Her blood red eyes met the ceiling of the room when she opened them. She checked around, looking for something she might recognize…but no luck. This place wasn't the one she knew or she had been. This place wasn't the dorm.

Pushing up from the floor, she tried to move her metal body, and grabbed the weapon beside her. Luckily it's still here. She tried to recall what had happened, and it appeared to be blurred images.

She remembered they had gone through the Abyss of Time, and fought for the key. And then…yeah, they used it, and…

What happened then?

No, no luck. She couldn't remember a bit of what had happened next right after they used the key. Not only this…some of the memories seemed to fade as well. They fought someone before they got the key…who's that, anyway?

Standing straight on her feet, she scanned the room she was in. She saw pitch black, only managed to peek using the dim green light from outside. Then again, where's the green light coming from?

"Scanner activated."

Scanning through the place to see if she could find someone by any luck, she moved her black metal body to the door.

"…Looking for any similar subject…blonde hair, white body and gun…" She detected some people gathered in a room on the second floor. She was at third floor, quite far from them.

"Detected moving subject. Target confirmed." She had found the one she was looking for, but…something was off.

There was another presence her target was after now. But it rather a human or shadow…or in between?

No, impossible. From what she could detect, the presence was no other than human. The presence's figure matched with the human. He or her ability was no different with normal human. It must be something went wrong with her scanner.

Wait…

"No…you can't kill her…" Unconsciously, her body started to move by itself. As if detected something out there, she opened the door and ran toward the target and the presence she found a moment ago.

No, she couldn't let her sister kill the human. That person might not be human, or whatever he or she was, for now, that person couldn't die.

Not now.

Having this in mind, as she heard the gun firing sound coming from front, she didn't waste anytime heading over there.

She had to stop her sister.

Panting heavily as she tried to catch her breathe, Haruka leaned against the wall to have a moment of rest.

That thing was still after her. Was it doing this by herself, or getting order from Ikutsuki? She couldn't help but think of Ikutuski must have done something on this. But she wouldn't surprise if that thing doing this all by her own will.

After all, it was an Anti-Shadow Weapon.

It must have detected that she was a dangerous subject, or maybe she remembered her?

She hoped it's not.

She jerked when she heard the footstep sounded nearby. Not good…it's here.

"…I can't die here." If she died, the world would reset to the beginning of everything. How many times the world and the people within it could take the reset and reset over? If it did, how would Hamuko and Minato ended up with?

Calling her fool or coward all they wanted, but she couldn't die here. Not now, not here.

She moved again, pulling her feet together. The wound on her arm was hurt, but the blood had stopped oozing.

She pushed opened the glass door and found a dead end. It was a balcony, no more places to run. Thinking she needed another way out, she turned around and hoping Hamuko and Minato would come and save her. She didn't think she could last longer than she thought. If the Anti-Shadow Weapon decided to kill her, she had no way to prevent it.

But luck seemed to abandon her in this very moment. As she took a step out from the balcony, the sound of footstep stopped right in front. She cursed, knowing full well what that would mean. She already see the gun aiming at her.

"Target locking. Eliminate."

"…Do you happen to remember me?" She hoped this would distract the weapon. They must be on the way. She needed to buy some time.

"…"

"You couldn't kill me ten years ago. Do you think you can kill me now?"

"…"

"…Do you…remember what happened ten years ago?"

The weapon kept being silence. Haruka was having hard time if it could hear her. She even couldn't figure her expression when her face hid in the darkness.

No…at least she needed to stay calm.

There's no way it would remember the incident ten years ago, or what she had done on Hamuko and Minato…or even to her. Pharos did tell her, that the world decided to seal everyone's respective memories so to keep the balance of the world, and so it would make everything on the track. The weapon was no exception.

"…I cannot understand what you said." The weapon finally talked. "You are dangerous."

The sound of the shadow eliminated weapon locked at the poker face girl as if telling her it's going to end. It's true that it couldn't kill her, if only it was ten years ago. Now she's just a piece of fragment. Having no power, no strength to defend.

