Here we go, the chapter that I'm almost certain a lot of you were looking forward too.

Hmm... I wonder why.

Holy shit, he's normal again!

What happened last chapter, little dude?

*shakes head* I don't know. After they threatened Minato, I just... changed.

... That's concerning.

Extremely. And this is coming from the shadow that ate people and cracked more than a few human skulls for fun.

RAX : I know the math thing was a joke, so was what I said. Anyhow, Mexican American? Wonder if you're good at Spanish, god knows I'm not.

Don't like it?

No mi gusta la clase de español. Creo que es aburrido y una pérdida de tiempo. Dios ayúdame.

... Yo no comprendo.

Lo sé. Alright, enough of that. There's one thing I should warn you guys : We've past the point of Arcana shadows I know how to write battles for. Meaning, don't expect much out of these fights because P3's turn-based combat isn't easily adapted to a written format nor are their bosses. Also, fair warning : This is not Makoto/Minato's day.

RAX Part 2 : Not you, nor you... Yes you, right there. You know who you are! It's someone I know personally.


Home

Makoto looked out the window as the blood of his left arm dripped into the bowl that he set up to avoid making a mess.

Kotone didn't show up to hang out with him today, which wasn't too surprising. SEES had figured out the pattern of the shadows as well, so they likely spent the entirety of the day preparing ever since school ended for the day.

Of course, none of the other members of SEES wanted anything to do with him, which was expected. The senior members did whatever it took to avoid the boy and Akihiko even seemed to glare at him occasionally, likely due to the boy's uncaring attitude towards the Dark Hour.

The juniors were a little more diverse in their interactions with Makoto.

Yukari seemed to be severely uncomfortable around the boy just like always. It was for this reason that he occasionally liked to playfully make idle conversation with her just to bother her some more, something he enjoyed quite a bit.

Junpei was a bit more passive in the sense that while he didn't do anything to avoid him nor to pay attention to him, something which worked just find with the both of them. Makoto found him rather annoying and he always smelled like he hadn't bathed in weeks, but still found him easy enough to tune out of his mind.

Fuuka was similar to Junpei as she didn't do anything to avoid the boy either. However, unlike everyone except Kotone, she was still polite to the bluenette whenever they were forced to interact with each other. Seeing how she was the only member of SEES outside of Kotone he could tolerate, Makoto spared her from any of his games and returned her politeness.

Of course, Kotone was Kotone... There was nothing else that could be used to describe her. Whatever the voice in his head was, he(?) seemed to be rather fond of her for whatever reason. Whenever they interacted, he never exactly felt right around her... It was strange, like his mood would shift from one thing to the next in an instant in some instances.

SEES certainly was a strange bundle, all of them were united for the purpose of eliminating the Dark Hour from what he had heard from them.

Of course, none of that meant anything to Makoto. If SEES was right and the Dark Hour ended, then it ended. While that time period was a sort of home for him in a strange way, killing those shadows was something that Pharos wanted therefor that was all that mattered.

Lately, a lot of the Lost have been showing up in "pairs." If this was an indicator of anything, then Pharos was probably about to have the night of his life if they were going to have to go where Makoto thought they were going.

Once the Dark Hour settled in, Makoto's wound healed as he turned to where his friend had been watching "So..?" he whispered, still needing a moment to recover from the blood loss

"Hmm..." Pharos hummed as he closed his eyes and focused. Neither of them knew why the mysterious little boy felt the need for those shadows to die, he just did.

After a few moments, Pharos was able to detect where they were "Hmm... Interesting location."

Makoto sighed as he stood up, now recovered from his daily habit "Where?" he asked, already getting the feeling he wasn't going to like it.

Pharos seemed excited for some reason "It's called...


?

"... Shirakawa Boulevard." Makoto sighed as he looked at the place in question. Even when he was a boy, his parents didn't like either being or having him being anywhere near this place and it wasn't hard to see why.

This particular area was infamous for its love hotel, and humorously enough, a lot of the lost had been caught in the middle of the act. Makoto couldn't stop but chuckle every time he thought about it, especially since they said Apathy Syndrome was due to stress.

