Determination.
Seta Souji
Kei and I had came back to his dorm to get away from the mall after what happened, and we brought all the stuff that was dumped on him too. The TV showed the entire highway flooded; there were scattered cars and bodies everywhere for miles along the highway.
"That's terrible..." I said.
"I hope Kyo and Yukari are ok..." Kei said.
Just as he said that, they walked through the door. The person I assumed was Kyo was wet, like drenched.
"Good, you're safe." Kei said
He just stared at the TV, and then stormed down the hall into his room.
"Is he ok?" I asked.
Then the Yukari girl followed him down the hall.
I don't know what happened with those two, but it was better not to get into a couples problems.
Yukari Takeba
I peeked into Kyo's room, he was sitting on his bed, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his face resting in his hands.
"Damn it…..All those people dead because I was weak, and I couldn't even avenge them… Instead I just sat there like a wimp and got my ass beat!" He yelled to himself
I quietly walked up to and sat down beside him, he was shaking.. I decided that he needed comfort so I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight. He jumped when he realized I was there but then he relaxed shortly after. When I felt something warm fall onto my arm, I realized her was trying his best not to, but he was crying, And I didn't blame him, he saw hundreds of people, maybe more, die right there in front of him. Me and the others didn't have to go through that, we was able to avoid it.
"It wasn't your fault… there was nothing you could have done." I said to him softly.
"Because I'm weak. I was helpless!!" he shouted. "and I couldn't do a single thing to a-" he cut himself off.
"Who?" I asked. "Couldn't do anything to who?"
"That hooded-man…" he finished.
"Kyo-kun… you just discovered your power the other night, it was a whole week before I could fully control mine, you'll get better, and then you will prevent this from happening again… I'll help you" I told him. And I meant it, this defiantly meant that something was happening, maybe just like the fall, and if so, then we had to be ready to stop it again.
"If u really think you're weak and helpless, all you can do is get stronger, right? Then Get stronger." I finished.
After a moment of silence, he soon looked up with fire in his eyes, looking more determined than ever.
Kyoshiro Akechi
From the on, things were pretty quiet, small shadows here and there, but no major ones like the one I fought before. We used that as training, along with some of our free time. Yukari made things a lot easier, maybe because she had more experience with dealing with shadows. Because we trained and fought together, Yukari and me spend most of our time together, had to keep her close in case something happened. Sure, it gave some people the wrong idea, but it didn't bother me. I had gotten close to her and grown feelings for her, I couldn't tell if they were romantic feelings, for just a tight friendship, but they were defiantly strong. I also felt strongly about Naomi, she found my dorm and then we started hanging out a lot, she took me to all kinds of places, and she was fun. Beautiful, nice, and beautiful too, did I already say that?
But let's not get too into my personal feelings. I also trained with Akihiko and Mitsuru when it came to close range combat, which was tough, cause little did I know that they were an undefeated boxing champ and a expert fencer. Although, Mitsuru was hardly ever around, so it wasn't always too tough, but even with just Akihiko, it was still tough. To this day, I haven't beaten either of them.
It's been five months since the day that was awkwardly labeled as "The Mysterious Terrorist Attack." My birthday, (or at least the day I arrived at the orphanage.) had passed, and I was now 20. (That also isn't very accurate, since I don't know my real date of birth.)
It wasn't till December 6th that things got interesting again.
12/6/12 Thursday
I was completely covered in my own sweat, exhausted. I looked up to see Akihiko running toward me, getting ready for an uppercut. I waved my upper body backward to dodge it, and then tried lunging forward for a right hook, but he blocked it and jabbed me in the rib 3 times, following another uppercut, this one connected. I grunted as I was knocked back and almost went down onto my knees but I caught myself and stood up straight. I ran toward him, jumped into the air and tried an axe kick, but he slid to the side and tried upper cutting me a third time. I managed to dodge, grab his arm and then toss him over my shoulder. He hit the ground but quickly rolled and got back onto his feet to attack me again but I ducked under the hook and jumped back up to slam my knee into his gut, and it hit! But then he held onto my knee, keeping me unbalanced and on one foot, following that he head budded me and then slammed his fist into my stomach, slamming me into the ground so hard that the sound echoed through the room and knocked the wind out of me.
