"Okay, let me start off by asking you both this;" Ikutsuki told Junpei and me, but he had the attention of everybody in the room. "Would you believe me if I said that the day consisted of more that twenty-four hours?"

"No." I replied, but dammit, Japanese sarcasm is hard!

"Excuse Me?" Junpei responded, actually surprised.

Mitsuru-senpai chuckled; either she caught my sarcasm or Junpei's surprise. Here's hoping it was the sarcasm, I need feedback on it. "I'm not surprised by your reaction." she said. "However, you've already experienced the truth first hand."

She stood up, facing me and Junpei. "Do you remember the night you came here?" she asked me ."Or the night Akihiko found you?" She asked Junpei, before pausing to give us time to think. "You had to have noticed the signs... The streetlights went out... Nothing was working... There were coffins everywhere... Didn't it feel like you were in a different time...?"

She paused again, not long enough to let us answer though. "That's the Dark Hour- a time period hidden between one day and the next."

"Hidden?" Junpei didn't seem to be taking this in. "Between?"

Ikutsuki answered him this time. "I guess it's more like something people aren't aware of. But, the dark hour exists, it occurs each night, at midnight as the clock strikes twelve. It will happen tonight, and every night to come. Of course," He paused, no doubt for effect, smiling at me, "That is taking into account time zones."

Mitsuru-senpai, who'd sat back down at some point, turned to the chairman questioningly.

"Minato-kun's been aware of the dark hour for over ten years now." Akihiko explained to her.

Yep, that shocked Mitsuru-senpai and Ikutsuki. Did they only awaken fairly recently like Junpei?

Hey, does that mean I've technically got seniority when it comes to Dark Hour crap? Sweet.

Akihiko continued his explanation; "He says that the dark hour occurred between three and four in the afternoon back in England."

Mitsuru-senpai processed this and nodded. "That would explain why he's adapted so well…" she muttered.

Akihiko turned to me and Junpei. "You've probably figured this out by now, but the reason no-one figures out about the dark hour is because they're all sleeping inside their coffins… But that's not what makes the dark hour so interesting…" Akihiko smirked, focusing on me now. "You saw those creatures; we call them 'Shadows'. They appear only during the dark hour, and attack anyone who's not in a coffin. Pretty cool huh?"

Junpei clearly thought so, but Mitsuru-senpai didn't seem to share the sentiment. "Akihiko!" she shouted, standing up. "Why are you always like that? You just got hurt the other day!"

"Now now," Ikutsuki intervened before she could have a right go at him, "He does his work well."

He then turned to me and Junpei as Mitsuru-senpai and Akihiko both sat down. "Long story short, we're the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad- SEES for short." he told us. "On paper, we're classified as a school club. But in reality, this group is dedicated to defeating the Shadows." He paused for breath. "Mitsuru is the leader. I'm the club advisor."

Mitsuru-senpai then took the lead of the introduction. "A Shadow feeds on the mind of its prey; the victim becomes a living corpse. They're responsible for most of the incidents on the news, if not all of them."

Junpei was hooked. "Well, what about the police?" he asked.

"They'll just be in their coffins like everyone else." I answered, stating the obvious. Akihiko and Mitsuru-senpai nodded at me while Yukari looked at the floor.

"Well, how do you fight them?" he asked me.

Like I said, Hooked like a fish.

I answered that with a backhand strike to his face.

"MINATO!" Yukari shouted.

Hey, I stopped before it hit.

"What the hell man?" he shouted, pushing my arm away from him.

"That's how you fight them." I told him.

I seemed to have gotten everyone's attention with that, so Ikutsuki cleared his throat, drawing that renewed focus to himself. "Although rare, there are those who can function during the Dark Hour." he said, but Junpei was still glaring at me. I gave him my best sheepish grin to calm him down. "Some may even awaken to a power that enables them to fight the Shadows. That's 'Persona'-" Ikutsuki glanced at me. "-the power you used the other night."

He turned to face Junpei. "The Shadows can only be defeated by Persona-users. Which means," He stopped, gesturing to the whole room, "It's all up to you guys."

