Let's Play Persona 3 FES

Story: Let's Play Persona 3 FESStorylink: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11175832/1/Category: Persona SeriesGenre: Drama/FriendshipAuthor: LastDragonbornAuthorlink: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4823585/Last updated: 01/10/2016Words: 10722Rating: TStatus: In ProgressContent: Chapter 1 to 6 of 6 chaptersSource: FanFiction.net

Summary: "The new miracle will start from here, at the Shining Place, right? Once more, with you…" Junpei gets a videogame in the mail! Cool, right? Guess what? It freaks him out. So much so that he has all his friends come over and seeit - and its title alone mortifies them: "Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES."

*Chapter 1*: Chapter 1

Chapter One – Mail

Junpei Iori was, by all accounts, a fairly sane human being. Sure, he'd fought monsters by night in a humongous towerthat was practically spawned from his school, essentially being an altar to a Goddess of death who'd tried to end theworld, but hey, at least he'd walked out of it and lived out the rest of his life. Not like he'd had any other choice.

But his sanity was coupled with sorrow. He'd left that part of his life with tragedy weighing deep within his heart. It wasn'tenough for the girl he'd loved to fall. No, his best friend – the one who he'd once envied for all his talents, the one he hadnever been able to surpass in terms of social skills, the one who'd managed to grab the hearts of practically everyone inthe school – had died. Having sacrificed his life to save a world that had never even known of his humble and mightilycourageous deed, Junpei Iori's best friend died on the rooftop of his highschool, in the lap of a blonde-haired androidnamed Aigis.

Chidori had been hard enough. But the second death merely added to it.

They had eventually managed to overcome the tragic events that had lurched forward at them – he and his friends. And ittook what had felt like hours of exploration, days of getting stronger, months of emotional torture, and years of catharsis.They'd accepted his death. Aigis had found her Answer to life. Yukari had grown immensely and had decided to devoteher life to making sure his death hadn't been in vain. As did Junpei, as did Mitsuru, as did Akihiko – as did all of hisfriends.

But it still would hurt at times, as that little blue-haired boy he'd gotten to know and love might not ever be able to see howmuch his friends had grown as people.

And so, it came as a huge surprise to him when a package had arrived at his door. Signed by no one, wrapped as neatlyas a gift you'd give to your most precious person. Curious, Junpei wondered what was inside. From the sounds it'dmake whenever he'd shake it and the fact that it'd been wrapped in plastic from a game shop, Junpei deduced that it wasa game.

He wondered just who in the world would give him a game, and not tell him who they were. He figured that it might'vebeen just one of his friends, and they'd one day decided to give him a game just for the sake of their friendship.

Maybe.

And then he removed the wrapping off of it.

"Yuka-tanyouhavetocometomyapartmentsomethingcameinthemailit'ssuperweirdandIdon'tlikeitsojustcomeover-"

"Junpei, what-?"

"No time to explain! Y-you just have to get Akihiko-senpai, Fuuka, Mitsuru-senpai, Aigis – everyone! Even Ken and Koro-chan! J-just come here! It'll only work at my place!"

"Why?"

"It's...you're not going to believe it..."

"What?"

"Trust me! You'll only believe it when you see it for yourself! If I told you, you'd think it was some kinda crazy joke or some– just come here! You've gotta see it for yourself!"

"But Junpei-"

"It involves him !"

"...What...?"

"It-it doesn't even just involve him, it involves all of us!"

"What are you talking about-?"

"Just. Come. Here. You have to."

"...Alright. This better not be some prank-"

"I wouldn't prank about something about him."

Everyone had arrived at Junpei's rather cramped apartment, sitting on a couch someone with Junpei's salary could neverhave afforded on their own and trying to withstand the rather mild smell of old pizza and sweat.

A game console – an old one, the Playstation 2, to be precise – had been plugged into the wall and set up so that therather uncomfortably fancy flatscreen TV would be able to display the game.

"This...is weird," Junpei began. "So weird – immensely weird. Even for us, I mean-"

"What's going on, Junpei-san?" Ken asked. "Why'd you urge us all to come here in the first place?"

"What did you mean when you said this involved him?" Yukari asked. Or more like, everyone asked. They just didn't say itout loud, instead giving very commanding looks. Aigis' was the most commanding.

"This is what's going on!" Junpei grabbed the game that'd been inside the plastic he'd torn off a few days ago. "This thinghere!"

The game's cover read:

Shin Megami TenseiPersona 3 FES

And it had an arcane symbol on the side, along with a silhouette of the resident android taking up the left.

Everybody's eyes widened at the title especially.

"I got it in the mail. Now, look on the back!"

The game's description struck them:

Step back into the night...

Terrib le creatures lurk in the dark, preying on those who wander into the hidden hour that lies between one day and thenext. As a member of a secret school club, you must wield your inner power – Persona – and protect humanity fromimpending doom. Will you live to see the saga's end – and beyond?

The special features only made things worse:

The best RPG of 2007 gets even better in this definitive version of Persona 3!

Play the original 70+ hour game with brand new Personas, events and a Hard play mode...

Or jump right into the 30+ hours of new content found in the all-new chapter, The Answer!

To top it all off, Aigis was seen on the back cover as well, wearing the armor they'd seen her wear back in the Abyss ofTime...and her sister, Metis, was right next to the description of the game.

"What!?" Yukari was the first to vocalize everyone's thoughts.

"What is the meaning of this...?" Aigis – a very perturbed Aigis – murmured out. "Who sent you...?"

Fuuka was silent, mouth agape at the whole affair.

"Who sent you that thing?" Mitsuru demanded.

"I have no idea," Junpei replied. "There was no name on the package..."

"Who in their right mind...? Mitsuru, did-"

"Nobody from the Kirijo Group would dare sell the secrets of Persona and the Dark Hour to any game developers,Akihiko. And besides...if any of them did, I'd find out."

"Then...what...who...?!" Ken could barely make out a phrase.

Koromaru just stared at everyone, wondering why they were acting so frantic.

"And...it works."

"...What...?"

"You have got to see the opening. It...it scares me, okay?"

He set the game in the console.

After a few logos flashed for a few seconds on the screen...the intro played out.

Kimi ha ne tashika ni ano toki watashi no soba ni ita

Images of them flashed. Of Aigis looking shocked, at first. Then it showed someone clutching his head. Then it showedsomeone wearing pink pointing a gun to her head. Then it showed two unrecognizable people who wore blue, one ofthem having cold yellow eyes. Then it showed a little boy's eyes, looking as if he'd snapped his fingers, and then Aigissliding sideways-

Itsudatte itsudatte itsudatte sugu yoko de waratte ita

-then Koromaru was in the picture while everyone hung on crosses in the back, then Fuuka's eyes opened, then Mitsuruappeared, then Akihiko with Junpei and Yukari looked up and-

Nakushitemo torimodosu kimi wo

-and then he appeared with his back turned to them and then Yukari's mouth moved with the rhythm of the song andAigis was crying and a key showed itself in the foreground as it twisted upwards after pointing down in a puddle of bloodas the next five words hit their hearts like a gunshot.

