I woke up in the middle of the night with a hand covering my mouth.

Now, this isn't the first time this had happened to me, so I knew where to punch.

Sadly, I might have broken my fingers on his nose. Repel Strike?

"Quiet!" the man hissed at me.

Good point, wouldn't want to wake up the boxer and swordsman that live in the rooms next to me, would we? Dumbass. You just earned yourself a biting.

"It's alright." Elizabeth said in an assuring voice. "We're here to help you."

I nodded, and the guy took his hand off my mouth. I recognised him now as Theodore, from the Velvet Room. I looked around. It wasn't the Dark Hour, I was in my room, and there was no Pharos. "What's going on?"

Theo grabbed my left wrist and pulled the sleeve up. "It's worse than we thought…" he said.

"What is?" I looked at my blackened arm.

Ah, that's not a good thing. I thought I just stained my skin, but I don't have fingernails anymore.

"Your arm is infected, and you're changing into a Shadow." Elizabeth said with urgency. What, what? "Thankfully, we got here fast enough so we can save your life." How, I wondered, as Theodore pinned me down.

"What's the plan?" I asked.

"We need to destroy your arm." Elizabeth said.

...What?

"You look awfully calm about it." Theodore noted.

"Calm? CALM? HOW THE BLOODY HELL CAN I BE CALM?" I shouted, twisting in his grip and fighting like hell.

"Please, don't resist!" Elizabeth hissed as Theo pinned my legs down with his. "It's for your own good!"

I sent a lightning bolt into Theo's arm and he lost my grip, giving me room to shove a thumb in his eyeball and bite his other arm.

Then he headbutted me.

I woke up with a sweat, panting for breath.

Bugger me... I'm exhausted...

Must be because of that nightmare.

"It wasn't a nightmare." Pharos said wearily.

He looked even worse than I felt.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You went to sleep with a shirt on, remember?"

I looked down at my bare torso. Suspicious. I looked at my left arm. Phew it was there, normal skin colour. Everything fine…

Wait, no it isn't. I do not have a tattoo on my left arm.

It circled around the middle of my bicep and around the triceps. It looked kinda like a smaller version of Scar's arm tattoo, only slightly less evil, but just as weird. Actually, on closer inspection…

"It's a seal." Pharos told me. Man, he really looked out of it. "They put that on you before chopping your arm off above the infection. Then they Hama'd the hell out of the arm and did something to regrow it."

Seriously? Was their luck that bad that they kept missing?

Doubt it. Was the Shadow so strong that they needed to keep ramming it in?

Hm, I'm gonna have to learn to see if I can use Hama and Mudo for more than just oneshotting peoples...

"You alright Pharos?" I asked, getting concerned. "You look knackered."

He nodded. "Yeah… it's just that they then purged you for any further infection…" he said. "They said that they couldn't get any more out of you than they did, but there may be side affects…"

"Did it get you?" I asked him.

"I'm okay…" Pharos repeated. "It's just that… I'm…"

"Tired?" I asked. Pharos nodded. "Same here."

I looked at the Tattoo again. It was only a couple of centimetres thick, but I'm still not happy about it. "I'll ask Igor about it this afternoon." I decided, rolling back under the covers.

"What, you're not going to school?" Pharos asked.

"Need sleep."

Both Junpei and Yukari came in to try to get me out of bed, but I just rolled over again in my covers.

"Minato, we've got to leave." Yukari said, shaking my shoulder lightly.

Question time: What is the Japanese word for: 'Due to the strenuous events that occurred to me personally during the previous night, I have deemed an extended period of rest appropriate, effective immediately.'

"Muh..." I decided to grunt.

"Dude, we're gonna miss the train!" Junpei complained.

"MUH!" Which of course meant: I didn't see YOU get eaten and/or mutated last night!

They eventually got the hint, and let me skive.

Hey, I more than deserved it.

...

I lost my arm last night.

People actually came into my room and tore my left arm off and replaced it with one just like it, but with a Tattoo.

...

Haven't they heard of George Cairns?

Don't they know that the British keep their sanity in their left hands?

Chopping them off turns us into killing machines that won't stop the slaughter until we run out of murder fuel.

Blood, I think they call it.

...

Ramen for breakfast is great. Especially if breakfast is at one in the afternoon and you're skiving off school.

I went into the Velvet room in casual clothes.

Hey, if you're skiving for the whole day, you do not do it in school uniform.

Especially if said uniform is covered in monster blood.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." An older blonde woman said to me as I entered.

"Where's Elizabeth?" I asked her.

"She's unavailable today." she explained. "My name is Margaret. Right this way, sir."

