Author's Note:
Here's the second chapter. Thanks everyone for viewing my story. I'm glad that you guys enjoy reading it.
So please enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: Don't own Persona 3 or its characters. They belong to Atlus.
Ch. 2
First Day of School
April 7, 2009
Early Morning
Minato rubbed at his eyes after he was done looking at himself from the mirror to see if he was presentable. He didn't get much of a good night's sleep because of all that happened the other day, leaving his eyes stinging and head dully throbbing in pain. He hoped that today would go fine. Minato took another look down at himself. The uniform for Gekkoukan wasn't bad looking. It consisted of a black jacket with the school emblem, a white shirt, and black pants - overall finding it better than the last school's.
A series of sharp knocks soon came from the door, quickly alerting Minato. He turned to look at it.
"Hey, it's me Yukari. Are you awake?"
"Yeah, Minato-nii. You better be up or else I'll bust in and wake you up myself."
Minato rolled his eyes. Due to his habit of sleeping in, his sister would often be the one to wake him up. So it wasn't surprising that she was saying that along with threatening to bust in, regardless of there being company or not.
"I'm awake," he answered, "I'll be out in a second."
The blue-haired teen straightened himself before walking to the chair to get his things. He already got his books and supplies in order, all packed and ready in his bookbag. He grabbed it before quickly getting his mp3 off the desk and putting it on himself before finally going to open the door. When he opened, it he saw Yukari and Hamuko standing there. The two girls were also dressed in their uniforms along with their own schoolbags. Though, Yukari was wearing the same pink sweater from before over her top, while Hamuko simply was wearing just the uniform.
"Morning, Minato-nii," Hamuko greeted with a smile on her face.
"Morning," he greeted back, before then facing Yukari. "Good morning, Takeba-san."
"Morning, Arisato-kun. Did you sleep well last night?" Yukari asked.
Minato yawned in response, "Somewhat...And yourself?"
"Alright, I guess", she answered, "Hm, I think we should head off now before it gets late. You ready?"
Minato nodded, remembering why exactly Yukari was with them. That's right. She said that she was supposed to show us the way to school.
"I'm ready."
"Okay," Yukari smiled. "Let's go then."
Yukari began to walk off, leading the way for the two siblings. As they followed her, Minato and Hamuko were talking amongst themselves.
"Hey, Minato-nii. What do you think of this uniform?"
Minato gave her a quick full look and answered, "They're not too bad. Better than the ones in our other school. I think you look good in it."
Hamuko giggled, "Thanks. You don't look bad yourself, Big Bro. Keeping the jacket open as always?"
Minato frowned, "I like wearing my uniforms like this. Especially when it's-"
"Hey, come on you two. We don't want to be late," shouted out Yukari from the stairs, the twins now a ways behind her. Hamuko faced to Minato, who just shrugged in response.
"We're coming," Minato assured.
The Arisato siblings followed Yukari down the stairs. When they made it down to the bottom of the stairs, Hamuko looked off into the direction of the dining area. Her mouth was slightly watering.
"Hey, is there a kitchen somewhere here?" Hamuko asked.
Yukari glanced at the girl, "Yeah, there's a kitchen. Sometime ago there used to be a dorm den mother that would cook food here. The kitchen's a little past the dining table. Why?"
"Hungry," Hamuko simply answered back, "It'll just take me a sec to get something. Want something, Minato-nii?" A questioning look sent his way.
"Sure."
"Got it," the young girl said before dashing across for the kitchen. In the meantime leaving both Minato and Yukari to wait by the stairs. They awkwardly shifted their weight while shuffling their loafer shoes against the carpet before Minato decided to put up his headphones. As he turned on the mp3's power, he asked his fellow classmate a question to at least try and break the silence.
"Where is Kirijo-senpai?"
"Huh?" Yukari was a bit taken aback by the sudden question, but recovered enough to speak. "O-Oh, Mitsuru-senpai already left early this morning by the time I got myself dressed."
"Mm," the blue-haired boy nodded, adjusting his headphones.
