Chapter 10

Clack.

Minato.

Clack.

Hated.

Clack.

This.

He could deal with shadows. He could deal with apocalyptic cult groups. He could even deal with chaperoning Junpei and Kenji on all-you-can-eat ramen night.

What he couldn't deal with? Crutches.

This sentiment was apparently radiating off him, since the large group of wide-eyed, whispering students at Gekkoukan parted before him as he clacked his way past the front gates. Hopping his way through the crowd, he saw a familiar brunette standing with a group of similarly well-dressed girls, shock and blatant interest coloring the other girls' faces. He'd (thankfully) managed to convince Yukari to not help him get to school by subtly reminding her that Gekkoukan's rumor-loving students would eat that up like nothing else (in fewer words, of course). Currently, however, the girl had contrasting looks of apprehension and guilt warring on her face, probably seeing the culmination of her failures from two nights ago in the injured boy.

He'd have to talk with her about that, he lamented inwardly. Unless he could let Hamuko take care of that…

"Isn't that the new transfer student?"

"Yeah, the broody guy with the super-cute sister."

"What happened to him?"

"Dunno. But where's his sister?"

"Well, if he's like that, do you think… she got hospitalized?!"

"She was?!"

"Yeah, she was totally hospitalized!"

…and speaking of his sister, she was already the hot topic of the flighty rumor mill that was the heart and soul of Gekkoukan. Minato could've laughed out loud when he heard the adolescent masses on the lawn inadvertently come to the right conclusion about Hamuko's condition… although it got progressively less accurate as it spread.

"What do you think happened to her?"

''Could it have been a car crash?"

"What about a bus?"

"Or a gang."

"Is she even… alive?"

"What?! She's dead?!"

"Yeah! I heard she was killed by a bus full of gangsters!"

Minato's lips twitched upwards the smallest amount at the last half-whispered rumor. Fortunately, since he was already climbing the steps to the main entrance, no one saw his moment of weakness.

Just as he passed through the front doors, the first bell rang. Minato blew out an exasperated sigh as the other students, suddenly in a mass panic, raced past him and up the stairs, more than one nearly colliding with him. Disregarding the others' hurry, he meandered towards the elevator and pressed the button, entering when the doors opened with a ding! The machine slowly lifted him upward, and let him know they had arrived at the proper floor with another singular, friendly ring.

Only a year of shadow-fighting reflexes let him narrowly avoid hitting a familiar teal-haired girl, unexpectedly standing on the other side of the elevator doors.

Minato had already been swinging forward on his crutches when the doors opened, so he quickly shot his uninjured foot towards the edge of the elevator's door to stop his momentum. That worked fine, but in her surprise, Fuuka had let go of her backpack, which she'd been holding at waist height to rummage through. Fortunately, Minato already had his right hand in motion. Supporting himself using one crutch and his extended foot, he dropped the other crutch and sent his hand flying forward to snatch the bag, while the dropped crutch lazily fell sideways and lay to rest on Minato's left arm.

All of that had taken about half a second. It took Fuuka about twice as long to close her mouth from her shock.

She muttered the quickest 'thank-you' Minato had ever heard, and grabbed her bag and disappeared into room 2-E faster than should have been humanly possible. Although it wasn't quite fast enough for Minato to miss the bright red blush splashed across her cheeks. He blew out another sigh as he readjusted his crutches and exited the elevator, just before the doors closed behind him. That girl was really going to make him work to get her to open up, wasn't she?

Well. Minato could deal with that.

He hobbled his way into the same class, and awkwardly sidled past all the desks in his way until he reached his own. Falling into his own seat heavily, he checked his peripheral vision for his technologically savvy future-friend. Said friend was still totally mortified, her face continuing to be a brighter red than Trismegistus as she stared determinedly forward, not even acknowledging Minato's existence when he fully turned his head towards her.

