April 21st, 2009

"Have you heard, Minato-kun?" Yukari asked, breaking Minato out of his thoughts. He glanced at her. Her injuries had been re-bandaged and she had a slight limp still, but she was well enough to come to school.

He shook his head, a grin on his face. "Heard what? Tchaikovsky? Mozart? Lotus Juice? My music taste is both eclectic and robust."

"Har har. No, the rumor for why we have an assembly today."

Again, he shook his head. "Nope. I'll be honest, I don't really keep my ear to the ground that much."

Ok, that was a lie. He did, just not enough to be completely in the know. Who might be dating who and what someone might or might not have said was not really something he cared about. Plus a good portion of the rumor mill was focused on him right now, so it made information collection a bit difficult.

She shook her head in admonishment. "It looks like someone figured out who won Student Council elections. They say that Mitsuru-senpai won by a landslide."

He shrugged. "You know, I'm not really surprised. Mitsuru-san is one of the more popular people in the school, and she has had experience leading before…" When he noticed Yukari was frowning slightly at his words, he switched topics. "So, uh, anyway... You were getting ready to tell me something last night when Mitsuru-san interrupted us. Did you want to tell me now?"

She tilted her head in confusion for a moment, then jumped as she remembered what he was referring to. "Oh! Uh…Not right now." She blushed slightly. "It's kinda…private." At his own blush and look of surprise, her face contorted in rage. "Not like that, you pervert! It's just something I need to tell you!"

At Yukari's outburst, many curious looks turned towards the two friends. Minato buried his face in his palm. Yukari was not always the most subtle person, and her outburst was not unexpected. He supposed he was to blame as well.

You asked her about something that she was going to say in a moment of vulnerability. Of course it was going to be something private, you dolt.

He sighed in disdain. The rumor mill was going to go nuts with this.

"…and that concludes the main portion of today's assembly." The announcer said. "Next, we'll hear a word from the Student Council. Please welcome the new President, Mitsuru Kirijo, from Class 3-D."

At the sound of Mitsuru's name, Minato's eyes snapped open as he awoke from his nap. He leaned forward as Mitsuru took the stage.

Well, looks like Yukari was right. She did win the election.

A smile crept its way onto his face.

Good for her. She'll be a great president.

At that, he froze. Since when had he started to care about the team's lives outside of the Dark Hour? A cold pit formed in his stomach.

You know better than that. They are merely allies for the moment, stepping stones on your path. You cannot get attached to them. Attachments mean vulnerabilities, vulnerabilities mean weaknesses… weaknesses means pain. Pain is something that you know too much about, so let it go.

With that, he sat back and forced himself to watch her speech with the same disinterest as most of the other students.

"As I begin my term as Student Council President, I'd like to share with you my vision for this coming school year…"

When the end bell rang, Minato began gathering all his things into his bag without a word to anyone. He had been berating himself constantly since the assembly for forgetting his number one rule: no attachments.

Ever since starting his 'training' all those years ago, his grandfather had schooled him on this rule time and time again. Attachments made during an assignment simply made it easy for said attachments to manipulate you, make you lose focus on the job at hand. He had already found that out the hard way, once.

So instead, he was to be the manipulator, the faceless man. Even as a child, he had been good at finding the type of personality that people would react well to, as well as switching them on the fly, making him an ideal spy. For years, he had used this to end up in the most advantageous position for accomplishing his objectives.

For 8 years, he'd never failed.

Then 2 years ago, he'd made a mistake, one that had haunted him ever since: He'd been himself. In one moment of weakness, he'd had everything he'd built stripped from him. Now, 2 years later, here he was, still making the same mistakes; letting slip details of who he truly was for no reason... caring about the marks and their lives… That was worrying. If even one of them was like she had been… He shook the thought out of his head. He was so close to the end now. He wouldn't let anything or anyone stop him from solving this case, not even SEES.

He finished putting his materials away, walked out of class and began storming down the staircase, hoping to make a clean escape without having to talk to-.

"Hey Minato-senpai!" True to form, Junpei was waiting for him on the second floor. "What's up, man?"

After an admittedly rocky start, the two teens had ended up burying the hatchet the previous night. Over a late night snack, the two of them had jumped from topic to topic, learning each other's likes and dislikes before Minato finally ended up sharing the details about why he was there. Junpei changed his opinion of Minato drastically after that. He had even taken to calling Minato 'Senpai' afterwards, something which had embarrassed the blue haired teen immensely. Despite himself, Minato found that he actually liked Junpei. They had quite a bit in common, and Junpei's natural enthusiasm and energy was… endearing.

The sound of Junpei's voice broke Minato out of his dark thoughts, and a small, tired smile appeared on his face. "Hey Junpei. Not much…and don't call me Senpai, remember? I'm the same age as you."

Remember, no attachments…

Junpei just laughed, happy that he had found a crack in Minato's armor. "No can do, buddy. Someone's gotta make sure your head doesn't get too big!"

"Coming from you…" Minato said with a chuckle. "So were you waiting on me for a reason, or…?"

"Yeah!" He replied with an enthusiastic nod. "Akihiko-senpai said that he wanted us to meet him at Paulownia Mall. Something about meeting him at the police station…"

"Wait, Akihiko is in the class right next to mine," Minato said, raising an eyebrow. "Why didn't he come tell me on his way down?"

Junpei shook his head. "I dunno. He looked kinda harried when he was talking to me… always looking over his shoulder and stuff, like he was being followed. When we were finished talking, he ran off like a bat out of hell." A worried look came over his face. "Oh, man, is he in trouble? Is that why he wants to meet at the police station?"

"I don't know…" Minato said as they made their way downstairs. "I think Akihiko would have said something to you if he'd been in that much trouble. Hell, the only problems that guy has are with…" He smirked as the pieces fell into place. "Oh… That makes sense."

"What?" Junpei asked, confused. "What makes sense?"

As they descended to the lobby, a large group of girls came into view. They were the same ones that had been following Akihiko the previous day. Obviously, they had not taken his escape from them well, judging by how agitated they seemed to be. Minato put his head down, trying to appear inconspicuous. "Junpei, whatever happens, I'm not here. Let's go before-"

"Hey, you!" One of the girls cried as she spotted him. "You were the one walking with Aki-kun yesterday!" With that information out in the open, the girls moved to surround him and Junpei. Minato grimaced as he was bombarded with questions.