She led me to Igor. I sat down opposite him.

"It's good to see you again." He told me. "I trust you are pleased with your recent victory?"

Cutting to the chase, I rolled up my sleeve and plonked my left arm on the table. "What is this?" I demanded.

Glancing at it, Igor smiled. "Ah yes. Unfortunately, while you were inside the Empress, it appears you picked up something unwanted." Igor looked at me. "That is why I sent Elizabeth and Theodore to assist you."

"Assist me?" I asked. "They bloody chopped off my bleedin' arm!"

"I understand your dismay, but it had to be done." Igor said, shaking his head. "What happened there was not a result of your prerogative. However, it would have slowly consumed your mind, inhibiting your ability to make decisions, and would have ultimately prevented you from accomplishing your goal."

That's a half-assed explanation. At best.

Igor waved his hand slightly. "There may still be a few effects, but that seal is what allowed you to remain alive during the operation, and to prevent the Shadow's influence from reaching your mind."

"So, do I still need it, or can I get this lasered?" I asked. Having a badass tattoo was not always good when you didn't ask for it.

"I… would not recommend it." Igor replied. "Unfortunately, some of the Shadow's ichor has reached your bloodstream. While we did remove most of it, there are still a few drops of the fluid, diluting your blood as we speak."

"…that's not good…"

"Indeed it is not." he said. "However, that seal will weaken its affect as it flows through your body, protecting you mentally, and physically."

"I see." I sighed. Looks like I'm gonna have to buy some elbow length T-shirts then if I want to hide this… Probably violates some school rules or something. "Thanks Igor."

"Anytime." He said. "But until then…"

"Farewell." I said, stealing the words from his mouth as I rose from my seat. I heard him chuckle as I left the room.

"So, what is it?" Pharos asked.

"Some kind of seal that's stopping me from turning evil or something." I told Pharos as I left the alley. "While I'm here, I might as well visit the shop again."

"That's a good plan." Pharos nodded. "You need more explosives."

And Pharos has officially become my disciple. There will be carnage.

When I walked into the police department, there was some police guy on the desk. Suddenly I recognised him as the officer from the other day.

"Hey, just thought we'd let you know that Yamagishi has showed up." He told me.

"That's great!" I said.

"Yeah, but shouldn't you be in school?"

"I felt ill this morning." I said. "By noon I felt fine, but if I go into school now, they'll just assume I was skiving."

The officer laughed. "Yeah, teachers are assholes like that." he chuckled, before turning to business. "Anything you want?"

"Yeah, is Officer Kurosawa here?" I asked.

"Hold on," He replied, "I'll go check."

He ran into the back. A minute or so later, Kurosawa showed up.

"Hey, what do you need?" The sternfaced cop asked.

I checked my list. "I need some more C-4."

He raised an eyebrow. "Used it all?" he asked, wondering about the lack of explosions reported.

I nodded. "It was really useful, but I need more." I explained. "I also broke the Warscythe I bought."

He sighed. "Well, I'll drop it off at the dorm later. Anything else?"

I was about to say no, but then I got a thought. "Got any under armour?"

Few minutes and a few grand later, I was walking out of there wearing an army issue power vest thingy. It was basically a T-shirt that clung to you like a wetsuit, only it protected against small calibre bullets, heat, cold, electricity, glancing knife blows, and other stuff. Best of all? The shoulders didn't flap, and it looked like a normal, if tight, T-shirt.

I bought four.

When I got back to the dorm, it was still empty, so I made myself useful and tried to fix the surveillance system that Mitsuru kept going on about.

By the time Junpei and Yukari got home, I'd fixed it.

I'd fixed it good.

There was some glitch that made random segments of video footage save files onto the unit, but I couldn't sort it out, so I locked it off instead. Mind you, the footage of Ikutsuki actually sitting down to write jokes was worth watching, so I made a back door. You know, just in case anything else shows up.

Hey, I just got my arm cut off and regrew it in one night. After getting eaten. I deserve this. Hell, it's probably the universes way of compensating for the crap I went through last night.

Karma, that's it.

"Hey, there you are!" Yukari said as she poked through the door. "How're you feeling?"

"Fine." I said, swivelling away from the monitor. "I got bored, so I fixed that glitch Mitsuru was going on about."

"Oh, that's good." Yukari seemed relieved. "Anyway, Mitsuru-senpai and Akihiko-senpai went to the hospital to see Fuuka today."

"That's good." I replied. "I hope she's doing okay."

"Yeah…" Yukari asked, sitting down on the couch. Something was on her mind. "Hey, I was thinking…" She began. "Do you think Mitsuru-senpai saved Fuuka because it was the right thing to do?" she asked, "Or was it because she's a Persona user and we need her?"

