"Me Patra!" Yukiko called over the rush of Zionga's from her teammates. The green light flashed in front of each of the Persona users and briefly confused those who were heavily engaged in defeating the Idle Basalts.

Grimacing when the blood flowed back through her fingers, Kotone hastily summoned her sub-Persona to land a Hama on an unsuspecting Shadow. With ease, she whipped her evoker out of its holster and pointed it to her head, smirking as the Basalt became surrounded in glowing cards and abruptly vanished in a puff of black ichor.

To the brunette's left, Naoto, who had been previously petrified as well, swiftly took down the final shadow with Sukuna-Hikona's own light spell. Seemingly unaware of Kotone's staring, the detective pumped her fist and cheered quietly. Kotone had to resist the urge to call out her kouhai's cuteness and instead focused on commending the healer of the group properly.

"Hey, Yukiko, thanks again! You're really great!"

The dark-haired girl blushed lightly when she realized who had spoken to her and waved her hands," Ah, it's nothing you have to thank me for, Kotone-chan! It's what I specialize in after all!" She looked embarrassed and Kotone would have told her that she didn't have to brush off the appreciation but Souji beat her to it.

"Sometimes doing the stuff you're good at is worthy of being thanked for." Souji caught a Persona card that formed as a result of the battle and smiled," You're very helpful, Yukiko, so of course we want to thank you." With a flourish, the Wild Card turned and began walking, signaling for the group to follow.

Kotone sighed, slightly unnerved with how often she and Souji seemed to be on the exact same page, but straightened up her posture and gave a supportive pat on the taller girl's shoulder. "Don't feel like you have to refuse thanks because you're trying not to sound conceited. Without healers, we'd just be hopeless. We're lucky to have good healers like you and Yukari!"

Yukiko smiled and pushed her hair behind her ear," You're welcome, then, Vice Leader!"

"Yukiko! Come on!" Chie shouted, drawing the attention of the girls. She stood at the bend in the overly pink path with the rest of the group behind her.

The black-haired teen nodded vigorously to her best friend's call and began walking. Kotone watched the swift change of Yukiko's expression from the side, surprised by how raw the expression was. Yukiko's smile earlier had been light and simple but then it transformed into an enthralling and authentic beam when Chie called her name. As cheesy as the thought was, Kotone could say with confidence that Yukiko lit up like fireworks when she saw her best friend.

For some reason, Kotone felt jealous of the brief interaction between the two teens.

She wanted to be able to be the light in someone's eyes too.

Sometime later after the group returned to the Culture Festival, Kotone isolated herself to an empty classroom in the Practice Building. Generally, hiding from all social interaction possible was her twin's job, but the Wild Card had been in an off mood and she had no intention of letting anyone else be aware of that. She tried to get as comfortable as she could laying her head on a school desk and curling her feet underneath the chair so her legs wouldn't feel stiff. She placed her headphones face up and hummed along to the melancholic "Time" as her thoughts raced.

She was taking the alone time to sort out why her depression was kicking her in the ass at the moment. She assumed that it branched from the frustrations between the members of S.E.E.S. and the fact that she was the leader of the group (and the one with Infinite Potential) and she wasn't fixing the problem. She should've been able to do something about the shaky bonds her teammates had because she had the actual literal power to. Yet, all she could do was acknowledge that her team was shitty at trusting each other and then get jealous that other people could be so close. She was being ridiculous. If she could just get over the underlying anxiety of coming off as too pretentious, she could actually make an effort to make her teammates (her friends, her family) closer to each other.

Yukari was the only one who was actively trying to get everyone to open up to each other. Ken, Shinjiro, and Akihiko all seemed to have some sort of back story that was never spoken of. Mitsuru always took too much responsibility and wouldn't let others help. Junpei always seemed tense around Minato for some reason. Minato always acted like he didn't care, and Kotone was failing to be what her team needed. Watching Souji and his friends interact in battle and in regular situations made Kotone realize that she could be better for her friends. Even some of the Yaso Team members other than their Wild Card were better at talking to S.E.E.S. members than Kotone could.

