Chapter Eleven: Midterms... How fun.
May 16, 2009, After School
Velvet Room – Third Person POV
SATURDAY
Minato blinked in shock as he entered the Velvet Room through the Paulownia Mall. The huge blue elevator with a small table in the center was gone... In the blue elevator's stead, now stood what seemed to be a blue hued club room. Igor's small circular table was replaced by a bigger circular table draped with an elegant table cloth.
Red hued lights waved to and fro around the blue hued club room, giving it a purple appearance. Familiar music reached Minato's ears, it took him a moment to realize that it was the same tune from the Velvet Room.
"Minato-kun! Isn't it fun!" Another familiar voice reached the field leader's ears. Elizabeth approached him, thankfully still wearing the blue suit she normally wore.
"E-Elizabeth?" Minato stammered. Which was a rare occasion. "Where am I? Where are we?"
The Velvet Room resident chuckled at the guest's surprise. "We are inside the Velvet Room. Quite a surprise, is it not? And it's all thanks to you!"
"Thanks to me? I don't get it."
"You told the master that you would prefer a club over a blue elevator, correct?"
"But I didn't think he'd really do it!" Minato exclaimed. "Where is he, anyway?"
"The master is away on other business. So I'm afraid you won't be able to fuse today." Elizabeth said. "But have you seen your new seat?" She pointed to a seat Minato failed to notice. The seat was elegantly made, just like the first. But instead of a lyre, it had a soft material as its backrest. The lyre was elegantly stitched onto the material instead.
"But I am glad you are here, because I have something important to say." Elizabeth said, catching the junior's attention. He remained silent and motioned for her to continue.
"I have been asked to inform you of the Persona Compendium. You may register any of your Personas in this book." She said, patting a fat brown book on Igor's new table. "And for a fee, withdraw them at any time. Don't hesitate to ask me when you wish to use the Compendium."
"That's convenient." Minato stated. "But seeing the Velvet Room like this is a shock." He smiled at Elizabeth and looked at her requests. Unfortunately, he was unable to see any to his liking and left the Velvet Room, still shaking his head. The Velvet Room is now a mini-version of Escapade...
Since he was in the vicinity, the field leader decided to check if Officer Kurosawa had any new weapons. He decided to order a Saber, Bulletproof Suit and Inline Skates for himself. A Siren's Song for Yukari and a Great Sword for Junpei. Afterwards, he decided to visit the BookWorms used book store.
BookWorms Used Bookstore
"Welcome to BookWorms." The old man beside the counter said. Then he noticed the Persimmon tree leaf Minato took some time ago. The junior decided to give to the old man, since he can always get another for a bookmark. "Oh! Is this a leaf from the Persimmon tree? It must have grown quite a bit to produce such splendid leaves.."
The old man glanced at Minato. "You didn't come here just to buy books did you? You came here just to show us this?"
"Um..no." The junior said. But the old man was adamant and showered Minato with praise. "I've been meaning to go see that tree for a while now, but I'm sure if these stumpy old legs of mine will make it that far." The old man waited for a reaction. When he got none he decided to explain. "That was a pun, you know. 'stumpy' old legs... Tree 'stump'. Catch my drift?"
"Very clever, dear." The old woman behind the counter complimented. "My name is Mitsuko, young man. And this is my husband, Bunkichi." She introduced.
"If you don't mind, may we know your name?" Bunkichi, the old man asked the junior.
"My name is Minato Arisato, sir." The junior smiled.
"Sir?" Bunkichi laughed. "Son, you sound even older than we do. Your name is Minato Arisato..." He thought for a moment. "Then we'll call you Minato-chan from now on!"
Minato was taken aback. Minato-chan? Thank goodness no one's here to hear that. The world blinked white again, a phenomenon Minato was used to now. "Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond..." The voice in his head droned.
Hierophant? That's new. After some searching and chatting with the old couple, Minato failed to find a book that interested him. The old couple didn't mind however and told Minato to visit them if he ever got bored.
"I will, Mitsuko-san." The field leader said and bade farewell to the old couple.
May 17, 2009, Daytime
Minato's Room
SUNDAY
"I'm running a lil late! I'll brt, k? ^^;;" Went up on Minato's chatbox as he was playing Innocent Sin Online. It was a message from Maya.
