Friday, June 5, 2009, 6:12PM
Iwatodai Dormitory
Makoto walked into the dorm as he snacked on the melon bread the old couple at the used bookstore gave him. Nice people. He thought as he bit into the last piece. I should probably ask someone on the Student Council about that tree though. Maybe Kirijo.
Usually someone was there to welcome him home, but today he arrived a bit earlier than usual, so all was quiet. For once he had the dorm, or at least the ground floor, all to himself. He was all alo-
As he sat down in the armchair, he froze. It was only then that he realized he was not alone. Someone else was here. Kotone, completely hidden from view, was sleeping on the sofa.
Shit. Makoto swallowed his last chunk of melon bread. Good thing I wasn't too loud.
Kotone had shed her uniform and shoes, using the former as a makeshift pillow. She laid on her side, curled up in the fetal position. She snored softly, completely oblivious to his presence.
She looked...tired. Exhausted even, with those bags under her eyes. Seeing the normally rambunctious and energetic girl look so small, so pale, so drained of life was...wrong.
School, SEES, volleyball club, fashion club, library committee, the situation with Saori. Makoto shook his head. No wonder she looks half dead. Makoto lifted his hand and reached for her before stopping. Should I even wake her? She probably needs the rest.
She tossed and turned, pitifully groaning in her sleep.
Screw it. "Kotone." Makoto lightly placed his hand on her shoulder and shook her. "Hey, Kotone." He whispered softly. "Wake up."
"Huh?" Kotone opened her eyes, bleary and lacking any light in them. "Makoto? What're you doing in my room? You're not supposed to be here silly." She closed her eyes and started drifting back to sleep.
Trying not to laugh, he whispered back to her. "You fell asleep in the living room."
Kotone looked up, and then at the couch she was laying on, and then back at Makoto. She jolted up, eyes wide and a blush on her face. "O-Oh." She stretched and yawned heavily. "Whoops. I uh, I just laid my head down and before I knew it I was asleep. Teehee." She laughed unconvincingly.
"Are you getting enough sleep?" He asked softly.
"No, I'm fine." She muttered as she hugged her legs. "You don't have to worry about me. Sorry, I..." She trailed off, any excuses or comments dying on her lips.
"Alright." Makoto stood up. "Don't stretch yourself too thin."
"H-Hey Makoto!" She called out. He turned to her, seeing her leaning over the back of the sofa. "Um, don't tell anyone OK? I don't want them to worry."
He stood there for a moment, blue eyes matching her red ones. "Should they?"
She looked away.
"Please get some rest." Makoto said as he walked away.
Saturday, June 6, 2009, 12:42PM
Gekkoukan High School
"Yeah, I think I'll be able to come. No, summer vacation is definitely all of August. Yes Aunt Yae, I made sure to check." Makoto paused as he saw Kotone standing around a corner, quietly and demurely waving to him. "Hey I gotta go, lunch is almost over. I'll see you guys soon. Yeah you too, Aunt Yae, OK, yes, bye." He closed his cellphone and sighed as he shoved it in his back pocket.
Kotone looked...if not fine, then at least better than yesterday, with a warm smile plastered on her tired face. "Making plans?" She asked with her hands before her back.
"Yeah, once summer rolls around I'm gonna go visit my family back in Kumamoto for a bit."
"Cool." She giggled. "You know, for some reason, when you told me your aunt was a native English speaker way back when, I thought your family would live in, like, England or America or something."
Makoto chuckled. "Well, Aunt Yae was born in America." He paused. "I think it was in a state called Ne-bu-ra-su-ka?"
Kotone tilted her head. "Is that near California?"
He shook his head. "No, not even close. It's in the middle of the country. I remember she said it was something like twice as far from California as Tokyo is from Hokkaido."
"Wow? Really?" Kotone said in awe. "I didn't know America was that big."
"Yeah, it's pretty large." Makoto grinned. "But I don't think American geography is what you can here to talk about."
Kotone smiled from ear to ear and flashed him a peace-sign. "Saori-chan is back in school!" She punched the air. "She's unsuspended and cleared of all charges!"
"Already?"
She vigorously nodded. "The school called in her and her parents this morning. That lowlife paparazzo and some lawyer from the tabloid were there, and they were practically on their hands and knees apologizing, promising to retract it, pay them for damages, all that stuff." Her eyes narrowed as her smile twisted into a villainous, sadistic grin. "Even that jerk Ekoda apologized to her. I wish I could've seen the look on his face."
"Wow." Makoto crossed his arms. "Looks like Kirijo-senpai's lawyers scared the living daylights out of them."
