Chapter 9

"No, Shoji, I'm not leaving the room!"

"Mitsu-chan-"

"Don't call me that!"

"You call me Shoji, I call you Mitsu-chan. He's not hearing this, anyways. And you can't stay here while I'm finishing this cast!"

"I own this hospital, Shoji!"

"Your Father owns this hospital. And you can be damn sure he's doin' the paperwork if I get slammed for keepin' you in here with another patient."

It's probably enough to say that Mitsuru was in no mood to play games.

She was being totally petulant, for sure, sulking in the corner chair with arms and legs crossed after a fitful night's sleep that left her more tired than before. But her damn physician had made the executive decision to keep her here, sleeping against the stupid wall, instead of waking her up to go to school like he did with Akihiko. Then, he had the nerve to be immune to her death glare, laughing it off with a 'Mitsu-chan, I was there when you invented your death-glare, and I can't take you seriously whenever I think of you practicing it in the mirror when you were nine.'

God, what a prick!

She glowered ineffectively at the doctor as he finally finished wrapping the cast around Minato's ankle, pasting the adhesive-covered final layer around the boy's upper ankle. His work finished, Hashino took a step back to check for any imperfections, moving his eyes up and down the cast a few times. He then flicked his gaze over to Mitsuru. "Why the hell're you still here, anyways?" he drawled. "I'm not gonna let you interrogate him yet, he still needs bed rest for at least another day or so. And you should still be sleeping."

"I'm fine," Mitsuru said crossly. "And I'm not interrogating him, I'm making sure he's alright."

"Y' do remember that your style of concern sounds a lot like interrogation to us normal people, right?"

Mitsuru huffed, not even denying the accusation as Hashino continued his work. Laughing at her lack of response, he placed electrodes on the boy's exposed chest, connecting him with the newest model of vitals sensor that had been rolled into the room at some point during the night. The doctor didn't even look at the machine as he turned it on with the press of a button, and the room was filled with the sound of staccato beeps.

"…Huh."

Mitsuru looked over sharply at Hashino. "What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, don't worry," the doctor said with a dismissive wave in Mitsuru's direction. "But his vitals are more similar to someone who's conscious than someone who's asleep. I guess he might have been listening after all."

Mitsuru's unease was suddenly replaced by a quiet indignation. She slowly turned her gaze onto the boy, and the beeps from the vitals sensor started speeding up.

"Arisato…? Are you awake? And if you are, just how much did you hear?"

The beeping intensified.

Mitsuru was secretly pleased that she hadn't totally lost her ability to be intimidating, even to the point where her glares could be felt without being seen. However, more than a little fury at him eavesdropping on their conversation overrode that feeling.

(Never mind the fact that there was no way that he could have known that it was a private conversation without eavesdropping a little bit.)

Before she could begin her cross-examination, Hashino jumped in. "Whoa there, Mits- Ah, Kirijo-san," he interjected, "let's not give my patient a heart attack just yet, alright?"

He then turned to the boy. "You can open your eyes, Minato," he assured, "I'll keep Kirijo-san away from you."

The injured boy reluctantly opened his eyes at the assurance (while Mitsuru turned her frosty gaze on her physician). Minato glanced around with a squint as he adjusted his vision to the light and absorbed his surroundings, and started to move his body around with small movements. However, he briefly froze when he tried to move his left leg.

"Yeah, you messed yourself up pretty bad, kid." Hashino motioned to the blue cast. "I've rarely seen a worse break than that, and I've seen a hell of a lotta breaks in my time."

Minato gave a slight nod from his bed to show he heard. "Where's Hamu?" he asked in a quiet tenor.

Hashino blinked in confusion, but Mitsuru cut in. "She's fine. She'll need bed rest for a few days, but she'll be alright."

"Bed rest?" Minato asked at a deceptively low volume. "Why?"

Mitsuru floundered for an instant. "Ah…" She swallowed. "She had to fight off a…"

At that instant, Mitsuru realized she had really made a mistake. Telling Minato that his sister had fought off a monster was out of the question, but what else could she have fought off? An animal? A gang member? The Kirijo heir was drawing a serious blank.

