Chapter 3: The Magician

April 8th

Paulownia Mail: Game Panic Arcade

"See, didn't I tell you I was good or what" Junpei smirked, his voice almost practically drowned out by the sounds of countless people and machines in the arcade. Once again he had gotten the high score at this game. After spending several years playing here, he liked to consider himself a pro at this game. Well, at least the best player who visits this specific arcade anyway. It was one of those light gun games, the one where you point a fake plastic gun at the screen and shoot the characters.

"When your right your right I guess" Ichigo said. He didn't really care that he lost or anything. Arcade games were never really his forte anyway, although, he did use to visit places like this with Keigo, Mizuiro and Chad not that long ago. That was back before Rukia came into his life and complicated things at least. He hadn't really had the time to hang out with his friends that much when she first arrived. Back then, it was all about taking care of whatever hollow decided to rear its ugly head around town, most of his free time was focused on dealing with them.

During the past few months, he'd been looking back on everything that had happened in the past year. His time hunting hollows with Rukia, breaking into the Soul Society and even his time in Hueco Mundo brought back a lot of memories, both exciting and terrifying ones. He couldn't help but wonder, but what would it be like if he still had his powers as a soul reaper. He knew quite well that the Soul Society viewed him as a loose cannon, and he suspected they were keeping an eye on him twenty four seven. It made sense really, I mean, here was this guy who just waltzed into what was technically a military facility and put several of their best people in the hospital. He'd sure as hell keep a close eye on someone like that. It's not like he considered many of the people there to be friends or anything. The only people that would fit into that category would have been Rukia and Renji. He didn't know any of the others well enough to consider them friends. The only others he had any prolong expose to were Byakuya, Kenpachi and the group Toshiro brought with him. Even then, they were acquaintances at best.

Maybe they were right to be cautious about him. All he ever did was put the people closest to him in danger. It was his fault his mother died. It was his fault Chad and Orihime got dragged into the spiritual side of the world. It was his fault that the two of them and Ishida got dragged into that whole mess with the Soul Society. It was his fault he almost killed Ishida during that whole fiasco in Hueco Mundo. It was always his fault, and no amount of saying otherwise on their part would every change that belief.

"Maybe it was for the best that I came here" Ichigo thought as he sighed. "Maybe it'll give me the chance to sort out what exactly I'm doing with my life".

He hadn't really given the past much thought in the last few days. At the moment he was mostly focused on settling in at this new place. With that thought, Ichigo's mind wandered back to the events of last night.

After waking up after about an hour or two of sleep, it was close to midnight. From what he remembered that strange thing happened around that time as well. So deciding since it was only about twenty minutes as way, Ichigo decided to stay up and see if it actually happened again. So after wasting twenty minutes of mindlessly surfing the internet on his laptop, the power suddenly gave out and the atmosphere around him suddenly gained that strange greenish tint. It was just like the other night, although what struck him as odd was the fact that his laptop switched of as well. He already figured out that electricity didn't seem to work during this event, but he had assumed that was just anything connected to the mains and not battery powered. His phone seemed to be working fine; the clock was still stuck on midnight though. Then it hit him. Urahara had given him this phone. Did that have something to do with this? Did he have some clue of what was going on? Ichigo fully intended on finding out the answer to those questions.

On a whim, Ichigo decided to take a look around the dorm, see if anyone was still up. Maybe he'd run into that strange kid he saw when he first arrived at the dorm. The fact that the kid was up and walking, not to mention disappeared right in front of him, certainly set off some alarm bells in his head. But sadly to his dismay, Ichigo didn't run into anyone this time. Everyone else seemed to be a sleep or in those coffins things he'd seen when he first arrived. His memories of those coffins raised a few more questions. Ichigo planned to try and contact Kisuke later; maybe he'd give him some answers. There was always a first time for anything.

"You know Junpei's one of the better players at this game. Well, at least of that I know of any way" Kenji commented as his voice dragged Ichigo back to reality. Kenji Tomochika was a friend of Junpei's that he had introduced to Ichigo earlier today in class. In terms of appearance he was relatively average for your regular Japanese teenager. Short brown hair, dark brown eyes and no features that really made him stand out from a crowd like Ichigo's hair color did. Overall, he seemed like a nice enough guy. Although, Ichigo hadn't really spent enough time around him yet to truly be able to conform that just yet. "By the way, Junpei was telling me before that you and Yukari live in the same dorm together. That true?" he asked looking to confirm that rumor he heard.

"Oh, did he now" Ichigo scowled at Junpei who was looking of to his side whistling innocently. "To answer your question, yeah I am"

"You know a lot of guys would kill to be in your position right now" Kenji pointed out. In his eyes, being new in town, living in the same dorm with Yukari and being seen with her walking to school with her had the tendency to start some rumors about the two of them. Although, from the way Junpei had described this Ichigo guy, he seemed like a "not giving a shit about anything" kind of guy, so those rumors probably wouldn't bother him in the slightest like it would for some other people.

"So, are you one of them then?" Ichigo questioned.

"Not really" he shrugged. "She's attractive, but she's not really my type".

"The guy isn't interested in girls our age you know. To him, it's all about the older ladies" Junpei stated as he continued to play his game.

"Is that so" Ichigo commented with a slight smile. The more he got to know these two the more they reminded him of Keigo and Mizuiro back in Karakura Town. Maybe it was some sort of fundamental law of the universe that there had to be similar people in every high school in Japan or something.

"I just happen to have a far more refined taste in women than you two children seem to have" Kenji added s slight smirk as he tried to look superior to the other two.

"Sure…" Ichigo said uncaringly.

"So does anyone else live in that dorm of yours" Kenji asked. "I mean I doubt it's just you and Yukari."

"The only other person I know that lives there is some red head called Mitsuru Kirijo" Ichigo said to the surprise of the two students. Ichigo's comment made Junpei drop the control on the arcade machine and gape at Ichigo with his mouth wide open. Even Kenji seemed to be surprised by this revelation.

"Dude, you live in the same dorm with her as well" Junpei shouted, unbelieving at what he just heard. His outburst had the undesired effect of receiving several glares from some of the other players that were clause by. No doubt his sudden outburst just then caused them to be distracted at whatever game they were playing on.

"Yeah. You're making it out like it's a big deal or something. I take it you've heard of her" Ichigo wondered. From the way Junpei reacted, Ichigo got the distinct impression that she was someone of some importance around these parts. Now that he thought about, her name did seem to be familiar.

"Of course I've heard of her! Her family own and run Kirijo Electronics and the school we go to. She's also the student council president as well" Junpei explained. "How didn't you know that?"

"I've had a lot of other things on my mind since I got here, so I never really stopped to think about every random person I met. Bedsides I've only really spoken to her about twice now anyway" Ichigo explained. He didn't care one bit if this girl was some sort of big shot around here. She seemed nice enough, and as long as she didn't overly bother him then that was that as far as he cared.

"Makes you wonder why you got assigned to the same dorm as those two though" Kenji openly thought.

"Who knows" Ichigo shrugged.

April 8th

Iwatodai Dorm

Ichigo spent just over another hour at the arcade with the two of them before he decided to head back to the dorm. He remembered Yukari telling him something before, something about being back before six o'clock or something. It was about ten minutes past that by the time he got back. It seemed Yukari was talking to somebody he didn't recognize on the ground floor. An older man by the looks of it.

