#Shinjiro kun

[captainstrawberrywings]

Graffart is celebrating Persona 25th anniversary and has made merch featuring all the main characters from all the persona games this one is with the Persona 3 cast

Persona 1 Persona 2 Persona 4 Persona 5 Velvet Room Protags

[lemmon-grove]

Okay, so I had a brain fart. What /if/ the male persona 3 protagonist, Akihiko, AND Shinjiro were in a big ‘ol poly relationship. But, and hear me out, only Akihiko and Shinjiro are dating and p3-kun is a ageless god whose just been watching stalking them from his hide-y hole.

[katsona-the-katsequel]

Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad Activity Report

Part 6

9/29 (Tue) - Reporter: Junpei Iori

Good evening, it's Junpei!

That's cruel, Yukari-chan. I'm savoring the joy of this wonderful encounter, the first in 16 years and 9 months since I was born into this world, and one that I don't know if I'll ever have again in my lifetime. Please let me off the hook. For some reason, I'm starting to feel sad when I say this myself.

Anyway, I'll admit I was a little carried away, but that doesn't mean I can't be relied on in a fight.

I think I'm the strongest right now! No, I'm serious. Before I met Chidori, I had nothing... There was no purpose for fighting or anything like that. If you just wanted to act like a hero just because you had a Persona and show off how cool you were at fighting, then you'd never be a real fighting force, right? No, rather than the purpose of fighting, there is a greater purpose of living... I've only just started thinking about these things now, and it's all thanks to Chidori. So...

Ugh! What am I talking about? What the hell am I talking about? Is this a chat room? Stop it, stop it, good night!

9/30 (Wed) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

Good evening, this is Yamagishi.

The Chairman was here today. He was full of praise for Aragaki-senpai. He was always saying how reassuring he felt. Thanks to him, there were few puns, which was very reassuring. …Ah, well, was that a slip of the tongue?

So, leaving that aside, Junpei-kun, I'm really impressed.. I never knew you'd been thinking about something like that... Chidori must be special to you, Junpei. I should be grateful for the good fortune of having met someone like you.

In my case, I wonder if everyone in the activity club and Natsuki-chan are like that? I have to treasure this encounter. I look forward to working with you in the future.

10/1 (Thu) - Reporter: Yukari Takeba

Ah, it's a Takeba. Hmm. Oh. Really? I see, it's Junpei, right? That's right, I see.

Yes, well, it's samurai mercy. I guess I'll spare you any unnecessary comments.

Anyway, I've been wearing winter clothes since today. I was worried that Aigis's clothes might be floating, but I wonder if they'll be okay now? I know that everyone will be wearing the same clothes, but Aigis is still cute. Either way, she might stand out...

Well, I guess she can cover it up by being a slightly air-headed returnee for now. ...Why doesn't anyone notice? This was Takeba.

10/2 (Fri) - Reporter: Mitsuru Kirijo

It's Kirijo. There are only two days left until the next full moon... There are only three Shadows left. I don't know how they will appear, but either way, the end is near. Well, I'm worried about the remnants of Strega, so I can't let my guard down, but let's move forward with hope. Let's stay calm.

10/3 (Sat) - Reporter: Shinjiro Aragaki

Tomorrow is...October 4th.

Kirijo told me to stay calm, but SEES members are so obedient. Seriously, how can you be so sound asleep at a time like this...?

Well, that's better than being scared and useless. Tomorrow, I'll show you how to fight.

That's right...I don't mean to act like I'm the boss or anything, but over the past month or so I've tried to teach you the basics of how to fight in my own way.

Well, it's a bit late to tell you... I just did it my way... and it's up to you to see what you do with it.

Well, even ifs rotten, it's a technique that has allowed me to survive without any serious injuries in the hangout area of ​​Port Island.

It should help a little. ... Seriously, what am I babbling about? Ah... It's Amada, but he's just a kid and keeps pushing himself too hard. We're all older than you, so please pay him more attention. Please. Now... I'll go to sleep.

10/4 (Sun) - Reporter: Mitsuru Kirijo

The worst-case scenario has occurred. I am not in the mood to say anything, but as the manager, there is no one else for me to report this...

...Aragaki...

Aragaki... is dead.

I'll explain the details. There were two large Shadows this time. Arcanas of Fortune and Strength. We were fighting without Aragaki and Amada, but we defeated them both.

The two missing people were found on the outskirts of Port Island Station. Amada... Apparently, he learned from somewhere that the cause of his mother's death was due to Aragaki's Persona rampage, and summoned him for revenge.

There, Aragaki received a hip shot from Takaya of Strega, and died shielding Amada.

...That's it.

...Damn it...

10/5 (Mon) - Reporter: Aigis

I believe I am the only one who is calm at present, and would like to report this. Aragaki-san's funeral was held today. After that, Amada-san disappeared. ...I am a machine, so I can state the facts calmly. However, because of this, I cannot empathize with everyone else. ...I am a little dissatisfied.

10/6 (Tue) - Reporter: Junpei Iori

Hey, it's Junpei.

A lot of things happened... really a lot of things happened, but Amada and I are back.

I heard the voice message that Aragaki-san left the day before. Amada has come back after a hard time, so we can't be disheartened.

This is an activity report, but we took a day off from conquering Tartarus today, and if we were to do anything else, we would have been waiting for Amada.

…Ah, that's right. Aigis was saying something that was bothering me.

Somehow, the Personas of Amada and Sanada-san seem to have awakened... Maybe it's a power up? Oooh? The warrior has changed jobs to become a knight? The section manager has been promoted to department manager? Wow, this looks like it's getting even more difficult to lose.

Well, seriously, I'll just have to make sure Aragaki-san doesn't laugh at me for getting so close. From now on, just keep an eye on Neo Junpei-sama.

10/7 (Wed) - Reporter: Yukari Takeba

Uh, this is Takeba.

Yesterday, he was saying something cool here. Neo Junpei-sama is already feeling down because he's not making much progress with his studies for the midterm exams in a week.

Well, I understand how you feel. I feel the same way. After all, when people say that Aramichi-senpai is the hole he fell through, I get really depressed. What's worse, when I try to ignore it and keep quiet, they explain, "Oh, that was a pun on the words 'high morale' and 'high threshold'..." Oh, excuse me! I mean, I think it's amazing in a sense that even Koro-chan's movements as she eats come to a sudden stop. A pun that freezes even animals who don't understand the language...it's the best.

10/27 (Tue) - Reporter: Mitsuru Kirijo

Well, I'm honestly glad that you care about me. Please come and see me again, but please refrain from making puns. This was Takeba.

10/9 (Fri) - Reporter: Akihiko Sanada

I'm really grateful that you guys are sincerely grieving over Shinji and haven't forgotten. But you have to understand that not forgetting and not letting it get to you are two different things. Otherwise, Shinji won't be able to rest in peace.

Also, Takeba. I'm glad you're worried about me, but even if it looks painful, I'm fine. I'm not forcing myself. I want to use this painful feeling as a springboard for the next time.

Anyway...after this weekend, you have your midterm exams, right? Are you guys okay in this state?

I'm telling you, try taking a make-up exam. I'll take Shinji's place and give you a good scolding, so be prepared.

10/10 (Sat) - Reporter: Mitsuru Kirijo

This is Kirijo.

Akihiko was harsh, but it seems like everyone is getting back on their feet, no matter what. I think that's great.

As far as I can see, you are growing stronger than many high school students your age. Not only will that help you in defeating shadows, but it will also be a great source of nourishment for your future lives.

Aragaki... left us with a lot of things.

Well, I don't have a report to make... but I noticed something a little odd, so I'll record it. Up until now, the pattern has been that the number of Lost People would decrease after defeating a large Shadow, but this doesn't seem to be the case this time. If anything, the number of patients has been steadily increasing compared to before the operation.

Is this simply the result of the enemy putting all their efforts into making sure there is only one large Shadow left, or is something completely new happening...? I may need to investigate a little. I will report back as soon as I find out.

10/11 (Sun) - Reporter: Ken Amada

...It's been a while since I've done an activity report. I thought I'd never do it again...

I wanted to show Aragaki-san that I'd recovered properly, and for a more direct reason, everyone was too busy with their exams coming up...

I'd heard that high school students' regular exams were tough, but...it's amazing.

I mean, Junpei-san, who normally doesn't even sit at his desk, let alone study, took his textbook all the way to the second floor rest area and was holding his head in his hands? It's kind of moving...

Speaking of studying for exams, I wonder what's going on in Aigis-san's head.

When I asked her, she said, "When it comes to general subjects, I'm average," but...on the contrary, it's amazing. An average artificial intelligence.

Anyway, even an outsider like me is looking forward to the exam results. Aigis said that it would all crumble if you tried, but do your best.

10/15 (Thu) Reporter: Yukari Takeba

Well, this is Takeba. I remember in the first semester I complained about general physics knowledge for a girl... but please don't take issue with the cool things I said in class, huh.

Well, I'm glad I was able to solve it. I hope there will be a good question tomorrow. This was Takeba.

10/16 (Fri) - Reporter: Junpei Iori

Arghhhh, that's too Junpei!

You idiot Ono Mune! Your head is just a helmet stand! How is it a frivolous question about how old Masamune was when he first went to battle? The world doesn't exist only in the Warring States period!

Are there no decent teachers at my school?

10/17 (Sat) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

Good evening, this is Yamagishi.

The midterm exams are finally over. I wonder how everyone did? I'm not quite sure how I did... I think I'll end up with a lower score than I expected.

Anyway, the exams are over, so I can finally concentrate on fighting shadows...

The next one is supposed to be the last Shadow, but you never know what's going to happen. And even if it's the last one, if you try too hard, you might destroy yourself.

Let's relax and do our best to fight for Aragaki-san.

10/18 (Sun) - Reporter: Mitsuru Kirijo

This is Kirijo.

The midterm exams are finally over.

Everyone, you did well this time, overcoming difficult... events and physically and mentally disadvantageous conditions, in addition to the fact that the exams were held right after the operation.

The results will be announced tomorrow, but just this once, I will refrain from going into detail about your grades. There is no way to judge how much you all suffered and tried to overcome with just a piece of exam paper.

Did you get a good rest today? Junpei seems to have gone to the hospital again, but how about the others? For now, Akihiko, be careful not to overtrain. Got it?

10/19 (Mon) - Reporter: Akihiko Sanada

The exam results are posted. Mitsuru is still at the top... Well, my grades aren't bad either, but I wonder what kind of mind she has?

Also, I checked the grades of the second year students just to be safe. Yamagishi said he didn't feel very good about it, but she's doing pretty well.

It seems like the daily accumulation has paid off. Just like boxing training, persistence pays off.

Aigis... I'm not sure. Well, you did well on your first exam... Hmm... Middle of the pack... Hmm.

But... The problem is you, Junpei. I didn't expect such high scores... but it's too much. If you study and still get low scores, I won't complain, but in your case, it's just a lack of study. You want to show off to that girl Chidori, right? What's the point of being relieved just because you avoided failing?

Well... I could help you with your studies. My own training takes priority, too, so I'm sorry I can only watch over you for about four or five hours a day.

Well, if you get up early and spend an hour before going to school, two or three hours after coming home from school before going to Tartarus, and an hour after you come back from Tartarus, that's perfect.

Okay, Junpei. Let's get started tomorrow!

10/20 (Tue) - Reporter: Aigis

Fuuka-san, I figured it out. …It's difficult. I'm not good at "understanding the context" or "reading the mood".

After that, I learned that Fuuka-san's best friend, Natsuki-san, has transferred schools.

Fuuka-san says it's okay because "we're connected even if we're apart", but... Junpei-san and Chidori-san don't seem to feel at ease when they're apart. What's the difference?

Connections and bonds between people... I feel like I still have a lot to learn. Every day is a learning experience. It's a lesson for the sixty-year-old.

10/21 (Wed) - Reporter: Yukari Takeba

Well, it's Takeba.

The next one is the last Shadow, so everyone is really excited, or rather, really fired up.

I thought Fuuka might be depressed when Moriyama-san transferred to another school, but she seems to have gotten over it and is okay. Apparently she was talking to Amada today about what to do when the Dark Hour runs out. It's a bit premature... I mean, I was talking about something like that the other day too. But... I see. It's the last one.

It doesn't really feel real, it feels weird. It's been about half a year since I got my Persona and started fighting shadows. But it's been 10 years since Tartarus and the Dark Hour were born from Kirijo's experiment, and nothing has progressed, right? Suddenly, things are moving along so smoothly... Maybe it's just because I don't have a reason to fight... I don't feel like it's ending. Well, whether you cry or laugh, the next one is the last one. Let's get pumped up! This was Takeba!

10/22 (Thu) - Reporter: Junpei Iori

Hey, Junpei here. Well, Yukari said it too, but everyone's really pumped up lately. What? It's unbearably hot in the dorm. But when I told Yukari about it, she said, "Oh, you're hot, aren't you?" Hot? Is that an obsolete expression?

Ikutsuki-san came by today for the first time in a while, but no puns!? He talked to me normally and seriously, and gave me the normal encouragement before he left, so in a way, it's even more of a miracle than the disappearance of the Dark Hour.

I mean, getting rid of Dark Hour isn't really a miracle after all. The enemy seems to be desperately trying to increase the number of Lost people, but it's only a matter of time before shadows, the Dark Hour, and Tartarus all boom!...Come to think of it, we haven't conquered all the floors of Tartarus yet, have we? Is that really safe? Well, even if we go all the way to the top, the treasure chests are only a little more luxurious... so maybe we should just go after all?

10/23 (Fri) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

Good evening, this is Yamagishi.

It seems like everyone is really motivated for the final Shadow.

Junpei-kun also said that Sanada-senpai has been giving off even more of an aura of McChristie recently.

The ending doesn't make sense though...

But Yukari tells me that not only Sanada-senpai, but everyone's life's radiance is changing. That's what really gives off an aura.

I'm sure the final battle with the Shadow will go well. It'll be fine.

10/24 (Sat) - Reporter: Aigis

Today, Yukari asked me why I fight. The answer is clear.

I was created by humans to fight shadows. Therefore, the reason I fight is because I was born that way.

However... when I answered that and Yukari said, "I see," I felt a little complicated. Defeating shadows is my mission. There is no doubt about that.

In that case, the meaning of my existence when I'm not fighting is lighter than that of my existence when I am. That's only natural.

And yet, the priority of the time I spend at school, when I'm not fighting, which should be just idling time, is being updated to a higher priority in my mind. This is a very mysterious phenomenon.