Makoto's smirk died when he spotted all of SEES gathering around the entrance with Kotone picking her party members to go in with her. It looks like they beat him to the punch.

"Look." Pharos pointed to the roof and saw Strega watching intently. Likely trying to figure out what the hell SEES was doing and why.

Damn. Makoto cursed mentally. If Chidori really could see Pharos, then using Thanatos and using his disguise was out of the question. Looks like he was stuck with Orpheus during this full moon tonight, too.

Not seeing the point in simply standing around and doing nothing, the boy casually walked to the members of SEES.

"How ya doin'?" Makoto greeted casually which caused most of them to scream in shock. Apparently, neither of them were expecting anyone to shock up "Hmm... Interesting way to say hello."

"Makoto-kun?" Kotone said surprised as everyone else had similar reactions.

Mitsuru walked closer to the boy and looked at him with a stern look on her face "What are you doing here?"

Makoto merely shrugged casually "I was bored." he gave the same reason as last time as he looked at the building "So, this is where the next shadow is, right?"

"Why?" Mitsuru asked "If I recall correctly, you said that you didn't care."

"I don't." He confirmed "Like I said : I'm bored."

"You can forget about going in." Akihiko spoke up, his ire for the junior's complete disregard for the well being of others showing clear as day "You didn't join us, remember?"

"Which means you orders are worthless, or is that just not how logic works?" Makoto asked acting like he'd just heard one of the most ridiculous things in his life. The boy sighed "Love me, hate me, I don't give a shit. We can argue all night, but I'm going in whether you like it or not. You can work with me or..."

"Or what?" Junpei asked a bit concerned, he didn't like Makoto but the very idea of what he was implying...

"Or I can swoop in last minute and save your asses, of course." He said playfully with a laugh, he didn't even try to hide the fact that he took delight with their worried expressions

"Yuki-kun, please, it's dangerous here." Fuuka warned, deeply concerned about what happened to the boy.

"Which makes it all the better." Makoto chuckled to himself "Thanks for the warning, though."

"Do you think this is a joke?!" Yukari finally lost her temper and screamed at him. How could he just act like this all meant nothing? People were dying because of this hour and here he is having the time of his life.

"Do I think you're a joke? No shit." Makoto insulted the entirety of SEES nonchalantly before pausing for a moment pretending to be confused "Oh, that wasn't what you meant?"

"Enough!" Kotone shouted which caused everyone's attention to snap back to her. "Kill each other later. For now, we have to deal with the shadow."

She looked at Makoto who could've sworn he literally saw fire in her eyes "Want in? Fine, but you're doing as you're told in there."

"Meh, I can live with that." Makoto shrugged, being forced to work with them wasn't the worst thing in the world.

"Persona's properties?" She asked knowing next to nothing about his persona other than its appearance

"Orpheus likes to burn and smash things, but can't take being zapped or cursed." Makoto explained as he looked down at his right hand which was holding the sword he summoned before coming here "And I like swords."

"Wait, you're persona doesn't even have any resistances?" Even someone like Junpei caught on to Orpheus' main flaw "This is a joke, right?"

"Remind me to never use Dia on you." Makoto rolled his eyes, even he lamented over the fact that even by initial persona standards Orpheus' affinities were pathetic.

"Alright, we're going in with a group of five this time, so..." Kotone looked over her options. Yukari had stated at the dorm that her going in was non-negotiable, so she had to pick two people.

If Makoto's persona specialized in fire, then bringing Junpei along would be a waste. Not to mention, someone had to stay behind and protect Fuuka in case anything came out of there.

"... Guess I'll take our senpai, then." Kotone said which caused Junpei to look both shocked and disappointed. Makoto noted that from what he saw during SEES' visits to Tartarus, he hadn't been brought along during those either. It looks like someone was developing an inferiority complex.

As the group was moving into the building, Makoto approached Junpei and whispered "Taking me instead of the guy who's an actual member? This is a joke right?" he jabbed, now feeling even for the capped boy's comment on Orpheus, he ran to meet up with the rest.

...

...

