Class was as always something between a waste of time where he didn't learn anything and day where random trivia he learned over the years had a use. Or at least that would be the sentiment he would have had if it weren't for the Pixie who was taking a nap on his desk.

At some point when he wasn't paying attention the Pixie had flown into the classroom and decided that his desk would make as good a place to relax as any other. The only person that he knew that had a Demon in their retinue was Faer, but Minato didn't think he had much if any reason to send his Pixie over to bother him.

"Are you not going to do anything about uhh."a voice to his right nervously drawled.

It was Junpei. He had also noticed the petite Demon sleeping on his desk when he had been slacking off during Edogawa-Sensei's class. For as much as the boy goofed around he seemed to be strangely on edge at the moment.

Yukari turns to the boy, rolling her eyes,"Relax Stupei-kun—" "Don't say my name with endearment like that!" "If there was trouble here we wouldn't be having class here. Be quiet too."

They really do bring out the worst in each other.

Yukari did have a point though, while it was odd that Pixie came to him there wasn't exactly a fight breaking out from her presence. Not to mention he definitely had a few questions he wanted to ask the Demon.

Rather than panic like Junpei saw fit to, Minato wanted to wake her up to see if she could answer them, after all she was if nothing else sleeping on his stuff rather than her own Master's.

There wasn't much he could do either at the moment either, considering his desk was being taken up, couldn't study, couldn't sleep.

Fairies really were a pain in the ass.

…

"And remember class Midterms are coming up, so even though you will all be going onto Golden Week soon, remember to at least touch up on your studies…"

As lunch came up Minato figured that now would be a decent time to get his answers, gently scooping the fairy into his jacket pocket, the blunette stood and casually walked out of the classroom ignoring everyone else after all it's not like lunch time lasted all that long.

Walking out onto the roof Minato was greeted with the bright blue sky of mid spring.

Before he could even take it in for a moment the wood spirit flies out of his pocket with the speed of a bullet. "Ahhhh! I haven't felt something like this in forever, it almost reminds me of the Garden!"

As the petite woman flew about Minato took a seat on the bench, watching the nymph enjoy the freedom of the outdoors. Based on what he knew there was never enough time spent playing and frollicking only never enough, for most of the lower Fae.

"If I wasn't already with Fae-Jae I would definitely choose you! You know how to treat a lady don't you?" Pixie beamed with manic energy.

Evidently so.

"I had a question." Minato states.

"You hero types always do." the woman remarks, flying in a small circle in front of the seated boy.

He should've expected something like that.

"How are you existing outside the Dark Hour?"

"The same way that you guys summon your little ghosts, with just a bit of extra effort. Of course it wouldn't be possible if it were just me doing all of this, I'm just a lowly Pixie." The small woman said, placing her wrist on her forehead in an overplayed show of weakness.

That's right, he had seen Akihiko pull out Polydeuces once or twice when he was healing his arm, it always seemed to be tiring but Minato had assumed it was because he using up all of his SP in one go and then drinking enough caffeine to give someone kidney stones right after before doing so again.

"Are you draining Faer-San of his energy then?" the interim field leader asked, it wasn't as if Faer was his responsibility but the chocolate-toned boy had come to their aid a lot.

Most recently with the battle against that Reaper, if he hadn't blinded it when he did the 2nd year isn't so sure that everyone would have walked away from it.

Thanatos had good timing, but he wasn't going to be able to use that Persona every time he's in a rough situation.

So being concerned about his social link seemed to be on par of course, even if he could only get to rank 5 instead of the normal 10.

"Oh you're thinking, what about?" the small woman said from her perch on the guard rail.

"Faer."

"Yeah, it's always violence, Conflict and more violence with him. I don't think he's really all there though."

What, like he's insane? He didn't really strike him as the type.

"Is he ill?"

"If he were any worse he'd have that thingy those tasty humans have. Its really interesting to look at, made me mistake what he was when I first saw him." Pixie offhandedly states while simultaneously reminding Minato that even if she does look and act like how he imagines his Persona might, they weren't the same.

「e」

Idly Minato turned his head to where he felt that blip of energy, if he was right it was the student council room. Hopefully since he barely felt it wasn't important.

"So, what did you mean by calling me that name the other night." The boy asked turning his attention back to the guard rail.

…

She was gone.

Guess she enjoys being the mysterious type a bit too much.