Tough question. I didn't answer it, choosing to look at the carpet instead.

Hey, I never noticed that there's a swirl pattern in this!

"You think so too?" Yukari asked, taking my silence as an answer, "Well, whether she joins or not is up to her…" She looked at the carpet as well. "Sorry to bring this up out of the blue."

"Anytime." I told her, smiling.

Next day, Wednesday, I helped Yuko train those kids again. I had to admit, they were improving.

I was more concerned about Fuuka though. She and Natsuki were still in the hospital. I'm still pretty damned sure that Natsuki won't revert back to how she was, but from what I can gather, she'll probably lose her memories of Fuuka saving her.

What I want to know is whether or not her emotions from that time will remain…

If Yuko noticed my attention was elsewhere, she didn't say anything.

...

Damn, and with Mitsuru at the hospital all the time, I can't even go on patrol tonight.

Thursday was my first actual 'date' with Chihiro. Naturally, we went to Bookworms. While she was distracted by the books, Bunkichi collared me.

"I've got some good news for you Minato-chan!" He told me with conspiratorial excitement. "It's about a customer who came by earlier. Guess who it was!"

"You gotta give me a hint." I sighed.

"I was going to." Bunkichi laughed. "It's 'Signature'."

"One of my many fans?" I smirked.

Bunkichi chuckled. "No, it's—"

"One of your many fans?" I smirked wider.

Bunkichi laughed. "I wish! It was actually one of the organisers for the campaign to save the tree!"

"That's wonderful!" I beamed. Well, that's a weight off my chest – no wonder he looks so lively today!

Bunkichi nodded. "He said, 'let's protect the tree together!', AND he'd gotten lots of signatures from students who were in my son's class!"

"Sweet!" I said, keeping my voice low. "So, what now?"

"What do you think?" Bunkichi chuckled. "I'm going to the school to tell my son the good news!"

"I'll stay here." I told him.

Bunkichi shook his head. "This was all your doing, Minato-chan, you have to come!"

I gestured behind me to Chihiro and mouthed the words Date.

Bunkichi looked behind me and smiled. "Ooh, that's a nice girl you got there, Minato-chan." He winked, then whispered into my ear conspiratorially "And a very nice behind too."

I slapped him on the shoulder jokingly, and Bunkichi hooted. "Well, you look after her. I'm to see my son. Make sure you say hi next time you get the chance!"

I nodded. "Will do."

SMASH

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

I smiled as Bunkichi hobbled out of the door. Then I walked back to Chihiro. "Find anything good?" I asked.

She span round. "I've been dying to read this!" Woah, her eyes were sparkly. "This is a collection of illustrations from the Shoujo Manga I read! It even has short stories inside!" She looked around. "I never expected it to be here… maybe the shop owner made a mistake."

"That sounds like Bunkichi…" I agreed. The old man was as senile as a duck, bless him.

Chihiro looked at her find. "They have all three volumes… this is amazing! But each volume is 6000 yen, so that means…" He voice trailed off.

"18000 yen?" I offered.

Her heart sank. "What do I do..?"

I remembered that she didn't have much money, but she'd probably be insulted if I offered to buy it for her. "Is it good?" I asked instead.

"Of course!" She almost squealed. "All three volumes are really great! The characters look so real, it's like they really exist!" She sighed. "But my monthly allowance is 5000 yen… so even if I used my lunch money… No!" She had a determined look on her face. "I'll get them no matter what! By next month… wait… by the time I graduate!"

"Fair enough." I took the books off her and took them to the desk. "Mitsuko, please can you reserve these for Chihiro-san for me? Just so nobody buys them while she's saving up?"

Mitsuko smiled. "Of course dearie." In a lower voice, she added "That was surprisingly gentleman like of you. Most men would have just bought it for her."

"What," I whispered, "After she's just decided to save up herself? That would just ruin it for her."

"You're a good one, Minato-chan." She smiled. Looking at Chihiro, she added. "Just let me know when you want these!"

"Um… Thank you!" Chihiro said, bowing as I walked up to her.

SMASH

Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Justice Arcana.

My phone started buzzing. Opening it, I got an email from Akihiko.

=[ Fka rlzd frm hsptl. Tlk 2 r 2nite, cm 2 cmmd rm whn u gt bk. ]=

I had prepared for this, but preparations still had to be made. "Erm… I gotta go." I explained to Chihiro. "Akihiko-senpai is organising something back at the dorm, and he needs my help."

