Shin Megami Tensei: PeruSuri

by Orochi Shiki

Four girls, a new school, mysterious time-space phenomena, dark creatures and bizzarre summons. A whacky Lucky Star/Persona 3 crossover with a bit of Gundam SEED Destiny where nothing is the way it looks...YAOI/YURI PAIRINGS NOT INCLUDED! Sor-rie!

9. Chapter 8: Operation P3

CHAPTER 8: Operation P3

10/05/09

The hours following the Dark Hour that night were really hard for Kumiko. As soon as she went back home, she locked herself in her room and threw herself on her bed. Now and then, she played that night's events in her mind over and over and tears would have flowed again. She thought she was helping, but in the end, she was unable to do anything to help at all; her incapacity to do anything good caused her to fail him, just like she felt she did with her father. In the end, she cried herself to sleep.

The next morning, she felt her head incredibly light as her whole body felt like lead. And, although she was under her bed's covers, she felt a strange draft coming from inside it. Still stunned, she turned the beside lamp on and checked her alarm clock with a grimace: 6:30 AM. Feeling absolutely no will to go to school after what happened, she tucked back in her bed and turned aside. Her eyes widened in shock as all of her sleepiness simply faded away: a familiar-looking male teenager with mid-length brown-greenish hair was sleeping right next to her, although she never felt his presence at all. At the same time, the boy woke up, his grey eyes opening from under his forelocks. A long, seemingly never ending minute of silence followed as both looked at each other. Then, the girl jumped outside the bed with a sharp shriek while he got up in a sitting position and looked at her, blankly. Kumiko was speechless: the young person in front of him was the spitting image of Shinjiro (although he wasn't sleeping with his typical beanie)… and she could swear she was alone in her bed and there was nothing out of the ordinary… aside a draft inside her bed… what could it possibly mean?!

He blinked. "Huh? What's with that reaction? I thought YOU brought me here to nurse me back to health…" he then searched for something on the ground at his side. "And lemme tell ya… don't think I'm ungrateful or something, but… isn't that a little excessive? I didn't think you were SO bold, Kumi…"

Kumiko chocked. Not just the look, even the voice was the same! But how could he be there? He was supposed to be dead a few hours earlier! She kept on looking at him, speechless as she finally made a sense to everything. Finally, Shinjiro found his beanie on the ground and dusted it. He stood up and walked toward Kumiko, about to say something but she left out another shriek, keeping an exorcise amulet in front of her.. "Don't come near me, you freaking ghost!"

Shinjiro looked around, confused. "Huh? You still dreaming, girl? I don't see any ghost here… where's the ghost?"

She then pointed at his legs, shakily. Confused, he looked downward; his legs were literally going through the girls' work table. He tested them and stepped in and out of the table, a slight smile crossing his face. "Oh… so this is why I suddenly stopped feeling any pain, either my own or from those freaking bullets…"

She still kept the amulet pointed at him and squeezed her eyes shut. "Please, don't haunt me! Don't bring me to madness! I never meant things to go this way!" she cried.

He chuckled and gestured her to calm down. "Whoa, whoa, whoa… where's your usual quiet attitude? This ain't a horror flick! Why am I supposed to do this to YOU? You have nothing to do with THIS. It was MY decision, OK? As for the result of what happened… I guess that's the way it was supposed to go."

Finally, she calmed down and dropped the amulet. She looked at the ghost of her friend, even more confused. "…jeeze… how can you be so calm about this whole matter?! I mean, you're DEAD, for crying out loud!"

Shinjiro quietly put away his beanie and coat, noticing they were both dirty. No, I walk through stuff because I'm a psychic and do paranormal mumbo-jumbo. "Tell me something I don't know…"

"Then WHAT are you doing HERE in MY house, if you don't want to haunt me?!" She asked, standing up.

He shrugged. "No clue… I kinda hoped you could answer that question, miss 'I-am-involved-with-paranormal-and-spiritual-stuff…"

She frowned. "…what do you mean with 'no clue'?!"

"What I just said… I don't remember… I blacked out after Kira used that move on me and started to walk in a completely black space where I heard someone whispering my name… next thing I know is me being so tired I fell asleep… and waking up here with you screaming like a little bitch." He replied, crossing his arms.

Kumiko couldn't believe anything of what was happening. Shinjiro Aragaki, who died a few hours earlier, or rather his ghost, was there in her room, acting as if nothing happened. She wondered if she was still dreaming. Maybe, in a few minutes, she would have woken up and life would have been normal again… well, aside the little problem with shadows and the Dark Hour…

But it was no dream at all… his ghost WAS really there, talking to her nonchalantly. That's it… I'm definitely going crazy at last… she thought. Thinking that maybe it was just her suggestion playing jokes, she decided to ignore the whole matter and went in the kitchen without saying any other word to the ghostly teenager in her room. As she walked toward the kitchen, she spotted her grandmother's room closed, hinting she was still asleep. With a sigh of relief, she tiptoed in the kitchen and readied herself a few toasts, looking completely blank.

"Y'know, Kumi… with your kind of lifestyle, you should really cut off greasy food and eat something more energetic." Shinjiro's voice said at her back: he was there, sitting on the floor right next to the table.

Kumiko decided to pretend he wasn't there and simply walked in the living room, the plate with toasts in her hand.

"Oh, fine, be a fat-ass, for what that matters…" he grumbled.

"Ignore the ghost, he'll go away… he can't exist, he'll go away…"

Shinjiro puffed, both hands in his pants' pockets. "That's news to me… I didn't know I didn't exist… OK, answer this… how can I even be HERE if I don't exist?"

The sound of Kumiko's grandmother opening the door of her bedroom caused the girl to jolt as she whispered Shinjiro to follow her in her room before she spotted both. Resigning about madness of it all, she readied her school bag, seeing no point in staying to bed since her sleepiness completely disappeared. "Although it won't be funny at all…seeing what happened to one of the students and all… but this poses a problem… I can't leave you here with my grandmother, you'd scare her to death… and you can't come to school or in town of course…"

"Then what am I supposed to do?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Can't you just make yourself invisible?"

"…do I look like one of those silly TV ghosts? Besides, too much of a pain in the ass…"

"Any better idea, big guy?"

He cupped his chin. Then, an idea came to him. "Oh, I know… I could just rest in your head as long as you're over there…"

She scratched her head. "…I thought you were a ghost, not a Mana Fairy…"

He hushed her with a stern stare. He then closed his eyes and transformed into a small will-of-wisp that flew toward Kumiko and was absorbed in her head. "Hey… it's more spacious than I thought in here!" he said in her mind.

Kumiko didn't reply. The day was crazy enough already, a ghost speaking inside her head wasn't much of a difference. That day to school would have been even harder to handle, she could feel it.

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"I never really liked the guy… always thought he acted too big for my tastes, but… damn him, dying that way… what for?! That idiot…" Shinn angrily muttered, his forearm resting on the school entrance's doorway.

"Admittedly I didn't get to know him very much… he always looked so rough… but he helped both me and Kumi-Chan when we needed help… he didn't deserved this!" Tsukasa said while sniffling, wiping off tears from her eyes.

Miyuki placed a hand on her short-haired friend's shoulder, her eyes filled with compassion. "Hiiragi-San… we need to pull ourselves together. After all, there's someone who's suffering much more than we are…"

A few seconds of silence followed.

"Kumiko-San… she was devastated yesterday… think she'll come to school?" Kagami asked.

"…I don't know…" her sister sadly whispered.

Konata puffed, crossing her arms. "In any case, we can't let ourselves be seen by her like this! We'd only make her feel much more uneasy! We gotta stay close to her and cheer her up."

That was when they noticed Kumiko approaching them. She wasn't holding her usual speedy pace: in fact, she mostly seemed like wobbling towards the school entrance, her eyes completely vacant. Konata moved to greet her, but the girl simply walked inside the school without saying a word.

Shinn shook her head. "Geeze, talk about devastated… poor Kumiko-San looks like a zombie this morning…"

"Can you blame her? Today the school will hold a ceremony for Shinjiro…" Kagami sighed.

Miyuki stood silent for a while. She then wiped her eyes off, fixed her glasses and slowly walked toward the building. "Well… we'd better go ourselves… although it won't be easy for any of us…"

That said, the Kagayaku members walked towards the school… all save for Yukimura, who seemed quite absent-minded. When the girls beckoned him, it took him a while to notice. That worried them, especially Miyuki: she could see a shadow of strong sadness in the young man's eyes. What happened had to shock Yukimura as well.

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The school principal slowly stepped onstage so to start his eulogy. The stage had an altar on it which was ornamented with bunches of many different flowers and candles. At the center there was a picture of Shinjiro, the frame ornamented with a black ribbon.

After clearing his voice, the principal began to speak. "No words can express the sense of loss we all feel because of this terrible tragedy. This young man had a whole life of opportunity ahead… and yet we lost him to violence before he even had the chance to develop all of his potentialities. The blame lies in us educators, for being unable to hear his silent cries of help…" he then sniffled and looked upwards. "Forgive us… forgive us for our negligence…"

As the principal's eulogy continued, both the present SEES and Kagayaku members fell in a grim silence. Miyuki, who was trying hard to not cry, looked at Yukimura; the young man was resting his forehead on his clasped hands, refusing eye contact with anybody else. The pink-haired girl felt her heart sinking as she looked at him. She then looked at her other team and schoolmates: Tsukasa was silently sobbing while Kagami kept her head low; Konata, too, was very silent and serious, a rarity for the small girl. Same could be said for Kumiko, who looked in front of herself with a weary expression. Miyuki also noticed something else… something hidden… although she didn't know what exactly.

Sitting silently behind them were the juniors, both the ones from SEES and Shinn, who was sitting next to Fuuka, his eyes filled with a grim anger and sadness, a contrast with the girl who couldn't stop sniffling.

"Will this speech ever end?" a boy from Kumiko and the other Kagayaku seniors' class, Naoki Nakajima moaned. He then looked toward the juniors behind. "Hey, do you know who this Aragaki guy is? No wait, you're juniors, there's no way you could know… what about you?" he then asked to Konata and the others. "Oh, right… you're in this school since this year, you can't know it either… anyway, can you believe it? Scary, isn't it?"

The senior to his left, Ukyo Sagara, whispered. "I've heard that the guy never came to school… I'm pretty sure he was a no-good punk…"

"Shut up…" Junpei muttered behind him, piercing him with a venom-filled stare.

Naoki looked at him with a mirthless smile. "Geeze, what's your problem?"

The capped junior stood up on his feet. "I said shut up!!"

"Iori, sit down!" Their teacher, a woman named Toriumi scolded him, forcing the lad to sit back. She then sighed. "Great, now I'll never hear the end of it…"

Naoki grimaced at Kumiko who was sitting next to him.. "Juniors these days… as if this speech wasn't annoying enough… seriously, when is this gonna end? I gotta study for my mock-exams!"

Kumiko clenched both fists on her skirt and looked in front of herself, a blind rage in her lightless eyes. "Couldn't you just shut the fuck up for a moment…?!" she hissed in a lower pitch than usual.

Both Ukyo and Naoki backed off, stunned. "Sheesh, not you too?!"

As if she recovered from some sort of trance, Kumiko blinked and placed a hand over her mouth, confused. W…what did I just do?

"Sorry, Kumi… I couldn't help myself…" The ghost in her head quietly said.

Did you do it?!

"Look, I know I AM a no-good punk… but not even someone like me deserves such a cold treatment over his death… besides, the guy is an ass so who cares?"

"Who cares?!" Listen, just because you're "renting" my head, it doesn't mean you can use my body this way!

"I already apologized… why do you always have to be so stubborn?"

I'm not- AARGH…! Kumiko silently moaned as her face turned completely red and she sunk her face in her hands. Tsukasa chocked when she saw her, thinking that Kumiko was really suffering a lot about what happened.

Then, the short violet-haired girl felt someone tapping her left shoulder from behind. It was Yukari. "Excuse me, Senpai… have you by chance seen Akihiko-Senpai today?"

Tsukasa blinked. "Huh? Why you ask?"

She lowered her gaze. "Well, I've only seen him at the dorm before coming here, but I couldn't find him anywhere inside the school so far…"

Kagami cupped her chin. "Hmmm, now that you mention it, he was absent this morning… wonder if he'll show up at all…"

"I see…" Yukari shook her head, concerned. "I wonder if he'll be OK…"

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Around lunchtime, the members of Kagayaku had a brief meeting inside the computer room by Rei's order. It mostly was to anticipate a major meeting occurring in a next future, where the group would have discussed about how to deal with what happened with Athrun losing his potential, the encounter with Kira, Strega's meddling and Ken. No one was particularly eager to discuss about these things, though. Especially Kumiko, who was clearly stressed.

After school, Kagami, who had the classroom cleanup duty that day, stopped a little longer than the others. The sun was already setting when she was done. She stretched, took her school bag and stepped outside. It was then that she noticed someone by the far end of the hall, a familiar silhouette wearing a red vest over his white shirt. I thought he was absent… what is he doing here? She mused, her instincts telling her to trail him. And so she did. She silently followed Akihiko right outside the auditorium where the eulogy was held that very same day. Being careful to not make any noise, Kagami peeked inside the auditorium, looking at the silver-haired boy leaping onstage and looking at Shinjiro's picture intensely.

"I had the usual for lunch…" he greeted him with a soft smile. "Ramen taste much better when you're cutting classes… be sure to invite me next time."

Kagami blinked. What was he saying? It didn't make any sense to her. Meanwhile, Akihiko turned his back to the picture: she could see a trace of pent-up feelings in his calm face. "Say something, will ya…? Why are you always like this? You're so stubborn. Try and put yourself in my shoes for a change…" His words caused the girl's heart to skip a beat and she hid behind the half-opened doors, fearing he noticed her and was talking to her.

Instead he looked around and placed both hands on the big altar, his gaze focused on Shinjiro's picture. Realizing he wasn't talking to her, she resumed her peeking.

His voice became grimmer as he spoke to his deceased friend. "You think I'm the stubborn one, huh?… I guess you're right… I was obsessed by power… too obsessed by it… ever since the day I lost Miki, I didn't care about anything else… I thought if I was strong enough, I could have protected anyone…but… but I was wrong… and now you're dead too… I feel such an idiot…"

"…Akihiko-Kun!" Kagami whispered, her heart going to the lonely teenager inside the auditorium. She also felt guilt for calling him a fanatic, not understanding the true reason behind his will to protect people around him and why he was working so hard in training.

After a few seconds, Akihiko hung his head down and started pounding the altar table over and over. The twin-tailed girl gasped as she watched it and this caused her school bag to slip off her grasp and fall on the floor with a loud thud. Hearing that, Akihiko's head rose and snapped in the direction the sound came from. "Who's there?!"

It took her a while, but Kagami shyly popped out from behind the half-closed door, slowy stepping inside the big room, closer and closer to the stage.

"Ah… Hiiragi…" he shakily whispered, looking at her, while she avoided his eyes "Didn't expect to meet you here… what's wrong…?"

Kagami simply looked at him for less than a second before lowering her gaze again, a slight blush covering her cheeks.

"…you saw it all, didn't you? Sorry, it's not like me, I guess…" he left out a hoarse cackle while wiping his eyes.

