Joker quietly opened the door and looked around.
"Okay. There's a lot and I mean A lot of shadows here." Joker turned around and talked back to his teammates.
After trekking throughout the castle, finding various treasures, fighting a lot of enemies, wrecking their brains against puzzles, they are now at the entrance to the towers where they think is the treasure is hidden.
"Well, let's just beat the crap out of them." Skull said with an arrogant grin.
"No. Joker, Look at it again. Maybe we can find some route where we don't need to fight." Mona said.
"Mona's right." Their newest member, Panther said, agreeing with their resident cat. 'Although it's nearly a week since Takamaki-san joined.', "Remember last time, when you got knocked out in a fight? We had to carry you the whole way!" Panther shouted towards skull.
"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry!?"
"How about 26 times because that's how much calories I'd lost?"
"Then you should've thanked me!"
"*Sigh*" Joker turned back around towards the entrance. "Well, I think we can able to breakthrough with one or two battles if we are careful."
"Good. But, we should probably return after we find the next safe house."
"Yeah.", 'The infiltration is a little slow because…let's just face it. All four of them are dumber than a dum-dum.' "Okay, let's all go at once on my count." Joker said to the other who all nods back in response. "I'm going to count Three to one-"
"Okay!" Skull suddenly shouted and ran towards the opening.
"Wait, Skull! It's to! To!" Joker also ran after the blonde boy.
"Ahh, That idiots, Panther. Come on, we have to go after them.", "Yeah, What!?"
"Heads up!" Skull shouted to a nearby shadow. "Hm- *Bam!*" Before he hit him with his pipe, blowing him to the wall.
"Intruders!" Which alerts all nearby shadows.
"Come on! Cap!" Skull summoned his persona and also took out his shotgun. "Give them hell!" The bullets and the cannon balls rained hell over the shadows.
"Hahhaha. That's what I call an cool entrance." While shouting that, the boy didn't notice the shadow bringing down his sword.
"Di-", "Jack Frost!" Even before the shadow can finish boasting it got frozen solid.
"Huh?" Skull turned around to see a black robbed boy jumping towards the ice statue.
"Cleave!" Joker kicked the shadow, clearly knocking the upper part which then evaporated into black smoke.
"Hell yeah!"
"Why do you have to always run headfirst into troubles?"
"Doesn't matter. You will come after me, right?"
"No, I will not come after you next time." Joker shouted pointing at the boy. "…And that was a lie. Come, Arsene!"
"Captain Kidd!" Both Joker and Skull turned around back to back facing directly at the shadows.
"Zio!", "Eiha!"
When the battlefield got messy with lighting falling down and darkness dancing around, Mona and Panther was in a battle of their own.
"I hope you like this!" Panther wrapped her whip around one of the shadow, pulled it up and slammed it towards Mona. "Mona!"
"You got it, Lucky Punch!" *Bam* The fist, a literal fist, hit the shadow face directly knocking it towards the sky. "I'm not done yet! Magaru!" The persona Zorro pointed his rapier towards the group of shadows whom them suddenly got stuck in a mini tornado.
"Panther, show them what you got."
"Course I will." Panther climbed up to the roof using her whip skillfully. As she reached the top, she covered her mask which then flared up in blue flame. "Dance, Carmen." A tall, Tall pink woman in black and red dress appeared behind her and snapped her whip towards a heart faced tiny man. "~Agi~" Tiny spark of flame flew towards the raging tornado which them connected and become a large, big fire twister.
"Fusion attack, Baby!" Morgana shouted snapping his paws.
…*BAM!* Joker pulled the trigger at the shadow's face. "You get a bullet." Which then disappeared with a hole in its head. *Bam* "You also get a bullet." *Bam, Bam!* "You two also get a bullet." Joker then ducked towards the ground when a skull masked boy appeared behind him with a shotgun. "And You get a Big Bullet! *Pham!*"
"Nice!" Joker and Skull highfived, celebrating. "That's what I call teamwo-*Whoosh!*" Suddenly they both got blown away by a heavy wind. "Ah! My back!" Joker shouted caressing his back as it got hit with the hall. He then looked up to see a wing knight looking angrily at them two. "Oh, I know that one."
"I will make sure you die in agony!" The shadow shouted and-"I knew it! It's those light spears!" Joker shouted as he ran madly towards the backside.
"*Huff, Huuf*" Joker looked towards the voice to see that Skull was also running.
"Wait, Why are we running in the same direction!?"
"Huh!? You're the one who followed me!"
"No! You're the one who followed me!"
"No! You're the one who followed me!"
"No! You're the one who fol-Huh?" Joker put up his hand. "Wait, why is it hot here?"
"Hm? You're right. It's hot." They then suddenly heard Mona shouting loudly at them.
"You Fools! Run back! RUN BACK!"
"Hm?", "Hm?"
"Oops, Joker! Look out!" Two of them turned towards Panther's voice…to see a fire tornado right in front of them.
"BAHHHH!", "Pyro Jack! Pyro Jack!", "Wait, I can't change personas!", "Sucks to be you then!" Joker easily vaulted towards the fire twister "Wahhhhh!"-while Skull got roped into it together with shadows.
"Whoopsie." Joker rolled effortlessly to the side. "Whew, That was clos-*Zwap*" when Suddenly one of the light spears hit his hand.
….
"Uh oh." *Zip, zipppp* , "Ahhh! AaHahaha! Ahhhh! Oh my god, that hurts!"
"Joker!" Mona ran towards the boy. "Zorro. Heal him! Fast!"
"Why is a hurricane here!?" Skull shouted loudly in a painful voice.
Panther watched all of these from the roof with her hand covering her mouth.
….
"Tee Hee?"
"I'm gonna kill you, Panther!"
"Joker!"
"Ahhh, Mona-san. There's a river. Should I cross it? It looks soooo peaceful."
"You are hallucinating! Why!? Your persona isn't even weak to light!"
"If I die, please tell Sakura-san that his curry is good."
"How!? He can't understan-Don't close your eyes! Joker!"
x-x
And So!…
"*Gulp, Gulp* , Huhhhh. Damn that was messy." Skull said drinking down the whole bottle.
Akira stared at the medicine bottle in his hand.
"Well, whose fault is that!?" Mona shouted at the boy.
Akira stared at the medicine bottle in hand.
"Not me! It was panther.", "Hey!", "Don't you dare blame lady Ann."
Akira stared at the medicine bottle in hand.
"Whatever." Skull opened up another bottle and prepared to drink when-
"Hey, I've been thinking,", "Hm?", Everyone turned towards Joker. "They say all medicines have side effects. So, If we drink too much of these, wouldn't we get overdosed?"
….
"And a lot these are painkillers, isn't that like you know…Addicting?"
….
"Why would you Say that After I guzzled down like Fifty of these!?"
"You only have eight, Skull. Don't overreact." Panther said with a sigh.
"That's still a lot! We've only been here for like two hours! Oh My god! I feel like Crap! Do I have to tell my mother!? Do I have to quit school!? Do I Have To Go To An Intervention!?"
"Skull, don't shout! We're still in the enemy territory." Morgana said hitting the boy's head. "Besides, One eye wouldn't give us if these medicines are dangerous."