In any case, this thought is unproductive, so I should seal it away so that it doesn't get in the way of the Shadow fight. My current top priority is the last Shadow. That is for sure.

10/25 (Sun) - Reporter: Akihiko Sanada

Recently, I've been strangely engrossed in my training, and I haven't really noticed what's going on around me. I'm not the only one who's fired up. As Junpei said, everyone is fired up for the fight.

Junpei, I'm sorry for the nasty lecture I gave you the other day about your exam scores. Your attitude was as carefree as ever, and I was so focused on myself that I misjudged you. It seems that you've grown before I knew it. Is this also thanks to this Chidori?

Anyway, with the last Shadow in front of us, there are almost no factors that will cause us to lose. There are less than 10 days until the full moon, so let's keep working hard.

Oh, by the way. Today, I had Aigis make a running regime for me, and it turned out pretty well. She gave me the perfect amount of stress for my current ability, and she chose a course that was easy to run and wouldn't get boring. Her analytical skills are incredible. If you're planning on training, you should ask her.

10/26 (Mon) - Reporter: Junpei Iori

Hi, Junpei here.

Well, when Sanada-san apologizes to me, it kind of throws me off, or rather, ah... sorry.

Well, I'm a carefree person at heart. Admittedly, I've been thinking a little seriously lately, but basically, I just want to live a happy and cheerful life! Defeat shadows and protect my home! That's how it is.

Well, I understand what you're saying. We all have different ways of doing things, but we all have the same heart! Defeat the Shadow! Right?

Oh, but please spare me Aigis' training regime. I seriously nearly died before. It's too difficult for a weak-willed guy like me...

It's Kirijo.

Akihiko. Iori. I've always thought this, but you two make a pretty good pair, don't you think? Yesterday and the day before yesterday, it felt like the friendship between two men before a battle.

...It reminded me a little of Akihiko and Aragaki in their first year of high school. Aragaki back then was a bit overconfident and cocky, but he was full of ideals and wanted to protect others. He also had a pretty cheerful personality. He was the type who told a lot of jokes.

That's right...If you add Iori and Amada now and divide them by two, they might be close to Aragaki back then.

And Akihiko...he hasn't changed at all. He's the same.

...I guess it's not like an old story? Maybe I'm thinking about the end, but I've been remembering the old days lately.

10/29 (Thu) - Reporter: Aigis

Everyone... let's live in the present so that SEES can someday become a fond memory. Let's make shadows a thing of the past!

10/28 (Wed) - Reporter: Yukari Takeba

Well, it's Takeba.

I guess Ikutsuki-san has been coming here a lot lately, maybe because the next Shadow is the last one. I wonder if he wants to see everyone's enthusiasm rising?

Well, that's fine, that's fine.

The problem is the same as always, when someone says, "Everyone's morale is so high, I feel like I can't get close to you," it actually brings down my morale. What's worse, when I try to ignore it and keep quiet, he explains, "Oh, that was a pun between 'high morale' and 'high threshold'...! ...sorry".

I mean, the pun that made even Koro-chan stop moving while he was eating is amazing in a way. A pun that freezes animals that don't understand the language...it's the best.

Well, I'm honestly happy that you care about us. Please come and see us again, but please keep the puns to a minimum. It was Takeba.

It is wrong to take away Yukari and Ikutsuki's puns. It is unacceptable in terms of human dignity. In fact, I once advised Ikutsuki-san to refrain from making puns because it seemed to be bothering people around him. At that time, Mr. Ikutsuki taught me, a machine, about the important things that make us human beings, our individuality, and said that depriving us of our individuality is the same as depriving us of our lives. In other words, if we take away Ikutsuki's puns, he will die. Yukari will become a murderer. Please be careful.

10/30 (Fri) - Reporter: Ken Amada

Aigis-san...are you really being deceived? You're so naive.

Ah, but it seems like it might actually happen that Ikutsuki-san would die if he didn't make a pun. But Ikutsuki-san has been talking to us a lot recently and is really concerned about us, so let's just be patient.

Neon, argon, krypton, xenon, radon, and the mnemonic for that is "A strange girl goes crazy one night and starts kissing randomly." And the seventh element in that case is "A plump bra, it suits me." I don't remember the element though.

11/1 (Sun) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

Wow, studying is quite profound.

10/31 (Sat) - Reporter: Junpei Iori

Hi, Junpei here.

Hey, Amada-kun. Maybe you said it on purpose, but "I'll put up with it" isn't a good follow-up, is it? Uuu, Ikutsuki-san, it's a shame that you're being ignored despite your efforts.

Oh, speaking of puns, it reminds me of the mnemonics used to remember the chemical element symbols, right? That "Horizontal Liebe, my ship" thing. That's the way to remember them in order of element number, but do you know any mnemonics to remember them in the order they are arranged vertically on the periodic table?

Um, for example, the group on the far right. The ones called noble gases? From top to bottom, they're helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon, and apparently the mnemonic for that is "One night, a strange girl goes crazy and gives out a lot of kisses." And the next seven elements are "A fuller bra suits me." I don't remember that one though.

Wow, studying is so deep.

Good evening, this is Yamagishi.

…Junpei-kun, I've been starting to see you in a new light lately, but I guess it can't be helped. Hmm, are all boys like this? Is Sanada-senpai like that too?

Well, it turned into a sexy story, but it seems like Ken was just talking about school.

I remember the order of the noble gases, so I guess you could say that things have gotten better since the old days. Maybe, right? Hmm, that's a pretty euphemism, even to me. To be honest, I was going to tell you all to relax today since it's just before the final battle, but I don't think it's necessary at this rate.

It's good to be in high spirits, but if you get too excited and on edge, your nerves will be exhausted and you won't be able to last until the day of the event. I'm not saying you need to be as tense as Junpei, but everyone should try to maintain a moderate level of tension and keep a cool head. I'll support you with all my might.

11/2 (Mon) - Reporter: Mitsuru Kirijo

It's Kirijo.

I think you've already said almost everything I wanted to say to you before the final battle. It was in March of this year that we welcomed Takeba, the first new member in a long time, into SEES. During that time, your awareness as warriors seems to have grown beyond anything I could have imagined.

Tomorrow is finally a full moon.

There are no more words to say.

I pray that tomorrow, after the final Dark Hour is over, everyone will be able to enjoy it safely.

I'll turn shadows into rust with my sword!

11/3 (Tue) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

Good evening, this is Yamagishi.

We've defeated the last Shadow! To be honest, I thought that such an important report should be made by Kirijo-senpai, but she entrusted the operational report to me, saying that my role was to back them up. I wonder if I was of any use to everyone? I hope so. Wasn't that an unnecessary backup? It was a short time, but I'm really glad we were able to fight together.

...There's one thing that's bothering me. A guy named Jin from Strega said that once the Dark Hour is over, even Persona Users will lose their memories. Is that... for real? Will we lose our memories like normal people?

…Even though it's over, there are still many things I don't understand, and I'm a little worried. But for now, I won't imagine anything bad, and I'll go to sleep savoring our victory. Goodnight.

11/4 (Wed) - Reporter: Akihiko Sanada

November 4th...it's already early in the morning of the 5th...but I will never forget this day.

Today, a celebration was held at the dormitory to celebrate the completion of the Shadows defeat. During the celebration, something surprising... no, it was expected in a way, but the Dark Hour began. The information that the Dark Hour would end if the 12 large Shadows were defeated was incorrect...

...No, that's not it! It was deliberately distorted information! The one who fabricated the information was Ikutsuki-san... Shuji Ikutsuki. What we had done up until now had not erased the Dark Hour, but instead had fused the 12 large Shadows together to create a new Shadow Arcana, Death.

...In the end, Ikutsuki was shot by Takeharu Kirijo and fell to his death from the observatory, where they were probably going to perform the Death Summoning Ritual. However, they both died in the process... Kirijo also died... All other members of SEES were safe. Death's appearance has not been confirmed.

11/8 (Sun) - Reporter: Ken Amada

That's all for now. I'll report back tomorrow.

11/5 (Thu) - Reporter: Akihiko Sanada

It's Sanada.

Continuing from yesterday, I'll report on the situation. In addition, I'd like to add a few details about last night's events.

First of all, the Dark Hour and Tartarus still haven't disappeared. All of Ikutsuki's information was distorted in his favor. Therefore, at this point, we don't know how to erase the Dark Hour. We're back to square one...

The details of the ritual Ikutsuki tried to perform last night are still unclear. The Kirijo Audit Office took the luggage from the principal's room in the dormitory, so if there is any record, we'll probably hear a report later. However, Kirijo is also in turmoil due to Takeharu's death. I don't think we can expect much. If Ikutsuki was trying to sacrifice us, then that means we've thwarted his intention... but I can't feel any relief.

Speaking of Takeharu's death, Mitsuru has left the dorm and gone to the head family of Kirijo. There's a mountain of things to do, like the succession issue and the funeral, so she won't be back anytime soon. As a senior, I'm planning on acting as SEES' president for the time being.

Well, fortunately... that might be the wrong way to put it, but there's still a mountain of things we can do. The Dark Hour, Tartarus, and the shadows haven't disappeared. That means it's time for us, the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, to take action. We'll sharpen our fangs and wait for the situation to change.

11/6 (Fri) - Reporter: Yukari Takeba

Well, it's Takeba.

It seems like I was ecstatic a few days ago that this was going to be the end, but that was a lie. Well, that incident with Ikutsuki was a lie, actually.

…Dammit! I can't believe it! That pun-making guy! Just remembering it makes me angry! It makes me boil!

Ugh, I need to calm down for now.

And it seems like Kirijo-senpai hasn't come back yet. Sanada-senpai is worried, but I'm a little, no, quite worried. It seems like she loved her father a lot, so I think I can understand how much she's hurting right now.

I think Kirijo-senpai probably doesn't have time to grieve. It was the same for me. Irresponsible, talkative adults are just swarming around and stirring things up. It feels like there are really people who are sad. I wonder what kind of person her mother is? I hope she's someone who will support Kirijo-senpai... We have to do our best so that she can at least concentrate on household chores.

By the way, Junpei seems to be feeling down. It seems something happened with Chidori-san. And then... Oh, that's right. Aigis has come back. The control device that was attached to Ikutsuki has been removed, and she seems to be fine now. Let's try to get things back to the way they were before, little by little. This was Takeba.

11/7 (Sat) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

Good evening, this is Yamagishi.

Everyone has been beaten to a pulp, but now they are slowly starting to get back on their feet. I'm sure if we wait a little longer they will be able to fight again. As Sanada-senpai said, there is a mountain of work to do. Please keep an eye on your juniors for a little while.

Yukari-chan, it seems the video data I salvaged from the HD was useful, right? I'm glad you found out your father was innocent. If you can just cheer up a little, I feel like I and the others can do our best.

Aigis, don't worry too much about what happened when you were being controlled, okay? Our leader is kind, so he has already forgiven you. No, he never thought you were in the wrong from the beginning.

Amada-kun, Koro-chan. Are you two okay? Rather than being disappointed, you look like you can't help but get angry at the useless people around you. Let's keep it up and get our revenge.

Junpei, you seem to be down. Are you okay? If you need to talk to me about something, let me know. I'm not good with romance, but I'll do my best.

Leader...you're still as laid-back as ever, which is reassuring. It looks like there's still a long way to go in the exploration of Tartarus, so I'm looking forward to seeing some sharp leadership from you.

Well then...good night.

It feels like it's been a long time since I've reported on activities. At one point I was at a loss, but seeing everyone working hard makes me feel like I still have a lot to learn. You're all real seniors!

But why are adults like that? Ikutsuki-san and the Kirijo family. I can tolerate it if it's just a coincidence that there are bad people around us. But if you think about it, if you just live a normal life, anyone can become that bad... it makes me hate becoming an adult.

Ikutsuki-san... Thinking about it now, before he revealed his true identity, he just pushed the battle onto us and only came to check on us occasionally, so he might have been classified as a bad adult. But to be honest, I didn't dislike Ikutsuki-san because he was one of the few people who didn't treat me like a child. Maybe he was just trying not to upset me because I was a useful pawn to help him achieve his goal... But no one knows for sure now, so there's no point in saying it. However, I'm grateful that he taught me that there are many different sides to people. Is this a bad example? Let's change our attitude.

11/9 (Mon) - Reporter: Junpei Iori

Hey there, it's Junpei!

Thank you Yukari and Fuuka for worrying about me. Well, lately, I've been feeling down because we couldn't erase the Dark Hour, Kirijo-senpai got into a lot of trouble, and that guy Ikutsuki was like that, and then Chidori... I have no idea why, but she suddenly started saying she didn't want to see me. I was a helpless samurai with no hope of a future. Even if I asked someone for advice, there was no point in asking her the reason.

Anyway, I'm sorry for being depressed all by myself. I'm sorry!

For now, there's nothing I can do about it, so I'm going to go back to the hospital once I've calmed down and ask what happened. I guess I'll consult them about something then.

Takeba, can you give me some love advice? I wonder if you understand the subtleties of a man's heart. And in the first place, do you have time to stick your nose into other people's affairs?

<-PREVIOUS ● NEXT->

[sixpossumsinatrenchcoat]

la mort en rose [ch 2/6]

A study on Minato and Ryoji. You can start from ch 1 here. P3/R spoilers through November.

Ryoji takes one step into Minato’s room and stops. “Oh. Hm. Do you believe in deja vu, Minato-kun?” “Mh,” Minato hums, shrugging out of his jacket and dumping it on the bed. “I dunno. Why?” “This place… It always feels so familiar. It's so strange. Like a dream.” Ryoji’s always saying stuff like that. For some reason, coming from Ryoji, it never sounds as weird as it should. It just sounds normal. Like he’s commenting on the weather or something. Nice breeze today! Do you ever feel like you’re not a real person?

Chapter Two: Want To Be Close

Ryoji takes one step into Minato’s room and stops. “Oh. Hm. Do you believe in deja vu, Minato-kun?”

“Mh,” Minato hums, shrugging out of his jacket and dumping it on his bed. “I dunno. Why?”

“This place…” Ryoji drifts in after him, scooping up the rumpled jacket and hanging it neatly on the bedpost. “It always feels so familiar. It's so strange. Like a dream.”

Ryoji’s always saying stuff like that. For some reason, coming from Ryoji, it never sounds as weird as it should. It just sounds normal. Like he’s commenting on the weather or something. Nice breeze today! Do you ever feel like you’re not a real person?

