractor. We would not do this without due cause."

"Where do the rest of us fit into this?" Mitsuru asked. "Compared to Arisato and his connection to the Shadows, we're rather mundane, aren't we?"

"You belong where you have been up to this point. The Contractor might be an important piece of the puzzle, but he is not the only one. Without all of you, there is no way that he would have made it this far. Each of you is as vital a part of these events as he is even if you have not been consulted directly, and you have all accomplished your duties so far with admirable grace. My hope is that you will continue to support him and carry him forward to the conclusion of these events. There is little I can say that needs to be done differently."

Mitsuru nodded and smiled a bit. Akihiko felt the same way. With everything that they'd been through and the sudden raising of the stakes, it was good to know that they were on the right course.

"What about Strega?" Arisato asked next. "They're a group of Persona-Users who have been fighting us recently. What do you know about them? Do they play a role in all this?"

Igor turned to his assistant, gesturing to her. "Elizabeth, would you like to answer this question?"

"Of course, Master," she replied. "What you are asking is a simple enough matter. You are speaking of the other Persona-Users who travel the Dark Hour?"

"That's right," Arisato confirmed.

"They are irrelevant," Elizabeth-san announced.

The three SEES members were silent for a few seconds, waiting for more. "That can't be all there is to it," Akihiko objected. "They've set traps for us, manipulated the Shadows, kidnapped some of our people and tried to kill the rest. How can they be irrelevant?"

"In the greater picture of the Shadows, they are irrelevant," Elizabeth-san clarified. "Their actions are significant to you because they move in opposition to your goals. They seek to build the number of the Lost as an extension of their own ideals, and they will work to stop you at every turn if they can. But the Shadows are not their allies, nor are their actions of any significance beyond their opposition to you."

"Pharos said the same thing when I asked him," Arisato noted. "Are you saying that because they cannot affect what's going on? Or is it because you are focused on the Shadows and where they are concerned, Strega can't do anything besides fight us?"

"The latter option is the closest to being accurate, Arisato-sama."

Akihiko let out a terse breath. That line of inquiry was getting them nowhere. "What about their Personas? Why is one of them able to fight us without using an Evoker?"

"There are other Persona-Users who are able to do that," Elizabeth-san mentioned. "Is this one special in some way?"

"We've been told up to now that the only way that we can use a Persona is with an Evoker," Mitsuru supplied. "Is that a lie?"

"Not entirely, no. You are able to use your Personas safely because of your Evokers. Anyone who circumvents this rule, with the exception of our Contractor, is at risk of harming their body, sometimes irreparably. No one can handle the rigors of that kind of power without the necessary safeguards."

"Sakaki can do it," Arisato told them. "And he didn't look like he was in pain."

"People can handle many horrible things if they have a reason to do so, young man," Igor told them. "Look at yourself in that regard."

"That's a fair point," Arisato conceded. "He was unusual though. He seemed to know who I was, and his Persona looks like a flayed angel, like something out of Hell."

Elizabeth-san's smile grew a bit mysterious then, and less warm. "His path and yours lead to the same place, Arisato-sama. He seeks to affect a great change in people, the same change that the Shadows are creating. He is your antithesis, and your goals are mutually exclusive to his. He is irrelevant where the Shadows are concerned, and your path would remain the same whether this Sakaki was present or not. But if you continue to fight the Shadows, he will be your enemy, for reasons that are his own."

"So there's no way to get around him," Arisato noted grimly. "I'm glad there's that much, at least."

"I have faith in you, Arisato-sama. Overcome this unruly foe and proceed forward!" Elizabeth-san commanded with gusto, a fierce grin on her face.

They all chuckled, the air a bit lighter now. "Thanks Elizabeth, and thank you for your time," Arisato told them, rising to his feet. "This is a lot to take in, and I will need to go over it all for now."

"You are always welcome here, my dear young man," Igor assured him. "Your friends, I must say, were more accepting of this than I expected. Ensure that you attend to your connections with them. They are invaluable. Thank you for visiting us, and please come back anytime."

"Sometime soon, Arisato-sama, Koromaru-sama," Elizabeth called.

They left the Velvet Room, and in a flash they were back in the mall.

"Strange place," Akihiko noted looking at his watch. They'd only been gone for a minute in real time.

"Very," Mitsuru replied sullenly.

Akihiko knew that look and planned to head it off before she got depressed. "Arisato, I have a job for you. I think Mitsuru needs some time off. She's been working hard lately, and it's starting to get to her."

Mitsuru gave him a blank look. "What are you talking about, Akihiko? And why are you sticking your nose in my life?"

"Because I'm your friend, Mitsuru. And as your friend, I'm telling Arisato here that he should take you out on a date."

Arisato blinked and said nothing. Mitsuru blinked and said quite a bit.

"A w-what?! Why– When– H-how did you know?"

"Arisato was asking questions before, and I saw you at the festival together," Akihiko supplied smoothly. "He's able to get day passes from the hospital and you need something to take your mind off things. It's a perfect plan."

"Why are you making this decision for us?!"

Akihiko grabbed Arisato's shoulders lightly. "I'm trusting you with this. Make sure she has a good time, all right? Plan a day and make the most of it. You haven't succeeded until she's having fun."

Arisato, to his credit, just smiled and went with the flow, nodding confidently. "I will, Senpai. Thanks."

"Don't decide this without talking to me first!" Mitsuru flared, her face indignant and almost as red as her hair.

"Sometimes that's what you need," Akihiko told her calmly. "Arisato, I'm counting on you." And before they could say anything, he turned and left, chuckling as he heard Mitsuru fuming behind him. The sound did his heart good. Now, finally, she could let things go and start moving forward with her life, and he had Arisato to thank for that.


It was late that same night when Mitsuru entered the command room, closing and locking the door behind her. She closed her eyes in the darkness, enjoying the quiet and solitude for the moment she had it. The day had been quite busy, not the least of which was because of Akihiko's comment when they'd left the Velvet Room. She'd wanted to throttle him for bringing up her relationship with Arisato like that, poking his nose where it didn't belong. This was her relationship, after all, and she didn't need anyone else interfering with it.

That Arisato had taken up the torch and held her hand after that comment, though, brought an unrestrained smile to her lips. She even giggled when she remembered how her boyfriend – it still gave her very pleasant shivers to think of Arisato like that – had set down a day and time for them to meet. "It'll be a real date this time, Senpai," he'd promised her while she was still processing how effectively Akihiko had set her up. "I'll make sure everything goes according to plan." Once she'd gotten her mental faculties back under control, she'd asked what they would be doing and how she should dress. His answer had been rather unhelpful. "You look great in everything, Senpai," he'd told her with a smile that was beginning to make her heart rate rise whenever she saw it. "I have our schedule worked out already, so don't worry about it." She wasn't worried, per se, but she did want to know where they would be going in case anything went wrong and they needed to get back to the dorm in a hurry. He'd shaken his head when she told him that and wouldn't let her get involved with the plans from that point on, no matter how much she pushed him.

Her smile widened as she leaned against the door. Her hand still felt warm where he'd held it before he had to go back to the hospital. While she was no closer to having her answers on her date with him, it felt good to have someone else make her plans for her, which was unusual since such a turn of events should have driven her insane. Not with Arisato, though. He was getting to her in completely new ways, and she was finding that she truly didn't mind.

The command room's computer chimed with an incoming call, and Mitsuru pushed her emotions to the side and prepared for work in the dead of night. "Mitsuru here," she said after she sat down and opened the connection, nodding politely to the man on the computer screen. "Hello Father."

"Things are going well, I presume?" he inquired after returning her greetings.

"As well as we can hope for," she told him. "Arisato's recovery is still progressing, but we're not sure if he will be able to fight by the next full moon. We don't want to push him too hard on the chance he makes things worse."

"I checked our files," Father began. "I've never heard of anything like what he did to himself. Even the children that Kouetsu tested and experimented on didn't show symptoms like that."

Mitsuru nodded. Father took the blame for her grandfather's crimes in public as a means of saving face, but he always referred to the man by his name when speaking to her. It was a callous gesture of disrespect in Japanese culture to do so, and Father wasn't so crude as to do it around anyone else. But with her, his contempt for the man truly shone through. "I'd be surprised if we had any precedents to go off of," she admitted. "Nothing about Arisato seems to adhere to what we know about Personas or Shadows."

"Most of what we're working off of came from Ikutsuki and his research," Father noted, leaning forward thoughtfully. "Is he hiding things from us again?"

"I don't think so," Mitsuru replied, straightening in her seat. "He has been misleading in the past and I'm still not certain I can trust him, but this isn't something he could have known about. We haven't seen any traces of internal damage with Yoshino, and I can only assume that the men Arisato fought in the alleys weren't bleeding on the inside either. This is a unique case, so we can't expect Ikutsuki to know about it. If anything, the blame lies with the engineers for letting Metis out in the first place and not having her under closer guard."

"That has been dealt with," Father told her shortly.

"That said," Mitsuru continued, confident in the soundproof room and her own scans for any bugs or microphones, "Ikutsuki is not above suspicion where the Shadows are concerned. Things are changing too much for him to have just been wrong all this time."

"I will play devil's advocate this time," Father said with a small smile, "but isn't it possible that he simply didn't know that there was more to the Shadows than what Kouetsu researched? If he wasn't looking for the same things we are, then it would make sense that he doesn't know what they are capable of, and scientists are a proud, foolish bunch on a good day."

"I would agree with that if we weren't wrong in so many ways," Mitsuru replied after a moment to collect her thoughts. "People being able to summon Personas without Evokers is something that should have been covered years ago, same as the origins and natures of the Shadows we are facing. The answers we were given before Arisato arrived made sense because we had nothing to compare them to, but now it feels like there is something else going on. There's too much that is wrong with what we were told, and if Ikutsuki is just an absent-minded researcher who somehow missed all these points, then I question if we should rely on him at all. If he's not hiding things, then he's obtuse, and we can't afford either of those things."

"That's a harsh angle to take," Father commented. "But I don't disagree. I think we should keep him at the dorm for observation, as well as to avoid changing the dynamic with the others. Otherwise you and Arisato give your reports to me while I find someone else to tell us what is going on. Unless you think we should dismiss him right now?"

Mitsuru was torn. As cold as it might have seemed, she was prepared to cut Ikutsuki from the dorm roster. His lack of answers and various secrets were becoming a liability, and as much of an asset as Aigis had become, as useful as Ikutsuki had been in the beginning, the fact that Mitsuru and her father were relegated to collecting information on the Shadows and threatening the engineers was proof in her mind that they didn't need the odd-humoured man as much as they had before. Furthermore, since she'd gotten back from her meeting with Elizabeth-san and Igor-san she'd had a feeling of impending unease. The stakes were rising beyond what they expected, and she felt like their whole team had been given the wrong impression from the beginning. Ikutsuki bore at least some of the blame for that.

On the other hand, she couldn't prove that Ikutsuki did any of this deliberately. She and Akihiko, who had been fighting this battle the longest, were only now learning about the Shadows and expanding their horizons on Personas. Everything had been going according to what she knew before, and it wasn't until Arisato arrived that the rules were proven to be mere suggestions. Could she blame Ikutsuki for not knowing the depth of the crisis they were in when she herself knew just as little? There was also the matter of the dorm dynamics. Mitsuru wouldn't have minded if Ikutsuki were replaced, and she knew that Akihiko and Shinjiro were of the same mind. But Yamagishi enjoyed the man's company, Aigis spoke to him regularly, and Takeba might see the sudden replacement of the dorm administrator as some sort of Kirijo tyranny. And finally, whatever the man's faults, he was still useful in their operations. Amada would have been left unknown if Ikutsuki hadn't investigated him, and Koromaru might not have survived without the contacts Ikutsuki possessed. Was there someone who could take his place and fit in with all of them as easily as they needed?

Mitsuru sighed. She hated having to make choices based on necessity rather than practicality. "After the Shadows are dealt with, I feel like he should be removed," she concluded. "But doing so now carries too many problems."

"That's the best choice," Father told her. "What else is there to report?"

"We met with Arisato's benefactors today," she replied. "Some people he has been in contact with for some time and neglected to talk about."

Father's eyebrows raised. "That's a problem. Perhaps a greater one than Ikutsuki, don't you think?"

"I can understand his reluctance to talk about this," she defended. "With so many peculiarities surrounding him, he worries about how the rest of the group will perceive him. He's already had altercations with Iori and Takeba over things that weren't in his control, and the similarities he has to the members of Strega bother him more than he says. Akihiko and I visited these people with him today to confirm that they weren't a threat."

Father's eyes hardened, but he leaned back in his chair. "What did you learn?"

Mitsuru recounted her meeting with Elizabeth-san and Igor-san, leaving out none of the details. Even Arisato's questions were repeated verbatim.