No sooner before they lapsed again into silence, Hamuko returned with three bags of cookies in her hands. A satisfied smile was on her face when she rejoined her brother and Yukari.
"Found these in the pantry. Here you go," she handed one bag to Minato, while extending another out to Yukari, "I got one for you too, Yukari-chan. Since we're not going to really have breakfast, figured you were hungry too."
Yukari's hand reached for it tentatively before fully grabbing it. While these were her own favorite snacks that she had stored away, Yukari decided to let them have some. It wouldn't hurt. "Thanks, Hamuko-chan. I appreciate it."
"No problem. Okay, now, we should go."
At that prompting, the small group walked through the dorm lobby and past the huge doors, eating their small meal along the way.
-XII-
Once outside on the streets, the trio were already met by people walking up and down the streets and cars speeding past. The city was much livelier than how it was the previous night with the stopped cars and frozen coffins. Because of this, the twins had a better look at everything and committed these images to memory as Yukari led them through.
Eventually, they arrived at the train station, joining the growing crowd that was standing at the platform. It wasn't too long a wait before a train came into view, grounding to a stop and then opening its doors for the passengers to board. The three quickly went in, squeezing themselves like sardines into the now filled car. Within seconds the cars all became full; the doors gave a low hiss as they closed. A small, accompanying jerk then ran throughout the whole train as it started up and began to leave the station.
Inside the train car, there appeared to be mostly students as passengers, all wearing the dark school uniform for Gekkoukan. However, because of the large number of students, most of the seats had already been taken. So Minato, Hamuko, and Yukari had to stand up. The girls gripped onto the last available handgrips, as Minato did his best to keep his balance.
This is a lot of people, Hamuko thought as she looked around at everyone, Just how big is this school?
However, her thoughts were interrupted by Yukari who began talking, doing her best to talk over the din of students.
"We have to take the monorail in order to get to school. Bet you guys didn't have to do so at your last school, huh?"
"No. But, it was more of hassle to get there. The mornings in Tokyo were a lot more of a hell with people either going to work or school like us," Minato answered, who was now recounting those many memories of him and his sister getting through the crowded city to head for school.
"Well...I don't think here getting to school is that much of a hassle, minus today. Once we arrive at the Port Island station, we'll only have walk for a little while. But even walking there, it's only a short distance to the school. So no traffic problems or anything like that." Yukari assured.
Hamuko sighed in relief. "Well that's great. I will say that back at Tokyo most of our mornings were spent avoiding near collisions with cars. We lived near a pretty active area."
"Raining would make it worse, sometimes we would get splashed on," Minato added, frowning.
Yukari giggled a little. "S-Sorry about that," she immediately apologized, "I'm pretty sure you guys will be alright. So don't worry about it." She turned her head to gaze out the windows past the students. "Hm, despite how crowded it can get, riding the train is my favorite part. Towards the end it makes me feel liking I'm gliding over the sea." A contented sigh followed her last words as she continued to look outside.
"Wow. That's amazing," Hamuko said, before looking at her brother. As she did, the excitement that she felt about riding over the ocean vanished as she saw how her brother was reacting. It wasn't too apparent, but Hamuko noticed her brother's body lightly trembling. The shaking of his legs was what gave it away, along with how her brother's eyes were, nervously darting around.
Oh...yeah...
Even though he wouldn't say it, Hamuko knew that he was probably thinking about that bridge. It was over the water too, she remembered. So,without a word, Hamuko went a little closer and reached for her brother's hand. She then squeezed it. Almost surprised, Minato looked at her before glancing at their hands. The ends of his lips lifted upwards a little, almost making a small smile. His hand returned the squeeze.
'Thanks,' he said.
'No problem,' she said in her own smile.
A few moments passed before the train took a turn around the bend and they found themselves over the ocean. It was there that the twins took a look outside and saw something in the distance amidst the blue water. Hamuko gasped as they went a little closer and were able to get a better look. There were huge building structures out on an island in the distance, surrounded by green.
"Is that…?" Hamuko asked.