It doesn’t seem like he’s waiting for an answer, so Minato doesn’t give him one. Instead, he leans over the edge of his bed to root around in his school bag. He's pretty sure there's still a packet of Jagariko rattling around in there somewhere.

As soon as Ryoji hears the crinkle of plastic, the fog seems to clear. Sensory stuff, physical stuff. Boring little everyday mundanities. That’s what Ryoji likes best. (Minato sort of gets it. Even when he's dissociating so hard that he can barely hear the teacher, he's still game to get a burger. Chewing. Swallowing. Grease and salt. Basic, physical reminders that he does still have a body, even if he can’t always feel it.)

When he looks up, Ryoji is perched on the foot of his bed, looking at the snack like Koromaru looks—looked at Shinjiro’s cooking. “Can I have one?”

“Fine.”

“Feed it to me?”

“No.”

“You never want to do anything fun,” Ryoji sulks. When he hops up to close the door, his eyes lock onto Minato’s SEES uniform: belt, holster and all. “Minato-kun??? Is that a gun?”

Minato looks, too. It does not look great. He should probably find a better place to stash his evoker. “Uh. No, not really. It’s just a prop gun. Basically a toy.”

“Don’t tell me it’s—”

“It’s for my club.”

Ryoji throws his hands up. “What kind of a club makes you carry a gun???”

“…Gun club.”

“That’s—hm. I’m pretty sure that’s not a thing?”

Minato’s mouth ticks up in just the faintest, subtlest smirk. “Then explain the gun.”

Ryoji flings himself onto the bed, rolling onto his back and curling up like a pill bug with one elbow over his eyes. “I caaaan’t!”

“Then I guess it’s a thing.”

“Minato-kun,” Ryoji says pitifully. “Mina-kun. Mina-chan.”

“No.”

“What do you do in your club?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Minato snickers.

“Yes! Desperately!”

“Yeah, well, keep dreaming.”

“Mina-kun!” Ryoji gasps. “You’re a sadist!”

You like it, Minato almost says. He has to physically stop himself. Just because Ryoji can’t go two seconds without flirting doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to encourage him. It seems… sort of dangerous? Which is weird, because Minato had got the impression that he’d forgotten how to feel scared. To feel afraid, you need to have anything left to lose.

“I have to study,” he says instead.

“Oh, me too!! I’ll help!!”

“You can help by being quiet.”

“I’ll be the quietest!” Ryoji promises. “You won’t even know I’m here!”

That’s… probably true. Which is weird, too. Normally Minato finds it annoying, having someone hovering over him. Talking at him. Expecting things of him. Waiting for him to look their way. But being with Ryoji feels almost like being alone.

When he reaches for his headphones, Ryoji catches him by the wrist. “Can I have an ear?”

“...Fine.”

You can read the rest of chapter two here: ao3.org/works/58634896/chapters/149645200 Or start from chapter one here: ao3.org/works/58634896/chapters/149399371

[chosen-hero-inari]

Whumptober Day 31: "I'm Alive, I'm Just Not Well"

A/N: i stayed up listening to EPIC the vengeance saga and I REGRET NOTHING

Pray

The air around the shrine is chilly, and Hamuko pulls her scarf tighter.

It’ll be the Dark Hour soon, and she… doesn’t know what to do about it.

Ikutski betrayed them, Mitsuru-senpai lost her father, and they’re no closer to figuring out how to destroy the Dark Hour and the threat of Shadows once and for all than they were when she first arrived at the dorm.

Instead of worrying about that, Hamuko does what she does best: find another problem to solve.

Shinjiro had mentioned some kids hanging around the back alleys alongside Strega, and now that Strega was gone, Hamuko could at least help them.

She’d spent the last few days asking around after school, and is fairly certain she’s tracked them down here.

Hamuko checks her phone. A few seconds to midnight.

She closes her eyes, and when she opens them the world is blanketed in green. 

“Did you really come alone?” 

Hamuko spins around, her hand going to her Evoker on instinct, but it’s just three kids.

The boy who spoke has brown hair, and looks to be around Ken’s age. Next to him is thinner boy with blue hair.

Finally, there’s a girl with orange hair and a laptop looking down on her from atop the jungle gym.

“Hi,” Hamuko says. “I’m–

“We know who you are.” The girl says. “Hamuko Arisato, Gekkoughan high school calls 2-F, top of your class, member of the volleyball team, the library club, student council, and of course the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad.”

“How did you know that?” Hamuko asks.

“Getting your transcript was way too easy,” the girl replies.

Her transcript. The one that mentions her parents.

“Well, it’s only fair I know your names, since you know mine, right?”

The three kids share a look, then the brown haired one shrugs. “Goro Akechi.”

“I’m Yusuke Kitagawa,” the thin boy says.

“Futaba Ishikki,” the girl says.

“It’s nice to meet all of you,” Hamuko says. “I want to help you, I can take you to see Chidori.”

Kitagwa-kun steps forward, but Akechi-kun puts out a hand.

“You don’t understand what’s going on here,” Akechi-kun says. “We’re making the demands. Let Chidori go, and stop trying to destroy the Dark Hour.”

“We won’t do that,” Hamuko says. “Not while Shadows are still a threat to humanity–”

“Humans are worse than any Shadow out there,” Kitagawa-kun snaps. “Just give us back Ms. Chidori!”

Hamuko represses a groan at the thought of Takaya saying pretty much the same thing. “Ok, yes people will still die and suffer without Shadows. But it will be fewer people, because we can’t just get rid of the things that make people hurt other people.”

“Says you,” Ishikki-kun says. “The Lost aren’t hurting anyone.”

“That’s not the same thing.”

“Then it seems we’re at an impasse,” Akechi-kun says. “We can't agree, so I guess we’ll have to talk to your friends and see what they think.”

“Yes!” Hamuko says. “Come back with me to the dorm, and we’ll talk to my friends!”

���You really don’t think much of us, do you?” Akechi-kun says. “Just because Takaya thinks you’re special doesn’t mean you can brush us off.”

“I really don’t care that Takaya thinks I’m special,” Hamuko says. “In fact, I kind of hate it.”

“Hey! Don’t talk about him like that! Takaya’s strong! And we’re just as strong as he is!” Hamuko just catches the glint of an Evoker as Akechi-kun pulls it out and points it to his head. “Minos!”

Hamuko dodges Akechi-kun’s Persona, and pulls out her own Evoker. 

“Thanatos!” she cries out, absorbing the next Dark attack. “Kids, I really don’t want to fight you.”

“Too bad,” Akechi-kun says. He nods up at Ishikki.

“You can’t hide anything from Despoena,” the girl smirks, summoning her own Persona. It’s clear instantly that Hamuko’s being scanned.

Hamuko casts Tempest Slash towards Akechi-kun, but Kitagawa-kun gets in the way. 

“Our turn!” Ishikki giggles.

“Tantalus,” Kitagawa-kun says, and suddenly there’s a chill in the night air. Then Kitagwa-kun’s Persona strikes her. It doesn’t hurt thanks to Thanatos, but suddenly Hamuko’s rocked by another kind of pain.

She’s unbearably hungry.

“Guess you really aren’t that special,” Akechi-kun says, and then his Persona changes. “Ikelos. Hamaon.”

Oh it is going to be a long night.

[beautiful-boy-bracket]

WELCOME TO THE BEAUTIFUL BOY BRACKET

lets start with the minor character section (both sections are in this post), where we have 32 characters handpicked from your submissions by me personally. they are as follows:

Shinjiro Nozomi from Entropic Float: This World Will Decay And Disappear

Xiao Yin from Dislyte

Cherry (Kaoru Sakurayashiki) from Sk8 The Infinity

Kashima Yuu from Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

Argalia from Library Of Ruina

Haku from Spirited Away

Mytho from Princess Tutu

Emrys from The Hero's Journey

Magnus Chase from Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series

Kusuriuri from Mononoke, Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales

Kai Satou from Your Turn To Die

Santa from Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

Abi from Akatsuki no Yona

Ramuda from Hypnosis Microphone

Ronald from Jackson's Diary

Ryuji Ayukawa from Blue Period

Yuuya Sakazaki from Hatoful Boyfriend

Cure Infini from HUGtto Precure

Richard from Tales of Graces

Gero Akoya from Cute High Earth Defense Club Love!

Elpizo from Mega Man Zero 2

YiGuang from My Vow To My Liege

Raikou Shimizu from Nabari No Ou

Lio Fotia from Promare

Aurelius from Royal Alchemist

Yuliy Jirov from Sirius the Jaeger

Mochizuki Yukimitsu from Skate Leading Star

Yuri Lowell from Tales Of Vesperia

Lord Golden, aka The Fool, from The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb

Jim Hawkins from Treasure Planet

Epel Fermier from Twisted Wonderland

Valimer from Women of Xal

some of these names may be misspelled, which i will find out when googling them again to save their images; fault lies with their submitters /lh

as almost 3/4 of these characters have only gotten one submission each, the minor bracket is not seeded, and the matchups will be randomized

now for the major bracket! as this one is possible to seed, i present you with...

the round one matchups in the major bracket will be:

Howl Jenkins Pendragon from Howl's Moving Castle vs Artemis Fowl from the Artemis Fowl series

Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender vs Izaya Orihara from Durarara!!

Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu from The World Ends With You vs Gerry Keay from The Magnus Archives

Kurapika from Hunter X Hunter vs Lan Wangji from Mo Dao Zu Shi | The Untamed

Alucard from Castlevania vs Aaravos from The Dragon Prince

Legolas Greenleaf from Lord Of The Rings vs Vash The Stampede from Trigun Stampede

Taako from The Adventure Zone vs Albedo from Genshin Impact

Leonardo Hamato from Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs Andromeda Shun from Saint Seya

Dorian Gray from The Picture Of Dorian Gray vs Yuri Plisetsky from Yuri!!! On Ice

Gunpowder Tim from The Mechanisms vs Affogato Cookie from Cookie Run

Klavier Gavin from Ace Attorney vs Marluxia from Kingdom Hearts

Mettaton EX from Undertale vs Chuuya Nakahara from Bungou Stray Dogs

Link from The Legend Of Zelda vs Essek Thelyss from Critical Role

Angel Devil from Chainsaw Man vs Kian Stone from Just Roll With It

Tamaki Suoh from Ouran High School Host Club vs Yuri Leclerc from Fire Emblem

Wallace from Pokemon vs Sesshomaru from InuYasha

[yusuke-of-valla]

I'm curious, what's the difference between Door-kun and FeMC's storylines?

Broadly the main plot is exactly the same with the exception of FeMC having the ability to save Shinjiro via romance because of his social link

Otherwise broadly it's:

FeMC has new social links all together, and social links with SEES are now completely different (and easier to start in some cases.)

Also some cutscenes change. Like the hot springs cutscene/mini game? As Door-kun you sneak away and FeMC you track down the guys. Also in Yakushima FeMC doesn't participate in operation babe hunt, instead Junpei and Akihiko ask Aigis out and she runs off to find FeMC, who's with the girls. Then when Aigis finds and hugs FeMC they're like "ohhh she's a lesbian" (I promise it's funnier when you actually play it)

The broad strokes of the plot stay the same though

[brookeginko]

feeling hateful here are some p3 fan red flags

-disliking yukari because she’s ‘mean.’ you don’t have to be her #1 fan or anything but she acts like a normal teenage girl and i guarantee if she was a male character instead no one would have this issue with her

-making jokes abt akihiko not understanding social cues every four seconds

-alternatively bringing up his autistic-coding every four seconds. yes he is autistic-coded. no, a screenshot of him saying the word ‘yes’ does not need to be captioned with ‘OMG HE’S SO AUTISTIC I NEED TO SHOOT AND KILL HIM’

-liking ryoham but not ryomina/liking aikoto but not hamugis

-or alternatively agreeing with the whole ‘ryomina is weird because Makoto’s his surrogate mother’ tweet that got memed a while back

-frequently call makoto or shinjiro ‘emo’

-or saying that p3 is the ‘emo’ or ‘edgy’ persona game

-door-kun toaster aigis

-genuinely hcing that yukari is homophobic bc of that one meme (YES I’VE SEEN THIS.)

-seeing chidori only as an extension of junpei

-sexualizing any of SEES including the third years

-mitsuru fans that use the word mommy to describe her

-thinking akihiko is a cool chad gym bro. this one i don’t mind as much since it’s not super apparent if you haven’t played portable im just very particular about my hiko characterization

-BUT if you mention protein whenever he’s brought up… ☹️

-thinking makoto has no personality behind ‘I don’t care’ ESPECIALLY if they’re referring to p3m

-thinking ken was responsible for shinjiro’s death

-bringing up the ken romance every time someone mentions kotone

-policing anyone for using a different name for the protagonists

-shitting on reload because it’s new. I’m not talking about actual criticism because I have some too but just. wahhhhh reload bad it has no soul wahhhhhhhh provides no evidence

-going along w above ive seen people bitching that reload is ‘woke’ because of bi ryoji. cry me a river he’s been bi since portable

-also going along with above. coming up with excuses for any of the canon bi p3 characters (kotone aigis ryoji) not actually being bi

-you think akishinji is a proship because of Castor and Polydueces

-akimina shippers who woobify makoto. i guess this goes for any makoto ship but i’ve seen it the worst with akimina

-shitting on any non problematic ships

-you try to correct people’s ship names because its ’not the canon name.’ You can take akimina from my cold dead hands I’m not calling it akimako

[tacitusauxilium]

moved ask to here // @segnisacfessis

And here she thought Shinjiro was the more intimidating one. She only wanted to give Mitsuru and Akihiko a little break while watching over Chidori. She barely spoke to them, mainly to Junpei, and she thought she could attempt to talk to the navigator of Strega. As if she could connect to someone like her--at least, Fuuka hoped.

"It's not pity, Chidori-san. It's...empathy. It's hard to see the good when you are surrounded by so many bad things." Fuuka stated, her hands in her lap, staring softly towards the red-head. Of course, she could talk about the many times she was bullied or how she could barely see the light in the darkness until she joined SEES. But, that would bore Chidori or piss her off.

"Junpei-kun really cares about how you turn out--more than himself, you know. If only someone would like at me like he does you. You are very lucky."

[nero-vanderwolf]

“Shinjiro? It’s the middle of the night, what-”

“Ken is missing.”

Fuuka freezes, phone slipping out of her hand. It clatters to the floor, and she can faintly hear Shinjiro’s voice asking if she’s alright.

