Fool: Makoto Itou & Kotonoha (The relationship meter), Rank 3
Magician: ?
Priestess: Kotonoha Katsura, UNLOCKED
Empress: ?
Emperor: ?
Hierophant: ?
Lovers: Sekai Saionji, UNLOCKED
Chariot: ?
Justice: Kokoro Katsura, UNLOCKED
Hermit: Sarujima, UNLOCKED
Fortune: ?
Strength: ?
Hanged Man: ?
Death: ?
Temperance: ?
Devil: ?
Tower: ?
Star: ?
Moon: ?
Sun: ?

Previously on The Power of Everything:

Makoto Itou had taken Sarujima as his companion and decided to live with him. As the conversion happened, he was introduced indirectly by Kotonoha about Kokoro, her little sister. He agreed to meet her little sister for the next day. As Makoto arrived in Kotonoha's house, he's greeted by her little sister and the three of them started having fun. Soon, Makoto made a promise with Kokoro to be always Kotonoha's boyfriend.

CHAPTER 9

THE SECOND ENCOUNTER

Night had fallen. Kokoro, Kotonoha and I were still talking happily until their parents came home. One of them was Mr. Katsura and the other one is Mrs. Katsura. Kokoro stood up and rushed to her mother and hugged her.

"Welcome home, mother," Kokoro hugged her.

"Kokoro, you have become a good girl at home. Oh, hello there. I see you brought a guest, Kotonoha," said Mrs. Katsura.

"Yes! He is Makoto-kun," Kotonoha introduced me to Mrs. Katsura.

"He…. Hello, my name is Makoto Itou," I introduced myself for politeness.

"Pleased to meet you. I am Manami Katsura," she introduced to me.

Meanwhile, Mr. Katsura didn't say any words to all of them including me but instead, he just looked at me with very sharp eyes. It felt like he wanted to kill me. Kokoro started saying things that cause the atmosphere even awkward.

"Mother, mother. Big brother Makoto is big sister's boyfriend," Kokoro announced out loud to both of them.

That lead me panicked, shocked and surprised. My face was totally white and with line drawn over my face. I felt depressed. With Mr. Katsura's already have high hatred towards me, now I would be hated even more. I think that he didn't like me going out with his daughter. Mr. Katsura folded his hands and looked at me with his very deep anger and disgusts despite saying nothing about it. Manami-san saw his face and tried to calm him down.

"Dear, dear, don't be like that. Kotonoha has already grown up and it is no wonder that she might have boyfriend soon. Look, Kotonoha is disappointed and sad of you," she tried to give him reason not to be angry.

"*sigh," he only sighed.

He sighed and then left the room. Kotonoha felt sad looking her father acted like this. I was thinking this might be my fault. The atmosphere was so heavy. Kokoro couldn't say anything and she was in brief silence too. Thankfully, Manami-san broke the awkward atmosphere.

"Makoto, please forgive him. I'm sure he would understand and happily accept you. He just loved his daughter too much. In any case, please take a good care of my daughter," she smiled.

"Ye… Yes!" I answered back with joy.

I looked at Kotonoha and we looked each other. We blushed and Manami-san and Kokoro laughed at us. It was very late night and I decided to go home. I told Manami-san and Kotonoha that I wanted to go home. I properly thanked them for the greetings and invitation.

"Mo... mother, I'll go walk with Makoto-kun until train station," she offered to go with me.

"*giggle, okay. Just be careful on the way," she gave her okay.

"Ye… Yes!" she nodded and smiled.

"Awww. Not fair. I also wanted to walk with big bro Makoto," she pouted.

"One day, Kokoro. You are still too small to walk around at night time," she declined her eager to walk with me.

After that, Kotonoha and I went to the front door. We put on our shoes and I bid farewell to Manami-san and Kokoro.

"Come again, big bro," she said and waved at us.

I nodded and we started walking together. Kotonoha and I walked slowly as if we didn't want this to end up fast. I thought that I would like to hold her hand because I wanted to feel it. I held her hands and she was in a brief shock. But then, she blushed and her hand gripped my hand tightly. We smiled and then we chatted each other. While walking halfway, she asked me something.

