Author's Note:

The Shirakawa Boulevard scene is here by popular demand, though I'm gonna try a route that isn't too raunchy, haha. I read somewhere (correct me if I'm wrong; though I try to be well-versed in Japanese culture I've never actually experienced it save for some touring and shopping) that before two people have sex in Japan, they shower. Sooo, here you go, you perverts. (Just kidding, I love you all, you know that.)

Twenty-Five Hours
a Persona 3/Portable (© ATLUS) fanfiction

The Nineteenth Hour

Opening Song: "Her Morning Elegance" - Oren Lavie

Embrace your desire

I am the voice of your inner self

Enjoy the moment

That which cannot be felt is merely a dream

The present is all we have

The future is but a fantasy, memory a fabrication

Let your desire free you fromyour shackles

Such is my wish

Pleasure is what you truly want

You stand before the doorway to bliss

You cannot deny your instincts

Embrace your desire

It was nothing more than a haze, but it felt right. Right...? Isn't there something I have to do? Her head swam and her thoughts rushed passed her, never lingering for too long. Her consciousness was lost in some dark sea far away, but the mouth pressed intimately to her collar bone nipped and licked and anchored her body to reality. Reality? This isn't a dream? Is this right...? An unexpected moan bubbled from her throat, dispersing the thoughts of concern once more. Did it really matter if this — What is this? — was real or right or wrong?

"Minako..." The masculine voice rose to her ear, humming softly against it. She murmured something (what?) in return, used her limbs to press herself more fully against the hard body, moved her lips against his skin. "Minako," he groaned. Two large hands pried her away by the waist, and she dimly remembered looking into a pair of gray eyes. "I'll go take a shower," he murmured, lips tracing her jawline. "I'll be back."

The material beneath her bunched up and shifted as the presence departed. As he left, so too did the thick fog that encompassed her memory and mind. It was as though she was resurfacing, parting the water that stifled and held her down. The room around her began to take shape and color, her surroundings became more familiar, and her senses became more aware.

Minako sat up with a start, but her head ached. Ow... Okay, there was definitely something I needed to do... A spark went off in her mind, forcing a sharp intake of breath. Voices clawed at her mind, tried to push her back under the water and suffocate her. No, no, there's definitely something I need to do... I can't, I can't... Now now! She didn't even know what she was protesting against (the memories were somewhere in the back of her mind, barely repressed), but she shook her adamantly and clawed through the fog that threatened to over take her.

pit pat pit pat pit pat pit pat

What's that...? The shower? Minako tried to push the distraction away when the voices returned. Embrace your desire...? No, not now... I don't have time for that. The others are... The others are waiting... The others?

The pit pat pit pat came to a stop just as the fog fully lifted. Memories of the mission, of Yukari and Junpei and Akihiko who were with her, of the mirrors and the Shadows came flooding back, and Minako jumped to her feet. "Oh shoot! The mission!"

Just as she darted for the door, another door leading to the bathroom thrust open and out came Akihiko— dressed in nothing more than a towel. (Minako actually had to press hand to her nose to make sure it wasn't bleeding.) "Hey," he murmured in a sensual tone that sent shivers running up and down her spine (for a number of reasons). "It's your turn." She looked into his hazy eyes, and the repressed thoughts and memories were unleashed: his lips, her lips, their bodies pressed too closely for people who were just friends. A mixture of despair, regret, anger, and embarrassment whirled in her stomach as she tried to keep herself from falling over.

The moment her mind cleared up, so too did his. His gray eyes widened in shock in realization, and his cheeks darkened. "W-what the hell!?" he yelped, stepping away from her. He didn't realize his towel was slipping until he noticed Minako's eyes trailing downward, and he grasped at it in desperation with another shout of surprise. "What's going on here!?"

Minako buried her face in her hands and felt the heat radiating from her cheeks. "Just put your clothes on!" she said.

"Y-yeah," he breathed, "you're absolutely right." Sweating and muttering to himself, he raced back into the bathroom, leaving Minako to wallow in her self-pity and shame.

Oh, I can finally reach you.

Minako jumped at the sound of Fuuka's voice, as though she were afraid that their teammate had seen everything. Oh God, oh God... What about Junpei and Yukari? Had they seen everything? Where were they? Were they involved in this too? No, no, I don't remember them... No, oh God, oh God...

... Minako-chan? Akihiko-senpai? Can you two hear me?

"Y-yeah, I can hear you," Minako replied, finally able to pull herself together to answer. She hoped Fuuka wasn't too aware of the shaking in her voice.

