Guiding Star
Written by Aiyumi
Disclaimer: Persona and all related characters are property of Atlus. Any trademarks that may be referenced in this fan fiction are properties of their respective owners. I am just a fan and do not have any relations to said people/companies.
Chapter 3: Warmth
"I'd like to introduce someone." Akihiko announced and turned to the door. "Ready yet?"
"Hold on. This stuff is too heav- aaaah!" A familiar classmate came in carrying two huge suitcases and a few bags. He lost his balance and face-planted on the ground. His bags fell on top of him, and his baseball cap fell from his head.
"J-Junpei?!" Yukari gasped in surprise.
"He's Junpei Iori from class 2-F. As of today, he'll be living here." Akihiko informed.
"He'll... live here? You've got to be kidding..." Yukari was too shocked to move and help Junpei out.
"Are you okay?" Minako hurried over to him and helped him up.
"Yeah, thanks, Mina-tan." Junpei dusted himself off and turned to the group with an awkward smile. "Uh... hi, guys."
"This must be a mistake..." Yukari muttered under her breath.
"I ran into him the other day." Akihiko continued. "He's awakened to his Persona just recently. I told him about our situation, and he agreed to help us."
"Sanada-san said he'd found me crying like a little kid inside a convenience store full of coffins. I don't remember much, but it's embarrassing!" Despite his words, Junpei didn't look embarrassed at all. "But it's okay, right? I mean, I've heard it's normal to forget stuff the first time you summon a Persona. Did you know that?" He looked at Minako and Yukari with a smug grin on his face.
"Well, it didn't happen to me." Minako began.
"Show off! It happens to everyone else, ya know..." Junpei was saying, but Minako interrupted him.
"But what happened to me was that my Persona went out of control, and I was so shocked that I passed out and stayed in the hospital for a whole week."
"Whoa, you've gotta be kiddi-" Junpei stopped midsentence. "No, wait. This story is for real, isn't it?"
"Yeah. It happened right when a big Shadow attacked the dorm," Yukari said. "That night was scary..."
"Oh..." Junpei had his mouth hanging open. "I-it's hard to believe. But it all makes sense now. So, Mina-tan, you were in the hospital because..."
"Yeah, that's right. It's so absurd that anyone would think I was making this story up. Now you know."
Junpei didn't seem to be as cheerful anymore. "Um, to tell the truth, I was shocked when I found out I was a Persona user." He looked at Yukari and Minako. "I was surprised when I heard you guys were, too. Uh, I mean girls... ah, whatever! Anyway, I'm glad to be around some familiar faces. You're stoked that I'm joining too, aren't you?" He grinned and tried to go back to his cheerful self.
Yukari deadpanned, but Minako smiled warmly at him. "Welcome aboard, Junpei."
... ... ... ... ...
Like the previous time, they headed to Tartarus that night. And like before, Junpei was horrified to learn that their school turned into a huge shadow-infested tower at midnight. "School was already enough of a nightmare during the day," he had remarked and tried to lift the awkward mood, but it didn't work out. Also, like before, he seemed upset when Minako was appointed field leader, and even more bothered when Minako showed that she could summon not one, but multiple Personas.
They explored the tower's first floor. To Minako's surprise, Junpei didn't seem so clumsy with his katana, which once again proved that the SEES members retained a bit of experience from their previous lifetime.
... ... ... ... ...
Days had gone by. Once Minako was able to catch up with her lost week of lessons, she joined tennis club because she needed to engage in some sportive activity, and met Rio Iwasaki, the girl obsessed with tennis, with whom Minako reestablished the Chariot Social Link. After practice, Minako also ran into Yuko Nishiwaki, the manager of the boys' track team. Yuko and Rio were talking about their respective teams when Minako left the gym.
Minako joined Student Council to help unburden Mitsuru, where she met Hidetoshi Odagiri, the strict representative of the Disciplinary Committee, and reestablished the Emperor Social Link with him. In Student Council, she also met Chihiro Fushimi, the shy Treasurer.
In addition, Minako also joined the Library Committee, where she met the quiet and passive Saori Hasegawa, and reformed her Hermit Social Link.
On the way back from school one afternoon, Minako went to the Bookworms used books store, and reestablished the Hierophant Social Link with Bunkichi and Mitsuko Kitamura, the old couple that owned the bookstore.