The girl could feel her eyes watering. "…please, stop it! Stop acting tough when you don't have to! Why don't you--"

He didn't reply. He simply lowered his gaze and clenched his fists into balls. She noticed they were shaking and choked. "I…I'm sorry… I didn't have to say it…"

"No… Hiiragi… you're right… I'm always like this…" his voice became more shaky as he talked, his whole body quivering. "Even then… I knew there's always a good chance of dying in battle… but… I was too focused on fighting to notice anything else! In the end it didn't matter how tough I was… and now, look what happened!"

"…It wasn't your fault…" she softly said with a sad smile.

"It wasn't?!" he choked. Kagami could see tears swelling the silver-haired young man's eyes. "I saw it coming ever since Ken joined the team… I had to expect such a thing… ever since both Ken and Shinji were apart from the main group… but I was so enthralled in fighting those shadows to notice…! So don't go around saying it wasn't my fault…!!"

In the end he couldn't take it anymore and sunk his head, silently sobbing. Kagami felt as if an unknown force brought her to embrace that boy who felt so frail in that very instant. He didn't fight back as she brought her arms around his waist; rather, he slowly did the same as he couldn't stop sobbing and weeping. To her, it felt like time slowed down to the point to almost stop, in a way she never experienced before. The contact with his body, his faint smell, it all felt so good all of the sudden. They stood like that for a few minutes that seemed never-ending.

Once the outburst passed, both sat in the first row of seats, one next to the other, silently. He held his head down, staring at his gripped hands on his lap, his eyes red and burnished. She softly looked at him, resting her cheek on her hand. She then chuckled and looked towards the windows to her left. "You know… I have to admit I half expected you would have done such a thing… cutting classes and then coming here to pay lonely respects rather than attending that eulogy."

"…Kagami…" he weakly whispered. "Why… why are you fighting this battle?"

The girl's heart jolted: never once he called her by her first name. She blinked and blushed. "Um… I got to be honest… I never stopped and considered that… but… why do you want to know?"

He sighed, still avoiding eye contact with her. "…you just don't seem like the kind of person who'd get involved in such a situation on her own… I mean, it's not like you've nothing to lose: you've got parents, a sister… and dear friends… so why…?"

Kagami passed a hand through her long violet hair and reflected. "You know… you have a point… when I first got involved in the whole situation, I didn't know what to think, honestly… I couldn't see the reason why I had to put up with all of this… why ME of all people… I was confused… and kinda scared…"

She then looked at him, confident. " But then I realized… maybe I DO have a reason to fight… I want to be helpful to Tsukasa, Konata and the others and, if possible, I want to protect them!... maybe it won't be much as a reason, I know… after all, I'm just an ordinary girl… stuff like world salvation is simple too big for me… but at least I won't lose everything."

Finally, he lifted his head to look into her eyes. She did the same, her expression getting more intense. "What happened yesterday made me realize how hard it is when people you love slip away from your grasp and you're helpless to prevent it. But Akihiko-Kun, we're not gods, we can't expect to prevent people from going. All we can do is accepting it and living for their sake as well."

You're strong, Kagami… he thought, lowering his head on his lap as well. Compared to you, I… Once again, he felt tears building up in his eyes. Kagami put a hand on his shoulder as he silently wept a little more. Akihiko shook his head and grabbed her hand. "Yeah… I know, Kagami… I won't get anything done if I just sit here and cry… that's what you're trying to say, right?" he then got up from his seat, looking at the picture on the altar. "Shinji… you watch over me with Miki… there's still much I gotta do."

Kagami did the same, smiling. "That's right… Akihiko-Kun. I don't know why we gotta deal all this crazy stuff, but this is not the time to mope around… not if we want to get this over with!"

He nodded. "I know it well, Kagami… I can't keep feeling guilty forever… I'm tired of it!" He then stretched a hand to Kagami, not blushing for once. "I have only one thing to ask you… will you stand by my side?"

She blinked, confused, her cheeks turning red.

"I don't know how to put it, but… your words earlier… even if you were just trying to cheer me up… they really sunk inside me. I think your inner fortitude could be a great inspiration to me. And I too… I want to get to repay you somehow… I hope we can still count on each other."

Whoa, you sure are nice for a change! She puffed, still blushing. Then, she sighed, smiled and took his hand. As soon as their hands touched each other, a flash of light appeared, followed by some sort of cracking sound. Following that, a pillar of light followed by shards of power emerged from the young man's body, taking Polydeucus' shape; then, more shards connected to Akihiko's Persona's body and in a small explosion of light, he went through an actual metamorphosis: he became a humanoid who looked like an Ancient Rome emperor, with a small person sitting on a throne by his stomach and a small world globe pierced through his sword. Akihiko looked at him and said the name, Caesar.

Kagami was dumbfounded, since it was the first time she ever saw a Persona appearing in broad daylight… and transforming into another Persona. "W…what is it…?!"

Akihiko, unlike her looked very serene as he looked at his new Persona. "I'm not sure… but I feel so much stronger…"

The girl's eyes went from Caesar to his user, still at loss. Is this due to him settling his feelings? Did his new-found determination caused this? And… will it happen to me as well?

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"Ah, Kumiko-Kun… what are you doing here?" Rei asked when the young girl came inside the hotel lobby. "I doubt everyone's spirit is high enough to go to Tartarus today… so, aren't you taking it easy today? Besides, you don't look well enough."

She sighed. "Is everyone here yet…?"

"No… only Athrun's here… he just got out of the hospital and once he arrived here, he locked himself in his room." The professor stepped toward her, his eyes going to the staircase leading up.

"… Can't say I blame him… meeting his long lost friend that way…" She tried not looking at him.

The man crossed his arms. "…What about you? There's something… off… about you, I can tell…"

"…you're wrong…I'm the usual old Kumiko…"

"You're such a bad liar, Kumiko-Kun…" he smirked, placing both hands on her shoulders. "Tell me the truth… something peculiar happened to you and you wanted my honest opinion about it… am I right? Otherwise, you wouldn't have come here when no exploration or operation is on schedule…"

"He sunk your battleship, Kumi…" Shinjiro muttered in her mind, annoyed.

Shut up and come out already… She mentally said. A small flash of purple light came out of her body as a will-of-wisp came out of her head, taking Shinjiro's shape and landing next to her. Rei looked at the scene but didn't flinch. "Well… got nothing to say?" she sighed again.

Rei quietly fixed his glasses. "I've seen crazier stuff. Ghosts are nothing fancy to me." He chuckled. What do you know… I guess she couldn't oppose fate after all, but…isn't it quite a twist?

"So… what do you think I should do about him?" She asked, frustrated.

Before the professor had the time to give the girl an advice, the hotel door opened again as Konata, Tsukasa, Miyuki, Yukimura and Shinn stepped inside. After greeting both Rei and Kumiko, the teenagers froze in astonishment when they noticed Shinjiro's ghost standing there. Not again… both Shinjiro and Kumiko thought, looking at them. After about a minute of silence, a series of screams were heard from within the hotel as all present people aside Konata, Shinjiro, Kumiko and Rei quickly hid themselves, terrified.

The ghost gave out an exasperated sigh. "…I told ya you had to tell'em…"

She left out a sardonic chuckle. "Yeah, right… what was I supposed to say? 'Hey, everyone! A deceased friend's ghost followed me home! Can I keep him?'?"

He scratched his cheek: "…you have a point…"

Konata smiled, looking at her companions slowly coming out of their hideouts. She then looked at Shinjiro, playful. "So… how does it feels being a ghost, huh?"

"You're not scared, Kona-Chan?" Kumiko asked.

"Should I?" she replied, confident. "It's just a ghost, what harm could he do? This isn't a horror flick or a Project Zero game!"

"But… but how could it happen…?!" Tsukasa asked, still frightened

It took her a while, but once everyone was out of their hideouts, Kumiko explained how she found Shinjiro's ghost in her room and not believing it herself at first. She also added he followed her at school that morning.

"Hmm… maybe Aragaki-San needs to support someone dear to him who still lives in order to go to Heaven… he needs to do it to redeem himself… and maybe it's Fukuyama because, although he denies, she's dear to him." Miyuki pondered, searching for confirms in Yukimura's eyes, but feeling discouraged when she saw his eyes still sad and distant.

Tsukasa clasped her hands together with a pleased smile. "How sweet… it reminds me of one of those manga I've seen at Kona-Chan's place!"

Konata nodded. "You mean Kirara? True, but in his case he never travelled through time to stand by her… and there's another small thing: to be more similar to Kirara, Shinjiro-Kun should go around wearing no clothes!" with that she leapt on the ghost and moved to take off his clothes as he struggled to push her away.

Yukimura, who never talked the whole day, finally broke his silence, causing both Konata and Shinjiro to freeze, while she half-removed his shirt under a way embarrassed Kumiko's eyes. "…Still… I'm truly sorry about what happened… if we managed to prevent it all, you'd still be alive… and not just a ghost…"

Miyuki looked at him again, concerned, but he avoided her gaze as he did the rest of the day. Shinjiro looked at both and arrived to a realization. Meanwhile, the hotel door opened again and Kagami walked in. Just like the others before her, she freaked out about the ghost and hid herself. And once again, Kumiko had to explain herself about what happened. OK, now this is getting ridiculous… Kumiko and Shinjiro both thought.

"By the by, Kagamin… why are you so late? Did you happen to meet a certain, unfortunate, heartbroken boy and cheered him up?" The small, blue-haired girl snickered.

"Konata!" Kagami spat, annoyed at first. Then, her eyes and voice softened. "Well, yes… I happened to meet with San… I mean, with Akihiko-Kun… so I cheered him up and we talked…and… well…" she couldn't finish her sentence without interrupting and blushing.

Konata remarked she was sure about Kagami liking the guy, while Shinjiro himself was at loss. "Aki… talking to a girl? I have known him since over ten years… He barely ever talked to girls aside his sister Miki… Jeez, and here I though…" He mused aloud, dumbfounded in his usual, quiet way.

His remark caused everyone but Yukimura and Shinn to chuckle a little. The first had been down since that morning, while Shinn seemed more than annoyed by the ghost's presence for some reason. Then, his attention was caught by his cell phone ringing. Immediately, Shinn answered the call.

"Hello? Oh, it's you, Fuuka… huh? What's wrong? You sound so upset!" he then nodded a few times and listened. "Uh-huh… HUH?! Are you sure?!... Ah, I see… Of course, I'll ask her right away!" with that, he momentarily covered his phone with his free hand and talked to Kumiko. "Kumiko-San… it's about Ken-Kun… she wants to know if you happened to see him around your place today."

She tilted her head in an interrogative way. "Huh? No… why you ask?"

The black-haired boy gestured he would have explained later and resumed his phone conversation. "No, she hasn't seen him, sorry… yes… yes… yeah, I know! Well, alright… I'll let you know immediately when I know something… don't worry… OK, bye." With a sigh, he ended the conversation.

"Shinn-Kun… what about Ken-Kun? What's happening?" Kagami asked, concerned.

He sat on the couch, exasperated. "Ken-Kun… Fuuka told me he ran away from the dorm… and no one of the SEES members knows his whereabout…"

"Are you sure, Shinn?!" Kumiko asked, her body tense.

He snapped his head at her. "Hey! Would I joke in such a situation?!"

The girl in blue sat on the couch, resting her forehead on her clasped hands. She just couldn't believe Ken ran away and now she was overwhelmed by worry.

"I guess it can't be helped…" Rei placed a hand on the hotel's reception desk. "He might be a Persona-user but he IS still a child… there's no way he can sit idly after what happened yesterday… I'm sure he doesn't know what to do with his feelings…"

Shinjiro leaned on the closest wall, squeezing his eyes shut in guilt. "…if it weren't for me… none of this would have ever happened… I only brought pain in that kid's life…"

Both Kumiko and Miyuki wanted to say something to make him feel better, but before they had the chance to, Shinn got up and snapped at him. "Damn straight, It's just like you said! There's no point in denying it, since it's all true… but do you really think acting like an oh so miserable tragic hero would be of any use?! Instead of victimizing you over and over and bitching about things you can't change, shouldn't you try and make up for your mistakes?! You owe it to yourself and to the ones who care about you!!"

Tsukasa shyly approached Shinn, telling him that maybe he was going a little too far, but he firmly stood on what he said. Shinjiro was quite surprised. He didn't expect someone like Shinn to say something like that and admitted he appreciated his sincerity in such a moment.

"Oh, this reminds me…" the jet black-haired teenager snapped his finger. "Stellar doesn't know anything about what happened to you! Someone should go and tell her…" then, feeling everyone's gaze on him. "Oh, no no… count me out… I could never find the heart to go and tell her… she'd suffer too much!"

"But leaving her in the oblivion would be too much!" Kagami cried.

"Oh, I know!" Miyuki pointed a finger up. "There are plenty of literature texts where deceased people appear to living people in their dreams to let them know these kind of events… Aragaki-San, why don't you do such a thing? Or, you might go see her nighttime and tell her."

Shinjiro crossed his arms. "…I'll think about it."

The commotion from downstairs caused Athrun to be curious about it and he took a peek from upstairs. Logically, he too freaked out when he saw Shinjiro's ghost, causing both him and Kumiko to yell "NAAAAAAAAH!!"

10/06/09

"Haven't they found Ken-Kun yet?" Kumiko asked, standing up from the lobby couch.

Shinn grimly shook his head. "…No, Kumiko-San…"

Both Miyuki and Tsukasa looked outside the window. It was evening already. Where could the child be?

"It's been one day already… I know Akihiko-Kun said we should let him be today at school, but…" Kagami sighed with worry, prompting Konata to nudge her because she called him by his first name in such a casual way. The twin-tailed girl kept on pushing her away as she kept on nudging her.

"Yeah right… knowing Aki, I'm sure he's been secretly looking for the kid… he's always like this. Still, I think Ken is a clever kid, he should be able to put up with this on his own."

He will… right…? Shinjiro thought after uttering those words. Actually, he was concerned. Very concerned. Ken was a kid, it's true, but he managed to stand on his own in the last two years, ever since he accidentally killed his mother. Yet, feeling directly responsible for all of it, he couldn't help but worry. Instinctively, his eyes went on Kumiko as an idea started to take shape in his head.

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Back alley behind the Port Island station.

Ken was silently leaning on a wall next to the pub, alone. One could tell from his face he hadn't slept in a while, his eyes weary and red from crying.

A familiar voice broke the silence of the spot: Akihiko's voice. "You look half dead. Why are you here?"

The little boy looked at the ground, avoiding his elder teammate's gaze. "When Mom died protecting me, no one could figure out the true reason of her death… it's still classified as unexplained accident… that's why I wanted to see the truth with my own eyes… I hoped that would have made her finally rest…" he finally looked at him. "It's the same for him as well, right? They said he died by some violent crime, right?… no one knows the truth… and I'll be left behind again…"

Akihiko plainly stared at him. "The dead are never coming back… you got to accept the fact you're on your own now."

Ken didn't reply, his eyes swelling with more tears. The teenager took some steps away and harshly said: "Look, I'm not here to drag you back. You can just stay here until you die for what I care. But if you do have some fight left in you, come back and stand on your two feet."

With that, Akihiko walked away. A few more second passed before Ken heard a new voice talking to him, this time from the railing above: Kumiko's… although, for some reason, her pitch seemed lower than usual and her speech was kind of different too.

"Same old Aki… always sounding harsh and preaching around as if he was the big one… but he has a point, you know?"

Ken immediately lifted his head and looked at her. It was Kumiko alright, although there was something peculiar in her eyes: they looked more mature and less bright for a reason. The girl jumped off the railing and landed right next to the kid. He turned around and placed his forearm on the wall he was leaning at to not look at her.