Even with the shadows drawn to their larger and stronger brother like moths to a flame, it didn't take the group of persona users long to reach the large door that lead to where Fuuka and Pharos sensed was where the next big one was.

Kotone placed her hands on the door and opened it just a crack before looking back "Ready guys?"

The member of SEES simply gave an affirmative nod, knowing full well just how dangerous shadows were and how quickly/easily things could go wrong.

"Can we just get the night over with?" Makoto answered with a sigh. If it was anything like the last one, he should probably be ready for a quick battle followed by going to bed immediately.

Kotone sighed, dismissing Makoto's casualness to what would be a serious matter to anyone else and opened the door.

Inside the room was a shadow in the form of an obese man sitting on a chair with a female figure behind him massaging him. In front of the shadow were two crosses that seemed to move left and right as if they were dancing in place.

"Got anything to tell, Fuuka?" Kotone asked wanting to know what would actually work on the shadow before engaging

"It's immune and specializes in electricity." Fuuka warned which made both Makoto and Yukari groan at their shared weakness.

"Of all the shadows it could've been, it had to be this one..." Yukari muttered, lamenting over the fact she insisted that she'd be on the one operation with a shadow that specialized in her weakness

"Dammit." And now, Makoto could look forward to being bored and tired from being zapped over and over.

"Alright, doesn't look like there'll be any gimmicks so this'll be easy." Kotone said as the group of persona user spread out across the room "Akihiko debuff its defences and Makoto-kun focus on debuffing its offence, and then the rest of us can destroy it."

"On it!" Akihiko announced as he fired his Evoker and summoned his persona Polydeuces who weakened the shadow with Rakunda

I'm missing you, Thanny. Makoto thought as he summoned Orpheus who played his lyre and used Tarunda. If he was able to fight like usual, then he'd be able to take care of all of this by himself.

Makoto sighed as he saw Yukari, Kotone, and Mitsuru charge off to kill the shadow while the two of them were forced to sit back and make sure the buffs didn't wear off. It made sense from a strategic standpoint, but just sitting around and waiting was almost pure torture for Makoto.

"This is dull." The boy mumbled too quietly for his senior to hear

"How odd..." Pharos whispered as he looked around the area "There should be more than this."

"And I'm sick of waiting." Makoto said as he glared at the shadow, wanting to do nothing more than tear the thing to pieces. But first, he was going to need a way to counter-act the electricity he'd have to deal with.

Then, Hierophant shocked and knocked down Yukari with Zionga which was enough to push him over the edge. If someone as frail and weak and her could fight, then so could he.

Marakukaja Makoto ordered which boosted the defence of everyone's personas, an action that was dismissed as extra assistance at first.

"Time to piss 'em off..." Makoto said to himself before he charged head first to where the others were, completely ignoring everyone calling out to him.

"Agilao!" The boy ordered as one of the crosses incinerated into nothing but ash and dust

"Makoto!" Kotone shouted, but the boy completely tuned her out along with everyone else. Momentarily letting her guard down, the second cross took the opportunity to attack with its razor-like edges.

"Watch out!" Mitsuru warned as she kicked the cross as hard as she could to save her leader's life followed by using a Bufula to cause pillars of ice to rise from the ground from her to the shadow.

"Maragion." Orpheus played his lyre which caused the ground around Hierophant to combust from multiple fire balls launched from the musician

Right when Makoto was about to get in close, the Hierophant's chair seemed to somehow jump back as if it was as living as the rest of the shadow.

The shadow laughed as the entire group was zapped by a sudden Mazio, the only ones who got out of it mostly unscathed were Kotone who had Oberon equipped and Akihiko who specialized in electricity.

Hierophant summoned more and more crossed all across the room, easily outnumbering the persona user who were merely a group of five.

Makoto was about to get up until he heard "Stay down!" followed by Akihiko's persona, Polydeuces literally punching one of the crosses that had managed to sneak up on the bluenette.

"Tch, bastard." Makoto said as he glared at Hierophant. He was about to charge and kill that thing once and for all, but then the shadow laughed.

