RAX: Huh, I think that defines him perfectly! Well done!

He's mine!

Pf, I did him!

I'm inside him!

... Ew.

omegazero2718: Love didn't save Romeo and Juliet.

Fuck you! Love is stronger than anything else in this world!

Nothing can escape my grasp... Your life is mine to take, hehe.

DarkRai99: I'm not just any girl... I'm a Wild Card, motherfuckers!

Good, I never killed a Wild Card before.

Nightlyy: Their souls are mine!

I miss it when it was just me and Grim.

Me too... Me too.

Blahblahblech: No, he's Makoto-sexual really.

Ew... If he makes a single move on me, Imma kill someone.

T. E. K. 1996: Err... I think they have priorities. Since the full moon's comin'

I will kill them all!

Kiss my c—

Okay, that's enough of that!

clevernameeh: I'm not crazy, you're crazy!

That's something only a lunatic would say, big bro. Believe me, I'd know.

Believe me, he'd know.

I'll take good care of him *winks*


Dorm

"Unbelievable!" Mitsuru muttered in vexation to her senior friend walking beside her while Shinjiro (who was finally done shopping), Ken, and the juniors followed behind them.

"Calm down." Akihiko urged her as they walked back to their dorm. After the light bulbs suddenly burst in the school, Mitsuru was already stressed out from the sudden panic it caused, but it was then made worse with the fact that Kotone had suddenly disappeared out of the blue.

Mitsuru let out a long, exasperated sigh as she and the rest of SEES entered the dorm. Kotone had not let her or anyone else down yet, and it was likely that he must have had some reason to suddenly leave. If nothing else, she could at least have a chance to explain herself.

The heiress turned to the girls "Can you check if Shiomi had returned to her room?"

Fuuka and Yukari looked at each other for a brief moment before nodding to her request. Without another word, the two juniors went up the stairs to their friend's room and gently knocked on the door.

"Oh—Um... Who is it?!" Kotone's voice could be heard from the other end. The girls let out a brief sigh in relief now that they have found who they were looking for.

"It's us," Fuuka answered the redhead's question, "You weren't at school today, so we came to check on you."

"Oh, um..." Kotone's voice trailed off as if she was considering what to say next, "... It's uh, kinda a long story."

Yukari gripped the door knob, but as she was turning the handle a loud voice exclaimed, "Wait, don't come in right now! I'm, uh... J-Just don't!"

"What?" Yukari paused for a moment to ponder that. What reason would Kotone have to demand that they waited? Was she changing or something?

"Come on, we're all girls here," Yukari said dismissively as she turned the knob and opened the door, "We just want to know—" Her words were immediately halted by the sight of her not only hugging Makoto (which in of itself wasn't too strange), but seeing him covered in what looked to be his own blood.

Both girls gasped at what they were seeing and Yukari let out a loud, "Oh my god!"

"Makoto-kun," Fuuka called out to the boy as the two girls ran closer to the boy who had now opened his uncovered eye and focused on them.

"Makoto-kun, what happened to you," Fuuka asked the most natural question immediately. With the quantity of blood that he was covered in, one would think that the first priority would be to bring him to a hospital.

Kotone was about to answer, but instead it was Makoto who answered with, "None of your business." The bluenette lifted his head from Kotone's chest and gazed at the two girls, "Shit happened, that's all you need to know."

Before anyone could even respond to what he said, Makoto tried to get off the bed, but the moment he got on his feet his legs just couldn't support the sudden weight.

Reacting quickly and catching him just in time before he could hit the floor, Kotone was quick to chastise him, "Don't be stupid! You can't walk on your own!"

"I'm fine..." Makoto shook his head, this time slowly adding more and more of his weight to his legs until he was standing—albeit with strain clearly evident in his posture. Pharos may have healed him when he arrived, but he certainly didn't do enough that he was essentially unscathed.

Disregarding all of the girls' protest, Makoto walked out of the room with one heavy footstep after another, leaving all three them alone in the room.

"I hope he'll be alright," Fuuka expressed, even if he was rude to her teammates, she still hoped the boy was not pushing himself to hard.

Yukari let out a loud grunt in frustration, "Seriously, Kotone, what the hell do you see in him?"

Kotone sighed, "He's a good person, just..." She lowered her head, "It's hard to explain."

...

Makoto continued forcing himself to walk which caused his entire body to scream at him with every movement. Even if his external injuries were healed, he was still a complete wreck inside.

The boy was me with a cacophony of his own name the moment he reached the ground floor.

Ignoring them, Makoto dragged himself past the lounge and to a seldom used closet. Inside were ordinary and unremarkable things such as pens, paper, and other mundane things. He'd been here and before with Pharos exploring every inch of the place, so he knew this place better than most of SEES probably did.