Junpei occasionally took Minako to have ramen at Hagakure, Yukari began hanging out with her, and Minako reestablished both the Magician and Lovers Social Links.
Minako also began working part-time at Chagall Cafe. On the days she didn't have work, she took the SEES members to train in Tartarus whenever possible. The training left her tired and unable to go to Tartarus again the following day. Then, she only stayed home and slept through the Dark Hour. She hoped Pharos would come and wake her up, but he didn't.
... ... ... ... ...
Classes had ended for the day and Minako had plans to hang out with Junpei.
"Hey, Kaz!" Junpei addressed Kazushi Miyamoto, his sports-obsessed classmate. "Wanna hang out with us?"
"Uh, sorry guys. I had promised I'd take care of my nephew today. I need to be going. See you tomorrow!" Kazushi uttered hastily and excused himself from the classroom.
Kazushi had seemed to be in a hurry, though he was hobbling and didn't manage to actually run. Come to think of it, Minako recalled hearing in the other timeline that Kaz had badly hurt his knee at some point. She wondered if she should try to alert someone about it.
"What about you, Tomo-chi?" Junpei turned to his other classmate, Kenji Tomochika, who had also been preparing to leave.
"For the umpteenth time, it's Tomochika. Eh, whatever." Kenji shrugged and smirked. "Hmm? You're calling other people to hang out with the two of you? It isn't a date, then?"
"W-what? Of course it's not!" Junpei blurted out.
"There's nothing between us." Minako added.
"Oh. I see." Kenji nodded. "Don't get me wrong. The thing is, today on lunch break, I saw her turning down a few guys that asked her out. When I found out she'd hang out with you after class, I thought..."
"It's nothing like that!" Junpei insisted. "I just wanted to hang out with some friends. So, I invited her. And I'm inviting you too!"
"Alright, alright. If you say so..." Kenji waved it off. "In that case, I'll join you. I have nothing to do today." He turned to Minako. "By the way, Arisato, don't worry. I'm not going to try to hit on you or anything. I'm only interested in older women. So, rest assured that you're safe around me! Ha ha ha ha!"
Minako chuckled as they left the classroom. She was curious. This didn't happen in the other timeline. Despite being classmates, Minako didn't talk much to Kenji, and had never gotten to know him. She had known Rio liked him, but that was about it. However, Minako's curiosity soon turned into boredom while they were inside the train, as Kenji went on and on about how he preferred older women because they were more "sophisticated," or something along these lines.
They went to Paulownia Mall. The arcade, more specifically.
"Junpei, why the arcade?" Kenji asked.
"Why not?" Junpei shot back. "The three of us like games."
"The three of us?" Kenji looked at Minako strangely. "You... like video games...?"
"Yeah?" Minako blinked in confusion. She couldn't see what might be wrong about that.
"Seriously!?" Kenji was incredulous. "Most girls I know don't like games. They prefer to talk about their boring fashion trends, and the boyfriends they could only wish they had. Bleh." He made a face. "My younger sister used to play some games a few years ago, but she only liked those doll dress up games. Rio doesn't like video games either... you know Rio, right? From tennis club. I heard you're in it too."
Minako nodded. "Yeah, I know her." And from their outings in the other timeline, she had also known Rio actually came to the arcade quite a lot, but Minako couldn't comment about this now.
"I've known her since preschool. She always complained when our families hung out together and I wanted to go to the arcade."
"I mostly played free computer games at home, or sometimes a few console games at a friend's house," Minako said. "I couldn't go to the arcade that often because my family was broke, but now that I got a part time job, I'll see if I can change this!"
They played a game where they had to shoot each other's spaceships down. First, Kenji played a match against Junpei and won. Then, it was he against Minako.
"What? I lost!" Kenji slapped his forehead in frustration. "Wow. Arisato, you're good. It doesn't look like you aren't used to arcades at all!"
"Uh, thanks." Minako smiled awkwardly at the compliment. She was good at that game because she had played it plenty of times in the other timeline, which meant she had no way to explain why she could play it well.
"Now, the three of us against the computer. It's on me!" Junpei declared excitedly and inserted coins into the machine.
"You're da man, Junpei!" Kenji seemed happy that he wouldn't need to pay for the next round.
