"So, Shiho. How you feeling?" Ann asked with a big smile.
"I Uhhh, I-I'm getting better. B-but, Doctors said that it might be some time before I can walk again." Shiho said back in a soft voice looking at her legs. "But, even then I will be not able to play anymor-"
"Don't think about that! It doesn't matter, does it? You're alive. And That's the best I can ever ask for." Ann said in a little raised voice.
"I-I know. I should be happy that I'm even alive." Shiho laughed with a sad smile. "I'm sorry, Ann. You have to cheer me up even now."
"Heheh. That's my job anyway. I'm your personal cheerleader." Ann said in a cherry voice.
"Geez, You're exaggerating."
"But, don't worry about anything, okay. Just focus on getting better."
"… I will. Thanks, Ann." Shiho said smiling to her best friend. She then stared at towards the windows beside her. "So Ummmm, Is Ummmm…" Shiho fidgeted around nervously. "Ummmm, Is senpai okay?"
"Huh?" Ann shouted in a squeaky voice. "Uhhh, Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's okay. He's fine. Why wouldn't he be fine?"
"Bu-but last week, you said he was sick."
Ann stared at her friend. "I said what?"
"Um, you said he's kinda having breathing problem… I think?" Shiho said fidgeting and not looking at girl in the eyes.
"Oh…Ohhh! That! Yeah, I said that." Ann said back furiously nodding. "Yo-you don't have to worry about him. That wound was mostly healed. Mmhmm."
"Wound? Wo-wound!? He-he wasn't sick!? Did he got into accident again!? Did somebody hurt Senpai!?" Shiho said with her eyes wide.
"No. No. No. No! No! Nobody hurt him. He didn't get attacked by no one…. No, wait. He got attacked."
"What!?"
"No. No. No. It wasn't their fault. It was his fault. Kinda hard to blame him when his nose was completely broken but Yeah, it was his fault."
"Huh!? Ar-are you sure he's okay!?"
"He's fine. He's fine! Just the other day, he was arguing with Niijima-senpai."
The girls stopped freaking out and the room got quiet down for a moment.
"Oh…Okay. So, he was fine enough to go to school. So, I guess he's fine." Shiho said to herself with a smile.
"Yeah. You should see them. They were always fig-"
"So, he's alone at school. Good to know. Good for senpai. …Good…For…Senpai."
….
Ann stared at the girl and the girl stared at the wall with a fixed smile.
….
"Uhhhh…So," Shiho's smile faltered. "Senpai…was he-is he angry at me?"
"What? No! Why would you say that?"
"I mean…I kinda-" Shiho looked away with sad eyes. "I kinda let him down I guess. Even though he tried to help me…I kinda *Sigh* I felt like I trou- *Bwap* Ah-Ahhh-Ahhh! Ann!?"
Ann suddenly pulled the girl's cheek. "You're a dumb girl. You know that?" Ann released her hold. "You don't have to feel bad for him. That guy is just a selfish jerk."
"I-I don't think so. I'm sure Senpai…He just blaming himself with my…*Sigh* In the end, I guess I'm the selfish one." Shiho said in a sad tone. "I selfishly tried to run away without thinking about my family, you or him."
"Yeah." Ann said with narrow eyes. "Not just dumb, you also are selfish."
Shiho looked away.
"You both are."
"Hm?"
"You both are dumb and selfish. If you just told the truth to either me or him sooner, none of this would have come to pass." Ann said in a harsh tone. "And he's an idiot too. Instead of coming here, he tried to blame himself for all of this like a selfish jerk."
"N-No! It's not his fault. I don't blame him for anything."
"Yeah. But he doesn't listen to either of us and kept moping like an idiot." Ann said scoffing. "So, When he finally have enough of moping around and come here, you also stopped being selfish and tell him truth, okay? Tell him that it's not his fault, Okay?"
"Yo-you don't need to tell me that."
"I mean I cared about you but I also can't stand him looking away guiltily every time I bring up your name." Ann said with an annoyed face.
Shiho looked at her for a moment before turning around with a small smile.
"S-so, You're saying…He's not coming here because he's scared that I would blame him?
"I guess. Doesn't make him less of a jerk though." Ann said with a sigh before she noticed the girl. "What?" Ann asked.
"No-nothing."
"What? Don't leave me in the dark. What's wrong?"
Shiho covered her red face with her hand. "*Sighhh*…I guess. Ann, I guess you're right."
"Hm?"
Shiho looked out towards the window. "Maybe I'm really a selfish girl."
x-x
"*Creakk*" Akira closed the door behind him. "Good morning."
"The school's over already, dude." Ryuji said from the chair.
"Ah, That's true.", "Hm? Ryuji, Why are you the only one here?" Morgana asked peering out from Akira's bag.
"Well, Takamaki is at the hospital. So, of course, I'm the only one here."
"What about One eye?
"That guy…Tch." Ryuji scoffed. "He clearly said us to only call him when we go to that mementos place."
"Huhhh, That's true."
Mementos. Based on the explanations of Morgana, it is the palace for every humans in the world. And humans who are corrupt but not much like Kamoshida, will have a minor palaces there.
Akira took out his phone and opened a website.
The phantom afici… 'I don't know how to pronounce that. So, shortened 'Phan-site'. The phan-site is a site…For phantom thieves.…' Basically, the gist is people put on a request on someone whose heart they wanted them to change.
And Using Phan-site, they can able help other people like them in their own ways. Him and Ryuji were happy that no matter how small, at least they can able to help other. But, Takamaki-san was a little hesitant with the idea so, they decided that they would not take on any requests but only things that were really dire and necessary.