"Yuki, what're you..?" Mitsuru was completely ignored by the bluenette as he grabbed a piece of paper and pen, and started writing for a few moments before turning to the redheaded heiress.

Makoto slowly walked to her and pressed the paper against her chest until she finally grabbed it from his hands. On the paper was a list of what seemed to be numerous medications, most of which she had never even heard of.

Mitsuru looked up at the boy and frowned "Yuki, do you honestly expect me to get these for you?" Who did he take her for? A glorified drug dealer?

Makoto just continued to glare at her with cold eyes as a sudden draft made everyone shiver for a moment "Trust me, it's better for everyone if you do. I could give my..." he paused for a moment "... My caretakers a call and get those legitimately, but that'd take too long."

"Get them legitimately..?" Mitsuru looked back at the paper again to study it. He could get all of those legally if he wanted too? What were they even for?

Makoto sighed, knowing exactly what was going on in her head "They're my backup plan in case the nightmares become too much for me to sleep."

Without even giving her time to further ask any more questions, Makoto began to walk back up the stairs to go to the room he had stayed in before after his first fight with Sakuya. He had lied, of course, but it still had a hint of truth in that they did help him sleep at night.

...

Makoto collapsed onto the bed and looked at the pale white ceiling that was surrounded by even more white in the forms of walls. The bed felt rather comfortable and the sheets kept him warm despite the temperature of the dorm decreasing ever since he arrived, which did make sense as Mitsuru herself was staying here with her teammates.

Even after the constant disrespect and doing absolutely nothing but giving her more reasons to scorn him, she still put up with him. She knew that he was never going to join willingly, but she still paid for his hospital expenses and was likely about to pay for the drugs after hearing his story.

It was strange, really. Had anyone done anything remotely similar to him, then he might have just let them die or fend for themselves a long time ago. In fact, he might as go as far to say that these were the actions of a good person.

At the same time, that didn't matter. Her family killed his, so it was natural for the survivor to seek retribution. It wasn't completely directed at her, though. Her father, Takeharu, was a survivor of what happened ten years ago, so the sins of his father and Ikutsuki's were his as well. In that case, he was going to experience the same pain Makoto had felt; losing everything you love and thus, your reason for living.

But does that even matter anymore? Minato questioned the thoughts going through his other self's head.

Even though their relationship wasn't great, he still had a foster family that cared for him to some extent. He had done nothing for them, but they were still willing to send him money every month along with paying for his tuition and even home for him to stay in... Even though that home might be covered in ice now.

He had Kotone now, so his lonely self was a lot less lonely now. Pharos betrayed him, so now she was all he had left. She was his first love, and she was also the only person he knew that would be willing to face the wrath of a supposed demon itself just to save him.

Guess it's what they would've wanted, isn't it? Makoto thought as he sighed to himself. There was no point in trying to get vengeance now, was there? The only reason he really wanted it was to get the nightmares to stop, and now that he had her, they have.

"Did you think you can get away with this?" Makoto turned his head and saw his former friend glaring at him in what was unmistakably an unholy mixture of anger and frustration.

"You're one to talk," Makoto said as he lifted himself up and used his hands for support, "You think you have the right to judge me, do you? In case you forgot, you're the one who betrayed me."

Hearing him utter the word 'betrayed' was nothing short of painful for the small boy, but he knew that he could not have truly meant it. No, it was all because of that woman, because of her, he was not thinking like he normally would and he was just confused now.

Suppressing his anger as best he could, Pharos restrained himself from lashing out again and attempted to speak calmly again, "I'm only doing what I know it best for you," he attempted to justify his actions, "You might not see it now, but this is for your own good."

"Cheap words, especially when we both know you won't be able to do much if Kirijo does what I told her," Makoto said with a smug look on his face with only served to anger Pharos more, "What's wrong, did I upset you? Maybe I should give you a few blows to the face to show how much I love you."

Pharos' eyes widen briefly before looking down as he remembered every injury he inflicted onto Makoto. Every hit was just as painful to him as it was for Makoto, but he knew it was a necessary evil.

But, if Makoto really does what he was intending to do, then that meant that…

Seeing the sad look on his face, Makoto's ire only skyrocketed, "Oh, what's wrong, sad I used a hurting word? After everything you just did to me?!"

Pharos' eyes widened even more as he took a step back in shock as his former friend's anger continued to climbed at an astounding rate, "You fucking brat! This is how you repay me!? I took you in, I befriended you, despite all the shit you have done in the past, but you just cannot stop, can you? You fucking abomination. You ruin everything that you touch!"