"Ugh!!!!" I gasped out. "That was too much Akihiko-senpai. I give up.. Damn…."
He left me in pain, even breathing hurt. We had been at this for an hour, At least.
"hahahaha, sorry, I haven't had so much fun in a long time, I got too into it." He laughed out as he caught his breath.
Junpei, and Yukari, who had been watching us, walked over to us as senpai helped me up.
"Dude, you got spanked!" Junpei said tauntingly.
"Shut up Stupei, he tried his best." Yukari said.
"Damn it Yuka-tan!! GIVE THE STUPEI THING A REST!!!!!!!!" Junpei shouted with a hint of resentment..
I don't think these two could get along of the world depended on it.
"Hey I have an idea." I said, to calm things down. "Lets got to the hot springs in the school! Their done with the construction."
Junpei and Akihiko both gave me a terrified look. Something about hot springs haunted them.
"What? Is there something on my face?"
"I don't know," Yukari said, while giving the guys a suspicious glare "There might be another 'Misunderstanding'"
"Don't worry, during the construction they put up a wall separating the guys and girls sides." I told them.
Senpai looked relieved, Junpei did to, but he seemed a bit more disappointed than relieved.
"….Ok, fine." Yukari said as she turned around and lead the way.
"Iori, you better not get us executed again." Senpai said.
"yeah, yeah" Junpei replied.
Therefore, we headed for the springs, and parted ways with Yukari.
When we all stripped down and headed for the spring, after for about 5 minutes, we was bored, sure it was relaxing, but still.
"ARGH!!!!!!! I CANT TAKE THIS SAUSAGE FEST!!!!!!!!!" Junpei shouted.
"Calm down Junpei, we just got here, the whole point is to close your eyes and relax." Senpai told him,
"how can I relax when I'm surrounded by naked dudes?!" Junpei snapped back at Senpai. "Kyo, c'mon, we are going to that wall"
He grabbed my by my arm and pulled me out of the water.
"Wha-? Hey!!" I said as I was dragged toward the wall separating the two sections.
We both peeked over the wall into the girls section.
"Damn, I can see them, buts too steamy to see clearly." He whispered.
"Here." We heard a voice say.
It was Kei, standing behind us with his usual blank face. He was holding these weird glasses.
I took them and tried them on, I could clearly see past the steam! It was like it wasn't even there!
"Where did you get this Kei-kun?" I asked
"My friend Seta-kouhai had it." He said.
I peeked back over on the wall. I saw….what I was celestial………..pure heaven.
"Oh, my, god…" I said, tearing up.
"What?! Can you see?!" Junpei asked.
"I see alright..." I said, tearing more.
"Let me see" he said
"Hold on" I told him
"No, I wanna see now dude!" he said as he tried taking them from me
But he failed, because I fell into the girls side!!!!
Thump!!
"What was that?!" I heard a girl say.
"It came from over there, let's check it out."
I had to move, fast! I walked around the outline of the spring to try to get to the exit door.
Then I saw Yukari blindly walking in my direction. Man, she looked amazing. However, there was no time for that. She was blocking my way to the entrance.
So I decided to creep into the water and hide there.
"Looks like It was just our imagination..."
"You're so jumpy Saya."
I thought I was in the clear, till they all got back into the water, I was stuck between the girl Saya and Yukari.
"Man, this is soooooo relaxing."
"Don't get to comfortable now, hahaha."
"Eww, don't think like that! You sound like a gut Miyuki."
Unfortunately, I had to put my head underwater, and along with my heartbeat going about 1,000 beats a second, it was hard to hold my breath, I needed air, and soon.
"Oops, dropped my glasses" I heard the Saya girl say as she reached to find it.
Oh no…..
Junpei Iori
"EEEEEEEEKK!!!!, WHAT IS THAT?!"we heard from over the wall…
"They aren't going to let him live…." Kei said quietly, "Shouldn't we do something?"
"And join the pain? Hell no." I told him.
Kyoshiro Akechi
I quickly got up when I was found out and jumped back against the wall.
They all surrounded me like a pack of angry lionesses.
"AKECHI!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN HERE!!!!"
"PERVERT!!"