I will never leave you

*Chapter 2*: Chapter 2

Chapter Two - Burn my Dread...

"What is Atlus anyway...?"

Junpei wondered this aloud as Mitsuru had gotten out her iPad and tried searching for the company supposedly behindthe production for this game. Alas, she hadn't found any results concerning said company. Which was beyondaggravating.

And then the intro ended, the entire team trying to ignore all the scenes flashing by and mocking them for their ratherdumbstruck reactions. Leading into the menu, which had an outright beautiful piano sequence playing over it whichwould have tugged at their hearts and brought them to tears had they not been so taken aback by the prospect of the factthat this game was actually a thing.

Playing along, they came across the option to either play The Journey or The Answer. They wanted to play neither.

"What do we pick...?" Aigis asked the others. "Any suggestions?"

"...Well, The Answer is bonus content, right?" Akihiko said, still wary of the whole affair. "So, that makes The Journey themain game, which, according to the back of the box is...over sixty hours long, so..."

"Do we really want to play this?" Ken asked. "We can just close the game and never think about it ever again..."

Yukari was half in agreement and half in disagreement. She was caught between wanting to know the truth of what thisgame was, and wanting to find whoever had gotten it to stores and throttle him/her. But she was, more to the point,scared. Frightened of what this game would present. Terrified of what it had in store for her and the rest of the team.

Would she see him again? Would she want to see him again?

...Of course she would...she still wanted to see him. Even after all this time, but...what if...what if the game showed hersomething of him she didn't want to see-?

Ring ring.

Junpei's phone was abuzz with a new text message. Opening his phone, he had figured it was Toshiro-san messaginghim at a bad time until he read the text. Then, his mouth widened in horror as he squeaked out, "Guys...?"

Yukari and Fuuka got up from their seats, Aigis following suit to see just what had rendered their friend into such a stateof fear. Then, they fell into that same state upon reading the message itself:

Play both the Journey and the AnswerOn Normal.All Of You.

Get the good ending.You'll know the truth when you finish

3

"Uh huh. We'll see about that," Junpei growled, attempting a call at the number presented to him.

He gave up after the seventeenth attempt at a call. No answers to any calls. The messages he'd try to send would all getcut off due to the phone saying there was a problem with network connection. Any time the others had tried to make callsof their own through the number would end up the same way. Nothing was getting anywhere.

"We're back to square one...," Yukari muttered irately. "Who would do this!? Who could do this!?"

"He said we'd know the truth if we finish the game," Junpei said in response, very miffed at his inability to get in contactwith the mastermind behind all this. "Don't think we have a choice in this but to play..."

"But...sixty hours?" Fuuka mused. "Isn't that...kind of long? Even for a game, I mean..."

Junpei nodded. Games usually pushed for, like, forty hours, maybe? Even fifty hours...rarely, if ever, had he found a gamewhich pushed sixty. And with The Answer...how long was that going to be? They all had jobs. Lives to live. And this was agame...

...But it was a game worth playing.

"We've got to figure out who's behind all this," Junpei resolutely said. "We've all gotta make free time for this. Guys, I knowthat this is freaky and weird and we all wanna put this behind us, but...but we don't know what's going on, and we've gotto figure it out. This guy...whoever did this knows things. Who knows what he'll do if we don't do what he says?"

Yukari shifted in her seat, clearly uneasy with all of this...but finding no flaw in Junpei's argument.

"...I'm free on Sundays," Mitsuru said. "I think I'll be able to see this through. Aigis, Akihiko, and Fuuka are free on Sundayas well, but only from 3:00 PM onwards."

"Alright...I'm free on that day, too," Ken muttered.

Koromaru barked.

"I'm practically free everyday after five PM...but...Yuka-tan...?"

He was hesitant to call her out because he saw in her eyes something that he had never wanted to see in her eyesagain after leaving the Abyss of Time.

"I think I can make it on Sundays, too."

Her statement betrayed the look in her eyes.

"Alright...," Junpei strained. "Let's play...The Journey."

After selecting "Normal" difficulty, the first cutscene of the entire game played out before them.

A message popped up on screen, one that sent a chill down their collective spine at how ominous it was.

Time never waits.It delivers all equally to the same end.

You, who wish to safeguard the future,However limited it may be...

You will be given one year;Go forth without falter,

With your heart as your guide...

The game was practically speaking to them...or was it? Was it programmed with the knowledge that this was meantsolely for them? Or...was it speaking to someone else? It said, "your heart," so...whose heart is it talking about? Ours?Or...?

Mitsuru's head was moving rapidly at the implications set by the message, and she covered her mouth grimly as sheleaned back in her seat, already in a complete state of loathing to finish the rest of the game despite playing not even fiveminutes of it.

The scene shifted to a full moon beyond a veil of misty clouds, the clouds retreating so that the TV screen could bask inthe hauntingly cold white of the moon. This did not go unnoticed by the S.E.E.S. members, so they all felt a rathernagging pang of hurt at the sight of it.

Then the moon zoomed out, revealing it to be but a mere part of a series of white circles, and then it zoomed out evenmore to reveal that it was all on an LED screen, advertising something they figured was either deodorant or sunscreen.Seeing as there was a bikini-wearing woman on the screen, it was most likely the latter product.

But then, casually - so casually that it felt almost like a slap on the face - he strolled by.

They all widened their eyes and had their mouths agape, an anvil dropping in the distance.

Yukari gripped her seat as her lips quivered. Junpei pursed his lips and gripped the controller, his hands steadily getting

sweatier. Fuuka leaned back in her seat and tried stroking her upper arms to make herself feel safer. Akihiko just closedhis eyes and averted his head. Aigis had no reaction, Koromaru's ears perked up, Mitsuru lurched forward, Ken blinkedand clenched his teeth.

At that moment, Junpei regretted even picking up the game.

He kept on walking, listening to music as his dull eyes stared either straight ahead or at the ground. He was walkingalong a street filled with people talking about nonsense and living their lives like nothing was wrong, unaware that a yearfrom this very point, they were in danger of the end of the world itself.

Some scenes of the cityscape were animated in slow-motion, giving the team moments to glance at the world he'dsurrounded himself in before they had entered his life.