"Where did Aki-kun go?"

"You're friends, right?"

"Tell us where he went!"

"You'd better tell us, or else!"

He was tempted to tell them where Akihiko actually was just to get them out of his hair, but thought better of it. Akihiko would forgive a lot, but that? He'd probably end up breaking Minato's nose. He sighed. "Honestly, girls, I have no idea. Check the dumpsters."

"Is that where he was hiding yesterday?"

"Oh my god, we have to go save him!"

"Maybe he'll let us wash his clothes for him!"

"Maybe he'll let us wash him instead!"

The girls collectively squealed at the thought and bolted out the door, each one clamoring to be the first one to find him. Minato shook his head in disgust. "I now understand why he'd try anything and everything to try and get away from those harpies."

Junpei gaped open mouthed after them. "All of those girls are looking for Akihiko-senpai? All of 'em?!"

Minato put his hand under Junpei's jaw and closed his mouth as he strode past. "Unfortunately. C'mon, let's head to the mall. Maybe we can catch a glimpse of the hilarity on the way."

Unsurprisingly, the girls had taken his advice literally. He and Junpei spotted them in an alleyway halfway to Paulownia Mall, digging through the dumpsters in the alleyway. The two of them walked past, holding in their laughter until they were well out of earshot. Minato almost felt bad for the girls. Almost…

They hurried over to Paulownia Mall to meet with Akihiko. The mall was decorated opulently, with several fountains and well-kept storefronts. In one of the storefronts, there was a sign over the door that read, 'Police Station'. The two teens quickly went inside.

They found Akihiko talking amiably with the stern-looking policeman standing at the desk. At the sound of the door opening, Akihiko turned and nodded at the two teens. "These are the two I told you about," He said to the officer. "What do you think?"

The officer's stern gaze passed over the two teens. His gaze lingered on Minato for a second, before he closed his eyes in approval. "…All right. I'll take 'em."

Junpei was taken aback. "W-what? But we didn't do anything wrong?"

The officer smirked at Junpei's reaction, and said. "Relax, kid. I just meant that I would take you guys as customers."

"Uh…what?"

Akihiko shook his head in amusement. "This is Officer Kurosawa. He's our…'liaison' in the local police force." That made Minato's eyes widen. They had connections inside the local police? How was that possible?

Kurosawa snorted. "By, "liaison," he really means, "supplier."

"He supplies us with the weapons and armor that we use to fight the Shadows," Akihiko explained before reaching into his back pocket. "Speaking of which… Here, from Ikutsuki-san." He held out two 5000 yen bills.

"Wow!" Junpei said as he snatched the bill and shoved it into his pocket with glee. "Thanks Akihiko-senpai!"

Minato took the bill and looked at it for a moment. "They aren't free, are they?" He said, looking at Akihiko. "The weapons and armor, I mean."

Kurosawa snorted in derision. "Of course not. Nothing in life is free."

"Aw," moaned Junpei, "…and I thought it was just some spending cash…"

Akihiko smiled at Junpei's reaction then turned to leave. "Get whatever you guys like. I'll see you guys at the dorm." As he opened the door, he glanced back over his shoulder. "Oh, and Minato…"

"Yeah?"

"We're training when you get home." Akihiko grinned maliciously. "Don't be late."

Minato groaned.

Great. Maybe I can get a stay of execution if I tell him what those girls did while looking for him…

After the two teens had looked over his inventory and made their purchases, Officer Kurosawa smiled and wished the teens a safe journey home. When they left, he went back into his office and picked up his phone to report in.

The blue haired teen seemed to be integrating with SEES fairly well. Akihiko had nothing but praise for his combat ability, and the new one, Junpei, had seemed to like hanging around with the boy too.

The phone rang three times before it was picked up. "Hello, this is Officer Kurosawa of the Iwatodai Police Department, badge number 8904. I'd like to speak with Master Shirogane please… It's about his grandson."

"Zio, Polydeuces!" Akihiko exclaimed as he pulled the trigger on his Evoker. His Persona shimmered into view and hurled a bolt of lightning straight at his target. Unfortunately, his target jumped out of the way at the last second. Akihiko's backup plan had been to electrocute the puddles of blood-like water on the roof that the target had been standing in, but the target had apparently taken that into account as well, having jumped onto the patch of dry ground just before the lightning struck the puddle he had been standing in.

Mitsuru's voice rang out through the night as she called her Persona as well. "Penthesilea! Bufu!"

A hail of icy shards flew towards the target, threatening to shred it to pieces. Instead of trying to fruitlessly evade the shards, their target began batting them aside with his weapon, focusing on protecting his eyes and face. Some of the shards connected with the target, opening slight, shallow cuts across his body.

Yukari's Persona soon entered the fray as well. "Io! Garu!"

A furious gust of wind picked up in the area around their target, threatening to bowl him over. He slammed his weapon into the ground, relying on it to keep him grounded in the same place. Just as suddenly, the windstorm stopped as the spell ran out of energy.

With the enemy pinned down, Junpei ran in with his sword, ready to cut down his enemy. He swung down where his target was kneeling, but found his sword buried in the roof instead. His hand instinctively went to his Evoker when he sensed movement behind him, and he rolled when he predicted the thrust to impact with his side.

His sword lay abandoned, stuck in the roof, but his opponent was now off balance. That meant that he had one thing to do to finish this fight. He drew, put the Evoker against his head, and pulled the trigger. "Hermes, Agi!"

His Persona shimmered into existence and threw a fireball, not at the target, but at the sword he'd left buried in the roof. The fireball impacted the hilt of the blade and fanned outward, catching his target with a wash of flame. His target's clothes caught fire from the sudden conflagration, but the target reacted quickly, rolling in one of the puddles to put himself out. He stood up, promising vengeance with his eyes, but Mitsuru's voice rang out through the night. "Stop! This bout is over."

Minato sheathed his rapier, glaring daggers at Junpei. "This uniform was expensive, Junpei. I expect replacements, or the money to buy them."

The uniform wasn't that expensive, but it was a good deflection point to hide the real reason why he was angry. He was angry that he had let his own arrogance control his reaction during that bout, which had lead to him underestimating his opponent, allowing Junpei to get the best of him.

