Monday, June 15, 2009, 8:25AM

Gekkoukan High School, Class 2-F

"I'm not against doing something like it more often." Kotone said. "It's just that, you know, picking a movie we all like is harder when we have nearly ten people to account for."

Makoto shrugged. "You guys know me, I'm fine with anything."

"As long as it's not horror again." Yukari said. "One zombie flick was enough for me."

Kotone grinned and poked Yukari in her arm. "Scaaaaared? Need me to hold your hand next movie night~?"

Yukari rolled her eyes. "I've lost my ability to be afraid of fiction. Reality is much more terrifying."

Makoto nodded in understanding. A million zombie flicks lacked the sheer terror of even one night of the Dark Hour as a child.

"Then what's the problem~?" Kotone teased. "Surely you won't have any issues going to see Vampire Frankenstein vs. Devil Robot with me when it comes out."

"Yeah, no." She snapped her fingers. "Horror movies are already lacking in substance, and stuff like that is just too gaudy for me."

Makoto scratched his chin. "Isn't that the appeal of these movies? That they're brightly colored with blood, and guts, and guns, and boobs, and are super-schlocky?"

"Hell yeah!" Kotone said. "Finally, someone who understands me! You'll go with me to see it, right Makoto?"

Makoto shrugged. "Sure. As long as your buying the ticket."

"Sorry, count me out." Yukari said firmly. She heard the door open, and turned to see Junpei walk in. "Morn' Junpei." .

Junpei, eyes wide and face as white as a sheet, opened his mouth as if to say something, but instead just sighed heavily.

"Um, Junpei?" Yukari asked. "You OK? You don't look so good."

He grimaced. "Yeah, no, uh..." he leaned against the desk and looked at the three, all able to see the sweat sliding down his face "can we all talk outside for a sec?"

Yukari raised her eyebrow. "Huh? But class is about to start. Ms. Toriumi will be here any minute."

"Um," he scratched his neck, "I'm pretty sure teach is gonna be a few minutes late. J-Just come with me alright. I'll explain outside."

The three all looked at each other and hesitantly followed.

As they snuck out of the room, and closed the door to prevent any unwanted listeners, Makoto looked Junpei dead in the eye. "What's going on?"

"I uh, I heard something kind of messed up this morning." Junpei scratched the back of his head. "People are sayin' Ekoda was killed over the weekend."

Yukari gasped as the other two recoiled in horror.

"You're joking, right?" Yukari said eyes wide. "C-Cuz if you are, this isn't funny Junpei!"

Junpei shook his head. "Nah man, when I arrived, all the teachers were running to the Faculty Office. I tried listening in, but I couldn't hear nothing over them screamin' at each other. When I was in the john, I overheard one of the seniors mentioned that they heard Ekoda...he got shot in the head." He grimaced. "Another guy said they heard someone put his name up on that revenge website a little bit ago."

"I've heard about that." Kotone said, shuddering. "Revenge Request. They say the people targeted are killed in the dead of the night. The police can't figure out who is hosting the website or who the killers are." She bit her lip. "Ekoda is a jerk and bully, but he didn't deserve to be murdered."

Makoto looked down the both sides of hallway. When he confirmed no one was coming from either side, he leaned in and whispered to them. "Do you think it's related to the Dark Hour?"

The other three huddled together with him. "What'dya mean?" Junpei asked.

"If they can access the Dark Hour, it'd be a perfect way to kill someone. A time and place where no one can stop you or find you. If anyone was watching them at the stroke of midnight, they could go, kill their target, and return just in time to have a perfect alibi."

Yukari tensed up. "That would mean there are evil Persona-users out there, wouldn't it? They'd have be, or at least have the Potential, if they can move around in the Dark Hour."

"We've got eight, almost nine Persona-users at the dorm if we're counting Ikutsuki. It's not impossible that there are a few stray ones out in the world who use their powers for evil." Makoto argued.

The other three all looked uncomfortable at this idea.

"It's just a theory." Makoto said. "I'm not saying it's absolutely true, but it's something we should at least keep in mind."

Kotone nodded, eyes downcast. "Yeah." She looked over her shoulder. "Let's continue this talk during lunch. We'll get the seniors and Fuuka, and discuss it then."

The three nodded and they all returned to class.

A few minutes after the bell rang, Ms. Toriumi came in, white as a sheet and stiff as a board. "Good morning everyone. There was something I had to take care off and it ran a little bit late. My apologies. Mr. Ekoda will not be here today." Her voice cracking as she said that last line.

Kotone and Yukari squirmed in their seats. Makoto and Junpei looked over at one another. If there was any doubt...

