7/7, Tuesday


Everything was so hazy. Where was she? How did she get there? What was that voice? Where was it coming from? What was it saying? Give in to her desires? That sounded... nice?

She stepped out of the shower in a daze and grabbed a nearby towel to wrap around herself. The warmth it offered seemed to spread through her entire body, down to the tips of her toes and up to the top of her head, even into her brain. It seemed to help clear the fog in her mind and make her goal clear. She didn't even need to think about it; her wet feet carried her smoothly through the door automatically.

The room was large and had a bed designed for two. On this bed was one of her companions, a trusted leader. Their eyes met - well one eye was covered by hair, which only made the other's penetrating power twice as great. Although glassy and unfocused, there was a hint of recognition as it bore into her own eyes. It held a certain commanding, authoritative power over her that pulled her closer. Without thinking, she stepped slowly closer, one step for every shirt button opening before her.

As the final button came undone and the shirt fully opened, she came to a stop, mere inches away from the exposed flesh of the very fit torso hidden beneath the pure white shirt. She had to tilt her head upwards to continue gazing into that commanding eye, as her companion stood almost a full head taller than her. Taking in the entire face, she saw those lips that so eloquently issued commands curve into a smile.

A fire ignited somewhere deep inside her. She was drawn to those soft lips. Even without words, they beckoned for her to come closer. Smoothly, her legs tensed and her feet rose onto tiptoes to bring her closer, while her companion closed the remainder of the gap. Their lips touched. They were as soft as she had imagined. Her eyes closed, but she could still see that one penetrating eye in her mind's eye, and she was sure the same was true of her companion- her lover. Her tongue teased her lover's lips, but was not quite ready to take the plunge through them just yet.

Despite only wearing a towel, she felt stifled, while her companion seemed almost free with an open shirt like that, despite being otherwise still fully dressed. She hooked a thumb into her towel and gave it a tug to pull it loose.

Yukari snapped back to reality with a start. Her eyes jolted open to find one brown eye staring back at her with a similarly startled twitch, the other covered by a wavy fringe of flaming red hair. Her tongue twitched, feeling the soft lips against it, causing all of the information her stupor had restricted from her conscious mind to come flooding in all at once. She practically flew back to get away from the other girl, her towel coming fully loose and exposing everything. With a shriek, she covered herself with one hand, slapped her senpai across the cheek with the other, grabbed her towel and sprinted back into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Her breathing was erratic, almost gasps, as if Mitsuru's lips had sucked all the air out of her lungs in that brief moment between her awakening and her realisation. She could still taste the lipstick the Kirijo heiress had applied mere hours ago. She never would have taken her for the type to go for raspberry, but-

She shook her head to clear it of such thoughts. What the hell was she thinking!? She had come to her senses kissing Mitsuru Kirijo under the influence of some Shadow, and now she was thinking like a schoolgirl with a crush! She knew that because she was a schoolgirl with a crush, but a crush on a boy: Makoto Yūki. All of her crushes - all the celebrities, upperclassmen, and the one teacher she'd crushed on back in middle school - were boys and men. So, why the hell was her heart pounding like it had the night Makoto-kun had saved her on the dormitory rooftop from thinking about what flavour another woman applied to her lips!?

Of course! The Shadows! This operation had brought the S.E.E.S. team into conflict with a powerful Shadow. The Hierophant was already defeated, but they had very quickly been overtaken by this strange scenario, suggesting a second such Shadow was still present. The Emperor had been accompanied by the Empress during the last operation, so it wasn't unreasonable to assume that the Hierophant was joined here and now by the Lovers Shadow, empowered to induce states of hazy lust in the teens against their will. It all made so much sense now!

Finally, Yukari's heart and her breathing began to return to a normal pace. She had nothing to worry about. All they had to do was kill this damn thing and her feelings would be her own again. She could go back to feeling affection toward the S.E.E.S. field leader and never think about this horrid breach of her will again.

Finding her clothes inside a hamper in the bathroom, Yukari was soon dry and dressed. Although she dreaded having to explain her frazzled hair to her teammates, she opted to leave it and go get this monster before it could place an even stronger grip over her mind that she might not be able to escape in time. Opening the door, she found Mitsuru waiting by the other door, her shirt fully buttoned up and both her own and Yukari's weapons in her hands.