"I w4s 0n the ph0ne w/ my m0m. =/ wh3n3v3r w3 t4lk, its 4lw4ys the s4m3... ugh. It's like 4ll sh3 c4r3s 4b0ut is m4rry1ng m3 2 sum dude." Maya typed in her weired computer talk.
"Don't you wanna get married?" Minato typed.
"Eventually! But n0t t1ll i'm l1k3 40. -_-#" Maya's avatar jumped up and down. "I mean, WTF! Every0ne 4cts l1ke a girl h4s to g3t married 2 be happy. It's s3xist 2 think women can only be h4ppy wh3n they're t13d down. -_-#" Maya's avatar sat down on Lunarvale's floor. "The other nite, I g0t a lil drunky n I kinda passed 0ut Paulownia M..."
Paulownia M...? Maya lives in Iwatodai? Weird...
"this old dud3 says, 'you think men want drunk sluts like you?' I t0ld h1m to STFU! =(" Her avatar jumped up and down again. "OTL... sry, kinda got off topic, I guess im a lil tired. =_= But I feel better thanks 2 u Tatsu!"
Maya's avatar sent Minato's avatar a healing potion. But it had no effect since Tatsuya's hp was full. "er... anyway, I was trying to say tnx 4 listening 2 my bitching ;P" She signed off after she told Minato about the old man she was saying that hanged out around Paulownia Mall at night.
Hmm... so she does live in Iwatodai... Wonder if I'll ever see her.
May 18, 2009, Early Morning
Gekkoukan Entrance
MONDAY
Minato walked to school with Yukari and Junpei. Junpei was dragging his feet in dread of what was to come. The archer had threatened to leave Junpei if he didn't hurry up, but to it was no use. The capped junior couldn't be motivated to walk faster.
"C'mon, stupei!" Yukari was getting angry. "We're gonna be late if you don't walk faster!"
Junpei moaned. "But it's the first day! I-I just can't..."
"Well it's your fault!" Yukari continued to chastise Junpei.
"Junpei." Minato said in a firm voice. "Just be a man and deal with it. P.E should be a cinch for you, right? After dealing with the monorail incident, this should be nothing." He encouraged his best friend.
"I guess." Junpei sighed. Then he stood straight. "You know, what? You're right, Minato! If worse comes to worst, I can always guess what to write!" He beamed with newfound energy and ran inside the school leaving the two behind.
Yukari sighed. Junpei was so predictable. But Minato-kun did a good job too. No wonder he's the one our senpai chose. Yukari looked at the blue-haired junior. He has this 'aura' around him.
"Hm? Is something wrong, Yukari-san?" Ha asked, bringing Yukari out of her thoughts.
"Oh, uh... nothing! C'mon let's go before the bell rings." She said, walking briskly away from the puzzled Minato.
May 23, 2009, Early Morning
Gekkoukan High
SATURDAY
Minato was approached by the school's boxing champ as he walked through Gekkoukan's gates. "Hey, Minato." Akihiko said.
"Oh, morning senpai. What's up?"
"Good morning." The boxer returned the greeting. "Ready for the last day of exams?" The question was met with a confident nod. "That's good. If the doc gives me a thumbs up at today's checkup, I'll be able to join you guys."
"That's great." The field leader of SEES congratulated Akihiko.
"Hey, I have a favor to ask. You've done a great job leading the team in Tartarus. Would you mind continuing after I come back?" Akihiko asked. "That way I can continue on building my strength."
The junior looked dubious, making Akihiko laugh. "C'mon. Have faith in yourself. Just keep doing what you've been doing and treat me just like you would the others. Mitsuru has no problems with it. So don't worry about that." The boxer clapped Minato's shoulder and walked away.
Minato sighed and put his headphones on his ears. Another decision concerning me that has been made without my consent... The red head must be figuring out how you think... Telling you is too much of a hassle, anyway since you always think there's an ulterior motive, Master. Just who's side are you on Apsaras?... Not that the decision matters anyway.
Minato shook his head and walked into the school grounds.
After School
Minato stretched on his seat as the exam period ended. He did well enough in his opinion, having answered confidently most of the questions the test thrown at the Skylark Industries heir. Minato stood up, wanting to get out of the classroom immediately.
He just wanted some fresh air to clear his head up of those annoying equations that lingered in his mind. The Rooftop might be a nice place for a while. Or maybe near that Persimmon tree. Speaking of the tree I wonder how the old couple are doing?...
