Chapter 41
I can see it… You've had to hold back for so long.
Trying to put on a front for all of these many, many people.
But, well. You know.
Friends? Family? That's your sister's thing.
You just let them down, right?
You're only good at one thing… So how about you do what you do best?
You can let go. Your impulses, your instincts, they need a release.
Let's have a good old fashioned fight.
Go get 'em, you monster.
DH:47 (47 minutes into the Dark Hour)
Minato's sword whistled through the air.
Hamuko's flashed up to meet it.
The blades crashed into each other, sparks flying as the live metal clashed.
His eyes, hazy and unfocused, stared lazily at her shoulder.
Hers, wide and twitching, rapidly snapped between his face and his blade.
The twins flew at each other, each with their own blend of reluctance. Minato's offense was sloppy and careless, his swipes meandering and without any keen intent. Hamuko was all defense, parrying with hasty jerks and awkward dodges, trying to dance around Minato's sword and her two allies behind her.
"Arisato!" Mitsuru's voice came through the link, sounding slightly more breathless than normal. "You must use a dis-Charm item on your brother! At least one should be in one of your pouches! The Shadow is called the Lovers and it nullifies light and dark magic - no weaknesses! And do not let your Personas get hit with any Charm spells – that seems to have been how your brother was hit!"
Hamuko heard that, but didn't respond, her focus completely on her foe and her comrades behind her. Or, her comrades who were behind her.
After a few moments of fighting between the twins had passed, they both leapt into action. Koromaru skirted around the swinging blades of the Arisatos to come up behind Minato, knife drawn. He surged toward Minato, and Hamuko's heart skipped a beat in horror - she nearly lost her grip on her sword. But just before Koromaru moved, the Shadow trilled, and Minato's eyes swept to the side, hair still disheveled as he twisted around. He swung his blade to the side and smashed it against Koromaru's knife, which the dog was barely able to keep in his mouth as he bounced away.
Hamuko hesitated, and Minato (or the Shadow controlling him) noticed. Without even looking back to her, Minato's free hand - thankfully bare, with his evoker now tucked away - snapped out in a punch, cracking straight into Hamuko's jaw and sending her stumbling backwards, falling gracelessly onto the ground.
"Hey!" Junpei yelled, and Hamuko wasn't positive if he was trying to get Minato's attention or if he was just pissed (he certainly sounded pissed). One way or another, Minato's head twitched and swiveled around at the noise as Junpei dashed up from the opposite side of Koromaru, blade sheathed but evoker drawn.
"Cleave!" he roared, firing off the evoker against his head.
Hamuko's world nearly crumbled right then and there.
"Junpei, no!" Hamuko screamed, scrambling upright, heart in her mouth and fear coursing through her veins like a river of fire. But by the time she was on her feet, Hermes was already in flight, diving towards Minato. He swayed on his feet and jerked his sword up, holding it at an angle with one hand holding the hilt, and the other supporting the flat of the blade, awaiting the oncoming blow. It was a mediocre effort, honestly - but with the Shadow controlling him, he seemed to have no choice.
And his small blade was certainly not enough to stop a Persona.
Hermes smashed through the defense with ease, and Minato's blade went flying out of his hands. The blade-wings on Hermes' sides tore into Minato's shoulder, splattering blood behind him as he was launched backwards by the force of impact, tumbling to the ground and rolling, leaving splotched trails of blood in his wake.
All the while, not a single cry escaped him.
Junpei froze. Hamuko did too, and the duo watched Minato rise up, eyes still unseeing, face still unwavering.
Suddenly, something barreled into Hamuko from the side... but it didn't hurt. She fell backwards, already stiff and unbalanced from the shock of watching Junpei's attack, and looked to her side to see Koromaru, teeth firmly attached to a strap on Hamuko's suit.
Before she could say anything, an arrow of pure light embedded itself into the wall behind her, where she had been standing moments before. Whirling her head around, Hamuko traced the direction of the arrow's path back to their true foe: The Lovers Shadow.
Hamuko's eyes narrowed and her shoulders hunched as she scrambled to her feet, but she dragged her attention back over to her brother, already back in motion and walking towards them, just barely not tripping over his own feet as his pace increased.
