Sunday, April 12, 2009, 2:22 PM

Iwatodai Dormitory, Living Room

"Wow." Kotone grinned as she spotted Makoto coming down the stairs. "You actually came out. I thought you were going to sleep the whole day away."

Yukari turned her attention away from her magazine. "Nah, he was probably going to spend all day watching TV, or be on his computer." She said with a cheeky grin.

"That was the plan." He said, hair still a mess. "But I still haven't bought a mini-fridge, so I have no choice but to come down for supplies."

"Don't tell me you're going to become a shut-in once you graduate!" Yukari said in horror.

"That was the plan." He repeated as he left for the kitchen.

Kotone nodded. "Makoto's living the dream, Yukari-chan."

"Sounds more like a nightmare." She muttered.

"What else is there to do on around the city?" Makoto asked as he returned with a glass of water. "I've been to the stations, the mall, anything else close by I'm missing?"

Kotone pointed to the door. "We got the shrine not too far from here, you been there yet?"

"Nope." He took a sip. "But I should probably go pray for good grades this year."

"Why, do you need divine intervention?" Kotone teased.

Makoto smacked his cup down on the table. "Not on your life."

"Is that a challenge, boy?" Kotone crossed her arms. "Let's see who has the better grades come midterms! Then you'll be on your knees praying!"

"Speaking of," Yukari stood up, ignoring their antics, "we should probably go to the shrine and pray for Akihiko-senpai and Shinjiro-senpai."

Kotone grimaced. "Oh yeah, I forgot they were still in the hospital."

"They're going to be OK, right?" Makoto asked.

"Mitsuru-senpai said they'll be out soon enough, but like, who can trust what she says?" Yukari muttered.

Makoto tilted his head. "Pardon?"

Yukari turned away and started for the door. "Go wash up and come with us to the shrine." She ordered. As she left Makoto looked at Kotone, she looked at him, and both shrugged.


"Puppy!" Kotone lifted the dog into the air. "Puppy, puppy, puppy!" The dog barked back, tail swinging wildly. "Who's a good boy? Yes you are. Yes you are!"

"Kotone-chan!" Yukari chided her friend. "Don't just pick up random dogs, you don't know where they've been."

"Should we pray for her health too?" Makoto asked with the hints of a smile on his face.

Yukari narrowed her eyes. "Down boy."

"Ruff-ruff!" The dog jumped out of Kotone's hands, ran in circles, and then bolted off somewhere.

"Puppy!" Kotone cried. "Don't leave me! Don't listen to mean Yukari, I don't even know her!"

Yukari shook her head. "I'm being thrown under the bus for a dog."

"To be fair, he was a small dog." Makoto said.

"What does that have to do with anything!?"

From on top of the stairs, Kotone waved at them. "Come on guys, no more goofing off."

"Yeah Yukari, come on, this was your idea." Makoto said as he walked up.

"Ughhhh..." Yukari's head hung low in defeat. "Not you too Makoto-kun..." She forced herself up the stairs, bitterly muttering about how she was abandoned and betrayed in favor of a small white Shiba Inu.

"So it's bow twice, clap twice, bow once?" Makoto asked.

Kotone nodded. "Mmhmm." She turned to Yukari, who had finally caught up with them. "You know how to do it?"

"Duh." She said. "Come on, let's be serious and pray for our senpai's health."

"I'm always serious." Kotone said, as both Yukari and Makoto rolled their eyes.


Monday, April 13, 2009, 4:51 PM

Iwatodai Station

"So," Kenji asked in between slurps of ramen, "you got a girl back in Kumamoto?"

"Nah." Makoto shook his head. "Last girlfriend I had was in middle school. It...didn't end well." Makoto said as he looked away.

Kenji nodded. "I gotcha man. It's why you don't date girls, you date women."

Makoto turned and raised an eyebrow.

"Girls are all prissy and super emotional about dumb crap, a woman is more refined and mature about things, you know? They're smart, sexy, sophisticated, superb, uh..." Kenji paused, trying to think of another word to continue his alliteration.

"Sublime?" Makoto provided.

The boy grinned from ear to ear. "See? You do know what I'm talking about." He paused again, the manic energy Makoto had come to expect from him dissipating like the steam from his bowl.

Makoto tilted his head. "Everything alright?"

The brown-haired boy looked around and leaned in. "To tell you a secret, I snagged myself someone recently."

"Oh?"

"I don't think you've met her, but she's a real cutie." Kenji said with a grin. "Maybe I'll introduce you to her."