She chuckled bitterly and sat on the steps leading to the pub. "Not surprised to see you here… after all, this is where it all began and ended…"

"… is that all you've got to say?" he mumbled. "You should hate me for what happened…"

She shook her head. "… hatred is crap… it consumes you and leaves nothing… what's left to you after you let hatred lead you into getting your revenge? Nothing… aside emptiness and loss for something you're not gonna get back anyway…"

Ken hit the wall, trying hard to prevent tears from falling, but failing. "I know… I knew it all along… just… I kept lying to myself over and over… I was consumed by hatred… and couldn't bear the thought of being alone… and in the end… that's exactly what happened…"

Kumiko looked at him as he pounded the wall a couple times. A pleased smile took form on her face; she then lifted her head to the moon. "But Ken… you mustn't forget his final words, no matter what. 'You have your whole life ahead of you'… regardless of what you were or did in the past, you still have plenty of time to make up… it's too early for you to give up on life…" her eyes grew more intense as she kept on staring at the moon. "I want to believe… he hoped you to realize it when he sacrificed himself… so to not end up like he did…"

"…All this time I did nothing but running away. It's time to stop doing that…" Ken wiped tears off his eyes and finally faced her, more determined. "I made up my mind, Kumiko-San… I want to see it all through the end… for Shinjiro-San too."

Kumiko quietly nodded, her satisfied smile broadening. Then, all of the sudden, a flash of light and a cracking sound came out of Ken's body, transforming into energy shards as his Persona, Nemesis, just like what happened to Akihiko's Persona, transformed into a new creature: his new Persona looked like an orange mechanical being with two large, hourglass-like shoulders with zodiac signs on. The boy called his new Persona Kala Nemi. Both Kumiko and Ken could feel an incredible power coming from him. She could only guess it was due to his newfound determination which caused his new Persona to awaken. Then, after Kala Nemi disappeared, Ken said goodbye to his mother and once again faced the girl, this time with a sweet smile when she told him to hurry back to the dorm. Once Ken was far enough, something jolted inside Kumiko's body, her eyes turned as always and she felt as if she just awakened from a trance, not realizing where she was or what she was doing there. Even her voice was the same as always. "Shinji-Kun… don't tell me you…" she awkwardly stuttered.

"…let's just say I wanted to take care of some unfinished matter. I hope it's OK to you…" Shinjiro replied inside her head.

The girl wanted to protest, but couldn't figure out where to start at all. Before she even had the chance to say something, she left out a helpless sigh.

"Anyhoo, we'd better get going… things tend to get rough around here when it's evening…"

"Um…. I… I guess so…" She mumbled, still confused and dazzled.

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"Ah, Kumi-Chan! Where did you go? You suddenly disappeared." Tsukasa greeted her friend as she entered the hotel and Shinjiro materialized next to her.

"Well… why don't you ask HIM?" she annoyingly cued at the ghost as he acted perfectly normal.

Konata stepped next to them, Kagami in her tow. "Well, that explains many things… your sudden pitch change, your gestures… the strangely colorful language you used…" she remarked.

Kumiko angrily looked at Shinjiro. "Hey, that's how I am… I'm not gonna change my attitude just because of you." He puffed.

"You know, Kumiko… there's no exploration of Tartarus in schedule today neither…" Kagami said. "Miyuki-San seems pretty tired and Kuro-Sensei has left, saying he needed to get something…"

The brunette places both hands at her sides and grimaced. "Knowing him, I'm sure he didn't hint what he was going to get… oh well, there's no use in complaining, I guess… I'll just take it easy for tonight… I'm pretty tired…"

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Midnight (And the Dark Hour) already came to pass as Yukimura simply stood in the hall of the floor his room went, his eyes blankly looking outside the windows. He had felt his heart heavy ever since the events occurring during October 4th, his head spinning with doubts and uncertainness. He wanted to go downstairs, where the girls' rooms were, but there was something holding him.

"Being a night-bird, huh Yuki?" a deep voice said from behind him. Half-heartedly, Yukimura looked at his back to see Shinji's bust coming out of the floor, the rest of the body still on the lower floor ceiling. With no effort, he leapt with his whole body on the floor.

The red-haired teenager once again looked outside. "…Thought you were at Kumiko-San's place…"

"…her idea. She said that a ghost in her house with her grandmother around was a no-no and insisted I stayed here…" he muttered, clearly displeased by her idea. He then looked at him. "But enough with me… what about you? I can say there's something eating you…"

He stood silent for a while, placing a hand on the window glass, his eyes growing more upset. "I… what have I been doing so far…?"

Shinjiro tilted his head.

"When I knew about the whole situation and discovered both me and the others had these special powers, I was a little freaked out at first of course… but then I gotta admit I felt happy… I had the chance to actually fight in order to protect others… to protect… well, those dear to me…" red covered the young man's cheeks as he said the last quote.

Shinjiro didn't reply, he simply set his jaw and clenched his fists. Yukimura's hand on the glass twitched as he kept on talking. "But… but if I couldn't prevent one single person to die in front of my eyes, how the hell am I supposed protect those important to me?!" he then looked at Shinjiro. "…do you think I was wrong in taking up this task? Am I really not up to it?!"

"…are you done whining…?" The shifty-looking ghost puffed. "Man, since when did you become such a pussy?..."

Finally, he turned around to face him, clenching his fists. "Me, a pussy?!"

"That's what I'm saying! You keep whining about something you can do nothing about… just for you to know, this is MY choice, OK? It has nothing to do with you, so stop bitching about it, will ya?!" he then crossed his arm and looked away. "'sides, there's someone else you oughta talk to and, man, that ain't me. After all, SHE's the true reason you joined this team, regardless what you say."

Yukimura's scarlet eyes opened widely. "Y…you can tell?!"

"Anyone could see you dig the pink-haired girl with glasses, so quit beatin' around the bush!" he chuckled. Then, serious: "Look, I'm no expert about romance, nor I wanna be… but I can tell you this: if you don't do let out what you actually feel, you'll only end up regretting it later."

"Shinjiro…" Yukimura knew he was talking because of his personal experiences, having lived his whole life in regret after the tragic incident two years earlier and shunning himself from everybody else, suppressing not just his potential but also his feelings. In the end, he must have felt really lonely.

Shinjiro put a hand on his shoulder. "Yuki… go talk to her. That is, unless you truly are a wimpy pussy."

Yukimura hesitated for a moment. Then, he nodded and immediately rushed downstairs, where Miyuki's room was. He stood right in front of it for about a minute, gathering all his courage in order to get in and talk to her. Once he felt ready, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door twice. The room door opened a bit, enough for Miyuki's head to be visible. She was still wearing her school uniform, hinting she wasn't ready to go to bed yet. "Oh, Yuki-Kun… what is it, can't you sleep?"

He simply scratched the rear of his head.

She lowered her gaze. "Me neither… I have so many thoughts spinning in my head…"

He did the same. "Oh… I see…"

"But, Yuki-Kun… you've been pretty down lately… are you feeling better?"

"…Yeah, a little… sorry for worryin' you…"

Both stood silent for a long, seemingly never-ending minute.

The red-haired young man finally decided to talk after clenching his fists. "Say… Can I talk to you for a moment?"

With a series of metallic sounds, the girl removed the small chain preventing her door to open and let him in. Yukimura looked around and blushed, being his actual first time inside a girl's room. Despite it all, it was a simple room, with no real ornament aside a few flower pots, a series of books on the desk and the bedside table and one of the latest laptop models. Miyuki gestured him to sit on the bed as she took something from the small refrigerator; a bottle of water. She placed it on the bedside table and sat next to him. After pausing a little, she looked at him, smiling. "We haven't been exploring Tartarus in the last two days, so I caught up with my reading a little. So, what do you want to talk about?"

He took a sigh before talking, his eyes finding something worthy on his hands to be examined. "…You know… my parents always tried really hard in teaching me the highest values in life, raising me with a firm sense of what's right and what's wrong… Well, they succeeded in doing so… maybe a little too much…"

She silently looked at him, interested.

"…when I turned 11, I witnessed to something when I was outing: a woman being abused and threatened with a knife by some thugs… I preferred not causing a scene, so I moved onward, ignoring what was happening… but the guilt for what I did was literally crushing me, so I set out to find those jerks and avenge the woman… but when I did, all I could get was being badly beaten up. Fortunately, the woman was ultimately alright…but I was disgusted by my weakness, as silly as it might seem to a kid. That's why I vowed to never ignore such an occurring again… and to become stronger in order to prevent it from never happening. And so I started training myself at Ginji's place, eventually getting on par with him. That's also why, when I knew about your fight to erase the Dark Hour and discovered my Persona ability, I decided to join your team… I hoped I could fight to protect more and more innocent people from falling preys of the shadows…"

The girl filled his glass with water as she listened to his story, quietly giving it to him. He drank it in a single gulp as she looked at him. Despite her quiet appearance, she was quite surprised, since she wouldn't have expected such a story about Yukimura's past.

Once he was done drinking, he gave the glass back to Miyuki and clenched his fists on his lap. "But… after what happened two days ago… well, you could say I was pretty much shocked… I mean, in the end, there was absolutely nothing I could do to prevent that from happening… I couldn't prevent Shinjiro's death or everyone suffering… it made me realize how hard protecting people is…"

She placed a hand on one of his hands. He felt something tingly inside as she touched him. "No one can protect every single person, Yuki-Kun… that's beyond our capacity. We can only protect what we can with all of our might."

He nodded. "You're right… that's why I realized I… I want to fight hard to protect what I can... protect what's important to me…" Come on, it's now or never… say it! He mentally encouraged himself as he felt his whole face turning red and his heart started racing. "…Will you… will you allow me to protect you?"

Miyuki gasped as he looked at her. His eyes were directly staring at her, she could read his emotions in them. "I… I couldn't stand being apart from you… that's the reason I came here… the reason I joined the team… I want to stay close to you… always… Miyuki, you're really important to me. I don't know since when, but you are..." then, noticing she was staring at him, amazed, he chuckled and scratched the rear of his head, his face as red as his hair and eyes. "I know, I know… the whole notion of a guy like me who's not afraid of charging into a group of enemies, getting too nervous to say such a thing is ridiculous…"

She blushed and stood speechless for a few seconds. She then tried her best to put some words together. "I… I know… because I, as well…" unable to finish her quote, she squeezed her eyes shut and threw herself on him hugging him, her face as red as his. After feeling awkward for a moment, Yukimura hugged her back.

"Miyuki… I love you…" he whispered.

As soon as he uttered these words, both heard a cracking sound and a flash of light came out of Yukimura's body. As both looked up, they saw Nobushige who, in a flash of light, transformed in an even more-powerful looking samurai warrior in a heavier-looking red armor on some sort of white horse.

"Shin…gen…? His name is… Shingen…" Yukimura serenely said under his breath.

"I can feel it… an overflowing power… much stronger than before…" Miyuki whispered. "Maybe it's due to you overcoming your psychic block, Yuki-Kun?"

"…I think so… I feel like I can overcome everything." He nodded while Shingen disappeared above them. "As long as you're by my side…"

As they hugged and kissed again, Shinjiro, who was standing outside the room, unseen, nodded and moved to leave, stopping when he noticed Rei clapping at the whole situation. "Well aren't you quite a Cupid, little ghost boy?"

The ghost pierced him with his stare, although it proved itself ineffective with the professor. "Don't get me wrong, old man… it just disturbed me to see him act in such a pussy-like way… don't read too much into it. But most important, did you get it?"

The man nodded. "Of course… don't worry, no one noticed me… I'm pretty good at being stealthy, after all. But… about the things I've found… there's plenty we have to discuss about."

The teenager grimaced. "…Figures. Oh well, what do I have to lose in my situation? But if you want to talk about these things, maybe you'd want to wait until midterms are over… got a hunch studying will be hard as it is to them…"

"You're right about that…"

10/12/09

With just one day left till the beginning of midterm exams, the Kagayaku members decided to skip Tartarus in order to do some last-minute study for the following day, and spent the night indoor… of course, there were a few who never studied until that day, like Konata, Shinn and Kumiko. Shinjiro took advantage of the night off and asked Kumiko to walk to Tatsumi Memorial Hospital. Of course, both knew that visit time was over already, but that was of little consequence to a ghost. As soon as they arrived in front of the entrance, they made sure no one was around as Shinjiro, coming out of her body, literally floated inside, passing through walls and ceilings to reach Stellar's room. Then he found it. Inside, she was sleeping, looking pretty sad for some reason. He whispered her name and she slowly opened her eyes. "Shinjiro…? You came…" she mumbled, still groggy. He silently nodded.

"You… didn't come lately… why?" she asked.

He looked away. "I needed to get ready… you see, I need to… leave on a journey. That's why I couldn't come lately. I have a big journey ahead… I dropped by to say goodbye."

Her eyes opened widely. "No…!"

He passed a hand through her golden hair. "Don't look so down… it's not like we'll never meet again… besides, even if I'm gone, you're not alone… there's that boy, Shinn, who cares a lot about you… he'll take good care of you, I'm certain…"

Stellar smiled and nodded. "… Shinn…"

"Just promise you'll be a good girl until we see each other again, will you?" he softly asked.

"…Okay…"

With that, he started to leave but she called him again. She graced him with a sweet yet sad smile. "Um… will you stay here… until Stellar… falls asleep…?"

He didn't feel like objecting, so he complied and knelt next to her bad, leaning both forearms on her bed while she slowly closed her eyes. Shinjiro waited a few minutes, until he was sure the girl was asleep, then, with a slight bow, left the room. When he reached Kumiko, she could see a melancholic sadness in his eyes. He once told her how Stellar was like a little sister to him and how similar they both were, but preferred not prying to much since it was not something he liked. And so she decided to leave him alone for the time being.

10/17/09

"Aaah, finally! I thought it was never gonna end…" Konata stretched as she returned to the hotel.

"This session was particularly tough…" Tsukasa sighed, looking exhausted. "It doesn't help no one of us was able to concentrate at all…"

Kagami passed a hand through her own hair. I didn't think I would have been able to study actually…I must thank Akihiko-Kun for lending a hand… she thought. Then she looked at both Miyuki and Yukimura who looked tired yet satisfied. In fact, the two of them passed the last days before exams studying together, as they passed most of their time together ever since the incident. They all thought something evolved in their relationship.

A mumbling sound from the couch caught everyone's attention. Following the mumble, a waterfall of brown-greenish hair popped up from the couch back, revealing a groggy Shinji who was rubbing his eyes. "Ah, you're all here… the professor said he had something to talk about once everyone was present… But I got tired to wait so I must have fallen asleep while reading…" with that he hid the cooking magazine he was reading under the couch, hoping no one noticed.

"This'd better be important, these tests gave me a headache…" Kumiko moaned as she rubbed her head. "Thank goodness I'm almost done with them…"

In a matter of minutes, all the teenagers went upstairs in Rei's room and sat down in front of the big monitor. Rei took out a box with a series of items inside. "There are the items Shinjiro asked me to recover from his room… while most of them are cheap items, there also things which had a sentimental value." He said as he dug inside the box and found a well-kept knife inside a small sheath with something carved on the hilt and gave it to Shinjiro.

"Please, don't tell me you called us because of this?!" Shinn mumbled, annoyed.

The professor hushed him as he took a small bottle from inside. "Then I've found this… I trust you 've heard of them, right?"