"Ah, there you are" Yukari said as she got up. "I thought you'd be back before six."

Ichigo looked quickly at the time on his phone. It was only a few minutes past six. No big deal really. He guessed the reason she wanted him back here was to meet this guy or something. "I'm only a few minutes late" Ichigo pointed out.

"Still technically late" Yukari pointed out with a frown. "I suppose it doesn't really matter" she sighed as she made her way back to the couch.

"Ah, so this is are new guest" the man Yukari was speaking to before said. The man himself had swept back brown hair and eyes, with glasses adorning his face. He also wore a black turtleneck jumper with a brown blazer and matching pants. The look and air around him practically screamed academic. "My name is Shuji Ikutsuki" he introduced himself. "I'm the chairman for Gekkoukan Academy".

"Nice to meet you" Ichigo greeted. He saw no reason to be rude to the man. After all, he had only just met the guy. If he turned out to be an asshole later then that was that.

"Ikutsuki…hard to pronounce, isn't it?" the chairman laughed. "Even I get tongue tied sometimes just saying it. Because of that, I don't particularly like introducing myself that much" he explained.

"No, not really" Ichigo said. "Actually, the fact that a grown man has trouble pronouncing his own name is kind of sad in my opinion" Ichigo couldn't help but point out. He was sure Yukari thought the exact same thing if the look on her face was anything to go by.

"Well everyone has problems with a few things. Mine just happens to be pronouncing my name" Ikutsuki took Ichigo's comment in stride as he walked back towards where he was previously sitting. Ichigo sat down on the couch next to Yukari. "I'd like to formal apologize about the confusion regarding your accommodations. But it seems it might take a little bit longer to have your proper accommodations sorted out."

"One of those things I guess" Ichigo shrugged. He wasn't going to blame the guy just because some office worker or something made a mistake with some paperwork.

"Originally I simply stopped by to check in with Mitsuru, but I decided to see if these living arrangements were causing you any problems. I'm glad to see that isn't the case" Ikutsuki smiled. "By the way, is there any thing you'd like to know while I'm here?" he asked.

Ichigo thought for a moment, but there really wasn't much he could think of that this guy could possibly answer for him. While he sure had a few question on his mind, they were only thing someone like Kisuke could answer. "Nothing I can think of."

"I see…By the way Yukari, where exactly is Mitsuru?" Ikutsuki questioned as he turned his attention back towards Yukari.

"Oh, she's working on something up stares" she replayed.

"Diligent as ever I see" Ikutsuki said as he got up and made his way up to the fourth floor. "By the way, you should probably head on up to bed. No doubt you've had a few stressful days since first arriving here" he advised. "Like they say, the early bird catches the bookworm" he chuckled at his attempt at humor as he made his way up stares.

Ichigo turned to Yukari with a confused look on his face. "Does that guy honestly he's funny or something?" he questioned.

Yukari sighed "You'll get used to it."

Ichigo decided with that guy gone, he could go make that phone call he was planning on doing. Ichigo headed on back up to his room. While he might not have much of an idea of what actually happens at midnight, what he did know was the fact that no electricity of any kind seemed to work during that time. All except for that phone Kisuke gave to him. He should have known then and there that there was something fishy about the thing. After all, Hat and Clogs never gives out free gifts from the bottom of his heart. There was always an ulterior motive with just about everything that man seemed to do. There was also the fact that Kisuke's phone number was already on the phones memory, almost like he expected him to call him for something.

Reluctantly, Ichigo selected Kisuke's name from the list and pressed call. The usual dial tone lasted for about a few seconds before the call went through and Kisuke's could be heard from the other side.

"Urahara shop, how may I be of service?" Kisuke usually cheery voice was heard from the other side of the phone.

"Sup Kisuke" Ichigo greeted.

"Oh, is that you Ichigo, I never would have guessed" Kisuke joked.

Ichigo wasn't in the mood for Kisuke's normal routine. "Whatever, look something weird is going on here and I have a slight feeling you probably know what it is."

"Can you describe this problem?" Kisuke asked. Over the next few minutes, Ichigo described in detail what he experienced the moment he first arrived in this city and the following night. "Hmmm…Interesting" Kisuke sounded like he was deep in thought about something. "But what makes you think I have anything to do with it."

"Not much. Other than the fact that this phone you gave me is the only thing that works at around midnight" Ichigo explained his reasoning. "From what I can tell, it lasts for about an hour or so. Hard to tell though without a working clock" he said.

"Well you've certainly stumbled on something there haven't you, Ichigo" Kisuke chuckled, amused at Ichigo odd luck. "Tell you what, I'll look into a few things and get back to you in a few days. Just forget about it for now. From the sound of it, it isn't disrupting your live there so just ignore it for now."

"So what's this all going to cost me then" Ichigo doubted Kisuke would give him any information for free. There was always a catch or a price involved with him.

"Do you really think I'd charge you after everything you've done for me other the last year?"

"Right. Well thanks anyway I guess" Ichigo hung up the phone. Maybe he'd get some answers to just what was going on around here. From what he could tell, Yukari certainly had an idea of what was going on, and if she did then Kirijo probably did to. But considering the fact they hadn't told him anything yet, there was the possibility that even if he did come right out and ask them about it, they would probably just fane ignorance and try to come up with some excuses. Kisuke was right though, at the moment whatever was going on didn't really affect him, and really, when he thought about it, it wasn't his problem anyway. He came to this city to get his mind of everything that had happened. He didn't need to be dragged into some one else's problems. With that thought, Ichigo decided to turn in for the night.

A few hours later, Yukari and Mitsuru were on the fourth floor sat watching a camera feed. The room was certainly out of place for a high school dorm that was for sure. The room was dominated by a large bank of computers, and above that, a large monitor easily over a hundred inches in width. There were also a few book cases in the room with a single door on the other side of the room. There was also a table, a couch and a few chairs taking up space in the center of the room.

"Working hard as ever I see" Ikutsuki stated as he walked into the room. Ikutsuki's comment got the attention of the two girls, who got out of their chairs to face him. "So how exactly is he doing?" he asked curiously as he stared at the sleeping form of Ichigo on the monitor that dominated most of the wall it was placed on.

Mitsuru was the one to answer him. "He went to bed just a little while ago. From what we can tell, he's fast asleep right now." Ikutsuki moved to sit down on one of the chairs opposite her while she spoke. "Mr. Chairmen, do you believe he has the potential?" she asked. While she knew from Yukari that he was able to experience the Dark Hour, it was still up in the air if whether or not he was capable of summoning a persona.

"Well, there's only one way to know for certain. The Dark Hour should be beginning soon." The three of them stayed silent for the next few seconds while the Dark Hour settled in. The world once again regained its greenish hue. To Ikutsuki pleasure, there newest guest had retained his human form.

"Well that proves it then" Yukari mumbled under her breath. She had her suspicions about Ichigo ever since she first laid eyes on him. Her words weren't lost on Mitsuru, who over heard what she said.

"He's still sleeping" Ikutsuki said as a smile creped onto his face. "As you are both aware, the Dark Hour occurs every night at approximately midnight and last's exactly one hour. During this time, any ordinary person should transmogrify into a coffin and is oblivious to goings on around them."

