6/21 Sun - Iwatodai Dormitory - Kazuki's room - Dark Hour - Kazuki

An obnoxious banging on my door wakes me right up. Ugh, please don't tell me it's Kirijo-senpai. Fuu-chan's head is still nuzzling against my chest, sleeping without a care in the world. I hate that I have to get out of bed with her, but that banging isn't stopping.

"Alright, I'm coming."

I carefully get out of bed and head over to the door. On the other side, Minako, and she's crying?

"Minako? What's–"

"It's Makoto, he's…he…!"

"Calm down, what's going on, and what happened to Makoto?"

"We…we…were out late, we got attacked by some…some freak wearing a mask!"

"What!? What happened to him?"

"I...I don't know. He told me to run, and I came here, to get help. Nobody's responding and I don't know what to do!"

She falls to her knees, crying even harder than before.

"Kazuki-kun? What's going on?" Fuu-chan finally woke up, bringing herself out of bed. She goes from half-awake to fully attentive the second she lays eyes on Minako. "Minako-chan, are you okay? Why are you crying?"

"Someone attacked her and Makoto outside the Dark Hour."

"What!?"

"Please," Minako begs with a whimper. "...I hate this, I hate feeling like this…powerless…! Always, always worthlessly useless. But I need…you're help."

Fuu-chan pats her shoulder. "We'll find him. He has to be in the city somewhere, and if he is, I can locate him."

Iwatodai dormitory - Command room - Dark Hour

We met in the command room after getting ourselves equipped for battle. Fuu-chan immediately got to work trying and locate Makoto.

"Did you find him yet!?" Minako asked again, pacing around the room.

"Not yet..."

"Damnit!"

Can't blame her for getting upset.

"Fuuka, did you contact the others?"

"I did, but they aren't responding. It's as if they refuse to wake up, or can't… Huh?"

"What is it Fuuka!?"

"Did you find him!?"

"No, but I feel another presence around us, in this room! W-what is this!?"

In here!? Where, how the hell can anyone hide in here?

"...Greetings, and welcome to this fascinating time."

An abysmal sense of dread set in, freezing me in place. It's as if I'm staring at a void without an end, it keeps getting darker and darker until you lose yourself altogether, and the only thing left is insanity.

"Wha…t-t-the hell are you," Minako curses, quivering all over.

"A young lady like yourself should not talk like that. However, the question of who I am can be…interpretive. For example, I am…"

In the blink of an eye, there are two Minakos' in the room.

"Arisato Minako...and then I can be..." He switches appearance again, this time, to our missing leader "...Makoto Yuki..."

"Screw you!" Minako bellows, busting out her Evoker without hesitation.

"Minako wait!"

I attempt to stop her, but she's already pointing it to her head.

"Susano-o!"

Her Persona burst into the scene, surrounded by a sea of blue shards..

"...However, my true identity is-"

Its famed sword, the Kusanagi, hits the enemy, slicing through the wall behind him.

"Fuuka, did she get him!?" She's unresponsive, her face says all I need to know; pure terror.

"To answer your query, no, she did not." Behind me!? I take out my sword, swiftly going for his neck. However, he catches it with his hand. His fingers should be mince meat, and his grip is too strong. "What a poor effort, all of you..." He places a hand on my chest. "...It doesn't seem to have fully awoken yet."

"What the hell are you saying?"

"Silence, boy.

He kicks me right in the gut with enough force to send me flying backward. The pain is unbearable; it's almost as if I got shot with a cannonball. If the kick had been any harder my chest would've been blown open!

"Kazuki-kun!"

"No, forget about me, just run!"

"No, no, no...that will not be happening."

With the snap of his fingers, I'm being held in place by a force that I cannot even begin to describe. A massive shadow is wrapped around Lucia.

"Now, time for me to operate." He comes towards me, his hand slowly driving towards my chest. The moment he touches it, a surge of power shocks my body and him. This didn't do anything to me or change me, but instead, it's like it was telling him to buzz off. "Hmm...interesting. Very interesting…" He shifts his focus back to Minako. "Don't worry, I will not be the one who kills you, Kazuki Kei, but instead… She'll do it."

"Huh?"

"Why would I do that," she spits out, showing nothing but utter contempt for him.

"I see, I suppose wasting my breath on you is pointless. So why don't I show you why?"

He grabs her head. Minako tries to break away but to no avail. She gasps when his finger traces her forehead. She squirms in agony, screaming at the top of her lungs, kicking her feet everywhere.

"Get away from her you son of a bitch," I roar, desperately trying to break free from this shit.

"Oh no, not yet. I'm almost done..."

He let go of her head and she dropped to the ground like a sack of bricks, motionless. But after a while of heavy panting, she gets back up without trying to lung herself at the man in the suit.

"So, what's your answer now? Remember, you have far more to lose than anyone here."

Is he talking about Makoto!? Did this bastard kidnap him? Minako faces the malevolent being, her eyes taking on a dull expression.

"Fine, I'll do it. I'll kill him," she says, lifeless in her tone of voice.