Hmm…

He could try talking to her, but that would never work; She'd just clam up. However, Minato knew Fuuka was smart, and he'd never seen her neglect anyone in need. So maybe if he got called on…

After that thought, the late bell rang, and a moment later a female teacher with a white blazer and dark undershirt walked into class. The blue-haired boy immediately recognized her as Ms. Ounishi, the science teacher. She sat down in Ekoda's chair and set her bag down, then extracted a large biology book and set it down on the desk with a dull thud.

…Uh oh.

Minato remembered that Fuuka's parents were pretty distinct among the rest of the Yamagishi family for not becoming doctors, instead becoming engineers. But because of that, Fuuka had never liked biology: the subject reminded her of her parent's semi-secret embarrassment about choosing another field over a medical one. Unfortunately, biology was also one of the few subjects that Minato wasn't particularly well versed in, since back in the day, he'd been able to leave most of the important, technical biology knowledge and training tips up to Akihiko.

Of course, that meant that neither of them was likely to know the answer to any questions.

Minato inwardly grimaced and crossed his fingers under his desk as Ms. Ounishi stood up. "Alright class, settle down," she called out, and waited patiently as the class slowly quieted their conversations. "Today we'll be talking about muscular hypertrophy and atrophy, so let's start off with the basics. Both muscular hypertrophy and atrophy predominantly refer to 'skeletal muscle.' That's simply the muscle that you voluntarily control, unlike the cardiac muscle that controls your heart or the smooth muscle that lines many of your internal organs and blood vessels."

The teacher picked up a piece of chalk and began drawing a quick diagram on the board, starting with a sketch of a normal-looking stick figure. "Now, muscular hypertrophy is essentially 'muscle growth,' or any time that skeletal muscle cells increase in size." She scrawled out a stick figure with cartoonishly massive arms to one side of the original figure, and drew an arrow connecting them labeled hypertrophy.

"Similarly, muscular atrophy refers to a decrease in muscle mass." Here, she sketched a stick figure who was hunched over, one stick-arm holding his back while the other held a small cane to support him, and drew another arrow (labeled atrophy) connecting the original figure and this one. "For example, muscular hypertrophy can occur when undergoing weight training or taking steroids, while muscular atrophy can occur to people who neglect their bodies and is common among the elderly. Now, with that information, can anyone guess what muscular dystrophy is? How about…"

She scanned the congregation of students sitting in rows, and laid her eyes to rest on Minato.

Aw, crap!

"How about you, Arisato-kun?"

Minato slowly stood up as he racked his mind for the right answer. Dys- was a prefix that usually meant something bad or ill, and the suffix -trophy was clearly related to growth of some kind. So, maybe muscular dystrophy meant bad muscle growth?

He was about to guess that out loud, but an unfamiliar voice from his side whispered, "Group of muscle diseases, relating to skeletal muscle and movement."

"It's a group of muscle diseases," Minato automatically relayed, and Ms. Ounishi smiled in response.

"Very good, Arisato-kun! Muscular dystrophy is indeed a large group of muscle diseases. They usually affect the musculoskeletal system, like hypertrophy and atrophy, and thus hamper muscle locomotion. You can sit, Arisato-kun. Now, to help you learn about the different types of muscle growth, I have a set of worksheets…" Ms. Ounishi looked inside her briefcase, tilted to the side against the teacher's large desk, and frowned. "Hmm… I thought I'd copied them, but it looks like I forgot. Alright, you can go chat amongst yourselves while I get these copied. But don't get too noisy!"

With that, she swept out of the room, one copy of the worksheet held in her hand. Minato sat down and leaned back against the chair, closing his eyes as he thanked his lucky stars that he'd managed to get the right answer.

"You're welcome."

Oh, right. Maybe he should be thanking the person who gave him the answer instead.

He turned his head in the opposite direction of Fuuka to see a pale yet healthy looking girl, raven hair tied in a neat ponytail running down to her shoulder blades. Her white-sleeved arms were crossed over her cream-colored vest, and an unimpressed look painted her face.

"Thanks," Minato replied to the vaguely sarcastic comment. "And sorry, my mind was elsewhere."

The girl continued to look at him for another moment, before glancing down and softening her expression a little. "…Yeah, I guess you would have some things on your mind. It's all right."