Ignoring it, she rushes to the drawers by her bed, grabs her Evoker and shoves in its holster, setting it on top of the drawers for tomorrow.

“I’m here. I’m sorry for the wait. There’s nothing we can do right now, but tomorrow I’ll gather everyone and we can discuss matters further. You said the Investigation Team meets at the Junes food court, right?”

Fuuka can almost hear Shinjiro’s nod as he answers.

“Yes. If you can summon everyone there, we’ll be there too.”

It doesn’t take an ace detectice to Shinjiro is referring to himself and Akihiko, but Fuuka wonders vaguely if they’ll allow Goro to accompany them. After all, Ken was younger than Goro when he joined SEES, but this is another matter entirely.

Shinjiro sighs, cutting through Fuuka’s thoughts. “You’ve gotta stop going quiet on me. I keep thinkin’ something’s happened to you too.”

Fuuka winces. “I’m sorry, Shinjiro. I just... I’m thinking. Planning. I’ll gather everyone at 10 tomorrow.”

Shinjiro goes silent this time, but Fuuka can hear background noises. Akihiko’s voice sounds faintly as he shouts.

“Shinji! Where is Ken!?”

“He’s missing, Aki. We’re gonna gather everyone tomorrow and look for him.”

“Tomorrow!? Who knows what could have happened to him by then!”

“There’s a good chance he was another victim of those kidnappings. And every single time, they’ve ended up in the damn TV.”

There’s no more background chatter, and the line suddenly goes dead. Shinjiro has hung up, Fuuka presumes, and closes her phone to end the call on her end too.

Now, to contact the others.

It’s exactly 10:15 when Yu-kun comes rushing up to the food court, tugging his jacket on over his shoulders.

“I’m so sorry I’m late, I had to wait for Nanako to get back so she could watch the house- Is everyone else here already?”

He grabs a seat, settles in with the rest of the cluttered group. Yosuke-kun nods. “Yep, you’re the last one, Partner. Don’t sweat it, though. We understand.”

The Investigation Team all nod, grim looks on their faces.

“However,” says Naoto-kun, “the sooner we discuss our plans, the better. We have a large group here, so that means we could potentially make separate groups to spread out and search for Ken-kun in the TV world. We would have to work out who goes with whom, but that can be decided when we get there. For now, we must check the weather report. We only have a limited number of days to save Ken-kun before he is killed by Shadows. Rise, if you would?”

Rise-chan nods. “It’s going to be sunny all week, but the deadline for rescuing Ken-kun is... The fourth. That’s when the fog will set in on our side, and Ken-kun will be lost forever. That gives us two weeks to get in and rescue him.”

Fuuka feels her blood turn to ice as Naoto-kun and Rise-chan mention the possibility of Ken dying. As she fidgets with the Evoker around her waist, she can only imagine how terrified Shinjiro and Akihiko must be.

Goro speaks up. “One thing about the groups. I’m coming with you all.”

Shinjiro responds immediately. “No, you aren’t.”

Goro holds his ground, standing up. “Yes, I am! That’s my brother in there! I can’t stand by and watch! I have to help!”

Akihiko replies this time, desperation on his face. “You haven’t had the proper training with your Persona yet!”

Goro scowls. “Who says?”

Shinjiro freezes. Fuuka glances at the twins, at Mitsuru and Yukari, at Junpei. At Koromaru. But not at Ken.

The guilty party shrink down into their seats, eyes fixed firmly on the ground and table. The Investigation Team.

“You all let him come with you!?” Akihiko demands, and Rise-chan worries her lip with her teeth, eyes sparkling.

“He has the same power as us... We know how to help-” She begins, but Akihiko cuts her off.

“All of you are children! You don’t know how to properly handle your Personas either!”

He falls silent, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. Shinjiro grabs one, entwines their fingers.

“...You all could have gotten yourselves in serious trouble thus far. Honestly, it’s impressive that you haven’t. The TV world is still dangerous, but you all seem to know what you’re doin’.”

Rise-chan blinks rapidly, teeth sunk into her bottom lip. Shinjiro reaches over, gently places a hand on hers.

“This’ll all be okay. We’ll save Ken before the fog comes. Then, once we do that, we can help you get a bit of a better handle on your powers. There are some neat things you can do with Personas.”

Rise-chan looks up, and nods once. It’s firm, determined. The others share similar expressions, and the old members of SEES bear expressions similar to that of when they were venturing into Tatarus right before a full moon, grim and determined to get stronger.

Faintly, she feels a connection to everyone. She feels a bond forming, tight and strong, bound by everyone’s determination to save Ken and solve the mysteries of Inaba.

Mitsuru is the one who voices Fuuka’s thoughts.

“Something tells me SEES will end up staying in Inaba longer than we anticipated,” she says with a small smile.

Makoto and Kotone sit up a bit straighter, glancing at each other. There is a shared look of bemusement on their faces. Kotone clutches her blouse. Makoto holds his hand on the back of his neck.

“Something the matter, you two?” Mitsuru asks, and Kotone speaks up.

“...When we sealed Nyx away, we sacrificed the powers of our Personas. We used the power of the bonds we formed to finish it once and for all... So we thought we wouldn’t be able to form any more. Or at least, none with power behind them. But this...”

“It’s the same feeling as before. Whenever we formed a powerful new bond, we had this feeling. Kotone’s chest would ache, the hairs on my neck would stand up. This... This is the same feeling,” Makoto adds, voice quiet.

“A new bond...?” Yukari asks, but Yu-kun seems to understand perfectly.

“Whenever I form one, the pit of my stomach drops like I’m on a rollercoaster. I just had that feeling. I think... I think even though I’m the only one who can get any power from this bond, with my wildcard abilities, you two are still experiencing the effects. Were you wildcards?”

They both nod, and Yu hums. “Then that’s why. Your bodies grew accustomed to the feeling, and your hearts, though separated from their powers, still recognise the bond formed. There are some neat things you can do with Personas. Right, Shinjiro-san?”

Shinjiro hesitates, then nods.

A new bond, formed from determination and empathy. One with power unforetold, unbound by rules.

A Social Link, the Finders of the Lost, of the Judgement Arcana, is formed. And with it brings tidings of new fortune.

OH MY GOD SCREAMAMAMMUNNGGGGG ok WE FINALLY HAVE MORE TO KEN'S DISAPPEARANCE!!!! akihiko would definitely be the one to rush into things. his sons in potential danger? GO!!! RUSH IN!!!! IMMEDIATELY!!!! which is honestly a valid reaction. and shinji, while also scared, is there to calm him down. ALSO YU DO NOT LEAVE NANAKO HOME ALONE IM SCARED WE'RE GONNA HAVE A DOUBLE CHILD DISAPPEARANCE ON OUR HANDS!!!!! also kotone and makoto explanation on Nyx... probably not lore accurate but dont give a shit. the fact they still feel when a bonds been formed... and yu's there like "me too." ALSO THE FINDERS OF THE LOST???? THATS SO FUCKING COOL AND IM AGGRHAHAAAHHHHG

[nerium-shipping]

♡ F/Os by Series Characters in bold are Fictional Favourite Persons and hold an extreme importance to myself or other system members

•Obey Me - Lucifer

•Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss - Lucifer Morningstar, Angel Dust, Alastor, Lilith (Situational), Stolas Ars Goetia

•Twisted Wonderland - Idia Shroud, Ortho Shroud, Malleus Draconia, Trey Clover, Riddle Rosehearts, Vil Schoenheit, Neige LeBlanche, Divus Crewel

•Black Butler - Sebastian Michaelis, Vincent Phantomhive, O!Ciel Phantomhive, Gregory Violet, Alois Trancy, Claude Faustus

•Genshin Impact - Venti, Scaramouche/Wanderer

•My Hero Academia - Hawks, Toshinori Yagi, Dabi, Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugou, Shoto Todoroki

•Disney - Hades

•Lore Olympus -Hades

•Toilet Bound Hanako-kun - Tsukasa Yugi, Amane Yugi/Hanako-kun

•Call of Duty - Simon "Ghost" Riley

•Durarara!! - Izaya Orihara

•Cult of the Lamb - The One Who Waits/Narinder

•Boyfriend to Death/The Price Of Flesh - Lawrence Oleander, Sano Kojima, Ren Hana/Fox

•Ao no Exorcist - Rin Okumura

•Tokyo Ghoul - Hideyoshi Nagachika, Kuki Urie, Haise Sasaki, Ken Kaneki

•I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - AM

•Heart No Kuni no Alice - Peter White

•Monogatari - Koiyomi Araragi

•Brothers Conflict - Tsubaki Asahina, Azusa Asahina

•Bungo Stray Dogs - Osamu Dazai, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Edogawa Ranpo, Chuuya Nakahara, Nikolai Gogol

•D. Gray-Man - Allen Walker, Yu Kanda, Nea/Thirteenth

•Danganronpa - Komaeda Nagito, Kokichi Ouma, Junko Enoshima, Toko Fukawa

•Demon Slayer - Tanjiro Kamado, Zenitsu Agatsuma

•Ensemble Stars - Mayoi Ayase

•Fruits Basket - Kyou Sohma, Yuki Sohma, Hatori Sohma, Hatsuharu Sohma

•Fullmetal Alchemist - Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric, Roy Mustang

•Haikyuu!! - Hinata Shoyo, Oikawa Tooru, Kageyama Tobio

•Higurashi no Naku no Koro Ni - Rena Ryuugu

•Osomatsu-san - Ichimatsu, Todomatsu, Karamatsu

•Ouran High School Host Club - Tamaki Suoh, Kyoya Ohtori, Hikaru Hitachiin, Kaoru Hitachiin

•Persona 4 - Naoto Shirogane, Yu Narukami

•Persona 3 - Akihiko Sanada, Shinjiro Aragaki, Ken Amada, Aigis

•Persona 5 - Akira Kurusu, Futaba Sakura, Ann Takamaki, Haru Okumura, Yusuke Kitagawa

•Soul Eater - Death the Kid, Stein

•Spy x Family - Loid Forger, Yor Forger

•Sword Art Online - Kazuto Kirigaya, Asuna Yuuki

•The Case Study of Vanitas - Vanitas

•The Devil is a Part-Timer - Satan

•Mirai Nikki - Yuno Gasai, Amano Yukiteru, Akise Aru

•Tokyo Revengers - Kazutora Hanemiya, Manjiro Sano/Mikey, Ken Ryuguji/Draken, Chifuyu Matsuno

•xxxHolic - Kimihiro Watanuki

•Yuri!!! On Ice - Viktor Nikiforov, Yuri Katsuki

•Angel's of Death - Danny Dickens

•Baldur's Gate - Astarion

•Coffin of Andy and Leyley - Andrew

•Final Fantasy VII - Cloud Strife

•Yugioh- Yugi Mutou, Atem, Yami Bakura

•Avatar the Last Airbender - Zuko

•Blood + - Charles

•Borderlands - Handsome Jack

•Castlevania - Alucard, Dracula

•Deltora Quest - Lief

•Gangsta - Nicholas Brown

•Killing Stalking - Oh Sangwoo, Yoon Bum

•The Mortal Instruments- Jace, Sebastian Morgenstern, Simon Lovelace, Gem Carstairs, Will Herondale

•Aggretsuko - Haida, Retsuko

•Gravity Falls - Mason "Dipper" Pines, Bill Cipher, Alcor (Transcendence AU)

[captainstrawberrywings]

Here another Graffart collab with Persona 3

[missingmywing]

Less angsty, mostly a cute date preparation piece. Just hints sprinkled in here and there~

Day 3: Music/Flowers (Ao3 Link)

Post-P3 so it’s much sweeter and less horribly tragic than the first two.

This also got WILDLY out of hand very quickly. It was supposed to be a cute date piece of Ryoji being cheesy for their first non-fast food date. And then Yukari and Mitsuru swung in and stole the show.

~ ᙙᙖ ~

Neither Minato nor Ryoji had expected to survive the previous year, and yet somehow here they both were. Still alive and… relatively healthy. Despite mentally pleading for more time than they had for three whole months, neither of them had expected to actually receive it.

But they had.

They were still here.

… here currently meaning cleaning the dorm kitchen after Fuuka and Ryoji’s latest disaster, but here nonetheless.

Although judging by Shinjiro’s face they wouldn’t be in the kitchen itself for long.

The other two were very apologetic even as he kicked them out, while Minato just shrugged and dragged them away to get takeout. They were getting better, but their tendency to experiment out of curiosity meant that they were still prone to disaster.

“I thought it would be alright…”

“Doubling the amount of baking powder needed means exponentially increasing how much it rises, even if you do add extra ingredients,” Minato said mildly. “I’m still not sure what you added that made it explode like that, but there’s a reason people say that baking is as strict as chemistry. Ingredients react to each other.”

Fuuka buried her face in her hands. “I thought I was getting better!”

Ryoji rubbed the back of his head. “Oops. Oh well, there’s always next time.”

The sigh Minato let out was as fond as it was put-upon. “Stop experimenting. Recipes exist the way they are for a reason.”

“But…” Fuuka was pouting, arms crossed. “Shinjiro-kun doesn’t follow recipes exactly, and several of the people in the cooking club experiment!”

“How long have they been cooking or baking?”

“… well, years…”

“And do they experiment with random ingredients, or with ingredients they’re familiar with the properties of and have an idea of how they’ll mix together?”

She was quiet for a moment, considering. “You know… I never asked. I guess that does make sense though.”

Minato shrugged. “If you wouldn’t put random computer components together to see if you could make a working pc you shouldn’t put random ingredients together to see if you can make a working recipe.”

Fuuka stopped abruptly, staring at him with her mouth dropped open and a realization dawning on her face. “Oh… Oh!!!! I never thought of it like that, but you’re right! Of course just putting more of something won’t make it work better - it’s more likely to short something out or overpower it!”

Why had that only now clicked…?

Ryoji was chuckling beside him, and he elbowed him. “That goes for you too. Stop making disasters just to see what will happen. Shinji’s going to kill you himself if you keep it up.”

“Alright, alright!” Raising his hands defensively Ryoji just grinned at him. “It’s fun though.”

“I’m not going to save you when he loses his patience.”

“Aww, that’s cold,” Ryoji slung a comfortable arm over his shoulders. “You wouldn’t abandon me.”

“Don’t be so sure.”

The laugh he received said that Ryoji didn’t believe him.

He ignored him. “Fuuka, where do you want to eat?”

“Oh! Umm… that’s good question… Wild Duck Burger is always good?”

