Author's Notes: The lyrics are from the Hamasaki Ayumi song, "fated".

Life after S.E.E.S. was a challenge. Readjusting to a normal, everyday life Junpei couldn't talk about it to anybody, but he missed being able to thump Shadows in the Dark Hour using his Persona. Being a chosen one was pretty exhilarating, actually. Of course, there were many sacrifices that had to be made, but Nyx's judgment was averted.

Life was normal.

Then after graduation, most everybody began to drift apart, and his old man died. Just like that, all of the alcohol in his system just shut his liver down, and he couldn't get a transplant. Part of Junpei knew he was expected to give up half of his own liver, but at the same time, he hated what his old man had become. He wasn't the father he grew up with, who loved him and his mother. Once his mother passed away, his father was down on a self-destructive spiral for over a decade.

Junpei tried telling him to stop several times before, and his father used up all of his lifelines. He wasn't responsible for his death, because even if he gave him part of his liver, his father would just continue to drink himself into a stupor, wasting his second chance at life. Junpei wasn't going to enable it. He didn't tell anybody about his father. To him, his father died a long time ago, and no longer existed.

Unfortunately, once the debt collectors came, his father's existence became impossible to ignore.

Though she didn't owe him anything, Mitsuru found out about Junpei's plight and helped him out. While Junpei wouldn't accept her paying off the debt in full, she managed to at least set up a payment plan for him so that the debt wouldn't completely destroy his life. There was something to be said about camaraderie, even years after they last worked together.

He landed a security gig for the pop idol, Risette. He recalled that she had a concert in Iwatodai the night when S.E.E.S. was investigating the Paulownia Mall, and that was the night when Chidori kidnapped him, believing his claims of being the leader. Thinking back now, he still bit his lip. How foolish was he to try to brag about himself to a stranger? Well, Chidori wasn't really a stranger, was she...? He replayed so scene so many times in his head. Chidori... he missed her.

Shaking his head, he recalled that he was on the job. Akihiko-senpai did him the favor of getting this gig, and the least he could do to show his appreciation was to not screw this up. The flashing lights of the paparazzi were blinding; if it weren't for his sunglasses, Junpei wasn't certain how he'd survive with his retinas intact. No wonder why everybody on the tabloids looks so shocked all of the time! Pushing to make way for Rise, they were climbing down a staircase, and she tripped, quickly reacting, Junpei caught her before she face planted into the ground. In the split second their eyes locked, the tabloids were all over it.

After S.E.E.S. disbanded, Junpei was sort of the odd one out. He never formed a tight bond with anybody in the dorm. As far as he knew, Mitsuru and Akihiko kept m touch, and Ken tried to contact Akihiko once in a while. Fuuka and Yukari were on opposite ends of the spectrum concerning personalities, but they still got along. Aigis also kept in touch with Mitsuru considering that she needed the Kirijou technology for maintenance, though she had a heart because of... him. Once he went away, it quickly became obvious that he was somehow the glue that held everybody together. It was odd, in a way. It was just another thing that Junpei would never be able to match up against him with. There was no point in regretting it now, though. Between him and Junpei, Junpei was glad he didn't end up like him.

Taking Koromaru for a walk, it was pretty late in the evening. However, the person on the park bench caught his attention. His stomach seemed to tie up in knots. "Hi, Chidori." He did his best to smile.

She no longer dressed in her gothic Lolita style, but she was unmistakable. Her deep red hair was a little shorter now, shoulder length, and she wore plain clothes. Gothic Lolita clothing was expensive, after all, and Junpei couldn't imagine how Chidori was managing to pay for herself She seemed hygienic enough, so he was certain she wasn't homeless. She simply sat on the park bench, a sketchbook in hand. Even her sketches seemed different.

She simply looked up at him. Her eyes... they were different, too. No longer did they have that deep melancholy that initially caught his attention. They were bright, shining, in a world he couldn't reach. A world he was responsible, for had no place in. "Good evening. Junpei, was it? How are you?" She gave him a soft smile.

Ever since her memories of anything regarding the Dark Hour were erased, they had nothing in common. At first, it was the happiest day of his life, the love of his life coming back to the living by some miraculous intervention. As the days went by, weeks, months, years... they only saw each other in passing. She was still searching earnestly for the man in her dreams, the one who pulled her out of the darkness. Junpei knew who he was. She didn't. And he could never be the one to tell her.

"I'm all right." His voice slightly cracked, finally responding after several seconds. "Sorry, my brain tends to not work at this time of night."

Chidori slightly laughed. "It's quite all right." She responded.

More idle chatter. Junpei couldn't even recall what they spoke about anymore. All he knew was that the person in front of him was a complete and total stranger who wore the face of somebody he missed terribly. At the time, he cursed himself, knowing that Chidori the old Chidori, the one that he fell for - wouldn't have wanted to continue living with her pain. It was the saddest mix of joy and depression for Junpei, and he gritted his teeth.

