I jogged to school with Akihiko on Saturday. His arm and ribs were almost fully healed, and couldn't wait to do some exercise.

Apparently he would be fit for battle after the exams, and since Mitsuru had forbidden exploration during them, I thought we might as well not to do any exploration for the rest of the week.

Hey, those scrolls would still be there when I got back right?

"Good Evening."

Okay. Awake. Green moonlight. In bed. Dark hour. Mysterious boy.

"Oh… Hey." I yawned.

The boy chuckled, sitting on my bed. I kicked off the covers and sat next to him. Brr… cold. "Thanks for the tip." I told him. "You saved my backside."

"I just thought it best to warn you." He told me. "After all, I'm always with you."

Hey, wait a second… "Did you say that on the train?"

"Why yes." he smiled.

"So you actually are with me all the time?"

The boy nodded.

"So why don't I see you more often?" I asked. "Why do you only talk to me during the dark hour, when you need to warn me or something?"

The boy seemed slightly puzzled. "Well, you're busy as it is." he shrugged. "I'm sure you need as little distraction as possible."

"Really." I said deadpan. "Because I really could have used someone holding me back a couple of nights ago."

The boy thought about this for a moment, nodded as if the thought had never occurred to him. "Angering the Reaper wasn't a very good idea…" he admitted. "Why did you do that?"

"Because I didn't know any better and I thought you would warn me if I was doing something stupid?"

"Why would you think that?" he asked.

"Because I thought we were friends."

The word seemed to shock the young boy. "F-Friends?"

I nodded. "Yeah, friends." I said, guilt tripping him. "Are we or aren't we?"

Kiddo looked thoughtful. "Well… Yes, I suppose…" he fumbled. "But… are you sure?"

I offered my hand. "Of course!" I told him warmly. "Minato Arisoto."

The boy closed his eyes, smiling. "Alright then." He opened them and took my hand. "My name is… Pharos." he decided. "You may call me that if you wish."

"Pharos… Nice to meet you." I said jokingly, shaking his hand.

He stood up. "Well, I'll let you get back to sleep." Pharos moved towards the door. "I'll see you soon, okay?"

I got back under the covers. "I better. Night!"

The boy chuckled as he opened the door. "Goodnight…" he closed the door behind him as he left.

SMASH

Thou art I… And I am thou…

Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to make a Persona of the Death Arcana.

Oh, Pimping sweet.

"Good Morning."

Okay. Awake. Orange Sunlight. In bed. Morning. Mysterious boy.

"Oh… Hey." I yawned.

The boy chuckled, sitting on my bed. I kicked off the covers and sat next to him. Hmm… warm. "That was quick. What's up?"

"Nothing," answered Pharos. "I did say that I'd see you soon."

Oh. Cool. "Apparently I made created a social link with you last night." I said.

"The Death Arcana, I know." The boy didn't seem to mind. Rather, he seemed happy about it. I suppose he took it as proof we really were friends? "I wonder what power will come from it?"

I nodded. "Well, I need to get ready for school."

The boy tilted his head to one side. "No you don't."

Oh, wait. Sunday. I didn't need to get ready for school. I turned on the TV to see what was on.

_\_ "Anato no, Televy ni, Jika Net Tanaka! Everyone's Friend of Desire!" _\_

Oh, that's right. Tanaka sells stuff on Sunday TV.

Oh, that's right, Tanaka offered me a job.

"Hey, Pharos…" He looked at me expectantly. "Think I should take the job?"

"Well, the powers of the Devil Arcana are great." he pointed out.

"I expect so… what with Lucifer the Archangel and everything else."

"Actually, The Persona Lucifer is of the Judgement Arcana."

I span around to see him. "Seriously?"

He nodded. "However, you will need the powers of the Devil Arcana at its fullest to be able to summon him."

"Figures…" I looked at the TV. He was selling some cheap knock off katana. It looked fancy, but I could see that it was nothing much. Power of Persona, but still… "I meant morally." I clarified. "Should I take the job?"

"Not as Minato Arisoto, that's for certain."

Evil grin. "Got an alias in mind?"

"I like Mochizuki." Pharos said.