Eventually his friends would pick restaurants outside of the two they always seemed to default to. “Sure, that’s fine.” He should ask Mitsuru and Shinji what places around had good food.

They got their food quickly enough and found a booth, but Minato noticed partway through that Ryoji seemed distracted.

He nudged his leg. “What’s wrong?”

Ryoji hummed, still staring at something past him. “We should go on a date.”

Minato paused, trying to process the non-sequitur. “We already go on lots of dates.”

“Not like that. A date-date.”

… what kind of other dates were there? He glanced at Fuuka and found her looking as confused as he felt. Not that that was surprising given she had even less familiarity with this sort of thing than he did, but he could hope.

Twisting around to see what Ryoji was staring at, he saw a couple sitting at a corner table leaning close and talking and laughing together.

… which told him absolutely nothing because he and Ryoji did that sort of thing already.

He raised a brow at him. “If you’re using them as an example you’re going to have to be more specific because we already eat out together.”

That seemed to startle Ryoji out of his thoughts. “Wha- oh! No, not an example. Seeing them just reminded me of a conversation I had with a girl at school yesterday about dates, and what people mean by it.” Shrugging, he tossed a fry in his mouth. “She was complaining that none of the boys she dated recently took her on ‘real dates’, like to a nice restaurant and then out somewhere fun. She didn’t really specify what ‘somewhere fun’ meant, though given one of her friends mentioned karaoke and another one started talking about moonlit walks along the ocean I guess you can get creative?”

“A shame Tartarus is gone then,” Minato deadpanned. “A picnic at its peak and then walking down 263 floors sounds pretty creative to me.”

Fuuka shuddered and Ryoji shook his head with a chuckle. “Not quite what they had in mind, I don’t think. I think something different than usual could be fun, though!”

Maybe. There were a couple of problems with that, though. “Do you have money that you’ve been hiding?” Minato asked dryly. “Because I spent almost all of mine in that final rush to prepare for Nyx, so I don’t think I could afford a nice restaurant.” Unless he got a part time job again. “Not to mention nice enough clothes to be allowed in-” Unless he got a part time job and asked Yukari for store recommendations. “-and finding a restaurant that wouldn’t be weird about it.” … he had no clue for that one. If it were Kabukicho there were plenty, but Tatsumi Port Island was a very different place.

“Hmm…” Ryoji covered his mouth thoughtfully, finger tapping on the table.

… so it looked like they’d both be getting part time jobs then, and he was going to have to suffer through Yukari’s extremely nitpicky fashion sense.

Minato sighed. “I know several places always hiring, so the money should be easy enough to deal with. Yukari will be thrilled to finally get us in outfits she approves of, so that will be simple too. The restaurant itself is another problem entirely. I don’t feel like being whispered about and stared at the whole time we’re there.” Not that he really cared, but it’d get annoying if it happened the whole time.

“U-Um… I can help out,” Fuuka offered. “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll see if I can find something online. Otherwise we could probably ask Mitsuru-san for advice…”

Minato winced. “I’d rather not ask Mitsuru. Knowing her she’d probably just rent out a whole restaurant room for us or something.”

“Oh that could be fun-”

“Absolutely not Ryoji.”

“Alright, alright!”

“Thank you, Fuuka.” Minato ran a hand through his hair, mentally plotting out his weeks ahead. He had kendo practices so he’d have to work around those, but it was doable… He also had more time now that he wasn’t trying to actively maintain over twenty social links and prepare a team for Tartarus every couple of days. Much as he still liked to keep in touch with his friends from various clubs, being able to quit most of his clubs had freed up an incredible amount of time.

After his rather spectacular collapse at the beginning of March, when everything had hit him all at once and a year’s worth of extreme pressure and stress slid off his shoulders - and Ryoji had revealed what his schedule had actually looked like - SEES had been incredulous and Yukari and Akihiko had shouted both him and Mitsuru down about overworking and taking on too much pressure. Suffice to say he’d been relegated to two clubs and one part time job at the absolute maximum, and strongly recommended to stick to one each under threat of Yukari’s fury.

So he’d dropped out of the track team (with some prodding from both Yuko and Kazushi when he hesitated), the art club along with Keisuke, the fashion club had been disbanded when Bebe left, and Chihiro and Hidetoshi had been pretty severe with cutting back his responsibilities for the Student Council once Mitsuru had told them the (abridged) reason for his collapse.

He’d kept up kendo just to keep using a sword, though, and with only one athletic club and no part time job it had been enough to keep his friends off his back while he slowly stopped feeling like he was going to pass out anytime he did anything strenuous.

Which had been sign enough, he supposed.

“Don’t push yourself too hard. I brought it up so I can take care of the money-” The look Minato sent Ryoji made him break off and lean back. “I’m not babying you! I, of all people, know you can handle the pressure, but there are days you can barely even stay awake in class. I just don’t want you to collapse again - you scared us.”

Fair enough. Minato sighed, shaking his head. “I won’t push it too far. But I’ve healed enough that it won’t be a problem.” As long as he paid attention. “As long as we can find a restaurant everything else should be simple.”

~ ᙙᙖ ~

He got lucky enough to get a job at the record store in Paulownia Mall just the job opened up, and his familiarity with music of various bands and ages impressed the owner enough to hire him instantly. So it was a low effort and enjoyable job with low chances of him overexerting himself and collapsing.

So that was one check.

(Not spending most of his money on the various albums in stock was more difficult.)

Ryoji got a job at a karaoke venue nearby, and from what he heard he was a very popular attendant, so it sounded like he was having fun with it as well. Not that he was surprised given how much the Shadow-turned-god-in-human-form loved people and loved interacting with them, but it still made him roll his eyes anytime he overheard some of the girls by the fountain giggling and wondering if they’d be able to “get him in private”. Ryoji was a flirt, but flirting was the only thing he’d do. Minato almost felt bad for them and the inevitable broken hearts.

It took a couple of months before they had an amount they deemed reasonable, and then Minato swallowed his dread and told Yukari. The hard gleam that appeared in her eye would have made even the toughest boy at school nervous. Minato had been expecting it, though, and just resigned himself to a long afternoon of being forced into clothing that would inevitably look good on him and end up self-justifying the whole ordeal.

At least Ryoji got excited about it.

He should have expected Yukari to tell Mitsuru, though. He was not expecting her to show up part way through the trip - didn’t she have enough else going on? She and her father were trying to set up an official Persona task force to deal with metaphysical distortions that may show up in the future, weren’t they? Why was she wasting time on a clothes shopping trip for a date between him and Ryoji??? This was not what he’d agreed to when he’d given in to Ryoji’s whim.

“This is a semi-casual date,” he repeated for the third time as Mitsuru drifted them towards the more formal section of the store.

“Yes, of course, and for semi-casual you need evening wear-”

“Normal person semi-casual, Mitsuru. Not ceo-heir semi-casual. Yukari please help.”

The girl laughed. “He’s right, Mitsuru. Has Fuuka found a reasonable restaurant yet?”

“Not that I know of, though we could always take a day-trip to Tokyo if need be. I know a few around the Kabukicho district. They’re more flippant about that sort of thing.”

The sudden sharp, considering look in Yukari’s eyes made him tense up. “Hmm.”

“Yukari-”

She ignored him and turned to Mitsuru. “How would you feel about a double date at Icho?”

Minato choked at the name, and even Ryoji whipped around with wide eyes.

“Y-Yukari,” Ryoji began, unusually nervous. “I’m not sure that’s what we-”

“Why that’s a delightful idea, Yukari.” Mitsuru smiled at her, why was she already pulling out her phone- “I can make the reservations for this Saturday evening then, if that’s amenable?”

“That sounds perfect!” Yukari chirped, and Minato felt nauseous.

“Yukari,” he said weakly, “Did I do something to make you angry?” How was this spiralling so quickly out of control? Outfits were one thing, but the most expensive, high class restaurant on Tatsumi Port Island was something else entirely. “First of all there’s no way we can afford that-”

“I’m aware,” Mitsuru cut in, waiting for her call to connect. “I assure you, I’ll be picking up the bill. Consider it the beginnings of repayment for everything I’ve put you through, and all you’ve done for us in the last year.”

“That’s really not necessary-”

She sent him a look. “Your idea of ‘necessary’ is the bare minimum of allowing you to remain in the dorm. Let us take care of you for a change, leader.” Her call finally connected and she turned to the phone and away from them. “Greeting, this is Kirijo Mitsuru. I’d like to make a reservation-”

Minato sent a desperate glance at Yukari. “You planned this,” he accused.

The self-satisfied smile on her face was all the confirmation he needed, even as she refuted him with a careless, “Oh don’t be ridiculous. It’ll be fun!”

Fun was not something he thought this classified under. “We’re not high class. I’m not high class. Why do you think this is a good idea?”

“Stop being a baby and overthinking it. It’s a nice restaurant, not a six course banquet.” Yukari rolled her eyes. “Just follow Mitsuru’s lead and you’ll be fine.”

Minato was regretting getting Yukari involved in this at all. Did none of his team understand the concept of moderation? He should have taken Ryoji for a day trip in Tokyo, stopped by Harajuku for clothes shopping, and then they could have gotten a reasonable restaurant on the main street of Kabukicho next to some of the gay or crossdressing clubs.

He didn’t realize he had his face in his hand until Ryoji’s hand brushed against his arm. He glanced over to see the boy with an apologetic look on his face, and Minato took a quiet breath in to calm down.

Yukari had paused and was watching him with a worried look.

It… was fine. Astronomically beyond his comfort zone, but he knew it would be fine. Mitsuru wouldn’t pull him into anything he couldn’t handle, even if it was beyond his usual… life experience. Tartarus was one thing, a fancy restaurant was something else.

It probably said a lot about him that Tartarus was the less nerve-wracking one.

Minato sighed. “A bit of warning next time. I’m better in battle than social situations, you know that.”

Yukari relaxed and shrugged apologetically. “I know. But if we give you warning then you’ll find a way to wiggle out of them.”

Now why could that possibly be?

“Mitsuru’s going to force me into a suit, isn’t she?”

“Wellllll-”

“Great.”

“A full suit isn’t necessary,” Mitsuru assured him, stepping back into the conversation.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Tie?”

“No, although it wouldn’t be out of place.” Her eyes flashed with amusement. “You needn’t be any more formal than how you wear your uniform - it isn’t the sort of place with a strict dress code. And we’ll have a private room besides.”

She’d gotten them a-

No, alright, he was going to stop thinking about the restaurant now. Mitsuru had claimed responsibility over it, he was going to delegate it to her and not worry about it. “So a dress shirt, pants, and jacket.”

“Or vest instead of jacket,” Yukari chirped, and Ryoji perked up.

Minato would take the jacket over a vest.

~ ᙙᙖ ~

He ended up with a vest too. Ryoji had taken one look at the blue vest in the same cut at the yellow vest he himself was getting and talked Minato into it.

So it wasn’t Mitsuru who talked him into what was essentially a suit - it was Ryoji. Ryoji who kept sneaking glances at him the entire time they were trying on clothes and who Minato could already tell was going to be constantly distracted the entire time they were on the date.

He’d be flattered if he weren’t already so exhausted with the whole thing.

Minato dropped back onto their bed in the dorm with a long, tired sigh, and Ryoji set down next to him after hanging their new acquisitions on the closet rack. “I know this wasn’t the plan-” he began apologetically.

“-but you had no idea it was turn into this,” Minato finished with closed eyes. “I know. It was my fault for getting Yukari involved. I didn’t expect them to spring this on me.”

“They’re trying to help.”

“I know. They just forget that not everyone is as sociable and adaptive as they are. I don’t want to upset them by turning them down.”

“I do think they’d understand.”

“They probably would but it would make them feel guilty too.”

Ryoji hummed, somewhere between amused and sad. “This is why I call you kind, you know.”

“Yeah well according to the Velvet Room my title as humanity’s champion is either “The Martyr” or “The Messiah” so I guess it fits.” He groaned, dragging a hand through his hair and glaring up at the ceiling. “This is going to be bothering me all week.

Reaching out to tug his hand from his hair gently and smooth it out, Ryoji soothed, “It’ll just be one night, and it’ll just be the four of us.”

“It’s stupid, I know.”

“It’s not. Minato,” Ryoji’s voice hardened, drawing Minato’s gaze to him. His eyes softened. “I’ve been here the whole time. I know.”

… of course he did. How often had he been Minato’s only anchor in a world that shied away from him? How often had he hovered protectively over or on the bed while Minato slept just in case the Shadows changed their minds? A silent protector, or a reassuring voice cutting through the static of an endlessly hurtful world?

Stepping from one world into another was always going to unnerve him, to make him anxious. Gone were the days of passive apathy - they’d disappeared when Thanatos had left him and come back as Ryoji.

Not that he minded, generally, but there were times like this where he missed it.

But then he wouldn’t be in this position if it were still true, would he?

A quick brush of lips against his pulled him out of his thoughts and he focused back on Ryoji smiling wryly down at him. “You’re thinking too much again.”

“I usually am.” But there was no point brooding about it, so he sat up. “Have you finished the homework for history?”

“I have. Have you finished the math?”

Minato sighed and dragged himself off the bed. “I’m about to.” If he distracted himself with schoolwork he wouldn’t send himself into a panic about the ludicrous hypotheticals that his brain wanted to shove at him.

He missed the straightforwardness of Tartarus.

~ ᙙᙖ ~

Minato tried not to be noticeably fidgety in the days leading up to Saturday, but he wasn’t sure how well he succeeded. The rest of SEES had noticed, as had a couple of student council members. He avoided the topic where he could, but Chihiro cornered him on Monday out of concern that he was pushing himself and between her and Hidetoshi he was forced to give a basic explanation.

The fact that he was unnerved about an upcoming date raised eyebrows, until he added that Yukari and Mitsuru had arranged it and gotten dinner reservations.

That made all the older council members who had worked with Mitsuru wince and nod sympathetically, while all the first years looked confused.

“Where at, if you don’t mind me asking?” One of the girls in his year asked.

“Isho.”

“Oh my god,” she muttered as a second year boy whistled lowly.

“Have you seen their prices?”

“No I haven’t, and I don’t want to know,” Minato said flatly. “I’m not thinking about it. I refuse. I’ll deal with the problem when I get there.”

“Probably the best way to go about it,” another third year sighed. “Good luck.”

He grimaced and looked at Chihiro. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but please tell me you have complicated paperwork for me to focus on. I’ll take anything at this point.”

