A/N: To Elana, sorry about your picture day sign-up? Here's the chapter a day early to make up for it.

May 31st 2:44pm Half-Moon Rank 3

I keep glancing at my phone. It started becoming a habit after I'd gotten her mail address. She didn't send me anything at all during her exams, but after they were over, our conversations were almost constant. She sent me pictures throughout the day. A lot of it is nonsense. Useless stuff teenagers like to brag about. But every so often she'd send me a picture that was useful.

She lived with the other people in the photos Takaya had given me. Junpei Iori and Yukari Takeba are the ones she talked to the most, but she occasionally spent time with Akihiko Sanada as well. I am already familiar with him. He busted up our operations often enough looking for Shinjiro Aragaki, a loyal customer to our drug business. The other night, she'd gone to dinner with Sanada and then the two went on a run after school. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

Takaya is home for once. Uncommon, but this meeting had been planned. The pictures of Arisato and her friends are tapped up on one side of the wall. Old newspaper articles cover the space next to it. Every heading shows us what they've been up to. It's easy to spot shadow activity when you know what you're looking for.

Chidori gives her report first, pointing to each photo as she speaks. "Mitsuru Kirijo. Takeharu Kirijo's only daughter. An ice user. She doesn't scale the Tower of Demise. Junpei Iori is the newest. His persona is weak against wind and most Persona attacks. Yukari Takeba is their archer. A junior. Her persona is weak against lightning. The girl is not a physical fighter. When they enter the Tower of Demise, she normally stands at the back to avoid direct conflict. Akihiko Sanada. We've run into him several times. His persona is weak to ice. Physical fighter. He is currently wounded."

Takaya points to his picture of Minako. "What about her?"

"Minako Arisato. She's special. I can't get a good reading on her no matter how many times I check."

Takaya's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"It keeps changing. Every time I look at her, it looks like her Persona is something different."

Takaya is quiet. It was impossible. Or at least it should've been, but Chidori is never wrong, and I had proof to back up her claims.

"Jin, give me your report on their activities."

I open my laptop, pulling up my chart on their battle patterns. Arisato would be angry if she'd known what I'd done, but Takaya is the priority. She was just a part of the mission. She didn't matter. "They go to the Tower of Demise once or twice a week. I think they're training, but they're also scaling it. Chidori can back up my theory."

The girl nods slowly.

"Most of their activities conjugate during the full moon. That's when there's the most Shadow activity. They're actively seeking out larger Shadows during that time. They've already beaten two, but from what I can tell, it's mostly because of the girl, Minako Arisato."

"What have you found out about her?"

"Nothing important. She lives in Iwatodai on a scholarship for Gekkoukan High. She's staying in the dorm because it houses the members of a school club known as SEES, but it's pretty much a cover for their Shadow activities. She was born on Port Island but her parents and twin brother died in an accident on Moonlight Bridge ten years ago. After that, she lived in an orphanage in Chiba. No more records of her exist after she entered the orphanage up until she moved back here."

"Moonlight Bridge…10 years ago?" Takaya probably thought the same thing I had originally suspected.

"I looked into it. Neither of her parents had anything to do with the Kirijo Group. Her mom was a housewife and her dad was a teacher. Paramedics found her family's bodies in the car, but she was passed out on the street a few meters away next to her brother's body."

Takaya didn't seem ready to let her go, but I'd looked as far into her past as I could. I open up several photos I'd found of the accident. Her parents both died of severe damage to the cranium. Their upper bodies had been mutilated almost beyond recognition. Even with my background, it had been hard to look at. Most of the blood they found on her belonged to her brother. It looked like he didn't die immediately after the accident. She'd dragged him out of the car in the hopes to save him, before he died of blood loss on the bridge. The fact that she didn't turn out to be a psychotic killer after witnessing something like that is probably a miracle. Takaya was not touching her if I could help it.

"And her persona?"

I pull up several videos I have of them fighting in the tower. I'd had Medea record them after a lot of effort on Chidori's part. They showed the respective members of SEES and all their Personas. Several different ones appeared behind Arisato. "Some of her personas show Healings powers like Medea's. One of them could use Death Spells while another used Fire. It's like she has an arsenal of personas inside her."

Takaya sighs, rubbing his face with his hands. He watches the video twice, his eyes glued to the screen. When he's done, he closes the laptop, and turns to me and Chidori, "Keep your eye on all of them, but this girl in particular."

The two of us nod. This meeting was over. Takaya disappears back into his room.

"Jin." Chidori pulls me into my own room, locking the door behind her.