Kumiko's blood ran cold when she saw it. "Wait… don't tell me those are…"

The man nodded. "These suppressants are a very powerful substance which is able to temporarily suppress a Persona-user's potential… but it has devastating side effects when you take them for a long time… in the end, those drugs destroy the body from the inside and… well, I leave that to your imagination…"

Kumiko's eyes widened in shock. So, it was true after all, he really DID take those. Feeling her eyes on him, Shinjiro left out a hoarse sigh. "Shinji-Kun…why…?"

He graced her with a mirthless smile. "… you can guess why…"

"It is related to Amada-Kun's accident, right?" Miyuki asked, concerned.

Is there really need for me to answer? He bitterly thought. "It was because of my lack of control over my power if an innocent bystander died, leaving her child alone… I couldn't stand it… I wanted it to disappear… I didn't care if it killed me… rather, I was glad it did, because I felt like I only deserved death for what I did."

"And THAT's why you kept yourself away from your friends and quit school?!" Shinn angrily asked.

Shinjiro looked at him and paused for a moment."…I just wanted everything to disappear… I wanted to forget it all. I thought that keeping myself away from others I could have erased the memory, but… I never could. It never happened."

"Shinji-Kun…" once again, Kumiko's heart went to him. She was supposed to be angry, but after being involved in the whole thing, she couldn't bring herself to.

"That's also when I met Strega, who were in my very same situation… they would have gave me those suppressants in exchange of intel about the developments by the other groups of Persona-users." He continued.

Kagami stood up. "You mean… you were a spy on their account…?!"

He swayed his gaze from the group. "…'course I ain't proud of what I did… it's not like I wanted to step so low… you must face absolute despair in order to understand how I felt…"

Rei frowned. "That's a grave matter indeed… but we could overlook your being a spy if you decide to cooperate with us and tell us what you can about Strega."

Shinjiro crossed his arms. "I'm not much of into cooperation, usually… but… what the hell, I've got nothing to lose by now."

"Then tell us… what do you know about Strega?" Konata asked.

The ghost frowned. "Not much, actually… I only know they're trying hard to preserve the Dark Hour… that's why they see both SEES and your group as enemies… because you're trying to erase it… nothing will stop them from trying to defeat both groups. They're very dangerous and hard to predict! That's all I know, sorry."

Kagami pouted. "In other words you know almost nothing about it… and here I hoped we could shed some light upon the secrets of Strega…"

"Just tell me one thing…" Shinn asked while frowning. "…how did you get to know Kira?"

Athrun jolted. "K…Kira?! You know him too, Shinjiro?!"

"I happened to meet him a few months ago, around here… he's a whiner and a pussy… normally I'd rather not have anything to do with people like him, cause they're freaking emo but he had a very special power which caught my attention…" he replied, scratching his cheek

Athrun clasped his hands together, remembering his clash with Kira a few days earlier, a clash that caused his potential to vanish.

Shinjiro continued. "Meeting him was a golden opportunity… I could have gotten rid of this power once and for all… but Kira always refused to use that skill on me… he said that my body was too much damaged by those suppressants… and such a skill would have probably killed me… of course, I tried to tell him I didn't give a damn about dying but he just refused to listen… that is, until that day…"

He paused a few seconds to catch some breath. "…yeah… that day… I saw it coming ever since I've heard Ken was joining SEES… I knew what he was planning all along… but I didn't care: I saw it as the real opportunity to settle the score for good. I didn't care about what would have happened to me, my life was over ever since that day two years ago…" he then noticed Kumiko whose body was quivering and she kept her head low. "That's why I said those things… I wanted you to stop thinking about me, suffering about my death… you're a good girl and deserve more than what I can offer… much more… even at the cost of being hated by you."

"You're so stupid…" she hissed, lifting her head to show her watered eyes. "Keep acting like a victim and I'll REALLY hate you… is that what you want?" her cold voice was betrayed by her eyes, so filled with apprehension and affection. His expression softened as well.

After that, Rei declared the meeting closed, deeming they got enough information. As everyone was already left aside Kumiko, Shinjiro and Shinn, the man beckoned Shinji once more, asking him if he could keep the suppressants. When both him and Kumiko asked why, he said he wanted to study their properties and see if he could develop a similar substance which lacked the deadly side effects. Both them and Shinn jolted when they heard it and wondered if it was possible. "You seem to forget I'm a genius… my knowledge should be much more than enough to make perfect suppressants."

"Did you hear that, Shinji-Kun?" Kumiko asked with a soft smile.

He nodded. "Too bad it's too late for me to use it… but…" he then looked at Shinn and back to Rei. "Once the medicine's ready, could you make sure you'll give it to Shinn, so he can let Stellar have it?"

Shinn's eyes sparkled. "Shinjiro…?!"

"That girl might be a Strega member, but it doesn't make her evil… she's nothing more than a victim… just like myself. She doesn't deserve such a crappy life."

Rei's eyes smiled from under his glasses. "I think I understand what you're saying… don't worry, I'll make sure to let Shinn-Kun know when the medicine's ready, so he can give it to her."

Shinjiro looked at Shinn. "Is that OK to you?"

"T…thank you… I'm sure she'll be happy…" a moved Shinn replied, trying hard to prevent tears from falling. He suddenly felt very bad about being a jerk to him. And yet, despite is attitude, he was willing to do him such a big favor.

"You don't need to thank me… I'm not doing it for you…" the ghost said with a slight blush. "I have a question, though… how do you know Kira? It seems like we have many acquaintances in common…"

Shinn's glad expression became a scowl after hearing that question. He turned his back to the ghost and placed a hand on the closest wall. "He… he's my sworn enemy… the one who killed my parents and my little sister Mayu… I'll never ever forgive him!!"

Shinjiro was pretty astonished, since Kira didn't seem like the kind of person who'd kill someone else on purpose. But what left him even more dumbfounded were the boy's eyes: he could see the same glare he used to see in Ken's eyes. "Shinn… haven't you learnt a thing from what happened to me? Didn't what happened teach you that revenge is ultimately pointless?"

"He's right, Shinn-Kun… if you keep up like this you'll be sorry one day… believe me." Rei added.

Their suggestions didn't have the effect they hoped, since Shinn angrily dashed downstairs and locked himself in his room. Once he left, Kumiko stared at Rei, wondering who he exactly was for talking about revenge like that. Secrets about him seemed never-ending.

10/20/09

Classes were proceeding normally in class 2-E, as their homeroom teacher, Ekoda, was doing one of his usual lectures. "OK, class… I know you've been busy lately, but that's no reason to neglect homework. Just because there's no literature next year it doesn't mean you can blow off Classic Lit. Hey, are you listening at all?"

As for Shinn, he wasn't listening at all, being somewhere else with his mind. In fact, there were too many things he couldn't stop thinking about: his being beamed in that reality, Kira, what happened to Shinjiro and Rei working on a medicine to help Stellar stabilize her potential. His brain was filled with possibilities, doubts and questions he had no room for anything else… at least, he thought so…

"What's wrong, Fuuka? You seem kinda down lately…" Natsuki's voice whispering to Fuuka arrived at his ears, momentarily bringing him back from his absent-minded state. "You can talk to me… tell me what's bothering you!" the tanned brunette continued.

Fuuka looked at her desk, grim. "…It's about Aragaki-Senpai…"

"Yeah, pretty shocking, huh…? I've never seen him at school, but I've been seeing him around the city… wonder if he really got involved in some crime…"

The short-haired cute girl sadly nodded. "There are things you can never get back… I know by experience… I've been avoiding the question, but… is it OK for me to go on like this?"

Shinn rested his cheek on his hand and grunted. Of course, there was no way Natsuki could know the true reason of Shinjiro's death. Part of him wanted to tell Fuuka about his ghost being with them, but since he begged them to not tell anyone from SEES, he couldn't do it. But still, he couldn't stand seeing Fuuka that down. Fuuka… were you by chance in love with him? He wondered.

The argument between the two girls was interrupted by Ekoda calling Natsuki. The tall brunette got up from her desk and walked at the teacher's side. The man told her to say a proper goodbye, causing both Fuuka and Shinn to be confused. Although awkward for a moment, the girl finally spoke up in a half-hearted way. "Um… I haven't been here that long, but I had some good friends here… I'll remember each one of you even after my transfer. Thank you… does it sound good?"

"Transfer…?!" Fuuka choked, standing up

"WHAT?!" Shinn cried, doing the same.

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Later, during lunchtime, both Fuuka and Natsuki went on the school roof to talk about her transfer. Being curious, Shinn silently trailed them to eavesdrop what they had to say.

Natsuki looked at the horizon as wind moved her light brown hair. "You're weird, you know… the biggest bitch in the school is leaving and you feel sorry for her… both you and Shinn."

Fuuka, who was sitting on the bench outside, slowly tilted her head to her. "Why didn't you tell anything?!"

She shrugged. "And make us both depressed? It's not like you can change things!" She then placed both hands on the railing. "You know, dad's pretty sick… it'll take him some time to recover, but we don't really have so much money, so we can't afford to stay here… but you know? I still think you and Shinn are crazy, being friends with someone like me… but I think we're not that different, actually… my parents act as if I didn't exist… when you moved into the dorm I admit I was pretty jealous… cuz I hate living at home."

"Natsuki-Chan…" Fuuka softly whispered.

"I can understand Shinn, though… since he has no parents, he lives on his own… as tough as it is, at least he's free to take his own decisions, but… Fuuka, your house isn't far away and you've got pretty normal parents… why'd you move?"

Fuuka wanted to reply, but something blocked her from inside, she couldn't find the words.

Natsuki looked at her and chuckled. "It's OK if you don't want to talk about it… but if it's something you can work out with your folks, do it as long as you have the chance… it'll take a while before father and I can have some heart to heart…"

Then, seeing how the short-haired girl fell sad and silent, the brunette chuckled. "Aw, what am I doing?! That's not what I wanted to talk about…" she then walked to her friend. "You know… I used to think any day was just the same… but listen… you don't get any second chance in life… if you accept things the way they are, they'll never change."

She's right… no second chances… time doesn't turn back… never… Shinn mused as many thoughts flew through his mind about his family and what happened to them. Time only flows forward and those irreplaceable things you've lost will never come back… that's why I…!

Natsuki took a look at the city below and sighed. "I guess this is the last time I'll see this view… I won't be to school next week cause I'll be packing… I guess it's a goodbye…"

"NO!!" The door leading to the rooftop pried open as Shinn stepped on the spot, upset. Fuuka stood up when she saw him.

"Overhearing is a no-no, Shinn… didn't anyone tell you?" Natsuki giggled. But he didn't reply, he simply looked at her, angrily. The girl looked at both him and Fuuka and shrugged. "Hey, both of you, don't give me that look. It's OK, everything will be fine."

"But, Natsuki…" Fuuka started, but Natsuki hushed her.

"I'm not helpless. I changed a lot since I met the two of you. I'm gonna try and figure out what I really want… so… I hope you'll both do the same."

"What we… really want…?!" Shinn was clearly dumbfounded by her words. I… I want to protect Stellar… and get Kira… that's all I want! But then… why do I feel like this?

The short-haired girl lowered her head. "I…I was afraid to not be liked, so I always did my best, hoping it would have helped me to fit in. I've never really thought about what I wanted…"

Natsuki laughed. "It's just like you. I'll say, if they don't accept you for who you really are, then screw'em… as for me, I like you the way you are, even if you don't like yourself!" her eyes then went at Shinn. "And I'm sure it's the same for him as well… isn't that right, Shinn?"

The boy jolted and blushed. "Well, um… I… shouldn't I?"

She slapped his back, merrily. "Figures. I'm really gonna miss messing with a cute boy like you."

After saying that, she once again said her goodbye and left. Fuuka moved to chase her, but then reconsidered and stopped, sadly looking at the floor. Shinn wanted to cheer her up, although he didn't know how. After a few seconds, Fuuka's phone started ringing, hinting her she just received a text message: a message from Natsuki.

"Even if we're apart, we'll still be connected. We can always talk, right? Thanks for everything."

After reading it, Fuuka put her cell phone away and looked at the sky. "…it all makes sense now… I was so worried about how others felt… That's why my power allows me to stay connected with them…"

She then looked at Shinn with a bright smile. "There IS something I want: I'm happy when people around me are happy too. So… I want us all to remain friends. My Persona gave me this gift… this amazing power: the power to connect the hearts of people even when they're apart."

In a matter of seconds, just like with Akihiko, Ken and Yukimura, even Fuuka's Persona, Lucia, went through a metamorphosis and transformed into a new Persona, similar to Lucia but with a red outfit, eyes similar to those on a peacock tail around her face and even wings looking like gigantic peacock feathers. Shinn couldn't believe his eyes and wondered what could have happened.

His flow of thoughts was interrupted when the other SEES juniors arrived on the rooftop and Fuuka's new Persona – which she called Juno – disappeared. Yukari looked at both of them and blushed, looking away.

Junpei's smile broadened. "Um… we… weren't interrupting anything, right?"

Fuuka and Shinn looked at each other and blushed a little, both in denial. Then, the girl sighed and walked to her team members, saying she would have done her best with her power, for her sake and the sake of others.

Now I see… Shinn thought. Fuuka became mentally stronger… that's why her Persona transformed… but I… is what I'm doing right?… what is that I really want?

11/03/09

Miyuki was quickly walking toward the school, in an awkward, fretful way. She spent most of her night reading, so in the end fell asleep really late. Tards were a rarity for her. And besides, Rei wanted them all to discuss about something the previous night, since that day would have been a full moon… and not an ordinary one, since that day, SEES would have battle the last of the twelve shadows. The young woman was sure he wanted to talk about that and the possibility Strega would have interfered with the mission.

She then stopped on her track and looked up at the clouds for a moment. "SEES members seem so confident about the Dark Hour disappearing once the 12th shadow will be defeated… if I have to be honest, I hope it will happen… too many people suffered…"

She took some more steps to the staircase, but a voice to her left told her to not move. She instinctively turned in that direction, just to see someone's dark silhouette leaping on her, immobilizing her and stunning her with a chloroform-soaked cloth. Miyuki felt the world around her getting blurry before blacking out…

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"Everyone… have you by chance seen Miyuki?" Yukimura asked.

Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa and Kumiko glanced at each other and then at him. "Aside the hotel? No… we all thought she was coming to school with you." Tsukasa said.

Kumiko cupped her chin. "Maybe she spaced out while reading on the monorail and ended up at the wrong place?"

"She never does it when she gotta go to school!" The young man spat, slamming both hands on the desk. Immediately, all the other students who were still there during lunchtime turned around. He didn't seem to care though, since the concern was much stronger.

Akihiko walked to them while drinking an energy drink. "Something the matter? You seem really upset…"

Kagami walked to him. "It's Miyuki-San…"

"Oh right… I don't see her around… is she sick?"

Yukimura shook his head. "She was FINE… admittedly she woke up a little later because she was reading, but…"

The silver-haired one crossed his arms and pondered. "…maybe something held her. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll see her once you get back to the hotel… but most important…" he then approached the group and talked keeping his voice low, so to not be heard. "Tonight is the night… I'm positive we're going to win this match. And since you helped us out a lot, when everything will be over, Mitsuru wanted you to come and celebrate with us. She wanted me to tell you since we're classmates. Be sure to tell Zala and Asuka too."

"Ooh la la… a formal invitation from that petite mademoiselle!" Konata giggled. "Will you serve sushi?"

"If that's OK to you as well… what do you think, Kumiko?" he asked.

She mused for a while and replied. "I'm not much into sushi, actually but… sure, why not? " as if she didn't really care about it.