She hesitated for a moment, then sagged with a nod. “I know it’s only June, but we’re trying to get an early start on the culture festival planning this year, so we’ve already started some of the initial setup for various class and club booths and events. The specifics will be done in September and early October in the lead up to the festival itself, but we’re trying to get the basic permissions of things we have every year done ahead of time so we’ll be able to smooth out the process for the more… unique… requests.”

“I’m only in the kendo club now, I take no responsibility for whatever insanity the art club comes up with this year,” Minato said flatly, holding out his hand. “I’ll get things organized and outlined.”

Chihiro handed over the folder with something akin to relief. “I appreciate it. I don’t mind doing it myself, but we’re still trying to deal with some issues coming up with some of the athletic club trainings overlapping with summer classes because of misorganization, not to mention the summer-”

“I’ll handle it.” Minato cut her off, flipping the folder open to pull out the documents. “Go deal with your crisis.” He paused, looked up. “Kendo isn’t one of those overlapping ones, is it?”

She winced. “I-It’s all of the sports clubs, I think.”

He closed his eyes with a sigh. “… not my problem,” he decided. “Good luck.”

Chihiro sighed, shoulders slumping. “Thanks, I’ll need it…”

Well at least his week was filled now, and with headphones on and his music blaring it quickly ate up both time and focus because festivals were always an ordeal, and the classes hosting events inevitably made it more difficult than it needed to be. Fortunately this was only the setup and not the actual prep for the events.

He wasn’t looking forward to October. Why had he accepted Mitsuru’s invitation to the student council last year again?

Oh right, because the student council had three separate Social Links and he needed more Personas and more power to deal with Tartarus. The same reason he’d been in four clubs and jumped between a couple of part time jobs.

Looking back, Nyx wasn’t the only reason he was surprised he’d survived the previous year.

A sudden splash of green and white invaded his vision and he blinked and refocused on the world outside of balancing numbers and club names to find a white gardenia on the table in front of him. A quick glance to the side revealed the culprit - a slicked-back black haired boy with bright two-toned blue eyes and a sappy grin that promised trouble.

Minato pulled out his headphones and paused his music with a flat look. “You aren’t supposed to be in here.”

“Oh, are upstanding, respectable, rule-abiding students not allowed to come discuss matters with a student council member?” Ryoji countered playfully.

“They are. You, though, are none of those. Out.”

Ryoji pouted, leaning closer. “How cruel - I even brought you a gift!”

So he had. And in front of the entire student council. Not that their relationship was anything less than an open secret, but he could at least try to be more subtle about it. He wouldn’t, but he could. Especially with a white gardenia of all things. Minato shook his head. “Not much of a secret if you give it to me in front of a dozen people.” Secret love indeed.

That just made Ryoji shrug with an impish grin as he snatched the flower back up and tugged Minatio’s hair back to tuck it behind Minato’s ear. “I just thought it would suit you~”

Alright that was it.

Minato shoved himself to his feet and slipped behind Ryoji to shove him towards the door. “That’s enough out of you. This is why I said you weren’t allowed in here. Out.”

“Minato!” Ryoji protested with a laugh, trying futilely to push back against him. “Come on!”

“No. Out. I’m busy. Don’t you have girls to flirt with? Go away. Whose idea even was this?”

“Several people mentioned flowers being absolutely necessary in the lead up to a date-”

“Not while I’m in the middle of student council business. Go away - and tell Junpei that if either of you come up with a stupid and unnecessarily difficult booth for our class this year I’m throwing you both off of the Moonlight Bridge.”

“That’s cold!”

“The ocean’s a lot colder. Aigis will be more than happy to help me throw you in.”

The boy shivered. “Duly noted.” Minato shoved him out the door. “I’m going I’m going!! I’ll meet you by the school gates once you’re done.”

“Fine, just go.” Minato slid the door shut behind him with a firm clack and dropped his head against it for a moment with a sigh. He tried not to let the fondness in his chest show as he turned around and returned to his seat.

He tried to ignore the feeling of eyes on him from several of the council members - ranging from envious to judging to sappily starstruck - and shoved his headphones back on to get back to work.

He didn’t bother taking the flower out, though.

 Ryoji was waiting for him by the gates, as promised, though Aigis’ presence as well was a surprise. They fell into step with Minato as easily as breathing as they made their way to the train station.

“Aren’t flowers usually a day-of thing?” he asked idly.

“Not necessarily! We got a lot of mixed answers, some people said you should do it all the time as surprise gifts, some people said a day or two leading up to the date, some people said a bouquet when you pick them up for the date, some people said that they’re tacky and overdone…” Ryoji shrugged. “Seems to be personal preference like any other gift.”

“Data inconclusive and contradictory, including type and amount of flowers,” Aigis agreed, frowning. “Flower meanings were called both unnecessary and good practice. I’ve found yet another human practice that is very strange and… messy.”

“Did you ask Yukari?”

“We did! She had the most clear answer, I think. Junpei was actually taking notes, it was kind of funny. I dunno why though - he doesn’t seem to have any problems figuring out what makes Chidori happy.”

“More ideas can’t hurt,” Minato said, leaning against the wall of the train as the doors closed.

“I guess…”

“I still don’t understand the complexities of human relationships in the form of dating,” Aigis sighed. “There seems to be so much wasted effort in the form of attempts to guess at what the other person likes. Why not simply ask?”

“Because Minato is a liar whose response to anything is ‘I don’t care’ or ‘whatever you want’,” Ryoji answered cheerfully. He grinned and dodged Minato’s elbow aimed at his head. “A lot of the time the guessing games happen because the person receiving them doesn’t want to admit that they want something, or that they like the idea of their partner putting in any unnecessary effort. If I asked Minato if he wanted flowers he’d say ‘I don’t need them’ or ‘seems like a waste of time’, but because I just gave it to him without asking he’s still wearing it. A lot of people are like that. It’s why Junpei just gets Chidori cute, sweet things that he thinks she’ll like even though she’d never even consider asking for them.”

“Don’t look so smug about it,” Minato muttered, pointedly not thinking about what emotions were swirling in his chest at Ryoji’s brutal dissection of his personality. Since when did he get embarrassed about something?

Aigis frowned, clearly thinking it over. “I see. It is an attempt to make someone happy, even when they refuse to admit that small gestures of otherwise pointless affection are something they enjoy.”

“Exactly!”

“I don’t have to listen to this.” Minato pointedly put his headphones on, ignoring Ryoji laughing at him even when the boy leaned against Minato’s back over the rail.

He could still distantly hear the other two continuing the discussion even through the muffling of his headphones, but he couldn’t make out the individual words anymore which was good enough. Even he had his limits and this was not a discussion he cared to be involved in.

He also hadn’t missed the implication that the flowers would be continuing throughout the week leading up to the date, and he made a mental note to find a vase to fill with water for them. Not that he was going to do that around Ryoji, the smug bastard.

The following day proved his assumption correct, when he found a pink and white primrose (first love, chastity, and admiration, how subtle) on his desk after lunch, and saw a couple of classmates smothering giggles and pointedly not looking at him or towards Ryoji (or Aigis? he thought he saw a couple of them glance at her, and wondered if Ryoji had decided to enlist her help to at least pretend at subtlety). He sighed heavily but tucked the flower behind his third-year pin and pulled out his notes.

The delighted, self-satisfied grin Ryoji wore for the rest of the day was distracting.

That grin only grew when they got back to the dorm and he saw Minato put it into the glass of water he’d commandeered as a mock-vase in their room rather than just putting it on the desk. Minato suffered through his increasingly handsy clinginess for the rest of the evening as he tried to finish his homework, eventually shoving a pillow in his face and telling him to focus.

Wednesday found a cluster of violets (honesty, and wasn’t that ironic for them?) in his locker - though how Ryoji had gotten them in there without crushing them he didn’t know - and he tucked them into the strap of his bag.

By now most of his class - and a number of people outside of it with friends who knew him - had caught onto the trend and were sneaking glances at him and whispering. Some enviously, others delightedly, and he ignored them with as much long-suffering grace as he could. The ribbing in kendo practice was more difficult to ignore but he rolled his eyes at them and the team captain shooed them all back into focusing soon enough.

Minato resigned himself to dealing with this for the rest of the week.

Even SEES teased him for it when he got back to the dorm, ignoring his dirty look to instead ask his which flowers he thought his ��secret admirer” was going to give him next. Yukari played absolutely innocent when he accused her of initiating and enabling these antics, but her grin was too mischevious to fool him. The others were just as teasing - even Shinji was smirking at him.

Traitors, all of them.

Thursday brought morning glories, and it was the first ones to give him pause as he tried to remember their meaning beyond pop culture and artistic interpretations. It took a moment, but his chest tightened when he did because of course Ryoji would leave him flowers that meant both “willful promise” and “enduring devotion”.

“Are you the one helping him with these meanings?” he asked Yukari in an undertone as their classmates chattered around them.

“Nope, not after I first brought up the idea.”

“I knew it was you,” he muttered. “I guess he remembers that book I read too then.”

Yukari raised a brow at him. “When and why did you of all people read a book about hanakotoba?”

“To talk to you, actually.” Minato huffed as he tucked the flowers into his bag’s straps once more. “Remember when you asked me to help you pick out flowers for your room?”

She opened her mouth to respond, but couldn’t seem to decide what to say. It took her a moment. “I barely remember that. How is your memory about the most random facts so good?”

He shrugged. It wasn’t like he really planned to retain everything he read or learned. Stuff just… stuck.

Including flower meanings, apparently.

Ryoji caught his eye just before class started, and his smile was softer and somewhat wistful rather than the playfulness of the previous days. It was somehow more distracting, and Minato found himself rubbing his chest reflexively more than once throughout the lesson.

He pulled Ryoji to the roof for lunch so he could actually lean against him without drawing whispers, and Ryoji leaned back with a bittersweet smile. He didn’t need to say anything - the weight of the past eleven years between them spoke more than enough.

It seemed the latter half of the week would have heavier meanings, because Friday Minato received a red camellia with bluebells woven around it. The bluebells meaning gratefulness was simple enough, but when paired with the double meaning of the red camellia… passionate love and a warrior’s honourable death.

He didn’t look towards Ryoji, because he knew the look in his eyes would make Minato lose his composure.

The wounds from the fight against Nyx and their fall into the Sea of Souls before Ryoji managed to overpower Nyx and turn the tide to pull them both back out still hadn’t fully healed, and likely wouldn’t for a very long time. They’d both been prepared to die for the world - Minato just hadn’t expected Ryoji to be able to save them, even with Minato’s own power of the Universe to help him overpower and absorb Nyx.

He set the flowers in his lap, trying to focus on the lectures around his own swirling thoughts and painful emotions. It was difficult when all he could think of was their unrestrained freefall into death, Nyx’s power pulsing and clawing at them, trying to break through the seal Minato was trying to create around her, and Ryoji- Thanatos- Death clawing his way back to consciousness and reaching desperately out to Minato’s soul.

And as their souls bound together once more the seal’s shape changed - no longer a permanent separation but rather a temporary rope that could bind her in place while Death tore through her control from within and reversed their position. Breaking through his role as an “appraiser” and an “avatar”, powered by the bond they had forged and the humanity he had gained, Death and Minato twisted the rules of reality around them to erase Nyx and allow Death to take her place as something new. Something more than a careless bringer of the end.

Sometimes Minato wondered if he’d left part of himself there, in those waves of the Sea of Souls, that space between life and true death, but… well he was still here, wasn’t he? He’d died, but he wasn’t dead yet. He was still alive.

Even if he really shouldn’t be.

Minato really hoped that Yukari and Aigis were taking notes that he could look over later because he didn’t hear a single word of the lecture. As soon as the lunch bell rang he was gone from the classroom and rushing up the stairs to the roof just to try to breathe.

It was… it wasn’t a bad sensation, what he felt. It wasn’t the panic and fear of so many other memories. Wasn’t the pain and nausea and hurt of those memories of the bridge, of those two nights in back alleys under flickering streetlights.

It was something deeper and more integral.

Was there an opposite of existential dread?

Perhaps it was simply awareness. The reminder of what had happened, of their brush against and subsequent alteration of the foundational truths of the universe. Of what they were and all they had done.

Ryoji had barely stepped out onto the roof after him before he was shoving him against the wall and pressing their mouths together in a desperate attempt to be close. To find stability. Ryoji didn’t hesitate, wrapping his arms around Minato’s waist and holding him tightly as Minato wove his fingers into his hair. Minato felt- disconnected.

Frantic and disjointed, simultaneously numb and too aware of everything, like his emotions had shattered apart and the jagged edges were digging into his heart. Eternity stretched endlessly ahead of them and the clock raced towards the finite end so close to them.

It felt like November all over again and he didn’t know why.

The feel of Ryoji’s hand cusping his face and thumb tracing his cheek helped bring him back. Slowly the sensation of disconnect faded and Minato began to feel like he fit his body again. He was shaking as he finally pull back from the kiss and tucked his face against Ryoji’s neck. Ryoji slid his hand around the back of Minato’s neck, skimming his thumb along its curve.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured against Minato’s hair. “I knew you’d understand what I meant, but I didn’t expect it to have such an impact. Was it too much?”

Minato let out a shaky exhale and shook his head a miniscule amount. “No, it- it’s fine. This isn’t a problem just… intense. I hadn’t fully realized just what it was we did. It just all hit me at once.”

“I see. Well I’m glad, then. Do you want to skip this afternoon?”

… well now that he’d brought it up he did. “I shouldn’t. I already missed part of April because of my collapse, and I might miss more if we do have to deal with long lasting consequences of what happened with Nyx.”

“I think this qualifies as consequences, even if it is my fault,” Ryoji sighed, squeezing him. “I can talk to the teachers so we can go back to the dorms.”

Dammit. Now he couldn’t argue.

“That’d be good,” Minato murmured as he leaned against him. He felt exhausted.

Sometimes he really didn’t know how Ryoji did it. But the boy somehow got them both excused for the afternoon and they returned to the dorm and spend the rest of the afternoon napping. Or Minato did, at least - Ryoji was lying on the bed with him doing something on his laptop. What it was he didn’t know and didn’t care - just wrapped his arms around his waist, rested his head on his torso and went to sleep.

He mostly managed to brush off SEES’ concern when he and Ryoji went down for dinner. He had to come clean a little bit about the fact that he’d been putting off dealing with the side effects of the final battle, but the fact that it wasn’t something more serious - such as a relapse from overworking himself - seemed to set them at ease.

