Like a moth to the flame - Wyvern14 (2024)

Chapter 1: Devil Stare

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He remembers the first time he laid eyes on her.

It was before a patrol, slightly preceding the Dark Hour, as he was readjusting his gloves. The cameras were spying on the twins, while Mitsuru and Takeba were glued to the greenish display, lips pursed and thinking. The archer was twitching in her seat, visibly frazzled at the intrusion into other people’s personal lives.

While he was no voyeur, this was strictly business: evaluating the potential in the two new dorm members and then either move them out or bring them into the fold, hopefully. More people meant increased efficiency, potentially more action just like the old days with... Akihiko crackled his knuckles, forcing the leather of his gloves into place comfortably. His knee twitched, he couldn’t wait to go outside and just… move.

While he had been briefed about the coming of the twins by Mitsuru at school in-between classes, it was the first time he laid eyes on the duo of teenagers, and it took him by surprise. First off, they were both in the male twin’s room, huddled together instead of sleeping separately. Second, they were wide awake and whispering together and the camera mics couldn’t catch anything.

The churning weirdness of the Dark Hour lurched through the building, shutting down the current, dimming the hum of appliances and buzzing lightbulbs, carpeting the dorm in silence. The clacking of keyboard keys broke the haze as the senior girl focused the camera on the underclassmen duo.

They were not coffins.

While a slight ripple of stress had tensed their shoulders during the lighting change, they were not panicking, barely phased by the Dark Hour’s weirdness.

Both had stopped whispering, looked around and then flickered their eyes in tandem towards the spying camera. Their eyes almost glowed, two red one and one blue respectively, eerily giving the impression they were glaring at their observers in accusation. Did they know they were being looked at, right now, or was this a coincidence?

The looking back caused Takeba to shiver, she brought her arms around herself, rubbing the tingle of goosebumps. The single blue flicker was looking right through her it seemed, and she had to turn away. Mitsuru huffed discreetly, probably feeling the same unease but barely expressing it, keeping her cool.

There was indeed something unsettling about the spectacle once they were not directly poking a hole toward the security camera: the blue-eyed twin stared emptily ahead from the only eye not covered by his long hair, while his sister darted her red ones around the room, fidgeting then eventually settling down to hold her brother’s hands in hers. There was a feisty energy in her that her twin lacked, he seemed contemplative, indrawn. They both seemed content to just wait and murmur, their lips barely moving, hers more than his. A contrasting set of brother and sister to be sure.

“I feel kinda bad, though, spying on them like this…”

Hearing Takeba speak brought him out of his contemplation at the same time as the spied girl flashed her red orbs towards the camera, jolting him. Did they hear her speak? No, no chance of that. He absently rubbed the ribbing between thumb and index to settle the leather further, tapped his foot and shook his head.

Mitsuru turned her chair around to face her.

“It’s necessary, just a few more days as the chairman said, and we shall know for sure if they have the potential.”

Takeba didn’t seem convinced or more comfortable, hands picking at her sweater absently.

“In any case, I’m going out for a bit.” Akihiko inserted, hitching to just get out of here and escape the current somber mood of the room. Despite them not facing the camera anymore, that glowing set of red irises was imprinted in his mind, and he felt uneasy as if he had seen something he shouldn’t. He wasn’t sure how to gracefully exit and tapped his foot nervously, this felt awkward.

His fellow senior acknowledged his message with a slight nod, then turned back toward the screen, business-like.

If the archer looked his way when he crossed the threshold of the door, he didn’t notice, focusing all his attention to stealth while he made his way toward the entrance of the dorm. It wouldn’t do to disturb their guests while they were under surveillance and bring him into the mix just yet. Anyways, he had a job to do.

The murky outside, barely lit under a sickly green, was empty of movement. Finally free from pretense and decorum, he broke into a light jog to patrol around, hitching to run into trouble.

This is where he felt alive: moving, fighting, no limits, no rules. There were no bells to call the fight, no restraint, just pure adrenaline keeping him alive, breathing, enjoying the results of all his training to go beyond his limits. When your body is focused on the fight, there is no time to think, nothing to ponder or dissect, no feelings to digest, no inner weirdness to secondguess. Just action, just the now, and that is how he liked to keep it.

As he turned a corner, the syrupy sounds of a supernatural presence reverberated in the silence. A few black blobs were making their way out of an alley. His lips curled into a smirk, heart already pumped and jolts of electricity coursing through his veins. There was action to be had and he jumped into the fray with no forethought, erasing the glowing eyes from his consciousness with a well-placed direct hit on a shadow. He’s been waiting for this, all day.

Chapter 2: Slash and burn

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“What on earth was that…!?”

Clutching his ribs, one arm dangling like dead weight, he is shaken beyond belief at the scene on the monitors. He feels useless, told to stand back, and he would fight despite his injuries except the shock is keeping him rooted there. Of all the times to be on the mat…

Takeba is sprawled on the floor, barely conscious, with the twin girl hovering next to her. The stoic male twin is screaming shrilly like someone is trying to rip his head off while his summoned creature of nightmare is ripping inky appendages off like paper. The sound must be loud since the mics on the roof are screeching, as if the frequency is too intense for their receptors. Ikutsuki is drawing heavy breaths, puffing out light clouds of steam.

The air during the Dark Hour is usually neither hot nor cold, simply murky and tepid, yet the temperature in the control room seems to have dropped a few degrees when the flying deadly apparition manifested itself. There is an ominous pressure, heavier than the usual presence of a persona made temporary flesh, pressing on Akihiko’s temples, like THIS persona is imposing itself on reality.

The twin falls silent, then once the shadow dissipates in a billow of smoke and his persona reverts to the harper, crumples on the floor. His sister immediately rushes over, dropping her weapon with a clatter and tries to rouse him.

“Minato, wake up!”

Mitsuru passes a hand over her eyes, seemingly refreshed by the loss of the pressure in the room. She watches as Takeba tries to raise herself to her knees.

“Is it over…?”

The feed glitches and wavers, then the pitter patter of slimy splats is heard through the monitors.

“Arisato, it’s still moving…! No… G-Get away from me!”

Despite his pain and Mitsuru taking a hold of his arm, he is about to simply rush up there to protect his underclassmen when Ikutsuki hisses.

“Just wait!”

Thump thump

It's as if time has stopped and all he hears is the blood rushing in his eardrums.

So quick it feels like monitor lag, she picks up the replica gun and her makeshift naginata in one fell swoop and rushes in. There is no hesitation in that fluid motion, just a grim set of lips, spread thin and barely showing teeth, and a tension near her eyes that betrays concentration.

The bladed weapon spins gracefully in the air to connect with black sludge and the porcelain-like mask, cleaving it in two in a single hit. Her form is natural as she stands on the balls of her feet, knees flexed slightly to keep mobility. She whirls toward the second in a half-circle, draws the evoker to her temple and screams in a clear voice.

“Persona!”

Another ethereal presence manifests, very similar to the mirage conjured by her twin but clad in gold and fiery hues, heart-shaped harp in tow. Flames jut from the apparition, embracing its owner and her weapon. Her eyes glowing as red as the power she called forth like two little stars, she swings her naginata toward the remaining shadow with flair.

The jet of flames is directed true and bursts forth with a splash of light, blinding the screens like a flashbang. As the red-hot fire dims, twin flames of red are still visible. The girl blinks, her glowing stare dies down, then she sways on her feet and takes three steps toward her twin.

Her legs give way and she faints next to him, dropping everything. The evoker rings in the air a few times as it bounces on the concrete, breaking the spell.

Akihiko exhales with force, just now realizing he has been holding his breath for some time. He had forgotten how awakening to the potential could be brutal, yet the twins had done it in a fashion that was extraordinary.

That’s right, he was injured earlier. His upper arm nerves are twitching like lightning, his ribs are on fire, and he flexes his fingers to lessen the sting. Hopefully this solves itself quickly, if there were more of these larger enemies, he needed to be ready. Surely he could be back in the fray quite soon.

Shortly after the Dark Hour ends, the twins are brought to the hospital, along with him, despite his protests. Mitsuru would hear none of it, so he hangs his head in defeat and waits for the doctors to come in and fix his bandages. Forlorn, he looks through the window at the winking lights of Tatsumi Port Island.

His eyes sparkled with admiration, these two twins would be worthy companions to brave the Dark Hour and its dangers. Fellow members that can hold their own strikes a particular competitive streak in him. He flexed his injured arm in anticipation of events to come and hisses in pain. Maybe tomorrow.

Chapter 3: Ying yang of ice and fire

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The briefing with Ikutsuki to introduce them to SEES goes almost exactly how he foresaw it. The initial introduction of the Dark Hour seems unsurprising to the twins, but the most fascinating aspect of the exchange comes from the strangeness of the siblings themselves.

Akihiko can’t say he ever met twins before that day, and the amount of unsaid between them confuses him. It’s like they speak a silent language nobody could decipher, yet they are so different in demeanor that the fact they are so closely related is jarring. A single glance from one to the other carries a whole conversation.

Minato he can sort of get right off the bat: silent, stoic, a man of a few words. He seems the kind of person to move forward, and the grass will part to give him way because he glides through the scenery like a ghost. Probably a studious, serious person, with polite but to the point answers. He could probably blend in crowds easily, camouflaging inbetween others as if he was wearing a mask made of mirrors. No doubt they will get along quite well, he is also not one for winded conversations and foolishness.

His sister on the other hand, you cannot help but notice as she enters any room: she is alive in every sense of the word. Her brother is all cool colors, while she sparks like fire. From the gleam of red in her auburn air, her devilish irises sparkling under lamp light, her eager smile, and almost giddy steps, she almost vibrates with energy. He has no idea what to expect from the firebrand, but he has seen her mettle in battle and gauged her accordingly, it's that part that counts. Akihiko catches himself smirking with amusem*nt as he explains what exactly the Dark Hour brings to the table.

“We call them “Shadows”. They only appear during the Dark Hour, and attack anyone not in a coffin. It’s our job to defeat them… Sounds exciting, huh?”

He cracks his knuckles as he says it, just thinking about it makes him anticipate his return in the field. He catches himself before his foot starts taping on the carpet and awards him a stern glance from the executioner in the room.

One of the Arisatos glances with a sea blue eye towards him, unreadable, then his sister, and there is a world of unsaid passing in between them in mere seconds. Minako smiles, eyes sparkling and eyebrows expressive, then turns towards him.

“Do go on!”

Mitsuru, annoyed, huffs to her companion.

“Akihiko! Why are you always like that? You just got hurt the other day!”

Interrupting her, Ikutsuki intervenes to calm the play.

“Now, now. He does his work well.”

A minute glance between Akihiko and Minako and they are both slightly grinning briefly to each other. A sheen of blue turns to him, instantly spotting the shared excitement between him and his sister, almost like a reprimand. The moment lasts not even a second before they return to a neutral listening façade toward Ikutsuki’s explanation.

Feisty, this one, seems she already made her mind, or they both did, hard to say for her brother quite yet. If his guess is correct, she will not judge him for his tendencies and might just be as reckless as him, they should get along quite well. They barely know each other, but it feels like they are kindred souls, wanting to protect loved ones above all.

That train of thought bring a pang of longing with it, reminding him of a small girl with silvery hair and large shiny eyes for a second and he blinks thrice to blanket the hurt. There is something in her demeanor that reminded him of his sister, but he can’t quite put the finger on what. A tinge of regret creeps up on him, thinking about their bond as brother and sister. He knows how precious that is, and hopes they have the will to keep each other safe.

From the outside, Akihiko looks stoic, but from the inside, the pain stings at some vague feeling of loss. It could have been him and Miki, but it came crashing down in a rain of smoking debris. It’s not some laundry to air during the meeting and it concerns only himself, so he smothers it down, jaw clenched.

The past is the past, just need to make sure it doesn’t repeat itself.

He breathes calmly, in and out as Mitsuru continues her sales pitch, ending with a request for the siblings to lend their strength to the cause. Minato barely nods, then gets up in perfect sync with his twin as they both grab their evokers from the case. Once again, no hesitation, just a glance between each other before they nod again. The pact is sealed.

“Alright, we accept!”

She speaks for them both with quiet determination. Her brother grunts in agreement, so low it’s barely a sound.

Takeba, silent and fidgeting since the start of the meeting, hangs her head with a sigh of relief.

“I was afraid you’d say no… Welcome aboard you two!”

A few more words and the meeting conclude. As they file out of the room, Akihiko spies the twins standing in the room, standing close and conferring among themselves with silence and loaded glances.

There is a visible intimacy between these siblings that makes him realize twins are a different breed entirely and the sum of them might be a tough nut to crack. Are they all like this, or does this synergy comes from previous hardships is yet to be seen, but it should prove useful in the field to have such a duo in sync.

Chapter 4: Tartarus

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The tower of demise, the underworld, the nest of shadows.

The first foray of the SEES motley crew was bittersweet for Akihiko since he was barred from participating in any meaningful way because of his injuries. The mysterious tower was finally accessible, promising tests of strength and answers to long-sought answers, yet he could not step inside its labyrinth because of a mere flesh wound.

Not a man suited to wait in the sidelines, he was fidgeting and walking in circles as if the marble below the stairs needed a good cleaning with his soles.

For the umpteen time that night, Mitsuru shot him a glacial sideline look that did not bode well for this health.

“Why don’t you take a seat, or better yet, study in the meantime? Your pacing is making me lose my concentration.”

Her tone was crisp and frosty. He sighed, head hanging low. Maybe he should have brought his essay along to keep his mind busy.

“Sorry Mitsuru, I just wished I was up there with them. How are they hanging?”

She pushed a hand to her forehead, brushing hair out of the way and blinking twice to adjust to and from her inner sight.

“Quite well actually, the twins are a force of nature, just as you predicted. It will take Iori and Takeba a while to catch up to their level of instinct.”

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he smirked in satisfaction at her confirmation of his assessment. He had an eye for strategy and team composition, and it was affirming that he had not lost his leadership qualities despite a diminished squad for quite a while.

Expectant, he looked at her with a calculating gaze, hoping for some more details. Once he resumed his leadership, that information would be crucial to lead the juniors into the fray effectively.

Mitsuru pondered, eyes looking in the emptiness behind the lobby stairs.

“To be fair, the call to make her the leader was the best. Iori is bouncing around like an excited child, Takeba is still hesitating and her bow is not always held with full intent, but Arisato brings them together with crisp orders and a commanding presence. She has backbone, I will give her that, and I doubt her brother would listen to anyone else, not like he requires much direction.”

Akihiko frowns, wishing he could just see like she does through the maze above them.

“Is he off doing his own thing? I would have thought…”

“Actually no, Arisato pretty much acts like an extension of his sister’s offensive capabilities. It’s almost like a being with four hands, 2 heads and 2 personas, they move in tandem like dancers, you should see them at it. I am quite glad they decided to join us, the other juniors will be whipped into shape in no time.”

He nods, appreciative of the update but still no less frustrated by his lack of presence. So, she could lead effectively, and the blue-haired twin might not listen to anyone else because their synchrony was so instinctive as to be deeply ingrained. As for the other two, it might have to do with their age, or respect at her power, but she did attract your gaze with her boundless energy as soon as she came in any room.

It could not have been Iori or Takeba in any case, their bickering would detract from the dangers of the expedition and cause a ruckus. He mentally filed his observations just as their select exploration team came back from the fray through the teleporter.

You could hear the sighs of fatigue from a mile away and spot lurching shoulders as each teenager stepped forward. The heaviness of the Dark Hour took some getting used to. Akihiko gave them all a lookover to assess the damages and was surprised to see the twins standing straight. A little worse for wear, some dust on their clothes and a few hairs out of place, but nothing jarring. Blue and red were bright and sharp still, despite combat and the unknown. Stable and level-headed, these two.

“That was fun, we should totally come back tomorrow!” Minako was wiggling her brows at her fellow second years excitingly. Junpei looked deflated in response.

“Are you kidding me? I am dead on my feet!”

Takeba also looked miffed at the suggestion, as if she was staying awake from pure will. Minato shrugged, put his hands in the pockets of his jacket and glanced at his sister.

“Game when you are.”

She nodded, then sighed, realizing that her enthusiasm was not as contagious as expected. Mitsuru grilled them a bit on their impressions of Tartarus and explained how the fatigue was normal and took some getting used to. Then she smiled.

“I’m surprised through, you all did much better than I expected! At this rate, they’ll catch up to you in no time Akihiko!”

“Eh, we’ll see about that!” He huffed, proud but content to potentially fight with peers up to his level. They started to pack up and grab the survey equipment for a return to the dorm.

Outside Tartarus, Akihiko chuckled to himself. He was watching the juniors’ procession making its way down the streets. Minako was skip hopping along her brother’s straight-as-an-arrow purposeful walk, with the sleepy teenagers huffing in frustration just behind. He swore he could hear Iori grumble a comment to Takeba about the red-haired twin’s unholy energy at this hour and would she please just stop flaunting everywhere just to rub it in.

The next visits should prove to be entertaining, at the very least.

Chapter 5: Boredom

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Akihiko meets the twins in the train on the way to school the day after their first foray into the tower. After a refreshing sleep, they seem just as unfazed as the previous night. Minato is walking, earphones in place, while his sister buzzes around him like a flight footed bee. At a glance, you couldn’t tell they were fighting for their lives mere hours ago, weapons at the ready. He gives them a holler, making small talk about their coming to school.

“Are you all right? You must be confused since you’ve just transferred here too.”

The twins share a loaded glance, Minato shrugs as if its no big deal and his sister flashes a grin.

“Nah, we’re all right. We are used to moving around, too. The last few years have…”

Her brother touches her elbow, stays silent, but she cuts off whatever she wants to say at his command. Awkward, Akihiko hesitates to continue his train of thought.

“Well, good, I guess you both are quite different from Junpei. Me, I’m so bored I feel like I could die.”

She laughs at the distraction of his comment, eyes alight. It seems she gets the feeling he is trying to convey, which is good!

“…Hey, is there any way I can sneak in on the fight?”

The twins exchange a glance, taken aback, like he jumped tracks too quickly.

“Nevermind, the consequences wouldn’t be worth it.”

He rubs the back of his neck, bristling his short hair, internally defeated. He knows exactly what would happen if he even tried to mingle in the exploration party at night and passing a bad moment as a living popsicle is not on his short list of goals. Maybe he went there too quickly too fast with them.

The bell rings, signaling the upcoming general assembly and they part ways among the crowd of students.

………………………………………………..

The end of the day happens earlier than he is used to. After all, with injuries he is barred from the boxing club until the doctors give their approval. He tried to bypass it, but Mitsuru must have pulled some rank to ensure his recovery is as painfully boring as possible.

The silver-haired teen exits the building earlier than most of his classmates, attracting a throng of vapid girls around him.

Not again…

He sighs, forcing himself to look at the blank spaces in-between the jerking bodies of his fanclub, who is actively trying to attract his attention with a level of noise that makes his ears buzz painfully.

His saviors appear as a nonchalant trio of juniors, making their way down the stairs. Earphones, baseball cap and gleaming hairpins shine like an oasis in a sea of harpies. Junpei seems to be vaguely scowling in his direction, gesturing with exasperation. Looks like he already scotched himself to the duo of newcomers like a fly on a takoyaki boat, as if he was always there to begin with.

One of the first years tries to yank on Akihiko’s sleeve, on his injured arm no less, and he dodges gracefully out of the crowd toward his fellow SEES members with not even a glance toward his attacker. The groupies part way with a sigh and follow him somewhat closely.

“Hey, are you guys free this afternoon?”

Anything to get out of here, but also, there is business to tackle. This should take his mind out of his inaction gloom, even for a little while. He barely registers that the daring first year and a few others are throwing shaded glances to Minako like she offended them, but the girl seems unbothered by the attention.

Junpei is smiling like an idiot, looking at the young girls fawning over his senior like a kid in a candy store. While Akihiko explains he wants them to meet him in the mall near the police station, the twins stay silent and nod.

“…Uh, are your friends gonna come along, too?” Junpei asks in a small voice.

The boxer shakes his head, looks around, registers the crowded space. It’s like they were invisible or unnoticeable, just a bunch of bodies in the way until he mentions it.

“Who, these girls? I don’t even know their names. They talk so much they give me a headache.”

A collective sigh, then whispers and an undulation of schoolgirls. Why was this important anyways? Just noise, noise, and things to avoid.

Minako chuckles at his observation, drawing daggers to stare to her, but she brushes it off with a shrug. Her brother hangs back, content to stay in her shadow but he has an almost invisible smirk hiding under his hair.

Akihiko gives her a curious glance, flustered, then skims over the hostile crowd in a flicker of his eyes. Why are they all looking at her like that? She barely said anything, only accepting his invite with a curt nod.

“Anyways, I’m gonna head out, don’t keep me waiting.”

Chapter 6: Chaos

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For quite a while, it was just him and Mitsuru, then Takeba brought a new, quiet presence but nothing quite noticeable. She tended to leave the dorm and visit some of her archery club friends, her seniors being colleagues and not people to hang out with.

Minato is quiet, almost too much. His presence in the dorm is quite often a surprise, the junior being a natural loner who spends quite some time in his room. He talks little, keeping his voice to a minimum and when he joins his fellow second years he looks like he just tags along, but the quiet smiles are there.

Junpei by himself is noise incarnate. He slurps his instant ramen like his life depends on it, bickers constantly with Takeba, explodes with excitement or frustration when playing video games in the lounge and acts like a total slob in the kitchen. Nonetheless, he either attaches himself to one or both twins at the hip whenever convenient and brings some fiery energy to the space.

Surprisingly, Mitsuru seems animated quite often when Iori is present, whether to sermon him about his outbursts, raise an arched eyebrow at the mess near the sink with a promise for execution or a delicate chuckle when Minato beats him at video games.

Takeba seems to have found a kindred spirit in Minako and they return from shopping, bags in hand or takeout in those tiny boxes quite often, chatting amiably. There even seems to be a slight tension between the archer and Iori as to whom gets to snag the girl away with them after school in her brief downtime.

He blinks, she hollered something like a thank you before she runs off and he is just standing there, arms still outstretched, like everything happened too fast. His palms are tingling, the tornado is gone downstairs in a flash.

“So Captain, who was that? Do you know her? What a cutie!”

He looks to his companion, brows quizzically raised, trying to scramble a reply while he blinks.

“Uh? Oh, she lives in the same dorm as me. Why?”

The fellow boxer grins, a flush on his cheeks.

“Think you could introduce me to her?”

He blinks again, unsure where this is going.

“Trust me, she had no time for you. C’mon, let’s go.”

A vague unease tugs at him and doesn’t know what to make of it. This is new.

Chapter 7: Shinji

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Akihiko hates hospitals, for several reasons. The crisp, white linen, the scent of antiseptics, the smells of sickness, the waiting. But it’s a necessary evil at this point to get his approval slip for a return to combat, to boxing, to living. He feels like a rat in a cage.

He brought some class material to peruse as he waits for the specialists to make their rounds toward his assigned room, but fidgets nonetheless, concentration to a minimum. The whole day is going sideways, starting with this morning.

It’s been a while since his injury, and he feels just fine. A little sore here and there, but if he keeps his exertions to a reasonable level there won’t be anyone the wiser. He hasn’t started hitting the sack in his room quite yet, it was too noisy to be undetected, but he decided this morning that some running was in order. Weeks of staying put were driving him crazy, his body was loudly demanding a jolt and the lightning lodged between his knuckles needed an outlet before it fried his fingers to stumps.

At the crack of dawn, way before anyone sensible should be up, he made his way in silence, clothed in loose sports gear and a pair of sneakers, toward the entrance of the dorm. He raised his hand toward the door latch and almost jumped out of his skin when the kitchen faucet started.

He could slip out or face the intruder and find some kind of excuse as to his delinquent behavior. But Mitsuru…

“Going out senpai?”

Minako poked her head from the kitchen, eyes sparkling with mischief. She eyed the clock on the wall, his shoes, then her gaze raised toward his, and a brow took a hike upward to question him.

He gulped, caught like a deer in headlights, licked his lips. Why was she up and about at 5 on a school day? Did she even sleep?

Her hair is loose.

He blinks, registers that she is still dressed in a comfy pyjama, unruly curls billowing below her shoulders and no hairpins in sight. She almost seems like a different person for some reason, then the red glint flares. He forgot to answer her, and he can’t seem to muster a decent excuse on the fly. Fingers drum on his sides, he draws a blank.

“I thought your injury wasn’t healed yet, aren’t you supposed to be out for a while still?”

He grunts, clearly his plans are out of the window and now that he’s been caught, he won’t be able to pull this stunt again another morning. Mitsuru is absolutely going to find out about his latest stubbornness.

Minako waits a few seconds, expectant, then sighs and smiles softly, dimming the color of her eyes to a mellow brown. She looks him over, then nods, pensive.

“It just so happens I came down and opened the front door this morning to watch the sunrise since I woke up too early, it’s not like you unlocked it. If I accidently woke you up making tea, also not on you, and it drove you to talk a walk because what else can you do to pass time before school. You know? Off you go!”

She shoes him away with her hand like he is a small kid, matter forgotten. He flashes her a toothy smile of gratitude and hops down the dorm stairs in a light jog. He knew she understood, they definitely will get along well.

Must have forgotten to close behind him since he hears her calling in the empty street as he runs, clearly, she must handle that for him as well.

“Don’t go nuts out here senpai, we will need you soon in there!”

The tone is jovial, and he grins to the wind as he picks up the pace. His legs are screaming for good workout, and while his ribs are burning a bit as he breathes deeply, the pain is just a welcome friend at this point.

……………………………………….

He has been recounting the events of the day in a somewhat abbreviated format to Shinjiro in his hospital room. There must have been something on his face since his oldest friend was staring at him as if he grew a second head.

“What’s wrong?”

Shinji, gruff as usual, had a weird expression in his eyes, bewildered. Akihiko feared he had mangled the explanation and caused something awkward, yet again.

“You are such a dumbass, Aki.”

The beanie-head kept his head moving in a negatory, mocking way, looking away with a smirk of amusem*nt. Well, this was new, he usually always just sounded… annoyed with him since he left. What did he say that was so funny?

Before he could answer or question his statement, he was called for his checkup.

“Wait for me, should be quick.”

……………………………………….

He came back down the hall to a crowded room. Unexpected development, the day keeps getting weirder and weirder. Shinjiro was standing tall and ominously close to the second years, Junpei looked about ready to run away, Takeba flustered behind him and unsure which way to turn, while the twins stayed back, curious at the unknown person.

Shinji growled.

“Tch… I don’t have time for this sh*t.”

As he made his way to the door, and the twins blocking the doorway, he gave Minato a look over, grunted as if recognizing a fellow spirit, then glanced with interest at Minako. Meeting her eyes, his own orbs sparked, he smirked and did a quick up and down to assess who he was looking at.

“You…”

The girl, if she was intimidated in any way, showed none of it, a hand defiantly on her hip. That flame of assertiveness was in full display. She met his gaze without flinching and didn’t blink. Akihiko had never seen a standoff between any girl and Shinji, this was… unexpected. Usually, people cowed before his old friend, or got out of the way.

Shinji smiled, looked sideways, met Akihiko’s grey orbs and nodded appreciatively.

“Ah, nevermind…”

He left the premises as fast as he could in a few long strides, leaving the flustered juniors right there.

Akihiko fumbled into his own thoughts, he had simply no idea what just happened or why Shinji had acted this way. He shook it off when tentatively, Iori questioned who that was.

“An old friend from school… sort of.”

Chapter 8: Junpei

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Their latest addition to the team was typical teenage boy material and quite different from him. He clearly had little motivation to think outside of the now, surfing on the sensations of the present with aloofness. He was a boon in combat, although a tad reckless from what Mitsuru was mentioning, but he tackled Tartarus like he handled his video games: he got back up and got to work. That, at least, he could respect.

To hear from Takeba, he was always up to no good, sleeping in class, perving on girls, and loafing instead of applying some brain cells to schoolwork. From the huffs and sighs of despair from Mitsuru, he was, quite simply, a slob that put any room he coasted in into disarray.

Minato was his calm partner in crime, dampening his worst habits with a few one-eyed glares when it crossed the line. Minako, on the other hand, simply encouraged him to be himself and that was baffling. She was far from irresponsible or scatterbrained, from the comings and going she had all over school and the dorm she seemed to have quite a schedule, yet she spent quite a bit of time glued to Junpei, doing nothing truly productive except hang out and laugh out loud, often.

That fact hadn’t really dawned on him, or the possible implications, before a certain day in May when they came back, skipping through the doorway with fanfare, from some time at Chagall. Akihiko was sitting at the table, math books sprawled in a methodical method around his homework, fully set on wrapping it up as quickly as he could when the commotion took his mind away from the science of calculus with a bang.

“Dude! You should totally give that game a try!”

“Is it on PC? I don’t have a console like you, hopefully it got ported!”

Shoes clapping, they passed near him, went to the kitchen and Junpei attempted to tickle her on the way to the fridge where she was trying, chuckling, to grab a water bottle.

Akihiko rubbed his neck, irritated, and turned absently to the source of the noise. He never meant anything specific by his gesture, he was simply exasperated at having nothing else to do legally except study, but he caught them in his stare.

Junpei had his arm on her hip, while she stood very close to him, cheeks red and hair in disarray from their frolics. She paused, blushed, and adverted her eyes from her senior as if something dawned on her suddenly. Her eyes had opened wide a split second, he couldn’t help but wonder if he was grimacing in a strange way and he clamped his lips down, mortified.

“Sorry sempai, we didn’t want to interrupt your studying. C’mon Junpei, we should go upstairs!”

She almost ran towards the stairs, but the boy adjusted his cap, looked at Akihiko with a calculated gaze and smirked, seemingly satisfied with some inner answer he came to.

“Wait for me Mina-tan! And… don’t forget what I told you earlier, you should totally go for it.”

Junpei laughed to himself and followed in a few long-legged strides, not looking back. Akihiko ran a hand over his face, it felt like there were events around him that somehow implicated him, yet he wasn’t a participant, and things were getting confusing.

Breathing out noisily, he blinked a few times, trying to drown out of the imprinted image of the two juniors, so very close and their cheeks flushed. It felt somehow disturbing to think about, but he couldn’t figure out why. Fingers twitching on his pencil, he tried to get back to his work, but the heart wasn’t into it.

…………………..

Yet again relegated to the sidelines, despite, this time, numerous protests and an almost attempt to follow the juniors at the last minute, Akihiko slumped in the command room chair. There was another one of these huge shadows tonight near the monorail and for the second time, he was sitting here hissing in pain instead of punching something.

Mitsuru had made her point very clear by jabbing two pointy fingernails exactly at the right spot in his ribs to cause them to throb and he was huffing by himself, hoping he would digest his frustrations before the field team came back. Tapping his foot, restless, this was not a good day. Ikutsuki was absorbed in some files and left him to sulk by himself, not like they could really do anything from here except await news.

At least Minako was still in charge, she had this covered, and he had full confidence in her leadership capabilities. She had left head high and eyes bright, the very picture of determination made flesh, her brother in tow equally stoic, despite being woken up by the command room alert. Time and again, the twin duo had conquered all the challenges of Tartarus, the bickering of Iori and Takeba, and all surprises that came their way with tremendous confidence.

Akihiko wondered if he wanted to even take charge of field operations, once he could. Perhaps he could simply focus on catching up to them, he might have fallen a tad behind after so much time in recovery. If he didn’t have to focus on strategy and team balancing, he could muster all his energy on getting stronger.

As Mitsuru told it, both her and her brother could change personas like they were trying on new pairs of shoes, adapting to any situation like a glove. That had been a surprise, it could be a tremendous advantage in the field to cover any and all weak points of the team no matter its composition.

Minato made his team reputation by being a vicious attacker, while his sister meshed spells and support around her teammates like a hen. That sort of role requires protection to be efficient, and while her brother might keep an eye on things, he could keep a more consistent point attack role if he had some backup in defense. Yes, that would do, he had a good awareness of combat he could use and excellent mobility. Defense or offense, the work had to get done.

Akihiko jolted out of his thoughts when Mitsuru contacted them to inform the chairman of their success. Once Ikutsuki left the room to go grab a drink, she went into more details with her fellow senior on the chain of events, the near-collision, and the insubordination of Junpei in the field.

That… would not do. The guy had a streak of entitlement that needed to be quelled, and it was preposterous to disobey the field commander, especially on an important operation such as this. He got up, crackled his knuckles, Iori and him were going to have a good conversation about loyalty.

Chapter 9: Into The Ring

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Midterms were ending this very morning, and the manic juniors could finally stop stressing over everything at the dorm, at least until the results were posted. All that energy buzzing around him would calm down, yet his heart fluttered with excitement, he could almost feel the sparks traveling under his skin, using sinew as a highway from the tip of his finger to his soles. Mitsuru would have nothing to say, since the doctors gave the go-ahead for him to go back to his normal lifestyle, finally.

Akihiko practically ambushed Minako, walking through the gates of Gekkoukan by herself that morning, to ask her if they were planning on visiting Tartarus that night.

Minako smirked at him playfully, she seemed to have a pretty good idea how much he needed this. After all, she had helped him sneak out on an unsponsored run or three at this point, even gave a convincing excuse when Mitsuru started to get suspicious. Her owed her and would owe her even more if she agreed to this.

“Yes senpai, was already planning on it. If I spend another day cooped up with my nose in a book I will scream!” She had almost shouted in despair at her last words, and he chuckled at her exuberance, feeling the same. Perhaps worse, because of, well, everything.

She turned around, glancing at the nearby gossiping classmates. He had barely registered a throng of girls loosely hanging some distance away, hand on their lips, looking at them. They were far enough but he lowered his head closer to hers just in case anyway. Her coppery hair smelled like sun-kissed strawberries.

“By the way, I have a favor to ask. You’ve been doing a great job leading the team in Tartarus… Would you mind continuing after I come back?”

She widened her red eyes in surprise, looking up to him quizzically. He continued:

“That way, I can concentrate on building my strength.”

He could almost hear the gears of her mind assessing this information as she pursed her lips, thinking furiously. She had demonstrated an uncanny understanding of the team’s capabilities, both known and suspected, and together with her brother as a second in command, made her plans a reality. It might be easy for her to slot him somewhere in the scheme of things, perhaps she had even considered that possibility beforehand.

“Leave it to me!”

Those simple words, assertive, her head bobbing for confirmation, made him smile. This was that, and all that was left was to look ahead to the night’s exploration. Joints buzzing with unspent energy, he walked her to class in thanks, to the jealous glare of the corridors’ morning denizens.

………………….

The night of May 23^rd for Akihiko felt like a breath of crisp air after a near-drowning experience. Following weeks of inactivity and just indirect exposure to the efforts of the junior team in Tartarus through secondary hearsay and prim proper reports from Mitsuru, he was eager to just step into the ring of hell and let loose.

He was ready for action, having drilled a light routine in his room prior to the Dark Hour to invigorate himself. Yet, nothing could have really prepped him for this brand-new group combat experience with the twins.

Weapons were flexed, evokers strapped to body parts, shoes tied, then it was time to go. Ruffing his hair, feeling like a ball of unspent static shock, he adjusted his gloves then strapped a knuckle tighter as they all stepped into the teleporter.

Not only was this block of Tartarus a jarring, unreal visual experience of colors, but the air felt stale. Nonetheless, he admired as the juniors took positions around their leader like they had done so all their lives. Takeba to the center, Junpei took point with Minato and Minako held the rear, naginata held loosely but eyes alert, then looked at him with a question in her eyes. He fell in step next to her, nodding. He would have to observe if that was the best spot for him to complement everyone else but for now, defense was optimal.

It took them less than a minute to find trouble, which Junpei engaged wholeheartedly, bastard blade held like he would cleave everything in half in a single hit.

…………………

He had worked in a team before, with Mitsuru and Aragaki, but this was entirely different. Shinji tended to do his own thing, ignoring but the direst of orders, while Mitsuru, despite being aggressive and cool-headed, was too controlled. There was a certain looseness required to really fall into harmony, and he was now witnessing it firsthand with the twins. Not to mention the vastness of their persona apparitions, which ranged from faeries to demons and weird effigies of power.

Minako was the anchor of the group, half her time was spent providing directives or eyes to her peers who couldn’t always grasp the full picture of the fight. Hands outstretched and eyes glowing, she summoned beings after beings, calling columns of light to vaporize shadows or strengthening their capabilities with showers of colored sparks. A flick of a wrist, a pointed naginata or simple commands relayed information she was getting live fed from Mitsuru on weaknesses or focus fire targets.

Takeba, bow at the ready but mostly focused on healing, enveloped each of them in soothing mists if shadows had the fortune to make a decent dent in their defenses. Cover fire was focused and well-timed.

Minato was an agile fighter, darting around Junpei’s broader and front-facing gait like a deadly falcon. When no openings presented itself, or if the large groups could even cause a few shadows to break towards his sister, he immediately fell on defense, at least initially. Once he figured Akihiko was aware of their positioning at least as much as he was, the twin relaxed and remained on the offensive, he had eyes at the back working for him. They exchanged a few glances here and there, almost as if Minato was challenging him to slip at his job.