Minato was brought out of his thoughts as he crashed into someone. Acting on instinct, he reached out to stop the person he had crashed into from falling. "Ah!" came the surprised reaction of one Chihiro Fushimi.
Minato stepped back as Chihiro avoided eye contact. "Er... I apologize. The fault was entirely mine." He said, unconsciously speaking in a way he never did. Well, not with high school students at least. "A-Are you hurt?"
"N-no... I- wasn't looking where I was going. Sorry for overreacting, again." She replied.
Minato nodded. "It's alright. I wasn't looking where I was going, too."
Chihiro suddenly took a deep breath and faced the blue-haired junior. "H-Hi!" She said in a tone louder than necessary. Minato blinked as he imagined a huge question mark appearing at the top of his head.
"I was able to say hi to you!" The treasurer said, oblivious to Minato's confusion. "I've been telling myself not to be afraid, but the more I think about it, the more I get scared. I hope I'll be able to get better at this sometime..." She muttered.
"Well, do you want to hang out?" Minato asked, it was an innocent question.
Chihiro was surprised. Why would he... No, he is probably just being nice. Sensing her confusion, Minato decided to explain. "You wanted to get better at it, right? So why don't you spend time with some boys for a start?"
"T-that's um... uh.. right. But it's too soon!" She blurted. "I-I'll think about it, o-okay!" The newest council member nodded. "Sure." Minato walked away. He was at the stairs, deliberating whether he wanted to go to the rooftop or to the persimmon tree.
When another person approached him from behind. Since Minato was not thinking deeply, and he had some sort of sixth sense when it came to things like this, he just smiled. "What do you think, Yuko? Rooftop or the tree?" He asked without turning around.
He looked behind his shoulder just in time to see Yuko's surprised face. "You're no fun. How did you know?"
"There's only one person I know who makes that much noise even when she's trying to be sneaky." Minato joked. However, Yuko didn't find it funny.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked with a dangerous edge to her voice. Surprised, Minato turned around. "Nothing mean. I assure you."
The Kendo team manager sighed. "Are you free today, Minato-kun? Do you want to walk home together?" Minato agreed and even offered to treat the girl to Wild-duck burger.
Iwatodai Strip Mall, Wild-Duck Burger
"I'm mentally exhausted." Yuko sighed once Minato finished ordering for the two of them.
"What happened?" Minato asked.
"Well nothing major. Maybe I exaggerated a bit. But seriously, I have been feeling kinda down lately.." Yuko explained.
"Why?"
"Well, Mr. Ekoda, you know, that boring Classic Lit teacher, asked to speak with me. He wanted to know why I turned in a blank quiz."
Minato blinked. "Blank?"
The team manager nodded. "He asked me if I didn't have any motivation, I answered honestly, I said I didn't." She sighed again. "Then he got pissed! He even went as far as to yell at me about the length of my skirt!"
"Seriously?" Minato tried not to laugh. "Man, that Ekoda is something... But why did you... how should I say this?" The junior paused, trying to think of a better term. "I know Classic Lit is a pain in the butt, with Ekoda as the teacher, well... that's even worse. But maybe you can write something on your paper next time."
Yuko sighed. "I just don't care about Classic Lit. It's just some bunch of stories written by dead people. But I guess you're right..."
"That's the spirit." Minato urged as he ate a French fry. "Show Ekoda he can't mess with Yuko."
Yuko laughed. "Yeah! He doesn't realize that we're just teenagers, anyway. It's the time to enjoy life! Besides, my reputation as an 'intellectual' would be ruined." She chuckled.
"That's true." Minato nodded, hiding a smile forming on his face with a burger.
"T-that was just a joke!" Yuko punched the Kendo star's arm. "Y-you were supposed to play along..." Minato's sharp eye noticed a blush on Yuko's cheeks but dismissed it as the consequence of his words. "He asked me to write a 3-page essay, reflecting on my performance in his class... 3 PAGES? Is he even serious? What does he expect me to say?"
Minato cleared his throat. "My experiences with your class all involve dreams, Mr. Ekoda. Your class offers a great opportunity for sleep in a high school student's hectic life." He laughed at his sample.
"Hey, that wasn't too bad. Maybe I should write that down... or not. You just made that joke sound deep." Yuko pouted. "But I guess I have to this if I want to graduate. Otherwise I have to repeat his class. I can't wait to graduate with everyone, especially the Kendo team. And you too, Minato-kun. Or am I getting ahead of myself?" She smiled.