Why couldn't she help? She was the sociable one. The most charming and sweetest person in Gekkokan, wasn't she?

Abruptly, the classroom door slid open and the auburn-haired girl groaned as the light flooded her eyes. When her eyes adjusted, she observed the silhouette of the person who opened the door. The person's gleaming silver eyes gave it away.

"Go away." Kotone said without hesitation. She could imagine the troubled look on his face and she really did not want to look at a person that looked so much like her in the moment.

"I- Wow, okay," Minato flipped his hair to the side and stuffed his hands in his pockets," does that order extend to everybody, cause Ama-"

"Yes." Her throat felt unreasonably tight and her tolerance for her brother's devil-may-care attitude hit an all-time low.

Minato sighed softly, either overly-oblivious to Kotone's tone or fully aware of it and ignoring its implications, and turned away," Fine. We'll go. Amagi-san and Kujikawa-san wanted to talk with you about something, though."

"I-It's fine! We can come by later!" Yukiko insisted. Her voice sounded muted in the loud atmosphere of the Culture Festival.

Kotone frowned and attempted to sit up straighter. She could be pissy all she wanted around her brother but she felt like it was unfair to be depressing around people she wasn't related to. The only problem was acting like there was nothing wrong when she had already made it clear that she, KotoneArisato, was in a bad mood. Even worse, she was in a bad mood because she thought truthfully about things and the thoughts scared her. It was very embarrassing.

Minato continued to stare. When Kotone didn't react, he moved to close the door and said unexpectedly," …sorry."

Just before the door closed, Kotone caught a glimpse of Rise's determined yet worried look and felt something jump in her heart.

"Wait!" she shouted, surprising herself," I-um, you can talk if you want!" She might end up regretting it later, but she didn't want to be rude to people that she met "days" ago that were so nice to her.

She needed to trust them. Maybe they could help her teach her friends how to trust each other as well. As selfish as that seemed to want help with something she was supposed do on her own, Kotone wanted to be able to take some of her own advice.

There was nothing selfish about asking for help. There was nothing wrong with people appreciating you.

Yukiko's warm smile greeted her when the door was opened again. Rise stepped in the room and sat down on top of desk next to Kotone. The teens remained quiet for a few seconds, quiet enough that Kotone could hear her heartbeat and what might've been Teddie shouting in the hallways. The start to an overly loud pop song on her music player startled the silence and Rise giggled.

"I remember when that song came out," The idol said, scooting over so Yukiko could sit down next to her," it sounds so different now…"

The vice leader nodded and tried to determine the outlines of Rise and Yukiko in the darkness. She figured she should say something because she could easily guess why they had come, but she wasn't sure how to say it.

"…Kotone-chan…? You know we'll help you with anything you need, right?" Yukiko asked sincerely, as if sensing Kotone's unease.

"And don't pretend nothing's wrong! Himiko can pick up negative waves like that, y'know. Somethin's up." Rise added.

The Wild Card nodded, feeling her confidence fluctuate. It was easy to ask, she knew, but she suddenly wasn't ready yet. The anxiety was filling in where her words wouldn't and the only thing that the girl was capable of doing in the moment was cry.

"Oh, it's okay, Kotone-chan," Yukiko cooed, sliding off of the desk she was sitting on and pulling the shorter girl into a hug.

Seconds later, Rise joined the hug, letting Kotone cry on her shoulder. The warmth was very welcoming," You don't have to talk just yet. Just promise me you'll talk to your friends about this later too."

Kotone let out a small sob and nodded into Rise's sleeve.

Hello! I'm back and I'm projecting! But that's why fanfiction is great. I deemed this one worthy of being possibly seen by other people, so sorry if seems a little too bad. I love you guys. You make me feel better when I feel shitty and i hope I can do the same for you