Hearing Takeba say it, their speed of execution almost doubled that night: Minato had a large arsenal of elemental offensive capabilities, both with blade and persona abilities, and when he wasn’t busy hovering around his sister, he felled large swats of weakened shadows like a child attacks his cereals. It’s also not like Minako approved, grumbling about her twin’s protectiveness like it was an affront, but as a fellow big brother, he understood exactly what and why this was occurring. Good fellow, Minato, with the proper priorities. Perhaps she wouldn’t take so much offense if Akihiko took over, it's never quite the same as with a sibling.

Taking confidence after a few easy encounters where he barely broke a sweat, they managed to engage larger groups with the increased firepower, just to test the waters.

As soon as Akihiko punched through a shadow’s body with a straight hook of his knuckles, hand falling through a haze of dissipating black particles, he grabbed his evoker. He summoned swats of lightning to clear up the flanking field, eyes alight with glee, then he rolled toward another enemy as Minako boosted his attacks, then his speed with featherlight sparkles of green. His limbs became a blur.

Punch, roll, evoker to the head, shield, lightning bolts to the left, quick sprint then dive, drill punch, rince repeat. He was exhausted, mind void of any buzzing thoughts in a good way, once the carnage ended. Their front and secondary ranks had fallen back in a half moon near Minako and he found himself half-crouched between the twins like they had planned a victory pose.

Cracking his wrists to shake off some tingle in his battered fingers, he clapped Minato on the shoulder with some force, admirative of the performance. The blue-haired twin had his hair away from both his eyes for once and he grimly faced his senior. Then, he glanced as his untouched sister, unscathed, and smirked, as if to congratulate him for a test he aced. Minako rolled her eyes, a wan but excited gleam in her irises.

Chapter 10: Crowned by Flames

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As if his return to the front line had opened a gate, his routine started to build on a budding camaraderie with the twins. They had impressive potential and his inner captain spark wanted to nurture that latent talent.

Minato, gifted but harder to read sometimes, eventually cracked a conversation with him about his struggles with kendo, where Akihiko was happy to advise him. As the captain of his own club, he was quite familiar with the brutal introduction of new members and their struggles. They bonded over some beef bowls, that is, Minato mumbled and nodded during the meal, but listened with attentiveness to his advice and potential training routines. They never directly talked about his sister, but a few loaded stares from Minato were heavy with allegory as to where he stood when it concerned her, Tartarus or no. Funny, how at a glance the dominant twin appeared to be her since she acted as the outspoken front of the duo, but behind the scenes it was quite the reverse.

Minako, their leader, he needed to get a better understanding of to support the team to the fullest. The more his thinking was in sync with her approach, the less he would struggle if he had to improvise. She was walking with purpose after class when he caught up to her.

“Oh, it’s you. Are you going home?”

She stopped in her tracks, looked at him with a smile.

“Wanna walk home with me?” It was almost a teasing tone, yet he nodded.

“Do you mind if we stop somewhere on the way? There’s something I was in the mood for. My treat.”

Her eyes lit up at the mention and she nodded.

“Alright, let’s go!”

There might have been some groupies around, yet again, but he saw none of them, just a vague outline of people he had to avoid and clear a path through, Minako close by.

………………………………..

Silver eyes gleam with admiration as she polishes her ramen, despite the size of the bowl. All her frantic activity, on top of Tartarus duties, must require quite a few calories to maintain her head straight with a decent level of energy, but it was still quite a large serving for such a slip of a girl.

He has seen what kind of food the juniors were wolfing down during the midterms, and it scared him to think it was a regular occurrence, hence the pitstop for decent nutrition. Proper fuel for proper results.

Akihiko feels like a tease when she tries to act like the extra-large special is nothing, he never thought she would even try to pretend anything around him, especially since he’s been quite honest in his admiration of her skills. It’s almost as if her mask had slipped for a second, showing a vulnerability for his approval and confidence and he doesn’t know what to make of it.

She had nothing to prove in his eyes and the opening to admonish her for her slight deception surprises him. Perhaps some praise is required to lessen the sting she might be feeling, although with her cheerful disposition, he has a hard time to spot if she is flustered or good at hiding it. Minako remains a bubbly mystery still.

“You know, Mitsuru is the one who recommended you to be our leader, but I thought you would be the best in that position, too. Just keep doing your best, okay? And, of course, we’ll do our best to back you up, as well.”

She nods, lopsided grin in tow like a caught thief, as grey meets red. He pays for their meal, and they jog in silence to the dorm. His thoughts are churning as he watches her, eyes alight and a carefree step right next to him as if it’s nothing demanding. He has been holding back to help them conserve energy for tonight’s exploration, but she would make an excellent running partner. Perhaps he will ask her to join him the next morning they meet in the lobby at the crack of dawn, or after school if she is free.

………..

An occasion presents itself a few days later, the sun is bright and there is a slight wind, filled with the perfume of spring. Akihiko is still in school uniform, but when he meets her near the stairs, he can’t help but ask her to join him on an impromptu training session before he even thinks too deeply about it.

“Sure! Let’s go!” She makes no comment and races him to the school gates playfully.

They run together with a more structured pace afterward and end up, quite a while later, near the shrine’s playground close to the dorm. Huffing and holding his ribs, the teen brings his pacing down and puts his back to the jungle gym, closing his eyes. Breathing deeply, face caressed by the winds and a splash of tree shadows crisscrossing his cheeks, Akihiko enjoys the moment. He is drenched, but the moving air is refreshing after their exertions.

His eyelids open to a master’s painting. Minako is outlined in fire, backlit by the setting sun, skirt and ponytail billowing in the breeze. Like a sculpture of life incarnate, her cheeks are tinged with pink, her red orbs alight with some inner blaze as she gazes absently at the park slide. Little beads of dew are dotting her brow like stars, in-between strands of copper, and she inhales with her whole body, taking in the smell of fresh flowers, closing her eyes in quiet contemplation.

He can feel some heat travel to his cheeks, and he gulps clumsily. It feels like he accidentally entered her dorm room in secret. Sparks are twitching under his flesh, and he clenches his hands back and forth. The creak of leather brings her fluttering eyelashes his way and he avert his stare, all sorts of confused, pretending he was taking in the view of the park.

“...This feels nice. I usually just train in the club room or alone at the dorm.”

Minako smiles warmly, speaking somewhat absently, unfiltered.

“I’ll train with you, if you want.”

They did just run here after school, exactly like he wanted. If more moments like this can recreate the artwork he glimpsed earlier, he can’t refuse.

“I could use a good running partner. But, if you join me, we’re going to do more than just run every day, okay?”

He laughs while trying to air out his collar, doing this in uniform was the worst idea. Fishing for some distraction, wanting to stretch the quiet moment to digest the chaos in his brain from earlier, he points to the horizontal bar.

“Want to try that before we head back? You can’t do a back hip circle, can you?”

She looks at the bar, then her skirt, and smirks as if the mere suggestion to try is an invitation to disaster.

“I would try, if I was… dressed for the occasion.”

Replying with a smile of his own, he effortlessly taunts his forearms to hold himself aloft and spins around the bar like a gymnast before sitting on top of it.

“Everybody should be able to do this.” He injects a little smugness to his words, not that he was trying to show off but…

She huffs in mock consternation, and he taps the bar right next to him.

“Can you at least sit up here?”

She takes a few steps toward said bar, and without waiting for an answer, he impulsively takes her hands and hoists her up next to him in one fluid pull. Despite his gloves, he can feel the heat from her palms and is reluctant to let them go once she is firmly seated next to him. She smiles, eyes to the sky, motionless for the first time in forever.

Like birds on a powerline, they watch the scenery of dusk falling over Port Island through the canopy of the park trees until the streetlights pop like so many tiny stars, then make their way back to the dorm in contemplative silence.

Akihiko almost tries to speak a few times, feeling obligated to fill up the quietude since this is so unlike her, but for once she seems content to stay silent while she bounces around on the way. Her energy is back and she paves the way with her senior in tow, while he is admiring her zeal like she’s his own portable sun.

Chapter 11: Stealth

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Sneaking around is something Akihiko did extensively as a child, and still here and there as a teenager, so the initial proposition to split up and find the keys in the dark barely phases him.

A sharp contrast with Takeba, who is clearly out of her league, fumbling in the dark and fearful of any noise or creak. Mitsuru eyes the juniors, then orders Minato with the archer since he seems to act as a soothing, calm presence to her nerves, and Minako picks him over Junpei to stalk the elusive gym keys. His fellow senior sighs and shakes her crimson curls in irritation, Iori is not her preferred companion for any activity in duo but there is no way the lanky teen is getting within 2 meters of the faculty office.

With some parting lookbacks, SEES splits up for their timed treasure hunt, they must be ready and in position before the Dark Hour comes.

Akihiko glances down the stairwell, pausing to catch any sound, but it seems clear. On the balls of his feet, he roams in silence towards the first floor and Minako seems to reign her usual bouncy steps to follow in his shadow. As they are about to turn around toward the faculty office corridor, footsteps echo among the columns of the lobby, startling them. A few seconds pass and a dim glow can be seen far down from where the music room is.

If they stay here, they will be spotted for sure.

Minako eyes the lobby like he does but he is faster. Still silent as a cat, he dashes toward the large marble colonnade, large enough to cast a fat shadow that will hide their own. She almost yelps in surprise and closes her lips forcefully to drown out the noise, since he grabbed her arm to bring her along with him.

Gently but quickly, Akihiko shoves her in between himself and the column, blanketing the back of her head with his hand to avoid banging in on the stone, spying with an eye toward the light source. The lamp coming from the corridor has a fat spread and depending on the trajectory of the security guard and his sweeps, he could potentially spot an irregular teen-sized person shape or two protruding from the straight column from one side or another. Neither of them would want to get expelled for trespassing.

Akihiko’s ears perk up, counting the steps of the incoming security guard and evaluating his distance. The guard is almost at the lobby and could turn to his right at any moment, torch in hand, and spot them. Taking a breath, he melts behind the column, unmoving, keeping Minako silent with an intense glare. She looks at him, eyes darting to her feet to watch the demarcation between shadow and light intently. His sweater feels like a layer too much and following her gaze, he comes to the realization that he is sandwiching her between his body and the stone like a pressed flower, with barely enough space to breathe.

His instant reflex is to give her some space, but the guard is literally right next to them and he clamps his knees firmly in place to fight the urge to move. He gives her an apologetic look in despair, and she answers with an unsure red twinkle and a crooked smile, her face as flushed as her neck ribbon.

The guard is taking his merry time scouting the lobby this way and that and Akihiko tries to breathe slow and steady through his nose. The warmth of her proximity is leeching through his clothes, her hair is tickling the patch of skin uncovered by gloves that remains at the back of her head and he licks his lips nervously, his brain broiling.

Footsteps are slowly receding back from where they came from, and he slowly extricates himself from her personal space. This was… he has no words, and a shiver runs down his spine, he couldn’t explain why. Ruffing his back hair to hide his awkwardness, he looks anywhere except at her, fixating on the empty corridor where the faculty office lays while rubbing his neck to chase the tingles that creep there.

“Let’s go.” He practically glides to the door of the office, enters quietly and rummages into the pile of keys like his life depends on it.

“Here, I found it! The gym storage key!”

Minako looks at the pile of keys, murmuring.

“That’s not it, we need the regular gym key.”

He mumbles in shame, she is right and somehow, his attention has been scattered like shadow particles. She digs at random near the pile of keys, pulls one out of it labeled Gym in bold blue letters and he sighs.

“Oh… how about that. Well, at least we found it.”

She pockets it and heads out the door, not meeting his gaze. He definitely mucked the whole stealth operation but he follows close behind her in silence, back to the meeting point. The rescue mission is on to a great start.

Chapter 12: Pandemonium

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The Arqa block’s scenery messes with depth and sound, with its flowing walls that distort echoes. The shadows also seem strong, agitated, making any encounter a risk in solo. Hard to know if they are above the levels they reached the other night, since the labyrinth changes every day.

Dusting his pants as he gets up, Akihiko concentrates on the ambient sound to navigate his quiet corner of purplish hell, hoping to hear anyone and regroup. He has no worry for himself, he’ll take on anything, but his juniors might not fare so well and if they find Yamagishi unconscious, it will require teamwork to bring her back to the entrance and defend her. Blanketed in silence, he advances with care in the labyrinth, all senses wired.

………………………

Junpei is busy holding off two shadows, a cut raining blood down his brow and cheek, a knee seeming weaker than the other. Running to intervene, Akihiko plunges once he is close enough and punch bombs one of their opponents into a sprawl, taking pressure away from Iori. A large swat of blade finishes it off in a cloud of ink.

“Senpai! Good to see you. Did you find the Arisatos?” Junpei sounds relieved and the stress oozes from his voice.

Evoker in hand, poised to strike, he nods in the negative before unleashing a bright flash of thunder on the last shadow in play, then switches to healing to close the gash blinding the junior. Junpei slashes, summons flames, and the fight is done.

“Fingers crossed they are together; this is brutal! I wonder in what shape Yamagishi is in right now…”

Akihiko rolls his shoulder, better not to think about what they could find and keep a straight head.

“Hopefully fine, let’s just move quickly, I got your back.” Firm, commanding, assertive, just like the old days. While he may be bottling down his dread, he can’t show it, now’s not the time. They just need to scramble, safely, since all they can get from Mitsuru is some distorted static. They’re on their own now, no safety net.

………………………

It takes them some time to even come close to another sign of life, shadows are nowhere near after the initial reunion. Junpei reacts instantly once the distinct click of an evoker echoes vaguely in the curved corridors to the right.

“It’s them, they’re close!” The teen runs on ahead, ambushes be damned, blade getting dragged out of its sheet with a metallic song.

As they both turn the corner, they are indeed reassured by the sigh of the twins, back-to-back, weapons in hand and furiously fighting a large legion of shadows. Naginata and sword are darting on both ends of their stand, the enemies pressing them too much anymore to rely on evokers until the numbers are thinned or they might be knocked off their hands.Junpei jumps into the fray toward them, cleaving full force into a shadow from behind while sidestepping some melting ice.

“Dude, finally! I was wondering when we would find you! Did you spot Yamagishi?”

Minato is breathing hard, but nods, dodging a flailing appendage by the skin of his teeth. He took quite a few hits before they came here, his uniform gashed and burned in several spots.

“We can hear her; she is close but hiding for now. Got to clean up the trash first.” Minako talks, voice ragged, glancing at her injured twin with a pained expression. Minato must have shielded her as long as he could, and she wears her guiltiness on her ripped sleeve.

She looks at Akihiko with trust, evoker in hand and he instantly gets the message, eyes narrowing in acceptance. All traces of the previous awkwardness of the night evaporate in the throes of combat and he positions himself with a roll and some footwork between her and her attackers. Jumping into the fray carefully to avoid overreaching, his few quick jabs make the shadows confirm that he is a dangerous opponent to ignore.

A serpentine persona twists and coils around Minako as motes of light engulf the whole party, lifting their spirits and closing wounds. Minato moves toward her, already looking better and letting Junpei take point on his end. Raising his own replica, he calls forth some sort of pumpkin ghost that bathes the floors in flames. Junpei adds more chaos to the fray, throwing a fireball that crumbles a shadow to ash. A column of liquid lightning explodes another that was about to strike at Akihiko, connected to a raised naginata like a grounded rod. White spots dancing in his vision, he punches its neighbor straight through its mask, cracking it with a resounding uppercut, then silence blankets them as the motes of black melt into the floor.

Junpei sighs, somewhat exhausted, then screams bloody murder as a mousy, pale-faced girl makes her way to them on unstable legs. The senior takes in her blueish hair and relaxes, he remembers the class roster picture.

“Are you Fuuka Yamagishi?”

“Y-Yes…”

………………………

Fuuka’s assertion that danger is at the entrance of Tartarus, his previous obliviousness to the potential timing of the full moons and the larger shadows, on top of the static-filled panic from Mitsuru all contribute to sink this day into the gutter. The gloomy tendrils of dread grip Akihiko tighter as they teleport to the bottom of the tower, running before they even fully materialize.

Takeba and Mitsuru are on the floor, disarmed, battered and bleeding, while two large shadows loom over them, ready to give the finishing blows.

“Sanada-san! We gotta draw the Shadows away!”

“Yeah, I’m on it! Hey! If it’s a fight you want, then you’ve got it!”

Junpei wastes no time in engaging them at his side, they need to distract the menace while Minako tends to the girls’ wounds until they can properly regroup.

Knuckles hit flesh but bounce off as if he had struck a brick wall with full force. He falls back, shaking his wrist to chase the numbness. From the corner of his eye, he spots Minato trying to distract the sword-wielding giant by side stepping around it, evoker in hand. Brief flashes of light and flickering figures show that whatever element he is trying to conjure has no effect.

While his sister had healed him previously, he is clearly tired, and it shows. Still, they need to buy themselves some time, but without enough aggression to draw both enemies to them, the large shadows finally turn to the teenager who barged into the lobby and the rescued second year comforting her. Fuuka summons her persona in despair to protect her former bully, throwing the enemies back with the pressure burst of Lucia's actualisation, this is the break they needed.

Takeba tries to get up, balancing her weight with a hand on Minako’s shoulder, her gashed leg seems better but she’s barely able to stand on it.

“Yamagishi-san?”

The small, calm voice that answers her seems almost confident now, distorted by the bubble around her.

“I can see… I… I can see these monsters’ weaknesses…”

This confirms everything their rescue mentioned in Tartarus, about sensing the presences around them when they were trying to find their way back, her warning about the intrusion below. She has a second sight that can support them, and it might just be what’s needed to pierce their new opponents’ defenses.

“Just as I thought. Mitsuru, let her take your place. We’ll handle these guys!”

The boys fan out with him in front of Minako in a rough spread, ready to pounce. She winks at Fuuka as she twirls her naginata energically, clearly communicating with her silently. She nods absently, then looks at Junpei with an excited grin.

“Alright, light this one up!”

They all dart in and out, keeping a defensive profile near their leader until an opportunity appears to destabilize one of the looming giants, exploiting Fuuka’s probing as much as possible. With their new navigator’s help, they win the fight in short order, a highlight after the previous events. The lobby is covered in small smothering flames, chunks of ice and scorch marks as a testament to the vast array of spells that were flung around.

The junior faints, the blue embrace of her persona dissipating as she crumbles on the floor. It’s over.

Chapter 13: Inward

Chapter Text

Despite no Tartarus outlet to dispense of the buzzing cluttering his brain, the next week is a blur. Visiting their potential new recruit at the hospital with Mitsuru, helping her chase some paperwork for Kirijo and SEES, catching up on a French essay and of course club activities take quite a chunk of his time.

He barely sees Minako’s reddish blur pass here and there in the vicinity, papers in hand or glued to her twin with Junpei, and it somehow helps to choke down whatever entered his mind like a burglar during the last operation.

Boxing also comes into play, the sweet mindless release of punches and sparring, sweat glistening down his cheek and the exhaustion of a good workout keeping his thoughts blank, focused. He is at his best when he has no distractions, so he practices with renewed ferocity to reset his wires, drawing awe from his peers.

It takes until Yamagishi is released from the hospital and formerly brought to the meeting room for Akihiko to settle back more permanently at the dorm and everything seems back to how it was before the last daring entry into the Dark Hour.

The lithe, mousy girl accepts to join fiercely, as if she is fleeing a home situation, hopefully nothing as dire as Junpei’s. From what he could gather at the hospital, she is a gentle soul, devoid of any malice and until quite recently, bullied for her qualities. She would be safe with them, knowing the juniors they would fold her into their clique in no time.

…………………………

The next dawn, he put his running shoes on and makes his way outside the dorm under a cloudy sky. Minako rises from her seat in the stairs outside and faces him, wearing loose sport pants and a hoodie with well-worn baskets. Her hands were tied together behind her back and she almost bounced in place like a little kid.

“About time, was wondering when you would show up. Sun’s been showing for a bit.”

Had she been waiting for him?

“Uh… what do you mean?”

“Didn’t you mention you needed a good running partner? Told you I’d train with you!”

A strange time dissonance almost erases all the days in between this moment and their previous sprint to the shrine playground. He smiles, hops down the stairs to join her and they start their run in sync, silent.

It only takes about 5 street corners before she giggles and zooms ahead, daring him to keep up, and the whole run turns into a competition of small, intense bursts of speed to catch up to each other.

While he never quite hits his limit, what was initially planned as a light premise to more training turns into a drenching endurance course that leaves them both panting near the playground, energy spent, the undercurrent of static muted at the back of his brain. The clouds were billowing above and would probably break before noon, but the slight early morning chill felt nice.

Still catching his breath, Akihiko does two graceful spins on the horizontal bar and perches his frame on it in a fluid motion, while Minako lays her back on the cool metal, too tired to even try and join him. Locks of damp hair are sticking to her sweating face, lips red and parted to breathe in a huff, eyes vaguely focused and locked on the trees beyond.

The clouds above part, letting the sun shine above the horizon, the sudden burst of light bringing with it a profound insight. The girl next to him, silent and eerily motionless for once, is usually one to exteriorize her joie de vivre outward, especially around her twin, as if to compensate for his quiet demeanor. It’s a mask she rips inward once she drops her guard, concentrating all her lifeforce within instead.

She looks fragile in her current state, like a single prick of his finger would break her picture into a thousand glass shards and release a sunburst in her stead. Akihiko grips the metal of the bar with white knuckles, fixated on the silhouette standing just below him, barely a hair of space between his knee and her shoulder. She might be like this often, in the privacy of her relationship with Minato, and he is humbled at her trust in him as to reveal such vulnerability in his presence.

It could have been minutes or hours but eventually Minako sighs, eyes closed, a tired half smile painted below now dry strands of hair. She doesn’t look back at him but raises her right hand to touch his left one on his perch, not quite pulling on the tip of his fingers. Instinctively answering the unspoken call to walk back to the dorm, he obliges and leaps down the bar to accompany her.

Chapter 14: Miscommunications

Chapter Text

Lunchtime comes around on a Friday and he finds himself aimlessly walking the school corridors. The droning hum of classmates and some giggles here and there are simply vague background noise; he registers none of it, just looks ahead, hand holding his jacket over his shoulder absently. The throng of bodies part before his steps and he comes face to face with Minako, exiting a room. She raises her irises to his, a question in her gaze, and he looks around, mildly confused.

“What are you doing here? … Oh wait, this is your classroom… Huh…”

He really had no idea where he was walking to begin with, just going through the motions. Akihiko’s ears whined like a bad monitor feed and he blurted the first thing that came to mind.

“Are you busy after class? There’s no club today and I know a really good place to eat.”

Nodding in acceptance with a smile, she briefly took in the dagger stares directed her way, then made her way energetically in the direction he came from, while he continued down the corridor the opposite way. The chatter was maddening today, perhaps he would eat in the clubroom after all.

……………..

Minako was pursing her lips and side glancing his way teasingly in front of the Beef Bowl shop, making him self conscious about wanting to bring her to one of his favorite haunts. The twinkle of amusem*nt in her eyes held no malice, only a reddish warmth, so he took it in stride.

“Honestly, it’s really great here. The servings are big, and the sauce they use on the meat is just…”

Groupies chose this exact moment to screech like harpies in a sing song voice, they had been unfortunately spotted.

Swooping in, they quickly crowd his space and Akihiko recoils, uncomfortable. A sickly sweet perfume is cloying to them like a second skin and two colored faces rise to look at him, all red smiles and shiny teeth. They probably went to Gekkoukan but had changed out of their uniforms.

“Akihiko-senpai, what’re you doing here?” The bun-haired schoolgirl asks.

Her companion chips in joyfully.

“Oh, I know! You’re here for the beef bowls, right? It’s like, so funny that you’re always eating here!”

He bristles at that one, the food here is amazing and perfect for an athlete like him.

“…What’s funny about that?”

His tone probably comes across as rude, but he is getting irritated. This whole exchange feels like someone forgot to give him a copy of the play’s script.

“It means that you’re totally cool!”

“Look, can you get out of the way please? We can’t get in.”

Perhaps he can grab Minako and rush in, fleeing this interaction and be done with it, but he hesitates. His eyes flicker to hers, uncertain, he can’t quite read her expression and his toes starts to jitter in his shoe.

The girl with her hair clipped up steps between the door and him, almost desperate.

“Hey, hey, you don’t have a girlfriend, right? We’re like totally looking for guys to be with right now.”

He shakes his head, thoroughly confused. A girlfriend? What does this have to do with anything? Despite Minako not saying anything since they arrived on the scene, both the groupies turn on her with menacing glares, clearly hostile for some reason. Figuring that was just about the limit of his curtesy, he speaks in a slightly ominous voice.

“Just let us through, please. Let’s go, Minako.”

He opens the door, forcing the bun haired girl to get out of the way, and holds it for his team leader as she pushes through stoically, eyes unblinking. He then enters after her, acting as a shield to the burning stares directed her way.

This whole debacle dampens his mood considerably, he feels like a bystander to his own life at times and his companion is too silent for his comfort. Minako looks him over quickly then plasters on a smile as she inhales the nearby meals, biting her bottom lip in anticipation. Maybe she’s as hungry as he is, the wafts breezing in from the kitchen could raise him from an early grave.

“Do you mind if I order for both of us?”

“Ah, go ahead senpai, I trust you know what’s best on the menu!”

Once two of his favorites are on the way for them, he fidgets with one of his gloves under the table, rubbing his thumb on the seams at his wrist back and forth. He should be talking, but his thoughts are stuck in a loop of jittery sparks, his throat choked. If only there was something he could punch here with no consequence, ideally repeatedly.

Akihiko regrets exposing her to the previous debacle but can’t pinpoint the exact turmoil assailing him when he thinks back to their arrival and how it all unfolded. Minako suddenly clears her voice to catch his eye.

“By the way... I was wondering if we could discuss tactics. I have some ideas for our next visits I’d like to run by you, and now that Mitsuru will join us, I could use some pointers on her preferences in combat. We’re growing to be a pretty large team to handle as well, so I was thinking…”

Her excitement shrugs him out of his reverie and his fidgeting stops. He tilts his head in reflection, everything else blurs out of focus and he directs all his energy at her musings.

“You bring a good point, there’s quite a few of us and it could get hectic. I assume you want to split us up to cover more ground?”

Someone places two steaming bowls in front of them as she raises her finger in affirmation.

“Precisely!”

…………………

They banter quite a while over their meal, talking about team composition, previous mistakes and who could work best with whom. Changing it up at times was the consensus they came up with, mixing things around could help her foresee future friction points.

The sun was almost set when they exited the restaurant in high spirits, the previous intruders long gone.

“Thank you senpai, that was great!”

Akihiko smiles, content in her appreciation of his culinary preferences. She deserves all the best, working as hard as she did. He glances at the space next to the door and his mind goes back to the early onset of their escapade and their ambush with the girls. He might have misread the situation, and he feels a little guilty.

Minako is looking at him with a calculating gaze.

“Thinking about what happened before?”

He grunts sheepishly. She, with uncanny precision, saw right through him. The more they rose through Tartarus, the pointier her observations. Was he so easy to read?

“…Yeah, I mean, what if I just spooked them out of eating here?”

“I don’t quite think that kind of meal is what they were really going for, senpai.” She sounds somewhat amused in her reply, ramping up the static coursing through his veins.

He grumbled, fell into step with her toward the streets, jaw clenched as they both waited on the green light to cross to the other side.

“So, what’s you type?”

He jerks his head up in surprise. Where did this habit of riling his system with a few choice words come from? Or is she impishly trying to distract him? Takeba did mention her pranking streaks, or Iori, he can’t remember, might be both.

“You mean what kind of… oh. Oh, you mean… girls…”

He falls deep in thought, he never even considered anything of the sort before. A girlfriend has no space in the scheme of his life, not like he has what it takes to handle everything it would entail. At least he thinks so…

They both cross the street, passing under a tree. A previous conversation of his is imposing at the forefront of his mind and he can’t help but mumble the content of his inner voice.

“I’ve been told that whenever a girl asks that, the right answer is always…”

His lips barely move as he murmurs the rest embarrassingly.

“Girls like you… But I can’t bring myself to say it! Argn!”

His groan is somewhat more audible, and she bursts out laughing like a pealing of silver bells.

“Oh my, please don’t take advice from Junpei, he is hopeless!"

Akihiko isn't quite sure if unbound hilarity is the expected reaction of the asking party, but Iori certainly has it coming now.

Chapter 15: Divide and Conquer

Chapter Text

Their next treks to Tartatus swap things on their head quite a bit. Mitsuru, delivered from her support role, can finally join her fellow SEES members into the tower, Fuuka needs to build confidence in providing assistance with Lucia, and Minako elevates her twin as a second leader.

Over the last few months, the more silent Arisato has positioned himself as a level-headed presence everyone respected, not to mention a complete powerhouse of raw force. Akihiko nods at his junior in approval. Minato somewhat smiles in reply, hanging blue hair in the way, then requests the presence of Junpei and Mitsuru in his execution crew.

The promotion of his close friend doesn’t seem to sit well with Iori at first glance, especially once Mitsuru backs Minato’s call immediately, but he grumbles and makes his way over to him, nonetheless. Better to smooth those creases now, while they still had time, than during a full moon encounter.

It’s almost time to deploy so Akihiko gets up to join Minako and Yukari, conversing together animatedly near the teleporter, when a hand holds his shoulder. Face to face, blue and steel share a loaded glance.

“Sanada, you know what to do.”

He nods, squeezes his arm firmly in return.

“You bet. Let her unloose, and we’ll call it even.”

His head twitched toward Mitsuru as he spoke. Twin smirks, a mutual clap on the back and they split to their own teams. They both have a role to fulfill tonight.

………………………

The exploration ends with no major damage and quite a few satisfied smiles. Despite his earlier misgivings, Junpei has respect and awe splattered all over his face while he glances at Mitsuru, who in turn is conversing in hushed tones with Minato like old friends. The tension in her shoulders looks mellowed and she has a cat-found-the-cream pleasant expression.

In his own trio, Takeba has been steadily improving her aim and speed, less bodies around meant an easier time to snipe in between them all. For once, she had been able to flex on offensive instead of playing medic. His own kit was versatile enough to cover multiple bases, so Akihiko had danced between offense and defense with Minako all night, providing her with numerous opportunities to unleash spells and swing her weapon with glee for a change. Nothing ever came close to touch her, he kept his promises.

…………………….

Shinji was slurping his ramen, eyes on the counter, not reacting to anything he has been telling him. Akihiko fell silent, expecting a grunt at some point. Somehow, yesterday’s satisfying expedition had brought with it a pang of nostalgia for the good old days and companions of youth, so he had kept an eye open near the strip mall for his childhood friend and invited himself along.

The gruff teen next to him took a bite of his egg, mumbling.

“Moron.”

Coming from anyone else, he would have punched him in the face right there and then. Shinji finishes the rest of his treat, smiling grimly.

“You just made the best elevator pitch ever as to why I don’t need to come back. Seems you guys got everything covered already with those twins and new recruits around.”

Akihiko sighs, this isn’t how he expected things to go.

“We’re more aggressive now, things have changed.”

Another pause, another grumble.

“Not interested.”

“Just… think about it Shinji. Don’t let your power go to waste.”

His friend laughs deprecatingly.

“My power ain’t worth sh*t.”

“Shinji!”

The brooding teenager eyes him carefully, as if looking to get the jump on him. Turning to the streets has made Aragaki more vicious and Akihiko, despite knowing him quite well, sometimes has a hard time anticipating his reactions. He tenses in frustration.

“I made up my mind a long time ago. I ain’t going back.”

Silver hair hanging down in defeat, he pushes out a shaking breath.

“You have to let the past go. What’s done is done. It’s time you moved on.”

“Like you’re one to talk.”

Smirking ominously at him, he finishes his thoughts as he gets up.

“Trust me, you don’t want me anywhere that little firebrand pixie of yours, for your own sake.”

His mind blanks out at that statement. Before he can assemble a reply that is not composed of punches in the gut, Shinji is halfway out of the door, throwing a last jab his way.

“Hook, line, and sinker. Figure it out Aki.”

Chapter 16: Inner Voice

Chapter Text

The days following his encounter with Shinji leave him angry and restless. His sleep is plagued with vague nightmares, and he ends up skipping his morning runs to recuperate. His dorm hours are filled with intense training in his room, anything to power through the uneasiness. Hopefully, exhausting himself will let him fall into a blank oblivion at night, but it hardly works. Even Mitsuru is starting to notice, casting him some pointed stares when he comes and goes, even trying to feel his face for a bout of fever one morning.

He hasn’t been avoiding her, not really, but she’s busy hovering everywhere all at once, arm in arm with the girls or the boys and he figures it’s good for team building.

………………..

The class bell rings, signaling the end of the day. He’s been powering through most of his schoolwork at his desk before going downstairs to the boxing club, classmate chatter completely forgotten until some names he’s familiar with crop up in the nearby conversation.

“Did you hear? Apparently, every time Arisato works at Chagall, she slips him free coffees. Who would have thought the hot transfer student would be dating Iori of all guys?”

What?

He drops his pencil on the floor, bends down from his chair to pick it up and almost fumbles it.

“Are you really surprised? They’re always eating lunch together, even her brother seems to approve.”

“I guess he has some hidden talent, to snatch her up like that. I heard she’s really into video games, she’s been spotted at the arcade at night with her twin. Maybe that’s how he did it.”

He tries desperately to reread the assignment so he can just wrap up his paperwork, but after a few minutes, Akihiko gives up in frustration, packs his bag and leaves for club, scowling. A familiar itch is numbing his fingers, he needs to ground them in something, and soon.

………………..

If his fellow boxers are more subdued than usual today while watching their captain, it must be because of the crappy weather. It has absolutely nothing to do with the applied ferocity with which he pummels the equipment, striking with his gloves in a staccato to drown out the memory of Shinjiro’s taunt, the undercurrent from his neck up his wrists making his arms numb.

Figure it out Aki.

Absolutely nothing to do with it. At least he finally collapses into welcome darkness on his bed, too exhausted to dream.

………………..

Finally refreshed and empty-headed on Friday, he catches himself yet again hovering near her classroom at lunch. Lost in thought, he mumbles something incoherent when she approaches him, suddenly too flustered to power through his confusion. Minako has a strange expression on her face that he only ever saw when one of them is badly injured in Tartarus.

“…Nevermind, it’s just…”

How do you even ask something like that? Of course, Iori chooses this exact moment to poke his head through the open class doors, quizzically wondering why the corridor is filled with excited girls.

Grumbling at the sight of his junior, he flees the other way.

Once the end of day bell rings, he comes face to face with her as he tries to direct his steps to the back staircase, his usual escape route. She’s nonchalantly standing, bag in hand and shoulder on the wall, a foot dangling back and forth above the steps. Her head turns to him, rubies alight with some determination.

“Senpai, want to walk home together?”

There is a firm challenge in her gaze that dares him to spring her trap, but she is smiling sweetly and he probably misinterpreted.

“Sure, let’s go.”

It’s the only words he utters for the next hour.

………………..

They take the longer scenic route back to the dorm. That is, she does, and he follows in silence. Maybe she tried to initiate conversations at multiple points, but his inner buzzing is drowning everything, and he clenches his knuckles periodically to distract his brain.

Apparently, they are already at the entrance of the dorm when he feels a soft touch on his arm, tentative.

“Are you feeling sick?” The inquiry has palpable worry in it as to make him jerk right out of his scrambled thoughts.

“Huh…?”

He blinks, looks around, has she been walking with him for so long already?

“… Oh, right. Sorry.”

He turns away, runs a hand through the back of his head, trying to disconnect whatever is crawling up his spine.

“Look, if you don’t want to tell me, then you don’t have to. It’s just…”

He breathes in from his nose.

“Is it true you’re going out with Junpei?”

The words leave his mouth and an inner voice that sounds eerily like Aragaki berates him.

Dumbass.

“He’s just a friend.”

“I see…”

The reply is out before he registers the actual content of her answer, he’s not getting any better at this. She will definitely think he is odd now, so he scrambles for some sort of excuse to disengage.

“Oh, no, it was just a rumor I heard. Sorry.”

Minako nods absently.

“Don’t get the wrong idea senpai.”

“I-I see. Anyway, I’m sorry. It’s bad enough that I listened to a rumor, but then I confronted you about it… It was incredibly rude of me. If I hear anyone say that again, I’ll tell them it’s not true.”

She smiles at him, speaking softly.

“You don’t have to do that.”

He hates rumors, but he supposes that if it concerns her, she has the right to decide.

“Is that so? Well, maybe it’s best to avoid giving them any credibility by trying to deny them.”

That somehow shuts the door on his predicament, but her quiet mood remains, and it feels like his fault. Far from him to smother her good mood with his antics.

“Umm.. Should we go get something on our way home?”

Way to go dummy, you’re already here.

“Um… Do you want anything to eat?”

She lights up with her usual inner fire at the mention of food all of a sudden.

“Oooh, something spicy!”

He laughs and instantly relaxes, those outbursts of hers are something else.

“Yeah… That might be nice for a change.”

