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 went to his girlfriend's house to meet Kokoro and have a date in her house. As they enjoyed the day and night passed, Makoto bid farewell to Kokoro and Manami and Kotonoha walked him to train station. They decided to go to seaside to see the view. Upon arriving and watching the scene, they were being ambushed by 3 Shadows, Anteros and Daring Gigas. Saru came in a time to help Makoto and they two battled. As they succeeded in defeating Shadows, Makoto and Kotonoha ran each other and embraced with kiss.

CHAPTER 10

TRAGEDY?

Kotonoha and I were still kissing, not wanting to let it go. We both felt warm each other. I was relieved that she's safe. I couldn't bear to see if she's attacked by those Shadows. I could never see her getting into trouble. We were kissing for long time until a certain voice interrupted us.

"*Ahem," Saru cleared his throat.

The moment when I heard that, I noticed that I forgot about Saru. Kotonoha also was aware of that. We broke the hug and kiss and blushed.

"*Geez, Saru. Can't we have our moment for a while?" I complained.

"Well, I am sorry to interrupt but it is late night already and I am hungry," he apologized politely.

Come to think of it, I forgot to leave some food behind before I went to Kotonoha's house. Damn, I must be a bad partner to have forgotten about that. I apologized to Saru and decided to go home and cooked food for him. For some reasons, I was also tired and I could tell that he's tired too.

"Because we used our Persona excessively, our stamina are also decreased drastically, thus we need to eat to regain stamina," Saru mentioned the price in using Persona.

So, that's what he meant. The more we use our Persona, the more tiredness we get. I guess we have to be careful to next time. Then, Kotonoha walked to Saru.

"Um….. thank you, Saru," she patted his head.

"It…. It is no big deal," Saru blushed.

It seems that Kotonoha and Saru had become friends. It's good though at least that's one less worry that I had to think about since no one except me and Kotonoha can hear Saru talking. Now that I mention it, how could Kotonoha understand Saru? I asked Saru about this.

"Saru, how come Kotonoha can understand what you utter? Previously, she was just listening to you screaming like normal monkey," I asked him.

"*grrrr, who are you calling a monkey?" he frowned.

"Ahhhhh, I am sorry," I bowed my head and apologized.

Kotonoha was just laughing seeing us like that.

"*sigh, anyway, the reason why your girlfriend can hear me talking is because she saw my Persona. Any person who sees my Persona and being exposed to it will gain the ability to understand what I am saying. It is like your brain cognitive begins to understand of what I said," Saru explained.

"Then, why didn't you use your Persona earlier when you meet Sekai and Kotonoha? At least, they will know that you can talk," I asked him.

"You fool. Not only using Persona unnecessary will I get tired easily, but also using Persona in public will trigger massive panic for sure as no one can accept that we have Persona that is something beyond the human. Only use your Persona when it is necessary. Otherwise, do not waste on it," he reminded me.

"I understand," I nodded.

"I…. I see," Kotonoha also nodded.

Kotonoha began to understand partial about these facts and looked at both of us. I talked to Kotonoha about this and asked her once again to not to tell anyone about this.

"Kotonoha, again please do not tell anyone about this. We do not want to cause panic. When the time comes, I will tell my friends. Also, now you have understood why Saru can talk and he has the same power as me, the Personas. We basically are partner now and we live together in my apartment," I told her.

Kotonoha nodded and felt happy that I had friend like Saru.

"That's great, Makoto-kun," she smiled brightly.

"Hehehe. I supposed tomorrow at lunch break, I will tell you about Velvet room," I told her.

"Are you sure you want to tell her about Velvet room and my master?" Saru asked me.

"Well, I don't mind if it is just her. I don't want to have any secret in my relationship with Kotonoha," I assured Saru.

Kotonoha who heard that became even moved to what I said. She thought that I must have valued our relationship so much. She grabbed my face and face towards her and kissed unexpectedly, although it's a short kiss but I loved it. Then, we broke the kiss and Saru asked me.

"That being said, have you already bought a bigger bag?"

When he said bag, my face was shocked. I completely forgot about that. He noticed from my expression that I totally forgot.

"*Geez, now I have to suffer once again in that small backpack of yours," he complained.

"Ma…. Makoto-kun, does that mean Saru will come with you every day at school? But, school doesn't allow any pets," Kotonoha asked me.

"Yes, he will come with me every day as I have mentioned before, we are partners. Earlier, I planned to buy bigger bag with you today. But, I ended up playing with Kokoro and stayed with you until this late night, hahahah," I laughed and told her.

I told Saru to just stay at my apartment for just one more day since I would go with Kotonoha tomorrow to Sakakino to buy bigger bag. Kotonoha agreed and we got our planned date for tomorrow. She looked so happy.

"Well, it's fine for me. Just as long as you don't forget to leave some food behind before you go," he folded his hands.

After that, Kotonoha, Saru and I walked to train station. It's fine for Saru to walk freely because at this hour, there were no people nearby at the train. Mostly, people were already sleeping. The train came and we entered the train. I waved at Kotonoha and she did too. We smiled. The train's ETA was 20 minutes. After that, we arrived to the area closed to my apartment. We walked and then not for long, we arrived.

As we entered the apartment, I quickly prepared food for him as I was also hungry. I cooked fried rice. Despite having no expertise in culinary, I did my best that I could. Luckily, my mom bought lots of ingredients so I could cook fried rice with whatever side dish I could. After several minutes of cooking, the fried rice was done. We both enjoyed it happily. Saru commented to my cooking as "not bad" for amateur. Sure, this was my first time but I never thought that it would be this good. I was happy. I was thinking if Kotonoha could try and commented about it. It's decided that I would cook for Saru and Kotonoha one more time the next morning. We finished eating and I took a bath. After that, I changed to pajamas and we prepared to go to bed.