But interspersed throughout this were scenes which terrified everyone, especially Yukari.

First, she was sitting on the ground, curled up into a ball and her hand on her head.

Yukari flinched at the sudden sight of herself.

Water dripped, and she pulled a silver gun up off the ground.

Junpei turned to see her in the most restrained form of panic a person could have had.

She pointed the gun to her head, breathing heavily.

Soon, everyone had a horrible taste in their mouths at this.

She and the gun were interspersed with scenes of him looking up while at a crossroads. Her eyes, then his, then thesound of the faucet.

Then, she dropped the gun and wept loud enough for the sounds to be heard outside the window of the dorm.

It took all of her willpower not to get up and out of the apartment.

Junpei pressed on. Wanting to see what was next.

This was personal, now.

He didn't know how bad it was going to get.

*Chapter 3*: Chapter 3

Chapter Three - ...it's a contract.

Then there was a loud, booming noise that sounded like something you'd hear from a train in transit...which was showndirectly on-screen. The scene faded into a shot of the interior of the train, where all but a few passengers were shown -one of whom was on the far right of the screen, so far you could barely make out what he or she looked like, from theface. The angle was cut off just barely enough such that they could only see the person's back.

"Attention, passengers," the intercom blared, "We sincerely apologize for any-"

And then the camera shifted to behind the shoulder of the person who had been to the far right of the screen - he waslooking out the window and his reflection appeared on said window after the train passed by a building, music faintlyplaying in his ear.

"-inconvenience caused by the delay. The next stop is Iwa-"

They all stopped thinking for just that one brief second as his reflection gave a shot to them of his eyes obscured by hisblue hair and his mouth in a stoic line. Not once did they ever think of how typical it was for him to be so emotionless, butthe only thought that hit them was, We're playing as him, aren't we?

Junpei gripped the controller tighter and gritted his teeth. He had known it from the beginning. Obviously. They weregonna be playing as him...he was the main character. 'Course he was...he seemed the most "main-character" materialout of all of them, come to think of it. He frowned at the screen and he let out a small and uncomfortable noise as hethought to himself, Please don't be the main character...

It wasn't out of jealousy that he had thought all these things. He was going to be playing as his former best friend. Theman who had led him and everyone else to victory years ago - and who had sacrificed his life in doing so. Was hesupposed to feel joy? How was he going to play him properly? There was no way he'd be able to properlyrepresent...him . The only person who could...was him. Any other person doing it would be...just disrespect.

He was afraid. So afraid.

But their collective shock turned into a bit of a surprise when the next thing that appeared on-screen jumped at them.

/You've got to, to let it move first//Let it out-/

A blue butterfly flashed on-screen and fluttered its wings in slow motion as that song from his earphones played.

"What the-?!" was Akihiko's reaction (and pretty much everyone else's), but then-

"-Iwatodai."

He appeared shocked, judging from his reflection on the window, but what was outside the window flashed white asthey cut to the butterfly again, the song from the earphones playing much louder, now.

/-amn depressed//Let's get it up/

/Then what'cha gotta do is drop-/

They didn't really want to question the ambiguity of the butterfly and just felt all weird inside. But, luckily for them, thescene shifted yet again.

Circular, cylindrical things were turning as the intercom in the station called out, "Iwatodai, Iwatodai. This is the final trainbound for Tatsumi Port Island. Please make sure you board in time for departure."

As the voice said these things, they saw him lazily walking around, blissfully unaware of his impending death less than a

year later. The camera cut to a shot of him walking by in slow motion, focusing on the earpiece shoving music throughhis eardrums.

"Iwatodai. Iwatodai."

He had been in front of the turnstiles - before it faded to black.

The music in his earphones kept on playing.

/Burn my dread.../

And then a clock showed up behind him, the hands slowly turning to midnight.

Midnight. Midnight.

Midnight.

Everyone knew what was to happen, and none of them liked the fact that they knew what was going to happen, and theydisliked what was going to happen even less.

They got a shot of his mp3, and the music stopped dead. The device, showing the time to be 12:00 AM, immediatelyturned black. The electronic message board behind him blacked out as well.

"Huh?"

Hearing his voice again was almost...an alien sensation. Just that simple word - out of reaction, he had said it, yet it rangvolumes to them. For, indeed, there had been a time when they all had wanted to hear him say something - anything tothem...and he'd not respond.

The desk screens and the lights blacked out in the station as well, and the sky turned from its natural, calming dark blueto a searing and sickly green.

The clock now had a streak of blood running down the glass.

They had thought they'd already escaped the Dark Hour's clutches. They had lived years without it - and had been contentwith that fact.

But now...it had returned. And it was mocking them - viciously so. Taunting them from that black box with images of him.

Yukari, Aigis, and Fuuka couldn't believe their eyes. Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Ken were enraged. Koromaru couldn't tear hiseyes away from the screen. And Junpei just made a point to power on through.

The camera panned up to give the bewildered audience a look at their main protagonist. Appearing equally dumbstruckby the sudden change of scenery, he merely...blinked and was on the verge of shrugging his shoulders at the wholeordeal.

He let out a bored sigh as he moved to the right of the screen.

Junpei had a hand on his face and couldn't help but chuckle silently at that. What a guy...even then, he was bored ofeverything. Even Yukari raised an eyebrow at her former crush's impassiveness, while everyone else just kept their eyeson the screen, save Koromaru, who was now rubbing his eyes.

They caught a glimpse - up-close - of his earphone. Then, the yellow, humungous moon of the Dark Hour appeared andflashed a bit on screen, catching them off-guard with the almost surreal editing.

The screen then showed Iwatodai's streets, littered with coffins and with blood stains around the sides of the streets,before panning upward to get a better shot at the looming, incomplete moon glaring at the world.

And yet, he was just leisurely walking through it all...without a care in the world.

Are you kidding me...?

Even Akihiko couldn't take what was happening with a straight face. He'd been like this when he had first encounteredthe Dark Hour? How impassive had he been? This was not even funny - it was actually kind of frightening.

Mitsuru was put at unease, especially considering that he had expressed disbelief at there being a twenty-fifth hour ofthe day, when they had told him...this was his surprised face? He hadn't even looked just a little bit unsettled!

Yukari and the rest couldn't gather their thoughts in time, as before they could-

He stepped on a puddle of blood and was suddenly at the doorstep of their old dormitory. Opening the door, he lethimself in, engulfed in a white expanse that was the interior.

Now inside the lobby of the dorm, he removed his earphones and ignored the warmth of the lights permeating the place.

"You're late," an unfamiliar voice cut in, "I've been waiting a long time for you."

A little boy's head popped up from the bottom-right of the screen.

Okay, what.