"Takeba," she said, holding out Yukari's bow for her to take.

"Not another word, Senpai," Yukari interrupted, keeping her head low to keep her reddening cheeks from being exposed. "Let's just go kill this thing and go home."

"Y-Yes. Of course. Let's." Although she sounded somewhat uncertain, perhaps even disappointed at first, Yukari refused to have this conversation with the other girl. Yukari was straight; she knew that. And whichever way the Kirijo heiress might swing, nothing would ever come of it because Yukari Takeba was not gay.


Defeating the Shadow - a literal bleeding heart with wings - was not as difficult as Yukari had expected. While their foe did, indeed utilise some charm spells against the team, Yukari was able to prepare for it and avoid being hit most of the time. One stray Marin Karin did find its mark on her, and it definitely had a powerful pull, but its effect was easy enough to undo by simply striking the heart with a strong enough blow, which Akihiko was often quick to deliver. The team left the hotel mere minutes before the dark hour came to an end, ushering in the start of July 8th.

They arrived back at the dorm soon after. As per usual, Makoto headed straight for bed, same with Fuuka. Junpei headed for the kitchen to get some food, while Akihiko was asked to report to the chairman, leaving Yukari alone with Mitsuru for a few minutes.

"Takeba, may I speak with you a moment?"

Yukari sighed as her body sank deeper into the couch she'd momentarily chosen to rest on. "I'd rather not talk about it, to be honest."

"Tough. I know what that Shadow did to me - to us - and I want to be sure you're okay."

"That's unlike you, to care so much about others."

"Excuse me!?"

"I-I'm sorry. That was unfair. I think I'm just too tired to deal with this right now."

The older girl gave an understanding nod. "Very well. We can table this discussion for another time. But we are going to have this conversation before week's end. We need to be sure there are no residual effects of that Shadow's influence over us, so please be on the lookout for any such signs until then."

Yukari's head turned sharply to look over to where Junpei was standing. He didn't show any signs of having overheard them.

"I will keep the specifics of our encounter just between us, I assure you. All the others need to know is that it kept us in some kind of trance to keep us out of the way. If elaboration is required, we were in a dream state that used our greatest desires to compel us into compliance. Nothing more."

"Wow. You've really thought this through."

"That is my duty as your upperclassman, Takeba."

A blush began to creep onto Yukari's cheeks, which she once again hid by lowering her head.

"Be sure to get some rest. We could all use some after tonight's operation. Good night, Takeba." Without another word, Mitsuru spun on her high heel and marched up the stairs to her room.

Yukari let out a deep sigh, quickly covering her mouth as she realised it sounded less like the deflated sigh of tiredness and more like the sigh of some lovestruck schoolgirl.

"'Sup, Yuka-tan?" Junpei asked as he approached and sat on another couch nearby. "You look bushed."

"When are we not after a Full Moon Operation?"

"Hm. Fair. You want one?" He held out a can of some soda or other. "It's non-carbonated."

Yukari shook her head lazily. "No thanks. I just wanna go to bed and forget all about this operation."

"Why? Did something happen to you too?"

"Huh!? What do you mean, 'too'?"

Junpei jumped at the intensity of her response. "Uh, well, the second Shadow had that weird love spell, right? That's how it separated us after we took down the other one, right? I guess it separated us by sex, because you and Mitsuru-senpai were together-"

"Y-Yeah, but only after we met up after leaving our own rooms!"

Again, Junpei flinched at her ferocity. "Uh, r-right. I-I was with Akihiko-san when I came to. Makoto was in another room somewhere, but definitely closer to us than you two were. But, anyway, yeah, it did that weird mind voodoo thing to keep us occupied, right?"

"Yeah?"

"And it made us guys have these weird dreams based on our desires, so I kinda figured it did the same to you two and that was why you were so exhausted."

"Oh? And what about you?" she asked, attempting to play it off as more of a sly tease than the deflective accusation it really was. "You shouldn't ask a girl about her dreams if you're not gonna tell her about yours."

"Uh, well... I had this... I guess it was like a dream, but I was kinda aware during it."

