Minato:

Aigis 21

Nyx 12

Touriumi 1

Hamuko: 12

Nyx 10

Shinji 4

Yukari 2

Troll vote: King Moron (2)

As I said since Aigis is over-voting Hamuko at the moment, if the vote would end today, it would be Minato-Aigis and Hamuko-Nyx.

I want to remind you, I don't do one-sided or multi romances.

Chapter 19

General POV

Now this would be a little awkward. A few of the other SEES members already met Elizabeth and Minato didn't tell them she was a persona user. Now he had no choice but to tell them. Hamuko already left the Velvet Room, so Minato and Elizabeth just walked outside.

"Did it ever occur to you to change clothes?" Minato asked. Elizabeth shrugged. "I am not as much in the human realm as I used to." was her simple reply. The two got quite the attention, especially the female student population shot daggers at the former elevator attendant.

"You're not going to visit Gekkoukan, right?" Minato asked nervously as he noticed the female population sharpening their nails.

"No." was her dull reply. It looked like school didn't leave the best impression on her. Minato wished he could just stop with school, but that wouldn't happen anytime soon. Or too soon if he messed up.

"Hey Liz, do you have any idea at all why Nyx is with Hamuko and why she's having amnesia?" he asked, when they were sitting inside of the bus.

"I honestly have no idea." she said, looking out of the window.

"Well, that helps." he said sarcastically and resumed to listening to his mp3.

In the meantime Hamuko didn't go straight home, but was wandering around aimlessly among the streets of Port Island. Minato was hiding something, that much had been clear from the very beginning and Hamuko so far had tolerated his secret behavior. But the more time passed and the more stuff that happened, Hamuko started to get an uneasy feeling. To top it all, it was not only Minato, but Elizabeth AND the little Maiko were hiding something from her.

Where's the connection? Minato and Elizabeth was clear, but Maiko? She didn't even know what personas are. That one incident seemed to be a nightmare for her. Frustrated and not really in the mood of going home, she quickly texted Yukari, she would wait at the train station for them.

She eventually ended up on the cemetery. Shivering slightly by a gust of wind, she walked to her parents' grave. She hadn't come in a long time, so she might as well now.

"Hamuko..." Nyx comforted the girl with her presence. Said girl stood there almost emotionless. Her eyes were empty, half lid and her hands were in her pockets, instead in the form of making a prayer.

"I am...not alone. I have...Nyx."

The girl looked around. This was the only cemetery in town. Pretty uncommon for a city as big as this and so the cemetery itself was uncommon being pretty huge. Hamuko had the time. So she might as well look for Minato's parents.

"Poor Minato. All alone." she mumbled. Nyx was silent, as Hamuko was going through her phase. It didn't happen often, but when it did, it really was best to just be there for her, until she got back to normal.

"I can't find them..." she said after she searched the graveyard throughout.

"Maybe they're somewhere else?" Nyx suggested. "Like a family grave somewhere or they've been turned to ashes and-"

"Minato said he visited his parents' grave last week. It's gotta be here." Well at least Hamuko was back to normal.

She only half remembered what she had been doing, but figured on her own that she just had one of her phases. "Might as well ask him ourselves." she figured.

So she walked towards the train station, getting herself something to eat on the way and simply waited on a bench. She met various friends from school there, most of them being from the tennis club, so it wasn't boring at all.

XXX

Minato POV

Junpei quite literally tried to jump out the window, after I entered with Liz the dorm. Junpei, you do know the windows in those action movies are especially thin, so it is easier to get out.

"What did you do to him?"

"He was a pervert."

"In that case." I shrugged and tested out with my feet. "Unconscious, let him be there."

Mitsuru, Akihiko and Yukari came downstairs, looking what all the commotion was about. Okay here goes nothing.

"What happened?" asked Mitsuru.

"He tried to jump out of the window, because Liz almost killed him a few weeks ago, after being his perverted self." I explained briefly. The others looked over to Junpei and then to Liz who smiled her usually way.

"If I may introduce myself. My name is Elizabeth. Like Minato I am a wildcard (5, 4, 3) and I decided to temporary join SEES (2, 1)."

"WHAT?!"

And zero.

After everyone calmed down, we placed ourselves on the sofas.