"Yeah, I don't think senpai would willingly give us if they are drugs…Although now that I said it out loud, I'm having a lot of second thoughts."
"Oh my god! We're gonna get shake down!"
"Joker, Why!?" Panther shouted at him.
Although Minato didn't come with him, he at least did what they asked.
'Of course, it's also a week since Arisato-senpai said he's not coming with them.' They are doing fine but if they believe what Morgana is saying, if they have a support, they won't have to be going back this much and getting beaten up this much.
'And they tried. There was even a lot of begging involved.'
x-x
Days Ago…
"I'm not coming with you guys."
"Huuhh!?", "What do you mean you're not coming with us!?" Morgana asked, jumping down from the table.
"It means exactly what it sounds like. I'm not sure which part's tripping you up."
"Why though!?"
"Uhhhh, No reason."
"There's supposed to be a reason."
"Is there?"
"Senpai, why?" Akira asked also standing up. "I mean we were doing fine. We already went there three times. Why now? Is that because we asked you to buy medicines? Are you really that scared of that doctor?"
"Yeah. I'm outright terrified of her." Minato admitted pretty fast. "But, that's not the reason. I'm still gonna give you the meds…icine. Medicines."
"Wait, is this because of Ryuji?" Morgana asked again. "We now have Lady Ann. So, we don't need another fighter. We just need supports like you."
"Hey, Are you trying to kick me out!?"
"No. Keep him. He may miss a lot for now, but over time…well, he will still keep missing. But, if he hit, it will be devastating."
"Oh, Gee. Thanks, Arisato."
Ann turned to Ryuji with a small smile. "Wow, you don't really get smarter."
"So, anyway, that's what I'm going to tell you. And don't worry about money. I have enough to buy meds…let's just change it to potions.…Nah, that's worse." Minato turned around.
"Wait, wait, Senpai." Ann suddenly blocked his path. "You can't quit."
"I just did."
….
"You can't quit.", "Ahhh." Minato walked past her. "Wait, wait, please wait!" Ann pulled him back. 'She's not gonna slap me, right?'
"What?"
"Uhhhh." Ann nervously looked around. "Okay, I will admit. I'm just acting tough yesterday. I'm scared being burned. Please, senpai!"
"No. You shouldn't be scared of that. You are resistant to fire. What you should be scare for is getting froze." Minato shuddered. "It's a…well, you don't want that to happen."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better!?"
"Don't worry. You guys are going to be fine. Just believe in yourself." Minato said with a small smile. "…Not too much though. Don't believe in yourself too much. You gonna get killed if you do that."
"Again, Are you trying to make me feel better!?" Ann shouted in surprise.
"Ahh, Kurusu, A moment."
"Huh?" Akira looked around to the others before walking over to him. "Yeah."
"Umm." Minato put his hand on the boy's shoulders turned around to the opposite of others.
"Wait, One eye, what are yo-", "Sakamoto, Shut up."
"Wha-what's wrong, Senpai?" Akira asked, nervously looking at him.
"I have something to say to you."
"Yo-you are coming back?"
"No.", "Ahhh.", "Hey, have you been seeing weird things?"
Akira looked at him in puzzle. "…I'm gonna need a little bit more clarification."
"Okay, Have you noticed time being stopped and strange cards?"
"Yeah! I wa-" Minato pulled him back down.
"Great. No need to shout."
"Ahh, yes. Uhh, the first was when I was talking with you and Sakamoto-san. And with Sakamoto-san at the palace. And yesterday, it was with Takamaki-san."
"Great." Minato nodded. "Great. Great."
"D-do you know what are those?"
Minato looked down towards the ground before turning back up. "I'm gonna lecture you about something called Social Links."
"Social what?"
x-x
Present
'And that's what he's been doing this past week.'
Social Links. If he has to believe Minato then they are what would be his source of strength. Basically, there's a rank that signifies how close you are with that someone. And the higher your rank, the closer you are with that someone and the better your control over the arcana that the persona governs.
He's not sure what the last part is or means but 'It's great.' He doesn't know if they become close or not but he will know whether he said something wrong or not and he can be sure he said something wrong if there's no card.
"Joker, tell me. Am I showing withdrawal symptoms?"
"…I'm not sure what that is." He became better friends with Ryuji.
"I'm pretty sure it's called denial." He bonded with Morgana on making tools.
"I can't believe I'm saying this but Skull's right. It's withdrawal." Although for some reason, there was no rank up with Ann.
'But, I'm sure it will work out in the end.'
"Okay. Joker, did you bring coffee?"
"Oh." True. He's also closer to Sojiro and he even start to teach him how to make coffee. "Yeah. I did." Joker took out the thermos. "Right her-*Drippppp…Drip*"
….
"Do I need to wash my clothes?"
"I don't think you need to." Looks like one of the light attack hit the thermos.
"Ahh, Man. I was trying to end this today." Skull whined loudly.
"Well, we plan to get out after this but Lady Ann, Are you still good to go?"
"I'm fine."
"Of course You're fine." Skull said sarcastically.
"I'm also fine too." Joker said dumping the thermos to the ground. "Should we keep going?"
"Well, why not? I can feel the treasure from here."
And they are now near their goal.
'Although I wish senpai is here though…Hm, I wonder why there's no social link with him?'
x-x
The Next day
"Eieeergh!" Minato held his chest in pain. "Ahhhhrgh…eiiieeeee."
"What's wrong?"
"You don't understand my pain." Minato said back fast and covered his mouth. "Oh my God."
"You've been like this the whole week. Are you sure you shouldn't be seeing a doctor?"
"Yeah, Right. It's her fault that I'm like this in the first place.", 'In exchange for getting medicine, he had to do something back for her. 'A favor if you will…Although he never would have agreed if he knew this would happen.'
"I have to drink her experimental medicine today too and it is reacting violently with my stomach.'
"Isn't that illegal? Doctors can't test experimental medicines on their patients."
"True…But she also disclosed my private informations to others. So, it is no big deal." Minato said in a sour face.
"You should change doctors, Arisato."
"Hmm, Maybe." Minato said with a scoff. "What happened to calling me Makoto-sama?"
"Huh? Why would I call you that?"
"What? You are still angry about me leaving you in the park alone?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh, You decided to forget it. Great."
"Arisato. I don't get a lick of what you're tal-", "Greggghhhh!", "Oh my god!"
Minato covered his mouth and tried to swallow down the bile. "Yeah. Shouldn't have Caroline cooking for breakfast. Ahhhhrgh." Minato held his chest again.
"You already have breakfast?"
"You were there with me. Why are you asking stupid questions? And Why did I believe her pretty lies like it's not dangerous and I will give you discounts?" Minato said holding his head.
"…Arisato, you are starting to make me mad."
"Ahhhrgh, What has that vixen done to me, Margaret!?"
"What?"
"What?" Minato turned to his companion.
….
The two stared at each other in confusion.
….
"*Blink, Blink*"
….
Instead of meeting with disapproval, he met with confusion. Instead of meeting with golden pretty eyes, he met with glaring red eyes. And instead of meeting with platinum white beautiful hair, he met with hair darker than black.
….
"Wait…You are not Margaret."
"Who's Margaret?" The girl asked him with an exasperated face.