She could only watch the gun about to fire –

"Wait, sister!" A black metal figure pounded out from other side to her and managed to pull her away from the shooting range. "You can't kill this person!"

"…Who are you?" The weapon sounded uncertain after seeing the new comer's face.

"Sister, don't you remember me? I'm Metis!" Metis, the black android maiden took a shield in front of Haruka, acting as a protector.

Haruka took a closer look to Metis, having surprised to see her appearance in this world.

The blood red eyes, the black metal body and the hammer she's holding, there's no doubt she's Metis, the one addressed herself as the weapon's sister.

"…I don't know you. I'm the last Anti-Shadow Weapon. Who are you?"

"Sister…" Metis seemed depressed by her sister's answer, but having no choice. One thing she knew was her sister didn't recognize her at all. "Sis-"

"…It's useless. She'll not remember." Haruka's emotionless voice snapped her out. "You know…she's serious."

"I…"

"Get away from the enemy. She is dangerous." The weapon raised her gun again. As if to show it seriousness, it aimed the two of them, telling Metis to withdraw, or else it'd shoot, no doubt. "This is last warning."

"Sister…" Holding firmly of her hammer, Metis, was having no idea why she needed to protect the girl behind her. From the detection earlier, she's neither human nor shadow…more correctly, she's more to shadow. But it didn't seem to be exactly…she couldn't tell either. Still… "No, I won't let you kill her! This is…for our sake!"

The weapon remained silence. Perhaps it was hesitated? Haruka couldn't pinpoint it since the weapon was like her – emotionless. Anyway, it couldn't be hesitated.

The one she needed to be careful was Metis. How much she remembered? From the way she wanted to protect a stranger like her, she could have doubted her intention. More importantly…where did she come from?

"Haruka!" When the weapon about to fire, they heard some footsteps in rush, properly seven of them were heading toward them. The one who shouted…no doubt was the one she knew the most. The leader of the team Tsukikage Hamuko.

"…!" The weapon immediately stopped whatever it's trying to do, and ran toward the balcony. Form there, Haruka finally saw the true appearance of the weapon.

Blonde hair, white body with red ribbon tied on the neck. Its eyes…no, her eyes were ocean blue. Though this was not the first time Haruka saw her, but it's only a quick glance ten years ago.

The white android maiden ran passed them and jumped down from the balcony, hiding into the woods behind the mansion.

"Sister!" Metis could only watch her sister disappeared in front of her without the way she could stop.

Haruka grabbed the black android.

"…Why are you protecting me?"

"I don't know." Metis answered honestly. "I just follow my instinct. A voice in my head tells me you can't die for now."

"…How much do you…" Just as Haruka wanted to dig more from the black android, Hamuko, Minato and the rest rushed into the balcony, forcefully broke them apart when Hamuko pulled her away from the android.

"Who are you!?" Hamuko pointed her naginata to Metis. The other membes also readied their respective weapons. "How's your wound?"

"Wait…she is not enemy. She saved me." Ignoring the auburn haired leader, now the priority was to clear the misunderstanding before anything occurred. She stopped the agitated SEES member, seeing the spectacle wearing guy panted heavily from running all the way here. She couldn't help but narrowed her eye.

"Saved…you?"

"Please explain everything, Kamijou." Mitsuru shot the black android a glance. "Chairman, she is…Anti-Shadow Weapon, isn't she?"

She did read the record about the last Anti-Shadow Weapon that still remained in the lab, though she hadn't see it with her own two eyes, she believed the android in front was the one. One thing was that…she never expected it to be…so humanize.

If it not because of the black metal body and the large hammer she's holding, everyone could have mistook her as human.

"No…s-she is…she i-is..."

"…Can somebody give him a cup of water?" Minato grimaced, crossing his arms.