Makoto blinked and suddenly he found himself in what looked like a large graveyard.

"Minaaatooooo." A deep and echo voice called out to the boy using the name that was forbidden by all but one.

"Huh?" Makoto looked left and only saw more graves, then right and only saw more graves, then behind him and only saw more graves.

"Minato!" The boy looked back in front of him and saw one of the few sights that could petrify even someone as stone hearted as he was.

To the right was the bloodied body of his mother lying on the ground with multiple visible compound fractures.

To the left, was the body of his father who looked like he'd been completely eviscerated by shrapnel or glass or something.

In front, was a sight he never wanted to see again.

His long dead sibling reached her hand "Minato..." she called out to him

The bluenette's eyes widened as he ran to his sister without a second though, but then he suddenly felt like took a large blow to the chest that both knocked him back and left him out of breath.

Feeling his broken ribs crackle as they moved back into place, Makoto got back on his feet and was about to run again but then he saw it.

Above him was the moon, but not just the moon. In front of it, was a figure with a white face that harbored an unsettling grin, soulless and empty black eyes, two sets of massive wings that seemed attached to the figures hips, and it wielded one large sword in a single hand.

The figure descended until it finally landed on the ground, only to find that the scenery had completely changed. They weren't in a graveyard, but seemingly on the top of a massive tower now.

"Minato!" Minako called for her brother again, but he could only stand there petrified "Minato! Come back!" she begged as her entire body became engulfed in a flame, but that did nothing to stop her constant calls for her brother who could only stand there.

The mysterious figure stopped remaining idle and charge at the still terror-stricken boy who was defenceless when it began using its blade to repeatedly attack the boy.

The figure circled around him as the motionless boy took blows to his chest, back, the left side on his face, his right calve, and nearly had his left arm dismembered before he felt another blow to his chest that caused him to get knocked back until he felt his back hit what felt like a wall.

The lone orphan sat their on the ground as his old friend continued to heal one injury after the other as quickly as he could. Despite his pleas the boy remained motionless, it was like Pharos for the first time ever, was completely blocked out.

The persona user blinked just in time only to see the figure that was making another dash towards him only to see it transform into one of those crosses created by Arcana Hierophant. The scenery changed as well, back into the room in the love hotel in Shirakawa Boulevard surrounded by numerous more crosses, and the figures that resembled his dead family faded away in the literal blink of an eye.

"Huh?" Makoto tried to regain his senses as one of the crosses was about to attack again, only to be immediately be burned to pieces as Kotone used the persona that looked like the infamous Jack O' Lantern, otherwise known as Pyro Jack.

Makoto blinked again as he tried to understand what had just happened to him. Meanwhile, all of the crosses seemed to develop some sort of homicidal fixation on the boy which forced the members of SEES to defend the bluenette, for they were unaware of his inability to die.

"I-It..." Makoto's eyes glowed faintly as he realized what had happened, something that SEES was too distracted to notice. The shadow just used one of its special abilities to use the very family he lost against him.

"Y-You..." Makoto felt his rage boil up to levels that he didn't even think was possible as Orpheus appeared also in response to the unstable emotional state of his master.

"Y-You... YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Makoto screamed as Orpheus slammed down his lyre hard on the ground which caused a massive inferno to suddenly surround the entire room killing whatever shadow it touched like it was pure hell fire.

Makoto glared at Hierophant who despite being a shadow, showed clear signs of distress at the boy's rapid recovery and counter-attack

"Hientou!" Makoto ordered Orpheus to use one of his more unorthodox attacks.

Orpheus played his lyre, but a single ray of light left a noticeable slash wound across Hierophant's chest and set the shadow ablaze.

The bluenette literally trembled in anger that he'd never felt before. He's been insulted, beaten, thrown away like trash simply because he wasn't the model foster child... But nothing ever made him have to sit through something like that.

"USING MY FAMILY?! I'LL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!" Makoto screamed as he marched to the shadow and incinerated any crosses that Hierophant summoned.

SEES couldn't help but watch as the boy made short work of any shadows in the area, shadows that they had been trying to defend him from when Hierophant caused him to hallucinate.

