Chapter 22
Junpei's whistles whipped through the air above the concrete lot as he strolled out of Paulownia mall. His pockets were distinctly empty, absent the jangling coins that had accompanied him to his favorite arcade inside the mall. He was quite content, having racked up almost enough points for a new personal high score on Super Road Brawler II.
Only a personal high score, though. He still couldn't quite beat the overall record, which must have been reached with nothing less than witchcraft and wizardry by the one, the only-
"St - Junpei-kun, keep it down, jeez. Could you whistle any louder if you tried?"
Hey, speak of the devil. "Nice to see ya too, Yuka-tan!" he called, grinning.
Yukari rolled her eyes at the nickname, seemingly knowing better than to try correcting him at this point. She straightened her cardigan as she rose from the park bench, brushing herself off as he approached.
"Y' know," he began, "I'm still having trouble beating that high score you set a good 5 years ago in SRB-II. Bet ya could still beat me with one arm missing. Still won't tell me your secret?"
At that comment, Yukari jerked back, raking her eyes across the surrounding area, looking around for… something. But all she found were a few miscellaneous people, apparently no one she recognized.
"Come on, Stupei," she muttered, apparently not aware enough to prevent herself from using the nickname (despite her efforts to stop ever since Hamuko yelled at her about it). "You know I don't like you mentioning that."
Junpei shrugged, repentance a far-flung and foreign concept. "Just sayin'. It's crazy impressive. Think of how good you'd be if ya kept playing."
"I'd rather not. And besides, I'm actually here for a purpose, not just to say hi-"
"What?!" Junpei gasped, clutching his chest. "You mean you're not here on a friendly visit?! Yuka-tan, I dunno how much more my heart can-"
"Shut it, Junpei-kun! Jeez, I dunno how I keep my mind between you and Hamuko-chan."
"Hey, that might be the best compliment you've ever given me!"
This time, the archer took the high road, not responding to her companion as she whipped out her phone and starting clicking through it, eventually finding what she wanted. She flipped the phone around and showed it to Junpei, the screen revealing a text message:
Important meeting tonight, please bring yourselves and bring ramen for me by 6:00 PM. I might pay you back!
-Arisato Hamuko – 3:30 PM, May 28th
Junpei grinned as he read his team leader's brief text. "'Might pay you back?' Sounds like Hamu-tan alright."
The girl flipped her phone shut and stowed it in her purse, a light smile resting on her lips. "I know, right? But regardless, we've gotta get back to the dorm. Hamuko-chan's ramen will have to wait, we're already gonna be a bit late. I figured I'd meet you here since you might be even later without me."
"Hey, whatcha trying to say, Yuka-tan?"
"Not gonna respond, Junpei-kun."
Junpei just laughed, not his usual raucous cheer but a more subdued chuckle.
"How long has it been since we just hung out, huh?" He stretched his arms up behind his head, looking down at his old friend as they started up the path towards the dorm. "My bet's on after the stone age, but maybe it was before."
"The obvious answer is not long enough," the archer replied, her voice wry, but her mouth lightly curved upwards. "But I might make an exception if we go to that ramen place again. We should bring Hamuko-chan, though."
"Oh, how gracious of you, your majesty. But yeah," Junpei hastily finished his mock bow as Her Royal Highness turned her Mighty Glare on him, "we oughta bring Hamu-tan too. She'd never let us forget it if we didn't include her."
Sighing and shaking her head, Yukari turned her attention back to the road ahead of them. "That's for sure."
The rest of the walk back to the dorm was silent, with only a few breaks where Junpei allowed a few whistles to fly out of his lips. (He congratulated himself on this Herculean feat.) Soon enough the duo arrived at its familiar, well-maintained front doors. Junpei slowly opened one of them, trying not to disturb the meeting faintly heard from within…
But he stopped short when Mitsuru's voice carried out the doorway, sounding incredulous and maybe… amazed?
"Arisato Minato. Do you mean to say you not only know of this new persona-user, but have met her and are friends with her?"
Mitsuru's bufu couldn't have frozen Junpei quicker than that sentence. Completely forgetting that he had partially opened the door, Junpei slowly turned his head back to Yukari as he wrapped his head around this amazing discovery.
"Minato made a friend?!"
"Junpei-kun!" his companion hissed, starting to blush. "Just get inside!"
Once he did so, the reason for Yukari's blush was clear. The room was currently filled, with Mitsuru, Akihiko, Hamuko, Minato, and Ikutsuki, all seated in various spots throughout the lobby. And all eyes were on the two entering the room, including the single sleepy eye of the boy in question.
Now, Junpei wasn't exactly tactful, but he didn't want to be a total ass. "Er," he began with his usual Junpei grace, "Sorry, Minato-kun. Didn't really mean that."