... ... ... ... ...
Time flew by along with the spaceships on the screen while Minako had fun at the arcade with the two Magicians. At the end of the day, they ate something at a snack bar and said their goodbyes.
Minako was walking back to the dorm with Junpei.
"Tomo-chi was my classmate last year too," Junpei said. "He's nice once you get to know him."
Minako agreed. Kenji could be rather nice when not talking about older women. "We should invite him again."
"Sure!" Junpei seemed glad to hear that.
They walked in silence for a few minutes, until Minako glanced at the darkening sky and sighed.
"Mina-tan? Anything wrong?"
Minako snapped to attention and chuckled awkwardly. "Ah, no, it's just... tomorrow is May already, isn't it?"
"Hmm? Yeah. April is already over. Time flies, huh?"
"To me, it flew even faster because I lost a whole week in a coma in the hospital..."
"Oh, there's that, too... ah!" Junpei's eyes widened. "Oh no! I just remembered something! If it's May, it means that exams are coming! Ah..." He sighed dramatically. "If only there were a way to stretch the month of April for a bit..."
Minako had to agree that exams were important, but that wasn't what she was truly worried about. The month of April came to an end, and no sign of Pharos. She had been trying not to think about his lack of visits too much, but if the "one week before the full moon" mark came and he didn't show up, she would become "officially" worried.
... ... ... ... ...
May 1st. Minako, Yukari and Junpei went to check up on Akihiko at the hospital, to see if the doctor would allow him to go back to his normal activities. There, they ran into Shinjiro Aragaki, who didn't say a word to them. At night, SEES went to Tartarus and managed to reach the first barricade that prevented them from climbing higher.
May 2nd. Minako took Theodore to visit Paulownia Mall. To her dismay, he was as crazy as Elizabeth had been when Minako had taken her there in the other timeline. His naivety would cause him to constantly misunderstand the purposes of the mall's facilities, and Minako was unable to correct him because he always tried to act proud as though nothing out of ordinary were happening and would never admit not to know something. As a result, their "tour" had been very embarrassing to Minako, and by the end of it, she was exhausted. However, just as she thought it was over...
"I am curious about a powder called Pine Resin," Theodore said once they were back in the Velvet room. "I asked my sister about it, and her answer was, 'It suffices to say that it bears a striking resemblance to soy bean powder.' However, to me, this description is not enough. I still wish to see it with my own eyes. Miss Minako, please, would you be so kind as to get some of this powder for me? My intuition tells me that someone will be willing to hand it to you today, May 2nd."
And this was how, once again, Minako was forced to convince Yukari to give her some of the resin used for bows.
... ... ... ... ...
Minako was tired after that crazy day. She was sitting on her bed. It was 11:35, 25 minutes before the Dark Hour. Today was the limit. Seven days before the full moon. She hoped Pharos would show up. If he didn't... well, she didn't know what to do. Minako decided to sleep rather than waste around half an hour mulling over it. She needed some sleep anyway. Hopefully, he would come and wake her up during the Dark Hour...
He had been wanting to visit Minako again. However, he had nothing to talk to her about since he hadn't remembered anything about himself and couldn't answer her questions. Minako was clearly tired. She deserved to rest, and he felt he shouldn't bother her. But another full moon was approaching, and would bring another ordeal. He wanted to remind her about the full moon to make sure the ordeal wouldn't catch her unprepared. Maybe he didn't really need to do that. Minako might have been very well aware of it, from the way she had been checking the calendar so often. Maybe she didn't need a reminder at all, but deep down, he still wanted to warn her, just to be safe. After debating over it for a few minutes, he decided. He would drop by just to give her the reminder.
He materialized in the middle of the room. At first, he only stood there. He still felt bad about waking Minako up. He sighed and glanced around nervously. His eyes stopped on the desk. Specifically, the drawer he had given up on opening the other day. It was a welcome distraction from his internal dilemma about waking Minako up, and he momentarily allowed his curiosity to take over.
He disappeared from the spot he had been standing and reappeared in front of Minako's desk. His fingers slowly closed around the drawer's handle, and he pulled it, careful not to make much noise. He opened it a bit, and froze. To his chock, the drawer was completely empty. Apparently, Minako had never used it. So much suspense for nothing! The worst part of the situation, though, was that since the drawer had nothing inside to muffle the sound, it made more noise than he had expected when he opened it.
