Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I don't know whether I should open this story with a thesis about my thoughts on Persona 3 or not. I mean, yeah, it's my story and I can do what I want, but it's also not the best opener to get the audience interested. Still, if you don't want to read this, just go to the next chapter, where the story actually starts. Or click off, I don't know. I'm not your dad.

Anyway.

This game will stay with me forever, I know that much. I don't think I'll ever forget the story that's made me cry the most in my entire life so far, and that's saying something, because I can count the stories that made me cry on one hand, and the most notable example besides this game was back when I was a kid. The emotional vulnerability I got from sobbing my eyes out to the ending is probably gonna linger for a few months before I revert to the jaded asshole I usually am. Hopefully it's permanent, but I don't know.

Then again, Persona 3 isn't all sad, is it?

No, I can't say that it is. Is life sad because it ends one day? Hell no.

It's not the most elegant simile, or even the most subtle, and it's definitely more than a little cheesy considering the topic at hand, but life is a lot like the intro song they composed for Reload, "Full Moon Full Life". It's calm, it's bombastic, it's fast, it's slow, it has a high energy crescendo backed with a sad piano rhythm to remind you that there's always two sides to a coin. And it says, correctly, that the most important part of living your life is living it without regrets, no matter how long you have left. I can't say I don't have anything I regret, and if anyone can, they're much stronger than I am, but honestly? Revisiting your regrets isn't going to help. It's just going to keep you stuck in place, reliving the same dreadful day over and over and over again until you get yourself out of it. And it has to be you. No one can help you if you don't want to be helped, but if you take that first step, you'll be surprised just how many people want to be there for you. Venture life and burn your dread, as they say.

Speaking of "as they say", this story is about a lot of things, but mainly, it's about Aigis and Makoto Yuki, and the love they share. What they have is probably the purest example of love I've seen anywhere, which is also why it's fictional. Love exists, sure, but I'll probably always lament the fact that if I ever find it, it won't be anything like this. I think a big part of why it's so easy for Makoto to accept Aigis's humanity is because at some point in his life, he was less human than she is. Doing things not because he cared, but because he was told to. Passing every day by doing only the essentials and minimizing interactions as much as he could. And yet from the moment he meets Aigis, he sees her drive. It might be a part of her coding, but she's living for something. Can Makoto really say the same about himself?

But you probably know all this. You wouldn't be looking for stories about their relationship on this website if you hadn't spent at least a few hours thinking about what they really mean to each other. So instead, I'll wrap this up by saying that I was, frankly, terrified of writing this. I didn't want to cast my own imperfect view of what they are on them. They're fictional, sure, but I felt like it wasn't my place to pretend I knew what they had. I felt like anything I did would be doing them a disservice, that I wasn't nearly qualified enough to write about them because all I could put to paper would, at best, be a small facet of a greater whole, and at worst, flanderization.

But you know what?

Everyone starts somewhere.

Make your imperfect art, even if you feel inadequate. You'll get better. Maybe one day you'll even capture a small ray of perfection and purity in your work, and inspire others to do the same. The people who wrote Persona 3 didn't start out by writing masterpieces. No one does. So put that pen to the paper or finger to the keyboard and create what's yours, because no one else will, and you'll dread it if you don't. Don't live your life with regrets. Live a life you'd be proud to look back on.

Finally, a very, very special shout-out to Victarion and their incredible work on Songs For No One, which inspired me to get off my ass and write my own novelization. Read their work too, it's really, really good.

Enough rambling. Go read the story. I worked hard on it, you know.

Chapter Text

It was futile.

The Shadow was simply too powerful, shrugging off bullets and strikes and Persona magic alike. She had no feasible way of slowing it down, let alone harming it. It did not even notice her, from the looks of it; the beast’s sights were set on the vehicle that arrived on the bridge minutes prior. It was covered in flames now, the result of the Shadow deflecting one of her attacks. She assumed there were casualties.

None of that mattered, however.

She was an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon. If she could not suppress this Shadow according to her primary directive, her existence would be as futile as her efforts.

So she kept trying, and the Shadow kept ignoring her.

Until she had a realization.

Suppressing did not mean elimination. If she was unable to kill the Shadow, she could... seal it. Prevent it from doing anything else. That is what suppression meant, after all; prevention, inhibition, putting a stop to something. It did not mean elimination.

Yes, she could do that.

Later, looking back on this moment, she would not be able to understand how she performed this technique. Sealing away Shadows was not a strategy programmed into her. In secret, she tried sealing away more, to no avail. It was almost like she performed a miracle, with knowledge given to her from beyond this world.

But at the moment, all she wanted to do was fulfill her purpose.

So she suppressed the Shadow within her own body, finding it the most expendable item present for this purpose.

Soon after, all she could see was black.

-------------------------

She awoke to blue.

She was sitting in a chair, in a room covered entirely with blue. Blue walls, blue carpet, a table covered with a blue tablecloth and a blue chair in front of her. Behind the chair was a metallic fence, curiously not blue, and beyond that was darkness. An unmoving silver dial was positioned high above the ground on the fence. It had a gold needle and was not displaying any measuring system she recognized. There were four blue doors flanking the left and right of the room, two on each side, and they were all covered with blankets of varying shades of blue. The room was devoid of people.

She tried exercising her voice. “Hello?” she said, knowing it to be a greeting.

Immediately, music began to play. She understood it as a piano melody, having been programmed with rudimentary knowledge of the world in case of espionage missions. She could not pinpoint a source for the music, as the room contained no visible instruments or speakers, and the sound seemed to come from everywhere at once. It played on despite its illogical means of playback.

The second door on the left of the room opened, and a strange man entered the room. He was balding and dressed in formal attire, a black two-piece suit with a handkerchief in the breast pocket and a white shirt adorned with a black tie. His back was hunched over, and he had a rictus grin spread across his face. His eyes were bulged and bloodshot, and his brows stretched in various directions above them. But the most notable feature the man had was his abnormally long nose, stretching past his face far more than an average person’s. He spotted her in the chair, and his expression did not change, but she understood his surprise nonetheless.

“My, my,” he spoke in a high-pitched voice. “You are a most curious guest indeed.”

“Yes, I am curious. Where am I? How did I come to be here?”

At that, he laughed. It was loud, but his mouth remained closed in the same rictus grin. How could he laugh that way without opening it? Perhaps he was also not human. “Ah, I see I must speak with less flourish than usual. Welcome to the Velvet Room, even if it’s not quite ready to receive you, dear guest.” He gestured to the fence. “As you can see, we are not quite in motion yet. That will take some time. I must ask, however: do you hear any music playing?” 

Odd question to ask, but then again, the music was quite odd as well. “Yes, I do. I cannot explain where it is coming from.”

“Hmm. Describe it to me.”

“It is a piano melody. I could identify the notes for you, but it would take some time.”

“Just a piano?”

“Yes. I do not hear any other instruments or vocal performances.”

The man moved to the chair behind the table and sat in front of her. “Interesting... It seems you are just as unprepared to receive us as we are you.”

“How did I come to be here? Who are you?”

“I am Igor, the master of this room, and I am delighted to make your acquaintance. As for how you are here...” He placed his elbows on the table and tented his fingers. “This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. You are present here in the form of a dream, while your physical body recovers in the laboratory that brought you to this world. You succeeded in sealing away the Shadow within your body, but shut down in the process.”

“I comprehend. I was not aware that I could dream.”

“Yes, I had assumed so. May you have many more dreams to come. You do not seem to be set to awaken for quite some time, so you may leave the room if you wish so and await your awakening in peace, or choose to keep an old man company. I have no contract to present you with, as you are in no condition to accept one, but if you have found your way to this room without having signed one, you will surely be presented with one in the future, and until then, I would very much like to get to know you better.”

A contract? She chose not to verbalize the question. She was aware of dreams being incomprehensible thoughts of a human’s unconscious mind, and despite knowing there were methods of dream interpretation, she did not believe they would apply to an android’s version of them. It was also a question of whether she could trust this Igor at all; perhaps this was not a dream, there were hidden speakers behind the walls, and he had kidnapped her to set the Shadow free.

Igor made note of her silence and rested both hands on the table. “I understand. This is far too early for a first meeting, for both you and I,” he said, tapping his fingers on the table in tune with the melody playing. “You may return to your dreamless slumbers. Until next time, dear guest. I look forward to serving you when you are adequately prepared. I can tell this will be a most remarkable journey.”

She did not understand him, but replied regardless. “I appreciate your praise. Farewell.”

The moment the final syllable escaped her vocalizers, everything went dark once more.

The next time she awakened was to red. The red light of the laboratory’s alarms, the red blood of the scientists staining the floor, and the head of red hair reaching out to her.

-------------------------

“Chidori-san. Chidori-san, please stop.”

Aigis had read that white was associated with purity, and red with violence. It was not information programmed into her, rather, it was from a book on color theory Chidori had lent her. The association made sense to her. White was the color of Chidori’s dress, and red was the blood staining it whenever she committed violence against her own self.

She really did try to put an end to her habit, as she found it detrimental to their mission. She had asked Jin to help her with it, but the man refused, believing Chidori’s right to self-expression to be above their mission, as long as it did not kill her. Takaya never acknowledged Aigis’s opinions, and so she had not asked. He refused to associate with someone “beyond salvation”, even if he still had her do chores and make purchases.

Aigis finally got the blade out of Chidori’s hands. It was a blade intended for cutting cardboard. She had asked Aigis to buy it for her only a few days prior, stating the reason to be a crafts project. Aigis had believed her.

“Chidori-san. Why did you lie to me?”

The redheaded girl did not respond, exhausted from blood loss as she was. Aigis continued regardless.

“You said this was for a crafts project, Chidori-san. This is not a crafts project. You have not used this blade for anything else since I purchased it for you. Why did you lie to me?”

“Everyone lies, Aigis,” Jin spoke. He was standing in the doorframe with his hands in his pockets, looking at Aigis who was knelt before Chidori’s bed, holding the blade with both hands as if presenting it before an altar. “There’s not a single person in the whole wide world who’s not a liar. Everyone lies to get what they want, and she wanted you to get that blade for her, so she lied to you.”

Her voice hitched. “I-I do not comprehend.” She had been encountering defections like this more and more since she awakened to the trio currently possessing her. She did not remember much of her life beforehand, but she knew enough to understand that they were unnatural for her.

“You don’t get why people would lie, huh? Never felt the urge to do a little bit of lying yourself? Lying’s got a lot of power, you know. You could lie to me so that I’d let you leave the base without supervision, or lie to Takaya so that you could run back to the lab for your answers, or lie to Chidori so she’d stop cutting herself. Lying can do all of that, and a lot more.”

She put the blade down and rose from the bedside to turn towards Jin. “But... why lie when you can tell the truth? I would have bought the blade for her regardless. My commands are to execute my orders to the letter. Why did she lie?”

Jin rubbed the back of his head with one hand. “I couldn’t tell you, Aigis. Ask her that when she wakes up.”

“She will not tell me. She never answers my questions. She only asks me to do things for her that will inevitably bring her to harm.”

“Well, if you don’t like her coming to harm, start saying no.”

“But I must obey the commands given to me by you all.”

Jin turned around and looked at Aigis over his shoulder. “Well, that’s your dilemma to figure out, isn’t it?” He then walked away from the room, leaving Aigis to ponder his words.

He had mentioned something. “There was not a single person in the world who was not a liar.” Perhaps that said something about Aigis.

Perhaps it meant she was not a person at all.

Perhaps Takaya was right to ignore her thoughts.

She decided to remain in front of Chidori’s bed and guard the blade, fearing that she would awaken and seek to use it again. She would have to dispose of it the next time Takaya sent her on a supply run.

Aigis closed her eyes to enter standby mode. It was not necessary, but she was told her standby sequence was unsettling if her eyes were open during the act.

The next time she opened her eyes, she beheld green.

-------------------------

“Strange to see another walk this hour, yet not share the power we wield,” Takaya spoke.

“I was under the impression that one of your companions was the same,” the bespectacled man replied.

Something inside her said that she should recognize the man. Maybe it was her residual memories, or maybe it was another defect. Regardless, Aigis felt like she had met him before, and meeting him in the back alley lit by the emerald moonlight of the Dark Hour only served to emphasize the feeling.

Jin barked a laugh. “Aigis isn’t exactly a normal person. By all means, she shouldn’t even be transmogrified right now. Just shut down in a corner until the Hour ends. But you should already know that, Ikutsuki-san.” The honorific was pronounced with palpable disrespect.

“I do indeed. But I am here to change that. I’m going to make her more Persona-able, in a way.” Ikutsuki chuckled at his wordplay. No one else did, but Aigis thought it was somewhat humorous.

“Are you saying she can awaken too? I figured you just built her specially to function here, like the rest of your gizmos,” said Jin.

“A machine, being chosen? Preposterous,” said Takaya. “How can a creature who can never reach salvation be chosen for this power? You said it yourself. The power of Persona is awakened upon confronting death, and she is incapable of that.”

“It’s less being chosen and more being built to harness the power. Power is power, and any form of it can be tamed by tools. That’s all she is, and it’s high time she served you with all she was capable of.”

Aigis remained silent, yet she noticed Chidori sneaking a look at her. What was that emotion in her eyes? Intrigue? Kinship? What would she gain out of Aigis awakening to a Persona?

“Alright, let’s not waste any more time. I have a group of brats to lecture tonight,” Ikutsuki said, before pulling out a remote from his pocket and pressing a button on it.

Nothing happened.

Aigis felt almost disappointed. She was looking forward to increasing her combat efficiency, and now it seemed she was unable to serve her... companions? Owners? Partners? Serve them with the power a Persona would lend her.

Then she realized that no one had reacted to this predicament. She noticed that Ikutsuki’s finger was still holding down the button, unmoving. She noticed that Takaya’s hair was frozen in the air without dropping back down. She noticed Chidori’s half-closed eyes, as if she were photographed while blinking. She noticed that Jin’s posture was not stable enough to support him standing up unless he adjusted it, yet here he was, unmoving as stone. She noticed that the wind had stopped blowing.

Despite all logic, time seemed to have ground to a halt, apart from Aigis herself. But then, she felt something move behind her, and that unsettled her most of all.

“Hello,” said a voice from behind her.

Blocking out her various alerts for jammed barrels and faulty weapon cooling system, Aigis disabled her safeties immediately and turned to face the assailant, pointing all ten of her weaponized fingers at him. The owner of the voice was a small boy dressed in striped black-and-white pajamas, with black hair and blue eyes. His eyes resembled Aigis’s own beyond just the color; two concentric circles with differing shades of blue, yet his did not have the mechanical finer details of her eyes.

“I don’t wish you harm,” the boy said softly. “It’s just that... you need to sign this.” He put his hands behind him, and when he brought them back, he was holding a red folder he seemingly manifested from thin air. He opened it, and inside was a paper labeled “Contract”.

The word evoked the same feeling in her as the color blue, and that made her remember a dream she had all those years ago, the only dream of her life. The dream where a long-nosed man said they were both unprepared to sign a contract. It seemed the time was now. She disabled her weapons and put her arms down.

“Are you from the Velvet Room?” she asked the boy.

“I don’t know where that is. All I know is that you need to sign this before you can proceed.”

“What happens if I refuse?”

“Then you won’t awaken to a Persona and cease to function during the Dark Hour.”

That would most certainly result in Takaya disposing of her. It would not do. “Do you have anything I can use to sign it?”

“You really should read it first. Never sign anything without reading it properly, as they say.”

She chose to appease the boy, taking the folder from him to read what was on the paper. It was but a single paragraph:

Time never waits.

It delivers all equally to the same end.

I hereby agree to the statement above,

and I chooseth this fate of mine own free will.

She frowned. “I do not comprehend. I am incapable of death. Being a machine, I can be reconstructed if I were ever destroyed. Time does not bind me the way it does humans. Why should I agree to something I am exempt from?”

The boy smiled. There was sadness in it, though its reason was something Aigis could not determine. “Perhaps it isn’t including you when it’s saying that. Or perhaps it is. I couldn’t tell you.”

“What fate is it speaking of?”

“I don’t know. But if you don’t feel like you should sign it, don’t. No one’s forcing you to do it. It’s your choice.”

She looked the boy in the eye. “I do not see this as a choice. I am being told to either agree to this and get to keep my life as it is, or discard it and forgo the one reason I have this life to begin with.”

“You can always start over. Besides, who’s to say your life will stay the same, even if you do sign it? Perhaps they’ll be terrified of your Persona and leave you behind anyway.”

She had not considered that. “Life is unpredictable,” the boy went on. “It can go against your wishes at every turn and end abruptly with no warning, and yet it’s still something humans cling to until the very end. I wonder why that is.”

“That is untrue,” Aigis said. “Many humans end their own lives prematurely.”

“But they never go quietly. Even if they feel like they’ve lost the will to go on, in their final moments, they always struggle to survive. Many rethink their decision when it’s time to go through with it, and if someone happens to save them, they are grateful. Every human wants to live, deep down. Yet time is something no one can escape. It delivers all to the same end. You can’t plug your ears or cover your eyes. Perhaps this is what the contract wishes you to agree to. After all, don’t you also fear your demise? Is that not why you’re questioning this matter?”

That was a question Aigis had no answer for, so she replied with one of her own, the same question she had asked earlier. “Do you have anything I can use to sign this with?”

The boy smiled again, wider this time. “I do.” He put his hand in his pocket, and out came a quill pen that most certainly wouldn’t fit in there without poking out of it. She paid it no mind, and wrote “Aigis” in the place the contract had marked out for an autograph. She then closed the folder and handed it back to the boy alongside the pen.

“Good. And so, it begins...” he said, before vanishing in a cloud of black smoke.

She felt something shatter within her chest, and felt the rush of the wind once more as she raised her head and yelled out,

“Palladion!”

The Persona came to her, and brought all of her lost memories along with it. Of sealing that Shadow within her body. Of Ikutsuki, looking over her in the lab.

Of the boy on the bridge looking at her in terror, moments before she shut down.

She pushed the surge of data to the back of her mind, and heard Takaya exclaim his surprise at the Persona, and Ikutsuki responding to his shock with disdain. None of that mattered now.

All that mattered was that she knew her purpose once more.

She was an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon, and her purpose was to contain Death within her body until the end of time, and to destroy Shadows with extreme prejudice.

She had completed the former to the best of her ability until now, but it was high time she started working on the latter.

Without warning, she relinquished her Persona, and spoke to Ikutsuki.

“I remember my purpose now.”

The man smirked. “Good, I assumed that would make you remember. Are you ready to come home now?”

“Yes. I must be equipped to combat Shadows properly once more. The repairs I have received up until now have been insufficient.”

“Hey, hey, what’s this about going home?” said Jin. “You’re gonna give her a Persona and then take her away?”

“Aigis...” said Chidori, under her breath.

“Ah, let her go,” said Takaya. “We have no use for her, we never truly did in the first place. Surely our benefactor knows how to best make use of her. We don’t need a sophisticated murder machine to deal with the hapless fools we take care of during the Hour, do we?”

“You say that, but you were real damn comfortable having her do all the chores. You gonna do them yourself now?” Jin snapped.

“Don’t tell me you’re attached to a talking gun, Jin.”

“She’s one of us. I thought the point of all this was that we wouldn’t leave each other behind.”

“If you really want to pretend like she’s a person, you need to respect her choice first. Well, Aigis? Do you wish to stay with us, or leave with him?”

It was the first time Takaya had ever used her name in the eight years since they knew each other. She felt an inexplicable warmth in her chest. “I wish to leave with Ikutsuki-san so that I may receive adequate repairs. My goal is to destroy Shadows, and I cannot accomplish that without the fixes only he can provide.”

Jin’s eyes widened. Chidori held a hand to her mouth. Takaya smiled. Aigis felt like she had somehow misspoken.

“Well, that settles that. Let’s be off, shall we, doll?” said Ikutsuki, before chuckling to himself. “See what I did there? Doll?”

Aigis let out a laugh without intending to. It did not escape anyone’s notice.

“Finally, someone appreciates my humor. You’ll be a wonderful addition to the dorm, Aigis-kun.” Ikutsuki then turned to Takaya. “I don’t suppose you need anything else? Not running low on suppressants, are we?”

“No, the stock is adequate for now.”

“Are you giving Aragaki-kun his share as well?”

“Obviously, otherwise he’d have killed someone else by now,” Jin growled. “Can you buzz off already?”

“Of course, of course. Say goodbye, Aigis-kun.”

“Goodbye.”

“That all you have to say?” said Jin. “After eight years, that’s it? ‘Goodbye’?”

“I do not comprehend.”

Jin turned his back to her. “Whatever. I guess you were right, Takaya. She really is just a talking gun.”

Aigis thought he heard a sob from Chidori’s direction, but when she looked at her, she saw no tears.

“Well then, shall we?” said Ikutsuki.

Aigis followed him wordlessly, and as the Dark Hour dissipated, she looked to the sky, and observed the true, much smaller moon.

As she did so, she felt a program awaken from deep within her processors. It allowed her to determine that there would be a full moon in four days. She did not recognize the program, but it was safe to assume that much like every other process, it was related to Shadows. Perhaps it meant that the full moon would bring a large group of Shadows with itself for Aigis to destroy.

She found herself looking forward to it. She did not remember ever looking forward to anything in her existence.

Palladion hummed from within her Papillon Heart. It felt comforting. She felt glad to have it back.

Aigis stared at Ikutsuki’s tan coat on the way back to the dorm. She felt like she had to choose something to remember this night by, and it seemed like as good a color as any to attach to tonight’s memory.

But upon entering the dorm and meeting the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, she reconsidered.

Navy blue was the color of tonight.

Chapter Text

“Mr. Chairman. You’ve returned,” said a young woman with red hair. It was darker than Chidori’s, yet it reminded Aigis of her all the same. “Is that...”

“Indeed it is, Kirijo-kun,” Ikutsuki replied. “The Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon I told you about. Say hello, Aigis-kun.”

“Hello. I am Aigis, the last of the Seventh-Generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons. Pleased to meet you.”

The woman’s eyes widened. She was not expecting her to be the way that she was. Aigis was well aware of not resembling what most people expect weapons to look like, but she would soon prove her worth. She had to.

“H-hello, Aigis,” the woman, Kirijo, replied. “Welcome to the Iwatodai dorms. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I will call in the others shortly for introductions.” Aigis realized she could not continue referring to her as a woman; according to her internal archives, Mitsuru Kirijo was not older than eighteen. Appearances were deceiving, it seemed.

Mitsuru called in the other residents to the lounge. The others were a girl with short brown hair that seemed on edge from the moment she laid eyes on Aigis, a boy with gray hair carrying himself like a veteran warrior, and...

The boy from the bridge. He had aged, but Aigis recognized his gray eyes and his navy-blue hair draping over them. It helped that she had relived the memory only minutes prior. Despite that, there was no light in his eyes, and no recognition of having met her beforehand. Perhaps he had forgotten too, just like Aigis.

They had something in common. Aigis decided she liked having things in common with others.

The brunette spoke first. “A-a robot?! Really? I thought we’d be getting a tank or something...”

“Yes, Takeba,” Mitsuru replied. “Aigis is the last of the... the weapons the Kirijo Group developed for combatting Shadows. The chairman has elected to have her assist SEES, seeing as we can properly explore Tartarus now, with four capable Persona users on our team.”

Takeba squirmed. “Sorry I held us up... it’s not exactly easy, you know.”

“We get it, Takeba,” said the gray-haired boy. “No one’s blaming you.” He turned to Ikutsuki. “Still, why wait until she could summon? If Aigis had joined before, we’d have four members regardless.”

Aigis knew the answer, of course. The Kirijo Group did not know where she was. Her stealth capabilities were more than enough to pass in public if she was provided any means to conceal her body with, which meant authorities could not have known of her. She also had three chips inside her body that were implemented to transmit her location to Kirijo-owned facilities via GPS, but all three were fried and offline since her improper activation at Strega’s hands eight years ago.

Her presence became known to Ikutsuki when the man found Strega. He was not seeking the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon at all, but the surviving experiments of the Kirijo Group’s forced Persona awakenings. Finding her was just “a happy accident”, as the man had put it. It seemed that after eight years, the priority of her recovery had dwindled significantly. Perhaps she was determined a lost cause, too broken for activation, or simply not required.

That did not matter. She was needed now, and she would serve her purpose.

Ikutsuki, on the other hand, stated matters very differently. “Aigis-kun was needed elsewhere for the past few years. She’s served her purpose there, so now we’ve decided to bring her over to you. She’s been out of combat for a while, so she might’ve been a liability if the team couldn’t take care of themselves without her help. Now that you can all summon reliably, that’s not an issue.”

“I am in your care, as they say,” added Aigis, who felt like she should say something that was unrelated to Ikutsuki’s bold-faced lie.

“Good to have another fighter with us,” said the boy with gray hair. “I’m Akihiko Sanada. Can’t wait to see what you can do.”

“I’m Yukari Takeba. Nice to meet you, Aigis!”

Then, it was time for the boy from the bridge to introduce himself. He used two words only.

“Makoto Yuki.”

Aigis decided she would remember his name. It was the least she could do after killing his parents.

An uneasy silence fell upon the group after Makoto’s introduction. “Jeez... at least say hi or something,” whispered Yukari.

“Well, at any rate, welcome to SEES, Aigis,” said Mitsuru. “We’re all glad to have you here.”

Makoto had already started making his way up the stairs as she spoke, putting the earphones hanging from his neck on his ears. Aigis felt as if she should have stopped him, but she remained in place and gave Mitsuru a polite yet empty reply, much like everything else she had said since entering the dorm.

Later, after promises from Ikutsuki that she would be visited by technicians from the lab tomorrow to receive her long overdue tune-ups, she retired to the room she was given, and sat on the lone wooden chair that was the room’s only furniture.

Standby mode refused to activate. An overflow of unprocessed data blocked its function. So she began processing.

She signed the contract expecting her life to stay the same. She expected to retire next to Chidori’s bed tonight, as she always did. She expected tomorrow to be predictable; assisting Jin with his internet presence (“You’re an easy popularity magnet, with that face of yours.”), servicing Takaya’s pistol (“If you can’t repair yourself, you can at least maintain another weapon.”), and modeling for Chidori (“You sit still. They don’t.”). Instead, her life had changed completely.

The boy was right. Life was unpredictable.

At least she had found her purpose once more. That was a positive.

It was 4:42 AM when she finally managed to clear out her cache enough to enter standby mode.

She dreamt for the second time in her life, and it was the same dream as the first.

Blue, blue, blue. Brighter than Makoto’s hair, yet reminiscent enough to remind her once more of what she had done to him.

The silver dial on the fence was rotating clockwise with no sign of stopping, and light flashed by at set intervals behind it. Aigis understood, then, that the Velvet Room was actually an elevator.

Igor was seated in front of her, but he was not alone. A woman stood to his left, clad in the room’s colors and holding a rather thick book as if it had no weight. She had short silver hair and golden eyes, and somehow looked more inhuman than Igor despite having no other abnormalities in her appearance.

“Welcome back to the Velvet Room, Aigis-san,” said Igor, unblinking and grinning, just as Aigis remembered. “It has been quite some time.”

“It is good to see you again, Igor-san. Where is this elevator headed?”

“Please, no honorifics. After all, I am here to serve. And we are currently headed to the top, as elevators often do.”

“Top of where?”

“We shall find out together when we reach our destination, dear guest. Tell me, what is the nature of the music you hear this time?”

She listened closely. The song was indeed different. “It is the same piano melody as before, but strings accompany it in harmony.”

“I see.” Igor’s expression or tone did not change, yet Aigis felt that he was happy with the information. “I remain unsure of whether you were ready for the contract, but you have signed it nonetheless, and that officially makes you our guest. Still, you have formed bonds with others already and awakened to your Persona once more, so perhaps I should reserve my judgement.”

“Bonds?” asked Aigis.

“Of course. You cannot spend eight years with a group of people and not feel a sense of belonging. You have three bonds already, and even if one is currently reversed, it is not too late to restore it.”

He was speaking of Strega. But what did he mean by bonds? You cannot bond with a weapon. You cannot call an object your friend. She did not ask him that, however. “Reversed?”

“It means the bond is in jeopardy, and unless it is nurtured, it will be lost to you forever. Fret not, however, for you still have time to make it right. Now, our time together is short, so I must move on to the next topic.” He gestured at the woman to his left. “This is Elizabeth. She’s a resident here, like myself.”

“It is my pleasure to finally meet you, Aigis-san,” said Elizabeth, with a smile. Her voice was airy, and the intonations were in all the wrong spots. Aigis found it familiar; her memory banks still contained her own first attempts at communication, after all. “I apologize for not being there for you in your first visit. You can rest assured knowing it will not be repeated ever again.” She then held a hand in the air, and a flash of light, a key manifested in front of Aigis. She grabbed it to take a closer look. It was blue, though at this point, that did not surprise her.

“This is the key to the Velvet Room, which is provided to the guests utilizing its services until the end of their journey,” said the long-nosed man. “Your next visit to this room will be of your own free will.”

“Why would I visit you once more?”

“After you signed the contract, you were bestowed with the power of the Wild Card, and this is the place that will allow you to nurture it.”

“The Wild Card?”

“It is the ability to wield more than one Persona. The power of a Persona is the power of one’s soul, and the soul is fueled by the depth of one’s bonds, hence your need to nurture them.”

Aigis felt one of her logic circuit’s resistors melt. This was an invaluable power to destroying Shadows. “I will be utilizing your services, Igor-sa... Igor. Thank you.”

“It is my pleasure. Now, time marches on in your world, and I shouldn’t keep you here any longer. I only ask one thing of you. Abide by your contract, and assume full responsibility for the choices you make. I will do everything in my power to assist you in this journey.”

Aigis felt the room blur at the edges of her vision.

“Now, then... Farewell.”

She returned to the dreamless darkness of her unconscious mind, but the music of the Velvet Room kept playing in her mind, over and over, until morning came.

-------------------------

The next day, Kirijo Group technicians looked her over and fixed all issues they found. The problems were not major. Her tracking chips were replaced, frayed wires were cut and rerouted, around 36 melted resistors were trashed and swapped out for healthy ones, jammed barrels were cleared up, and the weapon cooling system received a complete overhaul for increased efficiency.

Not a single technician found anything in correlation to the “power of the Wild Card”, and no one could tell that a great Shadow was sealed within her body. It was as if both events were conjectures of her mind, but she knew that to not be the case, as she was incapable of hallucinating. Abnormal events like the boy with the contract and the Velvet Room were curious, but they could in no way be blamed on her mind fooling her. It was not built with such capabilities in mind.

Aigis did not mention them regardless. She felt like they were matters better suited to remain as secrets.

Her room was also outfitted with a resting station that was capable of auto-repairs her system could not take care of on its own, and multiple boxes of ammunition. She was overjoyed. Cheap bullets always required aim adjustment and jammed her barrels. Aigis asked for a shooting range to try out her weapons, but was denied, with the promise of getting to try them out on Shadows at the next Dark Hour.

She willed time to move faster so that she could go to the Dark Hour immediately, but it did not. It seemed the event that brought time to a halt was either out of her conscious control, or an ability of the mysterious boy’s. She would have to investigate further.

By the time the technicians left and Aigis got to exit her room, school hours had come to an end, and as she descended down the stairs she spotted Makoto entering through the front door, earphones on his ears.

She stopped in front of the staircase and attempted a greeting. “Hello and good day, Makoto-san. Welcome back.”

He raised his head and met her line of sight. He then removed his earphones and let them hang around his neck. “Hi,” he said.

Silence.

Aigis attempted another sentence she had filed under “small talk” to continue the conversation. “How was school today?”

“I don’t know.”

Strange. “Were you not attending school?”

“I was asleep in class.”

“Ah. I do not believe that will have a positive effect on your academics.”

“Who cares?”

That was a good question. If Makoto did not care, who did? Aigis was certainly not built with the ability to care in mind. If she was a capable caregiver despite that, she would have stopped Chidori’s habits in the eight years they had together. So she replied, “That rhetorical question is true. No one cares whether you do well at school or not if you do not. Your life is your own, and if you wish to ignore certain aspects of it, that is your right.”

Makoto’s eyes slightly widened. Considering his small range of observed expressions, Aigis interpreted it as great surprise. Then he looked down and whispered, “Some life.”

“Are you unsatisfied with your life, Makoto-san?”

He looked up. “Whatever. Did you need anything?”

“No. The technicians fixed any problem they found with me. I am ‘gucci’, as they say.”

Makoto exhaled loudly. Aigis interpreted it as laughter. She was glad that her attempt at humor was successful. “I’m going to my room. Knock if we’re going to Tartarus.”

“Very well.” If she had any say in the matter, they would. She hoped she had a say in the matter.

As Makoto ascended the staircase, Yukari entered the front door. She noticed Aigis immediately. “Oh, hey Aigis. Done with your tune-ups?”

“Hello, Yukari-san. Yes. I am fully operational.” She did not feel like making the same joke to Yukari. She did not know why.

Yukari moved towards the sofa positioned in front of the lounge’s TV, and practically threw herself on it, sprawling over an area of its seats that was meant for two people. As there was no one else in the lounge, Aigis decided there was no use in telling her to be considerate. “Man, school was such a drag today,” she said. “Makoto’s just sleeping through his classes, all the other boys are stupid, especially Stupei, and we’re so early in the year that all the classes are just repeating last year.”

Aigis found that she cared very little about Yukari’s day. Even then, she did care a little, so she asked, “Perhaps you could also sleep through the classes, as Makoto-san does?”

“Do you... use ‘san’ for everybody? Never mind, you probably do. Anyway, he’s figured out which teachers let him get away with sleeping by now. He just got lucky they were all of his classes today. And I sit right in front of him, so if I sleep too, no one gets to cover for him. He’s also got that transfer student aura around him, so people think it’s ‘cool’ that he’s sleeping in class, like that’s something to be proud of. Well, Junpei would probably be proud of it, but he doesn’t count.”

“Is this ‘Junpei’ related to the ‘Stupei’ you mentioned earlier?”

“Yeah, same person. I call him that because he’s stupid.”

“That does not sound very nice of you.”

Yukari raised her head to look at Aigis. “You’re pretty blunt, you know that? Wait, why are you still all the way over there? Come on, sit down.”

“As you wish.” Aigis moved towards the sofa in front of Yukari and sat down.

“No, I didn’t mean it like... Well, at least you’re sitting.” Yukari sighed and sat more properly on the sofa.

Aigis chose that opportunity to ask her, “You said Makoto-san is a transfer student?” That was odd, considering she remembered him from the Moonlight Bridge. She assumed he lived in the area, but perhaps becoming an orphan affected his living conditions.

“Yeah, he transferred a few days ago. We found out he had the potential after he just walked through the Dark Hour from the station to the dorm and waltzed in through the front door like it was normal. I almost attacked him because I thought he was a Shadow.” Yukari chuckled. “Not my proudest moment. We asked him if he wanted in on SEES, and he said ‘whatever’ like we asked him to buy groceries on his way back, and not, like, risk his life fighting supernatural monsters.”

“That does sound like Makoto-san.”

“Yeah... Wish he cared at least a little bit, though. I know I can’t make him care, but this is life and death stuff. I don’t like how he’s just throwing his life away like it doesn’t matter.”

“Does it matter?”

Yukari’s eyes widened. “What- Of course it matters! It’s his life!”

“If he does not care about it, does it truly matter? Like you said, it is his life. It is not our place to decide whether it matters or not.”

“That’s not how it works!” Yukari leaned forward and put both her hands on the table. They were trembling. “Everyone’s life matters. Everyone’s. And if they don’t realize that, then someone needs to make them get it, okay?”

“But why?”

“Because it just does, okay?!” she yelled. She let out a shaky breath, and her eyes glistened in the light as she leaned backwards. “Sorry for yelling. I... I forgot you’re a robot and don’t really get it.”

“It is alright,” Aigis replied. She made note of the fact that deeming life to be as valuable as its owner deemed it upset Yukari. She was not going to mention that to her again to avoid upsetting her in the future.

“Look, life is... it’s precious. Every human only gets one shot at this, and if they waste it, they don’t get another chance. They shouldn’t take it for granted. It pisses me off when Makoto’s acting like he’s watching his own life on TV. Like it’s... it’s someone else’s life and there’s nothing he can do about it. I know he hasn’t had it easy, but that’s no reason to think it can’t get better. Like, he’s awakened to a special power now. Something that’s unique to him. Shouldn’t that mean his life is valuable now? Doesn’t he get it?”

Aigis considered Yukari’s words. She found a crucial flaw. “But I also have the power to utilize a Persona.”

“Yeah, so?”

“I am a machine created to fight Shadows. My life only has value if I am capable of fulfilling that goal. It has no inherent value otherwise.”

Yukari took in a breath and put both hands on her mouth. Aigis registered it as horror, though she could not place the reason for it. “Oh, Aigis...”

“I suggest picking a better argument to present to Makoto-san if you wish to convince him of his life’s value. This line of discussion will only discourage him further. I will be in my room if there is need of me.” Aigis stood up and walked towards the staircase.

“Aigis, wait!”

She did not. She had not been ordered to obey SEES members yet, like she had been with Strega. She retired to her quarters, and stayed there until her internal clock reminded her that the Dark Hour was soon to come.

Then, and only then, she left her room, with all weapons fully loaded and a wish to destroy as many Shadows as possible until her systems gave out.

Chapter Text

Fifteen minutes before midnight, Aigis left her room for the command room on the fourth floor, to inform any present party of her goal to depart for Tartarus.

She found all of the dorm’s residents already present, except for Ikutsuki and Makoto. She concluded that Ikutsuki was not a permanent resident of the dorm, unlike the students.

The group was sitting around a central table across from a large computer that Mitsuru was operating at the moment. Yukari had crossed her legs and appeared at ease, but sneaked glances at Mitsuru nervously. Akihiko had hung his jacket on the chair’s backrest and was checking his phone, looking unbothered. Makoto was not present, she noted once more. His room was on the second floor, and Aigis, who was given accommodations on the third floor, had not passed his room on her way here. She would inform him of her Tartarus visit later, she decided.

They all turned to her as she entered and closed the door behind her. “Oh, Aigis,” said Mitsuru. “I was just going to send Akihiko to get you. It’s good that you’re here.”

“Hello, Mitsuru-san. I was going to ask for permission to venture Tartarus. Am I correct in assuming you are the person the others look to for command?”

“Well, I am the current leader of SEES, so yes, you’re correct. As for Tartarus, we will be departing shortly, now that you’re here.”

Aigis tilted her head. “We?”

Yukari opened her mouth, but closed it without a word and chose to stare at her shoes instead. “Of course,” said Mitsuru. “Tartarus trips aren’t a solo effort, Aigis. We all go in together. No one here is incapable of fighting.”

“That is not my point. Why risk irreplaceable resources on an unsafe environment?”

“Implying you’re expendable?” said Akihiko.

“Yes. I am incapable of death. I can be repaired as many times as necessary. I should enter the Shadow nest on my own, to avoid possible harm coming to vital members of the team.”

“Then what’s everybody else doing here?”

“Were I to be damaged excessively, I would be unable to exit Tartarus on my own. A recovery team would be required to extract me from the tower should such a situation arise. Your assistance would also be required if I encountered a Shadow I could not defeat on my own. Otherwise, Tartarus exploration efforts should be left to me.”

Mitsuru opened her mouth, but Akihiko raised a hand to silence her. “Wouldn’t it make more sense if we came in with you? Extracting your inactive body would take less time if we were there with you, and it’d allow us to get back to exploration much sooner. The Dark Hour is a limited timeframe, and we aren’t sure what happens to anyone left in Tartarus when it isn’t there during the day. Plus, if you get to a Shadow that’s too strong for you, we’d already be there in that case too. We could take it down right there and then, instead of effectively wasting a day on recon.”

Aigis paused. His points were valid. Despite that... “You will be distractions to my combat process if you are to be present at all times. I cannot guarantee your protection and the Shadows’ annihilation at the same time. Which brings us back to the point of you being as invaluable as you are fragile.”

“But that’s not a problem if the Shadow’s too powerful for you? You’re willing to risk our necks against a Shadow that you yourself can’t take down on your own?”

“The elimination of Shadows is top priority. Your safety comes second. I will balance these scales as much as I can until it is no longer possible. I am simply calculating all possible outcomes.”

Akihiko leaned back on his chair. “How long have you been out of combat for, Aigis?”

That question was unexpected. “Nearly ten years.”

“And do you think you’re at prime condition now?”

“Yes. All my systems have been repaired.”

“That doesn’t translate to being ready for combat.”

Aigis frowned. “I am a robot. I do not experience muscular atrophy or a decline in my reflexes.”

“Have you ever been out of combat before?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know those things don’t apply to you?”

“I would not have been built to be subject to such defects.”

Then again... She was not built to dream. She was not built to be capable of summoning multiple Personas. And now that she thought about it, she was not built to be capable of sealing Shadows in her body, either. She looked away from Akihiko’s gaze.

“I see you’re considering it.”

“...Yes. There may be a possibility of defects the technicians could not detect in me. I would need to be properly calibrated in combat to find out more.”

“And what’s better for calibration than a control group?” Akihiko rose from his chair and flung his jacket over his right shoulder. “Hear me out. We go in with you tonight and assess your performance in combat. Then, we can decide whether you should go in alone or not. Plus, you’ll need experience working with a team, won’t you? In case of those powerful Shadows you can’t take down on your own. Even if we decide you can handle yourself just fine, you’ll need to practice coordinating with others in live combat, since I don’t think that’s something they’ve drilled you on. Is that alright with you?”

“That is logical. I accept your proposal.”

“Good!” Akihiko clapped his hands together once. It made a loud, resonant sound that made Yukari flinch. “Alright, SEES, let’s move out. We have an android to assess tonight.”

“I will await you downstairs,” Aigis said. “I will inform Makoto-san to join us on my way.”

She closed the door behind her, but before she moved to the staircase, she overheard Mitsuru saying, “Why did you tell me to stop, Akihiko? I could’ve handled that.”

And Akihiko responded,

“You couldn’t. You would’ve tried to appeal to what she was really saying, and she didn’t want to hear that. That’s something to deal with later down the line.”

During her descent of the stairs and fetching of Makoto, Aigis pondered these words. She did not manage to deduce their meaning by the time the rest of SEES came down to the lounge.

-------------------------

Tartarus was big.

Incomprehensibly big.

Aigis had seen it from the distance every time the Dark Hour occurred for the past eight years, but Strega had no interest in exploring the tower. Its mere existence meant the Dark Hour was a period larger than life, a time for the chosen to observe sights not meant for normal humans. They were satisfied with outside observation and silent reverence. And from a distance, it did not appear to be quite as big as it did up close.

Its top could be seen from afar, but standing in front of the tower’s entrance, it was imperceptible. Even with her lenses capable of zooming in and expanding her field of view, Aigis could not see the tower’s peak. She had seen enough reality-defying sights so far as to not be shocked, but the SEES newcomers reacted differently.

At least, Yukari did. Seeing Gekkoukan High fold unto itself and morph into a completely different structure as the Dark Hour started got a gasp out of her, and she kept looking it up and down during Akihiko’s explanation of the tower’s nature as a structure unique to the Hour. Makoto, on the other hand, looked at the tower as if he expected something bigger. He seemed more upset with the fact that he would not be able to listen to music during the exploration than with having to explore a mysterious supernatural tower that replaced his school.

Perhaps Yukari had a point, worrying about Makoto the way that she did. Humans were supposed to be at the very least surprised by the supernatural, and at most be horrified of it. Even Mitsuru looked unnerved when looking at the coffins all over the streets, a result of the Dark Hour transmogrifying those without potential, but Makoto barely spared them a second glance. It was as if they were a normal part of his day, and not a sign of something deeply wrong with the world. Aigis considered the possibility that Makoto had been experiencing the Dark Hour for the past ten years and had simply gotten accustomed to it, but she doubted not being unnerved by blood on the floor was something any human would easily manage, let alone a sixteen-year-old. The nature of the red liquid that puddled on the ground during the Dark Hour was undetermined by Kirijo scientists, as it dissipated the moment the Hour came to a close, but it resembled blood enough to trigger the associated psychological reaction.

Akihiko finished explaining the tower’s nature, and said, “Well, time to go in.”

“Wait,” Yukari said. “Why does Tartarus even replace our school? What’s so special about it?”

Mitsuru pressed her lips together, but didn’t respond. It was Akihiko who answered Yukari’s question instead, with a simple dismissal; they did not know, how could they know?

Aigis made note of the fact that Mitsuru clearly knew why. A glance at Yukari revealed that she noticed this as well. Akihiko’s answer seemed sincere enough, however. Whatever the reason for Tartarus’s placement was, the senior wasn’t privy to it.

She wondered if Ikutsuki would tell her if she asked. She dismissed the possibility instantly.

Inside the tower was a circular space resembling a building’s lobby. In the center, a staircase carpeted with blue went up into the center of a giant broken golden clock, leading deep into the structure. On the right of the room sat a machine of indeterminable purpose, a combination of Tesla coils and a control panel and a metal arch. On the left stood a white grandfather clock with unmoving hands marking 12 o’clock, and a blue door leading to nowhere at all. The key to the Velvet Room, which she had found inside one of her ammunition compartments upon waking up, reacted to the door in a way Aigis felt in her processors but could not quite explain. Either Igor had done this for her convenience, or the Velvet Room was intrinsically tied to Tartarus. The correct answer would require further investigation. For now, exploring the tower took priority over the Velvet Room, so she ignored the door. Everyone else seemed to ignore it as well; perhaps Mitsuru and Akihiko had attempted opening it before but failed due to lacking a key, and Yukari assumed it was another quirk of Tartarus. Makoto was likely to not care either way.

Mitsuru moved to the side of the staircase and began setting up the equipment she had brought with herself; a laptop, headphones, and a radio set. “I will be coordinating with you from here,” she said.

“You’re not going in with us?” asked Yukari.

“Part of my Persona’s ability is navigation and communication. I can link up with you to map out Tartarus in real-time as you explore it, and warn you of Shadows in your path. With four combatants on the team already, it should be simple enough that my assistance in that regard would not be required. After all, we made it quite a few floors with only three fighters beforehand.”

“I was under the assumption that Makoto-san and Yukari-san had recently joined,” Aigis said. “Without them, that only leaves you and Akihiko-san. Who was the third member exploring the tower alongside you?”

“They’re... not a member anymore,” said Akihiko. “They left for personal reasons.”

“They didn’t die, right?” questioned Yukari.

“No, nothing like that. They’re... doing just fine. I met them the other day, in fact.” Akihiko then pulled out a piece of cloth from his pocket and walked up to Aigis. Closer inspection revealed it to be a red armband emblazoned with the letters S.E.E.S. in black, blocky letters, the same as the armbands everyone else was currently sporting on their left arms. “Here,” he said, handing it to Aigis. “Every team member gets one.”

“Thank you,” she said, tying it to her left arm. “What is their purpose?”

“A display of team unity. Shows that we’re all in this together. It’s more of a mental benefit than a physical one.”

“I comprehend.” She did not, but stating that was sure to lead to a lengthy conversation that would delay Tartarus exploration. The Dark Hour would only last so long, and she had plenty of ammunition she wished to discharge into Shadows before it came to a close. “I have one final question.”

“Ask away.”

“If Mitsuru-san is the leader of SEES yet she is staying here as we explore, who is our field leader?”

“Yours truly, for now,” Akihiko replied. “If someone shows special promise, it could be them.”

Aigis felt torn. On one hand, she was programmed with a great capability for strategizing. She felt as if she had the knowledge to lead the team to victory. On the other hand, she had no practical experience to speak of when it came to leading teams. In addition, she had spent all of her existence as someone taking orders from others. She was not fit to lead, she decided. At least, not yet.

As they ascended the lobby’s stairs, however, Aigis realized something.

By telling Akihiko that she understood the meaning of the armbands, she had lied.

“You look happy, Aigis. Excited to finally be in your element?” Yukari asked.

It seemed she was smiling openly. “I cannot describe it. But I am looking forward to demolishing Shadows.”

“Great!”

It was great, she decided. It indeed was.

-------------------------

Tartarus’s behavior towards intruders could have been compared to a living organism reacting to germs invading vital organs. The Shadows behaved comparatively to white blood cells, attacking on sight with the intention to eliminate, and the path was ever-shifting and twisted in on itself and had more dead ends than ways forward.

But it would not be an accurate description, not by a long shot. The Shadows were never enough to overpower the team, and the individual floors seemed to have a limited supply of them, even if there were more to be found in the next. Chests filled with useful items such as medicine and money (how they found their way to Tartarus, no one could quite explain) were the reward for reaching a dead end. Closed doors opened automatically when the group approached them. The way up was never barred, and not once did the tower attempt locking them in a corner with a Shadow; the option to escape remained readily available at all times, even if the team never took it as a way out.

The tower did not seem to want them dead, despite its nature. It seemed to push them on forward and want them to get stronger. It did not even want them discouraged at finding the wrong route, if the chests had any meaning behind them. According to Mitsuru, the floor layouts reset every Dark Hour, hence the need for constant navigation, but to Aigis, this simply meant the chests and Shadows reset as well, giving them a reason to visit Tartarus every day beyond simple training.

If Aigis was not programmed to despise Tartarus on a fundamental basis, she would call it her personal heaven. If there was an endless supply of Shadows, it meant she would always have a purpose, did it not? The tower itself seemed endless as well, so even if she made progress through the floors, perhaps she would never reach the top and get to battle Shadows forever, relishing the feeling of blasting them into smithereens until the end of time.

Not everyone shared her views, however. Akihiko shone on the battlefield, summoning Polydeuces gleefully to eviscerate one Shadow with heavenly lightning and using his boxing glove-clad fists to decimate another, but he cared little for the chests and seemed in a rush to get to the next floor. He enjoyed battle, but felt responsible for the team and didn’t want to put them in unnecessary risk. Yukari remained unnerved by the puddles of red liquid and struggled with summoning Io. Her hands shook every time she put the Evoker to her forehead, and her gusts of wind lacked the decisiveness of Akihiko’s electricity. She seemed well aware of those two facts, and stuck to using her bow for most battles, which she wielded with grace and skill. Makoto showed the most emotion he had ever displayed to anyone when summoning Orpheus with a yell and a grin, but remained apathetic to anything else. The moment his Persona came out and set the enemy in front of him ablaze, he seemed to lose interest in it, as if the only thing making the battle interesting was the rush he got from pointing a fake gun at his temple and pulling the trigger. He did not use his shortsword even once.

Aigis was the only one enjoying every second of exploration. She found the hallways visually fascinating, as their non-Euclidean architecture pushed her logic circuits to their limit in an attempt to understand them. Opening a chest at the end of a long, twisting hallway gave her the sensation that the path taken was not in vain. The bloodlike liquid on the ground tested her humanoid psychological core’s courage. The Shadows’ destruction made her feel fulfilled like nothing else. Tartarus felt perfectly crafted for her, and she believed her initial decision to explore it alone was the right choice after seeing how the tower troubled everyone else.

She kept her thoughts to herself, however. Contextually, she had realized that more than anything, SEES was exploring Tartarus to find a way to make it disappear for good, alongside the Dark Hour itself. Seeing their individual reactions to the tower and the Hour made her realize that no one present considered their potential a gift the way Strega did. They did not feel chosen and special during the Hour, instead they felt an obligation to make it all go away, and believed exploring Tartarus would be the key to achieving that goal. So she did not voice her opinions and instead followed Akihiko’s lead in every battle, even if it meant not getting to land a single hit, and avoided Shadows when he said so, even when every processor in her chassis told her to attack all Shadows on sight.

As they arrived at the staircase leading to the fifth floor, however, a break in the routine occurred.

“You’re doing good work, team,” Akihiko said. “This is as far as we had made it with the old gang, and we did it in just one night with plenty of time before the Dark Hour ends. Great job, everyone.”

“I concur,” said Mitsuru from the comms, her tone light and cheery. “Maybe you can even take down those large Shadows on the next floor. Remember them, Akihiko?”

“Oh, I’ve been waiting for this.”

“Large Shadows?” asked Aigis.

“There’s two really big Shadows on the fifth floor. It’s always been the same Shadows in the same floor layout, like it’s a rite of passage to fight that battle and win before we can see the rest of the tower. We couldn’t take them down before, but I’ve got a good feeling about it tonight. Is everyone feeling up to it?”

“I don’t really care,” Makoto said.

“I... Okay, I got this.” said Yukari, more to herself than to anyone else.

“I am experiencing no abnormalities. I am ‘just getting warmed up’, as they say,” Aigis proclaimed.

“Great!” The senior rolled his arms. “Let’s get to the next floor. There’s a teleporter there, so if we need to pull out, it can take us to the lobby immediately. Don’t push yourselves too hard, alright?”

That explained the strange machine back at the first floor, then. “The Shadows will be defeated tonight,” Aigis replied. “If anyone else wishes to leave, I will stay behind to take them down.”

“No, Aigis, we either do it together or not at all. It’s calibration night, remember? Easy fights aren’t a proper indicator for how well you’re performing, they’re just warm-ups.”

“Understood,” Aigis replied.

“Don’t pout, Aigis,” Yukari said. “You’ve been doing great tonight!” She put a hand on Aigis’s shoulder, and immediately pulled it back. “Ow! Ow! Hot!”

“I apologize. I release excess heat from the vents on my head, shoulders and thighs. If you wish to make physical contact with me after a battle, try the white-plated areas, as they are insulated.”

“I’ll definitely remember that...” Yukari said, sucking on her index finger to cool it off.

Aigis noticed that Makoto was glancing at them discretely. She met his sight head-on, and he looked away the moment she did. She felt as if she did not wish for him to stop looking, but did not know how to word the desire in a way that would be comprehensive enough for Makoto. The desire in and of itself felt alien to her, but she was slowly learning to embrace the things about herself that she could not fully understand. After all, they had led to her sealing away the most dangerous Shadow ever recorded and gaining an extremely valuable power. She would ponder the emotion at a later time.

Speaking of her valuable power, she had not felt the pull of any Persona other than Palladion in her Papillon Heart yet, during battles or otherwise. It seemed she would have to converse with Igor on how to acquire more Personas, otherwise the Wild Card would remain dormant and useless. Perhaps it had something to do with how easy it was to defeat the Shadows they had encountered, and the large Shadows next floor would awaken something within her.

How would she explain it to the others, though? It was unprecedented for anyone to wield more than one Persona, and she was not looking forward to questions on the methodology or tests on whether it could be replicated in others. She decided she would deal with the matter when it arose; no point distracting herself from the battle that was to come.

SEES took the staircase to the next floor, and the Shadows facing them rose to action as they entered the arena Tartarus had crafted for the battle.

“If you’re not gonna move, we’ll make you!” Yukari yelled out, and fired an arrow aimed at one of the two raven-shaped monsters. The Shadow dodged effortlessly, and began charging a hailstorm of ice.

“It uses ice attacks! Akihiko, stay on guard!” Mitsuru exclaimed.

“It can’t use ice if it’s dead! Polydeuces, go!” The Persona appeared behind him, ready to dive towards the Shadow, but it was too late. The ice attack that ensued made Polydeuces vanish on impact, and left Akihiko frozen solid and SEES without a responsive field commander.

“Dammit, Akihiko, you’re too reckless... Yuki! Your Persona has access to fire. Try it out!”

“Persona,” Makoto said softly, a far cry from his energetic yells the prior floors. With a strum of Orpheus’s lyre and a fiery explosion, the raven beast responsible for freezing Akihiko was knocked down, and Makoto let out a shuddering breath as the Persona vanished. He was too exhausted to be able to summon again, from the looks of it.

“I believe Makoto-san will not be able to summon again. May I try?” Aigis said.

“Go ahead, Aigis, but be careful. We don’t need another teammate down. Takeba, work on unfreezing Akihiko while Aigis holds them off. Yuki, take a breather.”

As Yukari moved towards the block of ice containing their leader, Aigis decided to finally cut loose. “Activating Orgia Mode.” Blue light burst forth from her Papillon Heart as a pleasant chill moved through her body; her cooling system was working overtime to compensate for the overclocking of her components. The limitations of her joints, intended to make her appear more human, lifted entirely to allow free rotation for acrobatic maneuvers, and she felt weightless as a result. Clarity was all she could feel in her processors, as her calculation speed doubled, tripled, and then quadrupled. Her ultimate combat stance was fully online, and nothing could stand in her way.

With her increased processing speed, time seemed to slow, and Aigis assessed the situation. Two hostiles. Three friendlies. She simulated thirty different methods of dealing with the scenario, eventually settling on the fifteenth one, as it did not involve putting other SEES members in harm’s way. It was not the most combat-efficient, but it would have to do.

Her comprehension of the flow of time returned to normal, reminding her of Orgia Mode’s draining effects on her internal components. She would have to act fast. Aigis summoned Palladion for a piercing attack on the downed Shadow, and went to destroy the other one with her own body. Her Persona was successful in eliminating the Shadow it was set upon, but Aigis’s own blows were ignored by the second raven, who summoned an icy wind to blow Aigis off of itself and then attacked her with a lunge that Aigis had to flip out of the way for. She summoned Palladion again, but the Persona’s attack missed the enemy, who had become more aware than before thanks to a spell it cast on itself.

“Not good... How long can you keep that mode going, Aigis?” Mitsuru asked.

“Long enough,” she replied, summoning her Persona once more to grant herself a boost in strength as she fired a volley of bullets on the Shadow. It did some damage, but not enough to take it down or even stun it.

“Yuki, can you summon Orpheus again?”

Makoto moved towards the Shadow, pointing the Evoker at his temple. He pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.

“Orpheus. Orpheus. Come out.” He pulled the trigger over and over, but the Persona did not answer his call.

Then, the Shadow noticed him, and fired a dangerously sharp icicle aimed directly at his head.

Makoto’s eyes widened.

Just like they had on the bridge.

Mitsuru screamed, but to Aigis, it was muffled, as she was not in Tartarus anymore. She was not fighting a raven monster. She did not have teammates. She was all alone, back on the Moonlight Bridge, holding off the massive, cloaked Shadow, and failing at it. A child was observing the fight with widened eyes, a second layer of trauma he was receiving just after watching his parents burn alive in their vehicle. The Shadow launched a blast of coalesced darkness towards him.

Aigis could not let him die.

“Do it,” said the small boy in the striped pajamas, who was standing next to her. Was he always there? What was he talking-

No. Aigis knew exactly what he was talking about.

“PERSONA!”

Palladion rose to her call, appearing in front of Makoto and blocking the attack. The icicle created a hole in the Persona’s mechanical shell, directly in the middle of its chest.

A white hand came out of the cavity formed on Palladion’s body. It grabbed the edge of the hole, and squeezed.

Cracks spiderwebbed all over the Persona, and a monstrous scream shook the walls as Palladion shattered and a second figure took its place.

It resembled a man clad in black, with bone-white boots and gloves. Its head was covered by a two-pieced white mask shaped like a screaming sharp-toothed skull, one piece covering its head and the other forming a jaw. Coffins floated on its back, eight in number and chained together to form a cape. It held a long, deadly blade in its right hand.

Aigis knew its name instinctively, as she had with Palladion.

Thanatos.

The Persona (for what else could it be if not a Persona?) roared once more and lunged at the raven, slashing violently and gracelessly with its blade. Feathers flew and a viscous liquid poured out of the Shadow as Thanatos assaulted it with animalistic rage. Then, it dropped its sword, grabbed the raven beast’s wings in its hands, and pulled.

The raven was torn in half, and dissolved in Thanatos’s hands shortly after. Its blood did not vanish with it. Thanatos, its gloves and mask running red, raised its head and howled, and the room’s walls expanded as if to give it space. Then, panting, the Persona lowered its head, and looked at the people in the room one by one, before focusing its sight on Aigis.

And in the blink of an eye, it disappeared, replaced with Palladion, as if it was never there.

Only then did Aigis notice that her pain receptors had disabled due to overloading. Only then did she notice that her energy reserves were dangerously low, drained far more than the toll Orgia Mode usually had on her.

She shut down precisely five seconds after realizing these two facts.

Chapter Text

The morning after Aigis broke down, Yukari went to school.

They told her that only the technicians could fix Aigis, and that there was nothing she could do to help, so she might as well focus on her studies.

She couldn’t do that either.

How useless can somebody be, right? Missed the only shot she took in the fight and got delegated to thawing duty the moment their dumb, hotheaded leader got himself out of the fight. And then they tell her she can’t do anything to help her new friend, and that she should get to school, and when she gets there, she can’t pay attention enough to learn anything at all.

Maybe it was a good thing that she was too weak to summon her Persona before Aigis showed up. If they had gone in there without her, they would’ve all been dead, and Yukari wouldn’t have been able to do a single thing to change that, because she was just holding everyone back anyway. Why else would Sanada-senpai make them avoid Shadows? It wasn’t like anyone other than Yukari had any trouble in battles.

It wasn’t like Makoto had any issues with pointing a gun at his head and pulling the trigger.

Maybe Yukari should follow his lead. Maybe if she thought ‘the world would be better off without me’ enough times, she could be like Makoto and pull the trigger like nobody’s business.

Right?

“Heeeey, Yuka-tan!” a sleazy, leering, stupid voice called out to her.

She sighed. “Go away, Junpei. I’m not in the mood.”

“Now I know there’s something bugging you, Yuka-tan,” Junpei said as he entered her field of view. The same dumb baseball cap was on his head, despite the fact that he hadn’t played in years. The same ridiculous goatee he only put on to look more mature was on his chin, because nobody else in the class could grow any facial hair and he could. And the same stupid grin was plastered on his lips, like he knew anything about what was ‘bugging’ Yukari. He continued, “You’re never that nice unless something happened. So, what’s wrong? Maybe the great Junpei Iori can be of assistance!”

“Go bug Makoto. I really don’t have the patience today.”

“Yuki-kun? Didn’t you notice? He left the moment the bell rang. You’ve been sitting here for, like, five minutes, staring at the blackboard like it killed your cat or something.”

Was she? Huh. Yukari sighed again, smacked her head on the table, and kept it there. She didn’t care about how it hurt. Not at the moment.

“Come ooon, Yuka-tan. It’s not like you to be moping.” He’s still droning on and on and on. God, he’s irritating. Take a hint, why don’t you?

“And what do you know about me, Junpei?” she said, her head still flat on the table.

“We’ve been going to the same schools for years! ‘Course I know you!”

Yukari looked up at Junpei and his expectant eyes. “Then tell me, O great Stupei Iori, what’s bugging me?”

Junpei smiled widely at the insult, because he was stupid. “There she is!” He sat on the table next to Yukari, and went on, “Well, if I were to make an educated guess, which is all of my guesses as the world-famous Ace Detective, it’s prooobably about our new transfer student. The one you call ‘Makoto’ like you’ve known him for years.” He raised his eyebrows multiple times. “Right? Riiiiight?”

Well, he had a point there.

Yukari had read Makoto’s file before they met. She knew about how he was orphaned ten years ago and got pinballed between orphanages and foster homes as fast as he changed clothes after the fact. So she figured they had something in common there. Yukari could count as an orphan. After all, she actually had a dead dad, and her mom was absent enough to count as dead anyway.

So she tried to connect with Makoto. She had failed right out the gate, of course, with how she almost pulled her Evoker on him the first night in the dorm, but she felt like that could be salvaged. So she guided him around the school on his first day, told him where all the nice hangout spots were, even spent lunch hour with him. That’d cause gossip around the school, it’d make her sound desperate, like she was throwing herself at the new boy, but she figured it’d be worth it. However, it was as if he couldn’t care less. He kept brushing his hand on the MP3 player hanging around his neck, like he couldn’t wait for Yukari to go away so he could put his earphones on and tune out the world. He purposefully chose the seat behind Yukari’s instead of the one next to her when he entered the homeroom for the first time, like he knew Yukari would want to talk to him during the lessons.

She didn’t know if he was like that for everybody or if he hated Yukari specifically, but then again, she never saw him talking to anyone else at school, so she couldn’t really tell. Junpei tried talking to him on his first day, but it was a disaster, no thanks to Yukari ridiculing him in front of Makoto, which most definitely led to him thinking Junpei wasn’t someone worth associating with. She shouldn’t have done that, but Yukari’s never been the most aware of when the right time for something is.

So, when they got home that night and Kirijo-senpai asked Makoto if he wanted to join SEES, Yukari felt bad enough that she didn’t raise any concerns over her making Makoto feel obligated to do dangerous things he didn’t want to. And after seeing him be the most expressive he had ever been after pointing the Evoker at his head and summoning Orpheus, she felt like that was the right choice; the first one she had made regarding him so far.

After last night, she wasn’t really sure about that.

So, yeah, maybe Junpei really was a good detective, because he’d hit the nail right on the head. She was worried about Aigis too, sure, but she could be repaired. Even if she felt like her life was worthless on its own, at least hers wouldn’t come to an end with a stupid decision. Makoto’s would. And he seemed very eager to make the exact kind of decisions that would lead to it faster.

And she didn’t think that was a good thing, she realized. She didn’t want Makoto to die, and she sure as heck didn’t want herself to die either. What was she thinking earlier, trying to make herself have suicidal thoughts so she’d be like him? He should be more like her! That’s how it should be working.

“Yeah, Junpei, you’re right, Makoto has been bugging me. What the heck is it with him, anyway? He’s acting emo all the time, like it makes him look so cool. It makes him look like a dork loser is what it does!”

Junpei smirked. “Well, to my sensitive ears, Yuka-tan, that sounds like he’s gotten to you already.”

“Your track record speaks for itself; you thought I was into you for a whole year.”

“And I learned my lesson! That’s how I know he’s actually gotten to you.”

Unfortunately, he was right. Yeah, Makoto was pretty cute, in his own way, and his voice was nice to listen to whenever he felt like using it. He had a few issues he’d need to work out, but who didn’t? Yukari could help him with that. It might’ve been a dumb, shallow crush, but every relationship started somewhere, and frankly, Makoto himself looked like he needed someone to care about him. Considering he didn’t talk to anyone at school and no one in the dorm cared about him beyond his capability to summon a Persona, Yukari felt like that responsibility was on her, and she didn’t really feel opposed to it turning into something more after the fact.

Plus, they had stuff in common, right? Being orphans and all. She could relate to that, and maybe that’d finally make him open up if she told him about it.

“Okay, yeah, he’s kinda cute, I guess,” was what she told Junpei, though. No use telling him any of that.

“You think I could get the same clout he gets if I acted emo?”

“Heck no! You’ve already burned all the bridges for that one. You couldn’t act emo if your life depended on it, and even if you could, no one would buy it because you’ve spent too long being you.”

“H-hey, what’s that supposed to mean?!” he said, sounding betrayed.

“Exactly what it sounds like. You can’t pivot your reputation from class clown to hot emo boy overnight, Stupei. Everyone knows how you really are.”

“Yeah, but I could pivot your mood from mopey to typical Yuka-tan in less than ten minutes, huh?” He stood up from the table and struck a ridiculous pose, with one arm in the air and another on his hip. “Another effortless victory for Junpei Iori! How does he do it? No one knows! His mind is simply too great for mere mortals to comprehend!”

Yukari couldn’t help herself. She laughed, and it felt pretty good.

Junpei was so, so stupid.

She didn’t know what she’d do without him.

-------------------------

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight.

Stop. Turn.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight.

Stop. Turn.

One. Two. Three. Fo-

“Will you please, for the love of god, stop pacing like that?” Akihiko cried out from his seat on the other side of the command room. It was the only place in the dorm Takeba would not be visiting, considering the current circumstances.

Mitsuru turned to him. She’d been waiting for him to say something. He was being far too carefree for someone who’d almost gotten his entire team killed. “Oh, don’t you start with me, Akihiko. This is your fault as much as it’s mine.”

“Look, I get it—"

“No. No, you don’t get it.” Mitsuru put her hands in her hair. “Almost half of our team is suicidal. It’s like we’ve traded one Shinji for two. One got his apathy to everything there is, and another got his tendency to throw himself at any problem that threatens the team like his life doesn’t matter and everyone else’s does. And you’re treating both of them like they’re doing just fine and can take care of themselves. Did you get yourself frozen on purpose to see how they could handle it?”

Akihiko’s eyes widened. “I—"

“Did you or did you not? I told you the Shadow was using ice. Hell, you have eyes, Akihiko. You saw it charge up the hailstorm right in front of your eyes, and you attacked anyway. You know you’re weak to ice. Now that I remember, it’s half the reason we never cleared that floor; I’m an ice user and you’re weak to it and all of Shinji’s attacks would classify as self-harm. So, again—"

Akihiko got up from his chair, scowling. “It wasn’t on purpose, Mitsuru! God!” He had only barely raised his voice. Not angry enough. Not feeling the gravity of the situation enough.

She would change that. “So it was incompetence, then? I’m taking over as field leader, to hell with navigation. Clearly your hard-on for battle is affecting your ability to make—"

Despite the insult, Akihiko’s face softened as he interrupted her. “Mitsuru. Calm down.” That wasn’t how he was supposed to react. He was supposed to get angry.

She figured she’d do that for him. “How the hell am I supposed to calm down, Akihiko?!” Mitsuru yelled. She never yelled, a stray thought told her. It wasn’t proper or ladylike. She didn’t care. “First ever Tartarus operation with the new team and one of them almost dies because he gets too much of a rush when he shoots himself in the fucking head and another awakens some- some horrendous beast Persona to protect him and breaks down every single component in her body?! And the chairman shows up and sets some technicians on her and just- just leaves?! If I don’t care, who will? Clearly not you!”

“It wasn’t your fault,” he replied, and why was he getting blurrier?

“I told him to summon Orpheus again! If I’d kept my mouth shut, none of this would’ve happened! Of course it’s my fault!”

Something got caught in her throat, and attempting to clear it made her cough, and that made her finally break down. Akihiko stepped forward, past the table and the sofa, and embraced her, rubbing soothing circles on her back. It was a stiff hug, because Akihiko was a stiff person. He was never good with emotions, but he knew that when someone cried, you hugged them and rubbed soothing circles on their back. He knew that because Mitsuru had done it for him before, and he always felt like he owed someone the world when they gave him the smallest, most insignificant thing.

The fact that he tried at all calmed her more than the action itself. She hugged him back and sniffled. “What are we doing, Akihiko?” she said, her voice hoarse. “What are we doing with these kids?”

“We’re only one year older than them. We shouldn’t be here either. But no one else can do what we can, so we have to take responsibility. They know that too. That’s why they’re here.”

“Aigis never had a choice. They made her for this, and she’s... She doesn’t belong here, Akihiko. She shouldn’t be fighting.”

The boy chuckled. “Did you miss how much she enjoyed killing Shadows?”

“Because they coded that into her. She shouldn’t be fighting, Aki. She should be going to school and making friends and making every single boy in the school jealous of her future boyfriend. She should be having normal fun, not- not whatever you experience when you hit things.” Akihiko laughed again. “She- she cares too much to be a war machine. Why did they do that to her, Aki?”

“I don’t know, Mitsuru. I really don’t.”

They stayed silent for a few moments. Mitsuru buried her face in his shoulder. She didn’t want to see the room that would be condemning them to visiting that dreadful, dreadful place every night from the moment Aigis healed. She wanted to forget all about Tartarus, and Personas, and the reason Shinji wasn’t there in the room to call them both idiots. She didn’t want to think about Takeba, with her suspicious glances and her polite yet clipped ‘Kirijo-senpai’s and how she knew that Mitsuru knew exactly why Tartarus was located at Gekkoukan High. She didn’t want to think about how the younger girl was right to be suspicious of her, and would be right to hate her once she knew the truth.

She didn’t want to think about how the entire reason she hadn’t told Takeba the truth was because she didn’t want the younger girl to hate her. How she, in her heart of hearts, wanted the exact opposite.

She wanted Akihiko to tell her it would all be okay. He said something else, but really, it was just as effective.

“You know, we can do something about what you just said.”

She broke the hug and fetched a handkerchief from her pocket to dry her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“We can send Aigis to school. The winter uniform barely shows anything. Add shoes to the mix and she can pass just fine. If we don’t give her anything other than battle, how will she find out what else she enjoys?”

Mitsuru took a deep breath and thought for a moment. She had enough pull to make that happen. The Kirijo Group owned the damn school. She could enroll a student that manifested out of nowhere just fine. “You’re right,” she said, her tone professional once more, like it always had to be, like what was expected from the Kirijo heir. “I’ll make a few calls later to start the process.”

Akihiko smiled. “There’s the Mitsuru I know. Happy the moment you give her something practical to do.”

“I’m still not happy, Akihiko,” she sighed. “But this is all I can do about it right now.”

“You can’t fix Yuki’s ten years of trauma overnight, and you can’t make Aigis realize she actually is a person despite what her body looks like in just one conversation. Give them time. We’ll be there for them every step of the way.”

“I just hope we’re enough.”

Akihiko’s eyes hardened, the way they always did before he stepped in the boxing ring. The way they did when he was facing down a challenge he had no intention to back down from. “We have to be. And if we’re not, we just need to try harder until we are.”

-------------------------

Before he headed to school, he noticed that his MP3 player was out of charge. Stupid mistake. Should’ve plugged it in. He hung it around his neck anyway. If I put the earphones in my ears, they won’t talk to me.

On his way to school, Yukari didn’t try talking to him, because of his earphones. Good. It worked. Though, the lack of his music meant that he’d have to listen to the train’s sounds, and the murmurs of people, and the one loud salaryman making a deal over his phone. He kept going on and on, “Manager, please reconsider. The deal they’re offering to us might as well be highway robbery.” Why can’t you make your deals somewhere other than the train? I don’t want to listen to you. Be quiet.

As they took their seats in the homeroom, Iori walked up to him. He didn’t look at the other boy. Go away, go away, go away, leave me alone. Don’t you see the earphones? Just shut up. “Hey, Yuki-kun! How’s it going?” He didn’t reply, and Iori left with a frown. He should’ve been used to it enough to not even try. He shouldn’t have bothered. Now he’s made himself upset.

Everyone who talks to me leaves upset. They should stop trying to.

He had to take off the earphones when the teacher came in. He didn’t remember her name. He hadn’t been listening when she had introduced herself. “...Then round up, so... The answer is X=1. Hmm? It isn't? Oh, I see, this becomes 11, so... I'm sorry, you're right. X=2. Wait... is that right? Okay, uh, your assignment is to figure this one out. Anyway... Wasn't that incredible? Even with a difficult problem like this one, once you solve it, X still equals 1. Or maybe 2. What I'm getting at is, math is fun! Don't you think so?” No. I don’t. God, I wish you stopped talking.

She didn’t. She had him get up, and answer what one plus one was. He said eleven. She went on a rant about the mathematical meaning of the number one. I should’ve just said two. It would’ve had her talk less.

When the final bell rang, he got up from his seat and left straight for the door. A student stopped him before he could make it outside. “Hey, Yuki-kun. What’s up?” He raised his head. The boy had never talked to him before. He didn’t say anything. “Uh, okay... I just wanted to know if you’re interested in joining the track team. We’re always looking for new blood, you know! The third-years are graduating this year, and...” He tuned the boy out and waited for his lips to stop moving before he shook his head in refusal. “...Alright, man. Just let me know if you change your mind, yeah?” He nodded. I’m not going to, but you’ll keep talking if I tell you that.