And that seemed to be a good call because there were a lot of weird requests like 'please made my teacher to give me full marks or please made my parents to let me out at night or please made Risette love me'.
'Idiots. If I could do that, I would do it for myself, not you.' And because of stupid requests like that, they have only changed one's guy heart.
"So, you didn't call him?" Akira pocketed his phone and asked walking over to one of the chairs.
"No. I did call him. He said he's 'busy'." Ryuji said in a mocking tone.
"Busy with what?" Morgana said.
"We didn't reach that far. He hanged up." Ryuji said scratching his head.
"Oh! I get it." Akira suddenly exclaimed. "Maybe he went with Takamaki-san to the hospital and he just don't want to tell us, you know because… He's senpai."
"Why would he go with Lady Ann?"
"I don't think so." Ryuji said shaking his head. "He's been giving excuses through the past week. Why would he go now?"
"Maybe he had a change of heart?"
"Dude, we didn't do anything."
"Doesn't matter whether he's here or not. He gave us his word. He will accompany us whenever we go to Mementos."
"Only mementos though." Akira said back to Morgana. "He said he's not coming with us to palaces."
'Remember when I said about what the three of us thought of mementos? Well, Morgana and Arisato's senpai Intentions were different from theirs.'
Morgana said that the way to regain his human form lied in that place and that's why he wanted to explore Mementos. And although selfish, they had to put up with him because he was (probably) the only one who knew that place and (definitely) the only one to be able to change into a car for them to drive around that big place.
….
'We will get to the car thing later, for now, The mystery that is Arisato.'
Minato clearly stated that he didn't care about whether they helped people or whether they misused that place's power. He only wanted them to stronger for whatever new shadows they would have to face in the long run because he's not gonna come helping them every time like in Kamoshida's fight and that place was filled with shadows so, it's the perfect place for training.
Although he said he won't come with them, Morgana's furious begging and Ann's nonstop guilt tripping, he reluctantly agreed to accompany them on Mementos and only Mementos.
"Nahh. He's just playing hard to get." Morgana said from beside him. "Besides, we haven't found any people with palaces yet. I'm sure he will come with us if we found one."
"I hope you're right." Ryuji said. "Talking about that, do you guys found anything about that thing Nakanohara guy said?"
Nakanohara, the first person they changed their heart from Phan-site request. He was some kind of stalker and the victim of his… Stalking requested it. And just like Kamoshida, his shadow self changed into a monster when comforted. The fight was easy but he said something 'interesting'.
"You mean 'Madarame'?"
"Yeah, That one." Ryuji said back to Akira.
Apparently, he was being a stalker because that Madarame guy destroyed his life or something.
"So, did you find anything about him?" Ryuji asked.
"Uhhhhhhh", "We didn't find out anything."
"Wha-How?"
"Ohhh, Settle down, Ryuji." Morgana said with a smug face. "We didn't get to it because Akira was busy with studying."
"Hm? Studying?" Ryuji asked with a dumb face. "Why are you studying?"
"What?" Akira looked back at the boy. "You mean you don't know-"
"SHIT!" Ryuji threw down his bag towards the ground. "F*cking Shit!"
"Damn it." Akira said quietly and took out something from his bag. "You win. Here's your fish sausage."
"Mwehehehe. I told you he would totally forget it." Morgana delightfully took his prize.
"It is tomorrow, isn't it!?"
"Yeah."
"Damn it! Ahhhh, There's so much I have to go throu-*Ringgg!* Hm?"
"Hm?" Ryuji stopped talking as Akira's phone suddenly rang.
"Who's that? Is it one eye?" Morgana asked peering over as Akira took out his phone.
"No. It's Takamaki-san."
"What she want?" Ryuji asked completely forgetting what he's freaking out over two seconds ago.
"She wanted to know where Arisato-senpai is, SSAP."
"SSAP?"
"I think she meant 'ASAP'." Akira said with a small grin.
"So, he's not with her. I mean that's kinda expected." Ryuji said. "He already left the school, So how would we know? Tell her to just call him."
"Right. Right." Akira typed the message and the answer instantly came.
"Oh, she can't call him. He's out of zone."
"Out of zone? So, he stuck in a toilet?" Ryuji asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That's just a joke. It's not really true." Akira answered back.
"So, he's not at hospital. He's not at the school. Maybe he just went home then."
"Yeah, Maybe."
"But, why did Lady Ann want to see him suddenly?"
"Oh, I just skipped that over. She's saying she gonna break his nose harder than before if he doesn't go and meet Suzui-san right now."
"Oh. She's getting worse day by day."
Akira looked up. "No. Suzui-san is definitely getting better. She may not be able to walk yet but she's getting better in every ways."
"I know that. I was talking about Takamaki."
"Oh." Akira nodded back at Ryuji.
"Although I had to wonder, why won't he just go see the girl?" Morgana said licking his paws. "I mean Kamoshida's behind bars, right? And it was mostly him. I thought he would be happy to go tell her the good news.
"I don't know. It's a little hard to know what he's thinking most of the time." Akira said.
"I know his type. He's probably blaming himself for not realizing sooner." Ryuji said sitting back on the chair. "He's probably moping at his house right now." Ryuji said with a grin.
"Hmm.", 'But did he really go home though.' Akira thought to himself.
'Out of zone…Where are you, Senpai?'
x-x
?
Minato stood alone in front of a red wall with his eyes closed. On the both sides of him, the sound of train going over the rails can be heard non stop. And there were a lot of people boarding the trains as they all went into the depths below.
Correction, they were not people. People don't exist here. In mementos, there's only shadows and they were not his focus right now.