"Makoto-kun, I would like to go to seaside with you for a while. Is it okay?" she asked me.

"Sure, let's go. I don't mind since my mother's not at home," I told her that.

She was happy with my answer and we both walked to the seaside. The seaside route was not far from the train station, it was one way but still had to take a little detour. Then, after walking for about 10 minutes, we arrived at the seaside. No one was at seaside except us. We stood there and saw the sea and the moon. The view was so beautiful and the moon was big. We talked each other lots and looked at the moon together.

"It feels beautiful, right? Makoto-kun," she asked me.

"Yes, it's beautiful. I wish time would just stop and I can spend lots of time with you."

Hearing that made her face red. Then, I continued talking.

"Kotonoha, I….," I wanted to say something to her.

"Yes?" she asked me with confuse face.

I wanted to say that I love her. But, it's embarrassing and I was shy to say that. While I was trying to muster my courage, suddenly I felt something evil. Something that resembled the same as the last encounter. It was the Shadows. I stopped and tried to look back slowly and saw twice as big as human size Shadows. In contrary to last encounter which had 2 Shadows, this time it had 3 Shadows. The appearances are also different. If it was floating orbs last time, now they have resemblance like Human body. 2 of them were like metal giants sporting wrestling speedos while the other one is similar to cupid angel human size. Kotonoha who looked at me in pale face tried to look the same direction as me. The Shadows rushed very fast and tried to attack us. Kotonoha was in deep shock and I grabbed her body and rolled right to dodge with my body fell first in order to not injure Kotonoha.

"Kotonoha, are you okay? Are you hurt?" I asked her condition.

"I…. I'm okay, Makoto-kun," she told me.

"Kotonoha, please run. I don't want the Shadows to hurt you. I will handle them alone," I asked her to run.

"Bu…. But…"

"Never mind that. Just run!" I reminded her to run one more time.

She nodded and then tried to run but one of the Shadows blocked her direction. She was surprised because Shadows stopped her movement. I looked at her and quickly helped her. I summoned Izanagi with my hand breaking the tarot card coming out from my hand. Izanagi tried to jump to that Shadow which blocked Kotonoha's way. But, it dodged its attack and quickly rejoined the other two Shadows. Kotonoha couldn't move at all after being taken surprised immediately. All of those Shadows came and attacked Izanagi at the same time. Izanagi couldn't dodge all of them and resulted it being pushed aside far. As Izanagi and I have the same soul, the attacks effect also affected me. I was also pushed back and fell down right beside Kotonoha. I tried to move my body, but it was so hurt that I barely was able to move. Kotonoha called to me and kneel beside me. I thought that these Shadows were different compared to the first Shadows we met. As they rushed in once again with this time I couldn't move my body due to injury, I closed my eyes with my arms hoping that my body would move again to command Izanagi. Suddenly, a slashing sound was heard. When I opened my eyes, one of the Giant wresting-like Shadows dissolved and I saw another huge being that's not like human but resembled to monkey shape holding a long staff. It must be a Persona. Then, I heard voices.

"Makoto, are you okay?" said the voice which I am familiar with.

I looked behind me and it was Saru who came to my rescue.

"Saru!" I called him.

"You sure are in a complete mess, you should invite me next time. It's your fault for going home too long," said Saru to me.

"But, how?" I asked him since he came at the right time.

Had he come late, I would have been dead for sure. I was also curious of how he knew I was in danger.

"Did you forget what I told you? My Persona's unique ability granted me extreme sight and hearing. I could see and hear anywhere above 50 miles. That's why I knew you were in danger. Although, I was on the way to your girlfriend's house already and then I noticed you are in danger. Timing couldn't be better," he reminded me.

Well, now that I thought about it, he did mention this and I completely forgot about it. Did he just say that he was on the way? That idiot would surely give away his cover to other people. I doubt people wouldn't notice him and thought that it wasn't weird for monkey to walk around. Shortly after, Kotonoha interrupted me.

"Sa….. Saru, just… talk?" Kotonoha was in deep confuse.