Though they were still concerned enough that they were going to be keeping an eye on him, he assumed with resignation. There was no help for it, he supposed.

The exhaustion had passed by the next day, and he weathered the half-day of classes easily enough. There were no flowers today, he noted, and he sent a suspicious glance towards Ryoji. He doubted it was because of the day before - Ryoji wasn’t so easily scared off of something, and it had been a relatively known problem anyway. He was planning something.

That something became apparent after they’d gotten changed later that afternoon, just before they went downstairs to meet Mitsuru and Yukari to be (apparently??? Mitsuru really needed to stop doing this) chauffeured to the restaurant.

Ryoji ruffled through his bag an pulled out a box with a sheepish look. “Unfortunately it’s too late in the year for me to get you the actual flowers - and doing it this way kinda ruins the symbolism of it I know - but here.”

Minato sent him a narrow look and took the box. He opened it to find a small wooden hair clip with white sakura blossoms set on it.

How incredibly poetic and cliche.

“I know it’s not your usual style at all,” Ryoji said, drawing Minato’s attention up to him. He shrugged with a small laugh. “And it not being real undercuts the point a little bit, but I thought it was the most appropriate thing to end on.”

Flowers representing the transience of life, considered the literal representation of life, death, and rebirth, and white ones specifically often used in representations of death. Of course Ryoji would choose them.

Minato sighed, fondness and exasperation intermingled in the action. It definitely was not something he would usually wear, but… he could make an exception this once. “If you were trying to push the symbolism a comb would have been more appropriate.” He plucked the clip up and set the box aside, holding the clip out to Ryoji in a silent offer and request.

Ryoji’s eyes widened and went suspiciously shiny and he swallowed as he realized what Minato meant, stepping forward to take it from Minato’s hand. Minato closed his eyes as Ryoji stepped close and reached up to pull the shorter left side of his hair back and up.

And the fact that he even knew to do that, and didn’t try to pull Minato’s bangs back out of his face to make him look more ‘neat’, made something tighten in Minato’s chest. “Your hair’s not long enough for a comb,” Ryoji quipped as he gently worked the clip into his hair. “If it was as long as Mitsuru’s - or even Shinji’s - I would have.” His hand dropped down to cup the side of Minato’s face and Minato opened his eyes to see the boy watching him with a small, fragile smile that Minato wasn’t used to seeing on him.

He tilted his head up slightly and Ryoji leaned down to press their foreheads together, closing his eyes with a shaky little sigh that made Minato reach up to rest a hand on his face.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Ryoji whispered. “I’m so, so glad we’re both here. I thought for sure we wouldn’t be.”

“Me too,” Minato murmured. “But we are, and we will be.”

Ryoji hummed in agreement, but didn’t pull away just yet. They both stood there for several moments just basking in the relief of their shared presence before Ryoji finally pulled back reluctantly. “We should probably head down now - Yukari and Mitsuru are waiting.”

Minato sighed but nodded. It’d be fine, but the whole thing was still a little ridiculous. At least Ryoji looked nice in his vest and rolled up sleeves. Minato was still annoyed at being convinced into a vest in the first place when he would have been just fine in the jacket.

But Ryoji kept shooting glances at him so he supposed it at least fulfilled its purpose.

Yukari and Mitsuru were both in nice evening dresses, unsurprisingly, and they looked very nice, also unsurprisingly. The rest of SEES seemed amused by the whole affair and Minato shot Akihiko and Shinji an annoyed glare at where they were smirking at him. He could almost hear their “Better you than me.” comments. Ken and Fuuka looked equally relieved to be staying there. Aigis sent him the pitying look of someone who’d long gotten used to his social awkwardness.

Junpei seemed torn between envy and relief, but one glance between Minato’s long-suffering expression and Mitsuru’s placid smile seemed enough to wipe the envy away and he grinned and tossed a salute to Ryoji and Minato. “Good luck! Hope the food’s good!”

“The food will be amazing, I’m sure,” Ryoji agreed cheerfully.

Minato just sighed. “We’ll see you when we get back.” He wasn’t going to think about the restaurant, he wasn’t going to think about the restaurant.

“If you survive, sure.”

“I’m going to pass out and fall down the stairs.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll catch you.” Ryoji slung an arm over his shoulders with a grin, making Minato shake his head.

“You catching me would defeat the point.”

Yukari groaned and turned to to head out the doors. “No one’s going to die, stop being a baby and come on.”

Minato cast one more mournful look towards the stairs leading back up to his nice, comfortable, safe room and then turned to follow with the chuckles of SEES following him.

The limo - because of course it was god damn it Mitsuru - was nice, and Minato found himself envious of how laid-back the other three seemed to be. Anxiety squirmed in his stomach in a way that had him pressing his arm against Ryoji’s as surreptitiously as possible for comfort. Ryoji twined their fingers together.

He wasn’t sure if having him physically here was better than having him a reassuring presence in the back of his mind had been. Better in some ways, but at least when he was in Minato’s soul he could talk to him constantly.

As they rode to the restaurant Minato found himself zoning out and letting the chatter of the other three wash over him, watching the city passing by out the window. So long as he didn’t think about it it was nice.

The restaurant itself was too nice - he took one look at the other guests and their clothes and wanted to turn around and walk out. Instead he just edged as close to Ryoji and Mitsuru as he could without raising any brows and tried not to look around too much. For the first time he was incredibly relieved that Mitsuru had gotten them a private room because the sight of so many people of a very different type was nerve-wracking.

He let out a relieved breath once they were in the room and away from people, and Ryoji reached out to squeeze his hand and tug him to the rounded table. Mitsuru and Yukari sat across from them, watching him with concern. He waved it away and glanced around curiously.

The room had a wall of windows facing the ocean, the whole islands and part of mainland spread out before them. The Moonlight Bridge was almost directly below them and he quickly dragged his gaze away from it and out across the ocean instead.

Dinner went more smoothly than he’d anticipated, and he slowly relaxed as the evening passed. The food was, of course, incredible, and the staff was pleasant enough - though he left most of the interactions with them to Mitsuru just to be safe - but the fact that it was just the four of them for the most part was the most relaxing thing. Ryoji’s arm brushing his kept him grounded even as he left the conversation mostly to the other three.

The whole thing kind of blurred together, honestly. It wasn’t nearly as bad as he’d feared, but it was still out of his comfort zone enough that he was on-edge the whole time.

So it was with immense relief that Minato finally stepped back into the dorms after dinner.

The rest of SEES had scattered by now, only Aigis and Akihiko in the lobby doing homework and reading respectively. They both glanced up to greet them all, Akihiko making a quip about them all surviving, and Yukari rolled her eyes at him.

Minato shrugged and said “It was nice.” and left it very pointedly at that because he was not going to tell Mitsuru that he’d rather jump in the ocean than do that again when she’d been trying to do a nice thing. Judging by Aigis’ cocked head she could tell he was lying, but that was nothing new and it was fine. She knew and accepted that he lied a fair amount when dealing with other people and their feelings.

He and Ryoji bid them all a goodnight, thanked Mitsuru and Yukari for the dinner, and then hurriedly headed up to their room before Yukari could make any suggestion of a repeat sometime.

Minato dropped back onto his bed with a long groan. “Next time I’m not telling them. We’re going to Tokyo and I’ll get us a reservation at something by the clubs. Or we’ll get a private karaoke room at a bar or something.”

Ryoji laughed as he began stripping off his vest. “It wasn’t that bad.”

He didn’t bother responding, just closing his eyes with a quiet sigh. It hadn’t been that bad. But he still didn’t want to do it again. Something far more casual was his preference.

Minato was distracted from his thoughts by the bed dipping and a weight settling overtop of him. He opened his eyes to find Ryoji leaning over him with a small smile playing at his lips and a knowing look in his eyes. “Just the two of us next time,” he murmured.

“Harajuku, then Akihabara,” Minato decided, staring up at him. “I want to see what albums and niche collections Akihabara has. And see if the new portable audio system is as powerful as rumors are saying.”

Lips twisting into a smirk, Ryoji countered, “As long as I get to pick out some outfits for you in Harajuku.”

Minato made a face but didn’t deny him. That was fair, he supposed, even if Ryoji was absolutely going to get him into something ridiculous. “Fine. Just don’t go too overboard.”

A chuckle was all he received in response and Ryoji leaned down to press their foreheads together affectionately, eyes soft and affectionate as they met Minato’s. It was a comfort after the exhausting affair of dinner.

That said he was tired and wanted to go to bed, so after a few moments he nudged Ryoji off of him and began extracting himself from his overly nice clothes. Ryoji snickered at him again, but joined him in the nightly routine easily enough.

Normally it was early for them to head to bed, bun Minato was already beginning to fall asleep as soon as he dropped onto the mattress. He grumbled as Ryoji prodded him into moving under the covers and over so they’d both fit but acquiesced and allowed the other to settle in and tug him into a hug.

Just before he faded to sleep he glimpsed the cherry blossom hair clip gleaming in the moonlight alongside the vase of flowers.

It tugged a reluctant, fond smile from him, and then he closed his eyes and fell asleep to Ryoji’s breaths.

~ ᙙᙖ ~

Me: This’ll be a short, sweet chapter, nothing heavy or particularly angsty-

Ryoji and Minato holding up a hanakotoba book and existential crises: You sure?

Me: Heavy sigh

This was not at all what I was planning to write for this, but then they all got away from me and I had a lot of fun writing out the mundane life of Minato and friends post-canon. This au has turned into “Minato’s third year and how SEES moves on after P3” and honestly I can’t even regret it, because it’s so fun and is also making me mildly emotional to see what could have been.

Fun fact, the restaurant I chose is, in fact, a real one in Odaiba. Meals start at about $130 a person (after conversion) not including reservation fees or potentially drinks, so Minato is completely justified for being terrified of existing within its space because I would be too.

Mitsuru we love you but pls.

[beantothemax]

“Fuuka! Good to see you again!”

Aki steps aside, a familiar face walking through the door.

Fuuka walks in, bearing gifts and a smile. “Hello, Akihiko. Hello Shinjiro! Where’s Ken?”

Shinji relieves her of her burden- seriously, that girl works way too hard to begin with-, setting the (meticulously wrapped) presents on the table. “Upstairs with Goro, I think. Give me a sec, I’ll call ‘em down.”

Before he can, however, Ken comes bounding downstairs, Goro close behind. “Fuuka! Fuuka, you’re here!”

Ken wraps his tiny arms around Fuuka’s waist, Goro lingering by Shinji’s side. Fuuka smiles and hugs him, ruffling his hair.

“Hello, Ken. I missed you! Is that your brother?” Ken steps away, nodding and grabbing Goro’s hand.

“Mhm! This is Goro! Goro, this is Fuuka. She was part of SEES with us.”

Goro raises a hand timidly, shrinking into himself. Fuuka gives a little half-bow, still smiling. “It’s lovely to meet you, Goro-kun,” she said. Goro wrinkles his nose.

“You don’t have to call me that....” He mumbles, and Fuuka turns a faint shade of pink.

“I’m sorry. An old habit, I’m afraid. Oh! By the way, Yukari and Mitsuru should be here soon. I saw them in the northern shopping district on my way here.”

Aki grins, giving a little nod. “I’m surprised Mitsu could make it, with how busy she seems to be lately. I hope Yuka is reminding her to take breaks.”

Shinji rolls his eyes, nudging Aki in the side. “Sounds familiar. Wonder why.”

Aki doesn’t rise to the bait- gives him a sidelong glance that Shinji knows far too well to mean ‘later’- and instead brings Fuuka into a hug of his own.

“How have you been holding up, by the way? It’s been a little while since we’ve talked,” he asks, resting his forehead on hers. A love language that’s entirely Aki’- forehead touches.

Fuuka smiles, and parts. Aki lets her. “I’ve been well. I made a friend with my neighbor! She has a son. His name is Ryuji- he’s right around Goro’s age, I think. He reminds me of you, Akihiko.”

Aki laughs, and his hand finds Shinji’s. They entwine their fingers, as they offen do nowadays. A constant reminder to each other. A promise.

There’s a knock on the door, and Yukari and Mitsuru walk in- also bearing gifts. Shinji can’t help but wonder if Junpei and the twins are going to bring gifts, too. It isn’t even Christmas.

“Hey, everyone!” Yukari says, ever cheerful and ever lacking in sophistication. Shinji finds it a bit endearing, though. “Hello, Yukari-chan!” Fuuka says brightly, her and Shinji both helping their friends with their burdens.

“Hello everyone,” says Mitsuru, calmer- though she’s definitely still excited. The smile on her face says it all to Shinji and Aki, who have known her since they were children.

“Mitsuru! Yukari! Hi!” Ken is practically bouncing off the walls with excitement as he greets the old members of SEES. Shinji has to smile. It’s been a while since he saw the kid this ecstatic.

“...Hello,” Goro murmurs, clinging to Aki’s shirt. Aki places a hand on his shoulder, squeezing once, twice, three times. I love you.

“Is this Goro?” Mitsuru asks, looking at him. Goro shrinks further under her gaze. “It is,” Shinji confirms, and sees Goro straighten up a bit, a look of determination on his face.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Goro,” she says, nodding her head. Goro mirrors her.

“...You as well, Mitsuru-san,” he replies, his voice tight. Ken rolls his eyes and hugs Goro close.

“You sound like me when I was in elementary school! Hey, Dad, can we open one of our presents? Please?”

Shinji pauses. Would it help calm Goro down?

“Yeah, why not? Throw the paper away when you’re done, though.”

Goro immediately seizes a box from the table labelled with his name, plopping down and working at it, trying to do as little damage to the wrapping as possible. Shinji recognizes the handwriting as Mitsu’s, and wonders what the hell she could possibly have gotten the kids.

Before he can wonder too much, though, there’s more knocking on the door- accompanied by a flurry of barking and laughing.

Yukari opens the door, and there’s more laughing as she and Kotone rush in, Makoto and Junpei coming in a moment after, Koromaru trotting in the back.

Ken immediately hugs everyone, and hands Koromaru a dog biscuit from a jar in the kitchen. Koro barks his appreciation, and Junpei laughs.

“What, he gets a gift but we don’t?” He jokes, bringing Ken into another hug. Ken laughs, squirming away when Junpei starts noogying him.

“Hey, guys. Glad you could make it,” Aki says, and Kotone nods, taking her brother’s hand.

“Of course! We wouldn’t miss a reunion for the world! Would we?”

Makoto squeezes his sister’s hand. “We’re not technically supposed to be here. We’re supposed to be at home resting, but... What the Takamakis don’t know won’t hurt them.”