….
"*Blink, Blink*…Niijima? Is that you?"
"What are you saying, Of course it's m-" "What are you doing here?", "Why are you shouti-", "What Are you doing here!?", "Ag-again, why are you shout-", "WHAT ARE you doing here!?"
Makoto looked at him weirdly. "I don't know why but I just imagined a horse face on your head."
"Where did you come from?" Minato asked, looking around the place.
"What are you talking about? We were walking together right from the station." Makoto said, still staring at him weirdly.
"What?" Minato stared at her with his now usual deadpan face.
….
"What?"
"Ah. Forget about it." Makoto walked past ahead.
"Wait, wait, wait. What?" Minato ran after her. "How did I…not know about this?"
"What do you mean you don't know about this? It's been almost a week." Makoto said with exasperated face then continued back walking, leaving the boy dumbfounded.
….
"It's been?" Minato ran after the girl again. "Wait. What do you mean it's been a week?"
"Huh!?" Makoto once again, stopped and turned back to him. "What are you asking? After the…" Makoto looked away. "After the incident, you were acting…weird, so I was…worried." Makoto said, blushing. "Well, So! I asked you if I could company you until you stopped being weird and You said 'Yes'."
"I did?"
"And let me tell you," Makoto said, pointing accusingly at him. "It hasn't been easy for me. You were always late so, I have to always wait you at the station. And now I was always late to school lik-", "Wait." Minato suddenly stopped her.
"Are you sure it was me who said that?"
"What-wait?" Makoto looked at him weirdly. "You didn't realize it was me? For whole six days!?"
"It has been six days?"
"Wha-Uhhh, I mean." Makoto fumfered around in front of him. "Wait, That's why your voice changed? Because you realized it was me?"
"My voice changed?"
"You were speaking with your mouth full opened and entire sentences before! But now, it goes back to your usual throaty…lethargic…Stupid Voice!" Makoto spatted those words.
Minato thought back to what he was saying before. "Well, yeah." Minato shrugged. "I mean…if I knew it's you, I would never speak like that."
….
Makoto stared at him with wide eyes which soon change to anger. "Wow, thank you for letting me know." Makoto angrily said and shoved something to him.
'Ahhhrgh.' Minato carefully swallowed down. "What?" Makoto turned around walked ahead. Minato looked at what Makoto shoved towards him.
'A burger?', "Wait, Did I make you carry this?…or did I buy you this?" Makoto didn't turned back and angrily kept walking stomping her feet.
"Niijima, wait."
"Heyyyy."
"I might have short-term amnesia."
"Niijimaaa."
"…I can't run."
x-x
'The nerve of him.' Makoto took of her shoes.
'The nerve of him.' She then put it in the locker and 'The nerve of him!' *Bam* violently closed the door.
Makoto then walked to her class completely ignoring the weird stares. 'Sis is right. You can't trust no men. First, the rumors about the teachers and then him and then Him and Him!'
"What is this?", "Oh, there's a lot."
Makoto turned around on the corner. 'Hmph, he thought he can do whatever he wants just because he has pretty face.…Sure. His face is pretty but that doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants!'
Makoto kept walking ignoring her surroundings. 'And he didn't even say thank you after I walked him to school everyday and listened to him jabber about….
"So, Pixie's weakness is fire. And it's zio for silky. And also zio plus curse for Archangel. For Baphelgor, it's fire again. And…"
'What the hell is that!? Is he crazy!? And Who's Margaret? Who's Justine? And Who's Caroline!? And who's the other guy that keeps taking his headphones out from his bag!?'
"Are the rumors true?", "No way.", "What do they mean 'steal his heart'?"
"Stop talking in the hallway! Go back to your class. The homeroom's about to start!" Makoto suddenly shouted at the everyone around her.
"Oh. S-Sorry. Niijima-san." The students dispersed at her one shout.
'What are they even talkin-Hm?' Makoto then noticed something on the board…and walls and seemingly everywhere.
"What?" Makoto walked over to take a better look at it.
….
"What is this?" It seemed to be directed at Kamoshida. 'Wait, are the rumors true? Is he really abusing his students?'
Makoto thought back carefully. 'Is this connected to what happened with Suzu-'
"Why didn't you wait me?"
"Ah!" Makoto yelped and suddenly kicked to the back of her. *Bap* which hit the boy's head, head on.
….
'Ahhh. Ah…Ahhhhhhh' Makoto shakily pulled her leg back down. 'It hurts! Oh my god! It hurts! What did I just hit!?'
"You probably…shouldn't have done that without warning."
Makoto looked up to see Minato's kinda apologetic face.
"Arisato!?"
"Next time. Give me a heads up."
"What's wrong with your bod-what's wrong with your hea-I mea-WHAT is Wrong with you!?"
"Why are you shouting at…" Minato then saw what she's looking before. "Oh." Minato ripped one of the card from the wall.
"He-hey, what are you doing?"
….
"Ohhhh." Minato made a weird face reading the card.
"Do you know about something about this, Arisato?" Makoto asked also reading the card again on Minato's hand.
"…."
"It seems like a prank but…." Makoto looked around. "This is a lot of effort for a prank."
"…."
"Hey, are you ignoring m-", "Niijima, shut up.", "What?" Makoto looked at the boy with wide eyes.
"Ah" Minato said looking away.
"Oh, I get it. So, now that you realize it's me, you also start being condescending towards me too, Huh!?"
"Um, N-no. I'm not being condescending.…I'm just thinking of important things that your brain couldn't comprehend."
….
Minato instantly looked up from the card. "That… came out wrong. I mean, I'm, Uhhh, just thinking of things that you wouldn't understan-…I'll just go." Minato slowly walked towards the stairs.
….
Makoto stood there for moment.
"What is Wrong with you!?"
x-x
As Minato reached the second floor, unlike from his floor, he saw that there are a lot of students muttering loudly in the hallways.
'Wow, they really went overboard.' There seems to be no shortages of 'Calling cards'.
'And there's the culprits.' Minato walked towards Akira and the others who seems to talking among themselves in a corner.
As he walked, someone brushed past him.
"Arisato, are you in this too?"
Minato tightened his hold on his chest as he heard the voice. 'Don't look back. Don't look back. Don't look back.'
"Hmph! Doesn't matter." Slowly the voice walked away.
Minato released his hand.
….
"Ah, senpai."
"Ah!" Minato suddenly looked up. "Oh…Kurusu."
Akira called out to him as both Ryuji and Ann also looked towards him.
'Well, this is kinda awkward.' The last time he had a conversation with Akira…Didn't exactly go well.
x-x
Five days ago…
Minato sat on the bench eating a sandwich.
"So, so. Akira is the joker.", "…From the cards."
"*Munch*"
"And Ryuji is Skull!", "…From the mask."
"Uh huh."
"And I am Mona!", "From Morgan-"
"Kurusu, stop narrating.", "S-sorry."
"*Sigh* , So why are you telling me something I already knew?"
"No. No. Senpai. That's not why we are here." Akira said before he could stand up and ran away. "You see, we need to also have a code name for Takamaki-san too."
"Why?"
"And we are kinda having a little trouble with that."
"Well, I for one, think she should be kitty." Morgana said proudly.