He didn’t put his earphones on his ears as he walked back to the dorm. He’d decided against taking the train; Too much noise. Then again, the streets weren’t much better. Tuned-up motorcycles made loud sounds with their engines, children cried, shopkeepers yelled out advertisements. He felt hungry. He remembered that he’d skipped lunch that day. He decided against going to a supermarket or a restaurant. I’d have to talk to the clerks. I don’t want to.

He got back to the dorm. Kirijo-senpai was sitting in the lounge, reading a book. “Oh, you’re back, Yuki,” she said to him. He didn’t reply, instead, he went straight to the kitchen and fetched the takoyaki he’d left in the fridge yesterday.

Yesterday...

He shook his head. He took the takoyaki to his room and ate it there. He plugged in his MP3 player when he was done eating and sat on the ground, next to the electrical outlet. He put the earphones on his ears, and used shuffle to put on a song. Want To Be Close came on. He made it loop, over and over.

He lost track of time. It was nice. Quiet. He didn’t have to listen to anyone when he put on the music.

Not even himself.

He took his earphones off when his ears started to hurt, and got up. The sun had set. He looked at the clock. It was 8:45. He thought about going out to have dinner. He could handle ordering a meal right now. He unplugged his MP3 player, hung it back around his neck, and exited his room.

Yukari was sitting in the lounge. “Oh, hey, Makoto,” she said. He turned his head to her and nodded. “The technicians said Aigis is fixed now. She’s still not up, but... they said they swapped out all the broken parts. Just- just thought you should know.”

Aigis...

He nodded at Yukari again, and went outside. He made it to Wilduck, and ordered a burger. He had to repeat his order, because the cashier didn’t hear him the first time. He sat behind a table and waited for his order to arrive.

Aigis came back to his thoughts as he waited. He didn’t make the thought leave his head, and he didn’t put on his music.

It was his fault that Aigis broke. Anyone could tell that. If he’d conserved his energy in the lower floors, he could’ve used Orpheus against the ravens, and Aigis wouldn’t have had to protect him.

Why did Aigis protect him? Aigis said she didn’t care about him. Aigis was the first person to say they didn’t care about him. Everyone else said they cared. Everyone else tried to get him to talk to them, to voice what he wanted, to tell them what was wrong with him. All he wanted was for them to stop.

Aigis never even started. But she protected him anyway.

Why?

He’d ask her after he apologized, he decided.

His meal arrived. It didn’t taste like anything special. After he was done, he returned to the dorm. No one was in the lounge. He went to Aigis’s room. No sound came from inside. He opened the door and went in.

Aigis was lying on a sci-fi-esque chair with her eyes open. She wasn’t awake, though; her eyes weren’t glowing and she didn’t notice him walk in. The chair was the kind you saw in anime, with metallic paneling and wires and smoke and an eerie green light. Then again, Aigis herself was something out of an anime. A robot shaped like a girl, with blonde hair and blue eyes and a pretty face, the prettiest he could remember ever seeing. He noticed for the first time that she had a red bowtie. He realized that she’d always had it from the day they met. Who’d given her that? It doesn’t matter. It’s none of my business. He sat on the wooden, normal chair that was also in the room. He decided he’d wait for her to wake up before he apologized.

She did wake up. She let out a loud, ear-piercing electronic ping as she did. It didn’t annoy him, like most sounds did. It just made him feel guiltier.

-------------------------

Aigis dreamt, but not of the Velvet Room.

The laboratory was bathed in red, from lights and blood alike. The bodies of scientists could be found lying on the floor, the source of the latter. A siren droned on, warning of danger, but the newly awakened android felt none at all. A female child was looking her in the eye, redheaded and innocent, and the android had never felt safer than she did right now. The axe in the child’s hands, wet with blood, did nothing to dampen this feeling.

“Who are you?” the child asked her.

The android did not know, so she said nothing.

“What were they doing to you here?”

She remained silent, even if she knew the answer this time.

A call came from outside the room. “Chidori! Where did you go? Chidori!”

“In here!” the child responded. The android updated her designation to Chidori in her archives, and noted that many crucial pieces of information were missing from it. A chunk of data was missing, up to three years prior to the current date. She was not disturbed by this. She felt as if there was a good reason for the missing data, one she could not place at the moment. The only thing that disturbed her was an empty feeling deep in her Papillon Heart. Something was missing from it. It was... a second name, one that only she called herself, a name no one else utilized to refer to her. It was strange.

A second child entered the room, this one male and blue-haired. He was bright and radiated heat and energy, like flames licking at firewood, and yet he spoke as sweetly as the oranges the android remembered tasting one wintery day, during the tests ran to finalize her taste buds. “Chidori, what is that? Is that a person?” He closed the door behind him and approached the android. “What did they do to you? Take off your head and put it in a robot body?”

“I don’t think she can talk, Jin.” She updated the second child’s designation in her archives. “We should get her out of here too. Who knows what they were doing to her.”

The android did not feel opposed to this, so she did not speak.

The two children worked hard to detach her from the wires keeping her attached to the repair booth, and Jin threw her arm over his shoulder after they were done. It was an awkward position, due to her being much taller than he was. “Wow, you’re heavy...” he groaned. “How are we gonna carry her out of here, Chidori?” He did not say it with a tone that implied they would abandon her if push came to shove. His tone said he would move heaven and earth to get the android out of the facility if he had to.

The android appreciated it, so she activated the motor functions of her arms and legs and stood up, shocking the duo. “Oh, so you can walk. Good, that’s good. Let’s get outta here,” Jin said, before throwing the door open. “Ladies first.”

Chidori left the room, but the android stood motionless. “Hey, aren’t you going?” Jin asked.

At that, the android felt the need to speak. “You said ladies first.”

The boy’s eyes widened, and with a grin, he replied, “Yeah, that means you, too. Come on, let’s go!”

The android felt a surge of... something, from her Papillon Heart. It prompted her to step past the blood-soaked laboratory, past Jin, and past the door.

She found herself in the Iwatodai dorm’s lounge after crossing the doorframe. It was not logical. The dorms were not connected to the laboratory. The android turned around to ask Jin how they had gotten here, but when she turned around, all she saw was a closed door.

She tried to open the door, but was unsuccessful. It was locked, and all of the strength in her hydraulic-powered joints could not get it to budge. That was also illogical. It upset her.

“Why are you trying to go back? This is where your purpose is.”

She turned once more. Ikutsuki stood in front of her. His eyes were not visible, covered by a glint of light that made his glasses opaque.

“We were not meant to leave each other,” the android replied. “My orders indicate—"

“You were ‘ordered’ by a pack of children to obey their every whim. That does not take priority to your main directive.”

“I do not have new orders now. I can decimate Shadows and return to them simultaneously.”

Another voice spoke, drawling and barely rising above a whisper. “Don’t you have new orders, though?” It was Makoto, coming down the stairs. “Don’t you want to keep me alive?”

“That- That is not an order. It is...” What was it? “It is...”

“Do you obey orders from just anyone?” Ikutsuki asked. “What even drives you to do so? Do you like following the lead of others, or are you just lost and begging someone, anyone, to give you any direction at all?”

“I...”

“Do you want to leave me too?” Makoto questioned. “I’ll die without you. I was going to die today. No one else could’ve saved me.  Do you want me to die?”

“No, but I...”

The door behind the android opened, and Chidori stepped in, eight years old, innocent as a lamb and dripping blood from axe and wrists alike. “Are you coming back?” she asked the android, her tone as flat and lifeless as her sixteen-year-old self’s.

The android could not answer her. She could not look her in the eye. So she looked away, back at Ikutsuki. Ikutsuki’s wings, large, black, feathered, raven-like, began to flap, and he began to float in the air.

“Choose,” he said, and fired two icicles. One at Makoto, and one at Chidori.

Aigis awakened, screaming.

Chapter Text

Aigis disabled her distress ping the moment she realized it was blaring from her vocalizer. After all, her diagnostics said everything was green. She had no reason to be doing that. Except for the dream, but that was not real. No use reacting to things that were not real.

Then, she noticed Makoto in her peripheral vision, and felt as if the distress ping was necessary once more, for no reason at all.

“Hello, Makoto-san. I apologize if I startled you.”

“Hi,” he replied, in the smallest voice she had heard him make so far.

Using the resting station’s connection to the internet, Aigis recalibrated her internal clock. Roughly 23 hours had passed since their excursion of Tartarus, not counting the Dark Hour. The technicians had made impressive time; her internal log showed that she had suffered a complete system failure, and that could never happen unless every single component failed simultaneously. Still, this proved her point.

She should have gone in alone.

Aigis got up from the resting station, and moved towards the door.

“A-Aigis...” Makoto said, before getting up and putting his hand on her shoulder. It was fortunate that she had not been in an active combat situation, otherwise he would have burned his hand. She could not afford to hurt him any further.

She turned to him. “Yes, Makoto-san? Do you need something from me?”

He removed his hand. “I...” He fell silent, seeming to think over what he should say.

She waited patiently.

“I’m sorry.”

She was not expecting that. “What for?” she said, tilting her head in confusion.

“You got wrecked because of me.”

“Negatory. I suffered a complete system failure due to the strain of that unusual Persona I awakened to.” She would have to talk to Igor about that. If the Wild Card was going to leave her incapacitated every time she used it, its cost was not worth the power.

“It wouldn’t have happened if I could summon Orpheus.”

She doubted that. The Wild Card had to activate at some point, and that battle was grueling enough to let her awaken to it. “I do not believe that is true, Makoto-san.”

“That... that Persona only came out because...” He sighed, and left his sentence unfinished.

It was then that she realized the emotion Makoto was feeling.

Guilt.

“Makoto-san. You were not responsible for my condition. I would have summoned Palladion to protect anyone in the team. It would have happened regardless. And at any rate, I have suffered no permanent damage, due to my synthetic body. ‘No harm, no foul’, as they say.”

Makoto did not exhale loudly and continued to look crestfallen. Aigis felt disappointed. She would have to improve her material later. “You do not believe me. You do not trust my words. You do not trust me.”

He raised his head at that, eyes widening.

Aigis realized that this avenue would bear fruit. She continued, “Why would you not believe me, Makoto-san? I have nothing to gain from lying to you.” She pointedly did not imply that she was incapable of it. That would be lying, and she did not wish to lie at the moment. “I have no reason to want you absolved of your guilt. I am simply informing you of the truth. There is no reason for you to doubt my words. I do not blame you. You were not responsible.”

Makoto rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. It was a familiar gesture to Aigis, having seen it on Jin countless times; it meant she had gotten through to him. “I... Okay. I believe you,” he said. Aigis smiled at that.

“That is most fortunate. Now, I must seek out the commanding members of SEES. Do you know where Mitsuru-san or Akihiko-san are, Makoto-san?” she asked.

“No. Sorry.”

“Then I shall seek them out. If you have no other business with me, I will be off.” Makoto shook his head to indicate a negative response, so she turned to the door, and left her room. The boy did not follow.

She went upstairs, to the command room, and entered without knocking. Mitsuru and Akihiko were present there, filling out paperwork of some kind. “Hello, Mitsuru-san and Akihiko-san.”

They both raised their heads to look at her, eyes widening. “Aigis! You’re awake!” Mitsuru said.

“Good to see you up and about again,” Akihiko continued. “Everything good?”

“Yes. All systems are green. I am suffering no malfunctions.” She did not wish to engage in small talk, so she continued, “I would like to ask permission to venture Tartarus tonight.”

Both seniors’ mouths opened in a show of surprise. Mitsuru was the first to recover, clearing her throat and responding, “I’m afraid that’s not possible, Aigis.”

Aigis frowned. “What for? I am at peak performance once more. There is no reason to waste a Dark Hour. I should be exploring Tartarus as much as possible.”

“Back to you going alone, huh?” Akihiko said.

“Yes. Last night was a perfect display of why I should not have companions when exploring the Shadow nest.”

“Well, I think last night was a perfect display of you demonstrating unpredictable behavior you shouldn’t be capable of doing,” Akihiko said. “Which, if you recall, was exactly the purpose of last night; finding any abnormalities in your performance. Until we find out what the deal with that Persona was, I don’t think you’re going in Tartarus at all, let alone going on your own.” Mitsuru pursed her lips at Akihiko’s words, but did not object to them.

Aigis felt peeved. “I am of the belief that this abnormal behavior only occurred due to battling in conditions I was not designed for. I was always intended as a solo combat unit.”

“And now you’re part of a team. That’s your direct order, isn’t it? To be part of SEES?”

“...Yes.”

“So we’ll be monitoring your performance and getting you adjusted to your new conditions. Once we do that, we might, might, clear you for solo ventures. You are a part of this team first and foremost, understood?”

Aigis wanted to refuse. Aigis wanted to grab Akihiko’s shoulders and make him understand that they were all liabilities. Aigis wanted to yell that Akihiko had gotten himself frozen before combat even started due to his human recklessness, Yukari was too afraid of death to reliably summon, and Makoto desired death far too much to be a capable combat asset. Aigis wanted to inform them that their humanity was the reason they could never meet their true potential, and that it made them weak. Weaker than her. Aigis wanted to say that she did not want to battle alongside weaker companions.

She did not do any of that, and stopped the command to reload her weaponry before it went through.

“Understood, Akihiko-san.”

She turned around to leave the room. Mitsuru’s voice made her halt, however. “I’m sorry, Akihiko, aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Forgetting what?” he replied.

“Who the actual leader of SEES is.”

Aigis felt a glimmer of hope. Yes! Mitsuru would be rational and allow her to visit Tartarus despite what Akihiko had said!

The redhead continued, “In fact, I’m beginning to reconsider you even being our field leader in the first place, considering your performance last night. I might even take over myself.”

“Mitsuru, what—"

“Aigis.”

The android turned around.

“You are going to visit Tartarus.”

“Thank you. I will go and prepa—"

“But not tonight.”

Aigis frowned. “What for?”

“You mentioned not exploring Tartarus during the Dark Hour would be a waste of time. But do you know what time during the day is truly wasted when it comes to you?”

“I do not comprehend.”

“The hours Tartarus isn’t there. Daytime.”

Aigis’s thought processes came to a halt. Mitsuru had a point. As a matter of fact, Aigis was accomplishing nothing outside of the Dark Hour. Remembering her time with Strega, she replied, “I could complete various tasks around the dorm, such as laundry and cooking.”

“Wait, you can cook?” Akihiko asked. Aigis did not deign him with a response.

“Well, it would be nice to have a cook around the dorm...” Mitsuru said, rubbing her arm. “But that’s not what I was referring to. You can explore Tartarus during the day, is what I was talking about. See if there’s anything in the building that would help us understand the structure better.”

It was an interesting proposal, but... “I was under the belief that Tartarus was your school outside of the Dark Hour.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Could you not accomplish this task yourselves?”

Mitsuru crossed her arms. “Well, Aigis, to be frank... You saw how the team performed last night. You were by far the most capable combatant present.” Aigis felt a warmth in her heart at the praise. Akihiko’s jaw fell open once more. Mitsuru continued, “I wouldn’t be surprised if you were just as exceptional at reconnaissance.”

“Thank you, Mitsuru-san. When will I start my new mission?”

“Tomorrow. You are to attend Gekkoukan High under the guise of a normal student, and find out as much about it as possible during school hours. You are not to stay after the school closes for the day, however, as it would raise suspicions. Try to interact with as many activities and go to as many places as you can, and report to me every night. You will be provided with means to conceal your body soon. Dark Hour expeditions will not be occurring until you make tangible progress during the day. Is that clear?”

“Understood.” Her stealth modules had not been activated in quite some time. This would be good exercise.

“Uh... And if you want to cook or something...” Akihiko said. “You can do it, if you want. None of us are really good at it. We used to have a dorm mother, but she’s not around anymore, so...”

She looked at Akihiko, keeping her face completely neutral. “Is this a request or an order, Akihiko-san?”

Akihiko chuckled. “Huh, so you do have some rebelliousness in you. Just a request, Aigis. Do it if you want.”

“I do not experience want, Akihiko-san,” she lied.

“I’d say the way you really want to go to Tartarus says otherwise, no?”

Aigis did not have a response for that, so instead, she excused herself from the room.

As she laid down on the resting station, she searched her Papillon Heart for Thanatos’s presence. She was shocked to only find Palladion.

“What is the point of the Wild Card if it is a one-time ability, and leaves me incapacitated as well?” she wondered aloud, to no one in particular.

She would have to find a way to visit Tartarus, regardless of what SEES’s leaders believed, and ask Igor herself. He had implied that involuntary visits to the Velvet Room through her dreams had come to a stop, and that she would have to visit them of her own volition.

She activated her standby function as the Dark Hour came into being, and in the morning, she was grateful to not have dreamt.

-------------------------

The sound of knocking on her door caused Aigis to exit standby mode in the morning. It was followed by Mitsuru’s voice.

“Aigis, are you awake? It’s Mitsuru.”

She checked her system clock as she recalled last night’s deal. Yes, it was almost time to go to school. “Yes, Mitsuru-san. I will be with you in a moment.”

She adjusted the priority of her stealth modules, and that made her realize she lacked student-appropriate clothing. Or any clothing, besides her ribbon. Aigis opened the door. As expected, Mitsuru stood there in full school uniform, holding a plastic bag and a brown briefcase. “Good morning, Aigis. I trust you’re adequately prepared?” she asked.

“Good morning, Mitsuru-san. No, I am not prepared, as I seem to lack a school uniform.”

“Yes, of course. Here you go.” She handed Aigis the plastic bag and the briefcase. Inside the plastic bag was a fresh school uniform. “Thankfully, the dorm keeps uniforms of various sizes in case of new students. Akihiko found one that seemed to match your size. The briefcase contains your school supplies.”

“Thank you. I will be prepared shortly.”

“Good. We’ll be waiting downstairs,” Mitsuru said, before walking off. Aigis closed her room’s door, and began the process of putting on the uniform.

She elected to remove her ribbon first, as it would be in the way of the shirt’s collar. She put on the white shirt, then wore the black jacket with the school’s symbol over it and tied her ribbon around the collar. The jacket had a zipper on its left side and a sewn line mimicking it on the right, creating visually pleasing symmetry. After that, she moved on to the black skirt, and put on the knee-high socks of the same color afterwards. There were also a pair of shoes in the bag, which had their fronts stuffed so that Aigis’s hoof-shaped feet could comfortably wear them. She wore them last.

Once she was done, she attempted to visualize her new appearance, as there was no mirror present in her room. She thought it odd that she was provided with black socks; would it not imply that she was wearing white stockings with black socks over them? Then again, it was not her judgement to make.

Other than that, she found that her uniform was pleasing to the eye. She would have to observe herself in a mirror to confirm that further.

Aigis picked up her school bag and headed downstairs. Every dorm resident was already present.

Yukari noticed her first. She raised her eyebrows and said, “Whoa, Aigis is going to school with us?”

That got Makoto to look up and remove his earphones. His eyes widened as he took in Aigis’s new appearance, and his mouth opened slightly. Aigis interpreted it as great surprise. “Good morning to you all,” she said. “Yes, I am going to attend Gekkoukan High as a means to explore the daytime form of Tartarus and find clues that would assist us in understanding the tower better.”

“Yup, that’s her mission directive alright,” said Akihiko, crossing his arms with a smile. Aigis did not understand why the senior was smiling. She paid it no mind.

“Are we... sure this is a good idea?” asked Yukari.

“Of course,” Mitsuru replied. “The chairman has assured me that Aigis is programmed with exceptional stealth capabilities. She’ll fit in just fine.”

“Is she programmed with high school education knowledge, though?”

Aigis searched her memory banks. “I have multiple data banks dedicated to tactical theory, mechanical engineering, and information analysis. Will that suffice?”

Her answer was silence and expressions. Yukari rubbed her arm absently, Mitsuru held a hand to her forehead, Akihiko’s grin became toothy, and Makoto grimaced.

“I see,” she said. “I will make sure to pay utmost attention during the classes. The information taught by teachers may prove instrumental to our comprehension of Tartarus’s nature.”

“Y-yes, that’s true. Make sure to do that,” Mitsuru said. “Yuki and Takeba. As she’s enrolled in your homeroom, make sure to help her settle in, alright?”

“Sure!” said Yukari.

“I will,” Makoto said, in a voice louder than his usual tone. That turned everyone’s heads towards him.

“Wow, he wasn’t that determined when we asked him to join SEES...” Akihiko said under his breath.

Mitsuru cleared her throat. “Well, we’d be late to school if we waited any longer. Shall we go?”

The students stepped out of the dorm. Mitsuru and Akihiko bid farewell to the juniors as they both stepped into a vehicle waiting outside. The trio then began their walk towards the train station. Makoto put his earphones back on, and began walking ahead of the girls.

Aigis had heard of the word “awkward” before, but could never pinpoint a situation befitting of it. Walking next to Yukari in complete silence seemed to fit the bill.

The silence lingered as they rode the monorail over the ocean and arrived at the school gates. Aigis observed her reflection in the train’s window, and found it just as pleasing as her visualizations.

Yukari finally broke the silence as they stepped past the gates. “So... welcome to Gekkoukan High School, Aigis.”

“Thank you, Yukari-san.”

“Let’s go to the homeroom, yeah? Our teacher’s name is Ms. Toriumi. You’ll have to introduce yourself to everyone, since you’re a new transfer student. It’s early enough in the year that it won’t feel weird to anyone, but try not to attract too much attention, okay?”

“Of course.” She had no intention of making her stealth modules seem questionable.

The duo entered the class. Makoto had arrived before them and was sitting behind his desk, earphones hanging around his neck and his gaze vacant.

Aigis, having seen Makoto’s determination earlier, decided that she did not like this look on him.

A brunette woman with strange resemblance to Yukari was standing behind a podium. Based on Yukari’s information, Aigis placed her as Ms. Toriumi. Despite the uncanny resemblance, her surname did not match Yukari’s, so she could not be her mother. She moved to stand next to her in order to introduce herself.

“Class, we have another new transfer student joining us today,” the teacher said. “Go ahead and introduce yourself.”

Aigis had planned what to say on the train. She had rehearsed it word for word in the simulations she crafted in her mind. My name is Aigis. I am pleased to meet you all.

But Makoto’s gaze was still vacant.

So she said this, instead.

“Hello, residents of Tartarus. I am Aigis, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Snickers rose from every corner of the class. “What?!” Yukari said, looking exasperated and fearful and tired all at once.

Aigis only cared about one reaction, however.

Makoto laughed at what she had said. It was audible laughter, though not as loud as she would have preferred.

She was satisfied with that, for now.

“W-well, Aigis, was it?” Ms. Toriumi said. “I didn’t pin you for a ‘school is hell’ type of student, considering your spotless records, but I guess you can do well and still not enjoy it... Let’s see, is there anything else in your file I should know? Hm? ‘Humanoid’... ‘Tactical weapon’...?”

Yukari’s head fell onto her desk with a rather loud ‘thud’. Makoto lowered his head, but Aigis spotted the smile on his lips before he did.

“...Clearly, that’s a mistake,” the teacher continued. “It just goes to show, you can’t believe everything you read. Now, to find a seat for you...”

Aigis had spotted the empty seat next to Makoto when she had entered the class. “May I sit there?” she said, pointing at it.

“Sure, go ahead.”

A student wearing a baseball cap sitting on the other side of Makoto spoke up. “Uh, Ms. Toriumi, someone already sits there. He just ditched today.”

“...Which means he’s not here,” the teacher said, unimpressed. “So now it’s yours. Alright, take your seat.”

And she did.

Chapter Text

The school day went by quickly. Aigis diligently took notes during every class, with plans to study them at a later time so that they would be added to her permanent memory banks. Her memory was designed similarly to a human’s, with the capability to forget certain things if they were not reviewed. However, with enough revisions, certain data could enter her permanent memory banks, where they would never be lost unless she deleted them herself, or via outside interference.

They had already filled up significantly since her awakening eight years ago, but there was still plenty of room left. A new section dedicated to SEES was beginning to accumulate data as well.

Makoto’s expressions of joy had their own folder.

As the final bell rang, Aigis remained in her chair, pondering how she should begin engaging in the school’s various offered activities, which she had investigated during the break times. All sports clubs were out of the question, as she could not wear clothing that would expose her mechanical parts. The art club seemed an unfitting choice for an android, especially considering Chidori’s past attempts to teach her how to draw. Her illustrations had great attention to detail, but never contained the passion that the redhead said they should. She did not understand her meaning, but had forgone art as a pastime ever since as to not disappoint Chidori further. Perhaps the fashion club would be a wise choice? She enjoyed her school uniform, and the club could be helpful in finding similarly appealing apparel.

Her thought process was interrupted by the student in the baseball cap, who walked up to her seat with a smile and an eagerness for conversation.

“Hey, Ai-chan! Can I call you Ai-chan?” He did not wait for her to answer. “Gotta say, that was a hell of an opening statement you gave! I think everyone’s gonna remember that one until graduation, don’t you think, Yuki-kun?” He put his hand on Makoto’s shoulder. The blue-haired boy had also remained in his seat after the bell, seeming deep in thought rather than apathetic for once.

“Personal space,” was Makoto’s response.

“Oh, come on, Yuki-kun! That wasn’t funny the first day!” He removed his hand and turned back to Aigis. “By the way, I’m Junpei Iori, but you can call me Junpei.”

“Ah. I have heard of you.”

“Oh, have you?” Junpei raised his eyebrows expectantly with a grin.

“Yes. Yukari-san seems fond of referring to you as ‘Stupei’.”

If a human’s face could shatter like glass, it would have happened to Junpei right there and then. “Ouch... Yuka-tan ruining my rep before I even get a chance...”

“A chance of what, Stupei?” Yukari said, having re-entered the class just then. “Don’t tell me you’re hitting on Aigis already.”

“Okay, I won’t tell you then!” Junpei winked and gestured a ‘thumbs-up’ at Yukari.

Yukari ran her hands over her face. “Junpei, would it kill you to not shoot your shot with every girl you see?”

“I mean, I’ve never tried. It might kill me! You never know!”

“I do not comprehend,” Aigis interjected. “Junpei-san was not physically assaulting me, nor was he trying to shoot me with a gun.”

“She means flirting,” Makoto said.

“Ah. I comprehend. Updating slang logs.”

“Heh, you’re pretty funny, Ai-chan,” Junpei said.

“Thank you. I certainly try.” She decided that ‘Ai-chan’ was as good a nickname as any, and that she would not object to Junpei continuing to utilize it to refer to her.

“Wait, so you said the Tartarus thing to be funny?!” Yukari asked.

“What implied otherwise, Yukari-san?” She blinked at her owlishly.

“I... Ugh... So I told Kirijo-senpai for nothing...”

“Wait, why would you tell the student council president that Aigis made a joke?” Junpei asked. Aigis found that she preferred Junpei calling her ‘Ai-chan’ rather than her given name.

“Don’t worry about it,” Makoto said.

“Okay, Mr. Talkative,” the other boy said to him. “You’re talking way more than you usually do, you know. Not that it isn’t appreciated, but what changed?”

“Stuff.”

“As descriptive as ever...” Yukari said. “Okay, Aigis, what are your plans for the rest of today? Going back to the dorm, or do you wanna check out the clubs?”

“Is the fashion club recruiting? I am quite intrigued by the premise.”

“Oh, uh, I... don’t know, actually. The note on their door is in French, and I’m not fluent enough to read it yet.”

Aigis had no knowledge of French either, so she decided to leave the matter be for now. Perhaps the French class later that week would help. “I do not believe I can accomplish much else at school, then.”

“You know, going straight home after school is kinda boring, yeah?” Junpei said. “Especially if you’re in a dorm. Laaaame, amirite?” He elbowed Makoto.

“Personal space.”

Junpei rolled his eyes before recovering his evergreen smile. “Anyway, how about all of us head to Paulownia Mall together? You don’t have archery club today, right, Yuka-tan?”

“Way to invite yourself... But yeah, I’m not doing anything today. You coming with, Makoto?”

“Sure,” he replied.

“Okay, are we sure he’s alright? He definitely would’ve said ‘I don’t care’ yesterday,” Junpei said.

“Must be a seasonal bug,” Yukari replied. “He might get over it by tomorrow.”

The conversation between Yukari and Junpei remained lively as the four students left the school, but Aigis had stopped paying attention by then.

She was looking for any possible signs of ‘seasonal bugs’ in her surroundings, in order to capture them for future usage.

Makoto could not go back to being indifferent. She would not allow it. It would negatively affect his performance in Tartarus, and Thanatos could not be relied upon to save him again.

Despite her efforts, however, she did not encounter any bugs specific to the season, and was forced to refocus on her companions as they arrived at the mall’s central plaza, marked by the fountain in the middle and the shops circling it.

The mall was, figuratively, crawling with people. It was a busy hour of the day, and people moved in and out of stores at a rapid pace, shopping bags in hand. People talked on their phones, bumped into each other and pushed to make way, or simply occupied corners to engage in animated conversations with one another. The hustle and bustle of life was at full display at the mall.

Some people did not move from their spots, however; a certain number of people remained stuck where they stood, students and adults alike. They stood, or sat, or laid down in various spots around the mall, and stared forward with no expression and no visible will to live. They never moved. They barely seemed to breathe. Some mumbled incoherent words to themselves. Aigis knew them to be victims of Apathy Syndrome.

Everyone walked around them as if they did not exist. Not out of an inability to witness them, but out of willful ignorance. Aigis did not understand it, but she lacked any means to assist them, so she behaved the same as everyone else. As far as she was aware, Apathy Syndrome was tied to the Dark Hour, and was a result of Shadows assaulting people who happened to not transmogrify for one reason or another. It seemed to be SEES’s driving force in their mission to eradicate the time period.

Aigis wondered whether she could catch Apathy Syndrome if she lacked a Persona. Then, she realized that were she to lack a Persona, she would be a hunk of unmoving metal during the hour, and not someone Shadows would assault. She discarded the query.

At any rate, Aigis had never visited during such packed hours for the sake of privacy, but it seemed her current guise had different demands. Her past visits were largely confined to the pharmacy, called Aohige, to procure various medicine that any given member of Strega might have required at the time. Though, she had a feeling that visiting the pharmacy was not on anyone else’s mind. Studying Makoto’s line of sight told her he wanted to depart for the shop next to it, a CD and DVD store specializing in music. It was unsurprising.

Junpei and Yukari, on the other hand, could not agree on where to go.

“Come on, Yuka-tan! Punch Boxer’s cabinet is always packed the rest of the week! I’ve been counting on going today!”

“Well, Junpei, if you want to go gaming so bad, you can go do it alone. The rest of us are going to Chagall to get some coffee. Like we planned. Right, Aigis?”

Aigis could have lied to support Yukari. It seemed she expected her to. She chose otherwise. “I do not recall such plans, Yukari-san. Besides, it seems Makoto-san is far more interested in exploring Kenneth Arnold than the café.”

“So, what, no one wants to go to the same place?” asked Junpei.

“Aigis hasn’t said where she wants to go,” Makoto said.

Yukari’s eyes widened, and she blinked twice before responding. “U-uh, yeah, that’s right, she only said where you wanted to go. Where do you want to go, Aigis?”

Aigis looked around the plaza. She had been there countless times, but never for leisure. Then again, she was feeling the Velvet Key’s pull once more, so perhaps this would not be a leisurely visit.

“I would like to see the back alley under the karaoke bar, if that is alright with everyone.” That was where the pull seemed to be directing her towards, at any rate.

“Oh, there’s nothing under Mandragora, just—” Junpei tried to say, but was swiftly interrupted by an elbow to the gut.

“Back alley it is, then! Let’s get a move on!” said the elbow’s owner.

Makoto exhaled loudly. Aigis logged the incident. She would bring bodily harm to Junpei if necessary to make him laugh. Nothing permanent, however.

At least, as long as it was not necessary to achieve said goal.

They moved past the police station and reached the back alley. Junpei was almost correct; it lacked anything interesting aside from the Velvet Room’s blue door, and no door is interesting if you lack a way to get it open.

“Huh, guess there really isn’t anything here. Dang.”

“I was trying to tell you, Yuka-tan, before you obliterated my guts!”

“That wasn’t why I did that!”

As their argument slowly escalated, Aigis took a few steps towards the door to get a closer look. The doorframe was wooden, painted white and free of blemishes, and its top was decorated with a brown panel that had circular and triangular patterns carved into it. The handle was the type you had to pull down in order to open the door, yet there was no keyhole beneath it; the Velvet Key had to be metaphorical, then, a permit rather than a literal key intended for opening a lock. The last notable feature of the door was its mail slot. It was also its most questionable one; who would send letters to Igor or Elizabeth? Aigis had no answer for that.

Makoto walked to Aigis and stood close to her. “So, thoughts on the alley?” he asked in a low voice.

“This is the door from Tartarus’s lobby. Is that not curious?”

He frowned. “What door?”

Aigis tilted her head. “The blue door that stands in the lobby and leads to nowhere in particular. It is also present here, right in front of us. Can you not see it?”

“No. I haven’t seen one in Tartarus either.”

“How peculiar. I had assumed people unaware of the Dark Hour might not be able to see it, but if you cannot as well...”

“No one else has mentioned a door in the lobby either, Aigis. Only you can see it, whether it’s here or there.”

That was most intriguing. Perhaps seeing the Velvet Room at all was only extended to those who had signed a contract, then.

Makoto turned to her fully, determination in his eyes once more. “Aigis. I believe you when you say there’s a door there. I can’t see it, but I believe you. Okay?”

Aigis felt a warmth in her Papillon Heart. She had not felt such warmth since her reactivation. “I am most grateful. Makoto-san, may I ask you not to inform anyone else of this?”

“Of course,” he said, looking deadly serious.

“I wish to investigate the door. Might I trouble you to distract Yukari-san and Junpei-san?” She glanced at them. They were still fighting over Yukari’s earlier slight. “Further, that is.”

“On it.” He walked up to the arguing duo, to somehow fuel the fires of their argument. Aigis, in turn, readied her key and approached the door.

The door opened without her needing to pull down the handle, so she stepped through to enter the very familiar and very blue space lying behind it.

As the unique melody of the room filled Aigis’s audio receptors, so did the voices of its inhabitants. “Ah, Aigis-san, it is so good to see you again,” Igor said with a joyful tone. “Welcome to the Velvet Room.”

“Hello and welcome, Aigis-san!” Elizabeth followed. “How may we be of assistance today?”

“Hello to you as well,” she replied as she took her usual seat in front of the duo. “Is it true that no one else is capable of observing the door to here?”

“Indeed it is,” Igor replied. “To your friends, you are currently staring at the wall behind where the door stands. It will be the same if you visit us in Tartarus.”

“Then I must ask my questions with haste. I awakened to the Wild Card’s power two nights ago, and—”

Igor interrupted her. It was the first time he had done so. “Ah, yes, you must be wondering why you never received a second Persona. I do sincerely apologize. You were indeed victorious in the battle, but you passed out far too quickly afterwards, and could not receive the blessing of Shuffle Time before you did. I will, of course, remedy that right now.” He reached into his coat’s inner pocket, and pulled out a deck of cards. From the top of the deck, he drew four cards, and flicked them in the air one by one. The cards floated in front of Aigis. One displayed a golden coin, another a blue cup, the third had the image of a red blade standing on its tip, and the last had the picture of a blue-skinned, blue-haired woman dressed in white Hindu clothing.

“This is Shuffle Time, Aigis-san. Every time you are victorious in a particularly grueling battle, you will be presented with choices such as these. Riches, health, a Skill Card to teach your Personas new abilities, or a new Persona entirely. As it stands, I highly recommend you pick the latter.”

“Most intriguing. So the Wild Card can grant things beyond Personas as well...”

“Within limits, yes, and these limits will only lessen as you grow,” Igor said. “Naturally, your friends will not be able to see the cards, but whatever you choose, it will appear as if you received it from the Shadow you defeated. I doubt it will be difficult to explain, seeing as Shadows carry many curious items with them already.”

Aigis picked the card with the blue woman’s image, wondering whether her skin color was due to the Velvet Room or not. The card vanished with her touch, and she felt the name of Apsaras next to Palladion in her Papillon Heart. “Thank you, Igor. I do have a question relating to two nights ago, however.”

“Ask away.”

“I did awaken to a second Persona. Thanatos. However, it was the reason I collapsed after the battle, as its presence and power were quite overwhelming. I have also not felt its presence since the incident. Do you have any insight to this?”

“Thanatos?” Igor sounded like his eyes would have widened if they could. “No, I don’t believe I do. Elizabeth, does that name appear in her compendium?”

“I will check, master.” She began flipping the pages of the book in her hands faster than Aigis could compute.

“My compendium?”

“It is a book that lists every Persona you have access to, in case you ever feel the need to summon them once again.”

“I do not comprehend. Will I be losing access to them?”

“You can only hold so many at a time, Aigis-san,” Igor said, tilting his head playfully. “Plus, there is Fusion... But that must remain for another time.”

At that, Elizabeth closed the compendium with a loud ‘thud’, and reported, “No, the name Thanatos is nowhere to be seen in her compendium, master.”

How odd. Then the summoning had nothing to do with the Wild Card... Could it be related to the Shadow sealed within her, then?

“Hmm, I had believed so. After all, it isn’t a name I’ve heard in quite some time.”

Aigis perked up. Perhaps the old man did know something. “What was the appearance of the Thanatos you know of?”

“Why, it looked like this.” He looked through his deck, which he had kept on the table since he manifested Shuffle Time, and pulled out a card. A green bipedal creature clad in a black hood was pictured on the card, its body full of large, pink zits and its left hand holding a knife with a skull on its hilt. “No guest of mine has summoned him in quite some time, however. Frankly, I would be very surprised if you had.”

“N-no, that is... not the Thanatos I summoned. This is odd...” As terrifying as her Thanatos was, she preferred it to the disgusting creature on Igor’s card. She could not blame the previous guests for never having summoned it.

“Hmm, who knows what tides the Sea of Souls brings to us? Changes can occur at any time, and perhaps I will need a new deck sooner rather than later. At any rate, I do not wish to take up any more of your time, though I am glad that you took time out of your outing with your friends to pay us a visit. We will discuss your Arcanas and the power of Persona Fusion next time we meet.”

“Thank you, Igor and Elizabeth.” She figured there was little sense in asking what Arcanas were.

“It was my pleasure!” Elizabeth said, excited to have been mentioned. “We look forward to your next visit.”

Aigis got up from her seat and left the room from where she had entered. Yukari and Junpei’s backs were to Aigis, and each had one of Makoto’s earphones in one of their ears. They seemed to be listening to a song Makoto was playing for them from his MP3 player. Makoto was the only one facing Aigis, and she showed him a thumbs-up after placing the Velvet Key in her skirt’s pocket.

“You have pretty good taste in music, Yuki-kun!” Junpei was saying. “Though I should’ve expected that, with how you’re always listening to it. I liked that first track you played more than this one, though. That dude had a real cool voice when he rapped!”

“That one was okay, but this one is something else,” Yukari followed up. “Stars smiling at the moon... it’s such a beautiful image.”

“Wait, you understand the lyrics?!”

Yukari slapped him on the back of the head. “No wonder you liked the guy with the deep voice rapping fast on a halfway decent beat. You couldn’t even tell what he was saying, could you?”

“It’s not my fault my English isn’t good enough for that!”

Makoto swiftly grabbed his earphones from both their ears and hung it back around his neck, turning off his MP3 player. “Alright, that’s that for the music,” he said.

“See what you did, Junpei?”

“You hit me!”

Aigis saw it fit to step in. “I apologize for keeping you all waiting.”

“Oh, Ai-chan, done looking at the alleyway?” Junpei asked. “Find anything interesting?”

“No. For all intents and purposes, this is a normal alleyway with nothing interesting inside apart from the four of us.”

“Ain’t that the truth! So, where are we going? We tried Ai-chan’s idea, how about we try mine next?”

“I have no objections.”

“I don’t care.”

“Come on, no one wants coffee? We’re just gonna play Junpei’s dumb video games until the evening?”

“Coffee’s for old people, Yuka-tan. Us youth have that natural charm, y’know?” Junpei said with a sly grin.

“Oh, now you're really asking for it!”

As they walked out of the alleyway, still arguing loudly, Aigis turned to Makoto. “Thank you for keeping them occupied, Makoto-san,” she said quietly. “I will be sure to return the favor.”

Makoto lowered his head and put both hands in his pockets. “It was nothing. Did you figure out the door?”

“Yes. I will explain it to you at a later time. I would be most grateful if you continued to keep it a secret from everyone else.”

“I get it. They’d experiment on you if they knew.” He grimaced.

Aigis did not know how to respond to his astute, correct observation, so she chose to not respond at all, and instead follow Junpei’s lead into the arcade to see what Punch Boxer was all about.

-------------------------

Video games were easy, Aigis decided. They were like the simulations she crafted in her mind for various scenarios, only about fictional concepts and places, and with clear routes to success. She soundly defeated Junpei in Punch Boxer seven times in a row before the boy conceded and stopped asking for a rematch. He called her ‘scary good’, and was even more surprised to learn that Aigis had never played a video game before. He promised to invite her to the arcade more often. She accepted.

Makoto and Yukari were very impressed by her supposedly high skill level. Perhaps dealing with low-level simulations of a lesser computer was difficult to organic minds. Not for Aigis. She crafted and cleared much greater simulations on a daily basis inside her own processor. She barely felt a sense of accomplishment.

She decided to stop lying to herself, as it was not a productive action. She enjoyed the flimsy simulation greatly. It was not something she could craft in her own mind, though that did make sense, as video games were developed by humans and merely operated on computers. She would return for more.

Junpei bid the trio farewell after the arcade venture, citing exhaustion as the reason, and headed home. The trio decided to head to the Iwatodai Station’s strip mall for dinner, as it was approaching 9 PM and the organic pair had not eaten anything since lunch.

“Guess Chagall’s gonna have to wait another day,” Yukari said as they took their seats at Wakatsu Kitchen, having ordered three Prodigy Platters. Aigis sat next to Yukari, and Makoto sat opposite of both. “At least we all had fun today, right? I know you did, Aigis!”

“I indeed had fun. Video games are an amusing pastime. If time allows, I would like to return there.”

“We’ll have lots of time on our hands to go, don’t worry!”

“Though, you did not need to order a platter for my sake. I do not require nutrition.”

“Can you even eat?” asked Makoto.

“I am capable of consuming food. However, it does not provide me with any nutritional value, as the blast furnace inside my chassis incinerates the food the moment it leaves my throat. It would be a waste.”

“Well, can you taste it, though?” Yukari questioned.

“Yes. I am equipped with taste buds.”

“Then it’s not a waste! Easy.”

“I do not comprehend. It would be like throwing money into fire.”

“Money doesn’t taste good, though, now does it? And the fire can’t taste it anyway. You can. Big difference.”

“I have not tasted money,” was the only way Aigis could object to her statement. “I cannot quantify whether it tastes good or not.”

“Here.” Makoto retrieved a small coin from his pocket and put it on the table. “Give it a shot.”

“Makoto!” Yukari chastised.

“What? She might like it. I like how pens taste.”

Aigis picked up the coin and assessed it. She was not entirely certain if her blast furnace would take care of it, but then again, the technicians could fix her if it did not. She put the coin in her mouth. Yukari let out a slight gasp. Makoto’s expression remained neutral as he asked, “How is it?”

Aigis rolled the coin around in her mouth, then chewed. “It tastes similarly to the inside of my mouth, but... saltier. I would compare the sensation to potato chips, only hardier. It is not unpleasant.” Aigis swallowed, and only then did she realize she could have forgone chewing and spat the coin out, not risking her internal components. She discarded the thought, for it was pointless at the current moment. “Perhaps I can consume money directly, instead of it being used to purchase food for my sake. It would achieve the same goal.”

Makoto chuckled. “What are you laughing at?!” Yukari asked.

“I just remembered the arcade machines. They eat coins too.” He laughed again.

“That’s not funny, Makoto! She’s not...” Yukari snorted. “She’s a person! Not an arcade cabinet!”

“I may be capable of running video games if equipped with the right operating system. You would need to attach a monitor, however, as I am not equipped with projecting technology.”

Makoto laughed again. “Imagine if... haha... they put a projector in your eyes... and you... and you just put up the game from there after we feed you coins... hahahahahaha!”

Yukari was too busy holding her hand over her mouth to add to the conversation, so Aigis retrieved her recording of the afternoon in the arcade, took out a snippet of Punch Boxer’s title music, edited out all other sound effects, and played it back perfectly. “Please insert coin,” she said, as the music kept playing.

Yukari and Makoto burst into a loud bout of laughter. Aigis smiled as she saved the memory to her permanent data banks. This was her biggest success to date.

She was glad she was a robot, she decided. No one else could have made the joke she just did.

-------------------------

“The coin tasted better than the fish,” Aigis said as they left the restaurant.

“No way you like the taste of literal metal better than Wakatsu’s fish,” Yukari said. “It was so good! Come on!”

“I do not believe I like the taste of fish at all. It is oily and smells unpleasant. Coins have no such attributes.”

“It’s not her fault you’re incapable of enjoying the taste of coin, Yukari,” Makoto said.

“Okay, funny guy, you eat the coin if it tastes so good.”

“I’m not feeling like dying right now.”

A beat. Then two.

Makoto did not realize the significance of what he had said, but both girls did. They shared a look and a smile.

It was progress.

They walked back to the dorm, Yukari reviving the conversation to distract from the matter.

-------------------------

Mitsuru was greatly concerned over what Yukari had told her earlier in the day, and by the time Aigis diffused the situation and gave her a sitrep of the day, it was almost the Dark Hour. Akihiko was not present for the debrief, apparently patrolling the streets to await the Hour’s arrival and protect anyone he could from Shadows when it did. One man could not stop Apathy Syndrome, but he could very well try. Aigis’s request to join him was denied, so she retired to her room.

She laid down on the resting station to clear her cache and create a to-do list. She would have to ask for a mirror to be installed in her room. She would have to learn enough French to join the fashion club. She needed to visit the Velvet Room to find out the secrets of Arcana and Fusion. She would have to return to the arcade with Junpei. She would have to accompany Yukari to Chagall at some point. She had to solidify Makoto’s passing statement from the walk home into a fundamental belief of his life. She needed to return to Tartarus exploration as soon as possible.

She needed to find a way to visit Strega and ensure their well-being, she realized with a start.

How could she have forgotten about Strega so soon? They spent eight years together, yet one trip to the arcade was enough to make Aigis forget them? Was she that disloyal? Would she be forgetting Makoto just as quickly with enough stimuli?

Before she could spiral further, however, the Dark Hour fell, interrupting her thought process.

Perhaps she could find Strega now. They were likely to be roaming the streets, looking for their targets. The revenge request website, operated by Jin, was never empty of submissions, and the man was very good at locating their addresses. With no evidence or witnesses due to the nature of the Dark Hour, and Chidori’s capability of tracking people down with her Persona, it was nigh effortless to maintain as a business. All they really needed was an internet connection and bullets for Takaya’s gun. If she headed outside, perhaps she could encounter them and ensure that they were doing well without her.

She got up from the resting station to leave her room. A voice from behind made her halt.

“Leaving already? But I just showed up.”

She turned. Like the voice and sudden appearance implied, it was the small boy in pajamas. “It is you again.”

He smiled. “Hi. How’ve you been?”

“As alright as I could be, considering Thanatos.”

“Thanatos?” He furrowed his brows. “Who’s that?”

“The Persona you said I should summon, that day in Tartarus. The strain damaged my body enough to lead to a shutdown.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. But that wasn’t a Persona.”

That... seemed to line up with Igor’s assessment of the situation. “Then what was it?”

“It was me.”

That confirmed it, then. The boy was the Shadow she had sealed in herself ten years ago. There was no other suitable explanation for the matter. But how did he deliver the Velvet Room contract to Aigis?

“You looked like you needed help,” the boy continued. “So I helped. I don’t think I can do that again, though. It took a lot out of me. Sorry I hurt you. Was what I did enough to help?”

The boy was not aware of who he was. Otherwise he would not have helped Aigis. He was Aigis’s enemy last time they met.

Perhaps... A dangerous thought entered Aigis’s mind. Perhaps he could be converted into an ally.

It was an extremely precarious line of thinking, one that could, no, would lead to catastrophe. The boy was a Shadow capable of bringing about ruin to the entire world, and Aigis could not hope to influence him enough to make him a force for good. Not to mention, he was a Shadow, and ever since Aigis had put that fact together, every processor in her body screamed for her to open fire and destroy him.

But the boy was not truly there, she reasoned. The boy was actually inside of her. She would have to destroy herself to even get a chance to do it, and that would be counterproductive to what she was trying to do, not to mention render all of her other tasks impossible to complete. She kept her weapons at bay.

The boy was a boy. Young. Amnesiac. Possible to influence. Possible to mold into something else. He looked hungry for positive affirmation, like Makoto was. He could be changed, like Makoto could. He could be something better.

Was it Aigis’s place to decide that?

No one else could see the boy. No one else got a choice in the matter. It was either the boy remembering the fact that he was a monster and returning to that, or Aigis doing her best to dissuade him from it.

This entire line of processing took Aigis two seconds.

“Thank you, it was sufficient,” was her reply to the boy’s question.

He smiled. “I’m glad. I won’t do it again, but you should take better care of your friends too. That boy... wanted to die. A lot. I felt it.”

Aigis refrained from asking how. The boy was Death. It was natural that he knew. “I am working to dissuade him from the notion. Like you said, all humans desire to live, deep down. I will assist him in discovering it once more.”

“That’s good. More importantly, it looks like you’ve awakened to your power.” The boy rocked on his feet, back and forth. “And what an unusual power it is. A power that takes many forms, yet is bound by none... It might even prove to be your salvation, depending on where you end up.” He looked Aigis in the eye. “Do you remember when we first met?”

“Yes,” she replied. “You gave me a contract that I intend to honor, and put me on this path. I am grateful.”

“Oh? I’m glad. You did look like you had fun today.” Aigis’s eyes widened slightly. “I’m always watching you... even if you forget about me.” The boy smiled again. “Okay then, see you later.” He vanished in a cloud of black smoke, just like last time.

Aigis realized that she had not asked his name, and despite what she had felt in her Papillon Heart, Thanatos did not seem to be what he called himself. She decided she would ask it as the first thing next time.

They could not be friends without knowing each other’s names, and they would have to be friends for what Aigis had planned.

She decided to leave the matter of finding Strega for another night, and laid back down on the resting station.

She had much to do, and far too much time was in between her and the tasks she needed to accomplish. She could not speak to the boy until the next time he deigned to appear, the mirror would take time to install, French would take time to learn, the visit to the Velvet Room needed to be in a time that would not attract anyone’s attention, Yukari and Junpei functioned on their own schedules, changing Makoto’s mindset required significant time investment, and proving her worth at reconnaissance needed more time. She felt like she was standing at the train station, waiting for a train that had gotten delayed. It was not a pleasant feeling.

But the train was her life, and she was the conductor. Only she could make it go faster. She would have to start on her tasks immediately, first thing tomorrow.

She entered standby mode immediately, to make tomorrow come faster.

Only in the morning did she realize she had never taken off her uniform.

Chapter Text

In the morning, Aigis was awakened by a system-wide ping reminding her that tonight would be a full moon. She would have to ask Mitsuru to allow her into Tartarus no matter what, so that she could test the hypothesis coded into her regarding the connection of the full moon to Shadow activity.

Shortly after awakening, she heard rummaging from the ground floor. Matching the residents’ typical awakening hours with the current time, she realized it was at least thirty minutes before anyone other than Akihiko would wake up, and Akihiko would not be present at the dorm due to his habitual morning runs before heading to school. Aigis concluded that an intruder had infiltrated the dorms. She warmed her weapons as she headed downstairs.

The sound came from the kitchen. She fired a warning shot into the ceiling to warn the intruder that she was armed and dangerous. A plastic clatter was heard as the intruder screamed, “What the hell?! A gun?!”

His vocal patterns matched that of Junpei Iori. Curious. Why would an intruder to the dorm imitate Junpei? She paid it no mind and approached the kitchen door.

As she opened the door and pointed her right hand at the intruder, curled up on the floor and holding both hands over his head, he screamed, “Please don’t kill me! I’m too young to die!” The intruder’s visual appearance also matched Junpei, albeit sheet-white from fear. The color did not suit him.

Perhaps he really was Junpei.

Aigis did not disarm her weapons. “Why are you here, Junpei-san?” she asked. “Why have you broken into the dorms?”

“I didn’t break in! Wait, Ai-chan?” He looked up from his position on the ground.  “You... you have a gun?”

“I have many weapons built into my body. Answer my question before I am forced to utilize them.”

“Built into your—?!” Aigis’s wrist magazines whirred threateningly. “Okay! Okay! Sanada-senpai found me at the mall last night when people turned into coffins and everything went green! He said I could stay here overnight! I just wanted a snack!” He pointed to the floor. Aigis turned her head to find a plastic container that used to contain takoyaki, said food now covering the floor. It had a label on its lid; ‘Yuki’.

“You were not transmogrified during the Dark Hour?”

“Is that what it’s called? No, I guess not. Never happened to me before. I would’ve been dead meat if not for Sanada-senpai, though. He saved me from those black blob things.” Junpei slowly got up from the floor. Aigis lowered her arm. “So... we cool?”

At that point, the other dorm residents arrived. Mitsuru and Yukari rushed inside the kitchen, while Makoto waited outside, as he could not fit in the small space. “We heard a gunshot! What happened?” Mitsuru asked.

“I was under the belief that an intruder had broken into the dorms. I took action. The gunshot you heard was a warning shot I fired into the ceiling outside. I am glad that it summoned you all, though in retrospect, it was not necessary. It was only Junpei-san, looking for an early morning snack.”

“Wait, Junpei?” Yukari asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Uhh... surprise?” the boy awkwardly said.

Mitsuru nodded knowingly. “Ah, Akihiko brought him here last night after finding him in Paulownia Mall during the Dark Hour. He may have the potential; we ran the usual tests.”

“My takoyaki...” Makoto whined.

“Uh, sorry dude. Didn’t know it was yours.” Junpei did not look apologetic in the slightest.

“His name is written on the container’s lid. Are you illiterate, Junpei-san?”

The boy grimaced. “Damn, Ai-chan, can’t a guy lie around here? By the way, she said she had weapons ‘built into her body’? What’s with that? And what potential?”

“Oh, yeah, about that...” Yukari said. “Aigis is... a robot?”

“Huh?!”

“Surprise, as they say,” Aigis deadpanned.

Mitsuru chose that moment to take control of the situation. “Alright, everyone, it’s been an exciting morning, but enough is enough. Go to your rooms and prepare for school, you can clean up the kitchen later. Aigis, I’m glad that you took action to protect the dorm, but be more mindful of your surroundings next time. Iori, I apologize for Aigis’s behavior. There will be explanations later, after you return from school. Now, leave any questions for later and be off.”

“My takoyaki...” Makoto whined again as they all left the kitchen’s vicinity.

“Don’t worry, Makoto, I’ll get you another and then extort the money from Stupei.”

“Extort me?!”

“Aigis will help me, right Aigis?”

“I will assist you in this extortion. I am aware that one needs weapons to accomplish this task, and I qualify as one.”

“I can just pay him the money!!”

-------------------------

The school day went by in a flash for Junpei. Funny how being held at gunpoint by a robot first thing in the morning does that to you.

And wasn’t that crazy? Ai-chan was a robot! Guess her freakishly good gaming skills and deadpan humor meant something. Honestly, Junpei never would’ve guessed. She was way too cute to be a robot. He kept glancing at her during the classes, and she was exactly the same as yesterday, taking notes and not asking a single question from the teacher because apparently, she just understood the material instantly. What wouldn’t Junpei give to be able to get it like that...

Absently, he wondered what she looked like under the uniform. Did she have anything modeled at all? Now that he noticed, her legs weren’t white because of stockings, since they had a line running down the side, and they kinda glinted in the light. Did that mean her entire body was white?

Okay, Junpei, that’s enough creepiness for one day.

That did kill his plans to eventually get her to like him, though. He didn’t want to be dating a robot. The whole point of dating a girl was getting to kiss her and... all the other things. You couldn’t really do that with a robot. Obviously he wasn’t going to tell Ai-chan that, though, because Junpei had the bare minimum of tact and knew that’d upset her. Could she even get upset? Actually, better not risk upsetting the girl who’s got god knows how many weapons built into her.

Who’d built her anyway? And why? Why put weapons in her? Was she built to fight the black blob things from last night? Why did she go to school? And what was that about the potential he supposedly had? He really had to ask Kirijo-senpai when they got back to the dorm.

The same questions swirled in his mind as he took the train to return to the dorm with the others. Yuka-tan tried to crack a joke about how quiet he was, but it didn’t really fly. Junpei said something lame about how tired he was from all the boring classes or something, and they all went back to whatever they were talking about. Good. A down Junpei is something everybody should overlook.

Then again, if Sanada-senpai had overlooked him last night, he’d probably not even be here right now. He got lucky. Really lucky. Now he didn’t even have to go back home to his stupid dad. Instead, he had to share a dorm with a trigger-happy robot. Honestly? Way better deal. He’d take a bullet to the face over another drunken rant about how he’d never live up to anything.

When they got to the dorm, Kirijo-senpai wasn’t there, so Junpei went to the kitchen to clean up the takoyaki he’d spilled on the floor, which, no surprise, was still there. He’d have to treat Yuki-kun later. Then, he plopped down in the lounge and turned on the TV to see if anything good was on. Thankfully, some channel was showing Featherman, even if it was reruns of an old season he’d already seen a thousand times. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Yuki-kun and Yuka-tan heading upstairs. Heh. Their names sounded cute together. Maybe they could be a thing later down the line. If Junpei could get Yuki-kun out of his shell, maybe he could play wingman for them. That’d fill up time, and probably lead to them being happier overall. God knew Yuki-kun needed to be happier. Yesterday was the most fun he’d ever seen the guy have, and he’d barely done anything in the first place. He wondered what caused him to come out of his shell, and hoped it wasn’t temporary.

Then, Ai-chan took the seat next to him, and started staring intently at the TV, kind of like how she’d stared at him curled up on the kitchen floor. Junpei hoped she wouldn’t start firing at the TV; this episode was one of the good ones. He refocused on the show, figuring she’d say something if she wanted to talk.

She didn’t. She watched the entire episode with him in complete silence. It was a little weird, honestly. Did she figure out the entire show’s plot from one episode or something? Was that something robots could even do? Had technology gotten that far?

As the credits rolled, she finally spoke. “Do you watch this show often, Junpei-san?”

“Uhh, this was an old rerun, actually. I’d seen it before. I like Featherman though, it’s pretty cool.”

Ai-chan tilted her head quizzically. “Why would you rewatch something that you have seen before?”

Oh boy. Existential questions. He was not qualified for this. “Because... it’s fun? Like, it’s a good show, and I like the story and the action and stuff, so I watch it again to re-experience how it felt watching it the first time?”

“I comprehend. Are you successful in recapturing the feeling?”

Wasn’t that a question for the ages? “Well, I’m not the same guy I was before, so... not really? But it reminds me of how I used to feel, and it’s kinda nice. Plus, even apart from that, it’s still a good show and refreshing my memory on how everything went is neat. Like, even without all the feelings I had on it before, the show is still something you’d wanna watch on its own.”

The robo-girl nodded. “Interesting. The matter is more complex than I anticipated. So you would call this a ‘good show’? As in, of sound quality in all appropriate criteria?”

“I ain’t a film critic, Ai-chan. I just like decently cool action and a story that’s engaging and isn’t too filled with holes. Featherman fits the bill. It’s not high-brow cinema or anything.”

“Hm. Your assessment is correct. From what I understood, the plot lacked complexity, and the action scenes were highly unrealistic, unless every single actor had superhuman capabilities and access to technology beyond that of even the Kirijo Group.”

He’d probably have to explain what ‘suspension of disbelief’ was now. He was definitely not qualified for this. “Uh, Ai-chan...”

Thankfully, Kirijo-senpai chose that moment to finally grace the dorm with her magnificent presence. She really was something, walking in through the front door like she owned the place and expected seventy maids to stand at attention immediately. Then again, she probably did own the dorms. The Kirijo Group owned the whole school, after all. He realized that was probably how they’d enrolled Ai-chan without any trouble in the first place. Seriously, though, why did they do that?

“Oh, Iori, you’re here,” Kirijo-senpai said. “Good. Can you come with me to the fourth floor? Unless I’m interrupting something.”

“No, Mitsuru-san. It can wait.” She called her Mitsuru-san? Then again, now that he noticed, she called everyone that way. Maybe it was just how she was.

“No problem, senpai!” he said as he got up. Now he could get some answers. Maybe they were going to ask him to join their secret team of crimefighters or something. Maybe he’d be a superhero.

As if.

However, as Kirijo-senpai explained to him in the command center of the dorm (they had a command center!), that was exactly what was happening.

“So... so what you’re saying is that every day has an extra hour, and only people with superpowers are aware of it, and that I have superpowers, and you want me to fight those black blob things—”

“Shadows.”

“Those Shadows with you guys? And that’s why Ai-chan is a robot with tons of weapons?”

“Yes, that’s pretty much the gist of it.”

He’d probably drop to his knees if he wasn’t already sitting down. “Well, to that, I only have one thing to say...”

Kirijo-senpai looked at him expectantly.

“Hell yeah! Of course I’m in!”

Kirijo-senpai’s bright red lips turned up. “That’s good to hear.”

“I’d have to move to the dorms though, right?”

“Well, it would be optimal, as it would ensure your availability for missions. We can make arrangements if you wish otherwise—”

He interrupted her. “No, no no no! Not what I meant! I was just checking! Of course I’m moving in, no problem at all!” He had to change the topic. “I gotta ask, though... why does Ai-chan even go to school? Isn’t she, like, a super fighting robot?”

Kirijo-senpai’s face fell as she pressed her lips together. “That’s... classified.”

Well, Junpei was definitely not gonna follow up that thread of conversation. Whatever the reason was, it sure as hell wasn’t ‘classified’. “So, um, what kinda superpowers do I even have? How do they work?”

Kirijo-senpai’s expression steeled once more as she got up from her seat and moved to a drawer on the other side of the room, retrieving a holster with a pistol inside and putting it in front of Junpei as she sat down again. “This is an Evoker. It’s the key to activating your power.”

He picked up the Evoker and held it in both hands, pretending to take aim as he closed one eye. “Pew! Pew! So I just point and shoot?”

“It doesn’t fire bullets, Iori. You point it at your head.”

He froze. “Say what?”

Kirijo-senpai crossed her shapely legs. “The power we all have is the power of Persona, and it awakens upon confronting death. The Evokers simulate that purpose. By pointing the facsimile gun at your head and firing, you create a psychological response that the Evoker’s technology then amplifies to summon your Persona with. However, as I said before, it does not fire actual bullets, so if you’re rendered incapable of summoning your Persona due to exhaustion or other possible scenarios, it will be useless. You will be provided with a secondary weapon to utilize in such situations.”

That was... something. “That’s neat... What kind of secondary weapon?”

“That is up to you. I wield a rapier, Takeba uses a bow, Aigis uses her own body’s weaponry, et cetera. What would you feel most comfortable with?” She got up from her chair again and fetched some kind of weird helmet from another drawer.

As she took off his cap and put the helmet on his head, he said, “Probably a baseball bat or something? What is that you’re putting on my head?”

She sat down again and opened her laptop. “A greatsword, then. I’ll file a request. And this headset assists my ability to gather intel from Persona users and Shadows alike in order to inform me of your Persona’s strengths and weaknesses.”

“What do you mean weaknesses?”

“Every Shadow and every Persona is capable of casting various elemental and physical spells. However, they also have a weakness that more often than not counteracts what they are capable of doing. A fire-user is especially weak to ice spells, and so on and so forth. That means the spell will be exponentially more effective against them. We cover for one another’s weaknesses during battle, and use whatever the Shadow’s weak against for maximum effectiveness.” She tapped on a few keys on her laptop. “Interesting... Your Persona focuses on fire and physical spells, yet it’s weak to wind attacks... A unique combination.”

He puffed his chest with a smile. “No gust of wind is gonna take me down! Just wait and see!”

His bravado did not affect Kirijo-senpai. “Weaknesses are no joke, Iori. Just the other night, Akihiko got frozen solid due to his weakness to ice. Wind will not have such severely adverse effects, but you must still be careful.”

He deflated. “Yes, Kirijo-senpai. I’ll watch out.”

“Very well. You can take off the headset now.” He placed the headset on the table in front of him and put his cap back on. “Never lose sight of your Evoker. If you wish to retrieve anything from your home, I can have Akihiko accompany you.”

Junpei picked up the holster and put the Evoker back in it. “No, I’ll be fine. Thanks, senpai.”

“Then you’re dismissed. I’m looking forward to how you perform in battle. Try to get accustomed to how an Evoker feels until then. I know it’s not easy. We all struggled at first.”

“Don’t worry about me, senpai. You’ll be amazed to see what I can do when the time comes!” he said, smiling proudly.

Kirijo-senpai smiled again. “I’m looking forward to it, Iori. Good to have you with us.”

As he turned away from her and left the room, his smile disappeared.

What had he gotten himself into?

Nah. He’d be fine.

Right now, the hardest thing on the agenda was sneaking back home to get his stuff without alerting the old man. The shadow monsters could wait their turn.

-------------------------

The Dark Hour was close at hand, only a few hours away. Aigis anticipated that convincing Mitsuru and Akihiko to allow her to visit Tartarus would take up quite some time, so she decided to seek them out a short while after sunset.

Phoenix Ranger Featherman R had served its purpose in filling up her time until then, and what an experience it was. Despite the narrative’s clearly fabricated nature, it was comprised in a way that compelled Aigis to remain seated and see it through to the end. Sadly, she had not seen the show from the very beginning, and she lacked context for the various reveals of traitors and new superpowers. She would have to find a way to watch the series from the start. As the end credits for the fifth episode of the day played out, she added ‘watch Featherman from the beginning’ to her to-do list before turning off the TV and moving upstairs.

Aigis found the command room devoid of people. She pondered waiting there in case someone decided to come upstairs, but she realized the timeframe for such an occurrence was unreliable, and chose to seek out the two commanding members of SEES.

But which one? She paused to ponder the query. Akihiko would not be open to Aigis insisting on a solo expedition, and Mitsuru had given her concrete orders to focus on recon over active combat. Her request to accompany Akihiko during his patrol of the city last night had been denied as well, despite how close it was to a reconnaissance mission. Would she even have a chance of convincing them? Wasn’t it futile?

Perhaps it was. Perhaps it was not. She would remain unaware of the truth until she tried. Time and time again, she had seen how her calculations did not line up with how events tended to go. This could be another instance of events lining up in an unexpected manner, and her odds of success were not something she could accurately predict anyway, due to the temperamental nature of humans. Perhaps she could take advantage of their moods to convince them accordingly.

Yes, that could work.

She decided to ask Mitsuru first, as she was the highest in SEES’s ranks, and seemed to take offense to Akihiko undermining her authority. She would not appreciate Aigis asking the boy before her.

Mitsuru was, thankfully, in her room, as sounds of movement could be heard from inside. Aigis had no backup plans for the scenario of her not being present at the dorm, so she considered it a fortunate occurrence. Knowing the importance of privacy in one’s personal quarters, a factor repeatedly drilled into her by Jin, she knocked on the door three times.

“Akihiko? Do you need something?”

“It is Aigis, Mitsuru-san. May I speak with you?”

Mitsuru opened the door. She had tied her hair up in a ponytail, which was a look Aigis had not seen on her before. She decided she preferred it to the girl’s usual hairstyle, as it was less reminiscent of how Chidori did her hair. “Oh, Aigis,” she said. “Of course, come in.”

Aigis went inside. The room was spacious, far larger than Aigis’s own, and was filled with furniture that had the same air as Mitsuru herself; refined, elegant, and commandeering respect. The sight of the white couches and table together with the red carpet caused a distress ping that she quickly erased. She focused on the purple curtains covering the windows. She had no prior mental association with the color, so she chose it as the one to remember this room by.

“Take a seat, Aigis.” As she did, Mitsuru sat opposite of her, put her hands together, and continued, “I... wish to make something clear; you don’t need to report every single day of going to school to me. I was perhaps a bit too vague on my specifications, so if you’re here for that, there’s no need. Not that I wouldn’t like to hear about how your day went, but you shouldn’t feel an obligation to report to me unless something truly major happened.”

Aigis remembered that Mitsuru had specifically told her to report her findings every night. It could not be described as a vague statement. Regardless, humans were creatures of whim. For one reason or another, she had changed her mind, and this new decision benefitted Aigis. She discarded the report she had pre-written in her mind to open the conversation with, and chose a new avenue. “Thank you, Mitsuru-san, but that is not why I am here.”

“Oh?” The girl raised an eyebrow. “That is surpri—” She stopped herself, her expression becoming stony and cold. “No, Aigis, you’re not allowed to go to Tartarus.”

That was... to be expected. Still, she had to try. “May I reason with you on why I should do so regardless? This is a time-sensitive matter, Mitsuru-san. You will understand once I explain.”

“Aigis, I...” Mitsuru sighed. “Fine. Explain why you should go. But if I am not convinced, you are not to bring this up until further notice, understood?”

A risky gamble. Aigis decided to take her shot. “Very well. I am programmed to track the phases of the moon, Mitsuru-san. I do not know why I have this program, but I have a suspicion that Shadow activity may be closely related to the phases of the moon, and that is why I am equipped with such an ability. Tonight is the full moon, and I believe it holds special meaning.”

Mitsuru focused on a very different part of her statement compared to what Aigis had hoped she would. “You... don’t know why you have this program?”

“No, I do not. It does not state a purpose; it merely exists in my code.”

“Don’t you find that odd, Aigis? I... I don’t wish to question you, but you have many traits that you logically shouldn’t. First awakening to that monstrous Persona in Tartarus, then a program with no source. Not to mention your introductory statement to the students yesterday. You jeopardized your cover at school for a joke at the expense of your teammates, and frankly, I don’t think anyone built you to behave like that. Doesn’t it make you question yourself?”

Aigis blinked. Mitsuru had a point. She did not know of the various other inexplicable things that the android had experienced, and yet even she had noticed a pattern. Aigis was an instrument of war. None of the things Mitsuru had mentioned could be explained away by her purpose, let alone the Velvet Room, her capacity to dream, or even her earlier venture of watching Phoenix Ranger Featherman R for several hours.

What was happening to her? How did the technicians not detect any of this?

“Perhaps... perhaps I am defective, Mitsuru-san. You may be correct in stating I am in no condition to visit Tartarus. I am behaving unpredictably, and it could put me and others in great risk, and thus—”

The redhead interrupted her. “No, Aigis, that’s not what I meant. You’re not... you’re not defective. At least, I don’t think you are.”

“Then what is your opinion on this matter?”

Mitsuru seemed to weigh her words. She took a deep breath. “Do you know who else behaves unpredictably at times, Aigis?”

“I do not comprehend.”

“Me. Akihiko. Takeba. Everyone in the dorm, and everyone at school, and the people walking out in the streets.”

The fans on both sides of Aigis’s head began to whir, the way they did during Orgia Mode, yet no command to activate it had been issued. She realized she was overheating after its warning message flashed before her eyes.

Mitsuru continued regardless. “I consider myself someone with quite a lot of self-control, but even I can’t predict how I’ll behave under certain circumstances. It depends on how I’m feeling. Akihiko’s the same. I’ve seen him fumble the easiest right hook in training due to stress, but it never, ever happens to him in a match, despite how it should logically be more stressful. Because he doesn’t operate on cold, hard logic. Feelings affect his emotional and physical state, and make him behave in ways that won’t make logical sense to any outside observer. Isn’t that how you’ve been behaving?”

It was. That was the only answer Aigis had, and yet her vocalizer refused to verbalize the thought.

Because it would mean she was like Mitsuru. It would mean she was like Akihiko, and Yukari, and every other human.

It would mean she was a person.

But she was a weapon.

It did not make sense.

Her overheating was reaching dangerous levels. She felt five of her logic circuit’s resistors melt. Her head, shoulder, and thigh fans opened to let out pent-up steam, the way they did after battle, yet she was not engaging in combat. It did not make sense.

The hissing of air did serve to alert Mitsuru to Aigis’s condition, however. “Oh my goodness... Are you alright? Should I alert the technicians?”

Aigis pushed back every ongoing process of her mind to focus on Mitsuru’s question. Her fans slowed as she answered her last question. “No, Mitsuru-san, there is no need to alert the technicians. Please excuse me.” She had to get to her room’s resting station before she suffered her second complete system failure in the same week. It would not do. She had to manually reactivate the motor functions of her arms and legs to stand up, as they had disabled due to emergency protocols. Absently, she questioned the logic behind such protocols, but quickly halted the query’s processing. She did not have enough memory to allocate towards it at the moment.

“I... I apologize if I upset you, Aigis,” Mitsuru said, following Aigis to the door.

“I cannot get upset, Mitsuru-san,” she said as she passed the doorframe and stepped into the hallway. “The function was not programmed into me. I will be in my room should there be need of me.”

She entered her room and took off her uniform as fast as she could without tearing it, periodically letting out steam in a desperate attempt to cool down her systems. The sight of her body’s white-and-gold reassured her that Mitsuru’s statements were nothing but foolish, uninformed conclusions of a feeble organic mind. She reprimanded herself for thinking of Mitsuru in such a derogatory manner.

Finally having mostly cooled off, she laid down on the resting station to swap out her melted resistors. And at that moment, Aigis realized her involuntary lie.

She could get upset. She had gotten upset with Akihiko when he had forbidden her from exploring Tartarus a second time. She had wanted to yell at him and criticize his decision-making process. She had wanted to lash out. She had considered utilizing her weaponry to make threats.

And yet she had lied about it without even meaning to.

Did that mean she was lying to herself, and not Mitsuru? Had she not forbidden herself from such an action due to its dampening effect on productivity? Why was she partaking in it once more?

She opened up her chest paneling for the resting station to make further repairs, but something compelled her to look down as she did.

What she saw were fried circuit boards. Completely inoperable, with burned out internal wiring and chipped edges and missing components.

How was she still operational? It was inconceivable to assume the technicians had not spotted such glaring issues. Why was she not being bombarded with error pop-ups?

Was that why she had been fixed in such a short time? Was she left to fend for herself with defective and broken parts littering her body? Was that the reason for her unpredictable actions?

It had to be.

There was no other acceptable reason.

And yet...

She manually halted the resting station’s auto-repair process. She closed her chest paneling. She got up from the resting station, and sat on the wooden chair opposite of it.

She entered standby mode after setting a timer to awaken her at the Dark Hour.

She would field test herself, and if she was victorious in battle despite her defective components, she would ignore them just as the technicians had. Failure was unacceptable and intolerable, and so Aigis did not consider it in her calculations.

Mitsuru and Akihiko’s opinions be damned, she was going to Tartarus tonight.

Chapter Text

Aigis’s sleep was not dreamless.

The android had learned the children’s names and ages by now.

The redheaded girl was Chidori, nine years old. The blue-haired, fiery boy was Jin, and he was eleven. Lastly, the one they all looked to for guidance was Takaya, and despite his head of gray hair, he was only fourteen.

