"I can't believe it!" Minako's eyes sparkled as she looked at Rise with a huge grin. "I'm actually going to sing with the Risette." Rise chuckled as she watched the girl bow to her then look up once again with sparkling eyes. "It is an honor!" Minako said eagerly.
"Is this song okay with you, Minako-chan?" Rise asked.
Minako blushed like a blissful child. She turned to Ryoji and Shinjiro and said, "She knows my name!" She looked back at her idol before nodding eagerly. "Any song is fine with me!"
"Alright, let's do this!"
"I never thought Minako-san would actually abandoned all these food," Ken said as she watched the two sing. They're sound really great.
"Mina-chan is as good as Rise-chan," Teddie said smiling at the two. "They're like angels from heaven - no - sirens who cap-"
"Shut up, Ted..." Yosuke said, seemingly in a daze. He absently stuffed a large piece of beef in Teddie's mouth. "Man, why can't all girls be like her." Ever since he heard of how the girl led the group to defeat the Reaper, he couldn't help to admire her.
Teddie, while chewing the beef, looked at him quizzically. He glanced at Minako, then back at him. "You mean Mina-chan?" Yosuke ignored him. "I think I understand. There's something about Mina-chan that reminds me of sensei. They're both beary kind. And they're beary easy to talk to."
"Wait, so does that mean..." Yukiko gasped. "Yosuke likes someone like Yu-kun!?
Yosuke snapped from his trance when he heard what his friend said. His gave Yukiko and Teddie a suspicious glare. "Are you implying something?" Where the hell did they got that idea!?
"I'm sorry, Yosuke," Yu said, deadpan. "I don't feel the same way."
Yosuke's brow twitched from annoyance. He glared at Yu. "Come on, dude! Not you too!"
Somewhere in the room, Labrys observed the crimson-eyed girl. She smiled when she saw her whipping her head like a rock star. "I can't believe she still has a lot of energy afta all that."
Ryoji chuckled beside her. "Well, there's lots of food here. I'm sure she was able to recharge after eating all that." Ryoji stared at the huge platter that used to be overflowing with food until the female wild card devoured it with unimaginable speed.
"Ya think she'll go to school tomorrow?"
"She'll probably sleep in, but she'll go if nothing weird will happen later." Ryoji looked around. His eyes landed on his friend who was sleeping on the couch in the room. "Shinji's really tired. I'll take him back to the dorm. I want to sleep too. You think you can take care of her for us?"
"Don't worry." Labrys gave him a lazy mock salute. "I'll bring your daughter back, sir."
"If that's how it is, then then I guess Shinji's my wife." Ryoji tried to picture being married to Shinjiro. He shuddered. "I think I want a divorce already. Shinji's glare is enough to inflict injury both on mind and body." Labrys laughed. "Tell Minako we went on ahead."
"Sure." Labrys watched him walked over to Shinjiro. He brought the sleeping boy to the waking world with a light kick. Shinjiro glared at the boy who rudely woke him up. Not long after, he stood and left with Ryoji.
"Congratulations on graduating Yukiko-senpai and Kanji!" Rise announced through the mike when the song ended. On her other hand, she held a drink. She raised it up and the group followed suit. "And welcome to our newest comrades: Minako-chan, Ryoji-kun, and Shinjiro-kun!"
That night, they realized that they should always keep an eye on what Minako eats or drinks.
"I feel unbearably tired," Teddie said. He dragged himself to the dining table to join the others. He glared at Ryoji and Shinjiro who sat across him. "Why didn't you warn us that Mina-chan was low tolerance in alcohol.
"What happened at the party anyway?" Shinjiro asked.
"She accidentally drank Sanada-san's protein-beer mixture," Ken said tiredly. He took a sip from his cup of black coffee. The boy hoped that the drink would be enough to wake him up. "After that, things got crazy."
"First Mina-chan was like 'I am going to eat all that cake.' Then she started crying saying 'I wish we could eat like this again.' " Teddie imitated how Minako ate the cake by stabbing and attempting to pick up his toast with a bread knife.
"Stop playing with your food and just eat," Shinjiro scolded the blond.
"Everything got worse when Rise-san suggested to play the King's Game - especially when Minako-san drew the King." Ken cringed. "All I can say is that it looked worse than Mitsuru-san's execution."
