Chapter 21: Minato's Lovers' Full Moon
7/07/09-Tuesday, Dark Hour
"It's located in Iwatodai... inside a building in Shirakawa Boulevard."
That moment, his faced darkened, covering his forehead with his palm, the blue-haired boy groaned as if feeling sick; he turned to the girl who had just re-called her Persona, "Fuuta... a-are you sure it's... in that place...?"
The girl tilted her head, ignoring the fact that he still doesn't seem to get her name. Looking around the two other girls did look quite uneasy as well, while Junpei somehow had that... perverted look on his face. Akihiko seemed to be all set and raring to go, in contrast to the others, but he's always like that. No surprise.
"Why, what's on Shirakawa Boulevard? I'm not familiar with that area..." she finally spoke with a tone of curiosity in her voice.
"That's where THOSE hotels are. You've heard about em' right Fuuka? Where people go to- OW!"
Junpei's words were immediately cut short thanks to the simultaneous smack behind his head, courtesy of their field leader and Yukari.
"Don't go teaching weird stuff to Fuuta." Minato sighed. It was however, still evident in his face that he too was uneasy about the whole idea of it.
"Alright! Alright! Geez... but Fuuka's not a kid anymore y'know? I'm sure she knows it... besides..." the capped male trailed off and wrapped his arm around the boy's neck, "why do you know about that place~?"
"Oh you know... I have to mark places that Minako shouldn't go to..." he replied casually, showing his friend a map of the island with areas marked with a red pen.
"... Forget I asked."
It didn't take long before the group arrived at the designated area. Minato brought with him Yukari, Junpei and Akihiko, leaving Mitsuru with Fuuka.
"I sense a Shadow on the 3rd floor... behind a large room... Please head there immediately!"
"Understood" the blue-haired boy nodded leading his team as directed by their new support.
The inside of the hotel had a strange mix of purplish-pink atmosphere, and combined with the Dark Hour's effects, it had an added hue of green and red. There were a lot of rooms along the hallway, though according to Fuuka, the room they needed to find was a large one, so they ignored the ones in the passing, setting sights on the third floor.
"Be careful, there are some Shadows waiting up ahead!" her voice rung in their heads as the group stepped on the 2nd floor.
Indeed, there were... around three of them- two Spurious Book and a Sky Balance to be exact. Thankfully, they haven't noticed the group of Persona-users approaching.
With a wave of his hand, the blue-haired boy motioned his teammates to ambush the Shadows.
Junpei lunged forward, delivering the first blow which knocked down one of the Shadows. His attack alerted the others, but before they can make a move, the second Shadow was pierced by Yukari's arrow, and the third met their senior's knuckles.
"Keep it up! They're still moving!" Minato followed up as he summoned his Evoker.
"Sooo... d'you think she'll be appearing this time again?" Junpei suddenly jumped beside him right after the boy had ordered his Persona to attack.
"Who?" he questioned, attention still on the battle. Minato didn't even spare his friend a glance.
"Y'know..." the boy gestured with his hand, of what looked like he was putting some mask on his face.
During that same moment, two of the Shadows were successfully brought down by Akihiko and Yukari. Familiar black smoke sizzled from where they once stood. With that, Minato relaxed, finally giving some attention to Junpei "Ah- umm... Crimson, right?"
"Yeah! Her~" the boy grinned. As if forgetting that there was still one more Shadow to beat, he had even casually lowered his weapon already.
"Maybe. Yeah. Probably." Minato replied with his usual uncaring tone.
"Hey- What's with that lack of enthusiasm? Don't you feel a least bit curious bout' her? C'mon!"
"The only thing I'm curious about right now is how you manage to not shut your mouth Stupei" the brunette suddenly interjected, "Shouldn't you focus on tonight's Shadow instead of thinking about that?"
The two boys then glanced back at the battle. Akihiko seemed to be enjoying himself with the remaining Shadow. With a shrug, they turned back to the girl, internally deciding to let their senpai have his fun.
"Aww Yuka-tan, you don't have to be a spoiled sport... besides, this is relevant! I mean, what if it turns out that she already got the Full Moon Shadow before we get there?"
"Heh, in that case, I'll take the opportunity to ask her to join us! This time, I won't take a 'no' for an answer!" Akihiko was the one to speak this time, though his attention was still on his opponent... at least until after he set it away with an upper-cut, making it sizzle into nothingness like the rest.
Before, they continued their topic, their leader scanned the area left and right. Seems clear- was what he thought, wordlessly motioning them to follow him again.
