"Hey Minako, today is the last day of midterm, how are you doing?" Akihiko catches up with me infront of the school gate.
"I might get to fight with you guys after this exam" Akihiko's eyes flash with determination. His eyes looks like they are burning with energy.
"Oh, that's cool, Senpai. I guess I have to get ready" I notice that the girls looks like they are going to kill me soon so I decide to walk away from their belevod posession.
"Hey Minako, wait!" He grabs my hand without thinking. After he snaps out, he quickly let go off my head and rubs the back of his head, embarrassed "Um, I'm always free on Monday and Friday. Maybe... we can go eat at Hagakure sometimes? I'll be near the clubroom building" Before I can reoly, the warning bell starts to ring and we both make our way to our class for our test.
---
When I enter the dorm, all of the SEES member is on the dining table and the lights are off. I look at the time on my MP3 player, it is still not midnight.
Suddenly, Junpei lights up a torchlight under his chin. "Welcome to Junpei's believe it you still have to believe it" This looks interesting. I take a seat next to Akihiko.
"There are many strange things in this world, like ghost roaming through our hallways of the dorm. But this one strange incident didn't happen in our dorm, but happen in our school. Fuuka Yamagishi, reported sick for almost one week and her friends found infront of the school in the morning" He turns off the torchlight and on it again, this time appearing right next to Yukari's face, making him has a nice handprint on his left cheeks.
"My friend said that they saw one of them, trying to break in the school at night. They said that the creature tried to eat them and..."
"Stop it, Stupei" Before he can finish his story, Yukari has turn on the lights.
"Auh, Yuka-tan you just spoil my amazing performance. Why is that? Are you scareed?" Junpei looks slightly down after no one say a word about his story.
"NO I'M NOT! Find let's investigate! I'm going to pass for Tartarus tonight, I'm going out for some research" Although she looks confident, her hands are still shaking.
The next night,
"I already found some lead!" Yukari slams her hands on the table of the dormitory and me and Junpei quickly backs off.
"The girl Fuuka Yamagashi always hangs out with the three hospitalised victims. So now we are goung to do some field research, to the play where the three of them always hung out. At the back of the Port Island Station" Yukari's nose goes wider as she tells us abiut her amazing research.
"What! That place is nasty!" Junpei doesn't look like he's agreeing
"What? Scared?" Yukari mocks him making him shakes his head. "It is set, we will go to the Port Island Station to investigate, tonight"
"I'm up!" I raise my hand
"WHAT? TONIGHT?!" his screams can be heard from a few blocks away from the dormitory.
---
"Yuka-tan don't you think it's a bad idea toc come here"
We walk to a dark alley at the back of the Port Island Station. There are a few clubs that are full of smokes. Several boys and girls are hanging out, smoking joints and drugs.
"Bro, check out them, those chicks are from Gekkou High"
"What are you doing here cutie pies" they both stand up and run his fingers across my cheeks. I slap their hands away from me.
"Hey don't touch Yuka-tan and Minako. I'm here to protect both of you" Junpei push both of them away from Yukari and me.
"Whay do you want huh, goatee?" One of them grabs Junpei's collar, lifting him from the ground and throw him on the floor, making him hitting the wall.
"Junpei!" I quickly run towards Junpei but one of them grab my hair, making my bun fall down. My face is only a few inches from his face. His breathing smells like smoke. I then give him a kick on his crotch, making him groan in pain and I can see a lock of my red hair in his hands.
"Why you little b-" then another kick to his croutch is added that makes him fall on the floor.
"That's enough" it was from the guy in the hospital the other day, Akihiko's friend.
"Damn you Shinjiro, you are from Gekkou High too! Better watch your back from now on" with his hands stil on his croutch, he runs inside the club.
"Aren't you Aki's friend! What are you doing here? This isn't a place for you!" He turns his back to us.
"We came here for a reason"
"Did Aki asked you to come here?" we shake our head.
"Tch, this must be about the ghost story" we all look surprise how he knows more about the story than most of us.