"Well, if you don't like sushi much, we could g-"

Before Akihiko could finish his sentence, the girl was on him speedily saying: "Well I'll take fatty tuna, shrimp, squid, octopus and salmon roe… oh, and tamago too! When eggs are well prepared, that's especially tasty…"

Akihiko looked at her, blinking. Next to her, Kagami whispered to Konata. "I can't believe this… she acted as if she didn't but she actually seems like digging sushi a lot…"

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Given the circumstances, the Kagayaku members decided to cut afternoon classes and, at lunchtime, they all set out to the hotel. As soon as they stepped inside the hotel, Yukimura called Miyuki's name but got no answer. They all knew that couldn't be good: first she didn't come to school and then that. Kumiko ordered Konata and the twins to check her room while she and the guys went inside Rei's room.

"Rei-Sensei… Miyuki…!"

He nodded while rapidly typing on his computer's keyboard, the monitor's light reflected on his glasses and giving him an unsettling aura. "She didn't come to school even though she did left the hotel… I tried searching her whereabout, but it's proving itself harder than expected… I'm afraid she might be in danger…"

Yukimura bit his lower lip. "Crap… I KNEW I had to go with her…!"

"Yuki, this is not the time to feel down! There's still the chance to save her if she's in trouble…" Shinjiro crossed his arms while standing next to him.

Then, a sound similar to an alarm rang and a red light flashed above the monitor. Immediately, Kumiko prepared herself to act. "Sensei, what's going on?!"

"A transmission… I'll patch it through the monitor." Rei answered without removing his eyes from the monitor.

As he typed something, a window opened on the screen as Dennis' smiling face appeared on it. "Can you see and hear me, Kagayaku-ers? It took us a while, but thanks to Jin we managed to make a contact with you… I'll get to the point: we have your pretty little navigator! I'm sure she's valuable to you, since you can't do a thing without someone's support… and you've been meddling in too much lately! Now you won't be able to interfere in the battle between SEES and the others… of course, you might come and save the girl, but it would take too much time for you to rescue her and go help SEES in a single Dark Hour… and even if you tried to rescue her during daytime, what chances would a bunch of kids with their geeky professor adviser against me and my boys?"

Geeky professor adviser, huh… so that's what you think… Rei thought, the light reflected on his glasses almost making him look demonic. Yukimura looked at the screen too, rage flaring in his eyes.

"He said 'SEES and the others'… but then… Strega IS planning to butt in!" Shinn jumped.

Konata took a step forward. "If you think your buddies will have it easy, forget it! The SEES guys are much stronger than you people! They'll kick your butt, break your limbs, spit in your eyes and cause you to wet your pants!"

Dennis mimicked an "ooh" and smirked. "You put so much trust in those kids… but you're right… there's a good chance Takaya and Jin will be defeated… if it happens, it only means they were unfit to accomplish their mission."

"That fat-assed bastard… he doesn't give a shit about his pals!" Shinjiro snarled.

The fat German young man shrugged. "None of this matter, anyway… but I do trust you want your lady friend back… so why don't you come here and get it? I'll be waiting… right here!" With another chuckle, the window closed and a section of the city, not too far from the internet point Strega hanged around was highlighted on the screen.

Konata, Kagami and Tsukasa looked at Kumiko, as to ask her opinion and beg her to do something, all clearly concerned about their dear friend. Unfortunately, she was at loss herself. "Looks like the bastard has read through our every move… we clearly CAN'T save Miyuki AND help SEES…"

"B…but Kumi-Chan!" Tsukasa stuttered. "We could try and save Yuki-Chan BEFORE the Dark Hour! We CAN summon Personae outside the Dark Hour… is it possible?!"

"It's not impossible… but I don't know if they will be as powerful… and we don't know what effects that could have… I'm afraid we're sitting ducks this time…"

Konata jumped in front of her, decisive "We can't give up, Kumi-Chan! Not without even trying! Even if it's just an 1% chance of success, it's still not zero! We MUST try!"

While they were talking, Shinn wanted to ask Yukimura an advice, but noticed he was gone… and so was Rei. Shinjiro made him notice that the two of them dashed outside as soon as Dennis broke contact. "Those idiots!! What kind of stunt are they trying to pull out?!" he cried.

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After a couple of weary tries, Miyuki finally managed to open her eyes. She was lying on the damp floor of some sort of old basement. The place had an intense ground smell and could see some cockroaches at a few distance. Immediately, she stood up in a sitting position as she remembered what happened. Her kidnapping. Thanking the heaven her hands weren't tied up, she moved toward the basement's locked door and looked outside through the chink in the upper part of the door; Some people wearing sunglasses and grey hats and shirts were frolicking in front of her room. All she could make out from her words was that there were intruders inside. Everyone?! She thought as she tried to summon Personomicon. The Persona appeared, still, being daylight, the task proved itself much more tiring than during the Dark Hour and she couldn't hold up her concentration enough to scan the surrounding area. Exhausted, she leaned on the wall and took some light breath.

A sudden noise at her back caused her heart to jolt as she braced herself. After a few instant, a person came out from behind some crates: it was a young woman with short purple-reddish hair and deep purple eyes; she wore a white jeans jacket over her pink T-shirt and some cute-looking jeans. Obviously, she was another kidnapped victim like herself. Miyuki took a step toward the girl but she jumped back behind the crates. Miyuki could only guess she saw her Persona and got scared. "Look… I'm not going to hurt you… what you just saw is no evil monster. I'm sorry for startling you, it wasn't my intention."

The girl's head slowly popped out again.

The pink-haired girl stretched a hand to the mysterious girl. "I am Miyuki. Miyuki Takara. May I ask your name?"

Finally she spoke, still insecure. "…Lunamaria… but please, call me Luna."

Miyuki nodded with a sweet smile. "Alright, Luna-San… how did you end here? Do you know what place it is?"

Lunamaria put both hands at her sides and frowned. "I wish I knew… I came here because I've heard of my old comrades being here. While I was searching for the others, this fatso tried and picked on me… since I'm already after a guy, I told him to leave me alone, and as a response, he took me away forcefully and… so, here I am."

Miyuki frowned. She didn't know who the fat person was, but she could only guess he was quite a pervert. One more reason to get out of there immediately.

"Right! I don't think it's the case, but is there a chance you met my comrades? They're two young men named Athrun Zala and Shinn Asuka…"

Miyuki's eyes widened in surprise. So that girl was a friend of those two… "My, yes. I do know them! In fact, they happen to be my friends as well!"

"Wow, talk about a lucky coincidence… one more reason to try and get out of here pronto!" Luna walked towards the door and tried to make it budge. When she failed, she kicked it. "It's in times like these I regret not having my MS…"

"MS?" Miyuki blinked.

The other girl left out an embarrassed chuckle. "Oh… no, nothing! Say, can't you use that book/monster/thing you called earlier to break through this door?"

"No… I'm sorry… it can only analyze…"

"We MUST get out of here somehow… I don't even want to think about what that fatso will do to me…" Lunamaria shuddered, teary-eyed.

Miyuki didn't say nothing. She looked outside through the chink, hoping she could manage to see who the intruders were. Suddenly, two vivid amber eyes peeked inside from under blond forelocks. Miyuki instinctively hid when she heard the person doing something to the lock. In a matter of seconds, the room door was forced open and the two girls were free to go. Another girl was standing on the doorway: she was blond, not too curvy and wore a red T-shirt, brown pants and gloves and was carrying a rifle with her. "

"So there ARE people held here… those chatterbox soldiers! If they didn't want people to know about this stuff, they shouldn't go around telling everyone… oh well, it's all at my advantage! But most important, you gals OK?"

"Y…yes…" Miyuki replied, feeling a little disappointed about her saviour not being Yukimura and the others, but still grateful to the blond girl. "Um… and you are?"

"Look, we can have all the time you want for introductions once we're outta here!" she grunted. "Let's move out as long as those other two guys are drawing the scumbag's attention!"

"You mean you didn't come here alone?" Lunamaria asked.

"Nah, those guys have nothing to do with me… but they're raising a real hell upstairs." The woman said, looking out for sentinels. "Are they by chance your friends? Seems like they were looking for someone and since you were the only ones here…"

The other two girls shared a confused gaze. "Have you by chance seen them?"

"Let's see…" the blondie reflected. "One of them was a tall man with glasses… and I think the other was well-muscled with fiery red hair…"

Miyuki gasped when she heard that. "Kuro-Sensei… Yuki-Kun… we need to reach them immediately!"

Lunamaria Hawke: Also known as simply Luna, she seems like an ordinary teenager in both her ways, attitude and look. She's a nice girl who also happens to know Shinn and Athrun as both friends and comrades. Even though she seems to hail from the same place they do, she seems to ignore about the Dark Hour and Personae and doesn't even show to have any sign of the potential.

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"Boss!" one of the men Dennis hired saluted as he entered the room "The girls have escaped!"

"What? How could it happen?!" he asked, getting off his seat.

"We…we've been had… there was a third intruder aside those two… and she's pretty tough herself!"

Dennis' scowl became a smirk once he heard about the third intruder being a girl. "It doesn't matter you idiot… you just take care of the other two men… kill them, if you must! I will take care of the woman personally…"

The man jolted. "W…we WOULD kill them, but they're decimating us as they breach our defense lines… they possess a power which isn't simply that form of potential…!"

"Oh, but in the end they're still a kid and a computer teacher… they shouldn't be able to win if you gang up… gather all men who can still fight and assault them… all of you! Don't forget I'm paying you dearly for this task…" The German man said, pulling the other man's shirt. Once Dennis released him, he bowed and dashed outside. Then the fat one took out a mirror and started fixing his hair.

"Finding decent help is so hard nowadays, huh?" a voice said at his back. Dennis recognized it since it belonged to Kurz.

"That Jin… he got me! The information he gave to me was completely wrong! I sure hope those SEES brats will kill him tonight and he will writhe in hell once this mess will be over! A man like that CAN'T possibly be a simple computer teacher!" Dennis growled, pounding his fist on his desk.

"This man seems to be nothing but trouble… who is he anyway?" Kurz asked.

"Beats me… the file Jin gave to me said he's nothing more than a computer teacher named… uhm… how was the name…? Oh yeah! Kurohagane… Rei Kurohagane."

Kurz's eyes widened in shock as he heard that name. He had been knowing Kurohagane for a while and they were more than enemies. More than once the cross-dresser succumbed to the man's power. Feeling chills running up his spine, he stepped back. If he really is involved… and finds me here… my chances of taking over Strega and this world will be reduced to zero… sorry lardy, my business with you here is done. No hard feelings, OK? "Uh… I see you're getting ready to meet those girls… which I'm not interested in… so, I'll be leaving now… have fun, OK?" he said before running off, unseen.

"Hmph… sure, run ahead you chicken… it only means more fun for me…" Dennis hummed, still looking at himself in the mirror.

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With a whooshing sound, Rei's knife flew into the hair and pierced through the sentry's neck. After his poor victim fell on the floor, he checked at his back as Yukimura, with a furious battlecry, stabbed and pierced the other over and over with his cross-shaped spear. When the storm passed, both teacher and teenager proceeded onward in the building. After running for a few meters, the man's ear caught a suspicious sound and he froze in his battle stance. "Yukimura-Kun… I think the true party is about to begin…" he whispered with a smirk. Behind him, Yukimura clenched his grip on his spear.

It all happened in a matter of seconds. The two of them were quickly surrounded by a very large group of armed minions. Once again, Rei readied his knives, a sinister light on his glasses making his eyes hard to see. "Is Dennis always so good at welcoming people or we're just lucky?"

With a snap of fingers, the commander ordered the bunch to attack Yukimura and Rei. They moved to do so, but a strange flowing of energy kept them at distance. As if Rei's aura wasn't powerful enough, Yukimura's was pretty scary itself as the young man started to literally snarl, keeping his torso hunched forward, steam coming out of his mouth at each of his heavy breaths.

"What are you waiting for?! Attack them!!" the commander shouted.

"B…but …these two clearly aren't normal folks!" one of the men stuttered.

"YOU IDIOT! We've been hired to do this! If we don't get the job done, we won't get paid!"

"But we won't get to enjoy any reward if we're dead…" another man muttered…

"Did you say something?!" Their boss angrily yelled.

"N…n…not at all, boss… CHAAAAAARGE!" the man said, prompting all the others to attack.

Rei swirled his knives in his hands and stabbed the enemies as much as they came, with swift, precise and deadly swings. Some professionals… I don't even need to use my full power on these gnats… that's good, I'll save everything I have for that lardbag! He thought as he fought, barely breaking a sweat. Yukimura fought too, but unlike the teacher, who demonstrated an icy calm, he was the fiery rage of a volcano, slashing and screaming as if he was possessed, his eyes being nothing but red pools with a speck of black and steam coming out of his mouth. As more and more enemies were on him, too many he could handle with just his spear, the teenager took out his Evoker and called Shingen forth, hinting he was a fury, but could also be able to think and reason. Many fell under the blows of Yukimura and Shingen's spears. In the end, only their boss was left who, after just standing there yelling orders around, cowardly tried to make a run for it. Rei moved to stop him with one of his knives, but noticing Yukimura's fast movements, he let him be as the red-haired teenager pierced one of his legs with his spear, preventing him from moving. After that, he proceeded with punching and kicking him. The man's blood ran cold as he gazed into his eyes. "Oh p…p…p…please… I… I was forced to do this job… I… I have a wife at home with two little children, I have to get money to feed them somehow. FORGIVE MEEEEE!!" he whined as tears and snot came out of his eyes and nose.

The teenager violently grabbed his hair and forced him to look at him. "Where's Miyuki?!" he asked.

"Th…the girl? I… I don't know, I swear!" He frantically shook his head.

Yukimura's eyes become even wilder as he prepared himself to punch him again, but Rei halted him. With a nice yet dark smile, the professor took out a knife and put it close enough to the man cheek a flick of blood ran from it. "…any second thought?" he asked.

"I…I…I… I really don't know! I mean, we just locked those two chicks inside the basement, but they escaped on their own because of another bitch! I think they're still in here… that's all I know, please believe me!!"

Rei let him go, causing him to fall on the floor with a thud. "Two girls?... so Miyuki's not the only one… Always if this scum here told us the truth… regardless, we need to find them immediately."

As the two of them started to walk away, the commander tried to take some sort of remote control out of his pocket. Catching that movement in the corner of his eye, Rei flung one of his knives backward, which fell on the man's hand, stabbing it and causing the remote control to fall and slip farther.

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Miyuki, Luna and the blond girl were still running through the building, trying to find either the exit or Miyuki's friends who were looking for them. Strangely, there was no one around after hearing some big commotion and fighting noises in the building, but the place was structured just like a maze due to many doors being nailed shut and the dim light inside made finding the way even harder. Even when they tried to use an elevator, it was out of service… the place must have been an abandoned flat compartment.

Finally, the three girls managed to find the big wooden door leading out but, as they moved to set off, they saw Dennis standing in their way, clapping his hands with a satisfied smile.

"Sehr gut (Authoress' note: for those who don't know it, it means "Very good" in German), my dearest. What a lovely tag game… too bad I seem to have won…"

The young blondie placed herself in front of the other two as Lunamaria braced herself. "It's him… the fatso who pestered me!"

"Well well, so that means I'm gonna kill two birds with a stone, huh?" the golden-haired woman readied her rifle. "Very well, Strega-er! Your group has been pestering others for too long… first I'll teach YOU a lesson, then I'll get your other friends too!"