Minato opened his eyes and stared straight at the red wall in front of him. The similar wall above where they are right now had opened but this wall, this wall didn't show any signs of opening. And this wall was the only thing standing between him and the wildcard on getting further down below this place.
Minato closed his eyes again and when he opened it back his silvery eyes had changed into shinning blue eyes.
"Universe" Minato crushed the half blank card in front of him and a large wind blew through the place centered around him. The trains were blown back and every faceless imitation of humans disappeared in black ichor.
"Morning Star" Mianto sapped his finger and a light fell down from above towards the wa-*Booomm!*
….
A bluish explosion occurred in front of the white haired boy but his face betrayed no emotions.
As the dust and the explosion settled down what stood in front of him was the…the same wall that didn't eve have a scratch on it's surface.
"Tch." Minato's hair turned back to blue. "It doesn't work."
"Huhhh." Caroline walked over to him. "Maybe it's because you're not shouting loud enough."
"What?" Minato turned around towards the small girl with all three of her siblings in tow.
"You know, With the echo, your voice sounded scary but it still felt short."
"…."
"Next time you shout like this." Caroline suddenly took some kind of stance. "Ahem, MMOOOORRRRRRNNNNING… STAAAARRRRRRRRRR!"
….
Minato stared at the girl with a straight face.
….
Margaret stared at the girl with an exasperated face.
….
Justine stared at the girl with wide eyes.
….
Theodore stared at the girl with his mouth hanged open.
….
Caroline pulled down her hat over her eyes covering her tomato red face.
….
….
"DAMN IT! WHY DON'T YOU GUYS SAID ANYTHING!?" Caroline shouted in a very, very loud voice. "I HATE ALL OF YOU! ROT IN HELL AND JUST DIE, CONVICT!"
"Go away. Go sulk in that corner over there." Minato pointed at the entrance and turned towards Margaret. "So, I guess we can rule the brute force out."
"I agree." Margaret said back in some kind of voice. "I suppose we just have to give up if three megidoloans and a god's hand and two morning star didn't work."
"…Are you mocking me?"
"Yes."
"Well, thank you for your honesty." Minato turned back around. "*Sigh* , Good thing I still have this." Minato's hair turned white again and two swords appeared on his hand. "Okay, This time you fours are gonna have to be far away from here."
"Are planning to use Armageddon, Makoto-sama?" Theodore asked.
"No. Just take your sisters and go away." Minato readied his swords that started to shine in deep red before it changed into black. His eyes got brighter and brighter and there's some sort of light surrounding him.
Margaret stared at the boy for a moment before her eyes went wide. "Wait, What are you do-"
"Universe…Ayam-*Boom!*" Before Minato could finish, he was hit from the side by a blue light and went crashing towards the railing beside them.
In the smoke, the boy said out loud painfully. "Ahhhh." Minato painfully stood up holding his head. "Ahh, that hurts." He then glared at the woman who had an opened book on her hand and six winged angel behind her.
"Margaret?…Okay…Why?" Minato stood up but fell back down again.
"Are you insane!?" Margaret closed the book with a snap and walked over to the boy. "Are You Insane!?"
"…You don't have to ask me twic-"
"What do you think you are trying to do!?"
"I was trying to open a portal." Minato stood up dusting himself.
"By cutting through space and time and the very fabric of reality!?"
"…Yeah. That's how you open a portal."
"No!" Margaret shouted nearly pulling out her hair. "How did you even become a Messiah? Do you know how dangerous that is? It Could destroy even The Outside World!"
"Relax." Minato said as he threw away his swords towards the ground which disappeared into blue shards even before they hit the ground. "I was just going to make a teensy weensy cut."
"…You just said you were trying to open a portal."
….
"…A man sized teensy weensy cut?"
"You can't fault him, Sister. Makoto-sama is a rather short individual after all."
"See, Justine's wi-", "Don't encourage him, Justine!"
"Ahh, come on."
"Unbelievable." Margaret sighed exasperatedly holding her head. "I mean I'm not sure why are you even fixated on this?"
"Well, It's hindering our explorations. Besides, wildcard is already stronger the shadows on this floor. If we don't get farther in, what's the point in coming here anymore?"
"But, Makoto-sama, you said that the similar wall from the above floor opened by itself. And The wildcard is destined to explore the Mementos. So, I'm sure in time this wall will also open and you will be able to explore further." Justine said in a calm voice.
"Sure…Maybe in time but if we can open this sooner we can get to depths faster and that way we can kill Yaldabaoth faster, right?"
"I suppose that's true." Justine said thinking to herself but Margaret was glaring at the boy.
"Kill Yaldabaoth faster, Huh?" Margaret said clearly glaring at the Messiah who tried to look away. "You are trying to hasten the process. You are trying to get out of here fast. Why? Did something happen?"
"What?…No."
"Clearly something had happened. I knew something was weird from the moment you told us to come with you to Mementos." Margaret walked closer to the boy and glared him down with her height. "Makoto-sama…Are you hiding something from me again?"
….
"…No."
"Makoto-sam-", "Okay. No! I am not hiding anything from you. Why did every conversations we had led to that? No, I am not hiding anything. I just want the wildcard to get stronger fast so, I do not have to babysit every time."
The two stared…glared at each other for sometime with Justine in the middle.
….
"Fine. I will believe you for now."
"I don't care if you believe me or not."
Margaret glared back but he's back to his emotionless face again.
"But Makoto-sama, If you want to get the wildcard stronger. There are other ways."
"Justine's right." Margaret collected herself. "If we can able to conjure the velvet room back, he will be able to get stronger faster than just beating shadows. And with that said, how do you fare with your social links?"
