A/N: Hey all, back with another update. For this chapter I decided to mix in several scenes that happen over a few days in the game so that it's more streamlined. Hope you guys enjoy it!
Minato awoke to the sound of several loud knocks on his door. He glanced at his alarm clock and saw that it read ten o'clock in the evening. Time to get up. Hoisting himself off his bed, he strode towards the door.
Today had been a strange day. While he was fully recovered, and felt that sprinting a couple hundred of meters wouldn't even make him break a sweat, he was not scheduled to be released out of hospital for another two days. He wondered what kind of black magic Mitsuru had used to persuade the nurses into letting him out early, as his negotiations with them ended with him being locked in his room. They were a stubborn bunch, those nurses, and never ceased to ramble on about how he needed more rest and that he should not be wandering around. How would they know what he was feeling anyway?
He pulled his door open to reveal Mitsuru, who stood with her arms folded. Her face was impeccable as ever and if the day's events had been exhausting for her, she did not show it.
"Good, you're up. I was afraid that I was going to have to come in and wake you," Mitsuru said, watching Minato close the door. "I apologize if I've been keeping you from doing anything too strenuous."
"It's alright," Minato replied. "I understand you need me for something important."
What that important thing was, he still had no clue. All Mitsuru had told him in the limousine back to the dorm was that he would need all his energy for his tonight. She had been reluctant to speak after that instruction and had skilfully evaded any questions about Shadows and Personas he had thrown.
As he walked with her up the stairs and to the fourth floor, he couldn't help but notice she was wearing perfume. The whiffs of her scent he caught drifting off her vibrant hair wasn't the type that fogged his senses or made him want to gag. It wasn't like what almost every other girl in Gekkoukan, or his previous school for that matter, wore either. No, the fragrance was something sweet with a subtle touch of spiciness. And another ingredient that he couldn't quite place. Whatever it was, he knew this – it suited her perfectly.
"Thanks again for bailing me out today," he said, turning to face her as they reached the doors to the command room. "If it weren't for you, I would have probably gone insane, being locked in that room."
"I can imagine," Mitsuru replied with a smile. "Don't worry, you'll have your answers very soon."
They entered the command room and except for the large computer monitor on the left side, the room was – to Minato anyway – a complete replica of the foyer. He took a seat next to Yukari who greeted him with a glance. She then engrossed herself back to her cell phone, still a little edgy.
Shortly after, Akihiko and the Chairman entered with a familiar face. He wore the uniform of Gekkoukan High and would have looked like another ordinary student if it weren't for his navy blue baseball cap.
"J-Junpei?" Yukari gasped as her eyes looked up from her phone. "Why is HE here? Wait, don't tell me–"
"This is Iori Junpei from Class 2-F. He'll be staying here as of today," Akihiko said.
Even though the lighting was quite dim, Minato could see Junpei's wide smile. He glanced at Yukari, who gave him a look of despair and stood up.
"He staying HERE?!" she exclaimed. "You've gotta be kidding me!"
"Akihiko bumped into him last night," Mitsuru said as Akihiko helped Ikutsuki place the two briefcases on the coffee table. "He has the potential and agreed to help."
Yukari looked from Junpei to Mitsuru, then back to Junpei.
"You have the potential? For real?" Yukari asked.
"That I do Yuka-tan," Junpei said, still grinning. "Akihiko-senpai found me at the convenience store looking half-dead and surrounded by a bunch of coffins. I don't remember much but man, that was embarrassing. Anyway, I was shocked to find out about you guys. I had no idea. I'm glad I'm not the only one." He smirked. "I bet you're stoked, having me join."
"Yeah, I guess," Yukari replied as kindly as possible, though she may as well have asked why it had to be him. "Though once you hear the details of it all, you might wanna think twice about this."
"Details? What details? Don't you guys just go huntin' Shadows every other night?"
"Yeah but–"
"Then what's there to think twice about?" he said, walking past her to greet Minato. "Hey man, good to see ya again."
Minato bumped his fist. "Good to see you too."
"Can you believe this one?" Junpei whispered, gesturing at Yukari who looked away and mumbled something unintelligible. "It's like she's trying to kick me out already."
"You two have some sort of history?" Minato asked.