No excuses. A tactician has a plan for every possibility, and I cannot afford the possibility of failure.

To Junpei's credit, he managed to look sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Heh… Sorry, Minato. I kinda got a bit carried away."

After he and Junpei had returned to the dorm that evening, Mitsuru and Akihiko had approached him about what his training would actually entail. They both said that Minato's combat mentality and ability were already suited for fighting Shadows, as he had proven to them the previous night. Therefore, physical training was not necessary.

Instead, his training would be focused on dealing with the elemental forces and abilities that the Shadows could bring against them. To accomplish this, they had waited for the Dark Hour and had Yukari and Junpei volunteer their Personas to demonstrate some of the different elemental attacks that they would be facing in Tartarus. After this, they had then sat down as a group to help develop strategies and tactics in order to counter or evade these attacks. Then they had moved up to the roof to put these strategies into practice.

This was the 5th bout that they had done that night. Each time, they had attacked in a specific order in order to gauge the effectiveness of each strategy. This was the first time he had made it to Junpei's stage, so he had not been prepared for the maverick physical attack preceding the elemental one.

Mitsuru smirked at Minato's disheveled appearance. Yukari's windstorms had been the attack he had been having the most trouble with, and so his clothes looked like they had been through a blender before being thrown into a fire. Despite this, his strategies seemed to be sound and he had made good progress already. "Good work, Arisato. A few more sessions like this and I think I can sign off on letting you in as a full member of the team."

Almost on instinct, Minato smiled brightly at Mitsuru's praise. This quickly shuttered into a half frown. Mitsuru noticed this, and frowned herself. He'd been acting strangely all night. Every time he would look pleased or happy at something for even a moment, he'd quickly school his face into a look of disinterest or dissatisfaction.

Before she could say anything, however, Minato yawned in an obvious attempt to hide his discomfort and said, "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat."

Yukari stretched and nodded in affirmation. "Yeah, me too."

Pursing her lips for a moment, Mitsuru nodded in agreement. "Alright then, we'll call it a night. Good work everyone."

April 27th, 2009

His training had continued every night for a week. By the end, Minato had been able to fight off their attacks almost simultaneously. Mitsuru had even acknowledged that such a situation was extremely unlikely in the field, but was impressed with his ability nonetheless. On the other end of the spectrum, Junpei had enthusiastically told him how cool it had been watching him dodge and parry all the different attacks like some kind of Super Sentai hero.

Minato sighed as he forced the smile he had inadvertently been wearing off of his face. It was becoming really difficult to stay disconnected from the daily lives of his dorm mates, especially since they'd taken to using the time before training to study together. His true personality kept slipping through the façade he tried to keep up, and, worse still, they seemed to respond well to it. It was making things increasingly difficult for him.

What's so wrong with wanting them to like me for me?

If you become attached to them, it will just make it easier for them to betray you.

Why would they betray me? They want the same thing I do!

You've seen just how far one can go to deceive you. How can you be sure they are not the same? How can you be sure that they are not just using you like she did?

Oh, just shut up…

As he was walking in the gate, he overheard two girls having a quiet conversation, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Did you hear that we're having another assembly today?"

"Huh? What for?"

"I heard that it's cause the principal was really jealous of Kirijo-san's speech last week, and he called this assembly to one-up her!"

"What? That's so dumb! We all have to suffer because of one guy's ego?!"

Minato shook his head as he walked past.

Hate to break it to you, girls, but that is pretty much par for the course in terms of humanity.

Throughout helping his grandfather with his different investigations, he had unfortunately seen how many different times this same story happened. Often they had much more dire consequences than an unnecessary school assembly. Everyone looked out for themselves. Anytime they got close to someone else, it was to use them. No one truly cared about each other.

The first bell rang, shaking Minato from his thoughts. He sighed as he hurried to the auditorium to listen to the death throes of one man's ego.

An hour and a half later, Minato was ready to punch the nearest wall.

Not only did he not give a better speech than Mitsuru, he practically copied it word for word! I mean, come on, did he really need to give an hour long speech to tell us the exact same thing that Mitsuru did? And I thought that they frowned on plagiarism here… Ugh, I hate people sometimes. No, scratch that, most of the time.

He had glanced at Mitsuru during the speech and saw her dumbstruck look as the Principal had started his obviously plagiarized work. He had thought about seeing how she was dealing with it after the assembly, but decided against it.

She's a tough one. Hell, she'll probably just walk right into the principal's office and threaten to execute him if he tries something like that again.

A smile involuntarily broke out on his face at the thought before he caught himself and quashed it immediately.

Stop that!

When he finally made it back to the classroom, he noticed that Mitsuru was already in her seat. He moved to sit down in his seat and, at a whim, looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

She was obviously livid, that much he could tell. He'd seen the symptoms up close and personal, after all. At this level of anger, Mitsuru was liable to think of nothing but getting revenge on the one who wronged her. Due to that, she'd probably end up missing half of their lesson and end up even angrier. That thought alone made him worry for his own safety.

During the last week, Junpei had made a thinly-veiled lewd comment about Mitsuru and her Persona, and Minato had accidentally let a chuckle slip out. She had said nothing at the time, but during the next session, the first attack she'd sent at him had been strong enough and angled correctly to hit both him and Junpei, nearly freezing both of them solid. After that moment, it became clear to Minato that she was rather vindictive when she was angry, preferring to dish out punishment herself. Unfortunately, if not given a proper outlet, Mitsuru was liable to take any form of anger management she could, meaning beating him senseless in training.

He did not want her anger to bleed over into his training, especially after that incident with Junpei. At this level of rage, she'd be liable to kill him inadvertently.

How to fix this…

He thought of something that might work, but the mere thought of putting it into action sent his mind into a frenzy.

What are you thinking? This is all kinds of wrong! It will start up the rumor mill to an insane degree and you will never hear the end of it! Not to mention that she will probably think that you are trying to cop a feel and execute you right here and now!

A multitude of these kinds of thoughts buzzed through his head like a swarm of insects, sending an ever-building wave of anxiety crashing through his system. This continued for what felt like an hour, his thoughts driving him crazy until one thought washed over him, drowning out all the others.

What's the worst that could happen?