Minato blinked. Junpei took that as 'it's fine.'
A light cough from Mitsuru turned everyone's heads towards her. "…Continuing with the previous point. Arisato, you are… acquainted with this girl?"
Minato nodded in a slight head tilt. Eyebrows were raised across the room, but a certain girl couldn't be contained.
"Mina, oh my gosh, really?!" From the look on Hamuko's face, Junpei would've guessed Christmas had come early and brought a wheelbarrow of Halloween's candy. "Oh wow, I can't believe it! My brother's making friends on his own, my baby brother-"
"Hamu, we're twins -"
"-is finally making friends, my great odyssey is finally over!" She wiped an invisible tear from her eye, staring at her brother with pride while he returned her gaze with an unamused stare.
Mitsuru continued from her previous statement, presumably too used to the twins' antics to give them much more than a light glance of admonishment. Ah, what Junpei wouldn't give for that kind of treatment…
"This is quite fortunate news. I was going to ask that our operational leader speak with this new persona user and invite her here to explain S.E.E.S.' mission, but it appears that will not be necessary anymore. Arisato Minato," she directed her attention solely at the male twin, "I shall leave the task of inviting her here to you. Bring her at the earliest opportunity."
Minato nodded, and Mitsuru returned the favor with a "Thank you." Her role fulfilled, Mitsuru turned and began heading up the stairs, hair gently swaying with the tapping of her boots on the floor. Ikutsuki and Akihiko soon followed (though not before Ikutsuki waved goodbye to the rest of the group, and Akihiko jogged over to the fridge to snag a protein shake).
Junpei glanced over at Yukari, her expression saying the same thing as his:
Whaaaaaaat?!
But before he had a chance to come up with one of his Incredibly Clever Remarks (TM), Hamuko pounced.
"Mina. Spill the beans. Now."
'Pounce' was actually pretty accurate, since Hamuko, knowing her brother too well, had literally pinned him to his chair by his wrists. And Junpei was a bit surprised as Minato's gaze flicked towards the two juniors still by the doorway. Maybe he was sending an S.O.S. message? Junpei still couldn't read all of Minato's facial expressions, and it sure wasn't like Minato was going to start talking (at least, not before pigs flew over a frozen hell… without Akihiko wanting to eat them first).
Regardless, neither of them made a move to assist the trapped Arisato. And today, his twin wasn't patient (well, she never was, but whatever).
"Mina! Any answers in that big head of yours?" Hamuko said, emphasizing her words by shaking him a few times. "What's the story?"
Minato (probably) didn't look pleased with the shaking, attempting to free one of his hands before just leaning back with a faint huff when it was clear Hamuko wouldn't let him off easy. "We sit together in homeroom. Got to talking. Iwasaki-san helped."
"Rio-chan! Oh, my lovely captain!" Hamuko leaned back, releasing her brother and momentarily forgetting about her interrogation as she began singing the volleyball captain's praises. "The great friend-enabler! Rio-chan, the ever-patient one! How can I possibly thank her? She did the impossible!"
"She didn't yet," Minato muttered. "You're still talking."
Junpei was taken off guard by that line, and slapped a hand over his nose and mouth to stop his laugh. Unfortunately, the only thing that did was amplify the volume of his resulting snort to the sound level of a sonic boom.
Hamuko stood up and rounded on Junpei in all of her playful anger, arms crossed and expression far too indignant to be taken seriously. "And whose side are you on, Junpei-kun?"
The new target of Hamuko's focus rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly aware of being the center of attention.
Though, was that a tiny smile on Minato's face? Nah, must've been the lighting.
"Weeeell," he began slowly, "Not saying I'm on anyone's side, but-"
"But?" interrupted Hamuko.
"…But, if you'd let me finish, Hamu-tan, you'd see you just proved your bro's point by not letting me finish my sentence."
"Oh, like you have a right to talk," Hamuko retorted with a grin, "because everyone knows the legend of Junpei the Shy and Untalkative, don't they?"
Junpei harrumphed and turned his nose up... but he didn't really have any good rebuttal to that, so he just let his expression do the talking.
Hamuko picked up on this, grinning even wider and reveling in her verbal victory. "Anyways! Jokes aside-" (At that, Minato scoffed under his breath, much to Junpei's growing amazement) "-looks like I have to thank Rio-chan for bringing my lovely brother together with a new persona user! What are the odds of that?!"
"Low," came the subdued reply from Minato as he grabbed his crutches resting on the floor and lifted himself from his reclined position. "I'm going back upstairs."
"Ah well, you've deserved it, Mina," his sister shook her head. "Making a new friend! That's got to have used up at least half of your yearly talking allowance!"
"If you keep this up, I won't speak to you for the rest of the year either." Minato grumped over his shoulder as he stumped away on his crutches, heading up the stairs.