"We already know all of this" Yukari muttered again. Why was this guy repeating everything they already knew? Sure it would be fine if they were explaining it all to a new member and everything, but everyone currently present in the room already knew.

"As you can both see, Ichigo seems to have retained his human form" Ikutsuki explained. "He's asleep, but he is most obviously experiencing the Dark Hour. Now all that remains to know, is whether or not he possesses the potential to summon a Persona. Although he must have, otherwise the Shadows would have prayed on him by now."

"That's a scary thought" Yukari commented as she shivered slightly. In some way, she felt lucky to be able to experience the Dark Hour. Otherwise she would be at just as much risk of contracting Apathy Syndrome as anyone else.

"Indeed it is Takaba" Mitsuru added. She didn't exactly envy the people who fell prey to the shadows. Unfortunately, there just wasn't anything that could be done for them.

The chairman got up from where he was sitting and walked closer to the monitor. "In any case, we should continue to monitor him for the next few days."

"Understood sir" Mitsuru obeyed.

"I feel kind of bad though, spying on him like this." While she didn't know Ichigo all that well, he seemed like a friendly guy, if not a bit reserved and blunt.

"I understand Takaba, but it's imperative we find more people who possess the ability to summon a persona" Mitsuru explained. While she didn't particularly like spying on anyone just as much as the next person, she knew that keeping an eye on him was imperative. She wasn't really surprised that he was still awake during the Dark Hour; Takaba had already explained that much so far. Now all that was left to examine was his capability to summon and control a persona.

April 9th

Unknown

For centuries, philosophers and scientists have always wondered why people dream. Some believed that it was the unconscious mind bringing forward repressed feelings and emotions. Others believed that it was simply a biological process all specials seemed to possess. Well as far as Ichigo was concerned, it didn't matter one bit, because neither of those theories would probably be able to answer why he was having one of the most disorienting dreams in years. More specifically, Ichigo was dreaming he was flying towards a glowing blue door. He was worried he was going to crash head first into it, but the door slowly opened and the pitch blackness was suddenly replaced by a blinding white light. The dream was over as quickly as it stared. The feeling of flying was quickly replaced by a strange feeling of upwards motion. Ichigo's eyes were still trying to adjust to the sudden change of light, it took a moment, but his vision slowly returned.

From what he could tell he was in a massive elevator. Taking a moment to examine the elevator, both the floor and the walls were covered in a soothing blue texture, with several doors on both sides of the room, a majority of them covered by cloth. There were also several light fixtures on the celling illumination the room, which were helped by the sudden intrusion of light every several seconds coming from outside of the elevator. There was a massive clock on the back of the room which was currently spinning quickly. But what got Ichigo's attention the most was the blue table right in front of him, and the man sitting opposite of him.

He certainly was a strange looking man, small in stature from what he could tell. Wearing a black suit and tie. The man appeared slightly bold, with the only visible hair being the slightly long white hair on the back of his head. But his most discerning feature was his long and crooked noise that just screamed inhuman. The man's bloodshot eyes slowly opened and stared directly at Ichigo.

"Welcome…to the Velvet Room" the man slowly spoke. To say Ichigo was creped out was an understatement. He'd never experienced anything quite like this before. This wasn't like any dream he had before either, it was all too clear. When somebody realized they were dreaming they should wake right up normally, and since he capable of questioning if he was dreaming without waking right up in his bed, then that must mean this wasn't a dream and he really was having a conversion with a dwarf in a suit.

"Just who the hell are you, and what is this place?" Ichigo asked as he glared at the short man. If this was real, then that means he'd been practically kidnapped by this guy while he was sleeping.

"My name is Igor…and as I said, this is the Velvet Room" Igor introduced himself. "This place exits between dream and reality, mind and matter" he explained. Ichigo had no idea what he meant by that. Somewhere between reality and dreams! Just what kind of person was this guy? Wait, something like this has happened before. Ichigo remembered the times Zangetsu would pull him into his inner world during his dreams. Was this like that then.

"Is this like my inner world?" Ichigo questioned. It was the only similar experience he could think of. That is if the old man was telling the truth. He certainly didn't look threating, that was for sure. The main problem was he had no idea where he was. This elevator had been moving ever since he got hear and it still hadn't reached its destination.

"An interesting theory, but no. An inner world is nothing more than the human minds way of visualizing a person's consciousness and soul" Igor explained. "You could say that this velvet room is part of everyone's unconscious mind."

"I don't really understand" Ichigo said honestly. He certainly wasn't an idiot, but he had to admit this was a bit over other his head. But what he knew for certain was the fact that this guy must be pretty powerful to be able to do something like this. "But why did you bring me here. You must have some sort of reason or something?" he asked.

"I'll explain momentarily. But first" Igor gestured to his left. Ichigo hadn't even noticed the woman until now. She was certainly an odd looking woman. Wearing a blue dress with knee length boots. She had short white hair that ended just below her ears and yellow eyes. She was also wearing a blue cap as well. "This is my assistant, Elizabeth. Like myself, she is also a resident of this velvet room."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ichigo Kurosaki" she bowed slightly as she introduced herself to him.

"Sure…likewise" Ichigo was still overwhelmed by most of this, so he didn't know quite how to react. Although suddenly he just realized something about what she said. Ichigo narrowed his eyes at the two of them accusingly "Wait a minute! Just how do you know my name?"

Igor chuckled as he waved his hand across the table in front of him. Just like the odd fortune tell from the other day, a folder appeared out of thin hair, and opened without any form of physical interaction. "I'm sure you are familiar with this."

What Igor was referring to was the document in front of him. Ichigo certainly did recognize this as the same document that strange boy from the other night made him sign. Supposedly it was something school related. But considering this man, or whatever he was, was now in possession of it, he wasn't so sure about that anymore. "Yeah, I remember that. Is that kid here as well?" Ichigo asked as he quickly scanned the room for any sight of that small boy.

"No he is not. But I'm sure you will encounter him again sometime in the future" Igor responded cryptically, only to receive a scowl from Ichigo. "This contract symbolizes the agreement you made with my master. Only those who have signed this contract may be permitted to enter the velvet room" he stated.

"Your master?" Ichigo had no idea who he was referring to. Was he talking about that kid? That was always a possibility.

"Look back, do you not remember meeting somebody unusual before you arrived in this city" Igor said, gesturing to Ichigo to search threw his memories. Deciding to humor the odd man, Ichigo tried recalling everything he witnessed from the time he left Karakura to the point he arrived in Iwatodai. Nothing out of the ordinary really came to mind. That was until several images flashed in his vision, of a fortune teller he met the previous day.

"I am Philemon, the one who seeks man's enlightenment and guide's them towards it" Philemon's words echoed through his head as If he was in the room with them all. The man was certainly an enigma alright, disappearing into thin air along with a table defiantly counts as that as far as he was concerned.

"You're talking about that Philemon guy, right?" Ichigo asked. He was sure that was who Igor was talking about. "How the hell did I forget about that" he thought. While he might occasionally forget a person's name now and then, he shouldn't have forgot about an event like that. So why was it he only just remembered that?

"That is correct. He is my master and the creator of this room" Igor explained.

"So that guy created this place" Ichigo thought. The guy was certainly strange, not only disappearing into thin air along with a table. But being comply unnoticed by everyone around this definitely categorize the guy as strange in his opinion. Especially since he wasn't able to see spirits anymore.

