Thank you to all of you reading this and to illusionmage for following and commenting. It really helped. I also updated the other chapters so that all the typos and skipped words are taken care off.

I hope you guys don't find this too boring. Please do tell me what you think. I would greatly appreciate it.

The seniors left the dorm a day before they're graduation. They were too busy to even notice the three new faces that came to the dorm. By the time their graduation came, March 4, they were completely out of the dorm, and Ken and Koromaru's life. The boy didn't really mind. He was too preoccupied with his role as student council president.

Two days after the graduation ceremony, Ken was finally able to take a break. He noticed that his three classmates were never the same ever since the brief questioning done to them care of the group of persona-users. Their exchange of words to each other was close to none, and their behavior changed from being happy-go-lucky, carefree, to a more sober and glum one.

"Hey Ken?" The said teen turned to the source of the voice. A smile was on Ryoji's face but Ken knew that the raven-haired boy wasn't happy at all, judging from his weary appearance. Though Ryoji hands were in his pockets, Ken could see from its outline that it was clenched. "Have you seen Minako?"

Ken thought about it for a while. "She left early this morning, but she didn't tell me where she was going." He remembered the girl's empty expression as she passed by him earlier, that day.

Ryoji sighed and took his phone out. Ken could have sworn heard Ryoji say, "that idiot" when he was fumbling with his phone. He returned his phone to his pocket before turning to Ken and to Shinjiro, who was feeding Koromaru.

"Let's pick her up," he said simply. Shinjiro nodded and stood. He fixed his beanie and maroon jacket and went ahead.

"Do you know where she is?" Ken asked, confused.

"I don't, but I have a feeling." They went out and followed the other male. Koromaru followed close, behind them. "I'm sure Shinjiro's thinking of the same place. After all, today's a very important day, right?"

"Very important day? What do you mean?"

Ryoji sighed and gave him a look of mock disappointment. "How could you forget, Ken!?"

"Huh!?"

"You know, Ken," Shinjiro began. The pony-tailed teen joined forces with his black-haired friend. And together, they ganged up on him. "I shouldn't even know about this day because I supposedly died months before he left earth."

Ken stared at the two, perplexed. What day is it today... Then it dawned to him. His eyes widened like saucers. "How could I forget?"

"Come on, my friend, Shinji," Ryoji emphasized "friend" to mess up with the poor brown-haired boy. "We have to pick up our friend, Minako, who is probably where our other friend is."

"Yeah... buddy." This earned Shinjiro a friendly slap from the back from Ryoji.

"It just slipped my mind," Ken said in an attempt to defend himself. But he noticed that the two were already far ahead, laughing, most likely at his previous reaction. He watched the two Ken think of how a friendship blossomed between two unlikely people such as Ryoji and Shinjiro. It amazed him how Minako was able to do such a miracle. He can't help but to remember what occurred earlier, that week.

~Flashback~

"Even if I tell you the whole truth, will you believe?" Minako said these words with an unreadable smile.

They were silent. Looking at the group, they look like they were pondering over what she said but in truth they were thinking of questions to ask them. No one really listened to what she said except for a few who were watching her - Mitsuru, Ryoji, Shinjiro, Ken, Aigis, Naoto, and Yu.

"What do you know about what's happening?" Mitsuru asked, not answering the girl's question, thinking that it was rhetorical. "How did you know them?" She pointed at the two beside her.

"The world is in danger," Minako began. "A powerful force will slowly eat everyone's memories until their bodies no longer remember how to function properly. It spreads like an epidemic and the only way to know that you are infected is that if you've already lost a great chunk of your memories. The three of us have been working together to find a way to end this."

"Do you know how to stop this?"

"Well..." Minako looked at her two friends who were seated beside her before continuing. "This is only a theory, but I think that tower from the TV World might be related to it."

"What do you mean?" Yu asked, joining the two's conversation.

"Do you remember that shadow on the TV world? The one we defeated together?" Yu nodded. "That shadow wasn't there before. It was the first time a shadow with that power appeared in that place. We already suspected something like that to happen but..." Minako glanced again at Ryoji and Shinjiro, "It kinda slipped our minds.

"Also, I was expecting those seniors to lose some of their memories but surprisingly all that they forgot was how they got there. Also, on the way here I heard that the four that the three of us found regained their memories. If I am correct they regained it some time after the shadow was defeated."

"What are you trying to say?" Mitsuru contemplated on what the girl said. Shadows... Memories... Mitsuru's eyes widened. "They regained their memories after we defeated the shadow!" Everyone was surprised. Minako smiled at the older female. I knew you're smart, she thought proudly.

"That shadow must be related to that 'powerful force'," Minako continued. "This is no time for us to slack off because the three of us believe that there's more of them to come." After hearing what the girl has to say, everyone in the room looked at each other in determination.

"Alright! Time for some action!" Junpei fist pumped the air.

"Guess we have another case in our hands, partner," Yosuke said with a grin. Yu nodded at his friend.

"Wait." They all turned to Naoto who was looking at the girl with suspicion. "How did you know about this 'powerful force'? And you never answered Kirijo-san's question about your companions."

Minako frowned. She stared at her hands on her lap as she bit her lip. Ryoji was about to speak when he noticed that his friend was having a hard time but decided to stop when he saw her sigh. The girl turned to Yu. "You're a wild card, aren't you?" Yu nodded. "So you must have heard of the Velvet Room. Igor told me something about what was happening. As for Ryoji and Shinjiro, I just met them there."

Naoto didn't look convinced, but she accepted the answer, nonetheless. She didn't believe her fully but she kept what the girl said in mind.

"One more thing." Naoto placed an envelope on the table and pushed it to Minako. Minako took it and opened it. Her two friends leaned closer to her to read what was on it. Their mouth hung agape and they turned to the young detective with a shocked expression. "What is your relationship with Makoto Yuki?"

~End of Flashback~

"What is her relationship with Makoto-san?" Ken thought aloud. Ryoji and Shinjiro suddenly stopped and turned to him. The former looked away while the latter shrugged.

When Naoto asked her about her connection with the boy the girl did not answer. She stared at clippings and pictures with an unreadable expression. They called out to her multiple times but she was already unreachable. After staring at the file, mainly the photo of a blue-haired boy, she handed it back; she stood and gave them a bow before she left with the same look on her face. Mitsuru did not bother to stop her. "Maybe now's not the time," she said to everyone. After that she spoke with Naoto.

Ken, Ryoji, and Shijiro returned to the dorm when Mitsuru dismissed them. They found out that Minako was in her room when they saw Koromaru sitting in front of her bedroom door. She locked herself in her room. She didn't come out till it was time to go to school. She acted at school as if nothing happened, but most of the time, especially when she was alone, she would look detached and broken.

"I don't really know," Shinjiro said. "Maybe she'll tell us one day. For now just be patient with her, alright?"

"Yeah," Ryoji agreed. "Minako-chan's not really emotionally stable for quite some time now, but she's trying her best to be strong... All we can do for her is give her support. I hope you can help us, too."

Ken smiled and nodded. "You hear that Koro-chan?" The dog barked. Ryoji and Shinjiro smiled at their exchange.

Minako sat quitely in front of a headstone. "I guess this will take a while, so wait for me alright?" She stood and dusted off her skirt.

When she exited the graveyard, she was greeted by the sight of her friends. "I knew you were here!" Ryoji and Koromaru ran to her - the black-haired boy hugged her like a father to his daughter. Ken and Shinjiro watched them with a smile.

When Ryoji let go, she gave them a beam of her own. "You guys wanna go somewhere to eat?"