"Like a lucid dream?"

"That's the one where you can still move around and stuff, right?" Yukari nodded. "Yeah, kinda like that, but more real, I guess? Ah, why am I even describing this? You probably had the same thing happen to you. I, uh... I had a girlfriend in it."

"Oh? Someone I know?" she teased, wanting desperately to keep the topic of the conversation away from herself. Unless, of course, that girl was her. Even having Junpei dream about being her boyfriend was preferable to having to think about what her experience had been like. Hell, it probably would make her feel more secure about herself, somehow.

"Nah. I don't think she was real. I never even seen someone like her before. Cute dress though."

"Oh. That's kind of a shame."

"Eh. I'll get over it. Still, it was nice while it lasted."

"I guess so," Yukari admitted before she could stop herself.

"Aaah, so you did have a little dream about someone, huh? Who was it? Was it Makoto? I bet it was Makoto."

Yukari's cheeks turned as red at Mitsuru's hai- as red as the S.E.E.S. armbands. THAT was how red they were. She shot to her feet. "N- That's none of your business, Stupei!"

"Wha- Hey!"

Yukari sighed. "I'm sorry. It's been a long day. And that whole... spell felt really invasive."

Junpei stood up beside her. "I get it. You don't wanna talk about it. I won't bring it up again. Unless you want someone to talk to about it. Just give me a holler and I'll come running."

Yukari couldn't help but smile that that ever-confident grin of his. "Yeah. Thanks, Junpei."


7/8, Wednesday


Despite her best hopes, sleeping did little to wash away the effect of the Shadow's influence - and not just because she woke up at four in the morning in the middle of a dream about Mitsuru's soft lips. She had to leave her breakfast only half-finished as she struggled to resist the compulsion to stare at Mitsuru while she tried to eat. She struggled to pay attention in class, her mind regularly drifting back to either the operation or some other memory involving Mitsuru. Her lack of focus at the Archery Club led to her going home 'sick' within ten minutes of club starting.

On the way home, she decided to stop in at the movie theatre to check out that new romantic comedy that had just released to distract herself. Bad idea. The female lead was a bigshot CEO and the male was some effeminate J-Pop pretty boy with brown hair around the length of Yukari's, making it difficult not to see herself in his place as she tried to win the affections of the future Kirijo Group CEO. She left the movie halfway through.

Catching her breath outside, she spotted Fuuka walking with Moriyama-san. Her eyes met those of her dormmate just as the other girl was heading into a nearby store. As if sensing something was amiss, Fuuka excused herself and made her way over to her other friend.

"Good afternoon, Yukari-chan."

"Hey, Fuuka," Yukari replied with considerably less pep than her blue-haired friend.

"Oh, my. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Mostly. Hey, um, about last night..."

"You mean the..." Fuuka looked around to make sure nowhere was in earshot before whispering, "operation?"

"Yeah. You didn't... see what happened when we were all whammied by the second Shadow, did you?"

Fuuka shook her head. "The Shadow caused too much interference; it was impossible to make out."

Make out? No! Shut up, brain!"

"I'm not sure if it was how the Shadow affected me, or if the haze it cast over the rest of you made it too difficult to see you. I was able to see you clearly once you left those rooms though. Thank goodness no one was seriously hurt."

I was...

"YYYeah. Good thing."

"Was there something you were hoping I'd seen?"

Once again, Yukari's cheeks lit up as images from that night flashed through her mind. She was eternally grateful to whatever higher power had deigned to allow her encounter with Mitsuru to go completely unrevealed to their teammates. She was fairly certain she would die on the spot if they ever found out.

"No, no, nono. Nothing like that."

"O-Okay?" Fuuka replied, confused. "I won't ask, but you can always talk to me if you feel the need to get anything off your chest."

"I'll think about it," Yukari replied. She was fairly certain Fuuka knew she was lying as she spotted her friend exiting the other store and headed off to reconvene with her.

Fuuka was sweet. So was Junpei, really. But Yukari had nothing to say to either of them, despite their offers. What the hell was she supposed to say? That she'd shared a lesbian kiss with Mitsuru and was now having a crisis over the fact that the feelings that had compelled her into said kiss had yet to dissipate?