Fortunately, at this moment, Minato decided to take pity on her. "Did she fight off a monster?"

Mitsuru blinked. "…What?"

"A monster. One with no body, a massive amount of arms, and a blood-stained blue mask. And that was about one story tall."

Hashino's eyebrows rose at Minato's description, while Mitsuru looked at the boy strangely. "…Yes, but how do you-" She gasped a little, eyes widening. "You can't mean…?"

"It's the one that got me."

Mitsuru backed up and sat down in a chair, shock keeping her eyes widened. "…I assumed the smaller one had attacked him…" she muttered.

"There was more than one?"

Mitsuru actually winced at that mistake, and cursed herself. Maybe Hashino had been right when he said she was about to keel over.

"Yes, there were."

"Why did you assume the smaller one had attacked me?"

"Because you're alive, Arisato."

"…Fantastic."

That little comment was a little too sarcastic for the sleep-deprived Kirijo heir to handle in a refined manner. "Yes, it is," she all but snapped at him. "Now, excuse my manners, but could you please tell me what on earth you were doing outside during the dark hour?"

Hashino quickly interjected again, sensing an impending disaster. "Hold it, Kirijo-san, I told you there'd be no interrogation today!"

Mitsuru was about to argue the point, but Minato beat her to the punch. "It's alright," the boy interjected in a more reserved tone than the doctor. "We'll have to do it sometime."

"Exactly," Mitsuru nearly crowed at the doctor, than huffed a little when she realized whom she was agreeing with. The redhead turned to the blue-haired boy, who seemed deep in thought, almost like he was having an inner debate, his eyes focusing on his lap while his hands rested on his chin and elbow.

"…I heard the monster from far away, and I was going to stop it. I didn't realize anyone else was awake during that hour."

Hashino's eyebrows shot up even further, and Mitsuru choked on air. "What?!"

"I was trying to help."

"I understand that! What did you say before that?!"

"I didn't realize others like me existed." Minato said simply, seemingly oblivious to the others' stupefied looks. "I thought I was the only one."

Mitsuru was once again filled with dread, but of a different kind than earlier. "You don't mean… this has been happening for a while now?"

Minato nodded, and the room fell into a stunned silence.

The redhead was totally flabbergasted, and some small part of her subconscious had to remind her to close her jaw from her amazement before she started drooling. "How… how long has this been happening?" she asked weakly.

"A little over a month now," Minato immediately replied, lowering his hands to his lap while his companions almost had coronaries. "Most nights it's relatively quiet, but occasionally… something attacks."

"And you just… fight it off?" This time it was Hashino asking the incredulous question, being in a similar state of mind to Mitsuru.

Minato nodded. "I have some experience in kendo, and that's usually enough."

"What about your sister?" Mitsuru pressed. "Was she awake?"

"…No," Minato replied in an even more subdued voice. "She wasn't, but those monsters seemed to be attracted to that… coffin… that she was trapped in." He clenched his fists, grasping the sheets tightly. "I just try to keep them away from her. It's all I can… could really do." He glanced down at his casted leg, traces of frustration stealing onto his face.

It wasn't often that Mitsuru found herself beyond the capacity for words. But the boy in front of her, and his sister to boot, had completely defied her expectations. Hamuko displayed no dark-hour adjustment symptoms, an immediate aptitude for persona summoning (without any training!), and the ability to summon more than one persona. But her brother had been awake during the dark hour for over a month, and had survived on his own, even while protecting his sister's coffin from shadows, with just a preliminary knowledge of kendo.

Just who the hell were these twins?!

The taller twin suddenly broke into her thoughts. "So, what's going on?"

…Ok, so he was a little blunt. But Mitsuru was used to that.

The redhead took a deep breath and briefly closed her eyes, mentally rehearsing her pre-written explanation for a moment. "Would you believe that there are more than twenty-four hours in a day?"