"Yup. That's Gekkoukan High right there," Yukari confirmed.
Minato and Hamuko silently stared in awe.
-XII-
After making it through the stampede of bodies leaving the train, the three were now walking towards the school. The other students that came with them were already walking past them, many talking amongst themselves. However, every now and then, stares or looks would be thrown their way. Minato outright ignored them, but they were starting to get irritating as they were becoming more frequent the closer they were getting.
Have they never seen new students around here or what? Minato thought.
Along with the looks and stares, another thing that Minato noticed was that Yukari was being greeted by what seemed like half of the school population or so. Multiple cries of 'Hey, Yukari!' and 'Good morning, Yukari!' would be directed at their small group with Yukari then responding back in kind.
Hmm...I guess she's pretty popular, he commented to himself, Well, she is attractive too so...after hearing another person call out to Yukari. Minato clicked a button on his mp3 to get to another song, while in the meantime, deciding to reflect on his and Hamuko's new school.
To say that he was not impressed by the school so far would be a lie. If anything, just the sheer size of the place was amazing. The station that they got off was huge and the buildings that he could see past the students and trees were also massive. He could just imagine what the school itself looked like. When he looked around, he saw Hamuko taking a look as well. He let a small smile form at the corner of his mouth as he saw how excited Hamuko was by everything.
It wasn't long before the small group finally reached their destination which lied just beyond the iron gates outside. When they neared the gates, both Minato and Hamuko couldn't help but stand and gape at the school.
The school itself was a large, multi-storied building guarded by gigantic pillars at its main entrance. Along with its size, the school had a sleek appearance due to it being a polished white color. And because of the light color, the building contrasted against the lining green and pale pink trees. The sight was breath-taking, stunning the siblings. They were so mesmerized that they almost forgot about everything else until a voice rang out.
"Hey, you guys!"
Getting out of their brief daze, Minato and Hamuko looked around for Yukari. They soon found her waiting past the school gates and quickly they ran to catch her. Upon joining up with her again, Yukari giggled.
"Pretty impressive, isn't it?" The brown-haired girl said, "Well then..."
Straightening her body, Yukari turned her face towards the school and proclaimed, "We're here! Welcome to Gekkoukan High!"
-XIII-
The three second-years were now gathered in the front lobby near the shoe lockers. The lobby was packed students gathered in clumps, here and there, talking loudly. Most of the conversations being about school and the upcoming school year. It was then at Yukari's suggestion about finding shoe lockers that they went and found a couple. When they were changing out shoes, Yukari resumed speaking.
"You two will be okay from here on out, right?" She asked when closing the locker's metal door after finishing.
"We'll be fine," Minato simply answered, shouldering his bag as he straightened up. Meanwhile Hamuko was rocking on her heels, waiting as she was all ready for some time.
"Alright. Since you two are new here, you should find out your rooms and go see your homeroom teacher first. The Faculty Office is on the left," Yukari said, pointing down the left hallway, "Down there." Letting her hand drop back down, Yukari turned her attention back to the siblings.
"…And that should about wrap up the tour," Yukari concluded, "Any other questions before I go?"
While Minato made no indication to speak, Yukari spied Hamuko lift her hand a little ways while wriggling her fingers. Yukari suppressed a laugh at the energetic girl's action before catching on that Hamuko wanted to try and say something.
"What is it, Hamuko-chan?" Yukari asked.
"What's your homeroom, Yukari-chan? Maybe we might have the same one?"
"Me?" Yukari cocked her head to the side, "I don't know. I haven't checked the room assignments yet, though I probably might be in 2-F like last year. Anything else you wanted to ask?"
"Nah," Hamuko shook her head, "I was just curious. I think me and Minato-nii are good to go." She then flashed a smile to prove her point.
Yukari gave a slight nod, "Mm." Her brown eyes then quickly looked between Minato and Hamuko. "If you say so, then I'll leave you to that. There's some stuff that I have to take care of before school starts. I'll see you two around later." Turning around, Yukari was about to start walking away from the lockers. But before she even made any progress, she turned her head to the side, not facing the twins.
