As we got into Tartarus, Akihiko asked me to lead the team. I agreed, but still asked why. He said that he wanted to focus on his training, and I was doing an amazing job already.

Well, yeah, I am. But I still needed to figure out how to adapt Akihiko into my battle strategies.

"What battle strategies?" Pharos asked. "You tell everyone else to attack whatever you're not."

Shut up Pharos.

We teleported to the twenty-fifth floor and ran to the twenty-sixth.

"There is a large source of power on the thirty-sixth floor." Mitsuru told us. "Four floors above that is the barrier. Aim for there."

"Thanks." I turned to my team. "Alright, usual routine. Akihiko, follow Junpei's lead until I think of how to use you."

"Got it."

"Alright." I nodded. "Secondary objective is to find me weapons and armour. Let's go!"

There were a large amount of Shadows on the next few floors, but nothing like last time. However, it was harder than before.

Unfortunately, we didn't find any weapons other than a pouch of Kunai. I took it unwillingly, reasoning that as long as I only threw them, it was cool, since I didn't have much other choice.

Then we found a purple cluster of Shadows. What the hell?

"Those Shadows are stronger than the regular kind." Pharos told me. "Want my help?"

"I think this'll be stronger than usual." I said, "But we'll be fine." I'm good at speaking in code. "Ready?"

The other three nodded, and I pulled a Kunai out of the pouch and charged, throwing it deep into the cluster.

It exploded to revealed some wrestler type Shadows. Everyone else surrounded the Shadows as the Shadows surrounded me, so I put the Evoker to my head and picked an enemy.

"Pale Rid-GUH!" a fist the size of my shoulders smashed into my ribcage, sending me flying.

"Minato!" Yukari shouted.

"Are… Are you alright?"

"Yeah… Peachy…" I wiped the blood from my mouth as I reached for one of those healing stones. "Scan them, everyone else attack!"

Junpei and Akihiko charged forward, Yukari firing her arrows as she turned around the room towards me. Nothing was working. "Damnit…" I grunted, struggling to my feet.

"Here." I felt a hand grab my arm. Pharos. "Sure you don't want my help?"

"If we don't do it on our own power…" I mumbled, forcing myself up, "Then it's meaningless."

"Oh, I won't be interfering in that." Pharos smiled. "I'll only be helping you as much as Miss Kirijo is."

"They're Steel Gigas!" Mitsuru shouted. "Use Zio on them!"

I heard a crash as someone was knocked across the dark hall.

"GARGH!"

"AKIHIKO!"

"SENPAI!"

Damn… Akihiko was down. "Fine…" I looked at Yukari. "I'm fine, take care of Akihiko!"

Yukari did so, and Pharos walked into me. It felt weird. I could see energy flow around a Gigas that was charging for Yukari, and I knew it was a Sukukaja, which would increase its speed

That's the Eyes of the Reaper.

Do I have to pay half of my lifespan?

I felt Pharos chuckle as I charged after Yukari. SMASH. "ZIONGA!"

Take Mikazuchi summoned a thunderbolt, striking an empty space that the Gigas ran right into. I pulled a curse tag out of my pocket and stuck it onto a Kunai as it fell, then I jumped over the fallen Shadow and threw the knife into its back.

Black fire consumed it and the Shadow disappeared.

Block to your left, now!

I did as I was told but instead of feeling the impact, I diverted the charging Gigas into the wall. My reaction timing was perfect…

That's me accounting for your reactions and making up the difference.

Cheers.

"Thanks Takeba." Akihiko grunted, pulling himself up. From the corner of my eye, I saw he was still wincing, but his pain tolerance seemed to be closer to mine than Junpei's or Yukari's, so he was able to grit his teeth and bear it.

I would have told him to hold back until he was fully healed, but we didn't have that luxury. Besides, his injury could have been worse.

Much worse.

Yukari seemed to have come to the same conclusion, and moved towards me instead of trying to keep healing him.

"Akihiko!" I yelled. "Help Junpei!"

"Got it!" Akihiko rushed over to fill the gap between the huge wrestler and the smaller swordsman. The Gigas that faceplanted the wall now pulled itself out of the wall, turning to face me.

Want to know another trick?

Sure.

Pharos told me his trick.

Holy crap was he serious?

Yes, yes I am.

Let's do this shit.

I felt his presence leave my mind; since what I was trying to do was risky as it was without anything else in the way.

"It's coming!" Yukari loaded her bow.

I felt the power rush to my arm. "Alright!" I charged towards the Gigas with my right arm ready to deliver a haymaker.

"Minato!"

"What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?"