Hierophant tried to use his chair to jump again, but Orpheus rushed to shadow and grabbed it by both arms before lifting it into the air. When separated from the main body, the female figure and chair seemed to just die as if they were cut off of their life support.

"And when I make a promise..." Makoto gave a sinister smile as his eyes flickered from blue to yellow for just a split moment before reverting to their normal state "... I'm a man of my word."

Still holding on tightly to Hierophant's arms, Orpheus put his legs against the shadows chest before extending them and pulling the its arms with all of his might until they were ripped off and Hierophant was left on the floor without anyway to get up.

Makoto jumped onto the shadow's chest as he channeled Orpheus' fire into his own sword as he briefly locked eyes with shadow before wildly slashing at its face over and over all the while shouting various obscenities in a fit of rage.

Even when the shadow had faded into nothing, Makoto kept swinging his blade at the ground and left a large scratch mark until Pharos finally intervened.

"Minato, that's enough." Pharos said in a desperate effort for the boy to get of himself

Even with the intense flurry of emotions overwhelming the boy, he still stopped the moment Pharos asked him to and looked back to see SEES staring back at him.

"First person to ask what I saw will know what it's like to eat through a straw for months." He threatened as he passed by them and walked to the door. But when he tried to open it... It didn't even budge.

"Huh?" Fuuka seemed surprised too "What's this? There's another shadow?"

"Great..." Makoto whispered as his eyes flickered again before he managed to get them normal again. Another shadow for him to get rid of.

"Where is it?" Yukari asked the obvious question as she looked around the room.

"Be on your guard." Mitsuru warned them "There's no telling what the enemy might do."

Makoto, meanwhile, leaned against the door as SEES did their searching. Who knows? Maybe they'll get knocked out and he can do everything himself.

"You alright?" Makoto looked up and saw the closest thing he had to a friend inside SEES

"Do I even look alright?" Makoto snapped back, clearly still pissed off by what had happened a few moments ago

"Never would've happened if-"

"Are seriously wasting your time criticizing me?" Makoto snapped again, his rage still fresh enough that he was going off of pure emotion and the voice didn't even get so much as a few whispers in.

Kotone sighed, giving him a bit more leeway with his temper because if what Hierophant did was enough to petrify him and it really did involve his family, then saying it was emotionally devastating would be nothing more than an euphemism.

"Look, I get that your pissed off-"

"Yet, you're wasting your time doing this?" Makoto just wouldn't stop snapping at the girl who was trying her hardest to be patient with the boy.

Kotone frowned, her patience was quickly running thin with him "Well unlike some people, I care about more than just myself. Even someone as rude, anti-social, and frustrating as you."

Makoto let out a "Tch." as he looked away from the girl before suddenly relaxing.

"Off topic, but did we die at some point?" Makoto asked a seemingly random question

"Off topic, but do you like being asked questions with obvious answers?" Kotone answered with a rephrased question

"So, did we become vampires then?" He asked, still not making a lick of sense

"Okay, what's wrong with you? Did you hit your head or something?" Kotone asked, not understanding what was with the unrelated questions

"Apparently, I don't have a reflection." Makoto answered as he pointed to the giant mirror at the other side of the room. Just as he said, the mirror reflected the room but no one that was actually in the room at the time

"What the heck?" Kotone thought out loud as everyone approached the strange mirror.

"Hey, does this mirror... Feel weird to you guys?" Yukari asked as she reached out her hand

"Wait! Don't-" Makoto's warning came too late as Yukari's hand touched the mirror and everyone's world went black.

...

...

...

The Makoto's mind felt hazy as he felt someone holding his hand and dragging him away. Whenever he tried to focus on whatever was happening or even whoever was dragging him, his concentrating suddenly broke and his vision began to darken again.

Having no other choice, Makoto could only put his trust in whoever was leading him... Not that he had much choice in the matter.

The boy blinked and slowly opened his eyes and then found himself being pushed onto what felt like a bed. The bed was soft, inviting... and felt like it was beyond tempting. He wanted to remain there until the end of time with the one that lead him here.