Makoto nodded, unsure about what kind of woman would date Kenji. A senior? Maybe some kind of childhood friend?

"By the way, you joining any clubs this year?" He asked as he returned to his meal.

"I'm not gonna lie to you Kenji," Makoto looked him dead in the eye, "I completely forgot we had those."

Kenji snorted mid-slurp. "Dude!" He started to cough heavily. "Geez, it almost came outta my nose!"

With a grin, Makoto went back to his bowl.

"Show some repentance, ya jerk."

"I already went to the shrine yesterday." Makoto said, still grinning. "I don't have to do anything."


"Tomorrow?" Makoto asked.

Kotone nodded vigorously. "Yep! Akihiko-senpai and Shinjiro-senpai should be cleared from the hospital. Mitsuru-senpai asked us to go pick them up after class."

"That's good." Makoto let his backpack fall to the floor. "I guess we'll all be exploring Tartarus then?" He asked as he sat down.

"Probably." Kotone let out a yawn and stretched out over the sofa. "I know that all three of them were the only SEES members for like, two years?" She put a finger on her chin and looked up. "Might be even more than that now that I think about it."

"Speaking of," Makoto said as he took out of homework and placed it on the lounge table, "how many more members do you think we'll get?"

She raised an eyebrow. "What'dya mean?"

"Well," he scratched the back of his head, "there was five, or six I guess if we're counting the chairman, Persona users here before I joined. There could be more out there. It could be anyone at our school...or even outside of our school."

"I guess." She started to snort. "Imagine if it's Mr. Ono."

"Please no." Makoto said. "I can't imagine him screaming Go, Oda Nobunaga without wanting to rip my ears off."

Kotone giggled uncontrollably. "Stop that!"

A few minutes passed by in silence as Kotone kicked back on the couch, almost drifting off to sleep as Makoto did his homework.

"By the way, Kotone," she turned to Makoto as he put down his pen, "when did you become a Persona-user? I know you said you transferred last December, so you couldn't have been doing it for long, right?"

"Yeah." She looked up at the ceiling, eyes narrowing. "I got sent here a week before finals. I was staying in hotel room a few blocks down until January. That's when I met Mitsuru-senpai, she explained to me everything about Personas and Shadows and the Dark Hour, she offered me a place to stay, and everything is history."

Makoto nodded. He looked back at his homework and paused.

"I got sent here."

As he was thinking about pressing her on that, Kotone abruptly sat up. Her eyes turned downward and her face looked oddly sunken in, lacking anything of the expressive energy she often exhibited at all times.

"Something the matter?" She asked, breaking his focus and reminding him he was staring at her.

"No." He said, averting his gaze. "I'm just blanking on this question is all."

She got up and walked over to his side of the table, sitting down next to him. "Which one?"

"It's about history." He said, grabbing a random bit of homework in front of him. "All the stuff about The Paleolithic and the Neolithic eras. They're both the Stone Age, right, with the Jomon Period happening alongside it? And then the Yayoi Period we had the Bronze Age and Iron Age?"

"Mmhmm. Don't worry too much about what the textbook says about outside Japan, you'll only need to focus on the Jomon and Yayoi Period for right now." She said with a grin. "That's some advice Shinjiro-senpai gave me."

"Ah." Makoto nodded. "Any other advice you'd like to impart."

She grinned. "Maaaaaaaaybe."

"Well if you're going to be like that, never mind." Makoto stuck up his nose as far as he could while still sitting down.

"Meeeeeean!"


Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 5:00 PM

Tatsumi Medical Center General Hospital

"Senpaiiiiii!" Kotone ran in, fluttering her arms like a fairy would flutter its wings. "You're alive!"

"Course I'm alive." Aragaki muttered. They were both sitting on their respective beds, wearing light blue hospital nemaki. "You got our clothes?"

Yukari held up a garment bag. "Mitsuru-sempai asked me to deliver it to you guys."

"Nice." Sanada said. "We've been cleared to go, so as soon as we put these on, we're out of here." He paused and looked at Makoto. "We haven't had a proper introduction, have we?"

"Nope." Makoto said. "Makoto Yuki, nice to finally meet you senpai." He offered a hand.

Sanada smiled and shook it, his grip tight and strong. "Likewise. Good show against that Shadow the other night."

He shrugged. "You guys did most of the work, Orpheus and I just finished it off."

