Special Thanks for Miss Hanamura for correcting this Chapter.

Chapter 11

To Tir Na Nog!

In the middle of the strip mall, Minato began walking rapidly back to the Velvet Room located at Paulownia Mall. A grim look was on his face.

Why was I so scared to approach her?! Minato thought as his he walked faster and was already near the Velvet Room. Back at Hagakure Ramen, when he went into the bathroom, he began to look at who it was, while remaining unnoticed. The woman he saw was Fuuka, the blunette's priestess and the one whom he fell in love with during the year back in 2009.

Why am I so afraid?! He then entered the Velvet Room and sat down, thinking to himself as he looked up at the velvet-colored ceiling. Was he afraid to see his dear beloved after so many years? He slowly began to remember the memories he and Fuuka had back from high school—from the time he met her, to when he confessed his love to her. He even remembered the time that he had the courage to taste her cooking. All those memories were very dear to him and nothing could possibly take that from him. He then snapped his fingers and a velvet door appeared out of nowhere; he entered the room inside. There was a small hillside with a tree on top and a small wind was also blowing constantly with small bubble-shaped images floating around. The blunette sat under the tree and looked at the bubbles that contained his memories. He then began to close his eyes and began to dream of his past. Images began rushing through his mind of the time he spent with her and he dreamt of the final moments between Fuuka and him.

"Fuuka..." He said as he fell into a sleep of memories.

Meanwhile somewhere else...

(Evening)

Kai was studying at his desk, moving ahead in his studies. He wasn't fully concentrated, though, because of his concerns with Minato.

I wonder if Minato's going to be alright? The Fool looked out to the dark night from his window and looked back down at his notebook to thoroughly review all his math and history notes. He eventually finished up by stretching and changing into his sleepwear before laying down on his bed, thinking about what was wrong with the blunette.

Maybe I'll go visit him tomorrow and check on him. But for now... He then yawned and, in an instant, fell asleep. A knock was then heard from his door, which instantly woke him up. He got off his bed and went to the door and saw Ken in front of him.

"Senpai, Mitsuru-Senpai wants to see you in the 4th floor." He said. Kai then simply rubbed his eyes and walk upstairs, still wearing his sleeping wear, along with Ken. They saw the entire S.E.E.S. group gathered around wearing their sleeping clothes, except for Mitsuru who was wearing her everyday clothes.

"So...*Yawn* what reason did you bring us here?" The sleepy Fool asked. Mitsuru then nodded and spoke.

"I would like to let you know if you all can explore Tir Na Nog tomorrow since there is no school. Are there any objections?" She replied, waiting for someone to object. Everybody didn't seem to object and she simply smiled.

"Ah, then everybody's fine with it." Everybody just nodded their heads. "Also..." She then turned her head towards Michiko.

"Kawazoe, I know this is all so sudden for you. You don't have to do this if you don't want to..." The icy-blue eyed girl then interrupted her.

"I'll help!" Everybody was a bit shocked, except for Kai who just smiled and took out his hand to shake.

"Well then... Welcome to the team, Kawazoe-san." Kai welcomed her to the group. She then shook his hand while trying to avoid smiling.

"Thank you, Akira-san..." She said with a plain face.

"Just call me Kai. I prefer to be called by my first name." He added in.

"Um, alright... Kai-san. Then you can call me Michiko." She replied with a not-so-very stone cold face as if she wanted to give a smile to the Fool, which Rin and Daiki noticed, leaving a bit of a smirk on their faces.

"Well, it seems that our Dense Fool and the Arctic Princess are getting along well." Rin teased the both of them. Michiko reacted by protesting and Kai simply tilted his head at his nickname.

"Dense Fool?" He asked, confused.

"I was simply being friendly with him. Nothing else!" She protested. Rin began laughing, along with Daiki, who was trying not to laugh and covering his mouth.

"Just kidding! But anyways, welcome to the team!" Rin welcomed her.

"Glad to have you..." Daiki said. Mitsuru then gave her a armband that said S.E.E.S and a evoker of her own, which she gladly accepted and held in her arms before nodding her head.

"Well, now that that's settle, there's just one problem..." Kai said. "I think one of us we'll have to stay here tomorrow to watch both Hitomi and Terry. Even though they may transmogrify into coffins, there's a chance that they might not and become easy victims to the Shadows. I'm not saying this because they might become potential persona-users." He added. Ken then stepped forward.

"I'll stay here and watch them. I've already got a good look of Tir Na Nog and I think it would be best if everyone saw it themselves." Ken responded and the all of them agreed.