"Full Moon?" It was symbolic. "I like it." I reached for the suit in my wardrobe.

"Hi there, I'm here to see President Tanaka." I told the receptionist at Tanaka's head office.

The receptionist behind the desk looked at me disdainfully. I was wearing a dark grey business suit and I'd combed my hair back. I also brought a briefcase over my normal satchel. Not that I really needed it, it was more for the image. I needed to look three years older than I actually was.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asked.

Arcana swiitch! Take-Mikazuchi. "I would say that he has an appointment." I told her confidently. "Tell him it's the man he hired on Tuesday."

The young woman frowned in a confused way, but called Tanaka's Secretary.

"Does Mr. President have an appointment with a young man he hired on Tuesday?" she asked once the other line picked up.

...

"Not in his face, but yes."

...

"Understood." The receptionist sighed and looked at me as she hung up the phone. "Mr. Tanaka has just got back from a live shoot, so try to disturb his meal as little as possible." she said. "His office is on the top floor."

"Thank you very much." I bowed slightly.

"I take it you've accepted my generous offer then?" Tanaka asked, grinning.

I sat down opposite him. "I've come to negotiate."

Tanaka sighed. "I knew this would happen. Go on then."

"I need to work from home." I stated. "I will report to the office once a week to file a fiscal report for the near future, plus I will be on call for emergencies. And I mean emergencies." I looked at him in the eye and leant forward into a Gendo pose. "I will require a work mobile phone, plus full access to the company's information and computer network. And I want a starting bonus equal to three months pay, and to be paid weekly as opposed to monthly."

I doubt he'll go for it, but I know it's best to start off big when negotiating, but not so extreme that the other guy to write you off as unreasonable.

"Done." Tanaka said, holding out a hand to shake.

Huh?

"If you are as skilled as I think you are, then you'll easily earn your keep, even at those rates." he said. "I actually was going to suggest you working from home in order to minimise suspicion of me hiring a minor." Tanaka looked at his computer.

"He's opening up a bank account." Pharos said, suddenly appearing behind him. "In Switzerland."

"I want your pay to be untraceable to a minor." Tanaka told me. "What's your name kid?"

"Orpheus." I told him. "Orpheus Mochizuki."

He typed it in. "Now what's your real name?" he asked.

"Minato." He seemed to want the same thing I did. "Minato Arisoto."

That surprised him. "Relative of Hayate Arisoto?"

"Um… Yeah." That surprised me. "He was my father."

"That explains a lot…" Tanaka smirked. "Brilliant man... Shame about what happened, right? Come to think of it…" Tanaka looked at me thoughtfully. "I think I remember him buying everyone drinks when you were born…"

SMASH

Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to make a Persona of the Devil Arcana.

"See?" Pharos asked, smirking. "I told you coming would pay off."

Time started again, and my brain recovered.

Tanaka gave me some files to look through while he got a guy to fake an identity for me. "Anything for Hayate's kid!" the man had laughed as he cheerfully broke labour and identity laws for my sake.

Apparently dad was popular around the office.

I explained to Tanaka that I wouldn't be able to do anything for a week due to exams, but I gave a fairly detailed report of predictions for the coming week to him there and then. He seemed appreciative, telling me that my paycheck was in the mail.

It was getting dark by the time I left, and when I did, I flicked my hair forward and took off my tie. It felt weird with the right hand side of my face exposed.

Still, I walked back towards the train station with no regrets.

"Hm? Arisoto?"

Ah bugger.

I turned around to see Mitsuru looking at me from the back seat of a Bentley.

I'm screwed. "Uh… Hi?" I told her as I approached the car, not looking suspicious at all.

"Shouldn't you be studying for the exam tomorrow?" she asked.

"I needed some fresh air." I lied smoothly.

"In a suit?"

Crap. "There was something I needed to take care of…" I started.

Mitsuru nodded. "I see." she said. "Were you visiting your parents graves?"

That struck me senseless.

I didn't even believe myself.

I had been here for over a month and not once did I even consider seeing my parents graves.

Not once.

"Actually… I'm going there now." I told her.

