Dear Minato-nii,

It's okay. You have your own things going on, so you can't reply all the time. You're forgiven! Hehe, I'll be counting on my big bro then!

Yeah. It's a bit harder since I have to do more things around the house as well since mum has to take care of me by myself, but it's okay! Haha, yeah. Dad isn't that scary. He's just worried about me!

Yay! I can't wait! I haven't had the weird takoyaki in a while!

Really? Well, if he's not a bad guy, then I guess it'll be okay. And he's friends with Minato-nii, so he must be a good person, right? But I'll meet him! Yay, the shrine! I'll meet you there then.

Awww, you think I'm sweet? You might make me blush Minato-nii! Ehhh, I know. But I like you a lot! Well, I guess no marriage, as much as I would like to wish. Things being awkward isn't a good thing either.

Yup! I'll see you, Minato-nii, and your friend too!

-Maiko

…

"Come on Kanashi, it's just a five minute walk," Minato sighed, tapping his foot, almost to the rhythm of a song. Possibly the one playing in his ears.

"Yeah, yeah, just wait up emo," Kanashi said absentmindedly, plugging one of his earphones into his.

Minato deadpanned at Kanashi, almost to say 'is that really the best that you can come up with?' He paid no attention to his jab and just sighed. "You aren't going to be talking to Maiko like that, are you?"

"What, you don't trust me?" Kanashi spat, rolling his eyes. "She's a little kid. Hell no," he said matter-of-factly.

Minato raised an eyebrow at his tone of voice, but decided to leave it. "Cool," he nodded, checking to see if he had some Mad Bull and takoyaki. Opening his bag, he saw both items sitting at the very top. Phew. That's good. "And of course I trust you Kanashi. I'm just checking. I just care about her a lot. Don't I have a right to be worried?"

Kanashi looked at Minato, almost with a glare. He opened his mouth slightly to retort, but he stopped himself. Why? "Well… I guess," he grumbled.

Minato nodded and then the two of them set out for Naganaki shrine.

…

"Say, how did you and Maiko meet?" Kanashi asked absentmindedly. How was it that five minutes could feel so long? Felt like he had been walking for ten minutes instead.

"Well, there was this one time that I was feeling like I needed to get away from everything, and do something else…" Minato trailed off. "But uh, I saw Maiko there, and she looked pretty sad. I asked her what was wrong, and I ended up buying some Mad Bull and takoyaki for her to help her feel a bit better. Then we started talking, and that's basically what happened."

"Oh. I thought it was something kinda more dramatic, but cool," Kanashi nodded. "Wait, what was that something else?"

Minato looked at Kanashi with a blank expression. "I'll show you," he sighed.

"Uh okay," Kanashi said unsurely. He felt like he pushed a button that he shouldn't have.

"Welp, we're here," Minato said, indicating the stairs that led to the shrine.

"Finally!" Kanashi grinned. "That felt longer than it should've."

Minato just shook his head at his excitement. He was sure that it was just about five minutes. If he was listening to 'Fix You' once through, then it had to be true. Oh whatever.

"Minato-nii!"

As soon as Minato appeared at the top of the stairs, he felt a weight crash onto him. He nearly fell over, but somehow he stayed standing. "Hey Maiko-chan," Minato said, patting her on the head. "It's been a while."

"Yup! Is that your friend?" Maiko asked, cutting straight to the chase as she pointed at Kanashi.

"Yeah. That's Kanashi," Minato nodded.

Maiko let go of Minato and walked over to Kanashi. "Hey," he smiled.

"Hm… Minato-nii, you say he isn't a bad guy, but he's got rips all over his jacket," Maiko said, turning to the blue-haired teen. "Hey, you've got them too!" she exclaimed, indicating the rips on Minato's hoodie and on his jeans. "What happened?"

"So uh…" Minato rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "You know how I mentioned that 'trouble' and shenanigans in my letter?"

Maiko gave a worried look to Kanashi and Minato. "Aw… you aren't hurt, are you?"

"Nah, I'm good," Kanashi reassured. "It's nothing!"