Minato raised an eyebrow at that. "Some things…?"

"Well, your sister's in the hospital, isn't she?"

The blue haired boy shook his head a little in disbelief. Word traveled fast, huh?

"It's a shame, too," the girl said, half to herself. "I was looking forward to later."

That earned another raised eyebrow from the boy. "What do you mean?"

"She was gonna come visit the Volleyball team at practice today. She talked to me about joining yesterday, and it's rare to find anyone who's dedicated enough to join before the normal start time. I was gonna let her watch practice, if not actually join in this afternoon."

Had he been anyone else, Minato's eyebrows would've been sky high. Hamuko didn't even know about social links and their benefits, and she was already networking like a pro. The boy felt a thrum of pride pulse through him as he realized that his words to Elizabeth were already starting to come true.

Damn, she's really good.

"Who are you?" Minato asked, forgoing common courtesy for efficiency as he shook himself out of his thoughts.

"Iwasaki Rio, captain of the Volleyball team," she answered promptly, totally ignoring (or not even noticing) Minato's bluntness. Said boy suddenly found a hand extending into his personal space, and realized after a second that Rio was expecting a handshake.

"Arisato Minato," he said, complying as he reached out his own hand. "You know a lot about muscles."

Rio shrugged. "Comes with the territory. I end up being the team nurse a lot of the time, since no one does the proper stretching or cool downs."

There was more than a little resentment loaded in that last comment, but Rio had already plowed onwards before Minato could ask about it. "So, you know when your sister's gonna be out?"

"…No," he lied.

Rio winced a little in response. "Oh. …Er, sorry to hear."

An awkward silence suddenly hung over the duo, while the sounds of other conversations crashed together around them. Minato risked glancing back over at Fuuka, who'd now regained her usual complexion but was still avoiding Minato's gaze like the plague.

Huh. Had he really embarrassed her that much? …Oops.

Returning to the other conversation, he decided to try and salvage what he could. "So, you met her a few days ago?"

Rio nodded. "Yup, she came to the practice itself to talk with me about joining. Apparently, the club advisor tried to tell her that it'd be impossible to join now, but she totally ignored him to come see us."

Minato almost snorted. That sounded like Hamu, alright.

"She also asked for me to look out for her brother, since he got into a lot of trouble, and she wouldn't always be able to look after him."

For a moment, Minato inwardly panicked at Rio's wording… before he realized that Hamu probably meant something else. Narrowing his eyes, he slowly turned to face Rio, whose face was covered by a growing smirk. "So, Minato-kun… have you been getting into trouble?"

"…Just enough." He responded shortly, and started to lean away from the girl as she began scanning his general area with the thoroughness of airport security.

"Did you bring a lunch?" she asked, and Minato could've winced. He'd planned on making one, but he'd forgotten last night, and he didn't have time to make one in the morning since it took him a while to walk to the trains with his crutches.

"I'll get something from the shop downstairs," he assured her. "Don't worry about it."

"Oh, I'm not gonna worry about it. 'Cause I'm gonna make sure you buy a lunch."

The blue haired boy all but whipped his head around. "That's not necessary-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But this is a way to get me points with your sister, and I am not letting someone with dedication like that get away. So just deal with it for me, okay? I'll owe you one."

Just then, Ms. Ounishi walked in and immediately started handing out the worksheets, ruining any chance for a witty comeback like 'No.' As the handouts started circulating towards the back of the class, Minato couldn't help but stare a little at the girl who he'd been forcefully introduced to.

Slightly manipulative, penchant for doing good, and a firm belief in what's right?

Yeah. She and Hamuko were gonna get along just fine.

Mitsuru felt a familiar wave of dread as she approached her small footlocker just outside of the school's front doors. Even from far away, she could see papers of various colors peeking out of the locker's top and bottom cracks and the vents in the middle, mocking the Kirijo heir. Mitsuru silently huffed. Did anyone really think they were more original than anyone else just because they got a different colorof envelope?