"So, you're a persona user? Why do you want to join us all of the sudden? Why not earlier? And why did you never mention her?" the last question was directed at me.

"You never asked and it was none of your business." I simply said. It was then that Aigis came in and I had to explain some things first again, before Liz started answering Mitsuru's questions.

"Yes indeed, I am a persona user, a wild card as I already said. As to why I want to join your group, well I am looking for something. I hope to get closer to this something by joining you for a little while."

"And what is it you're looking for?" Akihiko asked.

"This is none of your concern."

Mitsuru frowned and looked over to me. "Told you." I simply said and looked at my watch. "Where's Hamuko? It's almost time."

"She texted me earlier. She'll wait for us at the train station." Yukari told the rest.

"Oh, you have an operation tonight?" Elizabeth asked excited.

"Yeah, we suspect someone got trapped in Tartarus and tonight we're going to enter it the same way." I quickly explained.

"Speaking off, after this is over, how about you and I have another duel?"

"HELL NO!" I stood up, sweating bullets already. "That. Pixie. Was. Evil. EVIL!"

"Pixie! Megidolaon!"

"ARRRGGH!"

Was it only a joke? Ask the insurance.

XXX

Nyx POV

I was surprised to see Elizabeth showing up with everyone else. I was even more surprised to hear she would join us temporary, because she was 'looking for something.'

I decided to keep an eye on the woman. I didn't like how things turned out. First she had a secret meeting with Minato and now all of the sudden she was coming with us? If this wasn't suspicious, then I don't know. At least she could have put on some clothes that were a little more discrete.

When we arrived at school, we had to dodge some guards. Or at least we would have, if Elizabeth wouldn't have taken them out, by letting them fall asleep. Mitsuru obviously didn't want that kind of approach, but she had no chance to scold the woman, as she was already skipping to the school entrance.

"Wait Liz, I got the keys right here." Minato announced. So wait, she was trying to bust the door open? I already knew she had inhuman strength, but that she was also reckless made things a little more complicated.

We split up, Yukari and Junpei staying back with Mitsuru, waiting for the dark hour to occur normally. We followed Minato into the gym and oh god, the changing rooms of the boys. It just smelled disgusting.

"How do you survive in here?" asked Hamuko. "You wanna see our toilets?" asked Minato sarcastically, but he sounded all serious.

They walked into a gym and stood in a circle in the middle. "And now?" Akihiko asked. "We wait." Minato simply said, looking at the clock that was hanging from the wall. Elizabeth flipped through the pages of her book.

"What is this?" asked a grumpy Shinjiro. Elizabeth looked up, having her usual smile on her face. I could see it freaking everyone except Minato out. "This?" she asked and hit Minato over, sending him to the wall at the end of the hall. The long way. "LIZ!"

"This is my weapon."

Everyone took a step back. Minato healed himself with his persona Messiah and came back. "Would you mind to NOT demonstrate your weapons OR personas on me?!" he snarled. It's been a while since I've seen him so angry. Aigis standing next to him completely emotionless was just too good. Elizabeth smiled and simply said: "No."

Minato fell to the ground and stayed there until the dark hour started. When it did, everything was strange. Even before the world turned green, I saw everyone else passing out. And before I knew it, I had already taken over Hamuko's body. She herself had lost it too. I could feel her mind being asleep.

Then all of the sudden walls started appearing out of the ground and the ground itself shifted. I couldn't held my balance and fell to the ground, supporting Hamuko's body with her arms. I felt like I was in the fastest elevator of the world, being pressed to the ground. When it stopped Hamuko and I were separated from the rest.

Hamuko slowly came back, although her mind still felt a little dizzy. "You weren't out long." I explained. "I'll take it for the time being until you really feel better."

I started walking in a direction, holding the naginata tightly. I came across an excess point, but something was different. It wasn't glowing or anything. When I pressed the button, nothing happened.

"Looks like we're cut off." I said. I heard footsteps behind me and turned around, finding some of those dancing shadows approaching us. "Let's dance." I smiled and ran towards them, unleashing a hell of slashes upon them. I never felt so good, handling Hamuko's body. Actually it all started after the first night we encountered the shadows. Ever since then it went up with me handling Hamuko's body and I myself felt stronger as well.