"It's a long story," he replied, nodding. "I'll tell ya some other time. But dude, how lucky are you? Living here with both Yuka-tan AND Mitsuru-senpai. It's the dream isn't it?"
Minato watched as Mitsuru gracefully strode across the room to instruct Akihiko and Ikutsuki. He really could not place what it was that made her allure so intoxicating.
"I suppose. But whether that counts as being lucky, or an act of coincidence, I'm not so sure," Minato said, now eyeing the pair of silver briefcases.
"Seriously dude? Of course you're lucky! Man, you have no idea how many guys would kill to be you right now," Junpei replied, shaking his head.
Ikutsuki cleared his throat. "Well now that everyone knows each other, I'd like to have your undivided attention." Once everyone took their seats on the arrangement of sofas, he turned to Minato and Junpei. "Especially you two. Now, would you believe me if I said that a day consists of more than twenty-four hours?"
Hearing those words made Minato feel like he was being lectured by an idiot. He exchanged glances with Junpei who was equally as confused. Or insulted. What kind of nonsense was the Chairman going on about? Minato's eyes drifted towards Mitsuru, who chuckled at his reaction.
Is this what she meant by answers?
"I'm not surprised by your reaction," she said. "However, you've already experienced this firsthand. Do you remember the night you came here? You had to have noticed the signs. The streetlights went out, nothing was working, there were coffins everywhere. That's the Dark Hour, a time period hidden between one day and the next."
Minato listened as Mitsuru, Akihiko and Ikutsuki told their story, feeling all the pieces of the puzzle fix themselves together. How the weirdness on the night of his arrival was caused by the Dark Hour. How the messes of black sludge with blue masks were Shadows and how they were responsible for the cases of Apathy Syndrome he had been hearing about in the news. How Evokers were used to simulate an act of suicide so that a person's state of mind could handle the summoning of a Persona, which was the cause of the constant calling that reverberated in his psyche. It all made sense now. Except for one thing.
"So what causes the Dark Hour?" Minato asked.
Everyone turned their eyes on him, shocked at the fact that he had processed the material so quickly. And with very little skepticism.
"I-I'm glad you're quick to understand," Mitsuru said, regaining her composure. "We don't exactly know what the cause of it is yet but we believe we can find the reason in Tartarus, a labyrinth that only reveals itself during the Dark Hour. Think of it as a Shadow nest."
So they don't know either.
It was to be expected that they did not have an answer, Minato supposed. He turned to examine the others. Junpei was still in disbelief as he had thought, and Yukari's bored expression told him that she had heard all this before. But as well as she hid it, he noticed her eyeing Mitsuru with a hint of disdain; the look reminding him of the day she visited him in the hospital and asked about his relations with the Kirijo Group. He had assumed she had some suspicions but it looked to be a little more than that.
"Man, this is pretty extreme stuff," Junpei said. "And here I thought you guys would just be wanderin' around Port Island, killing Shadows as a sort of work out or something." He turned to Minato. "Hey, you think this is weird too don't you?"
Minato took a moment before answering, glancing at Ikutsuki and both his senpai. It seemed as though they were more concerned with him being on board than anyone else. "Considering what I experienced the other night, I think what they've said so far seems plausible. Unless you can think of a better explanation yourself."
Junpei opened his mouth and then closed it, shaking his head.
"In any case, we've prepared an Evoker for both of you," Mitsuru said, standing up and opening one of the briefcases. "We'd like you to lend us your strength."
Minato and Junpei leaned forward and peered at the contents. Inside was a silver handgun emblazoned with the letters S.E.E.S. and a few accessories; a holster and strap, and a red armband with the same inscription as the gun. Now that he thought about it, both of his senpai and Yukari were all wearing that armband. Minato took out the gun and examined it. It was surprisingly heavy for its size and he wondered if any alterations could be arranged to his liking. Placing the Evoker back in the briefcase, he looked up at everyone.
"I'll help you," he announced. "If Shadows leave behind nothing but a husk of a human, then I see no reason why we shouldn't fight back."
Mitsuru smiled. "Thank you. I appreciate that you see the sense in fighting them. Iori?"
"Well, I did say I'd help you guys out," Junpei said. He still looked troubled. "But are Personas the only thing we can use? 'Cause shooting myself is gonna take some time to get used to."