"Hey… About last night…" she said in a serious tone, "Don't tell anyone what happened, okay? ...See ya."
Minato and Hamuko watched after her as she went past students and away from the lockers in the crowded lobby. Once she was out of their of vision, a bunch of thoughts raced in their heads. With Minato's thoughts, he realized that what happened the previous night did truly happen. And that Yukari and Mitsuru possibly knew something about it.
So it can happen to other people and they can see it. But how? I thought only me and Hamuko...
As his thoughts focused on the serious at the moment, Hamuko's were following a different way of thinking. While she already kept in mind about what Minato had just noted, a way less than serious idea came to her. The idea coming from over Yukari's words and how they were said. Hamuko was well aware what she was meaning but she noticed how easily out of context they could be taken.
Heh, it's been awhile since I teased Minato-nii about something. Wonder how he'll react, Hamuko thought to herself, amused.
Deciding to enact her idea, Hamuko had on a sly grin as she spoke, "Last night? Did something happen between you two? Wow, you move fast, Minato-nii."
At her voice, Minato snapped out from his thoughts. "What?" he said, "Hamuko! That's not it. What are you-?"
His only answer was his sister's laughing interspersed with her attempts at speaking. "Oh!...Hahaha...You...Hahahah...Your face...!" She continued on laughing, finding Minato's reaction's hilarious. While she enjoyed seeing her brother flustered at times, this time, what really sold it was that she could spot a very light blushing to his cheeks. It was just too good.
"Ahahaha…ha…" Her laughter slowly started to die down when she soon caught her brother scowling at her. "Sorry, Minato-nii," she apologized as she wiped away an imaginary tear from her eye, "I just couldn't resist that. You're just so fun to tease, you know?"
"…"
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. Forgive me?"
Minato just kept scowling, "I really shouldn't."
"Please," Hamuko begged, "I'm sorry, okay? I promise that I won't tease you like that again. I swear."
"..." Minato kept his scowl before eventually relenting. He knew that Hamuko would never let it rest and would continue to seek his forgiveness. And it was dumb to hold a grudge against her considering how he knew how his sister was. So even if her promise would be forgotten the next time, he gave in. "Alright," he rolled his eyes, "I forgive you."
"Yay!" Hamuko threw her arms around him, hugging him. The hug didn't last too long and Hamuko pulled herself away soon enough. But she let a hand rest on Minato's shoulder as she then said,"Relax Minato-nii, I understand what Yukari-chan meant. Basically, we just do what we've been doing all along and say nothing."
"Pretty much," Minato confirmed.
Hamuko looked off to the side. "We should find out where our homerooms are first before heading to the Faculty Office."
Minato stared for awhile before nodding his agreement.
The siblings went away from the lockers to the school lobby's center. When they got there, they were momentarily confused as they didn't know where the homeroom listings were. It wasn't until Hamuko pointed out a group of students hanging around bulletin boards to the right that they realized the homerooms could be there. As they worked their way against students lingering there, snippets of conversations were heard by the two.
"Hmmm…So there it is. Class F, huh? And it's being taught by…What?! Toriumi?! Ugh… Here I was hoping for Kanou." A student groaned.
"Aww…So we're in different classes? Hm, whatever..." Another said.
Upon reaching the boards, Minato turned his head when he heard bits of an argument between two students over why one was wearing a P.E. uniform. It was quite an argument as Minato couldn't help but listen in.
"...School just started! You really outta find somewhere to change into some normal clothes!" A female voice shouted.
"Ehh...I guess," her companion unenthusiastically responded before giving a rushed response, "Okay, okay. Quit glaring at me like that. Anyways, where are our homerooms posted?"
The following answer from the female was so loud a few students turned their heads at the source of the argument, Minato only looked from the corner of his eye. "It's RIGHT THERE! You're in Class F, Kaz. I'm in a different homeroom so I can't keep- "
"Minato-nii, did you find our names yet?"
Hamuko's voice pulled back Minato's attention away from hearing the argument and onto her. He saw Hamuko intently combing through the listings for their names. Minato was impressed. However, he couldn't say that he had been doing the same.