"Senpai, not you too..." Yukari continued, as she caught up with their senior, "seriously, we don't even know her in-"
Before Yukari finished, Fuuka's voice suddenly rung in their heads once more, "everyone, I just received a strange reading! I-it's very faint... but I think I sense... some sort of Shadow...? No- two Persona-users! There are two other Persona-users in the area!"
"What? Two?" Akihiko blinked, stopping on his tracks.
The other three paused as well to better listen to Fuuka.
"Yes... two. I can't seem to pinpoint their exact location..." her voice trailed off at this point. There was a short pause, when her voice suddenly rung out sounding distressed. "Hmm...? What's this...- Oh no- Be careful- the- Sh-... in tha... ro..."
"Fuuka? Fuuka?!" Minato called out to the wavering voice, like a phone losing its signal.
"What happened? Were they attacked?!" the senior bit his lips.
"I don't think so... Fuuka-chan didn't sound like there was trouble... more like... it was cut off...?" Yukari said with a tone of uncertainty.
"Come to think of it, Mitsuru is also with her... so I guess we have no need to worry." the silver-haired male added, pumping his fist.
"Whew well, now that that's settled..." Junpei eyed the blue-haired boy mischievously as he casually grabbed his shoulder "congrats on finally getting her name right!"
"... Fuuta's?"
"... You're doing that on purpose aren't you?"
"In any case, where are we now?" the brunette blatantly ignored the two and looked forward, where it stood -a large door.
"This must be it!" Akihiko exclaimed excitedly, pushing the door open without second thoughts.
"Hold on- Senpai...! We should wait for Fuu-" their leader attempted to stop him, "... never mind" his shoulders slumped down seeing that it was too late.
"Hm... I guess that Shadow is supposed to be here...?" Akihiko mused, "... but I don't see-"
One by one, the teenagers entered the room.
*BANG-*
The door behind them suddenly shut itself close. It was their leader who first rushed back to the door, attempting to pry it open. The senior followed to help, along with Junpei a second later.
"Dammit- it's no use!" the eldest of the group hissed as he swung his fist at the door.
"Hey... everyone look over there!"
The voice of the sole female called their attention- her hand was pointed at the huge bed at the end of the room. The two boys blinked, trying to piece what she had seen, while their field leader immediately ran over to where she pointed and picked up the article on the bed-
"Hey those clothes are-!" Akihiko's eyes widened, though before he can finish, Junpei's voice cut him off-
"Isn't this that masked girl's?" on his hands, he held the familiar naginata of the elusive Crimson.
"Hey, didn't Fuuka-chan say earlier that she sensed Persona-users?" Yukari brought up, rubbing her chin.
"Hmm that mean's... ugh..." as Minato drew out his conclusions, he held his head. He felt that he was starting to lose balance... and to top it off, his vision started to become foggy...
*thump*
Yukari had fallen.
*thump*
And Junpei.
He tried to look over Akihiko's direction... but he couldn't take it anymore. He felt weak- and down he went along with the others...
'Mmm...?'
Embrace you desire... I am the voice of your inner self... Enjoy the moment... That which cannot be felt is merely a dream... The present is all we have...
'Shut up... what does that even mean...?'
The future is but a fantasy, memory, a fabrication... Let your desire free you from your shackles... such is my wish...
'... I'm not giving in...'
Pleasure is what you truly want. You stand before the doorway to bliss. You cannot deny your instincts... Embrace your desire...
'Shut up... It's not the time for that!'
At that moment, his eyes flung open as he shot out of... bed? Looking around, it seemed like he ended up in one of the hotel rooms... What just happened?
Minato held his head, " there was a voice and then..." he paused, and again, he looked around.
The place was quite fancy indeed. Minato mindlessly pressed his hand on the bed... "Wow... this is soft... Maybe I can ask Mitsuru-senpai to get us one of these for the dorm?" As he was contemplating, the showers suddenly stopped- which he didn't really notice was even there at first, since his mind was still pretty foggy at least until a moment ago. "Ngh..." Minato shook his head and stood up. Right. Weren't they supposed to fight the Full Moon Shadow? The boy then walked over toward the shower door hoping to find his teammates.
*Creeaaak* -went the door. It all happened slowly, at the same time quickly. It was really hard to explain, perhaps because his mind was still very much out of it... but for some reason he could not comprehend, in front of him stood a Yukari wrapped in towel.
"Uhh... what was I...?" she mumbled as if finally getting her act together.
"Oh there you are" he greeted casually with his hand raised up.