Chapter 17: Let Them Eat Cake

Chapter Text

It’s a quiet Sunday and he has the dorm all to himself, a rarity. All the juniors have left the premises in a hurry to enjoy the good weather and Mitsuru was called to assist company business for the day. Akihiko trains for a while indoors with the AC blasting his room, then showers and head to the lobby for a bout of studying, slurping a shake absently to replenish all the calories he burned.

The front door opens quietly and shuts just as carefully, he turns his head and spots Minato and Fuuka carrying some books, talking in shushed tones. They nod his way and head upstairs calmly, a sharp contrast to the usual careening echoing in the staircase when the others are around, and Akihiko turns back to his math homework.

He goes through three-quarter of his assignment before the blue-haired boy makes his way back nearby, saying nothing. He just rummages quietly in the fridge and sits two chairs down the table from him, sipping a can of soda like a discreet ghost.

Silence blankets the lobby, a pencil scratches calculations, clothing shuffles on the table’s wood, then back to a void yet again. This sort of invisible company lets him finish his page in record time. He jots down a quick note, then closes his books.

A wisp of blue hair moves slightly, a sea gray eye turned somewhat his way.

“Too hot outside?”

The boxer figures Minato wants him to start a conversation, he’s been waiting patiently for him to wrap up his homework with no comment after all. He’s long figured out that the boy throws subtle openings to his peers but will only really engage events himself when he is coerced.

“Hm hmm.”

So Minato was going to play coy, again. Alright, he had time to humor him, he knew how his little game of hot and cold unfolded by now.

“I doubt it’s kendo, so it has to be something else.”

The lightest of smirk confirmed he was getting warmer.

“Tartarus?”

He rolls his eyes then huffs a strand of hair off his cheek. Way frosty.

“They’re all gone. There’s a reason I’m doing this now.”

Oh.

Oh. Twins. Right.

Akihiko sighs, for all he knows they share everything, which probably means his junior has all the details on his most recent blunder, direct fed from the source. He grunts, this is beyond embarrassing. Hopefully it’s where the SEES community sharing ends, or he will never live it down.

“I’m just here to throw you a bone.”

The slightly offensive smirk is back but Minato gets up and palms him a paper.

“For the record, Yukari vetted this. You can’t go wrong with that.”

He coolly walks back upstairs, hands shoved in his pockets, leaving him to curiously turn his glove around. It’s a business card.

…………………….

Monday classes ooze along, seems like the day will never end. The static droning is back in full force and Akihiko drums his fingers on his knee to try and mute it. Once the bell rings, he packs his bag in a hurry and gets up to leave.

“Oh-oh! Who wants to bet he’s speeding up to catch up with the hottie in 2-F?”

The back of the class is awash in whispers. His initial reaction would be to turn around and confront it right there, but he holds it in; there’s no point in making a scene. Rolling his eyes, he leaves and indeed makes long strides down the back staircase to catch up with her before she’s gone through the gate.

“Hey uh… Got any plans?”

…………………….

“I heard this place is popular.”

The girl next to him is eying the displays of sugary confections in the window with awe and childish glee, almost buzzing with anticipation. He chuckles to himself at her unabashed joy, he owes Minato a brand-new sword from Kurosawa.

They step into the shop and he double-takes when the tables’ occupants are all girls.

“A-are guys allowed to go in here?”

Minako eyes him curiously.

“Haven’t you ever been in here?”

He rubs his tingling neck; he can’t admit to her twin’s involvement in locating this place to apologize and his ignorance about these kinds of shops.

“I-it’s not the kind of place that most guys would go…”

“I guess not, I know Minato is not a big fan of cake.”

The deflection seems complete, he walks to the counter displays with her.

“Pick anything you feel like, my treat!”

She beams at him, settling on a slice of raspberry-topped white chocolate madness. Sitting down and carefully placing the plate between them, she attacks the confection with a respectable fork. She chews slowly to savor every bite and hums in contentment like it tastes of heaven. Two bites in and he can barely continue, so he focuses on the berries to offset sugar with tartness instead. It’s also madly entertaining to watch her go through the whole thing with so much expression.

“Is it good?”

Minako nods enthusiastically, mouth full.

“Hmm hmm!”

“I’m… sorry… about the other day. It was very out of line.”

He looks down, playing with some fondant with the tip of his fork.

She knocks on his implement with her own to catch his attention, hers is already loaded with whipped cream and she wolfs it down with a smile once he glances back at her.

“This would excuse anything. Consider yourself forgiven senpai!”

Chapter 18: Reflections

Chapter Text

The full moon hypothesis was proven correct, as Fuuka revealed their next target was waiting for them at Shirakawa Boulevard. The mission briefing was filled with unease, some of the juniors clearly uncomfortable with the premises involved, or what it entailed.

A shadow is a shadow, and people were being afflicted by Apathy Syndrome in droves, so Akihiko let the inner buzz swallow all unnecessary parameters involved, cracking his digits absently.

Get in, get the job done, get out.

All the practice in Tartarus they had under their belt should make this easy, but he said nothing, not wanting to inspire overconfidence. Junpei’s excitement awarded him a few choice glares during their walk from pretty much everyone in the party, including Akihiko, stone-faced. This was about saving lives, but he guessed Iori couldn't help himself.

……………….

The hotel was a maze of dingy corridors and small rooms, everything garishly colored under the gloom of the Dark Hour. As a group they ran up upstairs, following Fuuka’s instructions. Junpei was poking through an open door, his amused chuckle at the sight of two coffins causing Yukari to huff impatiently. The archer looked as strung as her weapon of choice, walking in front with Minato. She’d been the first one to barge into the hotel as if the whole place caused her personal affront.

From his position at the rear near Iori, Akihiko could see his old comrade looked uncomfortable, a certain clumsiness to her step that nobody seemed to notice. Mitsuru wasn’t one to navigate in such low quarters and her upbringing was showing through, but she kept a brave face on for the sake of the juniors. Maybe it was no wonder she chose to walk near Minako, who defiantly advanced like this was a stroll through school, leeching off her devil-may-care aura.

Near a large door, the twins exchange glances, silent. Minako’s hand graze the paneling, her eyes glazed for a second and she nods to her twin.

“It’s in here.”

All of SEES take a collective breath and follow her through the doorway. Their target was a repulsive mound of flesh, reminding Akihiko of a fat priest, his bald head caressed incessantly by a lecherous female form fused to his back. Mitsuru looked disgusted at the display, but Yuraki scoffed.

“That’s it? It’s more… normal looking than I expected.”

The twins engage immediately, buying time for Fuuka to feed them information. Evokers get raised to foreheads and various powers are fired off, bathing the enemy in showers of light. Minako eyes him, raises three fingers, requesting his support while she dips in her bestiary of fantastical creatures for some elemental support.

Obliging, he shoots his evoker in his skull, focusing Polydeuces’ power as a lightning bolt but the fat figure seems to shrug it off. Minako’s follow up hailstorm chips the dangling legs of the shadow but Yukari’s arrow to the female hands on its pate above punches right through.

Their leader puts her evoker back in place, eyes glazed, probably sharing with Fuuka. Minato’s beams of darkness literally passed through the monstrosity and Junpei’s flame rush only printed scorch marks. She twirls her naginata and crouches, hollering the rest of the team.

“Go all in, weapons only! Yukari, support!”

The archer jumps further back, hand rising in an acknowledging salute, then dips it to grab the evoker on her thigh.

Minako jerks her head at her brother, who whips his sword to the flank, painful cuts getting the shadow’s attention. Her eyes side glance to him and Junpei, glowing eerily as she mimes a down chop.

“Yank it down!”

Locking his jaw, Akihiko zigzags quickly in the shadow’s blind spot then dives forward, Iori doing the same from his end of the room with a joyful cry. The large sword connects first, having more reach, then his own weapon does, blurred into a comet as it collides in the shadow with tremendous effect, knocking it down its chair. It barely starts to crumple down before Minako and Mitsuru are in there, jabbing and slicing like two deadly queen bees.

……………….

It takes a few more minutes and quite a bit of maneuvering to chip away at the shadow, but they eventually succeed with nobody seriously injured. A good team bout, but not as satisfying as it could have been.

Junpei claps him on the shoulder after replacing his sword in his scabbard, smile wide.

“The Shock Troop delivers! Man, that was awesome!”

Akihiko grins in reply, it had indeed been satisfying.

“I think we did pretty good, but it wasn’t much of a challenge, to be fair.”

Fuuka’s presence inserts itself into the room like a subtle blanket.

“Great work everyone! I’ll be waiting outside for you.”

Minato turns toward the door, but it won't budge. He tries again, to no avail.

Yamagishi’s voice sounds worried.

“I still sense a Shadow in that room, it’s not the same one as before! But… where is it hiding?”

Yukari tenses, looking around. Nervously, they all start to inspect the fancy room, not wanting a shadow to jump them. A few minutes trickle by before Mitsuru gasps.

“There’s something fishy about that mirror!”

Everyone makes its way over warily, weapon in hand, glancing around as if it could be trap, but nothing happens. Minato raises his fingers to the surface curiously, not quite touching the distorted sheen, face cramped in a pained expression. Yukari looks at him, worried.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

There is some sort of distortion in the surface, like a faded handprint in a shower door and a whirl of color bubbles forth. Minato tries to turn his head, but a column of light shoots forth from the false mirror, engulfing everyone. Akihiko grabs his head, suddenly feeling sick, and folds to the floor. Consciousness almost faded, he can distinguish the outline of other uniforms, splayed on the carpet like discarded costumes, then everything goes black.

Chapter 19: Tug Of War

Chapter Text

There is a hot wetness to the air, like someone left a shower running for hours, as Akihiko wakes slowly. Opening his eyes takes a massive effort and he can’t focus, everything seems composed of blurry halos. Did he hit his head? He tries to breathe shakingly, choking on the intense humidity.

He attempts to raise a throbbing hand to his throat, eyelids closed to force the sudden bout of nausea that the movement causes him. Not even looking, he claws at his necktie and shirt clumsily, everything stuck to him like a stiff second skin. It feels like his forearm is two inches outside his skin and he can hardly control the contraction of his fist. Painstakingly, he undoes his tie ribbon with numb fingertips, but things are not going fast enough, and he just rips the buttons of the vest and shirt, gasping.

The tiny beads of plastic seem to jump away like ticks in slow motion. It should bother him, to do something as brutish as ruining perfectly good clothes, but he can’t seem to care. He can barely feel anything, his brain feels smothered in a thousand blankets.

He gulps some air, or is it water? Sweat is glistening down his neck to his chest. Has he been running, or training? No, no, he is splayed on the floor, back to a wall, almost like the Lost hanging at the station.

…Where am I?

The kaleidoscope of his vision pulses, slowly revealing a few hazy details. His legs are on a carpet, a weird shade of green, and there is an undefined shape some distance in front, something large and muted red. If there is anything else around, he can’t see it, just very blurry outlines. The large red shape catches his interest and seems sharper than the rest, so he tries to move toward it.

His legs are numb beyond his knees, getting up would be too much effort so he resorts to crawling. Slowly inching forward, keeping the churning of his stomach to a minimum, his hands find some purchase on the plush, spongy material of the thing in front of him. Using it as an aid, he manages to climb on top and scrounges his eyes, trying desperately to clear his vision. He needs to know where he is, and what he’s supposed to do.

I’m forgetting something… something… important.

A droning, insistent spark zaps him behind the eyes. The blurriness in his periphery partially unfolds once he blinks, and he can definitely affirm he is currently knee-crouched on a large, cushy furniture of some kind but the edges are too far to make out. Something’s wrong with his eyes and he tries to rub them, but his gloves are a hindrance. He tries to carefully remove them without fumbling, fingertips shaking.

I never remove my gloves, I don’t like it, but I can’t remember… why…

He feels drowsy and the thought flees his mind, then was never even there. His naked hand brushes his eyelid with trembling fingertips, but there is no injury, although his lashes are dripping. Tears, or beading humidity, he doesn’t know. It doesn’t matter. It never did.

The focus ripples, the softness he feels under shows a texture like brushed velvet and a depth that wasn’t there before. There is something long and somewhat dark sprawled over it and he scoots over on hands and knees carefully to try and discern what it is. Everything else except that patch of dark is engulfed in steam-like haze, and thus, discarded from his mind.

A bright red material, silky when he touches it, is flowing on top of the velvet like a river of blood. His eyes roam to its source; a discarded black jacket, thrown on the surface like a rag. Next to it is a vague outline of red copper, sprinkled with a flash of silver.

Akihiko stares numbly, incapable of processing what exactly this is, when a jolt hits his spine, flushing the mistiness of the scene away for a mere second, but it’s enough.

“Minako!”

She is sprawled on her side, hair in disarray as if something clawed through it and broke her hair tie, partly on her crumpled jacket, red bow undone and discarted around her, too still for comfort. He can’t see any blood, but she might be injured or…

His hand moves toward her neck in panic and the blanket of haze makes a violent return, so forceful he almost lurches forward, off balance. He was about to feel for her pulse. That’s right, it’s what he should do.

Numb fingers advance toward the crook of her neck, pads barely brushing the feverish skin. She’s warm, but there is a faint push against his index, she’s alive. Somehow, the notion she lives becomes a lifeline he latches on, it’s all he cares about. There is nothing else except Minako, crystal clear among a sea of nothingness.

There is something like a faint, laborious groan, and a twitch of her hair. Slowly, he slides his hands behind her shoulder, trying to cradle her against him so she can breathe better. Her white shirt slides across his palms, leaving traces of slippery fire imprinted in his skin. Her eyes remain closed.

He lowers his head closer to her, trying to hear her breathing. Though hooded eyes, he can clearly see the skin rise and fall where her neck dips below her jaw, hypnotising him.

She’s alive, she really is…

He’s so grateful for that fact he hugs her tighter to him, nuzzling her pulse with the tip of his nose. She smells like salt and sunlight, so warm he’s broiling alive, not like he cares if he does.

She stirs slightly, her breath ruffling the silver hair near his ear ever so gently. His eyes close all the way, he’s trembling at the sensation. Her hands are coming back to life, her fingers lightly brushing his exposed ribs as if she is gauging what’s there, and a shiver course through him. Minako’s eyelids flutter, her gaze drunk on the haze. Her previous touch lingers near his chest, and she softly presses her whole hand to it as if to warm it up. She hums, he can feel the note down in his bones and answers with the same resonance, his throat close to hers.

There’s a weird feeling pooling in his torso, trying to bubble out upward. He feels like he is hanging from a rope extending from his back, dangling on a barely taunt string above nothingness while holding a live bonfire in his arms.

Said aflame vision arches her neck, as if waking her whole body to life, pulsing like a self-contained explosion. His mouth is hanging open and his lower lip ever so slightly brushes the notch of her throat, catching a bead of sweat rolling toward it. She inhales in quiet surprise, her other hand flailing up and finding purchase on his shoulder.

The salt is burning his tongue, and he brings an arm, ever so slowly up her back with a fluttering pressure, to rest at the back of her head. Supporting her weight, fingers lost in the mass of her hair, he cranes her neck back, so the full curve is exposed at an angle. She sighs dreamily in response, digging her nails into the back of his shoulders like burning needles. Lips soft and lightly parted, close enough to absorb the heat she projects but barely fluttering on her skin, he travels his jaw upward until the tip of his nose rests behind her ear in one languid motion.

The string is getting tighter, straining because of the weight.

She angles her head to press her feverish cheek against his, he presses back, nuzzling the corner of her mouth. From so close, they can see the other’s reflections in each other’s glazed eyes. Her lashes tickle the corner of his cheekbone like soft butterfly wings, his heart picks up in pace to thunder painfully on his ribs.

Desperately needing to feel her own drumming melody, he slowly brushes his upper lip down her jaw, back to her neck, settling in the crook where it all started. A summer storm is trying to crawl out of her skin against him, he grazes his front teeth on the mound of her throat as if to absorb its tremors and she moans.

Tugging him upward above the abyss below, the rope shortens another few inches.

He lets his mouth dip lower, then slowly back up again, this time barely darting the tip of his tongue along the lava of her neck as well. She exhales with shaking breaths, her body shivering against his. His nose traces the outline of her jaw, he rests his forehead against her at an angle. Her lips are barely brushing the corner of his own, yet their breaths are mingling like a furnace. Wide burning rubies meet melting silver.

The rope snaps.

Chapter 20: Aftermath

Chapter Text

He closes his eyes at the static shock when his lips meet hers with a fluttering caress. A hair’s breadth from her softness, he exhales slowly and tentatively dive back in with slightly more intent and contact, then again, and again, barely catching his breath in between. His hands, balancing the back of her head and the base of her neck below him, are shaking violently and he slowly lets her melt in the velvet coverlet of the bed with him.

Minako gasps into him, he smiles against her and gently bites on her lower lip. She runs a loose hand on his torso upward, grazing her nails lazily until it travels up his neck, leaving a trail of goosebumps that sing through his blood like high voltage. Her fingers are tenderly ruffling the silver hair at the back of his head, pushing him toward her, barely whispering in a broken voice.

“Aki-”

Before she gets to finish his name, he’s parting her mouth with his own to taste her. He’s drinking from a faucet of liquid lightning and she’s trembling against him as if his touch is a livewire.

He slowly opens his eyes to look at her, breathing hard, skimming her swollen lips with the tip of his nose and she tenses. Her irises are shedding the dullness of before and he freezes. Whatever enchantment was at work was broken.

At least for him.

What have I done?

…………

Akihiko disentangles himself from the bed in shock, letting her rub her face and stand. He finds his gloves on the floor, puts them back on, desperately fishing in his thoughts are to what to say.

Sorry, I indulged?

Minako is timidly approaching him, a hand extended to grab his wrist, but he turns the other way, murmuring with pain.

“I’m… I’m so… so sorry.”

She recoils like he slapped her, lowers her hand in defeat and he wants to punch himself. Everything is jumbled and he’s not done reconciling the previous sensations with the events. There’s lead in his stomach and he can’t say if it’s regret, shame, or a whirlwind of deprecation at his lack of control.

His self-berating is interrupted by Fuuka’s mental touch.

“Finally! I’m sorry I couldn’t contact you sooner, can you hear me? Are you guys okay?”

Minako sighs her answer.

“Yes, we’re okay.”

Liar.

He can see her back, shoulders shaking as she is trying to sort the dangling pins in her unbound hair. She’s tied her jacket around her waist and pushed her ribbon in a pocket, half-dangling out, like it was all too much effort.

“The Shadow was interfering with your thoughts, so I couldn’t reach you. Everyone got separated, but the enemy is still in that room. Let’s regroup and head back there!”

She takes her naginata from the floor, mane of copper covering her features, and stands in the doorway.

“Let’s go.”

…………

It’s the hardest walk of his life. Closing the door behind him rings of finality but he can’t help stealing a glance back at the coverlet’s rumpled surface, not quite letting go despite the shame. The painted shadows on the velvet, forest green by the Dark Hour, are the only proof left of a fleeting illusion. He swallows the lump in his throat as his fingers leave the door handle, takes a shaking breath.

The enormity of everything has not quite registered yet, but the inner static is back with a roar, its pressure behind his eyes. Numb, he catches up with Minako who’s about to turn a corner to the right, but stays some distance behind, not quite looking at her. He can’t, just can’t even take a chance to see her face. Not yet. Not after… that.

Akihiko feels weirdly detached when they meet with the others. Junpei looks oddly subdued, holding his jaw like he got his clock dinged while keeping his eyes on the floor. Mitsuru is all but coolly posing sideways, stiff, hair in the way of her expression and arms around her frame. Yukari is a red mess, trembling life a leaf, stealing small covert glances at Minato, who seems as stoic as always, but his own eyes are a little wide. The air is heavy, oppressing.

Junpei is about to speak, probably some inappropriate quip, when Takeba stutters, looking at him shyly.

“Senpai... Did you… hmm, I mean…” She’s babbling in low tones, blushing furiously, lowering her lashes.

He barely flickers a look down at her, all business, and crosses his arms over his chest awkwardly. He knew that wasn’t going to go unnoticed.

“Accident.”

“…Oh.”

She then moves over to Minako, closely hovering as if to whisper to her, but Fuuka interrupts, broadcasting to everyone.

“I get it! It’s the mirrors! The readings from the mirrors in the guest rooms seem to be resonating with the main Shadow! If we can destroy those mirrors, then maybe we’ll be able to break the barrier.”

It’s not the usual firm, spunky voice that escape their leader’s lips. She sounds like she’s been crying.

“You heard her; find and break any mirror that seems off. Minato, you got this floor, girls, with me.

She makes her way to the stairs, not looking back at any of them. She didn’t make eye contact with anyone since… Since.

………………….

Minato and Junpei start their inspection, but Akihiko just pretends to tag along. He can’t enter the first room, just a glance through the doorway makes him dizzy, he can clearly see the two coffins near the bed, pieces of cloth everywhere on the carpet. The sound of shattering glass reverberates in the enclosed space; one down, a few more to go. They keep going down the hallway.

Minato has been burning holes through his skull, but he doesn’t, can’t, deal with it right now. Iori lacks tact though, he saunters forward and grins at him, eyes suggestively eying his state of undress.

“So, dude, I take it was somewhat... feisty back there?”

Thunder cracks between Akihiko’s ears. His hand punches the wall right next to Junpei, drywall caving in.

“Don’t.”

Iori just slowly backs off, eyes like saucers, and flees to a random room further down the hall in a hurry. Minato narrows his eyes at him, waiting for an explanation, but Akihiko remains silent, rubbing the plaster bits off his glove. He balances his sword next to a doorframe in silence, crosses his arms and sighs.

“Wasn’t you.”

Silver eyes close, pained.

Oh, it was. It definitely WAS.

“We all lost control.”

Steel orbs look ahead.

“…Maybe.”

He almost hopes Minato skewers him right there, perhaps that would make things right, but his junior has a compassion in his eyes that he can’t stand to look at. He doesn’t deserve any of it.

Fuuka’s fluttering mind washes over them.

“The main signal is completely gone! The seal should be broken now!”

At least this is something he can handle, control, break. The boys regroup and sprint upstairs.

Chapter 21: Hell Hath No Fury

Chapter Text

What awaits them behind the door where they fought the Hierophant is a repelling mass of floating pink fluid, heart-shaped and goopy. There’s a revoltingly sweet musk in the air, wafting around the room in peach patches of fog but the girls don’t hesitate to rush in.

“So it was you!”

Her voice shrill, Yukari rushes through the lines, her bow fully cranked, barely containing her opening shot.

“I’ll teach you not to mess with a girl’s heart!”

Minako and Mitsuru are flanking her, weapons at the ready, and their leader gives her the go. Takeba scores a bullseye that resonates across the room but the arrow bounces back and falls to the floor, broken. She takes out her evoker in a rush and screams Io into existence.

“I’ll never forgive you!”

Her support joins in, Penthesilea shadowing Mitsuru to summon blocks of ice in complement to her forward lunge. Minako calls forth a large chimera roaring tornadoes, using the gusts to propel her, naginata held like a javelin. The boys exchange a glance of confusion at the female assault; the girls seem intent on fixing this all by themselves.

Iori whistles appreciatively at the spectacle, smiling.

“Glad that ain’t me, dudes. Well, don’t mind if I do!”

He runs in, going to bat on the shadow. Half the team seems intent on simply brute forcing the enemy down, so Akihiko keeps back next to Minato to focus on support. They’ll be more effective if the syrupy tentacles can’t interrupt them.

He’d rather be punching out his feelings right now, drown out the buzz that consumes his train of thought, but keeping them safe is more important than his guilt. Polydeuces and Minato’s serpentine warrior shower their friends with various enhancements in rapid succession.

The spongy slime of the shadow makes it hard to deal any damage, even its glassy panes protecting the core are cushioning hits. Junpei groans in frustration and calls for Hermes’ flame dive. The persona is pushed back on contact like it hit a brick wall, so he takes his broadsword and resumes hacking at it the old-fashioned way.

Mitsuru is growling, jabbing her weapon, and dancing around the Lovers alongside Minako. Both girls are timing their strikes with Yukari’s persona attacks, summoning wind gales that hide their next points of attack. There’s something eerie in their coordination, an unspoken understanding that this thing needs to die for its transgression.

There’s a rumbling coming from the pink mass and bright projectiles, coated in slime, start peppering the field. Everyone’s trying to dance out of the way since there’s no cover anywhere, but one of them flesh wounds Mitsuru in the shoulder and she stops fighting, dazed.

Her frosty eyes turn around to her companions and with a cruel smile she chuckles in glee, turning her sword toward Minako.

Junpei, closer to her, seems to realize what’s happening faster than any of them.

“Oh, sh*t! Mina-tan!”

Akihiko is too far to jump in, and neither is Minato but they both rush forward. Forewarned by Iori, Minako manages to jump backward and dodge sideways once she sees the rapier is coming for her face, but it cuts her cheek and a chunk of her hair, throwing her off balance on the floor. Junpei tries to push Mitsuru down from behind, keeping his blade on the flat, but quick as a cat, she turns on him.

He desperately tries to block her flurries but his large sword is not one for finesse and Mitsuru is swinging hers like a live cobra, all small jabs and quick strikes, scoring some light hits until she skewers him in the shoulder like a butterfly. The heavy weapon clangs on the floor, along with Junpei who groans in pain, while the shadow riles itself for another attack. Yukari is screaming, he’s still a tad too far and Minato will get there first, so Akihiko fires his evoker straight through his forehead while running.

“Polydeuces!”

A column of white lightning explodes on the shadow, not to great effect but enough to startle it out of another projectile volley, giving him the precious seconds he needed to roll next to Minato’s position. They’re both standing in a weird vulnerable formation, pinned between Mitsuru and the large monstrosity, back-to-back. Iori is on one side, Minako on another, and Takeba is trying to tend to Junpei’s wounds from afar to avoid provoking the Kirijo heiress her way. Minato looks at his partner’s knuckles then cracks his wrist, murmuring.

“I’ll hold her off, take the other.”

Akihiko nudges his shoulder with his own.

“Watch her left, on down.”

With that, he lunges toward the pink nightmare, covering Minako who’s getting up. He barely caught a glimpse of the crimson river marring her face and the roar of tension in his limbs is tuning them to a shaking rage as he strikes the sludge again and again, rolling under the wing slaps.

Kendo lessons are paying off as Minato duels with Mitsuru, a blank expression of concentration on his face and blade held loosely. Behind her he sees Yukari doesn’t have Junpei up yet, but he’s not bleeding so much anymore and seems to be waiting for an opening to retrieve his weapon. That, he can handle.

Mitsuru is wailing on him like a screeching banshee, but Minato focuses all his movement on avoiding her hits and deflecting the epee just enough to avoid serious injuries. Numerous slices appear on his jacket, but he doesn’t react, just grunts and parries, studying his opponent like he’s been taught to do. She has more formal training but now he knows exactly what to look for. As soon as the rapier dips to the left, he unleashes his evoker and summons Jack Frost to pummel her with hail and snow.

She’s still advancing, not quite hurt but shivering, and he barely deflects another jab with the hilt of his sword before repeating his summon, earning a slice on his leg for it. This time, she’s downed to her knees, frozen.

The Lovers shadow finally connects a sticky appendage around Akihiko and slams him to the floor, making his ears ring. The impact releases a cloud of pinkish haze around him, and his vision starts to swim. There’s something familiar about the feel of the humid, cloying mist and he shakes his head.

“Oh hell no!”

The enemy pulses a weird, reddish burst of energy through the room but just as it’s about to hit him and Junpei, who just got back into the fray, a bluish one counters it with a refreshing shower of energy. Turning his head, he can see a dazed Mitsuru cradled by Yukari and Io still emitting sparks, while Minako and Minato are raising evokers and holding hands, both determined despite their bloody state.

“Jack Frost!”

“Pyro Jack!”

The two little spirits that appear almost look like puppets, but they start dancing together in a circle and explode in a flash of brilliant light, destabilizing the shadow. Akihiko and Junpei waste no time in rushing in to exploit that opportunity, but it's Yukari who deals the finishing blow with a flesh-rending burst of wind.

“And screw you, too!”

Chapter 22: The Long Way Home

Chapter Text

The aftermath hits everyone like a ton of bricks, mentally and physically. After the unease and the rage, the exhaustion feels like therapy. They slowly trudge out of the hotel on shaking legs and drooping eyes to a fretting Fuuka, who’s too shy to ask for details but has definitely been spooked by everything she’s seen.

“I’m so glad everyone’s… okay…”

She tries to show a brave face but the waver in her voice betrays her distress. Yukari hugs her fiercely with tired arms, not saying anything. The navigator locks eyes with some of them, color rushing to her cheeks, and averts her eyes.

“We should hurry and tend to your wounds; the Dark Hour is about to end.”

They’re almost all out of energy, but everyone who can leverages their personas to patch the others as best they can. Mystical healing might not solve all their cuts and bruises perfectly, sometimes there are scars, but it’s better than nothing.

Junpei’s rolling his bad shoulder with a hiss, shirt drenched in blackish blood, as Akihiko is trying to finish the job.

“I need some pills and a good crash; I can’t stand up anymore.”

Mitsuru, who’s been tending to Minato’s numerous cuts with devoted care, flinches at the teen's comment. She’s disheveled and dripping with the melting aftereffects of her encounter with Jack Frost, a strange vulnerable expression on her face.

Once Yukari is done patching Minako and washes out he worst of the blood on her face, they pack up and head toward the dorm. The junior girls are holding to each other in silent solidarity at the front and Minato is supporting Iori somewhat. Akihiko knows how it’s going to play out, so he hangs back to hold the rear next to Mitsuru. She’s got her arms wrapped around herself again, trying her best to keep her collected normal façade but he sees right through his old comrade.

They’ve known each other for a long time now and while he can’t pretend to even understand her thoughts, her moods are easy to read if one knows the minutia. Akihiko starts to lag somewhat, knowing she’ll map her stride to his without thinking.

“Mitsuru.”

She sighs.

“I could have killed him.”

Guilt, indeed.

“But you didn’t. He’s fine now.”

He’s a hypocrite, but if it’s for her, it’s fine. Somewhat.

She takes a shaking breath; she definitely wants to cry but can’t let go. She never could, not in front of anyone, ever. That’s something she’ll take to her room, or the shower. If he was still at the dorm, perhaps he might be the recipient, but they’ll never know now.

“I was trying to kill him, kill them, kill all of you. I wanted to.”

“But you did not, and that’s all that matters. Everyone's okay.”

The thunderous rumble is back through his head, just saying the words makes him clench his jaw. Akihiko grinds his teeth, breathes hard.

“Nobody will hold it against you. If anything, Iori will respect you more for it.”

She laughs deprecatingly, as if the only consequence could be ramen cups properly taken to the trash. At least she’s not fighting tears anymore.

“I... guess so…”

Mitsuru’s not yet okay, but she will be. Might order her victims some treats, try to apologize in a formal manner they won’t quite get. The threat of an execution will never ring the same again that’s for sure.

They keep walking in comfortable silence and the streets come back to life once more in a vivid second. Its always a jarring experience that draws the eye when outside, this sudden rush of movement and sound.

Passing under a lamppost, she stops.

“What about you? You’re not okay, at all.”

He turns around to her, eyes clouded.

Goddammit.

“Doesn’t matter, let’s go.”

Her eyes narrow dangerously. She looks at him, his dangling open shirt, the clenched fists, arches an eyebrow.

“Akihiko. You can’t keep doing this.”

He huffs, annoyed. If it was anyone else berating how much he's losing his grip... He doesn’t even know his own thoughts, there’s electrostatic blurring everything to dim white noise and he likes it like that. He can’t be allowed to think, now that there’s no outlet for emotions, nothing to turn into a pulp, if he does, he’ll just…

“You’re allowed to mess up, but if you keep swallowing it all inside, you’ll break. Like he did.”

If only he could scream, she doesn’t know, she had no idea, and he won’t say anything. He can't. There are no words, just a raw, wet feeling he can't identify.

“I’m not Shinji.”

She gasps, it always hurt her to hear that name. She never forgot.

“Could have fooled me. Don’t do what he did, don’t run away from this.”

He looks down, that one stings. Clenching his fists, he huffs, then enters the dorm and heads straight for his room, shower be damned. It’s late, he’s aching all over and he just wants to pretend it was all a dream, or not, he can’t make up his mind.

He lies awake for a long time, tossing and turning, before the nightmares sink their claws in. In them, he’s laying on a pyre of red velvet as he’s burned alive like his sister.

Chapter 23: Black and Blood

Chapter Text

Red is supposed to be his lucky color. He’s worn it since his first win in the ring and always kept part of his outfit in the same tone to remind himself that he overcame the challenge that day. Akihiko was a bumbling mess of nervosity before facing his opponent and came out on top in the end, starting a never-broken win streak.

Fingering the wool of his torn bloody vest, the holes and pulled strings where the buttons used to be, he doesn’t feel quite so lucky now. He has replacements, somewhere in his laundry, but there’s something like unworthiness creeping up in the back of his head. He doesn’t know if he should throw this one out, burn it, hug it close or ignore it. In the end he just hangs it in his closet, at the back behind some of his coats.

He grabs his uniform jacket, puts it on like a flimsy shield and makes his way to school, bag in hand. If there was anyone in the stairs or lobby, he can’t say. It’s all a blur, meshing with the slight drizzle outside.

It’s only on the monorail, when the sea takes all the scenery and hides the bustle of the city, that he catches his reflection in the glass. There’s a gaunt paleness to his face, dark circles under his eyes and with his current attire, he stands out in the train’s mosaic of color like a black and white photograph.

……………………………..

There are whispers, like always, but not as many as usual. Either he doesn’t stand out as much without his trademark beacon, or the thundercloud that serves as his expression is scattering all the little birds away. It’s all just a swarm of black shadows to him, a roaring mass of shoulders and knees he must sidestep to get where his feet are automatically guiding him.

The static roar in his mind is lulling him like the sound of a beach’s waves, almost like wearing headphones. Akihiko barely focuses on his classes, going through the motions and almost falling asleep. The rain has stopped, but the clouds outside are still as heavy as the guilt he can’t quite swallow down.

His knee is jittering quite a bit and the noise in his ears is giving him a headache, why is he even here doing this... It’s so close to the end of the day but school is suddenly insufferable. He raises his hand.

“I’m starting to feel a bit sick, can I be excused?”

The teacher blinks at the interruption but grants him leave to go visit Mr. Edogawa, so he slips out of class and beelines to the first floor. He should be ashamed of the deception but Akihiko can’t find it in himself to bother, he has no plan to actually make it to the infirmary to begin with. Loitering until he can bolt it out of here seems reasonable, so he takes his time splashing some water on his face in the bathroom. If he times it right, he can slip through the locker mayhem when the bell strikes.

Once he reaches the main entrance, his eyes spot the pillar. That pillar. He freezes.

There’s a tingling feeling in his left palm under the glove, where he held the back of her hair, and his chest is pounding in echo with the flurry of vivid memories flashbanging in his skull.

She’s so warm he’ll spontaneously combust.

There’s her hand raking his hair, his mouth is latching on her pulse.

Her nails are digging in his shoulder and he’s biting her lip.

The bell rings suddenly, summoning chaos and a thousand footsteps. He’s actually feeling faint for real now and has to hold on to the wall to steady himself.

Get it together.

He spots two flashes of red making their way down the stairs in close confidence, lost in the nondescript dark grey of the student mob. Minako looks like a shadow of herself, all doused flames and dull eyes. Mitsuru has her arm around her shoulders like she’s comforting her. Her scarlet curls are so close to their leader’s face that he can’t help but see the rivulets of blood painting it all over again.

His eyes feel a bit wild.

Mitsuru sees him and freezes. Minako stops walking, confused, and follows her gaze to spot what interrupted her, locks eyes with him. The crimson glint comes alive in a flash but he can’t, he just can’t. Akihiko melts into the exit rush to run away.

……………………………..

He’s kicking at a can in the alley like it personally offended him, this is taking forever. A few randos are sizing him up from beyond the nearby trash container; with the fancy getup and slick shoes they probably think it’s worth it.

Let them try.

A lifetime later, he hears the heavy pace he expected coming from the back courtyard. Akihiko waits.

“Whose funeral? You look like sh*t.”

Hands in his coat, Shinjiro makes his way over, glowering at him. Storm-filled orbs meet hazel stare and neither back down.

“Tch. If this is about your recruitment campaign again, I swear…” He sounds exasperated but his eyes are softer than he sounds.

“…You were right.”

That seems to take Aragaki aback, he never admits he’s wrong. Shinji learns on the brick wall, looks in the distance for a while.

“Eh, just like at the orphanage. How big of a f*ckup? Do I need to kill anyone?”

Akihiko stays silent, sits in the store’s back stairs like a sleepwalker. The words are hard to choke out.

“…Might as well just trash me.”

Shinjiro laughs out loud in amazement, like he knows something he doesn’t.

Is everyone in on some sick joke?

“You didn’t come here just so I can beat your ass into a pulp, that’s your thing.”

Still no response.

“sh*t, you’re serious…”

Uncrossing his arms, he comes to stand over Akihiko, just waiting for him to talk patiently. After a few minutes, the larger teenager sighs heavily, grabs his silver-haired friend up by the jacket and socks him on the jaw.