"Appriser," Father mused. "I've heard that epithet before. Kouetsu talked about it before he died."

"I don't remember using that word," Mitsuru told him with a frown.

"You wouldn't have. I'd taken you home by that point. I thought Kouetsu made the word up out of arrogance, but if Arisato's contacts have mentioned it, then there is something bigger at work here." Father tapped some keys on his computer. "Do you believe this man when he says that Kouetsu was truly that insignificant?"

Mitsuru let out a breath, expecting the question. "I find it very hard to believe that we've been this wrong where he is concerned, honestly. Everything we know points to him being the catalyst for the Dark Hour and the architect for the Shadows and the Lost, and Igor-san didn't offer a better explanation of why we have these things now or how they would have come to pass otherwise. However, Arisato seems to believe him and Elizabeth-san, and what they explained at other times made a great deal of sense. I'm not saying I believe them in that regard, but it is a viewpoint that might have some merit."

Father tapped the desk for a moment, his face turning grim. "If Kouetsu's research and actions were truly so minor that the Shadows would have become a threat no matter what we did, then what he did was even more inexcusable. It makes things worse, actually."

"We will have to find ways to correct this problem," Mitsuru told him, thinking of Yoshino in the hospital and what she'd said about the Kirijo Group's research.

"No," Father replied shortly. "That's not your burden to bear."

"If it is your burden, then it is also mine," Mitsuru insisted stubbornly.

"And perhaps that was our mistake," Father answered bluntly. "What this Igor told you about letting go of your familial guilt. He's not wrong. Perhaps that is something we both need to deal with."

"It is on us to fix these things and make amends for the past, Father. Who else is going to do it if we don't?"

"There comes a time when an action cannot be fixed or corrected, Mitsuru. What happened back then was not your fault, no matter what you think, and what you are doing now by fighting the Shadows is more than anyone could ask for. We have been so set on fixing these mistakes that perhaps we have been letting it determine where we are going, and you deserve better than to be in Kouetsu's shadow for the rest of your life."

Mitsuru thought of what Elizabeth-san said to her, about her being shut away and on her guard even during a casual meeting. She thought of how Shinjiro and Akihiko had argued with her about her "martyr complex" when they were younger. She recalled the times when she'd wanted to be more normal and have fun like the other girls, maybe try going out with a handsome boy who had caught her attention. Every time she'd thought those things, she walked away, thinking of the damage her name had caused and contemplating what grand gesture would make it better. "If I am in a position to help these people, then I should do so," she insisted, though her reply was weaker than usual. Igor-san's words had cut right to the core of a belief she'd held for a decade, and just the idea of moving past it felt alien to her.

"Help them for your own reasons, then," Father advised. "Do it because it is what you want to do. Don't let Kouetsu's sins change your life. You are too young for that."

"Could you do the same thing, Father?"

He sighed. "I doubt it," he admitted. "But if Igor is correct, then us burdening ourselves would only make us miserable while Kouetsu laughs at us. I will give the matter some thought if you do. Will that suffice?"

"It will, Father. Thank you."

He nodded again. "I'm going to look into Arisato's background. His parents, how they died, where he got these powers and why he seems to be at the center of all this. Since Ikutsuki is under suspicion, it will be between you and me."

"I'd appreciate it."

"Do you feel like this changes anything?" Father inquired.

"About what?"

"About everything. It sounds like Arisato has become central to this conflict. If that is the case, then you may need to take him off the combat roster or keep him under observation. Better that than him becoming a problem we can't control, don't you think?"

Mitsuru had to collect herself for a moment. She hadn't thought of that. It was a practical point given just how powerful Arisato was becoming, but the thought of curtailing him had never occurred to her. If he were put in isolation, he wouldn't be able to help the others. And she wouldn't be able to see him anymore. "I don't think that would help," she replied, heart in her throat. "Not only is Arisato an important part of the group, but Elizabeth-san insinuated that he is the best chance for us to solve this problem. Whatever direction that takes us in, I think that it is in our best interests to trust him and let him do what he has been doing so far."

Father stared at her for several moments, saying nothing.

"I also feel," she added, "that he is the best chance at getting to the truth of the Shadows. His connection with them seems to be growing. If we can understand what they are saying during the next full moon, then the answers we have been looking for might be within reach."

Her father let out a long breath before nodding. "I want you to report everything to me where he is concerned. I trust your judgment, but if he begins to become a problem or if his connection to the Shadows endangers us, then we will need to respond accordingly."

"I will," Mitsuru promised.

Father looked like he wanted to say something, but stayed silent.

Mitsuru cleared her throat and blushed. She had been thinking about how to tell him this for weeks, how she was going out with someone now and wanted Father's blessing. But her mind flailed about and gave her countless insane scenarios of how he might respond, what he might do, and what she would have to say to keep everything stable. But as much as keeping her relationship to herself might have been prudent, she didn't want to be one of those girls who saw boys behind her parents' backs. She loved Father too much for that. "There is something else I want to talk about," she began hesitantly. "Something regarding Arisato."

"Go on."

"This also involves me." She took a few breaths while her mind gave her hundreds of lines and words to use, none of which were helpful in the least. "Arisato and I have... begun a... partnership. Of sorts."

Father blinked a few times while Mitsuru buried her face in her hands. Where had that come from?! A partnership?! They weren't starting a business together, and that wasn't even how she felt about it!

"You two have been partners since you assigned him as the SEES field leader," Father noted. "Are you expanding on that?"

Mortified, Mitsuru tried again. "It's not as professional as that. And partnership isn't the right word. It's more that... well... Arisato has expressed an... interest, let's say, in me. A personal one."

Father's eye widened and he straightened in his chair. "Do you mean a romantic one, by chance?"

"Y-yes, that's right." Good lord, when was the last time she'd stuttered like that?

"He has proposed this relationship to you? Has he been out of line while doing it?"

"No! I mean, yes, he proposed it, and I have been entertaining the notion. And he hasn't been out of line. Actually, if anything, I have been... well, I wouldn't say encouraging it, but I went to him and took the first step. You might say."

Father rubbed his face, his expression obscured. "It sounds like there is a story behind this," he commented once his hands were back in front of him. "Give me the details."

"Are you sure this isn't taking you away from something?"

"I can take the time to listen to my own daughter, Mitsuru," Father informed her a bit sternly. "Especially if a boy is pursuing her romantically. Start from the beginning, and don't leave anything out."

Mitsuru took a few bracing breaths and recounted what she felt were the times when her relationship with Arisato was growing past being strictly platonic. From her question about fast food on the beach of Yakushima to their lunch dates that followed while she wore the Ajisen Ramen shirt. Her taking him out on her motorcycle to their sparring match. And finally, him asking her out to the festival and their growing closeness in the weeks that had followed. She found it was much easier when she spoke like the events were status reports: that way her words and breathing were much steadier, as much as her heart was racing.

"And how do you feel about all this?" Father tensely asked when she was done.

What a question. How did she feel about this? It was so far outside the norm of what she was used to, so different from how other boys had asked her out in the past. One phrase came to mind that best summed up her feelings, however, so she used it. "I don't dislike the time I spend with him," she told her father. "It's very easy to be around Arisato and say what's on my mind, and I am confident that he enjoys the time we spend together."

"Platonically," Father stated. "In your first dates."

Mitsuru trembled pleasantly at the word "dates." The idea of her being able to have a relationship like a normal girl was still fresh and wobbly to her, but she liked the warm rush that the implications gave her. "That's right. We're testing the waters and seeing where things go. Nothing beyond that has happened. I promise."

"I suspected as much. You'd be acting differently if things weren't going well," Father remarked.

"So..." she hedged, not sure how to word what she had in mind, "what do you think? Is this, um, acceptable?"

"What do you mean? Are you expecting me to tell you to stop?"

"I don't know what to expect," Mitsuru admitted. "This is the first time this has ever come up, isn't it?"

Father let out a long breath. "Yes, it is. And you could do worse than Arisato. He's not someone you will have to lie to or work around where the Shadows and your Persona are concerned. He also knows what your background is and hasn't tried to use it against you."

Mitsuru was lost for words for a moment. Was her father condoning her relationship? Were things actually going to go this easily for her? "Are you supporting us going out?"

"It's not my place to tell you to stop," Father noted. "You looked happy when you were talking about the dates you have been on and the time you've spent with him. That means more to me than whether or not I completely approve of him. Like I said, you can do much worse."

"I just... I thought you might object. This isn't how you and Mother got together, after all."

Father's face softened. "No, it isn't. But that's not a bad thing. If she were here, she'd tell you to do what makes you happy. She'd never let me rest if I stopped you now. If you are happy being with Arisato, truly happy and not holding back or compromising, then I trust you to do what you feel is right."

"Is it our place to do this?" Mitsuru asked quietly. "So much is depending on us, and there's so much work to do to fix what Grandfather did, and–"

"Stop," Father ordered sharply. "Don't continue that thought."

"But–"

"Not. Another. Word," he told her in a tone that allowed for no misunderstanding. "Not about Kouetsu or about his research, do you understand?"

"Yes, Father."

He sighed and massaged his temple. "You shouldn't let that weigh you down," he began softly. "I know what I've always said, and we are the best ones to fix the Dark Hour and the Shadows. But I don't want you to shut yourself away and miss out on opportunities because of him, or because of me. You're young and you have your whole life ahead of you. You deserve better than that."

"Do you think there's a chance that this might interfere with SEES?"

"I think you're both smart enough to find ways around that," Father replied with a smile. "Our family's motto. Do you remember it?"

Mitsuru nodded. "Yes. 'Two in harmony surpasses one in perfection.'"

"That's right. That's what you should aim for. No matter what harmony looks like to you or who you feel it with, it is better than trying to be perfect. If Kouetsu taught you anything, it should be that he tried to be more than human and failed. Don't think for one minute that you have to follow that road."

She let out a breath, feeling lighter and oddly out of place. This was the first time she and Father had had such an intimate talk, and she couldn't deny that she liked it. "I understand. Thank you for approving of us. I'll keep what you said in mind."

"That's all I ask." There was a chime in the corner, and Father glanced at it, annoyed, before shutting it off. "We'll have to conclude this soon."

"I understand. I have nothing else to report."

"Where are you going for your next date?" he inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Arisato hasn't told me yet. I'm meeting him and we are going from there."

"Make sure you have fun while you're together," Father instructed. "Don't carry your work with you. That will only ruin things."

Mitsuru felt a lump growing in her throat. She'd been afraid that Father would be angry or disappointed in her for taking this step forward, for doing something different. Instead, he was encouraging her and giving her advice. "I... I understand," she choked out.

Father shook his head. "I don't think you do. I suspect that I've never told you this, and that's something I've regretted until now. But your mother would want you to be happy at a time like this. Even with everything going on, she'd want you to enjoy yourself and be as normal as you can. I want that same thing, Mitsuru. You are my child and I want you to be happy. If that involves you going out with a boy, then that's what you should do. It's time you started thinking of the future, and not just where universities and the company are concerned."

Mitsuru couldn't keep the tears back, smiling shakily and chuckling even as her breath hitched and her cheeks became wet. "Okay, Dad," she whispered with love in her voice. The last time she'd called him that had before Mother died. "Okay. Let's both do that, together. Especially when all of this has been dealt with."

Father smiled then, a smile that softened the hard lines of his face. "That sounds good. If you don't mind, I'd like to hear more about what you've been up to when you have the time. No talking about Shadows or work. Just us."

"I'll make sure it's soon," Mitsuru promised, wiping at her eyes with a tissue. "I have something else to say, before you go. Something I should have said before now."

Father gestured for her to continue.

She had to dig deep for the words that had always been there, waiting to be said. Words she'd felt too awkward to say until now, and now sounded strange and beautiful as they crossed her lips. "I love you, Dad. Please don't ever forget that."

His face softened even more, and his smile made him look ten years younger. It was a smile that reached his eye and stood out amidst the soft night around them both. "I love you too, Mitsuru. I always will."


"Eager to get right to it, huh?" Shinjiro asked as he entered the kitchen and saw Yamagishi ready to start. "Have you decided what you want to make?"

"Hi Senpai. Yes, and I got the ingredients already," she told him, eyes alight and hands quivering in eagerness.

Shinjiro sighed, giving the impression of being put upon and nagged. If he were honest about it, Yamagishi was making some pretty impressive strides in her cooking. She hadn't burned any rice or melted any pots for close to a week now, and learning to use measuring spoons with the spices had solved a lot of her problems. But she wanted to learn more, and kept asking him for lessons until he conceded. He smiled to himself as he pulled his apron on. To be fair, she was better company than he was used to, but he wasn't going to tell her that. She'd get a swollen head and become unbearable if he did. "Good. What are we making?"

"Soup and agemono," she told him happily.