She arrived at her hated storage container and slowly twisted it's lock, pretending not to notice the large group of boys standing nearby, whispering and occasionally pointing in her direction. Mitsuru had to suppress an automatic glare in their direction before she traumatized them (or froze them outright). Really, they weren't even trying to be subtle anymore.

She swung her locker open, and several dozen papers cascaded in a brightly colored landslide. They were love letters, of course, all different shapes, sizes, and colors, probably supposed to be sweet, cute little things meant to impress her. Mitsuru supposed that they even might have worked on other girls.

Sadly, they didn't work for her. At all.

Dutifully picking up the multitude of poems and prose scattered on the ground, Mitsuru was soon carrying several essays worth of handcrafted words. The whispering grew louder as she began walking to the corner of the room, her boots clicking on the polished tile floors of the school, and she promptly placed them in the place where they belonged most: the recycling bin.

"Oh my god, did you see that?"

"That was brutal!"

"I'm so turned on right now…"

Mitsuru twitched at that final comment. Only a decade-and-a-half of self-control training prevented that last boy from becoming a shish kabob on her hand.

It was times like these that she really wished that she could be more like Yukari. Mitsuru had worked much too long and hard on her ice-queen personality to ruin it now, but god, would it be satisfying to just walk up to those damn boys and slap them for being so coarse. And things like this didn't just happen every other week, it was practically a daily ritual. It was absolutely, completely, totally infuriating.

Just then, an immediately recognizable brunette passed through the room, cutting through Mitsuru's thoughts. She was keeping a quick pace, with her short black skirt billowing slightly behind her, and it was easy to see why when a small group of boys chased after her into the hall. The redhead watched them go for a moment, before realizing that this was a golden opportunity for herself to escape, as well.

The locker door was quickly shut with a snap, and Gekkoukan's front doors flew open as the redhead evacuated the premises. A refreshing gust of wind hit her face, lightly blowing her hair back, while a small smile curved her lips upwards when she heard the belated "Hey!" as the cadre of boys inside realized that the object of their 'affections' had disappeared. Unfortunately for them, by the time they exited the building, Mitsuru had already reached the outer gates of the school and turned the corner.

As she rapidly walked by the sleek, white-bricked walls of the non-fenced part of the gate, the redhead thought of her brunette classmate. As much as it was clear that Yukari wasn't exactly fond of her Senpai (And, seriously, freight trains were subtler than that girl. It was astonishing that she didn't realize that herself!), Mitsuru couldn't really claim that she knew her kohai any better. Sure, she liked Yukari well enough from their few interactions that didn't involve Yukari's anger, but Mitsuru couldn't claim to know the girl. Records and data could only tell you so much, and… well, Mitsuru really wanted to help her out. God knew how much distress and havoc she and the Kirijo group had already introduced into the poor girl's life.

Suddenly, sunlight glinted off of something in the distance. A smile once again lilted upon Mitsuru's face as she instinctively knew what was reflecting the sun, and she forgot about everything else. Sure enough, as she walked into the parking lot, a motorcycle came into view, its glossy white exterior reflecting light almost better than a mirror. The Kirijo heir sighed a little in contentment as she arrived and plucked her lightly swinging helmet from its place hanging off one handlebar, running a hand down the machine's beautifully well-maintained side.

That was another thing that Mitsuru envied to some degree about Yukari: the girl's ability to just say what she thought. How many times had Mitsuru been forced to smile politely at the CEO of a major corporation and not tell him that he had something stuck in his teeth, or not tell her that her smile was obnoxiously artificial? The habit was so deeply ingrained in her by now that she even didn't mention her opinions on… well, anything, really. But even in the business world, was it really so wrong to love machines and engines instead of pretty colors or nice dresses?

All of a sudden, there came a noise that made Mitsuru's heart sink even more than the thought of cute clothes and poor dental hygiene: the sound of a limousine engine.

Oh, no. Mituru was so not in the mood for any corporate games now. Not today, when the sun was out, she'd finally gotten some real sleep, and her bike was sitting right next to her.

