19 January 2010
Tartarus, Lobby
The Dark Hour
They gathered by the entrance to Tartarus one last time. "That's it." Minato announced quietly. "We are the best we can be, if Fuuka, Chidori and Mitsuru are to be believed." He thanked each in turn. We have eleven more days until the Fall come upon us. We'll have one more rn through in a week for practice, then we rest until the thirty first. Until then, your time is your own."
It was a solemn moment. They all knew that further practice would be useless, but it would focus them and keep their nerves under control more than anything else. One by one, the Nyx Annihilation Team filed out of Tartarus, planning on leaving it far behind them when the Dark Hour ended.
20 January 2010
Minatodai Dorm, 3rd Floor Lounge
Evening
Ken came up the stairs, annoyed by the exertion. "We seriously need an intercom system installed" he complained. But upon seeing the person he was looking for, he straightened to deliver his message. "Midori-chan? There's an older woman at the door looking for you. She said her name is Yoshino Harusawa." Any further words he might have had were drowned out and swept away as the bluenette practically jumped out of her chair and dashed down the stairs at a completely unsafe speed.
"HAAAAARUUUUUUU-CHAAAAANNN!"
Yukari and Aigis looked at each other in surprise. "I think we had better check this out."
"Agreed."
1st Floor Lounge
At the front door, Haru had enough time to recognize the warning signs of a running teenager – not to mention her name being called out in a recognizable voice. She waited long enough for Dolly to reach the bottom of the stairs and see her before raising a hand and used her best 'speaking to the crowd' voice to command her to "Stop Running!"
Midori obliged by skidding to a halt, barely breathing hard from her mad dash. "Haru-chan! You came!" She quickly closed the remaining distance between the two at a more sedate pace. "Gin-san said you were going to send me tickets and I thought they were in the mail and I was going to e-mail him to ask what was happening with you and your concert coming and I...!"
The singer placed a hand on the young girls head. "Calm down! I got the e-mail alright. I just decided to give them to you in person." She looked up from Midori to see the rest of the dorm gathered around. "Ah, you must be her friends." She bowed. "I apologize for her behaviour. She can be quite the child when she wants to be."
Midori looked shocked and offended at the remark, just as Haru saw that the others recognized the joking barb for what it was. "Sorry kiddo. But I must say, I only have three tickets. I didn't bring enough for all your friends."
"My apologies," Mitsuru interrupted, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "How do you know Komaki-san?"
"Know her? Girl and her friends saved me a couple times that week in Tokyo. I think that's earned me a friendly relation with her." Haru patted Midori on the head a couple times to emphasize.
"Oh." Mitsuru made the immediate connection. "Once again, my apologies. Would you like to come in?" She gestured to the seats in the sitting area. "We can offer you some tea if you'd like."
Haru waved off the offer with a smile. "No, that's alright. My band got into town tonight, and this is a quick detour." She reached into her jacket pocket to produce a sealed envelope. "Here you go, three tickets. These are noted as being Band-guest tickets, so if you have any problems at the door, ask for me by my full name, not Haru. That'll get me coming."
Midori nodded, tears of joy beginning to fill up her face before she bowed low in thanks. "Thank you! I will treasure these!"
Haru laughed. "I'll see you on Saturday then. And dress appropriately!"
"I will!" She stayed bowed until Haru had left, closing the door behind her. Then she ripped open the envelope to reveal three tickets to D-VA's second night at Club Escapade. Then looked up at her nine friends. She could discount Ken and Koromaru immediately. That left one ticket for Aigis, and one for...
Mitsuru, Akihiko, Chidori, Minato, Yukari, Fuuka.
Oh, how was she going to chose?
A slightly worried grin came over her face. "So, um, anyone want to not go to a concert?"
22 January 2010
Paulowina Mall, Club Escapade
Evening
Midori, Aigis and Akihiko stood in line. He had won the competition by default when everyone else made their excuses one way or the other. Mitsuru declined as it wasn't Noh, or an Opera. Fuuka said she listened to a couple singles that she had downloaded and it didn't appeal to her. Chidori didn't even express interest, while Minato and Yukari decided to head over to the Mandagora instead.
That left Akihiko, who was willing to try (almost) anything. Once.
Aigis was dressed in her school uniform, while Akihiko went with his stylish winter casual wear.
Midori simply rolled her eyes, knowing full well what she was getting into, and pulled on her old purple cosplay costume from Tokyo, with only the barest repairs made. This way, she would be easy for Haru to spot in the crown, and she could stand out in a way.