"Excellent, then I'll share a bit of my power with you. Do know that it will hurt, and it might even kill you."

"I'll survive it, I have to. So give it to me!"

"Very well, here you are."

He snaps his fingers. A surge of energy runs through her body. A dreadful scream erupts from her lungs as it runs through her. She claws her arms as she screams her lungs out. Ultimately, she lets out one last yell before collapsing to her knees. Is...is she dead?"

"Minako-chan, are you-"

"Hush, she's about to wake."

The force gluing us to the ground is lifted as Minako rises to her feet.

"So, child, how do you feel?

She picks up her weapon, stepping towards me. With a twirl, she tries to slash my head. I barely dodge it in time. What the hell!? Why the hell is she attacking me?

Minako picks up her Evoker. "Susano-o: Vorpal blade."

With a bang, the Persona charges towards me to hack me in two.

"Kazuki-kun, over here!" I run over towards Fuuka. "Lucia."

I made it inside Fuuka's Persona in time. We're safe but I get the feeling it isn't going to last for long.

"Tear her Persona apart!" The Persona's swords are hitting Lucia. Fuuka lets out a scream as her Persona takes damage.

"Fuuka!" I grab her before she hits the ground. "Are you okay!?"

"Mm-hmm. Kazuki-kun...we have to lure her away from the others."

"What do you mean we!?"

"Huh?"

"If I let you come along with me you'll get hurt!"

Susano-o is still bashing at Fuuka's Persona. It's going to break any second now. Damn, I don't have a lot of options here, do I?

"Fuuka, when I say release you Persona, do it."

"Okay!"

I need to time this right. If I'm one second off, it'll slice through our bodies. Wait for its next attack, spot an opening, then go for it.

"Split it open Susano-o!"

"Now!"

Lucia disappears. Fuuka and I dive under the sword, escaping its range by the skin of our teeth. I can feel the blade flying right above us, its sharp blade ripping through the air. The grisly scene of us being sliced apart by that thing plays in my head.

I lift

"Hold on, this is gonna get bumpy!"

I jump from the fourth floor to the third floor and make my way out of the dorm.

.../Minako

"Before you go..."

The man in the suit materializes a weapon. It's a spear without many features to describe it by, but the only important thing about it is the malicious energy it gives off. It's as if all the evil in the world is spiraling inside the thing, creating a weapon only meant for death and nothing more. Even if I can't sense things like Fuuka can, it's presence is strong enough for anyone to sense, and to feel how disgusting it is.

"What is this?"

"A weapon that I created for my chosen player. Endless chaos is the name."

"It feels...powerful."

"I should hope so."

I start walking out of the command room. I can't lose Makoto...I just can't. Even if it means I have to kill someone else, sacrificing my soul, I'll never let anything take him away from this world.

"What about the others in the dorm?"

"They're all under a sleep ailment. It'll lift by morning."

"Oh..."

"So don't worry about them. I'll also be your eyes and ears, so just go out and have fun."

"Before I go… What are you?"

"Me? As I said, I go by many names, but you may call me Nyarlathotep."

Paulownia mall - Dark Hour - Kazuki

My feet keep going forward as I enter the Paulownia mall. I pass several coffins as I zoom through the mall.

"Kazuki-kun, I don't sense her anywhere near us."

"I don't know if that's good or bad."

"You should probably rest for now."

"You're right."

I stop running to catch my breath. My legs are hurting like crazy right about now.

"You think we should hide?"

"Maybe, we can hide out in the mall until the hour passes."

"Okay, but let's..." Fuuka gasps out of nowhere. "Watch out!"

Fuuka jumps at me, pushing me out of the way of something that flies past her back. The object is lodged into the wall next to the arcade.

"What the hell was that!?"

"I-"

Fuuka lets out a pained hiss.

"Huh, what's wrong?"

I move my hand away from Fuuka's back, blood...That's what I see when I remove my hand from her back.

"Are you okay Kazuki-kun?"

"Why are you asking me that, you're the one who's hurt!"

"I'm sorry, you're right..."

"I missed."

Minako edges closer to us with no expression to speak of.

"Minako, what the hell is wrong with you!?" She doesn't respond to me, she just continues her march towards me.

"Fuuka is bleeding, please just let me patch her up!"

"Why would I?"

"So then tell me: what was everything we ever went through, huh!? Me saving you, our meeting, the bickering we always did, your strong-willed personality. Was all that a lie!?"

"No, it wasn't, I treasured all of it and I'll never forget you two, but I need to save Makoto."

It's no use, she won't listen to reason. I guess I only have one more ace up my sleeve.

"Fuuka, I know you're hurt, but I need you to hang on to me real tight."

"O-okay..."

I put Fuuka on my back. Okay, the pharmacy, I'll go through there. I book it for the pharmacy, praying I'll outrun any attack she throws at me.

"Endless chaos, come."

Shit, now or never! I go back in to grab the stuff we need. Her spear is hurling towards the building. It's about to crash through the door, and when it hits, we'll be killed…

...

I walked over to the remains of the pharmacy. So far I, don't see any dead bodies. Did they get out in time?