I'm sorry I couldn't contact you sooner. Good — that meant she hadn't seen or heard anything. The Shadow was interfering with your thoughts... Oh God, maybe she did know. And you all got separated... The enemy is still in the same room. Please regroup and hurry there.

"Okay."

Akihiko-senpai, Fuuka called with more urgency. Can you hear me?

"Y-yeah!" he shouted from inside the bathroom. "Loud and clear!"

Um, did something happen?

OH GOD, she knows! Minako wailed inwardly, thumping her forehead against the wall. "N-no—"

"Alright." Akihiko quickly exited the bathroom, fully dressed in his uniform and SEES gear. "Let's go." Though he was standing just a foot away from her, Minako couldn't bring herself to look him in the eyes; she tried to focus on his vest and how distorted the red color looked in the lights.

"Yeah, okay," she murmured.

Before she could get out the door, he gently grasped her by the upper arm. "Minako," he murmured. She noticed that it was completely unlike the way he said her name before. "Um," he began, with a pained expression, "and about what happened earlier... Could you keep it a secret? Please..."

Something about that stung, for some reason. She wasn't proud about what had just happened (I had no control over what I was doing!), but was it really that embarrassing? Maybe he just didn't want Mitsuru to find out. "W-well yeah, of course," she replied, drawing her arm away. "Um, we should get back. Yukari and Junpei are probably waiting for us."

"Yeah. Yeah, of course." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and gnawed on his lower lip. Minako waited for him to say something more, but he just sighed to himself and walked passed her, out the door.

"Hey, Minako." Akihiko greeted her in the hallway during lunch a week after the Shadow battle on Shirakawa Boulevard. "Are you doing anything later?"

She pressed her lips together, debating her answer. He'd done an extravagantly good job at avoiding her after the incident, which managed to not only bring up questions from the others but also thoroughly piss her off. Sure, the whole thing was awkward and uncomfortable but they were supposed to be friends, and he just made her feel more awkward and uncomfortable by ignoring her. "I don't know," she said eventually, folding her arms across her chest. "Maybe."

He looked genuinely surprised by her attitude, and she couldn't help but wonder if he was really that dense. "Oh. Um, well..."

"You haven't wanted to spend time with me for the past week, so why now?" she asked.

"Ah..." His cheeks turned pink, and while part of her wanted to gush at how cute he looked, the other held steadfast in her resolve to make him feel bad. "I'm... I'm sorry about that, Minako. I just... I needed to think and I didn't really know... Well, I didn't really know how to talk to you about it. It was..."

"It was...?" she pressed.

He looked around, made sure that others were in their own conversations and there were no eavesdroppers, then quickly pulled her aside into a corner. "I've never done something like that before," he said finally, his eyebrows drawn together in pained embarrassment. "I mean, that's never happened to me. And, well, you're our leader and my friend," (her heart swelled at him calling her his friend), "and... Well, it's just..."

"Ignoring it isn't going to make it go away," she said, though with a smile. "It happened. There's nothing we can really do about it, you know?"

Akihiko scratched his head, lowering his gaze to the ground. "Yeah, I know. Still, it's..."

Minako laughed, not at him, but at the situation and how ridiculous it all was. "It's weird, I know. I mean, I definitely didn't expect that to happen... Well, I mean, I guess it was in a love hotel on Shirakawa Boulevard so I probably should have expected it a little bit..." She sighed, then took a hold of both of his hands; both pretended it was the static shock that raced up their fingers at the contact. "Don't worry about it, Senpai. It shouldn't get in the way, you know? ... And don't worry, I won't tell anyone else and embarrass you."

"W-wait," he said, giving her hands a squeeze to keep her in place. "I didn't ask you to keep quiet because I was embarrassed of doing that with you. It's just..." He started blushing again. "You know how Junpei gets. And Mitsuru would—" Ah, so Mitsuru did have something to do with it. "Well, she'd probably execute me."

"And we can't have that happen, now can we?" she asked teasingly.

"I'd prefer it," he said.

"Well, your secret's safe with me, Senpai. Don't worry about it, okay?" She squeezed back, then pressed herself up on her tip toes to give him an innocent kiss on the cheek. (Though it was still enough to get his heart racing and his palms sweating; he hoped she didn't notice.)

Closing Song: "Fairytale" - Alexander Rybak

We are almost in the twenties which means this is almost done which is both exciting and sad at the same time. Exciting because I've been writing this since my freshman year of college (I'm almost a senior, holy jamalama!) and sad because I love you all and this has been so fun to write. Buuut we still have six more to go, so no tears yet, haha.

xx, der kapitan