Yo~ currently on my -short- holidays, so I managed to finish this chap.

Plus, since the latest update on the P3 Movie got me hyped- I can't get P3 off my mind XD

In any case, why am I writing here in the beginning? Well, it's cause it may be kinda confusing to read this arc (this will be a three-parter), so I'm making notes here now.

The events in this arc occur somewhere between April (few weeks after Minato joined SEES) and July just a few days before the next full moon.

So... to summarize, here's what happened somewhere in between:

-Minato has just recently joined SEES (4/18/09) after getting discharged from the hospital (4/10/09-4/18/09) after the Magician's full moon (4/9/09).

-Joined clubs.

-Minato was hospitalized (5/10/09-5/17/09) after the Priestess full moon (5/9/09).

-Exams (5/18/09-5/23/09).

-Again, Minato is hospitalized (6/08/09-6/10/09) for the Hierophant incident (6/08/09).

-Depressed Minato (6/06/09-6/11/09).

... Oh... err... seems like he gets hospitalized every full moon, whaddya know? XP

Anyway, I promise that streak's gonna break... soon. Hopefully. ^^"

So, speaking of which, check out the new poll in my profile~ it's just for fun and in reference to the next full moon chap.

Chapter 17: Rumors and Stupid Fools

4/27/09-Monday

She had a mysterious, mature and elegant air around her, especially looking at the way she carried herself - it was as if she were an adult. It was difficult to believe that she was just a year older than most of them. Known for being independent, admired by many; she's smart, beautiful and rich to boot. It was a wonder to those in his class of why a woman of her stature would bother with the gloomy guy in the corner.

Envious eyes pierced him... but he did not mind at all, maintaining a sleepy, nonchalant expression on his face.

How they wished they could hear what the two were talking about...

"To make a long story short, I want you to join Student Council. It's not like you'd have to participate in every activity. Just come to the Student Council room when you have time." the red-head said, staring straight at his silver-blue eyes.

When the boy was about to open his mouth, he paused, looking quite troubled. The female stared at him and chuckled weakly.

"And don't worry, I already asked her to join as well. I am fully aware that you want to spend as much time as you want with your sister... after all, you haven't seen each other for so long." she closed her eyes as she spoke.

With those words, the boy smiled and nodded. "Ah... thank you for understanding Mitsuru-senpai. In that case, I'll get going now."

"Alright. I'll be expecting from you two." she answered.

"Minato-kun! What took you so long? I've been waiting~" the auburn-haired female called out cheerfully as she watched the boy walk over to her side.

The boy greeted her upon entering the Student Council Room. "I had to go over at Ms. Toriumi's for some paperwork." he answered with a soft smile on his face.

The twins had an ordinary conversation about food and school after their greetings, while wait for the President to arrive. Not long after, their chat was cut short as crimson-haired heiress entered the room. Immediately, the room booming with chattering students quieted down.

"Everyone," she spoke in a clear voice, "these two are Minato and Minako Arisato. As you probably all know, they are twins- the ones I've been talking to you about for the past few days. They'll be joining us here in the Student Council."

Everyone remained silent as she introduced the two, though the moment right after she left, other members began gossiping about the transfer students. The two didn't seem to mind the talk about them. They're sort of used to it after all, since they've been the talk of the school ever since they transferred in.

Suddenly, a boy approached them, followed by the timid looking girl from behind. He had black hair combed to the back and dark squinty eyes. His uniform was neat and properly worn. On the other hand, the bespectacled girl at the back had long, straight, dark-brown hair, reaching past her shoulders. Just as the boy, she was wearing the standard uniform of the school.

"... You two must be talented if the President hand-picked you both." the boy said with a smug look on his face. "I'm Hidetoshi Odagiri by the way, I supervise the Disciplinary Committee" he added.

"Um... and I'm Chihiro Fushimi, the treasurer... I'm a sophomore, and um... I'm still learning the ropes, so... please be patient with me..." the girl at the back continued, politely bowing at the two.

"I should be the one saying that, Fushimi-san. Nice to meet you. I guess." Minato answered with a small smile.

"We'll be sure to do our best! Hope we all get along~!" Minako added enthusiastically.

"Hmph. Well, as long as you don't make any trouble, then I guess things would go smoothly..." Hidetoshi muttered to himself.

5/04/09-Monday

He took a small peek on the small crack on the door before entering. The boy then gently closed the door before casually plopping down on the swivel chair right in front of the desk. Said room he entered was a small office- the school's discipline office to be exact.