He kept staring dumbfounded at the half-open drawer until a sound came from Minako's direction and pulled him out of his stupor. She was stirring. There was no way out now. She was waking up, and he would have to justify his presence. He did his best to close the drawer as quietly as possible, then disappeared and reappeared closer to Minako's bed.
"... Hi. G-good evening."
Minako thought she had heard a noise in the room, and woke up. Just as she had come to her senses, Minako heard Pharos' voice. She looked in the voice's direction, and sure enough, she could make out his silhouette standing close to the bed. How she was relieved to see him. Minako wanted to say something, maybe tell him she had been wondering when he would visit again, but he didn't seem willing to let her speak.
"I'm here just to say that the moon will be full again in seven days. You'll need to face a dangerous ordeal, like last time. I want you to be careful. That's all. I know you're very busy and tired lately, so I'll let you have your sleep. Good night." He blurted it out as if he were in a hurry... or afraid of talking to her, if Minako's suspicions were correct.
"Ah! Wait! Don't go!" Minako sat up abruptly. This apparently startled him, because he seemed to freeze on the spot. It was her chance to try to talk to him. "... I mean, I'm fine. I appreciate your concern, but you don't need to-"
"You really don't want my help..." He cut her off. He sounded very disappointed. "I knew it. I saw you checking the calendar many times. No, you weren't only checking it. You were studying it, weren't you? I only needed to tell you about the full moon once. You're paying attention to the lunar phases. Of course you know that the moon will be full again in one week. I didn't even need to come here and remind you, did I?" He paused. His voice lowered to a near whisper when he spoke again. "I came to remind you because... I just want you to be safe. But if you don't want my help, then... fine."
Minako was perplexed. He had seen all those times she had checked the calendar and counted the days to the next full moon. Actually, she had been more worried about his lack of visits and kept counting the days until the "one week before the full moon" mark, but he clearly didn't understand what she had been doing. What mattered was that her behavior looked suspicious to him. Now he was taking everything she said the wrong way.
"Th-that's not what I meant!" Minako noticed too late that she had nearly shouted. Snapping at him would only make things worse. She took a deep breath and tried to fix her mistake. She moved to sit on the bed's edge, then patted the spot next to her, to her left. "Come here. Sit down, and let's talk."
A few seconds passed, but he didn't move. He just stood there with his head low. When Minako thought he had decided to ignore her, he disappeared.
"H-hey!" Minako desperately called to him.
She nearly jumped when he suddenly reappeared to her left. He complied and sat down, once again at a considerable distance away from her. Despite the startle, Minako sighed in relief. He hadn't left for good. She could still talk to him.
"Alright. Listen to what I have to say, okay?" Minako tried to speak as calmly as she could. "What I meant to say is that you don't need to worry about interrupting my sleep. The Dark Hour is an 'extra' hour of the day anyway. So, just stay here and stop worrying."
"Huh? Um..." He fidgeted. "Y-you mean... you still want me to stay? Are you still curious about me?"
"Yeah, this is what I mean."
"But I still can't answer your questions!" He complained. "Last time, I'd said I'd come again once I managed to remember more about myself. It's been almost two weeks since then, and I still couldn't remember anything... I should come back only after I remember the answers to what you asked. I shouldn't even be here now."
"Oh." That explained his attempt at quickly dropping his reminder and leaving. "But who said you shouldn't come back unless you had remembered something? I'm sure I didn't say anything like that."
"But unless I find these answers, we won't have anything to talk about!" He insisted.
"Then what are we doing right now? We're talking, aren't we?" Minako grinned playfully.
"Uh, yeah, I guess... but..."
Minako clasped her hands. "Hey, I have an idea! About your name. If you don't remember it, you don't need to give me your real name, then. Just tell me what you want me to call you."
"Hmm." He seemed to be deep in thought. After a short while, he said, "Then... just call me... Pharos. This is what I want you to call me. Is it okay?"
Minako smiled. Just as she had expected. Since she had known his name was "Death", it made sense that "Pharos" was a made up name. "Yeah, it's okay."