Kotone rolls her eyes. “You make it sound like we lied to them!”

Makoto gives her a look that Ken once dubbed the Sibling Glance. “We did.”

Kotone just smiles, engages in conversation with Aki and Fuuka. Apparently, Aigis couldn’t make it due to a malfunction in her system. Shinji quells the rush of worry that threatens to choke him. Aigis is tough, he reminds himself. She can handle a few technical issues.

Makoto meets Goro’s gaze, and Shinji knows enough about the two of them to sense mutual understanding. Makoto nods once, and Goro sits up a bit straighter. Shinji pretends not to notice.

Dinner and gifts pass by without a hitch. Movies are playing, and everyone is either squashed together on the couch, or piled on top of each other on the floor on what Goro and Kotone dubbed the Nest.

The Nest is a mass of blankets and pillows from throughout the house that Shinji and Fuuka constructed together, and he thinks it might just be the comfiest damn thing he’s ever laid in.

Maybe it’s because he built it with a friend. Maybe it’s because he’s laying in it with friends.

Maybe it’s because no matter what, he’s alive and happy and loved.

And Shinji thinks this might just be one of the best damn nights he’s ever spent with his family- his family- in his life.

WIudevh??!,,?,?,?,?.?.?.? AUSHQUAGHAH?????? EHEEM??!!,?,,?,?.?,?.?.?.?. MAVERICKSVCBXBDBXBSHXHDBX A

WAIAUAGH

TH. FUCKEIGN REUNION. AUGH. WHAT IF I DIED RIGHT NOW

[elle-p]

Here is what every Persona 3 character calls each other in the jp version of the drama cds, movies, the weird masquerade, and dancing.

Leader/Makoto Yuki/Sakuya Shiomi

L/MY/SS-YT: Takeba/Yukari(PQ2)

L/MY/SS-JI: Junpei

L/MY/SS-AS: Sanda-senpai/Sanada-san

L/MY/SS-FY: Yamagishi(mostly)/Fuuka

L/SS-MK: Kirijo-senpai/Mitsuru-senpai(DMN)

L/MY/SS-A: Aigis

L/SS-KA: Amada

L/SS-K: Koromaru

L/SS-SA: Senpai/Aragaki-san

SS-SI: Riji-cho(Chairman)

SS-P: Pharos

L/MY/SS-RM: Ryoji

L-HO: Vice-president/Odagiri

L-MK: Obaa-san(Granny)

L-BK: Bunkichi-jiisan(Grandpa Bunkichi)

L-KH: Hiraga-senpai

L-CF: Fushimi-san

L-MO: Maiko-chan

L-M: Mutatsu-san

L-AK: Kamiki-san

L-E: Edogawa-sensei

L-K: Kurosawa-san

L-E: Elizabeth

Leader/Kotone Shiomi

KS-YT: Yukari

KS-JI: Junpei

L/KS-AS: Sanada-senpai

L/KS-FY: Fuuka

KS-MK: Kirijo-senpai

L/KS-A: Aigis

L/KS-KA: Amada-kun

L/KS-K: Koromaru

L/KS-SA: Aragaki-san/Aragaki-senpai

KS-SI: Riji-cho(Chairman)/Ikutsuki(after 04.11.09)

KS-P: Pharos

KS-RM: Ryoji-kun

L-RI: Rio

L-YN: Yuko

L-I: Igor-san

L-T: Theo

Yukari Takeba

YT-MY: Yuki-kun

YT-SS: Shiomi-kun

YT-KS: Kotone

YT-JI: Junpei(Stupei is Junpei-no-baka)

YT-AS: Sanada-senpai

YT-FY: Yamagishi(at the start)/Fuuka

YT-MK: Kirijo-senpai/Mitsuru-senpai(after 18.11.09)

YT-A: Aigis

YT-KA: Amada-kun

YT-K: Koromaru

YT-SA: Aragaki-senpai

YT-SI: Riji-cho(Chairman)/Ikutsuki-san/Ikutsuki(after 04.11.09)

YT-RM: Ryoji-kun

YT-NM: Moriyama-san

YT-KT: Tomochika-kun

YT-HO: Odagiri-kun

YT-RI: Iwasaki-san

YT-YN: Yuko

YT-CF: Fushimi-san/Chihiro-chan

YT-IT: Toriumi-sensei

YT-E: Edogawa-sensei

YT-K: Kurosawa-san

YT-KS: Kikuno-san

YT-E: Elle-P-san(DMN)

Junpei Iori

JI-MY: Makoto

JI-SS: Sakuya

JI-KS: Kotone

JI-YT: Yukari-chi

JI-AS: Sanada-san/Sanada-senpai(P3M/DMN)

JI-MK: Kirijo-senpai

JI-FY: Fuuka

JI-A: Ai-chan(mostly to her)/Aigis

JI-KA: Amada-shounen(mostly)/Amada

JI-K: Koro

JI-SA: Aragaki-san

JI-SI: Riji-cho(Chairman)/Ikutsuki-san

JI-T: Takaya

JI-C: Chidorin(mostly to her)/Chidori

JI-RM: Ryoji

JI-NM: Moriyama

JI-KT: Tomo-chi/Tomochika

JI-KM: Miya

JI-RI: Rio-chi

JI-B: Bebe

JI-E: Edogawa

JI-K: Kurosawa-san

JI-E: Elle-P/Elle-P-san(DMN)

Akihiko Sanada

AS-MY: Yuki

AS-SS/KS: Shiomi

AS-YT: Takeba

AS-JI: Junpei/Iori

AS-MK: Mitsuru

AS-FY: Yamagishi

AS-A: Aigis

AS-KA: Amada

AS-K: Koromaru

AS-SA: Shinji

AS-SI: Riji-cho(Chairman)/Ikutsuki-san/Ikutsuki(after 04.11.09)

AS-J: Jin

AS-C: Chidori

AS-RM: Ryoji

AS-K: Kurosawa-san

Mitsuru Kirijo

MK-MY: Yuki

MK-SS/KS: Shiomi

MK-YT: Takeba/Yukari(after 18.11.09)

MK-JI: Iori

MK-AS: Akihiko

MK-FY: Yamagishi

MK-A: Aigis

MK-KA: Amada

MK-K: Koromaru

MK-SA: Aragaki

MK-SI: Riji-cho(Chairman)/Ikutsuki(after 04.11.09)

MK-T: Takaya

MK-J: Jin

MK-C: Chidori

MK-RM: Mochizuki

MK-HO: Odagiri

MK-CF: Fushimi

MK-E: Edogawa-sensei

MK-KS: Kikuno

MK-E: Elle-P(DMN)

Fuuka Yamagishi

FY-MY: Yuki-kun

FY-SS: Shiomi-kun

FY-KS: Kotone-chan

FY-YT: Yukari-chan

FY-JI: Junpei-kun

FY-AS: Sanada-senpai

FY-MK: Kirijo-senpai

FY-A: Aigis

FY-KA: Amada-kun

FY-K: Koro-chan

FY-SA: Aragaki-senpai

FY-SI: Riji-cho(Chairman)/Ikutsuki(after 04.11.09)

FY-C: Chidori-san

FY-RM: Ryoji-kun

FY-NM: Moriyama-san/Natsuki-chan(after 12.06.09)

FY-KT: Tomochika-kun

FY-RI: Iwasaki-san

FY-KH: Hiraga-senpai

FY-E: Elle-P-san(DMN)

Aigis

A-L: Leader

A-MY: Makoto-san

A-SS: Sakuya-san

A-KS: Kotone-san

A-YT: Yukari-san

A-JI: Junpei-san

A-AS: Sanada-san

A-MK: Mitsuru-san

A-FY: Fuuka-san

A-KA: Amada-san

A-K: Koromaru-san

A-SA: Aragaki-san

A-SI: Ikutsuki-san

A-C: Chidori-san

A-RM: Ryoji-san

A-KT: Tomochika-san

A-E: Elle-P-san(DMN)

Ken Amada

KA-MY: Yuki-san

KA-SS/KS: Shiomi-san

KA-YT: Yukari-san

KA-JI: Junpei-san

KA-AS: Sanada-san

KA-MK: Mitsuru-san/Kirijo-senpai

KA-FY: Fuuka-san

KA-A: Aigis-san

KA-K: Koromaru/Koro

KA-SA: Aragaki-san

KA-SI: Ikutsuki-san

KA-C: Chidori-san

KA-RM: Ryoji-san

Shinjiro Aragaki

SA-SS: Shiomi

SA-KS: Shiomi/Kotone(04.10.09)

SA-YT: Takeba

SA-JI: Junpei

SA-AS: Aki

SA-MK: Mitsuru

SA-FY: Yamagishi

SA-A: Aigis

SA-KA: Amada

SA-K: Koro(in P3M/WM, he calls him Koro-chan when no-one's looking, and Koromaru when someone is)

Shuji Ikutsuki

SI-MY: Yuki-kun

SI-YT: Takeba-kun

SI-JI: Iori-kun

SI-AS: Sanada-kun

SI-MK: Kirijo-kun

SI-FY: Yamagishi-kun

SI-A: Aigis

SI-KA: Amada-kun

SI-K: Koromaru

SI-SA: Aragaki-kun

SI-TK: Takeharu-shi

Takaya Sakaki

T-J: Jin

T-C: Chidori

Jin Shirato

J-T: Takaya

J-C: Chidori

Chidori Yoshino

C-JI: Junpei

C-T: Takaya

C-J: Jin

Ryoji Mochizuki

RM-MY: Makoto

RM-SS: Shiomi-kun

RM-KS: Kotone-san

RM-YT: Takeba-san/Yukari-san

RM-JI: Junpei/Junpei-kun

RM-AS: Sanada-san/Sanada-senpai

RM-MK: Mitsuru-san

RM-FY: Fuuka-san

RM-A: Aigis-san/Aigis(after 2.12.09)

RM-KA: Amada-kun

Natsuki Moriyama

NM-FY: Fuuka

Kenji Tomochika

KT-MY: Yuki

KT-YT: Takeba-san

KT-JI: Junpei

KT-A: Aigis-san

KT-KM: Miyamoto

KT-RI: Rio

KT-YN: Nishiwaki

Hidetoshi Odagiri

HO-YT: Takeba-san/Takeba-kun

HO-JI: Iori

HO-MK: Kaicho(President)

HO-KH: Keisuke

HO-CF: Fushimi-kun

Mitsuko Kitamura

MK-BK: Ojii-san (Grandpa)

Bunkichi Kitamura

BK-MK: Jaa-san (Grandma)

Kazushi Miyamoto

KM-MY: Yuki

KM-JI: Iori

KM-RM: Mochizuki

KM-IT: Sensei

Rio Iwasaki

RI-KT: Tomochika

RI-KM: Miyamoto-kun/Miyamoto

RI-YN: Nishiwaki

Yuko Nishiwaki

YN-JI: Iori-kun

YN-AS: Sanada-senpai

YN-KT: Tomochika

YN-KM: Miya

YN-RI: Iwasaki/Rio

Keisuke Hiraga

KH-L: Leader-kun

KH-FY: Yamagishi-san

KH-HO: Odagiri-kun

Chihiro Fushimi

CF-YT: Takeba-senpai

CF-MK: Kaicho(President)/Kirijo-senpai

CF-A: Aigis-senpai

CF-HO: Odagiri-san/Odagiri-senpai(P3M)

Maiko

MO-L: Onii-chan

Bebe

B-JI: Iori-dono

B-A: Aigis-dono

Tanaka

PT-RM: Ryoji-kun

Toriumi

IT-JI: Iori

IT-KT: Tomochika

IT-KM: Miyamoto

Edogawa

E-JI: Iori-kun

E-MK: Kirijo-san

Elizabeth

E-YT: Takeba-sama

E-JI- Iori-sama

E-MK: Kirijo-sama

E-FY: Yamagishi-sama

E-A: Aigis-sama

E-KA: Amada-sama

E-K: Koromaru-sama

E-T: Theo

Theodore

T-JI: Iori-sama

T-KA: Amada-sama

[sinsofthefather-kulemi]

How the Cast Refers to One Another

*Terms of Endearment are likely said in English

Goro Majima

Arika: Ari-chan, Arika-chan, Arika Hiroshi: Namikawa-han, Hiro-han Edna: Edna-han, (he has another name for her later but I won't reveal that one due to spoilers~) Kenjiro: Hara, Flashy Bastard, That Jackass, Mr. Silk Shirt & Hair Gel

Arika Namikawa

Goro: Goro-kun (around her parents and Kenjiro), Goro-chan (only in private, it’s embarrassing for both of them), Goro Hiroshi: Dad, Pops, Old Man, Papa (formerly, as a child) Edna: Mama, Mom (only when referring to her to other people) Kenjiro: Kenny-san, Hara-san (formerly)

Hiroshi Namikawa

Arika: Sweetheart, Sweetpea, Brat (affectionate, usually when referring to her to other people), Arika, Arika-chan (when referring to her to other people) Goro: Majima-kun, Ma-kun (when he’s being cheeky) Edna: Darling, Dove, Doll, Sweetheart, My Wife (ENG/JPN), Edna-san (when referring to her to other people if not saying ‘my wife’), Edna  Kenjiro: Kenji, Shinji (at work), Ken-chan (to make fun of him) Futoshi: Egghead Tsukasa- Mikki

Edna Namikawa

Arika: Baby, Honey, Sugar, Ari, Arika Goro: Majima-kun, (she has another name for him later but I won't reveal that one due to spoilers~) Hiroshi: Darling, Sweetheart, Dear, Hiro, Hiroshi-san (when referring to him to other people if not saying ‘my husband’) Kenjiro: Ken-chan (she uses it affectionately, not teasingly like Hiroshi does)

Kenjiro Hara

Arika: Arika, The Boss’ Daughter (at work) Hiroshi: Hiro-san, Old Man, Itou-han (at work), Boss (at work) Edna: Edna-san Goro: Majima, That One Eyed Bastard, Arika’s “Friend”, That Guy Futoshi: Shimano Tsukasa: Sagawa

Futoshi Shimano

Arika: The Girl Majima’s Been Screwin’ Hiroshi: The Dead Man Edna: The Wife Kenjiro: Hiro’s Lapdog

Tsukasa Sagawa

Arika: The Girl, Itouki’s Brat, Arika-chan Goro: Majima, Tiger Hiroshi: Itouki Edna: Itouki's Old Lady Kenjiro: Shadow, Kid, Shinjiro