"Senpai, that was one of the first things I noticed."

Mitsuru opened her eyes again. Alright, screw the script.

"That hour between the days is called the dark hour," Mitsuru informed. "A secret hour hidden between midnight and 12:01. You've noticed that electronics don't work, and that monsters appear. We call them shadows, and we know that they seem to attack only humans."

"That's how The Lost happen, right?"

The Kirijo heir glanced at the boy in surprise. "Precisely. How did you know?"

Minato froze for a moment, looking almost… scared. "Ah… I saw it happen." He looked away from the other two for a moment, reaching across his body to grasp his shoulder. "It only took a moment for that one man, but it was still terrifying."

"That's why you tried to protect your sister? To make sure she didn't turn into a veggie?" Hashino asked, with Akihiko-like tact.

Mitsuru broke her gaze away from the injured boy to give the doctor a flat look. "What?" he shrugged unrepentantly. "It doesn't change what happens to the Lost, no matter how y' phrase it."

"I agree with Hashino-san, actually," Minato told her, and she could have sworn she saw the beginnings of a smirk on his face when she turned back around. However, any evidence was quickly swept away by his usual blank expression.

The redhead studied his face for a moment longer. Seeing no further change, she pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Well, however you say it, yes. Shadows seem to feed on human emotion or thought, so victims of a shadow attack are left in the near-catatonic state of The Lost. We…" she hesitated for a split second, "…aren't entirely sure why they exist, or how they came to be. Are you following so far?"

Minato nodded slowly. "Yeah… I just need a minute to process."

"Good!" Hashino interrupted in his deep bass. "Then I can finish up my examination while you're thinkin' it over."

"Hashino-san-" Mitsuru began, but the doctor shook his head.

"No, Kirijo-san, I need to finish this up now. I've already been pushing the limits of my contract by not doing a basic examination of Minato before fixing him up, and I need to do that, STAT."

"He'll be fine, and I-"

"Mitsuru," he interrupted, using what the Kirijo heir immediately recognized as his no-nonsense voice, "I've been very tolerant, but you'll have to go outside. Please leave the room. Now."

Leave it to Mitsuru's second father figure to talk her down. She got up with a huff, and retreated- no, led a tactical fallback, into the hallway outside. The Kirijo heir sat down on a nearby bench with crossed legs and arms, just like earlier, and stared stubbornly at the door she'd just left. She was going to wait out there to finish her questioning, doctor's orders be damned.

Hashino might be able to lead Mitsuru to water. But he sure as hell couldn't make her drink.

Minato was sincerely thankful for Mitsuru's tired state, because hewas making as many mistakes as her.

Everything he'd told them about his past "experience" with the dark hour had been a lie, of course, and he couldn't quite repress the flare of guilt that sparked in his chest when he saw his former teammate's eyes widen in disbelief at his story. He'd come up with the idea a couple days ago, thinking it would kill two birds with one stone: it would explain just why the hell he'd been outside in the dark hour, and it'd explain any strange amount of combat readiness he had.

However, while he'd guessed that his guilt would make the lie a little harder to tell, he never thought that he'd have to tell the fib when he was coming out of anesthesia. His sluggish mind could only keep up with so much, and he knew that he'd: a) hesitated too long before telling the lie, b) replied too quickly about the how long he'd been awake in the dark hour, c) overacted when talking about "protecting his sister," and d) had accidentally revealed he knew shadows were related to The Lost. And that wasn't even considering his poorly timed sarcasm.

He was pretty sure that the exhausted Kirijo had been fooled, but he wasn't sure about Hashino. The doctor, who Minato had recognized as the same one Hamuko had bumped into a few days earlier, gave no outward signs of comprehension (or apprehension), but Minato knew all too well that first looks were usually deceiving.

Having said that, Minato couldn't help but be impressed with Hashino's dismissal of the stubborn redhead. He looked in the direction of the door, feeling something approaching awe rise in him when there came no signs of Mitsuru re-entering the room.