She shrieked in surprise the moment she laid her eyes on him. "W-what are you-" again she shrieked seeing that the only thing preventing him from seeing her naked body was a piece of cloth. "D-D-DON'T LOOK-!"
Minato cringed from the pitch of her voice, covering his ears, "keep it down. You don't have to shout. Just get dressed already... if you have to."
The brunette could feel her face burn as she rushed back inside the shower room. It didn't take long before she returned, fully clothed.
"Ugh... if only I knew this would have happened, I would have never volunteered for this mission..." Yukari mumbled, eyes on the floor. Her cheeks were still obviously burning with embarrassment despite her attempt to hide it.
"Why are you so worked up over that?" The boy spoke nonchalantly as he gazed at the girl's still troubled face, "if it makes you feel any better, you don't have to worry about me feeling, seeing or saying anything about this since I have no interest in you at all-"
*SMACK* *THUMP* happened in that order. Before he knew it, a palm met him square in the face causing him to lose balance and fall flat on the floor. He could've sworn he heard a crack... though for one thing, he knew his nose felt quite numb.
"Oh... I can finally reach you! Can you two hear me?" Fuuka's voice suddenly resounded within their head, "hm? Did anything happen?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all" Yukari replied coldly, "Isn't that right, Minato-kun?"
"Nyeah... right. What she said- owwww..." the boy slowly got up on his feet, "um... and I think we need some tissue paper here though..." he added with a muffled voice, hand holding his bloodied nose.
"Hey we're over-" Junpei put his greeting to halt the moment he laid eyes on Minato, "whoah- what happened to you?"
"I... pressed onto an uncharted territory that I'm not supposed to enter. I think" he grumbled, pushing up the blood-covered tissue paper plugging his nose, "don't ask. I don't really understand myself."
"Oookay... I guess we do have things we'd rather forget..." Junpei shuddered as he looked over Akihiko's direction.
The usually energetic senior seemed to be not so energetic for some reason. Minato wondered what really happened after they got separated... he had an idea, but decided to shake the thought away. He felt that there are indeed some things he'd rather not know about.
"Ah good, everyone's back together" the familiar voice sounded within their heads again, "uhm... Minato-kun, are you sure you're alright now?"
"Yeah, pretty much-" the boy replied, glancing over at Yukari- who just snubbed him. He sighed, wondering why she's still so mad- he was honestly just trying to make her feel better. Really. He did. At least that what he thought, but she seemed to have taken it the wrong way. Maybe he's better off staying silent after all? Minato shook his head, hoping to forget about it and focus on their current ordeal- "Anyway Fuuta, you said the Shadow jammed you and took control of us? Is there anything we can do about that?"
"Hmm, hold on a sec..." the girl's voice resonated, leaving the group in awkward silence before finally hearing from her again, "I got it, it's the mirrors! They're giving off the same energy as the Shadow! Maybe if you break the mirrors..."
"I see. Got it" their leader nodded, "hear that everyone?"
The three gave him a nod of confirmation.
"Oh, and this time... please wait for my orders before acting, alright?" Minato continued, his comment obviously directed at Akihiko.
The silver-haired teen made a deep sigh, "yeah sorry about earlier, guess I got too enthusiastic about it..."
"Good" he smiled, "well then, let's go."
With that, the group marched on once again to continue their operation. For a moment, Minato remembered about the two other Persona-users that Fuuka mentioned a while earlier. He shook his head, pushing the thought at the back of his mind. For now, he wanted to focus on the operation. There's no way he'd let that kind of Shadow live, after all, what if it got away and gets its hands (if it has any) on Minako? Her experiencing the same thing he did that night was definitely something he wouldn't want to live with... and with that resolution, he pressed on.
7/07/09-Tuesday, earlier that same Dark Hour
He swung his axe once.
The next moment, it instantly dissipated into the green night.
The man groaned and lifted his weapon, resting it on his shoulder. He surveyed the area and stared at the remains of the black mush which were once Shadows.
Each one hissed into a black smoke like boiling water, disappearing into thin air as if they never existed.
"Tch. Fucking bastards... They've been multiplying lately..." he snarled.
Suddenly, the teenager heard a strange sound. He was sure they were the sound of footsteps splashing through the puddles of blood. Was there someone close by? He thought. It was the Dark Hour, so it couldn't be a normal person. Perhaps a Persona-user? But what if it WAS an ordinary person? Then that would mean danger for the poor sap...
He sighed and scratched the back of his head before running toward the direction of the sound...