…

"Thanks Mitsuru! Your cup of water saved my poor life." As if acting, Ikutsuki said while using exaggerated posture, Hamuko and Minato rolled their eyes, feeling wanted somewhere to release their disgusting feeling.

"So…what's the…An…what weapon?" Junpei blushed everytime when he took a glance on the black android. Too bad she's robot…

"Okay, let me explain." Ikutuski pushed his spectacle a bit. "Indeed Mitsuru is right. She's an Anti-Shadow Weapon, but…she's not the one in the lab. The one in the lab has…gone missing."

Then, the room sank in a brief moment of silence.

"What!?"

"Huh? Then, what's she?"

"Ikutsuki-san, what do you mean by that?" Akihiko asked the question for the others.

"How about we let Kamijou to explain first?" Ikutsuki threw the ball to the poker face girl, who had her injured arm wrapped properly by the maids. Smiling with a hint of grim on his lips, he listlessly waited for her respond.

She wanted to tear his fake smiling face, but of course she knew that wouldn't be. She pressed down the desire to the bottom of her belly and tried her best to maintain her poker face. She hoped no one would read her out.

"…I don't know either. When I was up, I saw a figure in front of my bed and fire before I could ask anything. I fall down from the bed, and managed to escape out to the room. That's it…Metis saved me and you know what happened."

"But why the thing attacked you instead of the others?" Ikutsuki again asked, following the question before.

Haruka shot him another glare.

So he planned to force her to reveal her true identity? That's stupid…she pursed her lips, feeling the bitter in her mouth.

She needed not to worry about Metis about what she remembered. Though she did want to ask more detail from her, but because Hamuko and Minato-kun had come for her, she got no chance. If the weapon's memories were sealed, then it should be the same to the black android. For now, she could trust Metis that she'd not talked about the what had happened in parallel world.

Having clear her mind and getting a conclusion, she let out a deep breathe.

"…I have no idea. Perhaps it's just a coincidence…or someone order it to do so?" She looked back to Ikutsuki. The spectacle wearing guy took her glance without backing down.

"Hmm…do you mean all of us will become the weapon's target?" Fuuka asked in uncertainty.

"No way! You mean we're just lucky not being picked as the target!?" Junpei yelled.

"Chairman, is that Anti-Shadow Weapon this dangerous?" That's weird. From the record she read previously, it should remain in sleeping mode, and nothing was wrong during that time.

"No. Anti-Shadow Weapon was designed to eliminate shadows, and it's impossible for it to target human." Ikutsuki said in pondering form. That look gave Haruka a shiver, especially after hearing his word. "Well, and she woke up upon our arrival in Yakushima."

"Do you saw the weapon? Where did she go?" This question was directed to Haruka.

"…She has blonde hair and white body. When you arrived, she jumped down form the balcony and ran to the woods behind."

"Then…what about her?" Hamuko asked, and making everyone focused on the black android.

"…What?" Metis tilted her head, looked pretty much alike to human. "The one you're talking about is my sister. Her name is Aigis."

"Sister?" Everyone raised their brow, and shifted their gaze back to the chairman. "Doesn't that is the last weapon, Chairman?"

Now, even Ikutsuki furrowed his brows. He took a glance on Mitsuru's suspicious face and then went back to the black android.

"Metis…right? You said Aigis is your sister…how do you know she is?"

"I know that since I woke up. I'm here for her…but she doesn't seem to remember me." Her voice trailed off. Thinking how her sister acted so coldly toward her really upset her.

"…It seems we still have many question left for answer." Mitsuru sighed, rubbing her temple. "As for now, we need to stay alert. Everyone, please go and have some rest. We'll be calling you once we find her. Yamagishi, can you help me?"

"Yes, of course." The aqua hair girl followed Mitsuru.

"Aww…we're here to have fun! What's up with the operation and so!?" Junpei yelled in frustrated. He couldn't believe his vacation was ruined because of a robot. "…Speaking of which, Metis, where were you coming from?"