He seemed glad to hear this, because his tone was cheerful when he spoke next. "Yay, I got a name! Now I can say this. My name's Pharos. Nice to meet you!"
Minako giggled. The tension between them had broken. She decided to play along. "I'm Minako. Nice to meet you too, Pharos-kun."
He chuckled. "I like it! Thanks."
"Huh?" Minako was confused. "Why are you thanking me? You came up with that name yourself..."
"No, the way you said it."
"Pharos-kun?" She repeated.
"Yeah!" He nodded enthusiastically. "I like the sound of that!"
"Good." Minako let out a light laugh, then nodded at him.
He moved a bit closer to Minako. "Now we do a handshake, right?" He sounded very excited.
"We don't really need to, but if you want, we'll do it." Minako agreed.
Pharos extended his hand. Minako reached for his hand in the darkness and grasped it. The moment their hands touched, time seemed to freeze. Minako heard a sound similar to shattering glass. The Death Tarot card invaded her vision, and a voice rang inside her head.
"Thou art I... ... and I am thou. Thou hast established another bond, the one thou hast chosen to start anew. Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Death Arcana..."
The Death Social Link was established, one month and a few days earlier than the first time. Minako was surprised. She hadn't been expecting the link to start yet.
More surprising, though, was what she realized once the card had disappeared and everything was back to normal. She was startled and abruptly let go of Pharos' hand. He was cold. Too cold. It seemed as though he had just unfrozen from a Bufudyne spell... no, maybe even colder than that. Then, it occurred to Minako that she had never even attempted to touch Pharos before. She concluded that, if she had touched him during the other timeline and felt how cold he was, she would have been even more creeped out for sure.
His body was cold to the point it was disturbing. Why was his temperature so low? Minako tried to come up with an explanation. He was the Arcana Shadow representing death, and death was associated with cold. If she thought about it that way, it made sense, but still... should she do something about it? If this was his natural state, then perhaps she shouldn't. Even so, it didn't feel right to try to ignore it and act as though nothing were happening. She got curious. Could he be warmed? Only one way to find out...
He had suspected Minako had already made the connection between the full moons and the ordeals, but he hadn't imagined the confirmation would hurt so much. He felt useless. He couldn't help her with anything, and couldn't even use the full moon as an excuse to talk to her anymore! He was about to leave when she called him and told him to stay. He complied, even though he didn't have anything to talk to her about. Deciding to stay proved to be a good thing, though. Minako made it clear that he had misunderstud the situation, and he felt a bit relieved.
Minako suggested he made up a name, since he didn't remember his own. He said the first thing he thought would fit that came to his mind, and she accepted it. He had gotten so happy when Minako had addressed him as "Pharos-kun." However, his happy moment was promptly ruined when he attempted a handshake with her. She took his hand, but she suddenly backed off as though she had been electrified. He feared he had done something wrong. He hoped he hadn't hurt her again.
"Um, a-are you okay?" Was the question he had meant to ask, but for some reason, Minako asked it first. "You're so cold."
"Is it a problem?" He asked innocently.
"... Well, it's not normal." Minako retrieved her blanket from the bed.
"Hmm. Not normal...?"
He didn't see what was so wrong about his condition until Minako had wrapped her blanket around him and held him close. Only then he realized how warm she was. Or rather, how warm a human body was supposed to be. In his haste, he hadn't taken the time to account for these details. Actually, he didn't even realize he should have been worrying about these kinds of things. The little he could remember about the workings of human bodies was too limited for his liking. He was sure he was supposed to know a lot more about humans before. Why did he have to forget even that?
They stayed silent for a few minutes. Minako was still holding him. Describing his condition as "not normal" was perhaps a big understatement. With Minako as reference, Pharos concluded that his condition was very, very wrong. Minako was so warm, so lively, so gentle... It was so comforting to be held by her. Even though he didn't remember much about his past, he was sure he had never felt so comforted before. From the little he remembered, he had the feeling everyone that had ever interacted with him had only treated him with violence.
"You're so warm..." Pharos noted. "Now I think I see what you mean. Something must be wrong with me. I'll try to pay more attention, and take better care of myself from now on."
"I have an idea." Minako let go of him and stood up. "Stay here. I'll be back in a bit."