Shinjiro paused in grabbing a kerchief for his hair. "Agemono? You want to try deep-frying food already?"

"I had some for lunch a few days ago and the flavours were amazing. I wanted to give it a try. You know how to make it, don't you Senpai?"

Shinjiro grunted. "Yeah, and that's why I know how tricky it can be to get the flavours just right. It's not a beginner's dish if you want to make it by hand."

"I want to try it anyway," she insisted. "And if I make mistakes, I'll try again until I get it right."

Shinjiro turned so she wouldn't see the begrudging respect in his smirk. She hadn't just started getting better with cooking, but she was more resolute and determined than she had been before. She didn't flinch from him very often anymore, and Aki had said that she owed that to Arisato and the others spending time with her and pushing her outside of her boundaries. Apparently, Iori had been taking her to the arcade, and she and Takeba had been spending time with Aigis to socialize her around people. She was stepping up and stepping out and trying new things, and the experiences were making her tougher. And she needed that; being tough was the only way to stay alive in this world. "All right. We'll try agemono," he conceded. "And you're cleaning the kitchen if you screw up."

"Thanks for helping, Senpai. I really appreciate it."

Shinjiro shook his head as he stepped up next to her. "Don't get the wrong idea. If I let you do this on your own, you'll burn the dorm down and we'll be sleeping on the street. Or you'll keep trying when you get it wrong and empty out the fridge."

She smiled happily and nodded. "Of course. Thank you anyway. I wouldn't have been able to get this far without you."

Shinjiro grunted. His cheeks we were only because the burners were on. That was it. "What kind of soup do you want to make?"

"Dangojiru."

He snorted. Soup with dumplings, tofu and loads of vegetables. Of course she'd try for the hard recipes. "You're trying to run before you can even walk, you know, and you're going to end up on your face. Next time we do this, you're cooking everything on your own."

When they'd first started cooking, telling her that would have made her wilt or freak out. Now she just looked at him and nodded. "I'll make sure I learn everything I need to by then, Senpai. I'll show you that I can do it right."

He grunted. "I hope you like buying groceries then. And how many pots and pans are you going to burn?"

"Failure's the first part of getting it right," she told him firmly.

Shinjiro chuckled. She was a plucky one, and she was learning. Yeah, she'd be all right. "If you're serious about that, then show me what you can do."

She nodded, almost saluting and clicking her heels together, and bustled around with her print-outs and ingredients. Her movements were smoother than when they'd first started, and she knew where all her tools were. Knives and boards and bowls came out and soon she had vegetables the colour of a flower garden in their proper places. Most of them were cut crooked, he noted, and she glared at him when he pointed it out, but said "I'll get it right next time," before she went back to what she was doing.

For his part, Shinjiro worked on the deep frying and the seasonings. Agemono could be tricky if you wanted it to taste better than street food, and it was easy to overcook the batter and make it crumbly. "Do it over a low heat," he instructed, showing her after she set the soup broth (her second pot; the first attempt would have taken half an hour to heat up and could have fed her entire class) on the stove to boil. "That way the juices mix in with the batter and the meat stays tender. Cook it at too high a temperature and you'll sear it."

"I understand," she replied.

The rest of the preparation went over without very many problems, which almost annoyed Shinjiro. If he was going to give her shit over something, it had to be something she had done wrong. With her making fewer mistakes and taking his criticisms on the chin, him chewing her out would have made him look like an asshole, and that would have brought Aki and Mitsuru down on him. "You seem to like it here," he commented instead. "Isn't all this stuff strange?"

She blinked at him owlishly. "I'm not sure what you mean," she told him a moment later. "Why wouldn't I like it here?"

He chuckled grimly. "You're in a place where everyone has Personas. You go out at night and fight Shadows to protect people who will never know what you did for them. The family pet has a Persona and none of this is stuff you can put on a resume. Actually, what we're fighting is the sort of thing that would drive a normal person crazy. What's your secret?"

Her confused look persisted as she tilted her head. "Are you... making conversation, Senpai?"

"We need something to do while the soup simmers," he replied. "And there's still a lot you can improve on."

That seemed to be enough to get her gears turning again. "Um... right. Well, I guess I am. Nothing you've said is wrong, but I feel like if I'm with the others, I can handle it. Even when Minato-kun is hurt or when Akihiko-senpai and Junpei-kun argue over studying and test scores, this is more fun than if I was at a dorm where I couldn't talk to anyone. Or if I was back home."

"I guess," he grunted, turning to the counter when he saw her expression. He knew what was going through her head, and it was the same feeling that had been in his heart when he'd followed Aki after Miki died and the orphanage burned down: old scars from the past and sticking to the present because it was all they had. The whole team had the same feel to them, and he wondered what Yamagishi thought of when she looked to the future. Was she planning to go to college, open her own business, and treat these nights like they were just a class she had to get through? Was she learning to cook to distract herself from the present? Would she stick around with the others when their fights were over or would they all drift apart? Did she lose sleep at the idea of them screwing up and ending up as red paste in Tartarus?

He knew, like he'd always known, that this was what Mitsuru saw when she looked at them: kids who used their fucked-up backgrounds as fuel in the fight against the Shadows. The SEES members needed the outlet because otherwise they'd have to face how much they'd lost and what they'd never get back. Shinjiro believed that even Mitsuru was like that on some level, angry at losing her mother or resenting the experiments that made her into what she was, and how even with her old man still alive, it wasn't the same happy life she might have had. When Shinjiro first joined, he used to think that she was using him by giving a junkie his fix to stay normal and do as she said. He hadn't minded; he'd been glad to kick ass and take names back then. But now she seemed different. Now it felt like she honestly cared about them, and that caring so much was drawing them together and forging a team that could handle anything. Now it seemed less about doping them against reality and more about making them strong enough to move on from their pasts. Had she always been like that? Or was it because of Arisato? Maybe nothing had changed and it was just his own perspective that had changed now that he'd had some time to think about it.

Shinjiro shook his head. He was moping, and that wasn't him. There was too much to do, and he wouldn't be able to do it if he got soft and careless. Thankfully, it looked like Yamagishi would be able to handle herself soon. She'd still be hesitant, but she'd be strong for the others without letting the pain crack her. "Don't lose that," he murmured to himself, not aware he was speaking out loud.

"Don't lose what, Senpai?" she asked, turning from where she was stirring the soup.

"Hm?"

"You said not to lose something," she clarified.

Shinjiro grunted. It figured he'd get caught by thinking too hard about things. This was why he didn't do it. "I meant I have something for you that you'd better not lose or get grease all over," he told her after a moment's hesitation.

"Something to give me?"

He nodded to where his cookbook lay, dozens of recipes scribed in perfect spacing and neat, cursive writing. "The recipes you're getting are playing it safe," he told her. "My book has a lot more ideas and stuff in it. Read up on what you like and give them a try."

"You're... giving me your cookbook?!" she demanded with a shocked look, nearly dumping soup broth all over the floor. "Senpai, I can't take that! It's yours!"

"I'm not giving it to you," he told her slowly, stressing each word. "I'm going to want it back when you're done with it. But hang onto it and study up for next time. Think of it as homework."

She picked up the book like it had the answers to their next exam in it. "Are you sure, Senpai?"

"I wouldn't give it to you if I wasn't. I don't need it much anymore. Just don't break it or drop it out the window."

"Of course not! I'll make sure it's just like this when I give it back," she promised him, hugging it to her chest.

Shinjiro shrugged, hiding his smile. "That's good enough, I guess. The soup stock's ready. Let's finish this up and eat."

After that their conversation was limited to her thanking him over and over and promising to return his book in the same shape he gave it to her in. Shinjiro brushed her off and finished preparing the food and sending her after the others for lunch.

"She's getting better," Aki told him as they ate at the kitchen table. "It doesn't smell burnt anymore."

"Senpai!" Yamagishi protested from where she was talking to Mitsuru. "At least wait until I'm not here before you say that!"

"That would be the polite course of action, Akihiko," Mitsuru told them, but her lips were turned up at the corners through her reprimand.

"I don't believe that any part of this meal was burned," Aigis told them from where she was calmly eating her food. "This is a marked improvement from Fuuka-san's initial attempts."

Yamagishi pouted while Mitsuru patted her shoulder, and the others laughed.

"Feel like getting some practice in today, Shinjiro-senpai?" Iori asked after he'd raced through two plates and bowls of food. "No time like the present, right?"

Shinjiro shrugged. "I've got a few minutes, I guess. Give me fifteen."

"Will do!"

Shinjiro shook his head when Iori grabbed their practice weapons and ran up the stairs to the roof. They could practice undisturbed there, even if the footing was rough and the weather would make practice hotter than a stove's back door. "Clown," he grumbled. The others chuckled and finished their food before going their separate ways. Aigis, Yamagishi and Mitsuru headed out, talking between themselves, while Takeba went up to her room. Soon the foyer was quiet again and it was just him and Aki.

"You've been putting a lot of time into practicing with him," Aki noted as he returned from cleaning his dishes. "Seems like things are going all right between you."

Shinjiro shrugged. "He's got a lot of energy for getting his ass handed to him, and I need someone who fights with weapons as a sparring partner. It's no fun if I kick your ass all the time."

Aki smirked, clenching a hand into a fist. "I'm glad you're having fun. It's been forever since you've been this happy."

"Are you trying to be funny?"

"No. I'm serious. You belong here. Everyone's getting a lot out of you being here, and you like them even if you won't say it."

Shinjiro was about to blow Aki off, but decided against it. Aki would only take so much shit-talking before he got physical, and while Shinjiro had a mean suplex, Aki's southpaw was a match-ender. "I guess. Not sure what that says about how things were before I got here if I make that much of a difference."

"Don't be an ass. You're part of the team, and everyone sees that. It wouldn't kill you to make some friends, would it?"

Shinjiro kept quiet. Here, with no one else listening in and the calm of the dorm around them, it really did feel comfortable. Safe. Warm in a way that the alleys and ratty cots never were. It would be easy to get lulled into the group, to start letting people in and make some connections again. But should he? Was that really all right after what he'd done and the mistakes he'd made? "Hooking up with people isn't really my thing," he replied, but his heart wasn't in it.

Aki picked up on the uncertainty in his voice and pushed harder. "It doesn't need to be. You can still get a lot out of what's going on here even if you don't want to be best friends with anyone."

Shinjiro snorted and looked away, but didn't say anything.

"Come on, don't give me that," Aki told him. "When are you going to let that stuff go? You living on the streets and suffering isn't going to change anything. It won't bring Miki back, and it won't make what happened to Amada any easier."

Shinjiro looked around, making sure that they were alone. "Don't bring that up," he hissed.

"What happened back then doesn't mean you have to keep suffering," Aki insisted, leaning forward. "If you want to make up for what happened, why don't you try living a good life for them? It's a lot better than hiding in the alleys and eating crap that's going to kill you."

Shinjiro glared at his friend, but Aki glared right back, stubborn as the day they met. Their silent contest lasted for a few seconds before Shinjiro sighed. "It's not that easy."

"Tell me why."

Shinjiro shook his head. He hated talking about himself, but Aki was more than just a friend at this point. If anyone could keep their mouth shut, it was him. "I'm remembering what happened that night," he admitted. "The Shadow we were fighting. The house. Castor going crazy. I remember the screams and the blood and I'm suffocating when I wake up."

"Nightmares," Aki noted.

"They're pretty bad. It feels like I'm back there, only I can't run from it. I can't get out of it sometimes, and that makes it all way worse."

"Do you want any help? Mitsuru would help you out if you needed it, maybe get you prescriptions for something or set you up with a therapist."

The idea of talking to a shrink made him chuckle, and the thought of taking drugs was laughable at this point. "No. I don't need anything throwing me off, and other people don't need to know what we do. I doubt even Mitsuru has shrinks who can handle us or we'd have seen them by now."

Aki grunted but didn't disagree.

"Besides, sometimes the nightmares make me feel better. Like I'm paying for what happened."

"That's not how atonement works. You have to let this stuff go before it breaks you."

"Do you think that Amada coming here was fate?"

The change in subject seemed to catch Aki unprepared, but he shook his head. "Of course not. Fate's an excuse for people who've stopped trying. Why bring that up? When did you start believing in fate?"

"He developed a Persona without dying. He found his way here and got strong enough to stay here. He's lasted this long and he probably knows at least some of the truth about what happened to his mother. What are the odds of that happening all by itself?"

Aki let out a breath. "I don't think it's that unexpected. He went through the same thing we did, and he developed a Persona the same as us. The only difference is that he didn't get the chance to train with it until he got here, but the rest is just a coincidence. You could have gone anywhere else once you took off, but you chose to stay here in Tatsumi. You could have given up using your Persona, but you kept in practice. This isn't destiny. It's choice. Things turned out this way and here we are."

"You think it's that simple?"