"That's just lazy."
"And Ryuji said catwoman."
"That's just a ripoff."
"And I thought it should be sexy ca-", "Okay, shut up." Minato stopped Akira from talking any further. "…And you are telling me this because?"
"Well, Lady Ann thinks we all have terrible naming sense. And she wanted us to ask you."
"Now that's just lazy.", "Uh, senpai. You've already said that.", "I know but I'm also lazy."
Minato thought for a moment…before he noticed someone. "Oh, Okumura-san?" Minato called out to a girl in a pink cardigan and she then walked towards them.
"What's wrong, Arisat-Oh, you had complany. Ahh." Haru nervously looked at Akira. "Umm, Hello. I'm Haru Okumu-"
"Yeah, no." Minato stood up. "Okumura-san, what do you think of Takamaki from second year?"
"Huh?" Both the girl and the boy and the cat looked at him weirdly. Before suddenly the girl asked him back in accusatory tone. "An-and, why do you want to know that?"
"No reason."
"Oh. Then it's okay." Haru said, beaming a smile. 'Why can't everyone be like this kid?'
"What do I think of her? Hmmm." Haru thought to herself. "I heard a lot of rumors about her but I don't think they are just baseless rumors. She looks so kind. And so brave." Haru said with a gentle smile. "And she always wears red tights to school. It's like she doesn't care what anyone thinks. She's ferocious you know like 'Gaaarrrghhhh'."
….
Haru made some kind of…impression.
….
"Is that…is that a shark?"
"No!" Haru said pouting. "It's a, ummm, Oh it's a panther, you know. Because she's ferocious. Gaaaarrrrghhhhh!"
….
'That's…a panther?' Minato stared confusedly at the girl.
"Panther, Huh?" Akira said nodding with a smile. "Morgana-san, what do you think?"
"I like it too. It suits Lady Ann so much."
"I know, right?"
Haru moved closer to him. "Um, Arisato-san, who's he talking to?"
"…Yeah. That's why I don't want you to introduce to him."
x-x
Present
'I misjudged. It totally backfired. He's now attached to me more than before.'
"Senpai!" Akira waved at him with a dumb smile as Minato slowly walked over to them.
"I suppose…this is you guys, then." Minato pointed at the 'Calling cards' on the wall. "A little overboard, don't you think?"
"Nah. There's no such thing as overboard for being cool." Ryuji said with smug face.
"…*Sigh* , I suspected it was you." Minato took out the card from his pocket. "You made a typo."
"What!?"
"Sir Suguru Kamoshida, the atter bastard of lust,…Atter?"
"What!?" Ryuji suddenly looked at the other cards on the wall. "Uh, Damn!"
"And From the phantom thieves of hearts… What's that?"
"Y-you know, Because w-we are gonna steal his heart." Akira said awkwardly.
"…No, you're not."
"I thought it was cool." Ann said with a smile.
"Of course. It is cool, Lady Ann." Morgana faithfully agreed.
"No. It's not." Minato faithfully disagreed. "It sounds obnoxious."
"Okay. You can throw big words all you want but it worked. Everyone's talking about it now." Ryuji said exasperatedly.
"What about…Him?"
"I think it worked." Akira said. "We kinda saw his shadow self."
"Yeah. It was really creepy." Ann said shuddering.
"Anyway," Morgana said, looking at him. "This calling card would only worked for today. So, we're going af-*Ding dong* , Oh."
"…You guys should go."
"Yeah, Uhh. See you, Senpai."
"Later, Dude."
"You should also go. Niijima-senpai would be angry with you." Ann said to him.
"…That ship's already sailed."
"You guys go ahead. I have something to discuss with one eye." Morgana said, jumping out of Akira's bag.
"Uh! Hey, what if somebody see you?" Ryuji asked, alarmed.
"Relax. Everyone is in the class."
"That means he should also be in class." Ann said pointing at him.
"…Yeah. I'll be fine."
Akira and the other reluctantly went to their own classrooms leaving Only Minato and Morgana left in the hallway.
….
"I can't believe you let Sakamoto do that."
"He was insistent." Morgana said. "Besides, I told you, you should make it and you said no."
"Yeahhh."
"Anyway, do you have it?""
Minato opened up his bag and took out a sheet of paper. "Here."
"Hold it up for me."
"*Sigh*" Minato kneeled down. "Now?"
Morgana carefully read the paper. "Wow, this is really helpful, one eye."
"…."
"And you know all of this by my descriptions. This is really…helpful." Although he didn't go with the wildcard to the palace, he tried to help in other ways. That included buying them…meds, weapons and listing the shadows weakness by Morgana's descriptions. He asked Margaret for help. Some personas are kinda different from his time. So, he and Margaret discussed it a lot on their walks to school.
….
Minato looked up.
….
'Crap.'
"Thanks, one eye."
"…Oh, Don't worry. Although I kinda feel like a walking…cheat sheet."
"You can just come with us, you know."
"Yeahhhh. No. It's less dangerous if I don't come with you."
"If you're worried about them getting a big head, then you are getting worried over nothing. Ryuji already thinks he can take on all enemies alone."
"Good for him." Minato stood up and rolled up the paper.
"Oh and, the fusion attack worked. Lady Ann really gave them hell." Morgana said with a smirk.
"It's not a fusion attack. It's just a gimmick." Minato kneeled back down and put the paper in Morgana's tag.
"What about the supplies?"
"I will give you in person when you guys are going. It would be bad if Kurusu's found with it."
"Oh. Good call."
"…I'll be going now." With that, Minato turned around.
"Hey."
"Hm?"
"I know you've already helped us a great deal and now with this information, we can get more experiences before stealing the treasure but…"
"…."
"Think about it, Okay? That battle will not be easy. And we do really need your help."
"I'm not coming."
"Still, think about it. Both for Lady Ann and Akira."
"…."
"I'm counting on you to make the right deci-", "Bleeeerrrrrrrghhhhh!" Minato suddenly opened the window and…did.
"*Hnngh, Huff*" Minato wiped his mouth with his sleeves.
"Eww."
"There…there we go."
x-x
The Time of the Heist
Joker entered the throne room and looked around. *Whip…Whip*
"It's clear."
"You sure?" Panther asked skeptically. "Wasn't this place crawling with shadows yesterday?"
"Yeah. And they also left the door open." Skull said checking the big door. "What an idiot. The whole place is full of shadows but he left no guards on the treasure."
"The castle must be undermanned." Mona said walking inside. "Doesn't matter though. We only need to take the treasure to change the heart. So, let's get going." Mona leaded them towards the treasure room.
"Sooooo, Senpai didn't come." Panther asked.
"Yeah. I think so."
"What!?" Joker blurted out in surprise. "Did you ask him?"
"Yeah?"
"Profusely?"
"Yeah, Kinda."
"Did you tell exactly what I told you to say?"
"…Well. No.", "That's why! So, it's Mona's fault. Let's all blame Mona." Joker said back to others.
"What!? No! It's not my fault. It's just one eye being…One eye."
"Weird?"
"Yes, Panther. Weird." Mona answered back.