"It's going really well." Minato shrugged. "I recovered almost half of my arcana."
"Almost half!?" Justine asked in surprise.
"Yeah." Minato snapped his fingers and multiple cards floated into existence in front of him.
"The fool. As you all know the wildcard." Minato picked out the red card. "The chariot. The wildcard's friend." Minato picked up the card and the two card fused to a tiny, Tiny piece.
"The magician. Our resident shadow. The fortune…That is you fours." The cards fused and the piece started to take shape of a blank card.
"The empress and the priestess. My "Friends" , One is still in denial, from school." The card got bigger. Not much but it was now almost one fourth of it's original form.
"And of course, my True arcana Judgment and backup arcana…Death." Two cards not similar to the ones from before appear. They were not red colour like before but the same colour from his journey.
All the cards fused to form a half torn blank card with an arc. The card slowly floated towards Minato and vanished into him.
"…By this pace, It won't be long before I can construct the velvet room and still have most of my power left."
"Im…Impressive." Margaret said genuinely impressed. "I must confess. I thought of you as an lazy, listless, pretty boy with the Death on his side and too much laziness before but now I know why master think you were the greatest guest of the velvet room."
Minato looked up.
….
"There's a lot of insults there…But I supposed the praise far outweighed the offending things."
"But, Makoto-sama, I must ask. How did you gain so much power in such a short time?" Justine said with a tilt of her head. "I mean all of those links were just started. I can't understand how you got the arcana to construct the half of the universe arcana. Before you took an whole year and a lot of people to fully get it."
"Meh." Minato shrugged. "I don't know. Why do you think I'd know? It's not like I have all the answers to every questions."
"You are supposed to. You are omnipotent after all." Minato rolled his eyes at Margaret's remark. "But, Makoto-sama, you forgot to mention someone."
"Hm?"
"Where is 'The doctor'?" Margaret asked in some kind of weird voice.
"…What?"
"Don't play dumb. I'm asking about 'The doctor' that you went and see every night. Every Single Night."
….
Minato and Justine stared at the woman who's glaring at the messiah with some kind of face.
"I went to see her night because of my…This." Minato pointed at his nose that's kinda lopped to the side a little bit.
"Ohhhh. Don't lie to me, Makoto Yuuki. You could just heal that in an instant."
"You're the one who told me to go there because the wildcard and others Saw me." Minato said in a really annoyed face ignoring the glare the woman's giving him. "*Sigh* , Whatever. It doesn't matter. She and I does not have a social link in the first place."
"Oh, Really? Then, why did you go and see her every night?"
"I Told you it's because of my wound!" Minato raised his voice getting impatient. "And I expected that question from Margaret. Not you, Justine!"
"Huh?"
"Okay, That's it. No puddings for you. Not anymore."
"Ahhhh"
….
"…."
"…."
"…Did you seriously think you can change my mind, looking at me like that?" Minato said in mildly smug voice. "Well, I wouldn't even call it a nice try."
"Tch." Justine looked away with an annoyed face as her plan ended in failure.
"Sheesh. Why are you two so ann-…Where's Theodore?"
"Hm?" The two siblings turned around to see their brother missing.
"Theo?" Margaret looked around and called out. "Theodore!"
"Wait, Caroline's gone too." Justine said pointing at the corner.
"Did they went ahead?" Margaret said looking around the place.
"Oh he's there." As Minato pointed at the entrance, the two sisters turned around to see Theodore running towards them.
"Theodore. Where did you go?" Margaret asked.
"Ahhh, I followed Caroline because she's kinda said it's boring here and went down." Theodore said politely back to his sister. "Ah, No, Wait. That's not why I'm here." Theodore urgently turned towards him. "Makoto-sama, one of your friend is here!"
"What!?", "The wildcard?"
"Hm?" Theodore thought back to himself. "Oh I see what I did wrong. Ahahaha. No. No. No. Not that kind of frie-", "Hooyah!" Caroline suddenly jumped headfirst to the boy, making him fall over towards the ground.
"Caroline?"
"Hey convict? Can I beat this guy up Or is that gonna hurt you in any way?" Caroline said with a big grin.
Three of them stared at each other. "I have…No idea what you're talkin-" Then he suddenly heard a familiar noise. The eerie noise of chains rattling non-stop.
"…Oh. You're talking about him."
"Yep! So. SO. Can I beat him? Can I kill him?"
"Uhhh…Meh. Sure. Why not?" Minato shrugged. "I mean there's like a million of him. What does one gonna do? Go crazy with it."
"Yeah!" Caroline turned back around as shadow cladding bloody black clothes and a cloth warped in chain around his head with only an eye visible, carrying two pistols in hand. The shadow made some kind of noise as it's eye settled upon him.
Caroline took out her baton and extended it. "All right! You got an one eye too. Nice! You will make a nice substitute!" Caroline face flashed a manic grin…not to the shadow…To him.
….
"I said go crazy."
"Yes! Persona!" Caroline struck the floating card in front of her with her baton.
Mianto watched as the little girl ran towards the reaper.
….
'Death…Huh.'
x-x
Last Sunday…
"Eleven!?"
"What?"
"Ahhh…Nothing. I'm just…Ahhh, I'm just hallucinating form all those painkillers."
Takemi looked at him with a smirk. "I didn't give you any painkillers.''
"You should. This really hurt." Minato winced in pain from touching the bandage part on his face.
"You mean 'Thish really hurt'."
….
"…I don't spheat like that animo-…I don't speak like that any more." Minato said with an annoyed face.
"Hahaha. You're so cute." Takemi laughed blatantly making fun of him. "Any way, what's your excuse this time?" Takemi put down her notepad and turned towards him with the same smirk. "You got into a fight with ten guys or the whole mafia?"