Busted lip oozing blood down his chin and eyes alight, Akihiko jumps on him and misses badly. Shinji pushes him back to the other wall again, a defiant smile on his face and narrowed eyes inviting the strike back. The tug of war continues for a while, Akihiko barely scoring hits, while his friend dodges or pushes back with light jabs until the boxer finally calls it quit, heaving from the floor.

“You done dumbass? Tired of losing yet?”

He wipes the blood on his mouth with his sleeve, gets up slowly with trembling legs to stare at his “brother”.Shinjiro glowers back, smiles grimly.

“She’s not dead at least, right? Whatever you did, figure it out and fix it.”

Akihiko spits red, deflated.

“…I… don’t...”

Aragaki turns on his heels, about to leave, again.

“I’m sorry is usually a good start. Now get lost.”

Chapter 24: Mizzle

Chapter Text

Fix it.

So easy to say, so hard to do. The restlessness won’t solve itself, so he spends the evening in his room, training until he’s out of strength to move. Perhaps exhaustion will keep the dreams away, it certainly lets the thoughts unlatch from his mind and float away like bubbles.

The night is a black hole of emptiness but it ends all too quickly, his body hardwired to wake at dawn. He half-zips a hoodie and puts his shoes on, a run might do him some good. For once, he pockets the music player on his desk and jams the buds in, anything to drown out the constant buzz that’s plaguing his head.

The clouds are menacing outside. Akihiko raises his cowl and just starts running, rolling out the kinks in his joints. Streetlights change from red to green, cars are few and far between and he makes good time on one of his longer routes, spurred on by the rhythmic beats.

He still hasn’t found the words, or how he’ll tell them. Maybe he never will. But he must try, for her sake. She deserves it, if only to rekindle the crushed girl Mitsuru was comforting yesterday. The image of a subdued Minako is still haunting him like a phantom.

Fix it.

In the end, maybe it’s not so much about his guilt than preserving her. He’s been guilty all his life, he can probably take more. Maybe he’ll lose whatever friendship they have, but he’s lost so much at this point, perhaps it’s fate trying to pass him a note.

Fix her.

Akihiko finally makes it to the playground and starts to lower the pace, unwinding slowly. There’s a crack of distant thunder far at sea and the sky starts to mizzle in response. He has to take a shower before school so he endures, lowering the hood of his shirt to let the rain cool him, soothe the pain of his musings.

The next song is particularly beaty and he hops to the horizontal bar in sync with the drums to distract himself. It takes a few back hip circles to go through the chorus, then as the song winds down, he sits on top like he always does, eyes closed and nose raised to the sky, resigned. The rain is plastering his short hair to his forehead and he quickly ruffles it with both hands, silvery spikes hanging in every direction.

A new tune is blaring in his ears and he remains motionless, letting the refreshing water drive out his thoughts in rivulets down his neck and half-undone shirt like so many sins. Despite grabbing the bar tightly with both hands on each side, he almost loses his balance when a hand rests on top of his.

Minako is standing right there, arms crossed on top of the bar, head turned sideways and her fingers resting where his hand used to be when he caught himself in extremis. She’s obviously been running and kept her shirt’s hood raised up but the front of her hair is dewing on her nose, the faint white line of her scar barely visible in the shadow of the cowl.

“Please.”

The voice is mellow, so soft its melting into the splatter of raindrops and the bass line. If it wasn’t for one dislodged earbud, dangling by the wire on his chest, he might have never heard her.

Panic sets in, this is not how he was planning on doing this. He clenches his fingers, suddenly nervous. The storm above Port Island has got nothing on the tumults resounding in the empty space where his words should be forming.

“…I…”

He might have been halfway ready to drop down his perch at that instant. She grabs his wrist with a firm grip.

“Please, please don’t run.”

Her voice doesn’t match the tautness of her fingers, there’s some desperation in her sadness. He tenses, fingers shaking, and she takes a deep breath.

“It’s nobody’s fault, this whole thing was screwed up.”

He runs his free hand in his hair nervously.

“But I…”

She looks at him, rubies wet and pleading, locking his own eyes in place.

“Akihiko, please, it’s not your fault.”

Hearing his name for the first time without the honorifics shakes him out of his funk. Except, it’s not exactly the first… He blushes furiously at the memory of… He closes his eyes so forcefully the orbits are aching.

“…But I…”

“You didn’t know. Nobody did, we’ve all been somewhat… messed up.”

He’s ragged, breathing forcefully to keep from drowning, but he’s too far in now to run. Maybe she’ll hate him though.

“You were barely conscious and-”

“It doesn’t matter.”

She’s looking at him with grim determination, like she’s going to shut down anything he comes up with.

“Your mind was-“

“So was yours!”

He sighs, she’s being so unreasonable, she’s usually quite level-headed.

“Not as much… not as long as-”

“And I’m telling you it doesn’t matter!”

He’s choking on his words.

“It could have… turned into-”

“But it did not, so it doesn’t matter!”

She’s almost shouting back now, her resolve drowning his shaky whispers. It feels like a one-sided fight he’s losing. This isn’t fixing anything.

“What if I’d gone berserk? I could have hurt–“

“But you did not, and I trust you.”

I don’t have the discipline you think I do.

“What about next time?”

“I’ll still trust you.”

She’s keeping up on her aplomb. This is getting nowhere and he’s shifting from timidly trying to make his point to flustered pretty quickly. It’s like she’s trying to rile him up.

“Minako, please. You don’t...”

“I’m just so glad it was you.”

He doubletakes. What?

She’s hanging her head down and he can’t see her face, but her tone is gentle, almost… timid.

“If I had to be... stuck in… with anyone… I’m just glad it was you.”

Akihiko is not sure he wants more explanations on that one, but of course she had to keep going. He’s going to burn in Hell for this.

“I’m not saying I wanted to be… whatever it did to us. That was… vile, like an intrusion. I didn’t want to let go, it was in my mind, whispering, and I couldn’t shake it out.”

She’s shivering at the memory in repulsion and her fingers are stiff from stress on his wrist. Her other hand is rubbing her hair under her cowl as if in remembrance of the nightmare.

“But at least… when it stopped trying to… I was… not alone. I don’t remember… everything, but that wasn’t… you were there, and that made me feel safe, and…”

This is all kinds of messed up.

“It wasn’t unpleasant.”

Understatement of the year, right there. It’s his turn to glance the other way, extremely embarrassed.

You have NO idea.

“So…”

She looks up, somewhat shy. She takes both his hands in hers, bites her lip.

“Please forgive yourself. I don’t blame you.”

Even though she’s asking, it’s no easy feat, to deal with guilt. He’s biting his tongue, dumbstruck.

“I need you. And I trust you. Please, don’t run from… from this.”

His eyes are starting to sting, and he should be the one asking for forgiveness, it should not be her begging him like this. He doesn’t deserve any of it, but he’d do anything to make amends.

“…Okay.”

She sniffs, nods, squeezes his fingers.

“Can we… go back and time, bury this, and try again?”

“I… can try.”

Chapter 25: Revelations

Chapter Text

It’s a weird truce that sets between them and it’s still a bit awkward, but they’re slowly getting back to being functional people just in time for the finals. The studying acts as a quiet therapy, everyone in the dorm perching somewhere, books and papers in hand. Sometimes in the lounge, the roof, in pairs or by themselves, powering through. At least he can exist in the same room as her without flying off the handle.

It's Saturday when Ikutsuki makes his visit to the dorm, calling for a meeting with everyone. Books are slapping shut, but Mitsuru takes a cursory inventory of the team. She narrows her eyes at him specifically with some spark of concern, and looks at the chairman.

“I think it would be best if I gave you the report in the command room by myself. We can discuss your findings afterward, as a group.”

“Oh? Well, I was thinking… I thought it…”

She turns her frosty gaze the chairman's way, obviously she's not open to negotiation. Akihiko breathes in relief, he'd rather not revisit that night with an audience.

“Let’s go upstairs. I have all the paperwork ready.”

Her boots are clicking on the steps as she takes the lead and he shuffles after her, throwing a few interrogating stares at the other members of SEES like a lamb led to his execution.

“Eh, no puns this time!”

Iori nudges Minato sitting next to him, amused. But Akihiko’s eyes fall on Yukari hanging by the bar counter, throwing an angry look at the stairs like she’s mulling over something dark.

……………………….

They’re asked to come to the command room some time later and file up in silence, pouring in to take ownership of a seat here and there. Ikutsuki is toying with a folder, smiling pleasantly and waits until everyone is settled to begin.

“I called today’s meeting because-“

Yukari gets up from her seat and cuts him off.

“I’m sorry. Before we go on, I’d like to ask Mitsuru-senpai something.”

Said girl is taken aback.

“Me?”

Takeba exhales a breath and dusts her skirt before continuing.

“Since I joined, so many things have happened… I went along with it, without really understanding what was going on… But now I need to know.”

She holds herself straight, her voice not quite venomous, but determined.

“I’m gonna ask you straight out… You’ve been hiding something from us, haven’t you, Senpai? You act like you don’t know anything about the Dark Hour and Tartarus, but they’re related to that accident ten years ago, aren’t they?”

Mitsuru flinches, loosing a bit of her composure. Akihiko is not quite sure he knows where this is going and looks around at the others. Minato and Minako, huddled closed on a large sofa, tense up at the end of her tirade and exchange a look. She grabs her twin’s hand, squeezing it hard, and they whisper in hushed tones. Iori looks from Yukari to Mitsuru, thoroughly confused.

“What accident?”

Fuuka looks uncomfortable, a guilty tension in her eyes.

“Yukari…”

Said archer continues, undeterred. She’s almost challenging Ikutsuki to cut her off but he’s just crammed in his seat, a weird unease on his face.

“There was an explosion near our school, and a lot of people died. It must’ve been big news back then. You know about it, don’t you?”

Her eyes are fixed on Mitsuru, who sighs in resignation.

“…Yes.”

Minako speaks up then, a weird grimace on her face.

“Yukari, do you… remember the date? When it…”

“Sometimes in August 1999. I can’t recall the exact day, why?”

Minato puts an arm around his sister as if he wants to shield her, eyes indecipherable, his thumb drawing circles on the bone of her shoulder in reassurance. He makes a vague gesture at Yukari to keep going, shaking his head. Akihiko stares at him, drawing a blank.

Why is this important? 10 years ago… it’s 2009 now.

He had read the files way back in April, he's got a pretty good visual memory so he thinks back on the papers in that folder. Car accident on the Moonlight bridge in summer, multi vehicle pileup. Pandemonium, not enough ambulances on time to get to everyone, parents found deceased in the flaming wreckage. Twins found on foot nearby. Slight injuries and severe mental trauma, dissociation, no next of kin.

…sh*t.

He never pried about their circ*mstances since everyone with the potential has faced hardships, it's how the power emerges and stabilizes. Doesn't mean anyone wants to talk about it, but they all know it's there, beneath the skin and masks. The cruel irony of coming back where it all started, and learning that their moonlighting might be related to what has destroyed their lives...

Blue meets gray, now he gets it, and the twin nods his way.

Yukari rambles on, explaining.

“Luckily, no students were injured. But, around the same time, a large number of students were recorded as absent. Seems like more than just a coincidence.”

Bristling at the insinuation, Mitsuru gets up.

“What do you mean?”

She really means how much do you know; the tone is clear to his ears. She hates not being in the position of strength, attacked in front of her peers. Yukari narrows her eyes, crossing her arms.

“I dug up some old school records and found something interesting. The students who were absent… They all collapsed suddenly and had to be hospitalized. Sound familiar? Like the ones who bullied Fuuka. There has to be an explanation!”

The Kirijo heiress flinches, turns around and gazes out the window. Still, Yukari doesn’t let up.

“What really happened on the day of that accident? The Kirijo Group built our school, so you must know something! Tell me the truth!”

Mitsuru takes a moment to collect herself.

“…I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you. It just never seemed relevant. But...”

Ikutsuki looks at her with compassion, finally finding something to say.

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault.”

She turns around.

“Alright. I’ll tell you the whole story…”

………………

The fact that Mitsuru’s grandfather ripped the fabric of reality to create the Dark Hour, causing the pandemonium they’re now stuck cleaning up, doesn’t seem to sit quite right with most of them. It almost turns into a bickering match, but Ikutsuki crosses his fingers over his folder.

“What if I told you that those twelve Shadows are the cause of everything?”

Everyone gasps in shock and turn around. Akihiko’s not quite certain he gets it and speaks up.

“Then, if we defeat them all, Tartarus and the Dark Hour will disappear…?”

The chairman smiles and nods.

“Exactly! That’s what I was going to tell you earlier. See, its good news, isn’t it? There’s evidence to support it too. Now, our true battle begins.”

The twins are sharing among themselves in silence, still touching but edgy. Iori seems excited, but Yukari is subdued and wistful.

“I see…”

Ikutsuki continues his lecture with some passion, trying his hardest to inspire the troops.

“Regardless of what’s happened in the past, we must fight to protect the people. The Shadows are gaining strength, we can’t afford to just wait for them. And there are many mysteries still surrounding Tartarus. Why did a gigantic structure appear in the first place? The answer must lie within it.”

The chairman gets up, sorting the papers slipping out of the folder and starts to move toward the doorway.

“I know this might come as a shock, but take the time to rest, all of you, and focus on your studies. Vacations are just around the corner; we’ll have ample time to make headway with our mission.”

Iori chuckles, shaking his head.

“You’re just dropping a save-the-world quest on our lap and expecting me to just go back to my math homework? Sheesh.”

“Seriously Stupei? This isn’t one of your video games!”

Their bickering just degenerates from there, tension flying high as they disperse back to the lounge. The twins stay in the back, walking slowly and murmuring. Akihiko glances at Minato, who's guiding his sister to his room. Blue hair nods back with a glint of reassurance, he's got this.

He sighs and take the stairs back to the lobby.

Chapter 26: Bad Timing

Chapter Text

Today’s the last free day before finals, the sun is shining bright and it’s so warm the AC can’t keep up. They’re all going to be knee-deep in their books for days, things are supposed to be back to the comfortable “before” and he’s worried about her, yesterday’s news must have shaken her.

It’s because they need their leader in peak shape. Of course, it’s all it is. It’s what any good senpai would worry about, the well-being of his fellow SEES members.

She seems so pensive that morning in the kitchen as everyone is buzzing around to fix themselves some breakfast. Minako keeps her eyes on him with a calculating expression, tea in hand, and slightly smiles his way. He finally must go upstairs to escape her scarlet gaze and the faint ringing that can’t seem to leave his head whenever he wants to talk to her. Having everyone just crowding the space is too much, seems the exam chaos is already in preproduction.

If only they could be somewhere else right now, just the two of them. Anywhere except where Iori and Takeba share the same timezone, ideally.

By the time he comes downstairs again, everyone’s gone out of the dorm already. Akihiko sighs, maybe Minato can be persuaded to give him her cellphone number.

……………

The broth smells heavenly, it’s been a good week since he had the time and appetite to step in the ramen shop and he’s definitely looking forward to the culinary experience despite his longing for her company. He barely started dipping his chopsticks in when Aragaki sits down next to him, adjusting his beanie. Its blistering hot outside, yet he’s still covered like he’s about to go hike some mountain.

“Looks like you managed to stop screwing things up Aki. Imagine finding you here, not looking like the undead.”

Akihiko sighs, his oldest friend seems intent on pushing his buttons today. He rolls his eyes, but then hails the server.

“Can you bring a second bowl for him? It’s on me.”

Shinji scoffs in mock outrage, but there’s a certain joy in the uplift of his mouth.

“What am I, your date?”

“Nothing to do as usual, uh?”

It’s like a game they’ve played for years, one-upping another with provocation. Akihiko can pretend he’s annoyed all he wants, but any time spent with his adoptive brother is precious, no matter how insufferable he can be. He’ll never tell him though and is trying his darndest to look bored.

Aragaki doesn’t answer right away, there’s some dismay dancing in his eyes at the quip back that he can’t quite hide.

“Moron. Was gonna ask if you needed another beating, but it seems to have put your screws back in the first time.”

“…Actually, it took another, yours was just the first round. You lose.”

He chomps on some noodles as the second bowl is added to the counter. There’s a certain comfort in being, for once, in a situation he can control and anticipate. No worries, no noise, no dorm chaos, just the banter, the gruff affection, the company. Just like old times.

One, two, three…

“Well f*ck, I guess I owe her an homecooked meal or something then.”

He even laughs. Akihiko turns on him, eyes confused. Shinji hates losing, to anyone, what’s this? The eyes under the beanie looking back his way are definitely mocking him.

“Don’t think I didn’t figure it out. I’d pay good money to watch it live but I’m not going back there.”

Akihiko keeps eating instead of chomping on the bait he’s dangling, he really doesn’t want to slip him any ammunition at this point. Might be best to change the subject instead.

“Speaking of back there… We found out how to get rid of Tartarus and the Dark Hour.”

That definitely takes Aragaki by surprise.

“No sh*t?”

He nods. Shinji slurps loudly, turning all his attention to his meal, not speaking until the bowl is empty. Once he places his sticks down on the counter, he mumbles.

“…Erasing the Dark Hour is not gonna wipe what happened.”

Shinjiro gets up and leave, hands in his pocket and head held low, running away from their promise yet again.

………………………….

The exchange rattled him a bit, but he doesn’t know what he expected. Shinji was perhaps never coming around, but at least they still had whatever it was they shared at this point in time. Solemn, he goes out of the ramen shop later, sun glaring so bright it’s blinding him.

It was still too damn warm outside and Akihiko figures he might as well use the free time to run all his errands, there won’t be much respite this week. Anything to keep him busy and distracted, training is not an option until the day cools down anyways.

………………………….

Kurosawa is gone from the station, so Akihiko decides to wait for him and sits on one of the benches at the mall. They definitely need new weapons and he can handle the order and delivery, take something off her plate for once. The fountain is gurgling happily at his back, and the thick crowd of kids and teenagers undulates like a mirage, almost in sync with the blaring beaty music from the arcade.

It's that particular detail that makes him raise his gaze toward Game Panic and he sees her. She’s playing one of those dancing challenges with the stepping pads, in tandem with Junpei. Her hairpins flare like shooting stars from the light of the screen scrolling arrows in zigzag at some decent clip.

Their song ends and they step down as she fishes for change in her pocket. She’s looking at him with a smirk and an impish look in her eyes.

“Choose a song, and if I manage to get in the top 5 high scores you have to study tonight, no excuses. Your composition grades are terrible.”

Iori narrows his eyes at her, dubious.

“It’s a trap Mina-tan, I’m not that stupid.”

“You drag me out of the dorm by force, when I was perfectly content to stay in the lounge all day, and now you’re playing chicken? Okay then, how about no holding the bar, and extreme difficulty?”

Junpei whistles, pondering. He looks at the contraption, then the slip of a girl with her hands on her hips like she’s scolding him into submission.

“And what do I get out of it?”

She scowls, contemplating the question.

“I don’t know, is there anything you want?”

Now it’s Iori’s turn to smirk, thoroughly amused.

“I get to ask you three questions, and you can’t lie.”

“Deal.”

“I can ask aaa-ny-thing, three questions, you sure?”

She nods, absolutely confident. Junpei laughs to himself with a dark tone, puts the change in the machine himself and starts scrolling the song selection. He punches some buttons in and with a flourish, invites her to step up, which she does with an impersonation of some opera diva.

Akihiko sees her face fall into a blank expression as she stays, motionless, in front of the game screen. She narrows her eyes and press start, adjusts her position in the center of the pad and lets loose.

He finally gets how she always knew how to move in combat: she’s an amazing dancer. There are so many steps, and without the bar to hold on, she must adjust her footwork to keep herself balanced in quick succession. She’s not just tapping her feet on the pad; her whole body is just lost in the rhythm, spinning this way and that, barely glancing at the screen.

Junpei realizes very quickly he’s been duped; she knows this song by heart and can dance it with her eyes closed despite the difficulty. Akihiko almost chuckles when Iori groans and hangs his head; she’s been holding back on him. Good for her; always keep your opponent guessing.

She hits the last notes and steps down with a pose. Not a perfect score, but close. She taps Junpei's shoulder with a pat like she’s comforting a small kid.

“You are so catching up on composition tonight dude. Say your prayers now.”

“And you’re such a cheater! You never told me you could play at that difficulty; I can barely handle above normal. You’ve been holding back, goddamn!”

She sighs, looks away.

“Actually, you never asked. You should know by now. I might push the limits in Tartarus, but I don’t do that to people.”

Minako lowers her tone at his expression.

“Junpei, I didn’t want to make your uncomfortable. I was just going to wait until you were ready, but you asked for it, so…”

Akihiko blinks, he’s leaning on the side wall near the arcade, listening in. He’s not quite proud of himself right now, but there’s something rooting him in place.

“I know. Don’t worry about it, a bet’s a bet. Can we grab something at Chagall before you force me to walk the plank with studies?”

“Why not, I got my employee credit, should be a good deal. Let’s go!”

He waits until they get inside the café, none the wiser about his hiding place, to make his way back to the police station. Concluding his business quickly, he takes the train back home, completely lost in thought, foot tapping and knuckles white from holding the strap above him.

…I was perfectly content to stay in the lounge all day…

Was she planning on waiting for everyone to leave? Was she waiting for him?

I didn’t want to make your uncomfortable. I was just going to wait until you were ready…

Akihiko realizes it’s not the first time she’s done this. She might throw him some curveballs to shake him out of whatever’s troubling him, but she’s been very respectful of his frequent bouts of distress.

Until she wasn't, but she’d made her point clear that day and he can’t keep running away. The sun is setting the port ablaze and all he wants is for finals to be over so he can act on it.

Chapter 27: Freedom at Last

Chapter Text

“I wish I could go to the beach. Hot sand, cool breeze… babes in bikinis… Man, it sure would be nice.”

Junpei had, unknowingly, provided Mitsuru with the perfect way to make amends for nearly maiming him. She’d been very courteous to him since the incident, even picking up his kitchen messes during finals, but his aloofness had made her worry he wasn’t accepting her unspoken apology. Once he spoke those words and she learned her father was vacationing at Yakushima, vacation plans were made for all of them.

………………………………..

The last day of exams, Ikutsuki leaves him a voice mail asking him to wait by the school gates after the bell to introduce a potential recruit.

The juniors, finally winding down from the week’s stress and in full vacation frenzy, are making their way over to join him when the chairman makes his entrance.

“Adolescence is such a wonderful thing! So full of vibrancy! Don’t let me interrupt, I just stopped by to pick someone up. I might as well introduce you to him now.”

A young boy steps from behind the chairman’s shadow, with a brown mop of hair and a subdued expression on his face. He looks so small in that orange vest, almost as much as he did in his black vest at that wake.

No…

Akihiko double takes in shock, this is something he never expected. Takeba immediately greets the kid familiarly.

“Oh, hi Ken-kun, what’s up?”

He whips around, stunned.

“You know him…?”

The rumbling in his mind storms in like a fury and he clenches both his fists. The last thing he wants is to cause a scene but this…

Why? Just, why?

Ikutsuki smiles pleasantly at all of them.

“He doesn’t leave during the break because of his… circ*mstances.”

Yukari sighs, looking down at Ken in compassion.

“Oh, I heard about that…Something about his parents.”

Ken nods at her, looks at the twins, then in the distance.

“It was only me and my mom, but she got in an accident, and she… she died. It happened two years ago.”

The chairman rambles on, but Akihiko can’t help but picture Shinjiro’s tormented face. The screams, the dorm front door banging in the frame, Mitsuru’s howls of anguish... There’s so much tension in his neck his shoulders are getting numb.

“…So, I decided to move him to your dorm for the summer.”

Minako jolts at this one, looking over at Ken with a pointed look, speaking up.

“To OUR dorm?! Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

“Why, of course. He has the potential.”

She still doesn’t look convinced, pursing her lips. Even Minato seems taken aback, looking from Ken to the chairman incredulously. Akihiko exhales slowly.

“Then, he’s the new candidate…?”

Ikutsuki nods like it’s not a big deal.

“Why, yes. But, as you can see, he’s still just an elementary school student. So, it is merely a possibility for now.”

Ken is looking at him with bright eyes and he gulps his emotions down painfully.

“Are you... Sanada-senpai?”

There’s a level of excitement and admiration in that question that gives him nausea.

“Um… yeah.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you… You haven’t lost a boxing match yet. It’s a real honor to meet you!”

It's not. It's really not. If you knew...

The tone of wonder is clear, and it makes it all so much worse. Ken is just an innocent kid though; he tries not to let emotion cloud his response, but his voice turns out distant.

“Yeah, well… It’s nice to meet you.”

…………………………….

The chairman, Ken in tow, leaves the school and they start making their way back to the train as a group, but jolts running up his spine just intensify. Yukari and Junpei are having an animated discussion with Minako about swimsuits, that is, the girls are talking and Iori is getting jabbed repeatedly because of his inappropriate comments. It feels a bit forced, like Junpei is purposefully trying to distract them; the girls had been a little too lost in thought earlier. Minato stays silent, looking out the window, but his face is scrounged somewhat and he sends a few glances his way.

Akihiko is still trying to keep his emotions bottled inside, for the sake of the others, but there’s a repulsion at the whole situation he can’t quite keep down. The teen finally turns toward him and speaks softly.

“Wanna hang out?”

…………………………….

“This is a bad idea; I hope the chairman reconsiders.”

He hasn’t seen Minato this forward in expressing his opinions before and it takes him aback. Apparently, Akihiko’s not the only one with reservations, although his are based on entirely different reasons on top of the unease at involving children. They’re picking at the soggy fries slowly, he's tapping his foot on the seat's base like he wants to chip it but his companion doesn't comment on it. At least there isn’t much of a crowd at the back of Wild Duck at this hour, everyone out of school is probably gallivanting outside to start their vacation.

“He’s just a kid, nobody that age needs to...”

Minato's candor is surprising, but with what he knows of the twins he can understand where he's coming from. He nods in agreement, perhaps they can get the situation reversed if that possibility solidifies. They need everyone they can get to vanquish the shadows, but the idea of pitching a young orphan into the fray screams of desperation. Is the chairman doubting they can get the job done? And for this kid to be him of all people…

I can’t let that happen.

His face must have been grim indeed because Minato cracks a real joke at him.

“Or we can just unleash Junpei on him. That might make him go back to his own dorm running.”

Akihiko chuckles, that was unexpected and the mental picture is somewhat funny. The humor doesn’t last though and he sighs in resignation, it's like he can never catch a break. As if there weren’t already enough sources of stress and chaos at the dorm, he’ll have to look at Ken all summer, every day, like a refresh slap in the face.

Chapter 28: Mermaids

Chapter Text

Junpei’s been in everyone’s space since before they boarded the ferry, so loud and boisterous his ears are ringing. Minato’s been subtly rolling his eyes at Akihiko as if to echo his own irritation, but his customary slight smirk is there too. He’s somewhat tolerant, most of the time, but he’s found himself seriously considering throwing the lanky teen overboard a few times.

And now that the boys are changing and heading to the beach, Iori throws a fit.

“Dude, seriously, you can’t go out like this!”

Akihiko looks at him like he’s insane. They’re all wearing swimsuits, that’s sort of the point.

“What’s the problem now?”

Junpei is groaning like someone stepped on him, arms in the air in despair.

“Please, please put a shirt on or something, nobody’s going to notice us if we’re hanging around you.”

He still doesn’t get it and glances at himself. Perfectly normal. He looks at Minato quizzically, who raises an eyebrow and a corner of his mouth in amusem*nt.

“You do kinda… stand out.”

Iori sighs, discouraged and somewhat peeved.

“Seriously? It’s not just the… I mean, you could grate some cheese on that board, I knew you trained a lot but maaan…”

He has definition, that was kind of expected. With a strict training regimen, focusing on strength and endurance, of course there’d be some side effects. Despite all the protein supplements, he doesn’t have the bulk of someone like Shinji, but he’s tall and muscular none the less. Akihiko shakes his head, who cares?

“Only if it gets you to finally shut up.”

The breeze is simply amazing, the waves are not too strong and the sun is blazing overhead. It might feel great to just swim some laps and nap in the shade afterward. Just listening to the pull and crash of the sea is leeching Akihiko’s tension away somewhat.

With the events preceding the start of their vacation, he was too distressed to catch up with her and she’d been helping their shy navigator shop for a swimsuit with Yukari. That was something he had to process on his own, punching the sparks out of his mind in his room, but they were here now, so far away from school, the dorm, Tartarus and everything else…

Just need to find the right moment.

“Ahh… Got my sandals on… Givin’ my feet a chance to breathe… Yup! Summer’s here!”

Junpei’s bouncing like a kid next to him and he’s trying to rile up Minato with his enthusiasm. Right on cue, Takeba’s quipping in from the small path leading to the Kirijo mansion.

“Ugh, could he BE any louder…?”

Akihiko crosses his arms on his chest, eyes lost at sea, trying to tune the two of them out.

There we go again.

There’s some shuffling and Yukari keeps at it.

“…Hey Junpei, what’s the matter? You look even dumber than usual.”

“Maaaaan… Talk about a feast for the eyes, haha. Yuka-tan’s wearing a more aggressive model than I had imagined. Could her boldness come from the confidence that her club training has toned her bod?”

Could he even sound more pervy if he tried? What a child. Said girl huffs in irritation at him.

“And check out our leader!”

It’s a reflex at his comment but he turns around and freezes.

“She’s one cute mermaid herself! Those curves she usually keeps covered up are lookin’ good! I can’t tear my eyes away!”

Minato growls at that one and jabs Junpei in the ribs with a warning glance, his stare hard. For once, Akihiko has to agree with the resident lecherous-in-chief wholeheartedly.

He can’t take his eyes away.

He also wants to strangle Iori, slowly.

She’s laughing at Junpei like he’s so ridiculous, calling him a creep teasingly as she hops along the path to join them.

She’s radiant.

The copper in her hair is almost as red as her eyes. Always so expressive, she looks at the sea in wonder, taking a deep breath of the salty air in appreciation, exhales slowly as if she’s savoring a slice of cake. He should know. Satisfied, she ruffles her brother’s hair teasingly in passing before joining Takeba near the umbrella, Minato huffs in reply and puts his locks back in his face with a shake.

Akihiko clenches his hands nervously, his mind void of anything close to coherence, turns around and walks to the water until it reaches above his ankles. It’s just damn hot today.

The commotion continues, Junpei laughing creepily a few times as Fuuka and Mitsuru stroll down the path to join the other girls.

There’s a splash nearby as the boys react to the water's temperature and make their way closer to him. The first is still as bubbly and excited, the second simply nonchalant. Iori slides between them, a devious glint in his eye.

“Pssst, guys. Level with me… Which one’s your type?”

Minato huffs a strand of hair out of his face, shaking his head in denial.

“Aww, c’mon!”

Blue eyes ponder and light up somewhat. There’s the faintest of blushes on Minato’s cheeks but he murmurs.

“Yukari…”

Huh.

Akihiko can’t help but glance back over his shoulder absently. His eyes lock on her, vibrantly explaining something to the girls with her usual eloquence, there seems to be a lot of laughter involved. It almost seems like she catches his stare from the corner of her eye, but she doesn’t move her gaze back to him and just keeps smiling through her exchange. It might be an illusion of the umbrella’s shade, but her cheeks are almost the same color as her frilled attire.

“Huh!? Really?!”

Junpei’s shocked outburst snaps him back around. Akihiko shakes his head, somewhat confused.

“What? I didn’t say anything!”

But Iori is grinning directly at him, like an idiot, his eyebrows are wiggling too.

“Maaaan, really? No joke?”

Minato’s somewhat chuckling at Junpei’s reaction, but it’s him he’s looking at. There’s an amused sparkle to his eyes he doesn’t quite get.

“Aww man, this is just…”

Junpei’s still laughing by himself and Akihiko is starting to feel a bit peeved so he just careens him face first into the water in one swooping motion.

“...Shut up.”

Chapter 29: Fingertips

Chapter Text

The feast following their day at the beach is lavish, with servings to please everyone’s tastes and then some. Octopus, fresh fish, shrimps, steak brochettes, grilled veggies, and a variety of sushi are laid on the table. Mitsuru seems almost sheepish as the maids are serving; she might come across as arrogant sometimes, but she doesn’t enjoy showing off her privilege. Iori sets that straight, again.

“Man, this is great, I’m in heaven! Th-Thank you, Mitsuru-senpai! Thank you SO MUCH! I could die right now with no regrets!”

At least he talks when it counts.

Mitsuru smiles at the boisterous teenager, she looks somewhat bashful too. Akihiko smirks at the display; he might not always appreciate Junpei, but maybe she’ll finally let it go now and that’s a great achievement in his book.

Everyone probably ate too much and they move on from the dining room to a large lounge area, much more spacious than the dorm’s. Junpei is shuffling a deck of cards, teaching Fuuka, Yukari and Minato a game and Mitsuru has excused herself to talk with her father. Whatever team bout they’re playing at the table seems to have mellowed the bickering somewhat, or perhaps it’s the drowsiness of the hot summer night under dimmed lighting doing a number on them.

He swears Minako was here a second ago, perched on top of her twin’s sofa to look at his cards, but Akihiko can’t see her anywhere anymore. Curious, he puts the book he was perusing on a coffee table and starts walking around quietly. There are quite a few crannies in the room, but he finally spots her ponytail near one of the heavily draped window alcoves at the back.

It looks like she’s staring at the crest of the waves crashing below through the glass, her eyes dazed and her fingers crossed behind her back in the gloom. Minako looks pensive, indrawn, and shuffles her feet a bit as he approaches. Clearly, she’s aware he’s standing there but it doesn’t change her demeanor.

Akihiko feels like he’s tiptoeing on her privacy, and he hesitates. Maybe she’ll turn around with a bright smile and act like nothing, maybe she’ll ignore him, but he feels like it’s an unspoken invitation. She’s squeezing her fingers together, her thumb pressing in the opposite palm somewhat hard.

Walking slowly, he ends up behind her, so they’re hidden from the view at the back of the lounge. She’s still not moving and he tentatively moves his right hand to hers to grab her attention, but she wraps his fingers between hers delicately, pulling him toward her with a skim of her nails.

“Are you okay?”

She lifts her head and co*cks it to the side, still looking right ahead while whispering.

“…I’m sorry, I just… needed some quiet.”

“Oh…”

Thinking she means he’s intruding; he shifts his weight to take a step back, but she pulls again, very lightly. Her palms are very warm and yet she applies the barest of pressure to his.

“You’re quiet.”

His mind isn’t, it’s undulating in static waves, singing a song in his veins in tandem with the shoreline’s majesty. He brushes his thumb on top of her knuckle and takes a step toward her, he has no idea what he’s even doing and his ears are burning up.

They’ve shared some moments like this in silence before, always just the two of them, but that was… before… and there wasn’t anything this tactile about it. He doesn’t know why that fact is so different, but it scares him. There’s his single right hand, pressed between both of hers like a flower in the middle of a book. It’s anchoring them together, just this lone point of contact that changes everything.

It's overwhelming, but also not enough.

Akihiko raises his left wrist to her shoulder, barely pressing his fingertips to her shirt, like she’ll break. Minako sighs gently and barely leans her head toward it when the lounge door opens, and Mitsuru’s heels reverberate across the room like little pointy hammers.

They break apart in a jolt like they’re guilty of some sin.

“My father would like you to join us in the reception room, please.”

Minako takes a deep breath and turns on her heels to go join the others, but as she passes next to him, she leans her head on his arm, like a cat brushing a doorframe, and whispers.

“…Thank you.”

Akihiko is too shocked to answer or react, but he follows her, dumbstruck. There’s a radical change in the way she acts in just the short few seconds it takes for her to saunter next to Fuuka and Yukari, smile on her face. Like she’s walking on a stage to perform. He thought he wanted a moment with her, but now…

I want all of them.

He doesn’t even think about it, it just happens. As they are filing in the reception room, where sofas are scattered, he simply follows her stride and sit right next to her, where her brother usually does. He’s still a bit dazed and that fact doesn’t register until Minato sits on his left and he’s sandwiched between both twins.

Uh…

Akihiko feels very uncomfortable for some reason and asking to swap seats in front of everyone would be kind of fishy, so he just shoots an eyeful of apology at Minato on the down low. The twin is smirking at him and barely mouths a reply.

“Suck it up.”

That guy I swear…

She’s barely an inch to his right, bright but solemn, not looking at him, and Fuuka on the other side is containing a smile with her lithe little hands. Hopefully all she’s laughing at is the expression on Minato’s face because of the impromptuseat assignment. He sighs, running his thumbs over his palms to avoid jittering too much. Also because his hands are tingling something fierce.

Everyone is in place now, somewhat intimidated by Mitsuru's father. He cuts an impassive figure, and the eyepatch just adds gravitas to his presence.Takeharu Kirijo nods at the groups on each side of the room, looks at his daughter with an unreadable expression, then begins his explanations.

“From what I understand, Mitsuru has already given you the short version. Well, it’s true… We adults are to blame.”

He shuffles his feet, uncomfortable with what he’s about to say.

“If I could’ve atoned for it with my life, I would have done so… Now, I have no choice but to rely on you. What my father wanted to create with those monsters’ power… was a time manipulation device.”

Mitsuru looks surprised.

“That’s what he was trying to do?”