"Then it's settled. Starting tomorrow, we shall all go to Tir Na Nog, excluding Amada, and begin exploring it." She then turned to Kai. "Akira, like I said before, you shall be the field leader for our operations from now on." She added and he nodded. With those final words, everyone left back to their rooms for bed.

Sunday, April 22 2013

(Morning)

Kai had a few hours before he had to go to Tir Na Nog and meet up with everyone. So, he decided to visit the mall for a bit. He got dressed in his winter clothes and headed outside. Before he left, though, Mitsuru stopped him.

"Akira, are you heading out?" She asked. He nodded his head. "Very well... Please remember to meet at Naganaki Shrine in a few hours." He nodded his head once more before heading to the Paulownia Mall. He decided that he should visit the blunette to see if he was alright from yesterday, which Kai believed that it may have been the ramen. Which was not the case. He soon arrived to the mall and in the alleyway where the velvet door was standing in front of him. He then entered the Velvet Room and saw Minato sitting down and spacing out, so he did not notice him entering the room.

"I wonder how she's doing..." Minato mumbled to himself before noticing Kai in front of him, to which he immediately straightened himself up and grabbed his compendium before welcoming him at a late time. "Um... Welcome back! I didn't expect you to come all of a sudden." He added with a hint of embarrassment which left Kai a bit dumbfounded. Minato simply signed."I guess that was kind of late timing, wasn't it?" He asked him. Kai simply nodded. "I thought so..." He said, face-palming his forehead before sitting down along with Kai. Minato just signed once again.

"You're bothered by something, aren't you?" Kai asked him directly. Minato simply nodded his head and looked over to him.

"It's about what happened yesterday." Kai then understood what he meant and decided to guess.

"Could that woman be one of your friends?" He asked. Minato nodded.

"To be more precise, my girlfriend from high school." Kai then tilted his head.

"Girlfriend? I remember my father telling me something similar. What is that?" Kai asked the blunette to see if he had the answer. Minato looked at him with a bit of surprise and looked around, trying to find a way to explain it in the most discreet way possible.

"Well, a girlfriend is... Basically what it is. If you care for a certain girl, you would basically tell her how you feel and see if she feels the same way you do. A girlfriend is sort of like a person that is important to you in life that isn't related to family. But almost feels like family." Minato explained as discreetly as possible. Kai then began to put the puzzle pieces together and then got a sort of idea of what he meant.

"Oh, so what you're saying is that a girlfriend is like a sister who isn't related to you!" He exclaimed which gave Minato a bit of a dumbfounded look.

"Um, not exactly..." He said. But Kai simply ignored him and seemed accomplished to finally know what a "girlfriend" was. Kai then looked back at him and saw that he was still depressed.

"Now that I think about it..." Kai looked closely at Minato and began to imagine back to Fuuka's child, Makoto, and noticed the two almost had some sort of resemblance.

"Hey, Minato, you look almost similar to Ms. Yamagishi's kid." Minato was a bit shocked on what Kai just said now. He had paused for a brief moment which seemed like a minute or two before responding.

"Oh... Is that so?" He replied and Kai nodded. "Well, it could probably be a mere coincidence."

"I see..." He said. "I should leave now; I have to meet up with the others at the Naganaki Shrine." He was about to leave when he stopped for a moment and turned around, facing the blunette once more.

"Oh, yeah! Minato, can I get Orpheus from the compendium?" Minato looked at him confused; seeing as he already had Amergin, the true form of Orpheus. But he decided to just do it, anyway.

He opened his compendium to the first page and a floating card appeared with a picture of Orpheus on the top of the book. Right before Kai could grab it, Minato put out his hand.

"Hold up! That'll be 3000 yen to get Orpheus." He said.

"You're charging me?!" Kai exclaimed.

"Of course! Nothing in life is free!" Minato said jokingly. Kai then took out 3000 yen from his pocket and gave it to Minato before he handed him Orpheus' card. It then shattered and the Persona Orpheus entered Kai's sea of soul.

"What do you do with the money, anyway?" Kai asked out of curiosity.

"It's not that I don't do anything with it. You could say it's to pay off my debt." Minato replied and once again Kai didn't understand and simply shrugged before heading to the exit of the Velvet Room, arriving in the alleyway next to the karaoke bar. The Fool then checked his phone and saw that he still had 2 hours left before he had to head to the shrine. He decided to find something to kill some time and noticed both Rin and Daiki standing in front of a store known as Power Records and were discussing something. The both of them noticed Kai and the latter then approached the two with both his hands in his pockets.