Or that she was scared the Shadow had nothing to do with it?


Her arrival at the dorm brought with it some mild relief. Mitsuru was busy with Student Council business, meaning Yukari could get up to her room without having to face (oh, that beautiful face) her tonight. With a quick greeting to Akihiko, she headed straight to her room with enough food from a nearby convenience store to keep her satiated for the night. She had homework to get through, and she'd need a head start in case her brain refused to work until she let it think about Mitsuru for a while.

But first, she needed a shower. For all she knew, the Shadow's power had been some airborne agent that was still on her skin, having skipped her morning shower in order to get out of the dorm faster. She opted for a cold one to completely reset her senses. All throughout, she kept one hand on the temperature nozzle to lower it if her thoughts drifted back to last night. This happened five times.

Once she was done, she reached for her towel, but her hand stopped. Once more, images of last night flashed through her mind, but the strange longing that usually came with them was absent, leaving only a certain... emptiness. She was paralysed with fear that she would wrap her towel around herself and lose control of her mind again; that she would step out that door and find herself face-to-face with an enchanted Mitsuru for a second time. Yukari turned the shower back on and held her head under the freezing jet until her frozen arm became her own again.

This was getting to be too much. She needed to talk to someone about this. But who? She would rather speak with a professional, a stranger, but they'd never understand this Shadow stuff. And she'd never be able to speak openly with the chairman about this. It had to be one of the team. She worried that Junpei might make fun of her over this. Fuuka had offered her ear, but this might be too much for her. And Akihiko seemed to live in a reality without romantic entanglements all together. And then, there was Makoto. God, the last thing she wanted was to let him think she was a lesbian and become unattainable by the time she figured this all out.

She fretted over this as she dried herself off and put on fresh clothes. She did feel refreshed physically, if nothing else, but the issue continued to weigh on her mind. She stepped out into the communal area, finding herself face-to-face with Mitsuru the second she did. Both were caught off-guard by the other's sudden appearance and their faces burned bright to prove it. Yukari slammed the door closed and locked it behind her. She collapsed against the door and slid to the floor, finding it difficult to breathe.

She heard the sound of Mitsuru's heels outside. Someone else came over, but their footfalls were far less distinguishable. Eventually, Mitsuru's shoes walked away, allowing Yukari to slowly return her breathing to normal. God, was this what it was going to be like from now on?

"Yukari-san?" asked probably the last person she wanted to open up to about this from the other side of the door.

"Makoto-kun?" she croaked out.

"Are you okay in there?" he asked, the concern unusually clear in his voice. He had probably seen, or at least heard, her little encounter with Mitsuru just now. Great.

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine."

"Something happened with you and Senpai at the hotel, didn't it?" Like a bullet right through her heart, he nailed it in one.

"N-No! Nothing happened. We were just in the same room when we were influenced, so we kinda... saw some of what the other was doing." Yeah, that seemed convincing enough. "It's just a little embarrassing to see her again after that, but we'll be fine."

"If you say so." Now, there was the Makoto she knew and... well...

"Yeah. I appreciate your concern though. You're a real nice guy."

"Sure. If you want to talk about it, feel free." And with that, his footfalls trailed off as well.

While she appreciated everyone's offer, of course, each time another was made, she felt more frustrated by the fact that she knew she couldn't tell them about it. She'd have to deal with this alone, for the sake of her dignity.


7/11, Saturday


For her part, Mitsuru was doing a much better job of keeping her struggle under wraps. Of course, it was not easy to do. She'd had to take a leave of absence from the Student Council, leaving the Vice President in charge until she could work things out. She decided to try and distract herself by studying in the library, but that proved fruitless. She spent much of her ten minutes drifting in and out of daydreams about Yukari before giving up entirely.

She had never thought much about Yukari, beyond that she was a trusted teammate, a dormmate, and yet another of the countless people who had suffered because of the Kirijo Group's mistakes. But ever since that incident in the hotel the other night, Mitsuru had scarcely been able to think about much else. And more, the effect those thoughts had on her were unusual, to say the least. She felt flushed and her heartbeat routinely rose to uncomfortable rates.