"WAIT!!! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!! I SWEAR!!!" I shouted defensively.
"Kyo-kun, I thought you were a guy that could actually control his hormones." Yukari said with disappointment.
Talking wasn't going to work, I had to bolt. So I tried running around them. That was a stupid move, there were to many.
I slipped on a bar of soap and fell down. That's when it was over for me, I could've but up a better fight, but I didn't.
Junpei Iori
"YRAAAAAGH!!!!! HELP!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!"
WHAM!!!!
"ugh…………."
After all the commotion, it became quiet, dead quiet.
"Put down like a dog.." Kei said while shaking his head.
"Rest in piece Kyoshiro Akechi, we had just got to know ya…" I said with a bow of respect for the dead.
Kyoshiro Akechi
I laid down to heal up later that day, they had been generous enough to let me live. When I sat up in bed, Company had just arrived.
"Man, who did you let whip your ass that bad?"
I looked up, it was Naomi. She was wearing a white winter coat with fur trims, and black jeans.
"Hey there, you ok?" she asked.
"I'm fine, I kinda had it coming." I said to her.
She sat down beside me and smiled.
"Awww, do you need me to defend you next time?" she teased.
"Maybe, those girls are dangerous, hahahaha." I played along.
Suddenly, she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, she did it often, and every time I would blush so hard it hurt.
"Wanna go somewhere?" she asked.
"Like where?"
"I don't know, somewhere, its not good to sit around Kyo-kun." She said.
"I guess so. Let me get dressed." I said as I got up and put some warm clothes on. Then we headed outside to get my bike, it was the same bike I took the day of the attack, after the wave, it needed some expensive repairs, but now it was working great. I got on and Naomi got on the rear seat.
I started it up and the sound of the engine revving was beautiful.
"So, we are just gonna waste my gas money and drive around aimlessly?" I asked. And I rode off to the parking lot exit.
"What? You don't want to spend time with me?" she asked.
I did, I mean I REALLY did.. "Don't get me wrong Naomi-chan! I do!"
"Good, then stop asking questions and drive!"
"Fine, fine."
We drove for maybe and hour, just looking around and talking, It was fun I guess.
After a while we stopped at the Hagakure Ramen bowl. The ramen there was celestial, pure heaven!
As I slurped up my ramen, I felt Naomi's eyes on me, so I looked up. Then she laughed at the fact I hadn't noticed I had ramen hanging from my mouth.
"What is it?" I asked as I slurped what was hanging from my lips up.
"Nothing, it's just, I like you a lot Kyo-kun, your great." She said with a smile.
That nearly made my heart skip a beat. "W- Where is this coming from?"
"I don't know, I just think your awesome, your sweet and gentle, your fun to be around, and you like me for me, not because I'm a celebrity." She said.
"You're a celebrity?" I asked, I had seriously forgot about that.
"See? That's what I mean, hahaha."
"I don't think I'm so special." I told her, and I don't. I was human like any one else. Except for the whole persona user thing.
"But you are." She said
"Akechi…" I heard someone call.
I turned around to look behind me, It was Suzaku, I haven't seen him in a while. He waved for me to follow him outside.
"Excuse me." I said to Naomi as I got up and followed Suzaku.
"What's up Suzaku? Long time no see."
"Those guys, the Arcanum XIII, they've appeared again." He told me.
"What!? Where!?"
"An old bus station."
I ran toward my bike and started it up. "Come on! Show me the way!"
Suzaku got on and showed me the way to go as I sped off.
Then after a while, I realized. I left Naomi; I was so worried about preventing another accident. I would have to make it up to her later.
As we was quickly getting a closer to the old station, I decided to get some answers from Suzaku, he was suspicious and even I wasn't that slow.
"Suzaku…..are you really who you say you are? You seem to know a lot…"
"….You can't tell anyone."
"So, you are Minato Arisato?"
He nodded.
"I thought you were dead, or so I have heard."
"I didn't die, I was asleep, that's what happens when a body has no Soul."
"Wasn't your soul keeping what's her face locked up?"
"Someone replaced me against my will..."
"Oh... So why cant I tell the others…?"
"…In case I have to give my life again…..There's the station."
I stopped in front of the station…This place was a dump. We both got off the bike and walked to the door. It was rusted over and wouldn't open.