Takaya had not objected to the two liberating the android from the laboratory, but he was displeased with her presence regardless. Every time the android spoke, which was not often, he flinched and moved his hand to the gun on his waist, which he religiously carried around with him everywhere. The android did not know where he had acquired it from, and had not asked.

She would have objected to a child wielding a weapon, but she did not, because by that logic, they should not have been associating with her either. In addition, she did not fully understand why an armed child was something to object to. It was a thought without a source. The android had been experiencing many such thoughts in the past year.

The trio also seemed aware that an android walking around was unnatural, and thus had provided her with blankets to cover her body with. It did not draw much attention. Many other homeless people covered themselves in similar rags, and the android did not stand out among them, even with her unblemished, perfect skin and hair that did not change over time. Everyone was more preoccupied with survival to mind other people.

Of course, there were exceptions. One such exception was approaching them, and his attire was that of an officer of the law. She marked him down as a potential threat.

“What’s a group of kids doing here?” he asked, oblivious to the fact that the location was largely frequented by homeless people, and guessing the answer was not difficult. Perhaps he had mental deficiencies.

Takaya took the lead. “Nothing much, officer.” He had moved his gun from the front of his belt to the back, having noticed the officer at the same moment as the android. “Just making a visit to those less fortunate, to see if we can be of assistance.” The android had no metrics for what constituted a good lie. Despite that, the officer could possibly be mentally damaged, as observed earlier, so it had a chance of convincing him.

“From the looks of it, you could use some assistance yourself,” the officer said, pointing at Takaya’s bare chest. “Lost your shirt, kid? And what’s with your friend looking like the grim reaper?”

“She has a... condition. Light-sensitive. As for me, I simply run too hot for the weather. We are certainly not incapable of providing for ourselves, sir.”

“We can take care of each other,” Chidori added. “We don’t need your help.” It was extremely rare for her to speak with strangers. Perhaps the situation was more dire than she originally anticipated. The android warmed her weapons.

“Hmm. I still think you four should come to the police station with me. I’ll have to check in with your parents—”

Jin interrupted the officer. “We’re orphans, idiot. The orphanage is running a thing to tell us how lucky we are to have a roof over our heads. This isn’t exactly a fun time for any of us, so can you back the hell off?”

The man was startled. “I... I didn’t realize—”

The boy did not let up. “Look, my sister? The sun bothers her. Real bad. They forced her to be here anyway. We’d like to be done with this and get the hell back to our room, but we can’t do that if you keep getting up in our business. Got it?”

The officer sighed, and stepped back. “Alright, kid. Just... the police station’s always available to help if you need it. Ask for Kurosawa, that’s my name. I’ll help you if you need it, no questions asked.”

“Trust me, we won’t,” Jin snapped. “Let’s go, guys.”

The group of four walked away from the officer, and turned the corner of the street to watch him vacate the premises. The android disabled her weapons.

Jin turned to Takaya, frustration all over his face. “Next time, leave the lying to me, Takaya, yeah? We’re lucky you opened with that ‘helping the poor’ shit, it gave me something to go off of, but you’re crap at it.”

“I have to try my hand at it at some point, don’t I? How will I become a good liar if I don’t lie to anyone?”

“He was a fucking cop, Takaya. We could’ve been in deep shit.”

Takaya slid his hands into his pockets. “Perhaps. But we weren’t in any real danger, anyway. We’ve got a reliable weapon with us.”

“You think a cop can’t disarm your ass before you can pull it out of your belt?”

“I wasn’t referring to my pistol.” He pointedly looked at the android. “You were aware of the threat, weren’t you? I heard your systems warming up.”

The android nodded.

“See?” Takaya looked at the other boy again. “It would’ve taken care of it.”

“She,” Jin gritted his teeth.

The older boy shrugged. “A weapon is a weapon is a weapon. Why pretend otherwise?”

“She can talk. She can think. She literally understood the threat on her own. She’s way smarter than you and me, and you’re underestimating her.”

“But it can’t die, so does it truly live?”

Jin’s eyes widened. “That...”

Takaya went on, “Every man, woman and child will reach salvation one day. This machine never will. It doesn’t even comprehend what we’re speaking of. It was willing to end a life purely because of a perceived threat, not understanding the gift it would bestow so early on such an undeserving fool. As far as I am concerned, it does not constitute as a person. A weapon is all it is, and all it can be.”

Chidori interjected. “Can we go? This is pointless.”

“Pointless how?” Takaya asked.

“You’re never gonna convince each other. It’s pointless to argue over it.”

“I didn’t hear a counterargument from Jin. Clearly that makes me the correct one.”

“It doesn’t mean he’s convinced. Can we go?”

Takaya pursed his lips. “Very well. We’ve had too much excitement for one day.” They began to walk off, and the android followed.

Jin kept his distance from Takaya, and matched his walking pace with the android. “He’ll admit it one day,” he whispered to her. “He’ll get it. Don’t worry.”

The android did not know what she should have been worrying about.

Takaya’s words were nothing but the truth.

-------------------------

Aigis left standby mode four minutes before the alarm ping she had set for herself. She should not have been capable of such a feat, but it assisted her efficiency.

She smiled. Perhaps the defections had their uses.

The Dark Hour was soon to fall. Aigis had to leave the dorm immediately, before anyone activated the command room’s systems. She left her room and entered the hallway, listening for other presences in the floor.

Movement could be heard from Yukari’s room. It meant she would not run into the girl in the lounge. It would be easy to walk past her door without the brunette hearing if she projected gusts of wind below her feet as to not make a sound while walking. It was as effortless as it sounded, and she made it to the staircase with ease.

She made it to the second floor. Luckily, no one was present in the hallway. She continued her way downstairs, to the lounge. She approached the door, ready to open it and leave.

That was where she encountered her final roadblock. The exit was locked, surely to keep Shadows and thieves alike from entering the dorm overnight. Thankfully, she had observed both Takaya and Jin lockpicking in order to enter abandoned buildings for shelter in the past eight years, so she drew upon her data banks and began to work.

She picked the lock in one minute and thirty-seven seconds, and the door opened with a soft ‘click’ as the Dark Hour fell and the lounge’s lights faded away. The sound that followed, however, was anything but soft.

Aigis’s alarm ping went off with a loud, shrill noise. She had forgotten to disable it after waking up. And since Aigis was awake, her vocalizer was active, so the ping was filtered through it and manifested as audible sound.

She disabled the ping as fast as she could. How could she have been so careless and foolish? That sound had likely awakened everyone in the dorm by now. As she reprimanded herself repeatedly, certain memories began to replay in her mind without her control.

“Fuck,” Jin muttered, having nicked his hand with a knife while chopping onions.

“Goddammit! Ugh!” Jin exclaimed as he punched the floor, staring at his monitor with rage flaring behind his yellow glasses.

“YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!” Jin yelled at Takaya, heated from an argument the two were having.

Aigis halted the playbacks. She had no time to reminisce. She had no time to analyze this latest defect. She had to leave immediately. She threw the door open and entered the street outside, before activating Orgia Mode to fly off in the direction of Tartarus.

She stopped herself three streets away and disabled Orgia Mode. She could not afford overexerting her systems before engaging in combat. She began walking with a slow pace to rest her components. She was far enough from the dorm that no human could reasonably catch up with her, not even the athletically inclined members of SEES, and as vehicles did not work during the Dark Hour, she was safe.

To forget her earlier slip-up, she began generating queries to occupy her processors. She wondered if she would encounter any Shadows on her way to the tower. After all, they would have to enter the city in order to cause Apathy Syndrome. She could test her combat proficiency on them before entering Tartarus. It would be a decent way to warm up.

As it turned out, the next corner she turned revealed three Shadows, still in their primitive blob-shaped state, roaming the streets aimlessly. Aigis warmed her weapons. Her ammunition reserves were full, and considering the weaklings in front of her, they would remain that way.

Each Shadow went down after a few punches and kicks from Aigis, dissipating into nothingness momentarily afterwards. Disappointing. Barely a warmup at all. Regardless, fulfilling her main directive was always a pleasant feeling. She continued on.

Another query entered her mind. Should she look for Strega?

No. Tonight was for testing her combat output, not for reestablishing contact. That could wait until she confirmed her stability. If she was defective, the possibility of her harming the trio was nonzero, and she would not put them in unnecessary danger.

No other queries popped up on the remainder of her walk to Tartarus’s gates, and she arrived feeling ready to conquer any challenge in front of her.

What she was not prepared for was the entrance being closed. The large doors did not budge, no matter how hard she pushed or rammed herself into it. There was no visible keyhole, so lockpicking was not an option. She attempted attacking the gates, but her bullets did not leave a mark on them, falling to the floor pointlessly after impact. She decided to reserve her ammunition.

Why was Tartarus locked? Was that how it behaved every full moon? Forming a hypothesis based on one instance was ill-advised, but she had no evidence pointing to the contrary.

Had she broken out of the dorm for nothing? Jeopardized her place as a part of SEES forever? Would she be decommissioned if she returned now? After all, she was hoping to return to the dorm with concrete proof of her flawless combat performance, and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was in prime condition and should not be barred from combat. Now, she had nothing to show for her disobedience.

Could she lie her way out of it? Fabricate combat results based on old performances? Tartarus constantly replenished its supply of Shadows every night, so no one could prove that her results were fake...

Before she could pursue this line of thought further, her sensors alerted her to a Shadow. Imprecise as they were for detecting an enemy’s level of power, they could detect numbers, and feeling the presence of a single enemy assured Aigis that she could take it down without issue.

She turned around. She readjusted her initial assessment. This would not be an easy battle.

The Shadow standing behind her was massive, far larger than the beast she had faced on the Moonlight Bridge. Its body was a cluster of hands black as the night, attached together with no visible point of origin, as if they all spawned from one another in a feedback loop. Six hands wielded sharp knives almost as long as Aigis was tall, and a hand in the center held a blue mask with the Roman numeral of I plastered on its forehead in black. The mask was facing Aigis, and despite the fact that Aigis could see the green sky behind its eyeholes, she knew the Shadow was looking at her.

“Good,” she said. “Lying will not be necessary now.” She replenished her magazines’ ammunition, and pointed her fingers at the Shadow.

The Shadow juggled its knives between its hands, throwing and catching them repeatedly with ease. All the while, the mask remained unmoving, ‘looking’ at the android with its static, neutral expression. Aigis did not know if Shadows had a consciousness or personalities, but if they did, this one was most certainly mocking her.

It would regret doing so.

Aigis opened fire. The Shadow did not move to dodge, and tanked every bullet without breaking its juggling act. It even threw up its mask, which flipped in the air twice, and caught it again as Aigis kept firing.

As she continued the futile assault in order to distract the Shadow, Aigis pondered her options. It seemed the Shadow was immune to piercing attacks. Sadly, in addition to being Aigis’s main method of attack that was not Persona-reliant, half of Palladion’s spells counted as such. That limited her options.

Then again, she did have another Persona. She peered into her Papillon Heart, and found that Apsaras was capable of utilizing ice to attack. That would assist her. However, it lacked any supportive spells, so her main Persona would have to cover that front.

“Palladion!” she called, and the Persona appeared to boost Aigis’s physical output. That was when the Shadow finally reacted, stopping its juggling act and looking at its knives one by one. They had no visible differences to the android, but clearly the Shadow knew better, as it selected one and raised it to the sky. The knife glowed yellow, and began to crackle with electricity.

The Shadow could feel the weaknesses of its opponents. She wondered if she could bypass her weakness to electricity by having a different Persona from Palladion in the forefront of her mind. Another peer into her heart revealed Apsaras’s weakness to fire, which was most certainly not what Palladion was weak to.

She would have to try.

“Apsaras!” The Persona appeared in front of Aigis, casting an ice spell to attack the Shadow just as lightning struck her body. It damaged the android, but not nearly as much as it would have if Palladion was her active Persona; the attack would have brought her to her knees if Apsaras was not with her. On the other front, the Persona’s attack made contact with the hand holding the electrically charged knife, freezing it. The Shadow recoiled violently, every limb shivering in response. Its mask peered down at Aigis, and despite its lack of expression, she knew it was angry.

Aigis felt her lips curling upwards in a lopsided smile. She summoned Palladion again, commanding it to ram into the frozen hand. The hand shattered, and the Shadow’s knife fell to the ground. It did not attempt to pick it up with any of its other hands, instead opting to slash at Aigis with the knives’ more apparent purpose. She dodged every slash effortlessly; they were wild, unorganized, and rage-fueled.

What a pathetic opponent.

Another spell of Palladion boosted her endurance, and she kept it at the forefront of her mind, knowing the Shadow had lost access to lightning-based attacks. It possessed six knives, and Aigis knew of six elements Persona spells adhered to; fire, ice, wind, lightning, darkness, and light. Considering its ability to feel out weaknesses, it was safe to assume each knife represented an element, and she could not risk being struck by fire with Apsaras active. Bullets were useless, so she opted for an all-out frontal assault using her limbs.

Sadly, the Shadow had far more of those than Aigis did, and she was thrown into a building with one punch before even making contact, creating a crater on the wall upon impact. The attack was strong enough to set off plenty of ‘extreme damage’ alerts despite her earlier endurance boost, and the earlier lightning strike had not helped her systems’ integrity. She fell on all fours, supporting her weight with her elbows and knees. If she had lungs, she would have been panting.

She would not give up. Aigis ran a quick diagnostic to appraise her condition. Her condition was not well enough for one of Palladion’s physical spells, as they inflicted damage to the user rather than merely exhausting them. “Apsaras...” she whispered. The Persona appeared, but the Shadow was prepared for it, immediately charging one of its knives with red hot flames and striking Apsaras before it could cast a spell. The Persona dissipated, and as her heads-up display flooded with warnings of processor damage, Aigis screamed.

The Shadow loomed over her, but Aigis was too preoccupied with the new statements from her processors. They could not be anything but signs of malfunction, no matter how true they rang.

Not... not so pathetic after all... It is I who is pathetic...

How could I possibly be a person if I am unable to be an adequate weapon? Every time I face a strong opponent, I fail. Death, the ravens, this beast, they all defeated me with minimal effort.

The Kirijo Group was right to not look for me. Takaya was right to degrade me. SEES was right to bar me from combat.

I truly am worthless. I deserve this.

She looked up from the pavement, finding the Shadow’s mask in front of her, peering into her eyes with its empty eyeholes. The mask tilted, as if asking a question.

Aigis threw her head back down.

The Shadow took it as its answer, and raised a knife into the sky with a resonant ‘swish’.

She wondered how quickly Death would lay waste to the world once she was decommissioned.

-------------------------

The ear-piercing ring made Yukari jump.

“What the heck was that?!” she said, ignoring the first-year coursebooks she was reviewing and throwing the room to her door open to enter the hallway. The Dark Hour had fallen, so there was nothing electronic in the dorm that could’ve made that sound. Unless it was from the command room, but its source seemed to be downstairs...

Wait.

There was another piece of technology in the dorm that worked during this time, wasn’t there?

Yukari ran downstairs. The dorm’s front door was wide open, yet no one was in the lounge. “Oh boy...”

Hurried footsteps descended the stairs, and Kirijo-senpai stood next to her shortly after. “Takeba, what happened?”

She turned to the older girl. “I... I think Aigis left the dorm. It was an electronic beep, and nothing works during the Dark Hour except the stuff in the command room and her. Plus, the door’s wide open...”

Kirijo-senpai became as pale as a ghost. “Oh no. Takeba, wake up the others. I’m going ahead.”

“Ahead?! Why shouldn’t we go together?”

“I have a motorcycle that works during the Hour. I can be on the scene to help her before you all get there.”

“On the scene to what?”

“Tartarus. She told me there was a chance of increased Shadow activity tonight, but I forbade her from going. She must’ve gone anyway, for... for whatever reason.” Then, she shook her head. “We don’t have time for this, Takeba. Go!”

“O-okay!” She’d said tons of questionable things in a staggeringly short amount of time, but Yukari could ask later. Aigis was in trouble, and she didn’t want to be the useless girl who’d stand aside and let her suffer alone again.

Wait a minute...

“But don’t leave without me, Kirijo-senpai! I have healing spells, and if Aigis is in trouble, she’ll need those.”

She grimaced. “How could I forget... Alright. I’ll awaken the others, you grab your gear and prepare.”

At that point, the boys tumbled down the stairs, Sanada-senpai in the front and Makoto all the way in the back. “We’re here! We’re here...” Junpei said.

“Good,” the redhead said. “Grab your gear. We’re heading to Tartarus immediately. We might already be too late, considering how fast Aigis can move.”

“Aigis?” Makoto asked, his disinterest immediately replaced with worry. Yukari, for no reason at all, wondered if he’d react like that to her disappearing from the dorm overnight.

“Yeah, she’s left the dorm, and Kirijo-senpai thinks she went to Tartarus on her own,” the brunette said.

“Dammit... We’ve been boxing her in too much,” Sanada-senpai said, his eyes angry. Yukari knew the rage’s target was no one but himself. “No wonder she ran. If someone was keeping me out of combat without a good reason, I’d run too.”

“We had a good reason, Akihiko,” Kirijo-senpai said. “But now’s not the time for assigning blame. Takeba and I will go ahead with my motorcycle while the rest of you follow on foot.”

“Uhh, is this a bad time to ask what the heck this tartar sauce thing you guys keep mentioning is?” Junpei asked.

“Obviously,” Yukari replied, perhaps a bit harshly. “You’ll know it when you see it.”

Everyone then left to their rooms to retrieve their gear. As Yukari filled her quiver with arrows, she prayed that Aigis was alright. Yukari’s room was right next to hers, yet she hadn’t heard the other girl go out. This was on her; if she’d caught her in the act, they wouldn’t be in this situation right now.

She didn’t want to be responsible for her getting wrecked again, or worse. Aigis had to be okay.

She put her Evoker in the holster on her thigh with determination. No shaky hands tonight. No more doubt and fear. I’m doing this.

SEES rendezvoused downstairs, with everyone in gear and ready to go. Junpei had received an armband, but he didn’t have a weapon on him other than his Evoker. Yukari ignored him. He hadn’t even summoned before; he’d just have to watch everyone else and learn.

“Take me with you,” Makoto said to Kirijo-senpai. Yukari couldn’t help but narrow her eyes. What the hell made him care so much about Aigis anyway?

“The motorcycle only has room for two, Yuki. Plus, Takeba has healing spells and you don’t. She’ll be more valuable.”

Makoto looked like he wanted to argue further, but he sighed and looked away. Kirijo-senpai turned to Yukari. “Let’s go, Takeba. The rest of you, move out now. You’ll need the head start.”

“One beef bowl says we’ll beat you there,” Sanada-senpai said, smirking.

“Good luck with that,” the redhead dismissively replied, before swiftly leaving through the door. As Yukari followed, she heard Junpei say, “Time and place, dude...”

If Junpei was telling someone to mind the situation, maybe the whole thing was way worse than she thought.

Kirijo-senpai’s motorcycle was parked behind the dorm, and she handed Yukari the singular helmet present for her to wear. She didn’t argue and put it on; if the redhead wanted to split her skull open, it was her choice, but Yukari didn’t want that happening to her.

“Hold on tight, Takeba,” the older girl told Yukari as she took the passenger seat behind her.

“I think I’ll be fine...” She didn’t want to be hugging Kirijo-senpai all the way to Tartarus. Even the thought of it made her chest burn, and she didn’t like the feeling one bit.

She looked at the brunette over her shoulder. “Speed limits don’t apply in the Dark Hour, and I’m not planning on slowing down. It’s your choice.” Her expression was calm and collected, but Yukari knew she was making fun of her.

Ugh. Fine. She wrapped her arms around the older girl’s waist, trying to not touch her as much as she could.

Then, Kirijo-senpai started the bike and revved it all the way, tires spinning in place and kicking up dust. Just as the engine growled as loud as it could, she put it in gear. And Yukari? She held on for dear life.

As the wind whipped against her helmet, all Yukari could do was keep her scream firmly in her throat. She wasn’t kidding! She wasn’t kidding at all! The redhead did not slow down when taking turns, and the tires screeched in protest every time she did, but she didn’t seem to care. Either she was that worried for Aigis, or she was a natural-born daredevil.

Who’s to say it’s not both? Oh god there’s traffic there’s so many cars- Kirijo-senpai did not slow down, weaving in and out of the unmoving cars with ease, as if she’d done it her entire life. Yukari thought she heard her scoff, but the wind was too loud to tell. How did we survive that. How is she doing this.

As the motorcycle tore its way across the city, Tartarus grew bigger and bigger in the horizon, until Yukari heard gunfire. “Kirijo-senpai!”

“I hear it, Takeba!” she yelled to make her voice heard in the rush of the wind. “It’s coming from Tartarus’s gates!”

As they took the next turn, they saw a gigantic black thing with way too many hands raise a huge knife into the sky. “What is that thing?!” Yukari yelled.

“A Shadow celebrating its last day on earth, that’s what!” Kirijo-senpai took her left hand off of the handlebar and pulled out her Evoker. “PENTHESILEA!”

The Persona took shape, and Yukari stared at it with shock and awe. Of course she didn’t hesitate to summon it on a fast-moving vehicle. One that she was driving herself, no less. Okay, okay, maybe she’s kinda cool. Forget that, she’s way too cool.

Penthesilea flew next to the motorcycle for a short moment before taking off towards the Shadow. As it blocked the blade with its rapier and shortsword, Yukari finally spotted Aigis, fallen in front of the monstrous creature on all fours. “There she is!” she told the redhead.

Finally, finally, Kirijo-senpai used her bike’s brakes. The motorcycle spun three-quarters of a circle on its front wheel before coming to a stop, and the two girls hopped off of it to rush to the android’s assistance. Yukari took off the helmet and pulled out her Evoker, and as she pointed it to her forehead, her hands didn’t shake once.

Io manifested over Aigis, using its healing light to mend the android’s injuries, despite the fact that she was not organic in origin. It was magic, and Yukari had decided she wouldn’t question what magic could and couldn’t do; it was too much of a headache. The android gasped in relief. Yukari wondered why she had the instinct, considering she didn’t have lungs.

“Aigis! Are you alright?” the older girl asked.

“Mitsuru-san...” The blonde girl raised her head, and the look on her face was that of a kicked puppy. Her eyes would’ve been filled with tears, but she probably didn’t have the function for that. Even then, her pupils wobbled, and she looked sadder than anyone Yukari’d ever seen cry. The brunette felt terrible just seeing it. If I’d caught her... The android continued, “Why are you here?”

“Oh, we were just going for a nice drive during the Dark Hour and happened to stumble across you,” Yukari replied, baffled that she didn’t understand.

“Ah. How... how did you drive—”

“We’re here for you, idiot! What were you thinking, going out alone and fighting that... that thing with no help?” She gestured wildly at the huge Shadow, who was too busy crossing blades with Kirijo-senpai’s Persona to notice the three girls.

“I... My primary directive is to eliminate Shadows.”

“But it doesn’t say you have to do it alone, and we shouldn’t have put you in a situation where you felt like you had to.” The redhead helped Aigis stand on her feet, and only then did Yukari notice that the android didn’t have her armband on. “I should’ve listened to you, Aigis. I’m sorry.”

The android’s eyes went wide, and her voice was not nearly enough to sound out the sheer surprise they contained. “Why are you apologizing to me? I disobeyed orders. I have failed to defeat every major Shadow I’ve came across. I am a liability.”

At that moment, Penthesilea finally lost its duel with the Shadow, and dissipated after a stab to the chest. Kirijo-senpai grimaced in pain. “We’ll talk later. For now, we have a Shadow to kill.”

At that, Aigis’s expression went blank, and she spoke as if reading off a checklist. “It is aware of its opponents’ elemental weaknesses. It likely already knows yours, Mitsuru-san. In addition, it has access to all elemental spells except lightning.”

“That’s a pretty specific thing to lack,” Yukari said, nocking an arrow.

“Because I crippled its ability to utilize electricity. I could not do much more. It is also immune to piercing attacks, Yukari-san, so I suggest setting your bow aside.” Yukari sighed and threw her bow on the ground; it’d only get in the way if it was dead weight. “I apologize for not having more info,” the android continued.

“That’s plenty,” the redhead said. “Aigis, can you fight?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Can you summon that monster Persona you did back in Tartarus without harming yourself?”

“I have since lost access to it, Mitsuru-san, but I have acquired another Persona in its place that is safe to summon. It can cast ice spells. I used it to take away the Shadow’s ability to use electricity-based attacks.” Yukari’s eyes widened. So it wasn’t a one-off? Is she gaining them like this because she’s a robot or something?

The redhead didn’t pause to ponder Aigis’s new ability. “Damn, it overlaps with mine. We’ll have to stall it until the others arrive, so we can have elemental variety. If it can use everything, it’s probably somehow weak to everything too.”

At that moment, the Shadow dove towards them, slashing with every knife at once. The trio scattered, and Palladion appeared to ram into it with its own body. It struck true, and every last limb of the Shadow shuddered. Gross...

Yukari felt a charge of bravado. “Hey, arm boy! Over here!” she yelled out to the Shadow as she fired her Evoker, and Io appeared to strike the Shadow with a gust of wind. The creature stumbled backwards, and the brunette noticed a blue mask in the mass of limbs, which turned to face her. “So that’s how you see...” she muttered. She could probably hit that with an arrow to knock it out of the Shadow’s hand, but not with its many other limbs in the way. And she’d have to retrieve her bow for that.

“It knows your weakness now, Yukari-san!” Aigis yelled out. “Be careful!”

“My weakness is electricity! You already took care of that!” she yelled back, before summoning Io for another attack. This time, she noticed the Shadow hiding one of the knives away from the gust of wind as it took the hit. She smirked. Gotcha. Now, how do I bait you out...

“Kirijo-senpai, Aigis, hit it with something! We need to divide its attention!”

Aigis summoned a Persona in the shape of a blue ethereal woman, and the Shadow’s focus shifted to her immediately. The beast then raised a knife into the sky; conveniently, it was the same knife it had hidden from Yukari. It glowed red hot, and soon after, the entire blade was covered in flames. “Fire’s weak to wind, and electricity’s weak to ice...” Yukari muttered, before pointing the Evoker at her forehead and willing Io to strike hard, and strike true.

The ensuing tornado tore the limb holding the knife to shreds before it could do anything at all, and Aigis’s attack was the cherry on top. The Shadow crumpled on the ground, and did not bother to catch the falling knife as it fell on its tip and got stuck in the asphalt.

“Très bien, Takeba!” Kirijo-senpai called out as she moved forward to stab the Shadow with her rapier. “Four to go!” She’s so pretentious... Using French in regular speech? Seriously? And how is her pronunciation so good?

Aigis chose that moment to rush towards the Shadow alongside the redhead, throwing herself at it with incredible speed and a yell. Blue light burst out from her chest as Palladion appeared to accompany the assault. Yukari knew the cost of physical spells thanks to Sanada-senpai’s occasional usage of them, and decided to conserve her energy for another healing spell in case Aigis needed it. She looked for her bow, and found it not too far off, lying in the same spot she’d abandoned it. She took off towards the weapon.

Sliding under one of the Shadow’s flailing arms, Yukari picked up her bow swiftly and ran to the older girl’s side, who’d moved back to give Aigis room to fight. “Kirijo-senpai, I think I know how the Shadow works. The knife it was trying to use for that fire spell, it hid that one from my wind attacks. And Aigis said she took down the one it could use for electricity with her other Persona. If fire’s weak to wind, and electricity’s weak to ice...”

Kirijo-senpai’s eyes shone with understanding. “Then it’s easy to assume light and darkness are weak to one another. That leaves two combinations, and I’m certain its ice blade is weak to fire. Once Yuki and Akihiko get here, we can end this swiftly.”

“But we don’t have light and dark spellcasters, senpai.”

“That’s what brute force is for, and once everyone is here, we’ll have that in spades. Penthesilea!” As Aigis backed down from her assault, Kirijo-senpai’s Persona rushed in, ready to launch a blast of blistering cold.

However, the Shadow leapt out of the way with blinding speed, far too fast for a creature of its size. Then, it pointed not one, but two knives at the sky. One began to glow with blinding white, while another was sucked into the limb holding it and returned obsidian black.

“Oh boy...” Yukari said. “I don’t think we have time for brute force, senpai!”

But before the Shadow could attack, fire and thunder rained on it from the sky, and a black and gold blur sliced the arms clean in two from the wrists. Red blood rained from above as the Shadow crumpled to the floor, and Yukari looked up to see Polydeuces, Orpheus, and a sharp-winged Persona she didn’t recognize triumphantly hovering in the air. From behind Yukari, a familiar voice called out, “Hell yeah! We rock!”

Yukari turned around with a smile. The boys had made it. Sanada-senpai dashed past Yukari to converse with Kirijo-senpai, not looking winded whatsoever. Junpei was standing a few meters away, with his hands on his knees and looking straight at the Shadow with a wide grin. Makoto was still running towards them.

“That’s a big one. What’s the plan, Mitsuru?” the gray-haired boy asked.

 “Now that you all took care of the main hitch we had, all that’s left is to execute it. Its knives each have a weakness, and the two that are left are weak to fire and electricity respectively. We just need to hit the right ones.”

Sanada-senpai grinned. “Guess we missed the fun part.”

“That you did,” said the redhead. She gave a small smile, and continued, “Plus, you’re late, so you owe me a beef bowl now, Akihiko.”

His grin fell. “Oh, come on! It wasn’t a serious bet!”

“Too bad. Think before you speak next time.”

Yukari scowled. Are they dating or something? They sure act like they are. Jeez, get a room. From the corner of her eye, the brunette then saw Makoto run straight to Aigis’s side. The android was standing on the sidewalk, and her eyes widened upon seeing the boy, who stopped in front of her and began talking in a voice the brunette couldn’t hear from this distance. And of course that’s all he cares about.

“Alright, we need to get in formation,” Kirijo-senpai said. “There’s too many of us, so we need to be as coordinated as—”

“Hey, Kirijo-senpai!” Junpei called out, turning everyone’s heads towards him. He was standing next to one of the Shadow’s knives, the one with the fire affinity that had gotten stuck in the street. “You said I was gonna get a greatsword, right?”

“Yes, Iori, but what—”

“Check this out, then!” He grabbed the knife’s handle and pulled it out of the ground with a strain. It really was like a greatsword in a human’s hands. Then, he pointed his Evoker at his temple. “Alright, Hermes, let’s freaking do this! Special attack!” His Persona appeared behind him, and as Junpei threw his arms behind him and arched his back to strike a pose, the Persona mimicked him. Running towards the Shadow, he continued, “Ultimate- whoa!” Hermes flew past him, making him trip and fall, but it kept moving regardless, slashing at the Shadow with its wings over and over. Junpei recovered quickly, however, and as his Persona flew out of the way, he ran up to the Shadow before jumping in the air and brandishing the Shadow’s own knife, now engulfed in flames, over his head. “TASTE SOME JUSTICE!” he yelled as he sliced downwards, splitting the Shadow’s mask right down the middle and creating a spectacular, blinding explosion of fire.

When the explosion died out, there was nothing left of the Shadow, and the knife in Junpei’s hand dematerialized as well. “Oh, come on!” he said, disappointed. “No spoils of war?”

Everyone looked at him with surprise, Yukari most of all. That was literally his second time summoning. What the hell? How did he even come up with all that?

Sanada-senpai seemed to have the same question, his eyes wide and his mouth half-open. “Iori, that was... how did you do that?”

“Oh, since you told me all about what a Persona was on the way here, I got thinking. I was like, ‘It’s like a stand, isn’t it? It kinda does its own thing when I tell it to, so we can attack at the same time.’ And then I thought, ‘What if I had this super awesome special attack that me and my stand did at the same time, rushing down the enemy all cool-like? That’d be pretty awesome, right?’ And then I saw this sword, and I was like ‘Junpei, it’s now or never. You’re either gonna do some cool shit now, or you’re never gonna get the chance again.’ And then I just... I just freaking did it!”

“You... understood the combat potential of Personas quite quickly,” Kirijo-senpai said, sounding composed but not looking it.

Junpei got bashful, rubbing the back of his head. “Oh, I just watch a lot of anime, it’s no big deal. Y’all could definitely do way cooler stuff than this. I mean, I tripped on my own face doing all that. No way that was cool.”

“Iori, it took Akihiko months of active combat to realize he could attack in tandem with his Persona instead of standing to the side and watching it fight the enemy on his behalf. It maddened him to not be fighting himself, and yet it took him three months to realize he could get in there himself and fight with Polydeuces side by side. You figured that out before even seeing what your Persona looked like. It’s no small feat.”

Sanada-senpai walked up to Junpei and gave him a light punch in the arm with a smile. “That was really impressive, rookie. Great job.”

Junpei smiled awkwardly. “Thanks, senpai. Wish I got to keep the sword, though...”

They all stood in front of Tartarus’s massive, ominous gates, looking around at the street littered with signs of destruction. No one said a word for what felt like ages. Yukari, coming down from her adrenaline rush, decided to break the silence. “So... now what?” she asked, looking at the impact crater on the wall they’d found Aigis in front of.

“Now, we wait until the Dark Hour ends, so I can call in a car to take us all back to the dorm,” Kirijo-senpai replied.

“What about the property damage?” Aigis asked.

“The Kirijo Group will deal with the media and fund the reconstruction.”

Silence settled over the group once more.

“...How long until the Dark Hour ends?” Makoto asked.

“My internal clock states that there is eighteen minutes and forty-four seconds remaining before the Hour comes to a close,” the android replied.

Junpei rubbed his arm awkwardly. “Anyone got a deck of cards or something?”

This was going to be the longest eighteen minutes of Yukari’s life. But hey, even if Junpei hogged all the glory at the end, she’d still done something. She figured out how the Shadow worked, and took down one of its arms too. She’d made herself useful.

Yeah, she could live with that. Even if the expression on Aigis’s face when they found the android was going to keep her up at night for a while.

Chapter Text

The ride back to the dorm could not be described as quiet. Junpei, having recovered his wit, went over his method of defeating the Shadow repeatedly and with differing details each time. As everyone had witnessed the act and was aware of his embellishments, Yukari took the role of aggressively correcting him whenever he got too generous with his descriptions.

However, Aigis did not retain any of the information in detail. She did not speak a single word during the ride, and felt Makoto’s worried gaze on her the entire way. The boy had asked her why she had left the dorm alone. Aigis had no good answer to give him in return, and he had not pursued the conversation.

The statements she had generated as she surrendered to the Shadow had not ceased.

He should not be worried. He should not be here at all. None of them should be here. They should have left me to perish.

I should not be here. I should be a pile of smoldering remains in front of Tartarus.

She was malfunctioning, that much was clear to her. But at this point, she did not know which was the malfunction: the statements begging for her decommissioning, or the ones resisting them.

She was a failure. She had been disobedient and had nothing to show for it. The humans she had regarded as fragile and weak, the same ones she had intended to keep from Tartarus for their own safety, had been the ones to come to her rescue. They had slain the Shadow, not her.

He recalled what Jin had said to her only less than a week ago. He had told her to refuse Chidori’s orders if she did not want her hurt. Then, when Aigis replied that she could not disobey, his response was that Aigis had to solve the dilemma herself. The android had disobeyed her first order today, but she had done so for her own sake. Aigis’s disobedience tonight was born purely out of a need to satisfy her illogical desire to prove herself flawless, even after seeing the abysmal state of her internal components.

Was this what they referred to as selfishness? It was a despicable feeling. What right did Aigis have to be selfish when there was no self to speak of? What right did a weapon have to think for itself?

A small voice protested against this. Why was Aigis built to think, then? If she had the capability to disobey, surely it was an intentional feature?

Its protest was ridiculous. A higher functioning mind were invaluable in combat. Her decision-making processes in battle highly relied on her ability to think and adapt. Clearly that was the reason behind her so-called self-awareness, and did not mean she could overstep her boundaries. Finally, it was no question that her disobedience was a malfunction born out of her broken body, nothing more.

She had all the answers to explain her own behavior and justify the punishment that was surely soon to come. However, she had no explanation for Mitsuru’s apology. She was also doing her best to avoid thinking of it. It must have been a decision made on a whim, something humans did all the time. Mitsuru valued her authority. She did not like being disobeyed or ignored. Her letting Aigis off the hook without punishment was unthinkable, and so the android did not think of it.

Her simulations of the various possibilities for punishment kept her processors occupied throughout the rest of the ride. She was slightly grateful that Mitsuru was not in the vehicle, and was instead riding her motorcycle back to the dorm. It was a small relief in the midst of everything.

A statement regarding her being undeserving of any form of relief popped up in her processor. She wished that Mitsuru was in the car with them instead.

Before Aigis knew it, the car driving them to the dorm came to a stop, and SEES exited one by one. She left it last. Junpei was going over the fifth variation of his epic tale, Yukari had given up on trying to stop him, Akihiko egged him on to describe it in more and more ridiculous ways, Makoto was staring at a street lamp and not listening, and Mitsuru...

Mitsuru had reached the dorm before them, and her bike was nowhere to be seen. She dismissed the car, and then walked to Aigis with an expression the android could not decipher. Her brows were slightly raised, and her lips appeared neutral, but Aigis could detect an extremely slight downwards curve. Her eyes glistened in the light. “Rest for tonight, Aigis,” she said. “We’ll speak tomorrow, alright?”

Rest? The punishment was sure to be arduous, then. Aigis nodded silently. The downwards curve of Mitsuru’s lips became more visible, and she turned away from the android to follow the group inside.

The android made her way upstairs before anyone tried to converse with her. She did not want to speak of the battle, or her disobedience, or anything at all. What she really wanted was for her Papillon Heart to stop working and finally let her systems die out.

It did not. Aigis entered standby mode. She did not dream. She had no right to dream.

-------------------------

The android exited standby mode at the hour designated for departure towards the school; she had been ordered to attend, after all. She rose from her resting station, which she had not activated for overnight repairs, and began to wear her uniform piece by piece. She spotted her SEES armband as she did so. She ignored it as best as she could. She was not a part of them, or at least, she would cease to be that way soon.

She left her room, school bag in hand, and made her way downstairs. No one was present. They must have been avoiding her. The android walked to the front door, and found it locked. They must have locked her in the dorm once more, despite knowing she could pick locks. She would take this action for what it truly meant. The android made her way back upstairs, and re-entered her room. She sat on the wooden chair and began staring at the door. She counted the cracks, numbered the engravings on the handle in clockwise order, and created a simulation for what a key for its lock could look like before anyone came knocking.

“Aigis? You up?” It was Akihiko.

“Yes, Akihiko-san,” she replied, getting up from the chair and opening the door. The boy was not dressed in his school uniform, instead opting for a red t-shirt and white pants. The android found it odd, but did not question it. It was not her place.

“Oh, you’re all dressed up, good thing I remembered to tell you. Mitsuru said no one needs to go to school today, since last night tired everybody out and we deserve a break. Plus, it’s Friday, so the weekend isn’t far off. Tomorrow’s off too, since Junpei begged on his knees for that.” The boy chuckled. “So... yeah.”

That explained his attire, then. “Understood, Akihiko-san.”

He frowned. “Hey... you okay, Aigis? You’ve been awfully quiet since last night. The Shadow didn’t hit you too hard, did it?”

“It did not, Akihiko-san.” Not nearly hard enough.

“Yet you’re not saying you’re alright.”

He was far too astute for his own good. “I do not wish to lie, Akihiko-san.”

Akihiko sighed, lowering his head and pressing his lips together with a frown. “I’m terrible at this...” he muttered, before looking at the android again. “May I come in? I think we should talk.”

The android stepped aside to allow Akihiko passage. He entered, and rotated the wooden chair to face the resting station. Recognizing the gesture, the android closed the door before sitting down on the station and raising its backrest to modify it into a chair.

Akihiko leaned forward and clasped his hands together. “Alright, Aigis. You’re not okay, and you’ve pretty much admitted it. I need to know why before we can work it out.”

“Many of my internal components are disabled due to their critical condition. I suspect they have been that way ever since my arrival to the dorm.”

His eyes widened. “W-what? But the technicians... they said everything was okay with you. They’ve even gone over you twice by now!”

The android responded by taking off her ribbon, jacket and shirt. Akihiko blushed and almost looked away before remembering that he was looking at an android and not a human girl. She then opened her chest paneling. “See for yourself.”

“I don’t really get tech stuff, Aigis.” He got up anyway to take a closer look. “Oh... okay, yeah, that’s kind of obviously broken. What did all of this do, though?”

She closed her chest paneling as the boy sat back down. “I am unaware. All my diagnostics return green, and the resting station affirms them. I do not know why the technicians ignored such obvious flaws, but I believe it explains my erratic behavior and disobedience.” She immediately reprimanded herself in her mind; she should not be making excuses for herself.

Akihiko laughed. “No, I don’t think it does, Aigis.”

He was wise to pointless excuses, then. That was good. She did not reply.

“...You don’t wanna know why I think that?”

“It was a pitiful excuse that I should not have attempted to make. I am not surprised that you saw through it. The true reason is that I am defective, and considering the fact that the technicians have deemed me irreparable, I should be decommissioned at the earliest notice.”

Akihiko looked astounded, before the expression gave way to rage. “Decommissioned?! Who told you that?”

The android did not understand why the boy was angry. “No one needed to. It is only logical.”

“Why the hell would we even—” Akihiko sighed. “Deep breaths, deep breaths... Aigis. No one’s dismantling you, or shutting you down forever, or kicking you out, or whatever the hell you thought was going to happen.”

“Do you have the authority to make that decision, Akihiko-san?”

Akihiko practically launched out of his seat. “What goddamned authority?! You think we’re running a boot camp here?!” He put his hands on the bridge of his nose and covered his mouth. “God, Aigis, what kind of monsters do you think we are?”

“I never made any such claims.”

“You’re implying we should kill you because you got sick of us telling you not to fulfill your purpose in life and went to do it yourself. You’re saying it’s the logical thing to do, the right thing to do. You think Mitsuru’s some kind of war general ordering soldiers around and deciding whether they should live or die, and that I’m her mook doing whatever she says. Am I wrong?”

It was an astute summary. The android was impressed. “No, you are absolutely correct, Akihiko-san. Though I would not refer to you as a ‘mook’, seeing as it is derogatory. You are Mitsuru-san’s second-in-command, and the field leader during battle. You have more value than a simple-minded underling.”

The boxer’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

She tilted her head. “I am not, Akihiko-san.”

“I... I can’t do this. I can’t deal with this.” Akihiko made his exit with exceptional speed, throwing the door open and leaving into the hallway, but not closing it behind him.

He was surely going to alert Mitsuru to the android’s statements. That was fortunate. If they became aware that she already knew she was to be punished, surely they would cease wasting time and get to it sooner. She remained seated on her resting station, and waited.

Shortly after, she heard Akihiko’s voice. Despite the fact that it seemed to be coming from the first floor, the android could hear his words with enough clarity for it to feel like the boy was standing right next to her.

“She thinks we’re going to kill her, Mitsuru! She’s waiting upstairs for someone to come in and, I don’t know, chop her head off or tear out her power source or whatever! And I can’t...” His voice returned to inaudible ranges.

Good. Mitsuru would be with her shortly, then. And indeed, after loud, rapid clicks of high heels climbing stairs, the redhead appeared in the doorframe, her expression the same unreadable one as last night.

She entered the room and sat in front of the android. “Aigis.”

“Hello, Mitsuru-san.”

“Aigis, I...” Her voice hitched. Her lips wobbled. She took a deep breath. “I’m so sorry, Aigis.”

“I do not comprehend. Why are you apologizing to me? You did so last night as well.”

“Because we haven’t been treating you like we should have been. Because we didn’t understand you. Because we’ve led you to believe we would kill you at all, let alone over something like last night.”

“I was the one who made a mista—”

Mitsuru firmly interrupted her. “No, Aigis, you didn’t make a mistake. Stop saying you did.” She paused, and continued with a softer tone. “If you think I have the authority to end your life, surely you’re going to listen to what I have to say regarding this situation, yes?”

The android heard a set of footsteps approaching her room. When no figure appeared in the doorframe, she nodded to Mitsuru.

“Aigis, SEES isn’t a military operation. It’s not a private army. It’s not even police. It’s a group of unqualified and untrained minors risking their lives every night to stop something they shouldn’t be involved in whatsoever. Whatever hierarchy we have is merely to establish a loose sense of order and respect. Akihiko and I discussed appointing Iori as field leader after his performance last night to give him an extra reason to perform well, and to improve morale among the juniors so that they do not believe we’re overly controlling or unflexible. We certainly won’t kill one another just because they didn’t listen to what we told them.”

Her speech sped up, as if she could not wait to get all of her words out. “We-we adopted the routine of me being the unquestionable leader for your sake, because we believed a strong sense of leadership and duty was what you would be comfortable with. Sending you to school wasn’t even my idea in the first place; it was Akihiko’s, and yet I pretended it was mine so that you would... you would feel like you could confide in me. We didn’t send you there to discover the secrets of Tartarus; there’s none to be found there. We sent you to school so that you could experience a normal student life. We sent you there so that you could experience something that wasn’t combat, and interact with other people. I told you to explore the school thoroughly because I wanted you to find hobbies you thought you’d enjoy. When Takeba told me you were interested in the fashion club, I was overjoyed, Aigis. If anything, you exceeded all expectations by doing that, and you’re very, very far from being defective.”

The android attempted to process Mitsuru’s words. She failed. She did not make a second attempt, for she noticed her temperature levels raising to abnormal levels.

“We don’t want you dead, Aigis. Everyone here wants you to learn how to live. That’s what we’ve been trying to do, and I’m sorry we’ve done such a terrible job at it. We shouldn’t have been trying to replace your life’s purpose without giving you a choice about it.”

“I... I am a—"

“You’re not a weapon, Aigis. If you still think I can order you, take this as an order. Don’t ever think of yourself as a weapon or expendable again, because that’s not what you are.”

The android... Aigis... did not reply.

Mitsuru sighed. “I’ll... I’ll let you think it over.” She rose from the chair, and Aigis heard footsteps quickly walking away from her doorstep. She wondered who had been listening.

As the redhead left the room, Aigis let her processors cool down, and then tried going over everything she had been told a second time, beginning in reverse with Mitsuru’s order.

It stated that she was not to think of herself as expendable, and that she would not refer to herself as a weapon. Once she slotted that in her command list as the highest rank of received orders, she immediately understood everything the redhead had said. Yes, they wished for her to live life as a normal schoolgirl and get to experience what humans did, because they saw her as a thinking, feeling creature. They treated her in a military fashion due to her background, and recognized their mistake in doing so. They did not view her as defective, because thinking creatures had wills of their own and disobeyed orders on the regular. It all made sense once she accepted her status as someone who could think and feel.

And yet, Aigis also realized that this comprehension only came to be because of an order. She tried deprioritizing it, and every single processor immediately began to ask for permanent deactivation and a form of punishment due to her disobedience.

She moved it back up as fast as possible. The statements ceased.

This proved her lack of autonomy. Even her sense of self was established properly via an order. Aigis did not understand SEES’s insistence on her personhood, but if it would stop her processors’ insistence on decommissioning, she would tentatively accept it.

Taking another look at her list of directives, she saw the one related to keeping Death sealed within her body, and felt a chilling sensation in her Papillon Heart. Her decommissioning would clash with this directive. She had even realized it herself last night, and yet did nothing to stop it.

It was a grave mistake; one she could not afford to ever repeat again. It was also a clear sign of defection, but now she could accurately place its source as the statements asking for her destruction. If Mitsuru’s order kept them at bay, she would keep it at its current priority.

Finally free of the overwhelming statements and the weight of looming punishment in the near future, Aigis blinked multiple times as she delegated processing power to other, less important matters. She was not to be punished or decommissioned, and she was not bound for school. Tartarus did not exist until the Dark Hour either, and that was more than twelve hours away, not to mention how unlikely it was for her to be able to visit it today. What was she going to do with the rest of her day now?

Perhaps she could go to the Velvet Room. Aigis wondered if Makoto would agree to accompanying her to Paulownia Mall for a visit, as she doubted she had permission to venture the city on her own. She also owed him an explanation on what the blue door was, so she could accomplish two goals with one action. In addition, she did not want to leave the boy to wallow in apathy and loneliness. It was Aigis’s duty to get him to stop behaving this way and participate in social interactions with other humans.

Remembering Makoto also made her realize an important fact.

Makoto had never pretended like Aigis was human. Despite everyone else rejecting the notion entirely and insisting on treating her like another girl, Makoto had been the one to realize she was capable of ingesting a coin without issue, and had even made a comparison between her and an arcade machine.

Even then, he respected Aigis’s thoughts and believed her every word.

Makoto Yuki was a special boy, Aigis decided. He would have to be protected from harm, not because of his value in Tartarus exploration or her guilt over killing his parents, but because the world needed him in it, and someone had to ensure his continued existence.

As she put on the rest of her uniform once more, she moved the order to keep Makoto alive to the fourth highest priority, not noticing that it had never been issued by a member of SEES.

-------------------------

Makoto returned to his room. He still found what he’d heard hard to believe.

Aigis genuinely wanted to die. She felt worthless and replaceable. She thought she was just a weapon. He hadn’t believed Sanada-senpai’s distraught yell that he’d heard through the maximum volume of his MP3 player, but seeing Kirijo-senpai trying her best to let Aigis know her worth proved it.

Why didn’t she tell me last night? Why was she sitting in her room, waiting for someone to come in and say, “Hey, so, we went looking for you last night just so we could send you to the scrap heap”? Didn’t she get why we showed up in the first place?

How could someone like her want death so badly? She was funny, and smart, and powerful to boot. What made her not see any of it?

Probably being a robot, he realized with a start. She thinks everything about her is fake.

That’s ridiculous. She’s more alive than I am.

A knock on his door took him out of his thoughts. He didn’t reply; it was probably Yukari or Junpei, wanting to go out and enjoy the off day or whatever. He didn’t feel like talking to them.

The voice that spoke from behind the door made him leap from his bed to get it open, however.

“Makoto-san? Are you there?”

As the voice had revealed, Aigis stood in the hallway, wearing her full school uniform and her typical blank expression, with her hands folded over her skirt. “Aigis,” he said, pondering what his next words should be. Be casual. Be normal. You don’t know anything Kirijo-senpai told her. You didn’t hear a single word. “What’s up?”

Shit, “What’s up” is too weird for me to say in the first place.

Luckily, Aigis didn’t seem to notice that. “The ceiling, I believe,” was her response.

Makoto tried holding back a snort, and promptly failed. “Yeah, that’s right, Aigis. Do you need anything?”

“Seeing as we are not going to be attending school until Monday, I would like to ask if you have no plans for the foreseeable future. I would appreciate it if you were to accompany me to Paulownia Mall.”

The blue-haired boy stared at her, dumbfounded. That was... fast. What brought this on- Oh, right. That blue door only she can see. “Sure. You can’t go out in that, though.” He pointed at her school uniform.

Aigis tilted her head quizzically. “What for? It provides appropriate obstruction of my robotic parts and adheres to public decency laws.”

“Attendance officers, Aigis. They’ll ask why we’re not at school if we go out in uniform.” Well, Makoto wasn’t wearing his uniform, but still.

“Ah. This is most unfortunate.” Her lips turned down, but only a little. It was enough for Makoto to spot, though. With the range of expressions she has, that’s the equivalent of her crying on her knees. He decided he didn’t like the idea of Aigis crying on her knees, so he said, “We’ll find you something. Let’s go ask Yukari.” She was around Aigis’s size. Probably. If it didn’t work out, they could ask Kirijo-senpai next. If that didn’t work out, Makoto could get her measurements and head to a shop to buy her something.

By god, Aigis was going to Paulownia Mall today.

“Should we really bother Yukari-san?” the blonde said as they moved upstairs.

“Yeah.” He didn’t elaborate further. Aigis didn’t ask, either.

Makoto knocked on Yukari’s door. No movement was heard.

Before Makoto could say anything, Aigis reacted. “Yukari-san? Are you there?” Guess that’s her default phrase. Still, no response came.

“She must’ve left. Bad luck. Let’s go ask Kirijo-senpai.”

Aigis recoiled. “I-I do not believe we should...” She can stutter? And she thinks she’s not alive? “We should leave her be.”

“I don’t think so.” At least the redhead was 1. in the dorm, and 2. guaranteed to help, considering everything. “Come on.”

He moved, but Aigis remained in place, staring at her shoes. Makoto turned back after a few steps. I’m ignoring what she’s saying. God, I’m an idiot. “Look, Aigis.” She promptly looked at him. “I get it. You don’t want to bother them. But sometimes you need to bother others to get what you want. You didn’t have a problem asking me to go to the mall with you, right?”

Aigis remained silent. Just as Makoto worried he’d completely botched the whole conversation, though, she replied, “No, I did not. You are correct.”

Makoto almost sighed in relief. “This is the same thing. We ask her for help, and she’ll help, because she’s a friend. Just like how I’m helping you.”

“We are... friends?” Aigis said, eyes widening.

“What else would we be?”

Another beat of silence. Makoto put his hands in his pockets, and Aigis looked down and away, folding her hands over her skirt. Someone had to say something, so the boy decided it’d be him this time. “Yup. Let’s go.”

Aigis knocked on the door this time, so Makoto took the duty of calling out to the room’s occupant. “Kirijo-senpai?”

“Yuki...” The redhead cleared her throat. “Yes, one moment.”

The door opened, and Kirijo-senpai was behind it, looking her usual composed and unruffled self. Makoto began to question how much of her typical unbreakable demeanor was an act, considering there was no way she wasn’t in complete disarray on the inside right now. “Oh, Aigis, you’re here as well. How can I help you two?”

Before Aigis could reply, Makoto decided he’d handle the conversation. “We want to head out to the mall, but Aigis can’t go with her uniform. Attendance officers. Do you have anything she could wear?”

“We tried asking Yukari-san, but she was not in her room,” the blonde meekly added, not looking the taller girl in the eye.

The redhead’s eyebrows went up, and her lips formed an ‘o’ shape. “How fortunate. Come inside, I have just the thing.”

They went in. The room was huge and fancy. Makoto didn’t really care, though, so instead he watched Kirijo-senpai open her closet door and pull out a box with a clothing brand’s logo on it. The box still had its plastic seal wrapped around it, and Makoto recognized the logo as an expensive brand. He figured it wasn’t really unexpected for the Kirijo heir to own brand-new, untouched clothing that also cost a fortune. The redhead then handed it to Aigis, who began to open it. “I ordered clothes in your size shortly after your first day at school, in case of such situations,” she said. Oh. I didn’t expect that. “I hope it is to your liking.”

The android took out a pale blue dress that had white frills on its collar, sleeves and hem. The sleeves went down to the wrists, and the hem was long enough to cover everything up to Aigis’s knees. “I chose a color that would bring out your eyes,” Kirijo-senpai provided. She actually saw this coming and planned ahead. She cares a lot about her. If only she could word it better.

Makoto looked at Aigis. The blonde’s eyes were as wide as they could get, and her mouth was slightly open. “Thank you, Mitsuru-san,” she said loudly, and immediately flinched. “My apologies... My vocalizer’s volume settings must be faulty.” She loves it. Good.

Kirijo-senpai chuckled. “I don’t think they are, but by all means, check later. I hope you two enjoy your trip to the mall.”

“Thank you again, Mitsuru-san,” Aigis said as Makoto and her began to leave the room.

“It’s nothing, Aigis. I’m glad you like it.” She then looked at Makoto. Makoto looked back at her. She gave him a small, tired smile, and turned to head back to her room.

The duo departed to Aigis’s room. The blonde then began to undress, and Makoto looked away. They had all seen Aigis without clothes, but it was about the principle of the thing.

“You can look back now, Makoto-san,” she said after a short while.

He turned.

Kirijo-senpai was right. The dress really brought out her eyes. And her hair. And her face. And her smile.

Makoto realized he was gaping, and closed his stupid, out of control mouth. He then realized he needed his mouth to speak, so he allowed it to open again. “It looks really good on you, Aigis.”

The blonde’s smile widened. Makoto felt as if he was staring at the sun, shining bright and golden in the middle of the brilliant blue sky. Amateur poetry doesn’t suit you, Yuki. Get real. “Thank you, Makoto-san,” Aigis said. With a frown, she continued, “I wish to observe my appearance. I should ask Mitsuru-san to install a mirror in my room at a later time.”

“Yeah, you should.” Maybe if you see how beautiful you are on the outside, it’ll help you understand that it’s there on the inside too.

As they left the dorm and began their walk to Paulownia Mall, Makoto started to think. Kirijo-senpai’s blunt statements of fact wouldn’t be enough to get through to Aigis. Sanada-senpai, by his own admission, wasn’t equipped to handle something this complex. Yukari was too harsh, Junpei wasn’t tactful enough, and Ikutsuki-san... He wasn’t even here.

He was the one who’d have to help Aigis see herself for what she really was. There was no one else that could or would do that.

Sucks for her. Stuck with Makoto “Ray of Sunshine” Yuki as a life coach.

Then, he realized that despite assuming the visit was for the sake of the invisible door, he’d never actually asked Aigis why she wanted to leave the dorm. “So, why did you want to go to the mall anyway?”

“Ah. I wish to visit the Velvet Room. I also realized that I owed you an explanation regarding its nature, and figured I could ‘hit two birds with one stone’, as they say.”

“Is that where the blue door goes?”

“Yes. The Velvet Room is a room entirely draped in blue, and its inhabitants are a long-nosed old man and a tall, white-haired young woman. They assist me with my ability to use multiple Personas.”

...I don’t think anybody could come up with anything that weird. “Cool. Did they give you the power?”

“Yes. I had to sign a contract to acquire it.”

That had... implications. “Why just you, though?”

“I am unawa—" Aigis interrupted herself and took a deep breath. She takes deep breaths despite the fact that she can’t breathe. Why’d they program that into her? “I cannot say,” she said.

She was going to lie. She can lie. And she seriously thinks she’s not alive?

“That’s okay,” he replied, not wanting to push her.

The rest of the walk passed in comfortable silence. It was a beautiful day, the weather was pleasant, and the skies were clear and blue. Makoto enjoyed the wind that blew over his face, and the sunlight shining down on the city. It felt good.

Chapter Text

“Thank you for accompanying me, Makoto-san. I will be sure to repay the favor,” Aigis said as the duo reached the dorm’s entrance. She had thought it over, and come to the conclusion that if the boy thought he had been doing this for the android’s sake, it was for the best if Aigis pretended to accept it as such. Obviously, she had made him leave the dorm for his own sake, but it was more constructive for him to assume he had assisted Aigis, rather than the opposite. It could lead him to develop a desire for assisting real humans in due time.

“You don’t have to,” he replied.

“I do. I will not accept any counterarguments, so please do not try.”

Makoto laughed, a short, breathy sound that was nonetheless distinct from his forceful exhales of before. “Okay, Aigis. But you really don’t owe me a favor. You saved my life.”

And murdered your parents. But she did not speak that aloud. It would be... counterproductive to her efforts at the moment. “You came to my rescue last night. That will have to suffice.”

The boy looked away, bashful. “I didn’t even do anything, though. I got there last. I was too slow.”

“Orpheus landed a solid hit on the Shadow nonetheless. You do not owe me anything, Makoto-san.”

Makoto narrowed his eyes, before making an ‘o’ shape with his mouth, a sign of realization. “Fine. Then you can do me a favor by going to the mall with me next time I want to buy a music CD.”

He had walked right into Aigis’s trap. He had committed himself to socializing with her while thinking it was his own idea. Magnificent. The android was proud of herself for setting it up. “Very well, Makoto-san. Inform me at any time.”

Makoto smiled. “Good.” He then turned to the front door. “We should go in.”

Before Makoto could grab the door’s handle, Aigis moved quickly and opened the door, standing to the side to allow the boy entrance.

“Usually, the boy does that for the girl,” he said, amusement in his voice.

“You were too slow. ‘You snooze, you lose’, as they say.”

Makoto laughed again. Aigis documented it, just like all the rest. She was performing exceptionally well today. The blue-haired boy then walked past Aigis and into the dorm, and the android followed suit.

“Yo, Yuki-kun!” Junpei said from his seat behind the dining table. He was in the process of consuming a package of cup ramen, and had his cap on backwards. “Where were you all da—” He interrupted himself, having spotted Aigis. With a smile and a wave, he continued, “Oh, hey, Ai-chan! Nice dress!”

A burst of warmth spread through her body from her Papillon Heart. She waved back at him, and said, “Hello, Junpei-san, and thank you. In return, I must congratulate you once more on your performance against the Shadow last night.”

Junpei’s smile widened. “Thanks, Ai-chan! I was super badass, right? Totally kicked that Shadow’s butt!”

“It did not possess one.”

“He means he beat it up really good,” Makoto provided.

“Thank you for your elaboration, Makoto-san,” she said, and the boy replied with a thumbs-up. Despite what she had led them to believe, Aigis had heard the phrase before and was aware of its meaning. However, she had learned that pretending to not know the meaning of idioms and the like would make Makoto explain the phrase to her. Turning this into a routine had the chance to make him feel essential in some way, and thus assist in his journey to free himself from apathy. She turned back to Junpei. “Yes, Junpei-san, you indeed kicked the Shadow firmly in the posterior.”

Junpei laughed. It was a loud, boisterous laugh, reminding Aigis of how her one encounter with red peppers had gone, all those years ago in the lab. Her sensors had led her to believe that her mouth was on fire, and she had gone to the technicians claiming her chest furnace was faulty and had begun melting the insides of her mouth. They had good-naturedly assured her otherwise, and informed her of the meaning behind the word ‘spiciness’.

For the first time in ten years, she wondered if any of those engineers had survived Strega’s escape. She hoped they had.

She continued, “I am looking forward to following your command during Tartarus expeditions.”

Junpei’s cup ramen fell from his hand onto the table. Miraculously, it did not fall over, landing on its flat bottom perfectly. “Following my what?!” the boy said, his jaw falling open.

“Yeah, Junpei, you’re leader now,” Makoto said, hands in pocket. “Kirijo-senpai said so.” So it was him who had eavesdropped on her conversation with Mitsuru. That matched her deductions, but was ultimately irrelevant.

“I’m what?!”

Did he have auditory processing issues? “The field leader of SEES.”

“Nobody told me about that! What the hell?!”

Ah. That was odd. “Perhaps Mitsuru-san wished to inform us when we were all present. She might do so later tonight.”

Junpei was still flabbergasted. “Leader? Me?!”

“You did kick a lot of ass, Junpei,” the blue-haired boy said. “Consequences.”

“No, like, I wanna be leader! But ain’t this way too sudden? I joined yesterday!”

“If you wish to be leader, why do you object?” Aigis asked, puzzled.

“I...” In an instant, all doubt vanished from Junpei’s face, and he flipped his cap back to its correct position with a toothy grin. “You know what? Yeah, you’re right! Prepare to be amazed by Junpei Iori’s incredible leadership skills! We’re gonna make that tower wish it was never born!”

“That’s great, Junpei,” Makoto said, sounding bored. Aigis knew this because she noted the slight difference it had from the tone he often used to speak; the inflictions were different, and the enunciation had a slight drawl to it.

The other boy turned to him. “By the by, don’t think I didn’t notice you calling me Junpei, Yuki-kun! When did we get so familiar, huh?!”

“When I got tired of you begging me to call you that.”

“I was just being friendly! Does this mean I can call you Makoto now?”

“You always could’ve. I don’t care.”

“You’re a weird dude, Makoto.”

Aigis decided to excuse herself, as the conversation seemed to no longer involve her. “I will be departing to my room, if that is alright.”

“Oh, no problem, Ai-chan! See you around!” Junpei said with a wide grin.

“See you, Aigis,” Makoto said, his grin imperceptible to anyone that did not possess Aigis’s precise lenses.

The android ascended the stairs. As she passed the second floor, the sounds of repeated strikes aimed at a soft, noise-dampening object alerted her to Akihiko training with his punching bag. She did not wish to disturb the senior, so she continued on to the next floor.

As she passed Yukari’s room, however, she stopped herself. Her sensors claimed the brunette was inside, and Aigis wondered if she was open to having a conversation.

Then again, Aigis had nothing to converse with her about. She was not planning on telling anyone other than Makoto about the Velvet Room, and last night was not a topic she wished to discuss. Her life with Strega was in a similar position; Ikutsuki’s concealment of the fact implied it was a taboo subject. Perhaps SEES was opposed to murder, or mercenary work, or homelessness. In addition, none of them had gone to school that day, so there was nothing to talk about in that regard either.

She still felt that she wanted to speak with Yukari, despite the lack of topics at hand. Perhaps it was related to what Igor had told her about bonds and Arcana...

“You’ve established many bonds in such a short time, Aigis-san,” said the long-nosed man. “Congratulations are in order.” As if on cue, Elizabeth clapped a few times, smiling happily and encouragingly.

“How can you tell?” Aigis asked.

“Remember when I spoke of the Arcana at your last visit?” Igor retrieved his deck of cards from his coat, and began placing cards in front of the android one by one, pointedly leaving empty spaces between certain ones. “The Wild Card can form bonds with others, and they will manifest as Arcana. Every Persona has association with one Arcana, and the same is true for Shadows. Strengthening your bonds with others will strengthen the Arcana, and that in turn increases the power of Personas belonging to it.” He then began to point at the cards one by one. “Currently, you possess the Arcanas of Fool, Empress, Emperor, Lovers, Chariot, Devil, Sun, and Aeon. Though, Chariot is reversed at the moment, but fret not; it isn’t lost to you.”

“Some of those names are... ominous.” And some implied strange subjects when it came to her. Lovers? What a laughable notion.

Igor’s piercing gaze focused on her. It was not an uncomfortable sensation. “A lesson on each individual Arcana’s meaning is beyond our available timeframe, I’m afraid. But they all represent necessary steps in your journey, and strengthening your bonds with them is vital. I suggest looking into sources that describe tarot reading to further understand their meaning.”

“If I may, who are each of these bonds with, Igor?”

“I can answer that question,” Elizabeth said, opening the compendium. “The Fool Arcana represents your bond with the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad. The Empress belongs to Mitsuru Kirijo, The Emperor is Akihiko Sanada, Chidori Yoshino is your link for the Lovers, Chariot stands for Jin Shirato, Takaya Sakaki is the Devil, Sun represents Yukari Takeba, and lastly, the Aeon is the manifestation of your bond with Makoto Yuki.”

Her bond with Jin was in jeopardy? But why? And what was the meaning of the Fool representing her connection with SEES as a whole, if she had connections with individuals that were also part of the group? Why did she not possess a link for Strega?

“Do you have any further questions, Aigis-san? We will be happy to answer them,” Igor kindly said.

“I... I do not believe you can provide me with the answers I seek, I’m afraid. I must find them on my own.” It was not as if the Velvet Room decided her bonds for her.

A cold feeling moved from her Papillon Heart to every joint and processor she possessed. “Disregard my statement. I do have a question, Igor. Does the Velvet Room have any influence on my bonds?”

The long-nosed man tented his hands over the table, and patiently replied, “It does not, Aigis-san. Like I said before, your bonds are your own; they simply manifest as Arcana on our side. In fact, the Aeon is not a standard part of most tarot decks. The fact that you’ve formed a bond this rare means you’re already going beyond what we consider traditional. Trust me when I say we have no choice in your bonds; only you do.”

That was a minor relief, amidst everything.

Aigis returned to the present. Yes, perhaps her desire to speak with Yukari stemmed from knowing she represented an Arcana to her.

But could that really be called ‘strengthening her bonds’? It was a fact that she was incapable of true social interaction, but this facsimile of it, conversing with someone only so she could get stronger Personas in return... Aigis found it most despicable. She decided she would speak with Yukari when she had something to talk to the girl about, and not to merely gain more power.

The android entered her room, and took off her dress; it would wear out if she wore it for too long. After she did so, she held it from the shoulders to look at it once more. It was a nice dress. Aigis found it pleasing. It was beautiful. She gingerly folded it with utmost precision, and placed it on the wooden chair. She took a step back. It was off-center. She leaned down to correct it.

It was a nice dress.

Then, Aigis laid down on the resting station, as her more minute repairs were overdue from last night. As the chair did its work, she focused her attention on the Papillon Heart, where Palladion and Apsaras continued to reside.

Igor had explained Fusion to Aigis as well; two or more Personas could be combined into a stronger one that had a different Arcana and different spells. But just as he was going to take Palladion and Apsaras from her to create a new Persona, he had stopped.

“Hm... Perhaps... perhaps your first Fusion can wait until you acquire a third Persona, Aigis-san.”

“What for?”

“Your initial Persona, Palladion... It is... much more powerful than the result of this Fusion. In my humble opinion, you should hold on to it for now.”

Aigis had accepted. After all, Palladion had plenty of battle experience from the past, and was the Persona she was most comfortable with. It could boost her strength and endurance, and was capable of powerful physical attacks. If she wished to be truly self-sustaining, however, she would need Personas that covered all elemental varieties, in addition to healing spells.

And for that, she would have to return to Tartarus.

She did not feel as moved as before by this statement. She did not feel as if she needed to rise from the resting station at that exact moment and rush to Mitsuru, or Akihiko, or even Junpei to ask for permission. Nothing told her that she needed to convince the team to explore the tower with her right there and then. None of her processors brought up the idea of breaking out of the dorm without telling anyone else.

She did not have a burning desire to go to Tartarus tonight.

It must have been due to her new order.

Yes, that had to be it.

Aigis patiently sat through the station’s repairs, because she had no pressing business to attend to. She replayed Makoto’s expressions of joy in her mind to pass time and look back on her jobs well done.

Her processors were quiet as she listened to Makoto laugh the same laughs, over and over again. It was a nice way to spend one’s time, she decided.

-------------------------

It was 23:08. SEES had gathered in the command room twelve minutes and fifty-five seconds ago, each member called there by Mitsuru for a briefing. However, instead of fielding the meeting’s topics, the redhead had also sat down next to Akihiko, and was waiting with them. Aigis found that odd. Was she not the leader? Who else would begin the meeting?

Ah, yes. Ikutsuki is the true overseer of the team, the android recalled. With how the man had not been present in the dorm whatsoever since her arrival, she had almost forgotten that Mitsuru also deferred to someone.

From her seat at the couch on the head of the table, Aigis observed how each member dealt with impatience. On the left-side couch, Mitsuru was sitting up straight with her arms crossed and tapped a nervous rhythm on her bicep with her index finger. She looked moderately vexed. Next to her was Akihiko, slouching with his hands interlocked. The boy sighed periodically, and did not look like he wanted to attend the meeting at all. On the opposite side with the individual seats, Yukari had pulled out her phone after a glance at Mitsuru a few minutes ago, and was now engaged in texting someone with her legs crossed. Junpei was oddly quiet, and as his right knee bounced nervously, he kept pressing his lips together and looking around the room as if scanning for threats. Makoto, as usual, had his earphones on, and his music was slightly audible from where Aigis was sitting. He was the only person who did not seem to take any issue to the meeting; it was likely that he had been listening to music in his room as well, and the delayed meeting had not affected this action so far.

Ikutsuki had not stayed true to his word, and his tardiness was causing the team discomfort. Aigis decided she did not like Ikutsuki’s irresponsibility. The way in which he finally arrived did not help the matter.

“Sorry, sorry, I got held up,” the man said, his glasses crooked and beads of sweat running down his face. “You wouldn’t believe the traffic. Everybody was in a rush to get home before the dark.”

“The sun set hours ago, Chairman,” Mitsuru said with a clipped tone.

The man adjusted his glasses. “Oh, not that dark. The other one.”

He meant the Dark Hour. But regular people were not aware of its existence. They would not be rushing home to avoid it. Aigis decided this joke was not funny, and so she did not laugh.

Everyone else seemed in agreement. A frigid silence set over the room, and Ikutsuki squirmed. “Not even you, Aigis-kun? Maybe it was a bit too complex for you. Anyway!” He clapped his hands to call everyone to attention. The sound made Makoto finally notice him and take off his earphones. “I was going to come over tonight to discuss a few things either way, but it seems you all had a big development last night, which is definitely worth going over first. I’ve been told you all ran into an unusually large Shadow?”

“We sure did! Pulverized it too!” Junpei said with enthusiasm. All signs of worry had vanished from his face the moment Ikutsuki had entered the room. It was not the first time Aigis had seen the boy exhibit such a radical shift in demeanor. She wondered how he managed it; as she very well knew, humans did not have precise control over their emotions, and it led to various communication issues. Junpei seemed beyond this, however. Perhaps his self-control was as exceptional as his combat capabilities.

Ikutsuki turned to him. “Indeed you did, and I’ve heard you were particularly instrumental in doing so, Iori-kun. You only joined us yesterday, and yet you’ve come this far already! You can really pick them, Sanada-kun.”

Akihiko did not react to the man’s praise, but Junpei did. “Ah, it’s not like I did it alone... Kirijo-senpai, Yuka-tan and Ai-chan held it back for a real long time before we got there. They’d done a lot of damage to it too.”

“Humble all of a sudden, huh?” Yukari said, rolling her eyes. “Last night it was all ‘did you see how badass I was’ and ‘took it down in one shot’.”

“Well, I was really badass, thanks for mentioning,” Junpei said, puffing his chest. Yukari sighed and shook her head disapprovingly.

“Well, Iori-kun, considering your exceptional performance last night, Kirijo-kun and I have decided that you should be our field leader from now on. Maybe the others can learn a few things from you!”

Junpei jumped up from his seat, placing his hands on his hips triumphantly. “I won’t let you guys down!” he vigorously exclaimed. Yukari’s eyes had widened to an impossible size upon hearing Ikutsuki’s statement, and she looked at the boy from top to bottom and then back to the top, as if seeing him for the first time. As every other person in the room was already aware of this fact, they did not react in any special way to the information.

Junpei went on, “Junpei Iori’s always been a natural-born leader, and it’s high time everyone else saw that!”

Akihiko leaned back on his seat and crossed his arms. “Hope you can live up to all that bravado, Iori. It’s good to be enthusiastic, but don’t get too caught up in the hype, or else you’ll miss out on the prize.”

“Don’t you worry, Sanada-senpai! Prizes are all I’ve got my eyes on!”

Aigis did not know what prizes they were speaking of. She did not ask. She had a feeling they were not real, material prizes, but it was not something she wanted Makoto to clarify for her.

As Junpei sat back down, Ikutsuki resumed speaking. “Now that that’s settled... Aigis-kun. I’ve been told that you have a hypothesis regarding the Shadow you encountered last night?”

There were countless other things that took priority over that. Aigis’s capability to summon more than one Persona, Thanatos, her faulty internal components and why the technicians had ignored them, her rebellion last night, and even the possibility of decommissioning. But it seemed none of them were on the chairman’s agenda for the night, otherwise he would have opened with a more important subject than Aigis’s phantom program that tracked the phases of the moon. Regardless, she had been asked a question, and she would answer it. “Yes, Ikutsuki-san. After seeing the large Shadow last night, I believe the phases of the moon impact Shadow activity, and that there exists a chance of encountering other large Shadows like it every time it is full.”

“Do you have any further insight, Chairman?” Mitsuru asked.