Miyuki jolted. "He…he's from Strega?! But… how do you know?! Who are you?!"

The girl hesitated for a moment, enough for Dennis to draw his Evoker and summon his disturbing Persona, Mara. Lunamaria covered her mouth, trying hard to not puke, the blond woman looked at him in a mix of horror and disgust and Miyuki fainted as soon as she saw IT.

"Now, now…" Dennis chuckled. "I'm not going to kill you fine frauleins, I'll just play a little with you if you don't mind…"

Arrrgh, this is all your fault, Kira!! The blond girl mentally cried as tears stung her eyes. If you stopped angsting around and came along, now I wouldn't have to put up with this crap!! But NO, you were too shocked by that poor guy's death…!

At his user's command, Mara moved to use his Maralagidyne on the girls, but a voice stopping him as a knife flew in the room. Everyone looked in the direction both went to see Rei and Yukimura. Immediately, the red-haired boy picked up Miyuki's body and shook it. It took her a while but she regained consciousness, feeling at ease as soon as her eyes focused on his face.

"MiWiki… I'm so glad… you're… OK…" he whispered as he suddenly felt very weak and winded up. Concerned, both Miyuki and Luna tried and support him. "I'm… OK… I'm just a little… tired…" he said.

"It's because you fought until now to protect me, right… thanks, Yuki-Kun… I don't know how, but I'll repay you somehow…" Miyuki said, softly kissing his cheek.

"Yukimura-Kun… take Miyuki and the others and go to the hotel now." Rei calmly ordered.

"But Sensei, I can still…" He tried to get up, but his strength isn't enough to do it properly.

"Do as I say… I'm more than enough for this one… besides, you have to concern yourself about her safety…"

"I… I understand…" the young man nodded and all of them went past Dennis and Rei to get out the building. Dennis tried to stop them, of course, but Rei stepped right in front of him.

"Tsk… you don't know what you're getting into… GEEK!" Dennis muttered, wiping off his chin. "Now I'll make you pay double for letting those cuppy cakes go!"

Rei fixed his glasses, which seemed to shine as he built up power within. "Let me just tell you one thing before I put your miserable life to an end: you pissed off the wrong person."

A strong gust of red and blue energy was emitted by the professor's body, which threw Dennis backward. "There's more… you're about to find out how frightening dying by something you hear the name of can be…" with that, he stretched his right arm outward as the energy swirled at his back

"Daemon… ASTRANAGUN!!!"

As soon ah Rei uttered these words, the energy flow merged, taking the shape of some sort of mix between a black robot and a demon. The whole building shook at the insane overflow of energy, pieces of plaster falling from the ceiling. Even Dennis' Persona, Mara, hesitated in front of it and started to wane. Dennis felt pure terror as he watched. The man with glasses smirked and said. "Such a moronic arrogance… I shall show you exactly where your place is…" then stretched his other hand onward as a second mechanic being, a massive-looking blue and golden, evil-looking giant appeared. As the man focused, the one named Daemon Astranagun gathered his power in some sort of red, mystical crest, while the other gathered gravity to create some sort of a massive black hole. As the two different energies melted together in a dark flare, Rei started chanting in a solemn tone.

"With the hellish flames of calamity… burn across the horizon… leaving only death and ruination in your wake… come forth, degenerative RAGNAROK!!"

A massive blast of red and black was unleashed upon the German boy, creating a bright explosion of light that literally caused the earth to shake as, from outside the building, flashes of white, red and black could be seen and a massive explosion followed after. It was a relief the place was abandoned and built with anti-quake measures, otherwise the whole building would have collapsed, causing countless victims. Most of people in the neighbourhood escaped in fear when they heard that commotion. As for Dennis… he died screaming, although he could have never known… everything that was left of him was nothing more than ashes.

While this was happening, Miyuki, Yukimura and the others managed to catch up with the rest of the group that was looking out for them, but before they got the chance to talk, they could hear the explosion and Miyuki, feeling an insane flow of energy, worried about Rei and insisted to go back and check. Once they reached the place's entrance, they were greeted by the professor, who looked perfectly normal. Behind him, they could see Dennis' ashes. That's… crazy… you mean HE did that? Kumiko thought, as shocked as everybody else were. Besides, there's no way he could do it for a girl who's simply working under him… if I didn't know it's impossible, I'd say he's engaged with a Miyuki Takara from another dimension… still, that possibility seem quite possible to me, I don't understand why…

As if nothing ever happened, the teacher quietly looked around. "What are you all doing here? The show is over, there's nothing more to watch… but…" his eyes went on the two new girls. "There are new guests among us, hm?"

Miyuki's mind snapped out of her daze and she took Luna's hand. "Oh, right… Luna-San! You said you wanted to meet Zala-San and Asuka-San…!"

As soon as they heard the name and noticed the girl, both Shinn and Athrun were more than surprised. Immediately, Lunamaria glomped both of them, merrily. "Oh, I've been searching all over for you! It was mean on your part leaving me alone for so long…" she cried.

"Y…yeah, you're right… sorry for worrying you so much, Luna… we would have contacted you, but we could never guess you were here as well!" Shinn awkwardly answered.

The girl examined her friend's face with a playful smile. "Shinn… acting nice and considerate? Is the world going to end soon?"

"Say, guys… won't you introduce us to your lady friend?" Konata asked.

"Right." Shinn cleared his voice and gestured to the girl. "Meet Lunamaria Hawke. We used to be partners before ending here in Tatsumi Port Island."

Lunamaria smirked and nudged Shinn. "…Oh? I see you kept yourself pretty busy when I wasn't around, huh? Surrounded by many kinds of babes… are you trying to steal Athrun's spotlight or what?"

Yukimura, who was supported by Miyuki to stand up, laughed when he heard her. "Don't worry, Lunamaria-San… these girls here are nothing more than friends to him…although Kumiko-San here might be mistaken for his older sister… and no one will ever spot Athrun's spotlight in being a ladykiller, I'm afraid!"

Athrun proudly nodded when Yukimura said those words, but his merriness died out as soon as he felt the blond girl's hand on his shoulder and turned around to see her, her eyes concealed by her forelocks. "So… I see you're still into that stuff you sunnova…"

He gulped and smiled sheepishly. "Er… hi, Cagalli…"

"Don't 'hi, Cagalli' me you little double-crosser!"

"Yet another one of your lady friends, Athrun-San?" Kagami asked with an ironic smile.

The girl, Cagalli, shook her head. "You're wrong. I'm not 'yet another one', I'm supposed to be his true, only girlfriend… but since this lame cheater keeps rushing after every single skirt he sees, I…I don't know how I'm still able to put up with such a jerk!"

"In any event, I gotta thank you for helping us rescue Miyuki, Cagalli-San" Yukimura said. And then, in her ear. "…and don't worry, I got your back as far as that idiot is concerned… next time he'll try and cheat on you, I'll kick his ass personally."

Shinn looked at her and frowned. "…still, what brings you here in our lowly presence, Your Highness…?" he said turning his back at her, causing the others, aside Rei and his comrades, to be confused.

Cagalli wanted to talk back, but Rei halted her. "Let him be for the moment, Princess." he whispered to her. "I'm afraid despite the days he spent here, he still hates Orb and its representatives… especially after meeting Kira weeks ago."

"So you know about us, huh…? I figured you weren't an ordinary man, ever after what you did… just drop the princess term with me, OK? I'm just a girl since Orb doesn't exist here." she whispered back. Then, to the others. "I mainly have two reasons for being here: one is to keep Athrun on eye, of course… the other is to make a contact and support you."

"Well we don't need your help, thank you. We can do it on our own!" Shinn replied, starting to walk away. Kumiko tried to call him, but Rei told her to let him go ahead.

The blondie sighed and then continued. "I'll be blunt: I was asked to help you by my br… I mean, by Kira… normally, I'd ask him to do it himself if he wants to do it, but… he's been pretty down lately, ever since a certain incident a few weeks ago…"

"Are you talking about what happened to Aragaki-San?" Miyuki asked.

She nodded. "That and his clash with Athrun… Kira locked himself in his room and refuses to get out, saying he feels guilty for his death, as if he killed him himself. Naturally, I tried to persuade him, but he didn't want to listen. Don't think ill of him, he's a good boy… maybe too good for the world he lives in…"

Cagalli Yula Atha: A combative, somehow tomboyish girl who's also the Princess of a country named Orb, existing in the reality she lived in before being beamed in the reality this story takes place. She's a Natural (An ordinary human) who can use the SEED mode like Coordinators but, unlike Athrun, Shinn and Kira, even though she can move within the Dark Hour, she doesn't also have the Persona potential. Tough, reckless and a little foul-mouthed at times, she's also able to show a sensitive, feminine side. She's also Athrun's standard girlfriend, although he repeatedly cheats on her.

11/04/09

The whole atmosphere felt much lighter that day. SEES members successfully managed to defeat Takaya and Jin from Strega and also conquered the 12th shadow. All of them felt they managed to bring the Dark Hour to an end and save the world. Also the victims of Apathy Syndrome also known as The Lost seemed like on the way of recovery after the previous day's big battle. As promised, Kagayaku members were invited over for a big party to celebrate the accomplishment of the mission and also as a way to thank her for always being supportive when needed. Rei had no objection to the party, but ordered Kumiko to make sure they all came back to Kotobuki Hotel before midnight. She didn't really understand why, but decided to comply anyway.

That night, all of the members went to the dorm (Aside Shinjiro who stayed at the hotel with Rei and Luna and who demanded Kumiko to bring him some sushi), including Cagalli (Who, that same day, started attending classes at Gekkoukan High School and who kept Athrun on a leash, literally). Once inside the dorm, they were greeted by bounty of the finest sushi on the table. Even Kumiko left out a quiet squeal when she saw it all. Everyone was there but Ikutsuki and Aigis, since the first took the latter to his lab for an overhaul.

And so they all started to eat, talk and have more fun. Mitsuru talked to Cagalli so to know each other better (Although the blond princess mostly took note of all the times Athrun tried to pick up the red-haired young woman.); Yukari was astonished of how much sushi both Kumiko and Konata were eating, while Akihiko, when Kagami said she didn't want much because she was on a diet, remarked about how thin she actually was. The funny thing was he didn't blush!

Soon after, a car stopped by the dorm and Mitsuru's father, Takeharu Kirijo, entered with two of his bodyguards. The head of the Kirijo Group congratulated with both Persona-using groups and wished them a triumphal return to an ordinary life. This prompted Athrun to remind Shinn that maybe, if the Dark Hour was really over, they would have been able to go back home. The black-haired boy looked at his sushi with a sad smile. "… I don't want to go back…"

"But why?!" Athrun asked, wide-eyed. "Don't you miss our true world?"

"Actually I don't… not anymore… there's nothing left for me there… besides, I think that, staying here, I can finally figure out what I really want… I mean, if we're automatically warped back the way we ended here, it's OK, but… if I can stay more, I want to stay…"

His blue-haired senpai grumbled. First Meer expressing the wish of staying there as that world's Lacus and now Shinn too? "…there's not much I can say if that's what you want…" he reluctantly mumbled.

Junpei then called both of them for taking a massive group picture, causing Kumiko to refuse because Aigis not being there with them, but he replied they would have taken another later. And so both groups posed together for the pic, both Kagami and Akihiko scolding at Konata and Junpei when both stroke a bunny-ears pose and said "VI!!" ala Yurika Misumaru from Nadesico. Akihiko pulled Junpei backward, causing him to tumble and the picture came with everyone looking at him in awe.

When there was less than one hour left to midnight, the Kagayaku members thanked Mitsuru and his father for the party and said goodbye to the rest of the group. Once they were back, Luna asked them how it was and Shinn told her everything, while Kumiko gave Shinjiro the sushi he asked for. "Hmm, first-rate… just like Mitsuru." He rubbed his hands together with a satisfied smile preparing to dig in.

"So, how was the party at the dorm?" Rei asked as he walked downstairs to meet them.

"Lovely, Sensei." Kumiko answered with a small smile. "…too bad Aigis-Chan had to go through an overhaul and couldn't come… I would have liked to see her all tuned-up!"

"Blame it on Kuro-Sensei!" Konata snickered. "HE's the one who asked us to be back before midnight as if we were kids at their first time in a club disco!"

"Well, there IS a reason I asked you to come around this time…"

Kagami crossed her arms. "…to make sure we're ready in case the Dark Hour doesn't end?"

He nodded as Lunamaria looked at them, confused.

"But Teach… the twelve shadows have been defeated… there's no way the Dark Hour is not gonna end…" Shinjiro remarked, perplexed.

The teacher smirked. "Well let's wait for midnight if you don't believe me…"

And so they all waited until the clock reached midnight…

As to be expected, the sky and moon became green, blood appeared in blotches here and there…

Even Lunamaria, who was right next to them, instantly transformed into a black coffin emanating a red aura. Shinn was pretty shocked in seeing her like this.

Shinjiro couldn't believe it. "What? Again?! Are you fucking kidding me?!"

Kumiko shook her head. "I feared it might have happened… especially after having that dream I usually have again…"

Rei frowned. "Looks like we weren't wrong in pursuing a different path from SEES…"

The ghost got off his seat. "It gotta end… when the shadows are defeated… the Dark Hour's s'posed to end!"

Athrun hushed them. "Don't you listen something like… a bell?"

In fact he was right: although distant, a bell ringing was clearly audible in the whole area. It was a hollow, ominous bell, its sound giving the creeps.

"Judging from the direction… I'd say it comes from where Tartarus is…" Shinn added.

"What is this bullshit, Teach?! If you know, you gotta tell us NOW!" Shinjiro spat, clearly angry. A rarity for the composed and laid-back ghost-boy.

Rei nodded and sat down. "Remember the files Shinn got from the terminal within Iwatodai dorm when we rescued Junpei? I analyzed those data in the following days and from that I realized the truth…" he paused before continuing, intensely looking at the teenagers in front of him. "Defeating the twelve shadows is not going to make the Dark Hour disappear… quite the opposite."

"So the Kirijo Group DID deceive SEES in the end...?!" Kagami asked while frowning.

Rei shook his head. "No… not the Group itself… it was all a scheme planned by Shuji Ikutsuki in order to make them do as his bidding."

"But wasn't the Kirijo Group what brought Tartarus and the Dark Hour upon us?" Kumiko asked. "Is that a lie too?!"

"Of course, the Kirijo Group made it happen back then… Kouetsu Kirijo was planning the same thing Ikutsuki does now when he performed that wretched experiment ten years ago… he harnessed the power of shadows to bring forth Tartarus and the Dark Hour on purpose… still his son, Takeharu, didn't agree with his vision… he too, like the other SEES members, was now tricked by Ikutsuki's dastardly scheme."

"Planning… what is Ikutsuki planning? What is this vision?" Tsukasa asked, ever more confused.

The professor frowned and fixed his glasses before explaining. "The twelve shadows were originally one single entity… and were destined to be reunited, to become one once again… and by defeating them, SEES made their reunion possible… their reunion as the almighty mother of all shadows, which will descend upon the world to bring forth the Fall: Death."

All the present teenagers gasped when they heard that. It didn't sound good at all. Shinn remembered one of the file talking about the fall of society… maybe it was related to what they were listening then…

The teacher continued. "The Fall is the end of everything as we know it… the end of all life. The end of the world… and the start of another. That's what Ikutsuki wants."

Kumiko placed a hand over her mouth, remembering her dream about the end. "…and you say that Mitsuru's grandfather wanted to bring forth the Fall when he did that experiment… and THAT's why he created Tartarus… and the Dark Hour?!"