With that thought ringing throughout his head, he stood up and walked around to her side of the aisle. She stood up and looked at him angrily as he approached.

"What do you need, Arisat-"

She inhaled sharply in surprise as he wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

"I'm really sorry, Mitsuru-san," he whispered into her ear.

What in the hell are you doing?

Mitsuru turned a brilliant shade of red as every conversation in the room stopped all at once, their classmates awe-struck at the scene taking place. She couldn't breathe, she was so embarrassed. What was he thinking, doing something like this? And in public as well! After a few long, agonizing moments, she finally took a breath as her lungs screamed for air. A scent of something intoxicating filled her head, sending her mind into a frenzy.

Is this his scent? He smells good… Wait, why am I reacting like this? This is so improper. Is he still holding me? Oh god, everyone can see us! The rumors that will start because of this will be a nightmare! If he doesn't let go immediately, I'll execute him right now, secrecy be damned!

Before the cacophony of thoughts could cause her to completely lose control, his arms disappeared from around her waist and he asked in his calm, serene voice, "You gonna be ok, Mitsuru-san? I know today has already been trying for you…"

She blinked as she attempted to regain control of her mental acuity. So that was why he did it. To her surprise, it had worked; most of her anger over the speech had disappeared because of his actions.

Unfortunately, it had disappeared mainly under the massive amount of confusion and embarrassment she now felt.

"Uh…Yes, I believe so," She replied after a moment, her cheeks burning red. "Thank you, Arisato. I didn't realize how angry I actually was."

He smirked, sending a small jolt through her body. "Well, considering I could hear your teeth grinding from my seat, it looked like you could use it. Wouldn't want you to miss out on the lesson today, right?" He said as he walked over to his seat.

She nodded, feeling some of her giddiness fade away.

I see… He was just concerned as a friend. Nothing improper about that.

Somehow, that thought left her feeling slightly disappointed.

Minato's heart was beating as fast as a tribal drum as he sat back down. He could feel everyone's gaze on him, but somehow, he didn't care. A small voice in the back of his head said, "See, told ya so." He didn't have the heart to tell it that he had hugged her out of pure, selfish self-preservation. He had a feeling it would just argue with him, and he really didn't want to deal with that right now.

At lunch, Mitsuru turned to him and said, "Arisato, I appreciate your… concern earlier, and I thank you for it. However, in the future, please consider something less inflammatory and… public to placate me with."

He nodded sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, I just…yeah. I dunno, it felt like the right thing to do. I'm sor-"

"No need to apologize," She said with a small smile on her face. "And like I said, I appreciate it. However, it makes what I am about to do much harder to justify."

"Uh... what are you gonna do?"

"I want to make you my deputy on the Student Council."

Minato blinked. "What?"

Me, Student Council? That's a terrible idea!

She nodded. "I don't really feel comfortable asking anyone else. Besides, based on recent experience, I feel that I can trust you to make the right decisions in this position."

"Why me?" He asked with a worried look on his face. "Why not Akihiko?"

"Akihiko has his duties as boxing team captain to worry about, not to mention his... troubles communicating effectively with others," She said with a sigh. "That, combined with his tendency to leap before he looks makes him a poor fit. You, on the other hand, have none of these problems."

He shook his head. "I don't know about that…"

She tilted her head. "What are your concerns?"

He looked up at her. "I think that this will cut into the time we have set aside for training."

Actually, it's because I couldn't give a crap about student affairs, not to mention I don't really think that it's a great idea appointing me after last week's debacle.

He had officially joined the Fencing Team the previous week as her new sparring partner, and it was not without controversy. Many had seen the move as favoritism due to the rumors surrounding the two of them. This, combined with his 'unique' form of anger management earlier and this new appointment only meant that those rumors would grow in proportion.

As much as he knew he shouldn't get involved with the others' lives, he couldn't help but feel bad if something that he did negatively affected her life.

This didn't seem to convince her. She shook her head. "It's almost as if you enjoy being thrashed by me during practice! Either way, this won't affect the time you have set aside for training, as I don't need you to go to every activity." She tilted her head and smiled. "I just need someone I can trust in the position, in case of an emergency."

Minato thought that she couldn't have surprised him any more than she had during the conversation, but her last sentence froze him completely in shock.

She trusts me? She trusts the guy, who, no more than a week ago, she tried to run out of her life?

His mind immediately came up with a billion different reasons to tell her no, to tell her to find someone else… but as he looked at her, something stopped him. His mouth couldn't form the words to refuse.

Not wouldn't, but couldn't.

Panic shot through him like a bullet.

No, no, not again! You cannot let this happen again!

A voice, separate from the panicked thoughts rolling through his head silenced the vicious thoughts running through his mind.

It's alright. You are overreacting. It's alright. Just accept it.

No. He shook his head, rejecting that thought. He couldn't. Not again. Not after what happened before. He steeled himself using all the anxiety and anguish built up in his heart, looked up at Mitsuru and said, "I'm sorry. I can't." Her face shuttered in disappointment, causing him to backtrack. "I-I mean, a-at least not right now," he said before he could stop himself. "I'm still trying to keep a balanced workload, you see, and I need to get that sorted out first. You understand, right?"

"Of course," She said, light springing back into her eyes. "I didn't mean to pressure you. I understand how difficult it is, balancing your obligations with school." She gave him a small smile. "When you get things figured out, we'll see about getting you in."

He nodded and turned away, panic still rolling in his belly. He looked down at the lunch he had brought, and suddenly wasn't that hungry.

May 1st, 2009

The clock read 3:35.

If Minato had thought that his sleep was bad before Mitsuru's offer, then this was a whole new level of hell. He actually feared falling asleep. His nightmares, renewed by the realization he had made that day a week ago, kept bringing him back to that time 2 years ago.

"Minato, huh? That's a much cuter name than Shu."

Laughter. You've never felt like this before, with anyone.

The case? The secret hour? Who cares? All that matters is how she makes you feel...

A punch lands square in your gut.

Blackness.

The laugh which used to bring you such joy now brings nothing but anguish and white hot rage.

The match lands on the gas, sending a trail of fire up the driveway. The fire engulfs and consumes her home; burning down what little remained of her life here.

It doesn't do anything for the pain.

He woke with a start. He groaned as he rolled over and looked at the clock.

5:59.

