~~ Author's Note ~~
I would rewrite the beginning of this story if I had the energy. Seriously, new readers should just skip to Chapter 19 and save themselves the pain.

Also I discovered last chapter that I put an exclamation point in one of Minato's lines of dialogue. It's kinda bothering me, but not enough to go fix it. Life is hard.


Chapter 20

August 23rd

I carefully pinned my damp purple hair away from my face as I walked out of the bathroom, clad in the softest pair of pajamas I owned. Trying to make as little noise as possible, I tiptoed up the stairs and back to my dorm room. Once I safely shut the door behind me, I let out a huge yawn, collapsing onto my bed. We'd just gotten back from an excursion to Tartarus, and boy was I exhausted. Not to mention in a bitter mood. I'd been knocked out by a particularly nasty Garula spell, I could barely feel my feet, my head was pounding, and I was jealous of a dog. Koromaru was a talented fighter. Not only that, but he used Agi skills, too, which I kind of thought of as "my territory." Or at least, my way of contributing to the team.

"Come on, Kas. Koromaru isn't going to replace you. That's just silly…" I trailed off, unsure. "Hestia showed signs of developing Zio skills earlier, but those never got very strong… So I don't have that advantage. And Koro can use Mudo. That's ten kinds of unfair, seriously. Why does the dog get the instant death magic? So it's a fire and death dog verses a fire and physical Kasumi. Who would Minato pick for his team…?"

"Oh, what am I thinking?!" I sat up straight and covered my face with my hands. "I shouldn't care about being on the team, because SEES isn't about me!" I said as much during the full moon.

"But… It's not about what we want or how we feel… It's about doing what's right."

But then I remembered how Jin had responded. "You each have your own reasons for fighting. 'Justice' is only an excuse."

I was being hypocritical, wasn't I? Then, why was I fighting? So I could show off? I joined SEES because I didn't want Naoto, or anyone else, to succumb to Apathy Syndrome… But maybe I just wanted to prove that I wasn't useless.

"I shouldn't even be worrying about this! Strega just wanted to mess with us… And you know what? Screw them! I'm going to sleep, and when I wake up, I won't be stressing out over this any more!"

And with those words, I burrowed underneath my blankets and drifted off to sleep.


August 28th

The paper on my desk refused to yield to my menacing stare. I was working off the theory that if I tried my hardest to intimidate my summer homework, it would somehow magically do itself. My progress so far: a blank sheet of paper and a migraine. I didn't really give a damn about the Bolshevik Revolution, or whatever we were talking about in History, and my grades weren't that important to me. However, Mitsuru-senpai expected me to pass my classes, so it had to be done.

Speaking of Mitsuru-senpai, I remembered that I was supposed to be meeting everyone in the meeting room tonight to discuss some super secret business. Those meetings usually depress me, but it was a welcome break from homework. As a means of procrastination, I started thinking of different scenarios that could possibly come to pass.

Scenario #1

Getting fired.

"Everyone, it has come to my attention," Mitsuru began speaking once everyone was settled, "that Kasumi Shirogane is really terrible at her job and will henceforth be fired from SEES. Of course, since we are a top secret organization, we will actually have to kill you to keep you quiet."
I stood up in protest, nearly knocking over the coffee table. "What?! Wouldn't my sudden death be a bit suspicious?!"
"I suppose you have a point… In that case, Akihiko will hit you really hard in the head."

Scenario #2

Getting promoted.

Once everyone had gathered and settled down, Mitsuru rose to speak. "Everyone, it has come to my attention that Kasumi Shirogane is absolutely amazing at her job, and I've decided to promote her to position of Executive Leader, effective immediately."
I rose to my feet as everyone around me applauded. "Thank you for this tremendous honor, Senpai!"
"Speech! Speech! Speech!" The crowd chanted.

Scenario #3

Someone presents some seriously groundbreaking news

"Guys, I just wanted to let you know… I'm pregnant."