Takeharu nods grimly.

“Imagine if you could control the flow of time… eliminate unwanted events before they occur. With such a device, you could shape the future to your liking."

Junpei whistles softly, slack-jawed at the implications.

“Damn, that’s insane!”

“However, under my father’s direction, the research began to stray from its original goal. In his later years, my father seemed to have only nihilism in his heart. Now that I think about it, his madness may have resulted from his struggle to break free of that…“

His tone is almost sad now, resigned.

“It’s only natural that you want to know the truth… and it’s my duty to tell you.”

Mitsuru’s father takes one of the controllers on the table in front of him and punches some buttons. The room dims and something starts to play on the projector.

“This is the only existing footage of the accident, recorded by a scientist who was at the scene.”

Screeching static plays, then very grained footage. They can barely see the shape of a person on the screen but the details are impossible to discern.

“I pray that this recording reaches safe hands…”

Takeba edges to the edge of her seat, eyes like saucers in shock.

“That voice…!?”

“My employer has become obsessed with a loathsome idea. This experiment should have never even been conceived… I’m afraid what I’ve done will result in an unprecedented disaster. But If I hadn’t, the entire world may have paid the price… Please, listen carefully… The Shadows that were amassed here have been dispersed as a result of the explosion. To end this nightmare, you must eliminate all of them! I am to blame for this. I knew the risks, but I was blinded by the promise of success… And so, I didn’t raise any objections… It is all my fault.”

The image of the distorted video becomes clearer for barely a second, but Takeba slides from the sofa to her knees on the floor, staring at the broken feed with tears in her eyes.

“…Dad…”

Fuuka extends her hand to her, shaken.

“You mean… that was…?”

Yukari is too stunned to answer but stares back at her friend with blank eyes, confirming her suspicions. Mitsuru looks at her dad with a subdued expression, unsure.

“Father…”

Takeharu takes a breath and briefly closes his eyes.

“His name was Eiichiro Takeba… He was the head researcher at the time, and a very talented man. But, we are the ones that are responsible. We pushed him to continue the research. The Kirijo Group is to blame for his death.”

His daughter shakes her head, shocked.

“I… I can’t believe it…”

With a shocked, wet voice, Yukari starts speaking in a low voice.

“So that means… my dad caused it all? The Dark Hour, Tartarus… The people who died in that incident… It was all his fault?”

From his position on the sofa, Akihiko can sense the tension and weight shifting on his right when she mentions the incident ten years ago. Adjusting his legs, he lays his right hand next to hers on the fabric like it’s just a coincidence and gently rubs her little finger with his own. It’s devious, and sneaky, but nobody seems to notice and she instantly relaxes.

Fuuka is rubbing Yukari’s shoulder from the sofa, eyebrows creased in worry at her friend’s anguish.

“Are you okay?”

She doesn’t answer, but her voice is swelling into anger and she’s staring at Mitsuru.

“So, that’s why you were hiding this…? Because you felt sorry for me? Is that it!?”

The heiress is taken aback at the attack.

“No, Takeba, I…”

“I don’t want your pity!!”

Yukari screams, crying, and runs off.

Mitsuru takes two steps forward, wanting to catch up with her, and hesitates. Before she makes up her mind, Minato is standing next to her and touches her arm with a determined expression.

“Let me.”

Chapter 30: Operation Babe Hunt

Chapter Text

He can’t remember if he dreamed, but Akihiko feels like his head is stuck in a vice the next morning. He tossed and turned a long time, looking at the ceiling like it had all the answers. As usual, his body wakes him at dawn, and for once he wishes he could just fall back asleep.

It takes 15 minutes before he gives up, looks outside at the golden hues brushing the edges of the horizon, and decides to train to clear his tension headache.

The water is cold and not yet warmed up by the sun, but after some laps he can barely feel it. The pleasant numbness of exertion and the power of the waves pushing all around him acts like a therapy of silence for his brain. Akihiko spends quite some time, floating on top of the moving curtain of water, just watching the colors of the sky turn.

He eventually makes his way to shore because of hunger pangs, ruffling his wet hair back into spikes once he emerges from the waves, and spots the figures at the small wooden pier on the edge of the beach.

The twins are sitting close together like they often do, a blanket around them both to offset the winds and looking in the distance like statues. The rays of sunlight are right in their face, illuminating their eyes as they talk quietly, and he gets an instant flashback of the first time he saw those devilish stares in the dorm’s security monitors.

Funny how things have changed over the last months. He remembers that flash of red piercing through him in the camera feed, but now the intense crimson glints are watching him rise out of the water and she’s smiling shyly.

Akihiko feels very self-conscious for some reason, grabbing his towel clumsily and making his way back to the mansion. It still feels like he saw something he shouldn’t. Also, he still hasn’t learned how to gracefully exit the scene.

……………………..

The boys stroll to the beach somewhat later the same morning, and nobody else is there, to Junpei’s dismay.

“Huh? Are the girls not up yet? Man, those sleepyheads! The ocean’s not gonna sit around and wait for us, y’know?”

“Actually, they’ve gone to see the Jomon Cedar Tree.”

Minako pops her head from the beach chair near the closest parasol, thoroughly amused.

“Then Mina-tan, why are you here?”

She gestures at the ocean with a dramatic hand.

“And miss this? Are you blind? You being a perv is not gonna get between me and the ocean.”

Junpei puts his hands on his hips with a growl, definitely frustrated.

“At least you get it. We’re at an island resort in the middle of summer! Why aren’t they going to the beach!? That’s just not right.”

Akihiko shakes his head and rolls his eyes.

“Well, she just said it, it is your fault.”

“Whaddaya mean? I just wanted the lighten the mood yesterday. Well, it doesn’t matter now, anyways… This is the frontier of romance! We’re bound to meet someone new out here.”

Their leader is snorting in laughter from her spot, hitting the armrest like it’s just too much. Junpei glares at the chair.

“Just pretend you aren’t here! Actually, let’s just go elsewhere, she’s going to ruin everything.”

He grabs his two companions by the wrist and drags them to the edge of the trees excitedly. Akihiko sighs, this feels like a disaster brewing.

“We’ll call this: Operation Yakushima Beach Fling!”

Disaster confirmed.

He rolls his eyes at Junpei. He owes him for yesterday, but this is too much.

“You mean you want to pick up girls?”

Iori is wiggling his eyebrows at him, not registering his exasperation.

“How ‘bout it, Sanada-san? With you on the squad, and if you remove your shirt, we’re guaranteed to succeed.”

“Hard pass.”

He crosses his arms on his chest to make his point, this is ridiculous and she’s standing right over there. He looks at Minato with a side eye, he has about the same level of enthusiasm at the idea. The blue hair barely moves.

“Sounds like a hassle.”

“Actually, can I join?”

Junpei screams in fright when Minako pops from behind her brother, her face all business.

“What are you doing here, you’re a girl! You can’t join!”

“So? I’d even bet I can pick up a girl faster than you.”

She smirks in defiance and Akihiko chuckles at the whole debacle.

“I’m never betting anything with you again, you cheat!”

Composition sucked, eh Iori?

She huffs vainly, nose pointed upward like it’s a compliment. This is a surprise performance that keeps on giving and he exchanges a glance with Minato, who’s half-smiling at Junpei’s discomfiture.

“Aww you wound me; I have the biggest disadvantage out of all of you too. Well, you should at least take him along, he looks cute, that makes him a good wingman.”

She’s pointing at Minato with a finger and Junpei narrows his eyes, suspicious. The twins look at each other with vivid stares and she’s mouthing something silently Minato's way while he rolls his eyes and mutters.

“For f*ck’s sake…”

Junpei glares at the nonchalant teenager.

“You better take this seriously. It’s an important operation. “

…………………………………

Minako waves them goodbye mockingly and makes her way back to her beach chair with him. Junpei keeps casting them evil glares over his shoulder, he knows he has an audience and it’s apparently distracting. She laughs and looks at Akihiko.

“Apparently my attempts at blackmail gathering are backfiring. Up for a swim? If we pretend to be busy, I can probably snatch a few juicy bits on the downlow.”

…………………………………

Eventually, she leaves the deeper waters to sit closer to shore, lapping waves up to her waist. She cups some sand and lets it trickle between her fingers, admiring the view as it falls in the sea and gets washed away.

It’s not yet noon, but there’s quite a few people around the beach now enjoying the perfect weather. A young family, with a small boy in tow, is making their way nearby to some of the beach chairs. The kid is throwing an ear-piercing tantrum, his mother is screaming at him in reply, but Minako just smiles in quiet tolerance.

They eventually leave with the screams in their wake just as Akihiko sits down next to her. She’s looking a tad pensive again but it’s more like she’s reminiscing. Akihiko chuckles.

“Well, he was full of energy!”

She grins, glancing the way of the receding family.

“Yeah, but it’s not his fault, at least he has a mom to keep him in line. Minato and I had it a bit rough, everyone thought we were some kind of weird monsters growing up. At least we turned out okay.”

She’s chuckling self-deprecatingly, but it hits him different. He grounds his hands in the sand on his sides, laying some of his weight on his elbows, and the words just come out.

“People used to tell me all the time that I was weird or acting strange when I was a kid, because I had no parents."

He doesn’t think about it as much anymore, but there’s something like a dull ache sometimes in the depths of his heart. Minako’s looking at him as if she’s trying to gauge his emotions and he shrugs in reply.

“Don’t worry about it, the orphanage wasn’t all bad. I just never had an opportunity to mention it, but I grew up in one, with my little sister. She’s long gone now…”

Maybe there’s a weird note in his speech, but he can feel her staring at his face and he’s trying to keep his eyes straight toward the horizon. He’s probably still being weird, again.

“Sorry for rambling on, I don’t know why I’m saying this…”

Her hand takes position in the submerged sand to his left, right next to his, the inside of her wrist barely touching his own. The foam recedes and all his thoughts scatter along with it when she speaks.

“Maybe it’s because we’re the same.”

Akihiko looks down where her skin meets his own, forearms crisscrossed and their mirrored sprayed fingers like the wings of a bird in the sand. Minako takes a breath.

“And for the record senpai, you’re not weird at all…”

There’s a lull in her phrase intonation, as if she’s challenging him to look at her so she can continue. When he looks up, she’s staring at him with resolve and a brilliant smile.

“…You’re simply charming.”

Something inside can’t process the curveball she just threw at him; he can’t even stutter a reply, but his face is melting.

Then, someone screams somewhere down the beach and the surprise takes her eyes off his. Still stupefied, he follows her gaze to the commotion and sees Junpei panicking as Minato is dragged forcefully to the woods by someone. There's always something in the way...

He never got a chance to reply what he wanted to say once his wires straighten, much later.

So are you.

Chapter 31: Hot and Cold

Chapter Text

The would-be kidnapper that caused a global ruckus turns out to be an Anti-Shadow weapon named Aigis. To Minato’s despair, she keeps hovering near him as the whole clique gets to the beach the next day, watching him like a hawk.

His sister is smirking at the spectacle; her brother loves to be inconspicuous and now he has a groupie. At least Aigis eventually relents and tries to mingle with the others, equally interested in how human interactions work between the members of SEES. There’s an innocence in her inquiries that might be problematic though.

…………………………

It’s another beautiful day at the beach and the whole team is here. Ever eloquent, Iori is sighing dramatically, shuffling sand with his foot.

“Man, it’s already the third day of our trip. It’s too bad we have to go home tomorrow… I’d totally stay longer if I could. But, I can’t complain… A lot of cool things happened while we were here.”

Don’t I know it.

They’re staking a claim to a group of chairs with umbrellas when Aigis approaches them with curiosity.

“Do we have a mission at the beach today?”

Junpei grins at the robot in reply, unfolding his towel.

“Nah, it’s nothing like that. We just came here to have some fun.”

Fuuka, ever so curious about their artificial new recruit, chips in.

“Do you understand what it means to have fun, Aigis?”

The tone is clipped, like Aigis is reciting from a book.

“Of course. Recreation is the refreshment of one’s mind and body.”

Junpei nods, excited like a puppy.

“Exactly! Wow, you sure know a lot about us humans. Alright, let’s take one last dip before we leave!”

He takes her metallic hand and runs to the water, the fact that she’s a robot seems irrelevant to him. It takes less than a minute for her to come back to the rest of the group.

“It is best that we all engage in this activity together. An activity in which only one person derives enjoyment is not the optimal method to “have fun”. Junpei-kun is not having fun because, abridged quote; the babes in bikini are not present so he can splash them.”

Minako laughs darkly and shares a look with Mitsuru and Yukari. They seem equally peeved at the report: nobody forgot what occurred the first day. She turns back to their newest recruit with a mischievous grin.

“Aigis, I trust you know to obey your team leader on the battlefield.”

The robot stands at attention sharply and Minako whispers something to her while pointing to her female teammates.

“Acknowledged. Battle parameters updated. Commencing operation.”

“Good bot. Now get ready girls!”

Aigis turns suddenly and goes back to Junpei, all the girls in tow nearby. As she reaches him, she dips her hands in the water.

“Deploying water gun armament.”

The robot raises her hands toward him; the fingers themselves are barrels. Iori screams in fright.

“Aigis, wait! That’s not what water gun means!”

The oncoming barrage of water makes him sputter and fall bum first into the sea. Fuuka, Mitsuru, Yukari and Minako share a look.

“Junpei’s down, get him! All-out Attack!”

Minako is pointing her finger to Iori like a general in the field and everyone else jumps into the fray at her command to get revenge with much splashing and gurgling.

Akihiko exchanges a glance with Minato; they’re both watching from the umbrellas with amusem*nt. The blue-haired teenager is smirking at the aquatic carnage and he puts his drink back on the cooler's top.

“I think I want a crack at him too, for yesterday, let’s go!”

They both chuckle as they join the fun.

………………………………..

Akihiko is standing on the deck of the ferry, holding the railing and admiring the ballet of sunlight on the waves. Everyone’s relaxing below deck, crushed with fatigue after an early rise and the promise of school tomorrow, but his musings keep turning him to the lull of the ocean. There's a weird association now between the gleaming foam and his skin that wasn't there before.

The wind is rushing through his ears as the boat slowly glides back from Yakushima toward Port Island and he only hears her approach at the last minute when she speaks up.

“Hey senpai.”

Glancing over his shoulder he spots Minako, hands in her pockets, hair billowing in the air like it’s alive. She approaches the railing to stand next to him and takes the view in with a wan smile. He supposes her usual perkiness takes a hit at some points, perhaps it’s all this is.

“You okay?”

She purses her lips and sighs.

“Yeah, just lack of sleep, I guess… I have a lot of my mind sometimes.”

Minako takes one of her hands out of her pocket and moves some of the hair from her face so she can look at him properly. Her eyes harden in seriousness.

“We got less than 2 weeks before the next full moon. We’re not ready.”

So that’s what it is.

Akihiko watches her carefully as he turns his head to the right, taking in her rigid stance. She’s not one to show weakness, but in that moment, he can see how she’s not been relaxing quite like the others during the trip. Minako is focused on the team and everything it entails, at the expense of herself.

“We can take some time tomorrow, discuss it, anywhere you want. My treat.”

She raises her left hand to the railing, close to his, timid.

“Thank you.”

Her shoulders spasm in a shiver when the wind picks up. Something’s tugging at his brain and this time Akihiko takes a leap of faith.

He sidesteps behind her and repositions his arms so they’re on each side of her, both his hands lightly touching her lone one on the cold railing, shielding her from the wind with his larger frame.

It’s not a hug, he’s just cradling her in his space like a cloak and they’re just tethered by his palms on her frigid fingers. It’s not a big deal, he’s just numb from the wind's bite.

Minako should be below deck, warm, with the others. Resting.

I’m selfish and I don’t care.

Any little moment with her he can steal for himself he’ll take. No matter how long they last.

Because they never seem to.

She sighs and leans her head backward in the crook of his right shoulder, just barely. Her ponytail is dancing in the air like windblown ribbons, tickling his face, so he closes his eyes, flattens them on her head with his cheek delicately and rests the tip of his nose on her hairpins.

It’s so quiet.

His body differs, his heart is drumming like the gale of the sea in his ears and now she’s leaning her back to graze his frame. Because she’s cold, and Akihiko’s boiling alive, and there’s nothing but the two of them suspended between water and sky with the sun shining bright.

He doesn’t move, and neither does she, until the port is in view and the threat of a search party intensifies.

Chapter 32: Nudges

Chapter Text

Everyone’s in a hurry this morning to get out of the door, struggling with the return of the school routine. Fatigue is evident in some bleary eyes, but hers are sharp and revivified as she strolls in the kitchen frantically, assembling lunch boxes for her and Minato like everything’s on fire.

They haven’t gone on a run this morning, he insisted yesterday they both rest instead, but Akihiko still wants to grab a protein shake in the fridge by force of habit and they’re fighting for space in the tiny kitchen.

The only reason her fingers barely brush his wrist is because she’s trying to grab a drink on the same shelf. He almost fumbles his bottle on the floor because the open door made it dewy and he lost his grip.

………………………….

Everyone in the dorm except Mitsuru is cramming on the same monorail car since they left as a group. She took an earlier departure because of school council and Akihiko’s just here to escort the juniors. There are barely any seats available and they let Takeba and Fuuka take them, so they can avoid without being bumped into.

Iori, Minato and himself fan around Minako like a deployable armor, anything to save her from the morning rush. She has her earphones on, nodding her head to the music, crammed loosely between all their tall frames. It’s only because some rambunctious teenagers are trying to squeeze in the same car that he is lifting his arm to shield her back, his fingertips kissing the fabric on her shoulder blade in passing.

………………………….

They pass each other in the hallway during lunch. Minako is carrying some forms for school council in one hand, moving like a comet. It just happens she slows down when she’s at his level and tugs downward on his red vest because he’s taller than her and she wants to whisper him something. The troves of groupies are looking at her with murderous intent at her bravado.

“Ramen sounds good.”

Her breath is warm on his neck.

“Okay.”

They just keep going their separate ways, not even looking at each other.

………………………….

He’s lefthanded and she’s not, so she sits on his right at Hagakure at the counter, just so they don’t fumble each others’ chopsticks with elbow jabs. Instead, their free hands are on the wood panel, so close as to leech heat from each other. There’s an open notebook propped up between them, balanced on the sauce bottles, jammed with notes and checklists that Akihiko is perusing with great attention.

She’s really been thinking about this.

“So you want some of us to run Dark Hour patrols while others go to Tartarus?”

She nods, her mouth full. Swallowing slowly, she jabs her chopsticks at the calendar she drew, all small blocks filled with colored characters in code.

“It’s still summer, I figured patrols would not be as intense as staircasing and we don’t need a full team for that, two people can do it. Perhaps we can even save ourselves some search and rescue into Tartarus if we intercept them in the streets.”

He nods, finding civilians into Tartarus tended to become more frequent as the moon approached maturity and finding them was sometimes tricky.

“Makes sense. Let’s also assume not everyone will want to go out every day, so who’s available will vary. Club training will also last a whole week, we can’t sustain that and Tartarus each night.”

“I can recuperate during training camp if someone handles equipment while I’m gone. Then one last trek before the full moon.”

He’s a natural at recklessness too, but this is a bit much.

"That's not a rest opportunity. You'll be exhausted by the time the operation comes around."

And now Minako is glaring back at him with irritation.

"I said I can do it. We need to push hard and I can handle all the rotations."

She's so stubborn.

His school bag is on the floor at his feet but hers is half open next to her, from when she took out her notebook. It's the only reason he leans around her to steal one of her pencils, the side of his head grazing her hair in passing.

Akihiko takes the notebook, flips the page to a blank one and quickly redraws the schedule, periodically checking her notes to mirror some of the existing data. Done, he sets the updated diagram down her way; he’s shifted a few things around and added some scribbles but mostly, his name is everywhere hers is slotted.

“Are you nuts!?”

She’s looking at his edits with a baffled look, Akihiko would frontline almost all the time if they went with this.

You’re not doing this alone.

"If you want to push hard, you'll have to push me too. I can take it."

She scowls at his comment, still holding the notebook, unsure. He’s still holding her pencil so he bends toward her bag to put it back, brushing his chin on her shoulder and whispering.

“Just trust me.”

Chapter 33: As They Say

Chapter Text

There’s a mix of resolve and excitement around the dorm that night; they’re going to Tartarus. The whole of SEES is set to get a pass in the grinder today but the rest of their plans require tweaks based on individual schedules, so Minako is meeting with everyone one by one to take notes. So much to do until the full moon, so little time, and it shows.

Trying to keep busy until the clock literally strikes twelve, they’re all moving up and down the stairs, swapping for the new weapons that got delivered, refilling portable med kits and adjusting their evoker holsters. And every time Akihiko crosses Minako in a corridor during her rounds, at the bottom of the stairs or near the table, there’s static shock. They're not touching; he’s just skimming the air that’s next to her and she’s sort of doing the same and it’s somehow so much worse.

By the time they step into the Tower of Demise, Akihiko is so edgy with tension he swears he’s going deaf from the rush.

…………………………………….

She’s talking with her brother and they’re splitting in teams, the goal being to take Aigis through both compositions with different leaders by swapping her with someone halfway during the Dark Hour. Akihiko, Minako and Aigis are up first, with Yukari as support and tackling the newest block, while Minato, Mitsuru and Junpei are set to start slightly lower and climb from there to warm up.

Climbing up from where they last unlocked a teleporter, they enter the Yabbashah block for the first time. It’s darker, metallic and full of nooks where shadows can ambush them and Yukari looks uneasy.

“Wow, it feels like forever ago when we last came here.”

Minako rubs her friend’s back in passing.

“I know, that’s why we’re going to start slow and ramp up as we can, it’s been a little while. Aigis, come here.”

The robot comes to attention, and she continues.

“We’re here so you can map your parameters to what we can do, I don’t really know how you work in groups, Ikutsuki only inferred you were always deployed in solo. Right now, Yukari is the most important member of this party and I want your priority to be her safety. Since you’re both attacking from afar, and I’d hate getting shot in there, aim carefully. Listen to her cues, she knows what I mean.”

“Battle parameters updated.”

Minako laughs and Yukari chips in.

“That’s way too formal Aigis. Try saying something like ‘Alright I got this’ instead.”

Aigis repeats after her, a little stiffly.

“Alright, I got this!”

Akihiko, keeping watch until they’re good to go, raises a fist, pointing to their right. They got company. The girls flex their weapons in reply and deploy.

…………………….

It takes a few fights to warm up and Minako slowly amps the rhythm, engaging bigger groups of foes in quick succession. Initially, she needs to shout her commands to Aigis but the mechanical maiden adapts quickly and has a good enough combat routine to spot where she can intervene.

Akihiko is grinning as they fight; they’re both at the front and dancing around one another like they’ve always done this. It was two lifetimes ago since he punched something to dust, and it just feels good to pummel shadows to get rid of all the pent-up energy. And he's got quite a bit of it.

Minako is doing a gesture to Yukari and Aigis toward one of the shadows to request gales and suppressing fire then dives back his way, sidestepping behind him with evoker in hand to summon beams of darkness toward some of the other threats. He covers her on the way, discouraging one inky appendage headed toward her back with a few rapid jabs but takes a bad hit for it.

Akihiko stands his ground nonetheless, grunting through the pain and guarding as Yukari is already raising her evoker. Io’s healing takes effect to refresh their cuts and bruises, while Palladion sweeps half of the field in a bullrush.

Minako’s eyes briefly glaze over to commune with Fuuka, then she puts three fingers on his shoulder to request support and steps in front of him, using her naginata like an extended sword to slice him some breathing space. He dances back under the swipe and behind her with his evoker to his skull, calling Polydeuces to rain down mayhem on everything. The air pressure flips upside down and blinding bolts of lightning start exploding around them to vaporize the rest.

Feels good to be alive!

They’re standing back-to-back, panting hard. Their shoulders are barely a finger apart, her hair is dancing because of static, and Akihiko laughs as motes of fading darkness snow everywhere.

Yukari is shaking her head like he's insane, but Aigis takes it in stride, impassive.

“Hot Damn’ As they say.”

……………………………

Both teams meet back in Tartarus’ lobby to swap Aigis with Junpei and they deploy back again, mixing it up. Minako confers with her brother for a minute and runs back their way.

“The Shock Troop is back on the menu, Yukari on sniper duty, I’ll support. We’ll get to the next roadblock and call it a night.”

Iori woops in delight and high fives Akihiko on the way to the teleporter pad. They make a good frontline duo and the next shadows they cross will have no chance. They prove that confidence right over the next floors.

The trio of powerful entities blocking the stairs upward end up being fire-oriented, so Iori is assigned to take point, barely affected by the inferno that engulfs the room in short order. Liquid red flames are bathing the floors and Yukari is focus firing one of the strange contraptions to take it down, doing her best to stay out of hazard range.

Rolling this way and that to dodge the chaos, not quite resistant like Junpei but way more mobile, Akihiko is working double-time to follow his companion’s blade strikes with resounding cracks of his gauntlets. They just need to take one out of the fray and things will get better but in the meantime he's switching from one to another to keep them busy. Minako has her evoker firing nonstop to actualize her repertoire of personas, eyes trailing scarlet haze, expending energy continuously to contain the effects of the heat around them all.

Cinders from the shadow’s attacks extinguish almost before they touch them, countered by the motes of life from a musician apparition. A small fairy is next, zipping around her head and blowing shooting stars Akihiko’s way. As the power takes effect, he can swear Minako’s hands are raking his hair like a whisper, shielding him from the worst of the flames’ sting so he can keep the shadows busy and out of her way. Then it’s a two-headed wolf from hell that seems to leap from behind her to assist Junpei with a howl of power that makes him grin in delight. Takeba scores a bullseye with a satisfied cry and a bastard sword cleaves the weakened target in half.

“Perfecto!”

Two to go.

……………………………

It’s a ragtag band of tired teenagers that make their way back to the dorm in the gloom of the Dark Hour, Iori keeping them awake with an agitated retelling of his exploits at the front. Yukari is complaining about the smell of smoke on her clothes to Fuuka, everyone’s a little grimy and hairstyles are a little wild across the board, but none of that matter.

He fought until his shoulders ached and his knees started giving way, until her eyes ran out of red tears of fire to summon figments of her soul. And now they’re all spent at the back of the group, barely grazing their sooty fingertips in passing, content.

Chapter 34: Game Over

Chapter Text

It’s, simply put, a beautiful day.

Akihiko opens his eyes, his heart still beating fast despite the long rest after a jog. Clouds are breezing above like puffs of clustered bath bubbles, slanted light shining through the breaks in between to illuminate their contours in bright yellows. There’s a gentle wind, just cold enough that he half-unzipped his red hoodie to cool off the sweat glistening down from his neck.

He's sitting on the horizontal bar, the long morning shadows of the trees painting part of the playground in stripes of ink, delicately running the tip of his fingers against Minako’s shoulder. She’s standing below on his left, her back to the bar and her head barely leaning on his knee, her ponytail writhing in the breeze like so many coppery snakes on his lap.

A cellphone rings in some beaty melody and stops soon after; her hand is snoozing the alarm in her pocket.

It’s been at least 5 times.

They’re probably in some trouble at this point, they need a shower before school and at least a decent snack; they ran here pretty hard and they barely slept.

I should probably care. I can’t. Not today.

Forever or barely a minute passes, but eventually the alarm rings again. This time, Minako takes a glance at the clock on the cellphone by barely sliding it out of her hoodie pocket, never moving from her position.

“…We can make it if we run back.”

…………………………

The monorail is packed again since it’s the last one that gets to Gekkoukan on time. Apparently, summer makes everyone late, so they’re stuck standing in the crammed space. Akihiko is shielding her from most of the crowd and holding on the handrail above. Minako is standing facing him but eyes on the passengers, earphones on as usual, her arm above to steady herself as well.

Except her burning hand is on his exposed inner wrist, her fingers resting in his palm inside his glove, and nobody is none the wiser as he stares at the sea, waves crashing in his mind.

…………………………

Akihiko leaves boxing club with a stack of instruction plans and a few notebooks filled with stats to peruse. A lot of the training regimen on the team needs adjusting before the regionals to give them that last good push and it’s not something he can scribble on the fly. He could wait for tomorrow and prep it in the afternoon for club week, but that would be cutting it short.

Sighing, he makes a stop at Hakagure instead of the dorm; better to nail this now and keep tomorrow free, it’s Sunday and there’s no school. Needing the space, he takes a table at the back, orders his meal, and takes all his paperwork out with a sigh.

This might take a while.

…………………………

It’s early evening by the time he gets back to the dorm, somewhat jittery. They’re going to Tartarus again tonight and he just wants to unwind a bit, perhaps he can slide in a short routine to warm up beforehand.

He walks in the lobby and Minako is sitting in a corner of the larger sofa, holding what looks like a handheld game console. By herself, for a change.

“Oh, hey, you’re back.”

She flashes him a smile and keeps pushing buttons, then sighs and shakes the device in the air like it offended her.

“Goddamit, again!”

Curious, Akihiko places his bag on one of the seats and folds his jacket on top before sitting next to her.

“What’s this?”

She reorients herself somewhat to the side so he can look over her shoulder at the screen.

“Junpei’s been having issues with this boss, and I promised him I’d take care of powerleveling his team since he did so well yesterday, but his equipment sucks.”

He raises an eyebrow, laughing.

“Are you bribing him with video games?”

Minako chuckles, making a haughty pose.

“Hey, a good leader uses anything at her disposal to keep the morale high. Plus, if I fix that gear and update his party, he’ll owe me a favor. I can use that.”

Maybe it’s her smug voice, or her teasing streak that he rarely gets exposed to, but he’s feeling cheeky suddenly and he smirks at her.

“A good leader makes do even if the parameters suck.”

She eyes him with mock outrage.

“Are you saying I’m not?”

“No that’s not it, quite the opposite, you’re good because you can adapt, and I respect that.”

Minako huffs playfully, slightly blushing, but he’s smirking still.

“Now prove it.”

She narrows her eyes in reply, piqued.

“Is that a challenge?”

Oh oh, she’s worse than Shinji!

“If you want. If you can’t do it first try, you owe me a favor.”

“Wow, and I thought you believed I was a good leader a minute ago. You’re on!”

She side-eyes him with something of an evil stare, but reboots the console and reloads her savegame, pursing her lips all the while. She’s going through the menus for a bit, grumbling about Iori being a dummy and can’t he figure out to leverage accessories, then speaks up.

“Alright, I’m ready, look over if you want, in case you think I’m cheating too.”

Someone’s a little riled up.

He chuckles but looks over her shoulder nonetheless as she engages the boss. Her eyes look intense in the reflection of the game console, scrounged and darting every which way to direct her virtual party members.

The good thing to do would be to let her win and she probably will at that, but the competitive streak in him really wants that favor. There’s absolutely nobody around but they could come back any second and her back is turned to him, the screen raised at somewhat of an angle so he can observe.

Akihiko leans over to get a better view and there’s something in the reflection of her eyes on the glass that wavers. His brow furrows, and the dawning realization that he’s always looking at her from the back without a window to her reaction hits him like a ton of bricks.

It’s not cheating, not really, it’s just going to be incidental. Curiosity is ramping up the cacophony of sound in his mind and he leans closer, not touching her, just enough she can feel him.

There it is again.

Her eyes are twinkling and she exhales slowly. He just takes two gloved fingertips to the middle of her spine and trickles them down slowly, barely brushing the fabric, watching her eyes widen by proxy. His ears are buzzing, dimming the game’s sound to a murmur.

Score.

“If you tickle me and I break this, you’re paying for it!”

I don’t care.

She’s still playing, and he lets his fingers trail back up, watching her bite her lips in furious concentration in the game’s backlit glass. He couldn’t care less about how her boss fight is going, he’s just entranced by the intensity churning in those rubies.

Minako is still wearing her school ribbon, holding her shirt collar high, but her head is angled a bit down. Just enough that he can tickle his nose with her hair and breathe slowly on her neck, lips parted, amazed at the fluttering of her lashes.

There’s a galaxy of vivid and specific memories standing somewhere in the very padlocked backroom of Akihiko’s brain but a single one escapes, and he catches it in passing.

His parted lips are barely a hair from her earlobe when they hear a sound and jump in fright. It’s Ikutsuki, standing in the open doorway of the dorm, with his hand on Ken’s shoulder.

Chapter 35: Oblivious

Chapter Text

It’s a good thing they are going to Tartarus tonight because the unease is driving him insane, and he needs some way to vent it out.

Akihiko isn’t that much of a liar to begin with, but he can admire how quickly Minako could morph into a completely unphased bubble of energy in a two second span. Maybe it helped sell his temporary nonchalance, ruffling his hair on the sofa like it’s no big deal and they were just talking. She's chatting up Ikutsuki like it's nothing, greeting Ken warmly with a smile and it's slightly unreal how less than a minute ago she was right here, unraveling.

At least Ken has no idea, about any of the things he shouldn’t know about, some more dire than others. That’s something at least, the kid already looks uncomfortable enough, overwhelmed by her presence.Minako can be a bit much sometimes, not that he minds.

Just need to suck it up for a few weeks until he goes back to his dorm.

The sudden hot and cold is doing a number on him and he can't process. Alerted by the noise, Fuuka and Yukari are coming downstairs to greet their temporary guest and Akihiko takes the opportunity to flee to his room. Three hours to go before they need to deploy, enough for some warmup sets, or a nap. Or a shower. Or a mix of all of the above.

There’s screeching static all over his head and he’s seeing her half-lidded red eyes in every reflective surface.

……………………………

They’re on the backup team tonight with Mitsuru, letting Minato and the others take point instead so everyone gets a chance to push themselves. Starting on lower floors, they start engaging small groups, careful not to overreach since it’s only the three of them and they need to pace themselves in case they need to switch.

But it’s starting to feel a little too easy and Akihiko is chomping at the bit to let loose a little. Minako seems to be thinking the same, eying him.

“There’s only two groups of shadows left down this way according to Fuuka; what do you say we just bundle it all in one go Mitsuru-senpai?”

The heiress shakes her curls, adjusting her evoker holder.

“You sound just like your brother. Akihiko’s been sharing his recklessness around, I see.”

He snorts at this one, mock offense on his face.

“They’ve always been like that Mitsuru. He probably uses less words though, knowing him.”

Minako is throwing him an evil look, sticking her tongue out at him and Mitsuru chuckles again in amusem*nt at the show.

“Well, we don’t have all night!”

Akihiko sneaks ahead to get the jump on their first opponent and runs a countdown with one raised hand, then slides in and punches the first unaware shadow upside down with a sharp clap of his knuckles. Mitsuru joins in, rapier lunging to finish it off, her lips curled in a grim smile. Minako is already showering him with different enhancements, evoker to her head, brushing ether through his hair again. He shivers and rolls his shoulders, hopping to the right to drill into another otherworldly manifestation.

“Let it snow senpai!”

Minako covers Mitsuru so she can step back and use her own evoker, raining large blocks of ice on the battlefield. A tail whip comes her way and she uses her naginata like a lever to spring back out of the way, then bounces back forward to slash in counter.

One of Mitsuru’s targets freezes solid and she wastes no time in jabbing it to oblivion with quick stabs of her rapier, taking it out of the fray. Akihiko eyes the other batch of shadows turning the corner, slides behind Minako and shoots Polydeuces out of his mind to call for lightning. It’s not quite effective, but it brings them over so they can wipe the floor with the lot of them.

He jumps back in melee, distracting a few of the new opponents as they come into the fight with resounding jabs and quick footwork, while Mitsuru explodes some of the snakes with a crackle of cold.

“Loa, come forth!”

The demonic icon manifests in a splash of blue flames above Minako’s head, opening its skeletal jaw to scream death on the battlefield. Beams of darkness fly everywhere, vaporizing some of the shadows into dust. What little remains, the trio hack into submission in short order, crisscrossing the battlefield like skaters in a rink.

Akihiko wipes his cheek with his forearm, he’s feeling slightly more relaxed now.

…………………………

The way back isn’t quite as energetic as the previous day, the Dark Hour takes its toll and subsequent visits only make it worse. Even Iori, always fired up about fighting, is yawning something fierce.

Akihiko could keep going, but it's not a bad idea to pace the team through the schedule she has in mind; it's not going to get any easier. He doesn’t mind though, he’ll follow her in hell if need be but mostly, he wants to be there to hold her back if she stumbles.

She’s so stubborn.

They walk as a group and he's cracking his fingers absently, a small grin on his face. Minako looks back at him once or twice, a speculative gleam in her eyes, and he shyly smiles back at her. She’s herded into Iori’s conversation once again by one of Aigis’ questions and Akihiko hears Mitsuru’s polite chuckle from his back.

“What?”

She’s smiling, eyes demure, like she knows something.

“Nothing.”

He raises an eyebrow in reply, as if. Mitsuru looks at him for a few seconds, then moves along like she’s strolling an art gallery.

“You just seem to be getting along quite well.”

That’s… one way to put it.

………………………….

He wakes up next morning somewhat refreshed despite the short night; repeated insomnia keeps one used to lack of rest apparently. She’ll be busy all day and he’s disappointed there might not be any chance to steal some of her time, but at worst they’ll make do tonight. He takes a shower and just as he’s about to head out of his room, Akihiko notices something jutting from under it. Did someone slide a note under his door?