However, for whatever reason, he seemed to not be going for his sword.
Hamuko's eyes narrowed. The Shadow would have to wait. She finally had her opening.
(She was so glad she was cognizant enough to remember it.)
Looking down, Hamuko snapped open one of the pouches (labeled HEALING ITEMS in Mitsuru's neat, flowery handwriting) to see a neatly organized set of items, separated by small felt dividers, each labeled with a different item. Sure enough, nestled in the middle was a small stack of crystalline cubes beneath a label DIS-CHARM.
She grabbed the first one, clenching it tightly in hands slick with sweat, and snapped the pouch shut before looking up. Once more, Koromaru had leapt in front of Minato's path. But instead of waiting for Minato to reach him, he howled, and Cerberus crackled into existence. Moments after appearing, the Persona's snake-like tail swept to the front and quickly coiled around Minato, looping a few times until Minato's arms were trapped by his sides. Minato was bodily lifted up, and Cerberus' tail swiveled and brought the now-immobile boy right in front of Hamuko.
Hamuko tried to make eye contact with her brother, trapped in the spiraling coils of Cerberus' tail, but his eyes were still unfocused. As she raised the crystal cube, she clenched her fist tight, shattering it right in front of Minato's face.
To her side, Junpei roared and summoned Hermes, keeping the Shadow busy. Hamuko remained transfixed as the air around Minato seemed to glisten, gently twirling around him like a spring breeze. Moments later, a deep, shuddering breath escaped Minato, and he folded in on himself, sagging in the coils of Cerberus' tail. Cerberus loosened its grip on Minato as Hamuko moved forward to grab her brother, gently lowering him to the ground by his back and uninjured shoulder.
"Koro-chan, b-back up Junpei!" she yelled, eyes not leaving Minato's face. After a moment of hesitation, she smoothed his hair out to cover his right side again, before gently placing a hand on his cheek. Her eyes roved across his face before eventually falling to the new wound on his shoulder, still bleeding onto the carpet.
She grit her teeth before quickly snatching and firing her evoker, summoning a relatively new Persona: Unicorn, which looked like… well, a white unicorn. (Go figure.)
Hamuko glanced up as it shook its mane, dipping its head low (though thankfully not low enough to poke anyone with its horn) as it cast Dia on Minato, and the soothing shimmers of the spell fell around them.
"H-Hamu…?"
Hamuko's attention immediately snapped back to Minato's face as her brother finally spoke. "Mina," she said breathlessly as Unicorn disappeared in the background. She winced as a wave of heat from one of the other boy's Agi spells swept across the room. "Are you-"
Without warning, Minato's bloodied hand reached up and grasped Hamuko's shoulder in a vice grip.
"Are you ok? Is Junpei? Koromaru? Who did I hurt?"
Having spent the past minute or two staring into Minato's blank, unfocused eyes (and god, had Minato only been possessed for a few minutes?), Hamuko found herself rather unprepared for the intensity of Minato's stare.
It wasn't just because he was in control of himself again. It was also because he wasn't trying to hide his emotions in the slightest, for only the second time in recent memory. His face was contorted, a flurry of emotions innately recognizable yet impossible to fully translate to words storming across his expression.
What Hamuko did recognize was the unabashed fear permeating his voice.
"N-no one!" she said, resting a hand on top of his, trying her damndest to don her most reassuring expression. "We're all fine. For now, at least, we're all fine."
Minato's wild eyes scanned her face, and the rest of her body, checking for injuries. Then he snapped his head to the side, looking at Junpei and Koromaru engaging the Lovers. She felt him shift.
"We have to help them," he said, voice rasping slightly as he stumbled to his feet.
"Mina, no," Hamuko said, alarm striking through her. She got up too, much faster than her brother, standing tall as Minato swayed. "You can't fight, not like this. P-Please."
"Hamu-" Minato started, before cutting himself off. He listed ever so slightly to the side as he reached his full height, deeply breathing in, and deeply breathing out. When he next opened his eyes, gone was the madness and the panic of moments ago - instead, he was focused, almost tranquil, despite the way his wounded arm hung by his side.