"RRARGH!" I roared as my fist collided with the Shadow's gigantic hammer of an arm. Then magic happened.

BBZZTT-DAKOOM

A shockwave blasted and the Gigas was knocked down. I looked at the blue sparks flashing around my hand.

Dayumn.

"What? Minato!"
"What..? How… How is that possible?"
"What was that!"
"WHAT THE HELL!"
"I told you…"

Pharos's quiet words echoed much louder to me than my teammates cries did. Seeing my enemy struggling to get up, I pulled out my Leatherman and, flicking out the knife, jammed it into his chest.

Not a weapon. I dragged the blade down, making an incision.

Never a weapon. I jammed my two arms inside of it, failing to grab any organs.

Only as a tool. I grabbed my right wrist with my left hand.

"THUNDERBOLT!"

A blast of blue lightning erupted from my arm, killing the wounded Shadow.

I got up, damned glad that I didn't bring my jacket. I was up to my elbows in Ichor, and my shirt was splattered in the black blood. My tie was ruined too, but it was worth it.

"Behind you."

I turned around to see the Gigas release an energy blast, knocking Junpei and Akihiko back. It charged at me, so I pulled out the Evoker and blasted my brains out, bringing the Gigas down with a Zionga.

Akihiko got up, charging. "I've been waiting for this!"

Junpei got up and followed him, followed by me and Yukari as we beat the Shadow down into oblivion.

Once it melted, Akihiko grabbed me. "Okay, what the hell was that?"

"An experiment." I replied. Technically true. "I just forced the energy of the Zio down my arm instead of summoning my Persona. It was weaker than it would have been if I summoned, but since the Gigas is weak to electricity, it knocked him back."

"Oh, sure, great!" Junpei complained flippantly. "So not only is our fearless leader able to use way more Persona than us, but now he can use MAGIC!" He shouted. "How's that fair? OW!" He jumped as Akihiko poked him. "The hell?"

Akihiko opened his hand, revealing a small thunderstorm. "Seems to work, but I doubt I can use it in battle yet." He closed it back into a fist, the sparks disappearing. "You probably have such good control from being aware of the dark hour for so long."

Yeah, sure, let's go with that.

"I… I can't believe that we never realised Persona could be used this way…"

"Actually, I got the idea a while ago when Yukari healed me without her summoning Io." I lied. "I just tried it out now."

"COME ON!" Junpei shouted. "FIRE!"

Junpei was squeezing his wrist tight, clearly trying for a fireball. His face looked like those guys who pull buses on 'Worlds strongest man', it was hilarious. We all burst out laughing at him, except Junpei, who looked murderous.

"Come on man…" I sighed, slapping his hand.

It hurt. "ow…"

I slipped off my glove. The skin underneath was all red, as if I'd just scalded it. "Okay, you're getting there…" I told Junpei, who looked satisfied. Yukari touched my hand and the skin healed. Yep, Yukari's the best at it out of us all.

Six floors later, and I was almost disappointed with the lack of Reaper.

"Are you scared of me now..?" I whispered to myself.

Not in the slightest

I almost jumped out of my skin, gripping hatchet in my hand. "Everything alright?" Akihiko asked.

"Yeah… fine."

We'd finally found a few proper weapons along the way. I had a couple of sai held in my belt, a scimitar across my back, and a trust ol' axe in my hand.

Pharos had been a big help too. Thanks to the Reapers Eyes, I could tell what skills Shadows were currently using, and could almost predict their moves.

Picking out those cards were easier as well, but one part that was really helpful was the radar thingy I now had. While I couldn't tell the layout of rooms and corridors I hadn't seen yet, I could tell where nearby Shadows, Items or Teammates were, and I knew where I had been, so travel was easier.

On top of that, I knew how much Spiritual Pressure my teammates had just by looking at them, which was a plus. I still relied on Mitsuru for the Shadows resistances and weaknesses, however, and Pharos only warned me in life threatening situation and even then, his timing wasn't always perfect, but it was still a big help.

At this point, I was still the only one who could use Persona powers in battle without summoning, but not when Pharos is lending me the Eyes, so I still couldn't use it much.

Anyway, we found the stairs pretty quickly and made it to the thirty-sixth floor.

"There isn't much of the Dark hour Left; you'll have to wait for next time to battle the enemy."

"Alright then." I activated the teleporter. "Let's go."

Running away are we?

Once everyone else had gone I gave my answer.

"Mom's calling us in for teatime, we'll have to play with you later." I taunted.

How cute

"It was a rather good comeback however."

Thanks Pharos. I think so too.