"Nope." Minato got down from the bed. "It's just a girl."
….
"Yeah. You know, too much honesty is never good." Takemi said with a soft laugh. "So, what happened? Got super touchy with her friend?"
Minato stopped walking.
….
"Wait, I was right?" Takemi said with wide eyes.
"What…? N-no. It is not true. It is totally not true at all." Minato shrugged, walking out. "I think my face somehow offended her. Like you said, this also has something to do with my face."
"Awww. You totally misinterpreted what I said, Heh. Wait in the front for a moment." Takemi wrote something down on her notepad. "I still have to give you the prescriptions."
"You need prescriptions for a kick wound."
Takemi turned towards him with a smile. "Oh yeah. I did give you painkillers."
"Ahhhh…." Minato sighed loudly and closed the door.
"*Sigh*" Minato slowly and boringly walked over to the chair.
"Come on, we are going to meet Shiho tomorrow. And you have to know how to spoon feed someone!"
….
Minato slowly sat upon it. '…I should probably think of excuses.' It's not like he didn't want to see the girl…it's just that he's…Well, it's hard to face her. After all she only in that condition because of him.
Minato leaned on the chair and looked towards the ceilings.
A 16 year old girl tried to commit suicide by jumping down from the four floors building. Being that it was kinda high…You could say it's both good news and bad news that she survived. The good news being of course, she survived and the bad news was… the girl only survived by a thread.
There were a lot bone fractures and internal bleedings. Even though she got to the hospital in just under minutes, there were so little of what the doctors could do.
'But at least they tried.' They could able to made the girl's condition stabilized but fully cured her? That's a big impossibility. There was 20/80 chance on whether she would even wake up from the coma.
Minato tapped his finger on the cold surface of the desk.
….
But the girl did wake up. Overcoming the odds, the girl did recover from all those wounds. Her 'Insides' were healed almost magically. Even though she may have hit her head form that fall, there were no memory disorders or any other conditions. But…The girl probably can't walk anymore. And even if she somehow can…Like a bird that had been clipped of its wings, there will be no way she would ever be able to play volleyball anymore.
The taps became a little louder.
It was a miracle. The fact that she survived was a miracle. The fact that she still breathed, the fact that her eyes opened up again was a miracle. The fact that she's talking to her family and friends was a miracle.…But it was only called miracle because there's a chance no matter how small, there was a chance that it could happen.
Because after all no one would believe some thing if that wasn't remotely possible. Because after all, there's no chance that a girl who jumped from the rooftop would came out alive unscathed. After all, there's no chance that every wound on her body would be healed. There's no chance that the Messiah could heal her limbs completely and thought everything would be fine and nobody would ask questions.
….
Because after all, There's no chance that the Messiah who knowingly ignored the poor girl's wounded wings can still face her and acted as like everything's fine.
Minato shook his head in annoyance. 'I lived through centuries after centuries of solitary. So, why now, I'm having trouble being alone?'
The taps became faster and louder.
'Is this woman doing this on purpose?' Minato stopped his hand.
….
'This woman…She felt…' Minato looked at the closed door.
….
'No…No. No! No! It's not possible. There's no way. Calm down. There's a chance but…' Minato leaned on the chair and looked towards the door.
….
'It's not like anything's happening. So, I guess I can let it slid-', "He's here." Minato suddenly stood up.
"Here?…Why?" Minato said out loud in the empty room…And no reply came back.
"Tch." Minato annoyingly turned around and ran out. 'Did he know the wildcard or…No, he couldn't have tell him.' *Crea-Bam!*
….
The room was silent for a moment. *Creak*
"Sorry. Sorry. Since you bought out all my stock, I have to find a suitable substitute." Takemi closed the door behind her. "Heh, the trouble I go through for you. You should be than-Hm?" Takemi looked around in surprise.
"Minato?" Takemi slowly walked around the place. "You're not hiding, are you? You're not a child anymore. A man child maybe but-" Takmei spoke to the empty room.
"Hmmm, Here?" Takemi suddenly opened the cabinet.
….
"Of course not. What was I thinking?"
x-x
Minato stopped in front of the intersection and looked around. There's an policeman. 5 middle aged man. An old couple. And 4 teenagers.
Minato furiously looked around. 'Which one?'
….
'I Said Which One?'
No answer came back.
"Answer me!" Minato suddenly shouted in the middle of the street and everyone looked at him weirdly. But he didn't care about any of that.
'I should check on Kurusu.' Minato ran off towards the cafe he forgot the name off. 'Should I call him first? No. I probably should get to him first. He probably di-' Minato brushed past someone on the shoulder.
"Ah, Sorry." The boy apologized to him quickly. 'No, Wait.' Minato suddenly grabbed him.
"Huh?"
'Him…?'
"Ahhhh…" The boy nervously turned to him. "Can I help you?" Minato's grip tightened on him and with another hand he took out his phone.
"Ah!?"
The boy looked at him with something akin to fear and surprise. "Umm, If you have nothing to discuss. I preferred you let me go." The boy said hardening himself.
….
The two glared at each other.
"Ah." Then someone suddenly hit him on his head. Minato released the boy's hand and turned towards them to see a pissed of woman with a choker on her neck. "Takami?"
"It's Takemi." The woman said with an annoyed face. "*Sigh* , How many times do I have to tell you that? Maybe you have alzhem-Hm?" Takemi noticed the new boy who's looking at then weirdly. "Who's that?"
"Huh?" The boy regained his senses. "Ah. Sorry. I'm just a passing by. I will lea-"
"He's Akechi Goro." Surprisingly the one who said that was none other than Minato.