"Yep!" Her smile faltered. "Saori-chan is so nice...I...I couldn't stand seeing her treated like that." She looked away as she grabbed her arm. "I'm not going to apologize for what I did. I know it was wrong, and even then I knew it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but..."
"I understand." She looked up at him, a lopsided grin on his face. "I don't necessarily agree with beating the shit out of people, but I get it. She's lucky to have a friend who's willing to stick up for her."
She giggled. "Hell yeah."
"That being said, you both should probably give Kirijo-senpai a thank you."
"Definitely. Imma do that after school." She said with a beaming smile.
Sunday, June 7, 2009, 6:52PM
Iwatodai Dormitory, Makoto's Room
its good tho cuz it lets us talk about personal things rite? =P
...maya IS a shy girl, u know...
::blush:: lol
Makoto chuckled and typed back lol
...see, Mr. E is a teacher with seniority over me, hes such a jerk he even bullies students (-.-)
no one likes him
he got chewed out yesterday by the principal lol (n_n)
he deserved it
...oh noes! u can't figure out what my job is can u? O_o
Makoto paused. Before typing his response, he chugged his last remaining Mad Bull, and prayed he was wrong. Are you a teacher?
ya, ur smart O_O i knew u'd figure it out
you get an A+ for reading comprehension today! lol d-^_^
Makoto leaned back in his chair, took a deep breath, and screamed into his hands.
now u know i'm a teacher
hey! I just figured sumthing out o_O
when i complain to u, i feel better afterwards! xD
from now on we HAVE to group together
promise, k? =I
With gritted teeth, and a sinking pit in his stomach, he typed out Promise, much to the happiness of 'Maya'. "Oh, what have I gotten myself into." Makoto muttered to himself.
Monday, June 8, 2009, 7:52AM
Gekkoukan High School
On the steps of the school, Makoto saw a bleary-eyed Junpei sitting down, half dazed and looking unusually tired.
"You OK?" Makoto asked as sat down next to him, a steady stream of students walking past them. "You look ragged."
Junpei shook his head. "Nah dude. With the full moon tonight, I couldn't get a wink of sleep. Too excited."
"Oh yeah." Makoto scratched his head. "It is tonight." When Junpei gave him a disbelieving look, he shrugged. "Forgot. Other stuff on my mind."
"Dude..." Junpei scratched his chin. "Ain't you the one that came up with that tarot thingie? I woulda thought you out of everyone would be tuned into this."
Makoto shrugged again.
"Man, I wish I could be as laid back as you sometimes." He said as he got up and stretched. "Where do you think it'll be tonight?"
Makoto scratched his neck. "Beats me. Maybe the mall?"
"Why there?"
"Because that's where people are." He said as the bell rang. "And Shadows prey on people. Makes sense to me."
"I guess."
South of the mainland of Iwatodai City, tucked away from much of the city and the port's bustling social life, stood a residential area, several nice beaches, a large stadium that Makoto vaguely knew would be where his track team would be competing in a few weeks, and the city's lone nuclear power plant. Constructed in the middle of the 1980's, and refitted with more modern reactors in the early 2000's with cooperation of the national government, it alone provided the urban area with over a quarter of their electrical needs.
"I can't be the only one freaked out by those giant-ass smokestacks, can I?" Junpei asked.
And in the Dark Hour, as the eight members of SEES walked along a road through a small forest, it stood ominously against the skyline, not even a mile away.
"The correct term is cooling tower." Kirijo said. "It expels nothing more than harmless water vapor, Iori. There's nothing nefarious in it."
Junpei looked away. "If you say so senpai..."
Kirijo chuckled. "Perhaps I should take SEES on a tour of the facilities one of these days? My father and the Chairman know the owner after all, I'm sure it would be a educational trip for us all."
"Where is the Chairman by the way?" Makoto asked. "I haven't seen him in a while."
"Official business." She said. "That's all he told me before he left. He should be back sometime this month."
Aragaki planted his axe down in the dirt. "Speaking of the power plant, greenie," he turned to Fuuka, "you said you detected the Shadows not too far from it right? Something about it being 'round here? Cuz I'm not seeing anything."
Fuuka pulled out her Evoker and summoned Lucia once more. "Hmmm..." she said as she began sensing, "it's odd, I can sense them, but it's like their presence is getting...fainter. Not more distant, just smaller."
Kirijo crossed her arms. "The Shadow that attacked us in April – I suppose we can call it Magician if Yuki's idea is correct – did something similar. Every time I managed to locate it with Penthesilea, it would immediately switch directions to throw me off. They seem to be able to detect our attempts to sense them. We may have to rely on our eyes and ears the closer we get." She frowned. "We may also be attacked at a moment's notice, so take care to not let your guard down, no matter what."