"You wish!"
"Correct."
Hamuko just laughed at that last feigned grumble from her brother, instead plopping herself down in the spot where he had just vacated, sighing, "Ahh, pre-heated!" as she nestled into it, looking snugger by the moment.
At that, Yukari shook her head and Junpei chuckled. "Ya know, Hamu-tan, I think that's the most expression- and number of words- I've ever seen from your bro."
"Told you he could be more talk-y!" Hamuko crowed, none too quietly. "Now the only trick is getting him to talk to you guys."
Junpei rubbed the back of his neck, unsure exactly how to answer that. While Hamuko's point was certainly being proven here, he wasn't sure he wanted a face-to-face social interaction with the reclusive Arisato just yet.
Fortunately, he was saved from having to respond by Hamuko's stomach, gurgling on cue. "Ah, yes! I almost forgot!" Rubbing her belly, Hamuko leaned forward, danger gleaming in her eyes. "Where, pray tell, is the ramen I asked for?"
The two targets of Hamuko's hungry wrath glanced at each other in support. "Er, Hamuko-chan, we were going to, but we kind of... uh, ran out of time…" Yukari began to defend herself, but petered out under Hamuko's laser focus.
"Well, ya see, Hamu-tan," Junpei picked up, redirecting Hamuko's crosshair-vision. "We bought it for ya… but Yuka-tan ate it all on the way over."
And predictably, Hamuko's frown turned upside down with enough speed to give her whiplash.
"Oh my gosh, Yukari-chan did you really?! Are you finally off of that stupid diet?"
"N-no, I-"
"Aw, I'm so happy for you, you know I hated that diet, it was just making you shrivel up and waste away, I've got so many new places for you to try out now…"
"Er, Hamuko-chan, Junpei-kun just made that up-!"
"Aw, no need to be coy about it! We're about to start a whole new journey of food discovery together!"
And so, Hamuko continued attacking Yukari in a wholly different manner than she previously threatened. She didn't hear Junpei's laughs as he walked away from the scene of his crime, giving a cheerful wave over Hamuko's shoulder in response to Yukari's glare as she ineffectually fought off her operational leader's new, excited mood.
Minato closed the door behind him, dulling the chatter of the three juniors in the main lobby as he hopped his way over to his chair and sat down, flinging his crutches to the side and facing his desk, laptop folded closed in the center. Flipping its top open with one hand, he grabbed a bottle of water from his backpack with the other, twisting it open and taking a sip as he waited for his computer to boot up. He glanced at the side of his desk to his electronic calendar clock. (Despite his use of an analog clock during the dark hour, he also needed a clock that showed the real time and wouldn't require adjusting every night.) It glowed red with the current date and time:
- 6:36 PM - May 28, 2009 -
May 28th… just over a week left until the next Full Moon battle. He was a bit worried about the upcoming battle, especially given how bad the first attempt had been in the other timeline, with Mitsuru and Yukari taken out before he, Junpei, Akihiko, and Fuuka had even reached the battle scene.
Sadly, in this timeline it looked like Fuuka was likely unavailable to help for the time being, given that she had yet to leave her coffin in the dark hour. It would be quite the miracle if S.E.E.S. managed to get Fuuka to the dorm, explain about personas and shadows and the like, and have her awaken during the dark hour naturally all before June 8th.
He was exceptionally proud of how he had befriended Fuuka, though. And he'd even managed to pull Rio along too, giving Fuuka another real friend at Gekkokaun (though Rio was right in thinking part of the reason Minato had forced her to follow him was payback for all of her previous misdeeds against him. Like her dragging him unwillingly along on various adventures. How's it feel, Rio?!).
Point was, Minato's focus on befriending Fuuka had left him with the current set of days to prepare for the upcoming battle. And Minato knew from his past life that the Emperor and Empress would require a wide array of weaponry to deal with their switching weaknesses. Preparing for that on such short notice would normally have been impossible.
Thank God for the internet.
Minato had observed the world for enough years to know that e-commerce would really explode in the near future, but even during this time it was booming. This was especially true in Iwatodai, where the presence of the Kirijo Group facilitated economic growth to a massive degree, and in response, delivery times for online shopping were nearly faster than lightning. It was almost faster to order ramen online than wait for it at Hagakure (ok, definitely hyperbole, but you get the point).
And fortunately, that speedy delivery time gave Minato enough time to do some online shadow-fighting shopping. There were a bunch of things he still didn't have access to, even with 2-day shipping, but hey, he was resourceful. He could figure this out.