"Akechi?", "Hm? You know me?" The boy asked him with a small smile.
"Sorry for the misunderstanding." Minato said turning back to him. "I just want to meet the famous detective prince."
"Ah. No need. No need. Believe it or not, I met much worse." Akechi said with a laugh.
"Minato Arisato." Minato extended his hand. "…It's a pleasure. And this here is Sae Makami."
Takemi looked up at him. "You didn't even got one right."
"I guess you already knew it but My name's Akechi Goro. Pleasure to meet you, Arisato-san." Akechi politely shook his hand.
"Well, I probably should let you go." Minato said breaking the handshakes. "Again, Sorry if I came off as rude."
"No. It's okay. No worries here." The boy said with a constant smile before turning around. "You should also go home now. It's probably dangerous for civilians here at ni-Ahh." The boy suddenly held his head and fell to the side.
"H-hey, what's wrong?"
"No-nothing. It's okay." Akechi answered back Takemi still holding his head. "Just got a little dizzy. It's fine now." Akechi slowly steadied himself. "Sorry about that. I probably should need stop pulling all nighters. Ahahaha." Akechi laughed a little to himself and walked into the night leaving the two blue haired people in front of the street.
Minato watched the boy until he left his sight.
"So, how do you know him?"
"Hm?"
"How do you know he's Akechi Goro?"
"Ah, that." Minato slowly said. "He's famous, right? I've seen him on TV."
"Pfft." Takemi playfully hit his shoulder who didn't even react one bit. "Who are you trying to kid? You don't watch TV. Hell, you don't even have a TV."
Minato kept looking at the place the boy walked off.
"Yeah, I don't.…Yes, I don't."
x-x
Present
Shibuya Station
Minato looked on as people after people went onto the train. Like a clockwork, as more people went out of the train, more and more people went in. And again and again and again…and again.
Normally this was by no means strange. People see it everyday. He sees it everyday. People do this routine everyday. He do…well, did this routine everyday.
But it's kinda hard to look at this routine the same way after knowing what this symbolized. This place was represented in Mementos because it followed the same principle of human's nature. It represented human's nature of wanting to stay the same. Follow this routine everyday and everyday and everyday until they took their last breath. Not wanting to break out the melancholy that disguised itself as peace. Not wanting the stray from the path of what everyone wanted. Not wanting to think up for themselves.
Minato closed his eyes and moved his muscles around. 'Honestly…that's not a bad way to live. After all…Instead of a life filled with tragedies,'
A young boy was crying in a heap of broken fiery cars. Looking around in helplessness, hoping that his parents were out there somewhere but the only thing staring him was two blue orbs.
"I'm sorry but…I have no choice. I'm sorry."
….
'Instead of a life filled with hardships.'
….
…*Sching!, *Sching! Sching!* The blue haired boy traded blows after blows with the deformed beings with a mask carrying a big sword.
"Yukki-kun!"
"!?" The blue boy turned around to see a big shadow pointing at him with it's staff.
"Yukki, Get out of ther-!" The girl's warning came a little late as heavy wind blew the boy towards the pillar knocking air out of his lungs, probably braking some of his bones. But even with the painful expressions on his face, the boy didn't make any noise acknowledging the pain.
"Makoto!" The brown haired called out to him as he struggled to stand up again.
"Yukki-kun, Are you okay!?" The girl who they came to save ran up to him in a teary voice.
"Go away." The girl stopped in mid tracks at his curt voice. Ignoring that Minato stood up again, holding his evoker.
"Or…Orpheus." *Bang*
….
'Instead of a life filled with heartbreaks.'
….
…*Clang* , The evoker fell down from the blue haired boy's hands as he looked upon the sight before him with wide eyes.
"Shinji…Shinji! Don't close your eyes, Shinji!" The white haired boy yelled at the unresponsive man with the content smile on his arms.
"Ah…Ah…AHHHHHH!" A small young boy wailed loudly from beside the white haired boy.
"Shinjiro…" The red haired girl fell down to her knees.
Everyone around him was mourning for their friend and senpai…but the only thing he's doing was look at the body that was once his friend with wide eyes.
….
'Instead of a life filled with goodbyes.'
….
Makoto looked up at the cosmic egg in front of him, breathing loudly.
"Ah." Makoto groaned in pain as another wave of agony appeared through his body.
"Huhh…Hnngh." Breathing loudly, the blue haired boy stood up again.
"Hey, Uhhh, did you see something weird on your way home?"
"Yo! Transfer student. I heard you and Yuka-tan walked to school together. Is that true?"
"Okay. Finally! My wound's finally healed. But, still you should keep being our leader. I'm not great at those kinds of things, you see."
"As of now, You're an official member of SEES and of our dormitory. Heh,You look quite dashing with that armband."
"Huh!? You really want to eat my cooking again!?"
"Oh…Ahhhh. This lance is so cool. Where do you get this, Makoto-san? Huh? From the elevator?"
"Nice of you to help me cook. It's kinda a little difficult since we got more and more people now.", "*Woof!*" , "Sheesh, Calm down. We didn't forget about you."
With the new found strength, the blue haired boy stood up and glared at the mother goddess in front of him. And he held up his right hand towards the sky as his expressionless face changed into a more genuine look.
'I don't want to do this.…I don't want to leave. I don't want to leave without seeing them one last time.'
"Great seal"
….
Minato looked with the same look towards the people walking up to the train. Unknowingly living their life out, the only thing they were worried over was 'would I be able to put food on my plate tomorrow?'. Not 'Will I get killed tonight?', 'Do I need to go to velvet room?', 'I wonder whose social link I can progress tonight?', 'I wonder…what would happen to my friends if I failed?'