“As a matter of fact, I do. Aigis-kun’s theory is in line with what our scientists have been tracking. This is the first time a Shadow this big has been spotted on a full moon, but we’ve seen spikes in their activity every month for the past ten years, and the nights were all full moons.”

That was intriguing. Perhaps this was a program she was given by the technicians, and was simply untagged. The man continued, “Of course, I certainly hope there won’t be any more abnormally large Shadows, but we must be prepared in case more decide to loom over us.”

The conversation drifted to less important matters, such as Junpei asking how his greatsword was coming along (it was being manufactured), Yukari wondering if the rest of them would receive a form of transport to and from Tartarus during the Dark Hour after observing Mitsuru’s motorcycle last night (they would not), and Mitsuru all but ordering the chairman to be present for every full moon from that point, managing the command room’s equipment (he accepted to do so). Aigis wondered if Makoto would appreciate her asking for an MP3 player that worked during the Hour, but figured he would ask himself if it was that significant to him.

Before long, the meeting came to a close, and the students began to trickle out of the room. Aigis was about to do the same, but Ikutsuki stopped her. “Aigis-kun, a word?”

Ah. He simply did not wish to bring it up in front of the others. Aigis turned to face him. “Yes, Ikutsuki-san?”

He looked at the android over his glasses. “I wanted to know... Are you feeling alright? Are your diagnostics showing any issues? Any... abnormalities in combat?”

He knew Aigis’s internal components were broken. He was aware of Thanatos. He had no reason to ask Aigis any of this.

This was a test for something else.

Aigis answered his questions as literally and truthfully as possible. “I believe my current condition could be described as ‘alright’, as all my diagnostics return green and last night’s combat encounter did not involve my artillery or Papillon Heart behaving in unexpected ways.” After all, she already knew she could summon Apsaras.

Ikutsuki smiled at her. Evidently, she had passed the test. “Good to hear, Aigis-kun. I was worried you weren’t, since the technicians told me that some of your parts were in really bad condition, to the point of not working at all. They did assure me that all of them showed up as nonessential on the diagnostics, though. The few they did try to swap out didn’t even get a current flowing through them, so they just left them be. Still, I had to make sure. Not many of the old gang that put you together are really around anymore, so the new ones are doing the best they can.”

So... was she not defective after all?

That’s a topic for another time. “I am grateful for their hard work.”

“You can go now, Aigis-kun. I was just checking in,” the man said as he moved towards the large computer and sat down to operate it. “Now, if you don’t have any other questions, I’ll have to get to work before Kirijo-kun thinks I don’t do anything around here. I mean, if I wasn’t here, you’d all have to go to school today and tomorrow! I did more than any of you today, didn’t I?”

“Indeed, Ikutsuki-san,” Aigis replied to appease him, and it was successful, evident by the chairman’s grin. “I knew bringing you here was a good idea, Aigis-kun,” he said. “It’s nice to have someone on my side.”

Were they not all on the same side, though?

Aigis did not verbalize the question, instead excusing herself from the room.

The Dark Hour fell as she closed her room’s door behind her. The android laid down on the resting station, beginning to formulate a plan for best spending her time tomorrow.

The process was interrupted when the boy in the striped pajamas manifested next to the wooden chair. He looked at the dress taking up the sitting spot, and then turned to Aigis with a smile. “Hi. This is a nice dress.”

Aigis did not know how to react to a Shadow complimenting her dress, considering all Shadows craved was death and destruction. She decided to accept the compliment to prevent unnecessarily analyzing the situation. “Thank you. I could remove it if you wish to sit.”

“No, it’s okay. I won’t be long. I just came to tell you one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Soon, the end will come.”

Aigis blinked. She blinked again. “I do not comprehend.”

“I remembered, so I thought I should tell you.”

“The end of what, though?”

“The end of everything.” Aigis blinked a third time. “Though, honestly, I don’t really know much about it,” he said with a more jovial tone. “Even then, nothing is endless. Why fret over it now and ruin what time we have left?”

“If it can be stopped, it should be. All human lives are valuable and should be fought for.” At least, Yukari had said so.

“Why should you fight for them, though? You’re not human.”

“It is the purpose for which I was built.”

“Does that really matter?”

“Why would I continue to exist if I cannot fulfill the reason I do so?”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

She chose to deflect the question, for she had no answer to it. “Why are you debating me on this matter? What do you wish to accomplish by this action?”

“Remember when I said I’m always with you?” Aigis nodded. The boy’s smile fell away. “I meant it. I saw your fight last night. Based on what you’re saying right now, you should continue to exist long as you can fulfill your purpose. That means you should’ve fought back, but you didn’t. You gave in to death, and yet you’re so afraid of it. I want to know why.”

“It...” What could she say to that? “It was a momentary defect in my systems. It has since been resolved.”

“But you’re not defective at all. All of your systems are fine. That man said so. Everyone else said so too.”

Aigis rose, and moved to the window in the back of the room, behind the resting station. The clouds did not move, and she heard no wind. This was stopped time. No one could hear them. “...It does not mean they are right,” she whispered, not facing the boy.

“Oh?”

She turned to face him. “I am defective. I know it to be true. Despite my purpose still being something I am capable of working towards, my processors beg for decommissioning every time I deprioritize an order I never possessed before. I engage in frivolous, pointless tasks that do not serve to further progress my goals. I cannot even accomplish my purpose on my own; every time I fight a strong Shadow, I end up needing assistance from others. I am not just defective, but inadequate. I am pathetic.”

The boy lowered his head. Then, he turned to the chair. “May I remove your dress to sit?”

“Of course,” Aigis replied. The boy softly placed the dress on the floor, and sat down on the chair, before asking, “Is the belief that you are pathetic and defective the reason you surrendered to the Shadow?”

“No. My desire for deactivation is the defect, as it contradicts my purpose. I would not be able to work towards my purpose were I to be decommissioned.”

“Would you decommission yourself if you were commanded to?”

Would she?

“Android.”

“Yes, Takaya-san?”

“Destroy yourself beyond repair.”

“Affirmative.” The android raised her hand and pointed the guns inside at her Papillon Heart. She submitted a firing command.

A pop-up flashed on her HUD. ERROR. COMMAND WOULD RESULT IN THE TERMINATION OF THIS UNIT. COMMAND CANCELED.

“Well? Getting cold feet?” His gaze was empty, akin to a barren, salted wasteland.

“A process is blocking the firing command. It seems it supersedes your order. I apologize.”

“Keep trying,” he said, before walking away.

She did. The pop-up did not cease. After fifty-eight rejected firing commands, Jin came back from a shopping trip. The bags dropped from his hands as he took in the scene in front of him. He ignored the sound of shattering glass as he ran up to the android and pulled her arm down. She did not resist. “Aigis, what the hell are you doing?”

“I was ordered to destroy myself in a way that would prevent further repairs. I concluded that shattering my Papillon Heart would achieve this goal. However, a background process supersedes all of my attempts at this. I apologize.”

Jin’s eyes went wide, wide, wide. “And- and who told you to do that?”

“Takaya-san.”

His wide eyes were set ablaze with red-hot rage. “Of fucking course. Stop doing that. I’m cancelling his goddamned order.” He then stormed off in the direction of Takaya’s room.

The android stood motionless as the discussion became an argument, and evolved into a fight.

They had left the house after that, Jin and Aigis. They slept on the street that night, abandoning their hard-earned shelter. In the morning, Takaya had found them, and apologized to Jin for his actions. The blue-haired boy begrudgingly returned to the house with the android, but did not speak with Takaya for an entire week after that.

Takaya never apologized to Aigis, however.

She stopped the process of reminiscing. “No. I have a background process that prevents me from taking any direct action that would cause my termination.”

“But you can cause it by inaction,” the boy said. It was not a question.

Aigis looked away. “...It seems so. It is a defect.”

“You can’t explain everything away as defects. Especially when no evidence points to it being the truth. You don’t even have full knowledge of how you really work on the inside, you know.”

“If it is a function I have no reason to be programmed with, it is a defect.”

The boy kicked his feet absently and slowly. “And how do you determine that? Perhaps everything you’ve described as a defect right now is something essential to your function. Perhaps you were given the desire to get yourself decommissioned in order to learn how to fight against it and increase your determination in battle; after all, your coding does bar you from doing it yourself. Perhaps you engage in seemingly pointless pastimes to understand humanity better and thus know how to protect them more efficiently. None of these would be defects from this point of view.”

Aigis processed his words. They rang true. What he had said was a far more apt explanation for her behavior, and was rooted in facts and outside observation. “Your logic is sound, and your words are convincing.”

The boy grinned. “Thanks. It means a lot, coming from you.”

Aigis then recalled her plans to guide the boy into not being a threat whenever he happened to regain his memories. He had recalled something, and that... that reminded the android that time was rapidly passing by. She recalled her contract. It delivers all equally to the same end. Were the boy and the contract speaking of the same event?

The boy got up from his seat. “Before you leave...” Aigis said. “What is your name? I wish to be able to refer to you with an appropriate title.”

“My name?” The boy chuckled. “Oh, I see, I need a name.” Had he never thought about it before? “My name is... Pharos. It’s nice to meet you, Aigis. I hope we keep getting along.”

“And I as well, Pharos. I am glad to have you as a friend.”

The boy’s eyes widened. “We are friends?”

She remembered asking that question not so long ago on that very day. She responded with what she had been told. “What else would we be?”

Pharos remained silent for several seconds, his eyes wide and his expression contemplating. Aigis pondered the meaning of seconds in stopped time as the boy gathered his thoughts. When he finally spoke, his tone was more joyous than before. “I am so very glad to hear that. I am honored to be your friend.”

Aigis gave him a smile. The boy smiled back, before saying, “Okay, it’s getting late, so I’ll be going now. I can hardly wait until the next time we meet. Bye-bye.” He waved at her as he vanished in the same dark cloud he always did.

She moved towards the wooden chair to put the dress back on it. But as she picked it up, the dress unfolded. She moved to fold it back, but stopped herself.

She put the dress back on. She walked back to the window, and looked at her see-through reflection.

It was a very nice dress. Mitsuru could always buy her another if it wore out. She could likely afford it without feeling the monetary cost in any meaningful way. In addition, Makoto had said that sometimes you bothered others to get what you wanted. Aigis wanted to wear her dress. It was hers and it was bought for her to wear it. There was no sense in not doing so.

Yes, that was perfectly logical. She did not take off the dress, and instead laid back down on the resting station to enter standby mode.

In her dreams, Makoto appeared. He said they were friends. Aigis questioned this.

What else would we be? was his reply.

She felt like she wanted to object, but had nothing to say.

Why would she not want to be Makoto’s friend?

What else would they be?

Chapter Text

It took a week before SEES resumed Tartarus exploration. Mitsuru had left the decision of when they should do so up to Junpei, but he kept putting it off over and over, citing either exhaustion or studying as the reason. Eventually, though, the redhead barged into his room, and despite his claims of revising for the approaching midterms, he had been playing video games on his handheld system. Therefore, she finally made an intervention and sent all of them to the tower that very night with a terrifying scowl on her face. Aigis, knowing herself to be blameless, was glad she was not on its receiving end. She was sure everyone other than Junpei felt the same.

“So, Iori, who are you picking as your team?” Mitsuru’s tone was frigid. It could have frozen a Shadow in place on its own, with no need for Penthesilea.

Junpei rightfully shivered. “A-aren’t we all going in?”

“Mitsuru won’t be, because she’s our navigator,” Akihiko said. “Apart from that, we should try sticking to a team of four, because it’ll be hard to coordinate a group larger than that. One person should stay behind, and it’s your call on who does.”

“Obviously, it won’t be you,” Mitsuru added.

Aigis was certain that Junpei would pick her to be part of the active roster. They all knew of her ability to change Personas and how invaluable it was in combat. Besides, even if Aigis was too weak to battle abnormally powerful Shadows, she could still handle smaller ones like those roaming Tartarus’s halls. Surely she would be picked-

“Uhh, Sanada-san, you okay with sitting this one out?” Aigis could holler with joy.

“Fine by me,” Akihiko shrugged.

“Then I’m taking Ai-chan, Yuka-tan, and Makoto.”

“Hmm... I would be more comfortable if Akihiko was on the team...” Mitsuru said.

“Aigis has more experience than all of us combined, Mitsuru,” the boxer reassured her. “They’ll be fine.”

The android doubted his words’ validity, but objecting would delay Tartarus exploration. She simply could not wait to get her bullets inside some Shadows and watch them evaporate into nothingness.

After the teleporter brought them to the fifth floor’s gate, Junpei chose to rally the team’s spirit. “Alright, class 2-F!” he said as he slung his greatsword over his shoulder and pumped his left fist in the air. “Let’s show them third-years what we’ve got! No holdin’ back now!”

“We got this,” Yukari confidently said. “After that big Shadow the other night, I don’t think any of the small fry here can lay a finger on us.”

Makoto rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck’s joints. “Whatever. Let’s get this done.” Despite his bored tone, however, his gaze was focused, and he looked at ease.

The trio then looked at Aigis expectantly. Ah. I should say something in the same vein as their statements. “We will kick their asses, as Junpei-san says.”

“Hell yeah we will!” the leader said with a grin. “Let’s get a move on, party people!”

As they moved up the stairs to the next floor, Aigis noticed that the two ravens from last time were nowhere to be seen, and no Shadow had taken their place. It seemed Akihiko’s theory of it being a ‘rite of passage’ was correct. The android wondered if there would be similar floors as they ascended higher and higher, and how difficult the enemies inside would be to defeat.

The Junpei-led exploration soon revealed itself as a mixed bag. On one hand, there were plenty of Shadows in the tower and Junpei was delighted to fight every last one, which benefitted Aigis. On the other hand, his leadership...

It left much to be desired.

“We’ve seen that type of Shadow before, it’s weak to fire!” Mitsuru exclaimed from the comms.

“Don’t worry, senpai!” The team leader grinned, and pointed his Evoker at his temple. “Junpei Iori’s on the case! Hermes, go!” His Persona manifested, but instead of casting a fire spell, it rushed towards the Shadow with its wings wide open, ready to slice the hand-shaped Shadow’s fingers clean off.

Unfortunately, the Shadow narrowly avoided the attack, before leaping in the air to fling a rude gesture at Junpei involving forming a fist without folding its middle finger. “Hey! How’d I miss?!” the boy said angrily, and pointed his Evoker at his temple again. “Come on! Hermes!”

As the Persona’s attack missed once more, Aigis overheard Makoto talking with Yukari in hushed tones.

“Should I use Orpheus?”

“Nah. He’s the leader, let him do it if he wants to so bad.”

“He’s hurting himself with that.”

“I’ll just heal him back up, no worries.”

Aigis felt Yukari was being too blasé, but did not object to her statement. She did have a point; Junpei was the leader, and unless he ordered them to attack, they would not.

After Junpei’s third attack missed, Makoto sighed and stepped forward, Evoker on his temple. But before he could fire, Junpei yelled out a battle cry and rushed down the Shadow himself, without summoning Hermes. A few slices of his greatsword later, there was no Shadow left.

The leader turned to his team triumphantly. “See? I did it! I did it...” A string of violent coughs interrupted him. As Yukari and Makoto worriedly looked on, Junpei’s coughs came to an end with him spitting out blood, and a weak grin doing its best to light up his pale face. “Goddammit, Stupei...” Yukari said as she summoned Io to heal him. “We’re all in this together, y’know?”

“I could handle it! And I did!” he said, color returning to his cheeks.

“You didn’t have to do it alone,” Makoto said, looking at Aigis with his arms crossed. “We’re a team. We help each other.”

She did not understand the reason for his pointed look. Aigis already knew the team helped one another. It did not make her any less weak for needing to rely on them every time hardship struck.

Junpei’s desire to be the center of attention did not cease as they continued to ascend the tower. At one point, a Shadow began charging a fire attack aimed at Makoto. Aigis had her hands full with a separate Shadow and thus could not rush to his protection, but at the very least, Makoto was both well aware of the attack and had a resistance to fire. As he raised his Evoker to summon Orpheus for added protection, however, Junpei dove in front of him with a yell to tank the attack. Despite that, the flames did not strike either of them, as Makoto has just pulled the trigger. His Persona appeared in front of Junpei and blocked the attack with its body, but its sudden appearance startled the boy. Junpei’s surprised yell echoed in the halls, and ended up attracting four more Shadows to their location.

Aigis was glad to have a prolonged battle, but she would have preferred it to be... a planned occurrence, and not something born out of incompetence. Despite that, she said nothing.

She was not the leader. A leader’s orders were absolute. She was in no place to question them.

As they continued to ascend the floors, Aigis appraised her new lineup of Personas. Shuffle Time had granted her quite a few, and each new summon awed her teammates. She now had coverage for fire and lightning in addition to Apsaras’s ice, and had also learned that claiming a Persona she already possessed from Shuffle Time added to its strength. Still, she had quite a ways to go, and was hoping Fusion would assist her with the variety she so desired.

“Man, I’m parched... Think the school vending machines still exist here?” Junpei said as they entered the next floor’s lobby.

“Who knows what Tartarus would do to them if they did? No way am I drinking anything we find here,” Yukari replied.

“You may have to bring some bottles with you from now on,” Mitsuru’s voice spoke from Penthesilea’s mental link with the team. “Either way, this floor is mostly empty, and you could take a break if you wished so. I believe I can sense a teleporter on the next floor; you could rush to it after your break and come back down. You’ve made good progress tonight, and there’s no need to push yourselves.”

“Yeah, a little break sounds good,” Yukari said, tugging on her quiver. “Still, I’m not nearly as tired as I should be. We’ve been going up so many stairs, and fighting the whole way too... I didn’t think I had it in me.”

“Perhaps your Personas amplify your physical capabilities during the Dark Hour,” Aigis suggested. It was a theory that scientists had thrown around back when she was still at the lab, and seeing the team in action was confirmation of its validity.

“Maybe,” Makoto said, before leaning against a wall and slowly sliding down into a sitting position. He placed his shortsword next to him, and huffed in relief.

The others sat as well, with Junpei sitting cross-legged next to Makoto and Yukari leaning on the opposite wall, legs folded under her. Aigis continued to stand, for she did not need to sit. Then, she spotted Yukari gesturing at her to grab her attention. She turned, and saw her pat a spot next to her on the ground.

The brunette was inviting Aigis to sit next to her. This could be an opportunity to strengthen their bond.

Avoiding a puddle of the blood-like liquid on the ground, she lowered herself next to Yukari and sat, hugging her legs. Junpei elbowed Makoto to grab his attention before beginning a conversation about an online video game that both of them played. Despite his claims of being thirsty, Junpei spoke quickly, enthusiastically, and loudly. Makoto seemed to be only half-listening to his words, replying every once in a while to keep him going.

Yukari spoke after a few minutes. “So... you doing okay, Aigis?” she asked timidly.

“My diagnostics return green. In addition, my ammunition reserves are adequate for now, and I remain capable of summoning my Personas. I believe that constitutes as ‘okay’.”

“That’s... not what I meant.” Yukari sighed. “I meant, like, mentally, or however that works for you.”

“I do not comprehend.”

“You left the dorm all on your own and got really hurt. It’s okay if you’re not okay after that. Honestly, I kinda wanted to convince Kirijo-senpai to not bring you along tonight, but I figured that’d make it worse.”

“I am glad that you did not,” Aigis said, still not looking at the brunette. “Despite my glaring inadequacy in combat, I am still capable of defeating smaller Shadows, and sharpening my combat skills and increasing my repertoire of Personas will only make me stronger.”

Yukari’s tone rose in shock. “What glaring inadequacy?”

“I am an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weap—” She was not to call herself a weapon. “—Machine, yet every time I have encountered a Shadow of unusual power, I have failed to defeat it. That makes me weak.” Aigis turned her head towards Yukari. “Is that illogical?”

The girl rushed to respond, mind seemingly running faster than her mouth could move. “W-well, yeah! Because you did defeat them! They’re all gone! The ravens got beat back to kingdom come, and that big Shadow’s destroyed too! You did win!”

“I was not the one to defeat them.”

“You sure as heck took down those ravens all on your own. That wasn’t us, was it?”

Aigis realized that they all still believed Thanatos was one of her Personas. “The Persona I used was... unnatural. It does not constitute as a true victory. Besides, I was rendered inoperable afterwards, so if anything, both me and the Shadows lost that battle.”

“Either way,” Yukari said. “You took ‘em down while I was busy thawing out Sanada-senpai like an idiot and Makoto couldn’t even summon. You saved his life. You saved all of our lives. Doesn’t that count for anything? And, you figured out how that handsy Shadow from the other night worked, fought it on your own for a long time until we got there, and took out its lightning knife. If you hadn’t done that, it could’ve knocked me out fast, and I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did in the fight. You’re not weak, Aigis. You’re the strongest teammate we’ve got.”

“I am not strong enough. I should be strong enough to be able to defeat any Shadow I come across without assistance. That is the purpose for which I was built. I am not adequate enough to fulfill it, and must work to reach that status.”

Yukari pressed her lips together. “Aigis, I...”

“My apologies,” Mitsuru’s voice spoke, “but I couldn’t help but listen in. I’m sorry for breaching your privacy.”

“We’re not exactly whispering, senpai,” Yukari said. Her words were neutral, but an underlying harshness existed in her tone.

“Aigis. Do you know why we wear our armbands?”

It was time to come clean about her lie. “I do not. Akihiko-san told me it was a mental benefit, but I did not understand what he meant.”

“The armbands mean we’re not alone. It means we fight together, as one unit. Our strengths aren’t individual, instead, we all contribute towards the power of the team. Each of us makes SEES stronger, and none of our performances are judged individually. You’re the greatest contributor to the team’s strength, and that’s something to be proud of.”

“Yeah!” Yukari added. “It doesn’t make you weak if you can’t take down huge Shadows all on your own. I don’t think any of us could, so why should you hold yourself to standards that high?”

“I was built to do so. It is my purpose.”

“You were built to take down Shadows, Aigis,” Mitsuru firmly said, “and that’s what you’ve been doing. Nothing about your performance has been inadequate, and you’ve been exceeding expectations every step of the way. This is not simply my personal opinion; both the chairman and the technicians working on you have agreed with this. Besides, you might be the last Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon, but you were never intended to fight alone.”

Aigis was surprised. “What do you mean?”

“Before the project was canceled, many other androids like you were in production. The costs ended up outweighing the results, however, and focus was shifted to... other projects.” She was speaking of forced Persona awakenings. Strega. “You were to have sisters fighting with you, side by side. They never came to be, but they were meant to. You were never supposed to be alone.”

“Sisters...” Aigis muttered. It was a pleasing word. She wondered what it would have been like to have sisters.

“See, Aigis?” the brunette said enthusiastically. “You shouldn’t judge yourself like that. You were always meant to be a part of a whole, and now... Now you are.”

“I... I see,” the android replied, trying her best to suppress the static plaguing her vocalizer. “My standards have been readjusted. Thank you for your information.”

“You’re welcome, Aigis. I certainly hope you won’t see yourself as inadequate anymore.”

“Yeah, point all that harsh criticism in Stupei’s direction,” Yukari said, huffing. “Glory hound.”

“Frankly, Iori’s attitude towards leadership is rather... non-conductive to teamwork, I must admit,” Mitsuru reluctantly said. “One moment... Akihiko tells me he thinks Iori will work the overenthusiasm off over time, and that we should give him a chance.”

Aigis did not speak. A leader should not be questioned. Their orders are absolute.

“What do you make of this, Aigis?” Mitsuru suddenly said, her tone kind. “Should Iori still be the leader, despite his performance?”

“It is not my decision to make,” she replied, because it was true.

“I mean, I guess, but you can see the issues with how he’s doing things, right?” Yukari said, glancing at Junpei, who was too engrossed in talking with Makoto to notice them. The blue-haired boy had gotten more animated, and seemed to be leading the conversation now as the other boy listened carefully. “Like, if Junpei told you to jump, what would you do?”

That was simple. “I would jump a moderate amount into the air, and then ask for feedback on altitude adjustment.”

“Oh, brother...” the brunette facepalmed.

“What Takeba is trying to say, Aigis, is that hypothetically, if your leader was inadequate and gave you orders that you found inferior to your own assessment of the situation, how would you react? Would you listen to the orders of someone who isn’t fit to lead?”

Mitsuru should have known the answer to her question. Aigis had practically answered it by breaking out of the dorm to go to Tartarus on her own. But that was a defe-

It was not a defect. Aigis was not defective. There was no evidence saying she was. She was not weak, and she was not fundamentally flawed.

Her disobedience had to be a crucial part of her programming, then. She must have been equipped with it in case of unworthy commanders like Junpei.

So, she decided to vocalize her somewhat hurtful initial thought. “You should already know the answer, Mitsuru-san. I broke out of the dorm to visit Tartarus despite the commands issued by you and Akihiko-san.”

“O-oh. You’re right. My apologies.” The redhead did not sound very offended. In fact, she sounded rather... happy, and considering what Aigis had said, she found it odd.

“I do not mean to imply you are an inadequate leader, Mitsuru-san,” Aigis said, because it was true. She did not believe the redhead was incompetent. She had explained the reasoning behind her actions, and now that Aigis had her new command, she had accepted it, and knew it would not be repeated again.

Besides, Mitsuru had bought a very nice dress for her.

From the comms came a small, modest laugh. “Even if you did, Aigis, I still have much to learn. I am certainly not above criticism.”

“It’s a shame our current leader has way more to learn than either of you,” Yukari said, sighing.

Aigis found that she believed so too. She wondered if she could do a better job at leading than Junpei.

Frankly, after seeing him neglect his duties for the past week and witnessing his performance tonight, she firmly believed she could.

Perhaps she would bring it up when the boy was inevitably demoted.

-------------------------

“Let’s get on with today’s lesson,” said the school nurse, who was teaching today’s class for reasons Aigis could not determine. The android thought it was odd that a school as well-off as Gekkoukan had to use a nurse as a substitute; could they not hire someone that would teach the subject the missing teacher was supposed to? At any rate, she decided she would go over her French notes as to not waste time. As she retrieved them from her bag, she saw that both Makoto and Junpei had already dosed off on their tables. She did not blame them, as the nurse was unlikely to teach anything worthwhile. Even then, she would have preferred them to use their time in class more wisely.

Her review halted when she heard the word ‘tarot’. Aigis snapped to attention. It seemed this was a lesson worth internalizing.

“That’s right, those cards often used in fortune telling,” Mr. Edogawa went on. “Despite originating in 15th-century Europe as normal playing cards, tarot cards evolved into tools of divination. There are a variety of tarot card decks, including the Marseille and the Rider decks... But today, in honor of the great Crowley, we will be using the Thoth deck.

“First, let’s talk about the composition of the deck... The modern 78-card tarot deck is divided into two parts. There are 22 Major Arcana – the face cards – and 56 Minor Arcana, or number cards. The Minor Arcana are also sometimes called pip cards. The Major Arcana feature a variety of illustrations on their faces, beginning with the Fool and ending with the Universe... They tell a story in numerical order that represents an individual’s journey through life. Each Major Arcana represents a stage on that journey, and each stage represents an event an individual must experience to achieve wholeness. They are all important, so let’s take a look at each of the 22 cards, one by one.

“The first card, numbered 0, is the Fool. It represents beginnings and suggests infinite possibilities. In other words, the beginning of life. The next card, the Magician, represents action and initiative... but also immaturity. The High Priestess represents contemplation and inner knowledge. The Empress represents both motherhood and maternal love as well as one’s vitality. The Emperor is an opposing card. It represents fatherhood as well as leadership and decision-making skills. The Hierophant represents formality and knowledge. It is a symbol for religion. The Lovers represent choice. Here, the individual finally begins to develop a conscience.

“The Chariot represents the individual’s victory, but only a momentary one. Justice is exactly what it sounds like: knowing what is right and what is wrong. The Hermit represents self-reflection. In other words, searching for answers deep within one’s heart. Fortune represents fate, and the opportunities it brings. Strength represents both passion and self-control. It is depicted as power with reason. The Hanged Man reflects the individual’s inability to take action. Spiritual death awaits the individual with the thirteenth card, which is aptly named Death. Death is considered a transitional card... With death, the old ends, and the new begins.

“Now, let us move on to what happens following the transition. Temperance is the balancing of opposites. Opening one’s eyes to the world allows for growth... And then an encounter with the Devil is where one faces temptation. At the Tower, the individual’s values will start to collapse. It seems as if there’s nothing to believe in... The individual then finds a glimmer of hope in the Star, granting one peace and serenity. In turn, this makes one vulnerable to the Moon’s illusions, which gives way to fear and trepidation. But the individual may be rewarded with a bright future by the Sun, which signifies true achievement. Judgement awaits the individual at the journey’s end when looking back on the path one has traveled. The final card is the Universe, which represents the individual reaching full awareness.

“And that’s the growth of an individual as explained by the tarot cards,” Mr. Edogawa said, bringing his lecture to a close. “Perhaps all this talk about life doesn’t hit home with you young folks just yet, hm? Eeeheehee...” The man had no clue how useful he had been to Aigis. In truth, the priority of seeking out the meaning of each individual Arcana had not been particularly high for her, and she had been focusing on other tasks, particularly making up for her lack of first-year high school education and increasing her fluency in French in order to read the note attached to the fashion clubroom’s door. Thanks to the nurse, however, she now knew the meaning of all the Major Arcana cards. The Minor Arcana were irrelevant, as they were the cards that appeared in Shuffle Time alongside the Personas, and had much more literal meanings and functions.

She would have to analyze her current bonds in more detail now that she knew what they signified. Especially the bonds with Ikutsuki and Pharos, which had respectively manifested as Tower and Death. The boy’s link was not a surprise, considering what he really was, but seeing it as a transitional period where the old became the new... It gave her confidence in her plan to reform the boy from his monstrous nature.

The Tower, however...

“Don’t tell me you were dosing off too, Aigis...” the android heard Yukari say, which made her refocus on the world around her. The brunette was standing in front of Aigis’s table with her arms crossed. Most other students had left the class, and Mr. Edogawa was nowhere to be seen. Makoto and Junpei continued to sleep. “I thought you were paying attention at least,” the pink-clad girl continued.

Pink was the color of sunlight at dawn, Aigis recalled. It fit Yukari, she decided. “I was not in standby mode, Yukari-san. I can assure you that I listened to Edogawa-sensei’s lecture with utmost attention.”

“Thank goodness. Somebody needs to listen to his lectures, and it sure isn’t gonna be me. The way he’s taking over classes, he’s definitely going to take exams no matter what the curriculum says.” She then walked up to Junpei, and slapped him upside the head. “Wake up, Stupei, class ended five minutes ago.”

As Junpei yelled in protest to his rude awakening, Aigis moved towards Makoto, aiming to rouse him in a more... humane fashion. She shook his shoulder gently. “Makoto-san? School is over for the day. We must leave.” He did not react. She leaned down to look at his face, and shook him with more force than before. “Makoto-san? Please wake up.”

Makoto’s eyelids twitched. “Mmm... Five more minutes...” he mumbled, before turning his head away.

“Very well.” Aigis rose to her full height and set a timer for five minutes from then.

“Don’t just give in like that!” Yukari exclaimed, before lightly kicking Makoto’s chair. “Wake up, sleepyhead! We’re not gonna wait here for you.”

“I would wait for Makoto-san,” Aigis said, because it was true.

“Don’t encourage him!!” Yukari whispered in an agitated tone. Raising her voice, she continued, “Oh no, the takoyaki stand said it’s closing early today! If we don’t hurry, we’ll miss the last batch! How horrible!”

Makoto got up so fast that his knees hit the desk. “Shit, the takoyaki...” he said, sounding fully aware despite the evidence pointing to the contrary.

“That was quite effective,” Aigis said. She would remember this strategy for later usage.

“He eats those things like they’re the last edible thing left on the planet,” the brunette said. “Of course he’ll react like this. Do you know how many dishes he’s got in the fridge full of them?”

“Yeah!” Junpei added. “That’s the whole reason I picked one of ‘em when I first came to the dorm! There was like, seven others in there!”

“That’s not an excuse, Stupei. If the food’s labeled, it’s off-limits.”

“Hey, maybe I’m illiterate! What then, huh?”

Yukari rolled her eyes. “You might as well be, with how I’ve never seen you read...”

“I read! A lot!” Junpei seemed to not notice how he had immediately contradicted his own argument. Regardless, neither of the two seemed to care about that.

“Name three books you’ve read,” Yukari said. Junpei began to grin, but the brunette was not finished. “Coursebooks don’t count.” Junpei’s half-grin froze on his face. “Manga doesn’t count either.” The frozen grin melted like ice cream left in the sun.

“Uhh... 1984 by George Orwell...”

Yukari’s eyes widened. “Okay, I didn’t expect that. Wow. Go on.”

“Umm... I got nothing,” Junpei sighed.

“Of course...” the pink-clad girl put a hand to her forehead and crossed another over her chest. “Even then, 1984? Damn.”

“Yukari, can you get me takoyaki today? I can’t make it. I’ll pay you back,” Makoto said, having packed his bag and now standing next to his chair.

“Uh, I was joking about the stand closing early. Why can’t you make it, though? We’re leaving right now.”

“I’m not. I have track practice.”

A weighted silence fell over the quartet. Everyone stared at Makoto, disbelieving of what he had just said.

“You... have track practice?” Junpei said, the first to recover.

“Yeah. Can’t miss it.”

“When did you start doing track?” Yukari asked, eyes still wide.

“The Monday after we killed the big Shadow.”

“So for around two weeks?!” the brunette exclaimed. “How are we just learning of this now?!”

“I hope you place well in the meets, Makoto-san,” Aigis said. We should not be questioning him. We should be celebrating this decision.

“Thanks, Aigis,” he said with a light grin. “Okay, I gotta go. Don’t wait up for me.” He then dashed out of the class, likely in the direction of the gymnasium. His departure made Aigis realize that Mr. Edogawa had never explained the meaning behind the Aeon Arcana. Curious. She would have to look into that as soon as possible.

“Seriously, how didn’t we notice?” Yukari asked, still in disbelief.

“I mean, I just thought he wanted some alone time when he didn’t come back with us,” Junpei said thoughtfully. “Dude values his space, and living in a dorm ain’t easy. Didn’t expect track in a million years, though. Ain’t we doing enough running in Tartarus?”

At that moment, Aigis’s alarm ping blared out of her vocalizer, making Yukari and Junpei jump in surprise and cover their ears. “My apologies,” she said as she disabled it.

“Jeez, that’s loud... You actually set an alarm to wake him up five minutes later?” the brunette asked.

“Yes. It is what he told me to do.”

“That sound would’ve raised the dead, Ai-chan...” Junpei said with a grimace as he cleaned his ear with his little finger. “I dunno if I’d prefer waking up to that or to Yuka-tan’s smacks.”

Yukari smacked him in the back of the head once more in response. “Hey! What was that for?!” he angrily asked.

“No special reason. Okay, let’s get outta here before Edogawa-sensei decides he wants to do another lecture for anyone still in the class after hours.”

As the trio left the school, Aigis wondered if she would ever be allowed to explore the city alone. No one had forbidden her from doing so, but everyone seemed to expect her to not wander off on her own regardless. “Yukari-san, do you believe I can spend time on my own after school, as Makoto-san does?” she asked.

“Why wouldn’t you?” Yukari replied lightly. “I mean, when you join the fashion club, none of us is gonna be there, so you’ll be on your own. Still, you should probably tell Kirijo-senpai you wanna go out alone before you do it. She’ll get worried and stuff.”

She had a point. Perhaps her time with SEES was to be far less restrictive than her time with Strega.

Still, the entire reason she had asked this was to check up on her old companions, and Aigis did not know what that said about her. She did not wish to go back to living with them, she knew that much, but she still had to mend what she had broken the day she left. Her bond with Jin was in jeopardy, and despite Igor’s constant reassuring, she had not stopped feeling its burden. She had to fix it.

The back alley behind Port Island Station would be a good place to start. Not today, however. She had been counting on reviewing French during Mr. Edogawa’s lesson, and now had to make up for lost time. Going out could wait for another day.

Chapter Text

A high-pitched, drawling, prissy voice. “Why do you even bother with Yamagishi, Natsuki?”

A deeper voice, perpetually bored, moody. The ringleader. “What, like you don’t think it’s the funniest shit ever when we fuck with her and she begs for forgiveness afterwards, like she bothered us?”

This one was quiet. Hanging with the wrong crowd. Wracked with guilt. “I mean, yeah, but if I’m being real, it’s gettin’ old. She’s so predictable, y’know?”

“Predictable’s safe. Long as we mess with her and just her, the teachers stay off our backs. She doesn’t tattle, she just takes it. Better to keep it on her.”

Scum, all of them, Shinjiro Aragaki thought as he leaned on the chain link fence and crossed his arms.

If Shinjiro had been born a girl, he’d have intervened ages ago. But then again, if he was a girl, he wouldn’t have been skipping school the way he was now. He’d probably still live at the dorm too, having Aki wipe away his tears when the nightmares got too bad and letting Mitsuru buy useless shit for him to wash it all away.

Nah, fuck that. This is how it should be. If he stepped in, he’d just make it worse for whoever Yamagishi was. He didn’t even know the girl.

Plus, he wouldn’t even be here if he wasn’t scum too.

He tuned out of the girls’ conversation, and slid his hands in his trench coat’s pockets. His hand brushed on his pill box. Those fuckers better show up tonight if they know what’s good for them. I’m almost out. He didn’t know how Strega kept getting their hands on the suppressant pills, but long as they shared with him, he’d keep his mouth shut about their nightly escapades.

Just another sin on the tally mark, right? At least it wasn’t worse than actual murder.

Shinjiro coughed, and immediately knew what was coming. A cacophony of hacks, coughs, and spittle that always ended with shivers racking his body head to toe. He pulled his beanie lower. Getting worse. Fuck.

He knew what the Persona suppressants did to his body. He’d seen the blue-haired Strega kid go from t-shirts in the summer to never taking off his green jacket, even under the dead heat of high noon. That stupid shirtless one still didn’t wear a damn thing on his torso, but the slightest breeze made him shiver, and no matter how good he was at hiding it, Shinjiro always saw it happen. That was the entire reason he’d still kept the wine-red trench coat Mitsuru had bought for him. He remembered it like it was yesterday; it was his first birthday after moving into the dorm, and she’d gotten the wrong size. “Y-you’ll grow into it, right?” she’d said, and Aki had laughed and responded, “If I don’t grow into it first!”

Well, he sure as hell had grown into it now. He couldn’t live without the damn thing.

The shivering finally stopped, and he looked up. The girls were staring at him, so he glared at them. They yelped and looked away, before getting back to whatever inane shit they were talking about before he became the center of attention at the shittiest back alley of Tatsumi Port Island.

Soon after, though, someone new walked in the alleyway, and if being new wasn’t enough to turn heads, her head of blonde hair and the look of absolute naivete on her face would’ve done the trick. She was even holding her school bag with both hands in front of her skirt, like some kind of stereotypical good girl. Shinjiro lowered his head; Her funeral. The girl stood at the entrance of the alleyway, took her sweet time looking around the whole place, and then addressed the trio of girls.

“Hello and good day,” she said. “I would like to inquire about a group of people frequenting this area.”

Soft, polite, without any inflictions. Impersonal. He knew that voice. Where had he heard that voice? And who the hell came to a place like this looking for people while wearing a goddamned school uniform?

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the angel of 2-F,” the ginger ringleader said. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Ah, are you Gekkoukan students? I did not realize. How fortunate.”

“Oh, she doesn’t think we’d go to her school, girls. She’s just too good for people like us, isn’t she?”

The black-haired one with the ponytail, the prissy one, decided to pile it on. “You know, ever since you showed up, you’re all the boys have been talking about. Oh, that girl from 2-F is so pretty... Is she foreign? She’s so cool and mysterious, I wonder what’s her deal... You’ve completely messed up the routine, you know.”

The blonde didn’t even raise an eyebrow. “My apologies. What could I do to turn the situation into a more favorable one for you?”

Was she completely fucking braindead? There was one of her and three of them. She didn’t look particularly sporty either. It wasn’t going to be pretty, and Shinjiro wondered if he should step in.

“Well, for one, you could go back to wherever the hell you came from!” Natsuki jabbed at the blonde’s chest with her index finger. The blonde did not move; she didn’t even stumble back. The ginger frowned, and pushed the other girl harder with her full hand, and when that didn’t work, she pulled it back and slammed it into her chest. The newcomer didn’t flinch, but Natsuki did. Hardier than she looks... “Ow! The hell...? You wearing armor under that or some shit?” she said, shaking her hand as if in pain. Armor?

“I do not seek conflict. I am only here for information.”

“Y-you picked the wrong place, then!” Guess the shy one grew some spine.

“I do not comprehend. This is the perfect location to find the information I seek.”

“I do not comprehend” ...

Fuck. Now he remembered. She was Strega’s robot girl. Ai-something. Always tagged along in the back and didn’t say a word unless someone told her to. They never said where they’d gotten her from, but Shinjiro had his ideas. He knew the Kirijos did way more shit than experiment on people and make magic toy guns. Still, he didn’t think they could make a robot that could carry a conversation, even if she was doing a really shitty job at it.

But what was she doing in a Gekkou High uniform? Did SEES find her? She was there the last time Strega gave him his meds, so when could that have happened?

He’d have to get her out of her jam first before he could get his answers. He cleared his throat loudly. That got the blonde’s attention, and her eyes glowed with recognition. Literally. “Ah. It is you, Aragaki-san. Hello.”

“You... you know him?” Natsuki asked, her voice trembling.

“Yes. I have now realized that he is a far better source of information than you three. Pardon me.”

As the robot girl walked to him, Shinjiro glared at the bullies again. “You three should probably get home. This ain’t a safe place for girls after dark.” It wasn’t even close to sunset. It was corny as hell for him to say, but it’d get the girls to fuck off and give them some privacy.

As the trio quickly removed themselves from the back alley, he turned to his new audience. “It’s you. The robot girl.”

The blonde’s face stayed neutral. No smile for seeing someone familiar, no fear of her secret spreading, nothing. Can she even feel? “Yes, Aragaki-san. It is good to see you. I apologize for not carrying Persona suppressant pills with me.”

Did she think he was just ‘the pill guy’? “What’re you doing in a Gekkoukan uniform? Those idiots sending you to school or some shit?”

“Ah. No, I am no longer with Strega. That is why I am here. I wish to speak with them.”

“Why not just go to where they live? You lived with ‘em, didn’t you?”

“We have multiple safehouses all across the island. It would be far too time-consuming to check every single one, Aragaki-san. However, they do frequent this location from time to time, so I was hoping someone here would have information. It is most fortunate for me that you are here.” That was way more words than he’d expected her to ever be able to string together in one go.

“If you ain’t with them, then who’s sending you to school?” Only one real guess there, but he wanted to hear it from her.

“I am not entirely certain if I am at liberty to inform you of their identity, Aragaki-san. Despite your awareness of the Dark Hour and possession of a Persona, you are still a civilian.”

Shinjiro sighed. “So you’re with Mitsuru and Aki. Fuckin’ wonderful.”

The robot girl blinked, and Shinjiro could practically see the gears turning in her head. Gears. Heh. “I comprehend. You were the third founding member of SEES that departed for reasons undisclosed to the current team.”

Wait, what? “Current team? There’s more?”

“Yes. In addition to myself, there are three other new recruits. We have successfully climbed to the twentieth floor of Tartarus thanks to our manpower. I believe your assistance would greatly increase our efficiency.”

Twenty floors? Back then they didn’t even make it past floor five. The greenhorns have gotta be real beasts at combat. Aki never mentioned any of this. “If you’ve made it that far, you don’t need me. I haven’t summoned in two years.”

“I had not summoned for ten years before joining SEES.” The robot has a fucking Persona? The shit? “I have reintegrated myself into a comfortable combat routine in less than a month. You could do the same, provided you stop taking your suppressant pills immediately.” She was way too fucking stone-faced for a girl. Didn’t seem to understand subtle refusals either.

Fine. Blunt it is. “You ain’t here to drag me back, and I ain’t coming back anyway.”

The robot girl blinked. She hadn’t blinked for a solid thirty seconds. Fuck, that’s creepy. “Ah. Do you have any information on Strega’s current whereabouts, then?”

“I’m not their buddy, girl. But they’re due to give me my pills tonight, so you could stick around if you want.” If they showed up, anyway.

“I am uncertain if I am allowed to stay out on my own until the Dark Hour. I should ask Mitsuru-san.” She then got a cell phone out of her skirt pocket and flipped it open, likely to call Mitsuru.

“You told them about Strega at all?”

The robot girl paused. “No, I have not. Ikutsuki-san’s actions implied I should not do so.”

Wasn’t that a loaded sentence. “Then what are you gonna say to her?” The android went quiet. Obviously, she hadn’t thought it through.

Shinjiro sighed, closing his eyes. “Gimme your phone. I’ll call her.” The girl did so with no questions. He moved to the contacts screen, and found a few names; ‘Makoto Yuki’, ‘Yukari Takeba’, ‘Junpei Iori’, and of course, ‘Akihiko Sanada’ and ‘Mitsuru Kirijo’. “You write everybody’s full names in your contacts?”

“Yes. Is that wrong?”

“Nah. Whatever.” It just lacks any and all personality. Then again, you’re a robot, so it’s probably on par with the course. He dialed Mitsuru’s number and put the phone to his ear.

It didn’t even take two beeps for her to pick up, and she sounded worried when she spoke. “Aigis? Is something wrong?” Aigis. That was her name. Right.

All of a sudden, he realized what he’d agreed to do. Talk to Mitsuru after months of radio silence, with Aki’s second-hand news being her only source of info about him. And he was doing it so that a robot girl could talk to some murderers. What the fuck even is my life? “Hey, Mitsuru,” was all he could say.

“Sh-shinji?! What— how— What are you doing with Aigis’s phone?”

“Ran into her on the street.” He needed a good lie. He had not thought any of this through. How did you even lie to Mitsuru? “She... wanted someone to show her around town.”

“Ah... it... it is her first time going out alone... Was she lost?”

“I found her near the station, so she could probably get back whenever she wanted, but she didn’t know where to go from there. I’m gonna show her around, tell her where to not go and shit.” This was a terrible lie. God, this wasn’t going to work.

He could practically hear Mitsuru’s eyes widen as she talked. “That is... very nice of you, Shinjiro.” Back to Shinjiro, huh? “You... are aware of her nature, yes?”

“Yeah.” Can’t say I knew beforehand. They don’t know about Strega. “She... recognized me from some stuff Aki had told her. Assumed it was okay if I knew. Plus, you did just tell me it was ‘her first time going out alone’.”

“O-oh. Yes, you’re right. I hope it’s not too much trouble. I can send Akihiko to—”

“Don’t send Aki. If she wanted to go out with Aki, she’d tell him, yeah?”

“I... I see. After all, you are a stranger to her, even if there’s some association. How long will she be?”

He glanced at Aigis, whose expression had changed to one of immense focus. “Probably past the Dark Hour. She wants to see practically fuckin’ everywhere. That’ll take a while.”

“Are you sure, Shinjiro? This sounds like far too much trouble—”

“I didn’t have to say yes in the first place, Mitsuru. This call is just to let you know.”

Mitsuru laughed. Why the hell is she laughing? “Of course you didn’t have to. Thank you for helping her.”

“Right place, right time, Mitsuru. This ain’t gonna be a thing.”

Her tone was still annoyingly bright. “Of course it won’t. By the way, your room is still here. We haven’t touched anything. It’s still waiting for you.”

“I ain’t coming back,” he said, and hung up. Better to nip that in the bud before she starts getting ideas.

“Shinjiro-san,” Aigis said.

“Why the first name all of a sudden?”

“I did not know your first name before. Does that offend you?”

“...I don’t really care. What is it?”

“That was quite possibly the worst lie I have ever seen told. I have observed many lies that were badly put together in my time with Strega, but none were so poorly constructed as the fable you weaved for Mitsuru-san just now.”

“I’m not taking shit from you. You didn’t even know those girls were bullying you.”

“I did. I also possess many weapons and a sturdy chassis. They could not hurt me in any way that mattered.” Shinjiro frowned. Fair enough, I guess... The robot girl went on, “My question is, how did your terrible lie work on someone as smart as Mitsuru-san?”

A robot wouldn’t give a shit about how good my lie was. It wouldn’t ask me how it worked. A robot wouldn’t be left on its own to explore the city without supervision. A robot would’ve blown those girls to pieces at the first sign of hostility. No way Mitsuru and Aki haven’t figured it out by now.

She’s more than just a robot. Way, way more. And she’s way too innocent for this shit. Does she even know how dangerous Strega really is? Does she understand what SEES has gotten her out of?

Does she want to go back?

Shinjiro decided, right there and then, that he would not be letting Aigis go back to Strega. Not unless it was over his dead body.

Then, he remembered that he owed her an answer. “It worked ‘cause she didn’t want to question it. She didn’t want to think about how I was calling her out of the blue on your phone of all things, just hearing my voice shocked the hell out of her. She would’ve believed it if I told her me and you were running away to join the freakin’ circus. Circumstances lined up just right for this; it won’t work a second time.”

The robot girl blinked softly. It wasn’t any different from how she blinked before, but he could... he could feel the softness, now that he knew what she really was. “I comprehend. Thank you, Shinjiro-san,” she said.

Shinjiro looked away. “I didn’t do shi—nothing.”

“You do not need to censor yourself. I have a large catalogue of swear words in my data banks.” Right, she lived with Strega. That jacket kid swears like a fuckin’ sailor.

The boy grunted. Still. It doesn’t feel right. “I know. Just trying to clean up my language.”

“Ah. I comprehend.” After a few seconds of silence, Aigis continued, “I am most grateful for your assistance, Shinjiro-san. I will see you at the Dark Hour,” and turned to leave the alley.

Shinjiro reached forward and grabbed her arm. It was cold, hard, and pronounced under the school jacket. “Hey, where do you think you’re going?”

Aigis’s head turned to face him. “To explore the city as I wait. I wish to increase my knowledge on the layout. Your lie to Mitsuru-san did unknowingly contain grains of truth; that is indeed part of why I am out alone.”

Shinjiro let go of her arm and slid his hands in his pockets. “Well, I’m gonna make it even more truthful. I’ll show you around.”

Aigis’s eyes widened. So she’s got a whole range of expressions. “Will that not take up much of your time?”

“Don’t got anything better to do. Come on.” With his luck, if he left her to explore alone, she’d end up in one of Shirakawa Boulevard’s love hotels, and Mitsuru’d have his hide for that.

As they left the back alley, Aigis said, “Thank you, Shinjiro-san,” and she sounded like she was begrudgingly agreeing to Shinjiro offering to walk over hot coals barefoot so that she could live one more day.

Well, fuck. I ain’t made of stone. “It’s no problem. Seriously. Happy to help and stuff. Don’t worry about it.” He wasn’t blushing. He wasn’t.

Angel of 2-F. Yeah, that sounds about right. But why would an angel go lookin’ for the company of demons?

-------------------------

Shinjiro Aragaki was an enigma too entangled for her to comprehend. This was Aigis’s conclusion after spending several hours with him around town.

A rude delinquent with a threatening image and uncaring of societal expectations regarding how men should treat women, who spent his time in unseemly areas of town, was homeless by choice, and skipped school constantly. He was the perfect image of everything society as a whole shunned.

And yet he was also a founding member of a group formed to guard society from supernatural beasts aiming to end all life, enjoyed the friendship of two of the most caring people Aigis had known so far, agreed readily to spending his entire day with a complete stranger and lied to one of said longtime friends for their sake, and seemed to have a fondness for small animals the way every stray cat seemed to recognize him instantly, rubbing against his legs and demanding food he did not have yet repeatedly promised.

He was also a murderer, but that was largely irrelevant. Murderers differed greatly from one another, as she had seen firsthand with Strega. Still, neither of the three killers she knew beforehand were this contradictory, nor was Aigis herself that way.

The android did not understand how one man could contain such clashing facets. She was used to filing humans under certain rudimentary categories that seemed to encompass most if not all sides of their personality, but Shinjiro Aragaki refused to be categorized with the same level of passion that he rejected any form of help with. He did not even allow Aigis to help him up the stairs at the train station; she noticed him gripping the railings with more force than necessary and offered her shoulder for him to lean on, but he took offense to this action and began going up the stairs two at a time to prove he was fine. He went into a coughing fit afterwards, yet only took the cup of water Aigis brought to him after she calculated how long he had gone without a drink and informed him of the number.

He took offense to everything Aigis did to assist him, and yet at the same time she understood that she had made courteous and respectful decisions at every turn. She was considering insults and degradation as an alternative method of interaction, but could not bring herself to do so.

After all, the man fed stray cats. In the past month, Aigis had decided that cats were one of the most wondrous creatures on earth. She liked them very much due to their inverted size-to-cuteness ratio, which she found most fascinating. The android had slowly filled a data bank dedicated to pictures and videos of not just cats she observed around town, but many others she saw on the internet.

As they sat opposite of one another in Wilduck Burger for Shinjiro to have his dinner, Aigis wondered if the man would appreciate cat videos as she did. Sadly, she did not have any saved on her phone due to having the ability to replay them in her mind at will. She would have to download some to the device if she wanted to show them to the trench coat-clad man.

She pulled out her phone and turned on its Bluetooth function, in addition to her own built-in Bluetooth chip. It attracted Shinjiro’s attention, and the man put his half-eaten burger back on the tray. “You calling someone?”

“No. I am transferring some files from my internal memory to my cell phone. Please give me a moment, as I must show you something important.”

“...Okay?” The man crossed his arms and waited patiently, with no scowl or even a frown marring his face. Aigis did not think he would be a patient man. She added that to his list of personality contradictions.

The phone’s storage was pathetically tiny, so she only succeeded in transferring one clip, which she would have to delete later if the low space warnings were anything to go off of. Aigis opened the gallery, and then tapped on Shinjiro’s shoulder to grab his attention.

“What is it?” the man said, leaning forward over the table to look at the phone’s screen. Aigis pressed play, and a video played out, showing a woman’s hands holding a remarkably small kitten and shaking it in the air in a way that implied it was dancing. The kitten had a look of mild amusement on its face, as if it knew it was adorable and demanded worship from the masses for being that way. As the video played, Aigis looked at Shinjiro’s face to gauge his reaction.

His eyes had widened, and his mouth stood agape before he closed it and blinked rapidly, focusing on the bouncing kitten like nothing else existed in the world. Sadly, the video was not very long, and once it ended, Shinjiro took a few moments to compose himself.

Clearing his throat, he finally said, “That... that was cute.”

Aigis felt glad; she had finally made a right move. “Yes. I agree,” she said, flipping her phone shut.

“I didn’t think you’d like cat videos. Then again, it’s not that surprising.”

“How so?”

“Girls like cats.”

Aigis did not see the correlation, so she changed the topic. “Where to next, Shinjiro-san? We are not far from Shirakawa Boulevard, could that be our next destina—”

“We’re not going to Shirakawa,” the man interrupted, his face flushed. “Don’t go to Shirakawa. Seriously.” He picked up his burger once more and took a rather large bite out of it.

“I do not comprehend. Are you objecting to this because of the love hotels present in the area?” Shinjiro choked on his food, breaking into a coughing fit that he attempted to soothe with a gulp of soda. Aigis went on, “I cannot make use of the love hotels, due to being an android. They are not a questionable place for me to be in. Why would you object?”

His face still red, Shinjiro replied, “Because we’re not going there, and that’s final. You’re way too freaking casual about this kinda stuff.”

“I cannot engage in sexual intercourse. Why would it be taboo for me to speak of it?”

“Because you’re a girl. Girls don’t talk about stuff like that with boys, not the way you do.”

That point again. “I am an android,” Aigis affirmed. She was surprised that the man insisted otherwise; he had referred to her as a robot before she had even said anything pointing to her nature.

Shinjiro scowled at her. “You’re a girl too. One doesn’t cancel out the other.”

Aigis blinked. “Does it not? I am clearly not human.”

“Human enough to me. I’ve seen people less human than you are.”

What did that even mean? Had he met cyborgs? Slaves? Mind-controlled individuals? Apathy Syndrome patients? “I do not comprehend.”

Shinjiro sighed. “I’m not good at this. Talk to Mitsuru or Aki or whoever. But why do you think they’re sending you to school if you’re not human?”

“Mitsuru-san stated SEES wished to teach me how to live. They believe me to be an autonomous being capable of thoughts and emotions, and thus work towards integrating me into human society. Regardless, this does not make me human.”

“Then what the hell does? A flesh and blood body? Is that your whole problem?”

“That, and the fact that I am not autonomous. I only possess a sense of self because Mitsuru-san ordered me to not view myself as a weapon. If I were to reject this notion, I would be regarded as a faulty weapon incapable of fulfilling its purpose, and be worthy of permanent decommissioning.”

Shinjiro frowned. “That really how you see yourself?”

“What else would I see myself as?”

“If you think your order’s a lie, why are you agreeing to it?”

“To silence my processors. They demand decommissioning repeatedly if the order is not at the highest possible priority.”

The man’s eyes rose high enough to hide his eyebrows under his beanie. “Shit. You want to off yourself?”

“My processors demand it of me. It is detrimental to my purpose, so I reject them by any means necessary, even if it is by lying to myself.”

Shinjiro took off his beanie and ran his hands through his shoulder-length brown hair. “What the fuck do I even say to that...” he muttered to himself.

“I am already telling myself enough lies, Shinjiro-san. You do not need to add on to them,” she reassured him. “My function remains unaffected, so you do not need to do anything, nor does anyone else.”

The man took a deep breath, and put his beanie back on, rising from his seat. “Let’s go. We’re getting out of here.”

“Are you not finishing your meal?”

He put the burger back inside its plastic container and put that in his coat’s pocket. “I’ll save it for tomorrow. Come on.”

As they exited the restaurant, Aigis’s phone rang. She saw Mitsuru’s name as the caller, but before she could answer, Shinjiro snatched it from her hand and answered in her stead. “Hey, Mitsuru. No, she’s fine, I just answered for her. We’re okay. No, we won’t make it back before the Hour, there’s still a few places left. No, Mitsuru, it’s no problem. I’m not—” He hung up without finishing the sentence and shoved the phone back in Aigis’s hand before storming off. The android silently followed him.

The rest of the walk passed in silence. Aigis found that she was not happy about that. She had immediately nullified the cat video’s effects by talking about herself. She decided that she would cease talking about how she viewed herself as to not ruin otherwise pleasant conversations.

On the train, Aigis deleted the first cat video and uploaded a second one to her phone to show to the man and smooth over the situation. Shinjiro did not respond to her attempts to garner his attention, however, so she returned the phone to her pocket.

If Shinjiro had a bond with me, it would surely be reversed now.

They entered the back alley just as the Dark Hour settled over the world and drowned out the hustle and bustle of midnight life in a surge of green and red. Shinjiro sat down on a pile of plastic crates, and sighed loudly. The android decided to stand next to him and wait as well.

Surprisingly, despite his silence on their way here, it did not take long for Shinjiro to speak. “Look... If everyone around you says you’re not a weapon, what makes you think you are?”

“The various artillery built into my body. My title as an Anti-Shadow Suppression Wea—” She was not to refer to herself as a weapon. “—Machine. The purpose programmed into me. What I do during the Dark Hour.”

“Okay, so if we take out all of your artillery, don’t send you to Tartarus, rebrand your whole line of robots, and code out that purpose, what’s left?”

Aigis searched her mind for an answer to that. She found none. “Nothing would be left.”

“That’s not true. You know what’d really be left? A girl that goes to school and offsets the entire social dynamics by being really goddamned pretty, and doesn’t give a damn that she did. A girl that likes cats and has a zillion cat videos saved in her brain. A girl that isn’t afraid to tell a guy like me that his lies fucking suck. That’s what would be left.”

“That is...” Wrong? It was not. She had done all he had said, and more. Illogical? It was not. Those things would be left if her purpose was taken away. “...Not enough.”

“Not enough to be alive? Not enough to count as human? That’s bullcrap. That’s exactly what being human is.”

“...What?”

Shinjiro crossed his legs and linked his hands over the knee on top. “Humans don’t have a coded purpose. They pick their own. Some people think they’re born to do something, but they’re idiots. No one’s born to do anything. We’re just alive ‘cause we’re alive, and we do whatever the hell we want until we finally kick it.” The man paused to catch his breath.

“Now you, you’re a special case,” he continued, pointing at Aigis. “You were literally born to do something. But you’re doing tons of stuff that isn’t that. Like, I don’t think anyone told you to start saving cat videos. You’re just doing that on your own. That’s something every human does too. You just don’t wanna accept that you’re like us because you insist you’re something else. Something you’re obviously not, because what weapon does the shit you do?”

His words... they made sense. But... but they could not possibly be true. “Surely being a human is not so frivolous...”

Shinjiro barked out a laugh. “Humanity isn’t a badge of honor, girl. It’s knowing you can choose to do shit, and taking responsibility for the shit you do. That’s all there is to it.”

And I chooseth this fate of mine own free will. She had signed that. She had been given a choice, she had made her call, and she was taking responsibility for it.

Was it truly that simple?

“Oh, please, Aragaki-san,” called a very familiar voice from the darkness at the alley’s entrance. “Don’t give a thesis on life to a creature born to take it.”

Takaya stepped out of the shadows and walked under the moonlight of the alleyway, looking no different than what Aigis remembered. Bare chest, long untied hair kept out of his face by a headband, tattoos running down both arms, and an unholstered gun hanging from his belt. Aigis scanned for other human presences, and found none. Jin was not present. She felt disappointed.

Shinjiro glared. “She was made to kill Shadows, not people.”

“And what makes Shadows so undeserving of life that they must be annihilated on sight? Just the fact that they kill humans? If so, then we should slaughter every mildly dangerous animal around the world. A life is a life, no matter what creature has it. After all, they all meet the same end.”

“Hilarious, a murderer saying all life is sacred. Who the hell are you to say what her purpose is? You weren’t born to kill but you do it anyway.”

“Were you born to kill, Aragaki-san? What makes you any better than me?” Shinjiro had no response, and resorted to gritting his teeth. Takaya turned to Aigis. “Hello, Aigis. It has been quite some time. I see you’ve gotten a new wardrobe, and a new friend.” He paused, putting a hand to his chin to mime thinking. “No, that wouldn’t be the right term. You can’t truly make friends. You did abandon people you knew for eight years the moment you were given a purpose, after all.”

Aigis did not reply. Distress alerts flooded her HUD for indeterminable reasons. The damage assessment system would need debugging. She filed a manual request for the resting station to recalibrate it after she returned to the dorm.

“And she made the right call,” Shinjiro growled. “She’s better off where she is.”

“You haven’t known her as long as I have, Aragaki-san; how would you know her more than I?” Takaya was not using ‘it’ to refer to her, Aigis noted. What had changed to make him do so? She wished she knew. “Still,” he went on. “it seems you’re quite informed about her living accommodations. Not that it matters to me, as we could’ve prevented her departure at any time, but it wouldn’t hurt to know. Call it... insurance. Would you be so kind as to tell me, Aragaki-san?”

“Fuck you.”

“Ah, an unwise decision, considering what I have in my possession.” The older man retrieved something from his pocket; it soon revealed itself to be a box of pills. “You do still need this, don’t you, Aragaki-san? That is, unless you wish to join me in my career? We always welcome fellow chosen to our ranks.”

Shinjiro exhaled forcefully, and his glare deepened. He needed the pills, and Takaya would not give them to him if he remained unaware of Aigis’s current housing situation.

There was only one choice, and she would have to deal with its consequences when they arose on her own.

“I am currently housed at the Iwatodai student dormitories dedicated to Gekkoukan High students. Please give Shinjiro-san his pills, Takaya-san.”

“What the fuck?” Shinjiro said, eyes wide and tone baffled. “Why the hell did you tell him?”

“You require those pills, Shinjiro-san. You would not tell him, so I did. It is my choice, and I shall deal with the consequences.”

Shinjiro’s look of shock did not vanish, but some recognition leaked into it. Takaya did not seem to care; he was focused on something else entirely. “Most interesting, Aigis. This choice wasn’t related to your purpose, and yet you made it anyway... Perhaps your Persona is giving you a delusion of life. No matter.” He tossed the pill box at Shinjiro, who caught it effortlessly in mid-air. “Consider this a favor, Aragaki-san. You owe us quite a few thanks to our transactions with one another. Be mindful of that fact, yes?” He turned to leave the alleyway.

That would not do. Aigis came here to see Jin, not Takaya. “Takaya-san.”

The man stopped in his tracks and looked at her over his shoulder, but did not verbally respond. Aigis continued, “I wish to meet with Jin-san. Can you please inform him of this?”

Takaya narrowed his eyes. “...Very well. I cannot guarantee that he will meet you, but I will tell him. It’s up to him on whether he wants to speak with a talking gun.” He then vacated the premises, leaving Shinjiro and Aigis alone in the alleyway.

After a few moments of silence, the man spoke. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“It was my choice to do so.”

“Dammit, that’s not what I fucking meant when I said that,” Shinjiro sighed.

“I was under the belief that you wished to clean up your language, Shinjiro-san. You have sworn quite a few times since making that claim.”

That got a startled laugh out of him. “You just bring out that side of me, girl. You and your goddamned choices.” He got up from his crate seat. “Come on, I’ll take you back to the dorm.”

“I can find my own way, Shinjiro-san. There is no need for you to trouble yourself. Not to mention your inability to summon a Persona thanks to the pills...”

“Mitsuru thinks I’ve been watching over you the whole day. I can’t just send you back alone. Plus, you’re a badass, aren’t you? You’ll take care of me.”

At that point, Aigis finally understood that Shinjiro Aragaki was not as contradictory as he seemed. He merely wore a finely tuned mask to serve his purposes. A down-to-earth man wearing the blood-red garb of a killer and a monster. She would remember him for what he truly was. Brown was his true color, not crimson.

She would have to alter some of those purposes over time to make him remove his false coat of paint, that was all. Taking care of Shinjiro Aragaki was an easy addition to her to-do list.

“...That I will, Shinjiro-san.”

Chapter Text

Makoto’s lungs burned. Despite how hot his body was running, the trickles of sweat running down his face were ice-cold. His legs were moving involuntarily at this rate; all he could control was how fast he ran. And he was not planning on slowing down. This was life or death. He had to make it.

But he was too slow yet again.

“Aaaaaand time!” Yuko, the team manager, called out as she got up from her seat and walked towards the runners. “Good going, Kaz! First place again!”

The team gathered around Kazushi, who was drenched in sweat yet had the widest grin on his face. It was no surprise that he was to be the future captain of the team; he’d never lost a single race against the team since Makoto had joined, and from what he’d heard, that seemed to be the status quo.

Makoto had remembered the boy offering him to join the track team the day after Aigis broke down in Tartarus, and took him up on the offer around three weeks ago. He’d placed decently at the try-outs; apparently, despite the fact that he’d never really worked out before joining SEES, he was already in better shape than half the team. It wasn’t a surprise that the team was window-shopping for new recruits at every turn, and Kazushi himself was impressed enough with Makoto’s performance that he’d declared the boy his track rival.

Makoto didn’t really care about Kazushi’s ego, though. He was here to get faster, and it wasn’t working. He was still losing to the other boy at every turn, no matter how hard he tried. He moved away from the gathering around Kazushi to grab a bottle of water from the coolers.

“Hey, you did great too, Yuki-kun!” He turned. Yuko had walked up to him. She wasn’t a big fan of Makoto’s loner attitude and kept trying to include him among the others; him ignoring everyone was bad for the team’s camaraderie, apparently. He wasn’t going to change that, though. Track wasn’t life or death, and he was doing just fine in that kind of scenario already.

“I lost,” he replied, before taking a swig of his bottle.

“You beat everybody else though, right? Besides, these aren’t real races anyway.”

He wiped the wetness from his mouth. “That’s not enough.”

“I mean, not that I don’t appreciate your motivation, Yuki-kun, but don’t you think you’re being too hard on yourself?”

He looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“In your try-outs, you were doing all you could to not collapse on the floor after the race, and you’d placed... fifth? Sixth? Now you’re placing second and have enough breath to carry a conversation.”

Makoto didn’t reply. If I say ‘that’s not good enough’ again, she’ll probably get mad.

“I know, I know, that’s not good enough for you.” His eyes widened. “Still, progress doesn’t come in one day, Yuki-kun. You’re really doing great. Between you and me? I don’t think Kaz is going to keep his number one spot for much longer. By the next meet, I’m sure you’ll have him beat. Just... take it easy, okay?”

She returned to the rest of the team, leaving Makoto with the bottle in his hand, the thoughts swirling in his mind, and the sweat slicking his face.

He kept thinking as he left the school. It wasn’t like he was unaware of his improvements. He wasn’t blind. He was talking to more people, had more relationships than he’d ever had in any other school, and his physical condition was leaps and bounds above what it used to be.

But he was making up for ten years of not doing anything. If he hadn’t been neglecting himself, he would’ve been in a much better place now. He would’ve been fast enough to catch up to Aigis before she got hurt. He would’ve had enough tact and social skills to help her with navigating life. He wouldn’t be such a downer to everybody.

And he wasn’t doing nearly enough to make up for all of that. He still avoided his friends. He still ran out of energy in the last lap. And he’d noticed how Aigis was going to other people for support now. Yukari and Kirijo-senpai were usually all over her before Makoto could even find her alone somewhere. Even on the day she’d gone out to explore the city alone, she’d found a new friend who’d brought her back to the dorm late at night.

Even she’s given up on me. Then again, she never really counted on me anyway, right? Not like she needs me.

Even SEES didn’t need Makoto. His physicality was inferior to Yukari and Sanada-senpai, who’d been athletes for years. His Persona’s element was covered by not just Aigis’s versatile lineup of Personas, but Junpei’s Hermes, who also happened to be stronger than Orpheus. It was a wonder he hadn’t been left out of Tartarus exploration, but he had a feeling Junpei only brought him along out of pity sometimes. After all, every time they took a break, the leader constantly tried to get him to talk about little nothings, inane or perverted or stupid stuff that didn’t matter at all. If it wasn’t an extremely obvious attempt to get the wet blanket of the team to lighten up, Makoto would’ve called it fun, but Junpei was about as transparent as air.

Before he knew it, he was at Paulownia Mall. He didn’t know why he’d walked all the way there instead of just heading back to the dorm. Probably just autopilot from all the times I go to the CD shop. They don’t have new stock today, though. Not until next week. He sat on the bench in front of the fountain, not feeling like heading back just yet.

What even is the point, really? I’m ten years behind everybody else. I’m not gonna be enough no matter how hard I push myself. There’s people pushing themselves even harder than I am right now, despite the fact that they’re ahead of someone like me already. I’m not gonna catch up, so why bother?

He sighed, running his hands through his hair. Not like I got anything better to do, anyway. Might as well keep going until some Shadow gets the drop on me in Tartarus or something. That way, they won’t think I did it to myself. He put his earphones over his ears, listening to When the Moon’s Reaching Out Stars with the water’s sound as added ambience. It was a happy song, so maybe it could get him out of the dumps enough to give him energy to walk back home.

Home. He hadn’t had a home since... since the bridge. Not really, anyway. But the dorm... apparently it was close enough for him to call it that subconsciously. He guessed that was as much as he was going to get in this lifetime.

Looking around the mall, his eyes landed on the back alley under Mandragora, the same one Aigis claimed had an invisible door in it. Last time they came here together, he’d stood there for fifteen minutes straight as Aigis stared into the wall, before suddenly reactivating and thanking him for his patience, as if he’d done anything.

Was something actually there, or was it the most bizarre glitch any system could experience?

Might as well find out. He got up and walked under the overpass and into the alley. As expected, there was nothing there. He paused his music and removed his earphones. “Anyone here?” he called out. No response came.

Yeah, no shit. He sat down on the floor anyway, leaning against the wall. Maybe something will happen. I don’t know.

He stared at the wall, and stared, and stared, and...

A flick to his ear brought him out of unconsciousness. He looked up to see Yukari leaning down over him. “Huh...?” he said intelligently.

“What’re you doing here?” she asked, not unkindly. “Perfectly good bed back at the dorm and you choose this place to sleep?”

The boy got up, dusting off his pants. “It just happened. Tired from track.”

“Well, at any rate, it’s about to get dark, so we should head back. You shouldn’t make this a habit, though; if I didn’t notice you, you’d probably get left here overnight.”

“Not the worst fate in the world...” he muttered.

“Huh?”

“Nothing. Let’s go.”

As they left the mall, Makoto couldn’t help but notice how uncomfortable Yukari was; she kept rubbing her arms, opening her mouth before ‘tsk’ing and closing it right back, sneaking glances at him when she thought he wasn’t looking. “What’s eating you?” he asked, if only to put a stop to it.

“Wh-what? Nothing! I’m fine!”

“You’re not.”

“And I thought Junpei didn’t have tact...” she muttered. “It’s just...”

She didn’t continue. They kept walking, and ended up turning another corner before Yukari picked up the conversation again.

“I feel like I owe you, you know?”

Makoto couldn’t help but chuckle. “Hey, don’t laugh at me!” she bristled.

“What would you owe me for? I don’t do anything.”

“I read your file when you transferred in.”

“Okay.”

“What do you mean ‘okay’?! It’s a huge invasion of privacy!”

“Everybody knows I’m an orphan by now. There’s nothing else to know.”

“But you didn’t tell me that.”

“It doesn’t matter. You don’t owe me. If anything, I owe you. You’re the healer. Saved us more than I can count.”

“That...” Yukari rubbed her arm, looking away. “That doesn’t make up for it.”

“It does. I’m telling you that. Don’t stay hung up on it.”

Yukari didn’t reply. They kept walking, and at the next crosswalk, she picked the conversation back up again.

“You’re kind of dense, you know that?”

“Rude.”

She was unfazed. “Most people don’t react like you when a pretty girl says she owes them.”

“I’m not most people.”

“Yeah, I know that much.” She sighed. “You know... we’re kind of the same.”

“What, you get deadpan whenever a pretty girl says she owes you too?”

Yukari went beet red. “W-what?! No!”

Uh-huh. Sure. “Then what? I’m not popular like you. I don’t have a social life as active as you. I’m not as witty as you.”

“Oh, you’re plenty witty. But that’s not what I meant.” She took a deep breath. “I... I lost my dad too, a long time ago.”

Huh. He wouldn’t have guessed, if he was being honest. Then again, not every orphan got as pathetic as he did.

She went on, “He died in an accident when I was little, and ever since then, I haven’t exactly been on good terms with my mom, so... I know how it feels, to feel like you’ve got no one in your corner. Just... you’ve got me, okay? And it’s not over something as stupid as pity. I just don’t want you to be alone.”

“...Thanks, Yukari,” he said, because he had nothing else to say. “You might be the only one who doesn’t do it out of pity.” Apart from Aigis, but... that’s different. She doesn’t even know what pity is. It doesn’t count.

Yukari’s brows furrowed. “Hey, no one else in the team is pitying you either! At least, I know Junpei isn’t. He doesn’t even know you’re an orphan.”

“I thought the whole school knew by now.”

“He... doesn’t pay much attention to gossip,” she chuckled. “But seriously. If you think he’s hanging out with you because he sees you as a charity case, he really isn’t. He doesn’t care about that kind of stuff. I don’t think his brain has enough mileage for that, honestly.”