"What the...!?" I found a hole leading into the ground, leading to the bottom floor. "That crafty bastard!"

Port Island station - Dark Hour

We duck into the station bathroom. Boys' or girls' bathroom, doesn't matter. I sit her down on the floor to treat her wound. Thankfully, I was quick on the draw to get whatever medical supplies were needed and got out before Minako's spear hit the building.

"Fuu-chan, can you lift your shirt?"

"O-okay…"

She lifts it up high enough for the wound to be on display. It's nothing deep and it's nothing more than just a small cut. I still don't want to leave it unattended, and I don't want it to get infected.

"This is going to burn a bit."

"I know… I'll be alright"

I begin to apply the disinfectant on her wound. She grins and bears it as I'm applying the disinfectant. After a bit of light dapping and cleaning it up, it's looking a bit better.

"Okay, I'm finished. Are you okay?" I ask her.

"Yes, I'm fine," she weakly replies.

"Good, now all I need to do is wrap some bandages around that wound."

"Umm, may I do it myself?"

"Why?"

"Umm, you know…"

Why wouldn't she want me to wrap it around her–

"Oh, right, sure… Go ahead."

I hand Fuu-chan the bandages as I get up from the ground. I'll just leave to give her some privacy. Nothing out of the ordinary is happening outside, not yet anyway. There are a few coffins around the station. They're not as intimidating as they used to be, but they're not helping with the mood so far.

"Kazuki-kun...c-c-can you help me?"

"Uh, sure."

Entering the bathroom, Fuu-chan's jacket is lifted halfway up to see the wound, but not high enough to see anything else. I like to keep it that way; it would've been more awkward than it already is. I begin to tie the bandage to cover the wound. Don't think about anything else, just wrap it around her.

"What do think will happen now," she asks me, slightly frightened.

"I think we'll have to report this to Kirijo-senpai."

"But..."

"I know, I don't want to either, but you saw her, she nearly killed us back there. She wants us dead, and she'll probably do anything to make sure we do turn up dead."

We sure are in a bind. If we try to run back to the dorm, there's no telling if that guy in the suit is waiting for us. No matter how I see it, things aren't going to be so easy for us. Maybe if we last until the Dark Hour ends... But what if she's still able to use her Persona outside of it? What the hell would we do then?

"Um, Kazuki-kun..."

"What's up?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but you should worry about yourself. You got hit with a weapon that destroyed a store."

"It's still aching, but I know I'll be fine."

"You're a trooper."

"I am?"

"Yep, you are."

I wrap the bandage around one last time. Good work, if I say so myself.

"Done."

Fuuka rolled her uniform down, covering the lower half of her back again. She still lost a lot of blood from that wound, maybe I should get her something to drink.

"Wait here," I tell her.

"Where are you going?"

"Going to get you a drink."

I get up from the floor, heading over to the vending machine outside. Since it doesn't work properly now I have no choice but to use my Persona.

"Janus." It tears open the vending machine with little effort. I grab two cans for both of us. "Okay, time to get back."

I return to the girl's bathroom, she's still on the ground.

"I'm back," I cheerfully announce. "Here."

"How did you get this?"

"Um, I ripped the front of a vending machine off."

"Seriously? I don't think you should have done that!"

"Sorry, sorry, but I had no choice."

She stares at the can for a second, she then opens it, taking a sip out of the can.

"It's okay, thank you for the drink."

"No problem."

I finish my drink in a matter of seconds, running away and protecting someone at the same time leaves a person parched. Fuuka finishes drinking the juice.

"That was good...Oh no, Kazuki-kun, we need to run!"

"Damn it!

I pick up Fuuka and I run out of the bathroom, making it out just when the Persona destroys the bathroom.

"Brave blade."

I see her Persona behind us after it comes out of the destroyed bathroom.

"Persona!"

Janus hits Susano-o's sword, but its sword knocks me, and my Persona into the middle of the station area.

"Ziodyne."

Lightning rains from the sky.

"Goodbye..."

"Lucia!" Fuuka's Persona takes the hit for us. She lets a scream out inside of Lucia.

"Fuuka!"

She collapses to the ground. I get on my knees, take ahold of her shoulders, lifting her.

"Fuuka why did you do that, I could've taken the hit instead!"

"Because...I don't...want to see you get...hurt."

"How you think I feel!"

"I'm sorry...you're right..."

That's it, no more running! I don't care what her reasoning is, the fact she went this far is enough for me to burst!

"Kill her."

The voice is growing louder, and louder, and louder! I don't care to argue with it, or even talk with it. Right now, the only thing I want to do is destroy her! I draw my blade out, throwing the scabbard away. I'm going to do it, I'll do it...

"I'll destroy you!"

"Are you sure you could kill someone?"

M.G. drops from the sky, coming in between us. Her appearance puts Minako on edge, despite how powerful she is now. I put up my guard, ready to summon Janus at any given moment, scrutinizing every detail of M.G.s' movements.

"Why are you here!?"

"To talk, nothing more, nothing less."