"No," he lied, "I haven't."
She went over each paper again, but with no success. "I don't see our names here," she replied.
Minato then looked over the papers, going through all the dark-printed names. But, just like Hamuko, he couldn't find them. "Me neither," he answered, "Let's just give it a look one more time to make sure and if we can't, we could just ask in the Faculty Office."
"Alright."
So one last time the twins looked through the listings. And just like all the other previous attempts, it seemed that their names were nowhere to be found. Minato was about to turn and tell his sister that they should just go to the Faculty Office when he spotted something near one of the rosters. He lifted his hand to take down the little post-it note from the board.
He took a closer look and was able to make out their names, clearly printed.
Arisato Minato
Arisato Hamuko
-Class 2-F
I guess they weren't kidding about us arriving here at the last minute, especially if they had to put our names are put out on such a cheesy, little note. Minato commented to himself.
He turned towards his sister, who was still searching, and gave her a nudge.
"Huh? What is it?" She asked.
"I found them. See?" He showed her the small note in his hand. Hamuko looked at the note and saw that both of their names were on it and that they were also in the same homeroom.
"It looks like we're in the same homeroom, Big Bro. Nice," she said, "Class 2-F though...Oh, hey, Minato-nii, we're in Yukari-chan's homeroom. Look over there." She pointed to one of the nearby rosters. And sure enough, Minato was able to pick out Yukari's name printed on the 2-F roster.
"Huh, that's...convenient," Minato replied. "Well, now that we figured that out. Want to head to the Faculty Office?"
Hamuko nodded and so they both went away from the roster boards and off into the left hallway that Yukari pointed out earlier. Along the way, they would look around their surroundings such as taking note of the school vendor. In the hallway, they tried to look for the Faculty Office, all the while trying to ignore the enthusiastic shouting match between a blonde-haired student and a man in a samurai helmet.
Hamuko ended up being the one to point out to Minato that Faculty Office was the first door that they passed by. Once there, Minato opened the door and let the two of them inside.
They gave a quick glance around. The Faculty Office appeared almost empty. Chairs, cabinets, and crowded tables with files and books filled the room. The two siblings though spotted some teachers and staff looking over things. A few looked at them as soon as the door opened. One of them, a brown-haired woman in a matching brown jacket and pants, looked up from her reading.
"Hello, did you need something?" She asked.
They slowly nodded before realizing that they didn't say anything.
"Yes," Hamuko soon answered, "We're new students and we were told that we should come here to see our homeroom teacher."
"Oh," the woman responded, "So you two are the new transfer students." She closed something before got up from her seat and walked around the table to stand before the twins. There was a folder in her hands along with a couple of white papers on the top. "I was just reading your files."
"Arisato Minato and Hamuko. Both of you are currently second-years." All the while as she was speaking, she was flipping through the papers on the folder. "Wow, you two have lived in a lot of different places."
Even though she wasn't meaning to, the last comment couldn't help but sting the Arisatos. It was true that they both had been in different places; the main reason being that they were shuffled from relative to relative since the death of their parents. More often than not, the moves themselves happened because their relatives didn't want them around anymore...It wasn't until their uncle Hideo took them in that they actually managed to stay in one place for a long period of time.
The woman went on reading, "Let's see...In 1999...That was what, ten years ago? Your parents-"
The two heard her gasp when she came upon the information of their parents. The woman quickly looked up from the papers to see them, a worried expression on her face. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "I've been so busy that I was unable to read this beforehand."
"It's alright." Hamuko said.
Minato glanced at his sister. "Yes, it's fine." He added in reassurance.
The woman looked between the two as she clutched the papers and folder closer to her. She awkwardly coughed into her hand, "I-I see. I'm Ms. Toriumi. I teach Composition. Welcome to our school."
The twins gave a small bow with Hamuko saying, "It's nice to meet you."
"My, my, you two are polite," Toriumi complimented, "Others your age should follow your example."
