KIRIKO

I followed Knight through the streets of the former Temple Bell, still keeping a low profile while we approached our first objective. The Temple of Summer, with the vermillion bird right on display. The one that we're going to raid and then immediately dip once it's done. More delays, because of some extremely stupid rules. And at the end of the day, that's what I was mostly angry about: the fact that innocents were going to get hurt, regardless of our will. There is only so much that we can do at any given time… and only so many people that we could protect. And of course, the fact that he seemed to not care at all.

Sure, I had plenty of reasons to be angry at him as well. But, for once, I knew that I was blaming him for something outside of both of our control. I was being petty and he was giving me way too much space, to the point that we barely felt like a team anymore. Once again, his inexperience with interpersonal relationships shined through. I knew that I had to be the one to start the conversation.

But my stubbornness stopped me from seeking confrontation right away. Because I knew that he was just going to accept it and move on immediately. And I didn't want that.

I wanted him to show some sort of actual emotion, for once. Anything would be fine, just none of that deadpan acceptance that I had come to despise. And if that meant putting a strain to test our friendship, it was a worthy enough risk. As you can probably guess, it's not a memory that I am particularly fond of. I was acting like a spoiled child who never had a friend before in her life… but he was not just a simple friend either. Not in the same way Genji was. We had gone through enough that our bond, whatever was left of it, felt… unlike anything I've ever had before.

"Ready to go? There could be anything in here, so let's have one last check…"

And Mr. Paranoia resurfaced in the blink of an eye. Not that I didn't appreciate it, communication was what I had been asking for from the beginning after all, but now he was starting to go overboard in the opposite direction.

"Knight, we're as ready as we'll ever be. Just… stop worrying and let's get started. The sooner we deal with this, the sooner we can be done".

The annoyance in my voice likely did not go over his head, for he sighed and entered the Temple, muttering to himself.

I followed right after, coming face to face with the massive Shadow. And when I say "massive" I mean the thing was at least 10 feet tall, with shoulders bigger than my head. It had a red wooden samurai armor, a humongous kanabos in its hands and an oni mask on its face.

It was definitely intimidating… and also not very happy with our presence.

"Lowly grunts. The Bell of Youth is beyond your jurisdiction. Leave now or face the wrath of your emperor".

Youth, huh? We were in the right place, then. I nodded at Knight, while our clothes changed back to their usual Metaverse attires. About time as well, I was itching for a fight at that point.

The Shadow roared.

"Intruders in the Holy Temple! You shall pay for your hubris with death!"

It melted upon itself, morphing… into a Berith. That thing still gives me nightmares from time to time, as it was the very first enemy that almost killed me, back when we confronted Joichiro Yoichi. It was enough to make me freeze in place for a moment, which passed as soon as Knight moved in place by my side. He had a lot of flaws, and I mean A LOT, but I could always count on him to cover my back during a fight. It was the one situation where he never let me down.

Almost as if he heard me, the second the Berith charged towards me, he was immediately there to intercept it, while I vaulted over him to capitalize on the stalemate. My wakizashi delivered some decent damage, and the second our opponent tried to swat me away, I teleported, while Knight took advantage and inflicted a heavy blow with his greatsword.

"Hunt them down, Tamamo!"

While the massive suit of armor was busy dealing with my partner, Tamamo unleashed a powerful gust of wind, almost knocking the Shadow off his horse. It was a Berith, but nowhere near as strong as Joichiro had been. It was an easy battle all things considered, but…

I winced a bit when the wind almost hit Knight, who managed to dodge at the last second. Our teamwork was getting a bit rough…

"Miko!"

"I know you would have dodged, don't be a baby!"

I was acting like a bitch, huh?

He growled a bit, before refocusing on the fight. At least I was getting somewhere…

But it felt far from good.

BRIAN

That had been a close shave. Miko's Persona almost swept me away together with our enemy. Her comment did not help. Yeah, I was starting to get pretty damn tired of her shit. One thing is being angry at me for reasons that I couldn't understand, at least that could eventually be fixed.

But this level of carelessness during a fight was unacceptable at this stage. We were in way too deep to start having these kinds of issues. I refocused back on the battle, though. No distractions. Not yet.

"Slaughter, Mordred!"

Whatever balance the Berith had managed to maintain was completely gone when my Persona slammed his sword on it. The horse disappeared with a pained neigh, while the knight unceremoniously hit the floor.

With a grunt, I activated Rally of the Traitors, prepared for the finale.

"Freeze their souls, Guinevere!"

A malicious giggle followed and the temperature in the room dropped to below zero. Ice formed beneath the enemy, who slipped and was rendered unable to get up.

Miko capitalized, determined to finish it.

"You're history!"

One last slash from her wakizashi was enough to put an end to the battle. The Shadow disappeared wordlessly, leaving behind its armor and weapon, alone with the Bell of Youth.

"How do we ring it, then?"

I hummed, looking around.

"Maybe there's a switch somewhere. Let's try and look for it…"

I look back at her just in time to catch the kanabo that she threw me.

"No time. Use this, should work anyway".

Unorthodox… but it should do the trick. With a grunt, I raised the massive club and slammed it on the bell. The sound was loud enough that my ears almost bursted.

"That was way too loud…"

"WHAT?! YOU MAY BE PROUD?! OF WHAT?!"

"No! Loud!"

"GROUND?! SOMETHING HAPPENED WITH THE GROUND?!"

Miko stared at me, her lips quivering, trying hard to not burst out laughing.

"Come on, we gotta leave now. Shadows are going to swarm us soon".

"GALLOWS ARE BOING TO SCRAM DOOM?! WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!"

The sound of her laughter broke through my momentary deafness. I couldn't hear shit, the ringing of The Bell of Youth was still reverberating in my head… but for whatever reason, I could hear her mirth clearly.