He had slept for barely over 2 hours. He would have laughed if it didn't feel like his heart was going to explode.

He had tried his hardest to remove Haruya Itsoko from his mind over the past 2 years, scouring all trace of her from his life and memory. She had been his only weakness, his only mistake. The only one he had let close, and she had betrayed him in a way that most others couldn't or didn't even know.

A few weeks with a certain redhead, and all those memories came roaring back. Dark fury and hot, roiling anger at himself and Haruya burned through him as he sat there, looking out the window at the risen sun.

How are you, I wonder? Have you and Daddy dearest found another poor sap to kidnap and suck dry? If you have, I hope you at least killed him afterwards, that way he wouldn't have deal with this shattered, broken imitation of life you left me…

God knows I wish you had.

He had ended up barely paying attention in class that day due to his exhaustion, and had headed out as soon as the final bell rang. On his way out, however, Yukari and Junpei walked up beside him.

"Hey, Minato-senpai! What're you up to?" Junpei said, greeting him with a wave. He sighed. Junpei's enthusiastic voice, once endearing, was becoming grating to his ears. As they walked down the stairs, Junpei leaned in, concern etched on his face. "Whoa, are you sleeping ok, dude? Those are some killer bags under your eyes."

Minato's unenthusiastic reply was immediate. "No, I'm not sleeping ok. I got a lot on my mind."

Junpei patted Minato on the back companionably. "It's ok, dude. I'm sure it'll work itself out." A grin shot onto his face. "Hey, I know what. Why don't you join me and Yuka-tan? We're going to the hospital to drop something off for Akihiko-senpai."

Minato raised an eyebrow. Why was Akihiko in the hospital? He hadn't talked too much with his dorm mates recently, preferring to interact with them as little as possible right now, so he was out of the loop. He asked Junpei, who simply shrugged and said, "It's just a checkup. Don't worry about it. So, what do you say? Wanna join us?"

He looked at Yukari, who gave him an enthusiastic smile. He felt a little of his dark mood lift, and he nodded his agreement.

What the hell… I was just gonna head back and try to catch up on sleep anyways. This way, I can actually do something productive for the first time in two weeks.

Junpei chuckled as he took the lead, Yukari and Minato following close behind.

The group of teens walked through the hospital until they found the room the receptionist had said Akihiko was in, and stepped inside. Akihiko was nowhere to be found, but a stern-looking teen in a black beanie and a red trench coat was sitting in the corner, glaring at them.

"Um, is Akihiko-senpai…?" Junpei trailed off as the stranger's glare intensified. He swallowed and continued. "…I-in this room? By any chance?"

"Now he is," Akihiko said as he walked in behind them. He regarded Yukari and Minato with a surprised look. "What are all of you guys doing here?"

Yukari spoke up brightly. "We came to see you!"

The stranger in the corner stood up. "Is that it, Aki?" he said in a gruff voice.

Akihiko nodded. "Yeah, thanks."

The stranger grumbled, "I don't have time for this shit…" as he brushed past Minato as he walked out the door and out into the hall. Junpei stared out the door after him.

"Who was that?"

"A friend from school…sort of." Akihiko answered with a wave of his hand. "You know how the number of Apathy Syndrome cases has been increasing lately?"

Junpei and Yukari nodded as Minato looked on in puzzlement.

They've been increasing? Shit, I hadn't noticed. I really need to get my shit together…

"Well, Shinji knows a few people who have been suffering from it. I was asking him about it." He looked at Junpei, and said, "Hey, did you bring what I asked?"

Junpei smirked as he reached into his bag and pulled out a sheet of paper. "Of course!"

"And the other thing?" Akihiko said expectantly.

"Oh, yeah!" He reached into the bag again and dug out a squeeze grip, then handed it to Akihiko.

Akihiko's eyes lit up as he squeezed and it creaked. "Alright!"

Yukari's face grew concerned. "Senpai, is it all right for you to be training again?"

He snorted derisively. "Yeah, but only with small things like this. I've wasted enough time already as is." He smiled. "Thanks for coming to check up on me, all of you. Now, I've got a few more things to do on the docket today, so I'll see you guys later. I'll be back at the dorm before the Dark Hour hits though, so don't worry about me."

With that, he ushered them all out of the room. On their way back to the dorm, Minato thought back on the info he'd just acquired.

Apathy Syndrome cases are on the rise, huh? I wonder why that is? And what was up with that paper that Akihiko wanted?

Before he went to bed that night, he looked up all he could in the recent news about the Apathy Syndrome cases. Focusing on the case gave him a slight reprieve from the nightmares that had been plaguing him for the past 2 weeks. It was sad what was happening to the people in Iwatodai, but Minato was just happy that they could give him a good night's sleep for once.

The expanse was as welcoming as it had been the last time he had been here.

"Hello there," Pharos greeted with a smile. "How have you been?"

Minato groaned. "Terrible. Sleep's been hard to come by; as I'm sure you've been aware."

"Yes, I haven't gotten many opportunities to speak with you recently." With that, Pharos looked at him with concern. "You have an ordeal coming."

Minato raised an eyebrow questioningly. "An ordeal?"

Pharos nodded. "Every full moon, one of these will take place. It will be extremely dangerous."

"When has anything I've done recently not been dangerous?" He replied sarcastically.

"I'm serious," Pharos said with a frown. "If you aren't careful, your end could come."

Minato sighed. "Alright, alright, I'll keep it in mind."

"Good," Pharos said, grinning in satisfaction. After a moment though, his grin became a frown. "I hope you can sort your mind out soon. It gets rather stormy in here sometimes."

"Are you saying I'm crazy?" He said with a smirk.

Pharos laughed. "You're talking to me, aren't you?"

The boy's laugh faded away as his grasp on this world slipped away.

Pharos's words were troubling, but he took them with a grain of salt. This was a boy he talked to in his dreams, after all. Even with all the crazy things Minato had seen so far, this was not something he was simply going to take on faith alone.

Your trust issues strike again, I see…

May 9th, 2009

Seeing that burying himself in work helped silence his anxieties, Minato had finally decided to start looking into the Kirijo Group's history. After looking through old news reports concerning them for the past week, he finally came across an interesting connection; 10 years ago, on the day of his parents' death, an explosion was reported in a lab owned by the Kirijo Group. No one knew what caused it, what the laboratory had been experimenting on, or even where the lab had been, but the date was the important part.