After rearranging the items in her arms, Toriumi continued to speak,"Have you two seen the classroom assignments yet? You'll both be in Class 2-F; that's my class." She then eyed a clock hanging up on the wall, frowning upon seeing the time. "But first, we need to go to the auditorium. The welcoming ceremony will be starting soon. Follow me."
As Toriumi began to walk out of the office in the direction of the auditorium, there was the sound of a school bell ringing over the intercoms. At that mark, the other teachers that were in the office stopped what they were doing and were getting ready to leave. Minato and Hamuko paid them no mind and remained focused on Toriumi as she exited into the hallway.
-XIII-
This is so boring. Hamuko mentally groaned. She let out a huge yawn.
She glanced at Minato from the corner of her eye and saw that he was faring no better. But, it was truly a miracle that he was actually still awake at this point. By now he would have turned on his mp3 and passed out or something. Hamuko turned away from her brother and tried her hardest to focus on the principal's welcoming speech.
The principal himself was a short, bespectacled elderly man. The speech he was giving was from a podium in the school's auditorium.
"As you begin the new school year," he addressed, "I'd like each of you to remember the proverb, 'If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well.' When applied to student life, this means…"
Oh, God. If you are merciful, please take me away from this torture, Hamuko begged.
But, as she was silently praying to the gods, she overheard a student talking with her brother. She looked from the corner of her eye to see what was going on.
"Hey. You came to school with Yukari and that other girl, the transfer student, this morning, right?" questioned the student, "I mean, I saw you walking with them. Hey, do you know if they're single or not?"
Hamuko saw Minato tense up and his eye twitch. She smirked.
"No. They're both taken already." Minato replied.
"Really?... Aw man, here I thought I could've gotten the transfer student if not Yukari." The student moved back in his seat and sulked.
Minato then turned to face the front, a small satisfied smirk on his face. Classic, Minato-nii.
Hamuko knew that what he said was far from the truth. She did not have a boyfriend, nor did she believe that Yukari had on too. Knowing her brother, it was said in order to keep the boys off of her back. She did appreciate him looking after her and in return, she would do the same for him.
However, the conversation between Minato and the student did not go unnoticed. A teacher had called out, "I hear talking. I believe it's someone from Ms. Toriumi's class."
Hamuko then heard Ms. Toriumi shushing the students, "Shhh! Be quiet! You're going to get me in trouble!"
Everyone shushed up momentarily, before a few resumed talking. But to Hamuko's dismay, she heard most of the talk now being said of her brother and her.
Well, so much for having a low profile.
-XIV-
After school
Minato and Hamuko were sitting in their desks. They were assigned to sit in the second row, side by side. Most of the students had already left, leaving them to sit there.
But now, Minato and Hamuko got up and were getting their things to leave. When they were done, they began to leave for the dorm.
But they only took a couple of steps before-
"'Sup, you guys?"
Minato and Hamuko both blinked at the boy in front of them. He was wearing a cap on his head and seemed their age, but was slightly taller than Minato. Also, instead of wearing the standard uniform, he wore a blue dress shirt with a necklace hanging from his neck. And he had a goatee on his face and was now looking at the twins with his grey eyes.
"Ha ha", his eyes twinkled in amusement; "You both look like a deer in headlights."
"Um…" Hamuko started. "Who are you?"
"Errr…yeah… I don't think we met before." Continued Minato, who was surprised at the guy's friendliness.
"Me? I'm Junpei Iori. Nice to meet ya." He greeted.
Minato gave a small smile, it was unusual for him and his sister to get approached like this. But he didn't seem to mind Junpei, he sounded genuinely friendly.
"It' s nice to meet you." He greeted. "I'm Minato Arisato and this is my younger twin sister Hamuko."
"Hi!" She called out.
Junpei whistled, "Wow, you guys are twins? I gotta admit though, you guys don't look related."
Minato and Hamuko sighed. "We get that a lot." Admitted Hamuko.
"I bet." Said Junpei. "But, hey. I'm just like you guys; I transferred here in eighth grade so I know what it's like bein' the new kid around here."