"I'm in the room when I woke up, Junpei."

"Huh? You know my name?" Wait…he hadn't introduced himself yet!

Metis pointed the team. "I know all of you." Starting from Junpei, Metis said their name one by one. The team widened their eyes as they hadn't really told her their names yet! "Hmm…you and you…" She pointed Hamuko and Minato. "…I'm sure I saw you two before…" She lifted her head, pondering like human. Two black figures flashed across her mind, and they didn't seem to be the same one. "Hmm? Sorry, I can't remember…" Her head became fizzy for not be able to differentiate the two images she saw.

Haruka balled her fists.

So she remembered the rest of them. She wouldn't surprise to see Metis couldn't remember about Hamuko and Minato, since they're not there in Abyss of Time. She might see their similar forms and fought them, but that's not exactly them. If so, Haruka could only say that Metis was directly transferred from Abyss of Time. Some of her memories were seal when she came here…

"My name is Hamuko. Too bad you can't remember me." Hamuko stretched out her hand. Though she knew nothing about the black android too.

"…I'm Minato." Minato politely nodded his head.

Metis looked down to the hand, not knowing what to do. Hamuko smiled, took their hand together.

"This is how we say hello!"

"I see…what about smile to each other? Is that one of the way?"

"Well, yes! Smile makes people happy!"

"If I smile, would it make you happy too?" Metis crooked her lips into a big smile. Hamuko almost laughed seeing her funny look.

"Yeah, I'm happy now!"

Yukari, Junpei and Akihiko went to take a nap before Fuuka found out Aigis. Since it's in late night, taking a quick nap would help to refresh the mind. Minato direct slept on the sofa in the room. His advantage was to be able to sleep whenever he was. Hamuko was so envy about that.

"Haruka, you better have some rest."

"…It's alright. I'll stay here. It's safer." It would be better to stay beside Hamuko or Minato. Aigis would never hurt them. If she remained alone, who knew when Aigis would attack her again.

Hamuko dropped her face. "…I feel someone was watching at me the whole time in Yakushima…was it Aigis too?" It's not anything piercing though, but she did feel uncomfortable.

"…Probably."

"…I thought I saw her before." Hamuko jumped at the sudden voice from Minato, who was supposed had sleep.

"Don't scare me like that!" She knocked his head a few times. "What do you mean you saw her?"

"I saw a figure when I went to beach…probably it's just my imagination though…and will you stop knocking my head? It's hurt." Minato rubbed his head.

"If you stop scaring me like that!"

Leaving the two, Haruka walked to Metis who was looking out from the window. It's so dark outside. She doubted the android could see anything through the window.

"…Thank you for saving me."

"It's alright…though I don't even know why I have to do that." Metis lowered her head. It hurt her to think that she'd against her sister like that. They went so much in Abyss of Time, and never she had did that to her. She always stood by her, even in the most difficult time… "I need to ask you one thing…what are you?"

The red piercing eyes remained Haruka the eyes of Hamuko. Blue and red…black and white…everything of Metis went opposite of Aigis, as well as their emotion. Haruka looked away from that eyes.

"I am what you think I am."

"…I don't understand. You're neither human nor shadow, that's why I wanted to know." Even the way she frowned was so humanize…Haruka thought.

"…I am a piece of fragment…to fill and correct everything, and make sure it's on track. That's…me." She could feel the bitter in her voice from every word she spoke of.

"Everyone, I found her!" Fuuka voice rang in their mind. "It's near the Jyomon-Cedar tree!"

"Hmm…what is she doing there?" Ikutsuki asked quietly. Mitsuru ignored him, and having Fuuka to call the other members. "Have your weapon ready. We're going to retreat the Anti-Shadow Weapon."

Dark Hour had ended. Everything back to normal.

Inside the woods, sound of the footstep echoed. SEES followed the instruction of Fuuka and went to the Jyomon-Cedar. It's so dark out there. They barely see anything. If it was Dark Hour, they might use the green light fro the sky. But in normal hour, all they could do was relied on the flashlight.