And apparently it still fit her perfectly. A fact that irritated her to no end over the previous day as she had expected to have grown something out.
They didn't have any troubles with the tickets at the door, as Haru had let the bouncers know they were coming.
Once inside, Midori commented that this was the first time she had been back in here since the Rise concert back in September. "Thanks to that, I joined up with you guys! Who knows what I'd be doing now if it weren't for that!"
They had time to find some seats near the back and to grab some water to drink before the houselights came down and D-VA came on stage.
Club Escapade, Backstage
Harusawa finished introducing them to her fellow bandmates, then took the three to her private room. "Grab a seat" she said, though there wasn't much space to sit down for four people. "Did you enjoy the gig?"
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Midori was first to express her appreciation of Haru's music. "Reset and Song of Hope are awesome!" Haru smiled at the heartfelt compliment.
"I have to agree. Song of Hope is an excellent technical piece." Aigis added in her own tone of voice. "Your note composition shows that you did not use a conventional notation tool."
Midori muttered something about teaching Aigis how to compliment properly.
Haru, hearing only part of that, considered how to respond. "Technical piece? I suppose you could say that. I had to finish it up on a half-dead harmonizer in the middle of the Lock Down. I like to think of it as the song that saved us all from our worse natures."
Midori choked on her water, causing Haru and Akihiko to offer her some towels to clean up with. Haru smirking at the shared joke, while Akihiko was left wondering.
Time passed, friendly conversation was had, and signed swag was given away. Then the three returned to their dorm for the night, thanking Haru and her band for an enjoyable evening.
Minatodai Dromitory, 2nd Floor Sitting Area
Mitsuru waited patiently for Akihiko to return from his evening trip escorting Aigis and Komaki. She heard them arrive, and ignored the two girls as they ascended another floor, chattering on about the music they heard. Midori was apparently counselling her senior in the finer points of the etiquette surrounding their trip.
Akihiko finally came up to her, having shed his heavier coat downstairs. "Waiting for me?"
"A bit. I checked with Chidori. She is unrelated to Yoshino Harusawa, despite the family name being the same and the hair colour." She stopped herself from saying more, recognizing that a more social questioning was now required. "How was your evening?"
"No one told me that D-VA was a rock group. I think I'm half-deaf." He settled into the chair opposite Mitsuru. "Past that, it wasn't bad. Yoshino-san has a good voice, and her band didn't try to break the set with noise. They played for their venue, which is always a good thing."
"I was told by Yamagishi-san that there is usually merchandise available. Don't tell me you spent money?"
"Nah." He produced a CD. "Nice thing about having a friend with a friend. Free stuff." He handed the disk to Mitsuru. "Here. Have a listen. Just keep the volume down." With that, he went to his room for a good night's sleep.
Mitsuru, curious, took the CD up to her room, and taking Akihiko's advice, used her headphones rather than the full sound system.
Twenty minutes later, she was in tears at the world she had never experienced before.
23 January 2010
Minatodai Dormitory, 4th Floor
Morning
Fuuka knocked on Mitsuru's door for the second time. It wasn't like her to ignore the first knock, and Fuuka had never had to do it a second time. "Maybe she's out already?" she muttered to herself, turning to head downstairs, eager to get breakfast in her before the long day ahead.
Paulowina Mall, Main Concourse
Mitsuru paced back and forth in front of the music store. After listening to the CD Akihiko had given her last night, she had gone through her collection for anything similar, but came up short.
Once again, she was confronted with practical and undeniable evidence that for all her advantages in life, her upbringing had left her woefully unprepared for things in the outside world. At first she thought that her trips to more commercial eateries were a well developed prank by Minato, but the evidence started to add up until finally it all came crashing down around her last night.
She had only seen a small portion of the world. A small portion defined by her and her father, and never had she tried to move outside it.
And she couldn't let Nyx or anyone else destroy it before she had a chance to see what really lay beyond her personal borders.
A small note attracted her attention on the door, and realizing that perhaps the proprietor of the store had left a message explaining why he wasn't open, she went to examine it closer.
Saturday – 10AM to 9PM
Shocked she barely registered that the hours meant that she would have to wait until after class to see what was available, and even more heinous, was that the services were not offered twenty-four hours a day!
25 January 2010
Tartarus, Lobby
The Dark Hour
They were just running in circles. With less than a week to go, they needed an outlet for their stress, and this was it. They would run themselves until they felt alright, then pack it in until Sunday, hopefully to face down Tartarus for the final time.