"Impressed?" the doctor asked, watching Minato look at the door as he rummaged through a medical drawer.

"Yeah," the boy replied. "I assumed she'd only listen to a someone like a drill sergeant."

Hashino laughed a little as he approached Minato, this time holding a blood-pressure monitor. "Nah, she wouldn't listen to them either. She's used to 'em."

Minato raised a questioning eyebrow as the doctor wrapped the device around his arm. "I mean she's been surrounded by drill sergeants her whole life." the doctor explained.

That didn't really answer Minato's question. He kept his face in the same questioning look, and Hashino chuckled when he saw it. "Oh, right, I suppose you wouldn't know."

He was quiet for a moment while he started pumping the device, and it began to constrict around Minato's arm. "The grand majority of people in the Kirijo group are ex-military. With a couple exceptions, everyone hired under the previous boss used to kill for a job."

"Why?" Minato questioned quietly as the doctor slowly let the air out of the device.

"Ask anyone else, and they'll say 'reliability and real-world experience.' But having personally known the older, most esteemed Kirijo-sama, I can pretty safely say it was more about obedience to authority."

"…Then, what about you?"

"Yeah, I did too." Hashino unstrapped the device, accompanied by the ripping sound of unlatching Velcro, and put it back in its drawer. "I was a doctor in the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force. Got a huge break when the Kirijo group offered me a job after I got outta the UNTAC situation."

"UNTAC?"

"UNTAC means United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia. In '91, the UN set up a de facto government in Cambodia to help with the creation of a new one, and they roped in many of their member states to help 'em out to some degree. Japan provided, among other things, some troops like me."

Minato remained silent after that, watching Hashino absently play with a thermometer he had grabbed from the countertop. He came to his senses after a moment, and gave his charge an amused look. "Look at you, gettin' me to ramble like I'm more senile than I really am."

Minato shrugged a little. He hadn't really done anything; the topic was just an interesting one that Hashino apparently liked to talk about.

The greying brunet stuck the thermometer under Minato's tongue, where the boy held it until a beeping sounded. "97.7 degrees Farenheight; that's 36.5 Celsius," he muttered. "Pretty low body temperature." He tossed out the small plastic strip covering part of the thermometer with a flick of his finger, and went over to his cabinet to put the device away.

At the same time, a thought suddenly occurred to Minato. "Why'd Mitsuru-senpai have to leave?"

"Glad you asked! Strip for me."

Minato blinked.

Hashino turned his head around with a mischievous grin slowly growing on his face. "I need an accurate assessment of your weight, and I can't do that with you wearing clothes. So take your pants off and get over here, kid."

Well, that topped the list of things Minato never again wanted to hear in a gruff bass.

Regardless, the boy obliged. He was soon wheeling his IV drip over to the weighing machine, only his blue boxers still attached to his skinny frame after he'd removed the electrodes that Hashino had put on earlier. As Minato stepped up to the weighing machine, the doctor held his hand up. "Hold up, let's wait for this thing to get calibrated first."

Minato nodded and waited. After a moment, Hashino motioned for him to step on the weighing machine, but Minato's mind was already elsewhere as he stepped on. He'd just learned that most of the Kirijo group was ex-military of some kind, but who he was really wondering about was…

"Alright, out with it, Minato."

The blue-haired boy looked over at the doctor, who was looking at Minato with amusement. "Huh?"

"You looked like you were musing pretty hard. And I get the feeling you always look like you're musing, so this must be pretty big."

"…I was just wondering… you said almost everyone worked for the military…"

"Ah, so who doesn't?" Hashino tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Well, the percentage has gone down drastically since Kirijo-sama-senior died. But for people you know… well, there's Mitsuru, who's sorta employed by the Kirijo group, there's Takeharu -you know, the current Kirijo-sama- ...let's see, who else…" the doctor pondered for a second or two longer before his look darkened. "Well, there's also Ikutsuki."

It took all of Minato's willpower (with a little help from the anesthesia) to not jerk up at that name. And despite that, he was pretty sure he still twitched. "Isn't he the chairman of Gekkokaun?"