I let my ideas progressively get more and more ridiculous as time passed, and by the time the sun set, I had successfully done no work, but come up with twenty possibilities for the meeting.

And let me tell you, none of those possibilities came remotely close to what actually happened.


"Good, you're all here." The Chairman was the one to start the meeting, which was the first difference between reality and my fantasies. "Please come in."

The next difference was that I didn't anticipate the grade school kid that entered when Ikutsuki called him.

"Sorry to interrupt." Ken Amada bowed politely to all of us. We all just gaped at him. Seriously, this kid was, like, ten. Surely he wasn't actually going to join us.

A distressed-looking Akihiko muttered, "You must be kidding."

"After running several tests, we've learned that he has more than adequate potential. I called this meeting so that I could introduce him, since he'll be joining our squad."

Wow. He wasn't kidding. I raised my hand like I was in school waiting patiently to be called on (Just for the record, I never raised my hand in school. That was for 'good' students).

"Yes, Kasumi?"

"Um. Not to be condescending… But you realize he's in elementary school, right? And we fight monsters…"

Ikutsuki dismissed me with a wave. "His ability is quite promising. With proper training, he'd be a big help."

Yukari spoke up as well. "Well, I'm sure he's more mature than you, Kasumi."

"Really? We're gonna do this now, Miss Prissy-Buns? I may be immature, but at least I'm not, like, five."

"It was a joke… besides, it's not up to us. It's his choice."

Akihiko nodded. "That's right. Is he okay with joining?"

"Actually, I asked to join." Ken answered us with a frightening look of determination. "I believe I can be of some assistance... Now I finally know why I was given this power."

I glanced at Minato, who furrowed his brow slightly. He seemed pretty deep in thought, so I decided to leave him alone.

"So as you can see," Ikutsuki continued, "it was his own decision."

"Nice to meet you all. I'll try not to get in anyone's way."

Aigis was the first to respond, letting out a most-likely-pre-programmed "nice to meet you, too."

"Hey, don't worry, kid. We got your back. It may be hard at times, but stick with it!" Junpei gave the kid some motivational wisdom. Out of all of us, he seemed to be the only one totally comfortable with letting him in. Everyone else – excluding the robot and dog – showed varying degrees of discontent, ranging from Yukari's pursed lips to Akihiko's tightly clenched fists and barely visible shaking.

"Yes, got it!"

Our group was a goddamn mess.


August 31st

After the shocking revelation that Ken was joining SEES the other day, we all headed into Tartarus to see what he could do. His (absolutely terrifying) Persona, Nemesis could deal some pretty heavy damage, but was weak to Dark spells, which put him at a disadvantage in some fights. Also, can I just add that I'm horrified that he can use spears as well as he can, given that he's a twelve-year-old boy? It took me several weeks to get used to using a sword, and this child strolls on in with a weapon twice as tall as he is, and is instantly an expert? Sometimes, the universe just isn't fair.

Speaking of an unfair universe, can I just state for the record that I think summer homework is totally unfair as well? Especially when you have to do almost all of it on the last day of summer?

'Am I being punished for something?'


The sun was setting on another peaceful day in Inaba. Souji stretched out on his couch, having just said goodbye to his friends. Everyone had come over to eat watermelon on the last day of summer break.

It had been a good day.

So why was he so upset?

He couldn't stop thinking about Igor's words…

Last night, he had been summoned to the Velvet Room unexpectedly. Igor had apparently wanted to 'give him fair warning.'

"'Your destiny is growing more complicated every day. You will soon be dragged into a challenge that is not your own. However, you are in no way bound to meet this challenge. It is not too late to prevent this.'"

That's what he said… But Souji had no clue what any of that meant. The murder case had been solved. As far as he was concerned, there wouldn't be any more challenges in his future.

Did this all have something to do with that blue-haired boy from before?

Why would he even think that?