That was enough that Pharos was finally pushed over the edge.

In the blink of an eye, Pharos dashed forward and plunged his bare hand straight into Makoto's stomach.

Makoto instantly hunched over from the impact and could only utter a few quiet grunts in shock as the pain slowly began to register in his brain.

Kotone sighed as she was finally left alone in her room to think to herself. It had been a rough day already, and now there's no telling what would happen with Minato/Makoto at the dorm.

If what he said was true, then Makoto literally had a shadow sealed inside of him. How this shadow became his friend was a mystery to her, but now it was going out of control now that she was 'stealing' Makoto from it.

Who would have thought that even shadows could have feelings? Though, she guessed that it made sense since Makoto already showed he was pretty possessive—something that he made very clear the day he brought her home.

As she was thinking to himself, Kotone felt a cold draft in the air and she knew just what it was.

Kotone immediately jumped off her bed and began to slowly can her room, "What do you want," she called out to the invisible threat.

Kotone then watched as red writing began to appear on her wall. The writing began as simple strokes before they began to form recognizable words.

"LEAVE HIM"Was written on her white wall in what seemed to be red paint.

Kotone scoffed, "I told you, I'm not leaving him! Not now, not ever!" Did Pharos actually think she would leave him? Especially after what he had just done to Makoto, "Hell, if anything, you should leave him!"

More red writing began to appear to form more words, "LAST WARNING"

"You can't scare me," Kotone declared, unwilling to let Makoto go back into that monster's clutches, "In case you forgot, I made sweet and tender love with him while you did nothing but scream! I don't care what you say or threaten to do to me; you can't make me run away!"

Rather than writing, Kotone could only hear laughing "Hahahahahaha!

Kotone raised an eyebrow as unease began to settle in, "What's so funny," she asked suspiciously.

More red writing began to appear until it formed the words, "DO YOU REALLY THINK THIS IS PAINT?"

Like a sledgehammer hitting concrete, it all hit Kotone hard as she realized what he meant.

Without stopping to think for a moment, she was dashed for the door while shouting, "Minato!"

Rather than dash to the door, Kotone was suddenly launched into the door which caused it to break off its hinges at the sudden impact.

"Ugh…" Kotone grunted as she slowly lifted herself with her arms. It didn't take long for the girls—who had been in there just a few moments ago—to come running to see what the commotion was.

"Kotone-chan, what's—" Fuuka was cut off when she was suddenly launched into Yukari, knowing both of them down like a bowling ball rolling into pins.

Before she could do anything, Kotone was launched into the air again until she landed next to her two friends.

Almost immediately after she landed, all three of the juniors felt a sudden push that made them fall down the stairs.

By the time the girls had finally reached the ground floor after gaining several bruises, the lights began to rapidly flicker.

Naturally, Aigis and all of the male members of SEES came running as soon as they could.

"Whoa, what the hell happened?" Junpei was the first to ask the most obvious question.

Kotone groaned beside her friends as she scanned the group, "Where's Mitsuru-senpai?"

"She went to go get the medicine Yuki-san asked for." Ken answered as the flickering lights began to increase their pace.

Shinjiro looked up at the flickering lights for a moment before going back to the previous question, "What the fuck is—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Shinjiro was launched into the air like the girls before him and impacted with the wall.

Barely a second after that happened; Ken was immediately and effortlessly thrown into Akihiko much like Fuuka was thrown into Yukari.

Junpei felt pain in his lower back as if someone had punched him in the kidneys before he was also thrown across the room.

Koromaru growled as he attempted to track whatever was causing this, but this was soon met by the feeling of being kicked in the stomach which had enough force to send him into a wall.

"Scanning area now!" Aigis announced as she did exactly as she said. To the naked eye nothing was happening, but Aigis was detecting temperature fluctuations throughout the entire room. The coldest point was… Seemingly in the shape of a child?

As she analyzed the figure, it moved next to a vase and then proceeded to throw the object directly into her face.

Yukari finally got onto her feet and screamed, "What's going on?!"

As quickly as that sentence came, she was tossed into the table in the center of the lounge causing it to break on impact.

Fuuka was about to get up as well, but soon felt her face pushed into wall before she was thrown to the other side of the room.

As Shinjiro was about to recover, a knife was suddenly thrown from the kitchen and launched deep into his shoulder.

Aigis scanned the area again and ran to the source of the low temperatures which was now in the kitchen.

As soon as she arrived, Aigis was caught off guard as the entire fridge was launched at her. Barely managing to brace herself just in time to avoid critical damage, she was knocked down onto the ground.

