Notes:

Sorry for the wait, I was wrapped up in studying for my GRE last week! Thank goodness that's over with! Now, back to the story...


The last two floors of Sana-chan's area in the TV world were not much different than the previous few. In what felt like no time at all, they were running up to the top floor to meet her shadow. Miusagi was glad he had become skilled with a sword, because his persona's thunderstorm was doing absolutely nothing against Sana-chan's shadow. Teddie's ice spells were a little better, but it was Nanako's dark spells that were getting them through it. Miusagi's heart nearly broke when Sana-chan's shadow kept taunting her about her parents not wanting her, and her sister not being around enough to even matter to her life. He knew she had it rough, but hearing the shadow's perspective made it seem much more lonely for her. He had done all he could over the years to fill in some of those gaps in her life. Maybe I need to try harder in the future, he thought, as he stabbed her shadow with his sword again.

When the battle was over, Sanae approached her shadow. She pushed her straight, dark hair out of her eyes and sniffled a little before speaking. "I'm sorry… I know we've been alone a lot. And I did sometimes wonder why mom and dad left us like they did. Sis, she tries hard, but it's been tough raising me on her own when someone should have been raising us both. But, I understand how you feel, because you're… me." Her shadow began to fade and twinkle, a blue card shimmering into her hand. She looked up at it. "Mikumari," she whispered, glimpsing the word Empress before the card vanished and she fell to the floor. Miusagi was quick to pick her up and help her stand.

"Come on, Sana-chan, it's time to go home now," he murmured softly.

"Miusagi-kun? Why are you? I don't remember…"

Nanako got on her other side so they could help her walk to the exit. "It's alright, now," she said. "We won't let anything else happen to you."

Sanae nodded. She wasn't sure what to think. Wasn't that Nanako Dojima? What was the star of the track team doing here of all places, and with Miusagi, too? She was too tired to figure it out, so she said nothing, even as they climbed through a TV and landed inside Junes. "Come on," Miusagi said. "Let's get you home."


A few days later, Sanae was feeling better, and she joined the others at the food court. She had some serious questions about what exactly had happened to her. She wanted to get mad and she had no idea why, but Nanako-senpai was being really nice to her, and the strange boy Teddie gave her a pair of teal glasses like the others had been wearing, and Miusagi was just… Miusagi. He was always exactly what she needed at any given time. Her temper cooled considerably long before she spoke. "I need to know everything. Please tell me what happened to me?" she pleaded. The other kids told her the whole story, several times, slowly, until she somewhat understood. "I want… can I join you? I got one of these persona things, right? So I can help."

"Sanae -" Miusagi began, but Nanako cut him off.

"Of course you can," Nanako said with a genuine smile. "We would love to have you."

"It's dangerous," Miusagi stated.

"Yes", Nanako replied, "for all of us."

Sanae turned to face him. "I'm doing this. You'll help me, right?" All Miusagi could do was nod. Sana-chan always got whatever she wanted from him.


The next afternoon, Miusagi was hanging out at the textile shop. He had become a regular at Kanji and Naoto's house in the evenings, and still found himself walking to the shop most days after school to see what was going on. He was feeling more like himself since Sana-chan had been rescued. Maybe even more like himself than he had ever felt before accepting his persona. That was a weird fact that he wasn't sure how to feel about yet.

"Hey, so what do your glasses look like?" Kanji asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"What? Glasses?"

"Don't give me that, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The ones Ted made you!"

"O-Oh… right." Miusagi pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket and handed them to Kanji.

Kanji blinked. They were exactly like his, only smaller. He burst into laughter. "Ha! I should've known," he said, still cracking up.

"You're weird, " Miusagi said with a frown. He sure has been carefree lately, he thought.

"You wanna see mine? Wait," Kanji replied, still choking on his laughter. He walked to his desk and opened the top drawer, pulling out a pair of sunglasses.

"They're… exactly the same. Just bigger," Miusagi said with surprise when Kanji handed him the glasses. After a moment, he frowned. "Does Teddie just think of me as some miniature version of you or something?"

Kanji shrugged. "You never know with Ted. Hey, how's Sana-chan doing?"

"Fine," Miusagi said with a sigh. "She officially joined the group. I have no idea how I'm supposed to keep her safe when it's like she just walked out in front of a moving train that I'm not fast enough to stop."

Kanji looked serious, but his eyes danced. "Some girls don't need that kind of protecting," he said.

"Right, well, your wife carries a gun. Sanae is not like that," Miusagi muttered.

"When we first got our powers, well when Naoto did, I used to try and protect her during fights. She was so small… I just couldn't imagine her being safe in there on her own. So I begged senpai to always send us in on the same team. I drove her absolutely crazy at first, jumping in between her and the shadows, making sure she hardly had to do anything. Wasn't long before she told me to cut the crap," Kanji said with another laugh. "What I'm trying to say is, give her a chance. You're all new to this, and she might be really good at it."

"I guess you have a point," Miusagi said with another sigh. Then he grinned. "So what's for dinner tonight, mister?"

Kanji rolled his eyes. "A knuckle sandwich if you don't cut that mister crap already!" he replied with a smile.