"I see." I said, leaning forward in my stool.

Ikutsuki smiled at me. "I see you're quick to under-"

"So?"

Ikutsuki stopped dead. Yep, feigned apathy for the win.

Mitsuru-senpai stood up and placed a metal briefcase onto the table (Note to self, get a metal briefcase). She opened it, and inside were two copies of Yukari's 'gun' in shaped foam padding, as well as two red armbands.

"What we're trying to say is that we want you to join us." Mitsuru explained. "We've prepared Evoker's for you, in the hope that you'll lend us your strength."

"HELL YEAH!" Junpei shouted, pulling a victory pose.

"Thank you." Mitsuru-senpai replied with a smile. Back to her normal face, she turned to me. "Arisoto?"

I for one was considering this carefully.

'I, Minato Arisoto, give my word that I will take full responsibility for the consequences of my decisions.'

Well, in that case I was gonna make some damn careful decisions. "I'm thinking about it." I told her.

"What's there to think about?" Junpei asked, seemingly disgusted at me. "You scared or something?"

"JUNPEI!" Yukari stood up. She didn't seem to be dropping the honorific out of friendship, that's for sure.

"It's been established that Minato-kun is not a coward." Ikutsuki explained. "His performance last week more that proved that."

"Eh? What performance?" Junpei asked.

Yukari glared at Junpei. "He fought them on his own. That's why he was hospitalised for a week."

"EH!" Junpei was shocked. "You've fought them? But- But in school we were told it was exhaustion…"

"It was." I replied. "The Shadow broke Akihiko-senpai's arm and smashed half the dorm."

Junpei turned to his Senpai, not believing his ears.

Akihiko just shrugged. "It was huge, but Minato's Persona turned into a bigger monster that ripped it to pieces."

Wait, what? "You saw it?" I asked.

Mitsuru-senpai nodded. "On the security videos."

Hm? "You watched a recording after the battle?"

"It was a live feed on those monitors." Akihiko explained, thumbing towards the computer stations by the wall.

No way.

"Heh." I chuckled bitterly. "And none of you thought to help?"

Silence.

Every one was stunned by what I said.

Not surprising.

"Hey, I understand." I shrugged, my voice dripping in sarcasm. "After all, the video consoles are right there. So the fight must be, oh I don't know, a whole five seconds away at least."

"It's okay." I lied, leaning forward again. "I was only outnumbered three to one for the last minute, Big momma was only trying to kill us for a couple of minutes before that, so considering you saw me summon Orpheus, then see him explode into Thanatos, you would only have been able to help for, oh, I don't know, the entire fight?!"

Yeah, I know I'm pushing my luck and several people's patience here, but I needed to make this point clear. "What if I hadn't been able to kill it?" I asked. "What if Thanatos didn't show up? Because Orpheus wasn't strong enough to take that thing down. Hell, what if Thanatos turned on me? Or, more likely..." I glared at Ikutsuki and Mitsuru-senpai. "What if I had collapsed before fighting the underlings? Both Yukari and I would be DEAD, because YOU assumed… Hell, I don't even know what you were thinking!"

"I apologise." Ikutsuki replied immediately. "Both Akihiko and Mitsuru immediately rushed to help you, but I asked them to stop once you picked up Yukari's Evoker. It was the best opportunity to see your potential. But while we're at it..." He asked, leaning forward into a gendo pose to match mine. "Why don't you tell us how you knew what to do?"

"Because that's what Yukari tried to do." I told him.

"Really?" Ikutsuki smiled. "And how did you know that she wasn't trying to commit suicide, rather than face defeat?"

Yukari looked pretty shocked at the suggestion, but I decided to play the guy's game.

"Alright then." I sighed. "I blew my brains out because some kid I hallucinated told me to."

Everyone glared at me like I'd just said that the Queen was Muslim, so I smirked. "Stupid question gets a stupid answer."

Ikutsuki leaned back in his chair, sighing.

Everyone else was silent.