Minato looked at Kanashi with a sceptical expression, wondering about how different he was acting. Since when could he ever sound so nice and reassuring? "Right. Neither of us are hurt or anything. Maybe just our brains because of school, but even that's a stretch."

"Stretch indeed…" Kanashi chuckled. "Anyways, nice to meet you Maiko-chan."

"Nice to meet you Kanashi-san," Maiko said a little nervously before bowing slightly.

"Eh, leave off the 'san.' Dun need it," Kanashi said as he bent down and patted Maiko on the head.

Minato chuckled. That looked so right, and so wrong to him at the same time. And Kanashi said that he acted weirdly around kids. Kanashi just seemed to be more of a natural about it than Minato. Actually, Minato liked how Kanashi was acting around Maiko. He was starting to wish that he acted like that more often. But that just seemed like a far-off dream.

"Okay, Kanashi-nii," Maiko smiled.

"Haha, Kanashi, she's calling you 'big bro,'" Minato laughed.

"S-Shush dude," Kanashi deadpanned at Minato. "We're having a moment."

Minato just laughed a bit more when Maiko separated from Kanashi. "Oh right Maiko-chan," Minato said, pulling out the promised Mad Bull and takoyaki from his bag. "Here you go."

"Oh! Thank you Minato-nii!" Maiko exclaimed.

"No problem," Minato smiled slightly. "But remember to drink some water later. You know that Mad Bull's pretty unhealthy, right?"

"I know, I know," Maiko pouted. "I'm not a little kid!"

"Just making sure," Minato nodded before they started walking towards the bench that sat near the playground.

"Hey, I just remembered something," Kanashi said as he sat down and he began rummaging through his bag. "I got this."

Minato's eyes widened. "Hey, I know that book…"

"You do? I kinda got it like a peace offering thing for Maiko," Kanashi said.

"I see…" Minato nodded slowly. 'The Pink Crocodile,' huh?

"Hey, it says 'Kamiki Akinari' on it!" Maiko said excitedly. "Striped shirt! Where's striped shirt?" she giggled.

Minato felt a shiver go up his spine. How could he explain this? "U-Um… he's doing fine!" he said quickly. Why at this very moment, was he crap at lying?

Kanashi looked curiously at Minato, but decided that it probably wasn't a good idea for once. "Hm, I hope he's okay! He always was coughing so…" Maiko trailed off.

"Anyways, you can have it Maiko-chan. It's a good story," Kanashi said.

"Oh! Thank you Kanashi-nii!" Maiko cheered.

…

After a while, Maiko had to leave since it was getting late.

"Um, who's Akinari?" Kanashi asked slowly, looking at Minato with a frown.

"He was… he was a good friend of mine. But he had this chronic, genetic disease, and he passed away," Minato explained with a sigh. "He gave me the story of 'The Pink Crocodile' just before he died, and I took it to a publisher sometime after that."

"Oh," Kanashi bit his lip. "I see," he sighed, patting Minato on the shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure he's doing well, wherever he is now. He was also a friend of Maiko's, so that question was kinda awkward," Minato grimaced.

"I could see that," Kanashi nodded. "What else sad you got on your train?"

"Well…" Minato looked to the sky before beckoning Kanashi to follow him. "I said that I'd show you."

The cheerful atmosphere from earlier had all but disappeared by that time, and it was more of an uncomfortable, suspenseful silence, heavy with dread. The encroaching darkness from the setting sun didn't exactly help either.

"Welp, here we are," Minato said, stopping in front of a headstone. "That'd be my mum, and my dad." He indicated the names on the marker: 'Kizuna', 'Makoto' and lastly 'Arisato.'

Kanashi stayed silent, not exactly sure what to say. That explained why he lived at a dorm. "Makoto's my dad, and Kizuna's my mum. They died in an accident at the Moonlight Bridge, when the Dark Hour started," Minato smiled wryly. "Now you know why I didn't really want you to get involved?"

"A little," Kanashi said slowly.

"Yeah. Because of the Dark Hour, basically, my life was ruined when I came to Personas, and when I started tangling up with things like Gods," Minato chuckled. "I just want everyone to stay safe. Just about everyone has lost, or come close to losing someone. And with you and Yashiro on board and awakened… it'll get harder to keep everyone alive."