"Yes, I do. We know what makes Persona-Users manifest their powers, and we're the ones who are in the best position to recognize them and bring them on. We can teach them and protect them instead of letting the Shadows get them. We're all just going in the same direction, so I don't think it's that strange for us to be here."

Shinjiro shook his head and looked away. "That sounds pretty crazy."

Aki shrugged. "I know. I'm still working it out in my head."

"Let me know what you come up with. I want to hear more of your crazy ideas."

"Sure. When you decide that you're done torturing yourself and actually start living your life."

"You're going to keep harping on this until I stop you, aren't you?"

"Yes. Because you don't deserve the shit that you're putting yourself through. I know it, Mitsuru knows it, and these guys here are proof that we don't have to go through this stuff alone."

These guys. Yeah, it came back to them, didn't it? Like Shinjiro figured, Aki saw their strengths and weaknesses, and rather than it dividing them, it drew them together and helped them be normal even through everything that had happened. "I guess Mitsuru learned to lead people, huh?" Shinjiro asked quietly.

Aki hummed dubiously. "I'm not sure. She's learned a lot since our first run, but I think a lot of it comes back to Arisato. He's made friends with these guys and brought them together so that they're more than the sum of their parts."

Arisato. Shinjiro snorted. Something about the kid made things feel off, like there was a conversation going on in the background but no one could make out the words. Shinjiro liked needling him and giving him crap, but the way that Yoshino lost her mind just by seeing him, and then how Metis had come after him exclusively, all said that there was something else going on. The feeling wasn't helped by Aki and Mitsuru going out for a meeting and bringing Arisato along with them, but not talking about what went on when they got back. It was hard for Shinjiro to trust someone who so easily set the hairs on the back of his neck tingling. "The newbie, huh? If you say so."

"You have a problem with him?"

"Nothing I can't manage. If he's helping your crew out this much, then what I think doesn't matter." Shinjiro looked at the clock hanging on the wall. He still needed to stretch and warm up before he sparred with Iori. "Catch you later."

"Go easy on him."

"I know. I haven't killed him yet."


"Damn, Senpai you don't ease up," Iori laughed, picking himself up from the ground and brushing at his shirt and pants. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

Shinjiro grunted and backed off a few steps. "It's easy if you know where to pick it up," he replied. "You just have to know the right people and take it seriously."

"Guess you do get intense when we're in Tartarus," Iori noted, rolling his neck. "It's pretty cool, you know."

Shinjiro shrugged and otherwise didn't reply. In Tartarus he could turn loose without hurting anyone. The others could look after themselves and if things got crazy, they knew how to react. Out in the open, though, and around normal people... He shook his head. "Whatever. Get up and let's do it again."

"Sure thing!"

As Shinjiro hefted his training axe, he held back a smile. Iori might have been the crudest and most straightforward fighter on the team, and he was easy to predict and counter against, but he could take a serious beating and keep on going. Anything that fought him would have to deal with some serious tenacity and grit, and Shinjiro could respect that. That Iori's heart was in the right place, thinking about the others even if he hid his concern behind playing video games and talking about girls, was what kept him in the ring as long as it did. Don't lose that, Shinjiro thought to himself before he darted forward and brought the axe up.

They sparred for another half hour before they called it quits, both sporting bruises and breathing hard from how intense their matches had gotten. Shinjiro shouldered his axe and was about to go back into the dorm when he noticed Iori smiling at something on his phone. The smile wasn't one he'd seen on the teen until relatively recently, so he could guess what that look was about.

Shinjiro was surprised that Yoshino hadn't talked about his involvement with Strega. Given the nature of the drugs they were dealing in and how little he'd told the others about his dealings with Sakaki and Shirato, it would have been a prime opportunity to mess with SEES's morale. But she'd been silent on the topic even though she had to have seen him when they'd captured her. Was she waiting for something? Did she have a course of action in mind? Or did she even care about those sorts of things now that she was cut off from the others? Strega had been a hard group to get a bead on when they'd first met, and now that Sakaki was on the warpath they'd gotten even harder to predict. Shinjiro would only admit it to himself, but he was glad that he was around Mitsuru and Aki again. It meant that he wouldn't have to face those two alone. "How's your girl?" he asked Iori.

Iori looked up and quickly put his phone back in his pocket. "Fine, I think. She keeps telling me to go away and to stop bothering her, but last time I brought her a new sketch book and she seemed pretty happy about it. I mean, in her own way. She's like that."

Shinjiro shook his head. Why guys got so hung up over girls who told them off was beyond him. If the girl wanted you to be around, she'd let you know and come get you herself. There was no point in poking at a bee hive when you weren't wanted. But if Iori saw being buzzed at and stung as affection, then that was up to him. It would give him a thicker skin later. "Is she allowed to have knives and forks again? Or are they sticking to spoons?" Shinjiro asked only because the hospital staff had recently caught her with a box cutter blade. How she got it in the first place, no one knew.

Iori looked away. "That's... I think she's getting better. The cuts are healing, and... I don't know. I don't get how someone could be that messed up to want to cut themselves though. That's pretty crazy."

"It's how she is," Shinjiro noted, "until they convince her to stop or just keep her in restraints 24/7. And with her healing being even better than ours, it's not like she's going to permanently scar."

"That's not the point, Senpai. There's no way that cutting yourself is normal. What the hell happened to her that she does that to herself?"

Shinjiro shrugged. He didn't bother with girls anymore so he had nothing to say on the subject, and she'd always been silent when he'd seen her before. "She probably has her reasons."

"She's not going to get any better if she doesn't get past those reasons though," Iori insisted. "Do you have any advice for getting a girl to open up about stuff like that?"

"That's not my thing. Ask Arisato or Takeba, they'd know better than I would."

Iori scratched the back of his head. "They told me that I should be careful around her in case she attacks us again, and that what she's going through is a hard thing to fix."

"Then you should listen to them. They're right."

"How's she supposed to get better then?"

Shijiro shook his head. Was this why guys sniffed after any girl they thought was closed off? Because they felt the need to protect her from whatever was bothering her? Saving her from a dragon that wasn't their place to take on? "She might not. What she's dealing with goes back to when she was younger than Amada. She went through the Kirijo experiments and had a harder time at it than Mitsuru did. She's been on the streets until now, dealing with her Persona and probably fighting off the Shadows with those guys she fights with. What do you think that does to someone? Do you think it's easy to come back from that and play nice in polite society?"

"Why would she draw and hang around the train station and look after animals if she couldn't be normal?" Iori asked doggedly. "If she was as dangerous as you're saying, then she'd be a psychopathic killer or a sadistic monster or something. But she's pretty normal when you talk to her, and she wouldn't be like that if she were crazy, would she?"

Shinjiro sighed. He hated having discussions like this, but Aki and Mitsuru had told him to be a senpai to these kids. "People aren't that simple. She might have been thinking of all the reasons that those people deserved to die, or maybe they reminded her of how no one helped her when she was being experimented on. Maybe she just likes being out in the open to lure people in and then she takes them somewhere to kill them, while animals are harmless so she doesn't have a problem with them."

"That's pretty harsh, Senpai," Iori told him a bit coldly. "She's not like that."

"You don't know that," Shinjiro shot back, glaring. "Just because she smiled at you once and you think she cared about you doesn't mean she did, unless you've forgotten how she tied you up and would have killed you if we hadn't gotten there first. The simplest answer isn't always the right one, and if you want to fix her now, you have to deal with everything she's gone through. Her fears, her scars, why she was part of Strega and why she killed Takeba's friend. That's part of who she is the same as the part of her that sketches and likes dogs, so if you're going to tackle that, you need to think it through and do more than say that you'll bear her sins for her or something equally stupid."

Iori cleared his throat and blushed, evidently having thought just that at some point.

"People aren't simple things, and she doesn't have a Persona because she had an easy life. She's been through hell, and she's killed people for it. I won't stop you if you want to keep talking to her, but don't pretend that she's an easy case to work out. She's got a lot going on and you're going to have to handle the worst of it before you can do anything."

"So... you're saying that I should keep trying. You mean that I have to do more than I have and that I have to get her to talk about that stuff to work it out, right?"

Shinjiro growled under his breath. That tenacity was showing itself again, and he knew better than to take it on head-first. Iori had already taken a bigger beating than expected and if he still had this much energy and drive, then it was better to just walk away. "Like I said, do what you like. I'm just telling it how I see it. I've got things to do, so I'm off. Don't get yourself killed."

"Thanks, Senpai. That really helped."

Shinjiro grunted. Whatever. He left the roof and was on his way through the girls' floor, about to leave the dorm and go for a walk so he could enjoy some time to himself, when he heard Takeba shouting behind her barely open door.

"Fine! Do what you like! I don't care what you do, but at least keep me out of it!"

Shinjiro glanced toward her room, then turned toward the stairs. He wasn't about to get involved in whatever was getting her knickers in a twist.

"Whatever," she continued, loud enough to be heard as he passed by. "Take better care of your phone. I don't want to get anymore calls from whoever you're sleeping with."

He took a moment to raise an eyebrow. Getting calls from strangers because someone else was handing their phone around? Yeah, that sounded bad.

She came through her door, slamming it shut behind her and standing in the hallway, trembling with her phone creaking in her clenched fist. She wasn't crying. Instead, she looked royally pissed. Before he could leave, she looked up and saw him looking at her, and she let out a breath between clenched teeth. "Did you hear any of that?"

"Nope," he told her blandly. He was about to turn and leave, but she spoke up before he could make it to the stairs.

"You had to have heard something. Fuuka and Mitsuru-senpai aren't back and I didn't close my door the whole way. How much did you hear?"

Shinjiro sighed, wishing he was back in the alleys. Life was a lot simpler when he was around punks too afraid to screw with him and girls who only wanted one thing. "You have a friend who lets people look at her contact list and you're getting calls because of it. That's where I came in."

Her eyes narrowed. "Was that all?"

"Yeah, that was all."

"Nothing else?"

"No. I don't even know who you were talking to. It's none of my business."

She scoffed. "Yeah, it isn't. This is something I don't need the Kirijo knowing about."

"So don't tell them," he advised icily, "and don't shout in your room."

"Well, if you know then Mitsuru-senpai will know too, won't she?"

Shinjiro stiffened, straightening from his usual slouch and glaring at her. Having personal problems was one thing, but he wasn't about to stand being called a lapdog. "What did you just say?"

"Mitsuru-senpai and Akihiko-senpai are why you're here, aren't they? That means you're going to tell them what you see and hear, doesn't it?"

His glare hardening, Shinjiro strode toward her, hands coming out of his pockets. Takeba backed up to the wall, looking nervous and about to bolt. He slammed his hands against the wall on either side of her, leaning in. Like she said, the girls were gone and Aigis was with them, so he wouldn't have any interruptions. Caught, she looked up at him, fear and indignation conflicting in her eyes. To her credit, she didn't cower or duck under his arms. "Take that back. Right now," he growled. "Aki and Mitsuru are my friends, but don't think that I'm on the Kirijo payroll. I do what I like and they do whatever it is they do. That's it."

Some of the fight started to go out of her as her blood cooled a bit, but she still glared at him without speaking.

"If you don't want people to know your business, then take it somewhere else. And if you're going to pick fights, pick them with someone who doesn't live here. Whatever your problem with the Kirijo is, work it so the rest of us don't have to put up with it."

"Don't go listening to people's conversations," she shot back.

"Close your door when you want to throw a fit," he told her, backing away. "Not everyone finds your shit so interesting that they're going to stop and listen."

"Screw you," she told him, standing at her full height. "Not all of us are running from our problems. Some of us still have to deal with the things we have left."

Shinjiro chuckled grimly. The girls in this place sure did speak their minds. They weren't content to be on a guy's arm and stay quiet, and that was actually a bit refreshing. "Good," he replied saying nothing else and watching as she mentally stumbled over what he'd said.

"What?"

His smile grew, and he made it look unpleasant deliberately. "I said 'good.' If you're trying to handle your problems, then it means you've still got some fight left in you."

"That's... why would you say that?"

"It threw you off, didn't it?"

She huffed, turned away and crossed her arms. "You're such a jerk."

He shrugged and turned back toward the stairs, leaving her by the wall. He made his way down the stairs to the guys' floor and was almost at the staircase when he heard her following him down. "Where're you going, Senpai?" she asked.

"Out," he grunted, going down to the foyer, putting his outdoor shoes on and hitting the streets. The crisp blue sky and strong breeze were invigorating, carrying the familiar smells of fast food stands and car exhaust. The change of the seasons made him feel a bit nostalgic, remembering the times he, Aki and Miki worked the streets for spare change and food for the other kids. He'd hated having to do it back then, but now those days were some of the most fun he'd had. The cookouts, the games, feeling like they were cheating the uncaring Japanese adoption system and the sense of being able to look after themselves without the help of the overworked adults was a pretty big rush.