"Oh, Kai, are you looking around the mall for a bit?" Rin asked. It originally wasn't Kai's true intention to visit the mall, but seeing as he finished his talk with Minato early, he still had some time to kill, so he nodded at Rin's response.

"What are you guys doing here?" The Fool asked.

"We were looking around to see some new music albums that got released. The store Power Records originally sold music tracks four years ago. But recently, they decided to expand their variety, so now they sell video games and movies too." Rin explained. "By the way, Kai, I never got to ask, but who's yours and Hitomi's favorite music artist?" He added.

"Both me and Imoto are fans of Shoji Meguro works." Kai replied.

"Really? It seems like most people like his work more than anyone else's, while he isn't an actual singer. He's a pretty good music composer and even composed music for the True Goddesses Reincarnation series." Rin said.

"Speaking of the True Goddesses Reincarnation Series, I think True Goddesses Reincarnation IV is coming out. You know, for the COMP." Kai said. Rin and Daiki nodded.

"I'm excited about the game's release..." Daiki replied.

"Yeah. They've been working on it for a while. It's suppose to be even better than True Goddesses Reincarnation III: Nocturne." Rin added. "Isn't Hitomi also a big fan of the True Goddesses Reincarnation franchise?" Kai nodded.

"She is, but she isn't so addicted to the games that she doesn't do anything else. I mean, back when she was bullied before she we met you, Rin. She used to stay home a lot since the neighborhood kids would usually pick on her because of how small she was. During that time, she would usually spend most of her time playing video games. But after we met you, Rin, I think she had a bit more self-esteem in herself and spent less time playing video games and more time playing outside with the three of us." Kai replied. "She's more confident in herself now than she was back then and I think she managed to make some friends at Gekkoukan." He added and smiled. The three of them continued to talk amongst one another as all of them felt a faint bond between them. The sound of glass then shattered within the Fool's head.

"Crash!"

(Rank 2 Magician Social Link)

He blinked a few time before looking back at his two friends who were still talking. Before you know it, time flew by quickly and it was time to head to the Naganaki Shrine and meet up with the others.

Naganaki Shrine

(Near Noon. 11:45AM)

Both Mitsuru and Michiko were at the shrine, waiting for the tower to appear while they were wondering where the three male persona-users were.

"They're taking their time..." The Lover replied.

"Patience Kawazoe. They will come." Mitsuru responded. They waited for about five more minutes and saw the three going up the stairs to the shrine.

"Just in time..." Kai said.

"Glad to see you three here on time..." Mitsuru replied. She then took out a bag and opened it. Inside were there evokers, armbands, and a variety of weapons. Everybody grabbed their evokers, an armband and, for each of them, a different weapon. Kai wielded a one-handed sword, Rin a pair of knives, Daiki a crossbow, Michiko a bow, and Mitsuru a rapier. All of them were soon ready and were waiting for the light hour to appear.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

0

Light hour

Back at the Kirijo Dorms

Hitomi had overslept 'til noon. She got off her bed and noticed something different about her room. Everywhere she looked was shades of blue: her shelf, TV, desk, everywhere! She decided to look at her phone to look at the time, but noticed that it was dead. Next, she tried to look at her COMP for the time and saw that it was dead as well, which drove her curiosity.

Did I forget to charge both my phone and COMP? She thought and decided to get dressed into a white t-shirt. Over it was a medium-length collar plaid jacket that was white and light blue in color with blue jeans. Around her neck was her green clip-on headphones and finally, she wore white tennis shoes on her feet.

I wonder how long I've been asleep? She thought and headed into the hallway where she saw a blue butterfly pass her before she blinked twice at what she saw.

"Was that a blue butterfly?" She said to herself and heard a voice speaking to her.

"It seems fate has brought us together." A voice replied. Hitomi turned her head to the sound of the voice and saw a man with a butterfly mask next to the stairs.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"My name is Philemon. Pleased to make your acquaintance." He said, before formally bowing down towards her.

"Next question, how did you get in here?" She added to her first question.

"That is the many things that I wish for you to find out." He replied before slowly approaching her and with the snap of the finger, the contract that Hitomi signed back in the Velvet Room appeared in Philemon's hand.

"That's..." Hitomi paused, not knowing what to say and how he got his hand on that paper.

"Ah, yes. It's the contract you signed back at the Velvet Room." Philemon said with a hint of joy.

"So, that means... It was real." Hitomi replied with a bit of unease. She then swallowed her saliva and paused for a moment before speaking again. "What do you want?"

"I only wish that you abide by this contract stating that you will take full responsibility of your actions." He responded. Hitomi didn't understand what Philemon meant about taking responsibility for her actions. But she simply nodded her head as if it was moving on its own.