It took more or less thirty minutes until we made it back to the arcade that served as our hideout. The Shadows chased us out without too much fanfare. It took another full hour until my hearing was back to normal and my ears stopped bleeding. And it would not be the last time that happened, much to my dread.

"Back to full health?"

"Pretty sure. At least now I can properly understand what you're saying…"

She chuckled and snickered to herself.

"Gallows are boing to scram doom… how did you even came close to thinking that was what I said?!"

I flushed red, embarrassed.

"Shut up, next time, you're ringing the damn bell…"

Kiriko laughed again, throwing and catching the key that had apparently fallen from the blasted instrument. Luckily she took it before booking it, who knows where they could have hidden the damn thing…

"I'm gonna get started on dinner. Anything you feel like eating?"

"Hmmm… how about that spicy curry you made the first time?"

She must have liked that, huh? Okay then…

We were eating (more like nibbling in my case) when she sighed explosively.

"Say Brian… can we talk?"

KIRIKO

Just as I had feared. The second I allowed myself to relax, he made me laugh and my anger was swept away like the wind, leaving behind the realization that I had, indeed, been acting like a bitch.

Sure, I was under a lot of stress that I was not used to feeling, but it was no excuse. He didn't deserve me giving him the cold shoulder, or the glares or the scathing words. He was just trying to help… for his own reasons, admittedly, but he could have walked off at any moment, choosing instead to stay and see this through to the end.

My wrath was justified… but misdirected. I should have been furious at Hashimoto Katsuki, he was the one threatening to take over the neighborhood with violence.

So… I decided to set things right. I was not going to lose him over me being overly emotional.

"I did say that I was going to listen, didn't I? Go ahead".

"I… I owe you an apology. From yesterday I had convinced myself that… you simply did not care. That you pushing for us to not rush things was for the simple reason that other people's lives do not matter to you. That the war looming on the horizon was purely another tuesday…"

I wrangled my hands a bit, trying to decide on how I should continue from there.

"I got angry at you for something that was not true… and for something that is beyond your control. Our control, even, and Iashed out at you because I believed you were just… going to stay behind and watch everyone suffer, even if you've proven many times before that's just not true… so, I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry…"

I took a deep breath after I finished talking, not really feeling like eating anymore (blasphemous, I know). I knew that he was likely going to forgive. He would just go "okay" and completely forget that the whole thing even happened. It was just how he operated, because he hadn't been taught to react in any other way.

Which is why I was surprised when he answered me.

"You… are not completely off the mark, you know".

"What do you mean…?"

He pushed away his own plate. He had taken two, maybe three bites at best…

"When this job first started, that is how I was viewing it. A job. Just another contract. I had no emotional investment in any of these people. Live or die, happy or suffering, I couldn't care less. My mission had been to mostly scout ahead, find the Palace and then consider whether it was worth to destroy it or to leave it to another team. A process that can take months, even. Kanezaka and Hanamura would both have been destroyed, had I decided to do that, and it would have been no skin off my nose".

My hands clenched my legs. His words hurt. They hurt a lot. The knowledge that, at the end of the day, I had been somewhat right was… terrible. He wasn't done speaking though.

"First, Akari tugged at my heartstrings. She reminds me of Tim so damn much… that my protective instincts flared. Helping when she's threatened, fixing that plushie that she loves so much, checking on her and spending time with her when I have a free moment. The thought of her ending up like my baby brother was, and still is… unbearable. That was the first strike".

First?

"The second was… you".

My eyes snapped open, surprise filling me… along with a bit of warmth in the pits of my stomach.

"W-What do you mean?!"

"We became friends. You, became my very first friend. It was not supposed to happen… you were never meant to come in contact with the Metaverse, to awaken your Persona or do anything of what you did this last week. But, we fought together, bled together and almost died against that first Berith we met. Hell, Guinevere surfaced only because I wanted to protect you! It proves just how much your friendship is worth to me…"

He was… opening up. To me! Finally! I remained silent while I listened, feeling oddly proud. Of myself for convincing him to talk? Or for him for finding the courage to do it? Likely both, if I had to take a guess. But I had to ask a question. The same one that I asked some time ago that he had dodged.

"Would you have killed them? Ōkusa, Norumi and the others that we defeated… would they be dead now, if they hadn't collaborated?"

"... Yeah. They would be. An enemy left behind is an enemy that can backstab at any moment, after all".

Aaaaaand there's the disappointment.

"Brian…"

"I will not budge on this one, Kiriko. I will do whatever it takes to save this district… because you care about it".

I sighed, knowing that arguing with him would have brought absolutely nowhere.

"Just… promise that you will try to find another way. Leave killing as a last resort, if there is really nothing else that can be done. Please… for me?"

He looked away, likely fighting an inner war with himself. It's hard to break away from habits and traditions, especially ones ingrained inside of you when you were a kid. I have firsthand experience with it, after all. But I managed to find my own path…

And I was confident that he could as well.

"I… can try. I don't know if I'll succeed, but I'll give it and effort".

I smiled at him, momentarily happy.

"That's all I can ask for. So… back to being friends?"

It was his turn to smile, while I extended my hand towards him.

"We never stopped".

He grasped it with his own, officially reforging the bond that I was so worried was going to break.

Nothing and no one could stop us now!

Hello?! Is this thing on?! It is?! Noice.

Welcome, dudes and gentleladies, to another episode of UTFW, the show where even grumpy people like Brian can occasionally have a heart to heart.

The duo is back to its full power, while finally the first Palace has started for real. I have no idea how long it will be, but I will try my absolute damnest to make sure that it won't get boring. I hope…

That's all folks! Ta-ta for now!