Chapter 6: The Lover's Plight.

*?*

"It seems that Adachi has turned on us Kami-sama, shall the Hermit and I end the wretch?" A crown-masked man kneeled before an apathetic shadow on his throne.

"No I had expected even less from it." The 'it' he refers to would be Adachi. "However this wild card..."

"We will capture him at once my lordship."

The Shadow's voice erupts with rage. "Do you think that crown you wear makes you our leader Emperor? No such thing will be done."

"N-no Kami! Forgive my insolence! B-but may I ask why we do not simply take the wild card if he has revealed himself and awakened."

"Imbecile, he would not survive the binding. That Arisato fool believed he could stop mankind's true intentions, but soon my brother will return and all will be made right. Emperor!"

"Yes your lordship!" He salutes, his body is shaking with fear.

"I sense a presence, one connected to the Adachi's doings. Find it, if it does not join our ranks kill it and see it forgotten, if you fail such will also be your fate."

*April 17th, *

Gekkoukan High .Lunchtime.

Maiko and Alex are sitting on the rooftop of the school enjoying lunch, Alex had asked Maiko a question.

"Sekkojo Academy... I heard it was that rich girls school on the other side of the city, why?"

"Oh never mind." Alex shrugged. Then enters Mori bumbling his way toward the three.

"M-maiko-san I... " He bows presenting her a bento box. "I made a lunch for you!" Maiko stares at him oddly.

"Well... thanks but I already bought lunch." Maiko said confused, Mori spirals out of control. (Imaginary glass heart breaks) My hopes and dreams RUINED! AAAAAAAAAAAH!

Alex takes his bento and digs in. "Thanks." It seemed that Mori has fainted.

"So Al-kun what clubs are you going to take this year?" Alex turns his head with a shrimp tail in his mouth. "Well you should think about it, why not the Art club?" Alex pauses from devouring Mori's box lunch.

"Did you snoop around my room when I was asleep?" Maiko puts on a innocent face.

"I won't say I didn't do it." Trying to confuse him with the double negative. Alex's expression turns sour.

Mori has seemed to recovered from his nervous breakdown. Alex slides the empty bento in front of him. "Hey Mori, you have band practice after school right?"

"So you decided you want to join then?"

"I'll buy you Hagakure and make things even, but no ordering off the menu."

"Deal" Mori raises up his thumb. Classes after lunch went on as usual. Alex fell asleep through English class, having no need to study his first language. The end of school bell rang harsh punishment to his ears.

"Don't be out for long, Sanada-sensei wants us to go out and pick up some 'equipment'. " What she really meant for the boys was weapons for shadow slaying. Mori and Alex headed to the Music room. Inside the room were the three other members of Mori's band, also known as...

"Apathy Syndrome?"

"We drew straws to figure it out." Quipped the girl whom Alex met before named Uesugi Mikoto. The other two members were 3rd years, a short brown haired one with glasses named Takeda Shinji, the other a dyed blonde with black bangs named Date Takeo.

"So Uesugi over there is our drummer, Date and I are lead guitar, with me on vocals, and Takeda is kinda like our manager ha ha."

"What he means is that I'm the one who got us the music room as our band room. Considering how I am the only acting member of the music club."

"I thought it was cuz your paps was like a music producer or somethin' " Date remarked. "Alright I'm outta here."

"But Date! We finally got our bass player back. You can't go yet!"

"I'm heading home too." Said Takeda

"C-yah!" And Uesugi made three.

"Ah come on you guys. Guys? ... Damnit."

"In fairness I still do have to learn all your songs and chords I guess."

"Yea... I know, still kind of a bummer." The two then decide skip practice for another day and go to Hagakure. Alex just ordered a bowl of white rice, while his friend went out of his way to stab his buddy's pocket money and order with an assortment of tempura dishes, crab, squid, and fried yams. Mori crunches his deep fried food with a purpose. Is he even tasting his food? Alex pondered.

"You wanna slow down? You'll get an ulcer eating like that."

"Hey I missed lunch, didn't have time to cook mine after making Maiko's."

"About that, forgive me for pointing out the extremely obvious but you really have a crush on her." Mori washes down his food with some soda and sighs to his friend.

"I blew it didn't I?" Mori hangs his head in shame.

"Your going to have to learn how to talk to her eventually, I mean you'll be living at the dorm now." Alex's words were like salt on Mori's wounds.

"It's just... Every time I speak to her I just want to shout out how I feel about her. Then I think about the words to describe it and I just freeze up." Mori laments his problems confessing his true feelings of Maiko, a girl who he is convinced is his soul mate. Alex feels the trust between him and Mori grow stronger and the voice of his heart says to him.

Thou art I, I am thou

Through trust this bond is strengthened

It brings thee closer to the heart

I bestoweth thee Pixie with Dekaja!