"You guys." They turned to Labrys. "Do you where's Minako-chan and Aigis?"
"Minako-san," Aigis called out as she lightly shoved the sleeping girl. "Please wake up. Your alarm clock already went five minutes ago." No answer. Aigis tried again, but no matter how hard she shook the girl nothing happened. The brunette was still out cold. Aigis was growing anxious when she received no response from the girl. What if Minako-san will never wake up? Aigis shook her head - an attempt to push the negative thoughts away. Maybe it is the effect of Akihiko-san's creation.
A soft knock from the door startled Aigis. "Aigis are ya there?" a voice said from the other side. "I'm coming in." Labrys sighed when she saw that Minako was still in bed, strewn with her blanket, pillows, and plush animals. "How long have you been tryin' to wake her up?"
"I believe I have been doing this for fifteen minutes."
Labrys walked closer to her sister and her sleeping friend. "Maybe she shouldn't go to school today," Labrys suggested. She remembered the time when she found Minako injured and barely standing. If Yu and the others came a second later, she would've been sure the Minako would be suffering from infection because of her wounds.
"I shall leave her a note then." Aigis took a piece of paper and a pen from Minako's study table. "We should leave now sister."
Junpei watched the steam rise from his bowl of ramen. "Minako..." he softly said.
Ever since the battle in the tower ended, Junpei found himself having a hard time to face the crimson-eyed girl. His resolve to apologize to her for lashing out crumbled the moment he saw her again after she came back from fighting the Reaper. He wallowed in his guilt as he remembered how he got mad at her for coming here instead of Makoto. I'm such an idiot.
"Junpei?" He flinched when he heard someone call him. He was too deep in thought that he failed to notice that someone was already sitting beside him.
"What are you doing here?" was the first thing we could say. "Shouldn't you be in school?" Minako took out a note from her pocket and handed it to him. "So you're taking the day off?"
"Yep," she replied with her usual cheery tone. She ordered the special before turning back back to him. "I still feel sore all over after last night. How about you? Don't you have work today?"
"I'm fine," he said. He began eating his ramen. "I coach kids baseball."
Minako smiled thoughtfully. "Looks like you're a step closer to becoming a baseball player."
"Yeah..." Come on! Be a man and just do it. "Hey Minako."
"Yeah?" She tilted her head to look at him curiously.
"Do you miss your friends from your world?" Junpei wanted so badly to hit himself for not only avoiding to ask for forgiveness, but for also asking a stupid question that seemed highly sensitive. He hastily stole a glance at the girl beside him. He saw her pondering over his question.
"Even when they're right in front in front of me, I still miss them." She smiled brightly at Junpei. "Weird, huh?"
"Is it because they don't remember you?" he asked carefully. "That they only remember Makoto and not you?" He noticed the slight bitterness in the girl's eyes. She's hiding something again.
"I think it's better that no one remembers me," Minako said. "It just might confused them if they remembered."
"Is that what you want?" Junpei seemed to pressed the button with the question. He willed himself to push further. "Is fine with you that they don't remember?"
Minako looked away "I still have Ryoji and Shinjiro... And everyone considers me now as a comrade - that's enough for me. "
"Are you happy?" Minako looked at him but didn't answer. "Seems that they aren't the only ones who're forgetting somethin'."
"What do you mean?"
"Remember, right here I told you that if there's anything bothering you, you can tell it to me."
Minako's eyes widened as he words enter her ears. "Junpei..."
"I told you not to forget, remember?" Junpei suddenly felt bashful because of what he said. He looked away when the girl didn't say anything. This is really awkward... He turned to the girl again to sneak a peek and was surprised to see her eyes glossy due to unshed tears.
Finally, after about a minute, or two, of silence, a reaction came out from the speechless girl; a single tear traveled down her cheeks. Before any more could come out of her eyes she encircled her arms around Junpei. "You remember, right?" she asked pleadingly. "Please tell me you do."
Junpei patted her back and smiled. "I'm sorry for lashing out on you." The arms around his neck tightened. "From now on, you have me buddy."
"Uh..." The two stiffened. They turned and saw the man at the counter looking away awkwardly. "Here's your order."
Used Junpei's last social link as reference. Sorry if it's kinda a mess. I was never really good at sorting out my thoughts.