"Those three girls who's in the hospital always talk about making fun of the girl, Fuuka Yamagishi"
"Fuuka Yamagishi? The girl in 2E?" Junpei ask
"You guys didn't know? This Fuuka girl has gone missing for almost a week. She might be dead already"
"She's missing! I thought she's sick... Damn that Ekoda Sensei has been hiding this from us" Junpei looks disgusted on how our own teacher tells us a lie.
"That's all I know. You clowns should head back now" Shinjiro's eyes looks down and he kneels down to take something from the ground. He then walks towards me and hands me something.
"Think this is yours" on his hands is my pins, surely it fell off when the guy grabs my hair. My hair is in a mess right now and I don't have a hairband to tie my hair.
"Here, you can have mine" He takes something from his pocket and lends it to me. I take the plain hairband and tie my hair. "Thanks Senpai!" I bow a little.
"You sure have a soft heart" Yukari says, looking surprise at the contrast between his looks and personality.
Yukari's words makes him somehow, shy "Tch, I'm out" and he walks into the darkness.
"Someone met his dark prince" Junpei teases me and I glare at him. We went back to the dormitory and report back to Akihiko and Mitsuru, only to get scoldings from both of them from being to carelss.
I sit on my bed and take a look at the hairband Shinjiro gave me. His hair is quiet long, but I wonder why he needs to tied it up and somehow, the hairband smells like smoke from the kitchen.
But on the other hand
Mr. Ekoda is the home room teacher for class 2E. I never expected him to hide the fact that Fuuka has gone missing
---
At the Faculty Office, Gekkoukan High. Mitsuru is already infront of Mr. Ekoda's desk with a dark girl.
"Mr. Ekoda, I want to clarify some issue about Yamagishi, from your class 2E" Mitsuru has already pound on him when we arrive.
"Fuuka... I never thought that it will be like this. We were just making fun of her by locking her in the gym. We didn't .." the dark girl looks like she's about to cry in just a second
"Natsuki! You don't have to say anything if you don't want to!" The old teacher cuts off her words.
"That night, Maki went to the school because she was afraid that Fuuka might committed suicide, but the next morning..." her words starts breaking
"She was found lying infront of the schoolgate" Yukari continues her words, softly.
"Each night one of us will go to the school because a voice is calling us. But I went during the day and open the gym, but Fuuka wasn't in there" she covers her face, sobbing.
"Mr. Ekoda, what was your intention by saying Fuuka absence was because of illness?" Mitsuru glares at the speechless teacher.
"Senpai, it must be them" Yukari whispers to Mitsuru
"Yes, tonight we are going to enter the Tartarus the same way as Fuuka enters. All of us assemble at the Student Council Room"
---
All of us gather with a serious face.
"Tonight, we will infiltrate the campus. Our objective is to rescue Fuuka Yamagishi" Mitsuru stands in front of the room.
"Ever since Fuuka got locked in the gym, she's been stuck there...?" Yukari ask.
"That's correct"
"But, that was ten days ago!" Junpei protest as he thought Fuuka might be dead already.
"Not necessarily. We can't jump to conclusions. Tartarus only appears during the Dark Hour. So, what about the rest of the day?" All of us looks at Akihiko
"This is only a theory, but I think time may function differently with respect to Tartarus. So, even though it's been ten days for us, perhaps only ten hours have passed for her."
"It's possible she's still alive" Akihiko adds on.
"So that means we have to sneak inside the school. I know just the way" Junpei smirks.
---
At command room
"There's a problem, I can't get in contact with the Chairman, so we'll have a problem to enter the school" Mitsuru shakes her head as she rubs her temple.
"Don't worry, I'll get it all settled" Junpei pats his chest
"Explosive, huh? So we have not time to lose. Let's go!" Mitsuru grabs her Evoker and runs outside.
"Did you really use an explosive Junpei" as soon as the room is empty, Yukari ask him.
"Nah I just unlock and door" Junpei grins.
---
11:30 PM, Classroom 2F .
"Now we need to get the keys in the Faculty Office" Mitsuru planned out the next operation.
"The Faculty Office, we might get a little bit of sneak peak for the upcoming exam" Junpei jokes.