"Sanada-shonen, how are you doing today have you had any issues with the healing process?" A middle aged man with a receding hairline and lab coat asked, scribbling something or another onto a clipboard.

It was another doctor on the Kirijo's payroll at the hospital to probably tell him what he already knew.

"I'm doing fine. My arm is feeling like pins and needles and it's lost a bit of strength but I think I'll have full control over it soon," the silver haired boxer replied as held his arm up to the side and gently rotated it.

Essentially this was a check-up. There wasn't much that conventional medicine could do than make everything actively worse at this point.

"I agree, you've done well to not stress it too soon. Though I suspect that must've been easier said than done, for someone like you…" the doctor muttered distractedly.

What was that supposed to mean? It's not like he went into suicidal situations half cocked.

"'S says here your next of kin is one Aragaki Shinjiro, do you have any idea where he might be at this point?" the doctor asks, flipping through some form or another, still trying to do at least a semblance of what his job entails.

…

Akihiko wasn't sure if he should be annoyed that Shinjiro was still listed on those papers or exasperated that he needed someone to sign off on his own paperwork.

Then again, he shouldn't be too surprised, doctors always had this feeling around them. Something between coddling and nurturing.

It suited them well with others but he was always rubbed wrong by it, moreover because unless he got a disease that couldn't be fixed with magic he would more or less never need one.

Then again all of this was a sham.

"Shinjiro…" What is the best way to say this? "Shinjiro started working overseas… I think, either that or he might be working at the embassy." The boxer said as he honestly tried to remember the last time he had spoken to his estranged friend.

"Embassy? Ah, he's doing well for someone so young. Aragaki-Shonen is on his way to becoming a splendid adult then." the doctor plastically gushes.

That's what he's focused on? Whatever.

"I suppose I'll just get this paperwork logged as is then. Sanada-shonen, you ought to be fine to attend to your business. I'll see you next week for one final check up." the middle aged man states logging the data into the computer.

"You likely already know this but you should be fine to start lightly training, in fact if you think you're safe to do so start lightly training. It'll be interesting to compare your records from before your injury…" the Kirijo doctor states before losing interest in their shame of a conversation.

Good riddance. What a waste of time. Hopefully Junpei remembered to bring that folder with 2-E roster. There was a few things he wanted to cross reference

As the silver-haired senior walked into the hallway he was meant with something he really should have expected by now.

A misunderstanding: it looks like Iori couldn't just follow instructions without making it more complicated than it needed to be. All three of his juniors were waiting for him outside. What did Junpei say for them to all show up here?

"What are you all doing here?"

"We came to see you! Is your arm doing any better now?" Takeba jumps to answers with a more excited tone than the third year had been expecting.

"Relax, I was just here for a check up. But I should be good to go in the next two weeks," the senior says as he self consciously rotates his shoulder checking for pain, before throwing out a jab and hook.

"Sh-shouldn't you be more careful, Senpai? Your arms b-been messed up for a while..."

"I know my limits," Akihiko states, launching into a combo with a flurry of uppercuts and hook with his right arm the third year comes back to his side.

Nothing popped or otherwise felt off, just a bit weak.

With a slow breath in and out the silver haired boxer looks to Junpei, "Junpei, did you bring the folder I asked for."

If he couldn't manage this much then he would definitely need to reevaluate how much trust he would be willing to put in the second year.

With a smug self assured grin the ball cap wearing second year replies, "of course, I couldn't let down the Golden Lightning Prince of Gekkoukan when he asked me of all people for a favor."

Sometimes, he really didn't get this guy. No scratch that most of the time, it really did seem like someone decided to base their entire personality off of how random they could be.

And what was up with that nickname?

"By the way, Senpai, why did you choose boxing?" Takeba speaks up with a tilted head.

"You mean, why did I choose that sport? It's not because I particularly like it but, I needed to learn how to fight and I hated feeling helpless, at least at first. Now I practice because it takes constant practice, drilling and sparring to stay at your best. With how dangerous the Dark Hour is, I need the extra training to achieve my goals."

Evidently, there must've been something about his delivery of that statement since Junpei seemed to see something admirable in it. "Woah, talk about hardcore Senpai..!"

Yukari and Junpei looked at him with open admiration while Minato had even given him a look that seemed to convey respect for his conviction.

