"You... missed?" Mitsuru asked with a stern look. It would be more intimidating if she didn't look like she was as ready to burst into laughter like everyone else.

"Yeah..." Quiet snickers from Yukari Takeba and Junpei Iori prick his ears.

"Our close quarter combat fighter..." Arisato said with an even more hollow than usual look in his eyes, smothering that barely visible twinkle of amusement.

"I get it. I messed up." Akihiko sighed in frustration.

"...practically considered a professional boxer"

"Haven't we seen you miss as well?"

Brushing away a bit of hair with a empty laugh "Against smaller, more agile Shadows? Yes. But I have never missed a shadow large enough to cover the entrance of Tartarus."

After that embarrassing conversation, and Fuuka Yamagishi having joined SEES, it would seem like it would be just another embarrassing moment to laugh about in the future.

Now if only everything didn't remind him of his massive screwup against the Arcana shadow.

"Try the fusion spell [Jack Brothers]"

If his memory served correctly it was a move consisting of Jack Frost and Pyro Jack getting together to tell horrible jokes to throw enemies into a fit of laughter hopefully making them fall over.

It would be fine if it did work out for them, but if memory served correctly, then their field leader should have fused away either Jacks by now. He might've been wrong about that though.

But he wasn't prepared for the Jack Brother's next joke.

[Hey! You know the Akihiko guy in the gloves?] said Pyro.

[Yeah! I heard he missed a Shadow as big as the entrance, despite being a professional boxer.] laughed Frost.

{The enemy has been knocked down... Now's your chance!}

The All-Out Attack would have been more effective if half the team wasn't also down laughing their asses off.

It was Aigis's first run in Tartarus and right now the field leader was having a one on one conference with her. The Yakushima trip did wonders for them and everyone is ready to go back to shadow hunting. There were some interesting tidbits of information. The 12 arcana shadows revealed to be the ones behind the dark hour. From then on things should have gotten simpler.

But for the life of him he couldn't figure out WHY Aigis chooses to cast Sukukaja on HIM in EVERY battle. Not Arisato, not Mitsuru, and not even Junpei who needs it more than anyone.

But more than anything, he regrets asking her after school.

"Our leader has informed me of your drop in performance when it comes to pressure." she stated in that oddly endearing monotone voice. "Especially in concern to targets larger than you. He believes it would be best for me to support you before entering battle."

From that alone rumors of Akihiko being unable to "perform" when it comes to "bigger targets" spread throughout the school. It called into question his sexuality since he never seemed interested in any females, and his ability to continue as captain of the Boxing club. For better or worse it WAS his last year but it's the principle of the matter].

If only he had someone to blame for this. Oh wait, he did.

"Damn it Arisato."

With attempts to make everyone completely forget about his ONE screw up from MONTHS ago going poorly...

"I'm used to hitting baseballs. You've got the lead when it comes to shadows so we gotta rely on you," said Junpei.

"Yukari uses a bow and arrows, against moving shadows. If anything you should be praising her." said Arisato holding back the irate tsundere. "She has no chance of tripping and falling in battle. But will typically just miss."

"And what about you leader. You practically use any weapons." he shot back finally getting the upper hand in getting out of the position of, "that guy who fails at the most important parts".

He shrugged. "I'm learning from all of you. I'm proof of your practical and teaching skills. If I miss, you miss."

"Akihiko, I don't think you've noticed that someone (me) has been in the support role for quite some time. I help lead you through Tartarus for years and have only been in combat once a week." Mitsuru said with an even colder glare than the ones from her executions. In hindsight, maybe this wasn't the best idea. "If you want talk about shortcomings I suggest you work on your own. Arisato has been leading us well but he can only help you so much."

It was so unfortunate that Mitsuru's fanclub happened to hear the last bit of info. Another rumor spread throughout the school of how everyone at Gekkoukan's Iwatodai dorm is actually part of Arisato's harem, and that Akihiko is surprisingly the one underperforming despite expectations of it being Junpei.

It was quite a way to start summer school. Crushing schoolgirl fantasies

So Koromaru has joined SEES and it's his first run in Tartarus.

Unfortunately his scheming could be seen a mile away.

"Have you really sunken so low as to blame a dog for missing attacks with a knife in his mouth?" asked Mitsuru. "Especially when he lands his attack nine times out of ten."

So Ken has joined SEES and it's his first run in Tartarus.

Surprisingly enough no one brought up Akihiko's failure to hit Arcana shadows. ("It was ONE time! Why haven't you let go of it already? Everyone else has.")

it had less to do with the fact that he couldn't fight, but he had been equipped with a Sukukaja accessory and no one told him why until he tried changing his equipment October 13th. The day Shinji was nearly shot, and the day Ken nearly died with him.

But we haven't quite reached that point yet. Because as we all know soon after Ken joined, came Shinjiro Aragaki former member of SEES who quit for some "unknown" reason.

"I haven't been practicing with a spear for very long, but I wanted to try it as a way to defend myself." said Ken. "Even though I just joined the team, I want to be as strong and reliable as you. Even the leader supports my dream. He got me the same accessory as you."

No one had the heart to tell him why they had to wear speed enhancers. Except Aigis since she has no tact.

"It has become mandatory to wear speed enhancers due to an incident involving [REDACTED] who at the time [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]."

Up in the command room at the lab, Ikutsuki sighed as he managed to prevent Aigis from discouraging their newest member.

Thank you, Shuji Ikutsuki. You truly do have the most difficult job in SEES. It's such a shame you plan on sacrificing everyone later on in the year.

When Shinjiro Aragaki joined the team there was sort of a tension around the dorm. Any conversation with him was short and to the point. He didn't really appreciate the invasive questions on why he left teams. Nor did he appreciate the quiet giggling of Junpei and Yukari anytime they saw a hint of his speed enhancer.

"Hey Arisato." the beanie wearing almost man called out from the couch. "I want a word with you."

The blue haired leader nodded, walking over to have a seat.

"What's the deal with all the Speed enhancers? I don't exactly know what those two over there keep laughing at, and I'm not appreciating it either."

Arisato started looking around the room with an intense look in his eyes (as intense as apathetic people look). Then he gave a thumbs up to Junpei.

"You're not gonna believe this."

So the story was told once again. And Shinji wheezed, just as loudly as he laughed.

It was a time SEES could truly bond with each other.

For some reason Akihiko felt annoyed.

I mentioned earlier the Shinji "almost" got shot? Well the with the mandatory accessory of Speed Enhancers was not just to bully Akihiko. It works as an effective tool to tease him, but it's main purpose was to help avoid injury in Tartarus. Healing is not a right, it is a privilege, and if the combat team is to make any progress they can't afford to heal every scrape a shadow happens to make. It would be better to just avoid attacks in general, and allow for them to avoid slipping on a puddle of blood/water or tripping on odd geometry.

Akihiko got his wish in the sense that everyone forgot about his misstep against the Emperor and Empress Shadows. It only took his best friend nearly dying to do it.

But our story is not yet over for he is not the only one blessed with the curse of failure.

NEXT TIME: SATONAKA CHIE