Just wanting to make sure of something Ichigo asked Igor a question. "You don't happen to know a guy called Kisuke Urahara do you. I mean this does seems like an elaborate prank he might do just to piss me off".

Igor chuckled slightly at the paranoid human. "I can assure you, the man you refer to as Kisuke Urahara is unaware of my existence" he explained to the surprise of Ichigo.

"Ok, so why exactly did you bring me here? I mean, you must have some sort of reason" Ichigo wondered. While it was interesting to know that Hat and Clogs didn't know about this guy, he really wanted to know why he was here. Usually when people kidnaped someone, they have some sort of purpose in mind or something.

"My reasoning for summoning you to the here, is to inaugurate you as our newest guest" Igor reached into his back pocket and placed a key in the middle of the table. The key itself looked rather old fashioned, but what stood out the most, was the fact that it was glowing blue. On one end of the key, was a make, one side black, the rest the same color as the rest of the key. "Please take this. This key is proof that you will be welcome here in this Velvet Room."

Ichigo cautiously reached out towards the table and picked up the key. "Why is it a key though" Ichigo wondered openly. "I mean, does this place have a door or something" he joked.

Igor chuckled to himself slightly "You will understand within time. Until then farewell." Ichigo was just about to ask him what he meant by that, but the world began to twist and distort in his vision. With a sudden jolt, he sprung straight up in his bed.

It was morning from the looks of it. His alarm that he set on his phone hadn't gone of yet, and the room was illuminated by the sun outside, so that was obvious.

"Maybe that was all just some weird surreal dream" Ichigo thought to himself. Yeah that was it. Just one of the most vivid and realistic dreams he had ever had. I mean, everyone has those sometimes in their life, so why should this be any different. Although, to Ichigo's dismay, that theory was suddenly debunked when he noticed something obstructive in his right hand. Ichigo unclenched his hand that he had unknowingly balled up to see a glowing blue key. The same key the large noised man had given to him just moments before in what he had assumed was just a dream.

"Nothing can ever just be simple with my life, can it" Ichigo sighed, as he openly complained to himself.

April 9th

Iwatodai Dorm

"So, how is he doing today?" Ikutsuki questioned, as he walked into the command room. This was the second night in a row where they were examining their newest guest, and he had yet to show any abnormalities that others who were exposed to the Dark Hour were known to exhibit. Hopeful, Ichigo would be able to summon a Person as they hadn't had much look in finding anyone else with the potential other than Yukari in the last few years.

Mitsuru sighed "He's the same as last night Mr. Chairmen." Nothing had changed since the other night. He was still sleeping in his bed and hadn't transmogrified into a coffin. "His vitals are all stable and from the looks of it he's fast asleep" she explained.

Ikutsuki moved towards the same spot he sat in the previous night. ""Hmm…Very interesting" he thought out loud. "Even those who have the potential tend to be rather unstable at first. Memory loss…disorientation, those are only just two of the symptoms a person tends to exhibit when confronted with the Dark Hour for the first time" Ikutsuki remained the two girls. "But, as far as we can tell, the subject has yet to show any signs of these symptoms."

The two girls were in deep thought other this. It was obvious he could experience the Dark Hour, and as the Chairman had explained, he wasn't exhibiting any of the common symptoms. As far as Mitsuru knew, there was only one possible explanation. "Mr. Chairmen, it might be possible that Kurosaki has been able to experience the Dark Hour for some time now" Mitsuru stated. "It would explain why he hasn't shown any sign of the symptoms you previously mentioned."

"An interesting theory, Mitsuru, one that might actually be correct." Ikutsuki said. "There's no real way of telling if that's the case though."

"Well couldn't we just ask him" Yukari stated the obvious. "I mean, we don't really have anything to lose."

"I'd have to agree with Takeba, Mr. Chairmen. Kurosaki hasn't shown any signs of changings since we first observed him yesterday. I don't believe there is much more we could possibly learn by monitoring him further" Mitsuru explained here reasoning.

"Hmm…" Ikutsuki was in deep though on how to respond. Mitsuru and Yukari both raised valid points. There wasn't really much more they could learn by observing Ichigo, the next step would be simply to talk to him and see if he was capable of summoning a Persona and explaining the Dark Hour to him. The only question that remained was how he would respond to this revelation. Certain people had the tendency to react violently to things that threaten their world view. Despite that, they had to move forward sooner or later. "Very well. Well stop are observations for tonight. Mitsuru, tomorrow bring Ichigo here so we can explain everything to him."

"Yes Mr. Chairmen" Mitsuru responded. Ikutsuki was about to leave the room but stopped as he heard a pinning noise coming from the console that was in front of the two students. "Command Room. Is that you Akihko?" she asked quickly. There really wasn't anyone else it could be. Akihiko was the only other member of SEES, and he was currently out on patrol right now.

"…Yeah it's me" Akihiko said of the radio, those present in the command room could hear his heavy breathing, indicating that he was out of breath. "Sorry but I don't have time to talk, something huge is chasing me. I'll be back at the dorm in just a few minutes."

This shocked the three present. He was bringing something dangerous right to them. "Wait! He's bringing that thing here!" Yukari said shocked. Why would he do that? He was only just going to put the rest of them in danger. Did he expect her and Mitsuru to be able to take care of it? Yukari was shook out of her thought as Mitsuru stood up from in front of the row of computers and took command of the situation.

"Mr. Chairmen, please remain here. Takeba and I will see to this problem" Mitsuru said with confidence as she walked out of the command room with Yukari following her lead.

Could this night get any worse? Akihiko had this thought constantly repeating through his head as he ran as fast as he was capable of back to the dorm. For him it was just an ordinary night. Well, as ordinary as killing monsters in a time period only he and a handful of others were capable of experiencing, that is. Everything was going so well, until that big bastard reared its ugly head. Despite its size, he still tried to take it head on with Polydeuces's help. Didn't really work out like he had hoped. The only thing he got out of that confrontation was his left arm practically spliced open by one of the things long knives.

It took about a minute or so more of running, but he was finely able to reach the dorm. Akihiko kicked open the front doors and quickly shut and locked them so the bastard couldn't get in. Exhausted, he slumped down on to the floor with his back against the door. He quickly tried to catch his breath, no doubt Mitsuru would want him to go back out there and fight the damn thing. He could hear footsteps of in the distance, the others were probably rushing towards him.

"Akihiko!" Mitsuru shouted, the sight of his current state no doubt worrying her. His shirt was covered in blood, and more of it started dripping onto the floor. She probably wasn't expecting him to be injured this badly.

Yukari ran over to him to try and help him. Akihko flinched as she got closer "Senpai!" she shouted worryingly.

Akihko gave her a reassuring smile "Don't worry, I'll be fine" however, the state of his body disagreed with him. "But get ready to be surprised, that things going to be here any second" he warned the two of them.

Mitsuru glared at him "This is no time for jokes Akihiko! What exactly are we up against?" she asked trying to assess the situation.

"It's a big one. Bigger than any we've encountered yet" Akihiko answered. Just then the entire building shuck as if an earthquake had suddenly appeared. Several of the lamps and plotted plants in the dorm fell over and shattered, spilling their contents onto the ground.