"Relax." Surprisingly, Skull was the one who said that. "He's probably waiting for the right time. Probably trying to make a cool entrance." Skull said looking around the place. "Besides, who needs a selfish jerk! I'm here. We can handle ourselves just fine."
"Pfft! What a stupid thing to say, Skull."
"Yeah, how stupid are you?"
"What!? I thought we were all going to blame Mona." Skull exasperatedly said back to Joker and Panther.
"Okay. Enough of this." Mona said as they reached the door. "If the calling card worked right, the treasure should be right-" Mona opened the door. "-…Here!"
"Woahhhhh." All three of them looked at the big jeweled crown that sat atop the mountain of gold.
"Uhhhhhhh.", "It's so…pretty.", "Now we are talking."
"Treasure…."
"How the hell does someone like Kamoshida have something this…pretty?" Panther asked.
"Yeah, Panther. Ask the talking cat. I'm sure he will explain to you how that makes sense." Skull said back. "Oww." And Panther shoved him.
"Treasure!" Suddenly Mona meowed loudly and jumped facefirst to the crown. "Meeeeowwwwww!" Mona purred loudly and rubbed himself on the treasure.
"What in the…." Skull and Panther watched Mona in confusion.
"MEOWWW…Mrowww."
"Oh no. It's happening." The two of them turned to Joker who's looking at the scene with horror. "We gave Mona too much pills."
"Stop saying that!"
x-x
Minato stood alone on an empty alleyway, watching the place which before was occupied by three teenagers and a cat.
"Are you sure you should let them go alone?" Margaret said as she walked to the side of him.
Minato also turned towards the woman.
"I mean you and my guest also did this alone but this time, the wildcard has to go in alone without our aid. So, I think you sho-Ah." Minato suddenly grabbed her mouth. *Squish…Squish*
….
"Makoto-sama, what are you doing?"
"…Just making sure it is you."
"It is me." Margaret swatted his hand down. "If this is because of you mistook that human girl for me, then Mind you, we also are dumb founded."
"Then maybe you should tell me. We lived together. " Minato said sighing. "What if I said something wrong or sensitive?"
"You did on your second day."
"…Oh."
"Ahem." Margaret coughed. "The girl was waiting at the train station. And as you are…you, you were late. And the girl asked whether or not you're always late because you are eating your breakfast. While you said this and I quote, 'HaHa, Messiah doesn't have to eat breakfast. Gods don't even don't need to eat in the first place'."
Minato stared at the woman. "That sounds like me bu-"
"Then you proceeded to line up in establishment called 'Big Bang Burger'."
….
"Sure. That also sounds like me bu-"
"From that day forth, the girl always waited you with human food called 'Chicken burger' in hand. Although today is the first time she gave you that food."
"Oh…I see." Minato said nodding. "…That sounds kinda nic-"
"No, It's not. It's annoying to watch." Margaret said with her eyes twitching.
"…What?", "Uh?" Minato said with a tilt of his head. "…You also want to eat that too? I still haven't eaten it yet. If you want t-" Minato opened his bag.
"Unbelievable. You are dumber than my guest."
Minato put back his burger. "Okay, If you have enough insulting me, go away. I still have to wait for the wildcard." Minato leaned on the wall.
"Oh and did you see Morgana?"
"Yes. His arcana seems to be jumbled. I sensed both essence of hope, despair and multitude of human psyches and also something I'm not sure of." Margaret thought to herself.
"So…It's a shadow then."
"Based on observations, I have to agree."
Minato looked down to the ground. "…Should I kill him?"
"No. It's not necessary. Shadows gaining conscience is while rare, not entirely unheard of. And also not the first time it had happened."
"Ryoji is different. He's a god…Avatar of god but still a god."
"No, I'm not talking about Ryoji-sama." Margaret shook her head. "I'm talking about Teddie."
"…?"
"Teddie was also a rare case of a shadow gaining conscience. But he also, like 'Morgana' here, achieved a social link with my guest and proved to be a valuable ally."
Minato stared at her.
….
"That bear is real?"
"Excuse me?"
"I thought Elizabeth was jokin-No. You know what, that doesn't matter. If he's harmless then that's all I need to know." Minato said back. "If you have nothing more to say then you may go. I don't want wildcard to see you and me together."
"He's just went in. I'm sure we have plent-"
"No. I won't risk it. We can discuss it later. Go away."
….
Time went on.
"…*Sigh* ,Why are you still here?" Minato asked with one eye open.
"I still have something to say to you."
"Really?"
"Makoto-sama," Margaret said looking him in the eye. "I have something to apologize to you."
"Hm?"
x-x
Castle of Lust
"Eiieeee…Ahhh." Joker said painfully. "If I knew I would have to carry a golden crown in my high school, I tried harder in my P.E classes."
"Ahhhh." Skull also whined in. "I don't want to alarm anyone but my leg is making sounds that no legs should be making."
"Oh, stop complaining." Panther also said from the back. "I'm also carrying this with my noodles arms. So, shut up or…Just Shut Up!"
"Lady An-I mean, Panther is right!" Mona said loudly. "Boys shouldn't be complaining about doing manual labor."
"Maybe you should also help then." Joker said.
"How do I even help? I can't even scratch the middle of my head."
"Then get down from the crown!" Skull shouted angrily.
"Fine! No need to yell at me!" Mona grudgingly got down. "I helped them in every ways and this is the thanks I get? How utterl-"
"Go! Go! Kamoshida, Go!"
"Hm? Lady Ann, Did you say some-Gwaga!" *Bam!*
"Woah! Hey, wha-wha-" Joker and Skull lost their footing as something struck Mona's head and the crown and they both fell face first on the floo-"Ah!" and Panther also fell on Joker.
"What the f*ck!?" As the crown rolled down the stairs, Skull tried to grab it back and someone grabbed it faster than him and the crown magically shrunk as the person jumped up towards the back.
"Oww, My head-Wait?" Mona looked towards the back. "Lady Ann!?"
"What?" Joker and Panther got up from the ground. "Huh?" Joker looked at Panther then…
"So, You thieves try to steal my treasure!? This is my right! This is the core of this world! I will not let anyone have this!" Kamoshida declared with the now head size crown in his hand…and someone that looked exactly like Takamaki on the other hand…who's wearing some kind of 'No, It's really just underwears.'
"Wait, Why is there someone that looked lik-", "Panther!?", "Skull! No, It's not me." Panther shouted, confused.
"No, It's not Lady Ann." Mona said getting up. "It's just a cheap imitation of Lady Ann made by Kamoshida 's desires."
"Oh…Like the prisoners from before." Joker said back.
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
….
"Stop staring at her, you perverts!" Panther shoved Joker towards Skull.
"What did I do?"
"Kamoshida, this is low even for you!" Ann shouted, pointing at Kamoshida who's smirking arrogantly.
"Low? No. No. No. You should be honored. Out of every female students, the fact that King Kamoshida chose you mean you should be honored."
"No! It's disgusting!" Ann shouted again. "If you think you can get away with whatever you want, then you're wrong. We're going to prove it!"
"Panther's right." Skull said. "The days your trying to Abuse your own students is over! We're going to make you confess all of your crimes with your own shithole."