Makoto sat up on the bed as he felt the same person that lead him here sit on his lap. The boy blinked again and he was finally able see who it was that lead him here.

Kotone giggled as she unbuttoned his shirt and began to run her hands along his surprisingly toned upper body. Her own shirt was unbuttoned, exposing her white bra and breast.

Try as he might, Makoto couldn't help but find himself staring at her chest and feel himself getting hot, including in places he'd rather not speak of.

This was strange. While he wouldn't call himself asexual before, he never really found himself ever getting distracted or even really caring about a girl's physical features, nor did he ever care about getting into a situation like... this.

Kotone giggled again, the look in her eyes was different too, whereas before they either had a warm or fiery look in her eyes were now replaced with ones full of what could only be described as lust "Like what you see?" she teased

The same spell must've been what was affecting Makoto as well, as he found himself leaning in closer, likely with the intent of capturing her lips with his own.

However, Kotone placed three fingers on the boy's lips "Uh-uh, I'm thinking : how about we save it for later when we really get started..?" she asked before leaning in and whispering in his ear "... What do you say?" she asked as she nipped his earlobe which elicited a gasp from the boy.

Makoto didn't even answer, he simply returned the favor by leaving a trail of kisses down her neck which caused her to moan softly.

Makoto would've continued to move down to her cleavage, but then he felt a stabbing headache shoot through his entire brain at once.

Give in to your desires... A voice said. It was different from the one he heard normally. Normally, the voice he heard at least sounded like him, but this sounded anything but human

Huh..? Makoto thought as he felt senses slowly returning

W-What?! H-How're you..? This new voice seem shocked by Makoto's resistance before regaining its composure again and began whispering seductively again Why do you resist? Just give in... Minato.

Minato... The name repeated through the boy's mind as he felt Kotone kissing his cheeks, jawline, and moving down to his own neck like he had done for her.

The boy blinked as he felt various feelings course through his brain. The most apparent one was disgust at the one who was quite literally sitting on him. It wasn't that he found her hideous, but rather, he found himself being touched, especially to this extent, to be nothing short than rage inducing.

Makoto was about to give in to his rage and literally push her odd him, but then he felt another headache.

Don't hurt her! The old voice that had haunted him for months now spoke again She's under the same spell, you idiot!

Stop resisting, damn you! The inhuman voice spoke again, this time screaming into his mind I offer you nothing more than bliss, Minato. She's yours and only yours, stop resisting and claim her.

My... My name is Makoto... Makoto thought as his partner began to notice his idleness

"Aw, feeling shy?" She teased before she herself started to pause and placed a hand on her head as she felt her own headache form

You are Minato Arisato. The voice spoke again, continuing saying things the boy didn't want to hear.

I... We.. We are Makoto... We are Makoto.. Makoto blinked as he felt himself trembling "We.. We are Makoto... we are Makoto." The voice was flat, but somehow managed to have an almost bone chilling aura.

We are Minato. The voice spoke again as the boy's body began to tremble more "We are Minato..." the bluenette's voice was still flat compared to most people, but it had a sort of comforting aura that the other one lacked.

Makoto wanted to push the girl off him "We are Makoto."

The voice... Minato wanted to snap her back to reality "We are Minato."

Makoto's anger forced the boy to frown as another sign of his anger "We are Makoto."

Minato's concern made the boy look deeply concerned "We are Minato."

The two sides continued to battle, neither able to gain a steady foothold on the other. The boy's body continued to tremble as he continued to whisper the two names and his expressions continuously shifting from what one wanted to the other in a moment's notice. In the midst of their battle, the boy himself was left trembling, confused, and terrified.

Then, he felt a pair of foreign arms on his shoulder which startled the confused and currently unstable boy.

Like a small child, the boy tried to push them away all the while squirming and whimpering.

"It's alright, it's alright, it's alright!" Kotone shouted at the panicking boy as she managed to force his arms off her and placed her hands on his face in a desperate effort to make him look at her

"See? It's me, it's just me." She asked as the boy looked back, her eyes having reverted back to their usual warm selves.