"And your dorm advisor, which is why I remembered him." Hashino blew out a breath. "That guy…"

Minato stilled as he waited for an explanation, and Hashino soon complied. "He wasn't JSDF, but in some ways, he's had it worse than those in it. He was in the Peace Corps, and his last deployment was for the 2004 Indian Ocean quake and tsunami. He was sent to Indonesia, the country hit hardest by the wave, and he was… well, affected by what he saw. I can't say anymore, for doctor-patient confidentiality reasons."

"…Then why are you telling me this?"

Hashino turned to the boy on the scale, a grim look etched on his face. "Because I was the one who did his standard examinations before and after his job acceptance at the Kirijo group. And I don't care what the other Kirijos say: there's no way anyone in Ikutsuki's state could suddenly become 'alright' within a matter of weeks. I don't know what's going on, but there's no way he's entirely mentally stable."

He let out another breath, probably realizing he was getting a little too worked up. "It's just… so stupid that they've not only let him work, but also put him in charge of a student dorm." A small, sardonic smile appeared on his face as he finally answered Minato's question. "I guess you just seemed like someone who'd listen… since no one else seems like they'd believe it."

Minato glanced away from the doctor. He couldn't really argue with that one.

Hashino shook his head a little after that, before smiling a little more naturally at the boy. "Heh. Sorry for boring you with that stuff, kid. Lemme take your weight and height and I'll leave you in peace." He snagged his ever-present clipboard from the counter with one hand, and quickly marked Minato's weight while he also dragged a height-measuring stick from the weighing machine upwards, and soon marked that on the clipboard as well.

"Alright, that's all you'll get out of me for now." He draped his lab coat over his shoulder as he started trudging towards the exit. "Hope you feel better."

He laid a hand on the doorframe as he passed, but just before leaving, the doctor hesitated and turned around with a strange look on his face. "Actually, one last thing… are you gonna tell your friends about that?" He motioned vaguely at Minato.

"…I'd rather they not know," the boy responded minutely. "It'll only make them worry."

The doctor exhaled loudly through his nose, focusing on some nondescript part of the wall as he muttered, "Great, another one." Minato opened his mouth to say something like 'what?', but Hashino continued onwards. "Takeharu told me… nah, ordered me specifically not to tell the other members of S.E.E.S. anything you don't want them to know, especially about your past. Because, apparently, we can't have just one Kirijo with a misplaced sense of guilt." Hashino turned back to Minato with a grimly intent face. "Listen. I won't tell them, but just because you don't want someone to worry doesn't mean that they won't. And sometimes, you need people to worry for you. Don't be so preoccupied with helping others that you forget yourself. Also… sometimes, kid, the best help you can give someone is a person to care for. Take it from a war-time doctor."

With that parting statement, Hashino left the room with a swish of his unequipped coat and the clack of a closed door. Minato let himself sink back into his fluffy white pillows, thinking and undergoing more than a little bit of emotional turmoil. That last comment had hit a little too close to home, echoing the last words that a certain friend of his had told him before his ascension.

Minato breathed out and closed his eyes. Unfortunately for that friend and Hashino (and everyone else), there were some things that only he could do this time around.

He shook his head a little. That turmoil could wait. Right now… he had some serious thinking to do.

AN: Sorry for the late update, and sorry if the quality's a little lower than normal! I'm in a hurry to get this out, so I didn't have much time to proofread or edit it.

Huge shout-out to Chris ShadowMoon for giving me the fantastic idea of what lie Minato should tell Mitsuru! I was gonna put something much lamer instead, so serious kudos to that awesome mind of his!

Also, since I bet some people are gonna wonder: I actually didn't make any of the historical information up (to the best of my knowledge)! I'm not gonna describe it in too much detail here, but the Japanese Air Force is actually called the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), and the Japanese military is called the JSDF. UNTAC and the 2004 Indian Ocean quake were real, too. Look them up if you'd like some more detail!