And damn, if Hamuko didn't suddenly feel the most out-of-place and rare stab of jealousy for her brother. Was he faking his calm? Yeah, most likely. But god what Hamuko wouldn't give to be able to fake calm like Minato.
"I know I'm hurt," he said, staring into Hamuko's eyes. "But we can't just leave them. I have to do this."
"I would disagree, Arisato."
Hamuko jumped at the unexpected voice coming from the doorway, whirling around to see the source. And, yes, Hamuko knew exactly who was there from the moment she heard the voice. But it was still an experience to turn around and see Kirijo Mitsuru standing in the doorway, sword drawn, posture regal, and hair in a rare ponytail sneaking out from underneath her helmet. She wore her not-quite-skin-tight black body armor like it was her destiny to do so, and as she walked towards the Arisatos, Hamuko could almost feel the intensity of her senpai's focus, tempered only by the calm she exuded from her measured steps and broad shoulders.
Hamuko shivered.
The hotel may have been built for pleasure, but right now, Mitsuru was all business.
"You do not have to do this," Mitsuru continued, glancing over to the ongoing battle and unstrapping her evoker. "You do not need to be a front line fighter to make a difference."
"Senpai, there's ten minutes left in the Dark Hour!" Minato said, speech and posture tense. "You have to get back outside and get out of here, or-"
"Bufu!"
In the middle of Minato's speech, Mitsuru gently put her evoker to her head and fired, summoning Penthesliea and an ice spell. The chunk of ice shot across the gap between Mitsuru and the Shadow, slamming into the Lovers just before it fired a spell of its own. As the Lovers jostled from the impact, its spell flew wide, and an arrow of light buried itself into one of the columns surrounding it.
Junpei, Koromaru, and the Shadow turned to gawk at the new arrival, which (apparently) none of them had seen or heard. For her part, Mitsuru just tossed her head to the side, flicking her ponytail (which had swept up onto her shoulder with the firing of the spell) to her back again.
"Arisato," she said, briefly glancing at Minato. "Do you trust me?"
Minato looked at her, hints of conflict playing across his face for a moment - before he sagged his head and sighed, again with a shocking lack of restraint.
Mitsuru raised an eyebrow. He opened his mouth.
"...Unquestionably."
Mitsuru's face grew slack and she blinked, composure momentarily broken in surprise, and Hamuko found herself struck by another surprise stab of jealousy at the soft but unhesitating certainty in Minato's voice.
As Hamuko shoved her feelings into the corner of her mind, Mitsuru's face softened into the rumor of a smile.
"...Then do as I did for you last month, and follow my lead."
Minato looked up to meet Mitsuru's eyes. Staring at each other, the two seemed to come to an understanding - which, hey, good for them, but Hamuko had noticed something else in the meantime. The Shadow, maybe irate that Mitsuru wasn't giving it the time of day after so rudely attacking it, had cast something at her - not the usual arrow spell, but something that shimmered in the air towards them.
Hamuko had learned - very recently - that those spells were really not to be underestimated.
She bolted forwards, snagging Mitsuru by the arm, and yanked her to the side. Not expecting the movement, Mitsuru stumbled, and Hamuko heard a tiny, almost inaudible yelp from the Kirijo heir as Hamuko caught her.
The air where Mitsuru had stood wavered, the near-invisible haze belying its danger. Glaring at the Shadow, she didn't realize that she still had a tight grip on Mitsuru until she felt her shift.
"Th-thank you, Arisato," she said, gently trying to free herself from the iron restraints of Hamuko's fingers. Only slightly sheepish, Hamuko unshackled her.
As she stepped away and adjusted her grip on her evoker, Mitsuru glanced to her side at Hamuko. "Arisato, you are still the field leader - may I direct your brother for this fight?"
"Senpai," Hamuko replied. "You can direct all of us." She sent a tremulous, shaky, but real smile over to Mitsuru. "I… I trust you, too."
Mitsuru's face blossomed into a full smile here, her red lips (and where did she find the time to put on makeup) curved upwards. "Very well. Thank you."
Movement on the opposite side of Mitsuru caught Hamuko's attention. It was Minato, stepping forward and drawing his evoker with slight difficulty. "Glad I have so much agency," he muttered.
Before she even realized it, her retort was out of her lips. "Shut up, Mina. We're having a moment."