I even used Hamuko's personas to finish the last shadow. I heard footsteps behind me and turned around, ready to slash another shadow into pieces, but it just turned out to be Pharos.

"Hello mother." he greeted. I smiled and bent down to his level. "Hello Pharos." I embraced him into a hug. I don't know why, I did it out of instinct. Yet it didn't feel embarrassing or anything. Pharos even hugged back.

"We're looking for our friends. Can you help us?" I asked. He smiled and nodded. "This way." He took Hamuko's right hand, while I carried the naginata with her left one. Strange enough we didn't encounter anymore shadows, as long as we were with him.

When we heard the voices of the others, Pharos disappeared just like that. I suddenly felt sad and empty, like something that was very precious to me just disappeared. "Nyx?"

I gave Hamuko back the control and went back into the midst of her mind.

XXX

General POV

"Hey guys." Hamuko walked a little faster to the rest and looked around. "You didn't found her either?" she asked. The rest shook their heads. "Hey, did any of the access points work you came across?" Akihiko asked.

Hamuko shook her head. "Found one, but the thing wasn't working." The others were even more depressed after they heard that."

"Gems aren't working." Minato said.

"The same goes for my spells." Elizabeth was upset to say that about herself.

Everyone looked down, thinking about their situation. The communicators weren't working at all. All the team got was static.

"Lighten up guys! All we have to do is to keep going and then we'll find a way!"

No one really agreed with Hamuko's cheery attitude, but no one really had a better idea either. So the group walked on floor after floor, mostly Minato and Elizabeth handling the shadows. The SEES members were astonished to see that the girl in the blue elevator attendants' clothes was even stronger than Minato. The two got so bored, that they had a contest on who killed the most shadows (Reapers counting as 100).

They inspected every floor throughout, looking for Shinji's cooking student.

"Who are those monsters?" Shinji asked Aki, after yet another reaper encounter and the two arguing on who killed him.

"Umm, sempai? You're the leader, so shouldn't you...stop them?" Hamuko sounded like a mouse.

Akihiko looked back at the girl hiding behind him. He sighed and eventually tried.

"Hey-"

"SHUT UP!" Both shouted and resumed to their bickering. It was eventually too much for Nyx, who took over and hit both messiah and avatar over the head, making them hit the ground.

XXX

Jun POV

I jolted up, sweating and breathing heavily. I just noticed one of my hands was on Fuuka's leg.

"Sorry." I took my hand away. Wait...

"Did you pull me on your lap?" I asked. She blushed and looked away. I sighed. "Well at least it was more comfortable, than the floor." I said and stood up.

"Are you alright? I mean...you just-"

"Huh? Oh, just a nightmare." I waved off and stretched myself. She herself tried to stand up, but almost fell to the ground. I caught her arm and pulled her up. "Thank you."

"Alright." I turned towards the windows. "I have never done this, but in theory it should work."

I was readying myself for the summoning, when suddenly the girl grabbed my arm. "Someone is coming!" she said. I turned around. A staircase appeared out of nowhere. I almost lost my composure when I saw that there were three people from my list coming up. Oh great...

"Fuuka! Jun, you're here too?" asked Hamuko.

"I'm the one who lost it and burned the girls and smashed the doors." No use hiding it anymore.

"You what?!" Fuuka put both hands over her mouth. I turned to her. "I overheard them talking and when I pressed them a little, they told me and for some reason I totally lost it." I said in a neutral tone. "I still don't get it myself." I shrugged.

The other's looked at me as if to say: "Really?"

"I guess you already know nothing's working to escape?"

They all nodded. "Are you implying you have an idea?" asked Aigis. "She's, she's-"

"If you ask me, it had been obvious from the very beginning." I deadpanned at Fuuka. "Yeah, I got an idea. We'll use our personas and escape through the window."

"Are you nuts?!" Shinjiro and Akihiko yelled. I crossed my arms. "You got a better idea?"

"Thanatos!" "Metatron!"

The girl in the blue outfit and Minato summoned their personas.

"Athena!" Aigis summoned her own and bust the windows. I covered my face with my arm, just in case. Luckily those three personas were enough for all of us, so I didn't have to show my own. Truth to be told, I wasn't really comfortable with riding another one's persona, but it was either that or questions I didn't want to answer.