Yukari simply looked at me, looking ashamed. "I-I'm sorry… I can understand if you don't want to join us now, but-"

"I never said I wouldn't." I interrupted.

That got everyone's attention.

Well, it would if I didn't already have it.

"I take full responsibility for the consequences of my decisions." I explained. "So if I decide not to join and people die because I'm not fighting, then that's my fault."

I paused for a moment. What can I get from this? I considered giving a price, but then I remembered something my Uncle taught me.

"You must never place a price on your honesty lad."

Damn… I'd already decided to join and made that fairly clear, so to barter now would just be… No, I couldn't. I wasn't that kind of person, so I settled for what I knew I was getting anyway.

"I get to keep my room here at no board, with full access to the armoury."

Ikutsuki smiled, relieved, and Mitsuru-senpai sighed. "All members of S.E.E.S. have to live here because of the nature of our activities, and we don't charge board." Then she looked at me. "But how did you know about the armoury?"

"The sword Yukari offered me was a bit of a give away, considering the condition it was in."

"Condition?" Mitsuru asked, almost as if deciding whether or not to be offended.

"Used." I elaborated. She nodded, satisfied.

Ikutsuki nodded. "Very well, I'll have a key made for you." he decided, standing up. "Welcome aboard, both of you."

I felt a bullet pass through my skull as time froze. I couldn't move, but I heard a voice and saw a card in my mind.

Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana…

The card, showing someone about to step off a cliff and numbered '0', vanished, and time started again.

"Yukari, why don't you show them the way?" Ikutsuki asked her, pulling a keyring out of his pocket and offering them to her "Here's my key; I assume you know the way?"

"Oh," She nodded, taking the key. "Sure…"

"I need to discuss something with Mitsuru and Akihiko." Ikutsuki continued. "Don't worry, it's all clerical. You boys pick out something that interests you. And Minato-kun?" I turned to him as I rose from my chair, "I apologise." he said. "I shouldn't have acted that way when lives were in danger, I am sincerely sorry."

Liar. If he was the kind of person who'd feel sorry for that, he wouldn't have done it in the first place.

Nor would he have tried not to look so smug while apologising.

I nodded anyway, decided to just drop the matter, and walked out the room, followed by Yukari and Junpei.

Junpei was the first to talk was we descended the stairs. "Damn man, that was intense." he said. "I had no idea you could get so pissed! Erm… Were you?" he asked. "I really couldn't tell…"

"Of course he was!" Yukari responded, "Anyone would be!"

"I know, I know." Junpei replied, shrugging. "I just didn't see any change on his face."

"What're you talking about?" Yukari asked.

"I was watching right next to him, and I swear, his face did not budge an inch!" Junpei replied back to her as we reached the bottom of the stairs.

I told you before, my emotions just don't show up on my face unless I fake it, but I wasn't telling anyone that. "Yeah, I was bloody annoyed." I shrugged. "Wouldn't you be?"

Yukari unlocked a door to the armoury under the stairs. "It's here." she said.

"Ooh… A Real Live Armoury!" Junpei rubbed his hands with glee. "Can't wait!"

He must've felt like a kid in a candy store. I had to admit, so was I. Men will always be boys, we're never too old for toys.

Okay, so the room inside didn't have rows of guns stretching for eternity, but it had a decent selection: Bows, Arrows, Shortswords, Longswords, Maces, Boxing Gloves, Lances, Knuckle spikes (I almost picked one of those instinctively. Wolverine!), Claymore, Axes, Katana, Halberds, Knives (My mortal nemesis), Rapiers, even Warscythes!

Junpei dancing around like an idiot, earning a facepalm from Yukari, so I slipped a pair of armour plated gloves into my pocket. They were basically a pair of cycling gloves with metal plating on the back of the hand and the knuckles.

They were easy to carry around, not suspicious, useful as a backup but not really a weapon of choice. However, I do not want to have to punch that mask again barehanded. My knuckles still hurt.

I'm actually surprised I managed to break something that hard, though it was probably Orpheus powering me up.