For some reason, Pharos felt uneasy when he considered the notion of staying apart from her. Being alone inside her, even if she was unaware of his presence, was one thing. He could still know where she was and whether she was safe. On the other hand, the other way around, with her out while he was unaware of what was going on with her, didn't seem like a good idea at all. Pharos hated to be left in the dark, like that week she had been in a coma in the hospital, or like what happened this afternoon when Minako seemed to space out in the back alley near Paulownia Mall, then that silver-haired guy, Theo or whatever his name was, had appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to hang out with her. Pharos had known that something was going on whenever Minako spaced out at that place and the entrance to the big tower, because when she began moving again, he could tell that her Personas had undergone changes. He suspected Minako's soul was taken somewhere related to her Persona powers, possibly the place involving those who signed some kind of contract, but it bothered him that he had no idea what was going on while she spaced out.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"I want to try something, but I don't know if it'll work."
"I'll come with you."
"No. We'll get in trouble if anyone sees you," Minako said firmly.
"I'll hide if anyone shows up." He was firm as well. Confidence showed clearly in his voice.
However, that wasn't enough to convince her. "No. Even so, I might get in trouble." She insisted. "I'll try to be quick. Just be a good boy, and wait until I come back, okay?"
Minako was being stubborn as always. Pharos considered his options. Well, she would still be inside the dorm. What was the worst that could happen? "... Okay..." He nodded reluctantly, and let her leave.
Minako did her best to walk in the darkness and made her way to the kitchen. She began blindly looking for the kitchen utensils she wanted and accidentally dropped a pan. "Ah!" She squealed as the pan hit the ground. She had finally found the pot she had been looking for when Yukari's voice startled her.
"Who's there!?"
"Aaah!" Minako nearly dropped the pot as well. "I-it is me, Yukari-chan."
"Minako-chan!? What are you doing in the kitchen at this hour?"
"I was just trying to prepare something to drink. Yukari-chan, do you know where to find a candle or something? It's too dark and I can't see much."
"Can't you wait until the Dark Hour ends to get your drink?"
"No."
"Whatever." Yukari sighed and mumbled in annoyance, in the same way she often responded to Junpei's stupid comments. "Fine. Wait here. I'll get a candle for you." Yukari turned away and left the kitchen. A bit later, she returned with a candle and a match box.
"Thanks, Yukari-chan." Minako took the items and lit the candle. "Um, do you have any idea if milk is safe during the Dark Hour? Because, uh, you know, water is out of the question..."
Yukari cringed at the thought of water turning into blood during the Dark Hour. "Ugh, I don't know. I've never tried to check."
"Then, I guess it's time to find out." With the candle in hand, Minako opened the fridge and searched for a carton of milk. Once she had found it, she poured a bit of it into a small cup, and... drank it. Thankfully, the milk was perfectly normal. Minako let out a sigh of relief, and a message box saying, "Your courage has increased!" appeared in her mind. ...Wait, what? Minako had to stop and focus. Whenever she began imagining game elements in real life, it meant that she had been spending too much time at the arcade with Junpei. She was sure Yukari wouldn't approve of that. Having Junpei constantly shout that he had "leveled up" after fights against Shadows in Tartarus was already bad enough. So, Minako quickly tried to redeem herself and blinked to make the imaginary message box disappear. "Yes! It's safe!" She exclaimed in triumph.
"I admire your courage, Minako-chan."
"Now, time for part two. If I manage to make this, I'll be so happy..."
Luckily for her, the stove didn't need electricity to function, provided that gas was available, and gas didn't happen to turn into anything during the Dark Hour. Minako lit a match and managed to turn the stove on. With help of the candlelight, she got to work. Minako put milk in the pot she had found and heated it. She nearly mistook a condiment bar for chocolate, but thankfully she realized it in time. She managed to locate the actual chocolate bar, dropped a few pieces of it into the pot, and let it melt.
Yukari had been seated on a chair as she tried to observe Minako move around in the kitchen.
"So, you couldn't sleep too, huh?" Yukari asked. "Every night I get worried that a big Shadow might appear and attack the dorm like last time."
"Uh, yeah, it's been almost one month since that day, hasn't it?" Minako stepped around the subject carefully.
Yukari made an affirmative sound.
"We've been training a lot in Tartarus. I'm sure we can handle whatever comes next." Minako tried to assure Yukari, who slowly nodded.