He drummed his fingers along his keyboard in thought, spelling out 'uiopuiopuiop' in the search bar. What could he get… definitely some medicine, a couple somas, and he wished he could buy a bead or 10, but they were too expensive for him. And he really wishedhe could get a snuff soul, or some type of sutra or mirror, but unfortunately, they didn't sell those online. (Which did make sense. It's pretty hard to market items that "restore Spiritual Power" or "dispel enemy attacks" to people who were unaware of the existence of personas, unless they're just crazy.)
Ugh. This would be much easier if he had a bit of backup here.
…
Minato stopped his restless tapping for a moment, digesting the thought. Why didn't he ask the others for help? It would make things simpler for purchasing all the necessary items, and would give him more of a budget to work with.
Hell, why didn't he tell them that he came from the future, anyways?
He knew the answer that he initially thought of, and it made sense to him. He didn't want to change the original timeline too much, because as soon as he doesn't know what's going to happen, he loses an enormous edge over all of his enemies. But at the same time… this timeline was already different. Just his slight actions already made things different, from befriending Fuuka and Rio, to helping Mitsuru with analysis. And that's not even counting the differences caused by Hamu being team leader (and good lord, were there ever differences there. He couldn't imagine a leader more dissimilar to him).
Wasn't he here to change the future?
The faint noises of the city outside faded from Minato's awareness as the thought hit him. And it hit hard, but…
Minato shook his head, sending his cobalt hair swaying. Not yet, at least. He knew he needed to tell them someday, but today wasn't that day. Because he didn't know how everyone would react, what they would say, if they would believe him, or what they would do in either case.
Besides, he knew he could handle things on his own.
A heavy exhale escaped Minato, catching a pencil on his desk and rolling it to the floor. He picked it up with a groan, shoving the rest of his unhelpful musings to the side.
Enough of that. I've got more important things to deal with right now.
He added the 10 medicines to his shopping cart and clicked 'Purchase', then flipped his phone open to add a calendar event to purchase beads from the Paulownia item shop. (How on earth did they get access to that stuff, anyway? The obvious answer was Kirijo Group sponsorship, but the shop sold as many performance enhancing drugs as the actual drug store next door.)
As he typed out the reminder, his eyes drifted over to the thumb drive resting innocuously next to his computer: Mitsuru's security access data. He really did need to get working on that, but that would have to wait a bit longer. After all, he still had the next full moon battle coming up, and he had to figure out a way to make sure everyone was at the dorm then, which was going to take some doing-
A sudden vibration and chime from Minato's phone distracted him. His eyes snapped back to the phone's screen, just as a new alert popped up:
Minato, get to the hospital STAT, it's time.
-0112716677 – 6:46 PM, May 28th
That number was from the Iwatodai hospital. Minato could tell from the area code and the next 3 characters. But he knew only one doctor who would text him such an oddly informal order.
Minato gulped.
AN:
(Updated on Oct. 20, 2018 to update my beta's username/links)
And we're back, with another scheduled chapter!
I almost made a joke about the e-commerce site Minato references is called "ehmazon," and has a service called "ehmazon prehme", but at the end of the day, I just thought, "eh."
Shout outs to:
Letplayer, Jodasgreat, FierySprites, Rinkaku Ghoul99, Kuroda Akito, Everstar17, Eragiax, chrisarrington8, Arashibi, Wherethefallsbegin, Vykat, Para-DX, Vangran, and dzchren for following;
FierySprites, Rinkaku Ghoul99, Arashibi, The10thDoctor1964, Vykat, Para-DX, Vangran, and CrossViper for faving;
And llat-2, Ect0Gh0st, Grummauld, KageFuego, Jodasgreat, Mikiri's Revenge, Rayify, DarkPrince2002, and Guest for reviewing!
Also thanks to my beta DisasterNoj, who this time had to deal with more grammatical issues than you can shake a stick at, and my frequent weird similes (so, the usual). You can find his work at www(point)disasternoj(point)tumblr(point)com, or at www(point)archiveofourown(point)org/users/Disasternoj.
In response to:
Welcome Back: Haha yeah there was a point where I wasn't sure when I would come back too, but this is all too much fun to not start up writing again. Glad you're enjoying it, thanks for reviewing!
Guest: I know, it's crazy for me too! Haha yeah, I really did leave you all hanging for a long while there… I'm just glad I took my hiatus after chapter 19. Could you imagine if I left you all hanging after chapter 18? Yikes. Thanks for reviewing!
Guest: Thank you mate! And thanks for reviewing!
Guest: I don't think I understand what you mean by the first comment. Second comment I totally get, my Minato has a bit more sass than normal, which is how I imagine how his quiet personality in-game manifests. Thanks for reviewing!
For once, I'm not incredibly rushed by any time crunch at the end of a chapter… but, I don't really have anything else to say. So, thanks for reading everyone, and I'll see you next week as Lateral Season 2 continues!
(Yes, it is awesome to act like this is a TV show, I recommend everyone does it for any fics that they write.)