"What now Minato?"
Just then, he kicked the door down.
"Ok, that works…"
He cautiously walked ahead of me with his evoker in hand; I though, didn't need one. Nonetheless I stayed cautious myself as I followed him. There were several Holes in the roof, so light shone in and we could see.
I heard something fall beside my foot.
"What was that?" I asked as I looked down.
"Grenade!!" Minato said as he grabbed me and pulled me behind a pillar for cover as the grenade exploded.
"Arisato!! Its great to see that your alive and well, now we can catch up." We heard someone say.
Minato peeked around the corner and looked for the owner of the voice; he found him and shouted out. "Jin!?"
"How have you been, you hypocrite?" the Jin guy said.
"Less talking and more beating down Minato." I said as I ran toward the Four-eyes with the grenades.
"If Jin is here then….Kyo-kun! Wait!!" Minato yelled out at me.
I was suddenly stopped by a bullet nearly hitting my feet, then more shots came my way and had me dancing back to Minato behind the Pillar.
"A wonderful reunion isn't it?" another guy said as he walked into the light, damn he was pale. A pale Hippie…
"Takaya?!" Minato said. "How are you both alive?!"
"That doesn't matter, we have catching up to do!" Jin said.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" I shouted out.
Minato looked at me without letting his guard down. "What? What is it?"
"WHO THE HELL IS THAT?! HE LOOKED LIKE AN ASHY JESUS WITH TATTOO"S!!" I said to Minato.
Takaya then glared and me and grinded his teeth together as I saw a vein on his head start to bulge. "WHAT WAS THAT?!"
"YOU HEARD ME!!! GO PUT ON SOME LOTION! THAT'S NASTY! FREAK!!"
"YOU LITTLE BASTARD!! IM GOING TO KILL YOU!!"
"BRING IT!!"
"Are you both apart of Arcanum XIII?" Minato asked.
"Yes." Jin explained as me and Takaya stared each other down. "We are the Arcanum XIII's Numbers IX (Nine) of the Hermit Arcana and X (Ten) of the Fortune Arcana."
"No more wasting time, just get ready!" Jin shouted.
"Ill take Jin, you handle Takaya, Kyo-kun." Minato told me as he passed me my katana.
I took it from him and withdrew the blade. "Why do I get the trigger happy hippie wonder?!"
By time I said that he had already ran toward Jin with his blade. Therefore, I just followed up and headed for Takaya. Obviously the plan was to separate them.
Takaya shot multiple bullets at my feet, but because I saw it coming this time, so I was able to dodge them all while getting closer to him.
He then said "Tarukaja!" and a red aura enveloped him for a moment.
As I ran up to swing my blade at him, he jumped back slammed his foot into my face.
Then he shoved his leg forward so I was sent back onto the ground.
So that's what it was, a strength boost, I heard about the Kaja skills, but never saw one used.
I got up and ran back at him I swung my blade toward his head, and he ducked under it and pointed his revolver to my chest.
"Think fast!" he said.
"Raguel! Divine Reflection." I said, quickly summoning one of my new personas to summon up a shield that deflected the bullet and scraped Takaya's shoulder.
He grunted and jumped back. "Ugh, I didn't see that coming, ill have to admit, I am slightly impressed!" He came at me for real this time. "Morpheus! Ziodyne!!"
His persona came out and struck me with a powerful lightning bolt. It hurt like hell, but it didn't bring me down. He had underestimated me again.
"Micheal! Zerachiel, Fusion Skill, Divine Judgement!!"
Both of my persona came from out of me and headed toward Takaya.
He stopped running toward me and got caught in the attack, Slashed through Takaya with his blade while Micheal flew into the air, created a spear of light and Tossed it down on Takaya, creating a flash of light.
I heard about how dangerous this guy was, I was proud that I took him down so easily. When the light faded, and the Two angel personas disappeared, Takaya was still standing, covering the wound on his ribs.
"Enough games, I realize that I shouldn't toy with you. Morpheus! Illusion!" he said.
Suddenly, things in my head got a little hazy.. and I felt tired…I rubbed my eyes, and when I opened them again, there was ten Takaya's in front of me!
"What's wrong?"
