Chapter 11

Seeds

Chihiro's glasses bore into the math books, the umpteenth tired sigh from her accompanied Minato as he tore through his own books. Bebe's practice books laid out in front of him, the first half done and complete.

"I wonder how I got into Treasurer position..." Chihiro said dejectedly, a big F on her test paper marked her failure on the subject and she has to take remedial test to made up for it. Thus the reason why she spent hours on her most hated lesson. Minato hummed, still focusing on the harder sentence and compulsively bit his fingers.

"I never asked to be a Treasurer, suddenly Kirijo-senpai appeared in my class and took me to the Council Room," surprised, Minato finally averted his fixation on the book to her and said with a hint of smile, "Same here."

"Really? B-but if I refused Kirijo-senpai's invitation, we might've never met, right?" she smiled timidly. Minato gave an exasperated smile to her and took her pencil, circling the wrong answers with a renewed focus and told Chihiro to redo it.

They finished Chihiro's work shortly and she wearily took off her glasses, blinking at the light. Without the glasses, clear brown eyes looked up at him. The students in front of their desk stunned into silence.

"Thank you for the help, Minato-san. I won't get this over quickly without your assistance," a very mature-looking Chihiro set her glasses on the desk. "Umm... I-If you want, can we go to the Chagall Cafe? I-I want to repay you," Gently, she picked up their books, slipping a few stray hair behind her ears, red-faced with embarassment.

"...Sure, I'll wait outside," Minato took her bag along with his own, ignoring her protest that she can carry it alone. Chihiro huffed but eventually she left the table and put their books in the correct shelves, very accustomed to the area.

"Dude, she's cute. Your girlfriend?" the boy in front of them asked shamelessly, his girlfriend made a well-placed stomp on his foot that sent him into a yelping mess, alerting the entire students in the library.

"Augh! Watch it, Miho!" the boy made a pained face.

The girl, Miho, scowled at him, "You're lucky I'm targeting your foot," with that, she left them angrily, the boy struggled to keep up with his girlfriend. Everyone snickered quietly in time with Chihiro's reappearance from the shelves.

"Did I... miss something?"


With a jovial chime, the bells on top of the cafe's door rang, noting the waitresses of their patrons. Earthy, invigorating scent of roasted coffee wafted through the familiar atmosphere of Chagall Cafe. All sorts of business played out in the cafe as far as Minato's eyes scanned the crowd. Couples flirting within their own bubbles while the more serious adults carried out their conversations in quiet tones reservedly. Several people came alone, taking advantage of the cafe's free wifi, sipping their drinks while browsing the internet.

"Miki-chan!" Chihiro called, running and hugging her friend who dressed like a waitress, losing her initial shy demeanor. Minato didin't find it in him the much-needed understanding of how girls would run at each other and hug. Maybe it's a girl thing, huh?

Minato scratched his cheek and sighed. "You work here, Miki?" Minato approached them, Chihiro noticed him and nodded shyly. "Miki-chan t-told me that she works h-here and in the used bookstore, s-so I want to v-visit her,"

Miki grinned and elbowed the Treasurer, scribbling at her notes,"Making excuse for a date?"

Not even the word 'red' can explain Chihiro's face right now. She spluttered, "I-I'm not! I just w-want to r-repay him and v-visit you!" Yeah, as if anyone can believe that. Minato suppressed a laugh at Chihiro's panic, disguising it as a cough.

"Y-You're laughing at me, M-Minato-san! I can't believe you," a pout on Chihiro's face made Miki's eyes shone with mischief.

"C'mooon, give me the dirt!" and it looks like she spent too much time with Junpei. Poor girl.

Chihiro's panic escalated and she covered Miki's mouth with both her hands, seemingly forgotten about her friend's condition. As retaliation, the silverette tickled Chihiro's stomach, erupting panic-induced giggles. Minato laughed quietly as he separated the two and Chihiro sent a rare glare at Miki's direction. Miki returned to her waitress self.