"I have to go." Junpei finally said. "Koromaru's probably hungry, and his food's at home." He lied.

"Oh, I see." Chidori nodded. She tore off a piece of paper. "Here. You may have this. There's no telling when we'll be able to cross paths once again, is there?" She tilted her head as she smiled.

Taking it, Junpei felt that knot in his stomach grow tighter. "Thanks, Chidori."

The sketch was of a princess being saved by a knight from a crumbling tower, both of them being chased by thorny vines. Even her artwork was different. Not thinking much of it, Junpei couldn't bring himself to just throw it away. He set it on his table, and went to work.

It was a promotional video shoot, something Junpei never witnessed before. It was pretty interesting, though the song was some sugary pop. He used to like that sort of thing. Or, rather, the girls singing that sort of thing. One thing for sure, Rise Kujikawa encompassed everything you'd expect from an idol; she was chipper, giggly, and cute. However, during these past few weeks, Junpei also witnessed that she was earnest, hard-working, and honest, something he never expected. Of course, an even bigger surprise would have been if she answered 'long division' to the question 'what is your hidden talent?' a talk show host once asked her, but you can't have everything.

He was trained. He wasn't planning on being a body guard for the rest of his life or anything, but he was definitely trained to not watch Rise herself. She could take care of herself it was watching everybody else in the room, and see if they were even entertaining thoughts of harming Rise.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a person Junpei should have been worried about.

After a loud noise, before Junpei's eyes flashed the image of Rise as a princess, about to be crushed by the falling lighting fixture. Without even thinking, he quickly pulled her out of the way. She was unharmed, his hand wasn't. "Are you all right, Miss Kujikawa?"

She nodded. It was the second time their eyes met.

Later on, after the shoot was finished, she thanked him and placed am object in his pocket.

Flipping open the electronic note pad, Junpei was a bit surprised. He wasn't entirely certain what he was expecting, but he certainly wasn't expecting a time, date, and location. Working so many jobs nonstop after graduation in order to pay off his father's debt, he had little time making any close friends, let alone anybody he could talk to about this. He knew that most people who even recognized him on the street were just dying to be able to be a 'close source' for the tabloids. Out of respect for Rise and fear out of losing his job, he kept quiet.

That didn't stop him from arriving at the designated place at the designated time, of course. Plus, admittedly, he was a bit terrified of how Rise would react if he didn't show up.

Walking in, he found dinner to be a pleasant surprise. "Did you have any trouble finding the place, Junpei?" Rise asked, motioning to the chair.

Junpei shook his head. "I'm having trouble thinking of any reasons why you'd want to invite me, though, Miss Kujikawa." It was quite off. Was she just fueling the rumors?

Rise giggled. "You've helped me out twice now. And please, here, we're equals. Call me Rise." She said. As Junpei took a seat, so did Rise. "I just wanted to thank you for what you've done for me, and find out a bit more about you." That was a bit difficult to believe. Would it be too difficult to just hand him a signed CD or poster and call it a day? Then again, Rise wasn't very typical, as far as Junpei could tell.

After giving thanks for the food, Junpei picked up a pair of chopsticks. He never even had the chance to share a meal with Chidori… "I don't know if there's much to tell." Junpei spoke. "I'm a couple of years older than you, and finished high school and never went to college. Just started working right after that." No need to tell her about Nyx or Chidori or anything to do with S.E.E.S.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Rise asked, rather bluntly. That was a surprise.

After a few seconds, Junpei shook his head. "She's not around here anymore." He answered. Chidori just… wasn't Chidori anymore. "I'm sorry I'm not very interesting." Junpei apologized. "I appreciate the meal and all, though." Little did he know that he was coming off as mysterious. If only he had known this during high school! He would have been a chick magnet then. He felt bad for wasting Rise's time, though.

"I just want to make a friend." Rise sighed. "Being in my position, I suppose it's silly of me to just jump out at the first sign of kindness someone shows me, but I just... feel drawn to you, somehow. I don't mean to push anything onto you."

Junpei finally smiled, and chuckled a bit. So, she was just lonely. He could relate to that much, at least. He decided to joke, "It's just that I can't tell anybody about this or they'll rip me apart from jealousy."

Rise giggled in turn.

"How have you been, Iori?" Mitsuru's regal manner hadn't dissipated with time, and it was nice that at least one thing in this changing world was constant. Having taken the head of the Kirijou without marrying, Mitsuru was charging ahead into the future as a respectful and powerful woman. Crossing her legs as she took a sip of her coffee, her business attire didn't seem too far off from her Gekkoukan High uniform a few years past.