He could do without hero worship, if that is what this was…

In truth though Akihiko wasn't sure if that would even be enough to get his foot in the door for what he was trying to do, even with his year of experience it seemed like he was no closer to stopping the Dark Hour than when he started.

It was a conversation that he honestly would have preferred to not need to have but something about disappearing without a trace rubbed Faer the wrong way. He couldn't say why but if he was looking for a reason to knock on the student council door this would be it.

The door opened and instead of the heiress that he was looking to talk to it was someone who looked vaguely familiar and very snobby.

"Oh well, if it isn't Mr. Jaeger." The boy greets.

"Well, if it isn't that guy I don't know the name of."

Normally Faer wouldn't bother but he was relatively sure that he knew this person from somewhere, and if he was coming out the student council office it wouldn't do for him to run back from where he came from and start blabbing possibly baseless rumors.

Dealing with a headache right before he left wasn't exactly on his list of things to do.

"W-What!? How do you not know who I am!?" The sleazy looking boy had all but shouted starting to turn red in the face.

"Well besides the fact that I said so? Well it might be a bit much coming from me but, you don't look like someone I would want to associate with so I probably just forgot who you were subconsciously," the Contractor replied as he looked around the hallway noting the loosely packed halls looking at the duo.

This prompted the ashen haired boy to do so as well, his face turning a bright red as he noticed all the eyes on them.

"Ah, he chose to mess with… it's over for him."

"Is he really fighting the council? How bold..!"

Here comes the ever active rumor mill of Gekkoukan High…

Faer was looking to avoid this, one would think that after a month the spectacle would have died down, with the amount of passive exposure he would have gotten by now.

Faer stared down at the snobbish boy with his best annoyed face, "look, I'll level with you. I've got business with Ms. Kirijo, urgent business, so if you wouldn't mind stepping out the way I would appreciate that."

The background chatter picks up even more.

"Of course, as a foreign business heir and as an American, of course he's going to want to…"

"Do you think that they are?"

The chatter of the hallways had picked up to the point where the Contractor couldn't distinguish between who was talking. Much as he would like to not care about how much they were speaking let alone what they were talking about, the fact was lunch didn't last very long.

The ashen haired boy seemed to be getting unnerved as well by the mounting crowd.

Faer cast his gaze around the hallway taking in the crowd.

This was getting entirely way out of hand.

「Leave」

Faer let a small portion of his ire leak out with that blip of Intent, seemingly creating an aura that wafted off him, silencing the hallway for a moment.

"Maybe we shouldn't be here."

"Yeah…"

"Uwah! Scary!"

…

Maybe he shouldn't have done that, however it did clear out the hallway. Now to deal with this guy… Who was already gone. How convenient.

Knock knock knock

Sighing out breath, Faer was honestly hoping that he wouldn't need to deal with Mitsuru being irate over his careless use of magic.

"Come in." Came a voice that he wasn't familiar with, but he wouldn't let it dissuade him at this point.

But a bystander might keep the Heiress from bringing it up.

Walking into the room Faer was greeted with a room that looked too dedicated towards the streamlining of getting paperwork done, a long table that seemed to be where the junior councilmen worked and a desk the heiress occupied as naturally as the young man expected. At the long table and likely the one who invited him in, sat a long haired brunette filling out a budget sheet from what he could see.

All in all the atmosphere in the room seemed to be in a state of discipline but not so to the point where it seemed a strict 9 to 5 salary job.

"What can I do-" the girl at the table froze as she looked up at the foreigner choking audibly on her words.

For fuck sake, he wasn't even casting out Intent, so why was she so nervous? On any other day this might've been something the hazel-eyed Contractor might be willing to call cute but right now it was just annoying.

Still he couldn't afford to be too rude, just blunt and to the point, that should be fine right?

"Ms. Kirijo, we have some business we need to discuss." He simply wouldn't bother with the girl, normally he didn't think he got this annoyed this quick but those kids outside had actually grated on his nerves.

The heiress looked up from her work in smooth motion, eyes briefly widened with something Faer didn't care to discern, "So we do. It's a private affair I assume."

"It's best if it's kept that way."

Nodding in understanding the heiress looks towards the other girl occupying the room. "Ms. Fushimi, please leave for now. You may resume your work after classes are finished for today."

The mousey looking girl looks over to the heiress with a squeak, flushing red as she quickly gathers her supplies into her bag and vacates the room with an impressive haste.