Kanashi nodded with a stern expression. "Well, you don't need to hear me go on and on about this," Minato smiled. "It's not as if it's much of your problem."

"It is," Kanashi glared at Minato. "I'm part of it already. I've been part of it since about five years ago. So, I ain't just gonna die here."

"Good. Because I ain't getting another dead body on my hands," Minato laughed, smacking Kanashi on the back as he turned around and started back towards the dorm.

"You aren't gonna pay yo respects man?" Kanashi asked.

"I've done that already. I remember them when I keep fighting," Minato explained with a fairly cheerful face. "Now come on, or the darkness is gonna swallow you up and eat ya."

"Dude, I'm KING of the Dark Side!" Kanashi grinned as he followed Minato back to the dorm.

"Hah, you better be, because the sun's setting fast," Minato said.

"Do you think Maiko likes me?" Kanashi asked.

"Why? Don't you think so?"

"Well, just asking fo yo opinion," Kanashi shrugged. "She clearly likes you a lot."

"Hm… I think she likes you Kanashi. She warmed up to you faster than she did me," Minato said absentmindedly, looking up at the sky.

"Hah!" Kanashi grinned, and punched Minato on the shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," Minato chuckled, rubbing where Kanashi hit him.

AN: Apparently someone cut off the actual lines that allow internet and the landlines and stuff that I don't really understand. Next thing you know, the house next door had their TV and cars stolen, including their Lamborghini and the BMW. Sneaky ninja thief cut just the right lines in order to isolate the house that they wanted to steal from, and because of that my house's internet connection was affected as well.

And that is why I have not been able to post any chapters. This is the real reason why my internet has been messed up. But in return, I have a whole lot of chapters in storage, so as long as you guys review each chapter fast enough (I'm sorry, I really, really like my reviews, they tell me how I'm going… and I like replying to them too much. Also, having a big review count makes me really happy.) …you'll get really fast updates from my side!

Also, to make up for my absence, I made a MiNyx omake while I was bored that you can read! Go read if you want guys!

s/10042770/1/

Plz box me yo thoughts and imma see ya guys later.

Raidou: Yeah, that depressed me too. But I don't think even this is a totally best example of CD imo. But sure, I will.

Yoshikunitsu: Hahaha, I'm having fun with it too. And yes, I will.

Guest: Oh, that would be funny. But he has his own fan club elsewhere… Maybe it'd be a bit much for him.

Eivexst: Hehe, well, I think it'd be good. Considering how far I've gotten with my stored up chapters (I now have gotten up to 45 chapters for you guys) I'm certain that'll be a good thing for a while.
Oh, we will.

Guest: Updates moar? Needz reviews. :3

Q/A SECTION

(Nyx) Convo 1: To Yoshikunitsu.

Nyx: Perhaps. I doubt any dimension is has messed up as this one.

Hoshiro: *coughs*dosnow*coughs*

Nyx: *raises eyebrow* Anyways, perhaps. But it does take a lot of energy to travel between dimensions. It takes at least a few months to gather enough power to do something like that with multiple people. It's simple enough if it's just me.
Hm… but I'm sure that talking to other Minatos would be quite amusing. I could just transport him… But maybe later. There is no necessity at the moment.
Because, Minato doesn't want me to. I can easily control my powers. However, he seems to prefer not having any deaths, so I can't cast my most powerful spells unfortunately. Hmph, if he needed assistance, he would ask someone. He hasn't yet.
And this Elizabeth person? I don't know her. Thanatos? He keeps on staying with Minato even though I keep telling him to go away. *sighs*

(Nyx) Convo 2: To Technodude.

Nyx: You're very funny. They're interesting, to say the least.
And also… Minato, would my 'Death' spell happen to be an Almighty attack?

Minato: Huh? I thought it was an Ultimate attack, kinda like Armageddon. Someone, please, what is this Persona 4 Golden you speak of? These weird coincidences have kinda been freaking us out.

Nyx: Freaking you out you mean.