Minato laughed. "I look forward to graduation, too. But it's still months away."
Yuko frowned when she looked at her wristwatch. "Oh, I better go. I better work on that stupid essay and get it over with... Thanks for today, Minato-kun." She said and walked out. Soon, he decided to leave as well.
Iwatodai Dorm, Evening
The double doors of the dorm opened and a cheery-looking Akihiko entered. Minato had received a message from Mitsuru stating that the boxer had passed his checkup today.
"Senpai! I hear you're fully healed." Yukari said and Junpei and I congratulated him.
"I need to catch up on my training. I've slacked off for a whole month." Akihiko said, which earned him a dubious look from the only girl. Mitsuru was away on business but she already knew about the boxer's results. "I've already wasted precious time. Besides, we found another Persona-user."
"Are you sure?" Minato asked, surprised.
"Is... it a girl?" Junpei asked as well, earning him sighs from the rest of SEES. Akihiko nodded. "She's actually a junior who goes to Gekkoukan. Fuuka Yamagishi. You guys know her?" The boxer asked.
Minato ran all possible matches in his brain but none came to mind.
"Yamagishi...? Oh, that girl in 2-E... She gets sick a lot from what I hear." Yukari informed. "I don't see her at school very often."
"She was in the same hospital as me. That's how we found about her." Akihiko said. "But maybe she's not cut out for battle. I had an Evoker made for her, too."
Wait... we? Who's the other one? Could it be the tough-looking teen at the hospital? Minato thought.
"Whoa, whoa whoa. We can't just give up on her like that!" Junpei protested. "I was gonna offer her some private lessons..." The rest of SEES sighed again.
"What? I'm a guy. Whaddya expect?" Junpei defended to himself.
"Anyway, since senpai's fully healed now, I think we should go to Tartarus once Mitsuru-senpai returns." The field leader said. "We could use the exercise after all that brainstorming..."
Tartarus, Dark Hour
"I finally get to go with you guys." Akihiko told the three juniors. "But that doesn't mean you can slack off, okay?"
"I'm afraid I don't know the meaning of 'slack off'." Minato joked.
"Knowing him, you know it's true." Junpei muttered. Making the others laugh.
Minato decided to visit the Velvet Room, remembering the Persona Compendium Elizabeth mentioned. Once he entered, he was still surprised to see the club instead of the huge elevator. He sat on the new seat with Igor facing him. He later left the Velvet Room with 3 new Personae and bought the Persona he'd fused back.
Chimera of the Chariot arcana, Omoikane of the Emperor arcana and Jack Frost of the Magician arcana, joined the other Personas in Minato's mind.
ARQA, 29TH FLOOR
The team of four entered the nest of shadows, eager to let off some steam caused by the exams. The school's boxing champ was excited to be back in action and so was Junpei, ready to forget all the grief midterms had caused him.
"We're facing some new enemies here, huh?" Akihiko observed as the group explored.
"Yeah, but with Akihiko-san back on the job, no one can beat us!" Junpei exclaimed. "Sides' the shadows here are nuthin' compared to the one on the monorail..."
"That's true. But we still need to be cautious. Besides, I'm sure no one wants a tower full of shadows as strong as the one on the monorail." Minato remarked. "Let's move forward."
The four of them continued to explore at Minato's orders. After walking awhile without incident, the team heard a loud roar from behind. Akihiko who was in the rear, saw the huge shadow first. It was a shadow none of them had faced before, it had the face of a giant lion with the roman numeral VII on its forehead. But the lower body was composed of what seemed to be a large chariot wheel with spikes on its axis.
The shadow roared again, daring the team of four to challenge it. The field leader ordered them to spread, giving the shadow more targets to attack. Seeing this, the shadow went for the nearest target, which was Junpei.
"Junpei, watch out!" Yukari warned as she sent a volley of arrows to distract the enraged lion. Unfortunately, the shadow was moving far too quickly for any of the arrows to hit it. Minato was able to cast an Agi spell from Chimera at the shadow's behind, making its wheel smoke.
The enraged lion roared, and turned around to face its attacker. Minato was only able to dodge the charging shadow thanks to his refined reflexes. "Drat, its really fast." He muttered as he rolled back to his feet, but the lion wasn't finished with the field leader. It suddenly turned and attacked Minato with the spike on the left side of the wheel.