I was in deep surprised as well. Earlier, Kotonoha couldn't understand Saru's words but instead, she just heard him screaming like normal monkey. However, how could she understand what Saru said just now? Moreover, this is not the time to be thinking like that. There are Shadows we need to deal with. So, I calmed Kotonoha down.

"Kotonoha, I know what you want to say but, now is not a right time to ask. I promise I will tell you after we are safe," I touched her cheek and calmed her down.

She seems to have gain composure and nodded. Not for a while, Saru interrupted me.

"How long do you plan on lying down? I need help over here," he asked for backup.

I could move my body now. I stood up and get ready to fight and my Izanagi was ready all the time.

"Sorry, are you ready, Saru?" I asked him.

"Ready as always," he readied his stance.

Kotonoha just sat down and watched us preparing to battle. As we faced the Shadows, Saru told me something before battle began.

"Makoto, now is the perfect opportunity to use enhance sight. Stay calm and listen, some Shadows have weaknesses. I can tell these Shadows have a weakness too. If you can pinpoint that weakness and take advantage of it, the battle will be a lot easier. Try look within the Shadows and you should be able to see the status," he told me.

I followed his instruction and enhanced my eyesight. I looked into the Cupid Shadow type. I could clearly see its status. Its name is Anteros (God of Requited Love), has Lovers Arcana and it doesn't have any weakness and nullify dark and light element. It has wind and Fire attacks. The other Shadow's name is Daring Gigas which Arcana is Strength and weakness is Wind but resist against Physical. So, this is how I analyze the Shadows. It was interesting but there was no time to think. The Shadows began to attack again.

"Makoto, I'll take on this Daring Gigas. You take on Anteros," he told me.

I nodded and we both battled to each of the Shadows. I commanded Izanagi to attack and it charged forward and used Physical attack. But, the attacks missed and Anteros cast extreme large Wind area attack causing Izanagi to be injured and fell down once again. The injury also affected my body and caused huge pain. I never thought the weakness could cause huge pain. In the meantime, I looked at Saru and he was quite having trouble himself with Daring Gigas. Suddenly, a voice recalled me in my mind.

"You possess the power to obtain new Arcana via the bonds you forge. The power to command multiple Personas and to use them accordingly. You are the chosen one."

This voice was no doubt Abigail.

"Chosen… one….," I spoke to myself.

After that, I raised my hand and the hand gestures is similar to asking people stop. I pointed to Izanagi.

"Change," that's what I said.

Izanagi then transformed into another tarot card, Hermit Arcana.

"Kurama Tengu," I called another Persona name which I haven't had slightest clue of how I knew it.

I tightened grip my hand and the card was cracking. The blue aura appeared and caused high blasting wind in surrounding. It showed a Persona Kurama Tengu which appearance has demon face but has an Angel wing. Unbeknownst, I looked into its status and knew all about its strength, weakness and abilities. I told him to do the attack and Kurama Tengu used his wind attack on Daring Gigas. It got wounded and dissolved immediately. After that, it used a very powerful physical area attack called "Vicious Strike". The blast impact was powerful enough that Anteros couldn't dodge it. The attack caused Anteros to get heavily injured. I looked at Saru and we both knew what the next step was.

"Saru!" I shouted his name.

"Yes! Go, Utsubozaru!" He replied indicating he knew what I meant.

Both of our Personas rushed toward the weakened Anteros and both punched heavily to it. With both punches came contact to Anteros, it finally dissolved and showed that we had won the fight.

We took a breath for a while and our Personas disappeared. Saru and I fist bumped each other showing our teamwork was unmatchable. Kotonoha called me and I totally forgot about her during our battle.

"Makoto-kun!" she ran towards me.

"Kotonoha," I ran towards her too.

We both hugged each other and she was relief to see me okay. I could see her tears.

"You are amazing," she said to me.

I was blushing. Saru decided not to look that romance part and we both kissed each other. She must have been in shock as this is the second time she witnessed Shadows. Not only that, she saw how our Personas battle and Saru talking. I wouldn't be surprised if she couldn't accept these facts.

TO BE CONTINUED