"Very well. I shall take full responsibility for my actions..." Hitomi replied, accepting the terms of the contract. Philemon then smiled and threw the contract which then disappeared out of nowhere before he snapped his fingers once more. A faint, golden light began to glow in one of Hitomi's pocket. She rummaged her hands into the pocket and took out what seemed to be the same key, but it was golden in color rather than velvet.

"Take care of it..." He said before another blue butterfly flew pass by Hitomi and when she looked back at Philemon, he was already gone in a flash.

What just happened?! She blinked her eyes rapidly, trying to process if it was real or not before she stretched her arms. She headed down to the living room and saw Ken sitting down, reading a book. He then noticed her and he had a shocked look while trying to show a smile.

"Oh... Hitomi-senpai!" Ken greeted her. Hitomi decided to sit next to Ken and talk to him.

"So... Where is everybody?" She asked.

"Everyone went out. The only ones in the dorm are you, me and Terry-senpai." He responded.

"I see..." The both of them noticed Terry coming down the stairs, wearing a dark green, zip-up turtleneck sweater, a cap on his head and jeans with white sneakers. On the neck of his sweater, there were ear buds sticking out. The two of them greeted him.

"Hey, Terry-kun!" Hitomi replied.

"Good mornin', Terry-senpai" Ken replied. Terry then looked at Ken.

"Hey, Ken was there a power outage? I was using my computer and it turned off a few minutes ago." Terry replied. Ken nodded, hoping not to let them know anything about the Light Hour. However, Hitomi looked at Ken with a hint of suspicion.

"Ken-kun... Where did my brother go?" Hitomi asked the Justice who began to think for a second, trying to make up something.

"Um... He went to the mall with Rin and Daiki-senpai." Ken replied. Hitomi eyes glowed red for a second before turning back into their crystal green when she reacted to Ken in a dark tone.

"Ken-kun, don't lie to me. Where is my brother?" Hitomi asked. Ken felt his heart skip a beat seeing Hitomi act this way other than her cheery mood.

"Um, like I said, Senpai, they went to the mall..." Ken replied and her eyes began to glow red once more before she began to demand the answer in a angry tone.

"Stop lying to me! Ken-kun, answer me!" She shouted at Ken which made Terry interfere, trying to calm Hitomi down.

"Hitomi-san, please calm down..." He urged before a banging noise was heard at the front door, as if someone was trying to break in.

"What the?!" Hitomi exclaimed and stayed at a safe distance from the door. The noises got even louder and louder. Ken quickly ran into the kitchen and took out a evoker and a set of spears he kept hidden in case of an emergency and ran back into the living room, getting into a defensive stance. "Ken, what the hell's going on?!" Hitomi seemed to be in a panic. Ken looked at her, trying to give her a reassuring look and looked at Terry who just stayed calm and looked at the door as it was about to break down. The door then broke down and multiple Shadows began rushing into the room and began assaulting the three. Ken then swung his spear at the Shadows and did his best to protect them both. However, several Shadows passed Ken and rushed over to the two who were standing right behind them.

"Hitomi-senpai, Terry-senpai! Noooo!" Ken shouted as the two Shadows were about to attack the two. Time felt like it slowed down as the Shadow first set it's eye on Terry and was about to strike when a blue aura began to surround him and he began to smile.

"Per...so...na!" He said before the Shadow was shredded by a gust of wind and was turned into nothing, but white dust. A figure slowly faded in and appeared above Terry, a figure with a mouth on his head and a green-like veil shawl above him.

Thou art I...And I am Thou

I am one of the deities of life

I am Vayu, The Breath of Life

I shall be thy wind that will guide the way.

"Vayu, tear them to shreds! Magaru!" Terry shouted. His Persona, Vayu, then flapped his veil like shawl and a gust of light wind began to storm around the room. It then began to cut the Shadows into pieces before they all turned into nothing, but white dust. Vayu then faded away and Terry took a deep breath before he looked over to Ken.

"Are you okay?" Terry asked the Justice, who saw that all the Shadows that were in this room a second ago were all defeated by Terry. Ken looked at Hitomi who was fear-strickened, trying to process what just happened right now.

"Ken-kun, Terry-kun. What just happened?!" Hitomi asked, who was about to panic any minute before Terry spoke.

"They're shadows. Am I wrong?" Terry replied which surprised Ken.

"Terry-senpai. Don't tell me your..." He looked at the Justice and nodded his head.

"That's right. I'm a Persona-user and I've been one for a long time, too..." Terry replied.