"Seeing things?"
"Ahahahahaha"
I then felt the katana yanked from me arm, one of the Takaya's snuck up and took it from me, my eyes widened at what I saw behind me, there were more Takaya's everywhere! Atleast Thirty!
"Let's see you get around this." One said as they all drew out their own revolver.
Thirty Takaya's x 6 shot revolver = bad..
30 x 6 = 180 bullets.
Minato Arisato (Suzaku)
I kicked Jin back into the wall and looked to see how Kyo was doing, then I saw he was surrounded by Multiple Takaya's holding revolvers to Kyo. There was no way he could dodge that many. I ran to go help him but then Jin kicked me in my ribs and sent me into a pillar.
The Takaya's then opened fire, all of them releasing one shot after another.
I feared for the worst, but then I saw Kyo.
"Guardian wings!" I heard him say, and then I realized, he was being defended by wings! I didn't know you could summon your persona to take blows for you. Once the bullets stopped, the wings spread out and then I saw that there wasn't a persona, the wings were attached to his back!!
He stood up straight and spread the wings out again.
"What? What is this?!" Jin said.
"….So you CAN do it. Just as lord Aizen said." One of the Takaya's said.
"Like it? I even came up with a name for it." Kyo said with a smug smile, he rubbed his thumb of his nose all looked as if he was going to say a cool name, "I like to call it, Personafication!"
Ok…maybe it wasn't so cool.
"….what kind of name is that..?" Jin said
"SHUT UP! ITS ONLY UNTIL I THINK OF SOMETHING BETTER!!" Kyo shouted defensively.
"It doesn't matter! Let's begin!" one of the Takaya's said as he ran toward Kyo.
"Spear of Micheal!" Kyo said as a spear appeared in his hand.
He turn around and impaled the attacking Takaya in the chest and then swung it around and tossed him at another Takaya that had began attacking. Then more came at him at once.
"Sword of Uriel."
The spear turned into a sword and Kyo quickly spun around to slash all of the attacking clones.
"C'mon Ashy Jesus, I thought you was going to kill me!" he taunted as only him and the real Takaya was left.
"Damn, what is going on?!" Jin said as he made a run for it along with one of the Takaya's that I assume was the real one. As he ran he looked back at Kyo and shouted "Just watch, next time the fight will be fair!"
Kyo finished off the remaining clones, and then I moved over to him.
"Kyoshiro!" I said as I went over to Minato.
"Come on, we have to catch them!" he said as he got ready to fly after them, but I grabbed his wrist to stop him. "What is it Minato?"
"What WAS that Kyo-kun?!" I asked.
He gave me a confused look. "Personafication! Maybe you guys had a different name for it, its no big deal, I'm sure you've done it Minato!"
"No I haven't! Neither has anyone else!"
"What……..?"
"Kyo-kun, no persona user can do anything with their persona but summon them, and maybe talk to them if u really have a connection with it! You're the only one who can do this!"
"The only one……?" he mumbled as he looked down "……I'm different….?"
He started to look sad. I decided to cheer him, this doesn't mean anything bad,
"Lucky you! Your the new leader of the New Generation S.E.E.S, not only do you possess the wildcard, but you can borrow you persona's powers!" I told him.
"New Generation S.E.E.S.?" he asked
"Yeah! Now come on, let's go, Jin and Takaya are gone." I told him.
Are you sure that this isn't bad..?
To be honest, I'm not sure Ryoji-kun…
We need to keep an eye on him….not even I knew of that kind of power.
Lets talk about it later.
(Minato can speak to Ryoji in his mind, Ryoji is Thanatos, and protects Minato, he says that he stays with Minato and protects him because they are friends.)
Ok…..
"Minato?"
I heard Kyo call me and that awoke me from me and Ryoji-kun's (Thanatos's) conversation.
I followed Kyo out to his bike and rode back to the city with him.
Seta Souji
I was walking with Kei-kun in an old tunnel, apparently it was a shortcut back to his dorm.
"So, you the "Hero" of Yasoinaba?" I heard a voice say.
Then I suddenly saw the tunnel light behind me and I jumped to the left with Kai. A lighting bolt had struck where I was standing and cracked the ground.