"What are you doing?" She drags me to my bed and pins me to the mattress with her arms. I'm better in combat but in terms of physical strength, Chidori was stronger. "Have you fallen in love with me or something?" I'd only said it, because I know it's impossible. Chidori doesn't love anyone or anything. She never has.

When the two of us were younger, I'd gotten mad at her for eating my dinner so I'd burned her sketchbooks as revenge. I'd felt guilty right after I'd done it, but she didn't cry or wail. She didn't care at all. The girl was heartless. She didn't get attached. Medea was the exception, but the Persona would never leave her side. It existed within her. The shadow of her soul.

"Are you going to see her again?" Chidori is watching me, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. She knew. Of course she knew. Out of the three of us, Chidori was the only one who didn't use the drug. She used her persona to gather information but Medea was more than that. Chidori thought they were friends. Of course she asked Medea to keep an eye on us.

"Yes." Even if she ratted me out, I was going to go.

Her eyes widen, maybe in shock, maybe in wonder. I'll never know. "Are you coming back?"

Chidori is odd, but she understood me better than most people. She didn't need to ask that question. "This place is home." There were things only the three of us could ever comprehend about one another. No one would ever be able to enter this circle and disrupt that. No matter what happened, that would always be true.

"Do you need healing?" I thought about saying no, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

The drugs should've killed us years ago, but we had Chidori. She was our life line. Every so often, she would heal our internal organs. I don't know how she did it. Probably one of Medea's powers, but it was because of her that me and Takaya had lived this long. If she died, then we would too.

It only takes a few moments, but when we we're done, Chidori plops herself onto her side. "Bring me Takoyaki when you come home." She is asleep almost instantly. It was early afternoon and it was summer, but my room is cold. I keep it that way to stop my systems from overheating. I grab a thick blanket and throw it over her before leaving.

Minako Arisato is waiting for me at the center of Paulownia Mall, in front of the fountain. This place is much further from home than the station but she said she wanted to pick our destination today.

"Hello again." She stands up from the bench, to look at me properly. "You didn't bring your suitcase."

The statement makes me blush, but she probably wouldn't understand why. The thing held my grenades, and my computer. Leaving them both at home was probably a sign that I was beginning to trust her. The enemy. An idiotic move if there ever was one. "Yeah. Didn't need it today."

She nods, grabbing my hand. The warmth immediately feels familiar. Weeks, I'd craved it. The pills always left me feeling cold. It was part of the reason I wore a jacket, even in the summer.

She pulls me into the arcade. The place is loud, full of things to do and people there on dates. It makes me uncomfortable, but so do most things. "What do you want to do?" I watch her expectantly.

"Mmm, Quiz game first. I want to know if I can beat you." I beat her without much problem. I'd thought she was smart, but maybe it was only at certain subjects. She is almost pouting by the time we are done. "What's wrong?"

"I don't like losing."

I can't remember the last time I actually genuinely laughed, but at the moment, a small chuckle escaped my lips. She was cute.

We move onto the Punching Bag next, and her score blows me out of the water. Not unexpected. We go through game after game. I'm faster than her at Mole Whackers. She wins me a figma from the crane machines. I have more rhythm on the music machines though she can name almost every song. Spending time with her is fun. I play a lot of video games, but nothing like this. I almost forgot my mission, and maybe even Takaya. Almost.

"What's next?"

She points to an attraction at the end of the room. The Horror House. "Are you scared ghosts?"

After we had escaped the Kirijo experiments, I'd been scared of everything. I'd wake up scared, not knowing what to do. Not knowing where my next meal came from or where we would go. I'd been scared of living. Everything was unfamiliar. The Kirijo experiments only taught me about pain and the complete, almost constant ability to die. Any one of us could die at any moment. Takaya brought me out of that nightmare. He taught me how to live, to not be afraid. "I'm not scared of anything."

"Me neither." She smiles and drags me into the horror house. It isn't nearly as bad as I expected. The Shadows are much worse. A few people dressed like demons and ghosts jump out at us every so often but the attraction is pretty tame for the most part. I almost hope that the house could've been a little more horrifying. It'd be interesting to see her scared.

Arisato yawns as we exit and I reflexively go to pet her on the head. Why did I do that? I abruptly stop, pulling my hand away. "Tired?"

"Yeah, but there's one last thing I want to do." She drags me into a Print Station, dropping in 200 yen. "Smile!"

The machine takes several sticker sized pictures of us. My glasses are tinted orange so there isn't a glare, but I look bad all the same. No smile. I make a grab for them but she gets there first. "Nuh, uh uh. There's one for each of us. Don't even think about taking them all."