An awkward silence followed while Minako mixed the liquid with a spoon. Soon they had some improvised hot chocolate.
Minako filled her cup with the newly prepared drink and tasted it. "Whew! I actually did it! Who could think that hot chocolate was so hard to make?"
Yukari giggled. When she spoke, she didn't sound annoyed or distressed anymore. "You must have been very desperate to have some hot chocolate, huh? You know, to have gone out of your way to prepare it during the Dark Hour, out of all times..."
"Well, I wasn't expecting it would be so hard to prepare. But I don't regret it one bit. It tastes good, too. So, I'm not complaining." Minako laughed sheepishly. "Yukari-chan, do you want some?"
In the end, Yukari was unable to resist and drank a cup of it. "This was good. Thanks, Minako-chan. I have to admit, watching you prepare it was fun, too." Yukari placed her cup into the sink, and Minako had to remind her not to turn the faucet on.
Yukari said good night and left. Then, Minako heard the sound of glass breaking, and froze in panic. Just when she had thought she had managed to prepare the beverage without incident...! Oh no. What did I drop this time? she thought.
"Thou art I... ... and I am thou..."
Wait... Oh. Only after she had a vision of a Tarot card and that familiar voice rang inside her head, Minako realized that the sound hadn't been from actual glass breaking, but just the indication that the Lovers Social Link had gone up one level! She released her breath, relieved that she hadn't broken anything. Minako definitely hadn't seen that one coming, though. Nothing like this had happened in the other timeline. It seemed like her Social Links had chosen that night to catch her off guard. Again, I'm not complaining, Minako thought with a smile while she retrieved an empty mug and filled it with the remaining hot chocolate from the pot. "I think I can do without the candle now." She put the candle out and took the full mug back to her room.
Pharos was still in Minako's room, comfortably wrapped in Minako's pink blanket. He got lost in thought while he waited for her to come back. His current situation reminded him of how inhuman he was. He had made up that new name - or rather, nickname - for himself, but it had nothing to do with his true identity. Who was he? He was perfectly sure he wasn't human. But what did that make him? What was he?
A few minutes had passed. Minako wasn't back yet. Pharos wondered what she was doing. He considered dematerializing and assuming a non-physical form, then watching over Minako until she decided to come back to her room. If he managed to do everything right, Minako wouldn't notice anything. But he had agreed he would wait. If he disobeyed her and she somehow found out, she would be very upset at him... then, a very sad thought occurred to him. What if Minako hadn't been planning to come back? What if she were so disturbed by his low temperature that she had decided to back away from him? If this turned out to be the case, he would be the one to become very upset. Only twenty minutes until the Dark Hour's end. Pharos could only hope that his suspicions were wrong. At least he could still feel her presence inside the dorm.
He had his thoughts interrupted by the room's door opening.
"Pharos-kun, I'm back." Minako closed the door behind her. "I've brought you something to drink."
"... Huh? Something... to drink?" He was both surprised and confused.
"Sorry. It took more time than I had thought it would." Minako sighed tiredly. "I figured I'd try to prepare something hot for you to drink, but it was a bit hard to make because the lights don't work during the Dark Hour. I hope you like hot chocolate."
"I-I don't know. I don't remember..." For the umpteenth time, he uttered the sentence that had become his default response for a lot of Minako's questions.
Thankfully, Minako didn't seem to mind. "No problem. Let's find out, then. It's hot milk with chocolate mixed in. Drinking it should help you feel warmer. Here." She extended the mug towards him.
Pharos inched his head forward and curiously eyed the mug Minako was offering him.
"... Um, what about you? Aren't you going to drink too?" He asked after a few seconds of staring.
"No. I already drank a bit of it when I checked if it had turned out right. I think it came out good. I hope you'll like it too."
"O-okay..." He fidgeted and eyed the mug nervously.
Minako held the mug by its upper part and extended it with the handle facing him. "Maybe this goes without saying, but it's hot. So, be careful." She warned.
Pharos nodded and finally allowed his right hand to leave the comfort of the blanket to reach for the mug. Minako only let go of the mug once he had firmly grasped its handle.