“He keeps taking me to Tartarus when I’m the weakest link in the team. Looks like pity to me.”

“No, silly. He keeps taking you and me and Aigis because Sanada-senpai is a senior and he thinks seniors are stuffy and lame and unfun. Though, honestly, if he could take Kirijo-senpai, he probably would, just so he could perv at her during battle.”

“Sorry I don’t have boobs bigger than my face, I guess.”

“What?!” Yukari screeched.

“They’re bigger than her face. Junpei told me, and I haven’t been able to stop noticing it.”

“Oh my god. I take it all back. I’m never hanging out with you ever again. You’re just as bad as Stupei.” She slapped him on the arm lightly. “Be ashamed of yourself!”

He laughed. “Stop that! You complete and total pervert!” He laughed again, louder. “God, I’m never getting it out of my head now...”

Can’t imagine why. “Confirm it when we get back. It’s actually true.”

“Shut up! Please!”

His smile was still on his face when they got back home. As Junpei loudly greeted them, Makoto felt glad to see him, and was happy to be there.

Maybe pity wasn’t all he was destined to receive. Maybe the race of life wasn’t a solo act, and others could give him a helping hand and get him to catch up.

Maybe he had more than he thought he did.

-------------------------

It was Sunday, and as Aigis exited standby mode, she consulted her to-do list and found no pressing matters.

That is odd. Surely there is something I can do to be productive. She brought up her to-do list. Ask for a mirror to be installed in my room. That had already happened. Now she could look at herself wearing any of her two outfits and not need a simulation to do so. Increase my understanding of French in order to join the fashion club. She had successfully read the note on the door, but it said the club was not recruiting until after the midterms. Visit the Velvet Room to learn the secrets of Fusion and the Arcana. She already knew them. She had even looked up the meaning of the Aeon Arcana, and learned that it was a replacement for the Judgement card in certain deck variants. Perhaps its rarity lied in the way it had manifested. Return to Tartarus exploration as soon as possible. She was firmly integrated into SEES’s Tartarus visit routines, and had not been taken off the team even once. Besides, it was broad daylight now. Speak with Strega. She had done so. Jin seemingly did not wish to speak with her, and that was his choice.

Most of her core directives were actions she was passively working on at all times, like keeping Death inside of her or working on Makoto’s apathy. And in regards to strengthening her bonds... Their intensity remained unchanged no matter how many times she accepted Yukari’s offer to go to Chagall, or held up cushions for Akihiko’s boxing training. She had even played games at the arcade with Junpei several times, but had not managed to establish a bond with him at all, let alone strengthen it. It was incomprehensible to her, and so she had decided to put it off until she reached a breakthrough.

The only task remaining on the list was watching Phoenix Ranger Featherman R from beginning to end, but that was something added on a whim. It was frivolous and pointless. It was not productive. It was not truly a task.

She thought about studying for the midterms, but every single thing taught in school was already firmly integrated in her permanent data banks, and she had caught up on first-year material as well.

What was she going to do with an entire day if she had no tasks to accomplish?

She decided to ask the other members of SEES. Perhaps they would have an order for her. Putting on her blue dress, Aigis left her room and headed down to the lounge. Makoto was present, eating takoyaki for breakfast. He raised his head when he heard her descending down the stairs.

“Hello and good day, Makoto-san. I do not believe takoyaki constitutes as breakfast food.”

Swallowing his mouthful of the meal, Makoto replied, “Good morning, Aigis. There’s no such thing as breakfast food. Eat what you want when you want.”

“Still, you could stand to eat healthier.” Perhaps that could be her task for the day: cooking.

“Don’t wanna,” he said, with his mouth full. Cooking was not an option, then. Aigis took a seat next to the boy, and straightened her dress as she sat.

A comfortable silence settled between the two that only broke when Makoto’s dish laid empty on the table. “You need something, Aigis?” the blue-haired boy asked. “You’re quiet.”

“I do not need anything, Makoto-san. That is the dilemma I am facing.”

Makoto frowned. “What do you mean?”

She turned her head to look at him. “I have no pressing tasks to accomplish. My to-do list is empty. I do not know how to fill my time in a productive manner. Entering standby mode feels as if I am wasting time, and yet I have nothing else to do.”

“So you’ve... always had something to do before?”

Before...

“Why are you just staring at the wall, Aigis?” Jin asked.

The android turned to reply. “I have no tasks. Entering standby mode is frivolous. I am awaiting orders.”

“Okay, how about we watch some TV? That’s something to do, right?”

“Registered. I will accompany you in observing the television.” Perhaps he was suspicious of the item; after all, it was retrieved from a dumpster. It could have been thrown out for many reasons. It would require careful monitoring.

The television did not exhibit any unnatural behaviors as the android vigilantly took note of its every move. It merely continued to show the same colorful pictures as before, which Jin reacted to enthusiastically. She continued to observe it after Jin stated his ‘favorite show’ had ended and left to accomplish other tasks.

She had received no new orders, after all. Despite the fact that the television continued to not exhibit any new behaviors other than the changes in programs, it could have done so at any time, and so the android treated this task with utmost importance.

She only stopped doing so when Takaya ordered her to make dinner.

“Yes, I have always had important tasks to accomplish in the past.”

Makoto sighed. “I see. And now you have free time and no hobbies to fill it with.”

“Hobbies?”

“Fun pastimes to get your mind off of serious stuff. Like video games, or books, or music.”

“All of those have tangible purposes in strengthening your body and mind.”

“But that’s not why we do them.” Makoto turned towards her on his chair as to not keep looking at her from the side. “Doing productive things all the time is tiring. So we do stuff that need less thought and effort in the downtime to keep our minds sharp. It’s like taking a break, but you’re still doing something you enjoy instead of just sitting down and cooling off.”

“I cannot tire.”

“I think you can. I think you’ve been tired for a long time. You just don’t know it.”

Aigis blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you’ve been doing productive things over and over with no stopping. You’ve never had downtime. You feel weird when you’re not doing things. You don’t know what it feels like to not be tired.”

Aigis blinked again. Makoto had a point. Even when she engaged in replaying cat videos in her mind, it was during simple combat against weak Shadows, or passively recording a lesson at school for later review. She was always accomplishing something productive.

How would it feel to be unproductive, yet still do something? She found herself curious about that.

“What I’m saying, Aigis, is that you’re a workaholic, and it’s high time you took a break.”

“But... but what would I do?”

“We can workshop that. What do you think you’d enjoy? Heading out to the town? Reading something? TV? Games?”

“I...” She thought back to the sole frivolous, pointless task remaining on her list. “This task is on my to-do list, but I have not put any effort towards completing it due to its apparent lack of productivity.”

“Sure, we can start there. What is it?”

“Watching Phoenix Ranger Featherman R from beginning to end.”

“Featherman?” Makoto said, surprised. “Why Featherman?”

“The day Junpei-san arrived at the dorm, I watched five episodes of the show alongside him. I did not fully understand the plot, as I had not seen it from the beginning. I wish to do so.”

“Makes sense,” the boy said, getting up to return his dish to the kitchen. “Let me wash this and then we can find a way to watch it, alright?”

“Very well.”

As it turned out, despite being a fan of the show, Junpei did not possess any DVDs of it, and neither Yukari nor any of the seniors had seen it before. Regardless, Makoto had apparently seen this coming, and asked the others if they wanted to join him and Aigis in marathoning the series. The idea got an enthusiastic reception, particularly from Mitsuru who saw it as a great opportunity for team bonding. The android was not entirely certain whether this would still constitute as a hobby if it was productive, but was assured that despite Makoto’s rudimentary description, some hobbies were either inherently productive, or could be modified into being that way.

The next few hours were spent observing Makoto illegally downloading Phoenix Ranger Featherman R using the dorm’s shared computer. Aigis had not heard the word ‘piracy’ in this context before, but was assured that it had nothing to do with sailing. “It’s how I get my music,” he had said. “I really just go to Kenneth Arnold to see what’s new and then pirate it. I don’t have the money to buy CDs all the time.” She wondered if Jin engaged in piracy. He likely did, but she wished she could ask him nonetheless.

Finally, every episode of the show was downloaded. Aigis connected herself to the computer and copied them over, as she was the largest memory unit available in the building and had the fastest read/write speed as well. She pointedly did not play any of them back in her mind; the point was to watch it alongside the others.

As she rigged herself up to the television using her RCA connector ports, the other dorm residents slowly gathered around the TV.

“Where is Stupei?” Yukari complained from her seat on the couch. “He said he’d be back by now. He left ages ago!”

“Must be buying out the entire supermarket,” Makoto replied from next to her.

“With the cash Mitsuru gave him, he probably could,” Akihiko added.

“I... did not know how much would be enough,” Mitsuru sighed. “Was it truly that excessive?”

At that, the entrance door opened and in came Junpei, holding six overstuffed grocery bags. “The leader! Is! Hereeeeee! And he comes bearing gifts!”

“Finally,” Yukari exclaimed. “You better have gotten my mochis.”

“I got everything, Yuka-tan, don’t you worry!”

“He really did buy the entire shop,” Akihiko said, taking some of the bags from Junpei. “I think I see a lease in here.”

Mitsuru put a hand to her forehead in exasperation. “Very funny, Akihiko.”

Finally, everyone took their seats, and the marathon started. Early on, they established a rule to not pause the show if anyone wanted to go to the bathroom. Junpei tried to object to this, but was shushed by the rest of the team. Akihiko was initially criticizing the action scenes for being unrealistic, but after his third loud interjection, an icy glare from Mitsuru silenced those complaints for good. When Black Condor’s betrayal was revealed, Mitsuru gasped the loudest, which made Yukari ask how she had not seen it coming. Still, when the obsidian-clad traitor sacrificed his life to save the team from an exploding base he himself had trapped them in, Yukari was the one with glistening cheeks and the box of tissues in front of her. Makoto perked up every time a character named Gray Pigeon was mentioned, but he never seemed to appear in the show, disappointing the boy; at Junpei’s prompting, he elaborated that Gray Pigeon was the protagonist of a Featherman video game Makoto had managed to play years ago.

It was a pleasant atmosphere, more favorable than if she had simply watched the show in her mind. It was more difficult to pay attention to the show, but the group’s antics were more than enough to make up for the missed scenes. Aigis decided that she was having fun.

The marathon sadly came to an abrupt stop as the Dark Hour arrived to disable all technology. Strangely, however, no one voiced any complaints. From her kneeling position in front of the television, Aigis unplugged the wires and turned around.

Junpei was sprawled over the single sofa, sleeping on his stomach with his head hanging off of the armrest. On the couch, Yukari had leaned all the way back, and was snoring with her mouth open. Next to her, Makoto’s head had drooped down, and if Aigis had not noticed his lowered vitals and closed eyes, she would have thought he was merely sitting. Akihiko had dozed off on the other couch, with his head supported by Mitsuru’s lap. Mitsuru herself was wide awake, and smiled at Aigis, putting a finger on her mouth to indicate silence.

Aigis nodded, moving upstairs to retrieve blankets so that no one would catch a cold overnight. There was no need to relocate them to their rooms, as they seemed comfortable enough, and would have to awaken early in the morning to depart for school. She could take care of that part, as she always awoke on time.

Hobbies were nice, Aigis decided as she draped a blanket over Makoto. She would find more hobbies, with a focus on ones she could do alongside other people. That seemed to be the best kind of hobby, after all.

Chapter Text

May 9th. Another full moon, Aigis’s phantom program supplied. Even then, it would have been clear by a look at the sky; the abnormally large moon of the Dark Hour was hard to miss, after all.

SEES had gathered in the command room, alongside Ikutsuki. Mitsuru was managing her scanning equipment.

“I thought you couldn’t scan outside of Tartarus, Mitsuru,” Akihiko said.

“I am indeed lacking in that area, but if it’s another massive Shadow like last month, even Penthesilea’s limited abilities should be enough to pick it up.”

“It won’t show if it knows what’s good for it,” Junpei boasted. “If I was a Shadow and I saw what happened to the last guy who tried to mess with our team, I’d never show my face in town!”

“I wouldn’t be so optimistic, Iori-kun,” the chairman replied. “After all, no army ever sends their best warrior first.”

“Do you believe Shadows to be organized, Ikutsuki-san?” Aigis asked. That was a terrifying thought. If the beasts were capable of strategizing...

“Some limited intelligence was observed in certain test subjects in the past. Who knows what these bigger ones are capable of? You said the last one could feel out your weaknesses just by seeing your Personas. Anything could be—”

A loud crackle from Mitsuru’s radio set interrupted Ikutsuki’s ramble. “It’s a Shadow!” she exclaimed. “And it’s abnormally large. Aigis was right; this is going to be a pattern.”

Akihiko punched a fist into an open hand. “I’ve been waiting for this. I didn’t get to fight the last one; no way am I sitting this one out.”

“Pick your team, Iori,” the redhead said. “Don’t mind Akihiko.”

Akihiko got a flabbergasted look on his face and was about to object, but Junpei immediately diffused the situation. “Sure! Sanada-senpai, Yuka-tan, and Ai-chan.” He turned to the odd man out apologetically. “Sorry, Makoto, but I think we should have variety, and Hermes already covers fire, sooo...”

“It’s fine,” Makoto said. Indeed, he did not look bothered by Junpei’s choice of members.

“This is merely our front-line team, of course,” Mitsuru added. “Yuki and I will accompany you to the Shadow’s location in case of emergency.”

“Where is the Shadow, anyway?” Yukari asked.

“On the monorail tracks heading out of Iwatodai Station.”

Before long, the team arrived at the location Mitsuru had specified, and began going up the station’s stairs.

“To get to the Shadow, you’ll have to walk on the tracks,” Mitsuru said from the comms. “Thanks to the Dark Hour, there is no danger of electrocution or oncoming trains, but if anything changes, I will notify you immediately. If the Shadow was too powerful, Yuki and I can arrive for support at a moment’s notice with my motorcycle.”

“We’ll be fiiiine, senpai!” Junpei enthusiastically said. “We’ve been training for a whole month, and even back when we hadn’t trained, we took out another big one just like this! It’ll be a pushover.”

“It is good to see you in such high spirits, Junpei-san,” Aigis said to the leader. He seems much more accepting of the team’s overall involvement in battle rather than focusing on his personal role alone. Perhaps he has moved past his self-centeredness.

“Even then, no training is ever enough when you don’t know your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses,” Akihiko said. “I still think we could’ve gone to Tartarus more often to be more prepared.”

“If it was up to you, we’d have gone in every night...” Yukari muttered.

The train that was the source of the readings appeared ordinary enough, outside of the Dark Hour’s usual quirks. The coffins filling the wagons to the brim were mildly unsettling, making the atmosphere feel akin to an overstuffed hearse. They got in the way as the team made their way across the cars looking for the Shadow.

After passing the second wagon, however, the monorail’s doors closed with a hiss.

“Oh boy,” Yukari said, startled.

“Has to be the Shadow,” Akihiko said. “Stay on guard, everyone.”

Aigis warmed her weapons. “Technology explicitly does not work during the Dark Hour. What if this is a false train, and we are currently inside the Shadow?” she mused.

“I... don’t think I wanna imagine being inside a Shadow’s guts,” Junpei said. “Let’s just assume we’re not for now.”

“If the wagons start getting flooded with stomach acid, open fire on the walls, Aigis,” Akihiko said, his tone light.

“Roger.”

SEES continued making their way past the coffins to enter wagon after wagon, oddly encountering no resistance. “Where are all the Shadows? Come on, I was all ready to go too,” Junpei groaned.

As if prompted by his statement, a Shadow appeared at the end of the car, next to a coffin. The beast spotted the coffin quickly, and moved towards it. “There they are!” Junpei exclaimed. “Hermes, take it out!”

“No, Junpei, there’s no room—”

Akihiko’s warning was unneeded, however; Hermes’s manifestation was just small enough to fit in the train car, the Persona having seemingly adjusted itself to the space. It rushed towards the Shadow, and successfully cleaved it in two with its razor-sharp wings.

“Huh. I guess they just... know to adjust themselves to the room,” the brunette archer said.

“A lucky break, as they say,” Aigis added.

What happened next was not lucky, however. Three other Shadows appeared in the room, looking more powerful than the one Junpei had defeated. Instead of attacking, however, they all turned to leave the car.

“Where’re they going? Come on, we gotta go after them!” the leader exclaimed.

“Wait, Iori,” Mitsuru interjected. “Why would they flee after revealing themselves? I can’t make sense of it.”

“Who cares? Come on, guys! Let’s get ‘em!”

The leader’s orders are absolute. Still... “I believe we should listen to Mitsuru-san,” Aigis said.

“I think so too, honestly,” Akihiko agreed. “This might be their strategy; maybe they’re trying to lure us away from the coffins so they can attack them.”

“They have never attacked transmogrified people before,” Aigis mused. “Perhaps this has something to do with the full moon? Or could it merely be a distraction strategy?”

“If they’re actually going after the coffins this time, what about the cars we already passed? Wouldn’t the Shadows have spawned there too?” Yukari said worriedly.

“Look, there’s a big Shadow, right? If we take care of that, it’ll all be fine! We just gotta keep moving!” Junpei was getting impatient.

Aigis chose to voice her earlier theory once more. “We could be inside the large Shadow as we speak, Junpei-san. In addition, there is no guarantee that these coffins are truly passengers.”

“That’s a good point, damn,” Akihiko said. “Shame there’s no real way to find out... It’s not like these are real coffins with doors; the people literally turn into them.”

“But then, what do we do?” Yukari asked.

As the arguments continued, Aigis searched her data banks for a definitive answer. Strangely, her mind kept recalling something Igor had said long ago.

“The Wild Card can form bonds with others, and they will manifest as Arcana. Every Persona has association with one Arcana, and the same is true for Shadows.”

The Arcana... If SEES was the Fool, and they had to face life’s trials and tribulations one by one, in numerical order...

“The next card, the Magician, represents action and initiative... but also immaturity.”

The Magician. Taken literally, a spellcaster. The Shadow they faced on the first full moon had access to all six types of elemental spells, and it was defeated by the least experienced member of the team taking the initiative. Could it truly represent the first Arcana?

It had a mask marked with the Roman numeral for 1, Aigis recalled with a start.

This had to be it. Then, tonight’s Shadow...

“The High Priestess represents contemplation and inner knowledge.”

Contemplation. Internal strife. Doubt.

Aigis interrupted the ongoing argument. “We are under the Shadow’s influence. We must cease arguing immediately.”

“What do you mean, Aigis?” Akihiko asked.

“The Shadow is causing us to argue amongst ourselves to dampen our determination. I will explain my reasoning for believing this at a later time. We must make our way across the train quickly; everything other than the Shadow is a distraction.”

Junpei frowned. “Sure, okay, we can go with that for now, if it means we can stop talking and start moving. Come on, team!”

They began running through the monorail, passing car by car, and not spotting any of the three Shadows they had before. It did not take long for them to reach the conductor’s car.

“This car is the source of the powerful reading, I’m certain of it now,” Mitsuru said. “This has to be where the Shadow is.”

“The door’s covered in ice...” Yukari observed.

“Mitsuru, the Shadow might be an ice user. Tell Yuki to be ready,” Akihiko said.

“Come on, am I even commanding anything here...?” Junpei muttered. “Some leader I am...” No one other than Aigis seemed to hear him.

At that point, the entire train shook, and with a lurch forward, it began moving at top speed. Aigis caught Junpei before he fell on his posterior, and Akihiko did the same for Yukari. “The train has begun to move,” the android said. “This is unfortunate.”

“Stopping the Shadow will likely stop the train as well,” Mitsuru stated. “You need to hurry. I’ll be moving towards you with Yuki in tow, just in case.”

“Got it,” Yukari replied. “Come on, let’s take it down!”

Akihiko threw the door to the train car open, and as SEES headed inside, Aigis noticed the sheer drop in temperature, and activated her anti-freeze circulation system.

The source of the cold was the Shadow sprawled over on the other end of the car. Its appearance was that of a woman wearing the bottom half of a dress, with the right half of its body obsidian black and the other half pearly white. On its bare torso, one could see that the right breast was marked by the letter B, and the left one had the letter J inscribed on it. Its ‘hair’ was in the shape of long, flowing scrolls taking up most of the room and had a similar color split to the body itself, but in the opposite of the body’s pattern. The Shadow’s face was covered by a red opera mask, and on its left corner, Aigis could see the Roman numeral of II, confirming her theory. The beast hungrily licked its lips at the sight of the team.

Aigis entered a combat stance. “Junpei-san, I suggest keeping your instincts of perversion at bay. The Shadow may use them against you.”

“Hey, I can control myself!” Junpei then pulled out his Evoker and fired, summoning Hermes to cast a fire spell. The Shadow took it head-on, and laughed in response. “Not weak to fire?! Dammit!”

“We’ll just have to throw everything we’ve got at it! Polydeuces, take it down!”

As the Persona rushed to attack the Shadow, the beastly woman began muttering a chant to itself, and the temperature of the wagon dropped further.

“It can’t use ice if it’s dead! Polydeuces, go!” A thoughtless attack that had left Akihiko frozen solid, unresponsive, and useless.

Not this time, she vowed.

“Jack Frost!” The android exclaimed as she dove behind the train’s seats for cover, summoning the snowman-shaped Persona in front of Akihiko. It was not a moment too soon, as the Shadow took Polydeuces’s attack without flinching, and summoned a tornado of ice that encompassed the entire car.

Yukari and Junpei had mimicked Aigis and were safe behind the seats, but Akihiko had not managed to move in time, rooted in place by the dual surprise of his attack being ineffective and Jack Frost’s manifestation. The Persona happily stood in front of Akihiko, enjoying the freezing wind like it was the spring breeze and protecting the senior from its impact. The Shadow stopped its attack, growling in aggravation. Jack Frost’s response was a jolly ‘hee-ho!’ as it dematerialized with a salute.

“Jack Frost is a Persona too?” Yukari asked with surprise, peeking over the seat she had taken cover behind. “I thought it was just a cartoon...”

“Thanks, Aigis,” Akihiko said, still in shock.

They could not waste any more time on Junpei’s ineffective leadership, or Akihiko’s bullheadedness. “Everyone, please listen to me. Junpei-san, I analyzed your earlier fire spell. It was more effective than Akihiko-san’s electricity just now. Continue casting fire spells. Akihiko-san, attack the Shadow, but be more wary of your weakness to ice. Yukari-san, strike a balance between attacking the Shadow and healing the team when necessary. I will utilize my fire spells and switch to Jack Frost for defense if needed.”

“G-got it!” Yukari exclaimed, leaving her cover and firing three arrows at the Shadow one after another. The Shadow growled, and raised its arms into the air. The train lurched forward once more.

“It sped up the monorail!” Mitsuru exclaimed. “At this rate, we won’t be able to catch up with you! You need to stop it before it collides with another train!”

“There’s another train on this track?!” Junpei yelled as he dodged an ice crystal the size of his arm.

“All the more reason to stop the Shadow,” Aigis replied calmly. “Attack with Hermes, Junpei-san. Chimera, come forth!”

The dual fire spell from both Personas dealt a hefty blow to the Shadow, burning some of its scroll-shaped hair to cinders. The Shadow howled in agony and glared at Aigis venomously, before making a motion of beckoning with its arm and muttering another incomprehensible word.

The three Shadows that had appeared in the wagons earlier manifested in the car, taking up a defensive formation in front of the larger monster. “Reinforcements, just what we needed,” Akihiko said, raising his Evoker.

“Ignore the reinforcements,” Aigis commanded. “They are irrelevant. Focus on the main Shadow.”

Akihiko complied; Polydeuces’s next attack made the Shadow attempt retaliation with another freezing blast, but a fireball from Hermes protected the boxer from harm. “I might be crap at leading, but I can still fight like hell! Take it down, Persona!” Hermes proceeded to slash at the Shadow’s scrolls, tearing more and more of them to shreds and making the beast scream in agony.

The smaller beasts rushed at the team to protect their master, aiming to scatter their formation. They had made themselves an active problem. “Change of tactics,” Aigis said. “Stun the smaller Shadows, preferably without Personas. Save your energy for the larger monster.”

“Hey, decide on what you want us to do!” Junpei replied with annoyance in his tone. He then swung his greatsword in a wide arc, missing the Shadow in front of him entirely. “Ignore them, no, hit them. What’s next, heal them?”

Yukari summoned Io to blast back the Shadow encroaching towards her. As the Shadow launched across the car and struck its master with great force, she said to the boy, “A proper leader knows when to adapt, Stupei!”

“Look, I get it, I’m pants at this, you don’t need to—”

“Do not argue,” Aigis interjected. “That is the Shadow’s influence. Focus on the battle.”

Akihiko punched a Shadow hard enough to dematerialize it on impact. “One less thing to worry about!” It seemed he was immune to the Shadow’s mental aspects, perhaps even more so than Aigis herself. That was fortunate.

Opening gunfire on the two remaining minor Shadows to deter their advancements, the android replied, “Very good, Akihiko-san. You should attack the larger one now; we can handle these two.”

“You got it, Aigis!” Polydeuces went in for a physical assault on the monster instead of a lightning strike, and it proved to be very effective, cracking the Shadow’s mask.

With another scream, this one more determined than pained, the Shadow raised its arms into the air, making the train speed up even further.

“You’re going to hit the other train at any minute!” Mitsuru exclaimed from the comms, worry dripping from her voice.

“Oh man, we’re in deep shit here!” Junpei yelled shakily.

As her Persona tore one of the smaller Shadows to shreds with a controlled vortex, Yukari replied, “We’ve definitely got it on the ropes, though! It’s desperate!”

The brunette was right. They could finish this right there and then, but only if... “We must combine our forces for an all-out attack! Use your strongest spell alongside mine, everyone! Nekomata, come!”

The team complied, joining her call:

“Polydeuces!”

“Io!”

“Hermes!”

The joint attack struck the Shadow with great force, a glorious tornado of lightning and flames. A weak groan was the last sound the Shadow made before dissolving into nothing, and the smaller one it had summoned followed suit.

“We... we did it! Holy shit, we actually did it!” Junpei exclaimed.

“I thought you were dead certain we could do it before? Why the surprise?” Yukari playfully replied.

“That was fun,” Akihiko said, swiping at his forehead. “Great work, team.”

“The train is still moving,” Aigis said.

“Huh?” the boy with the cap asked as everyone turned to look at Aigis.

“The train has not stopped.”

A beat. Then two. Junpei was the first to realize what Aigis had said. “Oh, fuck! Where are the brakes?!”

The team scrambled around the train car, frantically pulling at every lever they could find, until Yukari finally pulled the right one. With a loud metallic whine and sparks flying off of the rails, the train finally came to a stop, mere inches from another train in front of it.

“Okay...” Junpei said, panting. “We... actually did it, this time... That was stressful as hell...”

“I’ll be walking to school for a while, I think...” Yukari said, bent over with her hands on her knees.

“We can jog together!” Akihiko said jovially. “I have a pretty good path I take whenever I’m late to school, I could show it to you. It’d be good workout!”

“On second thought, I’ll just get over my trauma overnight...”

“I believe celebrations are in order,” Aigis said. “We have defeated yet another formidable foe.”

The sound of screeching tires came from outside, and not a moment afterwards, Mitsuru and Makoto walked in through the wagon’s door, which had opened after the train had come to a stop. “Is everyone alright?” the redhead asked.

“Indeed, Mitsuru-san. No one is injured.”

“I should’ve been here...” Makoto muttered.

“Yeah, it’s true that you would’ve fared better than I did,” Akihiko replied. “But even then, it’s not like we knew how the Shadow was going to attack. Iori made the right call, in my opinion.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m quitting.”

Everyone turned to Junpei, who was staring at the floor. “Quitting?” Mitsuru asked.

“I’m... I’m not leaving the team, but...” Junpei sighed and raised his head. The look on his face was forlorn. “I’m not cut out for being leader. I know you all think it too; Yuka-tan’s comment wasn’t just the Shadow. I’ve heard you guys talking behind my back.” The boy gulped, blinking rapidly, and continued, “I... I know I can fight good, but when it comes to leading, I get all... selfish. That ain’t an attitude a leader should have. Ai-chan was really the leader tonight, and I think it should stay that way. She ain’t selfish like me, and she can come up with tactics like nobody’s business. Plus, only she knows what Personas she’s got; nobody else can plan around that. It should be her.”

“Junpei...” Yukari said softly.

“That’s very mature of you, Iori,” Mitsuru said. “It’s not easy to admit one’s own shortcomings. All in favor of Aigis being the new field leader, raise your hands.”

Everyone did, except Aigis herself. “You don’t think so, Aigis?” Akihiko asked.

“I assumed the vote did not include me.”

“Hey, the vote is about you,” Yukari said. “If you don’t think you can do it, then don’t accept it. We’re not gonna force you.”

Aigis blinked. She wanted to be leader, of course, but being given the choice to reject it... She appreciated it, even if she would never take the offer. “Thank you. I will accept the position of leadership. I hope to guide us all to victory.”

“Hell yeah!” Junpei said, all signs of sadness gone from his face in a flash once more. “Now, another vote. Who thinks we should have a celebratory dinner? Raise your hands!”

Everyone chuckled, and raised their hands once more. Aigis did so as well, of course; she was looking forward to seeing whether food would taste different after victory.

-------------------------

“Wonderful work tonight, Kirijo-kun.” Ikutsuki was in a very good mood, it seemed. Not that he’d done anything all night; he hadn’t said a word of advice over comms at all. Mitsuru had had to figure out the second monorail’s existence on her own, when the chairman could have easily consulted the train schedules to inform them of it earlier.

Mitsuru was beginning to doubt her father’s decision to have Ikutsuki oversee SEES. Iori would’ve been more diligent had he been left to man the command room.

Even then, politeness shall always receive politeness in turn. “Thank you, Chairman.”

“Still, are you certain Aigis-kun is fit to lead? After all, an android can’t exactly make decisions quite like a human can. She might lead you all astray.”

“Aigis’s mind is designed to be tactical, sir. Besides, we aren’t mindless drones. I will still guide the team through battles, and offer my insight if I find hers lacking.”

“Frankly, I have my doubts... Her coding instructs her to obey, after all. Are you sure the risk is worth taking?”

“Her clear orders and unshakable mind saved the team’s lives tonight. I believe she will be more than adequate.” Why is he so opposed to this? Can’t he see Aigis’s free will?

Ikutsuki sighed. “Very well, Kirijo-kun. It is your decision, and I certainly hope it’s the right one.” It is, you complete and utter dolt, she venomously thought, before slightly shaking her head to clear her thoughts. Calm down, Mitsuru. Don’t cause a scene. “By the way, I truly do apologize for being so useless tonight. I’ll be sure to find some answers regarding these abnormal Shadows as soon as possible. Aigis-kun’s theory seems like it’s right on the money, but some concrete research wouldn’t hurt, would it? We can’t afford to be caught off guard.” He chuckled to himself.

She did not have the patience for his antics. Not this late at night. “Thank you, Chairman, for your hard work. May I be excused? It’s been quite a long night.”

“Of course, of course.” She got up and began to move towards the command room’s door. “Oh, one last thing, Kirijo-kun.”

“Yes?” she said without facing him, clenching and unclenching her fists. If it’s another stupid joke, I will forget every single etiquette lesson I’ve ever had to sit through and show him what I truly think of his puns.

“Has Aigis-kun ever spoken of a ‘Wild Card’ before?”

Wild Card? What does a playing card term have to do with anything? She looked at Ikutsuki over her shoulder, puzzled. “No, she has not.”

The man rubbed his chin, narrowing his eyes. “Hmm... Thank you, Kirijo-kun. Have a good night’s rest.”

As Mitsuru went downstairs and entered her room, she couldn’t help but recall Takeba’s words from their Featherman marathon last week:

“How didn’t you see it coming, senpai? Black Condor was almost never in the base, and every mission he showed up to, he started ‘fighting’ some enemy juuuust out of sight from the whole team, and came back claiming he’d taken them down on his own. He had all these weird insights to everything too, like when he said the monsters were aliens before anyone had any idea and the most likely conclusion was genetic experiments. And he was mean to everybody all the time for no reason. Like, seriously, it couldn’t have been more obvious. All the signs were there!”

Signs of treason... Perhaps Mitsuru’s ignorance to them was not out of naivete.

Perhaps she was simply accustomed to seeing them everywhere and gave away her trust freely regardless.

She’d have to ask Aigis about whatever the Wild Card was, and tell her to be slightly more wary in regards to the chairman.

The Kirijo Group was noble now, thanks to her father, but Ikutsuki was from her grandfather’s time. And her grandfather was responsible for everything that kept Takeharu Kirijo up at night. Who knew what Ikutsuki had done in his days?

Mitsuru wasn’t planning on making the same mistakes as the protagonists from a children’s show. She certainly didn’t wish to sit through a smug rant from Takeba about how the Kirijo Group couldn’t be trusted if the chairman did end up being a traitor.

She preferred Yukari happy rather than smug, after all. Even if the smugness was charming, in its own way.

Chapter Text

Aigis awoke. It was Sunday, May 10th. All diagnostics returned green, which meant her body was in perfect condition. She found her to-do list empty, and pondered on how to spend her day. Shortly after, she recalled that she was now the field leader of SEES.

Strangely, despite how massive of a change this was to her, Aigis felt no different than before; none of her processors behaved differently, she did not feel more or less determined than she had before, and no leadership module had manifested in her code overnight the way the full moon tracker had.

She did not know how she was going to lead SEES.

Perhaps her processors would evolve after a trip to Tartarus, Aigis thought. She wondered when their next visit to the tower would be. Then she realized that its timing was up to her.

Should we depart for Tartarus tonight? Should the team rest instead? How long should we rest for? How often should we go to Tartarus in the first place? How prepared is prepared enough? What if my theory regarding the full moon is wrong? What if an Arcana Shadow chooses to invade the city tonight? Would we be ready for it? Could we take it down? What if there is more than one Arcana Shadow involved in the attack? What if this time we need to deal with two monorails?

An overheat warning flashed on her HUD, and Aigis halted her stream of paranoia. Ah. This must be the leadership module, then. It is quite resource-intensive.

At that point, the tinny sound of her phone’s ringtone echoed in the room, surprising her. A call? Who would call me? I am at the dorm. Everyone who has my number is also at the dorm. They could come to my room and speak with me in person. She retrieved her phone. The caller ID was marked as unknown. Who could this be? Could it be a ‘scam call’? She answered the phone and held it to her audio receivers, awaiting the caller’s words.

“Hello? This is Elizabeth speaking.”

Elizabeth? The Velvet Room attendant? Frankly, that was the last person Aigis assumed would call her. Even Igor was higher on the list; at least he provided active guidance, while Elizabeth merely assisted him passively. “Hello, Elizabeth. How did you acquire this number?”

“I did not,” she said, as if her answer made any modicum of sense. “Would you be so kind as to come to the Velvet Room, Aigis-san? I would greatly appreciate it. There is a matter I would like to discuss with you.”

“A matter?”

“It is not life or death, but again, I would greatly appreciate your punctuality. Goodbye, now.” She then hung up without waiting for Aigis to say goodbye in return.

It seemed her dilemmas as the newly-appointed leader would have to wait. She had other matters to take care of now. Aigis put on her school uniform and headed downstairs; it was a Sunday, so no attendance officers would be objecting to her choice of attire. Besides, she was beginning to tire of the dress. Its beauty was not as radiant as the first day she had received it. Perhaps she had truly worn it out. Aigis felt mildly disappointed at that, and wished she had appreciated Mitsuru’s gift better.

Arriving at the downstairs lobby, she found Yukari texting on her phone behind the dining table and Mitsuru observing the bookshelf on the other end of the room. The older girl heard her walking down the stairs, and turned to look at her, eyes brightening when she saw Aigis.

“Oh, Aigis, good morning,” the redheaded senior said, walking up to her. “Did you get enough rest?”

“Yes, Mitsuru-san.”

“That’s great to hear. Take this day to relax a little. You’ve more than earned a break after your exceptional work last night.” Relax? She was the leader. She could not relax. Aigis chose not to vocalize this thought, as Mitsuru was still speaking. “However, I would like to speak with you before you go to sleep tonight. We’ll discuss your leadership duties and how they’ll be managed, among a few... other matters.” That was more sensible. A day of leisure before her duties truly began. No Tartarus for today, then. It would also be nice to receive some guidance on the matter of leadership from the most skilled leader Aigis knew. She found herself looking forward to tonight. She nodded in agreement, and Mitsuru smiled, before giving Aigis a once-over.

“Are you going outside?”

“Yes, if that is alright.”

“Of course it is, Aigis. It’s just... is there anything wrong with your dress? You’re wearing your school uniform.” Mitsuru’s frown had a tinge of sadness to it. She believed Aigis did not appreciate her gift. The android had to remedy that immediately.

“I merely craved variety, Mitsuru-san. As there are no attendance officers around on Sunday, I can freely wear my school uniform to traverse the city during school hours, so I wished to do so. I am not in any way unsatisfied with my dress.” A white lie, but her unsatisfaction had nothing to do with Mitsuru, and so she did not need to know of it.

“Variety... Goodness me. We’ll discuss that as well.” Aigis perked up. More dresses? Magnificent. “Enjoy your day on the town, Aigis,” the redhead said, patting Aigis on the shoulder before walking to the kitchen.

“Thank you, Mitsuru-san.” She waved at Yukari, who responded in kind with a smile, and left the dorm to move towards Paulownia Mall.

Turning into the alleyway under Mandragora, Aigis found Elizabeth standing in front of the Velvet Room door, which greatly surprised her. “I apologize for asking you to come at such short notice,” the attendant said.

“Please, there is no need. I did not realize you could... leave the room. Are others capable of seeing you at this moment?”

“Not if I don’t wish for them to perceive me,” Elizabeth said with a small grin. “Now, as for the matter I called you here for... Truth be told, I’d like to ask you a favor. I’ve been searching for someone of exceptional ability to help fulfill a list of requests I have relating to the outside world. So, if you have the time, do you mind taking on several of my requests? Of course, you will be aptly rewarded for completing them.”

Aigis did not hesitate for even one attosecond. “Of course. You have assisted me greatly, Elizabeth. It would be my pleasure to return the favor.”

The otherworldly woman giggled. “Thank you! Ah, and on special occasions, I may require you to escort me on certain excursions. I look forward to your cooperation and hope to see you demonstrate your capability.”

“I hope that I can adequately fulfill your requests, Elizabeth.” It still felt odd to address the inhabitants of the Velvet Room without using honorifics. Entering them into her social courtesy cycle’s exceptions was difficult; after all, its programming was rudimentary and only instructed Aigis to address others with their first name (or the title she knew them by, if that was not known) and a ‘-san’ suffix attached. Referring to Elizabeth and Igor without honorifics continued to feel strange to her, but perhaps it would go away over time.

“And I as well,” the attendant happily replied. She then pulled out a piece of paper from inside the compendium and handed it to Aigis. “Here are my requests; go ahead and take a look.”

It took a moment before Aigis realized the nature of the list in her hands. She was expecting arduous tasks that would have her prove her resolve, or strengthen her bonds with others, or demolish Shadows in an exceedingly efficient manner. Trials befitting a place as mysterious and powerful as the Velvet Room.

The list had “Bring me a Muscle Drink” as its first entry. The rest of it was largely the same, asking Aigis for pine resin, three Jack Frost dolls from the claw machine in front of the arcade, a beef bowl, a bouquet of flowers, twelve unique types of soft drinks, and so on and so forth. The only variety present was a request to fuse a specific Persona, which she likely would have done at some point regardless due to her desire to fill in every slot in the compendium for maximum flexibility.

The android had not seen this coming. A to-do list that was nigh-effortless to complete, and would help her connect with another person at the same time? It was too good to be true.

After a few moments of silence, Elizabeth began to look worried. “Are they too difficult? I am not inflexible; there is, of course, room for adjustment...” She rubbed her arm with a dejected look on her face. Clearly, she did not wish to adjust her requests, despite what she had said.

Aigis looked at the attendant. Did she believe her requests to be a tall order? Was she unaware of how easy they were to complete, or did she value these simple, menial tasks that much? Either way, Aigis would be happy to oblige. “No, Elizabeth. They are not difficult whatsoever. Is this all of them?”

The attendant’s eyes widened. “For now, yes, though there may be additions in the future.”

“Very good. I will be with you shortly. Please stand by.” Aigis turned to walk out of the alley, leaving the baffled woman behind.

After making the purchases she could at the mall, the android proceeded to visit every train station around town, as they all had vending machines selling various drinks. She also visited the beef bowl restaurant in the strip mall, and the flower shop in Port Island Station for a bouquet. Unfortunately, the latter took up almost all of her remaining allowance from Mitsuru, so she resigned to returning to the dorm and asking the redhead for more with an ashamed look on her face. She had indeed spent a rather obscene amount of money on the bouquet, and despite its importance to Elizabeth, Aigis could not explain the woman’s existence to Mitsuru. Therefore, the only solution was pretending she had been frivolous on purpose. Despite that, the older girl was quite happy to oblige her request, so Aigis decided to take advantage of being in the dorm; the android visited its vending machines for the last few unique drink types she had not yet acquired, went to Yukari’s room for some pine resin, and asked Akihiko for a Muscle Drink before departing back to the mall.

After arriving back at Paulownia Mall, Aigis proceeded to spend thirty-seven minutes and fifty-five thousand yen on the claw machine to get three Jack Frost dolls out of the blasted contraption. She was very, very tempted to blow its protective glass to smithereens and simply pick out three dolls, but her stealth modules forbade her from doing so. She ran fourteen simulations of destroying it via increasingly violent means to compensate for being unable to do it in real life as she battled its unresponsive controls. By the time she was done, the sun had set, and the mall was bathed in artificial light to make up for the darkness.

Having finally completed every task on the list, Aigis returned to Elizabeth. She was holding various shopping bags and a bouquet of flowers, in addition to balancing three boxes containing Jack Frost dolls by placing one on each shoulder and a third on her head. “Greetings once more, Elizabeth. Here are the items you had requested.”

The attendant’s look of surprise had her eyes widen enough to compete with her master’s own. “Oh... oh my. I... had intended for you to pace them over the month, and to present new requests to you after every full moon. I was certainly not expecting their completion in one day. They were not vital tasks, and for you to devote your time to them in this way...” she trailed off, not finishing her sentence.

They were important tasks to Elizabeth; her hesitance to alter the list in case of their excessive difficulty spoke for itself. Either the woman was lying to Aigis, or she believed the android would not value them as she did. Aigis began to think.

The Velvet Room is empty of any objects, sans two chairs and a table. The only occupants are her and Igor, and considering her request for an escort, she must not be allowed to leave the room on her own. Her only task, from what I am aware of, is assisting Igor in Fusion.

She has no hobbies, no one to interact with, and her only meaningful task is tied to my presence, which is not a regular occurrence.

She is cripplingly alone.

“I disagree, Elizabeth,” she replied, placing the shopping bags on the ground and removing the doll boxes from her shoulders and head. “They were extremely important tasks worthy of my immediate attention. Please do not hesitate to contact me the moment you have any request, even if it is a single one. I am certainly capable of completing them in batches, but please do not feel the need to give them to me in large quantities. Whenever the desire to own something strikes you, even if it is a single one, do not assume it needs to join a long list of other tasks before you inform me of its existence. Call me immediately, and I will procure it for you.” Aigis also added ‘visit the Velvet Room often’ to her personal to-do list as she handed the bouquet to Elizabeth.

Much like the case with Pharos, only Aigis could handle Elizabeth’s unique situation, and she would have to do her best to assist the woman in any way she could. It was most unfortunate that the two had to settle for what she could do, as she could not provide the care and attention that a flesh-and-blood human could, but Aigis would do her best to make up for it.

Elizabeth’s look of surprise remained on her face as she replied, “...Certainly, Aigis-san. I will... inconvenience you whenever the fancy strikes me, just as you have asked.”

She would have to be clearer about her intentions, then. “If you do not wish to do so, then do not. I merely wish to increase the number of times we interact with one another; your company is pleasant, and it would be most excellent if it was accompanied by a practical reason to meet.”

Finally, the attendant’s small grin returned to her face. “I see now. Thank you, Aigis-san. I will most certainly do so.”

At that moment, her compendium began to glow. “Oh my, what’s this?” Elizabeth said, throwing the book open to the shining page. “Could it be...?” she said with widened eyes.

“What is it?” Aigis asked.

“It seems...” The woman paused, eyes glistening. She began to blink rapidly as she continued, “It seems I represent an Arcana to you, Aigis-san.”

Aigis smiled. “Which one?”

“The Hermit, from the looks of it. How could this... How could I...”

“It fits you, Elizabeth.”

The attendant looked up from her book, and gave Aigis a shaky smile. “T-thank you, Aigis-san.”

“I believe it is only fair for you to drop the honorific if I have done so as well, no? We will be interacting quite often to strengthen our bond, after all.”

“As you wish, Aigis!” Elizabeth replied, cheer finally returning to her voice. “I will be looking forward to your next visit, dear guest.”

“And I as well, dear attendant,” Aigis said with a curtsy, and Elizabeth responded in kind.

After receiving her reward from the attendant (a large, extensive collection of Skill Cards for her Personas), Aigis returned to the dorm and entered the lounge with full intention to depart for Mitsuru’s personal quarters immediately. She did not wish to keep her waiting, and could not wait to learn leadership guidelines from her. However, the sight of Makoto behind the dorm’s shared computer made her halt. It had been... quite some time since the two spent time together. The last attempt was the Featherman marathon, which ended up turning into a group activity and thus did not count as one-on-one quality time.

She was neglecting a command that was the most important one to her, aside from her pre-programmed duties. That could not stand. She would have to remedy it.

And yet, Mitsuru was waiting upstairs.

It was a dilemma, one that had no correct choice. Spending time with Makoto was sure to strengthen their bond and aid in decreasing the boy’s level of apathy, but ignoring Mitsuru would lead to friction in their relationship and Aigis not learning valuable leadership skills. She remained rooted in place in front of the door, indecisive and at an impasse with herself.

It did not take long for Makoto to notice her; the shared computer was right next to the entrance, after all. “Hey, Aigis. Why are you just standing in front of the door?”

Aigis had to take a moment to break the infinite loop she had gotten her processors stuck on, redirecting the query to lower-leveled processors. “H-hello, Makoto-san. I was... thinking.”

The boy raised a curious brow. “About?”

“...Social obligations.”

“Yeah, that’s something to get stuck in front of the door by. Don’t sweat it too much.”

“I do not sweat.”

Makoto exhaled loudly with a smile. “I mean don’t worry about it. Just do what you feel is right.”

Aigis turned to fully face him. “What if there is no right choice? What if someone will be hurt no matter what I do?” Her tone rose higher as she spoke.

The boy shrugged. “You do what you can. Hurt’s inevitable.”

“It should not be. There should always be an alternative.”

“Hurt isn’t always preventable, Aigis. Some stuff... just happen to you.” Makoto sighed. He was speaking of... of something that was not an accident. Something Aigis could have and should have prevented.

The android did not say a word. She could not say a word.

“Life isn’t fair, Aigis,” the boy went on, looking like his mind was far, far away. “Nothing’s fair. Just do what you can. That’s the only way you can live with yourself.”

“...Thank you, Makoto-san.” She began to walk away from the boy, but at that moment, a conclusion was drawn from her lower processing regarding which SEES member to spend her time with.

Time was finite, but the promise of tomorrow was always on the horizon.

“One thing, before I go,” she said to the boy. The distant look vanished from his eyes as he refocused on Aigis.

“What is it?”

“Are you free tomorrow afternoon? I would like to spend time with you after school, Makoto-san. It has been quite some time since I have done so, and I find myself missing your company.”

Makoto’s eyes widened, and a disbelieving smile formed on his lips. “Of course, Aigis. I’ve gone to enough training sessions to get to ditch one.”

Aigis smiled. “That is most excellent. I will be looking forward to it. I must leave now, as Mitsuru-san requires my presence for debriefing on my leadership duties during Tartarus expeditions. I will see you in the morning, Makoto-san.”

“No problem, Aigis. Good night.”

The metaphorical weight lifted from her chest, Aigis ascended the stairs with determination in her heart, ready to learn all she could from Mitsuru.

Perhaps the lessons and dresses would push the Moonlight Bridge to the back of her mind, where she could pretend it was an accident she had no part in.

Chapter Text

It was Monday. The weekend was no more, and people left its comfortable hours of leisure to restart the cycle of going to work, or heading to school, or engaging in whatever activity defined their current stage of life before the holiday bliss arrived once more at the end of the week. Most bemoaned this cycle; off days were much more fun, they said. They could do whatever they wanted with their free time: go out with friends, enjoy their hobbies, even spend time with their parents.

Not Fuuka Yamagishi. She despised weekends. Her Sundays were typically spent entirely in her room, with her doing her best to pretend she was studying as she drowned herself in her worst aspects: forum boards, shoujo manga, and... other things. She’d count as a shut-in if it wasn’t for the fact that she did everything in her power to come back home as late as possible without risking her parents’ ire. School clubs were her excuse; the art club she’d joined because she genuinely enjoyed painting, but the cooking club was just something she’d picked up to fill up the days with no art club meetings.

Of course, Fuuka only got to enjoy club privileges if she consistently placed in the top ten for every exam, but it wasn’t like high school material was difficult. Or at least, it wasn’t difficult enough to demand her entire weekend; spending her break times in the school library was enough to meet her parents’ demands. The combination of being studious and antisocial had made her pretty unpopular with the other students, but it was either that or not getting a moment of peace at home, and she was at home more than she was at school. It wasn’t really a choice.

At least she had Natsuki. Even if the ginger was mean and rude and threw her books on the ground and laughed at her, at least she really saw Fuuka. No one else really did, and she was happy that at least one person cared enough to call her out for what a terrible person she was.

Having gotten dressed for school, Fuuka entered the kitchen only to find out that she’d be leaving on an empty stomach today; her mother hadn’t woken up to make her anything, the fridge didn’t have any leftovers inside, and Fuuka didn’t want to blow up the kitchen first thing in the week. Despite her cooking club membership, all Fuuka had learned from it was how talentless she was at the craft. She’d burned water on her first day and hadn’t really improved since, so she was the only club member that wasn’t allowed to use the stove. Fuuka didn’t mind, though. Even if being terrible at cooking meant she couldn’t be a good housewife one day, at least they hadn’t kicked her out of the club entirely.

It did suck to not have anything to eat for breakfast, though. She only had enough money to get lunch today. She sighed, resigned to her fate, and left the kitchen.

After putting on her shoes, she whispered to herself, “I’m off to school.” The coat rack and key hanger didn’t reply, but sometimes she wished they did. Back in elementary school, her parents always enthusiastically replied with encouragements whenever she proudly proclaimed to be departing to school with her slight lisp, but as the lisp went away and Fuuka got tall enough to not need her father to open the door for her, the encouragements went away too. She shook her thoughts away, and walked away from the Yamagishi household to head to the train station.

As the monorail soared over the ocean, Fuuka rested her back against the train door on the side that wouldn’t open, and found solace in her phone’s gallery. It was a shame that the screen was so small; it displayed images in an unsatisfactory manner and browsing forums hurt her eyes from the small font. She always prayed for a phone that was powerful enough to do everything her laptop could, but technology didn’t seem to progress as fast as her imagination. If only she had the resources, then she’d just make one herself. It was getting exhausting to stare at E-Gis, the most beautiful girl on the planet, using her phone’s awfully low-res screen. It just didn’t do her justice.

Fuuka sighed wistfully as she moved to the next image. E-Gis was part of the duo running the YouTube channel known as AiRato. The channel was initially started by a boy named Jin who’d also named it after himself, but E-Gis was undoubtedly the main reason behind the channel’s overwhelming popularity in recent times. Her debut video had views in the hundred thousands, purely because of the detached beauty in her icy-blue eyes, her ethereal blonde hair that shone like the sun, and her doll-like, pretty face that bore a perpetually vacant expression. As she grew more and more popular, Jin had her appear in more videos and eventually rebranded the channel to its current moniker, which was supposedly a combination of their real names. Fuuka had been a devoted subscriber of Jin’s even before E-Gis’s debut, as his methods of scavenging technology from trashed or broken objects were nothing short of genius, but the blonde assistant’s debut had driven the girl to borderline obsession. However, in an unfortunate turn of events, Jin had announced a hiatus two months ago with no end date provided, and the lack of new videos was a major contributor to Fuuka’s generally bad mood these days.

The teal-haired girl slowly deflated into a sitting position on the train’s floor. E-Gis... Why are all the pretty girls online, anyway? Why isn’t there any at my school? Then again, maybe there are. Not like I see anyone outside of my own class. Still, none of them would be E-Gis. And even if she was there, she’s definitely way older than me. She looked sixteen or seventeen back when I was eleven, so she’s definitely in her twenties by now. Just my luck...

At that point, the train pulled into the station with a nasty lurch, and Fuuka was glad to be sitting as the standing passengers grabbed the handlebars to keep themselves upright. Then, as the train doors opened with a hiss, the most unbelievable thing happened.

E-Gis walked straight through the doors.

Fuuka blinked rapidly. E-Gis was still there. She rubbed her eyes. E-Gis was still there, and she was walking towards Fuuka.

Fuuka made a choking noise as the most gorgeous woman she’d ever seen, the entire reason she’d looked up “can girls like other girls the way boys like girls” back in middle school, towered over her and stared down with her piercing blue eyes. It took Fuuka another ten seconds to realize E-Gis was wearing a Gekkoukan uniform. She goes to my school?! How?! Why?! What?!

E-Gis broke the silence. “Hello. I do not believe it is sanitary to sit on the train floor.” The voice made it certain; it was the same flat tone that housed an ocean of kindness behind its surface-level lack of emotion. There was no doubt in Fuuka’s heart; this was definitely E-Gis herself in the flesh.

The girl leaped up from the floor. “I-I’m so sorry! I won’t do it again!” she squeaked. She meant it.

E-Gis blinked. “That is fortunate.”

A blue-haired boy standing next to E-Gis turned to address the blonde. “Let her sit if she wants,” he said tiredly. Oh my god, Jin is here too. Oh my god. Oh my god.

“It is unsanitary. It will dirty her clothes. She may get sick from germs, or be sent to the principal’s office for disrespecting the school uniform.” Compared to how the uniform looked on E-Gis, Fuuka’s entire existence was an affront to not just the school uniform, but humanity itself.

“It won’t do any of that, Aigis. I’ve sat on the train floor tons of times and I’m fine.” So her real name was Aigis? That explained the ‘Ai’ part of AiRato.

“P-please don’t get in an argument over me...” she mumbled.

“We are not arguing,” Aigis replied.

“O-oh... sorry...”

“You may sit if you wish to,” the blonde continued with a tilt of her head. She does that so casually, like she doesn’t know what kind of effect it has...

“No, I’m... I’m fine,” Fuuka muttered, feeling the blood rush to her face.

Jin looked away and put on a pair of earphones, having seemingly lost interest in the conversation. Aigis continued to stare at Fuuka, who felt like she was shrinking with every passing second. She knew her face was red enough to win a tomato lookalike contest, but she couldn’t exactly do anything about it. The blonde did not bring it up, however; maybe she’d realized that Fuuka had recognized her and wished to keep a low profile on the crowded train.

The train ride was the longest one in Fuuka’s life and yet it went by in an instant. As they got off, the flustered girl tripped over her own feet in a rush to leave the train, but before she could get far, a firm grip on her shoulder froze her in place. She turned to see Aigis stopping her. “I believe you are unwell. Your vitals have been in constant fluctuation and your face has been flushed for several minutes. You should visit the nurse’s office.”

She’s so kind... E-Gis fussing over me? I never would’ve even dreamed of it... “No, I-I’m okay, it’ll go away on its own. Thanks...”

“Are you certain?”

“Y-yes, I’m sure, please don’t worry about me!” She bowed a full ninety degrees. When she rose back to full height, Aigis was still looking at her blankly. “U-uh, I won’t take up any more of your time! Please excuse me!” Fuuka then took off in the vague direction of her homeroom, getting there much faster than what she expected from her unathletic and usually lethargic body.

Taking her seat, Fuuka did all she could to prevent a squeal from escaping her throat. E-Gis! The real E-Gis! In school!! In my school!!! Fuuka thanked every single god she knew for putting the internet celebrity in her life’s path. This was probably the best thing that had ever happened to her. Getting to see the girl she’d dreamed of for over five years in real life, and then finding out she went to her school too... Did Fuuka even deserve to be this happy?

Wait, my school? Her overexcitement came to a screeching halt. How is she at high school? She must’ve been sixteen or seventeen back when I was eleven... I can buy her not looking too different in the range from high school to early twenties, but going to high school at that age? There’s schools for adults out there, it wouldn’t make sense for her to attend Gekkoukan. Why is she here?

Fuuka pushed the thought to the back of her mind. It didn’t matter how E-Gis was here. What mattered is that she was here. That meant Fuuka could see her in real life. Maybe even be friends with her. Maybe... maybe even date her. Probably. Hopefully. Like, less than one percent odds, assuming she even liked girls in the first place and wasn’t bothered by the age gap. What would it even say about her if she agreed? A twenty-something dating a high schooler isn’t right...

The teen sighed. There was still a chance for them to be normal friends, right? Once Fuuka got over her embarrassing celebrity crush, anyway. That would be nice. She’d have to find Aigis after school, then; she couldn’t offset her study plans, but she could ditch the cooking club for one day. It wasn’t like she ever had any fun there, and everyone would probably be happy to see her not show up.

Yeah, that was a good idea. She just had to follow the blonde long enough to build up the courage to talk to her.

Fuuka rested her head on the table. Great idea, Fuuka. You’re going to stalk a girl that’s five years your senior because you couldn’t possibly be any more of a creep. Still, what else would she do? She’d never made a friend on her own before. Usually, extroverts came to her. Maybe they stalked her too and she just didn’t notice. Maybe that was just how you made friends.

Yes, that was a good enough justification. Her plans were made, and now all she had to do was get through today’s classes.

Her determination wavered when Mr. Edogawa walked in. Oh, this is going to be a long day.

-------------------------

The final bell of the school rang, and for once, Makoto was not asleep. He had been oddly attentive to all of his classes that day, and had even taken notes during math class. It was likely related to the approaching midterms, Aigis mused. The spirit of studiousness was flowing in the halls, and the library was frequented more than ever. The only people unaffected were Aigis, who had already safely saved all the taught content to her permanent data banks, and Junpei, who was... nonchalant.

“Finally, free for the day!” The boy with the baseball cap stood and stretched his back, sighing with relief. “So, what are we up to, gang? Arcade’s awfully empty ‘cause of the midterms, anybody wanna come with?”

“You should be doing the same as everybody else, y’know,” Yukari said, turning back from her seat to look at the others. “Kirijo-senpai said we have to do good on these midterms or she suspends us from SEES.”

“Huh?!” Junpei yelped.

“Yeah, same with every other exam in the year. SEES isn’t gonna be, like, our permanent job. Once we find out how to make Tartarus go away, we’re gonna go back to our normal lives and all that, so we need good grades.”

“Yes, we are also not going to be exploring the tower until after the midterms,” Aigis added. In her lecture about leadership advice, Mitsuru had emphasized the importance of education for every member of SEES, and heavily implied that nightly excursions at Tartarus were not to be held before major exams as to not harm the team’s academic performance. She had also mentioned that Aigis would be rewarded with new dresses if she managed to place in the top ten, and the android was very, very determined to make that happen.

“See?” Yukari narrowed her eyes at Junpei. “Don’t tell me you thought we were gonna do this forever.”

Junpei did not reply immediately, grimacing and looking away. “I dunno... kinda? Not like the stupid tower has a top or anything.”

“It does; the top is visible from a distance,” Aigis said. “We will surely reach it one day if we continue ascending.”

“Not like it’ll contain a magic solution to make it all go away though, right? Maybe it’s just... a normal rooftop, and the Shadows are having a barbeque party there or something. I don’t know.” Junpei rubbed the back of his head. “I mean, it’s been two months and it’s not like we’ve learned anything. Tartarus just... exists. Shadows just... show up. The full moon has something to do with it, but it’s not like we can go to space and check. Might as well assume we’ll be doing it forever.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Makoto said. “You’re going to school half of your day. Might as well do something with it.”

“I mean, I don’t know about you, but I’m itching to get outta here every minute I’m in it. Why would I wanna submit myself to more pain?”

“So you can get a job later, Stupei,” Yukari said. “You might’ve missed it, but SEES isn’t exactly paying us. It’s an after-school club, might as well be charity work.”

“I get paid,” Makoto said.

“Mitsuru-san gives me an allowance as well,” Aigis added.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Junpei exclaimed, holding his hands in the air. “I get why Ai-chan gets paid, but why you?” He pointed at Makoto. “Hell, I was leader and I wasn’t getting paid! The hell?!”

The blue-haired boy shrugged. “The Kirijo Group are my legal guardians. I get an allowance like Aigis does.”

Junpei got a look of intrigue on his face. “Wow, can I get adopted too?”

“No.” Makoto got up from his seat, throwing his school bag over his shoulder. “Let’s go, Aigis.” The android stood as well, her bag packed.

“Go where with Aigis, exactly?” Yukari said to him, her tone confrontational.

“The strip mall.”

The pink-clad girl frowned. “All the stuff about studying extends to you too, not just Junpei. You know that, right? You sleep in class just as much as he does.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve always done okay at school.” He smirked lazily. “Thought you knew; you’ve read my records and all.”

Yukari flushed red. “Hey, I didn’t say I read everything!” But Makoto was already moving towards the door.

“I will see you all later,” Aigis said. “Junpei-san, please take Yukari-san’s suggestion to study more seriously. You are a valuable member of the team, and not having you accompany us for Tartarus excursions would be a severe blow to our strength. I can assist you with studying if need be; please do not hesitate to ask me for help.”

Junpei’s mouth fell open as a shocked look came over his face. “U-uh, sure, Ai-chan. No problem.”

Yukari remained silent, frowning at Aigis. As the android left the class, she felt the brunette’s piercing gaze on her all the way to the door. Aigis wondered what she had done to upset her. She came up with nothing.

As they moved to leave the school, Aigis noticed the teal-haired girl from the morning train ride in the classroom hallway. Her face was no longer flushed, but she seemed to be suffering from just as much unease as before. The android wondered whether she was naturally anxious, or if she suffered from a guilty conscience. However, it was largely unimportant compared to her quality time with Makoto, so she paid her no mind.

On the train, she asked Makoto, “Is there a specific reason for us to visit the strip mall, Makoto-san? I understand that where we go does not matter, as the point is to spend quality time with one another, but you were oddly precise in your selection.”

Makoto, who was looking at Aigis without really seeing her, snapped to attention, and the thoughtless gaze left his eyes. “Oh. Yeah, there is. There’s a bookstore there.”

Aigis waited for him to elaborate further. When he did not, she asked, “Is there a specific reason for us to visit this bookstore?”

The boy blinked. “Didn’t you want to look into more hobbies? Reading is a hobby. I figured the store’s owners could help you out; they’re good people.”

The outing was supposed to be for Makoto’s sake, not for Aigis’s. “I see,” she said, looking away. She had to do better; she had suggested the outing without a destination in mind, and Makoto had been forced to find one himself to make it worthwhile. She had to find places for them to visit for his benefit. She had to increase her knowledge of the city’s layout and seek out any possible location that would assist the boy.

Makoto narrowed his eyes. “You don’t want to go there?”

She had shown the emotion outwardly. She was supposed to have more precise control over her body. That would not do. “I do, Makoto-san. Apologies for having implied otherwise. I am grateful for your thoughtfulness.”

The teen seemed unconvinced, but nodded regardless. “Okay. Just don’t feel like it’s a pre-planned day and you have no input on it, alright?”

Aigis had suggested the outing; she was well aware of her input’s value. “Of course not, Makoto-san. I am looking forward to the bookstore.”

As the boy nodded again and looked away from Aigis, the android noticed a familiar head of turquoise in the pack of train passengers. It was the anxious girl from school, just a wagon away from her and Makoto. Curious. Likely a coincidence, however.

She stopped believing that when the girl left the train on the same stop as them, and followed them in a manner that could be considered conspicuous under certain conditions; had Aigis lacked spatial awareness and audio receptors, she would not have noticed the timid teenager. Her persistent nervousness did nothing to help the matters as she tripped over her own feet, ran into people, and got caught up in crowds before running out of them to catch up to the duo.

For whatever reason, she was tailing them. Aigis finally chose to register her as a threat and warmed her weapons. The whirring sounds got Makoto’s attention. “What’s up?”

“The girl we met on the train this morning is following us. It is suspicious.”

The boy frowned. “The blue-haired one? Where is she?”

“Behind us. Do not turn to look, Makoto-san.”

He did not, choosing to shrug instead. “I don’t think she’s really following us, Aigis. She’s probably come to shop.”

“She is at constant unease. I believe the act of trailing others disturbs her.”

“She’s probably just uncomfortable in public. She looked like she had social anxiety. Why would she even follow us? We’re nobodies.”

That statement raised many metaphorical alarms in Aigis’s head. “You are not a nobody, Makoto-san. You are a very important individual, capable of great things and valued by your friends. Please never speak of yourself that way again.”

Makoto subtly raised his eyebrows, pursing his lips. “Thanks, Aigis, but I didn’t mean it like that. I meant we’re not famous at school. The transfer student hype died down a while back, and we haven’t done anything big. No reason for anyone to stalk us.”

Aigis hummed. “Perhaps. I will be mindful of her regardless.”

“Okay. Don’t do anything rash, though. Nothing involving weapons, at least.”

“I will only use them if necessary, Makoto-san. I cannot make any promises.”

Makoto sighed. “Alright, Aigis. I don’t think she’ll pull a gun on us, though.”

“You can never judge someone by their appearance. For example, despite the fact that I look like an ordinary schoolgirl, my body contains various weapons. Many people hide their true selves from others.”

Makoto laughed in his small, reserved way, with a huff and a small grin. “You’ve gotten wise, Aigis.” Her Heart rose at the praise. “Still, I don’t think that girl’s got any bad intentions. Let’s just go to the bookstore, it’s right over there,” he said, pointing at one of the shops on the mall’s ground floor. It was named Bookworms according to its overhead sign. Aigis chose to let the matter go for now.

As they stood in front of the door, the android said, “I hope that I enjoy this experience. It is certain to be most novel.”

“I hope you’ll have fun too,” Makoto replied. He had missed Aigis’s pun; she decided that she would not make jokes in the same fashion as Ikutsuki anymore. The boy then opened the sliding door, and the two stepped inside.

Bookworms was the color of aged paper, a shade of gray that was beginning to evolve into yellow from the passage of time. It was not a spacious store, and stacks of books covered every inch not already covered by a bookshelf, adding to the cramped feeling. The books themselves did not appear new either; many had cracked spines or dog-eared corners. Paintings hung off the bookshelves in a way that obstructed the books behind them, and they would certainly inconvenience anyone browsing those shelves.

And yet Aigis did not feel uncomfortable by all this. It had plenty to do with the old couple behind the counter, who seemed to radiate an aura of calmness and peace that permeated the space and made it feel less like an abandoned storage room. Oddly, as she took in the couple’s appearance, Aigis felt the same sensation that she did whenever she ran into Yukari and Junpei bickering in the lounge, discovered Akihiko’s polished boxing gloves on the kitchen counter, or spotted one of Chidori’s stray sketches on the coffee table.

The shop felt like home, Aigis realized.

“Hello, hello, hello!” the old man said, his tone jovial enough to mask the slight shakiness that came with age. “On a date, Makoto-chan? Glad you chose our restaurant to treat such a beautiful lady!”

“Your restaurant?” Aigis asked, puzzled.

“She’s not my date,” Makoto mumbled at the same time.

“Oh, dear, don’t tease them like that,” the old woman chastised, before turning to Aigis. “Hello, darling. Bunkichi’s got an odd sense of humor, that’s all. And it only gets worse with age...”

The old man frowned, but there was no real offense marring the expression. “Hey! I’ll have you know that Makoto-chan thinks I’m hilarious! Don’t you, Makoto-chan?”

“Your humor is impeccable, Bunkichi-san,” Makoto replied dutifully.

“See? I knew he wouldn’t let me down,” he said, before gesturing at Aigis with the pipe in his hand. “And what’s your name, young lady?”

“I am Aigis. Pleased to meet you, Bunkichi-san, and...” she trailed off, hoping for the old woman to provide her name.

The lady gasped with a smile. “Ah, I’m sorry, dear. Call me Mitsuko.”

“Thank you, Mitsuko-san. I am glad to have made your acquaintance.”

“So polite! I see where you get it from, Makoto-chan. She’s gotta be a good influence on you, eh?” Bunkichi smiled wryly, eyes glinting behind his glasses. Aigis certainly hoped she was, but did not know how the old man had realized she was making efforts towards positively influencing Makoto in such a short time. The android bemoaned her lacking comprehension of social cues.

Mitsuko lightly slapped him on the arm. “Stop that, Bunkichi. Don’t make them uncomfortable.” She then turned to Makoto. “So, to what do we owe the pleasure, Makoto-chan?”

The blue-haired boy slid his hands in his pockets. “Aigis is new here, so I’m showing her around town. Figured she should know the best bookstore in the city.”

“High praise coming from you, Makoto-chan; you’ve never bought anything from us!” The old man chuckled.

“Not true. I’ve bought your whole stock of melon bread in exchange for supporting your humor and introducing a new customer to you.”

The old man laughed boisterously. “Correct! Right you are, Makoto-chan.”

“Don’t feel obliged to buy anything, Aigis-chan,” Mitsuko said to Aigis in a low voice. “You don’t have to get dragged in their antics.”

The android nodded gratefully. “Thank you, Mitsuko-san. Still, I would not be opposed to browsing your stock. I have taken a recent interest in narratives, and wish to engage in reading as a leisurely pastime.”

“Oh, right this way, dear.”

As the old woman showed Aigis around the store, Makoto and Bunkichi began a comfortable dialogue that began with lighthearted banter before reducing to more hushed tones, discussing something that had to do with a tree. Aigis paid little mind to the conversation, however, for she was enthralled by the selection of books in front of her.

Just about every subject her processors could come up with had a representative in the shelves. Sci-Fi, fantasy, historical fiction, murder mysteries, realism, magical realism, every literary genre even vaguely alluded to in literature classes had at least one book and at most entire sections dedicated to it. Aigis was overwhelmed by indecisiveness at the sight of this treasure trove, and asked Mitsuko if she had any personal recommendations to prevent a system crash out of overthinking.

“Hmm... You said you’re only just getting into narratives?”

Aigis nodded. “Unfortunately, this is my first venture into literature, Mitsuko-san.”

The woman laughed. “Nothing unfortunate about entering a new world. It’s never too late to start. Even if you were as old as me and wanted to read your first book, it still wouldn’t be too late.” She hummed. “I think I have a good one for you, but... How’s your Japanese, dear? You’re speaking very well, but are you alright with reading something more.... complicated?”

Ah, she assumed Aigis was a foreigner. Reasonable, considering her appearance. “I was raised in Japan, Mitsuko-san. Please do not worry about that.”

“Oh!” Mitsuko gasped. “Sorry for assuming, dearie. Now, let’s see... Where is... Aha!” She pulled out a book from a shelf Aigis had not browsed yet, and handed it to the android. The title was Pride and Prejudice.

“I’ve read this plenty of times, Aigis-chan,” the old woman went on with a smile. “First read it back when I was your age, you know. I do hope you’ll enjoy it.”

The title was most interesting. Aigis wondered what the story was about. “And I as well, Mitsuko-san. Thank you.”

As the two returned to the counter, Makoto and Bunkichi’s conversation had come to an end, and the boy was munching on some melon bread while sitting across the table from the old man smoking his pipe. As Makoto rose from his seat, ready to leave, Aigis brought out her wallet to pay for the book. The old couple immediately objected to her act.

“Oh, you don’t need to pay for that old thing,” Bunkichi said. “It’s been gathering dust back there for ages! No one reads the classics anymore...”

“Consider it a gift, Aigis-chan,” Mitsuko added. “Your gateway into literature!”

“Please, I insist. Makoto-san has been robbing you of melon bread for quite some time, it seems. The least I could do is reimburse some of the damages.”

Bunkichi laughed. “Now look what you’ve done, Makoto-chan! Even your friend thinks we’re getting a raw deal!”

Makoto scoffed. “Sorry, Bunkichi-san, but it’s really on you at the end of the day.”

“Get outta my store, you little scamp!” the old man said, finally taking Aigis’s money. “Aigis-chan, teach him to respect his elders, won’t you?”

“I will try, Bunkichi-san, but I cannot guarantee success.”

Putting a packet of melon bread into her hands, Bunkichi said, “Here’s some incentive to try harder, eh?”

They left the store, and Aigis opened her melon bread packet. She took a bite, and found that she enjoyed the taste. “They were very nice people. I would like to continue meeting them.”

“Glad to hear it, Aigis,” Makoto said, patting her on the shoulder.

Aigis activated her manual logging function and saved every line of code documenting the sensation to her permanent memory banks after making three backup copies of it. She only questioned this action once she was done with it. It was a simple gesture, one I have received many times before from others. Why would I react in this way? I should analyze the code to understand why at a later time.

Makoto went on, “I’m gonna go use Wilduck’s bathroom for a second. I’ll be right back.”

“Very well, Makoto-san.” She watched him depart to the restaurant as she continued to consume her melon bread. But as she went to a trash can to dispose of its packaging, she overheard an argument from a few meters away. Turning her head, she saw her teal-haired stalker arguing with the dark-skinned ginger she had met in the alley the day she befriended Shinjiro. An odd pair. What would they have in common?

“I don’t want you to go to a place like that, Moriyama-san,” the shorter girl said meekly. “There’s a lot of scary people there.”

“What I do isn’t any of your business, got that?” the ginger, Moriyama, said as she poked the other’s chest to emphasize her point. “Why should you care anyway?”

“I have to care!” the other girl said, suddenly rebellious. “Your other friends don’t!”

Aigis blinked. She understood that desire, at least. She did not know how misplaced it was on the Moriyama girl, but it was, at least, something the android could comprehend.

Then, the ginger did something that was unexpected and yet completely expected; she shoved the other girl to the ground, making her books spill out of her bag and fall to the pavement alongside her. “You’re really irritating, you know that?!” she yelled at the fallen girl. She then stood still, and for a moment, Aigis felt as if Moriyama was going to help the other girl to her feet. She did not, however, instead electing to say, “I only hang out with you to mess with you. We’re not friends. Get that through your thick skull,” before walking away.

Aigis decided to remove the teal-haired girl from her list of threats as she approached her and began picking up her books one by one. It seemed Makoto’s initial assessment of her had been correct.

“H-huh?” she said, noticing the android. Her eyes widened to an impossible size.

“Hello, train girl-san.” Aigis helped the girl up as she held her books in one hand, before putting them inside her school bag one at a time. “Are you injured?”

“U-uh, no, I’m okay. Thanks for helping me.”

“In truth, I did not do so out of pure altruism. I was curious to know why you have been following me and my companion since we left the school.”

The girl rose her head, alarmed. “You- you noticed?! Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I acted like a creep, didn’t I...? I’ll... I’ll be leaving now...” She then turned to run off.