"Confess? What's there to confess!?" Kamoshida face contorted in anger. "Everyone knew what I'm doing. And they were also the ones who kept it secret. Adults who want to share in my accomplishments, students who have the drive to become winners! They willingly protect me because I am the only with Results!"
"You're just a selfish bastard, thinking you're better than everyone else. Guys like you, who walked over other people lives with no ounce of compassion are just scums. You're no better than anyone else!" Joker said glaring at the man.
"You're wrong! Only pathetic trash like you who can't accept my greatness remained trash. Everyone's lives become better because of me. Your school only exist because of me. And I'm the one who trained this school trash team. I earned all of this and more!"
"Then What's about Shiho!? What has she done to you!? Was her life 'better' because of you!?""
"That was not my fault!" Kamoshida loudly shouted turning towards the girl. "Even though I'm in front of her, she flirted around with that transfer student! Nobody defied me and get away with it!"
Panther stared at Kamoshida who's panting loudly. "…I didn't believe my eyes when I saw that place first. So, It's true. You didn't even think of her as a human being. Was Shiho…." Panther started to shake in anger. "Was my friend just a Plaything to you!?" Panther summoned her persona.
"I earned this! I earned all of this!"
"I will make sure you burned in hell, Kamoshida!"
"Wait, Panther, Don't kill hi-", "Lady Ann, don't!"
"Carmen!" A fire ball appeared on the persona's hand and then threw it towards Kamoshida who's laughing creepily.
"You trash can't go against me. I'm the King of Shujin. Everyone lives and dies by my word!" Kamoshida body started to morph. "And I am the demon who rules thi-" *Boom!* Panther's attack hit the man making a large explosion.
"No." Mona watched in terror. 'One eye told me not to, definitely not to kill the shadow self.'
"Takamaki, Why did you do that!?" Skull moved over to the girl. "Arisato told you not to kill him!"
"Don't try and lecture me, Sakamoto! You Don't Understand!"
"You are not only one who's suffered because of that bastar-", "Skull, Panther, Wait." Joker stopped the two of them. "What?"
Mona drew his weapon. "Get ready, guys. This will not be an easy battle."
Skull and Panther looked forward. "Wha….", "No way."
As the smoke cleared, instead of a charred corpse, there stood a large pink demon. "That's true. I'm Kamoshida." The monster's large purple tongue dangled around it's mouth. "I'm the King." On it's grotesque four arms, there's a knife, fork, a whip and a wine cup with Imitation Ann in it. "I'm the King." The jeweled crown sat atop it's head and a golden trophy situated in front of it. "I AM THE KING KAMOSHIDA!"
Joker quickly pulled his mask off. "Arsene!" The persona spread its wing and protected all of them from the wind that shadow Kamoshida's shout made.
"Holy shit." Skull said in surprise looking at the monster.
"What is that thing?" Panther said in horror.
"This is his shadow's true form." Mona said as a sweat rolled down. 'This is getting really dangerous.'
"Come…Come…My little lambs." Saliva dripped down from the monster's mouth. "The King is calling." The monster's large yellow eyes focus on them. "It's time to feast!"
"Run!" Joker jumped to the side with Panther while Ryuji and Mona also did the same as the monster suddenly pounced towards them.
"GyAhAHaHahaH!" The monster suddenly took a sharp turn and ran towards them again. "You can't escape me, Takamaki!" To the two of them in fact.
"Panther. Try to run, I will hold him back." Joker said dropping down the girl.
"Joker, Wait!", 'Don't fail me now, my overly frail body.' Joker ran towards the approaching monster. "Archangel!"
Joker summoned his kinda nemesis and charged up a attack. "Cleave!" Both the Angel and him swung down their words.
"Gahhh!" The monster cried out in pain as pink liquid flowed down from the cuts. "Get out my sight!" The monster tried to stab him with the knife but his persona blocked the attack.
"Tch! Ahhh." Not easily though. "K-kouha!" The offending spears appeared behind the persona and…
"Hu-Ahhhh!" Went on to stab the monster's eyes.
'Okay, I can do this. I can wi-', "I'm gonna kill you!", "Huh, Slim-" Before he could change into another persona, the whip struck him right towards the wall.
"Joker!" Panther tried to run after her but she was blocked by the shadow. "Um!?"
The shadow Kamoshida stared at her with it's creepy eyes with saliva dripping down from its mouth.
"Hnnnnnnnggghhhh…."
"Ahhh…Ahh." The girl is too stunned to move.
"Hnngh, Hnnngh. I'm going to lick you clea-", "Lunge!" Skull rammed the shadow together with his persona in tow which blown it away.
"Sk-skull?"
"What are you spacing out for?" Skull shouted at the girl before turning towards the monster that is already getting up. "Just stay down and never get up! Zio!"
"Panther!" Mona ran over to the girl. "Are you okay?"
"Ye-yeah."
"If you can't fight, get out of here." Skull shouted loudly at the girl.
"No, I can fight." Panther trailed off. "I…I just…."
"Don't worry about it. You can healed us from behind." Mona said.
"Ri-right. Joker! We need to get Joker!"
"SaKAmOTo!" The monster suddenly shouted, shaking the whole building.
"Woah! Mona, get her out of here!"
"B-but,", "Now!"
"Come, Lady Ann." The girl tried to protest but Mona pulled her hand and tried to run.
And before long the monster jumped towards Skull.
"Cap!" The persona's hook blocked the overhead strike.
"I have enough of your interfering!" Kamoshida moved around and slapped him away.
"Shit!" He went flying towards the stairs, losing his weapon in the process. "Dammit!" And before he can back up, Kamoshida jumped to the top of him with his spit dripping on him.
"Yuck! That's disgusting!"
"I tolerated your behavior because I want you out as an example for what happened when anyone defied me." The monster moved its head closer to him. "But I can just find another. And This time…" It aimed the knife towards Skull's chest. "This time, it won't just be your legs!" *Stab!*
"AHHHHHHH!"
"HAhAhaHhAA!" Kamoshida stabbed the boy again and again. "Scream! Scream loude-*Bam!*" A fireball hit Kamoshida's face.
"What?" Both the boy and shadow turned around to see Panther with her persona behind. "TaKamAkI?"
"I'm sorry, Ryuji. Sorry for abandoning you." Panther glared back up the shadow. "Hey, You bastard! Don't you dare hurt my friend!" Panther threw fireballs after fireballs at the monster.
"Gahhhhh!", "Takamaki…Woahh!" Skull got pulled out of the monster. "Joker-EiTetetetete! Do-don't pull so hard!"
"Sorry. And just a heads up. Don't look down your chest." Joker said apologetically.
"Why? What's wrong with my ch-Oh My God!"
"I told you not to look!"
"Why is my chest Hollow!?"
"It's psyche something and something something psyche. D-don't worry. I will heal you. Silky, please." Joker summoned another persona.
"*Bam!* , *Bamm!* Ahhh!" Kamoshida cried out in pain. "Why!? Why won't you accept my love!?"
"Nobody sane would, You scum! Carmen!" The fire assault renewed again.
"Panther, Be mindful of your fatigue. One eye only gave us a little."
"I don't care! Agi!"
"Ahhh!"