"Are you thinking if doing something bad under my supervision, Iori? You are coming with me to the janitor room incase if there's a key there" Junpei looks at Mitsuru with his eyes wide open.
"I'm kidding! Jeesh!"
"Minako, can you go with Akihiko to the Faculty Office?" I nod my head and looks at Akihiko.
"Well then, meet us at the school lobby after this" Mitsuru then walks out of the classroom with Yukari and Junpei.
This leaves us alone in the classroom. It is dark and we can only see the shape of our shadow thanks to the moonlight
"Uh... We better get going senpai"
At the main lobby, Akihiko quickly grabs my hand and both of us hide behind the big pillar. He's behind me, and I can feel his hot breathing on my neck, sending goosebumps all over my skin.
Turns out it was just the guard patrolling the area, after a few minutes, he continue to sleep in front of the school gate.
"That was close" he takes a huge breathe and we continue walk inside the Faculty Office. It turns out it is not lock.
As he close the door, he start searching the drawers.
I take a look around the dark room, then I squint my eyes and look at the notice in front of the office. It seems like an important notice I say because or the colour, bright yellow.
"DO NOT CLOSE THE DOOR" what? I go towards the door and tried to open it. It won't budge.
"Hey Minako! Stop wasting your time. The Dark Hour is just a half hour away" he continues rummaging through the bunch of keys in the drawer.
"Senpai, it's no use. We are locked in" I say softly.
"What? Cmon there's no time to joke around! Damn it I don't think it's here" he gives up searching and slide the drawer in.
"Come let's go back to Mitsuru" I take a step back for him to open the door. Same like me, the result is the door still won't budge.
"What is this!" He tears the notice and read it out loud.
"Do not open the door if you are an idiot who want to be stuck in this room. Ekoda" his eyes goes wide when he read it.
"DAMN IT!" Akihiko shouts as he punch the door "Calm down Akihiko Senpai! The guard will find us!"
I knew it, just after that, a guard knocks the door from outside "Who's there!?"
"Shit we are going to get caught! Come here Minako!" We hide under Ms. Toriumi's desk when the guard starts kicking the door, trying to break it.
We are are both kneeling under the desk, making us have hardly any space to move around. The guard manage to break the door and he torch his torchlight around the room and start walking in.
I then hear something squeaking and when I look down, a brown mouse is on my shoes. My instinct quickly say I have to shout, but Akihiko quickly covers my mouth and kick the mouse away, making it squeak louder.
"I know you are here" the guard footsteps seems to get louder. "Oh no" I whisper to Akihiko.
The guard is just infront of us. He then slowly kneels down and flashes his flash light on our face. We both cover our faces due to the bright light and suddenly his torch light went out and before he can say anything, he turns into a coffin and both of our vision went black.
---
It seems like I was unconscious and I'm inside Tartarus, but Akihiko is nowhere to be seen.
"Are you awake?" The mysterious boy is standing infront of me!
"Why are you here?"
"I'm always with you. You have to hurry, you need her and you'll have to face a
new ordeal. I don't have much time" he chuckles and vanish through the darkness.
"Can- nt y- ear me?" Communication with Mitsuru seems a little bit lost.
"Who are you? Are you human?" A voice besides Mitsuru rings, and it's clearer than Mitsuru's .
After I climb the stairs, I met up with Akihiko and Junpei.
"We are never going to come here by that way again" Junpei sighs "Hey did you guys here a voice on your way here?"
"Hello?"
"Yeah like that. Wait that hello sounds like it's coming from our back!" Junpei turns around and a pale girl looks at us, surprise.
"Are you Fuuka Yamagishi?" Akihiko ask and the girl nods her head.
"How can she avoid those shadows" Junpei whispers to me
"Somehow I can detect their presence" Fuuka answers. It looks like she can hear very well too.
"Her Persona must be like Mitsuru, stronger I suppose" Akihiko gives her an Evoker that he has saved for her.
"Wait! I detect two strong shadows! They are fighting someone!" After she take the Evoker from him, she shouts.
"Shit! We better get going!" We run and after we return back to the entrance, Mitsuru and Yukari is fighting with two big shadows.
"Prepare for a battle!" I shout