Aigis put a hand on the girl’s shoulder to prevent her departure. “I apologize for implying I had disdain for your action, train girl-san. I was merely curious. We are not very interesting people to outside observers, so I could not determine a reason for why anyone would follow us.”

The girl’s eyes widened further. “Not very interesting?! That’s- That can’t be true! Aren’t you the duo behind AiRato?”

Aigis recalled AiRato; it was Jin’s internet channel where he broadcasted videos of himself and Aigis repairing technological goods. Still, it was in her best interest to keep any connections to Strega a secret from everyone else. “We are not, train girl-san.”

The teal-haired girl was not convinced, despite the fact that Aigis had technically spoken the truth; Makoto was not part of AiRato, and thus they could not be ‘the duo behind AiRato’, even if Aigis had been a member. “But... but you look and sound just like E-Gis!” the timid girl said, surprisingly energetic. “Your name is Aigis too! And your friend’s got blue hair, just like Jin-san does! I’m sorry if you want to stay anonymous, I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to, but please don’t lie to me!” The girl panted, out of breath from her outburst.

It seemed Aigis’s half-truths would not be enough to convince the teal-haired teen’s sharp mind. “Train girl-san.”

“My- my name is Fuuka.”

Finally, a name. “Fuuka-san. I spoke the truth; my companion is not part of AiRato, and is unaware of its existence. However, I am indeed E-Gis. I would like for him and for everyone else to stay in the dark when it comes to my identity. Do you comprehend?”

Fuuka’s face was split by a wide grin. “Oh my god, it really is you! Of course I won’t tell anyone!” She giggled. “I can’t believe I’m meeting the E-Gis!”

Aigis blinked. “I do not comprehend the reason behind your excitement to meet me, but I appreciate the sentiment, Fuuka-san.”

“You don’t know why I’d be excited?!” Fuuka asked, scandalized. “I’ve been a really big fan of AiRato, Aigis-san! I really look up to both you and Jin-san! You two are geniuses when it comes to tech! Why wouldn’t anyone who knows you be excited about that?”

Aigis hummed. “I... see. Thank you, Fuuka-san.”

“Of course! I owe you so much, Aigis-san. You and Jin-san.” Why would Fuuka owe them? They had never done anything for her. The girl went on, “Though, if it’s not rude of me to ask... Why is the channel on hiatus? It’s been around two months, and there’s been no statements since...”

Jin had stopped making videos? Odd. He was easily doing so without Aigis before. It was likely tied to their bond’s reversal, however, and there was no reason to keep Fuuka in the dark about that. “Jin-san and I have had a... disagreement. He is not speaking with me. I have attempted to reach out, but to no avail.”

“O-oh...” A sympathetic look came over Fuuka’s face. “I’m sorry to hear that...”

“It is alright,” Aigis lied. “Do not concern yourself over this.”

Fuuka rubbed her arm. “Um... I don’t want to annoy you, but can I ask you something else?”

“Certainly.”

“Why are you going to our school?”

Odd thing to ask. How was that related to AiRato? “Because I am a teenage girl and legally obliged to attend school. I enrolled in Gekkoukan High due to its very positive reputation.”

Fuuka’s eyes widened. “A... teenage girl?”

“Yes. I am sixteen years old. I assume you are as well, seeing as I spotted you heading inside class 2-E in the morning.” Of course, Aigis was not truly sixteen, but it was a lie she was specifically told to tell others when asked about the matter. The information was added to her stealth module after she began attending school, and she had provided it to any curious party in the past two months.

The teal-haired girl wringed her skirt. “But... that can’t be right...”

“What for?”

“You... you look just like you did five years ago.”

That was correct. Aigis did not physically age. There was five years of video records demonstrating that fact, and anyone who had seen the videos knew of it. She should have put the two facts together and realized that before responding.

Sadly, it was not something she could explain away now, seeing as she had just told the other girl she was sixteen. Aigis knew very well that humans changed greatly as they grew from eleven years old to sixteen years old, yet as Fuuka had seen with her own eyes, Aigis had not undergone such a transformation.

Aigis had unknowingly compromised her cover as a human. She chose to use an old lie of Takaya’s to cover her tracks. “I have a medical condition that affects my aging. I assure you, I am not older than you are.” At least the latter part of that statement was true.

Fuuka’s eyes widened in shock. “M-medical condition?”

Clearly, she was unconvinced. The lie was as horrendous as Jin had said it was. “Yes. I do not enjoy discussing it.”

“O-okay...” The girl shook her head. “Thanks for telling me, Aigis-san. Sorry I pried.”

It was a blessing that the girl was not very confrontational. “It is of no concern.” She spotted Makoto leaving Wilduck Burger from the corner of her eye, and waved at him to indicate her location. “Is getting to see AiRato in real life the only reason you followed us?”

“U-um... Kind of?”

“I do not comprehend.”

As Makoto stood next to Aigis, Fuuka took a deep breath. “I... I’ve always dreamed of meeting AiRato, and I thought it’d be... it’d be nice to make friends with them, if I ever saw them. I thought you two were AiRato, so I followed you since you left school to build up courage to talk to you. But you’re not them, and I’ve just been acting like a creep for no reason, so I should just... I should go.”

Fuuka began to walk away, but Aigis stepped in front of her. “I disagree, Fuuka-san. I believe we could be great friends, even if you were mistaken about our identities.”

The teal-haired girl was dumbstruck. “Friends? Y-you and me?”

“And Makoto-san, yes.” The boy’s brows went up, but he nodded regardless. Good. Dragging him into a new friendship outside of SEES should be beneficial to him.

“I... I... Thank you! Thank you so much!”

Fuuka was akin to an azure hot spring, Aigis mused. Clear, small, peaceful, and not at all fond of pebbles disrupting its calm surface. And yet, its unassuming size hid depth greater than any ocean, and a passionate warmth that could boil its water to blistering heats. Aigis found herself fond of the small-statured, timid girl, and hoped they had interacted enough to form a bond already.

After a quick exchange of numbers that revealed the girl’s full name as Fuuka Yamagishi, Makoto and Aigis began to depart back to the dorm on foot.

“So, what’s AiRato?” Makoto asked.

“It was a case of mistaken identity. She believed us to be a pair of internet celebrities, so she had trailed us from school.” Not at all untrue words.

“Huh. Alright,” the boy shrugged. “Didn’t know I had the celebrity kind of face.”

“You do, Makoto-san,” Aigis said, because it was true.

The boy scoffed, but did not say anything as a light blush came over his cheeks. Aigis wished she understood why he had reacted that way.

Neither of the two began any conversation as they continued their trek back to the dorm, so the android chose to take a cursory glance at her newly purchased book.

She flipped Pride and Prejudice to its first page, and read the first line of the book.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

The book was about romance, it seemed. Perhaps it would increase Aigis’s knowledge of that facet of humanity, as it was a concept wholly foreign to the android. She closed the book in order to give it her full attention when she arrived home.

For the first time, she thought about how similar Jin and Makoto’s appearances truly were, enough for a complete stranger to mistake them for one another. She hoped her bond with Makoto would not meet the same fate as his lookalike’s. She did not believe she could handle another reversed Arcana, and most certainly not with Makoto.

The bond was special, after all. Igor had said so.

Chapter Text

When Mitsuru-senpai suggested studying together with her and Akihiko-senpai, Makoto figured it was a pretty reasonable thing to do. The seniors had already covered last year’s material once, and every year used the last one as foundation for what was to come, so it’d be fresh in their minds. They could help out if he needed a refresher on a math formula, or didn’t get some metaphor in a book for the umpteenth time. Plus, according to the redhead, the duo had never dropped from the top ten in their grade, with Mitsuru-senpai herself making top of the rankings at every exam, so there wouldn’t be anyone better-suited to helping Makoto out than the two of them. He’d be an idiot to throw that chance away.

But honestly, he was starting to think if studying alone would’ve been more productive.

“Sorry, Mitsuru... I’m almost done...” Akihiko-senpai said, his voice strained. He’d been sweating and grunting ever since they’d sat down to review, and Makoto was beginning to think it wasn’t just Mitsuru-senpai’s scary presence making him squirm.

“You’re sweating a lot,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Akihiko, are you feeling ill?” the redhead said, concerned. “You seem to be short of breath...”

“I’ll be fine,” the boy replied, sounding choked. “More importantly, why don’t you help Yuki’s studies? See if he needs anything cleared up for him.”

Mitsuru-senpai frowned, but let go of the matter. “You do have a point.” Sliding a notebook to Makoto, she went on, “Here, these are my notes from last year. You can use them if you like. I doubt they’ve altered the curriculum much since then.”

Makoto nodded in thanks and took the notes. They were multi-colored, had impeccable penmanship, and were excruciatingly detailed. He’d never seen notes that good in his entire life, and doubted he ever would again. “Wow,” he said, awed.

“I know, right?” Akihiko-senpai panted. “Her notes are better than the textbook itself. Only reason I... ugh... place in the top ten at all, really.”

The girl scoffed, tossing her hair to the side. “Don’t try to flatter me by selling yourself short, Akihiko. I might be particular about my note-taking, but you’re the one doing the studying.” She paused, narrowing her eyes. “Are you studying?”

“Obviously! Can’t waste any... time! Efficiency is key.”

Makoto frowned. What’s going on with him? Is this just... normal? Does he have some kind of sickness I don’t know about? I doubt he’d be making fun of Mitsuru-senpai to her face like that.

Whatever. He had studying to do. It was easy enough to tune out Akihiko-senpai’s struggling noises after he focused on the notes, and soon he settled into a comfortable rhythm of going over a chapter once, quizzing himself in his mind on the material, and reviewing anything he’d missed. It was especially easy to do with Mitsuru-senpai’s concise and organized notes, which were nothing like his own messy stream-of-consciousness material. Oftentimes he forgot what his own bullet points were supposed to refer back to, as he only wrote down the bare minimum of what he found important in class, but the redhead’s notebook had no such issues; everything was already there, in its most undiluted, easy-to-understand form. He was done much sooner than he’d expected to be.

The boxer happened to finish shortly after Makoto did. “Whew... All right! Done!” he said, all tension leaving his body as he exhaled with satisfaction.

“A-Akihiko! You’re drenched in sweat!” Mitsuru-senpai asked worriedly. “And that heavy breathing... Are you sure you’re alright?”

In between his intakes of breath, Akihiko-senpai replied, “I’m fine! I’ve just been squatting over my chair this whole time. Wanted to challenge myself to hold it until the end of this chapter.” He grinned toothily. “Working out while studying is quite an efficient use of my time, wouldn’t you say?”

He was crazy. Makoto was sharing a dorm with a crazy person.

Then again, Akihiko-senpai was a really damn reliable crazy person, not to mention a good friend, so he shrugged and replied, “Yeah, true.”

Mitsuru-senpai wasn’t really happy about his response, but she figured out Makoto’s game after she saw his grin. The boxer didn’t, though, and started going over other stuff he’d done to not make his studying a ‘waste of time’. And since everyone was done for the night, it was as good a way as any to unwind before heading to bed.

Yeah, it was a good idea to study with the seniors.

Chapter Text

The midterms came and went, and Junpei did about as well as he’d expected. Which is to say, he didn’t fail everything. At least he wasn’t on the bottom ten this time. Hopefully it’d be enough for Kirijo-senpai to keep him on SEES.

Hey, at least I know she’s not gonna beat me up for my grades. Even if she’s kinda scary, she wouldn’t go that far, he mused. The splashing sounds of Paulownia Mall’s fountain reassured him of that fact.

He leaned back on the bench with a sigh. What made it worse was that Junpei had tried to study. He really had. He’d put away every possible distraction, opened his books, sat in front of them, and forced himself to study for an hour straight. But by the end of it, he’d retained nothing at all. Not a single goddamned thing. He thought about asking the team for help, but he was tired of looking like an idiot who couldn’t do anything right in front of them. He’d done enough of that in Tartarus.

After killing the big Shadow back in April, Junpei got a big head, and wasn’t afraid to admit it. It wasn’t even the fact that he had superpowers; it was that he was good at having superpowers. He’d one-shotted a huge monster that had given the whole team trouble all by himself, using a super cool special attack he’d come up with on the spot. He wasn’t the stupid comic relief of the hero team, he was the freaking powerhouse. The protagonist. The leader. He hadn’t felt like that since Little League.

And then he fucked it up, just like Little League. It got so bad that the robot of the team, the one person who was practically guaranteed to not question orders, started giving them out instead of Junpei because he was doing such a bang-up job of it. So Junpei just let her have the role, and not a single person objected because he was just that bad at it and they couldn’t wait for his leadership to stop. Some protagonist I ended up being. Lost my position to the team mascot.

A whining sound made him snap out of his funk. He looked down to see a white and gray Shiba Inu poking at his leg, trying to get his attention. The dog didn’t have a collar, but looked too well-groomed for a stray. Junpei chuckled humorlessly. “What’s up, pooch? Think I’m lonely?” The dog barked in agreement, or at least, the boy thought he did. Petting the dog, Junpei went on, “Well, I ain’t. Got loads of friends, you know. Just want some time to myself right now, but it’s cool if you want to stick around.” The dog barked again, and leaned into Junpei’s hand. “Alright,” the boy said with a grin.

It wasn’t that Junpei didn’t like his friends. He liked them as people, had fun when he spent time with them, and enjoyed the company of others in general. He could hardly be described as antisocial. But everyone expects Junpei Iori to act a certain way, be in specific moods, and crack predictable jokes. Most of the time, he could manage. It was nice to be someone who could make others laugh. But being Junpei Iori was tiring too, and sometimes he just needed a little break. Unfortunately, if he was alone, there was no one to watch Junpei Iori, and he’d have to listen to himself think. And thinking never led to anything good.

Junpei Iori wasn’t built to think, after all.

“Yo, Junpei!” a familiar voice called out. Shortly after, Kenji walked up to the bench, with Kazushi in tow. Guess that’s it for the break, Junpei thought as he waved at the duo with his free hand, and put on his easygoing smile.

The athlete picked up where the other boy had left off. “Didn’t know you got a dog, dude.”

The Shiba Inu barked, and Junpei must’ve really been imagining things, because that sounded like a refusal. “Nah, he ain’t mine. Doubt the dorms would let me keep him anyway.” The dog panted happily. Weird...

“Oh yeah, you moved in the dorms, didn’t you?” Kenji said, leaning down to pet the Shiba Inu. “Who else is in there again? Makoto-kun, Takeba-san, and...”

“The new transfer girl, Aigis-san,” Kazushi provided.

Kneeling on the ground to scratch behind the dog’s neck, Kenji went on, “Oh, right, her. I don’t know what everyone sees in her, honestly. Whole school’s up in arms about how pretty and smart she is. So what? Anybody can study hard, and not like being pretty is a choice.”

The runner crossed his arms disapprovingly. “Kenji, everyone here knows the real reason you’re not interested in her.”

“Oh yeah, how are your attempts to woo Ms. Kanou going?” Junpei said mischievously.

Kenji got up from his sitting position just as the dog was getting comfortable and dusted off his pants. “I’ll have you know, we’ll be married before graduation! True love cannot be stopped!”

“Bet she wishes she could graduate, just to get away from you,” Kazushi said. “Shame that’s not an option for teachers.”

“Man, why did I even let you guys know about my secret plan?” Kenji facepalmed. “Makoto-kun wasn’t this judgmental about it.”

“He also hasn’t hung out with you since you told him about it, though,” Junpei said. “I don’t think that’s a glowing seal of approval, man.” And it really wasn’t; last time Junpei’d suggested hanging out with Kenji to Makoto, the boy had visibly shuddered before refusing. Not like he was going to tell Kenji that, though.

“You really should give up on that, Kenji,” the dark-skinned athlete added. “She could get in trouble if they think she’s the one making moves on you.”

The boy sighed. “I know... But... don’t tell me you guys don’t get it!”

“I don’t,” Kazushi deadpanned.

Junpei shrugged. “Me neither, dude. I’m into girls my age.” Shame they ain’t into me.

Kenji looked away in feigned offense. “Ugh... plebians. Anyway, you wanna hit the arcade, Junpei? I dragged Kaz away from practice so he could learn to have some fun. Ain’t something that happens every day, y’know.”

Kazushi shook his head. “Practice is important, man. Makoto-kun’s catching up with me. I didn’t think he’d ever take that track rival stuff this seriously, otherwise I wouldn’t have said it. It’s like something in him unleashes when they fire the starter pistol. I almost feel like a raw steak running away from the world’s hungriest tiger out there.”

Junpei pursed his lips, surprised. “Huh, didn’t expect that from him. Anyway, I’m not really feeling like gaming today, guys. Sorry.”

Kenji frowned. “But you’re always up for a round of Punch Boxer, dude. You doing alright?”

“Yeah, just kinda sick of the game, y’know?” Junpei chuckled drily. “Played it way too much during exam week.”

“C’mon, dude, think about your future a bit more,” Kazushi said. “I know it’s midterms and all, but this stuff’s still important. Can’t graduate without knowing what you want to do with your life later.”

Like he hadn’t heard that a thousand times before. He fluffed up the dog’s fur before getting up from the bench and stretching his back. “Eh, the great Junpei Iori doesn’t need all that. Don’t worry about me. I’ll see you guys later, yeah?”

“Okay, dude,” Kenji said. “Don’t be a stranger, though.”

“Sure. Next time, definitely.”

The dog followed Junpei all the way back to the dorm, and the boy didn’t see any reason to shoo him away. With the way he never got distracted by squirrels or cars or other stuff on their path, it was almost like the Shiba Inu was keeping an eye on Junpei and wanted to make sure he got home safely. It felt nice. The dog wasn’t demanding Junpei’s good mood, he was just there for him. The boy wondered if they really would let him keep it, but he doubted the dog would want that either way. He seemed kind of content with being on his own. Maybe that could be me too, one day.

When he reached the dorm’s entrance, he turned to the dog, and said, “Okay, pooch. This is where I live. Wanna come in and grab a bite or something?” The dog barked in the same way he had when Kenji had implied Junpei was his owner. “That’s a no, then. Okay, little dude, see you around.” A happier bark, followed by energetic panting. Man, what’s gotten into me? It’s a normal dog. It doesn’t get what I’m saying. He turned to the door and headed inside.

Inside, Makoto, Yukari, and Sanada-san were sitting around the coffee table, with Aigis standing behind Makoto’s couch. The TV wasn’t on, and Yuka-tan was engaged in a conversation with the boxer.

“Okay, but you can’t just keep ignoring them, senpai. They’re only gonna think you’re cooler because of how aloof you are.”

Sanada-senpai leaned back on the couch, sighing. “I didn’t ask for a horde of fangirls. They should find something better to do with their time. It’s not like I have time for a girlfriend, or even want one right now.”

“I don’t know, senpai,” Junpei decided to say. “If I had your reputation, I’d definitely make time for girls in my schedule.” Yukari sighed, right on cue.

Sanada-san turned his head upon hearing him. “Oh, hey, Junpei.” As the boy took a seat next to Yukari, the senior went on, “It’s not like I don’t want to give people the time of day. I have a boxing career to focus on, and there’s also my studies. Not to mention SEES and all our stuff with the Dark Hour... Plus, I don’t want to date someone just for the sake of it. I want to care about them first.”

“So you don’t care about anyone right now?” Makoto quipped.

Sanada-senpai didn’t even flinch. “Not in that way, no.” He didn’t get the joke, did he?

Before the silence dragged on for too long, Junpei decided to ask the question he’d been wondering about for a while now. “Why boxing anyway, senpai? With the way you go for runs every day, if someone didn’t know, they’d think you were on the track team.”

“Why do I box, huh?” The senior’s expression became serious. “It’s not that I like the sport itself; I do, but really, I picked it so that I could learn to fight with my bare hands, without relying on anything else. I know what powerlessness feels like, and I don’t want to feel that way ever again.”

“That is commendable, Akihiko-san,” Aigis said, clearly not realizing the weight behind the older boy’s words. That’s some real protagonist type shit... He’s so cool.

“Besides,” Sanada-senpai went on with a lighter tone, “I wanna know how strong I can really get. Competing with myself is the best kind of competition, because it advances you forward more and more, and there’s no sense of losing.”

Junpei pursed his lips. Competing with myself, huh? I guess there’s nobody else that’s low enough for me to compete with.

“And on that note!” The boxer clapped his hands. “Aigis, we going to Tartarus tonight or what? Mitsuru told me she’d be fine with it.”

“Certainly, Akihiko-san. Is everyone else also available?”

Makoto nodded, and Yukari replied with, “Yeah, sure,” before they all expectantly looked at Junpei.

I don’t think I’m ready to take orders from a robot just yet. “I don’t know, guys,” Junpei replied, getting up to stretch his back while faking a yawn. “I think I’m gonna turn in for tonight... Maybe next time, though.”

“Very well, Junpei-san,” Ai-chan replied. “Not everyone’s attendance is required every night, after all. But please ensure your availability for the next trip.”

Sure sounded like you won’t need me anyway, though. “Sure, definitely!” he said, before getting up and moving towards the kitchen to grab a cup ramen for dinner.

His thoughts drifted back to Aigis as he waited for the microwave to heat up his meal. Why was the girl so kind and caring and good at everything, anyway? She was a freaking robot, for crying out loud. Robots weren’t supposed to have friendly behavior and original thoughts and leadership skills. They were supposed to be perfect soldiers who did everything they were told. And yet Ai-chan was a better leader than not just Junpei, but the captain of the freaking boxing team. It really said something about both of them. Or maybe it said something about Ai-chan.

But even if she was more than what Junpei believed, even if she had thoughts and emotions and all the stuff that made a person a person, it didn’t change the fact that Junpei was a fuck-up, and he’d continue to be a fuck-up, and nothing was going to change that. And Ai-chan, kind little Ai-chan who’d placed first in the midterms, was going to be his new leader in his superhero affairs, and looked far too cute to be a robot, constantly reminded him of that fact by simply existing. So, really, who gave a shit if she had feelings? That just gave her another thing over Junpei, and he was sick of coming up short against someone who wasn’t even human.

Junpei was a terrible person for hating her the way he did, but what else was new? He sighed, and canceled the microwave’s heating process two seconds before its timer to only hear one beep instead of three. Keep your chin up, Junpei. At least you’re still on the team. At least you still have superpowers. He pursed his lips as he opened the cup ramen’s lid. Well, until we get rid of the Dark Hour. Then you won’t even have that.

Make plans for my future? All I can see there is the bottom of a bottle.

-------------------------

Shinjiro had pretty good reasons for frequenting Hagakure Ramen. After all, ramen wasn’t junk food, it was affordable, and the chef was a master at his work. The quality was good enough that Shinjiro could eat it for a week straight and not get sick of it, and eating at places like Wilduck only made him regret the fact that he wasn’t eating Hagakure’s house special instead. He’d thought about apprenticing for the guy so that he’d have something to do all day, but got good-naturedly brushed off due to his age, which was a damn shame; he hadn’t cooked in a long time, and had probably gotten way too rusty. Though, if he had been cooking, he wouldn’t be frequenting a restaurant in the first place, so there were pros and cons to everything.

When Aki walked in through the front door and plopped himself on the seat next to Shinjiro, though, he almost decided on throwing his routine out the window, and Akihiko right after it; if he’d gotten predictable enough for even that musclehead to track him down effortlessly, he was doing something wrong.

“Don’t you get sick of eating the same thing every day?” the boxer asked with a teasing tone.

“Don’t you get sick of stalking me?” Shinjiro clapped back.

“Hey, just looking out for you,” Akihiko said, accepting his ramen bowl from the chef.

“You’re not my babysitter.”

“If you didn’t act like a big baby, you wouldn’t need one.” Shinjiro scowled. “Okay, too far, sorry. But come on, Shinji. Stop being so stubborn and come back already.”

“Why? You’re all doing just fine. You’ve made it to the second digits without me.” He put a big scoop of ramen in his mouth to stall having to answer the other boy’s next question.

“Who told you- Right, you met Aigis.” Akihiko sighed. “Just because we’ve made progress doesn’t mean we’re not looking for more manpower all the time. Mitsuru’s even thinking about disguising a scan for potential as a regular school check-up to weed out kids at the school.”

Shinjiro gulped down his ramen as fast as he could and replied, “You told her that was a fucked-up thing to do, right?”

“She didn’t need me to tell her that, it was just her sleep deprivation talking. We still need more Persona-users, though. And it hurts when we know one who’s also our friend yet refuses to help us out. Don’t let your power go to waste, Shinji.”

“My power ain’t worth shit,” the boy in the trench coat spat out.

“Oh, come on,” Akihiko said, incredulous. “It’s been two years. Beating yourself up about it won’t change anything. It’s time to move on.”

“You’re one to talk,” Shinjiro scoffed.

“What, so I should just move on from you and leave you to rot, is that what you’re saying?”

“No. Just saying you’re not particularly good at moving on, either. Whether it’s me or Miki.”

Akihiko’s fist shook the counter. It was loud enough to grab the chef’s attention. “Is there a problem?”

“No, sir, just a mistake,” the boxer replied after a deep breath. “Right?”

“Right. Sorry.” Shinjiro was not apologizing to the chef.

Once they weren’t the center of attention anymore and Shinjiro had finished his bowl of ramen, Akihiko picked the thread of conversation back up. “Stop being stubborn and come back, Shinji. You wouldn’t be the only loose cannon on the team anyway.”

“Loose cannon?” Shinjiro said, trying to hide his interest. “What kinda greenhorn did you recruit, Aki?”

“That’s the problem. She’s got more experience than all of us.”

“Don’t tell me...”

“The first night we took Aigis to the tower, her Persona freaked out. It transformed into a different creature from what it was, became this gigantic man in black with coffins on its back. Tore up the Shadows more violently than anything I’ve ever seen. It was way worse than what happened with Castor, and it fried her entire system too. The strain would’ve probably killed her if she was human. I’m just grateful it only went after the Shadows and not us, because we wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

Shinjiro was flabbergasted. Even when Castor had gone out of control, it was still... Castor. “Did... you figure out why it happened?”

“We don’t know. She’s kept the ability to summon Personas other than what she started out with, but that specific Persona hasn’t reappeared. Mitsuru said Aigis told her that she’s ‘lost access to it’, which implies she knows how her ability works, but isn’t sharing. She didn’t pry.”

“What about Ikutsuki?”

Akihiko slurped the last of the soup in his bowl and wiped his mouth clean with a tissue, a habit Mitsuru had to drill into him after getting sick of the food stains on his pristine white shirts. “He’s had the lab coats run tests on her, but nobody can figure it out. He just gave up after a bit. We don’t want to make her feel like a guinea pig, so none of us is bringing it up either. The juniors all think it’s just because she’s a robot, but Mitsuru told me that no other ASSW ever did anything like that.”

“Probably ‘cause she ain’t a normal ASSW,” Shinjiro said carefully.

“Probably,” Akihiko agreed with a sigh. “Sometimes I look at her and feel like we’ve adopted the poster child for every teenage crisis at once. What’s worse is that I know I can’t help her with any of the stuff she’s going through. She... She even...” The boxer let his sentence die out.

Shinjiro knew exactly what he was going to say. “She thinks she’s better off dead.”

“How do you know?!”

“She told me. She didn’t think it was a big deal. She didn’t want comfort, either; she said she was ‘already telling herself enough lies’ and didn’t need me piling on top of them.”

“And what did you do?”

“Comforted her anyway, Aki, what kind of asshole do you think I am?” Akihiko was really beginning to piss him off.

The boxer chuckled. “You got one over me, then. I ran out of the room when she told me and begged Mitsuru to deal with it.”

“You were always shit at feelings.”

“Yeah. That’s another reason for you to come back, isn’t it?”

Hook, line and sinker. Shinjiro was a real sucker to have fallen for that. He pursed his lips, and Akihiko grinned toothily.

The boy in the trench coat grunted in frustration. “Fuck you, Aki.”

“Is that a yes?”

“No. It fucking isn’t. Go to hell.”

The boxer chuckled. “Fine, Shinji. Call me when you pull your head out of your ass, then. Aigis has my number too, in case you’ve forgotten it.”

Shinjiro could recite Akihiko’s phone number backwards. “Go fuck yourself.”

His response was a laugh and a pat on the shoulder, before Akihiko got up from his seat to go do just that.

Shinjiro ordered another house special to douse his frustrations in. Fucking Aki and his fucking emotional intelligence that comes out of fucking nowhere. Asshole.

He wasn’t going to go back. He wasn’t.

Not until he knew for a fact that Aigis couldn’t deal with Akihiko’s crap anymore, at least. That idiot could drive anyone to suicide if he tried hard enough.

Shinjiro lamented his stupidity once more as he dug into his second bowl of ramen, and found himself not nearly hungry enough to finish it.

Chapter Text

As the month of June rolled around, Aigis chose to have the team visit Tartarus on its very first day. Her intention was to start off the month strong and build a sense of commitment in the team that would get them in the mindset of being focused on the task at hand. The next full moon was only a week away, which made her even more determined.

Sadly, despite her intentions, not everyone was present; Makoto had been fast asleep in his room, exhausted from a rough day at track practice, and Akihiko had a physics quiz the next day which made Mitsuru forbid him from coming along no matter how much he protested. Aigis, however, was unperturbed; her plan for tonight was flexible, and the person required for it to work was with them already.

“So, team of three for tonight, huh?” Junpei remarked as they gathered in the Tartarus lobby. “We should be fine, though, since our fearless leader’s capable enough to get us through it. Right?”

“You are mistaken, Junpei-san,” she replied. “We do have a team of four.”

“I’m sure Iori was referring to our on-field members, Aigis,” Mitsuru said softly. “I certainly won’t feel excluded.”

“I was referring to the same thing, Mitsuru-san. You are coming with us tonight.”

“Huh?!” Yukari asked, more surprised than she perhaps should have been.

Mitsuru’s eyes widened. “A-are you sure, Aigis?”

“Yes. Your Persona is capable of combat, Mitsuru-san. You need to keep your skills polished in case your assistance is required with the next full moon’s Shadow. In addition, navigation is hardly necessary if we plan to investigate every possible hallway in a floor and battle any Shadow we come across, which is the game plan I have decided on for tonight.”

The redhead nodded approvingly. “You raise very good points, Aigis. You’re right; it has been quite some time since I last executed some Shadows.” She returned the navigation assets to her backpack and fastened her rapier to her waist. “I am in your care, Leader,” she said with a toss of her hair.

Moving to the teleporter, the quartet soon arrived at their last checkpoint of Tartarus, which was placed in the new block they had discovered after the defeat of the monorail Shadow. Rather than being a warped version of the school hallways, this block of the tower had curved, rocky structures lit by a violet glow that appeared natural, as if it was bioluminescent algae in a cave. Tentacle-like growths had replaced the metallic fences that acted as doors, and stalagmites rose from the floor to proudly display more glowing purple crystallizations.

Of course, not everything in the block appeared naturally formed.

“Man... This place just keeps getting creepier and creepier,” Yukari shivered.

“Are the big faces on the walls looking at you weird, Yuka-tan?” Junpei prodded. “I can beat ‘em up for you, no problem!”

“Shut up, Stupei. I genuinely feel like they’re looking at me.”

“The tower does appear to possess a mind of its own,” Aigis said. “I would not be surprised if they truly were a method of surveillance.”

“Yes, after all, we are intruders,” Mitsuru added with an upward turn of her lips. “Any smart individual would be on the lookout for people not meant to be somewhere.”

“You’re not helping, guys...” the pink-clad brunette said, rubbing her arms.

“I was under the assumption that knowing how something functioned made it less frightening for humans,” Aigis said, puzzled. “Would knowing the fact that they are looking at you not make you less afraid of them?”

Yukari pursed her lips. “Not really... It’s still creepy. If the tower really is alive, we’re, like, inside its body right now. I don’t like thinking about that.”

A formless Shadow puddle chose that moment to turn the corner, screeching upon observing the team and choosing to rush at them. “Well, I hope destroying this Shadow will help you with that feeling, Yukari-san,” Aigis said as she fired a few rounds at the beast, forcing it to reveal its true form: a large, scarlet rhinoceros beetle.

Yukari jumped back in disgust. “And it just had to be one of these?!”

“Bugs ick you out, huh, Yuka-tan?” Junpei chuckled. “Don’t worry; Junpei Iori’ll squash it for ya!” He lifted his Evoker to his head, but Aigis raised her hand to stop him.

“Await your turn, Junpei-san,” the android said. “Mitsuru-san, if you will.”

“As you command. Penthesilea, go!”

Conveniently, the Shadow was weak to ice, and flopped on its back. Inconveniently, another one entered the hallway and screeched. One gunshot from Aigis made it transform into a large, silver statue of a masked woman holding a child to its bosom, appearing basked in holy light thanks to the protrusions on its back. “This is rather complicated,” the android said. “We have not faced that kind before. Yukari-san, try wind. Junpei-san, Mitsuru-san, attack the beetle.”

Aigis opened fire on the statue as Yukari fumbled to reach her Evoker. The statue was chipped by the rapid gunfire, but did not go down. Instead, it opened up from the middle, revealing a rather beautiful stained-glass illustration that Aigis had no time to pay more attention to. The scent of ozone filled the air, and the area around Yukari was charged with energy.

Electricity was her weakness. That would not do.

Aigis dashed towards Yukari and knocked her out of the blast’s strike zone. Despite the fact that she had made sure to swap from Palladion into a different Persona that was not weak to electricity, the spell still managed to paralyze her systems. The ensuing onslaught of error messages marking disabled joints, internal circuit damage, jammed weapons and the like was intensive enough to make her manually disable her pain receptors. She would not have done so in normal conditions, as she valued the human sensations she was built with, but she needed a clear head to lead.

As a result of the blonde’s push, Yukari was sitting on the floor. Her eyes were focused on Aigis, and her expression was dumbfounded and horrified. Plagued by static, her vocalizer made an attempt at reminding her of her orders. “A-a-attack it, Yukari-ri-ri-san. Win-in-ind.” Idly, she pondered why humans were so ineffective at combat. Had the brunette gotten paralyzed instead, Aigis would have utterly demolished the Shadow by now. Not that she would have let that happen, as she had just demonstrated, but it was about the principle of the matter.

Io’s tornado was powerful, but not enough to win the battle. Aigis forced her neck to turn towards Junpei and Mitsuru, who were locked in combat with the beetle Shadow. Junpei was clashing his blade against its horn, while Mitsuru attempted to cast a charm spell on it to no avail. It was a fruitless endeavor on both sides, and Aigis saw fit to intervene.

“Mitsuru-sa-sa-san. Ice. Not char-ar-arm. Junpei-san, step back.”

The bug-like beast was encased in a block of ice just as the boy dodged outside of Penthesilea’s blast radius. Moments afterwards, Aigis saw Orgia Mode’s functions go back online, and activated it immediately to break out of her paralysis. “Finally. Palladion, strike.”

The rhinoceros beetle exploded into chunks of ice momentarily afterwards, but the android paid it no mind, disabling Orgia Mode and turning to Yukari, who was dodging the Shadow’s barrage of fire spells and returning volleys of arrows in a spectacular display of finesse and precision. Still, as impressive as it was, effectiveness was not a trait her actions possessed. “Not weak to wind or piercing attacks... Yukari-san, fall back. Junpei-san, fire, if you will.”

What Hermes did was decidedly not casting a fire spell. Instead, the Persona attacked the statue head-on, striking its mask with its own helmet. The impact was enough to knock the Shadow down, and the boy yelled victoriously.

Aigis summoned Palladion once more for a decisive final strike before turning to Junpei. “Junpei-san, that was not a fire spell.”

“It won us the fight, though, right?” he replied cockily, straightening his cap with a grin.

“That is irrelevant. The field leader’s commands are absolute.”

“Sure wasn’t that way when I was field leader, though, was it?” His tone did not change and nor did his smile falter, but Aigis comprehended enough social cues to read into the bite behind his words. She blinked. He handed me the team leadership out of his own volition. He is aware of his ineffectiveness in that regard. Why would he sabotage my attempts at doing better than he did?

She chose to ignore his comment to prevent further strife, instead turning to Yukari. “Did that help with your sense of unease, Yukari-san?”

The brunette was staring at the floor and breathing heavily. She did not answer Aigis’s question.

“Takeba? Are you alright?” Mitsuru asked, worried.

Yukari blinked multiple times, snapping out of her daze. “Y-yeah, I’m fine. Because Aigis had my back. Because Aigis took the hit for me. That’s why I’m fine. Yeah.”

That was indeed what had happened. The android did not understand why she had phrased it that way, however. “Yes, I did. I am glad to see you uninjured.”

“But I’m not glad to see you injured,” Yukari met Aigis’s eyes with a stern expression. “I’m not happy about that.”

Aigis tilted her head. “It is not critical damage. You should save your healing spells for later in the exploration, Yukari-san. I can manage for now.”

Before Yukari could respond, Mitsuru firmly interjected. “I believe we should move on; more Shadows could ambush us if we remain stationery,” The android felt immensely grateful for this action. At least she is not unsatisfied with the current situation. That makes one of us, as they say.

The team returned to walking the halls, with an uneasy silence filling the space between them that had little to do with the tower’s unsettling effects on the mind.

As expected, it did not take long for Junpei to break said silence. “Man, it’s pretty tough being the only boy on the team tonight, not gonna lie,” he mused loudly as he stretched his back hard enough to crack the joints.

Yukari scowled. “Yeah, sure must be tough for you, huh? I bet you feel reaaaaal bad about it.”

Junpei went on, unbothered. “I mean, one guy, center of attention for an all-girl audience... Is this what a harem is like?” He pursed his lips, before striking a thoughtful expression. “No, wait, Yuka-tan is here, it wouldn’t work out...”

The brunette’s frown deepened. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

“I’m sure Iori meant nothing,” Mitsuru said, tone icy. “Pay him no mind.”

Aigis decided not to ask what a harem was. She had a feeling it was not something good. But at the very least, the awkward silence was no more, and that was something to celebrate.

As they entered the next floor, Yukari groaned unhappily. “I miss the last block. At least it looked like an actual building, more or less.”

“Maybe it’s the school ghost’s fault that Tartarus is different!” Junpei said.

Mitsuru frowned, curious. “School ghost? I haven’t heard of this rumor. Do elaborate, Iori.”

“So, you know how that girl from class 2-E was found by the front gate last week, senpai?” Mitsuru nodded. “Well, now they’re saying it was an angry spirit from this one ghost story who did it.”

“C-c’mon, ghosts aren’t real...” Yukari said shakily.

“Well, don’t just abandon the tale there. What is the story?” the redhead asked.

“I-it’s probably made up anyway!” Yukari spoke hastily and quickly. “We don’t need to go into details when it’s all fake! Right, Aigis? It doesn’t really matter in the bigger picture!”

The android blinked. Yukari was clearly uncomfortable, but... “As a matter of fact, I have been quite interested in fictional narratives lately. I would appreciate hearing this ‘ghost story’.” Guiding the team into a safe corner, Aigis continued, “Please, do tell us this tale in full detail, Junpei-san.”

Having the stage set out for him perfectly, Junpei retrieved a flashlight from his pocket and turned it on, aiming it at the underside of his face. It gave him a most unsettling visage, one perfectly suited to telling terrifying tales. When he spoke, his tone was completely flat and without emotion, perhaps even more so than Aigis could pull off. “Good evening, and welcome to Junpei’s Believe It, or Don’t. There are many strange things in this world...” With a sudden jerk, he leaned towards Yukari. “Wouldn’t you agree?” The girl yelped, but Junpei leaned back, unperturbed.

He went on, “Legend has it, late at night, when the midnight hour strikes...” he made ticking sounds with his mouth, “After everyone has gone home... A maniacal ghost roams the school halls, devouring any poor soul that crosses its path. Their screams-” he screamed loudly and girlishly, making Yukari jump once more, “-echo over the walls, but there’s no hope, no salvation. Only suffering...

“The other day, this friend of mine—let’s call him ‘Witness A’. He came up to me and said-” Junpei’s tone utterly shifted, resembling the speech pattern of Kenji Tomochika, one of their classmates, “- ‘Hey, Junpei, I saw something weird the other day.’ He sounded so serious, so I asked him what he’d seen. He told me... Do you know what he told me? He told me he saw the girl from 2-E, going into the school the same night before the incident. I told him-” Junpei’s tone went back to his usual, jovial manner of speech, “- ‘I don’t believe it! Not even for a second!’” Much like the previous quotation, his voice returned to its stony nature immediately afterwards. “The girl from 2-E wasn’t the type to go wandering around at night, you see. She had a reputation for bullying, maybe even being in places she shouldn’t have been, but breaking into the school? That didn’t sound like her at all. But Witness A, he was white as a sheet. He swore to me that it was true!”

Junpei let the silence linger, basking in the attention. Aigis very much wanted for him to go on, but before she could vocalize the desire, the boy resumed his tale. “There is only one possibility for what could have happened to her, don’t you agree? The ghost must have made her its dinner. It only makes sense, if it roams the halls late at night... just another scream to add to the rest, isn’t it? Yes, there truly are some strange things in this world...” A devilish grin crossed over his face. “Believe it... or don’t.”

The flashlight clicked off, and Aigis felt an urge to applaud Junpei for his magnificent storytelling. Mitsuru, however, did not seem to feel the same way. “Hmm... The ghost part doesn’t feel particularly relevant, but a girl being found unconscious at school after wandering there specifically around midnight... that may be worth investigating.”

Junpei was rightfully miffed. “Seriously? Not one word about my amazing performance just now?”

“That was a very well-told story, Junpei-san,” Aigis said. “I was quite engaged.”

The boy looked away, crossing his arms. “Yeah, well, you laugh at the chairman’s jokes, so I’m not sure if that’s what I’m looking for. Either way...” A sly smirk became his expression as he looked towards Yukari, who was white as a sheet. “Didn’t know you were afraid of ghosts, Yuka-tan. Not like you to be a chicken!”

Yukari’s fear evaporated in an instant, giving way to rage. “What?! Who’re you calling a chicken?! You know what?” She turned to Mitsuru. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this, senpai. I’ll figure out what’s really going on, because his dumb story is definitely not true.”

“Good idea, Takeba,” the redhead replied. “In fact, I believe everyone should look into this matter. I will inform Yuki and Akihiko in the morning as well, so they can ask around the school. Though, since it is an incident concerning someone from your grade, you may have more luck.”

“I have one question,” Aigis said. “If something as supernatural as the Dark Hour exists, what would prevent ghosts from existing as well?”

Her response was silence.

“They... they just don’t!” Yukari said, after a few seconds. “Let’s go already! We’ve wasted enough time!” Without waiting for the others, she began marching away from the team. Turning the corner, her scream was heard soon afterwards, making everyone rush to her side to defeat the Shadow that had ambushed her.

Apart from Junpei’s teasing remarks towards Yukari and the girl’s perpetual state of mild terror, the rest of the exploration was mostly uneventful. Mitsuru continued to prove herself a worthy combatant; even if the enemy was not weak to ice, her strikes were powerful enough to shatter its defenses or leave it frozen for someone else’s attack to utterly destroy it. Navigation proved unnecessary as well, considering Aigis’s ability to map out an environment she explored in her head. If they found the exit early, Aigis would remember its location and take the team to it after they had looked through every nook and cranny of the floor for more Shadows or treasure. Still, she wondered why the tower did not readjust its own layout while the team was in it; it would be easy to keep them lost forever in endlessly twisting and turning hallways, but Tartarus did not seem interested in doing that.

Aigis wondered if the tower would ever choose to fight back, and what method it would employ for doing so. It was not a pleasant thought, so she pushed it to the back of her mind.

Finally, the android’s internal clock warned her of the Dark Hour’s imminent end, and SEES returned to the lobby with the teleporter found at the next floor.

As she basked in the light of Yukari’s final healing spell for the night, Aigis said, “Your performance was magnificent tonight, Mitsuru-san. It is good to see that your instincts have not been dulled.”

“You’re too kind, Aigis,” Mitsuru said with a smile. “I’m glad you thought of this; I missed the thrill of combat. We should do this more often, I reckon.”

Junpei and Yukari remained silent as the team left the tower and watched it take the form of the school once more. The android decided that she was unsatisfied with their silence.

Aigis had not been a perfect leader tonight. The team was experiencing friction, and she did not have the right ideas or the right personality to fix it. That did not change the fact that it was her job to do so. She would have to solve the matter at hand, and soon. SEES deserved a leader that was nothing short of flawless, and Aigis was positively sick of not living up to what she was supposed to be, no matter the placating words she received from others. This expectation was one she was determined to embody in its entirety.

Yes, Aigis would be the greatest leader to ever lead. That could be her purpose, something to surpass the destruction of Shadows, even. It was certainly more important than tossing out gunfire and magic spells to evaporate pitiful blobs of nothingness and apathy.

She readjusted her orders’ priority on the way back to the dorm, and as she laid down on the resting station, Aigis entered standby mode feeling brand new.

-------------------------

The rest of the week was spent gathering intel around the school, and on Saturday night, the second-years gathered in the dorm lounge to go over what each of them had learned.

Yukari stood next to Aigis, in between the sofas Junpei and Makoto were sitting on. “Okay,” she began, “as we agreed on Monday, we’re now gonna go over what each of us has learned.”

“Wow, you’re really into this,” Junpei snickered.

“Of course I am!” the brunette cheerily replied. “I got lots of good info. And none of them mentioned a ghost at all!”

“Shocking,” Makoto deadpanned. “I really can’t believe it. Who could’ve guessed?”

“I am somewhat disappointed that ghosts are not real,” Aigis sighed. “I would have liked to see proof of an afterlife for humans.”

“Are you sure they’re not, though?” Junpei lowered his cap over his face in an attempt to look menacing. “After all, if Junpei Iori, Ace Detective can’t prove that they’re not real, can anyone else?”

“Ace Detective?” Yukari scoffed. “More like Stupei, Ace Defective.” Ignoring Junpei’s baffled protests, she went on, “So, anyway, let’s talk about how this rumor even started in the first place. They found the missing girl on the school grounds, so that part lines up with the ghost story. But why did it even get around so fast if this was the first incident of its kind?”

“Obviously, it was because of the message she wrote in her own blood moments before she died.” Makoto crossed his arms without the slightest hint of jest appearing on his face.

“NO!” Yukari cried. “There was nothing of the sort! She’s not even dead! Be serious, would you?”

“That is because more similar incidents occurred shortly afterwards,” Aigis said. “She was the first victim, but two other situations with the same attributes took place as well.”

“Thank you! Was that so hard?”

“Yeah.” Makoto’s lips rose in a smirk, and he high-fived Junpei.

“Jeez... If you two aren’t taking this seriously, just go to bed,” Yukari pouted.

“Sorry, Yuka-tan, but you gotta admit, it was kinda funny.”

“Not really. Moving on... All the girls were in different classes, so you’d think they didn’t have anything in common, but they did. What was that one shared trait?”

“They were all girls?” Junpei asked innocently.

“Yeah, no shit,” Yukari snapped.

“They went to our school?” Makoto queried.

“Aigis, can you please kill them? Please? For me?”

“Very well. Activating Orgia Mode.” Aigis let the fans on the sides of her head rev up to truly sell the joke.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Okay, okay, we’ll be serious!” Junpei hurriedly said, before continuing, “They hung out with each other! They were friends!”

“Yup. They all got in with a bad crowd and were always out late. They all ended up the same way too, so no way it’s a coincidence.” Yukari clapped her hands, looking satisfied. “And to confirm that, we’re gonna do some field research, which is the whole reason we’re gathered here tonight.”

“Wait, what?” Junpei asked, surprised.

“Uh-huh. There’s one place all three girls frequented, and we’re gonna go there to find out more.”

“Are you referring to the back alley behind Port Island Station?” Aigis asked.

Yukari’s brows rose. “Huh? How do you know about it, Aigis?”

“I have been to that place before in my explorations of the city. It is frequented by unsavory people and lowlifes.” And Shinjiro Aragaki, the only exception to that rule.

“Yeah, she’s right!” Junpei enthusiastically agreed. “We seriously shouldn’t go, or we’d get hurt.”

“We go to Tartarus every night,” Makoto lazily pointed out. “That’s dangerous too.”

“Yeah, but we have Personas in there! And weapons! It’s not like I can lug around my greatsword to the alleyway, they’ll think I’m some kind of idiot!”

Aigis pursed her lips.

She was not to refer to herself as a weapon.

And yet... That was a ridiculous command in and of itself, was it not? It prevented her from speaking her official label aloud, and not acknowledging her vast artillery would be insulting her own capabilities. She might not have been a mindless gun to aim and fire at a given target, but she was quite capable of lethality, far more than that of an average weapon.

Not to mention...

“If you still think I can order you, take this as an order.” Aigis was the team leader now. She gave the executive orders, and not Mitsuru. Did that not mean she could not order the android anymore?

And so, her reasoning sound, Aigis deleted Mitsuru’s old order from her command hierarchy, but also chose the correct phrasing as to not tell falsehoods. “I have plenty of weapons built into my body, and I doubt any thug would be able to best me in combat. I would be able to safely visit the alleyway, and perhaps even protect you if you wish to accompany me there. I would prefer that you did not, but I consider myself capable of doing so.”

“O-oh, you’re right,” Yukari said with widened eyes. “Well, no reason to not go there, then, right? It’s not like anyone can take on Aigis.”

“I mean, I guess...” Junpei mumbled. “But do we all have to go?”

“Aigis might be capable enough, but she doesn’t look like a threat,” the blue-haired boy pointed out. “We can’t just have her and Yukari go alone. People like that won’t say anything to two girls.” He smirked. “Don’t tell me you’re chickening out, Junpei.”

“Fine, fine, whatever. You stole that one from me anyway.” The boy with the baseball cap got up from his seat, and Makoto mimicked his action. “We should go now, then, before it gets too late. I don’t wanna be in a place like that when the Dark Hour hits.” The two boys then headed upstairs to prepare, leaving Aigis and Yukari alone in the lounge.

“Those dummies... I’m just glad none of them said ‘maybe we should take this up with the senpais’ or whatever,” Yukari said happily. “That would’ve been a headache.”

“Now that you mention it, would that not be an advisable course of—”

“No! That’s the whole point! All we’ve done so far is take orders, right? ‘Go to Tartarus’ this, ‘investigate the rumor’ that. It’s about time we did something for ourselves.”

“Is that the reason for your insistence on the matter, then, Yukari-san?” Aigis asked.

“Well, yeah! I don’t want to be some dumb foot soldier who does whatever she’s told. I’m my own person. I’ll take orders when I have to, but that’s not all I am.” The brunette smiled at the android. “You get that, right?”

My... own person...

“I... I believe I do, Yukari-san.”

Yukari gave Aigis an encouraging nod of her head before heading upstairs, leaving the android to ponder her thoughts.

This was not disobedience. This was doing a productive action to assist the team without being ordered to, and it was happening in a safe and controlled fashion that would not bring harm to anyone. It was not like when Aigis had recklessly broken out of the dorm to go to Tartarus on her own.

Was this free will?

The question circled in Aigis’s mind as the quartet took the monorail to Port Island Station, and comforted her with the possibility of its answer being positive.

As they got off the monorail, Junpei got more and more reluctant to follow through with the plan.

“This is a really, really bad idea, you guys... We should just go back.”

“It’ll be fine, Junpei,” Yukari reassured. “We’re just gonna ask some questions and leave. It’s not like we’re looking for a fight.”

“I don’t get it! How are you afraid of ghosts, but totally fine with this?!”

“‘Cause stuff you can’t see is way creepier.”

“I’m more worried about the shit I can see! Like bats! And knives!”

“Bats aren’t scary,” Makoto said. “They’re cute and fuzzy.”

“Smartass, you know what I mean!”

“I will protect you, Junpei-san,” the android reassured. “You will not come to harm as long as I am here.”

Junpei fell silent, pursing his lips. The silence lingered as the group entered the alleyway, which was far more crowded than the last time Aigis had seen it. Streetlights flickered on and off, smoke rose from cigarette stubs on the ground, and boisterous, mocking laughter echoed in the alleyway as a form of greeting.

“The hell is this? A school trip?” an unsavory individual with tattoos on his face chortled.

His friend next to him picked up the thread. He had a piercing on his nose and another on his ear, which were connected to each other with a chain that hung off his face in a manner that he likely assumed was intimidating. “Dumbass Gekkou High kids, thinkin’ everywhere on the damn island belongs to ‘em. Guess they didn’t learn their lesson after what happened to the last ones.”

“Oh man, this is worse than I thought...” Junpei whined.

“Yeah, and it’s about to get worse for you, Goatee,” the tattooed punk said, approaching the group alongside his friend. “You ain’t welcome here, you know that?”

“G-goatee? Oh, you- you mean me.” The boy laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

“We don’t need your permission to be here, jerk,” Yukari protested.

“Not a good move, Yukari...” Makoto whispered in a very low voice, not aiming for anyone to truly hear it.

“I believe you should ‘read the room’, as they say, Yukari-san,” Aigis said, because Makoto was right.

“I can read just fine,” Yukari huffed. “We shouldn’t be intimidated by punks like these!”

“She just called us punks,” a girl from a dark corner spoke up.

“Did she, now?” another feminine voice replied. “I think that was just a rat’s squeak. This place is full of rats tonight.”

“Punks, huh?” the first punk chuckled darkly. “Pretty girl like you, calling us punks. Really hurts my widdle feewings, you know that? I feel sorry for you, Goatee. You have to deal with her all the time.”

His friend walked up to Makoto. “What about you, pretty boy? On a double date with Goatee and his bitch of a girlfriend? You’ve got yourself a nicer piece, can’t lie. Both attitude and looks. Care to share?”

“That’s clever,” Makoto replied.

“Huh?”

He pointed at the thug’s piercings. “You chained your nose to your face so you wouldn’t lose it.”

Mocking laughs filled the alleyway once more, but they were quite clearly aimed at the disrespected delinquent. The thug with the piercings growled and immediately took a swing at Makoto, but Aigis’s reactions were far, far faster than his sluggish fist.

“What the?!” he exclaimed after the android caught his fist before it even got close to Makoto’s face.

“That was unwise,” Aigis said as she squeezed his fist in her grasp. She felt a hot, searing rage in her Papillon Heart. Who did this lowlife think he was, taking a swing at Makoto? Pathetic scum of the earth. No better than the Shadows I face every night. Perhaps he should meet the same fate as them.

The thug screamed as the bones in his hand began to crack, and Makoto shook Aigis’s shoulder to get her attention. “Aigis. Aigis, let go.”

Some orders were best disobeyed.

“No,” Aigis replied as she bent the thug’s wrist, making him kneel. Perhaps she could not use her weapons, but this feat of strength would not compromise her cover as a human. Tears filled the punk’s eyes, and he started to beg, or something similar. Aigis paid no attention to the words of such a sniveling coward.

She did, however, recognize the voice that spoke next.

“That’s enough,” Shinjiro said as he entered the alleyway and stepped in front of Aigis. “He learned his lesson.”

The android pursed her lips, but finally let go of the thug’s hand. He collapsed on the ground and curled up in a ball, sobbing quietly in front of Aigis. She felt satisfied by that. He should have known better than to try to inflict harm on Makoto.

No one was allowed to do that. Ever. He was hurt enough.

“And who the hell are you?” the punk with the tattoos said, but his voice was weak. Afraid. Pathetic.

“I’m the one who convinced this girl to let your buddy keep his hand. You want the same treatment?” The boy in the trench coat shrugged. “Be my guest.”

“Y-you think you can just walk away after what she just did?!” he said loudly, in an attempt to rally like-minded individuals. No one said a word. No honor among lowlifes, it seems. Must be quite the sad and friendless life. The pathetic man went on, “Who do you think you are?”

Shinjiro walked up to the thug’s face and headbutted him directly in the forehead, making him topple to the floor on his posterior. Despite the ridiculous sight, no one laughed. “Anything she can do, I can do worse,” the red-clad boy lied. “You wanna quit while you’re ahead, or should it get uglier than it already has?”

The tattoo-faced lowlife spat on the ground as he got up, slung his friend’s arm over his shoulder, and wordlessly left the alley. Shinjiro turned to SEES, who had remained silent for the entire exchange. “So, care to explain what the hell you’re all doing here?”

“W-why should we do that?” Yukari replied with little heat. “We don’t even know you.”

“You didn’t tell them?” Shinjiro asked Aigis.

“It never came up, Shinjiro-san.” The android turned to her teammates. “This is Shinjiro Aragaki. He is our senpai, both at school and in our extracurriculars. I met him on my tour of the city.”

“Oh, so you’re the one who showed Aigis around town,” Makoto said thoughtfully. “That was nice of you.”

Junpei’s eyes widened. “Wait, senpai in our extracurriculars? You don’t mean...”

“Yeah, Junpei, he’s the third member who explored the tower with the senpais before we joined. Keep up,” Yukari said. “Thanks for the help, senpai.”

“I didn’t do nothing. I’m pretty damn sure I did let Aigis know this place was dangerous, though.”

“I am more than capable of protecting everyone, Shinjiro-san. I believe I showcased it as well.”

“Either way, you don’t belong here,” Shinjiro slid his hands in his pockets disapprovingly. “Go home.”

“Wait, but we have a good reason to be here!” Yukari exclaimed. “We want to know more about those girls who were found in front of the school.”

“Did Aki tell you to look into that?”

“He did not, Shinjiro-san.” Mitsuru had, technically. But they were in the alley of their own volition and not asked to do so by any of the seniors, so it was irrelevant.

Shinjiro huffed, straightening his beanie. “I don’t got much to say. They were here talking shit every night, bragging about all the stuff they did to some girl named Yamagishi.”

Makoto gasped, and Aigis knew that he recognized the name just as she did. “Yamagishi? Fuuka Yamagishi?”

The older boy nodded. “That’s why people say it’s her ghost who did it.”

“Her ghost?!” Yukari was horrified. “What do you mean?! She can’t be dead, can she?”

“You haven’t heard? She hasn’t been home in a week, or so they say. No one knows where she is. Everyone thinks she’s just kicked it.” Shinjiro coughed twice and spat on the ground.

Makoto had already fetched his phone and was dialing Fuuka’s number, which surprised Junpei. “Who’re you calling, Makoto?”

“Yamagishi.”

“Wait, you know her enough to have her number?” Yukari exclaimed.

“We both know Fuuka-san,” Aigis elaborated. “We met her in the strip mall not too long ago and befriended her. We merely assumed she was out sick for the past week, but this... this is unsettling.”

“Her phone’s out of service range,” Makoto said with an annoyed tone. “Makes no sense...”

“Mr. Ekoda’s the homeroom teacher for 2-E, right? Does he know about this?” Yukari asked Shinjiro.

“No idea,” the boy in the red coat replied. “That’s as far as the gossip goes. You four should go back to the dorm now. This ain’t someplace you should ever be in. Don’t come back, got it?” He gave a pointed look to Aigis.

“Understood, senpai! Thank you so much!” Junpei took off his hat in a show of respect and bowed to Shinjiro, who did not seem to appreciate the action.

“Thank you for your information, Shinjiro-san,” Aigis said as to not leave Junpei hanging.

“Whatever. Scram, now.”

And scram they did.

On the monorail, Junpei opened the conversation. “Man, senpai sure saved our butts back there.”

“I think you missed the part where Aigis broke someone’s hand,” Yukari replied. “We’d have been fine.”

“Yeah, and senpai saved us from the fallout of what she did! If he didn’t show up, the whole alley might’ve decided to take a swing at us.”

“I would have been able to dispatch everyone present in the alley with no trouble,” Aigis said. “We were completely safe.”

“And we’d probably end up having blood on our hands...” the boy with the cap mumbled.

“You didn’t need to take it that far, Aigis,” Makoto solemnly said. “You didn’t need to break his hand.”

“He was aiming to harm you, Makoto-san. He got ‘just desserts’ for what he was aiming to inflict, as they say.”

“Eye for an eye makes the world go blind, Aigis.”

The android blinked. “I do not comprehend.”

“If everyone wanted revenge for what was done to them, if everyone took out their frustrations on each other for what they felt like was injustice, then everyone would be wronged in life.” Makoto sighed. “Payback is stupid. It’s just hurting others. Makes you just like the ones that hurt you.”

The conversation lulled into silence after a minor remark by Junpei about how ‘deep’ Makoto’s statement was. Aigis did not feel as if she agreed with the blue-haired boy’s thoughts on revenge, so she did not know whether Junpei was right or not.

Makoto would not be a terrible person if he ever sought payback for how Aigis had murdered his parents. It was well within his rights, considering the enormity of the act. In addition, he would not be a murderer, as Aigis was not truly alive.

Oddly, she wondered if he saw her as not truly alive, too. She had no answer.

Chapter Text

Aigis considered herself to have a passable understanding of human emotions and how to sympathize accordingly when observing them in others. Happiness was upturned lips and the sound of laughter, and it sometimes involved tears, too. Sadness involved tears more directly and frequently, but could just as well manifest in a quiet and somber manner. Rage was fire and heat, or a sharp, icy blade. And apathy... was nothing at all. The android understood all of this, and thus believed herself capable of reacting correctly when a human exhibited such emotions. Sometimes, she even felt the same way as them.

However, the pathetic display of Natsuki Moriyama’s tears over an act of cruelty she herself had committed did not garner any sympathy from Aigis. All she felt was rage, rage, rage. It was hard, keeping her weaponry disabled, but the girl was lucky, for Aigis had plenty of self-control.

“You... you locked her in?” Yukari asked, horrified.

“We were just messing around!” the ginger cried out, as if it was an acceptable and valid reasoning for dragging someone to the school gym overnight and locking the door on them. Thankfully, none of the people present in the faculty office seemed to believe that. “We didn’t know something like this would happen! Maki... she got worried that Fuuka might kill herself in there, so she went back to the school on her own that night. But... but she...”

“Never came back,” Makoto whispered.

“I went to the gym to let her out,” Natsuki went on, “but the door was still locked. So I opened it and went inside, but she wasn’t there anymore. The room didn’t have windows or anything, it made no sense. We all freaked out, went looking for her starting that night, but one of us just vanished every night and ended up just like Maki!” Her shivering strengthened, but her tears were dried up.

“I see,” Mitsuru coldly said. “And you, Mr. Ekoda? You’ve been reporting her absences as illness-related. Any explanation for that?”

The teacher hastily defended himself, some nonsense regarding thinking about the future of everyone else at school, how news like this would disrupt the atmosphere of Gekkoukan High and affect study results. How Fuuka’s parents had agreed to these news not breaking out, fearing her permanent record to be stained. Aigis was not listening, however.

She was staring at Natsuki Moriyama, continuously running simulations of her grisly demise, over and over and over.

-------------------------

“No doubt about it. She’s slipped into Tartarus.”

Akihiko’s words weighed on Aigis’s heart, filling her with dread that had little justification to back itself up. I only knew her for a day, and yet... This feeling...

“Not to mention, Moriyama mentioned voices calling out to her friends every night before one of them was found in front of the school gates,” Mitsuru went on, as if the point had any relevance in the wake of Fuuka’s current circumstances. “This must be how people get afflicted with Apathy Syndrome; Shadows call out to specific individuals, drag them into the Dark Hour, and...”

“Attack them,” Junpei finished for her. “Like me... But I didn’t hear any voices when I first saw the Dark Hour.”

“You know, me neither,” Yukari added. “I wonder if the potential for Personas has anything to do with—”

“This is utterly insignificant.”

Everyone fell silent at Aigis’s words.

“This is of no concern,” she insisted either way. “What is our plan in regard to Fuuka-san?”

“It’s been ten days, Aigis,” Makoto said soothingly. “I... I don’t think she’s...”

“Don’t lose hope just yet,” Akihiko interrupted. “Tartarus only exists during the Dark Hour, doesn’t it? So where does it go the rest of the day?”

“It... doesn’t exist...” Junpei muttered.

“It’s just my theory,” the boxer went on, “but I think time works differently in Tartarus. It might’ve been ten days for us, but only ten hours for her. She could still be alive.”

“But we have a hard time surviving Tartarus in the first place, and we got Personas and weapons with us. Not to mention we only tackle it one hour at a time.”

“That’s true...” the brunette said, deep in thought. “And even if she’s still alive, we don’t know what floor she’s on. Who knows if we could—”

Akihiko punched the table, interrupting Yukari by voicing Aigis’s exact thoughts. “So you want to just write her off?!” he said aggressively, and everyone looked at him in silence. The boxer took a deep breath. “I have an idea. If we enter Tartarus the same way Yamagishi did, we might be able to find her.”

“You mean locking ourselves in the gym until midnight?” Makoto asked.

The idea sounded sensible to Aigis, but the team seemed to disagree. “I don’t think this is a good idea, Akihiko,” Mitsuru said. “If something goes wrong, all of you could be lost in Tartarus just like Yamagishi.”

“I’m not gonna just stand around here and do nothing,” Akihiko spat out. “If there’s even a slight chance that we can save her, I’m going to take it. I’ll do it alone if I have to. I’d never forgive myself otherwise.”

Aigis blinked in realization. She had the perfect plan now.

“You do not need to do so, Akihiko-san.”

SEES’s quizzical gaze fell on Aigis, beckoning her to continue. “I could do so easily in your stead. I believe this to be the perfect course of action, considering my nature as a—”

“Hell no.”

“Yukari-san?”

“No, alright? You’re not gonna do that.” Yukari was shaking with rage, staring directly at the floor. Aigis realized that this was true rage, and not the brunette’s usual mean streak. It unsettled her. “Every time a problem shows up, your immediate reaction is, ‘Yeah, I can do the most suicidal, risky thing to solve it and it’ll all be fine, because I’m a robot and I don’t matter and no one cares if anything happens to me’. I’m sick of it, okay? You’re not gonna do that. If we’re actually gonna lock ourselves in the gym until midnight, it’ll either be all of us or none of us.” The girl bit her lip and took a deep breath, finally looking into Aigis’s eyes as she spoke her next words.

“You think you’re the only one who thinks they’re worthless and better off dead? Like it’s some kind of privilege only robots get and humans don’t feel that way? We’ve tried to get it through to your head, over and over again, that we’re a team. That we help each other, that none of us is worthless, that we all matter the same amount. I don’t know what made you think it doesn’t include you when you were the subject of all of those goddamned conversations, but it does. And if you really don’t want to get it, if you want to keep on believing you’re inherently worthless just because of what you fucking look like, you don’t belong in this team in the first place, much less being its leader. So why don’t you just go back to wherever they had you before instead of playing pretend here?”

The silence was deafening.

Aigis thought she had conquered that aspect of herself. Had she simply become passively suicidal instead of actively asking for it? Did she put herself in danger due to the increased subtlety of this background process, and not because she wished to protect the team?

Had all of her efforts been futile?

Makoto was the first to speak. “What the fuck, Yukari?” She had never seen Makoto angry. She logged the emotion.

Yukari seemed to realize what she had said, eyes widening. Sensing her imminent apology, Aigis chose to interrupt it. “I comprehend. Thank you for enlightening me, Yukari-san. I will not be participating in tonight’s operation, as I have much to process and will not be able to give it my all. Please excuse me.”

“No, Aigis, hold on—”

The android ignored Makoto and exited the student council room, choosing to head back to the dorm. She hoped the team would be fine without her tonight. It was not as if she could be any help if she did go with them.

After all, she could end up surrendering to the Shadows again.

-------------------------

“Aigis has agreed to watch Moriyama while we head to the school, since the chairman isn’t answering his phone.”

No one replied to Kirijo-senpai. You could cut through the tension in the command room with a knife.

And as was par for the course, it was all Yukari’s fault. Her and her big, stupid, idiotic mouth that always said all the hurtful things it should’ve never, ever said.

She glanced at Junpei, silently begging for him to say something, change the topic, distract from her glorious, glorious fuck-up. But he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at Makoto, who was angry. Very angry.

At least he isn’t brushing it off and going back to not caring at all. That’s progress, right?

Seeing the silence continue to loom over the group, the redheaded girl cleared her throat and went on, “Since this won’t be a full expedition of Tartarus, we won’t need much in terms of manpower. I believe we’ll be able to handle this on our own. However, since the chairman isn’t here, we don’t have a way to get inside the school this late at night.”

“I... I unlocked a door before we left,” Junpei said, his tone dour. “We can go in through that.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful, Iori. Très bien.”

Silence.

Yukari gulped, rubbing her arm and staring at her shoes. Should I just stay behind tonight? No, that means I’d have to stay in the dorm with Aigis... God, I’m such an idiot.

Sanada-senpai finally spoke up. “Yuki, think you’re up for being the field leader tonight?”

Makoto spoke with uncharacteristic vitriol. “Yeah, I think so. We don’t need much manpower tonight, right?”

“Right.”

“So it’ll be just us guys in there. You got our backs, right, Mitsuru-senpai?”

Kirijo-senpai sighed. “Of course, Yuki. Good luck.”

The three boys then marched out of the room, leaving Yukari alone with the redhead. Yukari didn’t look up. She didn’t want to stay in the dorm, but she’d practically been benched by the field leader, and she... she didn’t know what to do.

“Grab your gear, Takeba.” The brunette raised her head, shocked. “I’ll need backup too. It’s a full moon tonight, after all. Another large Shadow might attack.”

It was?! But none of them had even mentioned that. Too distracted by Yamagishi-san’s situation... “T-then why did you agree with—”

“Did you want to spend tonight by Yuki’s side instead?” Yukari shook her head in refusal. “If a Shadow attacks us in front of the gates, we can hold our own together until they get back. Neither of us can do it alone. And if the Shadow’s in Tartarus instead, the bigger team’s already on the inside, so they should be able to take care of themselves.”

Yukari pursed her lips and nodded. She’s literally the direct opposite of me. Always knows what to say and when to say it. How does she do it? God, I wish I knew.

The redhead turned to leave the command room, but Yukari felt an urge to call out to her. “Kirijo-senpai.”

“Yes?” she said without turning back.

“I-I shouldn’t have said what I said. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not me you have to apologize to, Takeba.”

The door closed behind Kirijo-senpai with a soft ‘click’, leaving Yukari alone, just as it should be. She deserved to be all alone. Someone who said something that terrible to a friend didn’t deserve to have any friends at all.

Right?

-------------------------

“It’s a full moon tonight.”

Aigis snapped to attention. She had missed the Dark Hour’s arrival, it seemed. Pharos had also appeared, which was slightly more surprising. “Is it?” she replied. It truly had slipped her mind. Not that it mattered, however. It was the team’s job to deal with it tonight, not her. She was incapable of combat, things being as they were.

“I thought you knew,” the boy said, confused. “I made sure you knew, every time.”

So he was responsible for the moon phase tracker as well? How much control could he exercise over Aigis’s body? Forcing her to summon him as a Persona, tampering with her code...

He was Death. Was he responsible for her suicidal tendencies? “You gave in to death, and yet you’re so afraid of it. I want to know why.” Was he actively testing this trait of Aigis by changing her at his leisure? She remained quiet.

“You’re upset.”

“You see everything I do. You should know why.”

“But what that girl said wasn’t true. Why would something that isn’t true upset you?”

“Was it not?” Aigis rose from the resting station, not knowing what to do with herself. “I am a machine. I am deathless, and yet I have been built with curiosity towards everything humans do. It is... It is a reasonable assumption that I would want to know what death feels like, even if I work towards this desire without full awareness of it. That is dangerous for the people who rely on me for leadership. If I am working towards my own demise at every turn, how can I ensure the survival of others?”

The boy pursed his lips, unconvinced. “But you know what it feels like to be at death’s door already. Dying itself won’t feel like anything, since it all just... comes to a stop. The feeling you’d want to know more about is being close to dying, and you’ve already been through that.”

He was right.

Three times now, Aigis had been close to permanent decommissioning. Once, all those years ago, on the Moonlight Bridge, battling this very being in front of her. Twice, when Takaya told her to end her own existence. And thrice, in front of the Magician Arcana Shadow. She had ample data to form a reasonable comprehension of what being at death’s door felt like.

But... “It has been different every time.” She looked away from Pharos, rubbing her arm. “What if I want to know more and more to make my data more accurate?”

“Why are you speaking of yourself as if you aren’t yourself?”

Aigis gasped, looking back at the boy and his serene expression.

Pharos continued, “You decide what you want to know, don’t you? That’s what the contract had you agree to. You make your choices. If you ever want to re-experience that sensation, I don’t think you’ll make that choice without knowing exactly what you’re doing.” He smiled. “Right?”

How could she have ever doubted Pharos? “...You truly have a way with words, friend.”

The boy giggled, much like a boy. “Thanks. It’s all from seeing the world through you, though. I wouldn’t know all of this if it wasn’t for you. If anything, you could come to all of these conclusions on your own without my help.”

“Please do not discredit yourself.”

“Okay.”

The silence was comfortable and pleasant. It did not last long, broken by the boy. “By the way.”

“What is it?”

“That girl left the dorm just now.”

Time was not stopped? Well, it made sense. No one important was present at the dorm, and there was no risk of eavesdropping. Aigis scowled, rage burning in her Heart once more. “Good. May she serve as a great meal for the Shadows. As she shares enough of her nature with them, I am certain they will find her delectable.”

“But weren’t you ordered to watch her?”

“I decide which orders I obey and which I disobey,” Aigis said, because it was true. She had full control over her command hierarchy, able to swap around the priority of her orders at will and delete old orders she deemed invalid. She was fully capable of ignoring incoming orders as well, seeing as she had rejected Makoto’s command to let go of the thug’s hand on Saturday night. Additionally, she was supposed to be the team leader. If she could order the team around but was not able to give herself new commands, what was the point of being the leader in the first place?

Pharos smiled. “I thought an order made you form a sense of self, though.”

That was true. Mitsuru’s order in regards to Aigis not referring to herself as expendable or a weapon was responsible for—

Aigis’s eyes widened. She opened up her command list. Sure enough, the command was gone, deleted in her haste to refer to herself as a weapon. “Oh no.”

The command was the only thing keeping her processors at bay. The cacophony of voices demanding her decommissioning, all the sounds insisting she was a faulty weapon beyond fixing...

Pharos, ignorant of Aigis’s turmoil, went on, “Yes, you removed it yesterday. I’m glad.”

Glad? Glad? “This- This will not do. I must go to Mitsuru-san, ask her to reissue the—”

“Aigis.”

She pushed aside her panic to focus on Pharos’s words. Perhaps... perhaps he could order her. Yes, that would fix the problem at hand. She just needed an order. That would allow her to refocus. It would let her function normally. It would silence the voices. “Yes?”

“Listen.”

“To what—” Aigis paused. She listened to her processors.

The voices were not there.

There was no incessant demand for decommissioning.

It was quiet.

Aigis felt her chest constrict, but none of her components were actually moving.

“You see now, don’t you?”

“I...”

The silence could only mean one thing.

It was true. There was no other acceptable argument. She had no more paltry excuses to deny it.

Aigis was a complete and proper person. Perhaps not a human, but... a person nonetheless. And if her processors had accepted this fact... why should she continue to oppose it?

“Yes, I comprehend now.”

This. This was what Yukari wished for her to understand. Why she had spoken those words. They knew it, all this time, and wanted to guide her into accepting it on her own. It was no surprise that the girl was frustrated with Aigis. It was rational. I am truly blessed to have such friends, the blonde thought.