September 1st

Naoto stood outside the gates of Yasogami High School, waiting for the arrival of Souji Seta and his merry band of misfits. She wanted to at least properly greet them before she entered the school. Was she nervous? Not particularly. Being a detective, she'd been in worse situations than simply having to be a student. That didn't mean she was totally happy with the setup. School meant schoolwork, and while she wasn't as lazy as her sister, Naoto didn't like the idea of assignments on top of her detective work.

She only had to wait a little while for the mysterious group to show up. She moved towards them quickly. "Good morning."

Their shocked expressions made everything worth it; all of Kasumi's teasing, all of the homework, everything.

The brunette boy, Yosuke, spoke up first. "Y-You…!? You're that, uh… pint-size detective!"

…How dare he.

"I beg your pardon!? My name is Naoto. Please, don't give people bizarre nicknames you make up on the spot."

"Um… You know this is a high school, right?" The black haired girl asked in an almost condescending tone that set Naoto on edge.

"My cooperation with the police has come to an end. However, there are aspects of the case with which I remain unconvinced. There are some family-related issues as well," meaning Kasumi would complain if she left, "so I've decided to stay here for the present. From today forth, I'll be a first-year at your high school. And I felt that I should at least introduce myself to you all. I trust our relations will be cordial, Senpai."

With that, she turned on her heel and left. She couldn't help but be upset with the way they treated her. Not that she was expecting reverence and respect, but they were downright rude!


I paused on my way to class from lunch.

"Oh yeah! Naoto's starting school today, too! Wonder how that's going. I hope she's making friends. She calls me antisocial, but she's the one that needs help."

I shrugged. 'Eh. She'll be fine.'


When Kasumi said the ladies would 'be all over' Naoto, she just assumed her sister was teasing her. She hadn't realized she literally meant the girls at Yasogami would actually be all over her.

"You dunno the area yet, right? C'mon, we'll show you around!" Two girls had pretty much cornered the detective, pressing her to go hang out with them.

"There's probably tons of places to hang out that only we'd know about."

Naoto sighed. "That won't be necessary." She knew the area well enough from growing up there, anyway. "I'm not interested in 'hanging out,' and neither am I interested in you two."

"Huh? Hey, what did you say?!"

"What's with that attitude? We're just trying to be friendly!"

The girls seemed rather offended by her remark. She realized that maybe Kasumi wasn't the only one lacking in social skills.

"Yo, Naoto-kun. How's it going?"

Before any of the underclassmen could say anything, Souji and his friends appeared down the hall. Yosuke had been the one to call out. The girls looked rather flustered at the appearance of their senpai.

"Hello," Souji dipped his head towards her.

"So we meet again. May I help you?"

The girl in the track jacket – Naoto couldn't recall her name – stepped forward. "Hey, Naoto-kun. If you're not doing anything after school, wanna come with us?"

Taken aback by the offer, the detective had to pause for a moment. "Come with… You mean me? …" They wanted to hang out with her? How peculiar. "…Perhaps another time. I have some things to mull over."

"Things to mull over?" The pop idol of the group parroted.

"I must go straight home today. I promised my Grampa so."

"Oh, well… That's that, then. Let's hang out some other time."

'Well that certainly was a strange encounter,' Naoto thought as she left. She still couldn't figure out why they'd want her to come with them. She had a difficult time understanding people, after all.


September 2nd

"I cannot believe we're letting the robot go to school."

When I got home yesterday, I was greeted with Aigis in a school uniform. At first, I just assumed it was some kind of joke.

But no. We're actually letting her go to school with us. Because that will end well.

She transferred into Minato's class, so I had to wait until lunch to hear about their exploits.

"She actually put 'humanoid tactical weapon' on her transfer papers! Oh, man, you shoulda seen the looks on these guy's faces!" Junpei laughed as he told me the story.

"Junpei! It's not funny!"

I smirked. "Well, it's not wrong."

"But we can't tell people that, Kasumi!" Yukari snapped.

