Next day, Junpei was talking to me during lunch about how sore he was from yesterday. I felt fine, but Yukari called us both idiots.

"What if you'd gotten hurt?" she shouted.

"It was fine," I explained. "I know first aid."

"Well, what if you had gotten hurt?"

"Impossible," I replied. "Junpei-kun hits like a girl."

"Hey!" Junpei protested, but Yukari punched me.

"Ow! Alright, sorry Yukari…"

She seemed satisfied, so I turned to Junpei. "Yukari punches harder than you."

"Minato! Ugh…" Yukari was clutching her head. "Men…"

"Hey, since when we you two so close? Since you're calling each other like that already... Guess the rumours were true after all."

Yukari stood bolt upright. "What rumours..?"

"You know… the ones that say you two are going out!"

"WHAT!" hey, no need to be so offended. "Look, there's nothing going on between us, we just decided to not bother, okay?"

I couldn't believe Yukari was getting so worked up over this. I mean, I saw this coming from day one. Actually, that was the day I heard about the rumours in the first place. But hey, I was feeling particularly evil, so I decided to push my luck and see how far Yukari could go.

"So, how far have I gotten with her?"

"Eh? Minato!"

"In the rumours of course. I'm actually interested in what people think of me." Oh, I could pull of a righteously evil smile when I wanted to. "Go on Junpei, spill."

"Well…" Junpei leaned forward to whisper in my ear.

"I don't believe this…" Yukari was shocked.

"Seriously? I've only been here a couple of weeks and already nurse sex?"

"WHAT?"

"Well, she was visiting you in the hospital every day while you were out."

"WHAT?"

I shook my head. "Actually, he's right; you kind of brought this down on yourself." I smiled warmly. "It's alright; I know you aren't the kind of person to do such things."

"THE RUMOURS ARE ABOUT YOU!" She screeched. "YOU KNOW THEY'RE FALSE!"

I shook my head. "Apparently I was unconscious. Gotta admit, these rumours are surprisingly accurate."

"…What…" Yukari said darkly.

"They knew I was unconscious." I clarified before she tried to kill me there and then. "Something only S.E.E.S. members and the doctors knew."

Yukari looked puzzled. "So what? Now you're supporting them? I don't believe this…"

"I never said that." I replied, calm and neutral. "I'm saying that the rumours contained information that only five students in the school knew about." I leant back in my chair, counting off fingers. "I was unconscious, you were visiting me and are upset by these rumours… That leaves Akihiko, Mitsuru-senpai, And-"

Junpei was already running for the door. He'd already opened it but his exit was blocked. "Oh, thank you Iori." Mitsuru-senpai told him. "May I have a minute with everyone?"

Oh, now that was just unfortunate.

Mitsuru walked over to the desk, an uncomfortable Junpei followed. "Come to the lounge when you get back to the dorm." She explained to us, "I have something I wish to discuss with everyone."

Junpei suddenly perked up. "Oh, are we having that talk?"

"I'll save the details for later. See you there."

"Wait, Mitsuru-senpai?"

She turned back. "Yes, Arisoto-kun?"

"Have you by any chance been spreading any rumours about Yukari-san coma raping me while I was unconscious in the hospital, particularly any involving nurse's uniforms?"

Oh, I just loved that silence. It's like the calm before the storm, and everyone's watching, just to see who's gonna get rained on. "N-No, I haven't, why would you accuse me of such a thing?"

"Just trying to discover the truth…" I noted her blush. Embarrassed, but certainly not guilty… not that I ever suspected her of course. "What about Akihiko?"

"Of course not, he has no interest in such things as it is! What are you getting at?"

I nodded, and swung onto my chair, standing on the seat crouched over my desk. Bending over to pick a strawberry off the cake slice I bought earlier (Pretty conveniently too,) I answered in my most monotonous voice; "Then there is a ninety five percent chance that Junpei-kun is Kira…"

"What the hell man? That makes no-!" He was interrupted by Yukari slapping him.

Mitsuru-senpai was utterly lost. "Erm… what's going -?"

"Someone was spreading inappropriate rumours about me and Yukari," I replied to Mitsuru-senpai, as Yukari unleashed her fury. "The rumours contained specific pieces of information that only a member of S.E.E.S. would know, so I used you to collect evidence against Junpei" Oh, I loved playing detective. "Since Yukari was the most offended party in the situation, I believed it was only appropriate that she meted out justice." Which she was still doing, mind you, "So I impersonated the mannerisms of a famous fictional detective to both throw Junpei-kun off guard, and to tell Yukari in code." I turned to the Redhead and, completing the impression, I passed her my cake topping. "I'll give you this strawberry if you don't tell anyone."

"Ah, I believe that that is L?" she asked, slight grin pulling at the corner of her mouth.

I reverted back to my regular position. "He's right though. It is easier to think sitting like that."

"Thanks Minato," Yukari returned, washing blood from her hands. "That felt good."

Metaphorical blood, of course, as Junpei returned, relatively uninjured except for his pride.

So, that night, we all made our way to the fourth floor. Ikutsuki greeted us.

"Okay, everybody's here." He began. "I'd like your undivided attention. For a long time, Mitsuru and Akihiko were the only Persona-users we had. But, that number recently jumped to five. Therefore… Starting tonight at 12:00AM, I'd like to commence the exploration of Tartarus.

"Tartarus? What's that?" Junpei asked the question, noting that it "Sounds like toothpaste."

"We believe we can find the reason behind the dark hour there." Akihiko explained, "Since it only appears in the dark hour. "

"…Seriously?" Junpei was stunned

Akihiko nodded. "Just like the shadows. In fact, it's full of them, making it a perfect place to train. Think of it as their nest. "

"Woah…" Junpei was easily impressed.

"But, Senpai," Yukari began, "Your injury?"

"Since Akihiko will take at least another month to heal, he'll only be coming as far as the entrance." Mitsuru-senpai seemed adamant about this.

Akihiko sighed in defeat. "Yeah, I know…"

"Well, I'm sure he won't complain, as long as you don't go too far in." Ikutsuki interjected, taking back everyone's attention, "Since we're dealing with shadows, Tartarus isn't something we can avoid."

Junpei stood up, smiling. "Relax, I got your backs."

Yukari, on the other hand, wasn't so confident. "I don't know about this…"

I turned to Ikutsuki. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'll stay here thanks." Ikutsuki looked embarrassed. "After all, I can't summon a Persona…"

So, apparently not everyone in the dark hour has the 'potential'.

It was an interesting thought to mull over as we made our way to this 'Tartarus'.

When we arrived, I had to admit:

I hadn't expected to return to school so soon.

All in all, pretty surprising place for a Shadow nest.

"This is the place?" Junpei asked. "Here?"

I nodded, fairly surprised myself. Why the hell exactly were we at school?

Of course, I knew why. We were going to Tartarus, we'd brought our weapons and evokers, plus a few supplies, of course hell is school. Could have gotten the answer from anyone back in Britain.

"Just wait sec," Akihiko replied, looking at his phone. "It's almost midnight…"

So a swarm of shadows appeared during the Dark Hour, huh?

Only one way to find out, I guess.

Three…

Two…

One…

Zero, and the world turned green.

Then the school rose.

It started to contort as it ascended, with pillars shooting up from the ground. Within moments it was distorted beyond recognition and taller than I could see. The building was as majestic as it was grotesque.

"This," Mitsuru began, "Is Tartarus…"