"Today was such tiring day, Saru," I said to him.

"Of course. Battling Shadows is always tiring," he replied.

"Thanks to you, I was able to figure out how to use enhance sight and how to use Persona according to its ability," I thanked him.

"No worries, it's what partners for," he smiled big.

"Don't worry, I will buy the bag definitely for sure tomorrow. So, just bear with it staying at apartment for one more day," I assured him.

He understood of it. I laid down and I looked deep in my soul. I wished to see what Personas that I had achieved. From what I could see, I gained Izanagi, Kurama Tengu, Sarasvati, Raphael and Melchizedek. Right now, Kurama Tengu is set as main. Based on the abilities and Status of Raphael, I decided to set this as main. I guess that's how I changed Persona on and off battles. It seems that from my assumptions, I could only gain one Persona for each Arcana. I bet there are still more than what I have thought. I should have looked into library for more info. Well, I guess tomorrow it is. After changing Persona, I decided to sleep.

The next day, I woke up and as usual, Saru was still sleeping. I didn't know Saru's a sleepyhead type. Nevertheless, I quickly took a bath, prepared food fried rice the same as the night before and cooked for Kotonoha and Saru. I prepared two lunch boxes. One is for Kotonoha and the other one is for Saru. I put one on the table so that when he woke up, he could just eat directly. I put the other one in my school bag and prepared to set off. I went off from my home and headed straight to train station. There, I met Kotonoha.

"Good morning, Kotonoha," I greeted her.

"Good morning, Makoto-kun," she smiled.

I talked with her until the train arrived and we both entered the train. I told her that I cooked a food for her and in such coincidence, she did that too. We both giggled. I felt like someone was watching us but I ignored it since I was talking with Kotonoha. Not for long, the train arrived and we both walked to school and to each class respectively. I sat down and Sekai looked at me with such evil smile.

"Ehhh, sounds like we have someone who is very happy now," Sekai teased me.

"Sh… shut up," I blushed and looked away.

"Well, I am happy if you are happy. I will be going on with Setsuna and the others for lunch. So, good luck with your lunch with Katsura-san," she winked.

Well, I couldn't say any better but to thank her. We started the lesson as the bell rang. Until for several hours, lunch break arrived. I took out lunch box from my bag and quickly went to roof. I arrived first. Kotonoha hasn't arrived yet, so I decided to wait. Not for long, Kotonoha arrived.

"I'm sorry, Makoto-kun," she apologized to me.

I looked at her and noticed that she didn't bring anything in. Earlier, she said that she also cooked a food for me. But, I didn't see anything that looked like lunch box. Moreover, I saw some kind of tears coming from Kotonoha's eyes. She looked like she was about to…. Crying?

"Makoto-kun, I'm…. sorry. I fell down and the lunch box was….. All I got was just tea," she started crying.

I put down my lunch box on the bench and walked to her. I hugged her and said that it was no big deal. She kept crying but relieved to hear that.

"You can always try it tomorrow. I will be looking forward to it," I whispered in her ears.

She nodded and stopped crying. I pulled her to sit on the bench and let her try my lunch box.

"So, how's it?" I asked.

"It's delicious, Makoto-kun," she expressed her happiness in eating.

She ate happily and finished my lunch box. I am so happy that my cooking was loved by my lover. Although, she was visibly sad that I couldn't taste her food. I assured her that the next day she could bring it for me. I also told her not to be sad since we would have date to buy bigger bag. She rejoiced and couldn't wait for that. I was about to tell her about the Velvet room but considering her situation right now, perhaps I should wait until the next day.

Several minutes before the bell, I forgot that I need to go to library to check the tarot information. I asked Kotonoha to walk together to her class and she accepted. We walked until we arrived in her class. She thanked me for the moment during the lunch break and I nodded. After that, I ran straight to library due to lunch break time was almost over. I checked in the general section of books. I found out about tarot books and looked for Arcana page. I checked that there are 22 Major Arcana with which I had seen and obtained 4 Arcana. I understood now that I could gain 18 more Arcana relationship with 18 more Personas. However, the question was who are those 18 rest that I would bond with? Before I could think hard, the bell rang. Luckily, I got the information what I needed and headed back to class and resumed the school lesson.

After lesson, I went to school gate to wait for Kotonoha. She arrived not long after me. We went together to Sakakino in search of bigger bag.

After arriving in Sakakino, we both searched in many shops. However, it was no luck as many sold the small bags just like mine. I sighed and thought that Saru would be disappointed. Then, I spotted something over a shop across the big road. It's also a bag shop. I figured if this one didn't have it either, then I had no idea on where to search for it anymore. I told Kotonoha to wait here as it's dangerous. She nodded and I waited at the side of the road until cars are cleared.

As I looked left and right and there were no cars, I walked quickly to cross the road. While walking midway, suddenly a very loud honking came from my right.

*HONKKKKKKKKKK

When I looked at right, it was a big truck with a very high speed. The distance between it and me was so close. The truck driver tried to stop the truck but it wasn't stopped immediately. The speed was slowly decreasing but it's still enough to kill a person. It was too late for me to dodge. The truck hit me and I was bounced far enough and the truck stopped. Then, loud voices came from several people at Sakakino. But, the loudest one was from Kotonoha.

"MAKOTO-KUNNNNNNNN!" she shouted.

TO BE CONTINUED