Shout outs to: rickyp01, CometGlider007, devout heretic, Sensa, Ookami of Chaos, No-Story, naz290, Grokon12, silthara, and Xenertor for following; Terminus Ashbell, Kanjilearner3309, CometGlider007, Ookami of Chaos, naz290, Grokon12, silthara, and Lucifer-Light Bringer for faving; and emelian65, Asahar4, Hoshiro Raider, Slyr3x, Nunas The No Name, Petrichor in May, and Gue3t for reviewing!

[In response to Gue3t: Haha yeah man, I know. And I'm actually leaving out some of the worst things, too, so you can only imagine what that's like!]

Before this week's edition of Myth Corner, one last thing: I'm not gonna be able to guarantee weekly updates after this week…

Here's the deal. I'm working at a summer camp right now, and some weeks, I'm gonna be gone for the whole week, meaning no computer access. I'd let you guys know when I'm gonna be out each week, but the way this camp works, I usually won't know the next week's schedule until after Wednesday… meaning that there's no way for me to let you guys know if next week's one where I'm gonna be out. Additionally, this job's gonna take up a lot of the time I'd usually spend writing, so I'm not gonna be as efficient in that regard either.

(Also: I'm gonna be AFK Thursday and Friday, so the earliest I'll be able to respond to your reviews and PM's is Saturday.)

Sorry again guys! Send me a PM or let me know in a review if you need me to clarify anything relating to that.

Now, on that note…

MYTHOLOGY CORNER!

Penthesilea

Who was she? Penthesilea was a queen of the Amazons, an all-female society who flipped the "traditional" role of women in Ancient Greek society (being totally submissive to the patriarchal Greeks) by being the dominant gender. Their name's origin is (shocker) contested. But one derivation refers to the Ancient Greek term for "No-breast" (A-mazos), since it was a popular belief that the Amazons cut off or burnt out their right breast [This mythological belief most likely stemmed from the Ancient Greeks trying to distance their "proper" women from these Amazons, and did so by removing something feminine (a breast) from the mythical women].

Anyways, back to Penthesilea: she was the daughter of Ares (the god of War) and Otrera (the previous queen), as well as the sister of Hippolyta, Antiope, and Melanippe. Her story stems from a dramatic hunting accident. While out hunting, she accidentally speared her sister Hippolyta, who shortly thereafter died. Of course, poor Penthesilea felt quite guilty about this turn of events, and actually wanted to die afterwards. However, being an Amazon and thus a warrior (not to mention a queen), she had to die honorably and in battle. Because of this, she was easily persuaded to join the Trojan War and fight on the side of the Trojans. For those who don't know (SPOILERS, for a nearly 3000 year old story), the Trojans lost the war, and thus, so did Penthesilea and the Amazons that participated in the War. The Amazonian queen herself was killed in battle by Achilles, the nearly invincible "greatest of the Achaeans," who was apparently enamored with her, despite them being enemies. Some versions of the story actually show Achilles treating her with respect and holding her up as she went to Hades… although, having said that, it's probably important to mention that other versions of the story say that he raped her dead body. So… yeah.

Why is she Mitsuru's initial persona? [Spoilers, as usual] Like with Akihiko, it's relatively self-explanatory. Penthesilea and Mitsuru both share guilt over something that wasn't entirely their fault: Mitsuru believes that she must single-handedly right all of the wrongs of the Kirijo group, while Penthesilea holds all the guilt for her accident. (You could argue that it was Penthesilea's fault she killed her sister, but at the end of the day, it was an accident, and thus she shouldn't consider it "murder" per se).

Moreover, they also become depressed after the death of a close family member. Mitsuru becomes depressed over her Father's death, while Penthesilea (obviously) is depressed over the death of her sister.

…Not much else to say, really.

Phew! That'll be the last mythology corner until we introduce Tartarus. Next week (er, maybe?)… We're back at school, and a character from P3P is introduced!

If you've got the time, please drop a review or send a PM. Thanks for reading, and hopefully I'll see you next week!