"Man…it's quite cold out here." Junpei rubbed his arm. He should bring more clothes with him.

"Shut up Stupei…but I agree with you. I wanna go back to my bed now." Yukari was more afraid to see something else inside the woods. The cold she felt properly was different with Junpei… "Waaaahhhh!"

"W-What's up, Yukari!?" Hamuko also jumped up by her scream.

"N-No…it's nothing…haha…" Yukari released her fear I trembled. Luckily it's just a bat hanged on the tree…wait…bat? Her face paled up by the thought.

"Go on Hamuko. Let's get this done and hurry back. I'm sleepy." Minato yawned again. He could have yawned thirty times in half an hour since they started the search.

"I'm sleepy too, you sleepy head!" She rubbed her eyes. Her eyes must be red by now. Taking a glance to the black android maiden in front, Hamuko had to watch her pace so she wouldn't bump onto her.

"Hey, lower your voice." Akihiko sighed. How many times he had to repeat since they inside the woods?

"How is the target, Yamagishi?" Mitsuru asked.

"Remain unmoved, Mitsuru-senpai. I think it should be alright." Fuuka's soft chuckled voice sounded through the line. "And senpai, you're almost there."

"Alright, stay alert, everyone."

"Yes senpai."

In unison, they slowed their paces. Metis, however, remained the same. As they went nearer to the Jyomon-Cedar, she even ran over there.

"Hey Metis! Wait!" Hamuko was shocked to see Metis ran off by herself, quickly she caught her pace and chased after her. Minato went along with her, followed by other members behind.

"…She's there." Minato narrowed his eyes, moved his flashlight to the white metal body not far from them. Metis's black metal body was sharper when it reflecting the light. In front of Metis was the white android maiden, the one they looking for.

Hamuko quickly took a brake on her feet, and having everyone doing the same. She held firmly of her naginata, feeling it on her hand.

"Sister, please follow us and go back."

"…I am not your sister." Aigis said, emotionless. "I am the last Anti-Shadow Weapon."

"Don't you remember what we went through in Abyss of Time, sister? I'm Metis." Metis looked almost wanted to cry. It's must hurt her badly to see Aigis didn't recognize her at all.

"I don't understand what you said." Ignoring the black android, she walked to Hamuko and Minato. "You…"

Hamuko pointed her naginata to the white android. "…Why were you attacked Haruka?"

"Haruka…is that the name of a person?"

"Stop pretending you know nothing! You almost killed her, didn't you!?" Looking to her innocent face, Hamuko raised her voice. Having no idea, but she couldn't angry with the white android. A part of her told her that this robot was someone precious. Even now, the tip of the naginata was trembling.

"…Because she is dangerous." Still, Aigis walked straight to two of them, not bother with the naginata. "I have to…I want to protect you…the two of you."

"?"

Hamuko and Minato exchange a glance, both saw question in their eyes. They might hear something else, they guessed?

"…Mitsuru, what's up with this?" Akihiko scratched his head. Just what was going on?

"…Chairman, can you hear?" Instead of answering Akihiko, Mitsuru asked the one in the mansion.

"…Interesting. Why don't you come back to the mansion first? We can discuss this later."

To their surprise, Aigis followed them back to the mansion without protest or struggle. First they thought they might need to use force, or fought her. But…

Hamuko looked at the white android maiden. She really was no different than human. But Metis was more humanize than Aigis was due to her side of the expressed of emotion.

"She is dangerous. She can't stay here." Upon seeing Haruka, Aigis wanted to aim her gun to her again.

"Stop that, Aigis!" Hamuko opened her arms shielded in front of Haruka. Aigis couldn't help but backed off. "Haruka is my friend. I can't allow you to hurt her!"

"But she is dangerous. It will be a disadvantage to stay beside her."

Hamuko shook her head, not going to compromise.