Fuuka, the girl and I got up Metatron. Shinjiro and Akihiko on Athena and Minato and Aigis on Thanatos. Fuuka buried her face into my chest right in front of everyone. I held back a snarky comment, because she could look down and panic even more, so I just endured it.

When we were almost on the ground, I could make out Junpei, Yukari and Mitsuru. The two looked up like we were Jesus descending from the heavens.

"WHOA DUDE COOL! Huh? Ooh, what do we have here?"

"Fuuka? We're down. You can let go now." Said girl looked around and then flushed crimson. She almost jumped back, when she noticed everyone was looking at us.

"Well, thanks for the help, I guess." I said crossing my arms.

"So, you're a persona user?" Minato asked. "Yeah." I rolled my eyes. "And just so finally everyone knows it, I was the one who lost my cool on the girls and burned them a little. I was also the one who smashed the doors open, after finding out she was trapped." I pointed at Fuuka. She looked down, embarrassed again. Fuuka, this is getting old.

"Hey, can we talk tomorrow?" I asked, cleaning my glasses.

Mitsuru nodded. "Of course, do you mind staying-"

There were sounds of guns being loaded. I looked over and found Aigis pointing her finger guns at me. "Analysis complete. You are shadow."

I facepalmed.

"Busted." I said through my mouth.

Everyone looked at me and some even readied their weapons. I grimaced and looked over to Fuuka. "Well, now you know why I hate robots." I laughed a little nervous.

I turned my gaze again to the rest. Akihiko, Junpei, Shinjiro, Mitsuru and Aigis were ready to fight. The girl in the blue clothes titled her head and put her hand under her chin. Hamuko looked at me uncomfortable and Minato had his arms crossed and looked at me, thinking.

"So, can we skip the talk and get on with the fight?" I asked clapping and rubbing my hands together. Minato put Aigis' arms down and stood between me and the rest, except for Fuuka, who from what I could tell through my glances, was still in shock.

"Why don't you come with us and we settle this in a not so violent way?" Minato asked.

"Dude, she is a Kirijo. ESPECIALLY you should know why I would rather die, than let me take under her custody." I pointed out. Now it was everyone's turn to look at Minato. "What do you know about me?" he asked.

I just looked at him sternly. "Anyways, so far I've done nothing illegal. So, you want to kill me just 'cause I'm a shadow?" I asked.

"Shadows are the enemy of all mankind." Mitsuru said. I rolled my eyes. "Shadows ARE mankind! We've existed ever since humanity started to exist and we will exist until every human is dead."

She didn't belief me, of course not. "Enough! You can either come with us-"

"I go for the second option." I used a magaru stone and got myself a little distance, by taking a few steps back.

I quickly looked over the people. Aside from being outnumbered, at least one of them was stronger than me. Fighting was not the best option here. "Hey, I never hurt anyone, except for the girls, but that was an accident. I follow the rules of your world and I was even getting myself a job. So, why don't we have it the 'none violent way' and you just let me go?" I asked.

"What, you scared? Persona!" Akihiko summoned his persona over which I could only laugh. The small zio didn't hurt at all.

"Dude, I've NEVER seen a persona looking that ridiculous!" I exclaimed and bent over laughing. "Castor! Fatal End!"

"Whoa!" I dodged the attack and looked at the two who attacked me. "You asked for it. Reversed Orpheus!" At the sight of persona, everyone froze. I hit straight with Dark Maragidyne. I only aimed at the two who attacked me.

"Akihiko! Shinjiro!" Mitsuru exclaimed. "Why you...!"

"Wait!" Minato of all people exclaimed and stood again in between the lines. "Arisato..." she growled.

"WHO are you?" he asked.

"I don't really have a name. Jun Nagama is just one I thought off, after she asked me." I glanced over to Fuuka and back to Minato. "Listen, I don't want any trouble, 'kay? I just want to live my life like everyone else. Is that too much to ask?" I was getting desperate here, but as long as I was in good terms with Minato, I tried to talk my way out.

"How can we trust you?"

"How can I trust you?" I countered. This was not going well.

"Persona!" Mitsuru summoned her own and I dodged the ice attack. "H-hey! I'm trying to be diplomatic here!"