It can't be a coincidence…

He was attempting to find out more when the power on his laptop went out suddenly. He looked around, confused for a moment before realizing it was the Dark Hour. He cursed under his breath at the interruption, and jumped on his bed, upset that his quest for answers had been disrupted.

His anger had become more and more pronounced as the days had dragged on. All his usual outlets didn't work. Even training didn't have its usual calming effect anymore. He certainly didn't want to talk to anyone about it, mostly because he was afraid he would explode and say something he'd regret. He also didn't know who would tip the Kirijo Group off if he told anyone that he knew about their dirty laundry, so he was alone in this. He groaned anxiously as he got up and started to pace the room.

If he didn't find a way to let loose some of this anger soon, he was going to break something.

Yukari's injuries had finally healed enough for them to consider going to Tartarus again over a week ago, but the time had never been right to go. Or, so it had seemed. Mitsuru had asked the team if they had wanted to train, but Minato had always said that he was busy with school.

If this kept up, eventually they'd have to start going without him.

She was getting worried about him. Ever since she had asked him to join the Student Council, he had barely spoken to her… or anyone else for that matter. She had thought that he was just busy like he said, but she'd gotten reports that he had stopped doing all of his after school activities too, even skipping most of the Fencing Club meetings. He looked sicker and sicker as the days went on, and hardly joined the dorm dinners anymore. It was getting to the point where she was seriously considering sitting him down and forcing him to tell her what was wrong.

She sighed. He had (unfortunately) never been far from her thoughts recently. His unexpected hug a few weeks ago had left a bigger impression on her than she'd initially thought, and, thinking back on the incident, she found herself thinking about him less as a subordinate and more as a friend.

She shook her head. She needed to be vigilant. Even if they didn't go to Tartarus, the Shadows could still attack, like they had a month ago. She placed her hand on the amplifier again and focused her Persona's sight. Using Penthesilea this way was tiring, as her Persona was more combat focused. It required extra concentration in order to sense the Shadows, even in Tartarus, where her abilities were far more condensed.

All of a sudden, she felt a huge tug at the corner of her mind. She'd found a Shadow, a massively powerful one, and it was outside of Tartarus! She quickly followed the reading, placing its location at… the monorail. Apparently, it was on a train.

She smiled grimly.

Well, Arisato, this is going to be your first outing as leader. I hope you'll make me proud.

An alarm sounded throughout the dorm, causing Minato to jump. He bolted out his door and ran upstairs to the Command room. Mitsuru was already there, hands flying over the command console's keyboard as she sent off a contact report to Ikutsuki. He grimaced. He hadn't wanted to see her yet. He quickly schooled his features into a mask of curiosity and surprise. "Where's the fire?"

Mitsuru turned to him with an intense look, sending a wave of anxiety crashing through him. "There's a massive Shadow outside of Tartarus, and we need to take care of it, fast."

He shook his head, confused. "Why is it outside of Tartarus?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that we need to destroy it quickly, before it can cause too much damage."

At that moment, Akihiko, Yukari, and Junpei all walked in together. Akihiko smirked. "Alright, I've been aching for some action."

"Not today, Akihiko," Mitsuru replied with a shake of her head. "I need you here, coordinating with Ikutsuki-san at Kirijo HQ. Tell him that SEES is on our way to eradicate the intruders and that we need emergency services on standby."

Akihiko frowned, but nodded in acknowledgement. "Ok, got it." He quickly took the other seat at the command console, causing her to look to Minato. "Since Akihiko is staying here, and I'm on support duty, I'm appointing you leader."

His gut fell. "What?" He asked incredulously. "Me, leader?"

Junpei nodded in agreement. "That seems like a good idea, Senpai." He grinned at Minato. "I got your back, dude!"

"Well," Yukari said with a smile, "So much for not being good enough, huh?"

Minato felt a cold anger rise up in his throat. Their praise and trust wasn't reassuring him. If anything, it was making him angrier.

Why in the hell are you guys so confident in me? Don't you understand that you mean nothing to me? What reason have I given you that makes you so goddamned loyal?!

He screwed his face into a fake smile and nodded. "…I'll try not to let you down, Mitsuru-san."

"All right then," She said with a determined nod, "Head to the train station. I'll meet you all there."

Minato was pacing up and down the stairs to the train platform restlessly. Mitsuru had not shown up yet, and the other two were staring at his relentless pace. It was strange. He could feel their wariness around him increase with each passing second. The more uncomfortable they became with him, the better and calmer he felt.

All of a sudden, he looked up at them and barked, "What!?" They jumped at the sudden, harsh sound and he felt another wave of relief pass over him. It was strangely satisfying.

Minato was torn from his thoughts by the sound of a motorcycle racing through the empty streets toward them. His face twisted into a humorless smirk. He had an idea of just who it was on that bike. So she had a bike that functioned during the Dark Hour. That all but confirmed that her and her family had some idea of what made the Dark Hour work if they could combat its effects.

The sound of the motorcycle grew louder and louder until it roared around the corner to a halt at the bottom of the steps. Mitsuru yanked off her helmet and smiled at the group for a moment before frowning at the uneasy air that had settled over the group. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Minato replied curtly. "What are we doing here, exactly?"

Minato's curt reply took her off guard. She had felt his anger before, but this felt…different. She felt her worry about him come back tenfold. If he were emotionally compromised...

She pushed the concern away. She trusted him enough to not let it interfere with the mission. It was something they could deal with after the operation was complete.

"Well, I can feel that the Shadow is on the Number 7 train, farther along the tracks," She said matter of factly. "You'll have to walk along the tracks, board the train, and destroy the Shadow, all before the Dark Hour ends."

"Understood," Minato said with a nod. He turned to the others. "All right, let's go."

He bounded up the stairs to the tracks, two by two. The other two teens hesitated for a second, then quickly followed.

When they were about half way along the tracks towards their destination, the silence and tension started getting to Junpei. He started making silly noises, trying to lighten the mood a little.

It took Minato all of 30 seconds to round on him in anger. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Junpei jumped, surprised at his sudden anger. "…Uh, just trying to lighten the mood?"