"Ahh!" Yukari screamed at the sudden shaking. "Y-You've gotta be kidding me" were shadows this powerful that they could shake an entire building. Just what the hell were they up against?

Mitsuru pulled out the gun that was strapped to a holder on a belt. "Takeba, go wake up Kurosaki! I want the two if you to escape out the back" Mitsuru commanded.

"But what about you two?" Yukari asked worriedly.

"Were going to stop it in its tracks" Mitsuru replayed. "I'm sorry Akihiko, but you led it to us, so you'll have to fight."

Akihko responded by glaring at her "It's not like I had much of a choice" he argued. He noticed Yukari was still standing there. "What are you waiting for Yukari?"

"R-Right, I'm going" Yukari said as she ran towards the second floor. The building shook once more as she ran to Ichigo's room. She almost tripped other the stares as she was running because of it.

"Just what the hell is going on?" Ichigo thought to himself as he got dressed into his school uniform, as it was the only thing that he had ready. Ichigo was awakened by the first shaking of the building. He could tell by the light peering into the room that it wasn't the middle of the night, but that strange green hue effect again. Whatever was going on he knew it had something to do with that. He was just about to leave his room to try to find out just what was occurring when he heard a sudden loud knock at his door.

"Ichigo, are you awake?" Yukari shouted from behind the door.

Ichigo moved quickly other to the door and opened it. He noticed Yukari looked panicked, something serious must have happened. No doubt it was the cause of the building shaking. "What's going on?" he asked in a serious tone.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have time to explain right now. We need to leave, now!" Yukari said as she motioned for Ichigo to follow her.

"Fine, but I want some answers" Ichigo demanded as he glared at her. The two of them were now in the hallway, seconds later the building was shaking again. Ichigo could swear he heard some glass shattering in the distance, probably from a window or some cutlery from a shelf.

"Once we get to somewhere safe, I'll explain everything. I promise" Yukari said as Ichigo followed her down stairs. The two of them ran to a door in the back of the ground floor. The room looked to be in a rather scattered and clustered mess, with furniture thrown everywhere and several windows smashed with the glass just scattered all other the floor.

"There's no way this was just an earthquake" Ichigo thought to himself. Sure the shaking and the fact the dorm looked like a wreck was typical scenery after an earthquake. But from the way Yukari had been acting, and this odd feeling he had right now that was telling him something else was going on. He couldn't quite describe this feeling he had; it was just an odd sensation, like a voice at the back of his mind telling him that something was wrong.

"Ok, I think we should be safe here" Yukari said as she led him to the back door of the ground floor.

"Safe from what?" Ichigo asked, increasingly agitated "What exactly is going on here?" he demanded to know. He hated being left in the dark about something. If he wasn't involved with it he wouldn't have cared. But considering what was currently going on, it was probably for the best to know as much as possible right now.

Yukari sighed. She didn't really know how to explain any of this to him. She had hoped it would have been Mitsuru or the Chairman that it explained it to him. She just didn't know how to put it all into words. "Alright, I said I would explain. You see…" Yukari was about to begin explaining everything to Ichigo, but she was interrupted by a ringing sound coming from inside her head. This had happened a few times before. This meant that Mitsuru was trying to contact her. "Just hang on a minute."

"Takeba, do you read me" Mitsuru's voice rang inside her head.

"Yeah, I hear you" Yukari responded. She wasn't used to talking to someone like this. From Ichigo's prospective it probably looked like she was talking to herself or something equally crazy.

"Be careful! There's more than one enemy present!" Mitsuru warned. "The one were fighting, isn't the one Akihiko was chased by!"

"What!" Yukari said startled. Just then a large thumping noise came from the door just in front of her, like something was trying to break down the door. It kept repeating this over and over again trying to make its way into the building. "We should find another way out of her."

"Got any ideas?" Ichigo asked. Yukari looked like she knew what was going on, so he thought it was best to follow her lead for now. He could wait to find out just what was going on until they were safe from whatever was trying to bash its way in here.

"We should try the roof. Follow me, quickly" Yukari gestured to him as they made their way to the stairs. The building started shaking again, but unlike before, this was a continuous shake, unlike before where it was only for a few brief moments.

The sound of rumbling was suddenly replaced by the sound of glass shattering behind them. The two of them quickly turned around to see just what had broken into the dorm. What it was definitely surprised Ichigo. Two black blobs were currently clawing their way into the dorm towards them. These black blobs had claw like hands and arms. But the most distinctive thing about them was most definitely the blue mask they wore on their head. Or whatever passed as its head anyway. Ichigo couldn't help but be reminded of the countless hollows he fought just a few short months ago as he stared at the thing. It certainly had a slight resemblance to those monsters.

Ichigo quickly shook himself out of his surprise and hurriedly followed Yukari upstairs to the roof. It didn't matter what that thing was, there really wasn't much he could do against it anyway. Compared to some of the things he'd encountered during his few short months as a Substitute Soul Reaper, that black blob with the mask looked down right cuddly in comparison. Still, he wouldn't like to try to take those things head on in a fight though. Because if there was anything he learnt during those few months, it was that appearances could be deceiving.

He followed Yukari up to the top floor of the dorm, passing by what he assumed to be the girls floor and a floor that only possessed a large set of doors. The only thing on the top floor was a single door and some random odds and ends. The two of them quickly ran through the door and Yukari locked it behind her. The atmosphere outside was as depressing as Ichigo remembered. The only difference was that the moon was shining even brighter than it was just a few days ago. The sickly greenish light of this strange world illuminating the night sky made it quite brighter than it should have been for this hour of the night. The same blood like liquid was currently present on the roof itself, giving the place a certainly haunting appearance that wouldn't look out of place in a horror film.

"Ok…I think we should be safe up here" Yukari said, in between her heavy breathing.

"So, you going to explain what's going on now?" Ichigo questioned. He didn't like stumbling around in the dark. He could understand Yukari not wanting to explain anything while they were being chased. But they seemed relatively safe up here for the moment. So this was a better time than any in his opinion.

"Alright, I did promise after all" Yukari replied remembering her promise to explain everything to Ichigo once they were safe. "You see…" Yukari was cut off by the sound and vibration of the building shaking once more, but only this time did it feel more intense, and that it was originating from behind them.

The two of them quickly looked towards the source of the shaking where they sore a giant black hand grabbing the side of the building. Several more hands appeared only moments after that, just after that a blue mask, like the one on the black blob like creatures from before peaked over the side of the building, staring right at the two of them. The creature used all of its hands to pull itself onto the roof properly. The creature possessed a spider like appearance consisting almost entirely of hands and arms, with one if it's free hands that weren't t anchoring the being to the building being used to display its mask in front of its body. Out of nowhere, several of its hands reached into the center of the creature's body and pulled out several razor sharp swords.

"Ichigo" Yukari spoke without taking her eyes of the thing. "We call that thing, a Shadow." Yukari reached into her cardigans pocket at pulled out a knife which she handed to Ichigo. "Here, I know this isn't much but It'll have to do for now" she apologized. There wasn't much time before to grab anything more useful.

Ichigo took the knife and examined it momentarily as he didn't want to take his eyes off of the creature in front of him. It looked like a rather simple combat knife, nothing overly impressive about it, with a black handle and a greyish silver blade. A stab or cut in the right area on someone would easily kill them with this. on the other hand, he didn't particularly like his chances if he had to fight this thing head on with only a knife. "It's better than nothing I guess" he said to himself. Better to have it than nothing he thought.