He was at the corner of the street outside the dorm when he heard the dorm door open and close behind him. When he turned, he noticed Takeba at the bottom of the stairs, fighting to get her other shoe on while her cardigan was askew. She apparently wasn't done talking given how she was facing his direction, but he was done playing senpai for the day. As though he hadn't noticed her, he turned the corner and kept walking, stretching his legs and lengthening his stride. When he walked against the flow of people on the sidewalk, they found room to get out of his way, and he smiled a little on the inside. Aki and Mitsuru could play at politeness all they wanted, but sometimes making people afraid of you got much better results.

He walked two blocks before he stopped and turned to address the girl who'd been following him at a discreet distance. "Conversation's over," he growled at Takeba. "Go away."

"I'm not following you," she shot back. "We're going in the same direction and you happen to be in front of me. That's it."

"So come on up and go ahead of me," he offered, smiling darkly when she didn't move. "Thought so."

"Shut up," she told him, looking to the side.

Shinjiro kept walking, picking up Takeba's steps behind him at the same distance whether he went faster or slower. He turned the corner in a few places, knowing that the malls and restaurants were in different directions, but she stayed behind him. He sighed, the enjoyment draining away. Why did he have to put up with this? With Aki and Mitsuru and Arisato and hell, even Ikutsuki around, why were these people coming to him with their problems? He just wanted to kill Shadows and do his own thing, so why was he having to act like a properly responsible senpai?

He walked back toward the main street, Takeba still following him. When he spotted a vacant bench on the sidewalk, he lengthened his stride and headed for it. When some punk with a studded jacket and nose piercings tried to cut him off and take a seat, Shinjiro stepped in front of him and stared him down, answering his half-literate bluster with silence and a glare. It wasn't long before the guy left, swearing under this breath and strutting like he'd won the argument. Shinjiro brushed the bench off and sat on one side, crossing a leg and looking out into traffic. Several moments later, after some fidgeting, Takeba sat on the other side, not looking at him as she settled back. "So, wassup?" he asked.

"I wanted to make sure you weren't going to tell anyone about what you heard," she told him half-heartedly.

"Well, I'm not. Like I said, I don't care about your problems."

She scoffed. "You're pretty rude, you know."

"I guess."

There was a long silence, and Shinjiro leaned back to look up at the sky before he felt her shuffle over a little. "I'm sorry about what I said, Senpai," she began. "I got a call from some guy trying to pick me up, and then the argument that you heard happened, and... I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

He shrugged. "I figured as much. Whoever the friend was that he got your number from, you should ditch them. Someone like that will drag you down and give you problems."

"It's my mom," Takeba told him plainly.

That came enough from left field that Shinjiro looked at her in surprise. "It's... what?"

Takeba clenched her hands around her phone, looking at the cement but speaking clearly enough for him to hear her over the noise around them. "The guy got my number from my mom's phone. She's... well..." She sighed. "How much do you know about my past, Senpai?"

Sensing where this was going, Shinjiro shook his head. "Look, I don't care. You have your problems the same as we all do. If you're handling them, then that's fine. It's got nothing to do with me."

"But if you don't care, that means that you won't tell anyone what you know, right? Because it's not something important?"

Shinjiro looked at her, saw that she needed to talk about this and get it off her chest, and let out a disgusted groan. "I'm going to charge you for this," he replied. He didn't get up off the bench or move like he was going to leave. "Go ahead and talk."

She nodded and took a few breaths. "My dad worked for the Kirijo Group as one of their scientists. He kept some crazy hours when I was a kid, always coming home late and leaving for work early. I figured it was just how things were, because he'd always make it up to me when he had time. Reading books, helping me with homework, that sort of thing. He also threw the best birthday parties when he could make them. My mom got angry sometimes and said that he shouldn't be putting his work ahead of his family, but things were... happy, I guess. You know?"

Shinjiro shrugged. "I can't relate. My parents are dead," he told her blandly. "I never knew them."

Takeba scratched her neck and sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up."

"It's fine. I don't remember them. You were talking about your dad."

She looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "Right. So my dad worked hard and looked after me and Mom, but then the Shadows broke out and he died when their labs were destroyed."

He blinked. "You mean the breakout that happened ten years ago, right? The same lab that Yoshino and Mitsuru and Aigis were at?"

"I don't know if it was the exact same lab, but he was working on the Shadow project, yeah. That's where he died."

Shinjiro grunted, still not looking at her. "Talk about a small world. Seems like everyone's connected to those labs."

"It is a strange coincidence isn't it?"

Shinjiro couldn't tell if she was being sincere or suspicious, and he wasn't going to go digging there when he saw a chance to clear up something that had been hard to miss. "Is that why you hate Mitsuru?"

Takeba looked at him, shock on her face. "What? No, I –I don't hate her."

"Really? It sounded like you don't trust her, and even I can tell that you have your problems with her."

"I don't hate her, Senpai," she insisted. "I didn't trust her at first, and I think that the Kirijo Group knows more about this stuff than what they're telling us, but I don't hate Mitsuru-senpai."

He was skeptical. "Okay, so you don't hate her."

"I don't," she insisted. "I joined SEES to find out what happened to my dad and she was the best chance I had to get those answers. Hating her would have gotten me kicked out, and then I wouldn't know anything about the Shadows or my dad."

"She'd have told you if you asked," he told her coldly. "She went through a lot at those labs too, so it's not like she'd keep her grandfather's secrets or tell you off."

She nodded a bit weakly. "I know. I know that now, and I know that she's had a rough time and she's still fighting for all of us. It's just that I've had a lot to deal with since... since forever, it feels like."

"And that has to do with your old man?"

She took a long breath. "After Dad died, my mom started to get weird. Well, sort of weird, but maybe she had parts of her like that all the time and I just didn't notice them. She started acting like she was a teenager. Spending money, hanging out late and drinking, bringing guys home, stuff like that. It was bad enough dealing with Dad being gone, but Mom just ditched him after the funeral was over and turned into a wreck. Some of the guys she brought home were creeps who tried to sweet talk me, sometimes they'd get my number and I'd have to change it, and I couldn't even bring friends over because I didn't know what kind of scumbag would be there. She'd kick the guys out when I made a big deal about it, but the next one she brought home would be the same."

Shinjiro nodded silently. Everyone had their demons, it seemed, and Takeba's attitude made a lot more sense now; having a loving family and watching it die a slow, morbid death was a crueller punishment than finishing it off fast.

"I blamed the Kirijo Group when I was younger," she continued, still looking out at the road. "I hated them for taking Dad away and turning my mom into some compensated dating hooker. I hated how everyone praised them for building the school where the labs used to be but blamed the deaths of all their people on an accident. I hated how we had to move and how I lost friends because of Mom and everything going wrong. It felt like I was the only person who knew what had happened, like I was the only one who cared. When I met Mitsuru-senpai, I thought she'd be a snob and talk down to me or make things hard because she knew about my dad. But she wasn't. Like you said, she's been through a lot, and I can't hate her for something she didn't do. She didn't make the labs blow up, and she didn't kill my dad or make my mom into... what she is. When I heard about her grandpa, it seemed like she had it pretty bad as a kid. And then I met her dad and I was sure that her life had been hard."

Shinjiro grunted. This was positive. Takeba being mature about this stuff meant that the team wasn't going to crack over personal agendas. "So you can see her side of things. Good. Sounds like you've got it all worked out then."

Takeba shook her head, still facing the road. "Not really. What am I supposed to do with my mom? Being in the dorm means that I don't have to be around her, but she still calls and asks me to visit. She says that when she's sober, you know? And she sounds like she means it, like she can change after years of being a trainwreck. What am I supposed to say to that?"

"How should I know?"

She looked at him sideways, a sober look on her face. "I wasn't asking you, Senpai. I've been talking to myself this whole time."

Shinjiro chuckled. She was sharp. "What was your mom like before your old man died? What was she like when they met? Parents love to talk about stuff like that, don't they?"

"Hm? What does that matter?"

"It doesn't. I'm just talking out loud too."

She glared at him for a moment before looking into traffic again. "She loved him a lot," she began. "Even when she got angry at him, it was because he missed an anniversary or my birthday or something. She'd talk about how they met, how he made her feel and how she'd wait up for him to make sure he got a good night's rest. Even when I was a kid I could tell that he was a huge part of her life." Takeba's voice hardened. "Now she's spitting on all that, hooking up with whoever she wants. Some wife she turned out to be, huh?"

"Maybe that's how she copes," Shinjiro commented. "Maybe she was needy and wanted his attention, but now that he's dead she can't get her fix anymore."

That got her hackles up. "She's not a junkie, Senpai. Don't talk about her like that."

"I don't mean it like that. I'm just thinking that if your old man was that big a deal to her, then maybe she's still coping with him being dead."

"By hooking up with guys and drinking herself blind? That's crazy."

Shinjiro glanced over at her, an eyebrow raised. "Is it? Iori's old man lost all his money and scrapes around for any booze he can get now. Yamagishi's parents disowned her because she wanted to be normal and do her own thing. People aren't simple. They're complex and messy, and just because you and me can cope with the crazy shit we see doesn't mean everyone else can. Some people can't cope at all."

"You think my mom's whoring herself around because she misses my dad that much? Like this is how she handles him being gone?"

"It's not the craziest thing I've ever heard. What does she say when you ask her why she does it?"

Takeba took a long while to answer. "What do you mean?" she asked finally, a bit unsteady.

"When she's sober. You talk to her, right? Does she feed you a line of shit? Damaged parents blame their kids for their problems sometimes, or they blame society or their boss or God. What was her excuse?"

Another long silence, and then a shuddering breath. "I don't know. I asked her when I was a kid, but I gave up on her years ago. I haven't really talked to her in a long time."

"Some loving kid you are."

"Go to hell, Senpai." There wasn't any bite in her voice. She was a lot quieter than she'd been before, and she was clenching her phone again.

"Whatever." Shinjiro got up to leave. She didn't call after him again, or get up to follow.

Shinjiro let out a breath as he walked down the street, enjoying the solitude. He soaked it in for another ten minutes before turning in the direction of the shrine. He hadn't told Iori or Takeba, but this was what he'd left the dorm for in the first place. He kept walking until he heard happy barking and the familiar sound of a dog's ball hitting the ground. He went up the shrine steps and saw Ken playing with Koromaru. There were girls and other kids petting Koromaru and scratching him behind the ears, and Ken seemed to be pretty popular. Popular enough that Iori would have been jealous if he'd been there.

What Shinjiro had to say wasn't the sort of thing that kids and normal people needed to hear, so he sat down on the bench next to Ken's and waited. Like he always did, he got looks from more than a few people. Koromaru bounded over to him and licked his hand familiarly. Shinjiro scratched the dog under his chin, and Koormaru liked it enough that his rear leg kicked reflexively, but Shinjiro kept his expression cold and didn't say anything.

"Hi Shinjiro-senpai," Ken said in greeting.

The teen grunted and didn't answer.

"Oh he's not that bad," Ken assured some of the worried questions and furtive looks. "He looks worse than he is."

"You know him, Ken-kun?" one of the high school girls asked.

"Yep, we live at the same dorm. He's one of Akihiko-senpai's friends."

"When you get a minute, Amada," Shinjiro began, glancing over, "we need to talk. Alone."

"Sure thing, Senpai. It might be a while though; Koro's pretty popular."

"We don't need to keep you, Ken-kun," the girl told him, and a few of the others made similar excuses. Within a few minutes, the last of the visitors had left Amada and had given their parting pats to Koromaru. The three were alone, and Shinjiro looked around the shrine for a more discreet place to have the conversation.

"Over here," he told Amada, getting up and throwing the ball for Koromaru while Amada followed him to a less-frequented corner of the grounds.

"What's up, Senpai?" Amada asked, no hint of suspicion or fear in his eyes. He threw the ball for Koromaru once the dog brought it back and began running in circles.

"You're still having problems with your Persona," Shinjiro pointed out, getting a startled look in reply. "You're fighting with it. The rest of us don't have that problem. You're good enough to be in the field, but why aren't you talking to Mitsuru and Arisato about it?"

Amada scratched the back of his head, smiling a little. "They haven't said anything about it yet so I thought I was keeping it under control. You're pretty sharp, Senpai."

"Answer the question," Shinjiro told him. "If a Persona goes out of control, it's bad news for all of us. You're on the team because they think you're steady. If you're not, then you need to step back and be smart about it."

"Arisato-senpai would be mad if he thought I was lying to him," Amada admitted.

Shinjiro didn't like giving their illustrious leader credit, but the kid was right about this much. "He's smart enough to know what it means. You saw what happened to him when he fought Metis, right? You probably won't get off that easy. So why are you hiding it?"