"Oh, come on. Did anyone think for a second that it was true?"

Minato answered for her. "No one."

"See! It was so ridiculous, they just disregarded it. …Which, now that I think about it, is an accurate way to sum up my entire life."


My plan after school was to walk home with Minato and then call Naoto to question her about her first day. However, we ran into Akihiko at the gates.

"Hey, there you are." He was talking to Minato, but I had no qualms butting into their conversation. "There's something I have to do, and I want you to come with me. …Uh, Kasumi?"

"Yes?" I blinked innocently at him with a smile.

"…You can come along, too, if you want."

"'Kay! …Where are we going? And why do you have a suitcase?"

"We're going to get someone… An old member."

Someone else was joining SEES? Already? Okay, then.

The three of us headed towards the Iwatodai Strip Mall – more specifically, Hagakure Ramen. When we got there, we had to wait outside for a bit, apparently waiting for someone to emerge.

It took a little while, but he eventually did exit the ramen shop. He being a large, rather imposing young man in a red pea coat and beanie. I recognized him as the guy I saw Akihiko talking to all those months ago in that very restaurant.

"You're getting on my nerves!" He snapped. I flinched backwards automatically, although his harsh words were for Akihiko, not me.

"Sorry, but this time I'm not asking."

"What?"

Akihiko thrust the suitcase at him. "This belongs to you." The mysterious boy didn't take it, causing my senpai to sigh. "We have a new enemy. They're Persona-users, like us."

"Yeah, so what?"

"There's more. Ken Amada has joined our team."

That got a reaction out of him, interestingly enough. "What the hell are you talking about!?" He seemed seriously angry. At this point, I was practically hiding behind Minato. I regretted my decision to tag along immensely. If this frightening man was going to join SEES, I would actually have a heart attack.

"He has the Potential, and Ikutsuki-san okayed it. He's a Persona-user."

"You've gotta be kidding me… Let me ask you one thing. Was it his decision to join SEES?"

He nodded. "Yeah. He volunteered."

"I see…" There was a pause, then, "Then, count me in."

Well, that was a surprising turnaround. Ken was the deciding factor? Weird.

I was so absorbed in my own thoughts that I almost didn't notice the scary man approaching Minato, and by extension, me. When he spoke, I almost jumped out of my skin.

"So you're the one leading the operations now, huh? If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you fighting for?"

"To protect everyone." Minato didn't hesitate on his answer, which actually impressed me.

"Is that so? Well, you do your thing; I'll do mine. …And who're you?"

It took me a second to process that he was talking to me. "Huh?! O-oh. I-I-I'm Kasumi… I came with them… I don't contribute much to the team… N-Nice to meet you, sir."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Sir? …Seriously, Aki, another girl?"

"What? She may not look it, but she's a pretty decent fighter."

Whatever they said after that, I didn't hear any of it. In fact, it was a miracle I didn't pass out.


September 3rd

I learned the big, scary guy's name. Shinjiro Aragaki.

When Minato was picking teams for our Tartarus expedition, for the first time, I found myself silently begging not to be picked. Shinjiro's weapon of choice was a huge battle-axe. I know I like to get on people's nerves – it's practically my specialty – but when that person had an axe… Yeah, I can do the smart thing in that situation.

My luck didn't hold, however, when it was decided that Akihiko, Shinjiro, and myself would accompany Mina-kun.

I watched in half awe, half horror as Shinjiro destroyed a Shadow in a single blow. We continued making our way up the Tower, the boys wreaking havoc on the Shadows. After another floor, and another battle where they did pretty much all the work, I decided to step up my game. Sure, I was terrified of the senior boy, but I was even more terrified of not pulling my weight and being a burden.

I rammed my sword into a creature's skull, pulling it out before slashing at its chest. I finished it off by slamming my hilt onto the side of its head. It crumpled before me.