Yukari drew back a bit in her seat at the sudden intrusion. What was with the little kid, where had he come from, andwhat was with the creepiness in his voice.

Mitsuru and Fuuka were both unnerved at this little boy, and Junpei just widened his eyes.

"Wha-?"

He stared at the child, slowly turning his head as he did so. Even in the most creepy of situations...he maintained hisstoicism. Almost an admirable trait, if only it hadn't been so...unsettling.

The boy snapped his fingers, and the camera panned over to his eye, "Now, if you want to proceed..."

Yukari made a disgusted noise and drew closer to Fuuka, who was drawing closer to Aigis, who already had Mitsurunudging up on her left-

The boy appeared in front of him now, gesturing to the table, which had a clipbook on it all of a sudden.

"...please sign your name there. It's a contract." Said contract flipped itself open, "Don't worry. All it says is that you'llaccept full responsibility for your actions." The scene focused on his exposed silver eye. "You know. The usual stuff."

"What...is going on?" Junpei vocalized basically the thoughts of everyone in the room. And then the next thing happened.

The screen had an arrangement of numbers and letters, and two rows of blank spaces. And Junpei knew what thismeant.

"We're gonna give him a name."

"What...?" Yukari asked incredulously.

"The game is telling us to make our own name for him...he...oh, man..."

"What? What is it?"

"Don't you get it...? He...he was just...!" he stood up from his seat. "What they do in these kinds of games is they allow the

player to make up whatever name they wanna make up for the main character, so they can put themselves in the role!"

And then implications started worming their way into each one's mind.

What did this mean? What did this mean? Was he truly a person? Had there truly been a mind inside him? Was he real?Was he...there...?

Just what was he? What truly was their friend? Was he even human? Had he truly cared about any of them? Hadsomeone controlled him, all this time? Had he been but a mere puppet!?

And worse yet...what did that make them ...?

Junpei's phone rang.

He opened it in a fit of rage.

Name him what he had told you his name was.

Junpei huffed. His eyes flared up, and he gritted his teeth. "Alright. Fine. That's how you wanna play..."

He dragged his cursor over to a few letters.

If that was how he was going to be-!

ArisatoMinato

He was gonna do this and do it by the book. If only to show him.

You aren't gonna break us. You aren't. I won't let you.

*Chapter 4*: Intermission 1

Intermission I - Don't cry.

can they listen to you?

Can they

hear you

from where you are now

?

From where you want to be?

Why can't you hear them? why can't you see them?

Why can't they see you? Do they not want to see you?

You are their friend, right?

Their precious friend.

You know them.

And you want them - you saw them before, and you know why you saw. Can you see them again?

Again? Again and again?

AGAIN

AGAIN

You saw them once, why not - not again not again?

...Blankity blank. Black. Empty. Void. Voiceless.

Where are they?

Don't they know? Can't they see you're alone?

They would always be friends with you, right?

Where are they? Where are they? Where are you - where are you all?

Where are you?

Where are you now?

You want to see...

...see...

SEE

YOU CAN'T SEE THEM ANYMORE

AND THEY CAN'T SEE YOU

THEY'RE GONE AND THEY'VE LEFT

You are

Not Here

A

Re You

Her

e?

If You're Here

why Can't You be THERE

W

h

Y

WHY can't you cry anymore?

cRY?

CRY?

What is crying?

What are tears?

Where are you?

Why is it so cold?

Why are there wires around your arms?

Who are you?

Who am I?

A/N:

...I will try to update soon.

*Chapter 5*: Chapter 4

Chapter Four - Choices

After Junpei filled in Minato's name, the scene returned to the young boy they had met earlier. Ominously, he said, as heclosed the clipbook, "No one can escape time. It delivers us all to the same end." He brought the clipbook up to eye levelas the screen cut to a shot of his eyes boring deep within the soul of the audience. "You can't plug your ears and coveryour eyes." He turned his hand over, and the clipbook vanished. The bright, yellow lights that had once illuminated theroom then faded away, allowing the monstrous, vile green of the Dark Hour to return.

The boy then stretched out his hand, darkness enveloping him, and forebodingly setting the tone for this miserableexperience everyone was in for.

"And so, it begins..."

Yukari shifted in her seat, majorly put at unease because of how...creepy the boy had made everything. Despite havingfought the end of the world personified, she would still find herself searching under her bed cautiously whenever thethreat of ghosts or supernatural creatures would invade her mind. Shadows existed, who was to say ghosts didn't? Shedidn't like dwelling on it further, though, so she did not.

Junpei didn't say it. He didn't want to say it, but he was sure everyone else in the room was thinking the same thing; theboy had directed his statement at Minato...but it could easily have been applied to them , as well. The game had alreadymocked them over a hundred times, and yet it was only the first few minutes of the very first cutscene. Really, was thiseven fair? Of course not.

If there was anything Junpei had learned from his past, it was that life wasn't as fair as the world wanted it to be.

A chord pierced the air, as Minato stared at the empty space the boy had been in. And suddenly, a frightened voice calledout, "Who's there!?"

Well, I know that voice.

Junpei turned his head over to Yukari, who was being the object of everyone's attention at the moment, because they allknew that voice as well. Yukari herself shrank slightly in her seat, her eyes focused on the screen and her face contortedin a mired mix of embarrassment and anxiety.

So, this is how they first met...

Junpei refused to make a comment, as this...really wasn't the time. But he'd be lying if he were to say that discoveringthat this was how she had first come in contact with his old friend wasn't even a little funny.

A girl appeared in the scene. She was wearing a pink cardigan, and got into a battle stance upon seeing the mainprotagonist. Her breaths were heavy, and she looked like she was staring down death itself. Minato stared at her like adeer in headlights, but was abject horrified upon seeing that she had a gun strapped to her thigh.

Yukari couldn't help feeling really uneasy with this. Basically everyone was witnessing their first meeting - a moment ofher old shame. She had been so unused to the whole prospect of fighting Shadows, and so when he had suddenlyentered the dorm, in the middle of the Dark Hour...she had been told that easily being frightened was a symptom ofawakening to your potential, but that hadn't made her feel any better. She had overreacted, and she had felt still the foolfor having done so. And she had never even imagined that he would end up being the man she'd...

She let out a deep sigh and decided not to think much more on the matter. Of course, she knew why he had to sacrificehimself - she had understood, years ago. But, understandably so, she still had bouts of feeling morose over it every oncein a while. The first cut is the deepest, they say. He had cut exceptionally deep, regardless of whether he intended to doso or not.

Fuuka and Aegis said nothing, having figured the same as Junpei on it not being in good taste right now. Akihiko madean awkward noise as he cleared his throat, and Ken was just blinking. Mitsuru was unaffected; she had already beenthere, when the two of them had met.