As the door closes behind her the Kirijo heiress speaks before silence can invade the room, "so what seems to be this urgent business between the both of us?" The heiress inquires with a raising an eyebrow as she crosses her arms beneath her bust.

Faer takes a moment to compose his thoughts and moves his eyes to hers. "I've been looking into something as of lately, after reporting it up, it's been decided that I would be the one to investigate it seeing as though I have the most familiarity with the topic."

"My apologies before we continue our discussion please, take a seat." The disciplined woman gestures with a flourish in front of her desk. "It would be rather rude of me to have you stand here during this. After all, you are not one of my subordinates…"

There wasn't a chair but Faer didn't skip a beat, taking a seat on the edge of the table in front of the desk, "Right, then, this discussion is also tangentially related to the last one we had in the courtyard, regarding class work."

The young woman's expression hadn't changed much but there was a glint of something else in gaze. Was she just waiting to drop the hammer on him between his use of magic and this?

"Is the class work moving too quickly for you to keep pace with? I imagine that if you have been working with the UN for as long as your file suggests you may not have had the amount of time you needed to keep up with those in our age group…" the young woman postulates.

It appears she doesn't care.

"No, nothing to that effect, it wasn't bravado when I said that I wasn't having any real issues with the course load. However this investigation I am going on will see me out of town for a few weeks while I check on those leads."

"So then, what were you looking to have arranged? I'm sure you're aware of Midterm, surely you weren't thinking of skipping out on them?" the heiress asked in a tone that felt dangerous.

Luckily Faer wasn't looking to skip the work.

"No, it's nothing like that." he denies with a single shake of his head, "I want to take the material before, what was it called? Golden Week? Yes before Golden Week happens."

A silence envelopes the room as a look of distaste covers the heiress' face. Giving Faer a side eye the wine haired heiress says, "Leaving this early in the year could be a problem for your studies." before bringing her hand up to her head to massage her temples.

…

…

Is she-

"Since you've arrived you've placed me in a myriad of uncomfortable positions." Ms. Kirijo states with no small amount of frustration, her veneer of stoicism cracking as she looks at the ceiling of the room.

"Forcing me to play my hand early while you bleed all over my city's streets. It's one thing to clean up the bodies of soldiers who don't exist." she dismissed with the same ease one would an easy chore. Maybe it was for her, erasing the presence of the unnatural, that is.

It served to show how ignorant he was to her thought process. More so the depth of the operation she was running here.

"But you do exist. For as little as you seem to value that, however, I respect your dedication to duty. It's something I hope to see instilled in those that I lead…" Ms. Kirijo trails off.

Was she talking about him? All he did was get into fights every night.

"You haven't even reflected on our deal that we made after the fight with that Reaper, have you? Consider yourself lucky that I try to always remain prepared." the woman says as she pulls a thick book from one of her desk drawers.

"This Demon Compendium, study it, take care of it, bring it back in this condition." she says sliding a well worn book across her desk towards Faer, who places the book into his inventory without fanfare.

So then she was willing to put up with his request then?

"Don't think that is all." The heiress snaps, "I will do this much for you since this is a request and you've done many of them without much reward in return for me. But, this isn't something I can easily grant even with my position, you understand. So, here is what is going to happen, you and I will study together upon your return." The student council states meeting his gaze with an intensity he wasn't sure anyone else he's met could match.

It stirred something within him. It wasn't like he was in much position to refuse her demands either considering that he was doing this so he didn't ruin whatever tentative trust she had in him. "Very well."

He wouldn't say anymore since by now he knew better than to ask whether or not if that was all. Since every time without fail there was in fact more.

"Mondays and Tuesdays we will meet, to ensure that you don't fall behind on your classes. I expect you to tell me the moment you return for your trip."

It seems that this time wouldn't be an exception to that rule either.

"Come by after school, I'll have your midterms ready by then." the noble student finished looking like she was holding back a sigh.

"I appreciate it. I would prefer to not leave any business half done where I can. You helping me here allows me to maintain that." The foreign student said, looking into the young woman's wine red eyes hoping to replicate that same intensity from earlier.

For a moment that was hard to distinguish, Faer thought the young woman seemed to be a little more flush than she was at the start of their talk.

Swallowing thickly the red headed woman clears her throat, "T-think nothing of it. Just make sure you come back safely." she says her face flushed with frustration. Embarrassment.