I don't know what she thought I was going to do, but destroying them was the only thing on my mind. She take one of the stacks, putting it in her wallet, and handing me the other one. "C'mon. Let's go home."

I stuff the roll into my pocket. I'd burn them later. "Why'd you pick the arcade?"

"I thought you might enjoy it, since you like video games."

"That's small-minded."

"You didn't like it?" She has a small smile on her face, as if she's playing a prank on someone.

I did.

"Arcades are for kids."

"How old are you, Shirato-san?"

She was 16. I knew that. Would I make her uncomfortable? "I'll be 19 in October."

"You're still a kid..." She is walking to the shrine. I was starting to like this spot. I hated children, but they are never here when we are. That made them okay.

"I stopped being a kid a long time ago."

Her smile hasn't disappeared, but there is some sadness on her face now too. I was beginning to see them. There is always a flurry of emotions behind her fake smiles if I looked hard enough. "Same here."

"What happened?" I was asking the real questions now. The mission. This was for the mission. I had to remember that. Focus.

"You first." It occurs to me that I should probably lie. There was no reason to tell the truth. In fact, it would probably be a bad idea to reveal too much of myself to this girl. If she really was working for Kirijo, maybe she still hadn't verified my identity yet. If I told her the truth, she would know, and the whole thing would fall apart. Everything told me to lie, but why? Why did I want to tell her the truth?

"My family was really poor. My mother sold me to pay for my father's alcohol addiction. The people that bought me weren't the nicest bastards. It didn't end well for anyone."

She doesn't ask me to continue, or elaborate. In a way, it's kind of nice. Had it been anyone else, they might have been horrified, but they'd also be eager to hear more. People loved soaking in the misery of others. As long as it didn't hurt them, the drama was fun, wasn't it? People getting hit by cars. Beaten. Raped. We love hearing about it until the horrors become our own. Scum.

All of a sudden, I can feel her arms wrap around my neck. Her chin is resting uncomfortably on my shoulder. I don't hug her back. I can't feel my arms. They are dangling like lead at my side. Chidori hugged me sometimes. She had nightmares about our days in the Kirijo group even though she never remembered them. She would cling to me in her sleep as if I could shield her from the pain, but it wasn't like what I felt now.

The way this girl, Minako Arisato, hugged me, wasn't anything like Chidori's death grip. This girl's hug is soft, like she is protecting something that could break at any moment. It almost felt like she was trying to shield me from some unseen enemy. Me? Had anyone ever tried to do that for me?

"Everyone I've ever loved is gone." She doesn't say anything else, and I don't press her. Her parents and her brother are dead. I know that. Guilt washes over me. I haven't felt this emotion since the day I'd burned Chidori's paintings. This emotion is worse now. I've taken something very precious to this girl and violated it. I don't deserve her kindness. I don't deserve her at al.

"I'm sorry."

She lets go so she can look me in the eyes. A small smile plays at her lips, sad and fragile. "It's okay. I'm over it."

You're lying.

I don't say that. I don't have the right. Her brother. Her family. All of her tragedy. I took this knowledge without her consent. I gave it to someone who wouldn't care. Someone who was trying to destroy her. If she knew the truth, could she ever forgive me?

It doesn't matter. It's part of the mission. Remember.

She unwraps me from the hug, and we walk the short distance back to the dorm holding hands. When she lets go at the door, the familiar feeling of loss comes back.

"Thank you for tonight, Shirato-san. We should do this again." She bows, and I break out of my dream. She is the target. This is the mission. It didn't matter how much pain I would cause her. It wouldn't matter if she never forgave me. Once Takaya wanted to destroy someone, we did it. No exceptions. Every meeting would end with this simple truth: We are enemies.

"Yeah. We should. Send me a message when you want." I walk a few feet before I turn around. She is watching me from her doorway, but the door is open behind her. Warm light spills out, inviting and threatening all at the same time. That world would never welcome me. I lived in this darkness while she lived in the light. It could never be crossed.

I get home about 35 minutes before midnight. Takaya is already gone, but Chidori is still asleep on my bed. I wake her up with my foot, dropping a bag of Takoyaki on the floor in front of her.

My phone pings to let me know Arisato has sent me another message. It's one of pictures the Print Station took. I'm groaning, turned away from her. Her arm is hooked with mine to keep me in place. She's looking directly at me. A small, happy smile on her face.

Chidori blinks slowly before sitting up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She's staring at me intently, as if she doesn't recognize me. "Did you have a good time?"

"No. What are you talking about?"

"You're smiling. I've never seen you look like that before."

Next Chapter: 10.21