"This is for every students you've tortured!" Ann throw another. "This is for every female students you've harassed!" And another. "This is for hurting Ryuji! And this is for hurting Senpai!" And another. "And this is for leaking Kurusu records!" Panther wrapped her whip around the monster's head and slammed it down.
"Ahh!" She then jumped to the air. "Mona!"
"I got your back, Lady Ann! Zorro!"
"And This Is For Shiho!" The combined attack of fire and wind exploded right in front of the monster's face, blowing it towards the wall.
"*Hnngh*" Panther panted loudly with beads of sweat rolling down on her forehead. "*Hnnnngh*"
"Woah there.", "…Sakamoto?" Skull caught her before she could fall to the floor. "You're alright?"
"Yeah. Joker fixed me up." Joker waved at them from beside before walking over to them.
"Panther, here. Try to drink it." Joker gave the girl another medicine bottle.
"No…No….", They all jerked towards the voice.
"Bullshit!" Kamoshida now sporting a lot of wounds and burned marks tried to stand up again. "I'm above everything in this castle. I'm Kamoshida! I'm the King here!"
"Give it up. Kamoshida. You've already lost." Joker said.
"You're no king. You are just sleazebag trying to take advantage of everyone." Skull said glaring at the crawling monster.
"No! I'm the King. If I'm not then Who is!?" Kamoshida crawled on the floor.
"I don't want to kill you anymore, Kamoshida. Just admit that what you did is wrong."
"No!" Kamoshida grabbed his golden trophy. "Trash like you should just accept what I demand!"
"What is he doing?" Mona said in surprise. Kamoshida stabbed his fork inside the trophy.
"I need healing!" Kamoshida ate the legs from the trophy. "More! I ain't letting you sleep tonight!"
"Wha!?" As Kamoshida ate more and more of those grotesque legs, all the wounds on his body started to heal.
"He's healing himself. We have to defeat him quick!" Joker ran over to the monster.
"Mona! Protect Panther!" Skull also ran after joker.
"HAhAhaHa!" Kamoshida turned towards while still eating. "Anyone who defied me shall suffer!"
'This is bad.' Mona searched his pockets. 'Damn it. I'm all out of salves.' Trying more battles coming here helped but It used up most of their medicines. 'Damn it!'
"Arsene!", "Captain Kidd!"
"Slaves! It's time for my killshot!"
x-x
And So…
"Ahhhh…Gah. My head." Skull slowly opened his eyes. "What on ear-Panther!?" Skull moved over to the girl. "Ah! Hey, What are you doing? Wake up! Wake up!"
The cat-masked girl didn't wake up even when he tried to shake her.
"Damn it, she's passed out.", "Pixie!" Skull turned to the voice.
Joker nimble dodged the stab. And then rolled on the monster's hand then stabbed his dagger on it's hand and dragged it out as he went for the head.
"Gahh!", "Archangel!" Joker then slashed repeatedly on the monster's face before kicking it and jumping back. "Mona!"
"Garula!" Heavy wind slashed Kamoshida's face more and Joker covered his mask which burned in blue fire before his own face is replaced by the manic smile of a demon.
"Arsene, Eiha!"
"Gahh!" Kamohsida recoiled in pain.
"Did we get him?", "Of course not!" Joker readied his gun. "Don't give him a chance to go back to that trophy." Joker and Mona shoot non stop at the monster.
Joker and Mona waited as they finished unloading all their bullets.
"Useless!" Kamoshida pounced upon them again.
"Tch, This guy is tenacious." Joker kicked away Mona. "Slime!"
"Utterly useless!" Kamoshida's knife stabbed him in the shoulders but he toughed it out. 'This is do or die.' "Arsene!" Joker's mask burned even hotter.
"Eiga!" *Bomm!* Large amount of darkness exploded right between them.
"Ahhh!", "Ah!" Joker hit the wall on his back and Kamoshida cried out in pain as he too was pushed back.
"Joker!" Mona ran over to him.
"No! Don't heal me."
"What do you mean 'don't heal me'!?"
"We need to conserve our energy. And we need to kill him fast before he can do that attack agai-"
"Hey!" Suddenly Skull ran over to them, Carrying Ann on his arms. "Panther's passed out! Is there any revival things left!?"
"Skull, You're awake? No. We are all out." Mona said grimly.
"Damn it."
"Gah!" They looked towards the voice to see Kamoshida eating from his trophy again.
"He will not die as long as that thing is here." Mona said.
"True but one of us can not hold back alone to let the other destroyed that trophy.…Wait, Skull, Can you still fight?" Joker asked the boy who's putting down Panther.
"No. I can not use spells anymore."
"Damn it.", 'If only my personas are stronger.' Joker shook his head. "We need to escape."
"No! The calling card will only be work for one day."
"I can put another." Skull said back to Mona.
"It won't have any effect. We have to beat him now. There will not be second chances."
"How!?"
"I don't know." Mona said back.
"Now, see how powerless you are?" Kamoshida slowly walked towards the group.
"Damn it." Skull cursed at the shadow, shielding Panther.
"Now listen up. This school existed because I'm around. You're the only ones who don't respect me." Kamoshida glared at them. "But, No more. After I've done with you, the only one left is that idiot and I will be the only one left standing. I will be the only one who wi-", "Ehh…Ah.", "Hm?" Both Kamoshida and all three of them turned to the voice.
"What?"
Panther opened her eyes in pain.
"Takamaki!" Skull held the girl. "You're awake? How!?"
"Oh, Shut up. Ryuji!" Panther shouted holding her head.
"Lady Ann!" Mona also ran over to the girl as Joker watched at them confusion. "What happene-Huh?" Then he felt something. Joker slowly moved his hand over to his shoulder.
'It's…it's healing.' The wound where Kamoshida stabbed him before is slowly healing itself. 'No…Not itself. Some one healed me.'
Kamoshida alarmingly looked at them. "No." before turning around. "You!?"
"…Senpai?"
"What?", "One eye?" As Panther said that everyone turned to where Kamoshida's looking to see someone leaning on the golden trophy.
"No-no, No! Don't touch it. Do you understand how much it worth!?"
Minato ignored the shadow's cries and kept writing something on the paper on his hand, he then flipped it over to the cup.
"*Sigh*" The fire flared from inside of the trophy.
"No!" The fire burned the golden trophy until it vanished into black smoke. "Arisato! Do you realize what have you done!? That was from when I won the national." Kamoshida suddenly charged towards the blue haired boy. "You think you can get away with doing such a thing!?"
Minato ignored the monster And walked over towards them.
"Senpai, Look out!"
Before the shadow could him, shards of glass materialized in front of the shadow revealing a persona.
"What!?" Orpheus swung it's harp at the monster right towards the treasure room.
"You can fight?" Mona asked in surprise.
"Now I did told you not to kill him but…." Minato said in his monotone voice. "But that doesn't mean you should let him kill you, you know?"
Minato stared them down with usual dead fish eyes.
"You son of a bitch." Skull said with wide eyes. "You son of a bitch! I knew you were trying to make a cool entrance!"
Minato looked at the boy weirdly. "What? No. I've to run up from the entrance, remember?"
"Oh right. You don't know our shortcuts." As Skull was saying, Panther suddenly stood up.
"Now, I hope you guys are happy because you ju-*Slap* , wha…Not again."