He opens the neatly folded paper, curious.

You are such a cheater!

There’s another paper scotched upside down right under and when he flips it, he laughs.

Score.

It’s a charm she drew with colored ink pencils that says 1 favor in neat handwriting.

Chapter 36: Sideways

Chapter Text

Club week is more brutal than he anticipated; coupled with nightly visits to Tartarus it’s starting to test the limits of his endurance. Minato, Yukari, Minako and Akihiko are all committed to training all day, running ragged with their respective sport teams and Iori is throwing it in their faces every evening. At least it’s a good workout, except morning runs had to go for now; they need some sleep somewhere.

He must admit Minako’s idea of changing the roster every night is inspired; it keeps the others refreshed and rotated every day but it’s only some of them. Akihiko and Minako are deploying every night, spreading mass destruction with different duos in tow, rising up the tower at a decent clip.

During her free time, Fuuka updated the control room monitors to leverage some of the newly approved Dark Hour cameras in a few choice spots in the city, letting whoever is on standby relax at the dorm and watch for any suspicious activity on the feeds instead of patrolling on foot across town. The girl has a real gift with electronics.

How did Minako convince Ikutsuki and Mitsuru to okay that kind of expense, and so quickly?

It pays off on Tuesday night, when Minato and Yukari, assigned to command room duty, spot a poor lost soul wandering to the shadows’ song toward Tartarus and promptly escort him home safe and sound.

One less rescue to worry about. Why Minato though? He wasn’t tired that day.

…………………………..

It’s now Wednesday and he’s done wolfing down his lunch in the clubroom, watching his fellow boxers enjoying their break. He’s been strict on them all morning and they deserve it, but it’ll do wonders for the regionals. He keeps perusing his notes, scribbling some observations down on a few club members to adjust what to work on next day.

A murmur echoes around the room and most of his team moves to the windows overlooking the courtyard.

“Check it out dudes!”

“Wow, nice legs!”

The tennis club is passing near the windows to get to the courts, in the back of the courtyard, making all the boys giddy. He barely pays attention until he spots her, she’s looking straight ahead, bouncing along the other girls like it’s nothing.

Minako glances through the windows and flashes him a secret smile when she sees him. Must be the sun bright above or the exertion but her eyes are glowing, leaking color on her cheeks. He nods back with a grin of his own and his fellows start whispering but he doesn’t care.

You should see her during the Dark Hour, she’s breathtaking.

…………………………..

She’s less energetic when he sees her later, sitting with her twin on a bench while waiting for the monorail, sharing earphones like they often do. Minato has an arm around her frame and she’s leaning heavily on his shoulder, eyes barely open, staring at the station bustle with a bleary gaze.

She hasn’t noticed him yet but her brother does, looking at him through his blue locks of hair, lips slightly pursed like he’s irritated. Akihiko co*cks an eyebrow up, glancing at his sister like it’s a question and Minato rolls his eyes.

The wagons are rolling in and he stays aligned with the one just next to theirs, intent on observing from afar. There’s a chance her brother will convince her to take a breather, but he has some doubts, she’s determined to see this through. Akihiko hides in the crowd, watching her shake her head and get up, a bounce in her step like this was just a short break. From the bench to the door he can see her breathe in the mask and put it on like armor.

But there’s a strain in her movements that he might not have immediately noticed unless he saw the transition, something in the way she’s holding her gaze too high to avoid dropping her eyes to the floor. It’s subtle, but it’s more noticeable when you spend your whole day imprinting her every move in your brain.

Minako’s holding on to her brother to share headphones, not looking his way, as they glide back to the dorm. But he’s looking at Minato, and he nods at her twin’s unspoken question.

…………………………..

Minako is fumbling around in the fridge, looking for something to drink, when he decides to face the music. The kitchen is functional but quite tiny, and mostly, nobody from the populated lounge sees inside from the angle of the doorway. Akihiko just leans in said frame, effectively blocking the way, and her potential exit.

“Hey.”

She takes a water bottle out and smiles at him.

“Hey you, senpai."

He eyes her carefully, trying to gauge her mood, unsure. Deception is not his forte and there’s no way he'll sound as subtle as he wants, he might as well just say it.

“I think we should let Minato take point tonight and stay on control room duty.”

Minako’s eyes narrow in irritation.

“Why? I’m fine, it’s just 3 more days before camp, I can manage.”

I knew she was going to dig in.

“You of all people have been going above and beyond. It’s okay to take a rest now and then, you deserve it.”

Her glare just intensifies as she takes a sip of her water, closing the fridge in a huff. He sighs and leans toward her, but she backs off toward the counter to avoid him.

“No cheating!”

Taken aback, Akihiko stops moving instantly. Minako, eyes wide, instantly mellows her anger.

“No, I’m sorry, I just meant…”

Everything’s just jumbling inside out, he clenches his hands and takes a deep breath. There are people right there in the lounge and he doesn’t want to cause a scene so he whispers, looking sideways because he can’t face her.

“I wasn’t… trying to… I’m just worried about you, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

His thoughts full of troubled cacophony, he turns on his heels and goes back upstairs to his room slowly, wondering where it all went wrong.

Chapter 37: Green Dreams

Chapter Text

Akihiko has been fumbling with the camera controls for almost thirty minutes now, trying to get the hang of swapping and adjusting the views. It’s something to keep busy and he better get the practice in before the Dark Hour, he’s not the most tech-savvy person and this takes some getting used to.

I’m only really good at breaking things, apparently.

He scratches his hair irritably, there’s a sparking itch crawling up his neck and he keeps clacking the wrong keys. Now if he could only get the gallery view up again that would be nice. Computers are like the half-formed words crowding his mind; they make no sense and what he wants to find is never where he expects it to be.

He takes a shaking breath, grumbling, and tries again. He accidentally brings up the dorm cameras from the lobby and barely takes a glance before shutting that down quickly.

I don’t even want to know.

He saw one of them locking the door, and that’s all he needed. They’re en route, whoever they currently represent in the syntax of the five figures he saw get out of the dorm vaguely, and he’s here. Some of them stayed to sleep, he’ll never know who, It doesn’t matter.

It will take them a while to get to Gekkoukan and he just needs to figure out that stupid gallery option, avoid looking at the screen in case he spots her hairpins in the staircasing group and wait until the Dark Hour hits. Once they’re in, Akihiko can just wait here until the clock resumes, go to bed, and toss around like he always does.

He's mad, confused, forlorn and mostly tired. Maybe it’s a clumsiness born of frustration, but he passes a hand on his face to dispel the brain fog and accidentally hits something on the keyboard with his elbow. The gallery view is magically set on screen, and he couldn’t say why.

I’ll take it.

Apparently when you stop trying, sometimes things get fixed by themselves. Too bad it’s limited to technology in his case.

He looks at the clock; twenty minutes to go. Crossing his arms on the console counter, Akihiko rests his head on his wrist, looking toward the window absently. He moves his foot from toes to heel in circles on the carpet to stay awake, his storm gray eyes fixed on the billowing overcast outside.

…………………………………..

Reality lurches this way and that as the clock strikes midnight, reverberating in the command room like a bell. The sky changes hues, the lightbulbs flicker and dim out, then the air turns stale. Akihiko sighs and gets up, stretching. This is going to be so much worse than the month he spent in recovery. He takes a cursory glance at the screen, taking stock of the cameras now that he dares to look; nothing to see so far.

The glare of the monitor, sickly green, is hard to endure in the filter of the Dark Hour from up close, so he takes a walk around the spacious command room to find the best vantage point, finally setting on the corner of one of the sofas. He can alternate between the screen and the window outside to rest his eyes, they’re prickly because of fatigue. He rubs an eyelid with the top of his wrist absently.

There’s the slightest of creak from the baseboards in the corridor.

Should have closed the door all the way.

The wood groans again softly, then a third time. For a second, he’s very tempted to feign being asleep, but it might invite the intruder to wake him up, so he settles on looking out the window with a scowl. That usually deters people from messing with him and he doesn’t even want to acknowledge whoever it is.

Except he can recognize that lithe silhouette from the corner of his eye anywhere and he’s going to implode from inner chaos. He should turn around, say something, look at her, anything, but he’s stuck facing the window and biting the inside of his lip in sudden dread.

At least she stayed.

And judging from what he gathered from her attire, she rested. Her hair is down, and she’s dressed in the kind of comfortable loungewear one wears to sleep. Minako walks slowly to stand behind him until he feels her warmth near his head, and he murmurs.

“You should be in bed.”

She sighs softly.

“This is a two-person job, and I hate having nightmares.”

The Dark Hour is always remarkably silent by its very nature, and without the echoes and marble floors of Tartarus, Akihiko can distinctly hear her lick and pinch her lips nervously. Something inside his chest goes sideways at the sound, then cloth shuffles and her fingers are barely brushing the space next his hair like a gust of wind, as if she’s hesitating. He really wants to reach around and catch her hand to hold it, but he clenches his on his lap instead.

If you step back again, I’ll break.

He bites down, it’s easier because he’s not looking at her and he tries his best to focus on the window.

“You’re stronger than any of us. I know that… But I wish you didn’t have to be.”

He pauses, catches a breath, exhales shakily, squishing his eyes shut.

“I just… didn’t want you to risk yourself. The thought of you fighting, and slipping, or getting hurt, it… it just f*cks me up inside.”

He can feel Minako sit down in his line of sight, next to him, so close yet so far away. It's really hard to look at her, the crimson of her eyes is shimmering with wetness akin to blood because of the stopped time and she looks so fragile. She gazes at his balled fists with anguish, drawing a shuddering breath. Her hand is trembling when she raises it toward his face until her fingertips press in the silver above his left ear. Cupping his cheekbone with her palm, she brushes her thumb above his eyebrow, looking at him with a mix of wonder and sadness.

“I’m sorry Akihiko… it’s hard to…”

His eyes are definitely going wild and he can’t help but lean into her hand. She’s whispering again.

“The closer you are… the more… defenseless I get. If I have a weakness, it’s definitely you.”

His brain chokes on that one, hard. He tries to pull at the clouds in his mind but they all evade him so he settles to talking in a different way, nuzzling her hand and pressing a glove on top of it to keep it there. He rests his lips on the inside of her wrist, where her pulse is dancing like mad, the warmth of her skin marring his cheeks red as he finally answers.

“I guess we really are the same… because… that goes both ways.”

He feels her heartbeat for a few seconds, relishing the proof she’s here, alive, before he draws shivers on her skin with his breath.

“I just want us both to live long enough… to figure out what this is.”

Minako nods with a wan smile, her eyes melting into his like cinders, shooting stars falling from her lashes.

“I’m sorry, I’m just… so tired and…”

He trails his glove from her hand to her elbow, gently beckoning her toward him, his other arm barely extended in invite. And she accepts, melting into him with such complete abandon that he leans backward with her, letting his head lay on the sofa’s armrest.

Akihiko’s smothered under a blanket of living fire, her face burning through his bones where it lays on his chest and he drapes an arm around her shoulders to keep her close. Her fingers are still cradling the left side of his face and he puts a hand back over hers, not wanting her to let go. His thoughts are filled with reverberations as she strokes the hair above his ear, and he dares not move. He’s just looking at the monitor with hooded eyes, his breath on her pulse, holding her as she falls asleep on him.

…………………………

They’ve been motionless for more than thirty minutes, Akihiko just listening to her heartbeat like it’s all that exists when a weird sound starts coming from the console. One of the feeds is flashing red and yellow with a “Motion Detected” warning printed on top.

sh*t.

Chapter 38: A Rare Breed

Chapter Text

At least Naganaki Shrine isn’t far. Minako and Akihiko grab evokers, weapons and communication devices, then kick Iori’s door and ask him to catch up before rushing out of the dorm running. It’s not a full moon, but any shadow out of Tartarus is a risk, better not take any chances.

He can hear a warbling liquid smack he knows all too well and the sound of other impacts coming from the park ahead, then a loud high-pitched whine that doesn’t sound human. By the time they get there, all that remains is the shadow’s cloud of dust floating in the still air, some scorch marks across the playground and a white animal laying on its side next to the shrine gate. Minako gasps in shock and runs to it.

“Koro-chan?”

She crouches next to the dog, assessing its injuries with trembling hands. It's laying in a pool of blood, whimpering pitifully.

“Oh my god… Call Fuuka, ask Junpei to bring a medkit, this might not be enough.”

She grabs her evoker and raises it to her ear.

“Virtue!”

An angelic figure made of glass bursts in actualization, flapping its wings around her and the injured creature with a shower of blue motes. Akihiko is fumbling with the Dark Hour communicator, adjusting the frequency to join those near Tartarus.

“Yamagishi, can you hear me?”

There’s some screeching before she answers.

“Senpai, are you and Minako okay?”

“Yes, you on your way back? I think you guys better come right away, we’re at Naganaki Shrine. There was a shadow but…”

He looks at Minako, covered in blood, ripping her sleeve out to make bandages with tears in her eyes.

“The little fella’s been injured… I wanna save him if we can.”

……………………………..

By the time the expedition team makes it to their location, Junpei’s already with them, petting the poor broken creature to calm it down. Minako is desperately trying to stop the bleeding with compresses Akihiko is passing on to her from the medkit. Fuuka immediately joins them on the floor, tears in her eyes, stroking the dog’s ears.

“Are you okay, Koro-chan!?”

Mitsuru looks confused at her outburst.

“You know this dog?”

Yukari crouches down as well, evoker in hand, Minato in tow.

“Yeah, everyone around here does… We have to help him!”

Io and Minato's seamstress persona add their own power in the mix, replenishing the shiba inu’s vitality, but it’s not enough to staunch the wound that keeps oozing black. Akihiko talks over his shoulder at the others, raking his hand in the soft white coat while ripping a new sticky tape with his teeth.

“Man… He’s one tough fighter. He defeated that shadow all by himself before we got here.”

Junpei looks up, confused.

“You mean the dog’s a persona-user?”

Aigis, who’s been hovering near Minato like a second shadow, co*cks her head to the side while taking in the dog.

“He says, this is a place of peace, so I protected it. There are flowers over there.”

Fuuka looks at the bouquets near the shrine gate with a side glance.

“Those must be for the priest who died in the accident, his former owner. He must really be guarding this place.”

Sighing in fatigue but still raising her evoker with stained hands, Minako summons her persona again to shower the dog with fireflies like a refreshing downpour. Junpei’s looking at Aigis with curiosity.

“Uh, Aigis? Don’t tell me you can translate dog language too?”

The robotic maiden simply answers him matter-of-factly, she’s still far from sounding human.

“Canines do not have their own language. However, speech is not the only means of communication.”

Eh, that’s very… astute indeed.

All he can focus on is the dog’s determination and loyalty at defending what’s important to him, at the cost of his life if necessary. Akihiko knew dogs could be devoted, but this is extraordinary and humbling. He smiles when he strokes his fur and Koromaru looks at him, lolling his tongue.

“This fella really is a rare breed.”

Mitsuru takes her dead cellphone out, looking at the moon.

“The Dark Hour is almost out; I can probably arrange a vet as soon as power comes back.”

………………………..

It’s a somber trek home afterward, not knowing if Koromaru will pull through. The junior girls are chatting in low tones at the front of the column like they often do and Fuuka sounds wistful.

“I’m really glad you guys caught that shadow on the cameras and came on time, poor Koro-chan…”

Minako is holding her grimy hands in her back to avoid caking blood on her friends, yawning before pitching in.

‘It’s all because of you Fuuka. You managed to make those modifications happen so quickly once I asked Ikutsuki, I expected a lot more delays to get this up and running. Thanks to you, we saved a life, that’s something.”

Their navigator sounds all shy at being put on the spot, murmuring.

“You know, I didn’t really have to do much, just program the camera gallery matrix and the alerts, the cameras were already there before I started. That took no time at all!”

Yukari puts her hand on her shoulder, smiling at her.

“Take the praise, we’re all grateful, some of us can relax at the dorm and still be useful, you can’t be in two places at once.”

Minako snorts, amused, and whispers her way.

“Just admit you like my idea because you had the perfect excuse to stay home alone with my brother in privacy!”

Takeba instantly bristles at this one, stuttering in panic.

“Minako! Keep your voice down! That’s… that’s… not it at all! I just… needed a break that day! Archery club is intense sometimes, and… I’m afraid to… be alone in the dark so…”

Well, well, well…

Akihiko bites down a chuckle and looks sideways at Minato, who’s slightly blushing and frowning back at him with a murderous eye. It’s a good thing Iori is busy chatting Aigis about animal language and not listening to any of this, or he’d tease Yukari to no end. He turns his face back forward, not wanting to antagonize him further, and his gaze falls on his sister.

She’s passing under one of the street lamps, dimly casting her in a cone of light. Her eyes look bleary but her expression is one of dreamlike contemplation; probably the fatigue and the concern for their rescue. Except she’s still holding her bloody hands in her back, one clasping the other, running her thumb on the inside of her wrist like a caress absently.

That wrist. Akihiko can feel the heat rush up his ears and he bites down on his lip.

Minato picks up the pace and jabs him lightly in passing with his elbow, mumbling something.

“Takes one to know one. Good luck with that.”

Chapter 39: The Line

Chapter Text

There’s no correlation between her absence, the fact that he didn't get to hang out with her much and how he’s feeling right now, none at all. It must be the tiredness from the last two treks to Tartarus, coupled with lack of sleep, that’s making Akihiko twitchy as he reviews the team stats in the clubroom. They really went all out too; just another visit before the full moon and they should make it to the next roadblock in the tower, clearing the way for further exploration after the operation.

Despite what it cost them all in energy and time out with friends, the team is in tip top shape to tackle the next large shadow and it shows. Minako seemed much more confident yesterday night on the way back to the dorm than on the ferry after Yakushima. He sighs, he can almost feel her hair whipping on his cheeks in the wind, seagulls crying under a blasting sun.

It’s only two days.

She took the train for the fellowship in Inaba early and she might as well be on the moon by now. He got plenty of things to keep him busy here until she comes back too, between errands and his own fellowship at Gekkoukan against another school’s club, but it’s just not the same. Even the sun’s gone, hiding behind a heavy cloud cover today like it decided to tag along with her.

His hand is clasping the club notepad a little too hard, crumpling the paper. A boxer is not supposed to train the day of a match, to keep all the energy for the fight, but Akihiko decides there’s no choice but to. If he doesn’t empty his mind of the static clutter that's flooding it, there’s no way he can win, and he’s not here to lose.

He’s a little winded by the time it’s his turn to step into the ring for his own match against the opposing team captain, but at least the tension in his limbs died down a bit. A bout is always won with the mind when fighting at equal strength, so before the bell rings he closes his eyes and pictures her.

The shooting stars of her magic are setting in his hair like so many windblown kisses.

He shivers and all surrounding sounds stop until just his heartbeat remains pounding in his ears.

She’s sliding in his shadow, staying back-to-back with him. Her shoulder is brushing against his spine and she’s holding her evoker to her head.

He opens his eyes, completely focused. If she’s standing with him, he can’t ever back down.

…………………………………

It’s not that he hates kids, it’s more like this one in particular makes him uncomfortable. There are circ*mstances to his unease of course, but also, the stares of admiration are a bit much. Usually, Ken seems to feel too awkward about hanging in the lobby since everyone is older or grumpy with lack of rest. But now, said young boy is looking at him starry-eyed ever since he came back to the dorm.

“Yukari told me you absolutely destroyed the opposing team at the inter-school event, that true?”

He scratches his hair, looking away. This is embarrassing, even though it’s true.

“Uh, well… I wouldn’t go that far…”

“Really? Apparently Yukari couldn’t get the archery club to pay any attention during their competition because it’s all the girls could talk about. It really ruined her mood.”

Just great.

Ken is fidgeting in excitement, pointing at his gear on the table.

“Is it because you wore your lucky gloves? I heard you’re undefeated with them on.”

“Yeah, it’s no big deal, really…”

The gloves had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Iori, sprawled on the sofa with a manga and some snacks, jumps in the conversation.

“I don’t think the dude can lose; he won all his matches so far! It’s actually really impressive how dedicated he is.”

Ken beams at Akihiko again.

“That’s exactly what Minako-senpai said the other day.”

And, of course, Junpei, ever curious about the thoughts of his female dorm mates and every single piece of gossip possible, drops his book to stand at attention and wiggles his eyebrows at Ken. Akihiko is trying really hard to remain nonchalant and not that interested, his ears are ringing, and he could leave, but...

“Oh ho, that from when you went for takoyaki with her? What else did she say?”

She went out with Ken? When?

“Well, I don’t recall exactly how it came on the subject really, we talked about a lot of things, but she said he’s like a hero you can trust your life to.”

Well, this is nice.

Akihiko somehow refrains from grinning like an idiot but it’s hard. Junpei nods, looking at the subject of inquiry with an admirative smile.

“Well Mina-tan ain’t wrong, you can trust him in a fight alright, dude packs one hell of a punch! But she must have said something else too?”

Ken ponders, reciting.

“Apparently, he can run really fast and he’s quite strong, and she said he’s so handsome she could die. Something about pretty eyes too, it must be a girl thing.”

Akihiko’s cheeks are prickling and his mind is filling with clouds again, so he runs to the fridge to grab a drink like it was always the plan. Better be somewhere else out of sight to avoid a repeat of the Minato incident, Junpei is not exactly discrete in sharing information across the dorm, quite the opposite in fact.

“Someone has a new girl in the fanclub alright.”

He just keeps preparing his protein shake and deadpans his reply from the kitchen.

“Please drop the whole groupie thing, it’s just annoying and Minako’s not like those harpies.”

“Senpai, you have a fanclub?”

“Dude, all the girls at school just follow him everywhere, it’s like he’s a movie star... Keep playing soccer and maybe you’ll get one too, when you grow up that is.”

Ken muses aloud, excited.

“Then I can impress someone like Minako and invite her to a date, she’s pretty awesome.”

Junpei chuckles with affection at his presumptions.

“You’ll have to get in line, buddy. I bet her phone’s going to be ringing nonstop on festival day; she’s very popular too.”

Lips puckered around his straw and trying to look as indifferent as possible, Akihiko strolls out of the kitchen and grabs his bag to head upstairs.

“Going already senpai?”

“I got matches tomorrow; I need to prep and train.”

Screw the line.

Junpei takes his manga from the table and gesticulates to him like he's on display.

“See? Told you he’s dedicated.”

Chapter 40: Face the Music

Chapter Text

Akihiko punches the calculator's buttons in quick succession, jotting down the results of the output in the third column of his notebook. Tapping his pencil on his chin, he goes through his scribbles and the references sprawled all over his desk, he’s pretty sure he missed something he saw in passing about rest time.

Balancing meal plans is never an easy job, and it takes forever, especially since SEES activities are a bit hard to quantify. Nonetheless, he keeps drawing rough estimates, adds in the math for morning runs, and he thinks he got it figured out enough to make his adjustments.

Stretching to smooth the tension in his neck and upper back, he yawns. He’s been sitting at his desk for a while, tapping his foot in passing to the beat in his earbuds to try and get through the task, but Akihiko needs a break before he wraps this up.

His post-shower protein shake is long gone, so he removes his buds, fishes for change in his desk drawer for the vending machine and heads out. Not really paying attention as he exits the door, he almost trips on the package on the floor and catches himself with the doorframe.

I wasn’t expecting any delivery.

Curious, he takes the somewhat heavy little box wrapped in white paper inside and opens it. It’s filled with pieces of cloth to prevent its content from moving around and unfolding it reveals a pair of exquisitely crafted metal knuckles, made to slot with matching reinforced black halfgloves. The steel has a blueish ethereal sheen and just touching them makes his fingers tingle when he tries one on. They’re perfectly sized too, it’s a bit uncanny how well they fit.

Kurosawa doesn’t get weaponry like this.

He checks the package box again for any clue then rummages in the leftover linen it contains, trying to elucidate this enigma, eventually finding a small note at the bottom.

Brought you back a souvenir!

Akihiko chuckles in astonishment, he’d recognize that handwriting in red ink anywhere. Looking at the clock that reads past ten, he reverently takes the gift out of the box to admire it on his desk, unsure if it’s too late or not. He never heard a commotion downstairs when she came back and didn’t really know when to expect her to be in really, but he decides to tempt fate and leave his room, closing the door behind him.

………………………….

There is dimmed lighting projecting out of her half-closed door, so at least she’s not asleep yet. Akihiko hesitates; this feels like a breach of privacy, he never actually went to her room before. Taking a breath, he knocks on the wood lightly and gets no reply, fidgeting in sudden anxiety.

Perhaps she’s downstairs instead and just left it open, but he can hear something faint, like she’s humming softly. Is she listening to music and couldn’t hear him? Curiosity gets the better of him and he looks though the ajar panel, his eyes instantly burning with the sight of her like she’s been gone for months.

Minako is laying on her stomach on her bed, weight on her forearms as she jots down something in a book of some sort. She's holding her undone hair with the other hand to keep it out of the way as she nods to music. Her bare legs are kicking in the air absently and Akihiko’s ears are ringing when his eyes skim over how little her frilly white skirt is hiding in that position. He’s rooted in place, there's something very alluring in her relaxed exuberance, he has to clench his fists to shake himself of his slack-mouthed stare.

I should… probably come back later.

“No Junpei, no video games tonight I’m too tired, maybe tomorrow?”

She’s talking without looking but frowns and eventually turns around, letting go of the cascade of copper strands to tug on her earphones. Her eyes light up instantly when she spots him, twinkling red stars full of warmth, but her smile is shy and she’s blushing furiously for some reason. They both start talking at the same time over each other.

“Hey, sorry…”

“Oh, hey…

She laughs in embarrassment and turns her eyes away, taking a deep breath.

“Sorry, come in… just let me wrap this up for a sec.”

She’s usually not this timid.

Akihiko takes a few steps in tentatively, a bit confused, and looks at what she’s writing in. It’s a planner, covered in her flowery scratchings in multiple colors. He can see some dates circled in bright red, like the next full moon operation, but it’s already filling up fast and he frowns.

“Are you planning your time that much?”

“I have my hands in so many pies and I need to give availabilities for my part-time job. There, I think I covered everything I know about so far…”

She’s about to close her pen by clicking the button on top when he speaks up.

“Do you have anything the evening of the 16^th?”

“Uh, let me check… No, nothing yet, why?”

He’s looking sideways at her desk, uncomfortable, her bare legs take too much space in the scenery and it’s making it hard to concentrate on anything else. The surface is covered in curios and packaged confections, probably from her trip to Inaba, and he stares at a small bunny sculpture still half-wrapped to keep his thoughts in check.

Come on get a grip, she wears skirts all the time.

“I was wondering if you wanted to… I mean, there’s the summer festival at the shrine that day and I was thinking… maybe we could go together.”

Before he’s even done talking, he hears her planner close shut and turns around. Minako is sitting cross-legged, hands next to her knees and the book on her lap.

“It’s a good thing you asked in advance, Rio and Yuko wanted to meet there as a group and I was hoping for a… reason to say no.”

There’s something mischievous dancing in her eyes, and the insinuation that she might have been hoping for him to ask her to the event is cranking the static inside, but Akihiko tries to power through. He’s still so bad at this and he sits next to her without thinking to avoid fidgeting.

“I’m… really glad I did then. Speaking of gratitude, I… got your delivery earlier.”

She glows up, curious.

“So…? Do they fit?”

“They’re amazing actually, I’ve never seen anything like it before, where did you find them?”

Minako’s looking sideways with calculated nonchalance like it’s no big deal, shrugging.

“Oh, just had some time to go shopping and I couldn’t pass the chance when I saw them. I mean, I wasn’t planning on getting you a postcard, that didn’t seem very appropriate for you.”

Akihiko chuckles and swallows, brushing her fingertips with his own nervously.

“Thank you. It’s an amazing gift and I’ll put it to good use.”

She beams at him and runs a thumb of her own across his knuckles.

“You’re welcome, you deserve it, a good leader looks out for her star player, right?”

He bites his tongue, pretty sure of his assumptions now: she's downplaying it hard.

“I also know you went through lot of trouble to get these...”

He keeps staring at her, silent, until she cracks. Suddenly she can’t sustain his gaze and blushes, grumbling.

“Guess there’s no fooling you… Do you remember the supplier Kurosawa mentioned that he couldn’t get much stock from? Well, he lives in Inaba, a very well-known blacksmith too, so I seized the opportunity.”

She’s totally glossing over some details, and he knows it; Minako’s too bashful and he doesn’t even know why he’s pushing but his curiosity needs a resolution. She looks back at him, sees he’s still staring expectantly without moving and sighs dramatically.

“I swear, you… It was very calculated, I admit it, okay? I brought some of the strange metals we found in Tartarus with me, thinking he could perhaps use them. They’re special, and I paid him with some samples to craft something custom for me. Well, for you…”

She slowly takes his hand in between her own and delicately skims her nails on both sides from his wrist to his fingertips, murmuring.

“I have a very good memory…”

Oh my god…

There are two different storms unleashed in Akihiko’s mind, fighting for dominance in answering, and he’s not sure which one to listen to. One of them leads down a path with no coming back and it terrifies him to no end, while the other has a bit more discipline so he picks that one, because he must.

Don’t let the rope snap. Don’t let the rope snap. Don’t let the rope snap.

So very carefully, trembling with control, he takes her into his arms and hugs her tight, burying his face in her hair like his sanity depends on it. In answer, she simply melts into him, humming with contentment. It takes him a while to find his thoughts amid the inner chaos but he eventually does.

“Thank you... I don’t know how I could…”

She chuckles in his shirt affectionately like she knows the rest of the words.

“Well, you can... always… stay.”

And she’s putting some weight behind her words by coaxing him to lie down with a push of her cheek on his chest. He can’t very well refuse after what he just said, so he lets her have her way and she doesn’t follow. She just stays above him looking down, biting her lips in uncertainty under a copper curtain, her hooded gaze glowing like smoldering flames.

“You really don’t have to, I'm being pushy…”

She’s absolutely cheating, there's no way he can refuse anything if she's looking at him like that.

“But I want to.”

Minako's eyes light up with something he can't name, and he holds his breath, his mind choking in fog.

“Wait for me.”

She scampers off to close and lock the door in silence, then shuts the light and slides back against him slowly like she belongs there. He's very thankful for the darkness because he's not so sure how his face looks right now, grinding his jaw shut, his body humming with tension as he cradles her to him.

She yields herself to sleep eventually, sighing softly, but it takes him a long time to relax and doze off despite the warmth. Eventually, a door whines and shuts nearby and he wakes up with a start during the Dark Hour.

And then it dawns on Akihiko that he’s laying in her bed, with her sprawled all over him with those long, naked legs and things could go very wrong if anybody found out about this.

What the hell am I doing?

Minako mumbles something incoherent, snakes an arm to his face languidly and rubs her thumb against his lips gently.

"Shhhhh..."

Her fingers flutter up and brush over his lashes delicately, beckoning him to close his eyes. And so, he does, leaning into her palm, kissing it absently.

Chapter 41: In Pieces

Chapter Text

It’s just one of those mornings where you’re not even willing to open your eyes to face the day and want to stay in bed forever in a half-awake state.

Akihiko is laying on his side, not quite conscious, still foggy with the tendrils of some lucid dreams he doesn’t want to let go of. He’s just mentally indulging, cradling an imaginary Minako to him closely, keeping his eyelids shut in place to avoid breaking the spell. He knows how the fantasy plays out and goes along, because he wakes up this way now and then and the script is within bounds he can stay sane with.

He can feel her hand under the side of his head, her fingers resting in the short hair near his ear, and he nuzzles against it. He’s not sure when his obsession with her nails ruffling his strands of liquid silver started but it might have something to do with Tartarus. Deep down he knows it’s just the sunrays heating up his pillow that creates the illusion, but it feels so warm this morning.

His hand trails down her spine like a shiver, just like that day in the lounge when he was looking at her eyes melting in the glass reflection. It’s just so tempting to follow that thought with languid kisses from the palm of her hand to her wrist, which is what he really wanted to do that night and didn’t dare to.

There’s just something about her hands, so delicate and soft yet strong like steel when she wants them to be. Maybe it’s the thousand different ways she manages to burn his soul with the tiniest of brushes, like she’s congealed flame made flesh.

He sighs in contentment, really wanting to fall back into reverie, when he feels something warm snaking over his leg and rubbing at the back of his calf like it wants to entwine around him further. A low hum that sounds suspiciously like a sleepy moan reverberates across his chest and the illusion wavers.

Moans are forbidden, they rattle the padlocks on that door, and he doesn’t want to lose his mind again. He can distinctly feel her heartbeat on his lips and that’s also too many details. That chases the last remnants of fog clinging to his awareness, and it dawns on him.

Oh no no no no...

He opens his eyes in shock and it explains why it smells like flowers and sunlight instead of his usual bed covers; it’s her room, her bed, and it wasn’t just a harmless morning fantasy. It takes him a minute to recollect how he got in his predicament and what exactly happened, then panic sets in like a vice. He’s not supposed to be here, and he’s not supposed to be doing that, especially if she’s not even conscious, that didn’t go so well last time and he doesn’t want to go back there.

Akihiko cranes his neck to look toward the window and sighs in relief when it’s barely daybreak; his early morning habit probably saved him from execution and or damnation. This is his only chance to walk out stealthily back to his room before the rest of the dorm wakes up. His braincells are too busy sparking like popping bubbles to form a coherent excuse as to why he’d even be in Minako’s room so early or so late, depending how you look at it, so he can’t chance it.

It’s almost physically painful to extricate himself from her, not just because it’s suddenly cold but mostly because it’s the last thing he wants to do. She’s warm, she smells nice, it was the best sleep he’s ever had and…

And he’s going to stop thinking about the rest because he’ll never actually go. He also can’t take any chance of waking her up, for various embarrassing reasons and because he might be inclined to stay regardless of the danger. Or continue what he was doing and…

Stop. Just, get out.

He’s definitely not proud of the deception he pulls; he grabs her cellphone on her desk and changes the audio setting to silent to prevent her alarm from waking her up. They usually run very early in the morning together, but if she joins him today, he’ll fly to pieces in some shape or form. And Akihiko definitely needs to run, a lot, to get all of this out of his system. She can probably use the rest, be in top condition for Tartarus tonight; maybe he can use that as an excuse if she gets mad, because she will notice his tampering for sure.

Stop and just go.

He wraps her covers around her so she doesn’t shiver, absolutely not because her ankles are rubbing on each other like she’s searching for something, also not because her skirt is all over the place and he doesn’t dare get an inkling how high it goes.

Stop stalling and go!

He leans over, so very tempted to brush the hair away from her eyes but stops before he touches her and gets up in silence to leave. Luckily, he doesn’t see a soul on the way, all he can hear is Junpei’s loud snoring and he successfully sneaks into his room, ears full of reverb and completely winded in stress.

…………………………………….

He takes the longer scenic route along the south waterfront until he is so out of breath and overheating from the sun that he must stop. The inner noise has calmed down somewhat, enough that Akihiko can function for the rest of the day without being a jittery mess. He takes his time getting back to the dorm, so hungry he could die.

A shower later and eating one of his portioned meals in the lounge, completely out of energy, he sees Minako's frame appear in the staircase. He’s trying to gauge her mood from afar, he might have miscalculated by screwing with her schedule because she had a full day planned.

But she’s bouncing down the steps in a skimpy sundress and a travel bag on her shoulder, earphones on and dancing toward the kitchen, tapping her fingers like drumsticks on every surface she passes to the beat of her music. She ruffles Minato’s blue mop into disarray at the bar counter, who’s sitting with Fuuka and her laptop to look at cooking recipes and he grumbles back, replacing it. Yamagishi laughs softly, like she’s used to the exuberance.

“Good morning Minako!”

Junpei stops slurping his instant ramen from the sofa to holler at her absently.

“Well, someone’s in a good mood this morning!”

She grins from the kitchen doorway at Iori and goes on rummaging in the fridge. She never even looked at him or acknowledged his presence and now he’s thinking he might actually be in trouble.

She gets to the bar counter to slide her snacks in her bag, adjusts its content and grab something from one of its side pockets. The twins exchange a loaded look and she rolls her eyes at him scoffing, then runs off again, this time making a detour behind his chair.

She stops and he holds his breath, a thousand bells ringing in his mind. There’s a lot of people around, not really paying attention to him, but still enough to make him really uncomfortable. Minako giggles and leans over his right shoulder to whisper in his ear, sliding her left arm on the other side to rest on the table’s edge.

“If you’re going to tamper with it, at least make it count!”

She opens her palm and a note with a phone number falls on his lap. He’s about to turn around to look at her when she takes her fingers off the wood and instead steals a piece of chicken on his plate. That takes his eyes back the other way for barely a second and she laughs softly in his ear.

“You’re just too adorable!”

The tip of her nose barely ruffles his hair and she drops a kiss on his cheek in passing before running to the front door like the comet she is, so fast he barely registers. Minako’s halfway through it when she looks back, licking her fingers and eyes gleaming with mirth, cheeks aflame.

“S’really good, thank you!”

The sound of her laughter echoes in the lounge after the door is closed and Akihiko is left dumbfounded at the whole speed of the event, unsure what the hell just happened.