He snorted, somehow managing to do it with a bit of dignity, as Hamuko came to terms with her own sass. She hadn't quipped like that in battle in… a long time.
"Hey!" Junpei yelled, voice tense and ragged, breaking Hamuko's focus. "Hamuko, Senpai, Minato-kun… are you gonna… I dunno, help us?!"
Wincing, Hamuko readied her sword. "S-sorry, Junpei!"
And then she halted, just for a moment, as she had another realization.
The timing was… inopportune, to say the least. She'd been doing it on and off for a bit, but she just realized it now. Why on earth would it strike her now, in a life and death scenario, that she and Junpei were on first-name-only terms?
There was no further time for hesitation as Mitsuru and Minato shot forward, Minato only slightly impeded by his injury. Hamuko followed suit, the Arisatos flanking Mitsuru in a wide formation.
"Iori, Koromaru!" Mitsuru called. "Fall back, cast one debuff or buff spell if you have it!"
The duo flung themselves backwards at Mitsuru's command. Junpei fired his evoker while Koromaru barked, both summoning their respective Personas. Hermes appeared in a flash, facing S.E.E.S. and casting a buff spell (Junpei would later confirm it was a Rakukaja), while Cerberus snarled and fired off a debuff spell at the Lovers - whatever it was, it missed.
"Ari-" Mitsuru twisted her face. "Hamuko! Strike with your sword, but stay aware of its movements. Minato, lower its evasion with a Sukunda!"
The Arisatos moved simultaneously. As requested, Minato summoned Icarus and cast a Sukunda on the Lovers, his jaw tense and clenched. Hamuko moved out in front of him, sword at her side. As she dashed forwards, a large chunk of ice flew in from behind her courtesy of Mitsuru, cracking against the center of the Shadow. The impact pushed it back, and it leaned away from S.E.E.S. It was at that moment that Hamuko arrived.
She cut into it with precise, measured blows, trying to heed Mitsuru's advice and keep an eye on its movements. Slice and look, slice and look, slice slice and look, slice, slice, and slice-
Briefly, she got lost in her own attacks, before snapping her eyes up at the Shadow. Not a second too soon - the Shadow was preparing something, if the smoke starting to stream from above its head was any indication.
"Everyone, be ready!" she yelled, leaping back and falling in line with Mitsuru. "It's casting something with fire!"
Mitsuru's eyes narrowed. "Everyone weak to Agi spells, be prepared to dodge if you can! Summon your Persona for extra cover!"
Hamuko began mentally thumbing through her Personas to find one that was resistant (or outright impervious to) fire. However, she was unable to find one before the spell grew too large and the Shadow began to rear back. Hamuko summoned Unicorn and braced herself.
Other Personas shattered into existence around the room, but Hamuko kept her eyes on the Shadow. It launched its payload, but it unexpectedly erupted into multiple barrages of fiery shells, each streaking towards a different occupant of the room. Mitsuru, surprised by the attack abruptly becoming multi-target, hesitated a moment too long. She threw herself to the side a second later, too late to fully dodge the attack, and she winced as her side was briefly engulfed in the blast. Minato, though he squinted when the fireball split, managed to avoid the attacks with a well-timed somersault - though the fireball targeting him blasted straight through Icarus, and Minato froze in a crouch with a vaguely stricken look as Icarus melted back into his mind.
The rest of S.E.E.S. wasn't able to move in time.
Hamuko just misjudged the spell's speed, plain and simple. She tensed to dodge, but the fireball shot towards her so quickly that she had barely moved before it arrived. It exploded on Unicorn, who shattered back into Hamuko's mind at the same time as the explosion blew Hamuko back. She stumbled to the side, part of her black armor unbearably hot from the blast's residual heat.
Junpei, chest heaving and clearly exhausted, moved slowly. He didn't dodge at all as the spell shot forwards, but the blast ricocheted off of Hermes, exploding off to the side. He didn't seem particularly affected by the blast - he just winced and hopped back a couple steps, looking like he had merely stubbed his toe.
Koromaru, though, simply didn't move. He stood still, a small canine sentinel behind Cerberus, and waited as the fireball rocketed towards him. There was no time for anyone (least of all Hamuko, one of those furthest away from him) to react.