The place was quite familiar to him as he was sent there not so long ago for sleeping during PE class, though he somehow managed to get off unpunished. Technically speaking, he always gets away with sleeping in all of his classes since the teachers are already quite used to that habit of his... or more like, they're all used to students sleeping during class. Usually, teachers try to take their sweet revenge on unruly students such as him during the exams. Not that he cares about such things... after all, with his secret special fool-proof studying plan, he can simply sleep out during lectures, stay up all night for Tartarus explorations and still manage to be one of the top scorers in school.

He sighed at the thought as he faced the boy on the other side of the desk. Normally, he'd expect a faculty in charge, however, this time the one who greeted him was no other than the boy he met just a week ago. Of course, he expected to see his face since it was him who arranged the meeting in the first place.

"Please make this quick Hidetoshi... I'm meeting Minako at the field later." the sleepy-eyed boy said as he rubbed the back of his head, as if giddy to get out of the place.

His companion merely shook his head in response, arms were crossed over his chest. "I have no idea what the President sees in you, but your acts of disrupting the student body- the male student body, cannot be overlooked!" Hidetoshi pointed out, with his eyebrows furrowed.

"Um... what?" All it did, however, was to make the poker-faced teen's brows raise up a bit in confusion.

"I was going to report this directly to the President herself, but I wanted to hear your side first..." the young discipline officer answered, "from what I've been told, you've been threatening the boys here in school. You do realize that such acts of bullying cannot be tolerated." he added in a stern tone.

"Oh. That." Minato shrugged. "If that's all, then I'm gonna go now. I really wouldn't want to miss Minako's tennis practice..." he added as he left his seat.

The blue-haired boy's reply had the officer's mouth hanging. He froze for a second before quickly jumping in front of the door, blocking it. "So, you don't deny it?!" Hidetoshi said out loud with an expression of confusion mixed with annoyance.

"Do you want me to?" Minato answered doubtfully.

His reply caused his companion's shoulders to sag down, with his mouth wide open. "No- I mean- Which is it? Are you playing me for a fool?"

"... What a pain..." He muttered to himself. Finally, Minato sighed and returned to his seat. He breathed in, "Boys were eye-ing on her... so I just told them that if they're interested in Minako, they have to make sure to never make her cry, or they will have to go through me. Then they left." the boy breathed out before continuing, "... can I go now?"

The teenager said every word with a consistently blank expression.

"... That's it?" Hidetoshi frowned.

"Do you think I'd even bother lying?" he replied with a yawn.

"You mean this is all just part of some childish squabble on love relationships? Tch... What a waste of time! That informant will be sure to hear from me..." he hissed. "I apologize for the trouble, Minato-kun, you can go now..." the boy added with a wave of hand.

Minato simply tilted his head before getting up again and grabbing the knob. Before he can step out of the room however, he turned his head back to the still fuming officer and spoke. "... Don't overwork yourself Hidetoshi... you can always ask for our help." he added.

Those words softened his companion's expression. "I'll keep that in mind." he grinned.

The blue-haired boy gave him a thumbs up in reply as he shut the door.

Hidetoshi was about to return to the stack of paperworks on the desk when the office door creaked open again. He turned to see the silver-blue eyed teen peeking in.

"Oh yeah, you don't have plans to go after Minako, do you?"

His face reddened, "just leave already!". He marched toward the door and forcefully slammed it shut.

5/11/09-Monday

"Thanks for the hard work Minako-chan! See you next time!"

"Alright, bye~ and careful on your way home!" she said with a warm smile as the door closed.

It was right after a hard day of work in the Student Council. Members have started cleaning up the room, others have left. In a far corner, the auburn-haired girl yawned as she stretched up her arms to relieve a bit of stress. Unknown to others, she had been going out late at night, battling the manifestation of human's dark thoughts- Shadows. It's definitely not an easy task especially since her freedom to do her work was quite limited, considering the fact that she's not a member of SEES anymore.

Well, there's that, and the incident during the second full moon. Up until now, her brother was still confined in the hospital and hasn't shown any signs of waking up just yet, adding to her worries. She wanted to visit, but if she stays over for too long, she might fall asleep and well... it will again, be a risk to her identity as Crimson.

"Minako-san, we have to talk." someone suddenly spoke.

The girl looked up, only to see a familiar face. "Oh, hi there Hidetoshi, haven't seen you in a while!" she grinned. "... Is it about the cigarette butt incident?"

