Story Title: The Arcana in Mourning
Chapter Title: I: Magician
Author: Mathais
Rating: T
Fandom: Persona 3
Warnings: Persona 3 Spoilers, based on FES.
Pairings: Social Links/Minato
Summary: After the Journey but before the Answer is the mourning. Shorts on the Social Links.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Persona 3; I'm just here to play.
OoOoO
I: Magician
When the class valedictorian, the school's top boxer, and three juniors all disappear right after the valedictorian's address, Kenji knew it would cause quite a scene. Add to that the conspicuous absence of the star of the juniors along with the weird transfer, the seven of whom created one of the most infamous and gossip-worthy gatherings of the entire school, and Kenji also knew that something was terribly wrong, especially because said group had not seemed quite so close after the end of January and all of the weird things that had happened around then.
Teachers went around trying to calm students and get graduation back in order, but Kenji could concentrate even less than he had before. All he could feel was this cold stone in the pit of his stomach, and that spurred him to quietly slip out in the commotion. He took in deep, gulping breaths and tried to calm his nerves, but it didn't really help, even as he quietly began to wander the halls.
What helped even less was the sight of Fuuka Yamagishi running down the stairs with tears in her eyes. That cold stone? It dropped when he heard her faint, pleading chant: "Minato, Minato."
Kenji was about a second away from running after her but thought better of it. Instead, raced ran up the stairs at full blast. There was pretty much only one place she could have come from. The cold fear quickly morphed into a burning dread that spread past his stomach and upwards into his heart. At the top of the stairs, he came face-to-face with Junpei, who placed his arm across the entrance to the rooftop.
"Junpei, the hell—?"
"I can't let you by, Kenji." Junpei's voice was solemn, perhaps as solemn as it had been back at the end of November, when he couldn't talk to anyone.
"Minato's there, isn't he?" Kenji all but shouted at him. "I need to—"
For a moment, a pained look crossed Junpei's face, mixed in with suspiciously wet eyes as he said, "You can't see him."
Kenji could have sworn time stopped when realization set in. Without even realizing it, he was reaching forward and grabbing Junpei by the front of his jacket. "No," was the only thing he could say.
No, it was impossible. He had to be wrong, he had to be.
And then the burn reached his head and whipped him into an almighty blaze of fury. "What the hell did you all do to him?" Images flashed through his head of times that Minato would limp to school, or moved weirdly, or couldn't even eat properly because of something that had to do with his stomach. Of the times he couldn't even reach him on his cell, or just flinch from even the most delicate of friendly punches. Of the times he looked so dead tired that Kenji saw him sleep through their lectures and couldn't fault him for it.
"We didn't do anything!" Junpei screamed back.
"You're lying! You bastard, you're lying!"
"We tried! We tried our best! But we couldn't fucking do anything at all and he—"
There were all of the little things that, after he became confident about himself, he could see in others, Minato in particular. He knew the problems were connected to this group, this group of seven who, despite all their differences, stayed together. But he'd let it go because, when he pushed, Minato only shook his head as they talked over ramen and fingered the choker he always wore.
But Minato...
Minato was the guy who had his back through the entire debacle with Emiri. Kenji swore that he'd have his back in return, and during that whole mess at the end of January, Kenji remembered (now remembered, why only now?) that he had prayed for Minato's safety and given him all his strength, the strength that Minato himself had taught him. These were all people who should have been supporting him when he could not. So why was it that only he was gone?
A thousand recriminations passed through his eyes and found their mark in Junpei. All the things he'd held back because of Minato, he loosed now in the silence. Junpei was his friend, yes, but he was far closer to Minato, had learned so much from him, that he couldn't help this fiery anger.
"Fuck!" he screamed and drew his arm back. His fist collided with Junpei's face in a satisfying rush of pain. "Why couldn't you do anything?"
Kenji's head snapped back as Junpei's fist (strong, so very strong, but why the hell couldn't that strength help Minato?) found its mark on his cheek, and he slammed into the wall from the force. But Kenji was back on his feet in a second, shouting his grievances and hurling insults as they brawled on the ground.
"You couldn't—! We—I trusted you, god damn it!" Kenji yelled with a clumsy right hook that Junpei caught and twisted away.
"We thought he was fine!" Junpei snarled. "I wish I could've done more too, but he didn't give us a damn choice!"
One arm twisted behind his back, Kenji could only sit on the ground with his nose bleeding and head pounding. But he knew, god damn it, he knew that that was Minato's way. He desperately tried to hold onto that anger, wanted to feel that blaze, but all he could feel was the dawning despair seeping into him as he tried to muffle his sobs.
Despite only being here a year, Minato had wormed his way into his heart and nestled himself closer than most. For all Kenji's total averageness, Minato had befriended him, had stuck by him, and now...
Kenji began to cry with the knowledge that one of his best friends was dead. Tears mixed in with the blood seeping from his nose as he found that, yes, he could hurt worse than finding out his girlfriend was engaged to another man.
Junpei's comforting arm around his shoulder in a manly hug was not quite what he was looking for, but it was a small comfort all the same.
What use was all of the self-awareness he gained when the person he learned it from was gone?