Chapter 42: Words

Chapter Text

She is such a cheater. Also, she’s damn fast.

How none of the juniors noticed what she just did blows Akihiko’s mind, and his hesitation to grab her hand before she left is perhaps for the best, that would have let to some strange conversations. No one is looking at him sitting there, dazed, and he’ll take it because his ears are ringing, and he’d rather not discuss her daring curveballs with the dorm entourage. The whole day has already been crazy enough, he’s not sure what little nerve he has left can take more frazzling.

Akihiko just finishes his meal quietly to stay inconspicuous and as he exits the kitchen, Iori looks up at him with a scrounge of concern.

“Dude, did you overdo it again?”

“What?”

“I don’t know how you can stand to run so much in this heat and not faint man, but you look like you need to lie down.”

He blinks back, scratching his hair.

“Yeah, maybe I’ll do that.”

On that note, he goes back upstairs, fiddling with the little paper in his pocket absently and leaving the juniors to their occupations.

……………………………

Akihiko has been laying down, toying with his phone for a good twenty minutes, musing what to type. Not that it’s hard to send a greeting, but doing it from his very empty, cold bed just drives the point that his nightly escapade was particularly amazing in retrospect and now it’s all he thinks about. Sleeping might just never be the same again; everything her little aflame hands touch changes shape for him and it’s bewildering. There's a thousand things he could write, that he wants to say, but that feels more like words he should convey in person instead of through text.

Phones are for emergencies or leaving messages on Aragaki’s voice mail because he never answers; Akihiko’s not much of a texting person but he figures that if he doesn’t send her anything, she might take it the wrong way. Especially after he’s apparently forgiven for his treachery with her alarm, and how she radiantly made her exit.

He sighs, before he finally presses the send button on something innocuous and probably too formal.

Hi, it’s Akihiko, you can add me as a contact too.

At least now she can reach me if anything comes up.

And deep down he hopes she does; it might be easier to get a hold of each other this way than hoping for chance encounters in her busy schedule. He flips the phone closed and barely puts it down on his comforter before it dings.

Well, that was fast.

Thank you and done :D XX

He smiles absently, thinking he might use his afternoon to try and hunt down Shinji for a catch-up meal, they haven’t talked in a while and he’s still damn hungry. That would be a good distraction, today is pretty special so far and he could use some predictability to keep himself grounded.

……………………………

Akihiko pokes around in the alley near the station but doesn’t see the figure he was expecting to find. Sighing, hunger pangs starting to become a distraction, he makes his way to the ramen shop anyways.

Maybe I should adjust that meal plan to take sanity runs into account.

Despite the warmth, the restaurant is packed, and the only free spots are near the window looking toward to the plaza of the strip mall. He takes a seat, not in any real hurry to order; he’s got all day. A shadow passes behind him and takes the next seat, grumbling something under his breath. Akihiko just replies back.

“Ah, so that’s why you weren’t at your usual haunt, you were waiting for me to snag a free meal.”

Aragaki rolls his eyes and groans at him, exasperated.

“Like I’d wait for you to show up all day, dumbass.”

He chuckles under his breath and looks at his oldest friend with affection. Shinji narrows his eyes, suspicious.

“You gonna go about one of your recruitment speeches again Aki? Just tell me now so I can up and leave.”

“…I’ll keep it for the end. I’d like you to come back to the dorm, but I’d rather you sit instead of rushing out. Okay with the extra large special?”

The lanky teen adjusts his beanie absently, looking at him strangely, but he nods. Akihiko just gets up to order and comes back, eyebrow raised in interrogation at his unchanged expression.

“What?”

“What, he says. Wow, you really softened up, who slapped you around?”

Stormy eyes narrow in irritation.

“I can still kick your ass, don’t tempt me.”

Shinji grins maliciously in reply and cuffs him lightly on the shoulder.

“Bring it, I’ll send you on a merry-go-round.”

Taking a deep breath, Akihiko softens his gaze and looks out the window instead.

“… You’re lucky I’m exhausted, or I would.”

The server brings their bowls and they both take a few burning bites before resuming their conversation.

“I take it you’re still trying to train yourself to death, you moron.”

Eh, if only you knew, you'd laugh at me.

He smiles softly, still looking through the window.

“We made a promise, and I’m going to keep it. Also, I can’t say I’m not having a lot of fun, Tartarus can be very… fulfilling.”

Shinji slurps his ramen, shaking his head.

“Only an idiot would treat shadow hunting as a hobby. Somehow, that idiot being you, seeing how insane you get about fighting, is the least surprising thing you've told me this year.”

Akihiko chuckles, smiling to himself, imagining Minako plunging down the frontlines with a grim smile.

“Well, she likes it, and she’s anything but.”

He takes another pinch of noodles to his mouth, realizing what he just said, but Aragaki stays silent. Then, he chuckles softly with a tinge of something like affection.

“You two are clearly made for each other, it’s almost a crime. Why am I not surprised? There’s fire in that red minx, she’s violent.”

That sounds a bit… weird.

“How would you know Shinji? You’re not there, and you don’t know her.”

And then hazel eyes narrow in answer like they hold a secret, and Shinjiro smiles like a predator.

“Oh I was there. I saw in her action and boy did she impress. That girl has my respect, I wouldn’t make her mad.”

Wait, what?

Akihiko narrows his brows in confusion, that makes no sense.

“What are you talking about?”

And Shinji just laughs.

“Must have been early summer or end of spring. Her and some of your juniors came to the back alley where the bad crowd hangs out, looking for rumors about a bullied girl from Gekkoukan.”

He sips some broth, smiling at him still, like he enjoys knowing about something he doesn’t.

“Some punks were trying to pull them through the ringer, even folded the cap guy in two, but she just stood her ground and gave those dudes a trashing. I was about to rough them up for her, but she did all that herself, barely had to intervene to chase the rabble out. We had a nice chat too.”

They went there by themselves, and he didn’t even know about it… And then she…

Suddenly, Akihiko just starts laughing, amazed, and somehow not that surprised. Aragaki raises an eyebrow.

“I take it she never told you about it?”

“That’s the first time I hear about this, that was reckless.”

Shinji just grumbles in reply, looking outside at the strip mall courtyard as he chows down. His eyes light up and he smiles knowingly, fixated on something.

“Maybe she didn’t want to ruin your impression of her, keep the delicate little sunflower image going, that’s one cute little number that catches the eye alright.”

Akihiko eyes him curiously, then follows his gaze to see what caught his attention, and it’s her.

She came out of the bookstore on the first floor, holding two volumes in her hands and making her way to the plaza; he could spot those hairpins sitting in copper from a thousand miles away. Someone seems to call to her, and she turns around back toward the bookstore to meet an old lady. Minako is smiling at her and talking with contagious enthusiasm, while the storekeeper keeps trying to pass her wrapped treats like she’s a dotting grandma. Eventually they part, not before she hugs the smaller frail woman with affection.

So, she works here too. And that’s where all the treats the juniors get come from.

Seeing her so suddenly, he’s reminded of her liveliness this morning, and the kiss she dropped on his cheek, how it felt to have her close to him all night… And he’s probably smiling like an idiot because Shinji is looking at him with shocked eyes and a weird purse of his lips.

“Aki, you’re almost 18, did you just discover girls? sh*t, I thought you were broken.”

Silver eyes stay fixated on her figure, walking toward the station with a spring to her step.

“Shinji, I don’t care at all about girls.”

His friend snorts derisively.

“Really? Because that’s not what this looks like.”

He sighs, dreamily pensive, thoughts just full of her. And perhaps because Shinji and him have known each other forever and went through hell together, the words just stumble out unfiltered for once.

“She’s not just a girl, it's because it's her, and she’s burned her way in everything I know.”

Blinking at the enormity of what he just said, Akihiko resumes his meal like nothing just happened. It feels different when he’s verbalizing what’s going on in his mind, which is for once, clear of any interference.

They both stay silent a good long time and Shinji doesn’t even move his chopsticks, fixing him with an intense gaze he doesn’t want to acknowledge. It’s not his style to stay mute, at all.

If you even try to be funny, I’ll…

“…Did you tell her?”

Akihiko doesn’t answer, keeps eating slowly, eyes glazed.

“f*ck man… I’ve never seen you like this, it’s weird.”

He lightly chuckles at this one. Shinji nudges his shoulder roughly.

“Aki.”

He looks back at him, serious.

“Maybe… You should tell her that.”

Chapter 43: Musings

Chapter Text

Like its going to be easy, to tell her anything, when it counts he barely keeps himself afloat. Akihiko, laying back in his room after his meeting with Shinji, is very conscious of the fact that he’s not very forward socially with girls to begin with.

The female part of the population was always just people, he could watch his fellow classmates turn giddy because of some skirts or idol and not bat an eye, because why was this important, or relevant to anything? People are people and they are who they are, it’s just that girls make less sense and run in circles with their half-truths and moods, never straightforward with anything.

And then there was her…

He’s well aware of where the comfort zones are where she’s concerned and he tries to stick to them, because the opposite makes his spine itch and his head fill with sparks in a two second span and then he’s just an insomniac mess. Except she keeps cheating, just by existing really if he’s being honest to himself about it, and he’s addicted to the feel of her.

Sometimes he wonders how she does it, being so forward and bold. She’s rarely nervous, she wears her heart on her sleeve and she’s just so expressive. Just thinking about all the different ways her eyes can light up and convey her thoughts, he can already name a few favorites, and quite a few that he can’t identify at all yet.

She made him fold in her bed in five seconds with a sultry red look from above and a lip bite and he never even resisted. She’ll never need little paper favors; clearly, she can get anything she ever wants from him with half-lidded glances full of fire and he’s actually okay with that.

I wonder what that says about me.

Akihiko has to admit to himself that he’s been observing her for a long time now, and his fascination runs way farther back than he expected, he simply couldn’t put any sort of loose label on what it was that was gnawing at his brain all this time. There’s been hairpins and burning red eyes in his mind since forever ago.

And then we go on one vacation and that opens Pandora’s box.

Just thinking it, he knows it’s a lie, the keystone moments were before that. Even before that, although it did put aspects into focus he never expected to discover about himself, nor her. Adding more padlocks, Akihiko sighs, ruffling his hair. All his thoughts are jumbled sideways and backward and even his train of thought is a mess.

At least, when it involves shadows, Tartarus or anything fighting related, he’s coherent enough. None of that nightmare scares him and combat is exciting, perhaps that’s why he’s more relaxed around her in there.

Akihiko looks at the clock, the whole day has been strange, and the Dark Hour isn’t coming soon enough.

…………………………..

To say he’s eager to step into the Tower of Demise again is an understatement; they spent almost all their nights here since the beach vacation, but the short lull when she left for Inaba makes it feel like it was a thousand years ago. Minako seems to be in the same high spirits as of this morning, coasting from one team member to another to chat them up on the way to Gekkoukan, sharing her joie de vivre to cheer them on. Everyone except him that is, and Akihiko wonders if it’s because he never needs any incentive to fight, especially with her.

She ends her rounds with her twin, just bumping into his side until Minato drapes an arm around her shoulders and they walk for a bit, silent and mingling their hair in closeness. Eventually she relents, smacks her brother on the backside and chuckles when he slowly makes his way up the column to hover between Yukari and Mitsuru.

Minako then turns her blazing gaze back his way and stops walking, waiting for him to catch up to her.

“So, it’s my turn for a morale boost?”

Akihiko is slightly amused and he injects it in his tone; he really doesn’t need one, but he’ll take any occasion to slip in some subtle alone time with her despite the crowd. She smirks, something almost wicked dancing in her eyes.

“What can I say, I like saving the best for last.”

Why does this feel like this morning suddenly ?

Clamping down on the flustering is only partially working and he bites down on his smile; she’s disarming when she gets cheeky. Minako falls into step next to him, hands clasped in her lower back and looking forward, so close he can feel her sleeve skimming the air next to him. There’s a rising tide of static filling his mind but despite it, he moves one of his arms behind her to brush her open palm with an exposed phalange.

Being taller and looking down toward her at his side, he clearly sees her eyes glimmer when he touches her, and he smirks slightly. Maybe he’s starting to get the hang of the unspoken invitations. Then the red glint changes form to something he can’t label, and she clasps his hand between her two own, careful to avoid the gauntlet’s dangerous insert, running her nails on his uncovered skin like ghostly paintbrushes.

“Eager to put these through a test run? Because I’m curious too.”

Akihiko flexes the fingers of his unoccupied hand to crack his knuckles in reply, shivering with the sensations. Is she anxious about her gift?

“I don’t have any doubt whatsoever, I can tell they’ll be more than just effective.”

The Dark Hour falls on the world like a curtain, its filter jarring for a few seconds. They both blink through the transition, like this is just a break in the clouds on a sunny afternoon, and keep walking close while Tartarus constructs itself above them like a nightmarish beanstalk.

They’re catching on to the others, so Minako squeezes his hand hard before releasing her grip on it, and Akihiko clasps her fingertips to stroke them with some pressure before opening his hold as well to free her. Like they’re imprinting the sensation before stepping in the mouth of hell to face death and it’s an unspoken rule that it’s a private partake. He’s smiling her way when Mitsuru looks back on them, everyone else already inside Tartarus.

“Good pep talk, leader.”

She smiles at him impishly and takes a deep breath.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

………………………………………………

Minako is somber, a strange determination in her eyes as she looks over at the members of SEES from near the stairs of Tartarus, leaning her head on her weapon’s shaft pensively. They just came back from half of their planned expedition of the night to swap people around groups, and she’s been oddly focused while watching Aigis recharge her ammo.

A sharp contrast to the bubbly violence she was displaying earlier, totally running circles around the latest guardian with him and Junpei. He had missed this; the unspoken dance of death where they’re so attuned to each other that it feels effortless.

“Admiring the results of your daring training schedule? Because it’s impressive.”

Akihiko’s standing near her, rolling his shoulders to shake out the kinks and tension in them. His new gloves are amazing, but they ring like thunderclaps on impact, and it will get him a little bit to get used to the backlash. Absolutely worth it though, he never pummuled so many shadows to dust so quick. Minako smiles pensively at him with a side glance.

“I just hope it’ll be enough… We don’t know what we’re gonna face this full moon.”

“I can’t see how we could be more ready. Now, if you want to go check that passage, we should get going before the Dark Hour ends.”

“Don't threaten me with a good time, you just want to put your toys to the test again.”

Well, that’s kind of true…

Minako nods, standing straight, her voice very soft and not looking at him.

“Hey, do you… Are we still on for tomorrow morning?”

“Uh?”

Oh, the daybreak alarm.

He frowns, this might be complicated to explain truthfully.

“Yes! I’m sorry I did that, I just…”

She just co*cks her head to the side, eyes still far away but he can tell from his spot that they’re full of understanding.

“I get it… I just wanted to know if you… needed more space.”

Still as perceptive as ever.

Akihiko waits a bit before answering, mulling the words over. It’s not a lie, but he’ll have to work on it to make it true.

“No, I’m good.”

Chapter 44: Riled Up

Chapter Text

Maybe it’s a fantasy of his, but Akihiko likes to indulge in the knowledge that only he can share those little pockets of pure quiet with her at the playground. It’s like a secret privilege he’s been entrusted with and he’s conscious that apart from her twin, perhaps he’s the only one that’s allowed to see her like this.

Or maybe I’m deluding myself into thinking I’m special.

But he’ll trust the illusion because it’s very convincing and it makes him happy just to share this space with her, regardless of who has access to this spectacle in the end.

Today is blistering hot, devoid of any wind and quite humid, but running still felt great because she's here. The sky has this haze that tints its colors with a blurry filter, like there’s too much suspended water cloying the air, diffusing the early lighting until everything is covered with blush.

Warm tones were always hers and it just enhances how she contrasts with everything else despite her current stillness. Minako’s eyes are hooded, lashes damp with sweat, cheeks piqued with red that echoes her subdued gaze. Her lips are parted slightly, almost as crimson as her irises because of exertion and so wet they reflect prickles of light when she breathes.

But it’s her silhouette below him, dark and backlit with the foggy orange where it rests, her back to the horizontal bar, that outlines just how much her inwardness feels like a solar eclipse. As if she is pulling on all her soul, distilling her very essence into something new that she can then expand outward anew. And it’s in these moments, when she revives to full brightness, dull garnets catching fire back to stars, that Akihiko holds his breath.

He never talks until she does, he’s just a bystander to a small daily miracle, waiting patiently. Eventually, she raises a hand to push some sticky strands of copper from her jaw and takes a deep, calculated breath, leaning her head until it barely touches his knee. Her now alert gaze looks at the birds flying above, and her voice is mellow.

“I never really thanked you properly.”

Akihiko moves his hand on his perch to rest on the outside of her shoulder, barely applying pressure.

“What for?”

“I could say everything, it would apply… but I mostly mean for indulging my request. I was pushy, and selfish.”

Is she concerned because I was high-strung? That couldn’t be helped…

The hum of stress comes back at the mere memory of her melting over him and he’s pretty sure he’s blushing furiously. Akihiko brushes his thumb in circles on her arm, exhaling as slowly as he can to distract himself and get a grip.

“I wanted to, and you’re allowed to be selfish sometimes.”

Minako chuckles softly in reply.

“I’m not supposed to; I’m a giver, not a taker.”

He’s reminded of the distress in her eyes on the ferry, how much she shoulders upon herself and never complains, she just keeps doing it with a smile and tireless energy. It sounds very… lonely in a weird roundabout way. And either nobody sees it because she wears her masks well, or nobody offers because they’re distracted, and so she keeps doing it and never asks in return.

Except she came to me that day.

“I’d rather you be selfish once in a while and do or say what you really want. Nobody would ever hold it against you, least of all me.”

She snorts in amusem*nt.

“Trust me, you don’t want me speaking my mind, you’ll run to the hills in less than five.”

Do or die, as they say.

“Try me.”

She inhales slowly, speaking in a shaky voice.

“I don’t know, I’d rather not lose these… little moments of ours. They’re very… precious to me.”

And she leans her head harder to rest fully against him as if to emphasize she means exactly these little episodes of penumbra he’s privy to.

“You won’t.”

And it’s true, Akihiko would never give this up for any reason, unless she chased him off very forcefully. She waits a bit before talking again.

“You could say I used the parameters I was given. I was tired, I missed you, and since you spoiled sleep forever for me the other night, I improvised.”

You and me both then, beds just suck now.

“And that’s why I stayed, because I missed you too.”

There’s a quite bit more he’d like to say but he can’t quite arrange the words in his head in short order, so he squeezes her shoulder to try and emphasize it. Minako softly giggles in acknowledgement.

‘How come you never used that favor you won?”

That’s a hard one, skip.

“I’m saving it for an emergency.”

Her shoulders shake in silent laughter.

“Like me pushing too hard and needing a break?”

He smiles, bewildered, he never even thought of that. Knowing her, he’ll have to intervene again in the future anyway and she just served it on a silver platter.

“Yeah, that’s a good thing to keep in my back pocket. You’re quite stubborn.”

Akihiko bites his lip before speaking again.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“How come you never try to come up here? I’m sure you can do it.”

Minako sighs and takes her time answering in a low voice, slightly tinged with regret or longing, he’s not sure which.

“Just because I can do something doesn’t always mean I should.”

Akihiko’s reminded of his sneaking at the arcade and her talk with Junpei about not pushing people around. It sounds like she’s holding something back, and it has to do with him somehow. This could go any number of ways, but he’s curious and he hates that tone in her voice, so a distraction seems in order.

“It’s okay to admit you just can’t, you know. I won’t judge you.”

He injects a little smugness in the quip to really drive it home, hoping it works as well on her as it would on Shinji. Minako gasps in reply.

“Are you doubting me?”

She sounds incredulous and a little miffed to be honest, maybe he pushed it a little too much.

Score.

“You… So… what do I get if I prove I can?”

He’s taking mental notes because this could be useful down the road. Also, she’ll be out of excuses to not stand next to him where he can see her better. Or hug her, or...

“Absolutely anything you want.”

She takes a breath and moves away from the bar, looks up at him and narrows her eyes dangerously.

“Okay. Well, get down and look that way, just in case I fluke this badly. I’d prefer to keep my leader rep intact and all.”

Akihiko laughs but complies, stepping down in a puff of sand and taking a few steps to give her some space. He can hear her footsteps crunching on the floor and her breath intake, then the humid air whistling and he just keeps grinning.

“Don’t turn around, just take about six steps backward.”

And so, he does, until his shoulder blades hit the bar and its her hand that rests on his shoulder like a butterfly. Her nails are painted a light pink color and they’re quite pretty.

“Eh, for once I’m taller than you.”

She’s also flaunting different things in his view; today she’s wearing shorts because of the heat, so her naked legs are brushing on his arm, and he has no idea what to do with his hands. His fingers twitch in memory of them coiling around his own and he inhales very slowly.

At least she can’t see my face.

“So… I can get anything I want?”

Minako sounds quite happy at the prospect, and he swallows painfully, inner current wavering wildly in his eardrums.

“Hmm hmm.”

She chuckles softly and it sounds mischievous.

“Okay… then close your eyes and don’t move.”

Scrounging his eyelids would probably help to keep him grounded anyways, so he stays still, not too sure what she’s about to do. Then the hand on his shoulder slides delicately to his neck, and up in his wet hair in a flutter and she’s grazing his scalp with the tip of her nails.

Oh my god…

Her weight shifts a bit for balance on the bar and she puts her other hand there too, ruffling the strands that were sticking flat to his forehead because of the heat and exercise.

He can’t help but whisper.

“It’s probably pretty gross, we ran hard.”

Minako chuckles in reply.

“Like I care. Is it because you want me to stop?”

“N-No.”

Her voice is barely a murmur.

“Then let me have this, please.”

He tries desperately to tone the intense shiver that is traveling up his spine when he feels her fingers behind his ear. She just keeps going, playing with his hair with little hums of contentment and Akihiko is losing his mind. He can’t do anything with his hands except clench them and he can’t lean his head to her like she does when she’s below because that might cost him his sanity, so he endures and rolls back his eyes.

Maybe I was a cat in another life.

His head is full of sparks and it tingles everywhere, so he speaks before he starts making any kind of embarrassing noises.

“Why this?”

She sounds all gushy when explaining but her voice is nervous.

“Because it’s as soft as it looks, and so pretty, I always wanted to do that, and.. hmm, well… ah, never mind.”

What’s this?

“Never mind what?”

Minako chuckles again, definitely jittery like she’s embarrassed. This doesn’t happen often.

“Oh no no! I’m not telling you that!”

And then her phone alarm rings, and she hisses in irritation, slowing her ministrations until she stops completely. He takes a deep, slow breath to calm his thundering heartbeat, felling completely out of sorts.

Time just slips through everything, all the time.

She drops down next to him and speaks very softly.

“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, it’s simply because of the timing, I need to get back or I’ll be late. But I promise I will.”

She’s smiling apologetically, meeting his eyes despite a deep blush. Whatever it is, it’s doing a number on her and he’s very curious now.

Chapter 45: Strega

Chapter Text

The mustiness of the underground military complex feels oppressing under the silent curtain of the Dark Hour, making some of them edgy with stress. Each of their footsteps echoes on the walls around, reverbing back strangely in metallic distortion, and it’s quite dusty. As usual, Akihiko is bringing the rear and perhaps because of the darkness, Yukari is hovering between the twins in front of him in discomfort.

I didn’t know there was a place like this so close by.

They barely made it past a set of large metallic panels in the depths of the facility when someone slowly claps their hands in congratulation from their back, mocking.

“Oooh, well done.”

Akihiko turns around, facing two intruders: an angry teenager with glasses holding a suitcase and a shirtless, skinny man with long hair and a disturbed expression of glee. It’s the later that’s holding his palms together and brings them to rest at his belt on the grip of a revolver.

sh*t… He’s got a gun too!

That’s not something they are used to deal with and the stress is palpable, he subtly repositions to cover Minako and Yukari since they were all bringing the rear. Minato and Junpei seem to have noticed the firearm as well and are closing in around the girls, weapons half drawn. Fuuka seems shaken, eyes darting around from the center, turning to Minako who touches her shoulder in reassurance.

“I… I didn’t sense them at all before now!”

Their leader scowls at the intruders, nose raised in defiance.

“Who the hell are you?”

The smile from the gun wielder is almost oily with some sick pleasure, his eyes narrowed like a predator.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you in person my dear. My name is Takaya, and this is Jin. We are known to some as Strega.”

Minako raises an eyebrow, sizes him up, clearly unimpressed.

“Now then. We’ve been keeping an eye on you and your activities for some time. From what we hear, you’ve undertaken a “righteous” battle to save the world. Unfortunately, we’ve come here tonight to put an end to that.”

Minato takes a step forward to stand near his sister, clearly, he hates the attention directed her way as much as he does.

“The hell you are.”

His tone is cold, and his bluish eyes look hard, he’s clearly having none of it. Takaya simply smiles again at Minako, keeping a hand on the handle of his gun as he takes stock of their party with a feral look.

“You’ve gained many new allies in such a short time, no doubt because this land crawls with sin. Ah, Tartarus is towering as beautifully as always…”

She replies, gaze calculating.

“You know about Tartarus?”

Junpei seems emboldened to speak up as well.

“Wait, if you know about it, why the hell would you wanna stop us!?”

Jin, his air smug and superior, looks at him with disdain.

“It ain’t rocket science. If Shadows and the Dark Hour disappear, we could lose our power. And that’s not something we can abide by, get it?”

Mitsuru sounds shocked at his statement.

“Power… Are you saying you’re Persona-users too?”

Jin scoffs at her and doesn’t answer, but Takaya turns back to Minako with his teeth bared and a look that makes Akihiko’s flesh crawl. He clenches his fists in guard, eyeing the gun and the positions they’re all in, just in case.

You are not touching her.

“I implore you to think more carefully. Do you really want to lose your abilities? Not just anyone can wield the power of a Persona. The Dark Hour is a frontier that is ours alone to explore. And the same goes for the Tower of Demise.”

Yukari snorts like the guy is insane.

“That’s your reason for stopping us? Then you’re the ones who need to think! Who knows what might happen if we don’t do something?”

Takaya simply chuckles like everything is just too simple for them to comprehend.

“A catastrophe brought on by the Shadows… What difference does it make, really? Disasters will always exist. And humans will always destroy each other, regardless of what the Shadows do. Either way, no one can predict what misfortunes will befall who.”

And that sick dirty grin is back on his face as he sizes Minako again, and Akihiko is clenching his jaw, trying to refrain from punching the guy.

“But more importantly, it’s time you accepted the truth. Surely you will acknowledge the sense of fulfillment the Dark Hour has given you.”

He can hear her nails scrapping the handle of her naginata in frustration.

Can’t fault her there.

Yukari scoffs, disgusted.

“You think I like this?”

Sounding surprised, the gun wilder speaks again.

“Is it not so? How about the rest of you? Do you also wish to return to your pathetic, ordinary lives?”

And Takaya eyes them all one by one with a smirk; Akihiko must bite down on his lip to hold a pensive grumble down. Jin laughs spitefully at them when nobody seems to reply except in murmurs.

“Whatever, you all got your own selfish reasons for fighting. That so-called “justice” of yours? Ain’t nothing but an excuse. There’s nothing righteous about any of ya. You’re all just hypocrites. Like hell you chumps are gonna stop us!

That shakes him out of his funk and he snaps his eyes back to the intruders to check for a threat.

“What’d you say!?”

But Jin simply waves at him, grinning evilly, and smacks something with his palm from their side of the doorframe.

“Have fun in there!”

And the huge metal partition they came from shuts down with force. He looks for a way to open them but there’s no control panels from their side.

“Dammit, they locked us in!”

Aigis seems completely unbothered by the event, addressing the twins.

“There is no need to panic. Instead of wasting resources, I recommend we prioritize the Shadow first.”

Minako takes a breath, straightens her stance, and slips on a mask of cold determination.

“She’s right, we’re here to do a job, we can find an exit after. Fuuka, can you pick up anything?”

Fuuka summons Lucia, basking in her light for a little while before gasping.

“The Shadow’s moving! I think it’s noticed us! Down this passage!”

………………………………..

This time he’s at the front with Minako while the group navigates the wartime tunnels twisting down. She looks tense and her face is grim with anger as she eyes the relics of conflict past. Akihiko is staying close, following her gaze when she looks down.

“What’s this…? It almost looks like tire tracks but…”

She looks at him, unsure.

Is that…

“Threads. Very heavy vehicle, recent too.”

She takes a deep breath, brows furrowed.

“Junpei, Min, get over here!”

The other boys oblige quickly, and the twins exchange a long expressive glance and a few quiet words before she turns back to them with a little tense smile.

“Sorry, setting my little demon ducks in a row. You guys take the front with Aigis and stay defensive, we don’t know how bad this is. Soften it if you can, I’ll back you up.”

How does that multiple persona thing work anyway?

Fuuka interrupts, her voice a little panicked.

“Minako, it’s moving downward, we have to catch it!”

“Alright team, let’s go!”

…………………………

It’s quite dark in the large room filled with debris, but the sound in front of them is unmistakable; heavy machinery.

Junpei gasps in surprise when their enemy charges forward, a weird turret mounted on top of a threaded contraption.

“A motherf*cking tank? You have got to be kidding me!”

Ignoring his quips, Akihiko shoots Polydeuces out of his mind to debilitate their target repeatedly while Aigis acts as suppressing fire. Hermes charges, wings aflame, barely leaving a mark, and even the bullets from their robot companion are only doing surface damage.

Minato and Mitsuru are summoning blocks of ice and tornadoes in tandem, covering Takeba who is trying to snipe the turret from afar, with limited success.

What the hell is that thing?

“No weakness, so pace yourselves and stay defensive, there are two of them in there!”

Minako is staying far from the front to give herself some leg room, evoker at the ready, slowly weaving enhancements around all of them with various summons. And this time, he knows she’s doing it on purpose when there’s haptic feedback in his hair that feels suspiciously like her hands to shield him from harm and augment his attacks.

How is she doing that?

He can’t stop to think about it more, aiming at his forehead again to summon lightning and it has barely more effect than the rest of their efforts. The tank is rolling madly, trying to ram them over, but their enhancements keep them sharp on their feet until it tires and pauses.

“Mitsuru-senpai, ice the threads!”

“On it!”

Great columns of ice crash on the tank’s mobile straps with much fanfare, backed by Minato’s efforts and the vehicle stops completely, but its turret doesn’t and shoots a large shell in the midst of the party. The explosion knocks most of them down with various scrapes and burns. Akihiko barely rolls out of the way to limit the damage and it stings on his forearm.

The smoke clears and Minako is on her knees, hair askew and blood leaking from her brow but her eyes are leaking flames with determination.

“Inaba no Shirousagi!”

And it’s the cutest white rabbit that actualizes above her to land on her shoulder in a whirl of blue fire, shining like a tiny moon. She strokes its head and the wave of restoration that bursts from her is intense and bright, chasing the pain away.

The hare bounces on the floor at her feet and white comets shoot from her hands to the tank’s front panel, denting it slightly. Penthesilea dances forward again to strike in a cold rush and the tank can’t seem to shake off the sleet covering it.

“Hack it up, it can’t shoot you from point blank!”

Junpei rolls in, slashing in glee in the tough threads with Minato while Akihiko tries to break the supports with thundering pummels that make his shoulders burn. It’s denting and the armored Shadow sways, rubber and metal bits dangling from its side. Then the tank whirrs above them and the turret detaches to fly off, the rest of the vehicle folding upward on its back thread tracks.

“It’s two Shadows, fall back and dodge!”

He calls Polydeuces again to shock the tank as a distraction and it seems to suddenly connect way better, but that turret is fast, hovering like a hummingbird to shoot at everyone. Palladion charges on the annoying winged Shadow, knocking it off-balance and its latest shot hits the tank itself with a concentrated shaft of light to good effect.

“Yukari, shoot that flyer we can’t reach it!”

Assisted by Aigis’ bullets, the archer scores a few hits, while the others focus their personas on the tank outside of melee range, since it's charging this way and that again. The flying sharpshooter eventually falls but doesn’t disintegrate and simply gets back up after a few seconds, completely unarmed. It reconnects on the tank and shoots another explosive shell at the back.

This time, Yukari goes down in the debris, the wind knocked out of her, and Junpei’s not faring much better from the floor, leg bloody. The little rabbit actualizes again, light pulsing from it to keep them afloat. Minato calls a large snake with multiple heads, echoing Mitsuru’s summons for ice to prevent the tank from charging and Akihiko repositions between them and the enemy to reapply debilitates.

“Aigis, Orgia Mode!”

The robotic maiden starts glowing, overriding her limiters and going ham on the recombined shadow with all her weaponry, dodging the shells this way and that, causing one of them to explode near them. This time, Akihiko fails to roll far enough away and gets knocked face first in a pile of rubble, smacking the left of his face hard and rattling his jaw painfully. He shakes his head to get the ringing out of it, spitting blood.

“Get ready it’s going to separate again!”

Minako throws the bunny his way and it bounces up to his cheek, exploding in a warm shower of light that heals his wounds, but his head is still throbbing fiercely. Mitsuru seems quite winded, focusing her energies to Takeba now that Junpei is back up and throwing fireballs in the fray. Aigis, her overdrive spent, falls down in overheating near Minato, but she greatly damaged the combined shadows and bought them some time.

“Min, help Yukari and cover Aigis!"

Her twin nods, taking position and summoning again. Minako turns to Akihiko and Junpei, wiping blood off her forehead and taking her evoker.

“I’ll attract the turret, you guys go in and break that toy will ya?"

Minako wastes no time in running away from them like a little comet, calling down beams of light on the tank to get its attention and the turret follows her like a homing device. Akihiko nods to Junpei and they slide into melee, safe from explosions and going hard on the damaged armor. Minako uses the explosive debris as cover from the incoming turret shells, eyes leaking red to leverage her small persona’s moonlight aura to pepper their target with homing meteorites.

The shadows split yet again, but clearly, they are at their limit and the combined efforts of Hermes and Polydeuces on the upright machine is enough to crumple it down. The lone flyer eats two well-placed shots from Yukari in quick succession and follows it down, disintegrating for good.

Minako huffs, tired and caked in grime and blood, then sinks to the floor. The hare dispels in a haze of blue flames after she strokes its ears.

“Thank you little guy.”

Chapter 46: Recovery

Chapter Text

By the time Ikutsuki's helpers come to the facility to release the partition’s emergency lock and set them free, it’s way past the Dark Hour. The trek back to the dorm is grueling; everyone’s injured in some shape or form and tired to the bone. It wasn’t easy, but they prevailed and Minako keeps hammering the point to cheer them up while supporting a yawning Fuuka.

How is she still holding up? She went all out.

Akihiko knows she is tired, he can see it clearly, but he is also aware how good she is at pretending for the sake of group morale. The red of her eyes is glazed with exhaustion and she keeps picking at the healed cut on her brow absently but it’s almost an excuse to draw attention away from her dropping shoulders.

Stubborn again.

Once they finally step into the dorm, they can’t just leave their weapons and equipment in the lobby and need to pick themselves up, which Junpei seems to have an issue with. He almost throws his harness and scabbard on the sofa, but Minato gives him a hard look and sighs, signing to give him the weapon instead.

Ken might come down to something difficult to explain in the morning and Mitsuru is always adamant about keeping all Shadow-related business to themselves; the kid is already curious enough about their long hours and tiredness. Iori places his sword in the twin’s hands so he can carry their weapons and his sister’s naginata upstairs to stash them out of sight.

“Thanks dude!”

Dependable, that guy.

Yukari and Fuuka are busy sorting out the medkits on the kitchen table, taking out painkillers and other supplies for those that need them, and Minako is talking in low tones with Mitsuru and Aigis by the welcome desk, probably regarding the report to the chairman.

Akihiko keeps moving his jaw in discomfort, the worst is healed but it rattled quite hard earlier and now he’s got a piercing headache. Distractingly, he grabs some of the medicine and heads for the fridge to grab his thankfully premade shake, downing the tablets with a sip. He hates medicine and usually endures the pain, but this migraine is bad. There’s just this quiet, unspoken mood of groaning soreness around everyone; they all want to clean their wounds and enjoy some hot water for a bit before crashing into bed.

A shower would definitely help right now.

…………………………..

Finally free of dried blood, dust, and grime, Akihiko sits on the edge of his bed in pyjama slacks, still nursing the left side of his face. Somehow, the warm shower made everything better except this and now its throbbing despite the painkillers making him loopy. Maybe staying under the hot water that long wasn’t such a good idea, he’s a bit out of sorts and light-headed. Just thinking about passing a shirt on his head is simply too much, brushing his teeth was already hell because of his jaw, he’ll just make do and go to bed.

He ruffles his hair, mustering the energy to get up and close the light, when he hears Minako in the corridor, murmuring harshly.

“C’mon Junpei, help me or something. You’re freaking heavy!”

Hmmm?

There’s a slight ruckus as she opens her friend’s door and dumps him on his bed with a huff.

“For god’s sake dude, at least remove your pants and shoes or you’ll have to wash your bedding tomorrow, you’re kind of crusty. G’night!”