In a matter of seconds, Mitsuru had strapped her helmet onto her head with the visor down, flipped on the gas tank switch on the cycle's side, and started the engine. It roared to life for a moment, before settling down into a pleased purr as the redhead hastily checked all of the gauges to make sure everything was in working order.

Everything was, and Mitsuru broke out into a grin.

Kicking the kickstand up, she simultaneously hit the clutch with her other foot, shifting the bike from neutral into first gear. She slowly turned her wrist back, and the bike responded gleefully, growling progressively louder as Mitsuru accelerated across the parking lot. Glancing up at the rounded mirrors placed strategically at the lot's exit, Mitsuru saw no cars coming in either direction… except for a white limo that had just turned the corner and was rolling slowly towards the lot.

Later, Mitsuru would be very glad for her tinted visor, as her smile then smeared into a wicked smirk.

The engine laughed with the girl as she hit the clutch again and gunned the throttle, and redhead and her machine soared out of the lot and into an adjacent alley. Mitsuru caught a glimpse of the limo driver's surprised visage from her peripheral vision, and she only grinned wider as she realized that her escape had gone perfectly. She leaned to and fro on the cycle, and the bike weaved and swerved with her, dodging various obstacles on the mostly deserted back streets of Iwatodai as she zoomed towards her residence.

After several more minutes of euphoria, Mitsuru arrived at the familiar backside of the dorm, and she cut the motor off with a sigh. The engine whined as it slowly fell into silence, and the Kirijo heir took off her helmet slowly, shaking her hair out as the helmet came off her head.

In hindsight, running from the Kirijo babysi- er, escort wasn't the brightest move. They undoubtedly wanted a status report on the new additions to the dorm, and that was something she really needed to give them. Especially given all that she'd learned about the male Arisato a couple days ago.

In fact, she thought as she walked into dorm via the back entrance, assuming that Hamuko woke up soon, S.E.E.S. would soon be able to start exploring Tartarus, marking another reason why a report would be vital. Of course, since she'd have to be on support, and since the taller Arisato would be out of commission for who-knew-how-long, they'd be one member short of the optimal four-man party. It would be best for there to be one extra member in S.E.E.S before she had to give her monthly update and started exploring Hell itself… but, they'd all have to make do with what they had.

Unless, of course, someone else with the Potential randomly appeared.

But, really, what were the chances of that?

AN: I've gotta say, treating the motorcycle like it was an animal was really, really fun!

Also, I think I got all the details right in the muscle hypertrophy/atrophy section, but if you see any mistakes, let me know!

Shout outs to: kadesh2501, Humbled Writer, edd-ot, Yoshikunitsu, The Lonesome Bear, Mega122, and Kopitar for following; Litagano, mafia king, Humbled Writer, edd-ot, The Lonesome Bear, Draknero, and Kopitar for faving; and Doom Marine 54, Asahar4, silthara, Hoshiro Raider, Humbled Writer, crymblade, emelian65, gu3st, The Lonesome Bear, and Yoshikunitsu for reviewing!

[In response to Gue3t: You're welcome! Haha yup, although it's almost par for the course when it comes to messed up Greek heroes. And yay, me too! Although, ironically, this chapter was pretty Minato-centric too. But now we're really gonna start moving away from Mina to focus on other characters. Thanks for reviewing!]

Sadly, I have to bring up my update schedule again: This is when it turns to crap. For every other chapter before this one, I've had the next one or two pre-written, but as of now… chapter 11 only has a couple of pages done. Blame my job (And the anime Soul Eater)!

I'm not gonna be able to guarantee regular updates at all within the next… period of time, dunno how long. What I will guarantee is that I'm not gonna ditch you all: no matter how long the next chapter takes, I promise I'll still be around to respond to reviews and PM's the whole time (barring hospitalization or something, of course).

Now, that's all I've got for you all! It seems very empty in here without Myth Corner, but we'll have another episode in a few chapters when Tartarus first formally appears in the story.

As always, please drop a review or send a PM if you've got the time. Thanks for reading, and hopefully I'll see you all soon!