Minato longingly looked at the life that he could never have…that he would never have and that he did never have.
"Makoto-sama? Makoto-sama?"
"Hm?" Minato turned around as a little girl called him. "Oh, it's you.…Uhhhhh, Justine?"
The girl stared at him for a moment. "Yes. I am Justine."
"Hah, So, I was right. Sorry, it's kinda hard to tell when you guys aren't wearing those eyepatchs."
As he told her, the girl took out a eyepatch from her pocket and looked at it. "That's how you remembered us? Couldn't you just tell by our hair?"
Minato stood up from leaning. "I'm genuinely offended that you thought I would notice your hairs." Minato said with a smile but the girl was looking at him with a frowny pout.
"*Sigh, Does our identity not matter you a little if not at all? Just a little focus and you can just look at our arcanas and differentiate us."
"…Oh." Minato looked at the girl weirdly. "Yeeeeeeeees. Yes. I can just look at you two…arcanas. You guys'…Two arcanas." Minato said looking away and rapidly nodding.
The girl stared at him weirdly for a moment before shaking her head and taking out his phone. "Makoto-sama, on our trip to Mementos, there were 17 calls from just one caller."
"17?" Minato looked at his phone as the girl showed him the logs. "…Ohhh, Her."
"I am sorry for intruding but isn't Ann Takamaki one of your and wildcard's friend from school?"
"Kinda."
"So, shouldn't you take this?" Justine said giving his phone back to him. "I mean if she's one of your group, it stood to reason that she would also be one of your social link."
"It's…Kinda hard for me to talk to her."
"Is that because of the girl that you saved?" Minato looked up with a little wide eyes.
"How do you…Did Margaret tell y-", "No. Not everything is my sister. We also have ability to think and our own virtues." Justine said with a little frown but it had little to no effect on the victim.
"Doesn't matter." Minato pocketed his phone. "Now you know my reason for now going." Minato picked up his bag and turned around.
"Makoto-sama." Justine pulled up his shirt and he stopped moving.…Mostly because she's using a lot of force. "I am not the one to said what you do with your time but…You of all people know how precious that is. You may be stubborn now but at some point, you know that you have to forgive yourself. I am sure you can face you-Eie." Minato suddenly pulled down the girl's hat on her face.
"Hmmm, Don't turn into Margaret. You're fine the way you are." Minato said with a soft laugh releasing the girl. "Don't worry a thing. After a little less than a month, I will make you guys a nice lavish velvet prison." On time, his train arrived and he slowly walked towards it.
"See you at home, Justine."
"Ahhhh, Safe travels, Makoto-sama." *Slides*
The train door opened and multitude of people came out. Minato then slowly entered the train, making sure he didn't bump into anyone. And as he got into the train, he found that he doesn't have to suffer for the entire ride because there were a lot of empty seats.
Minato again slowly walked towards one of the seats and gently sat upon it, taking out his headphones. And as the train started to move and loud noise started to blared into his ears, the girl's words flashed in his mind.
'Forgive myself…Do I really deserve to?'
x-x
The Next day…
"Good Mornings, Arisato-san." Haru beamed at him with a bright smile.
"Morni…" Minato didn't continue and walked towards his chair.
"You look really tired?" Haru said carefully looking at him. "Ahhh…Sick?" Minato glanced at the girl. "Hungry?"
"Tired.", "Tired! Ahhh. I should have gone with my feelings!" Haru said in an angry voice holding her head.
"Okumura-san, Please quite down. Other students are studying." Makoto said from the back with a little notebook in her hand.
"M-my apologies. Niijima-san." Haru furiously apologized and turned back to him with a sheepish smile. "Ummm, So, Uhh did you stay up all night studying, Arisato-san?"
"…No. I didn't study. Not even a bit."
"You are going to Fail the Exam If You Don't Study, Arisato!"
Two of them and the whole class turned towards the fuming girl behind. The girl finally noticed all eyes were on her and her face suddenly turned red. She then quickly covered her face and pretended that nothing had happened.
"Ahahaha, Ahhh bu-but don't worry, Arisato-san." Haru moved close to him with a sly smile. "I actually studied the whole night. So, if you are stuck in a question, I can hel-"
"Sensei." Makoto suddenly held her hand up. "I request Okumura-san to change her seat."
"Huh!?", "…."
"You don't need to request that. We all heard it. She wasn't actually subtle." Chuuno-sensei said with a grin looking at the girl.
"Huhhhhh!?", "…Heh."
"Oh my god! Was that a smile?" Chuuno suddenly stood up. "Arisato, Did you just smile!?"
Makoto tried to look to the front.
Minato thought to himself for a moment. "Oh, Maybe I did."
"*Sighhhh* , That was a pretty cute smile. You should smile more."
Haru also furiously tried to look his face and he looked to the sides.
"You don't know how lucky you are to have such a good friend, Arisato."
"…."
"Look at me. The only thing my friend do is whined to me about her pay, complained about her day, nag about he-"
'Friends…' Minato looked at the girl who's putting her things back with a sad face. He them turned around towards the girl who suddenly covered her face as soon as she saw him looking at her.
'Am I really their friend or…Am I just pretending to be?'
….
Every students wrote their answers furiously on the paper as the exam's taking place. But, Minato just slowly writing with a bored look on his face.
'On his first journey, he could say every one he entered into social link was his friend because they were the kindred souls he found on the troubling times. But this time…this time, he's not sure.'
'…This time, Does he really see them as his friends or…just stepping stones on his quest? Just a source of power he had to get no matter what? Just a thing he lied to get?'
x-x
The Next day…
"*Bap*" Minato closed the lockers door.