Miki bowed at the cafe's patrons, the modified waitress uniform concealed her thighs and neck, covering the burnt scars completely. Her gloved hands clasped the menu in one hand while her other hand motioned to the empty table in the terrace. Once her patrons were seated, she gave them the menu.

She made small sounds, trying to talk. What came out was unintelligible murmur and she sighed before giving up. She instead wrote on her notebook as usual and they waited patiently.

"What'll you have today? Our special is the famed Pheromone Coffee and Chocolate Slush with Fortune Cookie as a side-dish!" Miki smiled proudly as she showed the loopy, beautiful writings they don't usually see. She even doodled the supposed Fortune Cookie with drinks served in porcelain glass.

They ordered the specials and Miki skipped to the cafe's kitchen. They settled into companionable silence and Miki served their orders a little bit later, with an encouraging wink to Chihiro's direction that the Treasurer ignored promptly.

"...Miki is hardworking, right?" Chihiro said and Minato inclined his head, enough to see Miki led a male patron to a nearby table, got scolded by him when she didn't talk and let out a murmur. Miki bowed repeatedly at the man's stressed-out face, silver strands tousled with her motions. The man paused, realized something and Miki pointed at her notebook. Whatever she wrote, she bowed again after that, leaving the man perplexed but he eventually bowed down in apology and sat on his chair.

Minato let out a breath he's been holding unconsciously.

"I'm grateful that I studied harder to come to this school, Minato-san" Chihiro smiled, reminiscing. "She saw a bookish girl hiding in the corner of the library... Just sitting there like a dust while filling out the form to be a library committee... Everyone knows that she's the famous boxing captain's half-mute little sister and they fawned on her." Chihiro's voice carried a hint of fondness.

"...But then I met you and Miki..."

"The moment she squirmed into the narrow corner to sit beside me, I know Miki is going to be my best friend," Chihiro's gentle voice carried by the wind as Minato listened, his silence encouraged Chihiro. "True, she did have speech problem. But you won't mind it that much if you walk right next to her. You'd never believe that she was a survivor of a fire,"

"Before we started to be friends, I once wondered if I was in her shoes, with a half-burnt body... I would've refused to go out again and cry in my room." Chihiro laughed morosely.

"S-So... I-I wouldn't have the courage to talk to anyone and even sit on the same table with a male if I d-didn't met you and Miki." Chihiro blushed. She sipped on her chocolate slush and held the mug in front of her chest.

"I want to improve myself along with you and Miki, then maybe... Even someone as useless as me can help you too"

She caught Minato's guarded eyes and said sincerely. "Y-You're a good person, Minato-san. I can tell. You approached someone undeserving like me, even though I used to reject your invitations at first. E-ever since you returned from your sick leave, I-I noticed t-that you seemed more... distracted, Minato-san. S-So if there's anything I can help with... If you and Miki-chan have any trouble, just... tell me, okay?" she said quietly, almost too quiet to hear.

Chihiro smiled, "...Just like how you and Miki-chan did for me,"

She seemed to realize the implication of her words and flushed beet red, an embarassed laugh from her lips. She quickly dipped her head downward, unaware of a sad smile on the verge of giving up on Minato's lips. There are simply too many things at stake and risking one outsider to know is unthinkable.

If Dark Hour doesn't exist, if he didn't lost his memories, if he didn't have the power of a Wild Card...

It was an unnerving but not an unwelcome thought to let himself relax in front of this girl. Chihiro was a vortex of hidden confidence and peaceful strength, while he was a Shadow slaughterer. He would never felt worthy enough for her purity. He still didn't.

He was still grateful, though. For the friends he connected with in this city. For the care they showed openly. He won't question his heart how far he could go to keep it this way.

He finished his drink and stood up. Minato smiled, earning a deceptively embarassed blush from the Lady Justice.