"If I remember correctly" Miyuki mused. "Kouetsu Kirijo was a nihilist man who came to hate this world… is it possible he did it to erase the world he thought so ugly to create a new, purer one?"

Yukimura nodded. "Prolly, that Ikutsuki jerkass is planning the same shit…"

"According to a prophecy which was also listed in those files, the Fall will be brought forth by an individual known as 'the Prince'… a Prince who shall rule over the new world once the old one is destroyed…" Rei added.

Kumiko grimaced. "…So he ultimately just wants to rule the world."

"OF COURSE!" Konata blurted.

Shinjiro sunk his head down. "I never knew… even though I was one of the starting members… I never had idea…"

Kumiko looked at him with a friendly expression. "We know…we know you have nothing to do with this… you're a good lad… maybe too good for your own sake."

"But then… what will become of the SEES members…?" Tsukasa asked, cupping her chin?

The professor shook his head. "…. There's a good chance he'll ask them to follow him to reach salvation…"

Kagami snapped. "There's NO WAY they'd agree!" everyone else nodded at her remark.

"Yeah, I think not even Yukari'd do such a silly thing…" Konata added.

"That reminds me…what about the video Takeba-San's father left?" Miyuki asked, perplexed. "Wait… you mean Ikutsuki-San doctored it on purpose like I suspected?"

Rei grimly nodded. "Eiichiro Takeba never wished for the Fall… rather, he gave his life to prevent it."

"That bastard, Ikutsuki!! He even uses the dead, throwing mud on the true reason they died?! I'm SO gonna carve a new belly button on him once I get him!!" Shinn cried as he pounded his own lap in a fit of rage.

"…why didn't you told us about this earlier, Sensei?!" Athrun asked, looking into the professor's eyes. "If we knew, we would have told SEES and-"

"…and then what?" Kumiko asked, crossing her arms. "That group is filled with stubborn people, I doubt they would have actually listened to outsiders like us… and I'm pretty sure Ikutsuki would have…'rearranged' the info we would have provided at his own advantage… like he did with everything so far…"

Shinjiro nodded while punching his other palm. "I'm with Kumi. Now it's the best moment to tell them what really happened: the Dark Hour didn't disappear like everyone hoped for and Ikutsuki's credibility will start wobbling. If we wanna warn'em, we oughta do it now, before the four-eyed jerkass makes his move!"

Miyuki became thoughtful for a moment as if she focused on something, then a chill crossed her spine. "I'm…I'm afraid it might be too late…"

Everyone else looked at her confused. Instantly the girl with glasses made Personomicon appear in front of herself and gasped as she checked the book-shaped Persona. "Ah!! I… I was right! Everyone has left the dorm… they're all gathered somewhere inside Tartarus… and… Ikutsuki-San and Aigis-San are there too!"

"Aigis-Chan?!" Kumiko jolted. "Wait, you mean that overhaul she went through was…?!"

Rei nodded again. "He probably reprogrammed her in order to sacrifice the SEES members in the event of their refusal to his proposal as the elite who shall be saved from the world being destroyed… they'll become the catalysts… harbingers of his Fall."

Everyone was even more shocked by the man's words. After a few seconds of dumbfounded silence, Kagami got off her seat and leapt in front of Kumiko, clearly furious. "W…we can't let it happen, no matter what! Kumiko, there's no time to waste!"

The brunette nodded, decisive. "After all, our mission is to unveil the truth about this whole situation and act so to put an end to it… besides, we can't just let SEES members to die because of a madman like that guy!"

"You heard your boss, everyone. Prepare for battle, pronto." Rei proclaimed, satisfied. "From this moment on, our biggest operation, Operation P3, is in process!"

"P3?" Tsukasa tilted her head, as confused as the others. As she walked downstairs to get prepared with the rest of the group, she asked: "Say… what do you think P3 stands for?"

Kumiko passed fingers over her lips and reflected. "Oh, maybe it's Rei-Sensei's three Ps: Pervert Perky Professor!"

"I think it stands for Persona 3!" Konata nodded, positive.

"What a ridiculous name… it doesn't mean anything!" Kagami grimaced.

The small, blue-haired girl shook her head. "That's not correct: after all, we have three groups of Persona-users, no?"

Kagami couldn't find any argumentation to talk back with and simply sighed in disbelief.

As soon as everyone were done equipping themselves, they all set off for Tartarus. Shinjiro (Who stayed inside Kumiko's head), Rei and Athrun were with them as well as Cagalli monitored the situation inside the hotel. As for Athrun, there was an argument about him taking part on the rescue operation, having lost his Persona, but the blue-haired teenager managed to persuade everyone about letting him go, saying he would have fought anyhow to help Mitsuru and the others. In the end, Kumiko agreed, seeing how dead serious he was about the whole matter.

Once they were a few distance from the tower, Miyuki summoned Personomicon to see where exactly the others were. She recognized the place as the school observatory, but said it was a completely different area from the standard ones they visited when they climbed the tower and wasn't sure about how reaching it. Just when everyone were starting to give up hope, Shinn heard a loud barking coming closer, as a familiar-looking dog rushed toward them.

"Koro! You're OK! What a relief…" Kumiko smiled as she knelt down next to Koromaru, who ran in circles and barked at her while nervously wagged his tail. Then, he started barking and whimpering frantically. "Whoa, calm down, boy! I can't make out what you're trying to say!"

Tsukasa sat on the floor and stroke the dog on his head, making him whimper and look at her with his deep and sad eyes. "He says everyone went to Tartarus leaving him behind, so he trailed them. And he also said he saw Aigis knocking them all unconscious and taking them off somewhere in the tower!"

Both Shinn and Kagami gasped. "W… you UNDERSTAND dog language too?!"

The short-haired girl chuckled awkwardly. "Yeah, it happens to be not too complicated for some reason…"

"Tsukasa! Ask him if he saw where the others went!" Yukimura cried.

Immediately, she did and also asked to take them where they went. Once she did, Koromaru dashed toward the tower and everybody followed him inside. With the dog's smelling and Miyuki's ability, they reached a new side trail to follow upstairs, to the observatory. Unfortunately, their journey wasn't simple, since they soon met large numbers of shadows blocking their way. The dog put himself in-between them and the Kagayaku members, snarling savagely.

"It was to be expected…" Kumiko whispered as she readied her chakrams.

"They're not very strong, but we will waste valuable time if we stand here and fight them." Miyuki said while analyzing them.

Then, Kagami stepped in front of the others, her machinegun ready. With a battle cry, she took down the whole row of shadows blocking their path and rushed onward decisive. As more and more shadows approached, her determination in battle was enhanced. She would have done everything to save Akihiko and the others. "I won't let anyone of you stop me!! Not this time!!!" she yelled as she took out her Evoker and summoned her Persona, which, in an explosion of light, became some sort of white mechanic humanoid surrounded by an energy aura. "Let's do it, ARBALEST!!" she ordered him as the Persona took out a massive rifle and decimated a whole bunch of shadows.

"That's amazing, Sis!" Tsukasa jumped.

"Yeah, Kagamin! That was SO Contra!" Konata nodded, following her friend's movement with her eyes and humming the jungle theme from the first game of the series. Rei did the same soon after, while both Kumiko and Athrun shook their heads in disbelief.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kenji finally managed to reopen his eyes, after a few exhausted tries. For some reason, he was unable to move, as if he was pinned. As a matter of fact, he was: tied to some sort of cross which was made of steel girders. He gasped when he saw he wasn't the only one: the rest of his team members minus Koromaru and Aigis were in the same situation; the android girl was standing in front of them, her eyes completely empty and soulless. She was holding a man, Takeharu Kirijo. Mitsuru was pretty shocked when she saw it. Both the robot and the man were facing Ikutsuki the traitor.

"What is the meaning of this, Ikutsuki?!" Takeharu spat.

The former scientist graced him with a twisted smile. "It's just like it appears: those people are the sacrifices- the harbingers of the Fall. The arrangements are complete and soon the prophecy shall be fulfilled!"

With that, Aigis raised an arm, reading her built-in gun. Mitsuru felt a chill down her spine, it was definitely not good.

"You traitor! Are you insane?!" The head of the Kirijo Group snapped.

"Of course not!" Ikutsuki chuckled. "How unfortunate for your father… even you, his son, couldn't grasp his vision even after all this time."

Kirijo shook his head. "My father was wrong. No one should ever embrace the ideology of death as deliverance!"

"How bothersome… Aigis, now!" the man with glasses ordered to the reprogrammed android.

Like the loyal puppet she became, Aigis cocked her arm, ready to fire.

"Please, Aigis! Don't!! NOOO!!" Mitsuru desperately cried.

Seemingly, the young woman's cries had some effect on the android, who faltered for a moment and dropped her gun-arm. Enraged, Ikutsuki took out a revolver from his coat and pointed it at Takeharu.

"Ten years…" the chairman muttered. "I've wasted ten long years! I'm not like your father… I won't make any exceptions!"

Not wasting any time, Takeharu shrugged himself off Aigis' grip and pulled out his own gun, aiming at Ikutsuki. In the time span of two heartbeats, both of them fired. A loud bang followed after and then a few seconds of silence. Then, Takeharu's body crumpled on the floor, limp.

Mitsuru watched the whole scene in horror. "Father… FATHEEEEEEEER!!" she desperately called, getting no response.

As for Shuji, he was still alive, although Kirijo's bullet hit him in the side, which he was clenching to stop the bleeding. "Aigis… it's time to end it… eliminate the sacrifices now!" he ordered, pushing the red button on a remote control. Instantly, the robot girl's eyes flashed red and she aimed both her gun-arms at the crucified bunch in front of her. This time, their cries couldn't reach her as a clicking sound was heard from both her forearms.

Before she had the chance to fire, a flying chakram hit the android, causing her to kneel down on the floor as it returned, like a boomerang, in its user's hands.

Everyone looked in the direction the ring flew from and gasped when they saw a familiar bunch of teenagers and their mentor: Kagayaku.

"NOT SO FAST, IKUTSUKI!!" Konata spat, pointing a finger at the man. "You just activated our TRAP CARD!!"

"Everyone! Kagami!!" Akihiko said when he saw them.

"We're pulling you down, guys!" Kagami smiled at him, still carrying her machinegun.

Ikutsuki grumbled something unintelligible and tried to reach for his gun again, but before he could, Shinn and Athrun pointed their weapons at him.

"Your game is up, Ikutsuki. You'd better not try anything!" Rei said, from afar.

Ikutsuki chuckled. "I don't need to… AIGIS!"

As she heard his voice, Aigis charged onward, ready to attack. As fast as she was, Kumiko moved to intercept her, blocking her movements while parrying with her chakrams.

"Ah! KUMI-CHAN!!" Tsukasa cried.

"She'll be fine! You girls and Yukimura-Kun focus on getting the SEES members off those crosses!" Rei ordered, stretching a hand outwards.

The battle between the two girls promised to be both intense and without a break. The android was incredibly fast, but the human teenager was no less. Seeing an opening, Kumiko slashed downward with her right chakram, but Aigis parried by crossing both forearms in front of her face. The silence of night was covered by a loud clanging sound.

"Aigis-Chan! Snap out of it! This isn't you!!"

The robot looked at her. The brunette's blood ran cold when she glanced at her soulless eyes, giving the blond android some momentum. She kicked Kumiko in her mid-section, pushing her backward. Kumiko rolled backward so to not fall and clenched her chakrams even tightly. Curses… she's completely brainwashed!

Aigis took some slow steps towards her, still looking at her emotionless. If I only could knock her unconscious, I know Rei-Sensei would be able to fix her… Kumiko thought as she charged to the cyber girl once again, swinging her metal rings at her as swift as gusts of wind. Aigis dodged all of her assaults and grabbed Kumiko's arms, activating her inner thrusters enough to hover a little and rolled in the air taking her human opponent with her before slamming her on the floor, hard. Kumiko clenched her teeth as her body touched the floor, her whole body screaming in pain.

Yukimura and the others, who were done pulling the SEES members off their crosses (Except for Tsukasa who was literally crushed under Kenji's weight, unable to catch him) moved to help her, but the girl gestured them to not move as she slowly got up. I'll get you out of this, Aigis-Chan… even if it kills me!! She once again clenched her chakrams and charged with a battle cry. This time, she hurled one to Aigis, but the robot deflected it with one arm. She then locked on Kumiko and shot with her gun-arms. The human swiftly dodged hails after hails of bullets by sidestepping and slashed the robot. She received the blow but wasn't damaged by it. Before Kumiko was able to react, Aigis pointed one of her gun-arms at the girl who was really close to her and shot her in the abdomen. With a moan of excruciating pain, Kumiko flew backwards and knelt down, clenching her stomach under everybody's shocked gaze.

"So… you were desperately trying to restore Aigis? Learn how effective my reprogramming is with your life… you shall be the first one to be sacrificed, so rejoice!" Ikutsuki claimed, stretching both arms. Shinn moved to stab him, but Athrun stopped him, saying he wasn't worthy.

Seeing she wasn't moving, Tsukasa immediately shrugged Kenji off and rushed to heal her, but before she had the chance, she and the other presents felt some strange power emerging and jolting inside her body. Right after that, Kumiko slowly stood up, leering as if she was possessed.

"Yeah… laugh as much as you want, four-eyed asshole… you'll be next…" she chuckled in a darker, lower pitch. Then, she clenched her chakrams and swinged them savagely to strike the robot down. For some reason, though, her movements became much, much slower.

"She can't fight with that wound!" Yukari gasped.

"No… the bullet didn't hit anything vital… look well…" Rei pointed at the girl's abdomen: in fact, only the left side of her waist was bleeding.

But then… now I see! Of course, he can't fight with those… Konata's mind snapped. Then, to the SEES members. "Is there anyone among you who uses an axe or a hammer?"

"Huh? Um… Shinji did, but…" Akihiko replied, scratching his cheek.

"DUH! Aside him, I mean!" The small girl cried.

Kenji looked around and blinked, pointing a finger at himself. "Uh… I decided to wield one after what happened to Shinjiro-Senpai…" he then took out some sort of war hammer. "…but… why you ask?"

Without explanation, Konata took the hammer from his hands and flung it toward Kumiko while shouting. "KUMI-CHAN!! Use THIS!!!"

The hammer went flying toward the girl who, hearing Konata's voice, leapt backwards and looked at her. The blue-haired small girl clenched her right fist in a dynamic way and yelled: "IT'S YOUR AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAXE!!!!"

Immediately, Kumiko caught the hammer, posing ala Daizengar/Dygenguard in the OGs FMV where he first appears and said: "Hammer Connect: Ghostion Hammer!!"

Even Aigis was a little dumbfounded by all those mecha references in less than a minute. Kumiko (Or rather, Shinjiro inside her body) took advantage of the situation and, wielding the war hammer, delivered a powerful blow on Aigis' small white frame. "BE REDUCED TO LIGHT, MOTHER F&/$ER!!!" she screamed as the violent impact slammed the robot on the floor, finally knocking her unconscious. As smoke and some sparks came out of the robot's motionless body, the mysterious force that took over Kumiko's body disappeared and she collapsed on the floor, injured and exhausted. Immediately, Tsukasa frantically rushed to heal her leader and friend. Thankfully, Rei was right: Aigis' bullet didn't damage her inside, so the girl's healing powers could tend her no problem. Kumiko reopened her eyes and smiled at her in gratitude while Tsukasa nodded on the verge of tears, feeling relieved for saving her friend's life.

