-P3-

-Rough Day-

The hours flew by that evening, as Minato Arisato waited for the coming day. The day when he, along with SEES, began the official exploration of Tartarus, the land of the Shadows.

In Minato's Room (Night)…

"I'm all psyched up for tomorrow kid!" Gig spoke energetically.

"It's no surprise, that tower is a conduit for Death's energies in this world," Apsaras informed the Master of Death.

"No shit! That explains why I can sense these Shadows," the original guest yelled at the second's revelation.

"Guys, we should really get some sleep, tomorrow's gonna be a long day for sure," the bluenette groaned.

"But the mystery of Tartarus is getting more interesting to me," Gig whined.

"Your only saying that because you wanna Devour the whole place for yourself," the sleepy teen retorted.

"Hey, I eat it and your world is safe, everyone wins," the Master of Death defended.

"Whatevs man," Minato slowly drifted into sleep.

Meanwhile…

"Doing my rounds with this injury doesn't seem like such a good idea in hindsight," a familiar senior's voice rang.

Akihiko Sanada, Gekkoukan's boxing champ was taking an otherwise leisurely stroll in the green tinged streets, the sight of coffin like structures leaving the youth undeterred. The sight of many transmogrified structures would raise an eyebrow or more if one paid close attention to the vicinity.

"More and more people are coming to Shirakawa Boulevard than usual," the boxing champ commented.

*Girly Scream*

"What the-? Someone's awake?" the injured athlete was shocked as he made his way to the origin of the shriek.

A convenience store was close-by, the electronic door kept open by the lack of power or the coffin preventing it from closing. The Gekkoukan senior surveyed the area for oncoming Shadows.

"Who's there?" his stern voice commanded.

"Help me, these coffins, where did they come from?" a surprisingly male voice panicked.

"Aren't you from Gekkoukan High?" Akihiko asked.

"Yeah, I'm Junpei Iori and I have no clue what's going on, the power shut off and now I'm seeing these coffins," Asshat revealed himself from the shelf he was hiding from.

"Follow me, I know someone who can help," the upper classman guided the wayward youth towards the dormitory where SEES was stationed.

The Chairman's office…

Shuji Ikutsuki was amazed at the story Akihiko Sanada was telling him. If anything, Persona-users seemed to be a common occurrence nowadays. The elder man rationalized that a significant phenomenon must have happened to allow another Persona user to appear merely a week after their last recruit.

"Another one with the potential?" the man was staring in disbelief.

"Yeah, he's also their classmate in school," Akihiko told Ikutsuki.

"I wonder if there's a connection," the chairman brooded.

"So what happens to me now?" Junpei broke his silence.

"If you join us, you'll be putting yourself in a great deal of danger," the boxer clarified.

"Well, it's not like I've got anything better to do back home, where do I sign?" Asshat gave an over-sized grin.

"You certainly have a lot of spunk," the Ikutsuki grinned.

"We can have your room prepared by tomorrow," the whiteheaded senior informed the younger student.

"I'm there senpai!" the hat clinging junior said with excitement.

The next day at Gekkoukan…

Lunch…

"Yo, new guy and Yuka-tan, guess what?" the ever annoying voice of Asshat Iori had unfortunately invaded my eardrums but paled in comparison to the message it was about to deliver.

"Your moving far far away from here?" the bluenette said with his classic deadpan expression.

"Nope, closer," Junpei gave a wide grin.

"Slow down there, what?" the brunette raised her brow.

"I'm moving in your dorm!" the hat seemed to flip on its own.

"Why do the people we hate move to a place we visit every fucking day!" Gig said with a "Why God why?" look.

"He seems to be a gruff person, is he as bad as you present him to be?" Apsaras gazed at the Master of Death.

"The English language doesn't have enough words to describe the level of ass this guy is." The pale guest explained.

"Why and how are you getting in the dorm?" Minato asked as his eye twitched.

Taking that as his cue, Junpei "Asshat" Iori motioned between the seats of Minato Arisato and Yukari Takeba. The pair were confused as to why the under-achieving teen would do this until he whispered a single word that explained everything to the two.

"Persona."

The two juniors were shocked and rather unsure of how to react to Junpei's revelation.

"Holy Shit!" the bluenette exploded with genuine confusion.

"Aren't you overreacting?" Yukari giggled.

Minato gave her a long blank stare.

"Hey, I'll see you guys later, I've got to pack for tonight."

"What's he so happy about?" Kenji wondered from out of the blue.

"He's moving in with SEES." Kazushi replied with his arms crossed.

"I've always wondered how you get to join that club." Yuko added.

In unison, the rest of the students were in deep thought at Yuko's statement. Only select individuals were allowed into SEES and none of them had anything in common.

"Well at first it was just our sempais, Kirijo, Sanada and Aragaki," a bespectacled girl started.

"That's right Fushimi," Yuko realized.

"Then Takeba was accepted," Kenji groaned.

"And that was after Aragaki quit, so for a time we thought that you had to be in a sports club," Kaz added.

"And zen zis Arizato arrives and waz already a member before hiz first day," the exchange student finished.

"Maybe he was someone big in his last school," Chihiro replied.

"But if that's true then…" everyone tried to get the words out.

"Where does that leave Junpei?" Kenji said.

"Uh…"

And thus the Gekkoukan Student Body was at another loss.

End.