"Let's go back,"


Minato had just closed the dorm's front door when Elizabeth called, earning him questioning look from Fuuka and Mitsuru in the common room. He excused himself to the empty kitchenette, out from their earshot and started the coffee machine.

"Yes, Elizabeth?" he said as he cradled the phone in one shoulder and poured coffee beans in the machine. The hum of the machine and the smell of roasted coffee relaxed him and he sat in the stool.

"Hi, long time no see," Elizabeth's voice tinted with a smile.

"...Thank you, from before," Minato added, looking at his complete fingers and examined his good kneecaps. Not even any reminder of the battle was shown in his body. He really didn't expect to came out alive, after all.

"Please, don't mention it. We merely did what you did for your teammates. You intervened Death from taking them, it was an equal exchange," the moment Elizabeth said it, silence reigned.

Was Death really an equal exchange?

The ominous prisoner that foreboded his adversary had decided on a name, an identity that gave way to to an exchange Minato was impossible to be unaware of. With a simple handshake, the wails of the monstrosity that destroyed Orpheus's shell ravaged his thin wall of consciousness. Begging, raging, and whispering to be let out. Pure malice that had him clutching his head like a deranged child. The pinnacle of power within the boy caught Minato in an unending bloody call. For shattered seconds of insanity and the wish to destroy everything, the cards that separated them were what returned him to the world of living.

"I shall let you know that overthinking about it won't bring you anywhere," came Elizabeth's amused voice and the coffee machine beeped. Minato was thankful for the intended distraction and set the coffee cup below the dispenser.

"On to business. I"m calling to inform you of a change in Tartarus. I believe that a path that was blocked before is now unobstructed."

"...I wish you a safe journey,"


Minato lowered his phone, his hazy grey eyes unfocused as he auto-piloted to the common room, bringing his coffee over and sat opposite the future Head of Kirijo Group and her employee. Mitsuru examined his figure and found only tiredness resided within. She lowered her book and refocused her eyes on Fuuka's works, the usually timid girl now replanting and reprogramming their database's defense.

Fuuka finally noticed Minato's presence and greeted the Field Leader.

"Minato-san, thank you for having me here," it elicited a welcoming smile from Minato and he nodded. The unfocused gaze on his eyes disappeared and Mitsuru gestured at their current Router. "Yamagishi will be our tactical support and Router substituting me from now on, you can rely on her. And also, from now on you can go to Tartarus without me if Yamagishi is available."

"I and Ixtab will do our best to support you, so just tell me if you want to go to Tartarus," she offered with a gentle smile, her teal eyes crinkled shut in genuine kindness.

Mitsuru bookmarked her last page and said, "But if neither me nor Akihiko is present, I will prohibit you to go into Tartarus. I'll join the front-line from now on,"

Minato agreed, but Mitsuru sensed the perturbed quietness from him. She waited.

"Fuuka, you're... Mitsuru-senpai's employee, right?" he held the scalding warmth from the cup within his palms.

Fuuka glanced at Mitsuru and a nod allowed her to share. "Yes, I'm Mitsuru-san's employee even before I gained Ixtab's power," she said demurely. "I signed Confidentiality Contract a few years ago and was aware of SEES's operation. What is it... Minato-san?"

He hesitated. The complex intangibility of his emotions leaking through carefully-crafted mask of indifference.

"How much... do you know about my files?"

Mitsuru stiffened, but keeping her unaffected mask up. Minato's assignment to their dorm wasn't a coincidence or a last-minute decision. It was to monitor his potential as a recruit, suggested by Ikutsuki. His late arrival during the Dark Hour attested to his potential. She didn't know how far the former Lead Researcher of Ergo Division was in or how he knew Minato, but all of it was done to gain more manpower. To erase the sins of Kirijo. She knew that their Field Leader would ask, sooner or later.