Even if it were a brief social visit, it was nice. She always paid for the drinks.

"Same old, same old." Junpei simply responded, taking a sip of his own coffee. Her office was big. Really big.

He wasn't certain what to say, especially given that all they had in common was that they were both in S.E.E.S. back in high school.

"You're quite the figure on the tabloids." Mitsuru chuckled. "Your little stunt with the idol had more pages than the article about me being sighted with Akihiko in the park."

"Well, you know me. I'm an attention whore." Junpei tried to laugh it off.

"Anyway." Mitsuru continued, "I called you here today because I have some good news." She grabbed a few papers from her drawer. "The loan sharks are officially off of your back. I went ahead and used my family's resources to pay off your debt."

"Mitsuru-senpai, you didn't have to do that!" Junpei's eyes widened. The bigger issue here, though he wouldn't admit it, was that his pride was hurt.

"Those sharks have bad habits regarding interest." Mitsuru attempted to explain. "The last thing I want is for the yakuza to come after you. This way, you don't have to pay any more interest, and you can just pay me back directly. Just take your time. I know you're good for your word, after all." She chuckled. "I'm not doing you a favor, so don't take it like I'm giving you charity. You're my friend, and I'm looking out for my own best interests by looking out for you. So don't argue with me."

Her ice-like commandments were difficult to disagree with.

Junpei was just glad that she was on his side, not the other way around.

"Thank you, Mitsuru-senpai."

"If I may ask…" Mitsuru continued, "I was wondering. I could have dealt with the lawyers in getting your debt completely expunged from all records if you came to me first. After some investigation, I've come to realize that you came into the debt when you wanted your inheritance. What did your father have that you wanted so badly, that you'd land yourself in such a predicament?"

There it was. Junpei sighed. "My mother's belongings." He slightly smiled. "Dad never hocked them since they're cheap trinkets, but those things are the only mementos of my mother that I have." Especially her diamond wedding ring.

"I see… your mother means a lot to you, doesn't she?" Mitsuru's expression grew sympathetic. Losing a parent herself during their adventure, she could understand where Junpei was coming from. "I'll continue to help you out as much as I can, Iori."

They decided to make Rise's next single a double-A side, meaning another main song had to be recorded along with another promotional video. While the two songs were completely different, they decided to connect them through the videos, this one being a continuation of the last one. It had been a month since the last video shoot, most likely because they wanted to make sure that another incident like last time with the light fixture wouldn't perform an encore.

The music began playing. "Do you believe in fate? A momentary encounter that changes everything in your life before that?" The melancholy tone of the song was far different than anything else that Rise sang, at least out of what Junpei has heard. The music didn't overpower the Iyrics, allowing Junpei to actually hear them and think about them. But no, Junpei didn't believe in fate. Ironic considering that the entire S.E.E.S. adventure could have been considered fate.

"We notice it the moment our eyes meet with someone's, we definitely come to feel it with them / But suddenly, we feel weak in our knees..." Doubt. Confusion. Anger. Denial. There were too many things Junpei felt, so many years after what had transpired. He felt alone in the world, yet everybody.. most everybody was still around, one way or the other. Why was he given the potential to wield Hermes? Sure, ti felt good for a while, but the loss of Chidori, and the loss of that excitement once the world was saved... and nobody praised him for it. He went back to being an ordinary human being.

It wasn't that he wasn't grateful for life. It's just that he had a taste of something more, and he craved it once again.

"I feel that the more I wish to be strong, the weaker I instead become..." Junpei had to wipe a tear away from his eye. Clenching his teeth, it applied to him directly. He had grandiose dreams of becoming someone, something more than just an ordinary person. Sure, being an ordinary person beat having Apathy Syndrome, but giving someone the chance to become a hero and then taking it away? That was just cruel.

"I shouted your name with tears in my eyes, I wish I wouldn't wake up if this were a dream / Ah, the person before my eyes as you, see? No one else but you." But none of that mattered. What mattered was Chidori. With her deep red hair, her white gothic Lolita dress, and sketches. With her deep eyes, longing for something, not quite knowing what it was... and the fact that he wanted to be able to give her hope, so that she didn't feel like she had to go back to Strega and die. Chidori, tormented by fate itself, knowing the day that she would die because of her Persona's curse. Chidori, who woke up miraculously in the hospital after her death, reanimated by the very life energy she poured into the flowers by her bed when he came to visit. Chidori, who had woken up from her nightmare.

Junpei had yet to wake up from his nightmare. Or perhaps reality after such a nice dream was the nightmare.

"If only I had deserved your love, as many as the times that you told me you loved me / if only I had loved you as many as the times I said I loved you." Was it love? Junpei never felt the way he felt toward Chidori toward anybody else. Not before, not after. Chidori was special, there was no disputing that. Everybody else in S.E.E.S. knew it, too. The new Chidori... she didn't know what it meant to suffer, did she? Not the way that the old Chidori did. And with that, she lost an important aspect which Junpei desperately longed to find again.