Yukari was about to tear the gun out, when suddenly!

"Takeba, wait!"

The girl whipped around, and the camera panned upward slowly, revealing a new character from behind the black.Interspersed with this introduction were transitions detailing the Dark Hour shifting back into the normal hours of thenight, as the music returned to the scene.

/Burn my dread.../

Yukari smiled at this new character, Minato in the background and now appearing to have recomposed himself. Awoman with purplish hair was giving a smile as the camera slowly zoomed outward from her face.

And then, the scene shifted.

Junpei's phone rang; a text had been sent to him. Everyone else had been too occupied by the wonders of the cutsceneto pay attention to the ringing noise.

He opened it, and the text simply read:

Pick whatever I tell you to pickWhen dialogue choices pop up

...Wait. What!? Dialogue choices-!?

And then he stopped himself. This was an RPG. Of course there were going to be dialogue choices! They'd given him aname, of course the game was going to go so far as to include dialogue options...!

He cupped his head with his right hand and the grip his left hand had had on the controller was loosening.

What next, is the game gonna let me pick his girlfriend, or something?

He paused.

...No. It wouldn't...right? But...? He then widened his eyes in fear. The game...was sixty hours long for a reason. And itmust have been real special if they said it was the "best RPG of 2007."

And he had to stop right there because he remembered that if it was in fact released in 2007, that would mean that thisgame had been sold in stores two years before everything went horrib le and that was a huge can of worms he didn'twant to open up yet. And so, he focused on the content that may or may not have been in the game. The content thatcould have showed something...dreadful.

What if...? No, no, that's just...that'd just be...

He then felt immensely bitter, and decided not to pursue the matter. They had yet another cutscene to power through.One set inside the lobby of their former dormitory, with character models depicting Arisato, Kirijo, and Takeba talking toeach other - each model with a rather oversized head, and an animesque image serving as a character cut-out over thetext.

[Redhead: I didn't think you'd arrive so late. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm.]

[Brunette: ...Who's he?] She asked that with an air of nervousness and uncertainty.

...

Mitsuru wondered if she had always looked so...old, and Takeba wondered if her eyes indeed were that big. And bothwere particularly concerned about their hairstyles...were they really that extravagant?

[Mitsuru Kirijo: He's a transfer student. It was a last minute decision to assign him here. He'll eventually be moved to aroom in the boys' dorm.]

[Brunette: ...Is it okay for him to be here?]

[Mitsuru Kirijo: I guess we'll see...this is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a junior this spring, just like you.]

[Yukari Takeba: ...Hey.]

And then the options appeared.

{Nice to meet you.}{Why do you have a gun?}{Is this the girls' dorm?}

Junpei groaned, as everyone immediately turned to him. "The game...it wants us to make a personality for the guy!"

"What do you mean?" Aigis asked him quizzically.

"These kinds of games allow the player to inject their own personality into the player character," he explained tiredly. "Ithelps get people invested in the game - and they do this by giving the player character dialogue options in response tostory events."

"So...then..." Akihiko looked back at the screen and back to Junpei. Screen, Junpei, screen, Junpei. "Does that meanthat...? Like, something...controlled him?"

"I don't know!" Junpei blurted out.

"This doesn't make any sense!" Yukari exclaimed. "If he was being controlled, then by what? And for what? Why? Whatexactly would-!?"

Ring, ring.

Junpei's phone. He groaned and opened it, having received a new text.

"Why do you have a gun?"Pick it *now*

You monster.

He slammed his thumb on the directional button facing down.

{Nice to meet you.}{Why do you have a gun?}{Is this the girls' dorm?}

"I hate this game," was all Junpei could mutter out as he pressed the X button.

And he muttered that as Takeba remembered something from long ago, way back then.

[Yukari Takeba: Huh? Um, well, it's sorta like a hobby... Well, not a hobby, but...]

[Mitsuru Kirijo: You know how it is these days... It's for self-defense. It's not a real gun, of course.]

[Yukari Takeba: No, it's not, but... Umm, how should I explain it...?]

[Mitsuru Kirijo: Unlike the other buildings, this one's co-ed. It's not your typical dorm, though. I'll explain it to you laterwhen I get a chance.]

[Mitsuru Kirijo: It's getting late, so you should get some rest. Your room is on the second floor, at the end of the hallway.Your things should already be there.]

[Yukari Takeba: Oh... I'll show you the way. Follow me.]

Yukari's eyes widened in realization.

"Mitsuru, do you remember...?" Yukari turned to her friend, who nodded in response.

"What is it?" Junpei asked, practically dead inside, while keeping his eyes glued to the television.

"I believe the response you had chosen, Iori, is what Arisato himself had said that very night."

And at that, the cogs in Junpei's head began turning. The same...thing?

The phone rang again. Another text. Junpei opened it.

YesThe choices I'm making you pick

Are the choices he made:D

...Whoever this person was, he certainly knew how to make people really want to kill him. "The guy said to make thechoices Minato made."

Junpei shook his head before returning to the game, Minato and Yukari's avatars having made it to the second floor.

*Chapter 6*: Chapter 5

Chapter Five - A Fun Year

Aigis was not taking this development as hard as the others were, to her own shock.

True, this was very unsettling - a video game being made about her and her friends' experiences fighting the Shadows -but she had learned a long time ago that looking at things objectively and calmly was preferable to any violent sort ofreaction. At least, that was what she had thought. Her friends, she mused, were outright livid at the events playing out onthe screen, though.

Trying to keep herself calm was easy enough. Although she was slightly intrigued at how Minato-san's early life at thedormitory had gone. Before they'd met. It was not like she could have helped feeling this way. The boy had touched herheart (literally), along with everyone else's.

When he had died, she had missed him. She had honestly wanted nothing more than to drift away and return to being amechanical shell, driven only by her primary programming and nothing else. She was grateful for the times they'dshared, when he had put up with her awkward antics and such. She remembered having been depressed, believing thathe'd care nothing for someone like her, someone made of steel and silicon and polymer rather than blood and flesh.She admired and loved the boy. And she was certain that the other women in their little group did, as well. Last time shechecked, her sensors were good enough to detect that much.

...it wasn't like she was jealous or anything, but...

Oh, who was she trying to deceive? She blinked and closed her eyes for five seconds before returning to the eventstaking place on the screen. Minato and Yukari's avatars had made it to Minato's old room. The music was contemplativeand simple, reflecting the enigmatic nature of the scene taking place.

[Yukari Takeba: This is it... Pretty easy to remember, huh? ...Since it's right at the end of the hall. Oh yeah, make sure youdon't lose your key, or you'll never hear the end of it... So, any questions?]