"Get it together girl!" Minato snarled and for a second his eyes turned black. Wish I could do this. Mitsuru cringed, but still growled. Minato turned around. "Listen, you come with us and I'll personally make sure, no one does anything to you. Is that okay?"

"How can I trust your word, man? I know the Kirijos, if you want to keep that promise, which I don't belief, then you gotta fight the guys you're working for!"

"Okay." Minato changed tactics. "So, why do you have a grudge against the Kirijos?" he asked. "Dude, that's personal business you're asking."

"Persona!" Mitsuru attacked again.

"Persona!" I blocked the attack with my own Orpheus. Unfortunately Aigis thought I was attacking. "Athena! Aksha arts!"

"Arrgh!" the attack hit me full scale and knocked me a little away. My persona disappeared in the process. When I tried to get up, Athena was charging at me again.

"Reversed Athena!" I shouted as quickly as possible and my Athena blocked the spear with her shield and pushed Aigis' persona away. My Athena was grey, instead of white and the deco was purple instead of gold.

There was again a moment of shock in the eyes of the rest. Akihiko and Shinjiro were brought back to life by the blue girl. I used the time to get myself healed with Diarahan.

"H-how...?" Yukari couldn't bring out the sentence. I noticed I just lost a good amount of points with Minato. "Listen, the only thing I'm doing right now is defending myself! If I'd really want to kill you, wouldn't I be more aggressive?" I asked.

"He is right." Well, at least I convinced one person. It was the girl I didn't know. "However, you have to agree, not being willing to cooperate makes you highly suspicious, wouldn't you agree?" she asked.

"I call it bad personal experience." I simply told her.

"What has my family ever done to you?!" Mitsuru demanded to know. God this girl was getting on my nerves.

"Why don't you just let me go?! Is that it?! I'm evil because I'm a shadow? You want to know why I'm mad at your family? Stay out of my business bitch, you're the one who's acting like this is a personal vendetta! So far I've simply lived my life and not caused any trouble! So why can't you just leave me be?!"

"Hey, let's let him go."

Everyone looked to Hamuko. "He IS right, you know? He's never done anything, at least nothing we know about. And he even tried to safe Fuuka-chan." she argued. Wow there, the girl is on a dangerous trip.

"Arisato, he is a shadow!" Mitsuru snarled. "What have I done to you?" I whined. She took out a smart bomb and threw it at me. Dodging those things was hard and this time I jumped in the wrong direction and got another full hit.

"Ouch! Reversed Isis!" With Isis I didn't need as much spiritual energy to use spells. She was purple with green deco and the glowing thing above her was glowing toxic green. She healed me up, but my clothes were still ruined.

Minato narrowed his eyes. Now he was suspicious. "Alright, Messiah!"

Oh no...

"Reversed Juno!" The purple persona gave me cover and she prepared her wings. On them you could see four eyes, like on a butterfly.

"Now you too?" I asked. I used the time to scan him. I didn't like the results. "Come with us or I'll drag you with us!" He prepared a megidolaon. I quickly got an idea. I could safe myself with Traestro. I only had to switch personas quick enough.

I dismissed Juno. "Persona! Traestro!"

When Minato heard persona he finished charging up. The thing was, whatever hindered me from fleeing the dungeon, was hindering me now too. And so I braced myself for the impact.

"NOOOOO!"

Fuuka jumped and kicked me out of the way. "Shit, persona!"

"Ahhh!" I blew her away just in time. The thing is, when your persona is out and that thing gets the damage it is much more severe if it is not strong enough to block it. And although Isis was my main mage, she wasn't strong enough.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed.

...

After the explosion died down and the dust settled, I felt nothing. Well almost nothing. It meant for a shadow he was about to die.

"Hehehe *cough* *cough*, this is...actually...pretty funny..."

"JUN!" Fuuka ran over to me and crouched down. She had tears in her eyes. "Jun..."

"Man...I'm not even a year old...whatever...I...didn't like...my purpose...of existing...anyways. See...you...in hell."

Nothing.

Wooops, I guess I killed my own OC. Or did I? Nah, he's dead, that's for sure, but hey, Minato was dead too, you know? Just sayin'.