Ken was then suddenly lifted by the hair at the back of his head before being forced to impact face-first onto the floor.

Akihiko was about to react, but this was soon met with what felt like a kick to the face and was tossed on top of the still recovering Junpei.

Koromaru whimpered as he tried to get up, but this was met with another kick to the stomach which made the canine let out another yelp.

Kotone was finally about to stand, but a sudden tug on her foot caused her to hit the ground again before she was thrown to the center of the room.

As the chaos in the lounge continued, the door opened to reveal Mitsuru walking in with a bag of medicine in hand.

Upon seeing the room, Mitsuru froze in place in shock, "What—"

The heiress was cut off when she felt something grab her arm and she was suddenly sent flying into one of the lounge's sofas.

Now no longer needing to wait for anyone else to return, Pharos decided to make things more hectic by causing the entire dorm to rumble which made it harder for anyone to re-gain their balance.

Kotone felt something grab her by her high-ponytail and slammed her straight into the wall.

Shinjiro screamed in pain as he felt the knife tear out of his flesh before he felt what seemed to be a punch to the face.

The knife was then stabbed straight into the girl's left shoulder which made her scream in pain as it slowly twisted inside her.

The knife pulled back and was now aiming directly in the center of her chest; it was aiming directly at her heart.

Kotone was able to react just in time to grip the knife by its handle to stop it. The knife felt as if it had the entire force of an actual demon behind it as it slowly began to get closer and closer to the center of her chest.

Pop

Kotone turned her head while still gripping the knife to see Makoto with a hole in his belly and had every single scar on his body seemingly burst and were now oozing blood, and was now holding an open bottle of pills, presumable being the medicine that Mitsuru had bought which had fallen onto the floor.

Despite his injuries, Makoto let out a weak chuckle as Pharos stared at him wide-eyed as he held the knife, "Suck on this, ya cuck…" he muttered before taking out some of the pills and swallowing them.

Pharos immediately dropped the knife and ran toward him. The moment he could, the boy hit the bluenette as hard as he could in the stomach in a desperate attempt to force him to regurgitate the substance.

Makoto coughed blood, but the attempt still remained unsuccessful as he kept what he had ingested down in his stomach.

Left with little choice, Pharos forced his hands back into his belly; if he couldn't get Makoto to vomit what was in his stomach, then he would simply have to rip it out of him.

This came too late as the fast-acting medicine he took did its wonders and Makoto's consciousness began to fade away.

Without his friend's consciousness to sustain him, Pharos faded away as his friend dropped to the floor, the lights stopped flickering, and everyone was finally able to recover.

Everyone grunted and groaned before uttering some variation of, "T-The hell was that?"

Kotone slowly got back on her feet and wobbled her way to Makoto, only to see that now that the wounds that Pharos had inflicted were doing their usual instant-healing now that he was unconscious and Pharos' ability to interact with everyone else was effectively neutered.

"Shiomi!" Kotone shook as her name alone felt like it had enough force to shatter an entire planet.

Kotone slowly looked back at her confused and scared teammates; all of who noticed that everything went back to normal the moment Makoto was out cold.

Mitsuru took a step forward as she stared sternly at the redheaded girl "Shiomi, what was that?" Makoto being covered in blood and then this could not have been a coincidence, and if she was the one who brought him here, then she had to of known something.

"I-I… It's…" Kotone searched desperately for an explanation, but she found none.

"T-There's…. There's a demon bound to him!" She blurted out which naturally caused shocked looks to appear on everyone's faces.

"A-A demon..?" Almost everyone repeated at once as the information sunk in. On top of shadows and a cursed hour, there were demons now?

"You brought him here?!" Mitsuru shouted loud enough that it rattled everyone's ears, "What were you thinking?! He almost got all of us killed!"

"Please, please don't kick him out!" Kotone begged her senior, "That's why he asked for the drugs, right? He can't hurt anyone like that!"

"And how certain can you be of that?!" Mitsuru demanded an answer, but none came as it was nothing more than an assumption of hers.

"Ugh," Mitsuru let out a loud grunt as she was tempted to just tear out her hair, "I'll be in my room while I think about what to do about…. This!"


?

Makoto opened his eyes and found that he was in nothing more than a dark void.

Whatever he was standing on right now was a complete mystery as there was no visible floor or anything resembling ground.

If one were to go running, they would look like they were running in place despite actually moving as they would anywhere else.

Still, it didn't frighten Makoto, for even he knew what this place was.

"Hiya, Prince." Makoto turned around and saw a perfect copy of himself, but with bright blue eyes that contrasted with his bright yellow ones.

"Inheritor…" Makoto returned the greeting with a nod, "… What do you want?"