While Ichigo was examining the weapon she had just handed him, Yukari was quickly trying to calm down her nerves. The only time she had seen an actual Shadow was with Mitsuru and Akihko once, and even then Akihiko was the one that had dealt the killing blow to it, not her. Hell she had never even summoned her persona before, the thought of actual using her evoker just frightened her too much to actual be able to go through with it. But know she had to put aside those fears and overcome them. Because if she wasn't able to, then both herself and Ichigo would undoubtedly die here tonight.

"There's no way I'm going to let that happen. Not after I've come so close to finding out what happened to him" Yukari thought to herself. That's right. She had to make it through all of this to find out what happened to her father. She had to protect Ichigo from that thing. There was no one else that could, the others were too busy fighting the other shadows down on the street. It was all up to her.

Yukari quickly glanced towards Ichigo to see how he was coping. To her surprise his sight was focused solely on the shadow, but what surprised her was that it wasn't a look of fear that any normal person would have at the moment, but one of pure concentration. She'd seen that look before on Akihko when he was facing off against a shadow. But unlike Ichigo, he had a persona to back him up. So why wasn't he worried right about now. Yukari shook her head, she had more important things to worry about right now, as long as Ichigo was fine, that was ok with her.

The shadow started moving slowly towards them. Yukari focused her breathing and pulled out the gun that was strapped to the side of her right thigh. But to Ichigo's shock, she pointed it straight at her forehead. "Hey, wait a minute" Ichigo shouted as he was about to stop Yukari from doing what he thought she was going to do. What was he supposed to do when somebody was pointing a loaded gun at their head? Let them pull the trigger?

The moment Yukari pulled out the gun, the shadow charged at the two of them and using one of its free hands, smacked Yukari out of the way, sending her flying to the other side of the roof. The force of the throw, knocking her unconscious for the moment.

"Yukari" Ichigo shouted in an attempt to see if she was ok. Unfortunately he didn't get a response. He did on the other hand cause the shadow to refocus its attention from the downed girl to him. The shadow swiped one of its swords in the general direction of Ichigo's head. Luckily he was able to dodge the blow in time. If he hadn't then he would have surly been decapitated then and there.

"And here I thought my monster fighting days were other" Ichigo thought to himself. Several months of fighting Hollows, Soul Reapers and Arrancars had sharpened his reflexes to an almost superhuman degree. So because of that, he was confident he wouldn't be able to be skewered by one of the shadows swords. Hopefully anyway. Now killing it on the other hand was a completely different matter. He doubted a mere knife could do any real damage to this monstrosity. The only thing he could do right now was try to dodge any blows the shadow sent his way.

That was really all he could do. The shadow itself didn't seem like much compared to some of the other things he'd seen. But in his current state, he was just as week as an ordinary human. And right now, there wasn't a damn thing an ordinary human could do against a creature such as the one in front of him.

The shadow once again charged straight at him again. The shadow swiped several of its swords at Ichigo. He was able to dodge most of them, but one of them accidently nicked the side of his face causing a slight cut to appear. He ignored that for now, and out of desperation tried to parry the final strike the shadow sent his way. When the shadows sword collided with the knife, it caused Ichigo's right arm to vibrate. While he might have been in peek physical condition, he was still only a human. It was lucky that the bones in his arms didn't break then and there.

"Damn it" Ichigo grunted in pain. That last attack taught him that trying to parry one of its blows was a terrible idea. The thing was just too damn strong for him to be able to handle. Unfortunately, while Ichigo was momentarily distracted with his aching arm, he wasn't able to notice one of the shadows free hands heading straight for his stomach. The next thing Ichigo saw was a black fist colliding with his body and sending him several feet backwards. The momentum of the blow almost causing his back to collided with the side of the roof.

A sharp pain radiated from his ribs. More than likely one or two of them had been broken by the shadows attack. Any lesser man would have stayed on the ground clutching their three stomach, but Ichigo got right back up. Sure he was in quite a bit of pain, but he had endured far worse in the past.

Despite the brave face he put on, he had no idea right now on just what he was supposed to do. There was no way that he could kill that thing with just a knife. If only he had power. Power to destroy this bastard. Because if he died here right now, then Yukari would be next, and in her current state she'd be a sitting duck. There was no way he could let that happen. No. He refused to let that happen. There had to be something he could do.

"The gun…" To Ichigo's surprise, a voice echoed throughout his mind. It was like somebody had snuck up right behind him and started whispering in his ear. It felt like the entire world had slowed down all around him. The image of the kid from the night he arrived in the dorm flashed before his eyes. "Go on…take it" the boy said, gesturing to the immediate left of him. Ichigo glanced at the direction the kid was pointing at. It was where Yukari was lying on the ground unconscious, and next to her lay the gun she had dropped just before, laying there in a pool of blood.

Weighing up his options, Ichigo quickly rolled underneath one of the shadows sword strikes in an attempt to move himself closer to where Yukari was without being struck down by the shadow. Luckily, he was able to get much closer to her pretty much unscathed. Before grabbing the gun, Ichigo quickly spared a glance at Yukari. While she continued to seem unresponsive, she was still certainly breathing, indicating she was very much alive. Turing his attention back to his current plan, Ichigo quickly bent down and picked up the discarded silver gun. Despite admittedly not having any real expertise handling firearms, Ichigo noticed that the gun was pretty much very lightweight, there was also the fact that it was completely solid, whereas most guns had mechanisms for the safety and to switch out ammunition.

"Guess she wasn't kidding when she said the thing was fake" Ichigo remembered, as he recalled what Yukari explained to him the other day in class. By appearance alone it look real, although that was simply his opinion and someone who had actual experience with these type of weapons would probably disagree with him. The only thing that really stood out about the gun was that it had the English letters SEES engraved on the side of the barrel. Incidentally, Yukari was also wearing a red armband that had the same letters on.

"Wonder what that means" he thought out loud as he finished examining the two items. Just to prove himself right, Ichigo pointed the gun directly at the shadow and pulled the trigger. As he expected, he only heard a clicking sound caused by the trigger and nothing else. "Thought so" he commented. The fact the gun was fake raised one big question in his mind. Just what the hell was he supposed to do with a fake gun anyway?

"Go on" the image of the small boy reappearing in his vision. The boy made a gun shape with his hand and connected his index figure to his temple, mimicking the image of a person putting a gun to their head. "This is what it's for" the boy explained with a smile. "Trust me." Personally Ichigo thought the boy was insane. That was until he remembered the boy's voice and image was probably all just part of his imagination, then that probably meant he was insane. The only time he had experienced voices in his head was when his inner hollow was attempting to take over his body just after coming back from the Soul Society. Those weren't exactly pleasant memories for him.

Not thinking of any better action to take, Ichigo put the barrel of the gun to his temple and steadied his finger on the trigger. "This better not actual kill me" Ichigo grumbled. Even through the gun seemed fake, that wasn't exactly calming his nerves. The thought of actually putting a gun to his head and having his brains blown across the roof wasn't a very appealing idea to him. If he was going to die, then he'd prefer it be for something that actual mattered. Ichigo took a deep breath and steadied his breathing.