"I'm only doing this until things get better, Senpai," Amada assured him. "I think I've got it figured out, and once I'm steady then I won't have to worry about my Persona going out of control."

"What if it doesn't get better? What if you choke and lose control when everyone's already fighting? Do you know how much damage that will cause?"

"I know it's a risk, but I'm getting it under control," Amada insisted. "Just a little longer and I'll be fine, so please don't tell Arisato-senpai. It was really hard to get him to trust me."

"I can see why if you're keeping things from him," Shinjiro grunted.

"It's not like that, Senpai. I'm not doing it to be difficult, but I need to do this. Screwing up on this really isn't an option for me."

Shinjiro didn't like the sound of that. "And why is that? What's so important that you're putting yourself in danger, putting everyone else in danger, to get it?"

"My mom died because of a Persona," Amada told him directly. "It destroyed part of our house and she died right next to me before I could do anything."

Shinjiro bit his tongue and clenched a hand into a fist in his pocket. Having the living, breathing reminder of that sin right in front of him made every morning a challenge. Sometimes he wanted to apologize, but what was he supposed to say? What could balance out what he'd done? "Yeah, I heard about your story from Ikutsuki."

"Did he talk about everything?"

"He mentioned your mother in detail."

"I'm talking about my dad."

"Then no, he didn't. Why?"

Amada's smile turned sad, and his eyes got a bit glassy. "Dad had a real hard time after Mom died. He was always big into his faith up to then. He went to church every Sunday, volunteered to help people and work at the food bank and that sort of thing. But when Mom died, he stopped going to church. When he did go, he'd get mad and ask the priest why she had to die and why God took her from him."

"Most Christians I know don't have that problem. They say that the person is with God and that it's something to appreciate."

"I thought the same thing, but I think it was because I kept saying that it was a demon that destroyed the house. Dad didn't believe the police when they said it was a gas explosion, and he tried saying that Mom was with God now, but when I told him what I saw, he got really angry. I think there's a better word for it but I don't know what that might be. He thought I was lying, and when I swore I wasn't and even offered to go to church to prove it, he got really scared and thought the Devil had killed Mom. And then he thought the Devil was inside of me, so he kicked me out of the house."

Shinjiro hadn't known any of this. Had the others? Did Aki and Mitsuru? "That's pretty extreme. Couldn't you go anywhere? Crash with family or friends?"

"My mom's family lives a long way north of here, and Dad told me never to speak to his brother or sisters after Mom died. Anyone from the church thought I was a Devil-child, so they wouldn't come near me. I had to live on the streets until the Kirijo Group helped me. Actually, Senpai, did you know that Amada's not my normal last name?"

"What?"

"Dad told me not to keep his last name. He told me that the Devil would find him if I called myself his son, so I took Mom's last name instead and gave that to the Kirijo people."

It took Shinjiro a few seconds to find his words just then. "That's... that's sick. You didn't deserve that."

Amada just shrugged. "I figured Mom wouldn't mind. She loved me and would have understood, but I don't blame Dad. Mom died and he was scared. Most people would be scared if they saw the things we see, wouldn't they?"

"Well if your old man thought that a Persona was the Devil, what do you think of them? We all have one, and so do you."

Amada chuckled hollowly. "Personas aren't the Devil. They're not from God either. I don't think they're evil or good, and that stuff comes from how we use them. In that case, the Persona that killed my mom was evil. If it wasn't, then it wouldn't have killed her. She never did anything wrong."

What Ken was getting to crystallized into perfect clarity just then, as did the motives driving those emotions. "So you want revenge."

"I want that Persona to pay, yes."

"That's natural, but if you focus that hard on one thing, then you're going to end up like your old man. You might not be afraid of Personas like he is, but he's still focused on only one answer to the problem."

"I know, Senpai. I know that what I'm doing is reckless, but I have to do it. I love my dad, too, even if he won't have me back, so I don't think it's a bad thing to be like him."

Shinjiro didn't have any words to say.

"That's why I want to fight, Senpai. I want to find the Persona that killed my mom. I want to be strong enough to deal with it, and even if my Persona is hard to deal with now, I'll make sure that it stays under control until I find what I'm looking for. As long as I can last that long, then it's worth the risk. But don't tell Arisato-senpai, all right? I don't think he'd understand, and I don't want to leave the dorm; I would probably have to go back to the Kirijo Group if he made me leave, and I don't want that. I can't find that Persona if I'm there. Does that make sense, Senpai?"

"I won't tell Arisato," the teen said finally. "But I'm not covering for you either. If you want your secret to stay secret, then pick up your game and make sure you've got your Persona under control."

Amada perked up at the advice. "I will, Senpai. Thanks for the advice, and sorry for dropping all this on you. I didn't think that it would be that much of a problem, but I guess I needed to say that stuff."

"Yeah, I guess. I'm heading back."

"Okay. See you tonight."

Shinjiro left the shrine in a daze, trying to process everything Amada had just said. Losing a mother was bad enough, but having his father go that crazy wasn't something Shinjiro knew before now. And it didn't seem like the sort of thing that Aki would keep from him. Ken had been keeping all that to himself this whole time, it seemed.

Shinjiro was a block away from the shrine when he stopped and leaned against the railing beside the street. What was he supposed to do? How could he make up for this? Killing Amada's mother was one thing, but he never knew that he'd effectively ruined the kid's home life by driving his old man crazy. Not one but three lives changed, permanently, because he'd lost control for a minute. And it wasn't like the kid could go back to his family with a following like that. If his aunts and uncles were religious like his old man was, then they'd call the cops on the kid before they ever let him in their house. When things were over, what kind of life was he going to have?

And how much did Amada actually know? How clear were his memories of that night? Had he gotten a good look at Castor? Had he recognized Castor as the Persona he was looking for? If he didn't, how would this affect the team when he found out? If he did, then why hadn't he done anything? How long could this even go on for?

Shinjiro stepped forward, about to go back to the dorm and think this over in his room, but a sudden, sharp pain lanced into his chest. Almost doubling over, his legs just about buckled from the agony in his torso, and Castor railed around inside of him in response to the pain. He wanted to choke it off, wanted to walk through it, but he knew that the pain would only get much worse if he didn't handle it. With a shaking hand, he reached into his pocket for the clear bottle, got one of the pills out, and swallowed it down dry. The taste was vile and Castor shrieked at him for giving in to the easy way out, but in half of a torment-laced minute, the pain died off enough for him to breathe and stand, albeit shakily.

He looked down at his hand and saw that he only had three pills left. Enough to see him through to the next full moon and maybe a little after, but after that he'd have to come up with a solution to this problem. Either he'd have to take some from Chidori, or he'd have to tell Aki and Mitsuru the truth. Much as he hated that idea, he wanted to figure something out so that this problem didn't kill him.


It wasn't often that Mitsuru could profess to being nervous about something. Nervousness, in her mind, was the sign of a lack of forward planning and experience. Exams in school were easily passed with the right amount of preparation. Social engagements were an arena in which one succeeded via knowledge and personal charm. Even operations against the Shadows could be properly conducted with the right strategies and thought processes. Even the challenging events in life could be mitigated and handled with the right approach, and she'd learned a number of methods to handle those challenges with grace and success. But her usual strategies, even her more creative ones, were failing her right now.

She stood in front of her bedroom mirror in her robe and pajamas while the contents of her entire wardrobe covered her bed, her vanity, and every other surface that wasn't the floor. She'd started the morning with a plan in mind for how she would dress for her date with Arisato, a mental roadmap that included everything, right down to which accessories to wear and whether she would use perfume. But once she opened her closet and thought of what he might want to see her in, those plans promptly abandoned her. Every top seemed like it could go with every skirt and every pair of shoes she owned, and it didn't help that most of her leisure attire consisted of clothes she couldn't remember buying. If indeed it had been her, and not the Kirijo stylist, who'd bought them in the first place.

That she was growing increasingly plagued by the questions of what colours he liked and what he might want to see her in didn't help in the slightest. Their fast-food meetings had been of a far less formal calibre than this, and she hadn't given it a second thought to dress how she had. But this was more formal, more deliberate, and thus far less cavalier or forgiving. What was she supposed to wear?

Mitsuru let out a tense breath. She planned to meet Arisato in a few hours, and now she was running behind even her most liberal schedule alternative. Her fingers threaded together as she looked around, for the sixth time, at her spread-out clothes and gave frustrated, un-ladylike huff. She was moving from uncertainty and was now getting rather frustrated.

"Mitsuru-senpai," Yamagishi suddenly called from the hallway, her voice accompanied by a knock on the door. "Are you in there? Can we come in?"

Mitsuru hesitated for a moment. We? Who else was there? Why was Yamagishi asking to come in? She tightened her robe before quietly crossing the main area of her room and opening the door. "Can I help you? I'm afraid I have plans in a few hours."

Yamagishi nodded, smiling rather widely, while Takeba, standing just behind her, replied, "We heard you and Minato-kun are going out today, so we thought we'd come by and give you some moral support."

"Do you know where you're going?" Yamagishi asked insistently, eyes bright. "How did Minato-kun ask? Actually, did he ask first or did you?"

Mitsuru stared at her comrades, blinking in surprise. "How did you know Arisato and I were meeting today?"

"Akihiko-senpai said you had a date," Takeba supplied. "He told us you might need some help."

Mitsuru's eyes narrowed and she clenched a fist so hard that her palm hurt from how deeply her nails were biting into the skin. First the proposal to Arisato, now spreading the news to Yamagishi and Takeba. She was going to have a long, detailed talk with Akihiko about his recent interference in her life. "Did he now."

Yamagishi nodded, and then her smile diminished a little. "But, Senpai... is everything okay? You're still in your pajamas. When are you meeting Minato-kun?" Her eyes widened when Mitsuru told her just how much, or little, time was left. "Wow. Um, do you need some help? With choosing an outfit or getting some opinion or something?"

Mitsuru smiled a bit wryly. "I'm not sure what would help at this point. But if you want to come in, please do. Can I get you anything?"

Yamagishi looked around the main room, clearly taken with the classy decor and the huge TV on the wall. Takeba, who had been here when she'd moved to the dorm and had referred to it as a parlour at the time, stuck her head in Mitsuru's room at her first opportunity. "Wow. Senpai, where are you going to start with all this stuff?"

"You see my conundrum," Mitsuru noted, coming up behind the shorter girl. "I thought I knew what I wanted to wear, but now I'm not sure where to start."

"We'll help you then," Yamagishi declared, scurrying into the bedroom and digging through the piled clothes like a mole into the ground. "Minato-kun won't be able to take his eyes off you when he sees you."

Mitsuru blanched a bit by how fervent her dorm mate sounded, even more when Takeba dug into a different pile and started holding up different tops and skirts for perusal. What had started off as a courtesy and whimsy was looking more like a hijacking. She hadn't expected her comrades to take to her problem with this much enthusiasm, and she was deeply thankful that she hadn't opened her underwear drawer when she'd pulled her clothes out; if anyone saw some of the things she had in there, she'd die of embarrassment. "If you have other things to do today, I won't keep you from them," she told them a bit uncertainly as they worked. "I wouldn't want to take up your time on something like this."

"It's not 'something like this,' Senpai!" Yamagishi insisted, spinning around to face her even with arms full of clothes. "You're going on a date! That's a big deal, and we want to make sure that you have the best time that you can have!"

"Bad dates can be a serious downer, especially if the guy's a total jerk," Takeba added from the side where she was picking through a pile of close-fitting slacks. "Which is one thing you won't have to worry about; even if Minato-kun is a bit crazy, he's not a pig. But the first step to having a good time is to dress up for the occasion, so let's get to it. Besides, if you have all this stuff, it would be wrong not to try some of it out, and you two could use a day off after all the crap we've been through recently."

Mitsuru chewed on her lip. This was the most open and intimate Takeba had been since she'd moved to the dorm, and the advice and familiarity was catching Mitsuru off guard, so much so that she couldn't even object to the idea of the girl giving her advice. "Um... thank you," she murmured, feeling bashful and off-guard enough to shuffle her feet a little. "If you think you can help, then I won't turn down any advice you can offer."

Yamagishi's eyes brightened even more. "Perfect! Now, where's he taking you?"

"I'm not sure," Mitsuru admitted. "He said that he would look after the arrangements. I just know when and where I'll be meeting him."

Takeba hummed thoughtfully. "That's too bad. If you're going to be inside with air conditioning, that's different than going to the park or an outside cafe or something." Then she shrugged. "That's no problem though. I'm sure there's something we can make due with what we have."

"Definitely!" Yamagishi chirped, already handing over a blouse for Mitsuru to try on.