Apparently, there's been a case that has been ongoing where a cigarette butt was found in the boy's bathroom. Since it was against school rules to smoke in the campus, the young discipline officer was tasked to investigate the case.

Hidetoshi merely shook his head, making the girl feel more curious about his business with her. "Neither." he answered bluntly. "It's about your brother... his reputation among the teachers and fellow students has been plumetting down. His absence today definitely does no help. I advise you do something and keep him in control, especially his nightly activities."

The auburn-haired girl chuckled awkwardly upon the mention of 'nightly activities'. Apparently, rumors about him doing questionable things at night has been surfacing as he was spotted in the streets before and after midnight. Most likely, those instances were before and after the Dark Hour has commenced. Even though other SEES members were involved, they only appear in rumors frequently and usually end up being forgotten. On the other hand, Minato who was a transfer student, and who was very well known for his weird quirks, always made him the center of the rumors. Aside from those points, the student body members of the Akihiko Fan club, Mitsuru Fan club and Yukari Fan club made sure that the names of their 'idols' were kept clean... as for Junpei, people had the tendency to forget that he even existed that he was naturally wiped out of the rumors. So somehow, the stories got twisted and only had him involved, leaving out his friends.

"Don't think that I'm doing this for him. I'm just worried that he might taint the President's credibility as he's a part of the Student Council because of her decision." he followed up. "After all, a corporation will crumble down if it has lost its trust on its leader. The same goes for this school." the male added with a smug look on his face.

"Alright, thanks for your concern!" She smiled. "But I know he's not doing anything bad." Minako added.

The discipline officer gave her a bitter grin before he replied. "From what I've heard, you just met your 'brother' at the beginning of the school year, am I right?"

She tilted her head with a puzzled look on her face. Why did he suddenly bring that up? In any case, she gave him a nod to answer his question.

"Then how could you trust him like that? You shouldn't blindly give away your trust. One day, someone will stab you behind your back before you even realize what's happening." he smirked, pointing it out as a matter-of-factly.

Minako closed her eyes. Somehow, she knew where he was going, after all, she was aware of what happened to Hidetoshi's father- sent to jail after being framed. Without a word, the girl stood up from where she sat and stared out the window.

"You know..." she paused, and turned back to the boy, "I've been betrayed before, but that doesn't mean I will never give my trust again. I don't know why... but I just trust him, and that's all there is to it."

Her companion was taken aback. For a moment there, he thought she was about to say something grand, or maybe, even inspirational... but that was it? That was actually pretty plain. She's not as smart as she looks, or what people make her out to be after all... if anything, she's practically just a stupid fool.

"Hmph, let's get something clear. As I've said, I'm only doing this because I want to protect the Student Council. Don't think I'm doing this to earn your favor, after all, I will not reap any benefit from you or your brother." Hidetoshi grunted. "Relationships only makes things difficult, so it's more convenient to just not bother with such trivial matters." he concluded.

Minako shrugged. "If that's what you believe, then I won't try to change your mind. Everybody has something they believe." she paused to pick up her bag and turned to the boy. With a wide grin on her face, she told him: "... But I do trust you, Hidetoshi-kun! So whatever you believe in, I'd still think of you as a friend!"

Hidetoshi sighed and scratched his head, unable to answer. Before he knew it, she had said her goodbyes and left. "No doubt, those two are twins..." he muttered to himself with a smile.

And so, yes, our first s. link focused chapter :D

Anyway, yeah, instead of spreading them throughout the story, they're gonna be 'collected' into a whole chapter or two (or three... or four...). Of course, exceptions will be the SEES and Jin. So, expect more similar chapters waaaay later, but that doesn't mean that all will be covered XP

So, if you want particular ones to be featured, don't be afraid to comment in the reviews ;) (though I cannot make you any promises in that...)

Though right now, what will surely appear would be Hierophant, Hanged, Sun and Temperance. I'm also thinking about Chariot, Star, Fortune and Magician, but I'm not yet sure with those ^^"

Ps. I got tired of re-reading this chap... so I didn't give it one last check... if there are any mistakes, please tell me

NightAngel0Ex- Of course I will :) Actually, I'm currently working on ten other future chapters. I dunno, it just happened cause I can't seem to focus on just one XD Though yeah... most of them are not finished.

GuardianOfTheMist- Y'know... you just gave me an idea~ XP

Gin Nanash- Yes. Yes it is~

Celi-chan- Glad you like how I portrayed him :D And don't worry, you're not pressing me XD

-I do not own Persona or any of its characters-