"Minato-kun!" Yukari yelled as she saw Minato's sword fly as it took the brunt of the attack. The field leader was left virtually defenseless since the shadow would be on him before he could summon a persona to defend himself. "Io!" Takeba shot herself with the Evoker and sent a strong wind towards the shadow.
Unfortunately, Yukari had been a second too late. The lion had anticipated the attack and reversed its wheel, practically running away from Minato. He mouthed a word of thanks to Yukari as he got back on his feet.
"The shadow has multiple weaknesses, Takeba's Garu spell and Akihiko's Zio spells are effective on the Bestial Wheel." Mitsuru informed them as she finished scanning.
"All right, you heard her. Junpei, you and I will distract it with our Personas, don't bother attacking with your sword." Minato ordered. "Yukari and Akihiko-senpai, concentrate on bombarding that shadow with spells. Just be careful you don't hit Junpei or me." He added, aware of Junpei's Garu weakness and some of his Persona's Zio weaknesses.
"Gotcha! Polydueces!" Akihiko shot himself with the Evoker summoning a muscled Persona clad in gleaming silver armor. It had long blond hair, red boots and a long drill in place of a right arm. The Persona's head seemed to be attached to its shoulders, with either a nonexistent neck or just a really short one. "Zio!" Akihiko lifted his right hand and pointed at the enraged lion.
Polydeuces imitated its master's movements and a streak of lightning fell out of the sky. The shadow roared in pain as it was chasing the agile Hermes. Stunned, the shadow fell on its side.
Seeing their chance, the team rushed forward at Minato's orders. The Bestial Wheel was soon made quick work of thanks to their combined efforts.
"Aw right!" Junpei posed, his left hand raised to the sky. Er, roof of Tartarus. "Now that's what I'm talkin about!" Akihiko laughed. The junior's energy was contagious. "I've been aching to do that for a month." A few feet away from the two of them, Minato was frowning. "This is useless." He muttered as he threw the remains of his battered Gladius at a purple wall.
"It's broken?" Yukari asked as she approached him. "You can't fight without a weapon, Minato-kun. We better get back." Minato turned to face her. "Well, I don't have a choice do I? There isn't a teleporter nearby anyway. I still have my personas with me, so I'll compensate with that."
Unknown to the two, Akihiko was listening into their discussion. "It's the only choice we have. We have to keep going until we find a teleporter."
"Don't worry, man! The three of us will protect ya!" Junpei butted in.
Minato sighed. "I'm not entirely defenseless, you know... I still have my personas." He crossed his arms. "Well, staying here won't help us any, so we just have to move forward."
"I will continue to scan the floors ahead. I'll inform you immediately if I find a teleporter." Mitsuru said through the connection. "I know this goes without saying, but be careful. The shadows ahead are stronger than before."
After battling three Soul Dancers on the 30th floor, Junpei noticed something shiny at one of end of the hallway they were in. Curious, the four of them decided to have a look for themselves. Once they reached the end of the hallway, Minato blinked in disbelief at what he saw.
"A... chest..." He muttered. "A golden... chest."
"Wow! It's just like in one of those RPG's!" Junpei was giddy with excitement. Not waiting for a second, he opened the chest.
"Hey!" Akihiko protested. "That thing could have been a trap!"
"Well, as you can see, nothing happened." The capped junior retorted. He looked inside the golden chest. "Hey, it's some gloves!"
Gloves ... in a golden chest... inside a tower full of abominations that only appear at a specific time period. Minato thought dubiously. Maybe I'm just dreaming, and all this persona, shadow, Dark Hour business is just some sort of sick joke my mind thought up as punishment for eating before sleeping... Yeah, right. If I was only that lucky...
"A golden chest? Iori, we don't know if those gloves are safe." Mitsuru stated. "Let me scan them first. Give me a minute."
Junpei fidgeted with excitement. Minato and Yukari shook their heads at the sight. "Stupei..." Yukari sighed. "Still, a pair of gloves aren't going to be of much use to us. Akihiko-senpai's gloves don't need to be replaced after all."
"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong emanating from the chest. It is safe, Iori." Apparently, the junior's excitement could be sensed from thirty floors below. "Chests inside Tartarus... Since we have never explored this far, this is the first time I have seen chests inside this tower. I wonder how those gloves ended up in there?" The council president mused.