"If you say so." Sanada said. "Most of us need a good day or so of rest after awakening our Personas for the first time, I heard you went to school the day after?"

"I mean I went to school, but I don't think my brain did." Makoto said with a droll smile.

Sanada chuckled. "Fair. Just make sure to keep up your studies, or Mitsuru will get on your ass." He shook his head. "She expects nothing less than 110% from all of us."

"Boy does she." Yukari muttered under her breath, right behind Makoto.


"Welcome back." A kind voice rang out. They all turned and saw Ikutsuki sitting on the couch with Kirijo.

"Oh." Sanada raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Chairman. You're here?"

Aragaki gave him a casual two finger salute. "Sup."

"I heard you were coming home and wanted to welcome you home." He stood up and walked slowly over to them. "I hope everything was alright."

Aragaki grunted. "Clean bill of health. We should be ready to fight in a couple of weeks if we don't tear the stitches."

"Very well." He said with a smile. "In the meantime, I may have found two more members for SEES who could substitute in for you."

In the next few seconds, everyone yelled over each other.

"What!?" Yukari screamed.

"Huh?" Aragaki recoiled in surprise.

"More people, for real?" Kotone asked.

"You're kidding." Sanada said.

Ikutsuki held up a hand and leaned back, his trilby nearly falling off his head. "One at a time, please."

"You've found more Persona-users?" Makoto asked.

"Like I said, I may have. I want to do my due diligence before recruiting them, but you should probably prepare the spare rooms in the mean time. One on each floor."

Kirijo stood up and walked over to them. "Speaking of rooms," she crossed her arms, "I expect you two to remain in yours and rest for the next few days. No patrolling at night, no club activities, etc." She raised an eyebrow. "You have no issues with this, I imagine?"

Both of them looked away and muttered something.

"Very good." She said.


Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 11:22PM

Gekkoukan High

Makoto spun his pencil in hand. Two more Persona-users. Eight people in the dorm. He dropped it on his desk. Every extra person is probably a step closer to figuring out the secrets of Tartarus, which is a step closer to figuring out the Dark Hour and what happened ten years ago.

His eyes drifted to the back of Yukari's head, completely ignoring Junpei a few feet over practically shaking with excitement.


"Yo." Makoto turned his head up, seeing Sanada hanging around the entrance. "Talk with me for a sec?"

"Sure." Makoto took out his earphones. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a gaggle of girls a few feet away watching them and whispering. "They your friends or...?"

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Mitsuru wanted me to ask if you're joining any school clubs."

"Oh." Makoto scratched his head. "Probably not? I'm not really sure if they're my thing."

"I got you." He grinned. "Shinji didn't want to join anything either. Mitsuru had to practically force him at sword-point to join the Student Council."

Makoto snorted. The idea of Aragaki being made to sit around, listening to mundane student politics and filling out budget reports was too amusing.

"Speaking of, you use a sword right? Maybe try the kendo club."

"We have one of those?"

The senior student grinned. "You really are kind of floaty guy, ain't you?

Makoto shrugged. "You could say that."

"We got other stuff like track and swim team. Some stuff like boxing and fencing are already full, so don't take it personally if they say no. Just be sure to give it some thought. And don't be surprised if the teachers or Mitsuru tries to make you join one of them. It looks bad on them if clubs don't have enough people."

"I'll keep that in mind senpai." Makoto said as he proceeded to forget everything that was just told to him.


"Good evening everyone." Ikutsuki said as he entered the dorm. "These are the two students with the potential that I talked about.

Yukari's eyes went wide. "No way."

"Sup Yuka-tan!" Junpei said with the widest, most smug grin Makoto had ever seen in his life.

"Um, hello." The green-haired girl meekly waved to them. "I'm Fuuka. Fuuka Yamagishi. I go to class 2-E."

"Oh!" Kotone jumped up. "That's Rio-chan's class isn't it."

"You mean Iwasaki-san? Yes, she sits next to me."

"Yaaaaay!" She ran over and hugged the surprised girl. "Welcome aboard guys!" She grabbed Junpei into a headlock, no small feat given he was almost a head taller than her.

Makoto threw them a peace-sign. "Yo."


Authors Note: I know things have been a bit slowly these last two chapters, since Persona 3 is slow and there's a lot of things to establish early on in the original story and in this one, but I think starting next week things will start proceeding a bit faster, and with more emphasis on the overarching story and changes.

As a teaser for the next chapter, just know that we'll be doing a small timeskip to the end of April and seeing how different Tartarus can be here.