Iori mumbles something in reply while she closes his door with care, walking down the corridor stealthily and grumbling under her breath.

“I told you not to lay down on the sofa, dummy…”

He can hear her footsteps stop near his doorway, probably because it’s open and the light is on.

“Why are you not in bed already? It’s so late!”

Akihiko blinks slowly, running a hand over his face to shake off the wooziness and instantly grimaces.

“I was… getting there… why are you still up?”

“Playing daycare, but never mind that. You don’t look well, want me to take a look?”

His eyes focus on her silhouette in the doorframe, hair still damp and askew over her shoulders, wearing some loose orange plaid pants and a yellow tank top. She’s clearly waiting for an invite and not trying to intrude, but her expression betrays her worry.

She looks adorable.

He makes a vague motion with his arm to invite her in and she tiptoes in barefoot until she’s next to him. From up close he can see how exhausted she really is, face pale and gaze a bit glazed.

“Can I…?”

He nods and she gently lifts his chin at an angle to prod delicately at his face. Akihiko’s too befuddled with the meds and the fatigue to object and he closes his eyes; the dim light is too bright and he can feel everywhere her fingertips are leaving burns on him.

Why are your hands so soft?

She’s being incredibly gentle but it’s still sore and his brows scrunch.

“Maybe you should ice it. Let me go downstairs, I’ll-“

He’s been trying not to react to her touch, but now there’s less inhibitions because of the floating clouds all over his brain. He covers the hand cupping his chin with one of his, leaning his cheek into it.

“Don’t…”

Please don’t go.

Her low chuckle sounds like warmth and silver bells and he smiles slightly, breathing slowly and fighting against the mental fog but it’s useless. The fingers on his sore cheek brush against his brow instead and he narrowly refrains from humming at the sensation.

“Clearly you need to sleep this off.”

Minako’s voice sounds amused, and Akihiko almost wants to chuckle in reply but just can’t. Apparently, this was the good stuff Mitsuru keeps for emergencies; he feels like he has a fever and everything is so slow.

You need to rest too.

He remembers her comment about the best sleep of her life and she’s dead on her feet; he can deal with the aftermath if it just makes her stop fretting and finally rest. For once there is no cacophony behind his ears, and although he can’t quite think clearly what little words he can manage tumble out with no resistance.

“Just stay.”

Akihiko clearly hears the little catch in her breath when he speaks but thinks nothing of it, lightly tugging on her hand to insist.

“Are you… sure?”

Minako’s voice has a subdued sound, like a hesitation, he can almost hear her expression despite not seeing it. He tugs again to confirm, talking is just too hard, everything’s drowning in a cloudbank and all he has are impressions. He just grazes her fingers on his chin with his own.

Oh yes. Please.

“Can you… hm… put on a… shirt first?”

This is so strange a request that he peaks at her through his eyelids, slowly. She’s looking sideways toward the window, biting on her lower lip and blushing furiously.

Well this is a good one.

“Nope.”

He manages a light grin to go with it because this is so priceless a reaction. She sighs with resignation dramatically when she meets his eyes, the crimson suddenly gleaming with flaming intensity, mumbling under her breath.

“And I’m supposed to not… Oh god…”

Her hand flutters against his brow again, like a ghost.

“Okay, you win. Just wait a minute while I cover my tracks.”

Hmm?

But Minako is already out the door in a flash, walking off in silence in direction of her twin’s room. He blinks, laying down slowly while he waits, but she eventually comes back, closing the light and locking the door. She timidly makes her way back to him and the faint moonlight from the closed curtains makes her eyes glow in the paleness of her face. She really looks tired, almost ethereal.

Stop moving, just rest.

He raises a corner of the covers in invitation, bleary eyed, and she slides in. He was expecting to hug her to him, but she starts shuffling around. Akihiko can’t quite register why she’s coaxing him to turn toward her but goes along with it, half-awake. The right side of his face rests near her left collarbone and she snakes an arm between his shoulder blades to keep him in place.

“Just making sure you keep that left cheek upright.”

She’s so warm, she smells like flowers and soap, and most importantly, she’s here. Something slides across his arm, up his shoulder and to the back of his head and he barely registers what it is until he feels her fingertips grazing the tufts of hair behind his left ear. His breath catches in his throat, and her voice draws shivers on his head when she murmurs sleepily.

“Comfy?”

Oh yes.

Repressing shivers and insanely comfortable, he answers somewhat sluggishly.

“You’re… never leaving.”

Akihiko can feel the intake of her breath and the outcoming light chuckle but there’s no force in it. He just slides his arms around her waist and across her back tightly to prove his point, pressing his palms to her spine. Everywhere the right side of his face is pressing is scorching flesh and he can feel her heartbeat drum in his ears like a lullaby.

I think this is supposed to bother me. A lot.

There’s something soft and warm on his forehead and he sighs in contentment, finally falling asleep.

Chapter 47: Sugar Rush

Chapter Text

A faint tugging in his spine dispels the fog of sleep somewhat, but he can’t manage to open his eyes. Dimly, Akihiko can hear some distant bird screaming his adoration for the coming of a new day.

It’s dawn.

His internal clock usually spells instant doom for any rest, no matter how tired he is, but right now he feels like he’s laying in a very sunlit field of flowers and all his senses are numb. There’s a slow, rhythmic melody calling him back to unformed dreams and he complies, melting back in the pool of sweet-smelling warmth that he lays in with a soft exhale.

………………………..

The world is just one giant fluffy cloud, and he’s soaking in it, paralyzed in a sliver of awareness. There’s a delicate and soft pressure going across his hair slowly and Akihiko shivers in delight.

This is nice.

The sensation moves to the back of his ear, then his neck, and up again to graze his scalp. He doesn’t know what it is, but he can’t move or open his eyes, drowning in deep fog. It doesn’t matter, although somewhere in the back of his mind it feels like he should know what this is.

Tendrils of warm silk are coiling around him as if he is wrapped in a cloak of some kind and he sinks into it. Something hot and velvety soft brushes his forehead, then travels to his cheek, almost like burning raindrops. It splatters on the corner of his mouth, then his jaw and down his neck, leaving flowers of humid fire wherever it goes. The burning silk is moving with it, as if his blanket is sliding down and made of liquid.

Oh… Wow…

There’s a tight feeling in his stomach, threatening to wake him fully with a desperate pang of hunger, but the fluttering is back in his hair, and he settles back down. What sounds like wind chimes tinkle in his ears, on a warm breeze, almost like an echo. The idea of food comes back in a rush and somehow, all he can think of is that time Aragaki cooked him breakfast at the dorm a thousand years ago.

That damp, hot feeling comes back on his cheek and barely skim on his lips, butterflies flying delicately around his brow until they take flight, and he falls back in a deep sleep.

………………………..

It takes Akihiko a good while to fully wake up. He’s still befuddled from the medicated sleep, but he’s so hungry he could die on spot; maybe that explains the confusion. It’s a shock to decipher the numbers on the clock, he never gets up so late but yesterday took a lot out of all of them.

That explains the cramps, should have snacked yesterday before bed.

He can never wait long for nourishment, or he feels weak and light-headed, a consequence of a high metabolism used to constant intense exercise. Much less skip breakfast, this will tank his whole day in the gutter. Better get in gear and fix that, except he feels half-melted and it’s really hard to get out of bed. Taking a few seconds to blink and shake the fog, he takes a deep breath and everything smells like her.

It’s like she was here.

Drowsy, he tries to think back because there’s something vague nagging at him. He remembers she brought Junpei to his room, and a vivid picture of her pale face under the moonlight, eyes ablaze looking his way. His eyes turn on his pillow and there’s a strand of copper hair shining in plain view right next to his nose.

“…Oh.”

………………………..

Akihiko is deep down convinced he should be panicking right now; except he can’t stop grinning and that creates a weird dissonance in his mind. Either the leftover fog from the painkillers or the inner decomposition of his organs from hunger, or both, is fuddling the usual stress but he’ll take it because he can’t remember much and that should worry him.

Eat first, freak out after.

Too mellow and hungry, he just slips on his red hoodie, zips it three quarters of the way and exits his room. There’s quite a bit of cutlery noise coming from the lobby, and something smells amazing.

Of course everybody is up. Look what time it is.

He just needs to sneak in the kitchen, grab something to fill the black hole inside and kickstart his brain; those tantalizing wafts of cooking are making it hard to exist. When he steps down, everyone is still for the most part in sleepwear, sitting at the table with plates full of homemade food. Iori swallows his last bite hard and hollers toward the kitchen.

“Mina-tan, can I get some more? Pretty pleaaase! I’m dying over here.”

And Minako answers him from the kitchen, apparently quite chipper.

“Wait a bit Junpei, not everyone got their first serving yet. Fuuka can you fill up the table bowl with this? Then sit down and enjoy, I’m good with the rest, thank you.”

She sounds happy, so nothing bad happened. Probably. Don't flip out.

Yamagishi exits the kitchen with a cutting board filled with fresh slices of strawberries and peaches toward the table, which Ken happily steals from as soon as it’s in range. Yukari and Mitsuru are sipping tea and flipping magazines absently like they often do. Minato is picking at his eggs, eyeing him with a measured glance, munching slowly through a smirk from his seat next to a curious Aigis.

That's weird.

He nods back at him, wondering what the look is about because it’s never for nothing, tiptoes toward the kitchen and stops in the doorframe. Minako has her back to him, nodding her head to the music of a single earphone while juggling pans on the stove.

"Good morning senpai!"

Definitely cheerful alright, and absolutely adorable.

There's a feeling of déja vu gnawing at the back of his skull. Her hair is up in a rough ponytail, in pyjama pants and yellow tank top, and she's slightly dancing as she empties some scrambled egg mix into one of the pans. He can't help but smile despite the inner leftover fog.

"Good morning."

She keeps working and speaks over her shoulder, not looking at him.

“Look in the fridge, top right shelf.”

“…What?”

But she ignores him and shouts toward the doorway while ruffling the mixture and moving stuff on the counter, still not turning around.

"Five minutes Junpei!"

He opens the fridge and bends down; one of his shake bottles is exactly where she said to look. But didn’t he down this one last night when they came back? Akihiko blinks, he needs to endure the pain next time and not rely on painkillers, it’s screwing with his head bigtime.

He takes a few sips and it tastes very different, fruity but not too sweet, but it's so good he downs half the thing straight and sighs in relief.

I needed that.

She's chopping strawberries and making a plate when he looks back and it dawns on him that this is exactly what it tastes like. She pops a piece of fruit in her mouth for every berry she cuts in two, eating as she cooks.

"Was it okay? I wasn't sure if I had the ratios right."

Wait a second...

"You made this, this morning?"

And Minako finally turns around, holding a strawberry to her lips and munching on it, a strange look he can't label in her eyes.

"Well, yeah, it's always the first thing you drink in the morning and you were hungry. I just improvised a bit because you never eat any fruits, hope you don’t mind. By the way, is that any better?"

And her hand that's not holding something to her lips is ghosting on his cheek delicately. His mind churns, piecing things around because that sensation is familiar, and sparks are flying across his skull.

That’s right, I banged my face pretty hard, hence the pills.

“Seems okay, I don’t feel anything this morning anymore.”

She smiles at him and her eyes gleam with happiness, her fingertips brushing his jaw and making him shiver.

“Good, because it looked painful. Gimme a sec.”

She turns around and puts the finishing touches on her plate in progress with a can of whipped cream. He takes a few sips of his bottle to distract himself.

That mix is amazing.

“Yukariiiiiii, I got a surprise for youuuuuuu!”

She takes the plate, filled with something drowned under Chantilly and strawberries, and holds it through the doorway. Takeba sprints over with an excited face.

“Oh my god how did you... oh wow! Thank you!”

She takes it to the table, humming in anticipated pleasure, while Minako opens the oven and takes something out, murmuring.

“And this is for you. Sorry I had to keep them warm, Junpei and Min keep stealing everything I make as soon as it’s cooked.”

Akihiko looks at what she’s holding his way while she keeps working on her eggs and it’s a plate filled with numerous pancakes. That’s the smell that permeates everything since he got out of his room.

I dreamed about this, I think. Wait…

“Take it please, it’s heavy, I need to finish this, condiments are on the table.”

You’re downplaying this on purpose and I don’t recall telling anyone about this before except Shinji.

“How did you know?”

Minako looks back at him, amused twinkle in her eyes and biting back a laugh, forcing the plate in his free hand.

“I asked you what you wanted to eat this morning. You don’t remember?”

His expression is probably strange, but he cannot remember discussing food, only that he dreamed about pancakes.

“If you don’t go sit down and eat this right now, you’ll faint, and I’ll be disappointed I did all this for nothing.”

Akihiko eyes her carefully, mulling over words that can’t seem to come out, yet his hands are full. Then it dawns on him, and he does the next best thing despite the growing tension that’s starting to take over the last tendrils of fog keeping him calm. He leans over until he can whisper in her ear, nudging her remaining earphone out with the tip of his nose.

“Thank you, you’re adorable.”

And he drops his lips delicately on the skin near her ear like she did the other day, blushing as furiously as she is.

“Junpei, bring your plate! Your eggs are ready!”

He stares at her in shock, and she bites her lip while pointing to the doorframe, rubies boiling like little suns to echo the color on her cheeks. He exits as Iori enters, breakfast and shake in hand, trying to refrain from smiling to himself. Sitting down at the table, he attacks his treat furiously, because he’s really hungry and it tastes heavenly.

I can't believe I did that.

Ken eyes his pancakes, a jealous gleam in his eye.

“Oh I didn’t get to try these, are they good?”

Akihiko’s thoughts are not on his breakfast, but on her earlier reaction.

“Absolutely amazing.”

Chapter 48: The Shrine

Chapter Text

There’s a slight drizzle marring the air the next morning, weighting down the smell of the sea and slicking the pavement to shine like mirrors. Akihiko dresses up and ties his shoes at dawn, really looking forward to his run, the weather never really matters to him when he needs to move.

Hood up and trying his best to be sneaky, he makes his way to the lobby in silence, dodging all the creaking spots in the wood panels since he knows them by heart. Minako’s not in the welcome booth like she sometimes is, and she’s not near the street lamp outside where she tends to hang out when she frets.

Hmm, is she running late? That’s not like her.

If anything, she’s usually herebeforehim or exactly at the same time, like she at one point calculated exactly how much time he needs to prep once he gets up. Another unspoken synchrony they picked up on the way since they startedthis, and he can’t help but smile at that thought.

Looking at his cellphone’s screen, he hesitates. Perhaps she forgot to put her alarm back on after yesterday morning and is currently sleeping, or she’s just late, but it’s way too early to text her and inquire.

Akihiko waits fifteen minutes before he goes on to jog alone, hoping she’s resting her fill.

She deserves it, she works too hard anyways. There’s always tomorrow.

…………………

Almost an hour later, he ends up at the playground because he’s distracted by echoes ofher, still trying to patch together that medicated sleep he seems to have forgotten about. There’s bits and pieces of memories that are hanging, so close yet so far away from his reach in the back of his mind and it’s driving him up the wall.

It’s like my own brain is trying to bait me.

Unwinding from the intense exertion, Akihiko looks at the horizontal bar of their space, ruffling the hair under his hood in remembrance of the time where she climbed up there to sit above him in victory.

Our space.

And he realizes it’s true, there’s an unspoken rule he made for himself if he runs alone; he doesn’t come here,ever. Maybe he cheated that rule because her specter is living rent free in his mind particularly strongly this morning. It’s forthem, for those moments where the sun dips into the sea to quench itself and rises back again while he basks in wonder.

Ifshe’s not here, it’s just a grey and lonely spot near the shrine where he used to hang out sometimes back in the day. It feels fitting that it’s so close to a place of worship, it has the undertones of a quiet ritual now that they partake in, and he hopes it stays like this forever.

Just stay.

Akihiko frowns,he said that. Now he remembers; she came over to check on him, and he asked her to. And she was so tired, running on the fraying ends of a second wind, her face so pale in the moonlight she could have been a ghost.

You spoiled sleep for me forever the other night.

She pointedly mentioned this, standing here, her head against his knee, in the bubble of their private quiet. And that’s probably why he offered, despite how nervous it makes him, sharing her space is like self-immolation and he doesn’t mind the inferno if it makes her burn brighter. Because it makes him emerge anew too in a weird way, despite the pain of these moments’ end.

That’s a new kind of ritual now, resting together.

More like entwining and fainting into each other’s warmth, but ever since they took a sip ofthatin the command room, it tainted everything with a scorching need to share those defenseless moments to truly feel at ease. He’s wrapped in coppery little chains that twist around him despite his constant panic and he keeps coiling them tighter because deep down beneath the dread, he likes the connection and he desperately wants it; the share goes both ways.

There’s a tactile memory feel in his hands and he recalls pressing them to her spine, holding her so close he could barely breathe, and how limp and relaxed that made her, as if his presence soothed a tension she couldn’t admit she carries all the time.

It’s my fault really, I gave her that invitation.

That first time, he beckoned her toward him and she accepted, melting into him with such complete abandon he couldn’t think and it’s so vivid once again he can still see her eyes melting under the Dark Hour in his mind.

And I’ll do it again because I don’t feel guilty. She wants this and I really do, too.

He smiles absently as he turns back toward the dorm in a contemplative walk, letting the sparks run wild in his head at the mere thought of her. It’s absolutely terrifying, and it might take some time to overcome the fear, but if he’s strong enough he can take on anything, including himself.

…………………

The rain clears early in the morning, and Minako’s been gone all day with her twin. Back from some errands in the afternoon and after a quick stop for a fulfilling beef bowl to wrap up the day, Mitsuru accosts him in the lobby. Everybody’s still out of the dorm, enjoying the remaining daylight.

“Akihiko, can you come to the command room with me? We received a… well, you’ll see.”

Curious, he follows her up, did the lab deliver something new for SEES he needs to know about? The heiress opens the door and to his surprise, there’s a dog waiting for them, calmly sitting on the carpet.

“Is that…?”

She chuckles and approaches the creature, running a hand on the fur of its head and Koromaru lolls its tongue.

“Yes, he’s all better now, completely healed and fully capable of assisting us.”

You mean…

“I know he held his own back there but, are yousure?”

“Check the reports on the desk, it’s all there.”

Akihiko takes the folder in hand, skimming through the paperwork about his Persona and his capabilities, a bit stunned.

Extremely well trained and intelligent. Cerberus, the hound of hell, protector of the gates.

Crouching to pet the dog, he can’t help but smile when Koromaru leans into his hand, eyes closed and happy, craving more by nudging his palm. He obliges with a grin; he never had a pet of any kind, and this one is simply marvelous.

“The girls are going to be ecstatic when they learn he’s got a clean bill of health. I know they kept badgering you about news, but they will never see this one coming.”

Mitsuru laughs softly, crossing her arms when she gets up, admiring their new team member with tender eyes.

“You two did good that night, if it wasn’t for your quick intervention he wouldn’t be here now.”

He smirks, he thought about that stakeout a lot earlier, this feels a bit weird.

“I’m really glad we could save him, and she will be too.”

She doesn't answer and Akihiko takes a while to take his attention away from the dog to turn around and look at her.

"What?"

She purses her lips and she has that speculative glint in her eyes. He scowls, that sounds like a precursor to double meaning conversations and he hates that because he never gets the subtext.

"Mitsuru, please do not use the nothing card."

"I was thinking about taking Aigis to the summer festival to have her interact more with regular people. She can't quite pass as human yet and it's sometimes hard to keep her at the dorm. She's obsessed with following Minato everywhere and eventually we won’t be able to stop her."

He ponders, the robot maiden is indeed quite attached to the twin and they had to make a few adjustments so she would stop sneaking in his room at night.

"That sounds like a good idea."

"You can... tag along if you want. I know you stopped going to stuff like this since..."

Aragaki haunts this place like he lives here still.

"I'm good, I got plans anyways."

She arches an eyebrow in surprise and remains silent, the slightest of smiles on her face like she knows something.

"Very well. I am going to go wait downstairs for the juniors, can you keep Koromaru company?"

The dog puts his paw on his glove insistently, yipping and he scratches behind his ears with a wide smile.

"Of course!"

………………………

Exactly like Akihiko predicted, the team fawns over Koromaru and his miraculous recovery, asking questions about his special evoker and potential. But it’s the dog’s reaction to Minako that strikes him the most and drives home his loyalty.

She enters the room after everyone else, closely linked with her twin, somewhat withdrawn. Even Minato has the same detachment on his face until he reacts to the new member's presence.

Did something happen?

Koromaru runs to her immediately and showers her with affection full force, nudging her neck with his cold nose until she wraps her arms around him to ruffle his coat, giggling in unabashed happiness. The magnificent creature clearly remembers how she tirelessly worked to keep him alive that night and wants to show it.

She definitely deserved that.

Aigis co*cks her head at the picture and speaks up.

“He said ‘Thank you, I will return the favor and never forget what you did for me.’”

Minako squeals and looks Koromaru in the eyes.

“You’re very welcome, handsome.”

Junpei is fretting in excitement next to her.

“Dude, this is so cool, I never had a pet. Can we take him for a walk, right now? It’s summer break after all!”

Mitsuru, standing court with indulgence, nods.

“Yes, it is. Enjoy your vacation while you can; summer classes start next week. I’ll see to it that you graduate.”

Junpei looks frazzled at that one and stutters.

“H-Hey… Good one there, senpai. You almost had me there.”

And she raises an eyebrow, all business.

“Oh, it’s no joke. We’ll be taking intensive courses; I’ve already applied for all of us. I know how difficult it’s been balancing school and our late-night excursions. You haven’t had much time to study and I apologize for that. That’s why the Chairman agrees that this is a good idea… I thought I told Takeba and Yamagishi.”

That sounds like a calculated info dump.

Akihiko frowns, he doesn’t hate school, but he already has good grades and could manage without cramming. Mitsuru’s probably coming from a place of concern for her juniors, but she might not understand how it might be interpreted. And now Iori is panicking, raising his arms in the air, Minato chuckling his way like he’s ridiculous.

He certainly would find this funny; he aces every exam.

“Are you serious!? This is the first I’ve heard of it!”

Fuuka shrinks behind Yukari like she did something bad, looking down.

“Umm, sorry… I forgot to mention it.”

But Yukari taps her on the shoulder like she did nothing wrong.

“Hey, with his grades, he should be thanking her!”

Junpei grumbles under his breath, but Minako crams her face into her hands and sighs.

“I wish I were dead…”

She’s doing this on purpose for Iori, and he doesn’t even realize.

Minato taps her shoulder in mock concern, clearly unimpressed by her dramatics, but Fuuka gasps in shock at the outburst of their leader.

“W-Well, it’s only for a few weeks, so let’s make the most of it…”

Chapter 49: Cramfest

Chapter Text

That summer class schedule is a grueling, long, and tiresome affair the more he looks at it. Mitsuru clearly wasn’t kidding when she mentioned the word intensive; there won’t be time to do anything except attend and study at night for the mock tests.

Looking at the gloves Minako gifted him that sit on top of his desk like a trophy, it hits him. No Tartarus and no early dawn runs because the course program starts too early in the morning. They’ll both be stuck at a desk until the festival.

At least that’s something to look forward to because I’ll go insane for sure.

Akihiko doesn’t know how he can spend another long stretch of time without any outlet for his jitteriness on top of that first issue, because he knows it will only make things worse. He survived that month-long convalescence by cheating, sneaking in a lot of little things in his schedule out of sight, but now he won’t have that freedom.

Iori had it right, this sucks, a lot.

And knowing Mitsuru, she’s going to watch all participants like a hawk to ensure that her efforts are not going straight into the gutter, meaning they’ll have to study intensively and show the fruits of their labor to meet her lofty expectations. All of them. He looks at the calendar for a few minutes and takes out his cellphone to text Minako.

Please tell me we can plan a Tartarus run for the 15^th.

It takes less than a minute to get a reply.

Are you me? Stop reading my mind!

He laughs at her message, clearly, Akihiko won’t be the only one fishing for a violent outlet that day. And it just so happens that it ends a little earlier than the others, with no studying required at night because it’s the last of the lot, so he types again.

Any room for a leadership summit over some ramen before? My treat.

He waits, keeping his phone open while he takes inventory of the exact classes on his schedule and when he gets lunch breaks, just to find openings to perhaps slide something that doesn’t involve a book or pencil in there.

Absolutely :D XX

…………………………

Mitsuru seems to think that if she doesn’t personally escort the juniors to destination, one of them will run off, probably Iori. She usually takes her rides by herself to catch up on Kirijo business reading materials without all the noise and bickering, but now they’re all walked to the execution block as a group like it’s her duty and everyone’s a bit uncomfortable.

So early in the morning, and since it’s during summer vacation, there’s barely any passengers to mingle in and steal any moment of subtle privacy like they often do. Akihiko is stuck stealing glances at Minako from where he stands during the never-ending ride, while she sits next to Minato to share earphones and rest on her twin’s arm.

They both still have that look from the command room. I should ask about this when I can.

She’s looking vaguely at Yukari and Fuuka discussing, biting her lip absently. She pokes her finger at her brother’s cheek before whispering something to him and he looks at her in silence, single exposed eye gleaming with a slight crinkle on the lids, glancing at Mitsuru nearby. Junpei’s in the seat next to him, head in his hands in dejection and half-asleep still.

This is going to be an amazing week, I’m sure.

…………………………

Classes are intense but at least they are touching new material here and there so it’s not as boring as Akihiko expected. His written French could use some work, judging from the new curriculum, but math is just more of the same and he excels at it. Japanese history has assigned literature to peruse and analyze; excepts from the Kojiki that will take him a few evenings to read.

Not even enough time to train in my room, this is going to take forever to go through.

Like he expected, every night is a noisy group affair at the table; there are books everywhere and drinks threatening to fall in notebooks. Mitsuru’s subtle jabs at handling studying where she sees it happen seems to have had the expected effect because everyone is downstairs, to the discomfort of Ken who often flees to his room. Akihiko exchanges a few glances here and there with Minako but there’s never any opportunity to hang out and it’s starting to get to him.

She’s right there, but so is everyone.

The frustration gets worse as the week goes by and it shows, he can’t even stand himself or his jitters and tends to retreat away from the table as to not make a stressed fool of himself in front of the juniors. It’s hard to read and take notes on his assignments with Iori being so loud too.

But then a new element makes its apparition on Wednesday night: phone calls. It’s always when they all sit down to study, but eventually between 7 and 9 pm, someone will call Minako and she has to steps out on the porch of the dorm for a little while to talk.

Akihiko thinks nothing of it, reading his history book from one of the sofas where he can fidget in peace with his lack of exercise, until it happens a few times back-to-back on Thursday night. She initially sends the calls to voicemail straight up to continue her composition but steps out after a while to call them back, grumbling in annoyance at the caller list. Junpei looks at Ken, who for once is watching TV instead of hiding upstairs and wiggles his eyebrows when the door closes on her. His tone has an amused conspiratory vibe to it.

“Remember what I told you a few weeks back Ken? It has begun.”

The kid ponders, looking at the door Minako just closed, and his eyes eventually light up with a mix of recognition and disappointment.

“Senpai, do you think they are all trying to score a date with her? I didn’t even get to ask her yet.”

Ears somewhat red and eyes narrowed, Akihiko slides his book higher and up to his nose to hide his victorious grin. Maybe that makes him a bad person, but he enjoys the proxy disappointment of all her callers if this is what Iori thinks it is.

Screw the line, I got there first, deal with it.

Junpei laughs with affection, glancing Ken’s way, but his eyes are full of mischief.

“You won’t know unless you try but don’t get your hopes up. You know what, maybe I’ll get a bet going, for fun and giggles. Might be entertaining to try and guess who’s the lucky guy. Who’s in?”

Yukari rolls her eyes and pokes him in the ribs with a pointy elbow, but all he can see is the lone bluish eye that glances at him, slight amusem*nt shining within.

He knows, of course he does. He always knows.

“You got better things to do Stupei, like fixing those math calculations. I mean, what the hell are those scribbles about? It’s barely coherent!”

The teen glares back at her and they instantly start bickering while Minato and Fuuka exchange a discouraged glance. It’s on again.

Minako eventually enters the dorm back, rolling her eyes and clapping her phone shut. Akihiko barely looks her way sneakily, but she can see his smile behind the pages from where she stands and she bites her lip while glancing at him, blushing slightly.

That’s exactly what’s happening, and we are definitely still on. Good.

She takes a breath and walks toward the table with narrowed eyes, fixing a deathly glare on Junpei.

“You. Was it your amazing idea to give my phone number to Kenji of all people?”

“Uh, well, I… I mean…”

And the chaos rises another level until Mitsuru has to step in with stern eyes to calm them all.

Chapter 50: Oasis

Chapter Text

He waits by the back staircase of the school, where they usually meet when they have plans. The anticipation is driving Akihiko tense because he’s been thinking about this moment all week and now, he can’t stop clenching his hands to rid them of the jolting numbness that slips in.

Funny how this spot used to be my personal escape route and now we share it.

He would normally use these stairs to sneakily slip out of sight of the throng of harpies that follow him after school, and now it’s just a secluded, half-lit area where they both escape the world together to get a meal in privacy. There are only a few students hanging in the hallways, those unlucky enough to get roped into summer classes are all fleeing to the sunlight in a hurry, so he distinctly hears her skip hop footsteps approaching. Minako turns the corner, bag in hand, and smiles at him with a glowing glance.

“Hey senpai!”

Akihiko’s feeling a bit bashful for some weird reason himself and his lips curl upward, but his eyes are probably gleaming quite a bit as he takes in her presence.

“Shall we get going?”

She nods and falls in step with him, skimming the air to his left so close he feels engulfed in a web of static. He’s holding his schoolbag under his coat on the right shoulder like he often does and fumbling his other hand around, not quite daring to grasp hers and simply hovering a hair near it.

Why is this so hard? It’s her being back from Inaba all over again.

It’s almost as if missing each other’s touch for a few days brings him backward to square one with shyness and hesitation unless it’s Tartarus-related. Either Minako’s impatient too or she understands his distress because she deftly puts her right hand to his exposed left forearm, sliding her fingers delicately inside his black glove until they’re nested against him, clasping her thumb on top of it to map her warm palm to his pulse.

He closes his fingers over hers and strokes them gently, instantly relaxing a bit even though he’s trembling slightly. She murmurs under her breath, side eying him briefly with an intense scorch of blazing rubies.

“Do you mind if we… go there on foot?”

I missed you too.

“I could use the walk, monorail’s a bit stuffy nowadays.”

And Akihiko lets the static bounce around his head and down his spine, dancing the pads of his fingers on top of hers while they take the longest path possible to the ramen shop, sharing their hands like it’s a physical need they need to fulfill.

…………………..

Minako’s phone rings at one point during their stroll and she promptly shuts down the call in her pocket, not even looking at it. He licks his lips to hide the forming of a light smirk and keeps looking straight ahead as if nothing happened, just applying slightly more pressure on top of her fingers as a silent comment.

The second time he hears the ringtone, his chest shakes in amusem*nt because Iori was so right that it would turn out this way, but she looks at him with narrowed eyes as she repeats the call refusal procedure, murmuring pleasantly.

“What? I’m busy right now, it’s just… people.”

And she smiles brightly at him as they walk because it’s a compliment she intended in a way, but Akihiko knows a bit better than to take it at face value now; it means something a lot deeper.

You’re stressed. The mask slipped, and I saw.

He can’t find the proper words to convey his understanding of her statement, because as usual when it requires subtlety, he gets terrified he’s going to fumble what he wants to really say. Instead, he stops walking suddenly, and since they’re attached at the wrist, she does too and turns around, surprised.

“Wha…?”

They’re on the tree-shaded sidewalk near a park and there’s a few people around but he couldn’t care less despite the rush that crawls up his neck. He just drops his schoolbag and his jacket from the hand that’s not wrapped with hers to his feet like it’s excess baggage.

His fingers on top of hers press harder, either to cement his will or prevent her from running, he couldn’t really say because he can’t grasp the proper label dancing in the oscillations of his mind. Akihiko simply raises his other glove to the side of her face and gently cups her cheek in his palm, running his thumb along the edge of her right brow softly.

There’s a spark that wavers in the red when it meets his gaze, and while he’s not as expressive as she can be with her eyes, he tries to inject what he wants to communicate in them. Not pity, nor that kind of blanket fake concern most people tend to show at someone who falters, just a tender acceptance of what she showed beneath the mask.

Because deep down, we’re the same, and I get it. I really do.

He steps closer, crowding her a bit and Minako leans into him, resting the left side of her head on his shirt. It takes a while before she speaks in a low voice.

“I’m sorry.”

He dips his nose to her ponytail, exhaling slowly.

“Never be sorry.”

It takes a few minutes before she talks again, and he can feel her jaw moving in the flesh of his hand.

“We should probably go.”

All he can do is whisper back.

“We don’t have to.”

“But I want to.”

Akihiko traces the edge of her ear with shaking fingers, the spot where her cheek meets it and where he delicately kissed her the other morning. A lady with her shopping bags eyes them strangely as she walks on the sidewalk, and he doesn’t react.

“Take all the time you want.”

……………………………

Minako looks more vivacious once they sit down at the ramen counter, not overtly so, but alert and focused. He orders for them both like he often does, and she takes her notepad out of her bag to place it between them, balanced upward.

“The good news is, we got a lot of time to prepare for the next operation and we won’t need to cram Tartarus like before. Also, the news reports are looking good: Apathy syndrome cases are solving themselves right now, so less rush too.”

He peruses her notes, and she keeps going.

“Because it’s summer vacation, I was thinking all of us should take the time to spend quality moments with Koromaru. It’s not going to be the same with him as with people, I don’t think anyone except Aigis speaks dog and it will take some getting used to.”

Language is not the only means of communicating, indeed.

He smiles slightly, thinking about their unusual new party member and how he came to be part of SEES. Her frantic effort to keep him alive, blood up to her elbows and ripping her sleeves to make bandages, calm under pressure.

“You really want to ensure Koromaru doesn’t get hurt again, eh?”

Minako cups her chin in her palm, eyes a bit vacant but lips curved upward, just looking toward the sauce bottles in reminiscence. Her tone is soft and full of tenderness, probably because the dog is simply adorable.

“Yes, he deserves better than me missing the mark. That little guy is one of a kind really, and I don’t want to take any risks. Also, I never had a pet and I’m not quite sure how that works despite hearing about it, not that he is mine mind you, he belongs only to himself, and he got his own important mission to fulfill. I just want to ensure he gets to achieve his wishes without breaking him along the way.”

The twinkle in her irises makes him wonder if there’s a subtext somewhere in there, but she turns her glowing eyes his way and smirks joyfully. It’s quite genuine, dispelling his momentary confusion and that thought bubble pops.

“Just trying to be a good leader, you know?”

Akihiko grins back with intent because it’s contagious.

“You’re always doing an excellent job; in case you were fishing for compliments. Having everyone bond with him is a good idea, it won’t even feel like a chore too.”

And he takes the steaming bowls the cook is handing them to place them on the counter, looping his little finger around hers when they start eating.

…………………..

There’s no hurry to wolf food down and they both take their time to enjoy the moment, but something keeps gnawing at him from earlier this week.

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

She’s munching on her egg and turns his way with an inquisitive glance, nodding because her mouth is full.

“Before summer school started, you and Minato had a…strange look when you met Koromaru. I figured you two had a bad day, but it came back later in the week, and I was wondering if there was something going on. Not that you need to tell me, but… I was worried.”

Minako looks downward, munching slowly and it takes a bit before she murmurs, unsure.

“Maybe it’s just our imagination, it’s probably not important. Not when we’re four targets away from the end; we’re almost there.”

He stares at her, all business, because it doesn’t sound like a vagary if it had that perturbing effect on them.

“You’re the most perceptive person I ever met, I trust you and whatever you think you felt or saw. Try me.”

She flinches, a bit surprised at the vehemence in his voice and bites her lip before answering.

“The chairman had us run a lot of physicals that day with the Kirijo doctors. I know you guys get them too now and then, but it felt a bit excessive. I’m not a fan of hospitals to begin with, too many…”

Minako takes a breath and her eyes dart here and there.

“Deep down I get it, Min and I are wired a bit differently from the rest of you when it comes to our powers. Anyways, the chairman probably just wanted to ensure we have no complications or side effects, or perhaps it’s because we pushed hard before the last operation, and he was worried about us.”

She pauses, sips a noodle absently, focused on recalling the events.

“But he seemed happy at the fact that we joined SEES, and how we changed things for the better for the team, made it grow. He mentioned several times how our presence here got things moving in the right direction and I guess it sort of rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe I was just tired, I know Minato had weird dreams that day and it always leaves him a bit out of sorts in the morning too. Silly, right? Ikutsuki probably was just trying to pun a compliment and I misinterpreted.”

But Akihiko frowns; the chairman can indeed be a bit excentric at times but there’s something in the words she mentions that makes his brain spark and it’s frustratingly out of reach.

“Let me think on it, there’s something in what you said that bothers me too. I’ll figure it out.”

Minako applies a bit of force to her pinkie to grab his attention.

"Like I said, don't worry too much about this. Now, I think we should start slow tonight with Aigis and Koro-chan, get used to how he ticks and what he can do. What do you say?"