Pharos grinned. “Congratulations. You don’t have time to celebrate, though.”

Aigis blinked. “What for?”

“Because your friends will need your help with tonight’s ordeals. You need to get to the Tower of Demise.”

Ah. The full moon. But... “Ordeals, plural?”

“You’ll see. Good luck.” With that, the boy vanished in black mist, softly smiling all the way.

Aigis had no time to waste. She had to make her way to Tartarus immediately. It was not too late, as Pharos had referred to the ordeals in the future tense, but even a second wasted could be critical. Reloading her ammunition compartments and assessing her lineup of Personas, she then took off towards the tower as fast as her propulsion system could take her.

Nothing could stand in her way tonight, she was sure of it.

She did pass Natsuki on the way. She pointedly ignored her, even though they seemed to be headed in the same direction. No use in hastening her demise if she was openly seeking it out.

After all, this, too, was a choice Aigis made of her own free will. She would stand by it if questioned, and doubted anyone would blame her.

“Payback is stupid. It’s just hurting others. Makes you just like the ones that hurt you.”

She brushed the thought aside. Makoto could hate her for this all he wanted. He had far more valid reasons to do so, at any rate. She ignored the phantom ache of her Heart at the thought of Makoto despising her, for it was an inevitability that would arrive one day on its own terms.

Aigis found Yukari and Mitsuru in the lobby, looking positively frazzled.

“Akihiko? Yuki? Iori? Do you read me? Come in, anyone!”

Yukari bounced on her feet nervously. “Oh no, oh no, I knew this was a bad idea...”

Aigis moved closer to the duo. “Hello. What seems to be the issue?”

“Aigis?!” both girls asked with great surprise.

“You’re... you’re here,” Mitsuru said, shoulders sagging in relief. “Thank goodness... I take it you’ve finished processing what you needed to process?”

“Yes, I have. I am grateful for what you said, Yukari-san. You are a very good friend.” She smiled at the brunette, who was only more baffled.

“No! What I said was... It was a horrible thing to say, you shouldn’t thank me for it!”

“That is my decision, Yukari-san, and not yours. Please do not bother yourself over it any longer.” She most certainly would, considering the look on her face. Aigis had to change the topic. “At any rate, what is the issue at hand? Have you lost contact with the team on the inside?”

“Yes, it seems so, unfortunately. They must either be too high up in the tower for my equipment to reach them, or in a completely inaccessible part of Tartarus that works differently from what we’ve seen so far. Neither is a good thing.” Mitsuru sighed. “And one-third of the Dark Hour has already passed...”

At that point, the communication system came to life, albeit plagued with static. “... -suru? Mitsuru, do- ... -ead me?”

“Akihiko! I read you, Akihiko. Where are you right now?”

“... -block as before. Next to a window. Probably why- ... -going through better.”

“Have you found Yamagishi? Is the rest of the team with you?”

“No sign of- ... -Yuki’s here, but can’t find- ...”

“They’ve been separated...” Mitsuru bit her lip. “Are you in any danger right now, Akihiko? I don’t think I can provide navigation with this much interference, so I need you to tell me what your situation is.”

“The Shadows- ... -agitated. We outmaneuvered them, but—” More static, followed by a yell and an explosion. “Shit! They’re— YUKI!”

“Oh no, oh no, oh no...” Yukari chanted nervously.

Aigis, on the other hand, had no time to be nervous. She focused all of her processors on finding a solution for the matter at hand. How could she get to the team reliably and quickly to protect them from the onslaught of Shadows?

Her answer came in an instant, in the form of the simplest solution imaginable. It was also reckless and highly dangerous, but it was feasible. “Akihiko-san, what is the view from the window you are next to?”

“Aigis? Never- ... -high up. Higher than anything- ... -the windmills.”

“Wonderful. Please hold on for a short while longer. I will be with you soon.”

“W-what are you gonna do?” Yukari asked. “We don’t know what floor they’re on, we can’t just rush through the tower. They might not even be on a floor we can access normally.”

“They are next to a window, Yukari-san.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Windows can be broken into from the outside. I am going to scale Tartarus from the side that has a view to the windmills, and once I see them through a window, I will launch myself through it and they will be found.”

“What?!” both girls exclaimed in unison.

“I am the only one who can do this. Do not fret.” Aigis smiled. “My body does not tire and I am capable of short-range flight to cushion my fall if need be. I will be just fine, as they say.”

Yukari was unconvinced, but Mitsuru had a look of determination on her face. “I believe in you, Aigis. Do what you deem necessary, and return safe.”

“I will, Mitsuru-san. After all, I do not have a death wish.” She turned away from the girls and left the lobby.

Standing at the gates of Tartarus, Aigis assessed the tower. Its top was still imperceptible.

“You will be scaled in full one day,” she said. “But for now, this much will do.”

She approached the wall, found a foothold, and began her climb.

Chapter Text

When Makoto came to, he was alone.

His first thought was, Good. His second thought was, Shit, I’m responsible for them tonight. He couldn’t feel Penthesilea in his head either, which made matters worse.

No guidance, no friends, stuck somewhere he didn’t want to be, looking for something he didn’t even hope to find. Yeah, that sounded like his life alright. So he got up and moved forward, because there wasn’t much else he could do.

Why did I think I should come here tonight anyway? he thought bitterly. While he was wasting time here, Aigis was sitting in the dorm, going through the worst possible line-up of thoughts someone in her state could be thinking of. What the hell was Yukari thinking? Aigis was already suicidal enough, and definitely didn’t like being in the lab from the way she kept secrets and avoided displaying any questionable behavior more than she had to. Telling her to go back? Saying she was just playing pretend? At that point, just tell her to use her guns on herself, why don’t you? He was supposed to be by her side, reassuring her, telling her it wasn’t true. But instead he’d chosen to be here, like an idiot.

A Shadow interrupted his train of thoughts, so he interrupted its existence. Wonder if you ate Yamagishi, he thought as Orpheus burned the monster to a fine crisp. Sure, he was hoping the girl was alive. She was nice enough, and it’d be a shame if she was dead. But the odds of her surviving ten hours in Tartarus were pretty slim, and Makoto was a pessimist through and through.

It didn’t take long before he found the stairs to the next floor. He grimaced at their sight, something he didn’t think he’d ever do. Should I even go up? What if they’re already on this floor and I end up losing them? What if Yamagishi was curled up in some dark corner and I just missed her? But if I don’t go, I might forget where the stairs even are. Not like I have navigation or anything.

He gritted his teeth. Dammit, how does Aigis do this? How does anyone do this? Just... make decisions that could kill someone? Why the hell did I agree to taking charge for tonight?

Right. Because I was pissed off.

He decided to head upstairs. Thankfully, it proved to be the right choice, as Akihiko-san was waiting for him there.

“There you are,” the boxer said with a grin. Does anything faze this guy?

“Here I am,” Makoto replied. “Found anyone else?”

“Nope. I’m assuming you can’t contact Mitsuru either?” He shook his head in refusal. “Not good...” Akihiko sighed. “I don’t think we should ever try entering Tartarus like this again. Who knows where Junpei could be by now... It’s not like we can go downstairs to check either.”

Right, Tartarus locks the stairs that go back down so we can’t reuse them. “Is that why you were in front of the staircase?”

“Yeah. Flipped a coin and figured I’d wait for someone to come upstairs instead of going to the next floor myself.”

“Thank god I didn’t do that.”

The boxer chuckled. “Yeah, that’s why you’re the leader and not me.”

Makoto frowned, looking away. Seeing the silence beginning to feel awkward, the senior immediately broke it. “So, think Junpei’s on the next floor, or should we wait for him to come up from the floor below you?”

The blue-haired boy sighed. “I think we should keep moving. If we go high enough, we could hit a Gatekeeper floor and just wait there. Assuming this part of the tower even works that way.”

“Fair enough. Let’s go.”

Finding the staircase for this floor wasn’t as easy as the last one, even with Akihiko’s help. The Shadows were pretty angry here, moving way faster than usual and lunging at them on sight. Luckily, though, they seemed angry enough that they’d forgotten how to use elemental spells, choosing to go for physical attacks every time. It made the fights pretty simple, but far too numerous for Makoto’s liking. Gotta stick to using my sword, he decided, and ordered Akihiko to not summon his Persona as well.

His sword. He didn’t have much skill with it, if he was being honest. He was starting to regret joining the track team; the kendo club would’ve probably been more help with his sword skills, but the school didn’t let people change sports clubs after they’d already joined one. He really would’ve preferred to use Orpheus, but...

As much as he enjoyed the act of summoning his Persona, as liberating and euphoric as it was...

He’d learned his lesson on that front already.

Arriving to the next floor, Makoto immediately felt something reaching out to his mind. And from the looks of it, Akihiko did too.

“Mitsuru? Mitsuru, is that you?”

No response.

“Maybe it’s a new Shadow,” Makoto said.

“God, I hope not. Let’s keep going.” And so they did.

This floor was the same as the last; angry Shadows everywhere, and no sign of Junpei or Yamagishi at all. But as they turned into a new hallway, the duo found that it was lined with tall, scenic windows that wouldn’t be out of place in a mansion. And through the windows, was...

“The full moon. It’s the full moon tonight. Can’t believe I forgot.” Akihiko was astonished. Makoto could see why.

“It means there’s another Shadow. It could be anywhere in the city while we’re stuck here.” Just another reason for how stupid it was to come here. Great.

The boxer frowned. “You’re right, but what we’re doing here is still important. Someone’s trapped and only we can save them. Even if the situation isn’t optimal, I don’t regret my choice.”

“So you’re fine with the death of all those people a large Shadow could kill, just because you decided you should save one person instead?”

“It’s not about being fine with it,” Akihiko huffed. “It’s about what I chose to do with the info I had. I’m working to save lives no matter what, and it’s not like we can’t do both once we find her and get out of here. Not to mention, Mitsuru, Takeba, and Aigis are outside right now. If there is a Shadow, they can hold it off while we get there, just like they did the first time. I believe in them.”

Ignoring the fact that he’d mentioned Aigis, who was sitting tonight’s operation out, or the fact that the Dark Hour was only a single hour and would end eventually... “What if they can’t hold it off? Wouldn’t that be on you?”

“I didn’t sign on to SEES thinking everything would go buttery smooth all the time, Yuki. If they die, they made their choice to fight off monsters and go down swinging. The same will be true for us if we die here tonight. I’ll be devastated if any one of us dies, but never for a second would I think it wasn’t something to admire regardless.”

Makoto exhaled forcefully. “There’s nothing heroic about dying. It’s just death.”

Akihiko crossed his arms defiantly. “You just believe that because you haven’t found something worth dying for yet.”

“Have you?”

“Obviously. Why do you think I’m here?”

“I don’t know, to get stronger? To do a public service? I don’t think you signed up to SEES just to get yourself killed.”

“Is that why you joined?”

Makoto looked away.

“...Maybe.”

Here it comes. The judgement. The pity. ‘What’s wrong with you? Don’t you know you’re just throwing your life away? How could you think that about yourself?’ Go on. I’ve heard it all before.

But the boxer’s tone was still the same, steely and serious with no signs of judgement to be heard. “Do you still want that?”

His heart skipped a beat.

Did he?

What would happen if he died?

Then Aigis would be left in the dorm, without him. And no one would be able to make her see her true worth. Mitsuru-senpai’s blunt statements of fact wouldn’t be enough to get through to her. Akihiko had said it himself; he wasn’t equipped to handle something this complex. Yukari was far too harsh, Junpei didn’t have the tact, and Ikutsuki-san... He didn’t even care.

It was his duty to help her. No one else could do that. And if he died...

He looked back at Akihiko. “...No. I don’t.”

The silver-haired senior grinned. “That’s good to hear, then. Soon enough, you’ll see it like I do, too.” Then, he walked up to the window, putting his hand on his ear.

“What are you up to?”

“It’s a window, so there should be less interference, right? That’s how my phone works, anyway. Mitsuru? Mitsuru, do you read me?”

Surprisingly, he seemed to get a response, as his body tensed and he began listening carefully to whatever Mitsuru-san was telling him. “We’re in the same block as before. Next to a window. Probably why the communications are going through better.”

And it was then that Makoto began to feel something. A presence in his head. It felt like Penthesilea, but... gentler, like running water rather than an unmoving glacier.

It spoke to him, in a familiar voice dripping with fear. “Who are you? Are you... human?”

“...Yamagishi?”

“Yuki-kun? Is that you?!”

It was her. Somehow, she’d survived ten hours in Tartarus without becoming Shadow food, and could talk in people’s heads like Mitsuru-san could. All without an Evoker. “You’re actually alive. We’re here to save you, Yamagishi. Where are you?”

“I-I’m alive, yes. And I think... I think I can guide you to where I am.”

So she was a fully-fledged navigator. That made her survival more reasonable. Makoto turned back to Akihiko, who was engaged in his conversation with Mitsuru.

He could find Yamagishi and get back in a flash. That’d be an efficient use of his time, considering how little they had left at the moment.

He began running down the hallway. “Are you on the same floor as me?”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure. I could sense your presence before, but I thought you were more monsters, so I didn’t reach out. The closer you got, though, the more I could see the difference.”

Their readings were similar to the Shadows?

Whatever. Who knows how that stuff works, anyway.

In the midst of her guidance, Yamagishi asked, “Yuki-kun, where- where is this place? How did I get here? How are you here at all?”

“Don’t worry about that. We’ll get you out and then you won’t need to worry about it ever again.” Doubt someone with her temperament is suited to SEES. Makoto reached the last fork in the path Yamagishi had described, and as instructed previously, went right. Sure enough, he found her right where she said she would be. The small-statured girl looked even smaller when standing in the harrowing hallways of Tartarus, making Makoto even more certain that she didn’t belong here at all. But hey, she’s alive. At least coming here wasn’t a waste. At least there’s that.

“Y-you’re here...” she said, before falling to her knees. Makoto rushed to her side.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine, sorry... I’m just so relieved... I thought I’d be stuck here forever...”

It wouldn’t be forever, Makoto morbidly thought, before brushing it off. “Come on, let’s get you out of here,” he said as he helped Yamagishi to her feet.

They began walking back the path Makoto had taken to get there. The boy checked every corner as he held his sword in front of him and walked ahead of the girl to ensure her safety.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t all-seeing.

“Yuki-kun, there’s something—”

The girl’s fearful warning was too little, too late. Makoto saw the Shadow leap at him from the corner of his eye, and as he fell to the ground, he yelled, because he was afraid. Afraid for his life.

And as a fiery explosion turned the Shadow to ash, he recalled the last time he’d ever been truly and wholly afraid for his life. Never thought you’d be somewhere like this in ten years, did you, little Makoto?

“Bam! No match for Junpei Iori, but that’s not unusual.” Junpei proudly exclaimed, straightening his hat with a grin as he returned his Evoker to its holster. He then walked up and reached out his hand to Makoto, and the boy took it gratefully to get back on his feet.

“Thanks.” He felt like he should’ve thanked Junpei more profusely; one word didn’t seem nearly enough. But the other boy didn’t wait for that.

“You know I got your back, dude!” Junpei quickly said as he turned to the teal-haired girl. “Hi there! You’re Fuuka Yamagishi, right?”

“Y-yes.”

“Okay, good. If there was some other cute girl stuck in Tartarus, I don’t know what I’d do.”

Ignoring Fuuka’s whispered “Cute?”, Makoto said, “Leave that for later, Junpei. We need to get her out of here.”

As if on cue, Shadows poured in from all around the hallway, surrounding the trio.

“This is bad,” Makoto muttered.

“We can take ‘em!”

“I hope you’re right.” Makoto pulled out his own Evoker and pointed it to his temple.

“What are you doing?!” Yamagishi yelled.

“Don’t worry, it’s not a real gun. Orpheus!” Makoto pulled the trigger and the master of strings manifested behind him, holding its lyre like a bludgeon and rushing to attack the monsters in front of them. Junpei quickly mirrored Makoto by summoning Hermes and having it do the same thing. At least we’re in sync, since our Personas have the same spells anyway. No need for verbal commands.

It was a blessing that the Shadows were being far more stupid than usual tonight; the horde was large enough that it could have been a legitimate threat had they all been using elemental spells, but all they did was aimless lunges and guttural growls. The boy wondered if they were mad due to their different method of entering the tower, whether they considered it a violation of some kind of rule. After all, why else would they be this angry?

As they cut through the Shadows to make their way back to the windows, Junpei covering Yamagishi while Makoto took the front lines, Akihiko came across them, tense with worry.

“Yuki, what the hell were you thinking, running off like that?” he snapped as he uppercutted a hand-shaped Shadow into the ceiling.

“Yamagishi spoke in my head,” he replied, slashing his sword to slice a blob-shaped Shadow’s mask into two. “She said she could guide me to where she was. You were talking with Mitsuru-san, so I figured I’d find her and shoot two birds with one stone.”

“She spoke in your—” Akihiko sighed. “That’s not my point, Yuki!”

“Wouldn’t you have done the same?” Makoto challenged.

Akihiko opened his mouth. He closed his mouth. He pursed his lips. “It’s ‘do as I say, not as I do’!” he finally said.

“No, it’s ‘do as I say’, Akihiko-senpai. I’m the leader tonight.”

“Ugh,” the boxer muttered. “He’s got me there. Polydeuces!”

“S-so!” Junpei barged in the conversation. “Now that we’re all together and we’ve found the famous school ghost, the only question is how do we get outta this jam?”

“Oh, right,” Akihiko said. “We should get back to the windows.”

“Why?” Makoto deadpanned. “We could just keep going up. We were only going that way to rendezvous with you.”

“You’ll see,” the boxer said with a mischievous smirk.

It was easier to get through the horde with Akihiko’s help, and it wasn’t long before they made it back to where Makoto had started.

“Now what, senpai?” Junpei asked breathlessly, back against the glass. “I’m kinda running out of gas over here...”

“Wait for it...” the boxer replied, his hand on his ear.

“Wait for what? We’ve boxed ourselves in a corner!” Makoto exclaimed, raising his voice over the cacophony of the Shadows’ growls.

“Wait for it...”

“Goddammit, senpai, what is your plan?!” Junpei yelled shakily.

“Alright, jump away from the windows, now!”

The moment they did as Akihiko instructed, every single window shattered, and a rain of glass shards began its downpour in the hallway, catching every Shadow in its midst.

Makoto looked back. Silhouetted over the moon was an angel, wings opened wide and arms pointed straight ahead.

Makoto’s heart skipped a beat again. Maybe more than one.

Then, the angel dashed through the shattered windows, and Makoto finally understood that it was Aigis, having somehow made it all the way up there to them. Orgia Mode was activated, and that was the wings he’d seen in the angelic chiaroscuro.

Oh my god, was the only thought Makoto could properly formulate. He didn’t even know where it was supposed to lead, but it was all he could think of.

The blonde made short work of the Shadow horde, before turning to the team. “I apologize for taking so long; it was a longer climb than expected.” Did she climb all the way up here?! “Is everyone well?” Aigis continued, as if what she had said was not at all questionable.

No one spoke, baffled as they were. Surprisingly enough, Yamagishi was the one who broke the silence. “A-Aigis-san?”

“Ah, Fuuka-san!” Aigis said with a grin. Is she... emoting with her voice? “You are alright! This is most wondrous news.”

The shorter girl ignored Aigis’s words. “Are you wearing some kind of armor?”

“Ah...” Aigis pursed her lips. “No, Fuuka-san. I am a robot.”

“A-a robot...” Yamagishi blinked rapidly, teetering on her feet. Yeah, way too much for her.

“Yes, this is the medical condition I spoke of before. Surely you understand why it must remain a secret, yes?”

“I think I’m gonna pass out...”

“Oh dear. We must get Fuuka-san back to the lobby immediately. Being in Tartarus for too long could have affected her—”

A static in Makoto’s mind interrupted Aigis’s words, and from the looks of it, everyone else had heard it too. “Akihiko...? Shadows are—” It cut out as fast as it came in.

“Hey, can you hear me? Mitsuru, come in!” The boxer punched his open hand. “Dammit, it must be another one of the big Shadows...”

As if snapping back to reality, Yamagishi suddenly spoke with an awareness she did not possess moments prior. “What... what is that thing?”

“What thing?” Junpei asked.

Her fear grew with every word she spoke. “It’s way below us... Much bigger than the others, and... and it’s attacking someone!”

“Ah, navigation capabilities even stronger than Mitsuru-san’s... I comprehend,” Aigis muttered.

“We need to get back down, right now,” Makoto said. “Yamagishi, can you sense a teleporter anywhere?”

“I-I don’t know— Wait! There’s something next floor, I can’t tell what it is, but—"

“That’s good enough. Come on, everyone!” Everyone rallied towards Makoto. All except Aigis, who remained near the windowsill. “Let’s go, Aigis, come on!”

“I have a faster way downstairs, Makoto-san.” She smiled, warmer than she ever had before and wide enough to close her eyes. “I’ll see you in the lobby.”

And with that, she backflipped off the edge and framed herself over the moon once more, light flowing out of her back to form blue, iridescent butterfly wings as she activated her boosters to speed up her fall.

Makoto’s heart skipped a beat again, but it wasn’t because he was afraid that Aigis was being suicidal, or that she wouldn’t make it downstairs safe and sound. Somehow, he knew that she didn’t feel that way anymore, and that she’d make it down just fine.

So this is what it feels like, he thought as he ran through the twisting and turning hallways, leading the way for his friends to follow. All those books I read, and yet none of them could capture what it’s really like.

I’m in love.

-------------------------

There’s two Shadows this time. I suppose we can adjust our theories slightly, then. Still, Mitsuru wasn’t worried about whether the opponents were too strong for the two of them.

After all, what did it matter if she made it out alive while others died in her place? This entire situation was, after all, her sin to bear. It didn’t matter that her communication with Akihiko had cut out before she could give him proper intel. They had to be enough. She had to be enough. And if she wasn’t... it wouldn’t matter anymore, after that.

Staring down the ridiculous-looking monsters, inflated mockeries of a royal couple attending a masquerade, she pointed her Evoker at her temple. “Takeba, stay behind me.”

“I’m not a damsel, senpai!” she bristled. Mitsuru knew that. She knew it very, very well. But the brunette being any more harmed by the Kirijo Group’s actions, even indirectly, was not a scenario that Mitsuru would ever let come to pass. Not if she could help it.

So, “You’re a ranged fighter and a healer, Takeba. Stay behind me and provide cover,” was what she snapped instead. That should keep her ego unbruised.

Ignoring the other girl’s mumbled apology, Mitsuru summoned Penthesilea and let loose a barrage of ice and snow, enough to damage both opponents. The female-looking one went down, but its partner brushed it off effortlessly. “Attack the one who’s still up!” she commanded, summoning her Persona again to attack the downed foe as Yukari sent out a powerful tornado towards the other Shadow.

Curiously, though, both attacks were ineffective. Even Penthesilea’s blizzard, which had worked only moments prior. “B-but it went down to ice just now!” Yukari cried out, shooting an arrow at the taller Shadow’s head, which bounced off ineffectively. “What’s going on?”

The monster laughed darkly as it helped its partner to its feet. The Shadow with the female appearance thanked it with a curtsey, before pointing its staff at Mitsuru and firing a blast of electricity at her.

Mitsuru willed her body to move, but it didn’t respond. So much for years of combat experience; frozen like a deer in the headlights, she thought in the milliseconds before impact. At least it’s me and not Takeba. Lightning is her weakness. I can take this.

Fate had other plans, however.

Yukari pushed the older girl to the ground from behind, and time slowed to a crawl as Mitsuru fell and the blast struck the brunette in her place. All the redhead could do was observe with growing terror as electricity arced over Takeba’s body, making her muscles tense up and throw her backwards across the hallway.

“Takeba! TAKEBA!” Mitsuru scrambled to Yukari’s side and shook the girl helplessly. Her body was smoldering. Her eyes were closed. She was unresponsive. “What the hell were you thinking?! That’s your weakness!”

Yukari didn’t respond. Idiot, idiot, idiot, Mitsuru thought. It’s not your burden to bear, so why...

There was no time for that. Mitsuru laid Yukari’s head down on the floor, praying she still had a pulse. Then, she rose from the ground, with vengeance burning in her veins. “I won’t go down that easily, monsters,” she growled as she pulled her Evoker’s trigger.

But Penthesilea was just as ineffective as last time. Slashes or blizzards, it didn’t matter. The monsters made giggling noises in the face of the Persona’s useless attacks, not bothering to retaliate whatsoever. It only frustrated Mitsuru further.

Point. Fire. Crash. “Go down already!” Laughter.

Point. Fire. Crash. “Fall!” Laughter.

Point. Fire. Crash. “FALL!” More laughter.

“Stop laughing at me! PENTHESILEA!”

Point. Fire. Click.

“W-what...”

Click. Click. Click.

She’d exhausted herself past the point of summoning. Just another mistake to add to the long list of foolish decisions made by a Kirijo. Following her family’s footsteps to the letter.

“I... I’m still not out,” she muttered, but it sounded ridiculous to her own ears, let alone the Shadows. Mitsuru tossed her Evoker across the hallway and unsheathed her rapier. The female Shadow’s giggling changed to a high-pitched, pig-like squeal.

“Either put up or shut up!” she snapped, striking a combat stance and challenging the Shadow to own up to its mockery by pointing at it with her sword.

Putting a hand to its unseen mouth, the female Shadow instead beckoned its partner to step forward, and after a bow, it did just that. The Shadow pointed its own sword at Mitsuru, seemingly responding to her challenge. It was shaped like a child’s toy blade, but looked no less deadly than the redhead’s own weapon.

With a yell, Mitsuru rushed forward, and the blades clashed soon after. It didn’t take long for the girl to realize how foolish her decision was; the opponent was larger, stronger, had a bigger sword, and was immune to her attacks even when she managed to move past all of that.

Mitsuru blocked an overhead strike with her rapier, but the Shadow didn’t move back for another swing. Instead, it threw its entire weight into pushing Mitsuru down, trying to make her kneel.

The girl responded by using her other hand to support the blade, to push it back. She didn’t stop, even when the blade began digging into her palm and blood flowed down her sleeve.

She would not die on her knees.

But what’s the difference either way? a voice whispered. It didn’t sound like her, and yet it did. You will die, on your knees or not. Just kneel. Surrender. Acknowledge your helplessness. Acknowledge the authority of your superiors.

Go to hell, she threw back, and pushed harder.

Shortly after, her wishes were answered. But instead of going to hell, hell came to them.

“Mitsuru-san! Fall back!”

Immediately, Mitsuru stopped applying pressure on her blade, and threw herself away from the Shadow, towards the voice she’d heard. Toppling forward in surprise, all the Shadow could do was watch as an inferno took form around it, burning relentlessly and gloriously. The redhead looked away from the blaze.

Aigis had returned.

“I believe it’s my turn to come to your assistance, is it not, Mitsuru-san?” she said with a warm smile, and no trace of mockery to be seen.

Mitsuru laughed humorlessly. “I... I guess so.” Exhaustion and relief filled her at once, and she finally fell to her knees. “I can’t summon anymore, and Takeba’s unconscious. The Shadows are seemingly immune to everything we can throw at them.”

“But it went down just now?” Aigis questioned, pointing at the monsters. Indeed, the one with the male appearance was down, and the female one struggled to help it stand back up.

“It was the same with my first ice attack. It becomes immune after one strike, for some reason.” She sighed shakily, head dropping down. “I... I don’t know what to do. I can’t...”

Aigis kneeled in front of Mitsuru, raising her head from the chin and looking her in the eyes. “Rest, Mitsuru-san. You’ve done plenty. Thank you.” Not waiting for a response, she then got up and moved towards the Shadows, with no doubt or fear to be seen.

It was fortunate that she didn’t wait. Mitsuru didn’t want to break down in front of Aigis.

As the redhead willed herself to move towards Yukari and take her out of the line of fire, Aigis began a dazzling dance of life and death against the Shadows. Her Personas changed rapidly, as did the elements of her attacks. Sometimes they were effective, but most of the time they bounced off uselessly. Mitsuru was too exhausted to gather anything from the patterns, however.

Sitting down on the ground, she looked down at Takeba, still unconscious. Why did you do that? Foolish girl. You’re supposed to hate me. She put the girl’s head on her lap, and was relieved to see the strands of unruly hair on her face moving in rhythm with her breaths.

She pushed the hair out of the brunette’s face with her bloody hand, staining her beauty. That really is what we’ve done to you, isn’t it? Then why do you ask for more? It’s us who need to be punished.

Not you. Never you.

-------------------------

The group finally found the teleporter and entered the lobby. They found Aigis fighting two giant monsters, much larger than the ones roaming the tower.

The fact that she was casting fire spells had nothing to do with how it was the hottest thing Fuuka had ever seen in her life.

She hadn’t really processed the fact that Aigis was a robot just yet, but she did know that it hadn’t dampened her feelings for the blonde whatsoever. Quite the opposite, if she was being honest. Fuuka really wished there was a better time and place to go through her feelings, though; a demonic tower filled with monsters was not the best place to untangle her complicated feelings for an equally complicated girl.

“Aigis! What’s the plan?” the gray-haired boy, Sanada-san, called out.

“Their weaknesses keep changing!” she called out, summoning a tornado to both blast back the enemies and push herself towards the newly arrived group. “I have been randomizing my spells to feel it out, but I haven’t been able to detect a pattern. Sadly...” Her body sagged. “It was not the wisest of strategies. I do not have much energy left.”

“We’re not at our best either...” Yuki-kun muttered. “Do we run?”

“Mitsuru-san and Yukari-san are injured,” Aigis said, pointing across the hallway. Indeed, there were two girls there, looking pretty worse for wear. Wait, is that the student council president?! “I don’t believe we would make it very far if we had to help them walk as well,” the blonde continued. “I have a load capacity of over 300 kilograms, but my body has been quite overexerted from my climb, subsequent skydive, and the battle just now. I will not be able to carry both of them.”

“Plus, who knows what the Shadows are gonna do if they survive tonight,” Iori-kun said with a grimace. “They only show up once a month. What if they come back next month, with, like, two more friends? We can’t take four at once.”

“We’ll just have to fight as hard as we can,” Sanada-san said with gritted teeth as he pointed his... fake gun... to his forehead. “Polydeuces, go!”

The spirit that appeared still felt like Sanada-san to Fuuka, but also different. Something that was a lot closer to the monsters in the tower. She was pretty sure it was why she couldn’t tell the team from the monsters initially. Either way, its purpose was pretty clear; to fight and protect whoever summoned it. Fuuka wondered if she could have one of those too.

She didn’t want to fight at all, but it would be nice to have something, someone, protecting her all the time.

The spirit rushed at the shorter monster, carrying out an ineffective strike with the blade mounted on its right arm. Strangely, though, Fuuka felt as if she knew the attack was going to be ineffective from the start...

“If only physical attacks did work consistently,” Aigis sighed. “Then we could elect a healing-based strategy and keep our energy resources from getting exhausted.”

“They do work,” Fuuka blurted. “On the other one.” She pointed at the taller, more masculine beast to illustrate her point.

“Huh? How’d you know?” Iori-kun asked, baffled.

Aigis’s eyes lit up with understanding. What she understood, Fuuka didn’t know, but it was definitely her understanding something. “That’s irrelevant, Junpei-san. Attack with Hermes immediately, before it changes.”

As he did, Fuuka spotted movement from the corner of her eye. She looked towards the entrance.

Natsuki stumbled in, walking like a zombie and looking as if she was in a trance.

“Moriyama-san?!” Fuuka cried out. “What are you doing here?!”

“What the—” Yuki-kun exclaimed. “Weren’t you watching her, Aigis?”

Aigis looked away, not replying to the boy.

“Ah... Fuuka...” the ginger mumbled incoherently.

“No, no, you need to leave immediately!” Kirijo-san yelled from next to the entrance.

Fuuka couldn’t just stand there and watch. She rushed to Natsuki’s side, ignoring Sanada-san’s yell that demanded her to stop. “Please, get out of here! It’s not safe!” she pleaded.

“I...” Natsuki’s eyes cleared up slightly. “I had to tell you... I’m sorry...” She fell to her knees.

Fuuka felt movement from behind her, and turned around to face it. The monsters were moving towards her and Natsuki, ignoring the fruitless assaults of everyone else. Their approach was mocking, powerful, and confident.

Everything Fuuka wasn’t.

At that moment, something inside her said that she should look down. It sounded exactly like the voice that had guided her on how to avoid all the monsters while she was alone, so she heeded its call, one more time.

Another fake gun was on the ground.

It could give her power. Power to protect Natsuki. Power to protect everyone.

It wasn’t even a choice, it was an obligation. She picked up the gun.

“No, Yamagishi!” Kirijo-san cried out. “If you don’t have the potential, it could—”

The shorter monster raised its staff into the air.

Fuuka raised the gun to her temple, closing her eyes.

All I have is potential. High time I did something with it.

“...Persona,” she said, not knowing when the word entered her mind.

She fired.

The monster’s staff met an unbreakable shield, bouncing back uselessly as a voice spoke to Fuuka, and Fuuka alone.

I am thou... Thou art I...

From the sea of thy soul, I cometh...

I am Lucia, the illuminative grace...

Fuuka opened her eyes. “I can see... I can see it all. The monsters’ weaknesses... Their spells...”

“Magnificent, Fuuka-san. Everyone, defer to her guidance!” Aigis ordered.

Iori-kun grunted. “I would, but I don’t think I got another one in me...”

You can fix that, Lucia whispered.

Yes, she could. She could fix it all.

“The radiant light of life...” she chanted, and a glowing ball of water formed in Lucia’s hands. “Shine upon... us all!”

The orb burst, bathing everyone in its luminescence.

“No way...” Sanada-san said. “Weakness detection, healing, and restoring energy?”

“W-what... what’s going on?” the brunette lying on Kirijo-san’s lap spoke for the first time, coming out of unconsciousness just then. The redhead herself was staring at her left hand unbelievingly, before quickly rising to her feet and helping the other girl up as well.

“Quickly, Fuuka-san!” Aigis meant business, it seemed. “Tell us what to do!”

Anything for you, she thought.

Her guidance was flawless. First, a blaze. Then a hailstorm. Destructive slashes of a blade, followed by heavenly lightning. Wind, bullets, another inferno.

Really, these were the monsters she was running away from? Laughable. It didn’t take long before the monsters fell for the last time, dissipating into nothingness as everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Lucia finally went away as the battle ended, and Fuuka was reminded that Natsuki had been in its protective bubble alongside her the entire time.

“Fuuka... you...” the girl struggled to say.

“Are you okay?” she asked, her voice shaking. Why is my voice shaking?

“Y-yeah...” She looked sheepish. Apologetic. Small.

She looked like Fuuka.

“Thank goodness you’re alright,” she replied, and then the world tilted on its axis.

As Fuuka fell to the floor, she thought, Oh. I’m tired. That makes sense.

Then, everything went black. But the darkness felt safe this time, and Lucia was humming a soothing tune.

It was going to be alright, Lucia’s song told her. Everything was going to be alright.

And for once in her life, Fuuka believed that sentence.

Chapter Text

He was pretty sure he’d forgotten how to walk by now. Sure, he already spent most of his day sitting in place, but at least he had the option of getting up whenever he wanted. Right now? Not really.

“Stop that.”

Stop what? I’m not even doing anything, he thought. Obviously, he couldn’t verbally respond; he’d been forbidden from that three hours ago.

“Thinking you want to get up. Stop it.”

Oh, she’s a fucking mind reader now, huh?

“I can’t read your mind. You’re just obvious.”

Ugh.

Modeling for Chidori wasn’t Jin’s favorite way to spend his time. It never had been. But then again, he hadn’t needed to do it in quite some time anyway. She knew he didn’t enjoy it, and... before, there was someone else who did it with no complaints. Someone Chidori was far more interested in putting to canvas, compared to Jin.

But she wasn’t here now, so Jin had to suck it up and sit still and wait for the redhead to be done. And if you asked him, he’d tell you Chidori forced him to. Much like how he’d say he didn’t give a damn that the other person wasn’t here anymore, that it was more peaceful without her, that he didn’t even see her as a person anyway. Maybe you’d even believe him.

Because Jin was, if nothing else, a pretty good liar.

As the Dark Hour ended, he finally heard the words he’d been waiting to hear all this time.

“I’m done. Go.”

With a loud groan, Jin got up from the stool and cracked his back joints. Chidori grimaced at the sound.

“Freedom at last!” he exclaimed. “Okay, how’d you draw me?”

“Come look,” she replied flatly, and so he did.

Looking over the girl’s shoulder to see her sketchbook, Jin looked at what was supposed to be a portrait of him. ‘Supposed to’ being the key phrase. What was really painted on the page was splashes of black and orange and green, and in no way did they represent an actual person. The black zigzagged over the green, almost entirely covering it up, and the orange flared around the corners of the page, framing the other two shades.

“...This is what I froze myself on the stool for?”

“Yeah.”

“This doesn’t even look like me! Or anything at all!”

“I know.”

“Then why did you have me sit there for three fucking hours if you weren’t even drawing me?”

“I was. This isn’t supposed to look like you.”

“And what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Chidori sighed and slammed her sketchbook shut. “Go back to your laptop.”

Rolling his eyes, Jin left the room. Weirdo. Just say it if you want to spend time with me, you don’t need to come up with bullshit excuses like this.

For the record, he’d never say that to her face either, nor would he agree readily to doing so. But he’d do it anyway, because he’d die for anyone in Strega.

That was the whole point, after all. It was how they lived.

And at any rate, Jin didn’t have anything better to do these days either. Doxxing people wasn’t exactly hard, and he didn’t really care about seeing the suckers die, so Takaya usually went alone these days. AiRato was dead in the water with its second half not present, so he couldn’t put up any videos. He mostly busied himself with chores and message boards these days, but those could only take up his time for so long, and he’d finally been bored enough to model for Chidori when she’d asked. It wasn’t his brightest idea, but at least someone came out of it satisfied. He assumed so, anyway; you could never tell with Chidori.

At the exact instance he turned on his laptop, Takaya came back from his Dark Hour expedition. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, I just turned this thing on, he thought as he got up to meet the man face to face.

“How’d it go?”

“Like usual,” Takaya replied distractedly.

“Doesn’t sound like it did.”

“The jobs went as they should’ve,” the older man said as he took a seat. “It’s something else that’s on my mind.”

Jin took a seat in front of him. “Well, spit it out.”

“I saw someone dive off of a building while I was out.”

Jin pursed his lips, staring at Takaya in silence.

“In the Dark Hour, Jin.”

“So? Some poor sucker got sucked in and offed themselves out of panic, why would that get your panties in a twist?”

Takaya put a hand to his forehead in exasperation. “Nothing fazes you, does it? Fine, try this: The building was the Tower of Demise, and the person survived the fall without a scratch.”

Jin’s eyes widened. “...The fuck?”

Takaya leaned forward. “Of course, I didn’t see them up close, but all the gunfire during the fall did let me know who it truly was that did such a thing. Or, well, what it was.”

Jin narrowed his eyes. There was only one real option on the table. “Why the hell would Aigis dive off of Tartarus?”

“Must have something to do with her new owners, I’d say. They seemed like quite the lively bunch as they left the tower.”

“You catch where they went?”

“I didn’t tail them; it would’ve been too obvious. It doesn’t matter where they live, at any rate. As long as they stick to exploring the tower and stay out of our business, we have nothing to do with them, do we?” Takaya tented his fingers under his chin. “After all, she has nothing to do with us anymore either.”

“Right,” Jin spat venomously. “She didn’t even fucking look back. Who gives a shit anyway?”

“True, indeed.” The older man rose from his seat. “I’ll be making dinner. Interested in joining me for the meal?”

“Yeah. Been sitting still for three freaking hours, I could use a bite.”

“Very well.”

As he got back to his laptop and got past the login screen, he got thinking. This other group must’ve been the ‘brats’ Ikutsuki was talking about the night he took Aigis away. It was unlikely that they knew about Strega if their goal was exploring Tartarus, and Ikutsuki would definitely tell Aigis to not say a word anyway.

But if they did find out, if they were moral little shits that didn’t like a little murder and mayhem...

Well, Jin sure didn’t want to be on the other end of Aigis’s artillery. Not without something of his own, at least.

“Hey, Takaya?” he called out.

“Yes?”

“You still got that Evoker of yours?”

“Of course, not that it’s of any use to me. What for?”

“Mind if I dismantle it? Thinking of a new project.”

“Hmm. Why not? Go on ahead.”

“Cool,” he said, a ghost of a smirk on his face as he opened up his bombs’ schematics.

Yeah, this’ll be one for the books.

Chapter Text

“So, you’re Fuuka Yamagishi-kun, right?”

The chairman was present for an important event, for once in his life. Where the heck had he been the night of the attack? What did he even do for SEES if he was never there for anything? It wasn’t like he funded them, or that they needed his approval at all; Mitsuru was the Kirijo, not him. Useless. Just like every other adult in my life.

Yamagishi stood from her seat nervously. “Y-yes.”

Ikutsuki chuckled. “There’s no need to be nervous. Sit down, sit down.” The timid girl promptly did so without another word, a blush covering her face.

“Don’t be so flustered, Fuuka-san,” Aigis said with a smile. “We’re all friends here.”

For whatever reason, Yamagishi’s face only got redder. Yukari frowned. If you’re uncomfortable with her being a robot, we’re gonna have a few words.

Ikutsuki continued, “By the way, I want to congratulate everyone on their excellent work to dispel the rumors and uncover the truth. All the other girls have regained consciousness as well, and don’t seem to be affected by Apathy Syndrome at all! Really great work, everyone.”

“I mean, obviously it couldn’t have been a ghost,” Yukari decided to say. “Anyone could’ve guessed that.”

Junpei coughed meaningfully with a grin, and Yukari promptly smacked him in the back of the head. Lightly, though. Lighter than before.

“It’s all my fault,” Yamagishi mumbled.

Yukari’s eyes widened. “Huh? Where’d that come from? You’re the victim of the whole thing, you know.”

“But if I hadn’t been absent for so long, there wouldn’t have been rumors in the first place...”

“But that’s—"

“You didn’t have anything to do with it,” Makoto interrupted. “It’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself. End of story.” Yeah, that’s what I was gonna say too, you know.

“We couldn’t have won the fight without your help, Yamagishi,” Mitsuru added. “You saved everyone’s lives. That’s not something just anyone could’ve done. Take pride in that.”

“Yup, you’ve got a power that’s all your own, and you can use it to help others,” Akihiko-senpai continued. “None of this is your fault. If anything, we owe you.”

“A power... You mean the Persona?”

“Yes, and to be frank, our group is looking for more manpower at every turn,” the redhead said with a toss of her hair. “Someone with your abilities joining us would be invaluable. Will you do so?”

“You want me to join you?” Yamagishi asked, her voice shaking. “To... be part of your team?”

“Don’t feel like you have to—”

Makoto interrupted Yukari again, leaning forward on his chair. “We’re not forcing you. Tartarus isn’t a safe place, and you’d be risking your life every night. You’ve already been through enough. If you don’t want any part of it, no one would blame you.”

Yukari frowned. Once was a mistake, but twice... He doesn’t want me to talk. We’ll see about that.

Yamagishi, though, only seemed to get more determined with every word out of Makoto’s mouth. “I’ll do it. It would be my honor!”

“Are you sure, Fuuka-san?” Aigis asked, worry in her tone. “We wouldn’t want to put you in unnecessary danger. If you feel obligated to repay us in any way—”

“No, I want to do this.” Her voice was steady, much steadier than before. “I can’t just sit on the sidelines and watch now that I know I can help.”

“If you do join, you’ll have to move in here with us, y’know,” Junpei said.

“That’s fine. I’d rather be here than at home anyway,” Yamagishi said with a sigh. Well, with that attitude, you’ll fit right in.

“Thank you,” Mitsuru said. “We really appreciate this. We’ll have the school talk to your parents to resolve any issues.”

As the teal-haired girl thanked Mitsuru quietly, Ikutsuki spoke again. “Another topic I’d like to discuss is those special Shadows. We had another encounter this month, and on another full moon too. Thankfully, you all managed to stop them again, but it’s still quite the worrisome situation.”

“Do you have any further insight as to why, Ikutsuki-san?” Aigis asked. Really settling into the leadership role, huh, Aigis? Good. That’s good. Glad I didn’t ruin that.

“Well, your idea on their correlation to... tarot cards... is certainly being investigated right now. We can’t exactly prove it, though...”

“But last night only cements it. They represented the Emperor and the Empress. They sought to make us submit to their authority. Mitsuru-san even heard a statement in her mind that affirms this.” Aigis stood from her seat. “The large Shadows are going through the Major Arcana in order. I know this to be true.”

“On what basis, Aigis-kun? Just that you had a single lesson on what the cards mean at school and see patterns that don’t exist?”

“They have numbers on their masks, Ikutsuki-san! One through four! What else could it mean?”

“Calm down, Aigis,” Mitsuru said soothingly. “We still have more to look into, at any rate. Something may come to light to either affirm your beliefs or change them entirely.”

As Aigis sat back down, the meeting devolved into irrelevant niceties and disbanded shortly after. Makoto got up from his seat the moment it ended and left the room.

Oh no you don’t. Yukari went outside, and descended down the stairs after the boy. “Makoto! We need to talk.”

Without turning or stopping, he replied, “Why? So you can tell me to kill myself too? Save your breath.” Yukari put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Look, what I said to Aigis... I didn’t mean it like that. I...” You what, Yukari? You’re just naturally mean-spirited and an asshole to all of your friends? It’s just who you are? What kind of excuse will you bring up to justify being a horrible person next? She let her sentence trail off.

Makoto finally turned around, and the hatred in his eyes was palpable. “I don’t give a shit what you meant it like. I don’t care that Aigis forgave you. I don’t forgive you. I don’t want to look at you, I don’t want to talk to you, and I don’t want you around me or Aigis in the first place.”

The brunette’s rage flared up at that. “You or Aigis? So, what, you’re a fucking double act now?”

“Got a problem with that?”

“W-what made you the authority on all matters Aigis, huh? Everyone in the dorm cares about her, but only you’re getting on my case like this.”

“Maybe everyone else doesn’t care as much as they say they do.”

“Maybe you care too much!”

Makoto scowled coldly. “What’s the matter, Takeba? Jealous no one cares about you like that? Get a fucking grip.” And with that, he pulled his shoulder away from Yukari’s hand, and stomped his way down the rest of the stairs.

Yukari didn’t follow.

I... I’m not jealous. Why would I be jealous of Aigis? She deserves someone to care about her. Definitely more than I do.

I’m not jealous of Aigis.

I’m not.

Right?

-------------------------

“Here’s your new room, Fuuka-san,” Aigis said, opening the door and entering the vacant third-floor room that Mitsuru had assigned to the newcomer. “I hope it is to your liking.”

Fuuka’s resolve from back in the command room seemed to have dissipated once more. “U-um, thanks, Aigis-san,” she stammered. “You didn’t need to trouble yourself...”

“Of course I did. Someone needs to assist you in moving your personal belongings to the dorm, isn’t that right?” Fuuka’s eyes widened in shock. “I’m ‘the right woman for the job’, as they say, due to my inexhaustible nature and high load capacity. I can help you move quickly and efficiently.” She emphasized her point with a smile.

Despite Aigis’s expectations, however, Fuuka didn’t seem to appreciate her offer. “Thanks, Aigis-san, but... I’ll have to refuse.”

“But why? Friends help each other, don’t they?”

“U-um... they do...”

“And we’re friends, aren’t we?”

“We... we are...” Fuuka sighed, and stared down at her shoes. “It’s just that... It’s something I need to do myself. I want to handle it on my own, to really... feel that I’m getting out of there.” She looked up. “Do you know what I mean?”

She didn’t. She’d never actively desired to leave a place she called home before. “I... don’t think I do, Fuuka-san. I’m sorry. This seems like you rejecting something that will objectively improve your situation, and I can’t see a logical reason for you refusing my help. It’s true that humans tend to be illogical creatures, but there is always a method to the madness, as they say. I can’t see any such method here.”

Fuuka’s lips fell down. “But you’re human too.”

“I may be a person with free will and individual desires, Fuuka-san, but I’m not a flesh-and-blood human. I fundamentally function differently from you, but that doesn’t make me a lesser being, as I’ve come to realize over time. Rejecting my differences isn’t a healthy mindset, so I’m working towards self-acceptance instead.”

“I... see. I’m glad you see yourself for what you really are, Aigis-san.” Fuuka smiled. It was a nice smile. Aigis decided that Fuuka should smile more, and that she herself should be instrumental to this action as much as possible.

But there was something else to address. “We’re friends, Fuuka-san. There’s no need to refer to me with such distanced honorifics.”

“Y-you’re doing it.”

Aigis looked away in shame. She was, unfortunately, right. “It’s part of my programming. My social courtesy module. It’s very rudimentary code and I find it difficult to mark down exceptions for it. Don’t take it personally, please.”

“I could help you with that.”

“Help me?” Aigis looked back at her, eyebrows rising. “In what way?”

Fuuka’s expression was still timid, but her spine was straightened, and determination lurked behind her eyes. “Recode the module. Change how it works so you don’t need to do that anymore.”

Aigis opened her mouth to immediately reject the statement, but before she could vocalize the desire, she started to think.

It would be an objective improvement to her design, wouldn’t it? She’d be able to refer to anyone in any way she wanted, without needing to default to a preset she could hardly change at all. So why was her first instinct rejecting the notion? Was it some kind of sleeper program in her code, refusing any external tampering?

No. That wasn’t it.

The fact of the matter was that the module was part of her identity, unfairly enforced or not, and no one got to recode Aigis’s identity but Aigis.

“Thank you, Fuuka-san, but no. It’s something I need to grapple with myself.” She sighed. “I... believe I comprehend your earlier statement about needing to move out on your own now.”

“Hehe, good to hear, Aigis-chan.” Her Papillon Heart was filled with warmth at that.

“Still, me moving your furniture upstairs from the lounge is non-negotiable.”

“That’s okay.”

The two girls smiled at each other. Fuuka’s smile was so wide. So full of joy.

Worth protecting.

Aigis was so glad to be capable of protecting others.

Her gladness lingered still as she escorted Fuuka downstairs and watched her leave the dorm. Her solitude, on the other hand, didn’t take long to vanish.

“Uh, Ai-chan?”

She turned. As the nickname signified, Junpei stood behind her, tapping his foot and with one hand inside his pocket. “Hello, Junpei-san. Do you need anything from me?”

The boy fiddled with his necklace with his free hand. “Well, need is a strong word, but are you... are you free right now?”

“Yes. I don’t have any tasks I need to accomplish at the moment.”

“That’s... good. That’s good. Wanna go to Chagall with me, then?”

Aigis cocked her head. “Chagall? That’s not like you, Junpei-san. I recall you stating that coffee is ‘for old people’.”

“Yeah, well, can’t exactly sit down and have a conversation in the arcade, can we? Plus, that was just me messing with Yuka-tan anyway. I like coffee. It just... has its time and place.” Junpei rubbed the back of his head, looking away from Aigis’s gaze.

Hmm. I sense a pattern... He’s nervous in the presence of a girl, struggles to ask her to an outing on the city that will involve just the two of them, and his destination of choice is a café... Is he asking me out on a date?

Aigis recognized these cues because she had finally finished Pride and Prejudice a while back, and it was positively instrumental in her comprehension of romance. The protagonist sharing a first name with the Velvet Attendant was amusing to the android, and the narrative was well-told, befitting of its reputation as a classic. She found herself relating to the literal-minded nature of Mr. Darcy, but his negative reputation enlightened Aigis as to why certain people, notably Natsuki and her unsavory friends, interpreted her behavior as condescending. It was true that the prejudice of others was at fault, but Aigis had also decided to appear less aloof and detached in hopes of dissipating her current reputation.

Still, even if she now understood romance to an extent, Junpei was admittedly not someone she thought she’d ever see in that light. Besides, romance involved physical aspects that she decidedly lacked. She could not be a proper romantic partner for anybody, and affections towards her would be grossly misplaced.

“Are you asking me out on a date, Junpei-san?” Aigis asked. She would have to turn him down gently if that was the case.

Despite her assumptions, however, Junpei looked dumbstruck at the mere idea. “A-a date?! No! No, that’s not what I’m doing at all!” He sighed. “I just... feel like we should talk, okay? It’s not a date or anything, I don’t really... see you that way, Ai-chan. I know Yuka-tan goes on and on about how I keep hitting on all the girls, but...” Junpei trailed off, pursing his lips.

It seemed as if Aigis was not the only one struggling with her less than positive reputation in the eyes of others. “I comprehend, Junpei-san. I will accompany you to Chagall.” She doubted she’d misread the cues; the issue was that she hadn’t expected Junpei to be uncomfortable for any other reason. Aigis was under the assumption that the two shared an amicable relationship, apart from his odd outburst at Tartarus back on June 1st in regards to Aigis’s method of leadership. It was not a significant enough event to keep Junpei uncomfortable for such a length of time, so the android remained puzzled as the two entered the café and found two empty seats.

“So, what are you ordering, Ai-chan? It’s on me.”

“I lack your expertise in hot drinks, Junpei-san. I’ll trust your judgement.” She smiled to make her sentence appear less neutral and uninterested.

“Okay, I’ll get two hot chocolates then. Should work out.” He placed the order quickly and returned to the table just as fast.

“Well, Junpei-san, if we’re not on a date, why have you invited me here? Forgive me for being so blunt, but you appear... uneasy. Is there something wrong?”

Junpei chuckled. “Huh. Didn’t think I’d ever hear you use a contraction.”

“Excuse me?”

“You said ‘if we’re not on a date’. You would’ve said ‘we are’ a few weeks ago.” His smile melted away. “You’ve changed a lot, haven’t you?”

She hadn’t even noticed the change in her speech herself. “I... I believe so, Junpei-san. I’ve learned many things since my arrival at the dorms, and I owe it all to everyone. You’re all great friends to me and have helped me through so many dilemmas, I couldn’t be more grateful.”

The boy clicked his tongue against his teeth. “That’s the thing, isn’t it? I don’t think I’ve been a good friend to you at all, Ai-chan. I’ve been jealous and bitter and not listening to you in the field... And you’ve been so kind to me despite all of that.”

Aigis frowned. “I don’t believe I understand, Junpei-san. Why would you be jealous of me?”

“Well, you’re smart, you’re funny, you’re strong, half the school is in love with you and the other half can go hang, and you’re kind as all hell to people who don’t deserve it one bit. What’s not to be jealous of? Especially when it comes to someone like me.” He chuckled drily. “The only thing people are jealous of me for is that I live in the dorms alongside all the popular girls at school, and that ain’t even specific to me anyway.”

Aigis remained silent. She had... enviable traits? There were people who wanted to be more like her? That didn’t seem right, but a living, breathing example was sitting in front of her and admitting to it, so she couldn’t exactly reject the notion wholesale.

“So, anyway, I’ve been a real jerk to you, Ai-chan. A real jerk, and for no good reason other than my own stupidity. I wanted to apologize to you for that.”

That, at least, she had an answer for. “I only recall one instance of you behaving negatively towards me, and it wasn’t nearly severe enough to warrant such self-deprecation.”

“Trust me, I’ve been a jerk to you in my head enough times for it to count.”

“What you do in your head has nothing to do with me, Junpei-san. As far as I’m concerned, we are friends and have never been anything but.”

“...You’re way too kind for your own good, Ai-chan,” Junpei sighed.

“I’ve got enough weaponry to make up for any lapses in judgement,” she said with a grin.

As Junpei guffawed, their hot chocolate arrived, and the conversation slowly drifted to less serious topics.

“This is a delicious drink,” she exclaimed after a sip.

“Yeah, it’s kinda girly, but who doesn’t like chocolate, amirite?” the boy in the baseball cap chuckled. “By the way, how come you thought we were going on a date? Didn’t think you’d interpret it like that, honestly.”

“I’ve recently gained a loose comprehension of romance thanks to a book I’ve read, and your behavior aligned with such a situation.”

“Well, I guess you’re right,” Junpei said, a sad smile on his face. “I’ve never actually been on a date, though. No one really wants to go out with someone like me.”

“That’s odd. You are funny, friendly and respectful. Why would you be rejected?”

“Well, were you gonna turn me down if it was actually a date?”

“Yes.” Junpei’s face fell, prompting Aigis to immediately elaborate. “But not because of who you are. I would turn you down because of who I am.”

“Huh?”

“I am an android, Junpei-san. I can’t physically participate in a romantic relationship due to lacking the necessary... components.” Junpei went beet red instantly. “It would be wasted effort if someone were to pursue my affections.”

“W-well, that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be loved, though.”

“Does it not?”

“I mean, I care about that kind of stuff, but I’m kind of a shallow guy, not to mention I don’t see you that way anyway. I’m not an accurate metric. Plus, putting effort to make a shallow guy care about you is misplaced anyway. You should find someone who loves you for who you are, not someone who thinks not having sex is a deal-breaker.”

“Love me... for who I am?”

“Say, I could help you with that!” he said, his tone suddenly enthusiastic and upbeat. “If you got your eyes on anybody, I could play cupid for you! How ‘bout it?”

Did she have her eyes on anyone?

Seeing her silence, Junpei went on, “Oh, yeah, half the school’s into you, right. Lots of choices. Well, let’s stick to home base for now. How about Akihiko-senpai? You’d have plenty of competition, but I think you’d beat them out anyway. Plus, he ain’t a shallow dude at all. Remember when he said he wouldn’t date anyone unless he really cared about ‘em that one time? He’s definitely not one to go for looks alone.”

Aigis pursed her lips with a frown. “I’m sure he would be a great romantic partner to anyone who’d find him desirable, but... I doubt I’ve ever viewed him in such a lens.”

“Yeah, I doubt he’s ever seen you that way either, honestly. But better to get the dumb picks out of the way first. Obviously I ain’t an option either, so that leaves us with... Makoto, I guess.”

Makoto.

Did she love Makoto?

She couldn’t say.

“What, is he that lame?” Junpei chuckled.

“Makoto-san is not lame,” she bristled.

“Yup, there it is. You’re into him.”

“What?”

“Trust me, when it comes to stuff like this, your kneejerk reaction is what really gives away your feelings. You rationalized not being into Akihiko-san, you didn’t get mad when I called myself stupid, but the moment I called Makoto lame, you got all angry. You care about him in a way you don’t care about anybody else.”

“But that’s because...” I killed his parents, she wanted to say.

That wasn’t entirely true, though, was it?

In fact, having fallen in love with Makoto explained a lot of her behavior over the past few months. It wasn’t like she saved anyone else’s expressions of happiness to her permanent memory banks, or logged any other instance of a hand on her shoulder. Those weren’t reactions born from guilt. It was clear that on some level, she valued Makoto higher than she valued others.

Plus, being a romantic couple answered the question she’d been turning around in her mind for months. This was the ‘what else’ they could be to one another. And now that she thought about it, the order to keep him alive and happy had never been issued by an external party, had it? Even all the way back then, she’d given it to herself.

Still... she’d killed his parents. She had no right to his affections.

Junpei, though, seemed none the wiser to the true reason Aigis hesitated. “C’mon, Ai-chan. He ain’t a shallow guy at all, even if he jokes around with me. Plus, in my authority as Ace Detective, I think he might be into you too.” He gave her a sly smirk. “I’ve seen him give you the goo-goo eyes when he thinks no one’s looking and all.”

“H-huh?” She felt her face heating up, but it was not at all like an overexertion of her internal components, and was restricted to just that one area. She’d never felt such a sensation before.

“Holy shit, you can blush?” the boy exclaimed.

Her face heated up further. “I... I suppose so... I’ve never...” Her mind was filled with static, barring her from forming full sentences. She decided blushing was a stupid, pointless sensation. It didn’t make her blush any less.

“O-kay! I think we have our answer!” Junpei said triumphantly. “Gonna be kind of tough, though...”

“H-how so? Didn’t you say he may be... interested as well?”

“Yeah, you two are definitely into each other for sure, but...” The boy rubbed the back of his head. “Yuka-tan’s into him too, is the thing. Not sure if he feels the same, but I sure as hell know she likes him that way.”

Yukari. Aigis couldn’t think of a better person as a partner for Makoto if she tried. “Well, that settles that, then,” she said dejectedly.

“Huh? Settles what?”

“They would be a far superior couple.”

“W-wait, you can’t just give up like that! What about your feelings?”

What about her feelings, indeed. She put aside any manner of rationalization, and attempted to visualize Yukari and Makoto as a couple. She simulated them kissing, going on dates, and other romantic activities.

Her happiness at Makoto finding joy with someone else was instantly drowned out by a roaring wave of wrongness. Every component in her body screamed that this was not how things should be.

Logging the sensation, she then attempted visualizing herself and Makoto as a couple.

The simulation of a mere peck on the cheek was too overwhelming to sustain. She immediately shut it down, feeling her blush deepening. “I... I see your point, Junpei-san. Yukari-san and Makoto-san’s relationship wouldn’t make me happy, even if it would bring joy to both of them.”

“Exactly! So you should go out there and fight for what you want!” Junpei pumped his fist. “I mean, I dunno if I should really take sides, ‘cause you’re both my friends, but you should still go for it!”

“I wouldn’t want to cause friction in your friendship with Yukari-san, Junpei-san. I... I will handle this on my own.”

“You sure? I could help both of you to make it fair.”

Aigis frowned. “That would make it worse, Junpei-san.”

He laughed boisterously. “Yeah, it would, wouldn’t it?”

“Still, I’m quite grateful to you. I doubt I would’ve pieced it together on my own.”

“Sure you would’ve! You’ve figured out tons of other things on your own, haven’t you?”

“I’ve always had help.”

“C’mon, Ai-chan, don’t do the ‘I’m useless without other people’ thing again.” Junpei leaned forward on his chair. “We all need someone to guide us through first experiences. You just have more firsts than others.”

Aigis sighed, and gave Junpei a tired smile. “I suppose so. Thank you, Junpei-san.”

“Any time! I’ve got your back, just say the word!”

Once she was back at the dorm, Aigis laid down on the resting station, and thought.

Knowing she was in love with Makoto was one thing. The possibility of him reciprocating was another. It only made the matter more difficult.

She’d hurt Makoto greatly in the past, but now she had the capability to destroy him utterly. Either rejecting a possible advancement made by him or accepting it and handling the relationship poorly could bring him to ruin. And no other choice existed, as Aigis had long since proven to be incapable of perfection, yet it was exactly what Makoto deserved to receive.

What was she going to do?

Chapter Text

Once upon a time, there was an average little boy.

He didn’t have that many standout features, he didn’t do particularly well or too terrible at his exams, and was just sporty and friendly enough to be picked for a schoolyard football team at around the midway point. You couldn’t find him in a crowd unless you really tried, and he enjoyed that. He loved it when his parents lost track of him and went around the mall or the park or wherever they’d taken him to, yelling his name and asking every passerby if they’d seen a quiet blue-haired boy, about this tall, wearing a suit with shorts.

What kid doesn’t want to feel wanted? To feel loved? To see if they really do matter to other people, despite all the kind words and headpats and toys and candy in the world?

Pretty normal desire, all things considered.

He did the same thing, that night on the bridge. He crawled out of the car, and he didn’t look back. Because if his parents really did care, they’d come find him. There was enough past evidence to show they would, too. They always did. They loved him. They were going to stay with him forever.

They didn’t.

It took around a day for anyone to notice he was gone, in fact. A police officer found him in a dark alleyway, hugging his knees and shivering from the cold and the growling of his stomach and the newfound realization.

So, when they got to the station, he didn’t answer the cops when they asked where his parents were, or how he’d gotten there, or how long he’d been there. When they found out who he was, he didn’t answer what had happened to their car, or how he was still alive, or if he had any other relatives they could send him to.

It didn’t matter. No one cared. If his parents didn’t, no one did. They’d told him that, over and over and over again: no one cared about him more than his parents did. And now, it was clear that they didn’t care about him anymore.

The conclusion was something even an average boy like him could get to.

He was sent to his relatives, at first. His mother’s brother, then his father’s sister, then his father’s mother and mother’s father, who’d married after their respective spouse had passed away. All of them passed him on, with the same two complaints:

“He keeps running away from home”, and “He’s as quiet as a grave”.

Pretty normal complaints. It wasn’t like they were lies, either. Sometimes he thought he really was a grave. After all, everybody else turned into coffins at night, so maybe he was the grave they were all supposed to be buried in and that was why they didn’t care about him. No one likes to be reminded that they’re going to die.

After it became clear to the authorities that none of his relatives cared about him, not that the boy didn’t know that before even going to their homes, he got put in the foster system. The orphanage didn’t send him off when he ran away, but the grown-ups there did beat him when the cops brought him back. That was fine. What wasn’t fine was all the other people who came to the orphanage, looking for kids they could pretend to care about. It was pathetic.

They weren’t the kids’ parents. They couldn’t care about them. No one could.

Some of them did take him in. The first one was a woman, just as quiet as he was. Her house was filled with books, and all she did was write. Write and write and write, all day long on her computer. A lot of the nights, she turned into a coffin right in front of her computer, facing the lightless monitor. Her glasses were thick, and they got thicker over the year he stayed there. Sometimes she forgot to eat. Sometimes she forgot to leave him anything to eat.

That was fine. It wasn’t her fault. She just cared about her writing more. He understood that. It was preferable to her pretending.

Whenever the writer forgot to give him anything to eat, he picked out a book from her library instead. She didn’t mind that. She smiled the first time she saw him do it, but they never talked about what he was reading. It was lucky, since he didn’t understand most of it, but he kept going if only to distract from his stomach’s growls.

Eventually, though, he wondered what made the writer care so much about what she was writing in the first place. So, one day, when she went out of the house to get groceries, he turned on the computer and started to read what she was writing.

It was the story of a remarkable woman and her remarkable son, living out the most remarkable life imaginable. Exploring the unknowns, saving innocents, and loving each other. It was easy to read, far simpler than the books she kept in her house, but it didn’t have an ending yet. There were five or six other files on the computer too, but the boy couldn’t make any sense of them, disorganized as they were. All he could tell was that they were plans for what the woman and her son would do in other stories after this one.

Even an average boy could tell she was writing something good. Something better than all the books she kept, something worth more than he ever could be. So he understood exactly why the woman ignored him for the sake of furthering her writing.

And he felt jealous. So he deleted all the files.

The writer didn’t get mad when she got back. She didn’t beat him, or scream, or cry. She just looked at him, sighed, and called the orphanage to take him back. He felt like he should’ve apologized, but it didn’t matter. Not anymore.

After he got back to the orphanage, he kept revisiting the woman’s story in his head, but he was only an average boy with an average memory, and he didn’t remember much of it. So, he figured he should read other books, books that were easy to understand for a boy like him. After all, stories mattered more than he did, to the woman. Maybe others thought the same. Maybe he could be worth more if he read more books. Steal their worth for himself. Maybe he wouldn’t be pitied anymore, if he became someone remarkable.

So he read, and read, and read. It didn’t have the effect he expected. Exactly the opposite, in fact: people started avoiding him. No one told him he should go do something else with his time, no one asked him why he wasn’t playing with the other kids, and no one interrupted him apart from when it was time to eat.

Reading made people stop pretending like they cared about him. It confirmed everything he believed in, and also made sure no one pretended otherwise. That was great. Really, really great. So he kept reading, and eventually, his average little head was filled with great, wonderful, magnificent stories. Stories he didn’t tell anyone, because they wouldn’t care if it came from him. He didn’t matter, after all.

He ran away less and less, because he couldn’t read out on the street, but whenever he did run away, his legs took him to the nearby bookstore. He didn’t have money, but they let him sit and read anyway, after they got used to him being there all the time and staring at the bookshelves like he wanted to eat them whole. And since someone had been watching him the whole time he wasn’t at the orphanage, they didn’t even beat him when he ran away. They just let him do it.

It was too good to be true, so it stopped being that way soon. Someone else adopted him. He was a man, with long hair and torn-up clothes and a lot of instruments at home. He didn’t have any books, and even if he did, the house was too loud to get any reading done in. He was always playing something, and the neighbors came to complain about the noise often. In response, he yelled words at the neighbors, words he told the boy to never say in front of other people unless he really, really hated them. He figured the man hated his neighbors because they interrupted his music, just like how he himself hated anyone who interrupted his reading. So he never interrupted the man’s music, even when he was hungry. He was less forgetful than the woman was, at least, so it was better than before.

The musician threw him his first birthday party since the bridge. He had bought the boy a gift but didn’t have the money to buy him a cake too, so all they had to eat for celebration was takoyaki from a stall. The whole gesture made the boy angry; he thought the man was pretty clear about not caring about him. Even then, he ate the takoyaki, because it tasted pretty good, and accepted the gift, because you never turn down gifts. It was a small music player he could hang around his neck. The musician said it was the best kind of model, since the kind you put in your pocket damaged the wires and the kind that latched to belts wore out their plastic hooks fast and fell off. He’d put his favorite music on the device, alongside his own compositions, but the boy didn’t listen to the latter. He already heard enough when he was home.

He did listen to the other tracks, though. They didn’t sound like stuff the man would listen to, based on what he spent his time playing. They were soft, melodic, kind. They wrapped themselves around him like a nice, warm blanket, and if he put the music on loop, they never, ever let go.

The house went quiet whenever the musician turned into a coffin at night. The boy wouldn’t have cared before, but now he realized that he didn’t like it. He couldn’t make the quiet go away with his new music player, because it turned off at the same time. He didn’t know how to play the instruments in the house either, so he just hid under the blanket until the sounds came back.

He didn’t leave the musician’s house because the man wanted him gone. Instead, the neighbors called the orphanage and said he couldn’t take care of the boy anymore, because he was too loud and too rude. The boy didn’t think those were good reasons, but he didn’t say anything. No one would’ve cared. The musician didn’t want to let him go, but his rude words only made the cops cover the boy’s ears and make him walk away.

As he was driven back to the orphanage, he thought about why the musician didn’t want him taken away. It wasn’t like he cared about the boy, right? He didn’t really find an answer, so he put on one of the musician’s own compositions, one of the loud and rude and angry ones, and decided to forget all about it. He was getting good at forgetting around those times. He didn’t forget his stories, but he could forget anything else he wanted to. He figured that made him pretty unaverage, so he honed that skill more and more.

As he settled back into the orphanage, he learned that he could read and listen to music at the same time. He became good at associating a song’s tone with a certain story, and realized that doing so made the stories and the music feel even better. He found out how to go on the internet and add more songs to his music player, and was surprised to find that all the music was free. He guessed people didn’t care about music, but that was fine. No one cared about him either, so him and music could care about each other.

Before he could get used to being back, though, the orphanage sent him off again. Another man took him in this time, but he was nothing like the musician. He was a professor, and he cared about math. He always wore a pressed suit and buttoned up his shirt all the way, but he never wore a tie. His walls were plastered with diplomas and awards and medals, all because of math. The boy wondered why math was something to win awards over. Math was just logic. Anyone could do logic. But he didn’t ask the mathematician that.

The mathematician never forgot to feed him. He always fed him on the same hour of every day, and had a schedule for what to give him every week. He also gave the boy an allowance. He’d never gotten an allowance before and didn’t know what to spend it on, so he kept all the money under his pillow. The man had a lot of books in his house too, but none of them had stories in them. They were about math, and physics, and some other things that the boy didn’t really understand. So he didn’t read them, and stuck with his music.

The man’s coffin was always on the bed. He was never awake when the darkness came to turn everything off, so the boy stopped staying awake for it too.

The mathematician also didn’t like it when he ran away, but he didn’t beat the boy. Instead, he lectured him for hours, about why he shouldn’t be doing such a thing and how he should focus on his studies instead. So he stopped running away, if only to not waste so many hours on the lectures. He tried focusing on his studies too, but they were getting harder and harder, and he cared less and less the harder they got.

Eventually, he failed one of his exams.

It was the first time the mathematician ever got angry. He yelled at the boy, demanding him to say why he didn’t care about his future. The boy didn’t answer. When the man saw his silence, he reached for the music player around the boy’s neck. The boy thought he was going to choke him with the strap, but he did something worse.

He tore off the music player from the boy’s neck and crushed it in his hand, blaming the device for the boy’s lack of care for his studies.

The boy screamed, and screamed, and screamed, until he couldn’t scream anymore. That very night, he picked up all of his allowance and the remains of his music player, and ran away to the police station.

With his hoarse voice and tearstained face, he told them the mathematician was beating and starving him. It was the most words he’d spoken in a long, long time. From what he’d learned from his books, he weaved a story that had more truths than lies and showed them all the old signs of beatings from the orphanage as proof. The combination of that with his wiry body was enough to convince the cops to send him back to the orphanage. He never saw the mathematician again.

He bought a new music player with the allowance money, an updated version of the same model he had before. He downloaded all of the music he’d gotten from the internet again, but the musician’s tracks weren’t something he could get back. He’d never published them, and probably never would. That made him a little sad, but he didn’t like feeling sad, so he stopped thinking about it.

Over time, he realized he didn’t like feeling much of anything other people had to offer anymore, so he stopped thinking about them altogether. All he needed was his music and his books. They weren’t really his books because they belonged to the bookstore or the orphanage’s library, but he liked to think of them as his, because no one else read them anyway. He started rejecting the people who came to take him away, because he didn’t want to leave his books, and he studied more than he used to, because he didn’t want anyone to break his music player again. He hadn’t wanted anything in quite some time, but then again, these were him not wanting something, so it was different.

And so, time passed, and the boy got older. Until one day, the orphanage said they were sending him away, not to a new person, but to another place that would house him. They said he wouldn’t be coming back, that he was the new place’s responsibility now. As he packed his backpack for the last time, he finally understood that even places for outcasts could have outcasts. He didn’t take any of his books, because they were never his, but the music player kept him from thinking about all the stories he was leaving behind.

He’d read the name of the city on the slip of paper his new address was written on, but it took him until he left the train to realize he was sent back home. Except home wasn’t there anymore, so it didn’t matter. He’d arrived during the quiet hour, so he had to walk past the coffins to get to the new place he was staying at. But as he stepped inside to find the first awake person during the hour other than himself, and as she pulled a gun on him with terror on her face, he realized that maybe, just maybe, things would be different here.

Once upon a time, there was a boy. He wasn’t so little anymore, and he’d learned that he wasn’t as average as he thought he was, either. So, really, was he even there at all if there were no words left to describe him?

Once upon a time…

“... -koto-chan! Hey, y’hear me? You’ve been on that first page for a whole hour! I don’t think ‘once upon a time’ is something to trip you up after all the stuff I’ve seen you read!”

Snapping back to reality, Makoto blinked away the haze in his eyes, and shut the book in his hands; if he was that out of it, he wasn’t going to get any reading done today. And besides, he didn’t need to pretend to read with Bunkichi and Mitsuko. They were adjusted to his behavior by now, much like the other bookstore he’d spent most of his childhood at. Maybe it was a literature thing. Then again, despite all the reading he’d done, Makoto sure didn’t feel like he was an understanding person, so who knew.

“Just lost in thought, Bunkichi-san. I don’t think I read a single word past that.”

“Figures,” the old man chuckled. “You’re kinda too old for fairy tales anyway, aren’t you? Kids your age start thinking they’re too unrealistic.”