"That's right" the image of the boy smirked in his head. "Now, repeat after me…"

Her body was aching. Just how long was she out of it for? Her vision was slowly coming back to her, as the world around her became less obscured every second. The strength in her collapsed body not having returned to her fully yet, the most she was capable of doing was tilting her head upwards to examine what was currently going on in front of her. She saw the same spider like shadow that had knocked her out, backing away slowly from someone in front of it. Since the only people that were up here the last time she checked was herself and Ichigo, she assumed it was him. But that raised the question. Why was it backing away?

"Per…so...na" Ichigo muttered out with his gaze focused on the now cowering shadow opposite to him. Ichigo steadied his finger and pulled the trigger. Blue glass flew out from the other side of his head accompanied by the sound of glass breaking. A blue torrent of light exploded around his body, enclosing him from the outside world. Ichigo couldn't begin to describe the sensation he was feeling right now. It reminded him of his dream he had the other night, the one about the Velvet Room. Either way, it felt like power, but not power as he remembered it, but at the same time it felt oddly relaxing and soothing. Inside the blue torrent of light, a figure began to take form above him.

"I am thou…" a voice called out. The voice sounded like a deeper, more distorted version of Ichigo's own voice. It appeared to be emanating from the forming figure that was taking shape above Ichigo. "…thou art I…" the figure was becoming clearer by the second. It was definitely humanoid in appearance. With most of its body obscured by a black clock with tattered ends, it was hard to define the gender of the figure, but it certainly looked male. "…from the sea of thy soul, I cometh…" The beings head was covered by the hood of the cloak, making it impossible to see what he looked like underneath. The only thing that was visible were strands of white hair. The figure was welding a long sword in its right hand. The sword resembled a silver Japanese Daitō, its sharpness appearing somewhere in between a regular Katana and a razor blade. All and all it had a rather haunting appearance to it. "I am Charon. Guider of souls"

The blue torrent of light disappeared leaving Charon floating above Ichigo with nothing but the green moonlight to illuminate them. The shadow, which just before was trying to slice Ichigo apart now stood there completely still. Whether it was out of confusion or fear, it was impossible to really tell. But right now, Ichigo felt like he was on top of the world. What he was feeling right now was almost impossible to describable; it felt like he was in two places at once, almost like he was looking out of the eyes of Charon.

"So, this is a persona" Ichigo muttered. That's what the boy had called it. He still wasn't sure whether or not that was just a hallucination. The fact remained he knew the name of the thing. Charon. From what he remembered, it was from Greek mythology, a sort of grim reaper that would ferry the souls of the dead across the river Styx to the afterlife. Ichigo thought it was kind of amusing, especially considering what his former occupation use to entail.

"I-Ichigo" Yukari mumbled as she slowly got back onto her feat. Her movement was slow and sloppy, a sign that she hadn't fully regained her sense of balance quite yet. He would have liked to have gone other there and helped her back onto her feet. But he didn't want to take his eyes of the shadow just yet. There was no telling what this thing would do. Would it go after the biggest threat to it, or would it go after the most vulnerable. He didn't have the luxury of being surrounded by people that could probably level a decent sized town on their own anymore. Both he and Yukari were ordinary humans, persona's aside. He had to be careful. He couldn't just rush into it and expect everything to work out like in the old days.

"Stay right there. There's no telling what this things going to do next" Ichigo cautioned. Ichigo was just about to take a step backwards, when a shooting pain suddenly erupted inside his head. It was as if someone had snuck up behind him and shoved a hot rod straight into his brain. Even though he had a high tolerance of pain, this was simply just too much for him to be able to endure.

"Argh" Ichigo fell to his knees in pain, no longer having the strength in his legs to stand. The excruciating pain was simply too much for him to bare. It felt like something was trying to claw its way right out of his head. Since he was looking straight down at the roof, he was unable to see that Charon was now convulsing in pain. His sudden erratic movements were put to an end only seconds after they began as a black arm shot out of his body. Moments later another arm followed in its wake. Both hands gripped the body of Charon and pulled itself up, ripping Charon to pieces in the process.

"RRRRAAAAAAHHHH" The being roared as it erupted out its way of Charon with such a force to practically obliterate any trace of him. The being had a certain terrifying appearance to it. Its entire body was masked by a long black clock with red outlines that parted close to thigh high white boots. Around its body were several coffins attached to it by a set of chains, and on its head was a jaw like white mask that was separated into two from where it covered its eyes to its jaw. In its right hand was a sword similar to the one Charon was wilding previously. The only difference was that it possessed a sheath for the sword attached to its belt on its left hand side.

"W-What is that thing?" Yukari asked, slightly shuck up at the sudden appearance of that persona. Or at least she thought it was a persona anyway. Yukari heard a grunting sound just to the left of her, probably coming from Ichigo. She quickly ran to his side to stabilise him as he tried to stand up again. "Just hang on" she said trying to comfort him.

"Thanks" Ichigo appreciated the gesture of help. While he was getting back on his feet, the newly summoned persona charged straight at the shadow. The shadow in turn launched several of its arms straight into the air in an attempt to keep the persona at bay. Its arms twisted and turned through the air, but all these attempts were futile as the persona sliced through all of its arms at once effortlessly. The blast caused by the downward force of the sword almost caused the roof underneath the shadow to cave in.

Before the shadow could respond to what had just happened, the persona quickly bisected the shadow from the mask downwards in two equal pieces, no longer rendering the shadow to be a threat to the occupants of the roof. The persona grabbed the remains of the shadow and using its immense strength, crushed it underneath its grip. All that remained was the recently summoned persona basking in the green moonlight. Suddenly a static sound like one encountered on an old TV filled the air and the persona reverted back Into Charon. Charon himself suddenly glowed with a blue light and vanished as well.

"Well at least that shadow's gone" Yukari said. She wasn't sure what just happened, but she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Whatever that thing was it dealt with a shadow she knew even Akihko and Mitsuru would have had difficulty dealing with.

"Yeah" Ichigo agreed. That's all he really could say, as his mind was focused on something else. Why was it that the persona he just summoned transformed into that thing with the coffins? "Well were safe now, that's all that really matters at the moment." They could worry about all this later, there was no use to asking question they both knew there weren't really answers for right now.

The two of them were about to head back to the door but stopped when they heard several movement from behind them. Several of the blob like shadows from before were quickly making their way onto the roof from all directions. Their intention was most likely to surround them.

"Great more of those damn bastards" Ichigo scowled. At least it wasn't an even more powerful shadow showing up. Ichigo put the evoker to his head again ready to fight the shadows if need be.

"Wait, you're going to fight them" Yukari shouted suppressed. She didn't think he could have taken much more tonight after everything he had been through, and know he was ready to head on with several shadows by himself. She didn't know whatever or nor to call it bravery or stupidity.

"It's either that or die" Ichigo countered. "And frankly, I don't have any intention of dying here tonight." Ichigo was about to pull the trigger and summon Charon, but was stopped by a voice calling out from behind.

"That's a good attitude to have about this" a grey haired man said as he walked up behind the two of them. "Looks like we have our work cut out for us" he said as he observed the seen on front of him. There were quite a lot of shadows up here. "Nothing we can't deal with" he commented.

"And you are?" Ichigo asked having spared a sidewards glance at the guy, all the while not taking his full attention off of the ever increasing number of shadows in front of them.