"I gave up, thinking I couldn't reach your voice / I gave up, thinking that this dream was unattainable / You see, even though the person before my eyes was the real you..." Junpei had to accept that this new Chidori was now the real Chidori. A Chidori he could love like a little sister, but the memory of the old Chidori was still fresh in his mind, even after many years. She wasn't a replacement. Much like he couldn't be that man in her dream.

"The management company may be having fun with this, but if you screw around with my friend's heart, there will be Hell to pay." A rather short young woman tried to stare Junpei down. Which was a bit difficult, considering that they had to look up rather than down, given that Junpei was taller.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Junpei looked to the side. He knew what this person was talking about.

"I'm Naoto Shirogane, and it's because of me that you were even there to catch her when she fell down to begin with." Naoto introduced herself "Rise happens to be a close personal friend of mine, and she's experienced heartbreak in the past. You'd better not mess with her if you're not serious, Iori." She sternly warned. "Otherwise my husband will deliver a special knuckle sandwich to you, personally."

"Duly noted..." Junpei still thought this was completely random and out of the blue. But even idols had close friends, huh?

It had been a year since he saved Rise from that rogue light fixture. Overlooking the city lights high up on a balcony, Junpei had to admit it was pretty amazing. It was even more amazing with a cute woman by your side.

He was ready to live in the present. Yes, the past was important to him. It was because of Chidori that he realized he was capable of being something more, someone more... somebody capable of caring for another person more than he cared about himself Taking that with him into the future, he was confident that he could honor her memory through the way he lived his life.

Standing beside him on a hotel balcony overlooking Iwatodai on Tatsumi Port Island, Rise held Junpei's arm. "Several years ago, I held a concert here and there was a blackout." She giggled.

"I remember that." Junpei recalled. "That night was a full moon, and..." He fell silent.

"What is it, Junpei?" Rise asked, looking up.

"I'm sorry, I just remembered. That night was a memory with a particular woman." Junpei admitted. That was the night Chidori kidnapped him, wasn't it? It was almost difficult to think of it as that particular night. Had he never have joined S.E.E.S., he might have met Rise earlier.

"... Your girlfriend." Rise realized. She was a smart one, to say the least.

"Heh." Junpei chuckled. "I didn't think fondly of it at the time, but now I can sort of laugh about it." He continued. "She's out there, somewhere. But she's not the same person, so... in a sense, no, she's not out there, either." He wasn't certain he would ever be able to tell Rise the entire truth, of the gothic Lolita woman who held such a large place in his heart.

"What happened?" Rise asked.

"She woke up from a nightmare." Junpei responded. It was that simple. She woke up, and no longer was the Chidori from the nightmare. She was a new Chidori.

"I'm really glad you invited me out so many times." Junpei chuckled. "The difference between you and her is like night and day. With Chidori, I was holding onto the past, because a future with her wasn't going to be able to happen. I'm a bit scared about the future... but right now? Here with you, I can feel a little bit like my old self I want to make the most of this, the present."

"... My lyrics...!" Rise smiled. He admitted that Rise's song was cheesy as Hell, but she was right for a budding lyricist. He wanted to continue living in the present, toward the future. It was time he woke up from his own nightmare.

Lowering his head, his lips met Rise's.

Several months later, Junpei found himself in that same hotel room. Sitting up, the sheets felt night on his bare skin. Turning over, he saw the sleeping idol next to him, and gently with his index finger he pulled back a few of her bangs out of her eyes. Being sure not to disturb her, he pulled on his boxer shorts as he walked over to the window, the night sky lit up with only the moon and stars.

The night lost most of its terror once the Dark Hour was sealed away, and along with that terror went along Junpei's worth. Or, at least that's what he believed, for the longest time. It sounded cheesy, like a superhero cartoon or comic aimed at young boys; his self-worth was right where it was supposed to be. He placed his hand on his chest, feeling his own heartbeat.

He didn't have to be extraordinary. Or perhaps, extraordinary things existed in everyday ordinary things. Either way, he found himself smiling more and more as time went on, and although it would be impossible to forget about Chidori, she was taking up less and less of his daily thoughts. At first, that worried him, as if it were saying that the feelings he felt for her were in vanity this entire time. However, he realized that her impact on him was going to last forever, and it was a fact that Rise approached him and came to him, as Chidori was already a part of him. Rise was going to accept him in his entire brokenness, and that made it okay. He was broken, but he was whole.

Quietly making his way back to the bed, the diamond ring on Rise's left ring finger glistened in the tiny amount of moonlight bleeding through the curtain.