As soon as lunch began, Makoto ran to get Akihiko and Sanada from Class 3-C, Kotone went to grab Kirijo from 3-D, and Yukari got Fuuka from 2-E. They assembled at the school rooftop for an emergency SEES meeting."Evil Persona-users?" Kirijo asked, clearly in disbelief. "That's a-, I mean it's- I..." she trailed off, clearly uncertain how to respond.

"It's not something I want to think about, but," Shinjiro stood up, looking out from the rooftop to the school courtyard, "it sounds possible, so we have to at least consider it. Especially if they're bringing that shit here."

Sanada tensed up and looked around. "Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves? We don't even know if it's true or not, right?" He asked the juniors. "For all we know Ekoda is out sick with a cold and this is just a case of rumors getting out of hand."

"The teachers were all pretty freaked out." Junpei said. "Like, they all looked like they just saw a ghost. If it was just him being out sick..."

"I'll contact the Chairman." Kirijo said. "He likely already knows about Mr. Ekoda's death, if it happened. If it is true and he does, I want to bring him up to speed on this."

"Speaking of," Junpei said, "where the hell has the guy been all this time?"

"He is out in Tokyo on official business. That's all I know." Kirijo said.

"Just another fucking thing to worry about." Shinjiro muttered and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Shadows, Tartarus, Apathy Syndrome, now contract killers operating during the Dark Hour? Ugh."

Fuuka coughed and gathered everyone's attention. "I, um, I know that Iwatodai is a large geographical area, but perhaps senpai and I can attempt to scan throughout the mainland and the island tonight? It's a small chance, but..." she trailed off and looked away. "N-Never mind, sorry"

Kirijo shook her head. "No, that is a perfectly fine idea, Yamagishi. Even a small chance of success is better than nothing. I will reschedule our expedition to Tartarus for another night if that is alright with you all." The other SEES members nodded in unison. "Very well." She sighed. "For now...just continue on as if you hadn't heard anything. Chances are the school will officially announce it in a day or so, be prepared for an assembly tomorrow if that is the case."

As they broke up, the seniors remained on the rooftop and discussed something among themselves while the juniors walked off.

"You know," Junpei groused, "for being our leader and all, there's just a lot of stuff Kirijo-senpai doesn't know about jack about."

Yukari rolled her eyes. "Or won't tell us about."

"I-I'm sure Kirijo-senpai is doing her best." Fuuka protested. "It can't be easy to juggle everything shes doing."

"It's not easy for us either." Yukari muttered.

"Yo." Sanada greeted Makoto as he arrived home. Practice helped distract him, but as soon as Makoto arrived home, he was reminded of what they had discussed earlier.

"Sup senpai." Makoto lazily waved to him. "Any news?"

The silver-hair boy sighed. "Mitsuru got into contact with the Chairman. He confirmed it, Ekoda got offed yesterday."

"...shit." Makoto dropped his backpack and sat down. "It actually happened?"

"Yeah. He even confirmed the cause of death." Sanada stuck out his thumb and aimed his pointer finger at his temple. "Single gunshot to the head, 'round midnight. Looks like your idea of them operating in the Dark Hour just became a whole lot more plausible."

"It's crazy to think my teacher just died, let alone like that." He looked Sanada dead in the eye. "If you don't mind me asking, did you have him as a teacher last year?"

Sanada nodded. "Yep, he was just as much of an ass when we were sophomores. I remember Shinji once mispronounced Ono no Komachi when answering a question, and the dude bitched him out in front of the class for like five minutes straight over it."

Makoto shook his head. "Sounds like the suspect list is going to be sky high."

Sanada snorted. "Yeah, if it was that Revenge Request place that did it, well it might've been a student, but it could also been a neighbor, a coworker, a cousin that just didn't like him." One of his eyebrows rose. "A spurned lover maybe?"

Makoto leaned back and went into deep thought. "Lots of people with a grudge..."

As midnight set, and both Fuuka and Kirijo began scanning across the city from the fourth floor, the rest of SEES were asked to remain on standby just in case of any suspicious activity.

Makoto fidgeted. Usually they left for Tartarus before the Dark Hour began, and they arrived home sometime after it ended. Otherwise he was asleep when it happened. But sitting in the living room of the dorm with the electricity out, the colors distorted, the air heavy, it unnerved him. Especially since he was going to have to have an exceptionally uncomfortable conversation pretty soon.

"Bullshit!" Junpei yelled and smacked his cards on the dinner table. "Where the fuck did you get those cards?"

Shinjiro leaned back in his chair and smiled. "From the deck, now pony up."

"Maaaaan, I know you're cheating."

Yukari rolled her eyes as she threw her cards down on the table. "Quit whining Stupei, you were the one who suggested this."

"Yeah, because I thought I could win back my money."