"Hey, I'm on your side here!" Minato said half-jokingly with a smile on his face, "For real though, you did the right thing."

Makoto looked away into more of the endless void of nothingness, "My only friend betrayed me."

"Hey..!" Minato called out to him before walking closer and leaving him a small punch on the arm, "You have her, don't ya?"

"…" Makoto kept his silence. He loved Kotone, but it was going to take more than that to heal a wounded heart. Pharos had been the only one he had for so long, and now even he had stabbed him in the back.

"Like I said, you're doing the right thing, Makoto." Minato reassured his other self before extending his hand, "Come on, the option is yours now. It'll all finally stop."

Makoto slowly looked back at Minato, but didn't move another muscle after. What Minato was offering was tempting, almost to the point of being impossible to refuse.

Yet, at the same time, he could not bring himself to agree either. To agree would be to completely change his entire existence, and that was something he was nothing short of hesitant to do.

Seeing the uncertainty on his face, Minato lowered his hand and nodded, "Alright, I get it. You can take as long as you need."

Makoto nodded, "Thanks," he began to look around, "Will I be waking up soon?"

Minato shrugged, "Well, you're kinda high off pills, so… I'd say you've got a fifty-fifty chance of waking of in a daze."

"That should be enough to keep him from doing anything." Makoto thought out loud before turning his back to his other self and walking away, "Later, Inheritor."

Minato let out a brief chuckle as he saw his other self walk away from him, "Later, Makoto… See you later."


Dorm

Mitsuru paced in her room as she considered what to do with the boy next.

There was no question to it, she had to get rid of him; there was no way that he could stay here.

It had nothing to do with his callous behavior, now his very presence was a threat to everyone in the entire dorm. Even if he was on pills to keep in docile, he was still a bomb waiting to go off.

She was gone for just a few moments, and her entire team had been thrown around like rag dolls. Had Makoto not have taken the pills just in time, they would have all died.

BANG

BANG

BANG

"Senpai, please, open up!" Kotone begged as she repeatedly banged on the door leading to Mitsuru's room.

And then there was Kotone to think about. She had brought him here despite knowing how dangerous he was and even had the gall to think to tell them to keep him here!

"Senpai, please, listen to me," Kotone cried on the other end, "There's something else you need to know!"

Still, Mitsuru did not answer the door. If she did, she knew that Kotone would try to do whatever it took to get her to agree.

Kotone continued to bang on the door, "For god's sake, your family did this to him!"

Mitsuru's eyes widened for a moment as Kotone hit her one weak point. In a moment's notice, Mitsuru answered the door to reveal Kotone now had puffy red eyes.

"What're you talking about?" Mitsuru asked bluntly, wanting to know if this was just a trick to get her to open the door.

"It's not a demon, alright? A shadow was sealed inside him!" Kotone poured out the truth which caused Mitsuru to recoil in shock.

"A shadow..?" Mitsuru repeated in surprised, "H-How is..?"

Kotone shook her head, "I don't know, but I do know that's what happened." She continued, "If a shadow was sealed inside him and if your family really caused the Dark Hour, then you owe it to him to try and help him!"

Mitsuru slowly blinked as it all made sense to her.

Makoto had treated her with nothing more than disrespect despite her best efforts, and now it all made sense.

He had figured it out on his own that Kirijo was the cause of everything, and he knew that she and her family had placed that thing inside of him for who knows how many years.

Makoto didn't disrespect her out of blind anger; he despised her because of everything her family had done to him.

"Where is he?"

Mitsuru stood beside the sleeping bluenette who was now lying in the same room he had been tortured in just a few moments ago.

If what Kotone said was true, then everything that has happened to him so far is all her family's fault.

Everything that had happened to Makoto in the past along with what had just happened today was all her family's fault.

As painful as it was for her to admit, Makoto had every reason to hate both her and her family for what had been done to him.

Mitsuru let out a long sigh, "Yuki, there's no way I can ever make amends for what my family has done to you…"

The heiress walked towards the door, knowing that Kotone was going to want to trade places and be with him for as long as she could now.

"But I will do whatever it takes to end your suffering. That I can and will promise you." She declared before leaving to go inform the others of her decision.

There, lying in the bed, Makoto smiled faintly as his mind was in a haze from the drugs, but he was still sensible enough to understand everything she had said.

"I'll hold you to that."


Don't fuck with Pharos, he'll try to kill your ass.

...

Ha! Enjoy suppression bitch!

You actually insulted him with the fact that you fucked his friend while he could only watch... Nice~

You're damn right I did!

Next up, either next or the one after will be the full moon and... Not what you're probably expecting when that event happens.