As such, she arranged a meeting with the family doctor for that evening. Said doctor, Haruno Hasegawa, had been her father's physician since before Mitsuru was born. She was also aware of the Dark Hour and Shadows. If anyone could get to the bottom of this, it was her. Mitsuru met the doctor at the hospital, where a room had been arranged, as was the hospital's policy when a member of the Kirijo family requested it. After an exchanged of pleasantries, Mitsuru got right to the point.

"On Tuesday night, our group took on another of the Full Moon Shadows - two, actually. After we dealt with the first, the second made itself known by enchanting us with some sort of love charm."

"A love charm? As in, one that makes its subject fall in love with the Shadow?"

"Not with the Shadow. With... With each other."

"I see. And may I ask, which of your teammates were you drawn to as a result of this charm?"

"Y...Yukari Takeba."

The doctor cocked an eyebrow at the name. She sifted through her manila folder of the team's files and her eyebrows raised as she reached the person in question. Rather than comment or ask any questions, she simply said, "Please, continue."

"That I was made to have a... lesbian experience is not the issue, of course. Were that the end of it, I could write it off simply as the Shadow's influence and move on."

"But?"

"But the effect seems to still be lingering. I find myself regularly distracted by thoughts of Takeba and that night. I have been unable to fulfil my Student Council duties, as a result. And I fear what might happen should this persist into a Tartarus excursion."

"Then, you would like a check-up to see whether or not this is some lingering effect of the Shadow's power and not..."

"If at all possible, yes."

"Well, I can run some basic tests, and I'm sure the hospital will offer up their CAT and MRI machines for us, though the otherworldly nature of the Shadows might make detection impossible."

"I understand, but I would like to take even a small chance to resolve this issue expediently."

"As you wish. Please wait here while I put on the request with the hospital staff."

Within half an hour, Mitsuru was dressed in a hospital gown and passing through the MRI machine. Within an hour, she was undergoing a CAT scan. Normally, MRI results would take up to two weeks to return, but with the Kirijo group's backing, it would only take a couple of days. Mitsuru would return on the Monday after school and the results of both scans would be in.

As she stood in an empty room to change back into her clothes, a sudden flash of images passed through her mind as she began to remove the gown. The images depicted Yukari removing her bath towel just as the Arcana's grip on their minds released. Although Yukari's response time had been impressively short, the image of her exposed front had managed to burn itself into Mitsuru's mind. Her toes curled and her cheeks burned as the image remained in her mind's eye much longer than it had before her actual eyes that night.

There was a certain need welling inside her that Mitsuru had never experienced before. Artificial or otherwise, these feelings were far stronger than any she had experienced in her seventeen years of life. This only made her confusion about the validity of them all the more powerful. Fortunately, she had only a Sunday and one more day of school before she got the results of the test. Positive or negative, it would give her some sort of idea how to proceed.


7/12, Sunday


The Sunday passed mostly uneventfully for both girls. Yukari went on a shopping trip with Fuuka, while Mitsuru remained at the dorm to watch over Akihiko's workout session. Yukari managed to keep her mind off of the situation with Mitsuru, who was not so lucky. Her mind wandered regularly, but her body still managed to use the counter in her hand to keep track of Akihiko's reps, even as her conscious mind saw little of it.

"You're distracted," Akihiko said after finishing up his three hundred sit-ups.

"W-What?"

"No composure. Knew it."

"I-I have been keeping count of-"

"It's pressing a button. A monkey could do that. But you haven't said anything about my workouts, or my equipment. You never watch my workout sessions without complaining about the weight of the equipment."

"W-Well, I-"

"Add on the fact that you haven't complained about Yūki not taking us into Tartarus in almost a week and it's obvious something's been bothering you since the last operation. You and Takeba both."

"Th-That's absurd!"

"Is it?"

"Y-" Mitsuru stopped herself. As embarrassing as the situation was, there was no point lying to Akihiko about it. If she could trust anyone to keep her secret, it was him, even if he had nothing to offer her for support. "No. You're right. Can I trust you keep what I'm about to tell you just between us?"

"Of course. As if you even need to ask."

Mitsuru smiled. "Of course. You're right. This is just a sensitive issue so I needed to be sure."