"Hey, you okay?"

I turned to Yukari, "Yeah, I'm fine." I replied. "Just a bit spoiled for choice." I hoped like hell they didn't take an inventory.

Yukari smiled. "Well, don't worry, you'll probably get used to whatever you pick. "

"You use a bow, right?" I guessed.

Yukari smiled. "Yeah, Archery club."

"So Boxing Team and Fencing Squad means gloves and rapiers." I muttered, guessing Akihiko's and Mitsuru-senpai's fighting styles.

"Yeah, though Akihiko-senpai prefers the big armoured gauntlets…"

I followed her gaze. There was a pair of gloves that looked like they'd been taken from a suit of medieval armour, bulky metal fists with spiky knuckles.

Awesome. Can't wait to see him in a scrap then.

Then I picked up on something else. "Hey, how come there's only two or three of everything?" I asked her.

"I don't know;" Yukari thought. "Maybe Ikutsuki told Mitsuru-senpai to let you guys experiment with different weapons…"

"No need for me to experiment!" Junpei shouted, finger in the air. "Samurai Surrender Junpei is always there with a katana by his side!"

Yep, he was right there, posing with his katana.

"Junpei, put that away and act serious for once." Yukari groaned.

"I am serious Yuka-Tan!" Junpei replied, sheathing his sword with some difficulty. "A Samurai's Katana is his soul!"

Actually, that was a Samurai's Wakizashi, but the less people using knives, the better. "What're you gonna pick Minato my boy?" he asked me.

I shrugged. "I'm actually comfortable with any of them really, I've actually practised with most of them before now." That got stares, so I elaborated; "Well, wooden or makeshift versions of course."

"Oh yeah?" Junpei was sceptical. "How do you get a makeshift warhammer?"

"Chair"

"Alright, then what about the battleaxe?"

"Broken Chair."

"I- Alright, you got me." Junpei sighed. "Wait!" He suddenly had an idea. "How would you practice with a makeshift bow?"

"Hunting rabbits while camping." I shrugged. Not that I was any good at it, but he didn't need to know that.

"Erm, hello?" Yukari asked. "Bows are more complex than that!"

"I know." I replied. "I'll probably go for the one hander for now" I replied, reaching for a shortsword like the weapon I used last time. "Actually, I could do with some thing with more power for now…" picking an axe. And dropping an axe. "Alright, bit heavy for now…" I mumbled, hefting the weapon back to its stand. "Lance'll do for now."

And with that, I picked up a sweet Warscythe. It was basically a short sword, but with a lances handle. No, it looked nothing like a scythe, but you probably used it for similar sweeping motions. A couple of swings and I was happy.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Yukari added. "Ikutsuki says we're allowed to carry our weapons around at school."

Wait what? I looked at Yukari. Come to think about it, she could easily hide a short bow underneath that sweater of hers, and keep a quiver in her school bag.

I glanced at Junpei, who was easily tall enough to hide the Katana under his jacket. Then I looked at my Warscythe. Nice as it was, it was also as tall as me; I could never hide it. "I guess I'll take the Shortsword then." I sighed, reluctantly returning the polearm.

It made sense. I mean, if dark hour ended during a fight, how would we explain our weapons? We had to be able to hide them.

Holding my new weapon, I made note of my surroundings. All of the weapons had sheaths for safe transport, which was useful, even if we couldn't hide them.

We left the armoury, Yukari locking the door behind us. As she ran upstairs to return the key, I saw something that made scared the hell out of me.

Junpei was standing in the lounge, in a stance that held the sword vertically up, the handle at head height.

"DAH-Dum da duh duh Dum da duh duh Dum da dum dum." He swung the sword, slowly and theatrically. "DadadaDA-DADA! DUM!"

I actually winced as Junpei struck a pose, shouting "It's outta the park!", and I realised something horrifying.

Junpei had no idea how to use that thing.

Even worse, he doesn't even know how to hold a baseball bat.

And he's gonna be fighting for his life against Shadows?

He's gonna die.