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Minatodai Dorm, 1st Floor Lounge

Evening

"Explain, Aigis." Mitsuru commanded immediately upon recovering from Aigis' announcement. "What do you mean, 'his Shadow'?"

"I do not mean to say that Minato has become a Shadow, such as those we have faced in the past in Tartarus nor here in the Abyss," Aigis sought to clarify her position cleanly. "But rather the dark entity that we have been following through the Abyss as we progress through our memories has taken on aspects of him."

"You mean more than a simple 'it looks like him at first glance'," Akihiko replied, thinking this over for himself. "I'd trust Fuuka here a lot more, but she hasn't seen it directly herself, just through her Persona."

At her name being mentioned, Fuuka found herself the focus of some attention. "I couldn't tell you for sure. I know that it is something I've never encountered before."

The thought that maybe it was a fully fledged Demon hiding out in the Abyss crossed Midori's mind, then crossed right back out as she realized that Fuuka had sensed Black Frost directly, and if there were similarities, she would mention it. And looking over at her short friend, she shaw that Fuuka wasn't hiding anything, so the possibility of lying was right out.

"So, why would it look like him?" Ken asked the question that seemed to come next. "Why Minato?"

"Because he died?" Yukari offered quietly, making the more observant think that she was obviously trying to ask something else. "We've tried talking to it, right?"

"It's a Shadow, girl." Chidori spoke harshly against her junior. "It has no mind of its own, it is merely an animal. That it is in disguise should be of no concern to you!" The look Yukari threw right back at her would have burst someone into flames if such a thing were possible, though thankfully it faded just as fast.

"I must agree," Mitsuru reigned in the discussion. "That this Shadow seems to have unique properties means that it is something we should be wary about, but we also know that the Abyss is limited; we will eventually encounter it and we will get our answers. I see no reason to rush into that confrontation at this point."

"That still supposes that you can get your answers from a Shadow," Metis interjected. "They do not speak, they do not think or feel."

"Ryoji did," Midori spoke up properly, "and he was a Shadow, or something like that, right?"

"He was a special case, Midori." Aigis did not like her memories of the avatar of the Appraiser, but found no reason to support Midori's conjecture in them either. "As the Appraiser, he had an existence more than that of a mere Shadow, one supported by Nyx."

"Still, we don't know exactly what happened after we beat Ryoji," Yukari looked around for some support as she spoke, "It's possible that some part of him survived in the Abyss? I mean, Aigis, you got his power once we were trapped here! Maybe there's more to him, and the shadow of his is leading us on?"

Others could see where this line of logic was going. "Yukari, please don't make assumptions like that. You're only going to set yourself up for disappointment." Ken was the one who voiced his objections first, drawing on his own experience. "What you want, and what you get, they're not always the same thing."

"We have Junpei back!" Yukari's voice started to raise a notch as she pointed at the sleeping boy. "If he's in there, we can get him back!"

"No we can't!" Midori shot back, "We didn't have a body with Junpei! We stole him from the past to save him, we can't do that with Minato!"

Yukari looked like she was about to lunge at Midori, and Midori was preparing herself to receive the charge when Mitsuru's voice cut through with amazing sharpness! "Takeba! Komaki! Calm yourselves!" The two girls settled back into their seats, leaving Mitsuru to glare between the two of them. "This is obviously a sensitive subject, and I am fully aware that our situation is highly stressful, meaning you may not be acting properly. But that is not an excuse for such hostility between ourselves!"

"Yes, Senpai." "Yes Mitsuru-san." The two apologized to their elder, but not to each other.

Soon, the meeting broke up with nothing more to discuss, and the day off ended.

Late Night

Junpei awoke with a start, the hazy memories of something going wrong at the doors to Tartarus the only fleeting thought for a moment as he regained his senses. The first to report in was pain, advertising that his chest and shoulder was hurt, and the feeling allowed Junpei to remember what had happened.

His free hand slapped into his heart, suppressing the grunt of pain that came from the hit as he examined himself for the wound. He could see, in the dark light that filtered through the front window, that there was a scar on his chest, above his heart, where the wound was covered with fresh skin. He was alive, and that meant...

That meant that those two bastards had gotten away. He looked around him, now identifying the 1st floor of the Dorm well after midnight. On the couch across from him was Midori, of all people, sleeping while laying across the armrests in a position that couldn't be comfortable. As he competed his visual circuit, he felt that the place just felt... empty for some reason, but couldn't place his finger on why. Then his eyes fell on Chidori.

She was beautiful in the dim light, almost glowing. She had changed out of her Gothic dress into something far more casual and comfortable. She looked better for it, though as he enjoyed the sight, his memory started to play back his initial position.

He had been sleeping on her lap. His heart beat faster at the realization, and he shook his head to try and clear the improper thoughts from it. Taking a deep breath to help himself, he also realized that there was business to take care of.

A couple minutes later, feeling refreshed, he went to the kitchen to grab himself a glass of water or something. He had obviously been healed of his injury, that much made sense, but he still felt weak and tired. Like something was missing, and he knew what it was, but couldn't remember it exactly. When he entered the kitchen though, his thoughts were derailed even harder by its emptiness. The fridge was filled only with stuff you could buy from the Mall, not anything that he distinctly remembered was in there from supper earlier.