{What's that contract for?}

{Does that kid live here too?}

Ring.

Junpei opened the phone with lightning-fast reflexes.

second one

Junpei's ambiguous expression contrasted greatly with how he fumingly pressed the "down" button on the directionalpad-

{What's that contract for?}

{Does that kid live here too?}

-and slammed the X button.

[Yukari: What kid? What are you talking about? ...C'mon, it's not funny.]

That last statement, everyone found to be quite apposite, although they all recognized it as the understatement of themillennium. And then the game tried telling them what Minato was supposedly feeling at the time - whilst speaking in thesecond person.

Yukari doesn't seem to know what you're talking about.

"Tell us something we don't know," Junpei scowled. This was player immersion going all kinds of wrong. He swore hewas never going to touch another RPG that referred to the protagonist in the second person. Not after this veryuncomfortable string of events.

[Yukari: Um... Can I ask you something? On your way here from the station, was everything okay?]

{Yeah.}

{What do you mean?}

Ring.

second one again

Junpei decided to text back, uncaring of the fact that it was not going to connect to any sort of number. Yukari looked overhis text and snorted, finding some amusement in how humorously vulgar it was.

Down, X.

[Yukari: You know what I- ...Never mind. It seems like you're alright. Well, I better get going...]

Yukari's avatar started walking away, then stopped.

[Yukari: Um... I'm sure you still have other questions, but let's save them for later, okay? Good night.]

Yukari then left, Minato entering his room, and the scene transitioning into the next day.

4/7/09

"No wonder this game takes seventy hours," Junpei groaned.

"Well, we all kind of expected it'd go through the entire year, right?" Akihiko sighed, straightening himself. "Although...thefact that someone would put so much effort in this mess...," he hung his head upon recalling some very unpleasantmemories, "makes it worse..."

Mitsuru laid a hand on his shoulder, and he let it stay there. He gave a small chuckle. But the game went on.

Early Morning

Minato stood in his room, hands in pockets, until a knock on the door sounded out, punctuated with a Knock Knock in-game. The music was joyful, exemplifying the wonders of the morning sun, exciting, uplifting - essentially everythingS.E.E.S. wasn't in the mood to enjoy at the moment.

[Yukari: It's Yukari. Are you awake?]

{Open the door.}

{Ignore her.}

second one

"Just type, '2,'" Junpei said to the phone, not expecting any reply in return. How fast could this person text?

Ring again.

Ok2

Junpei wanted whoever this was to die in a fire. Down, X.

[Yukari: Hello! Please answer the door, or I'll get in trouble!]

You decide you had better not ignore her.

Mitsuru, Junpei, and Yukari were all simultaneously thinking how annoying it was that the game was telling them how tofeel and act. True, this was technically what Minato was feeling and acting, but the fact that the descriptions just threwthem into the whole game through its choice of words just made the experience all the more unsettling.

Akihiko let in a sharp breath. He had never been that close to Arisato, but the boy had been a friend. More than a friend, acomrade-in-arms. And one of the bravest people he had ever met. The fact that Arisato's life was being documented - no,it wasn't even his life. His life would've been fine, in comparison. His thoughts, his feelings, his day by day actions. All ofthem were on screen right now, and they were in control of them. It made him feel...a bit dirty. If his actions were all beingcontrolled by someone else, he wouldn't be very comfortable.

Arisato, on the other hand, had always seemed...apathetic. Even exhausted. Who knows how he'd have reacted, if hehad found out that he had been controlled by someone, something else?

Somewhere...somehow...

Yukari was now in Minato's room.

[Yukari: Good morning. Did you sleep okay?] Yukari's avatar's head bobbed up and down, as if sizing Minato's avatar up.[Mitsuru-senpai asked me to take you to school. It's getting late, so... Are you ready to go?]

{Yeah, I'm ready.}

{I can find it myself.}

1

"Iori?"

"Yes?" Junpei didn't even try to hide his exasperation, not even to Mitsuru. She noticed this, but let it slide, because shewould have barely held it together in his situation.

"What if you were to choose something other than what you're being told to choose?" she asked. "Could we try and seewhat would happen?"

"I dunno if that'd be a good idea...," Junpei stammered, "I mean, considering what this guy could be capable of?"

"It might help us-"

Ring.

◕ ◕

*i'm watching you all*Don't try to diverge or else

Something Bad Will Happen

Immediately, a chill went down both Mitsuru's and Junpei's spines as the latter hid away the phone from anyone elseand the former started darting her eyes all over the place - both of them in frantic, obvious fear. Mitsuru had already goneto the windows and was looking for any snipers of any kind, Akihiko having followed her worriedly, when Junpeiobediently pressed X and ignored the others' concerned queries.

The cutout depicting Yukari gave an illustrated smile. [Yukari: Okay. Then, let's go.]

"Mitsuru," Akihiko asked her, as she held her head out of Junpei's living room window and looked in every possibledirection, "what happened?"

"Whoever is doing this is watching us right now," she said, obviously trying to remain calm. "Help me look."

He did so without question, his spine straightening and his lungs hollow.

And a cutscene played; another drawn, animated one.

The old monorail was seen zooming by, a magnificently-oversized building in the background reflecting the gleaminglights of the sun.

"So, that's it," Yukari said to Minato, smiling. A stark contrast from her apprehensive and aggressive nature just theprevious scene. Both she and Minato were in the monorail; behind them, a crowd of people. Minato's eyes were out ofthe shot, and focus slowly shifted from the girl to him. "See? There it is," Yukari finished.

Minato's eyes suddenly cut into frame, and he turned. His expression was...very uneasy.

Seeing that expression left Aigis, Junpei, Fuuka, and Yukari with very bad taste in their mouths. It was just harrowing,making it through the first few minutes of the game, and now, they had to see Minato with that expression? Him , lookinglike that? It was as if he knew Gekkoukan was to be the place he'd...

...Fuuka immediately stood up. "Junpei-kun...where's the restroom...?"

Junpei brought his eyes ground wards. "My room. First door on the left."

Fuuka nodded and followed his directions exactly. Yukari and Aigis looked at Fuuka, then Junpei, then at each other, thenjust continued watching. The train was speeding ahead on the tracks now.

Ken, immediately seeing the atmosphere become unbearably worse, merely looked upon Koromaru. The dog poutedand whined, and his ears drooped down to the sides of his head. Ken stroked the sad animal's fur, closing his eyessolemnly.

Yukari and Minato were walking alongside each other, the clamors of students and teenagers walking along the samepath as they filling the audio. Someone on a bicycle rang their bell and called out to Yukari, "Morning!"