"Either way, I suggest taking the pair of gloves with you. It seems to be of a higher quality than the ones available at the Police station."
"But I don't need new gloves." Akihiko pointed out. Then he turned to the field leader. "Minato, do you think you can improvise? Since you are weaponless and everything..."
Minato took the gloves taken from the chest. "It's not a bad idea, I suppose." He said as he wore the gloves. "Been some time since I last fought with these..." Yukari heard him mutter under his breath.
Seeing his best friend, Junpei laughed. "You look pretty badass, Minato! Yuka-tan can't keep her eyes off of you now." Yukari answered him with a harsh glare that would have rivaled Medusa's. Junpei was unfazed by this, however.
Akihiko smirked. "Let's just keep going. I want to get the most out of this exploration." After exploring around a bit, the team ran into another Bestial Wheel. Already knowing it's weaknesses, Akihiko and Yukari exploited them.
Still, the shadow was formidable. Junpei did his best to distract the agile shadow with his persona but it wasn't enough. At its speed, most of the spells summoned by Yukari and Akihiko missed. They were both about to cast another set of spells when Minato jumped in front of the shadow, ducking under its spike, he punched the shadow with a left uppercut just below its nose. Momentarily stunning it.
"Now!" He yelled, jumping back. The shadow had no hope as twin spells of Garu and Zio devoured it. The Bestial Wheel disappeared with a low roar.
"Geez, those things are such fast monsters." Akihiko complained. "Nice uppercut, Minato."
"There is a teleporter available on the 32nd floor. Make way for it as fast as you can. The Dark Hour ends in twenty minutes." Mitsuru informed.
Upon arriving on the 32nd floor, the team of four was greeted by four Laughing Tables. One of the shadows immediately casted a Bufu's multi-targeting spell version. Junpei managed to slash the ice particle directed at him with his sword ,Yukari rolled to the right, narrowly missing the spell. Minato immediately switched to Jack Frost, making use of the persona's ice affinity. Akihiko on the other hand, was unable to dodge and fell to the floor.
"Senpai!" Yukari yelled when she saw the boxing champ lying on the floor. She took her Evoker from its holster and summoned Io. "Dia!" She yelled.
"You'll pay for that ya deformed coffee tables!" Junpei taunted as he summoned Hermes. "Take this!" He sent a ball of fire towards the nearest shadow, making it scream in pain. Minato rushed forward and finished the weakened shadow.
"Tch." Akihiko said as he got back on his feet. "Ice isn't my favorite element... Thanks, Takeba." Wait, isn't Mitsuru's persona ice oriented? Just my luck... Once he got back on his feet, he saw the Laughing Tables dissipate. They had been obliterated by Junpei's Agi spells and were unable to retaliate since Minato was attacking them from close range.
Panting, Junpei fell on his knee. Despite this, he still managed to find the energy to laugh. "Was I awesome or what?" "Great job, man." The field leader complimented as he wiped sweat from his forehead.
After catching their breaths, they resumed their search for the teleporter. They found what they were looking for around the next corner they rounded.
"Finally." Yukari sighed as she activated the teleporter. "I'm so tired."
"I want to eat some pizza before I sleep..." Junpei mumbled as the transport took place.
May 25, 2009, After School
Gekkoukan High, Gymnasium
MONDAY
Minato sat on the bench in the Gym, resting after a practice session. He had seen his scores earlier that day. He was surprised to find himself getting the highest score in their grade. He didn't expect his score to be that high, since exploring Tartarus took up a lot of his time, not to mention they were involved in a what-could-have-been monorail accident.
He was wiping sweat from his forehead when the team captain approached him. "Hey, Minato-kun. Where's Kaz?"
"Kaz?" Minato looked around the Gym, Kazushi was nowhere to be seen. "I haven't seen him, senpai."
The team captain sighed deeply. "Again? He didn't attend practice last time." He shook his head. "I will have to talk to him about this..."
Minato nodded and excused himself lest he be questioned more. He decided to hit the showers before going to the council meeting.
Main Lobby
Minato walked through the main lobby after showering, opting to deposit his Gym bag in his locker. Suddenly, he spotted Kazushi sitting on a chair by the door. Blinking, he decided to approach his P.E uniform-wearing friend.
"Kazushi? What are you doing here?" Minato asked.
"H-Hey! Oh, its you..." He said, once he saw the blue-haired junior. "You've probably wondering where I've been..."