"You jerkface!" Panther shouted at his… face. "Do you understand how scared we are!?"
"…Well…no. I mean, I've just arrived here."
"We were scared a lot!"
"Senpai…" Joker walked over to him with a smile as Minato also turned towards him.
"Thank you for coming."
"Don't thank me. I just have an overly naggy and annoying Moth-sist-Wif-girlfri-…landla-…, Umm, I'm still not sure what our relationship is."
"Shut up, you werido. I don't have enough strength to deal with your weridoness." Panther said in a tired voice.
"Heh." Minato scoffed.
….
"Margaret, I've already told you. I'm not going to the palace." Minato said to the woman not looking her in the eyes.
"Why? The wildcard is going alone, without any of our help."
"He'll be fine. He has his own friends."
"Makoto-sama. While I do care for you, you shouldn't let wildcard go alone just because you are scared of your friends getting replaced by them."
"That is not why." Minato glared at the woman. "I'm not going with him because I'm more dangerous than whatever shadows he's facing."
"So, you've lost control once. You can now control it if you see it coming. Believe in yourself more."
"I believe in myself. That's why I knew I will lose control. This time there's no Chronos to get me before It all went to hell. You know better than anyone else that I'm a walking time bomb. I have enough power to wipe the entire population." Minato looked away. "The gods are right. No humans should have this much power."
"Makoto-sama. You're not in this alone! We are here. Justine, Caroline, Theodore. All of us are here!"
"That does not matter." Makoto moved closer to the woman. "You know the avatars of power can't help when the Armageddon is at your doorstep."
"True. We may be no match for the death. And we may also be powerless against the full power of the Messiah." Both the twins and Theodore came out from the back. "But, whatever titles he may hold, he is still our guest. He is still our Makoto-sama."
"…."
"No matter how annoying we may be, no matter how outrageous our requests mau be, Our guest always listen to it. So, even when you reach the deep end, Even when you decided this world is not worthy anymore of your salvations, We're sure…No. I'm sure that my Makoto-sama will listen to me."
Minato looked at the other before speaking to Margaret. "…Margaret, you are risking the world on the sanity of a crazy person."
"You were never sane…even before you've graced us with your presence. And If our master thinks that you are capable to be the Messiah of this world before, then I'm sure that you are more than capable to be the World for the wildcard."
Justine walked towards them and opened her compendium. "Our offering for the Holy Messiah." A card floated up from the book. The Fool. Although it's different from his. This is with a red colour. "You better use it well, convict."
"…Margaret, No. This is…This is not possible. And I told you I don't need to be there to help him. There are many others wa-*Slap* , Ah! Hey!"
Margaret looked at him squarely. "Makoto-sama, please be there for the wildcard…as like we, all of us, attendants, were there for you."
All of the avatars bowed. "Please, My shining one."
…
'What kind of lunatic apologize after slapping the Messiah?', "Anyway, Kurusu, I still have something to say to you." Minato said turning towards the boy. "*Sigh* , Here we go."
"Huh?" As soon as Minato said, a blue butterfly entered Akira's sight. "What?" Akira then looked around to see that time is stopped.
"Is-is this…a social link?"
"You could think of it that way."
"Um?" Akira turned to the voice to see that unlike everything around him which is fixed in time, he could see the blue haired boy looking at him with his impassive eyes as a blue butterfly is circling around him.
"Kurusu, I will be honest with you." Minato closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "What you see of me…is not all of me."
"Wh-what?" Akira looked at Minato weirdly. And in a flash, Akira could see a golden door in front of him. The door is slightly opened and he could see a white mask inside. And he doesn't know how but he could feel it glaring at him with the black empty eye socket. 'What the hell am I looking at?'
"Let's just say I'm not like you.'' Then suddenly, he could see the boy with the butterfly again. "I have my own purpose to be here and that greatly differed from whatever you have in mind."
"Se-senpai, What are you?"
"…I'm not going to answer that." Minato's lips curved into a smile. "It is not my place to say."
Akira looked at the boy in puzzle. "I-I don't…I don't get it."
"I can at least say you this though.…The world is not all it seems. There are many others things our eyes cannot see like this one." Minato pointed at world around them. "And one day, you will realize that the truth is stranger than your worst dreams.…You will know that the truth is stranger than all of your dreams."
The boy still looked at him in puzzle.
Minato face turned impassive. "You can believe me or don't. You can trust me or don't. But know this…" A shining card floated down between the two of them.
"Huh?"
"You know, in the past, I've also took a journey of my own. But, this time, it's your journey." It's a card Akira's seen before. The fool card. "The bonds you forge in this journey, the things you see in this journey will be with you though the end of the time." Minato gently pushed the cards towards Akira. "You will know what happiness is…And you will know what true pain is…and they will change you in more ways than ones" The card gently floated on Akira's hand.
"But, no matter what, it will be only your choices that defined you who you are." Akira looked up back at the boy. "But, even so, remember that, there's always someone watching over you." Akira slowly brought the card to his face. "Remember that I will always be watching over you." The card suddenly merged with his mask as a bright light filled his eyes. But he can still hear the blue haired boy.
"And this is the proof of our bond."
….
"You know, one eye you should just come with me in the fir-"A gust suddenly blew while Mona was still talking. "What?"Everyone turned to the source to see Joker.
"Joker?…You kinda feel different." Skull said in confusion.
"Senpai, this…this persona is-" Joker looked up to Minato.
"*BAM!*" Kamoshida suddenly jumped out from the room. "HNNNgh, No. This is great." Kamoshida said glaring at them. "Now I can kill all of you at the same time. Arisato, I hope you're prepared!"
"Oh man, he's still alive." Skull, Panther and Mona turned to the shadow with their weapons drawn.
Joker kept looking at Minato. 'Sorry, Margaret. Even if you tell me that, I'm still not comfortable fighting myself.', "I've done my part. Now, show them what you got. Take it away,…Trickster."
Joker's eyes widened as he heard the name again but his face then turned into a smile.
….
Joker nodded back and walked past the others.
"Joker?"
'I'm still not closer to figuring out who you are or what you are but…Senpai, I will remember your words. '
Joker put his hand on the mask which started to burn in blue fire.
'I at least will trust the Minato Arisato that saved me on that jail cell.'
"Slaves! Prepare for my killshot again!" Kamoshida loudly shouted.
'I at least will trust the Minato Arisato that I talked with on that rooftop.'
"I need you three to listen to me carefully." Minato said to the others.
"You got it, senpai. You said 'Jump' and we will say 'How high?', right!?" Panther said in a chipper voice.
"…No. I said 'Jump' and you will 'Jump'. No questions back."
….
"Damnnnn.", "Hey, don't talk to Lady Ann like that!"
'And, I will trust my friend who accepted me when no one else has.'
Joker ripped his mask off.
"COME! Orpheus…Picaro!"
-x-x-
I am sorry if this chapter came out as bad and long. I kinda want this arc to finish fast.
I see that there are also beside me who watched tales of earthsea. It's really great. But, I did mean the last part literally. Can you guess who is the one like Minato? Who knows how is it to be alone like him?
And I'm not sure if you guys like the direction I'm going with Margaret but I hope I can meet your guys' expectations.