"Why are you here? Why not our best friend?" Junpei looked at her with eyes mixed with anger, sadness, and desperation. Minako wanted to look away but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't tear her gaze from the capped male. She clenched her fist and bit her lower lip so hard that it almost bled.
Junpei continued to glare down at the the girl. He was waiting for her to answer. Part of him was telling him to stop when he saw her eyes become glossy. But he did not let that side of him win. He was determined to know why this girl was here instead of his best friend. "Why aren't you answering? Is it because you did something wrong? IS THAT IT!?"
"Iori, calm down," Mitsuru said calmly. She gave her junior a sharp look making him stop completely. Junpei scowled and pulled his cap lower to hide his face.
"Why are you so calm senpai… Don't you understand? We could have been with Makoto!"
"Stop jumping into conclusions, Iori. She might have been here because Yuki couldn't be here himself." Mitsuru turned to Minako, expecting her to confirm what she said. Minako looked down at her lap. With a shaky voice, she said, "I'm sorry…"
The room was deafeningly silent. The air was too heavy that it was suffocating Minako. She wanted to run but she couldn't. She wanted to disappear but that will only make things worse. She wanted her friends to remember but to them she never existed.
She opened her mouth to speak. She didn't want to hurt them but it seems that she already doing that for being someone else – for not being Makoto. "I'm sorry for being the wrong person. I'm sorry for being selfish," she whispered loud enough for most of them to hear. No one answered. She repeated it over and over until the sound of her own voice became muffled by her headphones.
From her peripheral vision she could see arms on both sides of her head. She looked up and saw that Ryoji was putting them on her. He let go and pointed at her side to Shinjiro. He mouthed to her "Calm down and leave this to us." She nodded absently.
Music suddenly erupted from her headphones. Her eyes widened. She blinked – she didn't know it was working. When she looked up she saw Ryoji grinning at her and giving her a thumbs-up.
"Where do we begin..." Shinjiro said lazily as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Why did you do that?" Fuuka asked him and Ryoji. She was observed Minako. The girl looked like she was asleep. She was wondering how the girls mood changed so quickly, from being stressed to being serene.
"To calm her down," the pony-tailed boy replied calmly. He gave Minako a quick glance before glaring at Junpei and Yukari, making the latter flinch. He sighed and leaned on the sofa. "She's can be emotionally unstable at times so don't pressure her too much. Truth is this guy-" he pointed his thumb at Ryoji "-knows more about what's happening than me. I just suddenly woke up one day, feeling young and having someone's memories of Makoto."
"Feeling young? Someone's memories?" Naoto asked. "Please elaborate, Aragaki-san."
"In the world Minako came from, I didn't die. That means I grew older. After having a dream, I woke up at the tower while being dragged by Ryoji and Minako to the Velvet Room. When we reached that blue room I realized I look younger and that I have two overlapping memories. "
"How did that happened?"
Shinjiro glanced at Ryoji. "Just admit that you don't now and that you need my help," Ryoji said with a smirk. Shinjiro groaned and wave his hands, signalling Ryoji to answer the question.
"It's one of the effects of the two worlds fusing. Minako and I aren't really sure why Shinji looks like his in his teens again. We're not even sure why unlike them-" he looked at the SEES members "-he knows Minako. The truth is, I'm not even sure why I remember her too..."
"I see..." Mitsuru said. "What about her?" She looked at Minako, whose eyes were still closed. She asked the carefully and gently, "Why is she here instead of Yuki?"
"I don't really know," Ryoji admitted. "She never told us. Even after we made her to let us help her, she never said much about how all of this happened. Now that I think about it, we never really asked her. She only told us that we need to defeat that 'force' to save the world and that it was all her fault... So far, we're still not sure how we're going to do that. We're only clinging on the theory of defeating the full-moon shadows."
"That doesn't sound good," Yosuke whispered. They doing all this without knowing if it will solve everything or not.
"Hold on," Labrys suddenly said. "Ya 'forced' her?"
Ryoji smiled at that. "Ever since we started our little group, Minako has always worked hard to make sure that everything will be alright. She would sometimes collapse from exhaustion because of it. She wanted to finish all of this without getting any of you involved because she wanted to protect all of you."
"Protect us from what?" Junpei asked, his hat no longer, peeking from under his hat.
Ryoji glanced at Minako before turning to Junpei. "She didn't want anyone to get hurt. She thinks that whoever gets involve will end up being in pain..." Ryoji chuckled. "If me and Shinji didn't force her, we'll still be moral support standing by the sidelines while she fights all alone."
"The idiot's too selfless for her own good sometimes," Shinjiro said. "But she can be a real pain in the ass when it's about food and that time of the month."
"I can hear you," Minako said, surprising everyone. She opened her eyes and peeled off her headphones. "The shuffle was off. The song ended a while ago."
"You okay now?" Shinjiro asked, trying to be nonchalant.
"Yeah... So, is there something else you want to know?" Minako asked calmly.
No one said anything for a short while. How the girl responded after the questions were asked to her made them anxious that she might do the same now. Then again Yukari and Junpei did say some hurtful things to her, so it was understandable that the girl almost broke down.
"Can you tell us about the power that you used that time when we fought Ryoji-san's shadow?" Aigis asked; it was the only question she could think of. She hoped that it wouldn't offend the girl.
"Is that all?" Aigis nodded. "Remember, I'm like Makoto's counterpart in my world. That means, I have the same power as him."
"Then that means that your as powerful as him!" Aigis exclaimed. "But why do you not use your power now? Will it not solve the matter?"