"Hospital again?"
He smiled sourly. "You remember what we talked about last time? O-of course you do; you remember everything." He crossed his arms. "I just got back from the hospital. They had the results from my last exam." Then he looked away. "H-hey... Minato, I... Ugh!"
Kazushi tried to get up but he fell to his knees instead. "Drat! I-I can't-" Minato knelt beside him and let him use his shoulder.
"S-sorry to be such a pain..." He said as he got back to his feet. "F-Funny, huh? T-this makes it impossible for me to tie my shoes." He tried to joke around. "Thank goodness you were around. It it were anybody else, the rest of the team would've found out. I really appreciate it, Minato. Thanks."
"Anytime, Kaz." Minato smiled. "H-hey, where are you going?" He asked when Kazushi started to head for the Gym.
"I'm gonna go train by myself. I have to keep training even though practice is over. The regionals will come by soon." He answered.
"You can't train!" Minato protested. "What about your injury? If you wanna train, do it when there are people around who can help you."
Kazushi turned around, anger in his features. "I-I have to! And I can't train at home, my Mom will chew me out." Then his face softened. "Don't worry, I'll take it easy. I'm sorry, man. I just have to."
Minato scratched the back of his neck and sighed. Knowing him, he won't be persuaded... "Fine." He relented. "Just be careful." Minato said as Kazushi headed for the Gym. He grunted upon looking at his watch. The junior saw that he was late for the council meeting.
Student Council room
Minato could hear loud shouts when he reached the 2nd floor hallway. The sources of which seemed to be the council room.
"How many times do I have to explain? It's like I'm talking to a moron..." Hidetoshi was saying as Minato entered the room.
"Oh, Minato-san..." Chihiro noticed the junior enter.
"What's going on?" Minato asked her, but she was interrupted when Hazuki Itsuhara, the Vice President argued back.
"Why are you accusing ME? The cigarette butt was found in the BOYS' bathroom, remember?" She yelled at Hidetoshi.
"Can you prove that it was not a girl who left it there?" Hidetoshi was adamant.
"Why am I even bothering to reason with you?" Hazuki shook her head and left the room. Other angry council members followed her outside.
"I-I better go and get the President." Chihiro said and left the room, leaving Minato alone with Hidetoshi. Minato was thinking about how odd it is that Chihiro keeps on fetching Mitsuru when Hidetoshi interrupted his thoughts.
"What a bunch of Neanderthals..." He said. "You were there the whole time, Minato-kun?"
"No. I was late for the meeting." Minato admitted. "But Hidetoshi, you can't accuse everyone."
"I hope you're not giving into peer pressure, Minato-kun." He frowned.
"No. It's not that. It's just... " Minato trailed off.
"If you only buck the system, you're only hurting yourself. You'll see the light one day." Hidetoshi said. "I'm not isolating myself; I'm just being aloof. Sooner or later, someone always gets hurt in any relationship."
Then he paused for a while. Turning back to Minato, he smiled. "I guess, I'm preaching to the choir, though, I apologize."
Minato sighed. "There's no reason to have a meeting if no one's here..." He turned to Hidetoshi. "I can understand what you're doing Hidetoshi, but lighten up a bit next time, okay?" He laughed. "Come on, let's go."
Author's Note: Okay, this chapter is purely third person POV. I really want to experiment with it so please bear with me. Have you guys noticed that there's an insane amount of in-game text in here? (Well, for the ones that haven't, now they know... Brilliant. Just brilliant.) Sorry about that but I'm still trying to find the proper balance. Oh, and as always, Please REVIEW. I would appreciate any advice you people can give me. Especially about the pairings!
Team Status
Minato Arisato: Lvl 15
Yukari Takeba: Lvl 11
Junpei Iori: Lvl 11
Akihiko Sanada: Lvl 12
Minato's Personas
Jack Frost: Lvl 11
Chimera: Lvl 12
Omoikane: Lvl 10
Angel: Lvl 10
Orpheus: Lvl 11
Apsaras: Lvl 8
Nekomata: Lvl 9
Alp: Lvl 9
S-Links
Fool: SEES, Rank 3
Magician: Kenji, Rank 3
Emperor: Student Council, Rank 5
Hierophant: Old Couple, Rank 1
Chariot: Kazushi, Rank 5
Hermit: Maya, Rank 4
Strength: Yuko, Rank 2