"I concur," Minato added. "If Tartarus is their nest, then I'm sure there'll be more than we can handle, even with the five of us. And if the other night's anything to go by, I'd rather not be knocked out for a week every time I summon."
Akihiko stood up, crossed over to the monitor and flicked a switch. The monitor hummed to life and after pressing a few more buttons, it displayed a recording of the roof the night the dorm was attacked. Everyone watched in silence (Junpei was in complete awe) as the Minato in the recording placed Yukari's Evoker to his head, pulled the trigger, then convulse as the newly summoned Orpheus was ripped apart.
"We were watching you when you summoned your Persona," Akihiko said as the recording ended. "And as far as we can tell, we've never seen a case like yours. Summoning for the first time has different side effects for everyone and so it's likely your exhaustion was just that. A side effect. Over time, you should get used to it but make sure you let us know if something's off. A Persona gone berserk is no joke."
As Akihiko shut the monitor off, Minato caught a glimpse of his brow creasing at that last statement. Had it happened to him before?
"So...are there other ways of dealing with the Shadows?" Junpei asked, his face still aghast at the footage. "Like, are we gonna need guns and grenades or something?"
"No, there will be none of that," Mitsuru said. "As effective as live ammunition is, they're too impractical with all the paperwork and questions." She glanced at Akihiko, who nodded and picked up the two briefcases. "However, there are other things we can use."
Ikutsuki excused himself, saying he needed to return to his research, as Mitsuru stood up and gestured for the three juniors to follow her and Akihiko to a polished mahogany door in the corner of the room with numerous locks. Reaching into her skirt pocket, she pulled out a set of keys and selected one to unlock one of the locks. Then she used another key for another lock. And so on. When she was done, she pulled the door open and stepped through, flicking the lights on to reveal a room filled with weapons.
Many, many weapons.
Sheathed swords hung like trophies at the far end of the room while entire stands of battle axes, spears, bows and quivers of arrows, and even fighting gauntlets and cestuses decorated the sides. The swords were of all different types and cultures, ranging from slender katanas, to fencing sabers, to heavy broadswords. All were sharpened and were patiently waiting to be used.
Minato made his way to an antique wooden table in the center of the room, where Akihiko had placed his and Junpei's Evokers, and saw that there were many more Evokers lying beneath a glass case. He had expected them to be kept out of sight but was surprised that there were so many of them.
"You never know when you might run into a Persona user," Akihiko said as Minato inspected the Evokers. "We had about a half a dozen made just in case."
Leaving the table, Minato turned and walked towards the display of European swords. He could only marvel at how the Kirijo Group snuck such an arsenal into a student's dormitory. It definitely would have involved some black magic indeed.
His eyes scanned through several swords before finally falling on one of them. He gently took it off its stand and unsheathed from its scabbard. It was a simple saber, lightweight, with a pristine curved blade and a standard guard. There wasn't anything remarkable about it but holding it in his hands, Minato knew that this would do. Less was always more.
"So I see you prefer one handed swords," Mitsuru said.
Minato looked up from inspecting his chosen weapon, and noticed her standing beside him.
"Well I figured that I would want to have a free hand to use my Evoker," he replied, testing the weight and feel of the blade. Yes. This was definitely the saber he wanted. "I'm more familiar with these than katanas and the like since I've used them before when I was younger."
"Really?" Mitsuru asked, a little intrigued.
Minato nodded. "I'll save that story for another day. But as I said, I will help you. Everything you have told me tonight has piqued my interest and I'm eager to find the answers."
"You can count me in too," Junpei said, making his way over to them, a katana in his hands and a grin on his face.
"Hang on a second. You guys are joining just like that? You're not curious about all this?" Yukari asked, gesturing to the weapons.
"C'mon Yuka-tan," Junpei said. "A guy only gets to use one of these once in a lifetime."
Yukari ignored him and approached Minato.
"Oh I'm not saying I'm not curious," Minato said, sheathing his saber and looking her square in the eye. "But it doesn't matter. Now that I know there's a backup plan, I don't have to worry about falling back on my Persona all the time. And besides, all this?" He brought his saber up. "I have a knack for all of this." He turned to face Mitsuru. "When do we start?"
Mitsuru glanced at Akihiko, who nodded, and smiled. "You're in luck. Because we're going to Tartarus tonight."