Seeing that he was still trembling and probably still terrified, Kotone hugged him closely as Makoto/Minato continued to tremble and argue over the next course of action

"It's alright, it's alright..." she whispered trying to calm in down. She didn't even care that neither of them even had their shirts buttoned, she was too distracted over his sudden breakdown. What the hell just happened to him?

"K-Kotone..?" He muttered her name as he continued to tremble as if he'd been in a freezer for hours

"It's me, it's me... Just relax." She kept whispering as his trembling slowly started to cease.

"Are you two alright?" The both of them heard Fuuka's voice calling telepathically to them

"We're fine, Fuuka. Just... It's complicated." Kotone answered as she continued to hold onto the terrified boy. It was almost impossible to believe this was the same boy who seemed completely cold-hearted and unfazed by anything and everything.

"I'm sorry. I've tried reaching you, but the shadow was clouding your thoughts. I couldn't-" Fuuka seemed disappointed in herself

"Don't worry about it." Kotone assured her friend "Just... give us a minute."

"Um... Did something happen?" Fuuka asked, she might've been able to sense them but she couldn't actually see what was happening inside.

"Nothing that should be repeated." Kotone answered immediately "Just give us a minute." And with that, Fuuka's presence was gone.

Now that he had stopped trembling, Kotone pushed the boy back enough that they could look at each other face to face again "Hey, you alright?"

The boy paused for a moment before slowly nodding.

"I-I... I'm fine..." Minato finally answered as the facial ticks finally stopped and his voice kept a consistent tone

"Alright..." Kotone might've blushed at the fact she was still sitting on him if none of this had happened, but she kept a straight face as she got of him and helped the boy up "Can you still fight?"

"I.." Minato paused again before nodding "I think so."

"Alright, first we need to find the others." Kotone explained their objective before noticing their shirts were still showing both of their chests. Not wanting anyone but the two of them to know exactly what happened she decided to button up Minato's shirt for him "No one needs to know about this, alright?"

Minato nodded again not showing anymore obvious signs of... whatever it was that was happening previously. He seemed a lot more docile than before, not in the same sense that he was simply bored or something like usual, now he actually seemed more... Well, for lack of a better word, human.

"So..." Kotone finally covered herself properly and rearmed the both of them "Ready?"

Minato nodded again "Lead the way." he replied without complaint.

Kotone couldn't help but have everything that had just happened on her mind during the entire time. Something was different about him now.

Whenever he they ran into a shadow in the hall, he listened to every order she gave without question, even if they allowed little to no combat involvement. Not only that, but he completely stopped making any of his obscene jokes, and was a lot quieter in general.

The words she heard him whisper were still replaying over and over in her mind

"We are Makoto..."

"We are Minato..."

It wasn't just the sentences, but the tones used when he said both of those names were different. Both were flat, yes, but the aura they gave off was almost a complete one-eighty.

It was at this moment, only one idea came to mind for why something like that was possible.

Kotone looked over her shoulder and at the boy behind her who was barely even the same at this point.

Is... Is he...

He wasn't just hopeless. He wasn't just traumatized. This... This was something else.


Seriously, if none of you have figured it out, I'm going to tear a hole in space and time.

He... He couldn't hear me...

Don't sweat it, little bro. They are pieces of you, only makes sense that they can block you out.

I suppose...

God, that scene was so awkward for me to write at first... Christ. Hope you enjoyed it. I'm cutting it here as to avoid too many technical issues so the next one might be short in comparison to the rest of the chapters (sorry).

Now, time for after responses! What're those? They're my response to reviews that were made after I had already written the bulk of the chapter.

clevernameeh : Will she? You never know with me. As for the full moon, well, the next one is Saturday, November 4th, 2017, so I hope you enjoy it...

Uh...

Does he know that-

Of course I know that!

Nightlyy : Then, I'll use their intestines as a Christmas bow, he he...

Okay, this is just wrong!

Pharos, I have footage of the two of them going at it in another fic!

Ooh! *watches video*

I...

Whatever makes him happy. Also, you didn't get an email? Weird... Goddammit FFN!