"Oh… okay…" She seemed a bit down. "I- I'll see you tomorrow Senpai!"

I waved goodbye to her and ran home.

A few hours later, Fuuka was in the command room. I was keeping a close eye on the time. I needed to get this just right.

Once the introductions had been made, Ikutsuki started the debriefing.

"Everyone, you did an excellent job uncovering the truth." he said. "I also wanted you to know…" Ikutsuki paused for suspense. "All three girls have regained consciousness."

Fuuka sighed with relief. "What a relief." She said.

Ikutsuki nodded. "From what I understand, they each came to school around midnight and waited for the security guard to leave. They were attacked by Shadows near the gate, as the dark hour began…" Ikutsuki looked at us from over his glasses. "However. The facts became twisted because of rumours concerning a ghost story." He said.

Yukari looked smug. "I knew right from the beginning that it wasn't a ghost."

Fuuka, however, looked… ashamed? "This is my fault…" She said.

"Are you kidding?" Yukari was as a surprised as I was. "You were the victim!"

"But, I made everyone worry!" Fuuka protested.

"Hey, don't think like that…" Yukari told her. My phone buzzed as Mitsuru stood up.

"Excuse me." I said, rushing out the door, turning off the alarm. I closed the door behind me and I ran down the stairs to the kitchen. This shall be awesome.

I was back up the stairs within three minutes, carrying my load. I put my ear to the door to hear what was going on, just to see if I could maximise my timing.

"We'll have the school talk to your parents to resolve any issues." Mitsuru said gratefully.

"Thank you." Fuuka said. She sounded happy, and it appears that she was joining us.

That's my cue. I pushed the door open with my backside.

"This calls for cake!" I said, holding up a freshly baked Quadruple Chocolate Cake I'd spent all afternoon making.

Everyone looked at me in sheer disbelief as I put the cake onto the table next to the steel briefcase. "What?" I asked. "Not a good time?" I cut a slice and put it on a plate, offering it to anybody who wanted it. "But every time is a good time for cake!"

"Eeeyoink!" Junpei shouted, swiping it out of my hands, biting into it happily. "MMM! Ris ish rud!" He said happily through a mouthful of cake. That got everyone laughing, so I got back to work dishing it up.

What? You think baking a cake for a new member of the group makes me look less manly?

Well, that's fine with me. You have your opinion, and I'll have this delicious cake that is most certainly not a lie.

Never underestimate the power of QCC.

"Now then." Ikutsuki announced once everyone was enjoying their cake. "Those special Shadows came around again… We still don't know where they're coming from, but Akihiko and Minato are right about one thing." The light hit his glasses, making him look all mysterious. "Their appearance seems to coincide with the full moon. We'll take that into consideration for now."

"So…" Junpei began, chocolate all over his face, "They're kinda like werewolves then?"

"Well, they're clearly lunatic, if that's what you mean," I said. Junpei blinked at me, confused. "You know, they revolve around the lunar cycle?" Apparently that's not what he meant.

"It's a big advantage for us to know when to expect them." Akihiko said over the top of us. "Now, on the day of the fight, we'll be ready to get into the ring!"

We stayed pretty late, and I ended up being the one to take Fuuka home since the trip back would be in the Dark Hour and Shadow's would be involved.

Win win for everyone, as far as I care.

"Um… Minato-kun?" Fuuka asked me.

"Just call me Minato." I told her. "Not Japanese, so it's easier for me."

"Oh!" Fuuka seemed surprised. "Um… Well, please, if it's not too much trouble…" I looked at her expectantly, not surprised at her shyness considering how badly she had been bullied. "Erm... may… I have the… recipe? For the cake?"

That's it? "Hey, if you're going to move in with us, I might as well teach you how to do it myself!" I smiled at her. "Course it isn't any trouble! I'd be happy to!"

"Oh!" she gasped. "Um… Thank you… Um... Minato…?"

"Yeah?"

"Um…" she hesitated. "Do you enjoy cooking then?"

"Love it." I did, so long as it was Man cooking. All focus goes into the taste; we don't care about making food look pretty, so long as it looks edible. "You?"

"Oh… I'm learning…" she said. "But… it's not going so well…"

"I'll teach you then!" I smiled at her. "I like to cook my own meals as it is, so I might as well help a friend out along the way!"

Fuuka looked surprised. "Thank You, Minato."

SMASH

Wait, what?

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

"This is my house…" Fuuka said. "I'll see you later!" She said, waving as she climbed the stairs.

"Yeah, see you…" I just managed to make those words I was so shocked.

I can make Social Links with other Persona Users?

That's...

What?

...

WHAT?

...

What.