Fortunately, there was no need.
The fireball pinged off of Cerberus like a pinball, whizzing back to the Lovers faster than you could say "return to sender." It collided in an explosion with the Shadow, and the hovering Shadow flew backwards, smashing into one of the columns, which shifted and groaned at the impact.
As soon as Mitsuru gathered what had happened, her eyes lit up. "Everyone, forward!" she roared, swinging her sword to the side with a slight flourish and charging forward. (As always, she somehow did it with a dash of elegance.)
Hamuko found herself moving at the same time as Minato. She glanced over to see Koromaru and Junpei (one edge of his armor still slightly smoldering) also running. She turned her eyes to the front and drew her sword back, placing her off-hand on it to use a two-handed grip, just as she'd seen Minato do before.
The Shadow loomed over her. She gave its head a brief glance, before focusing on its midsection, clenching her jaw, and stabbing with all of her might...
Only to yelp as her sword slid effortlessly through it.
She stumbled, accidentally slamming her body into the Shadow. On contact, she realized that it was no longer rock hard and ice cold. Instead, it was gooey, and its black gunk stuck fast to her hair and her suit as she collided with it.
She looked up to verify, but she was pretty sure: the Shadow was dissolving.
The other members of S.E.E.S. also tripped, leapt, or stepped back as the Shadow tilted on its side, its body beginning to drip massive globs of sludge. Its darkened crimson color faded to black as it fell away to the floor, splattering on the ground, and the two gender symbols contained within its body fell through its bottom, hitting the carpeted ground with dull thuds before they, too, began to disintegrate into gunk.
The Shadow crooned, the sound wavering as it grew smaller and smaller. The last large chunk of the Shadow fell to the ground hard as its remnants slowly dissolved up into the sky, wisps of darkness streaming up through the ceiling.
Chest heaving as she regained her breath, Hamuko stared as the last remnants of the Lovers' head tilted towards her, watching her. Then, without making another sound, it melted and rose up to meet the rest of its body in the sky.
S.E.E.S. stood there, all catching their breath to varying degrees, before Minato abruptly looked down to check his watch.
"We have to move!" He barked, glancing sharply at Mitsuru, who looked at him in return. "There's two minutes left in the Dark Hour."
Mitsuru tensed at that statement, and raised her chin. "...I knew I would likely not make it back out in time. I will deal with the press-"
"We're not going out the front door," Minato interrupted, jogging to pick up his sword (and trying to hide a wince as he picked up his sword with his injured arm, like a fool). "We're going out a window."
Junpei squinted for a moment before a grin grew wide on his face. "We're takin' the fire escape!"
"Yeah. But we have to go now." Minato glanced at Hamuko, then at Mitsuru. "Objections?"
"No-"
"Good, c'mon."
As Minato interrupted Mitsuru again, Hamuko could see just a hint of exasperation on the Kirijo heir's face, before she closed her eyes, lightly shook her head, and did just as Minato asked: she moved.
Hamuko took one second to realize that she was the last one left in the room as the rest of S.E.E.S. barreled out the door. She quickly gave the room one last look, scanning the burns, cuts, and blood stains along the carpets, the multiple impalements along the sides of the walls and the columns - and honestly, the less said about the poor bed, the better.
She took this all in, and then turned on a heel, sprinting after her teammates.
Sayonara, Shirakawa.
Minato's shoulder stung and ached like crazy, and he knew underneath his body armor there was a hell of a lot of blood stains. Maybe - just maybe - he'd have to wash his shirt.
Or, conversely, finish the job and burn it.
More important than his laundry concerns was finding a way out of the god-forsaken hotel. They were on the top floor, so Minato would have thought that they would have a window and a fire escape somewhere.
Alas, Shirakawa did not hold up to the most up-to-date fire safety requirements, as Minato could not find a damn window.
Koromaru went ahead, nimbly dashing along and scampering around corners for a brief moment before speeding back into the main hallway and charging forwards. As he did so, Minato glanced to the side at a pair of coffins hovering close to each other, and checked his watch.
Sixty seconds.