On a roll, I whipped out my evoker. "Hestia!" The resulting blast of fire was the strongest I'd ever produced, knocking two of the remaining enemies to the ground. Unfortunately for me, the last one reflected Agi attacks. I narrowly avoided my own flames.


September 4th

Minato sat next to me on the couch as I called my sister. Everyone else was resting up for the upcoming battle, so we had the lounge to ourselves.

"Hello?" She finally picked up.

"Hey, Nao!"

"Kasumi. I was wondering when you would contact me."

I chuckled a bit. "Yeah, well. It's been busy. New dorm mates and all that. So, how was school?"

She let out an exhausted sigh. "I must apologize for mocking you about your social ineptitude. It seems I'm just as bad as you are."

"Hah! Well, I guess that's what happens when you grow up in a library. Did you at least make some friends?"

"I wouldn't call them friends, but that group of students have offered to, err, 'hang out' with me on a couple of occasions."

Glancing at Mina-kun, I smirked. "Did you say yes?"

"No."

"Really, Nao? That's not how you win friends and influence people."

She sounded exasperated. "I realize that, thank you. But I have other things on my mind that do not include making friends. Anyway, how have you been? You said you have new dorm mates?"

I sobered at the thought of the frightening Shinjiro. "Yeah… He scares the shit outta me. I'm afraid he'll murder me with an axe."

"Come now, Kasumi. That's ridiculous."

I shook my head furiously. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Minato silently laughing at my plight. "No, you don't understand. That's actually a thing that could happen."

"No one's going to kill you. How about we make a deal? If you try to befriend this new person, I will … hang out … with those kids here."

"…Deal. But if I die, it's on your head."

Once I said goodbye and hung up, I turned towards my friend. He'd stopped laughing at me a minute ago, and actually wore a rather serious expression on his face. "What's up, dude?"

He shook his head. "Nothing… I just get the feeling Junpei's doing something incredibly stupid…"


September 5th

Once again, the Dark Hour rolled around on the night of the full moon. I knew the drill; we all met up in the Command Room and let Fuuka scan for the Shadow.

Well, almost all of us… For whatever reason, Junpei was nowhere to be seen. We'd decided to continue without him for the moment.

"Tonight marks the 6th full moon… Do you detect a Shadow?" Ikutsuki asked Fuuka.

"…Yes… It's near Paulownia Mall… I think…"

Mitsuru questioned her on her uncertainty.

"For some reason, I can't quite pinpoint its location… But I'm trying to narrow it down."

"Is that its power?" Akihiko asked.

"I don't know."

I jumped when Shinjiro spoke. "We have enough to go on…" Despite my promise to try and befriend the boy, I hadn't quite made a lot of progress – read "any at all."

"Did you find Iori?" Mitsuru spoke again with mild concern in her voice. Ken, who had gone to look for him, answered.

"I can't find him anywhere. His backpack isn't here, so I don't think he's been home yet."

"That idiot…!" Yukari sighed. "He knows tonight's the night!"

Fuuka offered to scan for him more carefully, but Ikutsuki brushed it off. "No, it's okay. You're all young; sometimes you just get in one of those moods. Anyway, we should focus on the task at hand."

I glanced around the room, curious to see if anyone else thought that was a bit weird. I ended up meeting Shinjiro's eyes. He wore an unreadable expression, but he didn't look content. I raised an eyebrow curiously (and bravely).

"We can't afford to waste any more time. Let's go." Mitsuru-senpai led everyone outside.

"Wait…" Shinjiro spoke softly, stopping Minato and myself. "Did he say anything to either of you?" I frowned and shook my head, while Minato answered with a quiet 'I don't think so.'

"Whatever…"


The walk to Paulownia Mall took forever. And I do mean forever. By the time we arrived, my feet were killing me.

The place looked absolutely terrifying. Any kind of water turns to blood during the Dark Hour, which means the fountains there ran red. It was probably one of the creepiest places I'd ever been to – and I'd been to Tartarus.

"Detect anything?" Mitsuru turned to Fuuka, who had summoned her Persona.