"Hmmm", Minato paused, "Well we've moved around a lot. So it's not that big a deal."
"Dude, really?" Junpei blinked. "Where have you guys been living the past couple of years then?"
"With an uncle." Answered Hamuko. "But that's not important. Hey, Junpei? Why did you come up and want to talk with us in the first place?"
"Just to make sure you guys don't freak out here on your first day.", Junpei beamed, "So that's why I decided to come by and say, "Hi!". See what a nice guy I am!"
Junpei was shortly interrupted when the door opened. Minato and Hamuko looked past Junpei and saw that it was Yukari.
Yukari was walking towards them, Junpei turned to what captured the twins' attention and he smiled.
"Hey, it's Yuka-tan!" He shouted. "I didn't think we'd be in the same class again."
Yukari then stopped and said, "At it again, huh? I swear, you'll talk to anyone if they'll listen. Did you ever think that you might be bothering someone?".
"Oh, come on!" Junpei groaned. "I was just bein' friendly."
Yukari rolled her eyes, "If you say so."
She then turned and looked at Minato and Hamuko. She smiled at them.
"Anyway, it's some coincidence that all of us are in the same homeroom, huh?" She asked.
"Yeah, I know." Answered Minato.
"Yep." Added Hamuko.
"Um, hello?", Junpei cut in , "Aren't you guys forgetting I'm in the same class too? C'mon, let me join in on the fun."
"Sure Stupei", Yukari again rolled her eyes, "So that'd you butt right into our conversation."
"Hey!" He said. "Stop callin' me that. By the way… I heard you guys all came in together to school. The whole school's been talking about it. So come on, what's going on with that?"
Minato and Yukari just gasped at Junpei. Hamuko just stared at Junpei, like he grew a second head. "Eh?"
"C'mon! Gimme the dirt!"
"T-There's nothing except that we all live at the same dorm", Yukari stammered, "Why are people still even talking about it?! Now, you have me worried about this, thanks a lot Junpei!"
Hamuko hung her head while Minato cleared his throat, trying to find a way to change subject, "A-anyway, should we get going Hamuko?"
"Wait," Yukari stopped, "Umm…Arisato-kun…you and your sister didn't say anything to anyone about… you know what, did you?"
Minato shook his head. "Of course not."
Yukari sighed in relief, "Good. But, seriously, don't tell anyone about last night, alright?"
Junpei's ears pricked up and he looked at the two, surprised.
Aw, dammit. Minato groaned. Not this again.
"…"
"Wh-what?" Yukari hesitated.
"L-Last night?! Dude, what did you and-"
Minato and Yukari both blushed. Yukari tried to stammer out a response.
"W-wait a minute! Don't get the wrong idea! Listen! I just met him yesterday, and there's absolutely nothing between us! Besides, his sister was with him too!"
Junpei looked to Hamuko for confirmation. She felt bad for her brother, so she decided to help him out.
"Yeah, Junpei. Nothing happened." She replied.
Junpei still seemed a bit unconvinced, "You sure?"
"Positive." Hamuko replied, nodding her head for emphasis.
"Hmmm…Okay, I take your word for it." He said.
Both Minato and Yukari sighed, glad that the awkward situation was laid to rest.
"Geez." Yukari said. "Well, I've gotta go now. I have to take care of something for the archery team. See you guys back at the dorm!" She then began to walk out of the classroom, but before she completely left, she turned around.
"Junpei, you better not start any rumors, got it?" And with that, she left.
Junpei sighed, "Ah, who cares? Nobody takes rumors seriously anyway. She's so paranoid".
He turned back to face the twins, "But, seriously it's your guys' first day here, and people are already talking about you. And believe or not, Yuka-tan's pretty popular around here. So…"
He then went up to Minato and gave him a nudge, "You da man!" He gave a wink.
Hamuko giggled at Minato's expression, and soon began to laugh. Junpei soon joined in with her. And even though the laugh was at his expense, Minato smiled when he saw that his sister was happy and laughing.
Junpei suddenly then said, "Heheh, this is gonna be fun year! I can already feel it!".