And… thanks, Shinji-Kun… for fighting at my side… She softly thought

"Huh? Oh, that… I just felt the urge to do it so to see the face that four-eyed jerkass would have made… no big deal…" Shinjiro replied in her mind.

"Useless, defective machine!" Ikutsuki spat, looking at Aigis' damaged frame. "No matter! I'll terminate all of you myself!"

With that, the man took out a remote control. Both Shinn and Athrun moved to stop him, but they were overwhelmed by a swift white and gray blur leaping on Ikutsuki and removing the remote from his hands. As it landed, everyone could see it was Koromaru. The dog kept the remote in his mouth, snarling savagely

The two Coordinators moved closer to the scientist, still aiming their weapons at him. Ikutsuki took some steps back, reaching the edge of the rooftop and looked at all the present people while cackling. "Why can't you understand?! This rotten, pathetic world will only fester as time passes by… the only salvation lies in complete destruction!" he then pointed his gun at them, causing Athrun and Shinn's grip on their weapons to tighten as they still focused on him. "And then, at long last… I shall be the one to rule over the new world!"

"Can't you see, old man?! You've lost! This is the end of your whacky plans!" Yukimura growled, walking closer to him.

They all thought he would have shot at someone, but instead, Ikutsuki dropped his gun at his side and, with a bitter chuckle, he whispered: "I was so close…"

After uttering those words, the man took a few more steps back, letting himself fall off the observatory as time felt like slowing down. Shinn dashed to reach for him, the man's hand literally slipping through his fingers. All the three young men could do in the end was watching as Shuji Ikutsuki fell down, ending his own life.

"DAMMIT!!" Shinn spat, pounding the floor as he sunk down on his knees. "What about all the people who suffered because of you?! You gonna die without paying for what you did to them?! HUH?! ANSWER ME, IKUTSUKI!!"

"Shinn…" Athrun knew what he meant and fully understood his comrade's feelings: he himself couldn't forgive Ikutsuki and the old Kirijo Group members for following such a crazy plan, messing time and space and involving them just to play god and destroy the world. Shinn was more than right about feeling flustered and furious.

"How… how did it come to this…?!" Yukari cried, feeling completely at loss. All of the SEES members felt that way. Easy to understand, since everything they strived for, their whole mission, was found out to be nothing but a lie.

"I… I wish I could find an easy answer to that question… but I can't…" Miyuki whispered, powerless.

"Regardless… this is the end of Shuji Ikutsuki… and his dastardly plans of world dominion." Rei said more to himself than to the present teenagers as he picked up Aigis' damaged body.

Then, everyone walked where Takeharu Kirijo's body lied. Mitsuru was there, crouched next to her father's lifeless body, her weary eyes swelling up with tears.

"One day, my father made a promise… he swore he would have atoned for endangering our generation… even at the cost of his life…" her voice became more and more shakily as she could no longer control her emotions. "But I… I wanted him to live… I… I became a Persona-user… just to protect him…"

As she uttered those words, Mitsuru started sobbing quietly, leaning on her deceased father's body. No one of the presents could find the words to comfort her. Athrun felt heartbroken as he looked at her frail, shaking shoulders; he decided to partake the rescue operation to help, but realized he was completely useless in the end; the blue-haired male senior bit his lower lip, cursing himself for his lack of power in such a delicate moment.

NEXT CHAPTER PREVIEW!!

Konata: Next, on PeruSuri, Kagayaku and SEES wage war at each other!

Kagami: Liar! It never happens!

Konata: I know… but we need to get more readers somehow… I mean, the fic is almost over, for crying out loud!

Kagami: Don't mind her, readers: what really happens is both group joining forces to find a TRUE way of dealing with the Dark Hour and shadows!

Kenji: Yeah! And our class gets a new student! Um… although it might not have much to do with the plotline… or it does?

Junpei: I don't care as long as the new kid is a girl… or some cool playboy!

Yukimura: Oooh, sounds like a certain someone will have some competition… isn't that right, ASS-run?

Athrun: …Huh? Oh… yeah…

Tsukasa: Um… Athrun-Kun? Are you sure you are alright?

Athrun: …It's nothing really…

Aigis: Who might he be? And why do I sense an aura of danger about him?

Ken: The answer is bound to be unveiled as the chapter goes on, I guess…

Fuuka: That and some light will finally be shed upon the true purpose of shadows and the being known as Death!

Kumiko: And as things get more complicated, will we be able to enjoy the upcoming field trip to Kyoto? I sure hope so…

Yukari: I've heard there will be hot springs there… ooh, I don't want to partake in one of those silly onsen skits with lotsa fan service to make pervs happy…!

Konata: And no one wants to see you in such a skit, Takebaka.

Yukari: Ugh! NOT AGAIN!!

Miyuki: The next chapter will also mark the ending for a few main subplots in this story.

Junpei: You mean…THAT? Now what am I gonna do?!

Konata: Ooh! Mind if I listen to Fury Sparks from Tales of Vesperia??

Aigis: Shin Megami Tensei: PeruSuri, chapter 9.

Konata: "My heart pounds with undying love! Kona-Chan's grand battle"!!

Akihiko: …what kind of title is that?! It sounds like something out of some cheesy girly anime!

Shinn: Actually, the title for the next chapter is: "Ryoji Mochizuki"…

Konata: MINE sounds much cooler!

Kumiko: Um… whatever… be sure to read and review… always if you weren't disappointed by the many twists in THIS chapter!

Shinjiro: You DON'T want to miss the next chapter… I mean really, this time…!

BLUE VELVET: The Peru*Suri trivia channel: Ep.8

Elizabeth: Welcome back to the Velvet Room for a new appointment with the trivia, outtakes and other random stuff about this whacky story… I am Elizabeth, the elevator operator and the two nice boys next to me are the Demon Artist Maxwell and today's guest star, who hails from the newest Shin Megami Tensei game for the DS: Devil Survivor.

Blue-haired boy with cat ear-shaped headphone wires: Hi! My name is Kamina Amami, but friends call me Guy! (Actually, that's the name the authoress gave to me in her gamethrough…)

Maxwell: (Kamina…Guy? Figures…)

Elizabeth: So… should we call you Kamina or simply Guy?

Guy: Oh, Guy is fine!

Maxwell: For those of you who don't know the kid, he's a Demon Tamer from Tokyo… in other words, he can summon demons in his reality through this mini computer looking like a Nintendo DS game system his cousin left to him and his two friends.

Elizabeth: Fascinating… so, tell me, Guy… do you have any interesting story to tell us?

Guy: You see, Elizabeth… being stuck inside a city due to a lockdown can be pretty harsh… and there's not much chance to know pleasant stuff since people show their worst side… the only interesting, hilarious pieces of info either come from my friends' e-mails or demons themselves… like, the other day… Pyro Jack told me this very funny story about Mara-"

Maxwell: Whoa, hold it… I hope it has nothing to do with explicit sex… this is a T-rated fic and there's a limit to dirty stuff we can put in!

Guy: Oh, it's nothing dirty, really… it's just about him having a new slump due to another game from our world!

Maxwell: Oh, that! My personal Jack Frost Persona happened to give me a video about it to watch during the transmission! (Looks at Elizabeth with sad puppy eyes) Can we watch it, PLEEEEEZE?

Elizabeth: What happened to "we shouldn't watch funny outtakes and stuff after plot deaths? (Looks at Guy, who's smiling and nodding at her) Whatever, I don't see why not… (Presses a button in her book and the big screen turns on)

MegaTen Special: Dream or Nightmare? Akumu Nikki

Back in the demon world, a few demons, deities and other mystical creatures are gathered in Nyx's bar (Nocturne, anybody?). As the Night Goddess takes the orders at the counter, Ukobach takes care of the grill and Jack Frost ices the drinks. Customers have fun talking about what happened to them, except for a poor Kobold who would like to use the toilet… if not for Belphegor who is in one of his… um… reflection breaks.

Sitting alone next to the counter, Mara looks completely drained of energy and distressed.

"Ouch, looks like you're in a foul mood again…" Izanagi sighs as he sits down to the counter, looking at the wrong-looking demon lord.

"He's been like this since about a week, it seems…" Nyx puffs, playing with her hair.

"Earthbound again?"

"No, he overcame that a long time ago… this time it's an RPG Maker-made game someone from Japan made…" Orobas quietly explained while sipping some barley tea. "You're the Japanese god… you know anything about it?"

Izanagi grimaced. "You know I don't know much about modern Japan… been a while since it was created… say, aren't you the one who answers questions here?!"

After taking another sip of his tea, the horse-shaped demon sighed. "The game I'm talking about is Yume Nikki… some people call it 'When Earthbound Meets Silent Hill'…"

"Oh…kay…" Both Izanagi and Nyx shared a confuse look and the first decided to take a look at the game… especially after Yomotsu-Ikusa calling him a chicken just the other day.

The Japanese deity decides to borrow Lucifer's PC, the same the fallen angel used to check Earthbound and so he tries Yume Nikki. It doesn't take much for him to feel completely at loss… especially after seeing both Uboa and Monoko the five-armed girl in a single day… as if the weirdness of all those dreamy landscapes, looking like a madman's dream after he ate too much of peyote mushrooms wasn't enough. Soon after, Izanagi is spotted banging his head over and over on the closest wall. Seeing him, YHWH approaches, shaking his bald head. "…and then I get surprised when humans make games where they go and kill ME…"

Maxwell: Well, now I am surprised… there's no limit to crazy and trippy games, it appears…

Elizabeth: I find it fascinating… dreams are such a mysterious thing… they reveal so many things about your true self…

Maxwell/Guy: (Narrow-eyed)… that's just a game… !!

Elizabeth: (Embarrassed) Ah… anyway… let's proceed with the program… as you all remember, last chapter was to sad to have a good number of outtakes and such, so we'll show you a blooper from chapter 7 we couldn't show before… VIDEO!

Chapter 7 Blooper – ShinjiRoll'd!!

After the movie marathon, Shinjiro and Kumiko are in the ramen restaurant Hagakure, the first looking thoughtful as the latter enjoys her noodles. Then, noticing how silent he is, she asks him to tell her if something is the matter. "I'm not sure if I might help, but I'm willing to listen…"

Shinjiro slams both hands on the table, causing all the customers to turn around and stands up, looking into her eyes, decisive. He then starts singing:

"Never gonna give you up,

Never gonna let you down,

Never gonna run around and desert you!

Never gonna make you cry,

Never gonna say goodbye

Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you!"

After singing this chorus, he sits back and looks at her. Kumiko stares his face in shock, her whole body quivering. After a few seconds like that, she gets up and runs outside the store, crying while plugging her own ears.

"CUT!!" Shiki screams from her seat. She then walks to Shinjiro, hurling the script on the floor. "SHINJIRO ARAGAKI!! What the $&%£ do you think you're doing?! This never was in the script!"

"…and?" he asks nonchalantly. "The final result was the same, so what? Besides, I think the original script it too harsh… I'm a dick, OK, but that's too mean even for me!"

Shiki can't find a good argumentation and can only slap her forehead while whimpering as she sits back on the director's chair.

Maxwell: Great… just what we needed… this is the third time in a week someone RickRoll'd me…

Guy: Is it THAT bad? I mean, my friend Atsuro got RickRoll'd nine times in a week… and RickRoll'd someone thrice in the same days! He said it always was the same person who fell for it over and over…

Maxwell: (Grumbles)

Guy: !! Don't tell me… (Stifling a laugh) It was YOU?!

Maxwell: ……

Elizabeth: Um… well it could get worse… what if someone used a BAD song instead? Personally, I like that song…

Maxwell: Thanks, anyway, Eliz… but it doesn't make me feel better…

Guy: Ahem… anyway, Elizabeth… do we have any other blooper or outtake to make Maxwell feel better?

Elizabeth: Well, remember when Kenji said he started to wield an axe after Shinjiro's death? I have an outtake about that which also comes as something the authoress calls a voice actor joke… she seems to love those…

Guy: Well, show us!

Chapter 8 Outtake: Strike the Skies with your Axe!!

It's the night of the fight against the 12th shadow and the SEES members also meet Jin and Takaya from Strega as they cross the Moonlight Bridge, where the shadow appeared.

Before the fight starts, Kenji steps in-between the two groups, cross-armed, his school uniform jacket flying in the breeze.

"Shinjiro-Senpai is dead! He's gone!!" he decisively declares. He then shows his new weapon of choice to them. "…but here's right here in my axe…" and punches the left side of his chest with his right hand. "…and here in my heart! HE LIVES ON AS A PART OF ME!!"

Kenji's words cause multiple reactions: Takaya is dumbfounded, Jin doesn't know if either chuckle or swear, Akihiko is deeply moved by his leader's words (Even after he blurts saying "JUST WHO THE HELL DOES STREGA THINK I AM?!"), Junpei cheers for him while Ken and the girls are simply speechless.

Maxwell: Looks like the fic is taking a turn to the manly, awesome and GAR in a mecha way… as if this chapters' references weren't enough…

Guy: Cool!! I wish Atsuro and Keisuke were here, they would have loved this reference… oh, right… Keisuke freshly decided to become like Light Yagami and punish the evil ones after losing it…

Elizabeth: Did he get a Death Note too?

Guy: No, but… I'd say more, but it comes as a spoiler for those who haven't played Devil Survivor yet… and the authoress hates spoilers… so I can't! Sorry!

Elizabeth: She's right… no one should spoil something's plot out of curiosity…

Maxwell: But isn't she doing it with this fic? I mean spoiling the whole Persona 3 storyline?

Elizabeth: Details, just details… you should stop bothering with them! (Claps her hands) Anyway, on with the program… the clip we're about to show you is a gag the authoress was planning to slip in the actual fic… too bad it would have disrupted the serious feel of the whole scene, so she made an outtake of it instead! VIDEO!!

Chapter 8 Outtake: 3 Persona-users Groups

Ikutsuki's plan to sacrifice the SEES kids has failed because of Kagayaku saving the day… even his last weapon was stopped and now he's cornered by Athrun and Shinn.

"I'm just trying to make sure that, through death, this world reaches salvation! Why can't you understand?!" he spat.

Konata approaches him, the two guys making way to her as she points her sword tip at the man's neck. "Death and damnation… you'll find plenty of them down there…"

Ikutsuki nervously smirks. "This is blasphemy, girl! This is madness!!"

"…Madness?" Konata turns around to face Junpei and the others, her sword tip still touching Ikutsuki's throat. The capped teenager looks back at her and nods with a smile. A grim smile takes shape on her face before she shouts. "THIS…IS…KAGAYAKU!!!"

With that, Konata kicks Ikutsuki, right in the crotch and causes him to fall of the observatory rooftop.

Maxwell: …….um… what gender the authoress was again?!

Guy: You say "Authoress", so I assume it's a girl… why you ask?

Maxwell: These are all gags from manly stuff, that's why!!

Elizabeth: Aw, Maxwell… you should let all those silly prejudices about manly stuff and girly stuff go! Girls are more than free to enjoy stuff boys usually like… same goes for guys… I mean, aren't men the best cooks?

Maxwell: …I…I guess…

Elizabeth: Oh, my… it is time for us to end the episode. I thank Kamina for being our special guest star today… and bid you all goodbye until the next episode of Blue Velvet.

Maxwell: Lat-

Guy: (Interrupting Maxwell) Later days, everybody!

Maxwell: That was supposed to be my line, you know?! Aww, forget it…