The girls kept her busy for the better part of an hour, trying on different combinations of tops and blouses and shirts and skirts, and when one of them handed her something to try on (which she changed into behind a fold-out screen. She couldn't handle the idea of changing in front of other people, even girls she knew), the other would put away the things they had tried and keep the conversation going. The topics ranged from school, to teachers, to boys and their antics, and as Mitsuru got into the flow of what the girls were doing, she began to relax and offer her own opinions while she was changing. Takeba and Yamagishi were surprisingly easy to speak to, and in short order they were giggling and trading stories like normal schoolgirls might. Mitsuru's cheeks ached from how much she was smiling, and she found that this camaraderie, this feeling, was something she wanted to experience again.

The conversation stopped in a choked hush when she peeled a shirt up, preparing to take it off. She turned to ask the others what the problem was, but when she saw where they were looking, she sobered. The scars from where Metis's Persona had hit her, long and ragged along her ribs.

"Are you all right from those, Senpai?" Yamagishi asked quietly. "You got back to work so soon after the fight that I think we all assumed you were okay. They don't hurt, do they?"

Mitsuru smiled, trying to be reassuring. The girls had seen her in her swimsuit at Yakushima, so they knew she had several scars from the various Shadows and fights over the years. Being a Persona User, she healed almost as fast as Arisato and usually didn't scar very much. These ones looked like they were taking longer to heal, but heal they would. "I'm fine. The doctors have looked them over and made sure that I can still move and fight. Give it a few more weeks and I doubt you'll even notice them." She went behind the screen the change again.

When she returned, she noticed that the girls had laid out an ensemble for her that made her breath catch. She tried to imagine what she would look like in it, not even sure where the component parts had come from, and noticed that her hands were shaking a little when she reached out to pick it up. "This is perfect," she breathed.

"Told you," Takeba commented to Yamagishi with a smile. "It's perfect for the temperature, and you can bring a jacket along if you need to. Minato-kun's eyes are going to pop out when he sees you like this."

"I truly appreciate it," Mitsuru told them, picking up the outfit and holding it up against her body in front of the mirror. "Thank you so much."

"Seeing you happy is more than enough," Yamagishi assured her, pulling a chair into the middle of the room. "We'll get you into it, and then we'll do your hair. Yukari-san's right; Minato-kun won't be able to take his eyes off you."

"We're also going to need some earrings, at least," Takeba commented, walking toward the top drawer of a nearby clothes chest. "Maybe some bracelets too. Do you have something like that, Senpai?"

Mitsuru jolted in place before rushing up behind Takeba, clumsily flinging her hand out to stop the girl from pulling the drawer. It only slipped open a few inches before Mitsuru's weight slammed it shut, making Takeba jump. "Wh- Senpai, what the hell?!"

"Sorry, I'm sorry, but, um, my jewelry is over there," Mitsuru stumbled out, nodding toward her vanity in the corner. She could feel her face heating up, certain that she was going to be as red as her hair in no time. "This drawer is, um, there's nothing we need in it."

Yamagishi looked rather puzzled, uncertainly accepting the comment. Takeba, who had recoiled and pulled her hand back when the drawer slammed shut, looked a mix of indignant, angry, and surprised. "You scared me," the brunette told her, looking a bit cross.

"I'm sorry," Mitsuru replied, quiet and a bit bashful as she stepped aside to let Takeba by. "I overreacted. I hope I didn't catch you in the drawer."

Takeba's hackles sank down as she shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Just surprised. Sorry if I was out of turn there."

"Not at all, I just..." Mitsuru trailed off and blushed even harder. "Anyway, could we continue? I wouldn't want to keep Arisato waiting."

"Of course," Yamagishi replied, going over to the fold-out jewelry boxes while Mitsuru went back behind the screen to change, casting one more subtle glance at the drawer to make sure it was completely shut. Her mind shifted as soon as she felt the fabric against her skin, light and airy, comfortable, and still easy to move in. It felt like something her mother would wear, she realized, and the thought brought a smile to her face again.

"Wow, Senpai..." Yamagishi marvelled when Mitsuru stepped out from behind the screen. "That's beautiful."

"That's definitely a winner," Takeba added, patting the back of the chair. "Come on, let's make you look even better. We still need time for pictures."

"That's not necessary."

"Sure it is," Takeba insisted. "You look great, and you're going to look even better. That's a perfect reason for pictures."

Mitsuru was a bit surprised by the brunette's insistence, but decided to accept it as part of the experience. She turned toward her mirror as the girls played with her hair and brainstormed styles, trying different pairs of earrings as well. In almost no time, her preparations were complete. She had her hair over her eye like usual, but the excess, rather than falling down her back, was done up in a loose braid rest over her shoulder, securely tied with a red bow near the end. Two small gold earrings swayed when she moved her head, and Yamagishi had found a small bottle of perfume in the wardrobe and dabbled a bit on her. When she looked in the mirror, she couldn't believe that she'd changed so much in so short a time. But she liked the changes, and she was confident that Arisato would like them as well. The thought was enough to bring a calming, happy smile to her face.

"And... there!" Takeba announced, holding her phone up while Yamagishi giggled and did the same. "That should do for pictures, and we still have time to spare."

"I couldn't have done this without you," Mitsuru told them gratefully as she got to her feet, giving a small pirouette in the mirror. Yes this was perfect. She truly couldn't wait to see Arisato's response to her now. "Thank you both so much."

"Glad to help, Senpai," Yamagishi chirped with a smile.

"Exactly," Takeba echoed before clearing her throat. "So, uh, this might seem weird, but if you want to talk about things, like work or school or, I don't know, anything, you'd always be welcome to talk to me and Fuuka. We'd love to talk to you."

Mitsuru was so surprised by the change in subject that she couldn't respond. Apparently Yamagishi wasn't expecting the invitation either, because she blinked a bit owlishly. "That's a really nice offer, Yukari-san, but that kind of came out of nowhere."

Takeba gave a hard sigh, rubbing the back of her neck and looking away from both of them. "Yeah, I know. It's just... This was a lot of fun, the three of us doing this together. We haven't done it before, and maybe, Senpai, you won't have much time if you and Minato-kun are going out now, but if the chance comes up, I wouldn't mind doing it again. As friends, you know?"

Mitsuru took a moment to process what the brunette was saying, and had to keep her smile in check when it sank in. Takeba had been professional and perfunctory the entire time she had been in the dorm, so to hear the girl reaching across like this was an unexpected joy. Mitsuru could easily admit to being a bit envious of the ease with which Takeba navigated the world of social interactions and friendships, and she'd wanted to get to know the girl more but never knew how to do that, especially with their respective pasts getting in the way. Here was the opportunity she'd waited for, and she wasn't going to waste it. A bit awkwardly, she reached out and took Takeba's hand and squeezed a little. "I'd love that," she replied softly, "and I will definitely make time for us to do something like this again. I had a lot of fun, and I hope we can do it again soon."

Takeba's eyes widened a little before she smiled in response, bringing her other hand down to clasp Mitsuru's. "It's a deal then." She laughed a bit. "Now, with that out of the way, we should get out of here. You're going to drive Minato-kun crazy like that, and I can't wait to see him when he loses his mind."

All three laughed, and Mitsuru felt the weights of her responsibilities slip away. Like her father had said, perhaps there was something to gain by letting go and moving forward with the people around her. Perhaps this was the start of something new and wonderful. She hoped so, and couldn't wait to see where else it led her. It felt like happiness.


Minato leaned back against the pillar outside of the Screen Shot Cinema, steadying his breathing and trying not to look like he was nervous. He'd thought that he had set up his schedule properly – between his physio, appointments with the doctors, watering his new plants, and getting cleaned up and changed – to meet Mitsuru-senpai on time and maybe be a little early. Instead he'd managed to arrive more than twenty minutes early, and he'd seen four of his classmates pass by already. Some came over to chat and ask how he was doing, some just waved before moving on. He hoped, probably against any probability, that whatever rumours they made up about him weren't close to the mark.

Minato let out a tense breath and checked at his feet, making sure that the small bag he'd brought was still there. He chuckled when he thought of nervous a date was making him, given everything he'd seen and gone through in the last few months. "How normal," he dryly commented to himself.

A few minutes later a familiar pair of colours, teal and pink, came up the stairs of the Port Island Station. He didn't know what Fuuka and Yukari were doing here, but they waved and called to him as they approached.

"You're looking well, Minato-kun," Fuuka told him happily, smiling more than usual. "How are things at the hospital?"

"I should be out next week," he told them. "That's what I'm pushing for, anyway. Can't wait to be out and try your cooking again."

She giggled. "I've been practicing! Shinjiro-senpai has helped me a lot!"

"I'm looking forward to it. What are you two doing here?"

Yukari wore a cunning smile, looking a bit anticipatory and perhaps even a little smug. "We heard that you were meeting Mitsuru-senpai today, so we came along for moral support."

Minato raised an eyebrow, not about to tip his hand on just what was going on. "I appreciate the sentiment, but I'll be fine."

"Not for you," Yukari clarified, her expression staying the same. "For Senpai."

Minato's eyes narrowed, and he was about to ask what she meant when... she saw her. Mitsuru-senpai came up the steps, and Minato forgot where his thoughts were going. Instead of a skirt and blouse, or slacks and a top, she was wearing a long two-layer dress, burgundy over crisp white, with a small coat on top and a fabric tie under the bodice. Instead of her hair being loose and tumbling like usual, she'd done it up in a braid that looked incredible. The wind came up, like in a movie, and the hem of her dress flowed to the side, pulling his attention to her calves and, oddly enough, a small pair of pale shoes instead of her usual boots. She glanced at him as she approached, looking to the side and biting her lip a little. That made him notice that she'd put on make-up, red lipstick, and was even wearing a pair of gold earrings.

The rest of the station fell away. He saw no one, nothing, else but her, and he didn't know how long he stood like that. When his senses recovered enough to register everything else, she was standing in front of him while the girls looked on, smiling sincerely. "You're... beautiful, Senpai," he told her without artifice or even any preparation.

The utter lack of smoothness must have some good effect, however, because she blushed and smiled at him, now his height without her heels. "Thank you, Arisato. You're rather fetching, yourself."

Minato blushed and cleared his throat, and Yukari laughed happily. "I knew it. Totally worth it!"

"Don't tease them, Yukari-san," Fuuka commented, also grinning and bright eyed. "They look so cute together."

Senpai blushed and shifted a little, probably not used to the attention, so Minato cleared his throat. "Thanks for your help, girls. I think we can handle it from here."

Yukari smiled, eyes triumphant like she'd gotten him back for something. "All right, all right. We want stories when you guys come back."

"Have fun, Senpai!" Fuuka instructed with a wave as they left, stopping a few times to look back at them until Minato brushed them off and turned to Mitsuru-senpai.

"So much for keeping it a secret," he commented dryly. "How did they find out?"

Senpai smiled a bit coolly, her eyes sharp for a second. "Akihiko told them, said that I needed help getting ready. I'll make sure to talk to him about it the next time I see him."

Minato chuckled, wanting to make sure he was around for that particular sight.

"How are you doing?" she asked. "The hospital reports have been positive, but you seem like you're doing better."

"I am," he confirmed, stretching his arms and rolling his wrists. "I'm hoping to be out next week. I don't know if I'll be able to fight right away, but I'll be able to come back to the dorm."

"That's encouraging," Mitsuru-senpai told him, smiling and looking a bit relieved. "I hope you're not saying that just to get out earlier, however."

"Not this time. I promise. The doctors have been a lot fussier since last time, so there's no hope of that even if I did want to."

She nodded, then looked around. With her this close, he could even smell the faint, but very attractive, perfume she was wearing. "Where shall we start?"

Minato pulled two movie tickets from his pocket, handing them over. "You're into classic films, right? I found a showing I think you'll like."

She looked at the title curiously, then her eyes lit up. "C'est magnifique! I have wanted to see it for a while but... how did you know?"

"I have my ways," he replied easily. It had taken some phone calls and some guesswork when looking at the theatre listings, but it looked like his gamble had paid off. "Before we do that, there's something I wanted to give you. A memento of our first date, I guess you might say."

"You didn't have to do that," she commented, nonetheless looking quite happy as he handed her the bag he'd bribed Akihiko-senpai to bring him in the hospital. Her breath caught and one hand raised to her lips. "Oh my... they're perfect."

He'd gotten her a set of coloured glass art pieces, a small bell and a pair of dancing shoes. They caught and cast the light in various colours as they sat in her hand, perched and handled so delicately. "Glad you like them," he told her, feeling like he could add another checkmark in the "win" column.

"You clearly planned this all out," she noted, setting the glass pieces back in their boxes and carrying them in the bag he'd given her. "I got the impression that this was the first time you'd been on a date with a girl."

"It is," he affirmed. "But I haven't had anything to do in the hospital besides homework and watering the plants, so I had lots of time to work things out."