"I can't use my powers now because I still need to look for where that force may be. I need to face it first in order to defeat it. Also..." She paused for a moment. She watched her hands clench and unclench. "Using that power too much will kill this body. If this body dies then so will my soul. If that happens, it will be the end for everything."
"So, that means the fate of the universe is in your hands," Junpei stated sarcastically. This earned him a stomp on the foot by Aigis. The mechanical maiden turned to Minako to make sure she's alright. She smiled in relief when she saw that the girl seemed unaffected.
Minako grinned at him. "I guess you could say that, partner."
"Don't call me 'partner'," Junpei said sharply. "We're not even friends!" This earned him another stomp from Aigis. "Ow, stop that Ai-chan!"
Minako just smiled. "We're best friends," she said. "You just don't know."
"I'm off to bed," Ryoji said after the other left to where they needed to be - their rooms or back at home or work. He felt a tug on his sleeve. He turned and saw Minako smiling at him.
She raised her headphones and looked at him curiously. "Did you get these fixes for me?" she said.
"Actually," Ryoji scratched his cheeks bashfully. "I asked Labrys to help me fix it. I can't believe that I was able to do it. I really thought I destroyed it." He whispered the last part.
"Thanks Ryoji, you're the best." She gave him a grin and a thumbs-up. "I have to go to bed now. Night."
"Good night." Minako began to head back to her room. She stopped suddenly at the foot of the stairs and turned to him.
"One more thing, you still owe me a million yen. Don't think that fixing this is enough to pay that off."
Five days after the what Minako called an "interrogation", the girl went to Naganaki Shrine. She stopped and sat in front of a gravestone with the name of two people. "Hey there mom, dad."
She cleaned it and removed the weeds surrounding it. "I'm sorry I only visited now. I hope you can take my stories as an apology." She began to tell them things she's done and experienced during the time she moved in with her relatives to the present.
"I moved a lot because most of our relatives can't afford to feed an extra mouth. I feel really sorry for burdening them. That's why I decided to move back here when I got a scholarship." She looked up the sky and smiled. "I'm really happy that I'm here. I've met so many people loved me and accepted me the same way you did. I'll introduce them to you one day. I hope you like them."
She sat there for a while before bidding them farewell and moving to another gravestone. "You're an idiot, you know? ...But I guess I'm a bigger idiot than you. Oh yeah, Ryoji fixed my headphones, isn't that great!?" No answer. She kneeled down on front of it. "Aren't you going to say anything, Makoto?" She kept poked the gravestone and kept calling his name as if to annoy him. I must look really crazy to other now.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" was what Minako first heard when she returned to the dorm. "Congratulations on growing older," Teddie said.
"Somehow that sounds irritating," Minako said. "Anyway, thanks."
Teddie, in his bear costume, ran to her and dragged her to the table, where the cake was. "Gakky made a cake." "Stop calling me that!" "Hurry make a wish, Mina-chan!" Minako smiled and blew the candles. "What did you wish for?"
"World peace?" Minako said.
"You wasted your wish on that!?" Teddie pouted at her. "You could've wished for a date with a real hunk because I could make that happen anytime."
"World peace is important too, you know? And I can't see how you'll be able to set me up with a hunk."
Teddie sighed. "You should open your gifts now."
"You mean this envelope and poorly wrapped box that looks like complete garbage?"
"Just open it, dammit," Labrys said.
Minako started to open the envelope first. Her eyes widened. Ryoji moved to her side and said, "It's the money I 'lost.' "
"Ryoji-san decided to use a part of it buying decorations for the party and ingredients for Shinjiro-san," Aigis explained. "That is why he was not able to return it immediately. But Ryoji-san was able to earn the money he used back." Ryoji smiled triumphantly.
"Open the box," Teddie said excitedly.
Minako took the box and examined it first. "Who wrapped this?" she asked.
"It doesn't ma-" "This guy did." Shinjiro interrupted the bear. He revealed that the blond was the one responsible for wrapping the present.
Minako snickered before tearing the gift wrapper. "A cellphone..."
"Since you didn't have one, we decided to buy one for you," Ken said. "Of course we had 'a little' help from a very rich person."
"Do you not like it Minako-san?" Aigis asked anxiously. She panicked when the girl began to cry. "Minako-san!"
"Thank you so much..." Minako's voice was shaky. She tried to stop herself from crying but she can't. She was too happy. "Thank you for everything!"
They laughed at what she said. Soon she was attacked by hugs and hair ruffling.
"By the way, why are ya the only one who doesn't have a phone?" Labrys questioned.
"Because we couldn't afford it at that time. And me, Ryoji and Shinji rarely separate. If we do, I'm either with one of them."
"Well," Ken began, "now you have a phone so you can go anywhere you want without Ryoji-san or Shinjiro-san."
"That's mean Ken," Ryoji said in mock hurt. "I'm starting to think that we shouldn't have given you that phone."
"Come on guys, let's eat the cake." Minako happily waited for Shinjiro to give her her slice.
"What did you really wish for?" Ken asked when the others busied themselves with the cake.
"I wish all of our problems will be over."
"That's a nice wish." Ken smiled and ate his share.
I lied, Minako thought. I actually wished I could stay with everyone and be happy, forever. But that will never happen. Never, no matter what I do...
I've got a lot of free time now so I decided to do this. This is the longest I've written yet (Yeah, I know it's still short). Anyway, thank you to those who read this. Thank you to Kanjilearner1988 and JoseiHero-XXII for favoriting/following. Also to MH2.
Please leave a comment, I'd really appreciate it.