"We are heading into a situation in which all of us could die," Minato fumed, "And you're trying to goof off in an ill-fated attempt to lighten the mood? Do you even realize how dangerous this is?"

"Of course I do!" He replied with conviction, "But-"

"Then act like it, goddamn it!" Minato yelled, his voice exploding on the calm night like a bomb. Everything was still for a moment before Minato turned away without a word and started walking again.

Yukari stared after Minato, eyes wide. He had been acting weird for the past month, but this? This was a whole new level of crazy. He had never raised his voice to anyone before, not even when he had been angry with Junpei in Tartarus. For him to lose his temper at a harmless attempt at lightening the mood? Something had to be seriously wrong.

Junpei was filled with a cold rage at Minato. He had only been trying to help defuse the tension that he had built up, and their 'leader' had bitten his head off, just like before. It was like he had gone bug-nuts crazy in the past month. It would explain why he hardly talked to any of them anymore, and why he spent all his time shuttered up his room. He shook his head in confusion.

What the hell was going on with him?

They found the train after a few more minutes of walking and called it in to Mitsuru. "We're here," Minato said curtly.

"Very well. Commence the operation," Mitsuru transmitted to them. They quickly climbed up the side of the train and into the open doors. As Yukari set foot in the train however, the doors slammed shut behind her. Minato quickly ran to the doors and attempted to force them back open, but was staggered as the train suddenly began to move.

What the hell? They can do that?

Junpei attempted the same thing with the doors on the opposite side. "Shit, they won't budge!"

"What's happening?" Mitsuru asked, her panic no doubt due to the sudden change in position. "What's going on over there?"

"The damn thing turned the train on and shut the doors!" Minato replied, a grimace on his face. "We're trapped!"

A moment passed before Mitsuru replied. "Based on the rate of acceleration, you'll hit the train in front of you in 8 minutes. You need to stop the Shadow before then."

Junpei's face twisted in fear. "8 minutes?" He quickly ran forward, busting through the door to the next car. "Then we don't have any time to lose!"

Minato's face contorted with rage as Junpei ran off.

Where the hell is he going!? He needs to stay with the group!

"Let's go, Yukari!" He yelled as he ran after him. "We need to stop that idiot before he gets us all killed!"

"Maragi!" Junpei yelled as he pulled the trigger on his Evoker. Hermes shimmered into existence and burned through the 3 Shadows in front of him like they were made of flash paper. Junpei smiled. He was cutting through these Shadows like a knife through butter. That practice they'd done a few weeks ago felt like it had made it easier on him to summon Hermes, meaning he could just burn his way through all these weaklings.

He wasn't sure how much time was left, but he knew that he was getting close to the front of the train. He could hear the sounds of battle behind him, letting him know that Yukari and their 'leader' were still alive. He wasn't sure what Minato would do when he caught up, and, to be honest, he didn't really care. He was through giving that bastard the benefit of the doubt.

He ran through the next door on the train and came face to face with a massive Shadow. It had a red mask attached to a strangely feminine body, covered in black and white cloth. It had used the cloth to plaster itself to the walls, creating a barrier between him and the door to the train's control room. He smirked grimly as he placed the Evoker to his temple.

"Well, here goes nothing. Hermes, Agi!"

His Persona appeared as ordered and stretched out its hand, sending a blast of fire towards the Shadow. As if in response, a cold wind blew through the carriage and a huge block of ice erected itself between the fire and the Shadow. The fire exploded harmlessly against the ice, barely melting the surface layer of the thick block. Junpei's eyes widened.

Ice strong enough to resist Fire? Oh, crap…

The ice wall tilted as it sharpened itself into a spike. A cold sweat went down his back. There wasn't any room to dodge something that size. His heart hammered in his chest. Was he going to die here?

The ice spear suddenly flung itself towards him, almost faster than he could see. He flinched instinctively.

"Garu!" A sharp blast of wind blew past him, knocking the ice wildly off course. It flew out the window next to Junpei's head, covering him with shattered glass. He whirled around to see Minato and Yukari rush into the car, dripping with Shadow gore.

Minato ran past him without a word, his rapier extended. The Shadow attempted to send smaller shards of ice to impede his progress, but he batted them away with practiced precision. When that failed to stop him, the Shadow sent the cloth coverings on the walls at him like a thousand snakes, all intending to snatch the same prey. They wrapped around his arms and legs and threw him back across the carriage, sending him tumbling to the floor. "Minato-kun, are you ok?" Yukari asked worriedly.

Without a word, he got up, shook himself off, then turned to Junpei. "I need you to set that cloth on fire when I say when, got it?"

His voice came out with anger so fierce, Junpei flinched reflexively. "But the ice, it will-"

Minato turned to Yukari, cutting off his complaint. "Yukari, when that thing sends ice shards to attack me again, blow them away with wind. Don't worry about hurting me. I just need to get close."

He set off running again, not even waiting for their response. The Shadow attempted to impale him with various ice shards again, but these ones were blown every which way by Yukari's Garu. As the cloth attempted to grab onto Minato again, a ball of fire was sent hurtling past Minato, exploding in mid-air. The cloth caught fire, causing each piece to recoil and writhe in pain, clearing a path for Minato.

Junpei almost didn't believe what he saw next.

Minato jumped and threw his rapier through the coiled mess of burning cloth, straight at the mask of the Shadow. It sank straight into the middle of the mask with a satisfying thump. The burning cloth stopped moving, as if in shock. Minato then ran forward, grasped the hilt of his rapier, yanked it out of the mask, and then thrust it straight back in. He repeated the process several times, savagely stabbing and cutting the Shadow in his way.

Junpei had seen the video of Minato's Persona a few weeks ago. He was unpleasantly reminded of that time as he watched Minato continue to savage the Shadow. He turned to Yukari, who had a similar look of shock on her face. Her thoughts mirrored his own.

Is this his true nature?

Minato felt a wave of relief wipe away the anxieties and fears of the past weeks with each stab into the Shadow's disgusting head. It was cathartic.

Yes, yes! This is what you've been missing! A good fight to invigorate the blood and restore the soul! Nothing else satisfies like the deaths of your enemies!

When the Shadow's body finally melted away, he screamed in joy at the top of his lungs. He had won.

He spun around with a smile on his face. Junpei and Yukari were staring at him, fear in their eyes. He smirked, not bothered in the slightest. "C'mon," He said with a wave, "We have a train to stop."