Mitsuru nodded. "I understand. Make sure you are home in time to get a good rest for tomorrow. Do you need a lift?" she offered.

"No…" I shook my head. "No, I'm fine. Later."

I walked off.

"You seem depressed." Pharos told me.

I was actually disgusted with myself.

What kind of son am I?

I made my way to the graveyard.

Hayate and Charity Arisoto

Wow.

Now that I'm actually here, I had no idea what to say.

Normally, I like funerals. I've been to them for ages.

I remember attending a funeral of one of dad's mates when I was five. Natalie was still a baby then.

If he's old enough to know about life he'd say, he's old enough to know about death.

Dad was practical like that.

Oh, he wasn't a harsh parent, far from it. I remember everyone loving him, which made no sense to me at the time since it seemed he was always picking on somebody, but looking back, I guess that he picked on everyone because he loved them.

Hey, a very good measure of how good your friends are is how much you can insult them without them taking offence, right dad?

Mum was always telling him off for that.

She rarely said an unkind word to anyone. Well, she got stressed when I acted up, but come on; I wasn't even Pharos's age.

Come to think of it, I don't remember much about them, but what little I do is all happy memories.

Memories that made an impact on me.

"Mum…"

Now that I remember correctly, Dad was an only child too. Grandma and Granddad were going to look after us, but after the fire, it was just me and Grandma, and she was just too old to look after me in the state I was in.

After Natalie died...

Grandma's dead now and all, and their house was sold and demolished. The money's in a trust for me when I become 18 next year, but it means I can't visit Natalie's grave anymore.

I don't have anything of hers.

Nothing of mum's or dad's...

I had dad's gun and lighter for a while, but they were taken from me after Natalie died.

I... I just didn't want to live anymore.

I couldn't cry when mum and dad died.

I couldn't cry at their funerals.

My heart was broken. I just couldn't feel anything. I just had to look after Natalie. That was all that mattered.

When she died... that was it.

I cried.

I cried and cried and cried, but whenever I looked in the mirror, I just looked bored.

I never mourned mum or dad.

I never got chance to.

Natalie was more important to me.

Everything else was lost in the pain.

At some point, it started to rain.

I like the rain.

It washes the pain away.

In the end, everything's lost like tears in the rain.

I rubbed my eyes with my sleeve.

Blood.

That happens sometimes.

It only bleeds when it hurts.

A lot of people have told me that they're sorry about my parents.

I say it's okay, and not to apologise but really… it hurt.

It hurt that other people had parents and I don't.

No... no it doesn't.

It hurts that I'm alone.

"You're not alone."

I turned around to see Pharos sitting on someone's tombstone. He hopped off it and walked towards mum and dad's grave and started praying.

He opened one eye and glanced at me. "Aren't you going to pray too?"

"I'm English." I told him. "We pray to God."

And talk to the dead.

And I still didn't know what to say.

Other than "Thanks…"

I wasn't sure who I was thanking, or why, but I had a bunch of questions I never got to ask.

What did they want for me? What did they think of what I was doing? Did they approve? Did they want their son risking his life in combat on a regular basis? What about him working in dad's office while still at school? Would they be happy about the fact that their son is manipulating, playing people in order to get close to them so he can gain power?

Probably not.

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

That's right.

"I'm sorry mum, dad…" I said, squatting down in front of the grave. "I couldn't look after Natalie. I know this probably isn't what you wanted from your son… but this is who I am…"

This is who I have to be…

I blinked some of the tears and blood out of my eyes. "I miss you." I told them. "Auntie Anne and Uncle Amos took good care for me, and I love them, but… I miss you…"

Damn… this hurts…

"I might not be doing what you might have wanted me to do with life, but I promise that I will do my best to live my life without any regrets."

Like dad did.

I stood up. "I promise that I'll make myself someone to be proud of." I said. "Someone who could've protected her."

With that, I walked away from my parents' grave.

Crying.

I don't remember much about the journey home, other than I did it in silence.

Come to think about it… I started the day with such bravado… such arrogance… but right now…

I don't think that I've felt more humble now than I ever have in my entire life.

No, no I remember a time.

My eighth birthday.