"…Why don't you stay with us? Then you can watch over her as well." Minato finally suggested. If they kept arguing on this, they would never hear the end of it.

"Minato-kun!" Hamuko didn't seem to agree.

"…Roger. It's my priority to stay by your side."

"Okay, I think it's settled?" Ikutsuki clapped his hand, drawing attention over. "Mitsuru, I'll put Aigis under SEES, any problem?"

"An Anti-Shadow Weapon…does that mean…?"

"Yes…I am capable of operating the Persona 'Palladion'."

"It's very interesting…perhaps her identification system is malfunctioning…or maybe she's still half asleep…anyway, I hope you can all get along."

"Hmm…everyone." Fuuka raised her hand at the end of discussion. "What about Metis?"

All of them remained silence. Their gazes automatically moved to the redhead.

"Can I stay with you guys too? I want to stay by sister's side." Metis requested.

"…What do you think, Tsukikage and Arisato?" Though Mitsuru already had her decision in her mind, she wanted to know what the two were thinking.

"I agree. Since she's an Anti-Shadow Weapon, she will be our strength as well…" Minato said in half sleep. He's too sleepy now…

"…Me too." From the way Metis protected Haruka, Hamuko could tell she's on her side. If she's coming along, she could leave Haruka to Metis in case anything happened. Yeah, right. This should have done. "Welcome aboard, Metis, Aigis!"

The next day morning, they woke up after noon due to the operation they're forced to have last night in early of morning.

Minato could have lay on the bed the whole day if he wanted. But he knew that wouldn't do. Hamuko would bug into his room and drug him from the bed. He stretched his body, struggling to get up.

He opened the door to the bathroom on his right side to get washed and dressed.

"Good morning, Minato-san." The white android maiden suddenly got into the bathroom without knocking the door. "Everyone is up to the beach. Let's have some fun there."

"A-Aigis!?" He choked, jumped into the bathtub to hide. Even he felt that's stupid enough. "Y-You can go first."

"I've been order to come to get you. I can't go back empty-handed."

He sighed. Who told her to do that? He's not a kid…wait, someone will.

"…Hamuko, huh?" He could only think of her. Who else would? "…Just a moment…can you go out first?" He wouldn't be able to get out of the bathtub if she remained here. But the white android maiden didn't seem to aware of this…

"Roger."

He face palmed. First he saw the half naked body of Hamuko, and now, the robot girl saw his naked body…god…it's so embarrassed.

"…Later I'll have her not to tell this to anyone…"

…

"Good morning, Minato-kun!"

"…It's already noon." He glared at the auburn haired girl. "Was it you who told Aigis to wake me up?"

"Yes! She did a good job!" Her answer really pissed him off.

"…Don't you angry her? I mean after what she had done to Kamijou…" Last night she didn't seem to agree to let the white android to stay in SEES. How the hell they're nothing now?

"…I still angry with her. But…" She lowered her gaze. "She just did what she think is right. I can't hate her."

"…I see. We'll understand more after we get all our memories back." He turned to look at the voice that was calling for him. It's Junpei and Yukari. They told them to play along.

"Hey, do you think they're waterproof?" Watching Metis and Aigis playing in the water, Hamuko sweat dropped.

"…I don't think we need to worry about that." He yawned. "…Sleepy…ouch."

Hamuko slapped his head from behind. "I think you need refreshment, huh?" Yukari, give me a hand!"

"No, not this again." He saw Yukari brought Metis and Aigis to his way. The first thing he could think of was ran –

"What we need to do now, Yukari-san?" The white android caught him with unbelievable speed. His face immediately turned green.

"Of course is-"

"Hey wait Yukari! Why me too!?" As Hamuko cried for help, she was dragged to the water by Metis – almost in flying speed. "Waaaaaahhhhhhh!"

"…This is your faaaaauuuulllltttt!"

The laughing voices filled the beach. The two got up and started to get revenge. Again and again, they managed to have another day full of fun before ended their vacation.