To which the scene shifted to Yukari, who replied to the girl, "Good morning," with a smile. She then turned forward, andthe scene shifted once again.

Yukari and Minato were now standing outside the gates of Gekkoukan.

"Well, this is it," the former stated with finality, gripping her bag. The scene shifted directly to her face, and she said toMinato - jovially, happily - "We're here. Welcome to Gekkoukan High School. Hope you like it!"

Yukari was cupping her forehead in her hands, she couldn't take much more. The irony of everything just was beingthrown relentlessly into her face - their faces - the game was laughing at them again. She then felt something too heavyfor a hand weigh upon her shoulder - Aigis was now there, beside her, trying to comfort her. Aigis' eyes, despite beingmechanical, showed something weighing them.

Yukari nodded, and forced herself to stay strong, as Mitsuru and Akihiko reentered the room.

Junpei sighed. The skies on the screen, the building behind Yukari, Yukari's naive "I-haven't-seen-nuthin-yet" attitudetowards Minato, everything about this cutscene was reminding him of the old days. And yes, despite the universeconspiring to make Persona 3 FES the worst game ever, Junpei, Aigis, and Yukari still...still found themselves feelingnostalgic.

That school was a nightmare, but it had been theirnightmare. And phrasing it like that certainly didn't help matters, but...itwas host to a myriad of experiences, many good, many bad. The school, as disturbing as it may seem, had been theirlife for an entire year. Who could blame them for feeling that sense of warmth?

It was messed up, but it was the place where their lives had been defined.

"What'd we miss?" Akihiko asked, blasé.

"Not much," Junpei sighed, turning to Mitsuru. "Found anything?"

"Nothing. Not even a camera."

"You check everywhere-?"

"Yes."

"Okay, okay, chill..."

Fuuka had not tried to show it - everyone else had already too much on their plates - but she would be lying if seeingMinato again didn't twist her heart a little.

Like Yukari, she had felt quite...abysmal when Minato had died. After all...unlike Yukari, whom Minato had taken to thesummer festival - unlike Mitsuru, whose depression Minato had helped overcome - unlike Aigis, who had stayed by hisside when he had died...Fuuka was barely ever in Minato's life. Save for...serving him all those horrib le rice balls...

It wasn't like her feelings for Minato had been secret. She had known that everyone had known of what she had felttowards him. Everyone except him had known, anyway. And when he had died, she had been hurt. But everyone else,Aigis and Yukari-chan especially, were hurting as well. She couldn't just wallow with them in despair - he wouldn't haveallowed it. So, yes, she had pretended to be relatively alright. Despite Junpei-kun and Sanada-san asking her if she wasalright. Despite Kirijo-san's and Ken-kun's encouraging words. Despite Yukari-chan's ignorance of it all. Despite Aigis'ease with getting him to hang out with her.

Despite every single girl in the school falling head over heels in love with the guy and him not even looking like he caredone bit-

...where did that come from...?

She gave a sour expression at the mirror facing her as she turned off the faucet. Taking in a deep breath, she returned tothe game.

Now was not the time to think about such horrible, untrue things that she had let go for years and years. Things thatshe'd kept hidden for so long. Things that just...didn't matter any longer.

By the time she had returned to the living room, Mitsuru had made a gesture at her to come to the kitchen. Kirijo hadgathered the rest of the group in said area to discuss her and Iori's findings. Junpei had to continue playing the game.Like he had another choice.

"Mitsuru...what's going on?" Yukari asked her.

Mitsuru cleared her throat and began, "The person behind all this texted this to Iori and me."

◕ ◕

*i'm watching you all*Don't try to diverge or else

Something Bad Will Happen

Aigis stared at the text shown inquisitively. Yukari's eyes turned into saucers. Akihiko seemed understanding now of thesituation, Ken did the same as Yukari, Fuuka gasped, and Koromaru scratched at his ears.

"Hopefully that quells your concerns," Mitsuru sighed disdainfully, placing the phone on the counter.

In-game, Minato and Yukari's avatars had made it to their shoe lockers, within the confines of the school building.

[Yukari: You're okay from here, right? You should go see your homeroom teacher first. The Faculty Office is right there tothe left. ...And that concludes the tour. Do you have any questions before I go?]

{Which class are you in?}

{No, not really.}

Ring.

"Kirijo-san?"

Phone opened. "The text reads, '2.'"

Down, X. Again. Was Junpei to choose the second option, always? If so, this person texting him could just tell him so.

[Yukari: Hey... About last night... Don't tell anyone what you saw, okay? ...See ya later.]

Yukari's avatar then left the area, and the game finally, finally allowed Junpei to control the protagonist Minato Arisato.The scene transitioned, and now Minato's avatar was standing in a crowded area - the first floor of Gekkoukan High.

Using the analog stick to control him made Junpei feel dirty. But, but, but. Task at hand. The objective now was to headinto the Faculty Office. Which was labelled like a proper noun, in-game.

Junpei ignored all the other characters chattering about and made Minato move to the Office, his phone with Mitsuru andseemingly not objecting to his willingness to try and finish the story as quickly as possible.

No, don't care about how it looks exactly like how the school looked like back then. No, don't talk to Kenji or Kaz or Yukoor those other guys and that foreign kid. Go, just go, just go.

He pressed X on a door labelled Faculty Office on screen.

[Teacher: Oh, are you the new student?]

Junpei recognized the character - Ms. Toriumi! And all he could think of was how much she looked like an older Yukari.

...come to think of it, she did...

Minato's avatar nodded.

[Teacher: Minato Arisato...] she said/not said, as she suddenly and inexplicably lost her voice while the text took note ofMinato's name, [11th grade, correct? Wow, you've lived in a lot of different places... Let's see... In 1999... That was what,ten years ago? Your parents- *gasp*]

"You raised it, dammit! This is all your fault! So you should do something about it! You're supposed to be 'special,' right!?"

...

Junpei let out a bit of a ragged gasp and placed the controller down, leaving the conversation at a bit of a standstill. Heremoved his baseball cap and stared at it contemplatively for three seconds before putting it back on his head, hismouth quivering.

"I'm scared, too."

[Teacher: I'm sorry... I've been so busy, I didn't have time to read this beforehand. I'm Ms. Toriumi. I teach Composition.Welcome to our school.]

{Oh...Thanks.}

{Nice to meet you!}

Ring.

"New text?" Junpei called, from his seat.

Phone opened. "1."

X.

[Ms. Toriumi: Have you seen the classroom assignments? You're in 2-F; that's my class. But first, we need to go to theauditorium. The Welcoming Ceremony will be starting soon. Follow me.]