Midori fanned herself as she drank down a bottle of water, and checked her COMP one last time. Oddly enough, it said that there was a single message waiting for her. She was also quite certain that there wasn't any when the Dark Hour started, so perhaps the Babel Server had some lag issues going from the waking world into the Demon World then back into the Dark Hour?
Idly, she opened the message.
FROM: A-BEL
TO: DOLLY
RE: NYX
Sorry, I can't help. I talked to Naoya as you asked, and he explained what was going on in that annoying and smug way of his. He said that all we could do was already done, a shield of some sort.
I want to be there to help you out, but my hands are tied.
I recall a quote from somewhere that explains my situation. "He who has all the power, has no choice."
Guess who has the power?
Midori put down the COMP, working very hard to keep her face impassive. She really wanted his help to deal with Nyx, but if he can't, that just left them.
Well, that's alright! They were Heroes! And Heroes always win! Always!
Completely ignoring Midori's smiling face, Yukari went to talk with Aigis. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask, but how did your session with the school counsellor go? About your career and whatnot? I mean, asking an anti-shadow robot what it wants..." Her voice trailed off.
"I had been given opportunity to prepare a proper response for the teachers in that regard." Aigis said as she flexed her shoulders, testing to make sure functionality was fully restored after a lucky strike from a Zio using Shadow. "I simply told them that I wanted to repay the public trust that allowed me to survive the Tokyo Lockdown, and the teacher assumed I wanted to become a public servant."
Midori laughed. "Public Trust? Oh Aigis, never, ever, ever say that in front of anyone who was actually in the Lockdown. Please. For your sake, and ours." She shook her head sadly. "It's not that your faith is misplaced, given the public information, but we on the inside, we had to fend for ourselves for most of that week."
"Ah. I'm sorry. But that was the lie I was told to prepare." Aigis bowed in apology.
Midori accepted that. "It's alright. But, just, please, be more careful about what you say in the future. I mean, I know more than I should in this case, but others won't be so knowledgeable or understanding."
30 January 2010
Minatodai Dormitory, 3rd Floor
Evening
Midori bid Fuuka and Chidori a good night, then turned in for the evening herself. There was nothing left to say to anyone, no inspiring words (although she was certain to tell Minato to think of some. He was the leader after all).
All that was left were actions.
They would save the world (in two cases: again) or die trying.
31 January 2010
Minatodai Dormitory, 1st Floor Kitchen
Morning
Fuuka and Midori looked up above them as they prepared snacks for the assault on Tartarus that night. There were... sounds coming from the room above them.
"It's about time!" Midori said as she turned back to her rice, only to find the pot starting to burn. "Oh crap! Help me Fuuka!"
Burned rice was not on the menu for tonight.
3rd Floor, Chidori's Room
Afternoon
She looked down at the clothes in her lap. While normally choosing what to wear wouldn't be an issue, this night was different. Tonight, the Nyx Annihilation Team would perform their final duty, and she had, for better or worse, committed herself to it.
And in the end, she had no choice at all. Putting on Junpei's baseball cap and winter jacket, she went out to face the day.
Outside Gekko' High
5 minutes to Midnight
They gathered there in silence, coming at their own times. Minato had only asked that everyone be there by then, that there was no need to arrive as a group. They would go in as one.
Midori looked around at her new friends of these past few months and dropped a shopping bag on the ground. "Everyone, take off your armbands" she commanded as she reached into the bag. "I've finished the new ones."
A minute later, a pile of red cloth was at her feet. From the bag she handed out new ones, brilliant gold cloth with silver lining and black lettering. Drawing inspiration from her aborted uniform designs, each had the English words "Nyx Annihilation Team" written on them. Above that was each person's name, and below, their Persona. She distributed them around, pinning hers on carefully, making sure that Black Frost's name was readable.
"There's two left..." Ken asked, already aware of what they were for. Midori nodded and pulled them out of the bag.
"It didn't feel right to leave them out" she said. The one in her right hand said simply Iori Junpei / Hermes, while the other was Aragaki Shinjro / Castor. "Does anyone want to carry them, or do I put them back in the bag?"
Akihiko reached out and took Shinji's armband. "I've got this one. Chidori, you want the other?"
Smiling through tears that she wasn't aware she was shedding, Chidori pulled Junpei's armband over her other arm, pinning it to his jacket.
"I think we're ready then." Minato looked around waiting for that last moment before the world lived or died. "It'll only be a momen..."
The Dark Hour
They ran.