Sanada shrugged and shuffled the deck again. "Then quit."

"No!"

Makoto exhaled, sounding like something between a cough and a laugh. His friends were on the other side of the room, playing a round of poker, and served to lighten the mood ever so slightly.

"This is why I don't gamble." Kotone said as she landed on the recliner next to him, hands filled with several different bags of snacks, watching the commotion from a safe distance. "I'd probably stab someone if I found a card under their sleeves. Ain't no one stealing my money."

"Fair enough I guess." Makoto said, unable to look her in the eye.

"What's up?" Kotone asked. "You hungry?" She held up a bag of salt and vinegar chips. "They're still good even in the Dark Hour, don't worry, I tried them." She paused. "OK they're not as good, but I'll take what I can get right now."

Makoto let out a deep sigh. "I...don't want to ask this, but I feel like I have to ask this."

"...OK." Kotone sat up a bit straighter. "What do you need to ask?"

"You said before that Mr. Ekoda suspended your friend Saori."

"Yeah."

"And you said that she went through a lot of pain because of him specifically."

"Mhmm." Kotone's eyes slowly went wide. "Wait a minute, Makoto, you're not accusing Saori-chan of-"

"I'm not accusing her of anything," Makoto hurriedly said, "I just want to know if she's the kind of person who-

"No!" Kotone yelled. "Absolutely not!" She made an X with her arms as the rest of SEES looked over to them. "Saori-chan is a good and kind person and she would never, ever, ever do something like that!"

Makoto put his hands in his pockets and looked away.

"You don't trust me, do you?" She asked quietly.

"It's not that I don't trust you, it's just..." Makoto sighed. "It's the only lead I can think of, and it happened like two weeks ago. So I'm just following up what we have."

"Well I know Saori-chan wouldn't do it." She crossed her arms defiantly. "End of discussion."

"OK, OK I believe you." Makoto sighed again. "Sorry for mentioning it."

She sat down and crossed her arms. "How would you feel if someone asked you if I did it? Or Yukari-chan?" She asked sadly. "It's cruel of you to even suggest it. She's already been through so much, she doesn't need people accusing her of murder on top of it."

"Sorry..." Makoto's face felt burning hot. "I'll try and think before I speak next time."

"Alright." Kotone calmed down. "I'm sorry too."

Tuesday, June 16, 2009, 8:45AM

Gekkoukan High School, Auditorium

"A kind and noble man, murdered in the sanctity of his own home." The principal said. "Takeo Ekoda will always live on in our memories as a treasured educator and beloved colleague."

"What a load of bullshit." A senior student sitting in front of Makoto muttered. "Just last week I overheard those old hags Kanou and Toriumi bitching about him. No one actually liked that asshole. Where's that fatass get off pretending like anyone cares."

The student sitting next to him snorted. "You're just mad because you bumped into him last week and he lectured you in front of everyone."

"Fuck you dude."

"Hey!" A teacher barked at them. "Quiet during the assembly."

As they left for lunch, a familiar voice called out to them. "Makoto-dono! Kotone-sama!"

"Hey Bebe." Kotone waved.

"It is horrible, no?" Bebe said, blue eyes dimmed and lips quivering. "What happened to poor Ekoda-sensei." He put his heart over his chest. "My heart goes out to sensei, he was so very helpful and accommodating to me for ze classwork. He even recommended me many beautiful nihongo poets and authors to read outside of school."

Makoto raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"He was such a kind and compassionate soul." Bebe said. "I cannot believe he is taken from us."

Out of the corner of his eye, Makoto could see Kotone's hands ball up into fists, and inhaling sharply.

"Alas, I do not feel as though we should have club today, if that is acceptable with you?" He asked, sadness trickling out of the corners of his eyes.

"It's fine." Kotone said, teeth clenched. "Take your time to mourn him."

He bowed "Arigato gozaimasu."

After he walked enough of a distance, Kotone sneered. "'Kind and compassionate soul' my butt."

Makoto shrugged. "At least we found the single person who actually grieves Ekoda."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

After school ended, Kenji walked up to Makoto and sat down in a seat next to him. "Crazy stuff, huh?" He asked, arm propping up his head.

"Yeah." Makoto shook his head. "I can't believe someone actually killed one of our teachers. It just doesn't seem real."

Kenji nodded. "Rio-chan's taking it the hardest. I think she's like the only person I know who's really sad about him croaking." When he saw Makoto tilt his head, he chuckled. "He was her homeroom teacher. Apparently she liked his class, the only person who did, and he was encouraging her to reach out to some people he knew from Osaka University."

"Wow." Makoto's eyes widened. "Osaka huh? That's a pretty good school isn't it?"