She raised an eyebrow, but then settled in next to him. "Very well then, Arisato. I'm curious about where we go from here. Lead on."

He crooked his arm so she could take it, and take it she did. The closeness made his heart trip and skip, but he went over his plans and everything he'd read up on dating to see him through. He swallowed down his nervousness and nodded toward the cinema. "Gladly, Senpai."

The movie was a classic, done in Japanese old enough to be hard to understand at times, but Mitsuru-senpai watched avidly, sometimes digging into his hand as it lay on the arm rest of the chair next to her. When she realized that she did it, she'd stroke his hand and apologize, but then do it again when the next tense scene came up. Minato just laughed and told her not to worry.

"I still feel a little bad," she told him as they left the theatre. "You're still recovering, after all."

"It's nothing," he insisted. "You were enjoying yourself, and that's all the matters. Are you hungry? I had planned for us to have some lunch now, but that can wait if you want."

"Food sounds wonderful right now. Where did you have in mind?"

Minato had read this on his phone, the tests and chances to make mistakes. He'd scribbled his plans into the margins of his notebooks, however, until he had them, and their contingencies, memorized. "This way, Senpai. I know a good place."

The restaurant, recommended by Suemitsu-senpai, was near the cinema and had few enough patrons that they were seated almost immediately. "I suspect that you have the meals planned out as well," she told him as they sat across from each other, getting bewitched stares and looks from all around, "but I would like to make a recommendation on the menu, if you don't mind."

Minato had indeed worked out a menu of things that he was sure she would like, having compiled the list over their various lunch dates, but if she wanted to give some input, then he wasn't going to complain. "Not a problem. What did you have in mind?"

She pointed to one of the stir-fry dishes, heaped with fresh vegetables. "There are a number of things in this one that help with healing injuries. Even if we're not working right now, I would feel better if you had something that would help you get better."

Minato chuckled, touched that she had put that much thought into his condition. "If that's what you'd like, Senpai, then that's what I'll have. I'm feeling fine, just so you know."

"Still," she insisted.

"As you wish," he acquiesced.

They shared a vegetable-loaded stir-fry, the sauce of which made Minato's deprived taste buds demand more, along with a variety of smaller dishes and drink, chatting about everything not-Shadow that they could.

"What got you into classical films?" Minato asked after their plates were almost empty.

Senpai smiled, looking a little nostalgic. "My mother. She took me to a screening of the original Beauty and the Beast when I was around six or seven. She loved the old black-and-white films, especially the foreign ones, and that one was the 1946 version by Jean Cocteau. She'd tell me what was happening, but most of the time she just watched. I learned to speak French after that because I wanted to know what was going on in the movie." Senpai laughed. "It sounds like a silly reason when I say it like that."

"It's not," Minato assured her. "She was important to you and your father. There's nothing silly about that, if you ask me."

"I appreciate it. What about you? How did you get into your hobbies?"

Minato shrugged. "I don't have anything personal like that, I'm afraid. I learned kendo because it helped deal with other students who wanted to pick on the short, blue-haired kid. I never learned how to cook because it wasn't necessary, and everything else I either learned from the Kirijo, or from 'Nako and the TV shows we'd watch."

"What about your postcard collection?"

He smiled, touched that she remembered such a small detail. "There is that, I suppose. I always wanted to travel and see those places, but now? I don't know if they would look the same after everything that's happened."

"Don't let things change you," she encouraged. "Even if things are hard now, they won't always be like that, and you have your whole life ahead of you."

So did she, he thought, and he hoped that she would see that before the end of this fight of theirs. "I'll remember that, Senpai. You're right, and I know that there's more to life than what's going on right now."

"I'm glad to hear it, Arisato."

They finished their meal, and he grabbed the bill before she could. "You can pay next time if you want," he told her over her objections, and when she saw he wouldn't back down, she sat back with a feigned huff, smile in place again. "Now, Senpai," he continued once he'd paid for their food, "onto the next place. I think you'll really like it, too."

She put her arm around his while they walked to Paulownia Mall, passing by groups of students who no doubt recognized them and would be talking about it before their backs were turned. But Minato didn't notice, heading toward Mandragora. When Senpai found out what it was, she immediately stiffened up and tried to pull back.

"Please, Senpai?" Minato asked, playfully tugging her along. "I really want to hear you sing."

"No," she flatly told him. "I can't sing. I've never done karaoke before."

"No one has," he said. "They still try it anyway. And it's not an open stage; no one else is going to hear you but me."

"That's plenty," she insisted.

"Please, Senpai?" he asked, putting all his charm into his words. "It would mean a lot to me if I could hear you sing, just this once. Even if you just try one song, that's all I ask."

She glared at him, but the hard look melted a moment later even when she looked away. "You're cheating," she protested a bit weakly.

"Please?" he tried again.

The fight began to go out of her until she sighed huffily, blushing a red that had nothing to do with her exertions. "One song. That's it."

He tried not to let his triumph show too much, but the look she gave him told him he wasn't doing very well. He took her inside, paid for the time, and showed her the catalogue of songs to try. She previewed a few, shutting them off as soon as she heard the singers. "I couldn't hit those notes if I tried," she told him when he asked why she was skipping through the songs.

"Try looking for something by MELL," he suggested before she used the selection as a reason to leave. "She has a lower vocal range, if that's what bothers you."

"Why do you know that? I thought you didn't listen to Japanese music."

"I don't," Minato admitted. "I've just heard some of her songs from the anime that Junpei watches, and from some of her singles on the radio. Yukari listens to her sometimes."

She looked at him skeptically, a bit put out by how he was between her and the door, but she flipped through a few more songs, found the ones she wanted, and listened to them a couple times before raising the microphone.

Minato was surprised by the low, smooth vocals Senpai produced. She wavered a little, and it was clear that she was reading the lyrics from the screen instead of from memory or her own composition, but for a beginner, her voice flowed around her. He didn't say anything, didn't dare interrupt as she gained in confidence and projected her voice better when no commentary or jeering came. Too soon, the song ended, and Minato applauded when she turned around to look at him, face aflame. "That was amazing," he assured her with as much sincerity as he could show. "That was way better than you said, Senpai."

"I haven't done that since grade school when I was seven years old," she admitted. "I can't believe how rusty I am."

"I couldn't tell. Honestly. Can you do another?"

She looked at him, incredulous. "One wasn't enough?"

"I was so surprised that I missed some of it. I'll listen closer this time, I promise."

She curled into herself a little. "You're doing this on purpose," she told him, almost whining.

"Because you have a beautiful singing voice, Senpai," he told, moving up next to her so he could look her in the eye. "Just one more, and then if you want to leave we can. It's been well worth it already."

She looked to the side, but straightened noticeably. "Flatterer," she accused him. "Do you practice those lines on the other girls?"

"If I do, it's always with you in mind," he tossed back, and she laughed.

"You really are impossible." She stepped over to the computer to try a different song, a slower one, and cleared her throat as he went back to his seat. When she began singing this time, the rust was mostly broken off and the words came easier. Her tones varied more and it felt like she was getting into the song far beyond what her reluctance suggested.

As she stood there in her dress, illuminated by the lights of the karaoke studio and singing for him, he was struck again by how striking she looked. She was as beautiful as she always was, but her stiffness had softened as she gracefully went through the song, line by line. The red of her hair perfectly went with her dress, and she looked like a stage singer at a piano bar, singing her heart out with tinkering strings her only companion. She looked truly happy like this, closed away from the world, and he was spellbound as he watched and listened. He couldn't think of anything except for how everything Kirijo Mitsuru filled the room. Voice, confidence, joy, the smell of her perfume and just her. It was like when they fought side by side and she summoned Penthesilea: this was a pure, undiluted facet of who she was, and all he could do was watch.

It was more than half an hour later when she put the microphone down and looked over at him, smiling and sweating a bit. "It's been forever since I've done that," she told him, taking a seat across from him. "I'm glad I did. I thought I'd lost my voice years ago."

"Did your mother sing to you?" he asked, not ready to leave and let the world see her again. "Is there where it comes from?"

"My mother sang, but it was Father who encouraged me to take choir and singing in school. He always said that I had it in me to sing if I tried hard enough, but I've never done solos like this."

Her father? That was a surprise. But then again, Minato thought, if anyone could be called hard to pin down and understand, it would be Kirijo-san.

"I trust you feel got your money's worth this time?" she asked.

"I got a bargain," he told her honestly, smiling. "Promise me we'll do this again."

"Maybe," she told him in a tone that sounded more like his Senpai. "It's starting to get late, so perhaps we should start going back to the dorm."

"Of course." He led her back to the mall, reaching over to hold her hand as they walked.

"Are you not afraid of what it means if other people think we're going out, Arisato?"

"Whatever comes up, I'll manage," he promised her. "I don't feel like hiding how I feel."

She gave a glad hum in reply, and they idly chatted as they walked. When they were halfway there, Minato began to slow down his stride. This was the first date he'd ever had with a girl he was serious about and he didn't want it to end. He didn't want to go back to the hospital with its sterile rooms and bland food and nurses who only talked about the latest chick-flicks and serial TV shows. Seeing Mitsuru-senpai next to him, her dress tugging in the wind and the smile on her lips, made him want to get as much time in with her before he had to go back.

"Is anything wrong?" she asked, noticing that his pace had slowed.

Minato bit back what he wanted to say. Telling her that he wanted to come back to the dorm and not be at the hospital would have sounded like whining, and not only would his dignity not accept that, but he didn't want to end their date on a negative note. He looked around, searching for an excuse, and then realized where they were. A flash of inspiration struck and, before he could think it through, he went with it. "I was hoping we could go to the park for a while," he told her as smoothly as he could. "It's been a wonderful day, and it would be nice to end it on a high note someplace nice."

She smiled, nodding in agreement. "Very well. Do you have something in mind?"

He reached out and gently took her hand. "I do, as a matter of fact. Come with me." He led her down the street and into the small park, rich with greenery and the smell of leaves, only a few blocks from the dorm. Because of the hour and the season, there was a fair amount of foot traffic in the area, but he spied a private little area off the paved path.

"It's beautiful," she noted, looking up at the rich leaf coverage and leaning back as the shade cut the light and heat out. With the noise from the nearby road, it was easy to ignore the other people around them.

Minato was content to watch her expressions change, the quiet glow of happiness and the lack of concerns and problems weighing her down as had been happening lately. It made his sore muscles and twinges of pain completely worth it, and he wasn't quite done pushing his luck yet. "You know," he drawled a little, stepping in closer to her so she could more clearly hear what he hoped was a low, suave voice, "usually dates end with a kiss. For the really good dates, it's pretty much mandatory."

She looked over at him, startled and blushing, but then her expression changed before he could capitalize on her surprise. She faced him, only opened her eyes to about three-quarters wide, and asked in an equally quiet, low and husky voice. "Would you consider this an especially good date then, Arisato?"

The way she dragged his name out like that made his breath catch. Instead of getting embarrassed like he expected, she was turning his own game back against him. He felt the urge to back off before things escalated, but then brushed the thought aside. He'd provoked this change and he wasn't going to fold without seeing the cards. "I'd say it's been a very good date, Mitsuru-san," he replied, taking his special liberties with her name. "I'd love to have another one just as good after we deal with the Shadow, in fact. The sooner the better."

She smiled and hummed to herself. "That sounds quite agreeable. But on the topic of a kiss..." She stepped up to him, closer than friends or acquaintances would, and leaned over to him. His breath stopped at the look in her eye and the scent of all things her, so close that it was, once again, all he could feel. Her hand, both soft and hard from her calluses, reached up to gently stroke his left cheek, and when he leaned into the touch, she moved to his right cheek and kissed him. The jolt he felt at the touch of her lips ran through every vein in his body like electricity through circuits, tingling right to the ends of his fingers and toes. He could feel her, dress and all, press lightly against him and his hands came up to rest on her hips and side, trembling at the effect she was having on him. "Does that qualify as a satisfactory kiss?" she asked in a murmur that went to his head like a drug.

"That's perfect," he got out. It seemed that, rather than only being the inexperienced rich girl and the kick-ass fighter, Kirijo Mitsuru had some aggressive sides to her, and he couldn't wait to see what other facets she had to her.

She chuckled, moving up against him and wrapping her arms around him, the warmth of her body making his front tingle again. His hands continued from where they were until he was returning her embrace, breathing her in as their surroundings grew more and more distant. "Thank you for a wonderful day, Arisato," she breathed, quiet enough that he almost didn't hear her.

"Any day, any time," he returned, tightening his arms a little as she quietly, happily, sighed.

For that moment, together, under the green canopy and summer sun, with only each other and no one else around, all was right with the world.

Author's Note: So, what was your favourite part? Igor and Elizabeth? Shinjiro? Or the sappy parts? Whichever one it was, send me a review and let me know; I love hearing from my readers.