I didn't do much on Sunday, other than work on the financial report for Tanaka and play some Innocent Sin. Maya complained about her life, but it was fine since I levelled up the Hermit social link.

Pharos was chuckling through the whole thing. "Yeah, yeah, social link through an online game," I sighed. "Laugh all you like, a lot of people become friends through these things nowadays."

"That's not what's so funny," he replied, smiling. "I just find it amusing how you seem to know each other in reality as well."

Oh really? That's pretty interesting.

What was less interesting, more What The Hell, came Monday.

You remember Monday? Results day?

Well I went to the scoreboard during lunch to see how well I did. Junpei did alright, just, and Yukari did pretty well. I couldn't find my name though.

"Oh, wow! Is Minato that smart?"

"I don't believe it! That's so high!"

I looked around to see who had found my name.

"You're name's here." Pharos pointed to a separate sheet. The high scores. I looked at it, and was shocked at what I saw.

1st place: Minato Arisoto. 95% Average.

THE HELL?

"Of course you came first in the year." Ms. Toriumi told me. "Your test scores were magnificent!"

"But I wasn't that good before!" I protested. "I'm not that good!"

I made them show me the papers. Ah. I got 100% on Business, General, Maths, Lit, Physics, and English. I did alright in Japanese, and really well in History and Chemistry and Biology.

So the exams I didn't cheat on were the ones I did best on.

"Well, you would have gotten lower scores on them anyway." Pharos shrugged.

Looking through the exams, he was right. If it wasn't for him, I'd be second or third place, since it was only those exams that brought me down to 95%. Although, the English exam was probably a given, since my teacher assumes that just because I'm from England I would ace an English exam so she just skipped it.

"Some of the other teachers were really impressed with your scores," Ms. Toriumi told me. "They said that some of your answers were at the professional level. Mr Ekoda was especially impressed, since apparently you slept through most of his lessons."

"All I did was read the book!" I shouted.

Actually, that was probably why I did so well. Since I ignored everything he told me and just wrote what I thought, then it seemed like I was putting in a really complex argument.

Looking through Chemistry and Biology, some of the mistakes were from Pharos telling me what would happen in practice, instead of what would happen in theory. History, I got the dates wrong, and some stuff Pharos told me.

Japanese was probably the only exam I did completely fairly. Course, I couldn't tell them the truth, since that would earn me a one-way ticket into a psyche ward, and telling them I cheated would get me kicked out of school. Both of them were unacceptable, so what choice did I have. "Alright then…"

"You know, most students would kill to have scores like that, and you sound almost like you don't want them." Ms. Toriumi pointed out.

I could see Ms. Toriumi's argument, and who wouldn't? "I just didn't think that I deserved them, and thought that there had been some kind of mistake." I confessed, scratching my head. "But yeah, this is my work, and it fits the mark scheme."

"Well, it's not a school record or anything, but it's still something to be proud of." she told me. "It's much better than wasting your life on games or something…" Ms. Toriumi sighed, rubbing her head. Sign of stress.

"You alright miss?" I asked her. "You seem concerned about something."

Ms. Toriumi was surprised, but seemed thankful. "It's alright Minato-kun. Thank you for your concern though."

I got up, hesitantly. "You sure?"

My teacher nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. You'd best be off before lunch is over."

I nodded and left the room.

SMASH

Huh?

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

"I did say you knew her." Pharos said when I turned the corner, that knowing grin plastered on his face.

Holy crap.

Actually, I'm more surprised that I'm not surprised. Come to think about it, the clues were there, I just didn't pick up on them. I'm gonna have to brush up on my detective skills.

We looked over the general studies exam that afternoon, and I found out why Ms. Toriumi was so stressed.

One question was about bullying, and she said that we got marked no matter what we put down, so long as it was about bullying. We could even have written about bullying in the school. "Not that there is any bullying here however…" she said.

Remember that I can see hidden emotions flash on someone's face when they lie if I'm concentrating?

Well, I was concentrating, and she was lying. The guilt, anger, and sadness were clear to me.

Someone was being bullied, and she was angry about it. Her eyes didn't flash to anyone in the room, so the sadness was probably because the student in question was out of her jurisdiction, but the student's teacher wasn't doing anything about it, and she was disgusted.

I shifted sitting position, now squatting on my seat.

Which teachers did Maya complain about when she was online?

One teacher stuffed her chest… Mr E had an argument with her about something… something he was doing was wrong but he ignored her… he was my best bet… Mr E…

Mr. Ekoda. Tower. He taught class 2-F, the other second year class.

So the person bullied was in his class.

I need to stop sleeping in his lessons.