Kenji nodded. "Yeah, they're both the kind of people that got super high standards. Just, you know, Rio-chan isn't a dick about it."

"She's one of two people I now know that sincerely miss him."

Kenji snorted. "Yeah. Lotta people hated his guts. And I'm not just saying that because I didn't like him either."

"Probably won't be easy narrowing down the suspect list."

Kenji paused. "I don't know if I should say anything, but..."

Makoto perked up. "What's up."

Kenji looked around nervously and beckoned Makoto to a corner in the class, away from the remaining students. Both leaned in until their faces were only inches apart. "I've heard some rumors – and this is from upperclassmen who actually know the guy in question – that dude who put out the hit was someone that got expelled last year cuz of Ekoda."

Makoto nodded, trying to not look too interested. "Really? That's crazy."

"Yeah. I heard the guy was selling pills around town. He was even stupid enough to sell them in the school restrooms." Kenji shook his head. "Now he's going around bragging about it. Dumbass junkies never change."

Makoto took in a deep breath and considered his options. He couldn't seem too interested, otherwise that would make him look suspicious, but Kenji had just given him a perfect in to ask about things and Makoto had to take it. "I haven't been here that long," Makoto said slowly, "but I've never heard of anyone dealing drugs in the school. I always just assumed we were too, you know, good for that."

Kenji snorted. "Nah dude, all kinds of people pops pills. Rich, poor, everyone. People just want a quick buzz and will do some stupid shit for it. I didn't manage to take any pics, but I remember seeing last year the police made a big bust near the uh," he snapped his fingers, "oh! The back alley near one of the stations. They grabbed a bunch of guys and got like, dozens of boxes filled with heroin. It was all over the news for weeks."

"I always did think those places looked kind of seedy." Makoto said. "You want to get something to eat? My treat."

He raised an eyebrow. "Now where's this generosity coming from."

Makoto shrugged. "Life's short, might as well eat as much takoyaki as you can."

The brown-haired boy nodded wisely. "Words of wisdom to live by." His eyes dimmed. "I never liked Ekoda, honestly I hated his guts. The dude was too much of a buzz-kill even on his good days, but like..." he shook his head. "Let's dedicate this meal to him, yeah?"

"Yeah." Makoto said as they left the school grounds. "Let's."

"Saoooooori-chan!" Kotone waved at Saori, standing on a bench near the back of the school. The gray-haired girl gently waved back. "Hiiiiiii!"

"Oh! Kotone-chan, how are you?" She asked as Kotone stopped to catch her breath.

Kotone gave a thumbs up and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "I'm fine. Thanks for meeting up with me on such short notice."

"Of course. I-" she winced, "I'm sorry about what happened to your teacher." She said slowly and in a measured tone. "I...was shocked to hear he passed away at the assembly today."

"Ekoda?" Kotone shrugged, trying to play casual. "It is what it is, we'll probably get another lit teacher pretty soon."

Saori looked away. "You...you don't feel anything?"

Kotone crossed her arms. "A lot of people didn't like Ekoda. I even heard some seniors shit talking him during the assembly. It's not like he didn't deserve it." The older girl flinched. "He was a mean piece of shit, him croaking doesn't change that."

"Th-That's a bit harsh, wouldn't you say?" Saori said quietly, eyes flickering every which way but forward. "It's rude to speak ill of the dead."

Kotone looked her dead in the eye, red eyes burning with quiet fury versus nervous gray eyes. "Is it any more rude than what he said about you?"

Saori looked away, almost shrinking from Kotone's words.

"I won't talk about it if you don't want to talk about it." Kotone said. "We can still go hit up Chagall Café if you wan-."

"It-It's not like him dying changes anything." Saori said abruptly. "Even with him apologizing to my parents, and the tabloid retracting things, people still gossip behind my back. About how I seduce boys, and have sex, and look down on everyone."

She bit her lip. Her body trembling as she spoke.

"I have feelings too you know! I'm tired of always being told to a good girl and just be quiet. I'm tired of my parents always giving me the blame and never taking my side. And I hate people like Ekoda. I-I hate him. I hated him then and I hate him now! I hate his guts, I'm glad he's dead!" She shouted, tears flowing down her cheek. "Am I-Am I a bad person, Kotone-chan?" Saori's voice cracked as she asked.

"Saori!" Kotone hugged her friend tightly, as Saori began to bawl into her shoulder. "Not at all. You have full right to feel the way you do. You're not a bad person, I promise."

She nodded, trying in vain to wipe away the tears and snot. "Th-Thank you." Her voice was soft and weak, barely even audible.

"Of course," Kotone hugged her again, practically squeezing the older girl, "I'm here for you anytime, so don't even worry about it."

"T-Thank you." She repeated, hugging Kotone back just as tightly.