"I get it. Go on."

"Right. During the operation, when the Lovers Shadow cast its spell on us..." It was difficult to admit to it out loud. fortunately, Akihiko seemed to pick up on this.

"Junpei and I woke up in another room. We both had these weird dreams about our respective desires, then we just woke up at some point. Well, I woke up first. I had to slap Junpei awake."

Mitsuru couldn't help but grin at the mental image, but as her cheeks rose, the stinging sensation of Yukari's own slap briefly returned. Her hand unconsciously moved up to the cheek, which Akihiko noticed.

"I take it you had to be woken up the same way?"

Realising why he thought this, she snapped her hand back down to her waist. "N-No, actually. She and I had a different experience. A shared experience."

Akihiko's eyes widened. "Oh. You mean, you shared a dream together?"

"In a sense. Although not fully awake, we... we acted out the dream. We k-kissed."

"That's... troubling."

For a moment, Mitsuru's stomach dropped. What did he mean by 'troubling'? Was it a problem that the two girls had kissed while under the enemy's influence? Would he reject her outright if the lingering effects of that influence continued?

"But you two are alright now, right? You both snapped out of it before... well... And you're back to your old selves, for the most part."

"F-For the most part, yes."

"You don't sound very convinced. Is there anything else going on here?"

"I... I still have some... lingering feelings from that experience. The feelings that drew me into k-kissing Takeba and starting to s-strip."

"You stripped?"

"Only my shirt! I-I only opened it!"

"Okay, okay. It's alright, Mitsuru. That Shadow's spell was strong. We all struggled to resist it. Nothing you did there was you fault." His wording, although presumably unintentional, sounded accusatory to Mitsuru, as if these feelings were a bad thing. It made her reluctant to say anything more.

"Yes, well... I went to see Dr. Hasegawa yesterday. The test results should be in by tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully then, we'll know more."

"That's good. But what will you do if this is permanent?"

"I will cross that bridge when I get to it."

"That's unlike you."

"It is. However, the thought that this could be permanent... it scares me too much to think too much about it."

"Why does it scare you?"

"The idea that a Shadow can continue to affect us after the Dark Hour, for one."

"And, for another?"

"I... A part of me has to wonder if these feelings really are the fault of the Shadow."

"You think the Shadow might've just awoken something that was already there?"

"Y-Yes. The sheer number of issues such a thing could result in, disapproval from my father, damage to the company's reputation-"

"Mitsuru. None of that matters. If this really is something that was already there and the Shadow just brought it to the forefront, that doesn't change who you are. You'd still be the same Mitsuru, the same Student Council President, the same administrative leader of S.E.E.S., and my same old friend. It won't change anything with the people who care most about you."

Mitsuru couldn't help but smile, in spite of all the doubts and insecurities trying their damndest to keep her lips straight as a board. "Thank you, Akihiko. I appreciate your companionship."

"That's what friends are for, right? Now come on. How about I spot you for a change?"

"Yes. I would like that."


7/13, Monday


What she didn't like were the results of the tests.

"There's nothing abnormal about your scans," Dr. Hasegawa explained as she pointed to two two sets of scans. "Those are the scans from April. These are the ones from Saturday evening. If the Shadow really did have a lasting effect on you, it's not showing up on normal equipment."

"'Normal' equipment?"

"Well, I don't know how all this Shadow stuff works, but I'd imagine there are more sophisticated machines at whatever facility your father's company performs its research at that might be able to find something these machines could not. I understand these effects are a sensitive subject for you, but it might be worth considering asking your father for help with this."

"I see."

"I can help you construct a lie to avoid having to admit to these feelings, if you'd like."

"No. That won't be necessary, Doctor. If these feelings are found to be the Shadow's lingering power, there will be no issue. If not, and my father takes issue with who I am, then I will face him with my head held high."

Dr. Hasegawa smiled. "How very like you, Ms. Kirijo."


"This is very unlike you, Takeba-chan. Your aim has been really off lately"

"I'm sorry, Senpai. I've been feeling off for the last week."

"Well, we are approaching the end of the semester. And finals are coming up. Maybe you should take a break from club until after summer break."