Alex decides to help Mori with his plight, to give him the confidence to ask out Maiko.

~At the Dorm~

With all the members of the new S.E.E.S at the dorm Akihiko introduces them to a new team mate.

"Awww what a cute doggie. Hey there boy what's your name?" The three give a puzzling look to Mori's effeminate reaction to the white shiba-inu who began growling at him. However the dog walked it's way to Alex, sniffed around him and then sat in front of him happily as though it had recognized him.

"Uh good boy?" The dog barked cheerfully.

"That's Koromaru. He's a well trained watch dog, and the only remaining Persona user of the last team." Alex had taken a look at Koromaru's unique little collar. "We're going to need him here for security against any of those enemy Persona users should they try and take the fight to us here...as well as for keeping watch on Adachi-san."

"But he's an escaped criminal! What is he doing here, in the same building as us?" Maiko still brimming with hatred towards her kidnapper.

"The basement facility has a level 5 security system deemed absolutely impenetrable from the inside and out. But seeing as how Adachi was able to escape before from a maximum security prison while in solitary as though he had quite literally disappeared in thin air, that doesn't make much a difference. However if we have any chance at finding and stopping the next one of these cultists we have little choice."

"It would have been worth telling us before making that decision Sir." Alex said boldly to his superior.

"Regardless of that we're heading to Korea town to grab some new equipment for the next time we step inside Tartarus to draw out Maiko's shadow, or anyone else's shadow's for that matter."

After a short drive to the district known as Korea town, the team had parked in front of an old antiques shop. Inside Akihiko rang the front bell a few times, tapping on the glass case impatiently. The three students had a look at all the rare oddities. Paintings, blades, carvings, and a some things that looked like they came right out of Tartarus. A faint voice saying "Coming!" from upstairs then arrived to greet the guests. To Alex's surprise it was a woman younger than expected for an antiques shop owner, Akihiko's age to be exact.

"I'm sorry Akihiko-san I knew you were coming I was just feeding my niece Yuu-chan, Oh I see you brought everyone here."

"Yes, I wanted to see if they wanted to pick out anything special. Everyone this is Yamagishi Fuuka, another member of S.E.E.S. She will be running your supply operation for weapons and equipment. Typical weapons aren't very effective in the Shadow world, so we have something that can modify weapons for shadow slaying."

"I've already picked out my weapon for when I'm ready guys, so look around." Maiko picks up a bow with a quiver of modded arrows.

"I got what I need right here." Mori sets down the guitar case he had behind his back since band practise was cancelled. "After you said how heavy this thing was I was thinking how good of a swing this could be in a fight, plus that world gives you super strength." Alex only shrugged at the bizarre choice of weapon Mori made.

"Guess I'll find a sword, something sharper this time." He browses at the various weapons racked on the wall then looked at one pair in particular. He grabs the handle, trying to feel the weight.

"That's a Ming Dynasty Jian blade, a double edged Chinese straight sword. Don't worry about the price tag Kirijo group has all the finances covered." Alex not paying much attention to Fuuka's history lesson Alex did pay heed to the price tag. That's a lot of zeros... He tried a few practice swings minding his environment before sheathing.

"Oba-san? Can we watch a movie." A nine year old girl came down stairs to her Aunt.

"I'll come up as soon as I finish with these customers Yuu-chan." The little girl then looks to see the others and then hides behind the wall from where she entered. "Oh don't mind her she's just shy."

"Well thank you I'll have someone pick these up and bring them to the storage locker in Gekkoukan."

"And the school doesn't check the school for weapons?" Alex pondered to his sensei.

"Just not that locker, and I have the only key. Time to it's nearly curfew, In a couple of weeks when Maiko and you two have recuperated we'll return to draw out Maiko's shadow. I know how hard it is, can you do it?"

She nodded sheepishly. Alex gives Mori a nudge to the shoulder, a signal to console her. "Oh- umm. Well Maiko, I've had to go through it too, Uh... It sucked but... I think you'll be okay. We've got your back, I mean we'll take care of you. No! I mean we'll uh..." Alex covers his face with his palm.

"Thanks, I really believe I can do it with you guys with me on this." Alex felt inside the turmoil Maiko was feeling preparing to face her true self. He swore he would help her get through this. A voice rings in his mind.

Thou art I, I am thou

Thou hast established a new bond

It brings thee closer to the heart

I bestoweth thee Berith of the Hanged Man arcana

Author's note: Sorry that the this and the last chapter ended up being pretty short. Things will start picking up again soon I promise. Now you know what happened to Fuuka and Koromaru after P3, its a much lighter tone to the futures of the other members I gave for sure

So the Modifier was just an idea I came up with to explain just how usefully say a paper fan as an example would be as a weapon against a 12 foot tall shadow monster.

:3 Thank you all and keep coming with the reviews and feedback. 3