"Good morning, senpai.", "Yo, Arisato." Minato turned around to see…to see the two.
"Oh, you guys."
"Hey, one eye." Morgana said from the bag. "Lady Ann's looking for you. She said you weren't picking up her calls."
"Oh…Yeah, I was studying."
"Doesn't matter." Ryuji said ruffling his hair. "She probably wanted you to go see Suzui."
"…."
"Senpai, you still hadn't go to the hospital?" Akira asked in surprise.
"I…" Minato looked away. 'you know that you have to forgive yourself.', "I don't want to talk about this right now, Sakamoto." Mnato turned around and walked towards the hallway.
"*Sigh* That excuse is getting annoying to hear with you saying all week." Ryuji said in an exasperated voice."So, by the way, Arisato. Did you ace it or crash it?" Ryuji asked with a weird face.
"…I couldn't care less about that." Minato walked along, ignoring the boy but another one pulled his shoulder.
"Uh-Ah. Senpai, It's 'I could care less'."
Minato turned towards Akira with an annoyed face. "What?"
"It's 'I could care less about that.' "
"…It's 'I couldn't'."
"DAMN IT!"
….
Students looked more worried and crazy on second day. But he was the same old, same old. Writing every answers with the same bored look.
'The words he'd said…the thing he saw…this life he lived…Are those all just lies after lies? Can he say any of this real? or are all of that just a year for the Messiah that will have to live eternity?
Minato's hands stopped writing.
'Can he even say all the lies he said are the best? Can he even say he's really doing the right thing by not telling them the truths?'
After a pause, his hands continued writing.
'No. He's a Messiah. The Messiah will have to be there for everyone. Even though no one will be there for him…even though no one will stand by his side…even though he's alone…Messiah will have to be there…Or at least he believed that.'
x-x
The Next day…
At the final day, students looked more hopeful or more crazy, it depends. There were people who's looking at the paper with almost tears forming. There were people writing their answers with a happy face. There were…there was a boy who's writing with a blank face.
'Is he…a Messiah? Is he the death? Is he Makoto Yuuki? Is he Minato Arisato? Which one is the lie and which one the truth? Are all of them him or are all of them fakes?'
Minato turned back to the paper in front of him.
'He's not sure what's right or wrong. He's not sure what's true or false? He's not sure why he's even here any more.'
….
'But, In the end, it really doesn't matter, is it? He's now walking through the path he can't turn back on. He's now on the path where the only answer of whether he did right or wrong lied at the end. He's on the point of no return.'
Minato's hands again stopped writing.
'So, why stop at now? Why stop at this? He lied to Akira. He lied to…Margaret. He lied to his friends. So, why stop at this?'
In the quiet room with only the noise of students writing, Minato suddenly stood up.
"Hm? What's wrong, Arisato? Do you need to go t-"
"I'm finished."
"What?"
Minato took his answer sheet and gave it to the teacher. "I'm finished."
"Wait, you sure? It's only been twenty minutes."
"I'm sure." *Slides* Minato walked out of the room and stood in front of the door. Then he full on sprinted towards the stairs.
'You have lied to everyone and everyone. So, why stopped at that?'
"Second floor." Minato climbed at the stairs at full speed.
'If you gonna live the life here lying to everyone, why not take it all the way?…Lie to yourself.'
"…Third."
'Lie to yourself that what you did is right. Lie to yourself that everything's gonna be alright.'
Minato stopped at the door of the roof, with his silver eyes shining.
'Lie to yourself that everything's gonna be fine.'
Minato opened the door and what greeted him was not the sight he's scared of but a white room with a girl on the bed in the middle. At his entrance, the girl looked at him with surprise.
'Lie to yourself that you deserved to be happy.'
"Senpai?" Minato closed the door behind him.
'Lie to yourself that you can be happy.'
Minato looked up at the girl with a smile. A smile that could really be called a smile.
'Lie to yourself that you could be happy.'
"…I'm sorry I'm late. But…"
"Huh?"
"But, I'm here now.…Shiho."
Arc I: END
The Fool Moon On The Lake
-x-x-
….
….
….
Days ago…
"See you at home, Justine."
"Ahhhh, Safe travels, Makoto-sama." Justine politely bowed but then she looked back up at the boy.
….
'…Prison?'
"Hm? Did he already go home?" Margaret said as she walked up to beside her. "Kind of a little rude not to say goodbye to m-us."
"Sister."
"Hm?"
"Did me or Caroline ever tell you about the wilcard's velvet room?"
The woman thought for a moment. "Oh. What a blunder. I almost forgot about it. We must knew about it since we don't have the luxury of our master's powers." Margaret thought to herself again. "It really doesn't matter much but I suppose it's better to follow our tradition. Pray tell, Justine. What form did the velvet room take this time?"
"Ahhhh, it was a…prison."
"Prison…You should told Makoto-sama the exact shape later." Margaret said in calm tone. "But still Prison, huh." Mrgaret laughed elegantly. "Most intriguing."
Justine looked towards the windows on the train. A blue haired boy was sitting on the chairs with headphones over his ears.
….
"Yes…most intruiging."
-x-x-
If you thought you don't really get Minato's realizations monologue, there are two ways to look at it. The first one was you could think we don't know anything so, it's possible that we don't understand that fully. Or you could take an understanding because the author just read a philosophical book and didn't fully get it yet. Either way, sorry.
And I really shouldn't make a dialogue driven story. The word counts is getting really hard to ignore and I'm only at Kamoshida's palace. Is this seem too long to you guys? Should I cut some of the scenes? Or should I keep going to same way?