Then, from up ahead, Koromaru barked. Minato's heart sprang with hope as he glanced up, watching the white dog do small, prancing jumps as the rest of S.E.E.S. approached. Struggling to keep down a hopeful smile, Minato put on an extra burst of speed.
S.E.E.S. skidded around the corner, and indeed at long last there was a window at the end of the short hallway. Koromaru sped to it, bouncing up and pawing at it, but unfortunately was unable to open it, impeded by his frustrating lack of opposable thumbs.
However, there were also three coffins clumped together right next to the window.
As they stampeded forwards, Minato looked down at his watch.
Forty seconds.
A thudding noise came from around the window, and Minato looked up to see Hamuko (who had somehow caught up and passed them) had careened into the wall next to the window, not bothering to stop her momentum and deciding to let the architecture do it for her. She scrabbled with the opening mechanism for a few precious seconds before she unlatched it and flung it open. Poking her head out the window, her entire being tensed up, and she whirled around, jaw clenched in frustration.
"It's just a straight drop!" she hissed. "There's nothing here to let us get down!"
"Then use your Persona!" Minato barked, drawing his evoker.
The other members of S.E.E.S. looked at him in confusion (Koromaru tilted his head - but also seemed to squint his eyes at Minato, as if he had a suspicious idea of what Minato was about to do), but Minato had no time to holler at them again. Tearing his evoker out of its holster, he swiftly fired it.
"Icarus!"
He'd barely pulled the trigger before he was already shoving the evoker back into its holster, while his Persona burst into existence outside the window, hovering slightly below it. As ever, Icarus was upside down, with its legs above its arms and its arms covered in melting wax wings.
Minato took a quick breath, then leapt out of the window.
Junpei yelped, but Minato grabbed onto Icarus' leg. His feet slammed against Icarus' chest (sorry, buddy) before he adjusted his stance to stand on top of one of Icarus' wings, with one hand still clutching one of Icarus' legs. He turned his head back around as he mentally urged Icarus downwards, and the Persona dutifully dropped several meters. "Come on!" He yelled, glancing back up. "Do it!"
Minato kept Icarus hovering as Mitsuru hesitated for a brief moment, before she summoned Penthesliea, grabbed her Persona's wrist, and threw herself out the window. After a brief second of hanging in mid-air, her summoner dangling on her wrist, Penthesliea began to hover downwards.
Junpei grit his teeth, and began to move, but Hamuko put a hand on his chest. Minato was about to yell before she looked at him, the approximation (or was it actually the beginnings?) of a confident smile on her face.
"W-We won't make it in time, and Koro-chan can't make the jump. We'll meet you outside later!"
Hamuko shut the window - just after Minato faintly heard a panicked "uhm, wait, what?" from Junpei - and then he glanced at his watch.
Ten seconds.
Minato grimaced, and urged Icarus into a freefall.
Mitsuru, who had already made it to the ground, hopped off her Persona, raising her head just in time to have Icarus (with Minato in tow) fall down almost on top of her. Jerking her head in alarm, she stepped back right as Icarus stopped its fall, just a few feet above the ground.
Minato glanced up at Mitsuru with a slight daredevil smirk sneaking onto his face, his expression all adrenaline. (Mitsuru had seen that look on Akihiko more times than she could count, and she almost couldn't help but chuckle in the face of such familiarity.)
Then the Dark Hour ended. Green skies turned to black night, Icarus disappeared, and Minato hung in space for a brief moment before falling onto his butt, splashing down in a puddle of stale water that had pooled onto the street.
(Mitsuru actually couldn't help but chuckle at that.)
Looking up at her from the street, Minato sighed (naturally, the universe couldn't ever give him a moment to just be cool) and got to his feet, groaning as he was rudely reminded of his injuries - which now included a sore tailbone.
As he grimaced, Mitsuru's eyes narrowed in on his shoulder. "We need to get that checked out," she said. "I was running up to meet you when it happened, so I did not see - was that done by the Lovers Shadow?"
"...I actually don't know," Minato said, which was true - though he had his suspicions. "We should have a debrief later to discuss."
"...Very well," she replied, glancing around to glean where they had landed. Minato did the same.