As Junpei powered through the next few cutscenes, this conversation took place.

"What does he mean by 'something bad will happen?'" Ken asked Mitsuru, pretending he didn't know the answer.

"I don't know. We cannot diverge from the choices Arisato had made, lest we find out. And I personally don't want to."

"We must expect the worst; there's no telling what this person is capable of." Aigis then cupped her mouth incontemplation. "Ask him how long we must-"

Ring.

Phone opened.

Today, play just until the first "boss"

First boss...?

Little did the inexperienced, uncouth savages know that Junpei had made it to a scene which was near and dear to hisheart.

[Student: S'up, dude? How's it goin'?]

{Who are you?}

{What do you want?}

[Student: Me?]

No, he means Kenji, idiot. Of course he means you. It was almost laughable how cringy he had been.

[Student: I'm Junpei Iori. Nice to meet ya. I transferred here when I was in eighth grade. I know how tough it is bein' thenew kid... So I wanted to say, "hey." ...See what a nice guy I am!]

Junpei noted how the cutout of him perfectly had all the characteristics of the anime best friend; you know. The wide eyesof idiocy and naivety, the laid-back frame which contrasted with the main character's more brooding posture, the dumbgrin on his face - the portrait of Junpei was designed to be the bromantic foil of Minato Arisato.

Designed.

He didn't feel happy at that at all.

"What scene is this?" asked Yukari, returning to her seat alongside the others.

"I'm being introduced as a character...," Junpei joylessly replied. He could only wonder if he was the tank of the group,when they would go into battle. Whenever battle came.

Yukari entered and approached Junpei and Minato

[Junpei: Hey, it's Yuka-tan! I didn't think we'd be in the same class again.] Junpei excitedly exclaimed, his avatar'sexpression mirroring that upbeat reaction.

[Yukari: *sigh* At it again, huh? I swear, you'll talk to anyone if they'll listen.] Yukari's cutout looked...annoyed, to a degree.[Did you ever think you might be bothering someone?]

[Junpei: What? But, I was just bein' friendly.] Flabbergasted, Junpei's cutout appeared to be.

[Yukari: If you say so.] Yukari's massive head swivelled over to Minato's avatar. [Anyway, looks like we're in the samehomeroom...]

{Yeah, I know.}

{It's just a coincidence.}

{It must be fate.}

Ring - opened.

3

Junpei snorted.

Down, down, X.

[Yukari: Fate? Yeah, right. *chuckle* Still, I'm a little surprised.]

Ken made a bit of a chuckle, "Minato-san said that to you?"

Yukari blushed a deep red. Aigis seemed to smile goofily at this, while Mitsuru raised an eyebrow in not-too-concealedamusement and Fuuka just...averted her eyes. But she, too, blushed red.

"...guy was never smooth when trying to sweet-talk," Junpei chuckled, he and Akihiko recalling what Minato had said toAigis when they'd first met on Yakushima.

"Hey, baby."

Come to think of it, Minato was pretty much worse at pickup lines than Junpei had ever been.

[Junpei: Um, hello? Are you forgetting that I'm in this class too?] Now was Junpei's cutout's turn to be annoyed. [By theway, I heard you two came to school together this morning. What's up with that? C'mon, gimme the dirt!] The grin onJunpei's face was exaggerated to the point of offense.

"I never smiled like that...," Junpei shook his head. "Did I ever smile like that-?"

Unanimously, "Yes."

"Wha-!?" Junpei was stunned at this betrayal. "Why didn't anyone tell me this? I'm open to feedback, here!"

Yukari shrugged. "We like you just the way you are?"

"I look like a joke!"

"That's how you normally look when smiling."

"Shut up!"

[Yukari: Wh-What are you talking about!? We live in the same dorm. There's nothing going on, okay? Why are peopleeven talking about it!? Now you have me worried...] Yukari's cutout had widened eyes, looking shocked at Junpei's

suggestion. Before turning to our protagonist, [Hey... You didn't say anything to anyone about...you know what, did you?]

{Uh uh.}

{You know what?}

"Pick the second option," Yukari urged Junpei. "I remember, he said that and I got mad at him for it."

"Vivid memory." Junpei found himself grinning, and Yukari flushed again-

Ring. Son of a - we know what to choose!

1

"...what?"

"What's wrong?"

"He...told me to choose the first option."

"What?" Yukari exclaimed. "B-but that's not...wait, I remember, that's exactly what he said! 'You know what?' He wasconfused! I remember, because I - I kinda...," she slumped her shoulders, "kinda then assumed he wasn't all thatsmart..."

"You thought Arisato wasn't smart?" Akihiko snorted. "The guy-"

"-got perfect in every exam , I remember...don't have to rub it in..."

"In any case, we can't risk it," Aigis concluded. "Follow this person's instructions."

"...okay..."

He pressed X and hoped the world wouldn't implode-

[Yukari: Okay, good.]

Everyone exhaled, grateful that the world was still there-

[Yukari: Seriously... Don't say anything about last night, alright?]

...

"You couldn't word it a bit better-?"

"Now you shut up."

"Okay...okay..."

A picture of Junpei's head - with a shocked expression and an exclamation point - appeared on screen, along with a loudsound effect that sounded like a BEEP.

[Yukari: Wh-What?]

[Junpei: L-Last night...?]

Shock, on the cutout. [Yukari: W-Wait a minute! Don't get the wrong idea! Listen! I just met him yesterday, and there'sabsolutely nothing between us!] The cutout then seemed to calm down somewhat. Geez... I've gotta go. I've gotsomething to take care of for the archery , you better not start any rumors!]

Yukari's avatar then left the room, leaving the two men to themselves.

[Junpei: Ah, who cares? No one takes rumors seriously, anyway. She's so paranoid...] Junpei's cutout lookedexhausted, but then perked up, [But, hey! It's your first day here, and people are already talkin' about you! Believe it or not,she's actually pretty popular. You da man!] A sick, painfully cringy attempt at a cool smirk. [Heheh, this is gonna be a funyear. I can feel it!]

Everybody collectively groaned.

A/N:

I AM SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY.

I SERIOUSLY NEVER EXPECTED TO GET THIS MANY HITS.

HOLY CRAP. THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH. I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU.

SO SORRY THIS COULDN'T GET MORE DETAILS - I PROMISE, WE FIGHT ARCANA MAGICIAN NEXT CHAPTER.

YOU ARE DA BEST EVAR AND I LUBYU TO DEATH, BUT COLLEGE IS COMING UP SOON AGAIN.

I AM SO LAZY I KNOW PLEASE FORGIVE ME THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR PUTTING UP WITH THIS TRASH AUTHOR;_;