Mitsuru explained, "One of Yamagishi's jobs as my employee is to do a background check on each potential recruit. She was employed knowing that she must not tell anyone about this level of security clearance, but she didn't have the potential back then."

Fuuka answered truthfully, "I did your background check, but what I could find was everything up to ten years ago, but we couldn't recover your preceding history more than that. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any birth certificate or family record about you."

"Not even any legal identity?" Minato pushed.

She said ruefully, "No photos, no birth certificate, no family record. What we knew was everything you know about yourself. I'm sorry we can't find anything else."

Fuuka got up and brought her laptop to Minato's side, she pulled up her browsing prompt and manouevered easily in the National Government's Population and Civil Registration Agency. She succesfully keylogged her way in the admin user. She typed out Minato's full name with an admin's security clearance. But she showed Minato an empty search result.

Minato exhaled harshly, knowing it'll end this way. He had no way to know.

The front door opened. Short banter notified them of Akihiko and Shinjiro's arrival with Miki trying to keep up with their larger strides. Apparently they had just picked her up from her part-time job, as the smell of coffee and cake lingered in the air upon their arrival. Akihiko's arms warped protectively around his only family's shoulder. Bitter envy stung him at their familiarity and he got up, bidding his good night to them.

The coffee was left untouched.


Akihiko sighed, "I don't understand why you took two jobs now, it's not like I can't afford you anything," he grumbled on his way to the kitchenette, barely pausing in front of the common room to wave at Mitsuru and Fuuka. Shinjiro mumbled something that seemed suspiciously like, "Idiot," and only raised his hand. Miki put her bag in the sofa with a smile to them and moved to the tv, catching up to the news. Once the news ended, Miki joined Akihiko and her pseudo-brother to the kitchenette, taking care to avoid the icy atmosphere in the common room.

"I want to save up," she left her notebook in front of Akihiko's table as she made a beeline for the refrigerator, reaching for a bar of chocolate while tossing a protein bar to Akihiko. Akihiko looked at her funnily, ripped the plastic and took a big bite. Shinjiro sighed beside him. Miki sat beside Shinjiro and the three dined peacefully.


Minato awoke the the beeping notice from his laptop, a new email popped up with Innocent Sin's opening song in the background. He swept his gaze across the neatly bland room and located his phone, exhaling softly at the missing calls he got. He clapped shut his phone and went downstair, the common room was empty. He stole a bag of chip, whoever it belonged to, and a can of decaf from the kitchenette and hauled them upstair into his room.

Minato booted his laptop from its sleep mode and he logged in to his avatar character. The interior of Lunarvale Hospital was the first thing he saw and another avatar approached him, doing a perky twirl with a 'Maya' sign floating above her head.

"tatsuyaaaa4! xD long time no see btw," the Maya avatar hugged him. Minato quirked an eyebrow at Maya's antics, but inputted the hotkey to hug back.

"i was super-duper w0rried that u may not return to le game TwT its only us here" Maya inserted a sad emoticon and Minato wondered why a stranger he had never seen would be worried about an online friend.

"ooh! u hav to hear dis!" with a second, Maya's demeanor changed and the avatar danced happily.

Minato typed on amusedly, "Calm down," which put the dance to a stop and Maya sat down.

"well, ur rite. I should calm down first =O= *breathes*"

"did u remember Mr. E? The SOB? the senior teacher i told you abt when i was wasted drunk?"

His avatar nodded and Maya continued her ramblings. "he got pwned! bwahahaha XDD"

"that lame guy got his a$$ kicked by our ms prez. Wo0t! b( ^o^)/d"

Minato leaned back on his chair, he had pretty much knew about Maya's job and her frustation at work. And the possibility that Maya is someone he know is steadily increasing each time. But sharing stories about real life seemed to stretch it too far. They had nothing to gain and nothing to lose exactly because they haven't meet each other. Online friends are easy to connect with, but even easier to let go. He only have to delete his account and this stranger wouldn't even have any means to contact him anymore.