They were likely in the same place where Mitsuru had left her helmet a couple of months ago. The duo stood in a back alley parallel to a wall of Shirakawa, with a few dumpsters (already looking around their full capacity) tucked into the side of the building. On either side of the alley were the main streets, and on one side, Minato could hear sounds of a group of people clamoring and chatting - for a few seconds a person was visible stepping into their line of sight, a professional video camera clearly visible in their hands.
The person ducked back out of sight, but Minato saw Mitsuru stiffen. Slowly twisting his back to stretch, he lightly tapped Mitsuru on the shoulder, pointing in the opposite direction, in the direction of the empty-looking street. "Go back that way?"
Mitsuru nodded. "Yes, I think that would be wise." Looking up, Mitsuru's expression clouded further as she pursed her lips. "But I am worried about our remaining team members in the hotel, I must admit."
"They'll be fine." Minato had already started walking towards the street. "I trust them. The main concern was getting you out."
He stopped for a moment to turn back at Mitsuru, a small smile on his face. "Also, honestly? After two full moon Shadows, I'm out of fear for the day."
Mitsuru huffed out a laugh. "That… is a wholly understandable sentiment." She shook her head and reached a hand up to take off her combat gear helmet, letting it swing from her fingertips by her side as she walked towards him. "We have certainly been through a lot tonight."
Minato hummed in reply. Mimicking her, he took off his own helmet and turned to fall in step with her as she passed by. His eyes drifted down to her helmet in her hands. "...Careful with that, Senpai."
"Hm?"
"You don't have great luck with helmets in this alleyway."
Mitsuru was silent for the next few steps, which spoke volumes on its own. But eventually, she did decide to reply.
"...Arisato?"
"Mm?"
"I would recommend that you be quiet..." She paused in the middle of her sentence, giving him a sidelong look. "Excuse me. Allow me to amend my statement."
Minato waited expectantly as they continued walking.
"Shut up," she said.
He almost choked on his breath. After his initial wheeze, Minato had to just let himself laugh for a few seconds as he continued walking beside Mitsuru, who let out a small sigh with a tiny, but pleased, smile on her face. After a few more seconds, Minato regained his usual countenance - though if there was a slight grin lighting his face, neither of them mentioned it.
"Of course, Senpai."
And with that, the duo continued in a companionable silence as they reached the main street on the opposite side of the Shirakawa front entrance and all the reporters, turned the corner, and disappeared from sight of the alleyway.
12:05 AM
Mission: Success
Casualties: 0
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It was a while - too long - after they had started walking back that Mitsuru stopped dead in her tracks. Minato walked a few steps further before turning back around, raising one eyebrow.
Mitsuru's expression was horrified.
"Yamagishi," she said, and Minato straightened as if lightning had struck him. In everything that had happened during the night - him getting Charmed, their mad escape out of Shirakawa - he had totally forgotten that they had all gotten an impromptu and totally unexplained mind-message from Fuuka.
Mitsuru's hand immediately leapt into her pocket, fishing about for her phone. Seconds later, she found it, and immediately hit a speed dial icon.
One ring.
Two rings.
Three rings.
Minato was one more ring away from sprinting to the hospital before he faintly heard Akihiko's voice come from the tiny, tinny speaker next to Mitsuru's ear.
"Mitsuru, hey."
"Akihiko!" she barked. "What is going on? Is everyone alright?"
"Yeah, we're alright," came his reply, and Mitsuru and Minato both visibly relaxed, but no other reply seemed forthcoming.
"...Good. Very good," Mitsuru said. "But what happened?"
Akihiko hesitated. "Er," he said, pausing again. "...Sorry, Mitsuru, it's a bit busy over here at the moment."
Closing her eyes, Mitsuru took a deep breath - a very deep breath - before re-opening them. "Akihiko," she said, her voice tactically calm, though Minato could practically hear her frustration roaring at the end of its tightly-held leash. "What. Happened?"
"Well," Akihiko finally replied, either unaware or (for once) uncaring of Mitsuru's current emotional state. "Let's just say things got… complicated."
Shout outs to:
aldairmkpc96, idioticidiot98981, BigBroByakko, and espioll for following;
espioll for fav'ing;
and my spectacular beta Disasternoj for editing!
Thanks as always for reading, and I'll see you in the next chapter!
[Next chapter drops on August 6th, 2024!]