"Only a faint presence. It seems so close, but… why…?!"

Our senpai was about to give the order to split up and search for it, but the young girl stopped her. "Wait! Please, give me a moment! This is my responsibility…!"

After saying that, she seemed to slip into a trance. "Tell me, Lucia, what is this thing that deceives me...? Hear the wind's answer in your ear...touch the earth's answer with your fingertips...taste the water's answer on your lips..." Her words were hushed, not to mention a little spooky.

"Hey, is she okay?" Akihiko wasn't the only one concerned. We all looked at her pale face in worry.

"Don't break her concentration."

After a moment, she spoke again. "…Right beneath our feet… Some kind of… webbing?"

"Perhaps it has something to do with the old power cables underground." Aigis supplied information. "They were just left there when the island's construction was completed. They run underground in many directions, like a web."

"And they're interfering with her ability?" Akihiko asked.

"…Thank you, Aigis, I understand now. Interference isn't the problem. …The cables themselves have been possessed by the Shadow!"

I blinked in shock. "What? But… How can we fight a web?"

"In your notes from previous battles, it said there was a Shadow that took control of the monorail." I wasn't aware of this. Must've been an earlier battle, before I joined. I never did bother to read up on those fights.

"Just like that one, this Shadow must have its own body. Let me see if I can find it…"

Akihiko, ever the pessimist, remarked negatively, "Even if we know where it is, we might not be able to get to it…"

"There may still be a way to reach the structure that the cables feed into." Aigis said quickly.

"We'll see…" was the only think Shinjiro added.

A couple of seconds later, Fuuka began gasping, as though she'd seriously over-exerted herself. "…I found it. It's close by… In this mall!"

"In here?!"

"It's inside a small chamber underground. It's rectangular, so I assume it's man-made."

"Wait a minute…" Our newest member frowned slightly. "I overheard the manager of Escapade saying that the power's been acting up lately."

Yukari remarked dryly, "That's no surprise."

"He said the control panel is located beneath the club."

"That's it!" Fuuka finally understood everything, apparently.

And since she did, it was time to fight.

Minato took Akihiko, Shinjiro, and myself, and we headed towards Club Escapade. I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared out of my mind. It was less nerves about the fight, and more "oh god, please don't let me embarrass myself in front of my senpai and Minato… Please don't let my attacks bounce off of it and onto me…"

The Shadow we found when we entered was… interesting, to say the least. It looked like pretty much what you'd expect; a monster made up of wires. It had a wild mane of hair, a vaguely humanoid, hunched figure, and an aura of electricity. Fuuka warned us, rather unnecessarily, to avoid getting shocked.

The fight progressed smoothly at first. Akihiko and Minato had resistances to electricity, so they were set. Shinjiro could take a punch as well. Myself? Well, I wasn't that weak.

After one round of attacks, it seemed to curl into itself. Fuuka told us that it was charging up energy, and to be careful. After a couple of rounds of it just emitting a blue light, it unleashed a huge blast of electrical energy. Shinjiro flinched a bit, and I stumbled backwards, but other than that, we plowed on. We figured out pretty quickly that the only thing it could do was charge up and explode. However, that one attack was pretty powerful, especially when Mind Charged.

Since Akihiko and Minato's Personas used electric skills, they couldn't really attack. They instead supported our newest member and myself while we doled out the damage (And took the damage. I found it seriously unfair that the two people not doing the attacking were the ones not getting hurt).

It was a really easy fight, all in all. I was shocked, actually (no pun intended). We eventually brought it to the ground.

"Congratulations. I no longer sense its presence."

I pushed my hair out of my face. "Well that was certainly a thing."

"Oh, and also...I think I've found Junpei. He's back at the dorm, but something seems strange. The Chairman's there too, so he should be okay, but let's hurry just in case."

With that vaguely ominous message from Fuuka, everyone headed back towards the dorm.