I looked up at my attacker and saw a blond woman with a whip surrounded in electricity volts.
"Lets just get the introductions over with Souji, I am Mai, The Arcanum XIII's number IV of the Empress Arcana. Now that its out of the way, dance for me" she said as she cracked her whip in my direction.
"Stay back!" I told Kei as I dodged the attack and took my card in hand, "Go! Izanagi-no-Okami!" Izanagi came out and charged to the woman but she cracked her whip around.
"Mania! Slaughter him!" Her persona came out of her as a crazed beast wearing a crown, it had its long tongue sticking out and foam was dripping. Mania and Izanagi clashed.
Then I felt something snatch my ankle and pull me to the ground, it was Mai's whip.
"Scream for me!" she said as the whip began to electrify me.
I couldn't help but shout out in pain, it was unbelieveable!
Izanagi then disappeared, my guess is my concentration was wreaked so I couldn't keep him out.
"Run kei!!" I shouted out in pain, but he started walking closer.
"Kei!? I said run for it!!" I yelled at him.
He simply walked toward Mai and said "Daikokuten." I huge man came out of kei, it wore a black hat and wielded a golden mallet.
"gold rush!" kei said, and his persona rushed toward mai and struck her with the mallet several times. The final blow sending Mai back into a wall.
"You mute bastard!" she said, volts began surrounding her until she saw herself in the water she was standing in. "My face!" she gasped. "My beautiful face!! GRRR!!! NEXT TIME ILL KILL YOU!!"
She tried running, but I got up in time to block her way.
"GRRRR! THAT'S IT!!!! IVE HAD IT WITH YOU BRATS ALREADY!!!" she screamed.
Suddenly huge Thunderbolts came down through the roof of the tunnel and surrounded her, she picked up the whip and shouted. "Electrify, Eve!"
The whip suddenly turned into pure electric energy. Then she began laughing maniacally,
"IM GOING TO KILL YOU LITTLE BASTARDS RIGHT NOW!!! !!!!!!!!"
"dude…..i think shes P.M.." Kei said.
"WHAT?! HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?!!?!" Mai shouted at Kei.
"you mean you really are? Ewwwwww" I said.
She screamed with insanity and chucked the whip in my direction, I dodged out the way as the whip came crashing down onto the ground and cracked the cement.
"RIP HIM APART MANIA!" she said as her persona came out and grabbed Kei, then it began crushing Kei in its hands.
I called Izanagi and he slashed at mania's back, letting Kei get free to summon Daikokuten to attack mania from the front. Which caused mania to re-enter mai.
Mai let out a battle cry as she came to us and tried to kick me in the head, I ducked down and then she spun around for another kick that hit kei, knocking him to the ground, but he quickly got up tried taking her whip, but she cracked his hand with it and kicked him in the gut. Then she wrapped the whip around my neck and electrified me unconscious, the last thing I remember of that moment was everything getting dark, and me falling to the ground, my body stunned…
As I regained consciousness some time later, I looked up and saw Mai stepping back from Kai.
"!!! Don't think its over yet yo-" She was cut off by something strange, her skin tone got darker. "what? No, I cant be fading! No! I'm The Blitz Empresses Mai! Itsnotoveryet! Itcantbeover! Icantbefading,icantbefading, !!!!!!!" she screamed out as her body began fading into dust until it eventually disappeared just like the shadows do.
I got up slowly. "What was that about?"
"She's dead." Kei said.
"…Kei-kun? How long have you been able to summon persona?" I asked him.
"…I don't know, it just happened." He said.
What did he do to Mai?
Narrator
"So.. you wish to become a shadow.. is that it?" Aizen said as his subordinate Takaya bowed before him.
"Yes…" He responded, normally Takaya would bow to no man, but if it meant reaching his goal, he would swallow his pride.
"We haven't fully tested the effects of inserting part of a shadow into a human. Are you sure that is what you want?" Takahata, The scientist of the group and the Arcanum's number V of the Heirophant arcana
"YES! JUST DO IT!" Takaya shouted.
Takahata looked at Aizen for approval and then walked past Takaya. "Follow me then."
As he was left alone, Aizen casually crossed his arms and leaned his head on his knuckles, ginning. "This should prove interesting.. hmhmmhm.."