"We can save a full introduction for later. The names Akihiko by the way" Akihko quickly introduced himself.

"Ichigo"

"So Ichigo, how about this. You take the right, and I'll take the left" Akihko explained his idea to Ichigo while he flexed his shoulder. "Yukari catch this" Akihiko threw what looked like an evoker to Yukari. She cached it without any effort. "Since you haven't properly used one yet just back the two of us up. Mitsuru will be here in a minute to help out."

"Right" Yukari replied. Despite her current confidence, she was worried that she might not actual be able to help the two of them. The two of them were placing their trust and lives with her, she couldn't let them down just because she was scared of putting a fake gun to her head. She had to overcome her fear of it, it was now or never for her.

"So you two ready or what?" Ichigo asked as he got ready to pull the trigger.

Akihiko chuckled "I should be the one asking you that. But yeah, let's do this" Akihiko griped his evoker with his left hand and pressed the barrel straight against his forehead. "Polydeuces" Akihko shouted as he pulled the trigger. In a blue torrent of energy, a large blue figure appeared directly above Akihiko. It was a large muscular blue clad figure with long blond hair and silver armour at various places around its body. On its right hand, it wielded a piercer style weapon, while it's left hand was rather tiny in comparison. "Alright, try this, Zio" Akihiko called out. A lightning bolt pierced through the night sky and struck the nearest shadow, obliterating it on impact. Maybe out of sense of comradery or revenge, the nearest shadow charged directly at Akihiko, but was struck down by a truly devastating haymaker curtsey of Akihiko's right fist.

"Alright, guess it's my turn" Ichigo smirked as he planned on what to do himself. With the sound of glass shattering, Ichigo summoned Charon into the world. Ever since first summoning the persona just a while ago, he began to remember words of a language he simply had no knowledge of. Whatever they were, he had a feeling they were connected to the persona in some manner. Following Akihiko's example he decided to give it a try. "Mudo" As he spoke those words, Charon raised its fist in the direction of the closest shadow and a purple magic circle formed directly in front of it. The shadow became in cased within purple light, and seconds later as the magic circle began to dissipate, it disintegrated into nothingness.

"So it's some form of magic that destroys something instantly on contact" Ichigo thought as he witnessed the shadow disappear. "Well that could come in handy" he figured there was probably some sort of downside to it he'd eventual figure out, but for now it was fine for what he needed it for. These shadows didn't seem any ware near as strong as the spider like one. The only problem was that there was a ton of them to deal with. Ichigo smirked to himself "Well then, let's try something different" Along with Mudo, another word popped into his head the moment he first summoned Charon, an English word to be precise, instead of whatever language the other one hailed from. "Cleave".

Charon charged towards the nearest shadow, and with its sword held high, slashed the shadow apart. Ichigo couldn't help but smile at this. Ever since he lost his Soul Reaper powers, he felt completely useless, unable to move on in the world. But now, now there was this.

"Io" he heard Yukari shout out. What he assumed was her persona hovered just slightly in front of her. In his opinion it was kind of strange looking. It was a woman with long blond braided hair in a pink dress sitting on what he assumed was a bull themed throne. Actual, sitting on it wasn't right, it was more like she was chained right to it. "Dia" she commanded. A green light washed over Ichigo, and to his surprise the pain that had been emanating from his ribs had all but disappeared.

"Healing magic!" Ichigo presumed. "Thanks, I kind of need that". Ichigo couldn't help but notice the sweat on Yukari's face.

"No problem" Yukari panted as beads of sweat rolled down her face. Summoning her persona had taken a lot out of her. But in the end, she had managed to summon it despite the fears she had previously.

"Hey Ichigo, look out" Akihko warned as a shadow got dangerously close to him. Ichigo quickly turned around to face the oncoming shadow, but was surprised as a rapier was suddenly thrust straight through the blue mask of the creature.

"You know I was just about to deal with that one" Ichigo mentioned. It's not like he wasn't grateful for her help or anything. For some reason he couldn't help but notice that his body was becoming more sluggish than usual. Ichigo ignored this for now.

"Well then, you should have been quicker about it" Mitsuru joked slightly as she flicked of the reaming pieces of the shadow off of her sword. "I'm sorry I'm late everyone. But I was held up dealing with a small matter" Mitsuru explained as she observed the current state of affairs. There was currently quite a few shadows present to be dealt with. But due to their relatively low threat level and the way Akihiko and Kurosaki held dealt with them so far, they didn't seem to be an overall dangerous threat. "But I see my absence hasn't affected any of your ability's to deal with the threat at hand."

"We were doing just fine by ourselves before you showed up" Ichigo of handily mentioned. "Ain't that right" he said as he looked towards Akihiko.

"Yeah" he smirked as he destroyed yet another shadow with his bare hands. "But we could certainly use the help now that your here". With Mitsuru here they could make short work of the remaining shadows far quicker than he assumed it would have taken with just the three of them.

"Let's quickly put an end to this quickly, shall we" Mitsuru said as she pulled out her evoker and summoned her persona. "Penthesilea" in a surge blue energy a rather regal figure appeared above her. Wearing a blue outfit adorned with the occasional steal armor over the chest, an iron mask and what looked like a rapier in its left hand and a long sword in its right. "Mabufa" she called out. Immediately, the reaming shadows began to slowly be incased in ice. The shadows had zero chance to escape as they suddenly shattered into shards of ice, removing the last trace of the over worldly beings from the dorm.

"With that taken care of, I'm glad to see the two of you are unharmed" Mitsuru addressed Ichigo and Yukari.

"Yeah, no…problem…" Ichigo said as his voice trailed off as he lost all feeling in his lower legs and collapsed into his knees. Dropping the evoker and knife he was holding previously. The discarded items casing a clanging sound as they impacted the roof of the dorm.

"Hey Ichigo, are you ok" Yukari shouted as she rushed over to him. "Say something".

"W-What…the!" he mumbled as his vision began to darken and his body collapsed to the ground unresponsive.

Mitsuru looked on at the scene with a frown appearing on her face. "I was afraid of something like this happening" she sighed as she observed Ichigo's collapsed form in front of her. "Summoning his persona and using it several times after must have completely exhausted him".

"But Yukari seems fine" Akihiko argued. "She only just summoned hers not to long after Ichigo did"

"True. It might be possible that his current condition is due to the emergence of that thing earlier" Mitsuru explained her theory.

"Any idea what that was anyway?" Akihiko asked. Personally he had no damn clue what that thing was from earlier. From the way it appeared, to the way it casually destroyed the shadow just unnerved him a slight bit.

"I have no idea" Mitsuru confessed. The emergence of the strange being from earlier had shocked them all. "But I fully intend on finding out" she said as she was resolved to figuring this mystery out as they planned on what to do next.

Unknown to them, just off in the distance was a blue butterfly observing the scene before it. As the three teenagers carried Ichigo's body off of the roof to where ever it was they were taking him, the blue butterfly spread its wings and flew off into the green night sky.

Authors Notes: I apologize for how long it took for this chapter to come out. But real life tends to delay things now and then. But with it being summer now, I intend for these chapters to come out a bit quicker for a while.

One other thing I noticed while writing this chapter, I had accidentally muddled up the dates in the story. So I went back and fixed those mistakes.