"but the problem was bigger than that AwA " Maya continued. Minato's eyes glanced across the words, barely paying any attention.

"i dun know why i want to tell this to tatsuya... jus recently 1 of my students went missing! D: i was so worried TwT"

"...but he returned just fine! t*w*t"

"u should've seen his friends face when he returned to school XDD ahh lucky boi"

Minato's fingers hovered above the keyboards.

Lucky? Him?

Another 'pop' notified him of a new chat.

"surrounded by that many people... he must be happy ^_^"

Minato's breath caught in his throat. Trembling fingers forgotten as their owner tried to find his words. Lucky? When the only person he could remember from his jaded past had said that one of them had to die?

He had allowed himself to be carried away, to be swept in a turbulent change that lets him to forget that his luck had ran out years ago. His wry smile turned into a grimace. He slipped up, again. And people around him had started to notice that his walls were only painted with distractions that didn't really mean anything.

"tatsuyaaa r u still there? Sry i was talking abt sumthing irrelevant teehee" Maya said and Minato regained enough sense to reply.

"I'm still here," Minato typed slowly, his eyelashes casted low in silent acceptance.

I'm still here, while she's not.

"good! phew... much better. talking to tatsuya is now my fav pasttime :* "

Maya blushed. "rofl! omg sorry wrong emoticon!" Minato can hear panic on the other side, his musing forgotten and he smiled, hiding it behind his hand.

"i warn u tatsuya dun take it wrong or i'll rip ur smirk with my own fist!" Maya stood up abruptly, fussing about and inserted an angry emoticon. The girl logged off in a second.

Unbeknown to him, the ninth arcana shone warmly within his sea of soul.


"-Sato," a nearby voice called.

Distractedly, Minato took off his left earphone, coming into contact with Mitsuru. She let out a self-assured smile, although a hint of anxiousness shown in her figure, "We will look more thoroughly about your information. I don't know what caused your data to be unavailable in National Population and Civil Registration Agency, but do know that Yamagishi is someone I hand-picked myself."

Minato politely nodded, one hand kept in his pocket, "I will be counting on you, Ms. President." To which Mitsuru actually smiled in appreciation, "You can rely on us." They walked through the gate, oblivious to the whispering students around them. Minato punched the button on his MP3 Player, wearing it again while keeping the volume low.

Mitsuru wore an assessing gaze as she regarded the Field Leader again, "...You've been distracted lately" she noted, manicured fingers grasped loosely around her bag. Minato kept his gaze downward for a while, mouth set into a thin line.

"I want to know that you're okay, Arisato," Mitsuru added, worry hidden beneath her formal exterior. Too distant to be a friend, but kind enough to offer him, of all people, her worry.

Mitsuru's figure stood beside him, undeterred confidence and ice-cold with burdens of her own. She's a precious comrade, someone whose life he will protect from the Shadows with the same ferocity as how he will protect everyone. Even if he have to take a bullet or push them to safety.

He won't let anyone die. Not within his reach.

Minato eventually returned Mitsuru's gaze with the same assurance. With the same lie he had told numerous times. He pasted a smile on his mask.

Didn't he promised in the room that existed between matter and consciousness that he would erase his weakness?

"I'm alright,"


Author Note:

I'm sorry for the late update, this chapter is the hardest chapter to write yet and I did lots of imagining for Minato's part. Like... What if I'm in his shoes? This is the result and I know that I'm not the best writer out there but thanks for putting up with me. I'm surprised that I still received notifs of story fav and alerts.

This chapter contains Hermit SL skit level 6 and Justice SL level 3-4, with changes you'd notice here and there. And the story is currently on 6/16/09 in-game. I know it's too early for them to develop real interest in Minato, but it feels like this fic is more about social-linking Minato than the other way around :D

Thanks for reading! Err... If I still have any reader left *sweatdrop*