And the glasses and plates were mostly missing as well. "What the hell?" He tried to figure out just what was going on as he grabbed a clean glass and filled it straight from the tap. Chugging down the liquid, he began to feel better. Tired, but better. Deciding that there was no way to get any answers from anyone at this time of night, he went back to the main room.

Looking at Chidori, he could see that she had started to curl up against herself, and his heart fell as she looked like she was missing his presence. A look up the stairs, and he evaluated his option. First was to climb up to the third floor and go to sleep in his own room. Or he could return to Chidori and spend the rest of the night beside her.

While normally he would go for his room, given the level of their relationship, he had to recognize that at some point, it was Chidori that had accepted him, and let him sleep in her lap. And if he returned to that, would she not appreciate the trust that they both showed for each other?

And looking at her more, out of the hospital, he found he couldn't do anything to upset her in the least. It just wasn't in him. So he returned to her embrace, setting his head down gently, they folding her arms back over his chest. His last sight before sleep retook him was Chidori's steady and calm breathing, for the faint smile on her face said that all was right in their world.

Morning

Midori had enough presence of mind to not fumble this time, carefully extracting herself from the sheet without the need for external help. Awake, she recovered her glasses, noting with distaste that they were dirty again, and needed to be clean, but thankful that the Mall had refreshed itself.

And Junpei was awake, he waved gently at Midori when he saw that she was awake and cognisant of her surroundings. "Hey, Midori! I'd do more, but Chidori isn't letting me go." He pointed tiredly at the woman's arms over him, preventing him from sitting up, thought it was obvious he could move them if he wanted too.

"Junpei! You're awake!" Midori called out in surprise as she jumped to her feet, ignoring the moment's dizziness from the change in posture. Her shout woke Chidori with a start, who took a moment to process that yes, Junpei was alive and awake before starting to cry, tears dripping into a defenceless Junpei's face.

4th Floor Meeting Room

Afternoon

Junpei sat in silence as Mitsuru talked to him, everyone present. He was confused by the presence of Metis and the absence of Minato at first, but Mitsuru had decided that the best way to deal with the events of the past four months was to deliver them directly and without embellishment.

The young man had listened in stunned silence as he was told of Chidori's developed Persona through his sacrifice, his disappearance, Chidori joining SEES in his place, then the revelation of Ryoji's nature, Aigis' failed fight against him, the weeks of sorrow and impending despair before her return and the decision made by Minato to fight against the Appraiser and Nyx.

He was flabbergasted at the actions of the last month, as Takaya and Jin's cult reached its peak, and of the battles on the last day.

He refused to react at the loss of their memories, Minato's death and the regaining of what they had lost. And when confronted by the events now surrounding them, he turned to Chidori for support, only to find that this was no cruel joke. This was real.

Then he began to cry, the weight of the matters falling onto him hard.

"Leave us," Chidori asked quietly, and the rest filed out of the room, though Koromaru ignored the request and stayed behind as she offered her own words of support and encouragement.

Outside though, the rest began to discuss the new possibilities. "He's going to really freak out tomorrow," Midori opened with conviction. "When the day resets."

"I think it's going to be when he tries to leave." Ken offered instead. "The doors are still closed."

"I want both of you ready for that," Mitsuru ordered. "I do not know if Chidori can help him through this by herself, so we must all be ready to support him. Metis, you have no connection with him, so please follow your sister's guidance directly in this."

Aigis looked at the others, judging their current feelings by the expressions on their faces. "Perhaps we should give them some time alone then? We can make another attempt on the Abyss at this time, if you are all in agreement?"

After a couple minute's consideration, the majority did not wish to pursue the Abyss that day, though Metis was the most vocal proponent of further exploration. Midori found some of her arguments persuasive, but she knew from personal experience that leaving people behind when they needed your help was the most horribly wrong thing to do. She had to hold her ground.

An hour or so later, Chidori and Junpei left the office, and were greeted by everyone. It was obvious that they had both been emotional, though no one asked them exactly what went on in there, even Metis declining to interrogate Koromaru for information.

"You feeling better, Junpei?" Akihiko asked him quietly as Chidori talked to Fuuka and Mitsuru.

"Yeah. I think. I mean, this is so much... No more Hermes. I can't really help can I?" The longing look in his eyes was impossible to mistake.

"No, that's not true." Akihiko was quick to reassure Junpei. "You being here alone is enough to give us all hope we can get out of here. We can change our fate, we can fight whatever it is that has us trapped here."

Junpei nodded in some understanding. "But what can I do? Without Hermes, I'm useless."

"There are other things, Junpei. For now, you still need to rest up and heal properly. That wound in your shoulder still has bullet fragments in it, despite Midori's best efforts."

"Midori, heh? Who knew she had that in her?" Junpei changed the flow of conversation to something more immediate. "Man, I gotta thank her somehow, but how do I do that for someone who went out and literally pulled me out of death's clutches?" He rubbed the back of his head with his uninjured arm, then noticed something else. "And where's my hat?"

Addressing the easy question first, Akihiko smiled. "Chidori has had it the entire time. You'll have to ask her if you want it back. As for Midori, I can say that she has far more depth than any of us ever knew. Mitsuru covered the highlights of your missing time, but she's shown off a lot of things in the interim, and has gone far above and beyond what we expected of her. To repay her? Honestly, you should just not do anything stupid right now, and be nice to Chidori. She's still in love with Love and Justice, so keep that in mind."

"Heh. Thanks, senpai. So, um, can I go see this Abyss now?"