As the train came to a halt, Junpei exhaled the breath he had been holding. It had been closer than he would have preferred. They had barely managed to stop the train in time, having fiddled around with the controls before finally finding the brakes and slowing the train down to a halt. With danger averted, he quickly rounded on Minato.

Whatever was going on with him worried Junpei. He had been pissed earlier, but after seeing what Minato had done to the Shadow, he worried about his state of mind. His behavior made no sense. "Hey, what the hell is going on with you?"

Minato looked at him as if he were speaking German. "Nothing. Why?"

Junpei groaned in frustration. "It's obviously not 'nothing'! Minato, what you did back there-"

"-saved our lives!" Minato yelled, cutting him off. "Don't question me, Junpei! If you hadn't run off, we could have made it there much sooner, and maybe it wouldn't have ended up being so close!"

Junpei's face contorted in rage. "Why, you-"

"Enough!" Yukari yelled, standing between them. She turned to Minato. "Junpei's right. What you did to that Shadow back there was not like you. Blowing up back there on the tracks was not like you. Nothing you've done for the past month has been like you!"

"What in the hell would you guys know about me? You don't know anything about me." He smirked humorlessly. "See, here's an example; both of you are so concerned right now because you think that you're my friends." He shook his head. "You're not. In fact, I couldn't have cared less if one of you had died on this train tonight. You know why?" He looked Yukari straight in the eyes. "Because I don't give a shit about any of you."

Yukari recoiled away from him as if she had been hit physically. Junpei's eyes flashed with hurt as he registered what Minato had said. The two of them looked at each other for a moment then wordlessly began walking back through the train.

As the two teens walked away from him, Minato felt a small twinge of regret in his stomach. He quickly quashed it.

It's better this way. Now they know exactly what they mean to you.

Then why does it hurt watching them leave?

Mitsuru smirked as Yukari reported that the train had been stopped and that they had no injuries. As the two teens walked down the steps a few minutes later, however, she noticed the absence of the bluenette leader. Her face twisted with concern. "Where is Arisato?"

"Who the fuck cares?" Junpei bit out angrily. "I certainly don't…"

She was taken aback by his vehemence. Minato and Junpei had seemed close for a time. What had happened up there to have changed his attitude so quickly? She turned to Yukari for answers. "What happened, Takeba?"

Yukari turned to Mitsuru, and her eyes were filled with unshed tears. "Something… is wrong with him, Senpai. Very, very wrong."

Mitsuru gaped in horror. Yukari had bonded with Minato the fastest out of all of them, the experience they shared on the roof of the dorm giving them a kind of kinship. Apparently that had all changed in the past month. Whatever had happened to Minato had severely altered his personality, and it frightened her. She nodded at the two distraught teens. "Head on back to the dorm. I'll talk with him."

Junpei scoffed. "Good luck. I don't think it'll make much difference."

The two of them walked away in silence, somehow less confident than they had been going in to the operation.

Mitsuru set herself up mentally. If Minato was distraught enough about something that it would cause him to lose two friends, then it was going to be a fight to try and bring him back.

Minato finally made it back to the entrance to the train station. Any relief he had gotten from his defeat of the Shadow had long passed, and he only had his anger to keep him company.

How dare they assume that they know anything about me? They know nothing of the pain I have gone through.

As he walked down the stairs, he saw Mitsuru leaned up against her bike, glaring up at him. He smirked at the prospect of another fight.

"I assume the two of them told you everything?" He said, a mocking tone in his voice.

"No," she said with a shake of her head, "I wanted to hear it from you."

"Why?" He asked before shrugging. "Eh, not like it matters. No, I'm not going to tell you."

She shook her head in complete disbelief. "What's happened to you? A month ago, you just shut down. You've cut us completely out of your life, and you seem to be in pain." A small, sad smile appeared on her face. "We are a team, Arisato. We just want to help you."

Minato's gut twisted when he saw her smile, and rage, hotter and fiercer than even what the Shadow had elicited burned through his veins. A memory of Haruya's face, smiling at him just like that, burned like a brand in his mind.

"Help me?!" He exploded. "How could you possibly help me?! Do you even know what it is to go through life without having a single person you can trust, to let close?! How can you? You've never had to work hard for anything in your life! You've never felt what true pain feels like!"

His words felt like a knife in the gut. She staggered backwards, but quickly recovered, anger blazing in her eyes. "You don't know anything about me! Don't assume such things without any evidence!"

He smirked humorlessly. "Well, you'd know all about that, huh?" At her confused look, his smiled turned predatory. "What happened in that lab owned by your family 10 years ago, Kirijo? No evidence that anything happened there either." He gestured around him. "Doesn't mean it didn't-."

She slapped him.

The blow snapped his head to the side, his eyes seeing stars. After a moment, he straightened up, looking her straight in the eyes. Her eyes held anger so vast and so deep, it nearly matched his own. She leaned in close, her voice a deadly whisper. "If you mention this to anyone, I will make sure that you are on the next train out of here so fast, you won't even know what happened." She pulled back, her body rigid with barely contained fury. "Am I understood?"

He nodded, fury blazing in his stomach. "Understood. We done?"

"…Yes. We're done." Her gaze became softer, the hurt at what he'd done shining through the rage. "You're suspended from all field operations until I say otherwise."

He nodded wordlessly and started walking towards the dorm, his hand reaching up to touch his injured cheek.

They finally understand.

Mitsuru watched him go, shock, hurt, and a million other emotions rolling through her body. Somehow, he had come close to a truth that she hoped would never be revealed. How he had found out, she didn't know.

There were many things she didn't know about him, she realized.

However, she had solved one mystery about Minato Arisato tonight.

He was dangerous.

.

.

.

(Wow, this was a pain to write. Literally painful. I hope that this still continues to impress you guys. Things are still changing due to the choice not to take the contract, and it gets hard to keep it all in my head sometimes. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please review if you like this story, or if you have anything you want to criticize. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, and thank you to all of you readers out there! You guys keep me writing. – Dr. Ninja)

EDIT: This is the first half of the original chapter 3.

EDIT 2: Goddamn that was just as hard to rewrite. Again, I hope this makes Minato's character more consistent in tone throughout.