-Which led him to Shirakawa Boulevard, just right outside the so-called 'Love Hotel'.
He gritted his teeth as he gazed at the building with disgust.
Disturbingly enough, there were a lot of Apathy Syndrome incidents in that said area for the past few weeks. So even though he hated the thought of staying around, he felt the need to check and make sure no one was wandering out of their coffins...
"Dammit... This definitely ain't part of my job..."
Extra:
Mitsuru: Arisato, I'm not sure why would we need this...
Minato: Because- I liked the waterbed during the- er I mean, It would give us better sleep, thus enhancing motivation after waking up.
Mitsuru: I see... that is quite a sound argument. I shall arrange their delivery as soon as-
Junpei & Akihiko: NO-! Motivation my ass, they'll just bring back memories! *shudders*
Minako: Yukari seems to be mad at you... did you have a fight?
Minato: I don't know. I don't really understand... I just told her that I have no interest in her to make her feel better...
Minako: In what kind of world would that make anyone feel better...?
Junpei: Hey- what's this red mark on the dorm? I can't read the note you put here...
Minato: Oh that? Your room. No girl should be put into the ordeal that is to enter that dump.
Junpei: ... Sometimes, I really can't tell if you're sadistic, serious or just plain oblivious...
Looks like we're six months early for an update, huzzah! (jk)
To those who answered that Minato gets a nosebleed in the poll... well, congrats getting it right XD
He won't be sent to the hospital this time thought ;P -for once-
Speaking of polls, feel free to go check out the one up in my profile page! It's uhh... Minato's pairing. Cuz. Still undecided... kinda. Yeah...
Originally, I wasn't going to write about the S.E.E.S. for this Full Moon... It was just about Crimson and y'know... but yea~ Minato needs some love. And tissue paper for that nosebleed.
So yeah. Crimson's side of the story will appear next chapter.
Aaaand on a random note... HNNNG I AM SO EXCITED FOR PERSONA Q. EVERYONE SO CUTE AND HAVING FUN (which I bet is just masking all angst later on TAT). I'm actually already considering about making a spin-off for this fic in the PQ verse once I reach the cultural fest date here lol. Maybe. Maybe not. Depends on how much I'll like the game I suppose XD
-Persona 3 or any SMT series does not belong to me-
Oh wow- I didn't expect to get that much comments for a single chapter in such a short time OAO
Lemo - Why yes, yes I am =w= (or am I?)
ShunShunRikka-Ai - Sorry for the long wait ^^" Looking back, it seems that the previous chapter was almost practically done before I *kinda* disappeared... at first, I decided not to post it yet cause I was gonna add more, but after a long time of procrastinating... I forgot what I was gonna add and posted anyway after a few edits /shot XD And don't worry, development is about to happen... probably.
FateOblivion - Ahhh thanks... It's definitely far from the best, but I'm glad you think so / Np~ the movie's awesome ain't it? /dat smile at the end *w*
Arrow-chan3 - lol I did consider the 'beat him up' path... and get him beat twice even - by both Minato and Crimson... cause y'know, she's hiding that she's a Persona-user, so Minako would end up acting separately from Minato... and 'accidentally' have them deal justice on him TWICE -insert evil laugh here- but I think that would be kinda out of character for them... y'know, abuse their powers that way XP
faded-lunar-sky - Thanks for the support~
Gin Nanashi - Those omakes are usually scenes I intended to add, but couldn't find a place to insert in the chapters themselves, glad you liked them XD Oh, and that Hidetoshi reaction- I kinda picked it up from one of the P3 drama CDs *cough*whileIwasreseachinghispersonality*cough*... there are translations in youtube, go check them out if you haven't *w* ahhh... and yeah... those deleted files... QAQ I was actually looking forward to finishing the student council arc along with this chapter cause the chapters after this were done... and I was hoping for a multiple chapter updates with those T_T
X3 - Thanks, I will keep continuing -slowly... REALLY slowly-
Uena - Your comment made my day~ I'm glad someone saw and mentioned the Ace Attorney reference... cause that chapter was indeed meant to be Ace Attorney-P3 crossover of sorts XD In fact, one of the initial plans was to make it a class trial so that they'd have witnesses (and Mitsuru as judge lol) and all... AND YES. THAT WAS PLAYING IN MY HEAD AS I WROTE THAT CHAPTER. I actually wanted to link youtube for the music for extra immersion... but I didn't know the title XP Ahhh and I feel honored that this fic managed to inspire someone to write-
And uhhh... to those (if any) I forgot to reply to, thanks for commenting! ^_^