Pharos held the mug by the handle and brought it closer to him. Curious, he carefully touched the mug's bottom part to check how hot it was. Nothing that could harm him, but it was very hot, just like Minako had said. Maybe drinking its contents could really make him feel warmer. The sweet aroma emanating from the liquid inside made his mouth water. He kept staring at the liquid for a while until he realized it would cool off if he took too long to drink it, and he finally decided to take a sip.
Minako patiently waited while Pharos silently held the mug as though he didn't know what to do with it. After a few seconds, he slowly brought the mug to his mouth and took a small sip. He didn't say anything, and Minako had no way to tell if he had liked it or not.
He took another sip, and another. Only then, he spoke. "Hmm, so this is how hot chocolate tastes like..." He said in wonder. "I like it!"
Minako smiled in relief. "Good to hear."
She watched in amusement as Pharos began taking larger sips of his drink. The more Minako thought, the crazier that whole situation seemed. The mighty Death Arcana Shadow, the one designated to bring the end of the human race, happily drinking hot chocolate without a care in the world... it seemed more absurd each second, but it was priceless... and cute. If only it weren't so dark, and if her cellphone could function in the Dark Hour, Minako probably would have taken a picture or two...
"I was wondering..." Pharos broke the silence. "This has more milk than chocolate, right? Then, why is it called 'hot chocolate?' Since it has so much more milk than chocolate, shouldn't it have 'milk' in the name instead? To me, it doesn't make sense..."
If the situation was absurd before, its absurdity had definitely gone up a few levels now. Pharos had posed his question so innocently that, for once, Minako thought he could have passed for a normal child. She couldn't contain herself anymore and laughed.
"Why are you laughing? I'm serious!" He sounded offended.
Minako did her best to swallow her laughter. Judging from what had happened in their previous arguments, laughing at him seemed to upset him easily. "N-no, it's... it's just that I've never thought about it that way. I guess you're right. It doesn't make much sense. There's a lot of food that's weird like this, where it's named after something that hardly appears in it. Not to mention Octopia's weird takoyaki. I've heard that it might actually not have octopus in it! It shouldn't be called 'takoyaki' if there's no octopus inside! But it's called takoyaki and tastes like takoyaki, and this is what matters, I guess."
"Hmm. I wonder what takoyaki tastes like... I'd like to try it someday," Pharos said and downed the last of his drink.
He stood up once he had finished his drink, and the blanket that had been draped around him fell unceremoniously to the ground.
Minako walked over to him. "Just hand the mug to me. After the Dark Hour is over, I'll wash it along with the kitchen utensils I used."
Pharos did as instructed.
"Are you feeling warmer now?" Minako asked.
"Yeah, I am. I think I've never felt this warm before. Thanks for the drink. It was great!"
"You're welcome." Minako smiled. "I'm glad that you enjoyed it."
"Anyway, the Dark Hour ends in around five minutes." Pharos changed the subject. "I need to go now. Be careful during the full moon. Once it's over, I'll come again."
"I'll be waiting," Minako said.
"... Okay!" He spoke cheerfully. "Then, good night!" And with that, he disappeared.
Minako smiled, satisfied with how their encounter had played out. She was glad to have managed to get on good terms with him. She giggled recalling what she had thought about the absurdity of Death drinking chocolate. However, Minako had missed a few details. Due to the darkness, she hadn't seen how his face had gotten smeared with the drink, and only the following day, she would notice the huge splotch of chocolate on her blanket.
A/n: when I researched about the female path's Social Links, I was a bit disappointed that some of the characters from the male path can't be befriended. Since I had taken a liking to them, I decided to give them some "screen time." Mainly Kenji, Kaz and Chihiro. I never liked Yuko that much, but according to my research, she appears at a school fellowship event in Inaba, and I figured I'd at least mention her. Anyway, since I haven't played the female version, the Social Link characters from the male version are the ones I'm used to. I want to feature them again in future chapters, and maybe even have them play an important part somewhere...
I have no idea whether Junpei and Kenji had already known each other, but they seem to get along well enough. Maybe it's because they're of the same Arcana?
I'm also not sure about whether Rio actually frequents the arcade. I only read it mentioned in passing on the Megami Tensei Wiki, and couldn't find anything about this anywhere else. But I like the idea and, for the intents and purposes of this story, she does.
And Death drinking chocolate. XD