When they all finally managed to calm down, Minato turned toward his sister. "Hey, do you want to go now, Hamuko?"
Hamuko nodded and the two began to walk off but were soon stopped by Junpei.
"Hey guys!"
They turned back to him. Junpei ran a bit, till he caught up with them.
"Guys, would you like to go out somewhere to eat? It'll be my treat."
As if in response, both of the twins' stomachs growled. Junpei then slightly paled. "Hey, you guys aren't gonna…um…eat me dry are ya?"
Minato could already tell where this was going. In other words, Junpei wanted a little money on their part. Minato supposed it was fair, after all, him and Hamuko could eat like ravenous wolves when hungry. So it wouldn't exactly be right to pawn off the whole bill on just Junpei.
"Sure, we'll come with you." Minato said. " And how about we split the bill between the three of us?"
Hamuko enthusiastically said, "Yeah, let's do it!".
Junpei smiled. "Hell yeah, let's go! Yeah, I knew you guys were awesome!".
All three juniors went off to go eat. And along the way, Junpei showed them around the city. It turned out to be a fun day for all of them.
-XV-
Evening
"Welcome back", greeted Mitsuru. She was sitting in one of the lounge chairs, reading a book.
"Hey." The two twins greeted.
"Senpai?" Hamuko asked. Mitsuru looked up, "Yes?"
"Would it be alright if we can go out during the nighttime?" She continued.
"Not for now." Mitsuru answered. "It's quite dangerous to go out on your own during the night. I'm afraid all you can do is return to your rooms for the night."
"I see…" Hamuko murmured, disappointed.
Minato looking at his sister said, "Hey, why don't we finish up with some of our stuff Hamuko? It's not like we did a lot last night. That and get some sleep. All that food made me a bit sleepy."
Hamuko looked up at her brother. It was true that she did feel a little tired and she did want to finish up with her things.
"Okay."
Minato nodded satisfied. "Let's go then." He turned to face Mitsuru, "Good night Senpai."
Mitsuru looked up, "Good night, you two."
He nodded and he went with his sister up to their respective rooms. They also said good night to Yukari, who was sitting in one of the dining room chairs. And they were gone upstairs.
-XVI-
Late Evening
Mitsuru continued to read the novel. Every now and then she would take a sip from the teacup that was nearby.
She soon then heard footsteps coming down from the stairs. She glanced up from her book and looked to see who it was.
A huge, silver-haired teen wearing a red vest with black pants and gloves was standing in front of her. He had a black duffel bag slung on his back.
"I'm going out for a bit." He said in his usual, husky voice.
Akihiko Sanada, captain of the boxing team and Mitsuru's long time friend, continued to stand there waiting for her response.
"Hm?" Mitsuru cocked a trimmed, red brow up. Akihiko smiled, he knew that this was Mitsuru's way of asking on what he was exactly going to at this time of night.
"Didn't you see the newspaper?", he continued, "There's a lot going on."
Mitsuru sighed heavily, "…I know."
"People who had no problems before are suddenly developing acute cases of Apathy Syndrome", she stated, "I've seen it in the news quite often lately. They say it's due to stress but…".
"Yeah, right. It has to be THEM." Akihiko spat, earning a soft glare from Mitsuru. He continued, "Otherwise, it's not worth my time…".
She chuckled softly, "You have a one-track mind…Will you be okay on your own?"
"The Chairman will be here for the next couple of days, but after that, I can…" She said.
Akihiko interrupted her, " Don't worry. I'm just getting a little practice."
Mitsuru gave him a worrying look.
Akihiko gave her a soft look and smiled, "I'll be fine, Mitsuru."
With that, he left for outside.
Mitsuru looked as he walked out and closed the door. She sighed.
"This isn't a game Akihiko."
A/N:
-Cannot wait for Persona 3 the movie! Though I do hope that they do the game justice, as well as Minato (he will forever be Minato Arisato to me). Anyways, it'll be great to see how it goes. Reviews, comments, and constructive criticism are welcome.