We looked all through the dorm without finding a trace of Junpei.

"Could he be on the roof?" I suggested. Having no better guesses, we all headed up there. We were shocked to find the door had somehow been sealed from the outside. It took all our manpower to get it open, and what we saw stunned all of us.

A young woman with long, bright red hair, wearing some kind of white Lolita dress, scoffed at us when we burst in. Behind her, chained up on the ground, was our lovable idiot friend. He wore a beaten and depressed expression that definitely looked out of place on his usually cheerful face.

"Tch. They're back already?!"

When the woman saw us, she drew what we realized was an Evoker and pointed it under her chin.

"She's a Persona-user?!"

"Medea, come…"

Before she could pull the trigger, however, Junpei managed to loosen his chains. He sprang forward and tackled her to the ground.

"Chidori, stop!"

The Evoker slid from her grasp.

"No! Give it back!"

It was then that Ikutsuki decided to appear. He seemed thoroughly confused. "Hm?! When did she…?!"

Akihiko picked up the girl's – Chidori's – Evoker before she could reach it. "Sorry, but we can't let you use this."

"Medea!" She sounded genuinely hurt, as though she wouldn't be able to stand separation from her Persona.

"I...I didn't sense her up until this very moment...this is my only power, and yet..." Fuuka seemed upset. I patted her shoulder lightly.

"Her Persona's power probably lets her hide herself."

"I didn't have the slightest clue she was here…" Ikutsuki muttered.

As we talked, Aigis forced the girl to her feet and restrained her hands. She kept her head down, not meeting anyone's gaze, even when Mitsuru tried to interrogate her.

It was eventually decided that we would let her rest, and try to get answers out of her later.

Junpei just muttered "Chidori…" quietly to himself.


September 6th

I was about to collapse from exhaustion. Our battle last night hadn't been that bad, and that wasn't what was so tiring. That whole episode with the Chidori girl kept me awake long after the Dark Hour ended. Seeing my friend so broken up really upset me, I guess.

Either way, our senpai were still at the hospital, interrogating said girl. Yukari and Junpei went along, too. Having so many people gone made for a peaceful dorm.

Or at least, it was peaceful until everyone got home. The first thing Mitsuru did was ask to speak to Minato and me privately.

"Arisato, Shirogane. Can I have a word with you, both?"

"Are we in trouble?" I asked the natural question.

"No… I need to ask you two a favor. Shirogane, I know you're not a member of the Student Council, but I need all of the help I can get."

I frowned at this. It sounded like she was going to give us a responsibility, and I didn't handle responsibility all that well.

"Another school is coming to visit ours as a part of their class trip. We were asked to put together a program for them. They are supposed to attend special classes as well. I fully intended to do it myself, but now with this Strega business…"

"I understand." Minato nodded.

"I appreciate the help. You can work alongside the others in the Student Council to get it done."

I let out a small whine. "Okay… Oh. What school is it, anyway?"

"It's from a small town in the country. Yasogami High."


Next time on The Link…

The Gekkoukan Trip.

Stuff actually happens

P4 becomes a lot more relevant

Finally

Yeahhh

~~Author's Note~~
The problem I have with writing this story is this.
I have Lets Plays of both games open in two different tabs. I go to read a bit of one, and then I decide to put on some music, because I'm already on the Internet anyway. And then I have to watch some new video from one of my Youtube subscriptions. And then I wanna check some stupid social networking site. And then it's been thirty minutes and I haven't gotten anything done.

Yeah.

Oh, so fun fact. When I first came up with this silly idea, it was supposed to be a ShinjiroxKasumi story. That idea didn't last long. Shinji still remains my absolute favorite character in any Persona game, though (and Ken remains my least favorite). And I plan on having Kasumi's friendship with him grow, loosely (very, extremely, hella loosely) based on the FeMC's social link with him.

So yeah. Next chapter, we'll finally see the two games collide. Twenty chapters in... Sorry about that, guys.