The team quietly signaled their agreement, and continued up the road.
"Geez." Junpei mumbled quietly. "Why's it gotta be this place?"
Kotone poked him in his side, startling him. "Scared?"
"Of course I'm scared!" He looked around nervously. "Have you ever read a horror novel? The forest at midnight is always the place the serial killer gets you."
She giggled. "Well don't worry, big sis Kotone will protect you."
"Yeah, yea-"
"Coffin, 12 o'clock." Sanada stated.
Everyone froze and pulled out their weapons. True to his word, a coffin stood just ahead of their position. But unlike most of the coffins they had encountered during the Dark Hour, this one was open, and completely empty of its contents.
"Shit." Junpei lowered his sword. "Some poor bastard must have got grabbed by them."
"Unfortunately so." Kirijo eyed something. "There's a path here." Cutting through the grass and snaking around the trees was a trimmed path leading upwards. "Let's follow it."
As they made their way up the path, several members nervously looked around every corner, past every bush, upwards at every tree branch. Even Makoto flinched every time the crackle of dead leaves being stomped on . They waiting for a Shadow to attack without notice. Once they made their way past the trees, they saw where the transmogrified person had likely come from.
A small hill with a single tree in the middle, with a half dozen coffins standing on, or laying next to, blankets. Several baskets of food and drinks lay scattered around the clearing.
Makoto scratched his neck. "A midnight picnic? That's odd." Looking up, there was a fairly unobstructed skyline, especially over to the south-east where one could see the stars and sea. A normally romantic sight, but in the Dark Hour, it was nothing more than specks of dim light across a sickly green sky that hung above a blood-red ocean.
Junpei whistled. "Well then~." He chuckled.
"Is something the matter?" Kirijo asked.
"Uh, yeah, you could say that I guess." With a grin that spanned one corner of his face to the other, he held up a pink lace bra.
Yukari's eyes went wide "W-Where did you get that!?" Fuuka, Sanada, and Kirijo looked flustered, while Kotone and Aragaki just chortled.
"It was with the six-pack of beer and the boxers with the hearts on them." He dropped it next to the mentioned items, right next to two adjacent coffins.
Aragaki snorted. "Well then." He walked up and patted the coffin. "Counting the coffin down there, that's seven people."
"That's obscene!" Yukari yelled.
He shrugged, grin still on his face. "People got all kinds of lifestyles, what can I say?"
As they contemplated the implications of this late night rendezvous they had stumbled upon, the coffin in the middle quietly opened. A skeleton dressed in a yellow and green robes carefully held up a single bell, and rang it.
"Ahhhh!" Everyone fell to the ground, screaming and clutching their heads, the deafening reverberations paralyzing them.
The skeleton chuckled, voice high pitched yet raspy. It slunk out of the coffin, which disappeared as soon as its occupant. Carved into the top of its skull was the number "V".
That's Hierophant. Makoto thought as he writhed on the ground.
"Bastard!" Aragaki snarled and shakily stood up, grabbing his axe and running towards the Shadow. It floated away from a slow and clumsy diagonal slice, and attempted a hasty retreat into the trees.
Makoto regained his bearings and, with a shaking hand, brought his Evoker to his head. "Orpheus! Agilao!" The Master of Strings appeared and, with a strum of his lyre, sent out a torso-sized ball of fire that slammed directly into the Shadow. Hierophant screeched in searing pain as it fell to the ground and rolled down the hill.
And as it did, another Shadow appeared from the trees. Decorated in a dizzying array of greens, blues, and purples, the Shadow's stringy mauve hair extended down to its legs. It bore a "VI" on its right breast.
"Mabufu!" "Mazio!" Rather than dodge, the new Shadow, Lovers, lunged forward, taking the attacks directly. It grabbed Makoto by the face, and threw him back into Sanada and Kirijo.
"Shit!" Makoto yelled as they rolled backwards
"Look out!" Kotone yelled as Hierophant reappeared, clothes burned and skeleton blackened.
Hierophant and Lovers held up their left and right hands, respectively, each glowing a bright yellow light that merged into one.
And then darkness.
AN: If you've ever looked at a map of Iwatodai, you'll see that just south of the dorms is three water cooling towers in the "industrial zone." I don't believe anything in the game or in expanded material talks about that (I could be wrong), but for the purposes of this story I'm calling it a nuclear power plant. This is 2009, before the Japanese public really soured on nuclear energy, so think that's a fair plot point to have.
Tune in next week to see what Daisoujou and Queen Mab, I mean Hierophant and Lovers, have in store for our heroes.