"Okay. I'm really sorry about this."

"Don't be. We've all been there, right, girls?"

"Yeah."

"That's right."

"Every one of us."

"You just focus on passing your exams and getting some rest during the break, okay? And we can have a welcome back party once you're feeling better. How does that sound?"

"You girls are too much."


"All this studying is too much!"

"Junpei, we've only just started."

"A half hour isn't 'only just started', Yuka-tan. You think so too, right?"

Makoto shrugged.

"Come on, man!"

"Look at it this way, Iori. if you do well on your exams, we can all take a trip together."

"Huh? A trip? Like, a S.E.E.S. field trip?"

"Not quite. I was planning to visit my father in Yakushima the week after finals. If you do well, I see no reason not to make it a group excursion. For a group of friends, not a group of comrades."

"Yakushima is famous for its beaches. I'm sure Junpei-kun would like that."

"You understand Junpei pretty well, Fuuka."

"What are you two trying to... Ah, whatever. It sounds nice. Let's do it!"

"You need to pass your exams first."

"Oh, now you have somethin' to say!?"


"What did the results say?"

"So far, it looks like these feelings aren't the result of the Shadow. But that's part of why we're heading to Yakushima. My father's facility should have an easier time detecting any residual influence."

"And you want me to help cover for you with the others?"

"If it's not too much trouble."

"No, not at all. I just hope you get the results you're hoping for."

"Honestly, I'm not even sure what I'm hoping for anymore."

"Well, if you need to talk to someone about it, I'm always free to lend an ear."

"I appreciate that, Akihiko. I think I'll have an easier time getting through this trip knowing you're coming with me."


"Takeba, please come with me."

Mitsuru was waiting for Yukari on the girls' floor after the group study session. She stood at the far end of the hall to give Yukari time to spot her and process it, unlike the last time they had come face-to-face. Either that, or she was hoping the distance would help hide her reddening cheeks. With little other choice, Yukari followed Mitsuru into the latter's room. Although she couldn't be sure, Yukari could swear Mitsuru's room was bigger than her own as she was guided over to the couch on the closer side of the coffee table, her senpai taking a seat on the opposite side.

"We need to discuss the last operation," Mitsuru said calmly as she sat down and crossed her legs.

"Wh-What is there to discuss? I mean, all that happened was-"

"Takeba." Mitsuru's interruption was stern, commanding. It made Yukari's heart skip a beat. "Since that night, I've noticed an odd... fascination that's taken hold and refuses to let go, even a week later. I can't imagine this is only affecting me, and I think we've both had time enough to realise that this might not be going away any time soon. So, I will ask you: since the Lovers Shadow had us under its influence, have you found yourself thinking about that night regularly? Or about me?"

"I... I've..." Yukari squirmed in her seat. It was a difficult thing to admit out loud.

"Because I have found myself thinking about you a lot since then."

"H-How can you just come right out and admit it!?"

"Then you have been thinking about me a lot. I see."

Yukari covered her face with her hands and cringed into a ball. "God, this is so humiliating..."

"As far as we know, this is just the remaining influence of that Shadow. All things considered, there are far worse ailments that could have lingered after the Shadow's demise."

"For you, maybe," Yukari mumbled.

Mitsuru made a concerted effort to soften her tone to comfort her underclassman. "Truth be told, the real reason I suggested a trip to Yakushima is because my father has a facility there to research Shadows and the Dark Hour. I was planning to have tests performed to see if there is anything that can be done about this. Conventional medical technology has found nothing abnormal so far, but there may be something only detectable by devices designed specifically to do so. I ask that you agree to undergo the same tests with me over there to try and find a solution. Is that something that would interest you?"

Yukari looked up, cheeks ablaze and eyes nor far off matching their redness. "S-Sure. Anything to get rid of these... feelings."

Mitsuru smiled. "I appreciate your willingness. Until then, good luck on finals. If you need any further help studying, I would be glad to offer my assistance."

"Sure. I-I'll think about it."

"Very well. You're free to go then."

It was easy for her to say that. After being in Mitsuru's room, surrounded by her smell, her voice, her beautiful face, there was no chance in hell Yukari was getting any studying done any time soon...