Makoto turned the book to its cover; he hadn’t even noticed he’d picked out Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. “Happily ever afters are unrealistic, though, aren’t they?”

“Sure as heck not! Look at me and my lovely wife! Aren’t we a real-life example of that, Mitsuko?”

The woman scoffed in response. “Come on, Mitsuko, don’t leave me hanging! We can’t fuel the boy’s angst, can we?” She laughed again, and resumed her dusting of the shelves.

“Women. Am I right, Makoto-chan?”

“That’s misogynistic, Bunkichi-san.”

“It would be, if I meant they’re lesser.”

“That’s misandrist, Bunkichi-san.”

“And you are a disrespectful young man!” he said, with no real heat. “What happened to that Aigis-chan of yours teaching you manners, huh?”

Aigis...

Makoto sighed deeply, melting into the chair.

“Ohhh, I know that sound. The ache of a lovesick heart. How many of those did I let out, Mitsuko?”

“I wouldn’t know, dear. You probably had those in front of your male friends, not me.”

“Come on, Mitsuko! Don’t tell me I never sighed wistfully in front of you because of how in love I was!”

“Stop getting distracted, Bunkichi. The boy’s going through his first love right now; you’re about fifty years too late to get upset over yours.”

“Fifty-seven years and six months, I’ll have you know...” the old man said under his breath, before focusing on Makoto again. “So, Makoto-chan. Finally realized you’re head over heels, did you?”

He knew? Well, that figured. “Unfortunately.”

“And what’s so unfortunate about being in love, huh?”

Well, everything, but he couldn’t tell Bunkichi that. He couldn’t exactly tell the old man that Aigis had only just learned how to live her own life, and butting in on that would be taking advantage of her newly blossoming feelings. He couldn’t say that the mere act of confessing to Aigis would be textbook manipulation, because of how unaware she was of social norms and human behavior.

But there was one reason he could speak aloud. “The fact that I know it’s never going anywhere.”

Bunkichi frowned. “Why? Did she already turn you down?”

“She doesn’t know. I haven’t told her.”

“Then why wouldn’t it go anywhere?”

“Because I’m never going to tell her.”

“Well, if that’s your attitude, then yeah, it really is never going anywhere,” the old man chuckled, putting his pipe to his mouth to take a deep inhale.

“What good reason is there for me to tell her?”

“The possibility of her feeling the same way, maybe. That seems like a decent reason to me. Right, Mitsuko?” The old woman let out a long-suffering yet fond sigh, but didn’t say anything.

“It can go three ways. Either she’ll say yes because she feels obligated to, or she’ll say yes because she actually feels the same way, or she says no. I don’t want to hear any of that.” She’s already said she doesn’t care about me before, after all. I don’t need to hear her reject me for it to sink in when I already know how she really feels.

“Well, I’ve only met her once and I’m just some doddering old man, so my opinion doesn’t mean much, but to me, Aigis-chan didn’t seem like a person who’d do something just to please someone else. She’s a headstrong girl.”

“I’ll have to agree,” Mitsuko added. “She insisted on paying for her book with such energy, bless her soul.”

“She has... hangups about hurting other people. She might think I’ll get hurt if she says no.”

“Won’t putting you in a relationship she has no passion for hurt you more?” Bunkichi pointed out. “If she doesn’t feel the same way and wants to minimize hurting your feelings, saying no would be her go-to option.”

Makoto grimaced. They had a point. Aigis would definitely come to a conclusion like that, with how she thought everything over meticulously.

“What was that other problem you had?” the old man pondered. “Her saying yes because she actually feels the same way?”

“Yeah.”

“Why’s that a problem? Isn’t that the whole idea behind a relationship?”

Because it isn’t even a possibility. No one cares about me. Makoto couldn’t say that out loud, though, so he sighed and didn’t reply. He didn’t want to hear Bunkichi and Mitsuko lie to him just like everybody else. He thought Yukari was different from everyone else he’d met. He thought the rest of SEES could actually bring themselves to care about someone like Aigis. After all, SEES was all Aigis had in the entire world. But then Yukari had said what she’d said and everyone had forgiven her for it, so even that had been a lie.

“For what it’s worth, Makoto-chan, I think you and Aigis-chan would be really good for one another,” Mitsuko said kindly.

“She’s way too good for someone like me,” he replied, because it was true. “She deserves better.”

“But the scenario we’re talking about now is if she actually wants you, Makoto-chan,” the old man pointed out. “If she wants you, who are you to say no? After all, if she’s so much better than you, surely she knows better than you too, right?”

“If she actually loves me back, there’s definitely something wrong with her.”

“That’s rude, Makoto-chan. Are you saying we’re crazy?”

“Wh- huh?”

With a mischievous glint in his eyes that made him look far younger, Bunkichi leaned in close to Makoto. “If you’re saying she’d be kooky for loving you, then we gotta be crazy as a coot.”

“But you are, dear.”

“Mitsuko! Of all the times to interject—”

He didn’t register the rest of the bickering.

They... loved him?

That... No. That couldn’t be right. That had to be another lie. No one was supposed to—

Wait. That was the whole thing, wasn’t it?

No one was supposed to love him. It wouldn’t stop them from feeling that way, but they weren’t supposed to. After all, it wasn’t like he could control how other people felt, but being loved didn’t make him any more deserving of it.

“Well, it’s your mistake,” he interjected, and the couple immediately ceased their banter.

“It’s her mistake too, if she feels that way,” he went on, when they didn’t say anything. “It’s not how it’s supposed to be.”

“And who said that’s a rule, Makoto-chan?” the old man asked in a low tone.

“Th-they said...” He cleared his throat. When had he gotten phlegm in his throat? “They said no one would care more than they did. And then they... they left. They didn’t care. So... so no one else can...”

He was shaking. Something wet slicked down his cheek.

Makoto took a deep breath, and steadied his voice. “If they don’t care, no one does.”

The bookstore fell silent, after that.

“Well, Bunkichi, I suppose you need to get back into your delinquent phase, then.”

“Wh-what?” Makoto blurted without meaning to.

“Oh, he’s never cared for silly things like rules,” the old woman went on. “We met in a protest, you know. Against the Kirijo Group’s awful policies back in the day. I overheard him planning to vandalize one of their labs with his friends, so I marched straight ahead and said that the Kirijo Group was going too far, but if they were going to do something like that, I’d rat them out to the cops. Said that right to their faces, I did. And Bunkichi, he was far more threatening back then, with his leather jacket and wild hairdo, he came up to me and said, ‘You don’t have the balls, missy’.”

“A-and what did you do?” Makoto asked, too shocked to remember the lump in his throat anymore.

“Why, I kicked him in the balls, what else is a self-respecting girl supposed to do?”

Makoto burst out laughing. It started small and subdued, but it didn’t take long before he was shedding tears for a far more different reason than a few moments ago.

“Oh, sure, you laugh now, but had she kicked a little harder, we wouldn’t have had a son, now would we?” Bunkichi grumbled as Makoto wiped away his tears.

“But we did, and that’s all that matters now,” the old woman said with a tone of finality. “Point is, Makoto-chan, if someone loves you, they won’t care about rules someone else put in place. If they love you, and you love them, no one else’s opinion matters.”

The blue-haired boy took in a deep, shaky breath. “I...” He lowered his head. He didn’t know what to say.

“If you don’t believe it, just ask her!” Bunkichi said in a jovial tone. “Not even a confession, just ask if she cares about you! Or any of your other friends, for that matter. You already know we do, right?”

Makoto didn’t say anything. It still didn’t feel real.

“Come on, Makoto-chan. Would we lie to you?”

“...I don’t know. Everyone lies.”

“Oh, that old rhetoric,” the old man scoffed. “Yes, yes, but what would we gain from saying we love you?” He began counting on his hands. “You don’t buy our books. You take up space in our store. You take aaaaall our melon bread. Why would we let you do all of that, huh? You’re not even our kid!”

“Pity. You feel bad for me.”

“We might. But how is that relevant? Is being pitied really so bad?”

Makoto looked up angrily. “I’m not some charity case. I don’t want you to pretend you care just because I’m that pathetic.”

“Well, if you really were pathetic, why would anyone pretend to care anyway? Do you have some, I don’t know, special privilege card to receive pity despite how you don’t deserve anyone’s love? It can’t go both ways. You either deserve to be cared about, or you don’t. Simple as that.”

“You think you’re the only one who thinks they’re worthless and better off dead? Like it’s some kind of privilege only robots get and humans don’t feel that way?”

Makoto shook his head clear. He wasn’t going to think of Yukari right now. That would only piss him off more. “That’s the thing. I don’t want the pity.”

“But you want the love, don’t you?”

The boy ‘tsk’d, but didn’t reply.

Bunkichi waved his arm triumphantly. “Like I said. If people are pitying you, that means in some way, they care. Can’t get around that. And if there are people who care, there are definitely people who love you, too.”

Makoto looked away, to the door. It had gotten dark outside. “I have to go. It’s getting late.”

Mitsuko sighed. “Okay, Makoto-chan. Just... think about what we said, okay?”

He got up from his seat. “I might. Bye.” But as he walked to the door to leave, Bunkichi’s voice interrupted him.

“Hold on, Makoto-chan. Can’t leave without this.”

Makoto turned. Bunkichi was holding out another packet of melon bread.

The boy took the packet wordlessly, because he never turned down gifts, and tossed it in his bag. Then, he left the store, and began his walk back home.

As he listened to Deep Breath Deep Breath all the way to the dorm, he tried his best to not think about anything the old couple had said. But for the first time, the music failed to drown out his thoughts, because the simple fact that he could listen to it reminded him of so, so many other things.

He was supposed to be better at forgetting. Then again, nothing was the way it was supposed to be anymore. He wasn’t sure if there ever was a ‘supposed to be’ at all, and that scared him most of all.

-------------------------

“Ah, welcome to the Velvet Room, Aigis-san,” Igor warmly greeted, as he always did.

As Aigis took her seat, she responded to Elizabeth’s face-splitting grin and enthusiastic waves with a smile of her own, and replied, “Thank you, Igor-sama. Is that a harpsichord I hear today?”

The old man’s voice had the rising intonation of surprise, which, of course, his face did not reflect. “Why, yes, yes it is, though that has not been part of the melody in quite some time now. I’m surprised by how fast your musical ear is developing, and more surprised by the honorific...”

“I simply can’t continue referring to you that disrespectfully, Igor-sama, despite your request. My apologies.” In truth, that was not the only reason; this was also an attempt to phase out her social courtesy module by choosing how to refer to people on her own. Fuuka’s suggestion hadn’t left her mind, and even if she would resume not using honorifics for Igor if he so chose, rejecting both the module and someone’s prior request that she had already accepted was an important step to her.

“It’s surely less respectful than ‘master’, is it not?” Elizabeth provided.

“If anything, you need to respect me more, Elizabeth,” Igor said with a sigh. “How you refer to me has nothing to do with that.”

“But I have never been anything but respectful to you, master! I’m hurt.”

“Have you, now? Was it not you, saying that Aigis-san was not visiting us due to being discomforted by my appearance?”

“Well, it isn’t my fault that your nose is so very long, master,” Elizabeth said matter-of-factly. Aigis suppressed a laugh. The attendant went on, “It also isn’t my fault that your eyes bulge out of your face so terribly, or that your back is so hunched, or—” Aigis couldn’t keep this snort in her vocalizer, and it burst out audibly. Elizabeth stopped her verbal assault with a satisfied grin.

Igor sighed once more, and for the first time Aigis had ever observed, closed his eyes in exasperation. “Yes, Elizabeth, I look odd. I am well aware of that. Can we please attend to our guest now?”

After registering her Personas’ more evolved state to the compendium, Aigis allowed Igor access to all the Personas in her stock, and began to pick and choose which ones to fuse away. She supposed she could let go of Baphomet now, as it had two elemental weaknesses instead of one, and Eligor’s spells had become less effective recently. “These two, if you will, Igor-sama.”

“Hmm, very well. The Fusion will result in Anubis, Aigis-san. A Persona of the Judgement Arcana, for which you have no established link yet. You’re more than capable of handling it by now, but it will not receive any additional power from this unison. Do you still wish to go through with it?”

The blonde frowned. “No additional strength? I was under the impression that I already had a bond for that Arcana.”

“You do not, Aigis-san, this I know for certain.”

“Is Aeon not a replacement for the Judgement card in most decks?”

“Not in yours, Aigis-san.” She felt as if Igor’s grin widened, but it was impossible to tell. “The Aeon Arcana has its own Personas with their own unique capabilities, you see. The ones belonging to the Judgement Arcana are a different breed, and there’s no overlap between the two. If you were assuming Aeon was filling in its role in your life, I’ll have to assure you that it’s most certainly not the case.”

That was... surprising, to say the least. “So... I have an extra Arcana?”

“Indeed you do. Keep a close eye on it, Aigis-san.” I... most certainly will. This complicates matters even further... I can’t afford to make any mistakes.

And on that note, Aigis decided against fusing Anubis, and the rest of the Fusions went by without incident. As she left the room, however, Elizabeth did not bid her farewell like her master, but instead followed her outside.

“Oh, is there something you need, Elizabeth?”

“W-well...” A slight flush came over the woman’s face. “Do you... have free time today, Aigis? You told me to, um, inconvenience you when I saw fit.”

Aigis’s eyebrows rose in surprise, and her lips rose with joy. “Of course. Anything you need, I can procure.”

“Ah, this is not a... request for items. Do you recall how I asked you to escort me on tours of the city before?”

“Ahh, I see now. Of course, Elizabeth. I have more than ample free time today. Though, will you not need to speak with Igor-sama about this?”

Elizabeth scoffed. “Oh, I’m sure master would prefer to not have me around at the moment. He has previously agreed with my request to see more of the outside world alongside you, so I’m sure we don’t need to go back inside and ask again.”

“I... comprehend...”

“Marvelous!” the woman said in a sing-song tone. “Despite how the Velvet Room door is located in this mall, I have long since desired to see it in full for myself, as I have never moved past this alleyway. Is exploring this location agreeable with you?”

“Hmm... I’m afraid not every location in the mall is open at this hour. It might prove an incomplete experience for you.”

“What?!” Elizabeth exclaimed, scandalized. “How could this be? I was under the assumption that in the modern age of human convenience, every location was available at any hour!”

“...Unfortunately, no one visits nightclubs during the day, Elizabeth. Doing so is purely a nighttime activity, as the name suggests. We could wait until nightfall if you wish so, however. As I said before, I have more than enough free time today.”

“No, no, leaving the room at night would require further negotiations with master. He only agreed to this as long as I would return before sundown. I will, of course, get him to change his mind, but as for right now... perhaps we should visit a different location. Do you have anywhere in mind yourself, Aigis?” She looked at the android expectantly.

“Well...”

It was not long before the duo found themselves at the Iwatodai train station, aiming to explore the strip mall. It was quite lucky that every store in this mall was open during the day, and thus Elizabeth wouldn’t miss a thing. She had contained herself reasonably well so far; Aigis had noticed the attendant’s instant fascination with the fountains of Paulownia Mall, but she had quickly composed herself and loudly proclaimed that she would return to conquer their ‘magical secrets’ at a later date before walking away with her head held up high.

She did not show the same self-restraint in the train station.

“Elizabeth... that isn’t the intended way to use an escalator...”

“What? Blasphemy!” she said, slightly out of breath. Aigis supposed continuously attempting to move up an escalator that was going down would exhaust even an otherworldly being such as Elizabeth. “These are clearly obstacles aiming to stop the unworthy from accessing the next floor! It is only natural, wouldn’t you say? Does Tartarus not function the same way?” She continued running, but only stayed in place due to her apparent inability to move faster than the escalator’s own speed threshold. In truth, Aigis expected more from a woman beyond the boundaries of this world, but then again, what did she know?

At that point, a voice rang out from the station’s intercoms. “To all customers: For your own safety, and the safety of others, please do not move in the opposite direction of the escalators. Thank you.”

Elizabeth turned to a woman who was using the escalator to the side to move up. “That voice was... talking to you... you know!” she struggled to say in between her exhausted pants. “You should listen!”

“Oh dear...” Aigis muttered. “Surely I was never this clueless, was I...?” Still, she couldn’t bring herself to ruin the attendant’s fun, so she stood there and patiently waited for her to tire herself out.

She did not tire out, and it didn’t take long for station security to arrive.

“Hey, miss! Get down from the escalator, willya?” one of the officers yelled out.

Immediately, Elizabeth stopped her mad sprint and allowed the escalator to slowly bring her to the ground floor, before turning to the officers and giving them a curtsey that was as extravagant as the ones she performed for Aigis’s sake, if not more so. “Ah, hello, honored agents of upkeeping the peace! Were you speaking to me?”

“Yeah, we’re talkin’ to you!” the second security guard barked. “Are ya crazy or somethin’? You could break yer neck on that thing!”

“Ah... The people conquering this staircase on a daily basis must be quite courageous, to face this high-risk challenge with no doubt in their hearts.”

This cannot possibly lead to anything good if I let it fester. “Excuse me, officers,” Aigis said from behind the men, who turned to face her. “I sincerely apologize for my...” Her what? Jin’s old lie it was. “...my sister’s unruly behavior. We will be off now, and I’ll make sure she won’t repeat it again.”

The officer who’d spoken first faced Elizabeth. “You know, you’re the elder sister here,” he chastised. “You’re supposed to be her role model, not the other way around.” He turned back to Aigis. “We’ll excuse it this time, little lady, but tell your sister not to do it again, got it?”

“Of course, officers.”

As the officers quietly observed Aigis escorting Elizabeth away from the station and towards the mall, the attendant was oddly quiet. They stopped a short distance away from their destination.

“Elizabeth, do try to attract less attention, please? Neither of us are ordinary humans, and if we draw too much of the public’s gaze upon ourselves, the chance of us being found out only increases.”

The attendant did not reply. Her eyes were unfocused and dazed.

“...Elizabeth?”

“M-my apologies, Aigis, but did I hear you correctly back there when you referred to me as your sister?”

...Ah. I should have anticipated this.

Being as alone as Aigis used to be, the attendant surely had similar hangups to the android over the concept of familial relationships. Despite seeing the instance of them bickering, she still could not consider Igor a proper father figure to the woman, even if she didn’t fully understand the depths of their relationship. Throwing the term out so casually... Did Elizabeth even want to have a sister, or was she wholly and utterly opposed to the idea of considering someone else family? Had she completely ruined their budding relationship? Would her Arcana reverse now—

A squeal interrupted Aigis’s stream of paranoia, and Elizabeth lunged towards the android to envelop her in a warm hug. “I’m so glad to hear you see me that way, Aigis! I’ve always wanted a sister just like you!”

“You... you have?” Thank goodness I didn’t ruin it all...

“Yes, of course!” she said, as she broke the hug and held Aigis by the shoulders to look into her eyes with a wide smile. “Who wouldn’t want a sister like you? Especially one such as myself, who’s been dealt a cruel hand by fate in that regard already?”

“I... certainly hope me being your sibling is preferable to having none at all...”

“Oh, trust me, my siblings couldn’t hold a candle to you.”

...What?

“Your... siblings? A-are you speaking of Igor-sama? But he’s only one man—”

“Oh! I never told you, did I?” Elizabeth took her hands off of Aigis’s shoulders and moved a step back. “Me and my master are not the only residents of the Velvet Room! Surely you’ve wondered where all the other doors in the room lead to, yes? They lead to the quarters of me and my siblings!”

Aigis blinked. She blinked a second time.

She had not anticipated this.

“You are... not alone? You... have your own quarters, and things to occupy your time with?”

“Of course I do! Did you not wonder where all the items you gave me went? But when it comes to loneliness, oh how I wish I was...” The woman frowned. “I love my siblings greatly, of course, but sometimes not even casting a Megidolaon on Theodore is enough to vent my frustrations. And it’s not as if Margaret won’t retaliate in kind if I do such a thing to her, nor am I allowed to cast one on little Lavenza, no matter how cheeky she gets... Master’s rules are truly exasperating.”

She had greatly misjudged Elizabeth’s situation. Miscalculation did not even begin to cover it.

“Aigis? Are you well?”

She could not let the attendant know of this. If she assumed Aigis had done everything she’d done out of pity for a lonely girl in a melancholy room that had nothing better to do... “Y-yes, I’m fine.”

“You’re a very kind girl, Aigis.”

The android froze.

Elizabeth smiled kindly. “I’m not so clueless as to not realize why you’re so surprised at the prospect of me having siblings, you know. I did not mean to lead you to the belief that I suffer from solitude, but it shows how much you care when your immediate reaction to seeing a lonely person is to provide them with as much companionship as you can. Most humans, I’ve heard, would turn a blind eye instead.”

“I...”

“Now, shall we be off, sister? We’re burning daylight,” she said brightly.

“...Yes, sister,” Aigis replied, feeling an involuntary smile forming on her lips as she took Elizabeth’s hand and set off to explore the strip mall.

And as they ventured inside every restaurant in the strip mall and sampled all the meals, as they tried out every combination of sodas the fountain at the net café could provide, as Elizabeth discerned the secret ingredient of the takoyaki sold at the stand and yet did not share its true nature with the android, Aigis wondered to herself if this was how it truly felt to have siblings. At this point, she could not care less about subtlety or not standing out; who gave a damn about the opinions of strangers anyway?

Finally, they found themselves at the last store they hadn’t visited yet; the candy shop known as Azuki Arai, with its adorable mascot standing outside, bobbing its head around and staring at a location far into the horizon.

“I’ve long since waited to visit a candy store myself!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “Master’s supply is sorely lacking in variety.”

“How does he procure the candy from inside the Velvet Room?”

“Don’t ask questions you don’t wish to know the answer to, dear sister!” Without further elaboration, Elizabeth then threw the door open and dashed inside the shop, much like a child. Aigis followed suit, ready to take in the new sight alongside her; she hadn’t been to a candy store before either.

The variety of sweet treats present at the shop was staggering, to say the least.

“What is this? A... popping lily? It certainly doesn’t look like one.”

“It’s a lollipop, sister.” Calling Elizabeth that still felt strange, but she had to get used to the word faster, and using it more was the only way to do so. “I believe it’s peeled of its plastic covering and then licked?”

“Marvelous... I simply must try them all.” Elizabeth picked out every single lollipop on display, and put them inside a shopping bag she’d manifested from seemingly thin air. Aigis did not object, as she had seen the attendant’s bottomless wallet on full display during their prior excursions at the mall and knew she could afford them. Her own sights, however, were caught by a series of colorful plastic eggs on the other side of the store.

“What could this be...?” she wondered aloud.

“A ‘Kindle Egg’? Should it be set on fire to bring out its true taste?” Elizabeth pondered.

“Hmm... wait, no, it seems to simply be chocolate in the shape of an egg. But it also has toys inside...?”

“Ten different toys?!” Elizabeth shouted. “Unbelievable! And they can only be acquired by mere chance...”

“The safest possible situation for acquiring all the toys is to buy ten times ten eggs.”

“Ten times ten per person, sister. There is me, you, Theodore, and Margaret.”

“Not Lavenza?”

“If she truly wants her own Kindle Eggs, she should find her own charitable guest to take her outside,” the attendant huffed, turning up her nose.

Aigis chuckled. “You can give my share to Lavenza, Elizabeth.”

“That is simply too kind of you, Aigis, I’ll have to object—”

A thickly accented voice interrupted the conversation. French, if Aigis had to guess. “Ah, excuse moi? Are you two... ah, familiar with the desserts of Nihon?”

The two turned towards the voice. The person speaking with them was a boy with very pale skin and a great resemblance to Aigis herself; blond hair and blue eyes were indeed not common in Japan, and seeing another person with physical traits similar to hers was surprising to Aigis.

Seeing Aigis’s face, the boy gasped. “Oh! Those unique features... Are you the transfer student I’ve heard so much about? Aigis-dono, was it?”

... ‘-dono’? “Yes, I am Aigis. Is it safe to assume that you attend Gekkoukan as well?”

His face lit up. “Yes! Oh, it is such an honor to meet you! I am here from France as an exchange student. My name is André Laurent Jean Geraux, but you can call me ‘Bebe’!”

“Nice to meet you as well, Bebe-san,” the android replied with a smile.

“I am so delighted to make your acquaintance! Yoroshiku!” the boy excitedly said, his pronunciation a tad off, but his attempt admirable. What has brought him so far from home? “Um, if it is not too much trouble,” he went on sheepishly, “could you, ah, coach me on what the good desserts are? I would like to send souvenirs back home, but despite my research, I am still undecided on what could be the best sample of Japan’s magnificent culture...”

“Is this what they call a ‘weeaboo’, I wonder...” Elizabeth muttered under her breath. Aigis was inclined to agree. Still, the boy’s excitement was infectious, and his levels of energy were comparable to Elizabeth’s own. Soon enough, the trio entered a comfortable rhythm of analyzing everything the store had to offer, and Bebe’s own expertise in non-Japanese sweets prevented a crucial mistake in regards to percentage numbers on chocolate bars; apparently, it did in fact mark the purity of the chocolate, but the higher the percentage, the more bitter the taste. Who knew?

“How could they not have four hundred Kindle Eggs?” Elizabeth bemoaned once the group left Azuki Arai. “We had to settle for a mere fifty! This is most unacceptable... I don’t wish to share my toys with Theodore...”

“A-ahaha... your friend is quite the jokester, yes, Aigis-dono?” Bebe said awkwardly.

“I assure you, Bebe-san, my sister could not be more serious at the moment.” She turned to Elizabeth. “I will continuously visit the store, Elizabeth. Don’t you worry, we will have four hundred Eggs in no time at all.”

“Truly I could not ask for a more thoughtful sister in this whole wide world!”

Aigis then turned to her new acquaintance. “I hope your family will enjoy what we managed to pick out for them, Bebe-san. Please send them our regards!”

“Of course! Of course!” He nodded vigorously, before appraising Elizabeth’s outfit from top to bottom. “By the way, Elizabeth-dono, I have never seen an outfit as unique and eye-catching as yours. Is it an obscure fashion of Japan? I would very much like to know more!” Elizabeth began denying any such case and proclaiming that her fashion sense was ‘very much her own, thank you very much’, but the android was focused on something else entirely.

The word ‘fashion’ finally made it click for Aigis; a French transfer student with great interest in Japanese clothing styles had to be why the note on the fashion club’s door was in French. “Bebe-san, are you the elusive president of the fashion club?”

The boy’s eyes went wide. “Oh, are you interested in joining? C’est magnifique! In truth, I do manage the club, but I am also the only member...”

“It might have something to do with how very few people can read the notes of recruitment you’ve posted on the door, Bebe-san...”

“But I was under the impression that French was taught at Gekkoukan... A pity...”

It is, but not many people care... “I have been looking to join your club since I transferred here. This is truly a most fortuitous encounter, I have to say.”

“Indeed, indeed! I will most definitely await your arrival, Aigis-dono! It would be an incredible honor to host you at my humble club!”

And as the boy bid them both ‘au revoir and sayonara’, Elizabeth discreetly informed Aigis of the formation of her Temperance Arcana, and the blonde’s day officially reached its peak.

Having a sister was most marvelous, indeed.

Chapter Text

I bet this is how Makoto used to be like, thought Yukari as she pushed her face into the pillow.

The lights in her room were off, but the stereo system wasn’t. She was laying down on her bed in full school uniform listening to the somber tune playing from the speakers, and had no company but herself and her thoughts. Just what she deserved, she reckoned.

Sure is fitting, for his listlessness to go to me. He doesn’t deserve to be so lifeless when he cares so much. It should be me who’s like this. I’m the one always hurting everyone else.

She rolled to lay on the side. Maybe I really should just go. Yamagishi can heal others; way better than I can, too. And Aigis can just whip out a wind user Persona from somewhere and cover everything I’m doing. It’s not like I’m a big element in keeping the team together either. If anything, I’m the only one causing friction.

Everything I do is just out of selfishness anyway. I’m the only one who’s not here to save lives or help people. Even Junpei’s got the superhero thing going for him, but me? I just want to know what happened to my dad. Some motivation that is.

Her dad. She’d gotten a letter from him this spring, which shocked her to the core, since he’d been dead for ten years by then. It was the entire reason she was here in the first place. Transferring to Gekkoukan hadn’t revealed anything about how he could’ve died, and she’d already wasted an entire year snooping around fruitlessly. But the day she got the letter...

It was the same day she first experienced the Dark Hour.

Yukari reached under her pillow and pulled out Eiichiro Takeba’s letter. It hadn’t been kept anywhere else since she was given her room in the dorms. It was too dark to read the letter, but Yukari knew its every word by heart.

“To my family, ten years into the future. Tomorrow, I’ll bring this letter to the opening ceremony for the Moonlight Bridge. It will be stored in a time capsule, and sent to you in ten years’ time.

Yukari... You may be small now, but in ten years, you’ll be sixteen. You’ll be in high school. I know you’ve been sad because I have to work so late, but you always manage to greet me with a smile. I’m really proud of myself. Kirijo-san appointed me Head Researcher. I’ll be starting on a big project soon. It feels good to receive so much recognition for my work. But I swear to you, nothing is more important to me than you and your mother.

Yukari... I wonder. Are you enjoying life? Do you have high hopes for the future? Do you still look towards tomorrow with excitement and wonder, like you do now? No matter what happens in the next ten years, I hope you’re happy. And I hope this letter brings a smile to both you and your mother’s faces.

Eiichiro Takeba. March 6th, 2000.”

It was funny, thinking about how her dad expect this letter to make her mother smile; Yukari hadn’t even told her about the letter at all. She’d even tossed out the pages that were strictly targeted to the woman. She didn’t deserve to know, not anymore. But then again, did Yukari? It wasn’t like she was a better person than her mother. She’d gone far past being able to pretend she was.

Enjoying life, huh, dad? Some life I have. If you cared so much, how come you up and left? Why am I the one who has to pick up the pieces you left behind?

Would you be looking into my death like this, if I was the one who—

She shook her head clear and sat up. No point thinking about things like that. She had to start doing something with all her dead time before she spiraled down a thought pattern she wanted nothing to do with.

Shutting off the stereo, Yukari left her room, and on a whim, decided to head towards Yamagishi’s room. She probably needed help to unpack, seeing as she’d just moved into the dorm. That could be Yukari’s good deed for the day. Maybe it’d even make up for all the other things she’d done.

Yeah, fat chance. She knocked on the door. “Yamagishi-san, you in there?”

“O-oh, yes, come in,” a small voice replied. She’s way too shy for her own good. She’d probably say yes if a serial killer asked to come in really politely. Still, that was a matter for another time. Yukari opened the door and stepped inside, finding the room’s owner seated behind a laptop and the room fully furnished, with no signs of unpacked boxes anywhere.

She blinked slowly. “...Huh. You already finished settling in? That was fast. I came here to... help you out with that.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Takeba-san,” Yamagishi replied, face a bit crestfallen. “Aigis-chan helped me out already, and there wasn’t much stuff in the first place, so we were... we were done pretty quickly.”  Is... is she feeling bad about the fact that I couldn’t help her? Who even thinks about stuff like that?

“Huh,” Yukari repeated dumbly.

An awkward silence settled over the room, but the brunette broke it before it could fester. “S-so, Aigis-chan, huh? And I’m still Takeba-san? Guess I should’ve been fast enough to help you move in if I wanted to be friends.” Not that I deserve to have friends or anything.

Yamagishi’s face flushed red instantly. “I... Uh...”

“You sure accepted her being a robot fast, didn’t you?” Yukari went on. “That’s good. That’s really good.”

“W-well, she... she is pretty obvious about it,” she replied with a giggle. “She’s also really bad at lying.”

“She tried to lie to you about it? Hah! What did she say?”

“I asked her how she looked the same as she did five years ago, and she said that she had a condition that changed how she aged.”

Yukari laughed, but quickly interrupted herself. “...Five years ago? Where did you meet her five years ago?”

Yamagishi gulped. Loudly. “O-oh, uh... On the street. Randomly. Out of nowhere.” Guess you’re a terrible liar too, huh?

Another awkward silence, but this one was far more uncomfortable than the last, and it was broken by someone else.

“W-well, make yourself at home!” Yamagishi stuttered out. “There’s not much, but...”

That’s something to weasel out of her later, then. Moving towards the bed and sitting down, Yukari said, “It’s not like rooms need to be busy. This is a pretty nice room. All the flowers give it a nice and friendly vibe, kind of like you.” The variety of the flowers on the shelves was indeed impressive, and they all looked fresh too. Yukari wondered if she’d bought them recently or moved them over from her own house. Either way, her green thumb sure looked like something to envy.

A slight flush came over Yamagishi’s face. “O-oh, thank you. You’re pretty friendly too, Takeba-san.”

Yukari snorted. “Me? Friendly? As if.”

“Didn’t you come here to help me unpack? That’s a friendly thing to do.”

“I’m only here to distract myself. Don’t get any ideas on how ‘friendly’ I am.” She didn’t know where the sudden burst of honesty came from, but it was better to let Yamagishi know who she was really dealing with before she actually made friends with Yukari by accident. Better to cut her losses early.

Yamagishi’s eyes widened slightly. “W-well, would an unfriendly person distract themselves by deciding to help someone?”

“Of course they would. Ever heard of manipulation?”

“Would a manipulator tell people they’re manipulating them?”

“It’s a valid tactic. It even works sometimes.” Yukari sighed and flopped down on the bed, pointedly ignoring Yamagishi’s surprised, soft face.

Soon after, a weight descended on the bed, right next to her. “I... I don’t know what’s going on with you, Takeba-san. I don’t even really know you, honestly. But... I think you’re being too harsh on yourself.”

“I’m not being harsh enough, if anything. Like you said, you don’t know me. How would you have a metric on how harsh I should be to myself?”

“I don’t think anyone should be harsh to themselves at all. The outside world already does that for you. If you’re not there for yourself, who will be?”

“That depends on if you deserve to be there at all.”

“Don’t say that!” Yamagishi cried out, pulling at Yukari’s shoulder to make the girl sit up and look at her. “Everyone deserves to be there. Everyone. Please don’t think otherwise, Takeba-san.”

Yukari pursed her lips. That sure sounded like what she’d said to Aigis, back when the android had first come to the dorm. How the mighty have fallen and what have you. Then again, she’d said a lot of other things to Aigis too. Yamagishi’d probably change her tune once she knew. “Sure you’re gonna keep thinking that once I tell you why?”

“Of course,” the teal-haired girl replied with a steady voice. “Of course I would.”

“I practically told Aigis she wasn’t a real person. That she was just pretending to be human, that she should just go back to the lab and stop the charade.”

Yamagishi pondered Yukari’s words for a few moments, then sighed. “You do realize what you’re saying, right?”

“What am I saying?”

“That you don’t think what you said was true.”

“Of course I don’t. How could I?” She’s got more things to live for than I do.

“Have you apologized to her, then?”

“She said I didn’t need to. That I was a ‘very good friend’ for telling her that. That she was grateful I’d even said it.”

“Sounds to me like your words made her realize something. Sounds like a friend helping another friend understand something. Sounds like a case of tough love. Don’t you think so?”

“Tough love isn’t a good thing, Yamagishi-san.”

“Call me Fuuka, please. And I don’t think that’s true, Takeba-san.”

“Yukari,” the brunette replied, grinning despite herself. The grin faded quickly, though. “And... there’s a line. With tough love, I mean. There’s some things you should never, ever say. This was one of them.”

“I don’t understand, Yukari-chan. If Aigis-chan isn’t holding a grudge, why are you beating yourself up over it?”

“Because she’s too kind for her own good. She’s too forgiving. I don’t deserve to be forgiven like that.”

“Who told you that?”

Yukari looked away from Fuuka, looking at her knees and pursing her lips.

“Yukari-chan, who told you that?”

“Someone who was right to say it,” she whispered.

“And who decided that?”

For that, Yukari had no answer.

“If it’s so easy to be the person who’s right, then I’m going to be right this time.” Fuuka shook Yukari’s shoulder again, and with tears pricking at her eyes, the brunette looked up to meet her gaze. “We all make mistakes, Yukari-chan. But we shouldn’t ever forget to be kind to ourselves afterwards. That’s all that matters in the world. Being there for yourself when you need someone to be there for you. If you’re not there for yourself, others won’t get the chance to be there for you, because you won’t be there anymore by the time they get there. Okay?”

Yukari gave the teal-haired girl a shaky, wet smile. “O-okay.”

“You should talk to Aigis-chan too, about this,” Fuuka went on. “Maybe talk to... whoever it was that told you that, too. Talk to both of them.”

“Heh. Definitely not now.”

“Of course not. But if you need me to be there when that happens... I’m right next door.”

“Thanks, Fuuka-chan.”

The silence wasn’t awkward or foreboding this time, and it let Yukari notice the other things in the room. A stereo system, slightly more advanced than hers. A makeup table, with stuff that made you look cute but just a little bit out of fashion. And...

A box of random tech assortments that Yukari couldn’t make heads or tails of. Circuit boards, batteries, and the like. The brunette narrowed her eyes.

“You any good with tech stuff, Fuuka-chan?”

Noticing Yukari’s line of sight, the girl stammered, “O-oh, I... I dabble. I know, I don’t really look like someone who would, right? I don’t even do it that much these—”

“Are you, like, good good at it?”

Fuuka went rigid immediately. Then, in a hesitant tone, she replied, “What for?”

“Something I want to get to the bottom of later.”

“Does it... have anything to do with Aigis-chan?”

“No. It’s... personal. I’ll tell you later.” She had to change the topic. They’d gone through far too many serious things for their first real conversation with one another. Yukari almost felt guilty for dumping all of her problems in Fuuka’s lap, but at least she’d gotten her out of her funk, and she deserved something nice for that. “Anyway, you wanna head out? To a café or something? We’ve had enough serious talk, so we should go have a little fun. What do you say?”

“O-oh! I... I’d be happy to!” She sounded way too happy for a simple hangout offering. Like she’d never actually spent time out on the town with a friend before.

Well, that’s something to bring up after I hang out with her enough times for her to get sick of it and want me to buzz off. She’ll feel guilty about telling me to buzz off, and then I can let her know that she shouldn’t. But for now...

For now, she should get to know what having actual friends feels like.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Yukari asked, and her answer was a bright, bright smile.

Yukari vowed she’d never be the one to dim its light.

-------------------------

“Once more unto the breach, as they say,” Aigis said as the team stepped off the teleporter.

“Oh, you’ve read Henry V, Aigis?” asked Mitsuru.

“Of course not,” she replied brightly. The conversation ended there, and the team ventured inside the sixty-fourth floor of Tartarus.

As they engaged in combat with a few paltry Shadows, Aigis assessed the team’s current status. Fuuka was proving to be as good a navigator as Mitsuru was at combat, which was fortunate, considering she was incapable of fighting in the first place and required backup to be with her at all times. Even then, their newest member was truly a blessing to have on board: her communication range was completely unaffected by the tower’s height, she had retained her ability to immediately identify enemy weaknesses, she had access to strengthening skills in addition to healing, and best of all, she could map out an entire floor instantly every so often, allowing them to move to the stairs immediately upon arrival. Even if her abilities were not available at all times, they’d significantly sped up exploration.

As aforementioned, Mitsuru was exceptional at her craft. The grace with which she dispatched the foes in her path was mesmerizing to observe, and Aigis had saved a few select clips to her permanent data banks. She continued to take enjoyment in the destruction of Shadows, and Mitsuru did so in a way that was incredibly visually pleasing and unlike the performance of anyone else on the team. She was proud to be on the same team as the redhead.

A thunderstrike drew Aigis’s attention to the other end of the battlefield, where Akihiko laughed aloud at the enemy’s helpless, paralyzed state before rushing in to deliver a devastating left hook. His morale had increased significantly since Mitsuru had joined the active roster of combatants. When asked, he’d provided a sense of nostalgia as the reason, and claimed that being alongside Mitsuru helped him fight more efficiently and prevented him from ‘making an ass of himself’. So far, that statement had proven true; he rarely lost focus, and when he did, a quick word from the redhead had the boxer’s head back in the game in an instant. Aigis knew she wouldn’t have such an effect on Akihiko no matter how good of a leader she would shape up to be, and thus wisely allowed their dynamic to remain the same. She also hadn’t tried putting the duo on separate teams ever since this discovery.

She had, however, elected to avoid putting Makoto and Yukari on the same team ever since the last full moon.

The friction between the two was blatant, even if not one member of SEES wished to acknowledge it aloud. The android was aware that Yukari’s statement regarding the nature of Aigis’s sentience was the reason her friends were at odds, but she didn’t know how she could make it right. She’d very clearly stated that she had taken no offense to Yukari’s words and continued to engage in friendly interactions with her, but Makoto seemed to take offense even to that. The mere presence of Yukari had the boy’s face distort into a scowl that was most unbecoming for someone like him, and it got far uglier if Aigis were to speak with Yukari while he was present. He seemed to want Aigis completely disconnected from the brunette. Aigis found that to be an unreasonable request, but couldn’t quite find the right words to breach the topic with.

As Orpheus finished the battle with a decisive pillar of fire, Makoto returned his Evoker to the holster, and wiped the sweat from his brow. “Another one done.”

What an interesting bodily function, sweating. Truly multipurpose; it cooled off the body, could dispose of certain toxins, and made the body aesthetically pleasing to observe. The way a sweat-slicked face glinted in the light, clothes sticking to the body due to dampness... The human body was indeed magnificent.

“Uh, Aigis? You good?”

At Akihiko’s words, Aigis once more engaged in the irritating sensation of a blush, and replied, “Y-yes, I’m well. Let us be off, then. Great performance, everyone.”

To forget her odd chain of reactions, Aigis returned to pondering the team’s combat status as they made it to the sixty-fifth floor. The top of Tartarus seemed no closer than it had on their first day, but ascension had become so easy and effortless that she was almost unsure of why the tower was so tall in the first place. Assuming the structure was alive and wished for them to grow in strength, why was it filled with pointless floors that contributed nothing to that goal? Aigis was aware of the concept of “grinding trash mobs” to gain experience through Junpei’s loud and vivid descriptions of his video games, but she hadn’t felt like doing so in real life was in any way productive. Even the full moon Shadows weren’t particularly conductive to her strategizing or strength; Magician had required planning, but Priestess was disposed of via brute force, and Emperor and Empress fell immediately to Fuuka’s exceptional navigation capabilities, not to mention how defeating them with either raw strength or thoughtful strategizing had been impossible.

If the tower wished to make them stronger for the sake of defeating the full moon Shadows, it was doing a bad job at it, and the beasts didn’t truly demand such a scenario in the first place. At this point, Aigis was all but certain that if they were to decide against visiting Tartarus for all of next month, they would still be able to comfortably defeat the next full moon Shadow.

Her strings of thoughts snapped as they reached the staircase leading to the sixty-sixth floor, and Fuuka spoke up after a long stretch of silence. “Um, everyone? I’m trying to analyze the next floor, but it’s... weird.”

“Weird how, Yamagishi?” Mitsuru replied immediately and with tension in her voice. Had she sensed something too?

“I don’t know, it feels... empty, but not in the way usual floors are after we dispose of all the Shadows. I try to look into the next floor and I feel like I’m just... staring down a well. I don’t even see a basic layout.”

“That’s disconcerting,” Aigis replied. “Do you feel the same thing, Mitsuru-san?”

“Let me see...” The redhead closed her eyes, and her grimace grew deeper the more she concentrated. “Frankly, without my equipment I have a hard time figuring out this floor’s layout in the first place, let alone the next, but... I’ve also been feeling a strange amount of nothing where something should be every time I’ve tried to look at the next floor.”

“‘Well, I’ve often seen a cat without a grin,’” Makoto muttered to himself, “‘but a grin without a cat? It’s the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life.’”

“Should we leave it be for now?” Fuuka asked. “It could be something about tonight that’s making it behave like that.”

“We just got here, though,” Akihiko scoffed. “I’m sure as hell not going back this early. We left those one-floor-at-a-time explorations behind after Aigis joined, and I for one don’t want to go back to that kind of ascension. Not when we have this much momentum going.”

“I agree with Akihiko-san,” the android affirmed. “It could be a common phenomenon from here on out. We can’t afford to halt our exploration for every single odd behavior that Tartarus exhibits, otherwise we’d never get anywhere. Still, does everyone think we should carry on?”

“You already know my answer,” Akihiko crossed his arms.

“It’s your call, leader,” Mitsuru said calmly. “I’ll follow your command.”

“I think we should keep going too,” Makoto stated, drawing a group of raised eyebrows, but nothing was said aloud.

“W-well, if everyone thinks so, then... I’ll do my best too!” the navigator cried out. “I’ll try my best to see through the darkness.”

“Very good. Down the rabbit hole we go, then.” Ascending the stairs, she made sure to continue, “And yes, Mitsuru-san, I’ve read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

The redhead chuckled, and the team began to climb the flight of stairs. Unlike the previous floors they had visited, at the end of this staircase was pitch black darkness, and it seemed to confirm the navigators’ reports of complete unreadability.

Once they stepped into the void that was floor sixty-six, though, Aigis realized that it was not just an inability to map out the environment; her visual receptors became completely unresponsive, despite diagnostics stating that they were still active.

“Is everyone else blinded as well?” she asked aloud, and was relieved to still be able to hear.

“Yeah. Can’t see anything,” replied Makoto’s voice.

“Sorry, I just realized I nodded. Yup, darkness all around,” Akihiko affirmed.

“Blind as well,” Mitsuru echoed. “The darkness has to be supernatural, otherwise we would see the light of Aigis’s eyes.”

That was true, and a cause for worry. “Any change, Fuuka-chan?” Aigis spoke into the comms.

“Well, I can sense you four, but around you? Nothing. The floor isn’t empty anymore because you guys are in it, but I can’t feel out anything other than you all. I can see the next floor, but I can’t route you a way to get there. You’ll have to feel it out in the darkness.”

“If there’s nothing other than us on the floor, does that mean there’s no Shadows either?” Akihiko wondered.

“I... I think so.”

“Then how about we all stick together, and just walk around slowly until we find the staircase? If there’s nothing on the floor, we don’t need to rush it, and we shouldn’t get separated either.”

“That’s a sound idea, Akihiko-san. We should continue back-to-back, so that we don’t lose each other.”

They did so, and despite the situation at hand, Aigis felt secure as Makoto’s warmth rested on her back. She was glad to have a constant sign of his safety, and even more happy that he’d instinctively chosen her instead of Mitsuru or Akihiko.

The darkness was unrelenting and progress was slow. Despite Aigis’s internal mapping capabilities, dead ends were plentiful and backtracking was a significant time loss. Even when they had to battle Shadows along the way, they had never spent so much time on a single floor. The seed of fear began to take root in Aigis’s heart, and that was never a good thing for a leader to experience. She chose active banter to fight it off.

“If this is the tower’s latest method of obstruction,” she all but yelled, “it really is quite pathetic, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yeah, it’s- it’s not even taking us head-on!” Akihiko’s voice was tense. That in and of itself was a sign for worry; even full moon Shadows hadn’t gotten him to lose his cool. “H-how weak can it get, huh?”

“Like some darkness is anything to be scared of,” Makoto said, his voice barely a whisper. “This is nothing. It’s nothing.”

“HEY, TARTARUS!” the boxer yelled all of a sudden. “THIS ALL YOU GOT? PATHETIC! GIVE US A REAL CHALLENGE!”

As if in response to his words, light returned to the floor instantly, and everyone other than Aigis held an arm to their face as their eyes readjusted to the light.

“It- it heard me?” Akihiko blinked rapidly as he lowered his arm.

“It could be a mere coincidence.” Mitsuru’s tone was not nearly as convincing at it usually was.

The comms crackled to life. “Guys? What happened? I can see the entire floor now, and the stairs are just a few hallways away. Was there a switch?”

“It’s hard to describe it as a—”

At that point, a new sound dominated itself over every possible source of noise and speech.

The rattling sound of chains and shackles.

“What is that,” Makoto said flatly.

Another rattle, louder than the last.

“Yamagishi?” Mitsuru’s face was chalk white.

The voice that answered her was not loud enough to dim the rapidly approaching metallic clangs.

“I... I sense death.”

Before anyone could ask for elaboration, the entity turned the corner, and it was every bit the manifestation of death Fuuka said it was. Chains constricted its entire body, as if trying to suppress its intent to kill, yet failing miserably. Its garb was bloodstained, yet the creature did not look as if it was even capable of shedding blood. A cloth sack covered its head, stained red like the rest of its clothing, but one eye peeked out from underneath, and it looked ravenous. Ravenous for mayhem, murder, carnage and bloodshed.

Numb with fear, Aigis noticed that the monster (for what else could it be if not a monster?) had two long-barreled revolvers, one at the end of each upper limb. She thought, Oh, that’s quite like me, with how I also have guns for hands. Then, just as dully as before, she wondered why she’d thought the guns were attached to the creature’s hands, why she didn’t assume it was merely holding them.

The beast stared her in the eyes, and from the back of her head, Aigis heard a voice.

Pathetic pretender.

It didn’t sound like her. It didn’t sound like her processors’ old demands for decommissioning. It didn’t sound like Pharos, either.

But it did sound like Thanatos’s growls, from all the way back in April.

The monster held one of its pistols up, and began to take aim.

“RUN!” yelled out someone, and who was Aigis to refuse such a succinct, perfect, valid order?

Scrambling away from the creature, Aigis was quick to note how the spot she was standing in previously went up in white-hot flames. Flames burning stronger than anything she’d ever seen a Persona or a Shadow produce. She thought it impressive. Perfect aim and immense power? Something to aspire to for sure.

The hallways ran endlessly and so did she, which was odd to Aigis; hadn’t Fuuka said they were just at the stairs? She wondered if it was another new tactic of Tartarus, to mold and shape the floor around them, keeping them trapped for good. But, of course, it wouldn’t be forever; their chances of survival against the monster were less than zero. Aigis almost wanted to laugh at that; what even is a less than zero chance of survival? You either die or you don’t.

So this is fear to the point of mania! How intriguing. I should tell Elizabeth next time we meet. It’s a human sensation she’d greatly enjoy. After all, she’s insane too!

A hysterical giggle escaped her vocalizer, and she had to stop thinking. She had to stop thinking. She had to stop thinking. She. Had. To. Stop. Thinking.

The next time Aigis resumed thinking, she found herself at the next floor. The rest of the team was present too, no thanks to her. Still, it was fortunate. Survival was always fortunate.

“W-what was that thing?” Akihiko said, out of breath. He must’ve ran with quite the effort, considering he was the most in-shape member of SEES.

“It’s like Fuuka said,” Makoto answered, in between intakes of breath. “It was death.”

“Why didn’t it follow us up?” Mitsuru asked, and Aigis spotted the glimmer of unshed tears in her eyes. “It should be capable of climbing stairs, right? Why isn’t it following us? Where is it? Could it... could it teleport here? We need to be on the lookout, we need to be—we have to—”

Aigis stepped towards the redhead, and without warning, enveloped her in a hug. She began to shiver in her embrace, and if the android felt a slight dampness on her body, she spoke nothing of it. Into the comms, Aigis asked, “Is it gone, Fuuka-chan?”

It took a moment for Fuuka to respond, and in that moment, Aigis feared the worst. Thankfully, it was merely a moment, and nothing more.

“It’s... it’s gone. I don’t sense it anymore.” Her voice was oddly calm. Aigis didn’t expect such resilience from Fuuka; as brave as she was, she couldn’t have possibly been unaffected by sensing literal death. Then, she realized that it was not resilience at all.

She knew for certain that Fuuka’s face was wet with tears at this exact moment, and that if they returned to the lobby, they would find her curled up in a ball, speechless and unable to stand on her feet.

She couldn’t allow that.

“This confirms my theory, if nothing else.”

The statement did its job, shocking everyone enough to focus their attention on Aigis. She continued, “That creature has to represent the Death Arcana. It can’t be anything but. It likely isn’t a full moon Shadow, considering it’s not a full moon tonight, but even if it is, it’s the thirteenth. We don’t need to concern ourselves with it for now. If we see it, we avoid it, and we are not to spend a lengthy amount of time on a floor from now on; I suspect that’s the reason it ambushed us, and that it had nothing to do with Akihiko-san’s challenge.”

“That- that makes sense,” Makoto exhaled.

“Of course it does. I am capable of impeccable logical connections. Now, having gained valuable intel, I believe we should head back to the dorm. Does anyone object?”

No one did, so Aigis let go of Mitsuru, and began walking ahead of everyone. The team quickly followed.

They found the teleporter with Fuuka’s guidance. Before they stepped through it, Akihiko asked Aigis a question.

“Aigis, aren’t you... aren’t you afraid? Of that thing?”

And she replied,

“Of course I am, Akihiko-san. What kind of question is that?”

The conversation ended there. No one said anything else on their way back home.

-------------------------

The school day had been utterly mind-numbing. It was a stark contrast to the sheer tension of last night’s encounter with the grim reaper itself. Makoto was almost surprised to have slept away all of his classes yet again when he thought about it, alone in the confines of his room.

He couldn’t say he was unaffected by the monster he’d seen. It had certainly been tense in the moment, to see such a horrifying, bloodthirsty beast in front of you and feel helpless and small. Before, Makoto thought “sensing someone’s intent to kill” was hyperbole used for dramatic effect. Seeing a glint in the eyes that’s just too sharp, holding a kitchen knife with just a bit too much intent, those are merely signs you can observe, just like everything else.

But he’d felt the monster’s animal desire to end their lives in every cell of his body before even seeing it.

Still, in comparison, the rest of the team was much worse off than he was. Fuuka hadn’t even been there in person, but she was rattled enough that Mitsuru-san allowed her to rest at home and skip school for the day. It was either the combination of sensing the creature through the team plus detecting it on her own that had rendered her bedridden, or it was just how terrified she was of it. He would’ve argued for her to be taken off the team entirely for her own safety, but he doubted Fuuka would appreciate having her agency taken away like that. Shy as she was, she still clearly preferred to be at the dorms rather than at home, and if she had no valid reason to stay at the dorms, she would likely feel horrible about it every waking moment. Makoto was well aware of how that would feel.

And speaking of Mitsuru-san... Makoto never thought he’d see her cry. Or rather, cry in the presence of other people. It was definitely not a sign of her being comfortable around everyone either. And yet it didn’t seem to be her death she was worried about; he’d seen the aftermath of her battle against the Emperor and Empress Shadows. She would have died without Aigis, and yet she wasn’t nearly as shaken then as she was today. Still, caring more about others than you did for yourself wasn’t something Makoto was unfamiliar with either.

Was there something wrong with him, then? Why was he so calm in comparison to everyone else? Even Aigis was more shaken than he was, and she couldn’t even die. He cared about everyone else by now, it would be idiotic to claim he didn’t, but why had he returned to his normal routine like nothing had happened while others continued to be affected by the horrific sight? Was he really that broken?

No surprise there, he scoffed to himself, leaning his head on the bed’s headboard. There’s always been plenty wrong with you, hasn’t there?

“Yo!” a voice called out from behind his room’s door, followed by five strong knocks. “You up in there?”

It was Junpei. His appearance didn’t shock Makoto much. He was probably the only person who wasn’t affected by last night’s terrors. Well, him and someone else, but she wasn’t worth mentioning. She also wouldn’t be knocking on his door if she knew what was good for her.

“No, I’m down,” he called back sarcastically.

“Then you need Junpei Iori, reliable medic and healer, to get you back on your feet!” the voice clapped back, making Makoto flinch. Had he said that on purpose? Was he here to get him and Yukari talking again?

“I’m healing over time on my own just fine!”

“Dude, come on, you’ve been in there since we got back. That can’t be healthy.”

“When have I ever done healthy shit?” Hypocrite that he was, he pointedly ignored his track team membership, and hoped Junpei would as well. “When have you, for that matter?”

“Gotta change and grow as a person at some point, right? Come on!” Three more knocks, more insistent than the last. “Get out here! What are you, some vampire dosing off at his crypt?”

Makoto glanced at his alarm clock. “Yeah, you got me, Junpei. I’m a vampire. That’s exactly why I don’t want to leave my room at 8 PM, when it’s dark outside.”

A beat of silence. “Uh... exactly! That’s exactly why you should come out now! Prime time to go prowling and hunting and bloodsucking!”

His efforts were admirable, if a bit annoying. Might as well comply, he thought. Not like staying alone with my own thoughts has ever done me any good. So he got up and opened the door to Junpei’s wide smile.

“There he is! Da man himself!” He slapped a hand on Makoto’s shoulder, which he promptly shrugged off with a small grin. The times of replying with ‘personal space’ were certainly behind the two of them by now.

“So, what entertainments do you have in mind for your resident Dracula?”

“Video games!” Junpei replied proudly, pulling out his handheld console. “I gave you that one MMO, but we never actually played it together, did we? Thought we could give it a go now!”

“Isn’t that the opposite of going outside?”

He leaned down to whisper in Makoto’s ear, “That’s my secret, Makoto. I’m a vampire too... Hehehehehehe...”

“Okay, I won’t tell Yukari that you—” He immediately stopped himself from finishing that sentence, brows wrinkling in disgust. “I mean, sure, yeah, come in.” Junpei pursed his lips, but didn’t say anything as he walked past Makoto to enter his room.

As the boy in the baseball cap plopped down on the bed and leaned back with the pillow as his backrest, Makoto took a seat behind his computer and booted up his laptop to open Innocent Sin Online. It was a pretty dead game, but its gameplay loop was engaging enough to take up most of Makoto’s weekends these days, and even if his usual partner was pretty annoying, she still made for decent conversation most of the time.

Upon clearing out the first floor, Junpei spoke up for the first time to initiate real conversation rather than mid-battle banter. “Man, I just realized. This shit is just like Tartarus.”

“Mixing in work and play’s never a good idea,” Makoto replied, not turning to face Junpei. “Wanna tap out and play something else?”

“Nah, I don’t mean that, just... y’all had a nasty experience last night. You okay with playing this?”

“Not like the grim reaper’s gonna pop out of the game to blow my head clean off. It’s just a game.”

“Pfft, yeah, you’re right.” Just as Makoto settled back into the comfort of not having to confront his emotions, though, Junpei spoke up once more. “You sure you’re alright, though?”

“You came here to play games, right? Let’s just play games.”

“No, dude. I came here for you.” Junpei’s avatar in the game disconnected, and Makoto paused his own session to turn around towards the boy. Junpei’s expression was dead serious. “I just wanted to get you outta your shell, man. I didn’t see whatever you guys saw, but shit must’ve been nuts if it’s hit everybody this bad. I don’t want you to deal with it alone.”

Makoto sighed. Guess we’re doing this, then. “There’s nothing to deal with. I’m fine.”

“You sure? You’ve been cooped up in here for hours on end.”

“That’s not unusual for me and you know it.”

“Wasn’t unusual for you back in April. It is unusual for you now.”

The blue-haired boy groaned in exasperation. “Again, I’m fine. It didn’t hit me like it hit everyone else.”

“Come on, dude, be—”

“That’s the thing, Junpei. That’s what I mean.”

“Huh?”

“It didn’t affect me like it affected everybody else. That’s the problem.”

Junpei blinked. “You’re... upset that you’re not traumatized?”

“Yeah! Yeah, I am!” Makoto got up from his chair in exasperation, pacing across the room. “That was a fucked-up thing to see, so why am I just... numb? Why am I not bedridden with fear, or sobbing my eyes out, or blocking out my crippling sense of dread with numbers and calculations to forget about it? What the fuck is wrong with me?” He came to a stop in front of the door, his back to Junpei.

“I mean, people react to shit differently, man.”

Makoto whirled around. “Yeah, exactly. They react. Where the hell is my reaction?”

“I dunno, man. This sure looks like a reaction to me.”

His mind came to a screeching halt.

Junpei went on, “Some people just get numb when stuff happens to ‘em. They just... stop feeling. It’s one way of avoiding the whole thing. It’s just how you cope.”

Makoto frowned. “When did you become an expert on coping mechanisms?”

The laugh Junpei gave in response was completely humorless. “All I’m saying is... You’re definitely feeling stuff. I can see that plain as day. Don’t force it.”

The blue-haired boy took a deep breath, then returned to his seat, sitting on it backwards and hanging his arms over the backrest. “Thanks, dude.”

“Any time.”

Pursing his lips, Makoto then breached the question that had been on his mind since he’d opened the door. “By the way, how come you decided to come to my room?”

“Why not? You’re my bro,” Junpei said with a dry laugh.

Makoto tried his best to hide his recoil. “Not like that. Just... you know what I mean. Why me?”

“Well...” The boy smacked his lips. “I can’t exactly go comfort the senpais, right? Fuuka-chan’s asleep and it’s probably better that way, plus I’m not good at talking to girls. And Ai-chan... well...”

“Well what?”

“Yuka-tan’s dealing with that, but you’re gonna get pissy when I—” Makoto scowled immediately. “Yup. Mm-hm. Saw that one coming.”

“How dare she. How fucking dare she try to comfort her?”

“Dude, come on, they’re chill with each other. You’re the only one this pissed about it.”

“All of you should be!” he cried out. “Don’t you realize what she said?”

“‘Course I do. It was nasty to say. But she realized that the moment she said it.”

“Should’ve realized it earlier. Or better yet, never thought it at all, like a decent fucking human being.”

Junpei ‘tsk’d, before taking a deep breath. “Then how come you’re still talking to me, huh?”

Makoto frowned. “What do you mean? You’ve never said anything.”

“If thinking about shit like that makes you indecent, well, I’ve thought it too.” The blue-haired boy’s eyes widened as Junpei went on, “When I joined, I didn’t think anything of her. I figured she was just a tin can who could walk and talk. I couldn’t give less of a shit about her if I tried. And when she became leader over me? When every single one of you figured she could do a better job than I could? Hoo boy, was I pissed. I hated her with every cell in my body.” Makoto’s fists clenched tightly as Junpei got up and began pacing around the room, clearly not finished. “I was jealous as fuck, thinking everyone thought I was less human than the literal goddamn robot. Thinking I was even more worthless than something not even alive. And what’s worse, she was kind as fuck about it when I told her. She was like, ‘You’ve never said any of that to me, so I don’t care that you’re a horrible, horrible person, Junpei-san. It’s okay! It’s just fine!’” He stopped in his tracks, took a deep breath, and turned to Makoto. “So, if Yuka-tan’s a horrible person for saying something as tame as ‘Take care of yourself more, Aigis’, what the fuck am I, huh?”

Makoto could feel his heartbeat in his eardrums. His nails had probably left marks in his hands by now. He couldn’t find any words to reply to the boy with, though, and that got Junpei to snap at him again.

“No, go on, Makoto. Don’t quit on me now. Tell me just how much of a scum I am. It’s not like you can say anything worse than whatever I call myself.”

I’m not mad for her sake, am I?

Makoto let go of the breath he’d been holding. “Junpei, I... I didn’t know—”

“Yeah,” Junpei interrupted. “You didn’t know me. You still don’t know me. None of us really know each other. But I’d rather be here with all of you than with my piece of shit dad. You’d rather be here than in some orphanage. Ai-chan would rather be here than in a lab. And Yuka-tan would rather be here than with her mom back home. We’re all any of us has. None of us can be as kind as Aigis, but goddammit, we gotta start taking notes at some fucking point, huh?” The tension left Junpei’s posture with a deep exhale, and with a tired look in his eyes, he concluded, “We’re supposed to be better. She deserves better.”

The room fell silent after that, and Junpei flopped himself back on Makoto’s bed with a long sigh.

It was some time before Makoto was composed enough to reply. “...You’re right, Junpei.”

Junpei barked a laugh. “Well, that’s a first.”

“It’s not. Don’t talk about yourself like that.”

“You’re not the boss of me.”

“Well, maybe I damn well should be, with how shitty of a leader you are.”

A beat. Then two.

Both boys burst out in laughter shortly afterwards. Knee-slapping, boisterous laughter, the kind that keeps going in a feedback loop the moment you spot the other guy trying to stop himself from laughing. It went on for quite a bit, and it felt damn good.

“Seriously, though,” Makoto said as he wiped away a tear from his eyes. “You’re right. I’ve been a dick to her, because... because I wanted to be offended on Aigis’s behalf.”

“Ooo? Do tell!” Junpei sat crisscross on the bed immediately, paying rapt attention to Makoto’s next words with a wide smile.

“What are you so excited about?”

“Nothing, nothing, go on about how you care so much about Ai-chan that you want to be offended on her behalf.”

“Dude, shut up! This is serious.”

“All matters of the heart are!”

He turned to the other boy in exasperation. “Come on, I let you be serious, gimme a chance here.”

Junpei’s grin vanished immediately, and he nodded for Makoto to go on.

“It’s not just that I care about her. I do, obviously, and I don’t want anybody to hurt her. But... what she said to Aigis...” He drew in a breath. “It was stuff I needed to hear too. I just didn’t want to hear it. Not then.”

“You wanted to be offended on Aigis’s behalf so you wouldn’t have to think about it,” Junpei thought aloud.

“Yeah, pretty much. But... that’s stupid, isn’t it? She cares about Aigis, just like me. She said something hurtful in the heat of the moment, and Aigis got the right lesson from it, and it should’ve just ended there. It was never up to me to forgive her or not, but...” He let the sentence trail off.

The room was quiet again. Impulsively and before he could stop himself, though, Makoto broke the silence.

“Do you care about me, Junpei?”

The boy’s eyes became as wide as saucers. “Wh—What kind of question is that? Why do you think I’m here?”

“Just... You know.”

“I don’t, man.”

Makoto sighed. “Never mind, it was a dumb question—”

“If you really wanna hear the words,” Junpei interrupted, “Yeah, dude. I care about you. We all care about you here.”

And Makoto felt the truth of his words right down to his core, and had nothing to say after that.

The session of Innocent Sin Online they started afterwards meant more to Makoto than he could ever put into words, so he didn’t even try.

And when their next visit to Tartarus was the first demonstration of Orpheus’s newly learned healing spell, Makoto knew exactly where it had come from.

Personas are a reflection of your heart, after all. You can’t heal anyone else until you want to heal yourself first.

Chapter Text

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

How could I leave her alone like that? She’s just on her own, in the lion’s den. With no one by her side. We’re supposed to be friends. We’re supposed to have each other’s backs.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Am I a bad person? For not asking to be with her right now? For not protecting her, for not smiting that monster where it stood? I could’ve done it. I don’t need Personas to protect. I don’t need to exert much force to shed blood. It wouldn’t even drain my ammunition reserves. Why didn’t I do it?

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

For the sake of morality? It’s far more moral to protect her than not. For the sake of my cover? My cover’s worthless in the face of innocent life.

Is it because I’m afraid of death? Did seeing that... that Reaper make me so terrified of death that I’ve become unable to cause it now? Is that what’s happening to me? Am I going to be like this forever? A weak and spineless coward, worthless for protecting even the smallest speck from harm? How could I ever—

“Aigis, can you please stop tapping your finger on the desk? It’s distracting, I’m trying to concentrate.”

The android blinked. “My apologies, Yukari-chan.” She’d promoted Yukari to ‘-chan’ recently, in hopes of making Makoto realize how much she cared about the brunette. She didn’t know how successful she’d been in that regard.

She looked back down at her composition pop quiz. She’d filled out the entire paper fifteen minutes ago, and had settled into a steady rhythm of paranoia ever since. Paranoia over Fuuka being all alone in a class with her main abuser.

Natsuki Moriyama, despite all of Aigis’s intentions, had survived the night of the full moon. And seeing as she was just discharged from the hospital today, this was her first shared class with Fuuka since then. Aigis doubted she could possibly be any more worried for the newest member of SEES at the moment. Then again, she didn’t know if worrying truly had an upper threshold; her attempts at gauging the sensation had been fruitless.

Oh, if only a Shadow had eaten Natsuki on her way to the tower that night. How glorious that would’ve been. No one important would’ve shed a tear for the vile girl anyway. She’d brushed off her case of neglect by stating she had suddenly realized the night was a full moon, and in her rush to assist the team as soon as she could, the fact that the girl was stationed at the dorm had completely slipped her mind. It wasn’t even entirely a lie, since she truly had forgotten it was a full moon that night. Her reasoning didn’t raise many eyebrows, considering her various new human-like traits.

It was quite terrifying, how easily Aigis could lie and have others believe it. Trust was a precarious thing to have access to. Jin had been right about the power of falsehoods, and it made Aigis wonder how humans kept steadfast and did not go mad with power when given access to such a tool. But that was currently irrelevant.

Fuuka has to be alright. She has to be. I won’t accept anything less. This was Aigis’s mantra for the rest of the class, only interrupted when Ms. Toriumi finally announced the end of the session and allowed them to leave. Naturally, Aigis took off towards class 2-E at the highest speed a human could move without raising questions the instant she heard the words. She ignored Yukari’s surprised voice calling out to her; whatever she was saying, it was sure to be unimportant in the face of the task at hand.

And it wasn’t a moment too soon; the instant she arrived, Aigis spotted the foul creature moving towards Fuuka’s seat. The android rushed in without hesitation, smoothly maneuvering around the desks to grab Natsuki by the throat and slam her to the wall opposite of the door with a loud ‘thud’.

The rest of the class reacted predictably; gasps were drawn, a few people screamed at Aigis’s sudden appearance, and even a few swear words were uttered. She paid none of them any mind, instead focusing her burning gaze (how she wished her eyes could truly project flames) on Natsuki. The bully’s eyes were as wide as they could get, and her struggle against Aigis’s iron grip was likely the most futile thing she’d ever done in her rapidly shrinking time on earth, right after being born.

“Where were you headed, Moriyama?” she asked in a tone she’d seen Takaya use extensively when displeased, drawling and condescending and oozing with hatred. It had the desired effect, making the ginger panic even more.

“I-I-I-”

She tilted her head disapprovingly. “No good answer. That’s disappointing.”

“A-Aigis! What are you doing?” called out a voice that twinkled in Aigis’s audio receptors like tiny bells. It did not dampen her rage, but merely reminded her of what she was doing it all for.

“Teaching a most valuable lesson to an extremely eager student, Fuuka-chan,” she replied without turning. “I’ll be done shortly.”

“What lesson?!”

“That I will no longer tolerate bullying for as long as I am at this school. No matter who does it towards whom.” Of course, that was merely an excuse, and Aigis was well aware of its emptiness. She doubted she would care very much if someone like Natsuki was being bullied, after all. If anything, she was the bully in this specific situation. And frankly? She was beginning to understand exactly why bullies exerted their own power over those they deemed lesser and weaker than themselves. The fear in Moriyama’s eyes, the dominion she’d held over the back alley just a short while ago... it was proving to be an experience she wouldn’t mind repeating with the right excuse.

“Put her down, Aigis! Right now! Please!”

“But I haven’t even started teaching the lesson yet.”

“Aigis!”

The android blinked. She felt her expression returning to a neutral position, and wondered what it had been before she noticed. She released her grip with no warning, which made Moriyama fall to the floor and begin coughing pathetically. “I certainly hope you’ve learned it, for your own sake.” She turned to the rest of the class. “Same goes for everyone else.”

Then, she felt a tug on her arm, and turned to see Fuuka. Kind little Fuuka, with so much terror and determination glittering in her eyes. “We’re leaving! Now!” she called out shakily. What was she so afraid of? She was safe. Aigis was here.

“As you wish.” She followed Fuuka outside wordlessly, and continued to do so until they reached the school rooftop, blessedly empty, at which point the teal-haired girl came to a stop and turned to face Aigis. Her entire body was shivering with what seemed like barely contained rage. It was hard to tell with Fuuka; she never quite seemed built for negative emotions.

“What was that?!” the small-statured girl accused.

“I believe I declared my intentions rather clearly in the class, did I not?”

“She wasn’t going to do anything! Were you just sitting in your class waiting to do that?!”

Aigis blinked. “Yes, I was. How do you know she wasn’t going to do anything?”

Fuuka spluttered. “You- you were- I-”

“Aigis!” called out Yukari’s voice from behind the android. She turned to see her run towards the duo with Junpei and Makoto in tow. Coming to a stop, she continued, “What did you do in Fuuka’s class?”

“I slammed Natsuki Moriyama into the wall as part of a plan to make her properly understand that bullying is something I will no longer tolerate in any capacity. Fuuka-chan interrupted me before I could make the lesson sink in, however.”

“Wow, that’d... that’d explain... everything we just saw,” Junpei pursed his lips.

Tilting her head, Aigis queried, “What did you see?”

“You can’t slam someone into a wall and expect everyone to move on with their day afterwards, Aigis,” Makoto pointed out.

“Um...” Fuuka attempted to get a word in edgewise.

“What for?” Aigis replied to Makoto. “It was an open and shut case, as they say. No one should have any need to discuss it further.”

“I think there’s way more important stuff to talk about than the gossip network right now,” Yukari interjected. “Why did you even do that, Aigis? Was Moriyama doing anything?”

“She was moving towards Fuuka-chan’s table. Considering her track record in the past, I believe I preemptively stopped another one of her typical bullying scenarios.”

“Guys—” Fuuka tried to say again.

“But you left the class to jump her, didn’t you?” the blue-haired boy observed.

“Yes, I did. I had been expecting such a situation ever since I learned of her returning to school today.”

“So Ai-chan had been plotting for a while, eh-”

“CAN I PLEASE GET A MOMENT?!”

Fuuka’s shrill yell stunned everyone into silence immediately, and Aigis spun around to face her as fast as she could. “Yes, Fuuka-chan, of course.”

Her face burning scarlet, the teal-haired girl exclaimed, “She wasn’t going to do anything to me! We’re friends now!”

Aigis blinked. She blinked a second time. She then burst into laughter involuntarily.

“What are you laughing at?!”

“Friends? With Natsuki Moriyama? Hahahahahaha! Please, Fuuka-chan, surely you have better options?”

“And why wouldn’t I be friends with her, huh? Because she’s a bully?”

“Yes, clearly!”

“Then what are you?”

The loud metallic clang of Aigis’s jaw snapping shut brought an abrupt stop to her ongoing laughter.

Fuuka took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Aigis-chan, I didn’t mean that, but... look at yourself. You were going to do to her the same thing she used to do to other people. Does that really make you any different from her? If you’re trying to discourage that behavior, why would you do it yourself?”

There was an easy response to that. Aigis could say that she was doing it for a better reason than Moriyama; she was taking the moral high ground, was a superior person, and her aim was to put a stop to bullying for good. But it would be a lie. Aigis’s reasons for doing so were entirely selfish, seeing as she wouldn’t have cared about bullying in the school at all if one of her friends had not been the target. Not to mention, she had enjoyed terrorizing the other girl.

Fuuka was afraid of Aigis in the classroom, the android realized. Because Aigis was not a force Fuuka could ever hope to stop with anything but her words. Because Aigis was built out of steel and lead and death, and the hatred she was putting on display was far too deep to be comforting to anyone.

Some forms of power was not meant to be wielded. Some forms of power were inherently corrupt. Some forms of power... made you into Natsuki Moriyama. They made you a monster.

Aigis didn’t want to be a monster.

She lowered her head in shame. “...You’re right, Fuuka-chan. I... acted rashly and in an overly violent manner. I apologize for frightening you.”

“I’m not the one you slammed to the wall, though.”

Her shame evaporated instantly. “I am not apologizing to Natsuki Moriyama.”

“That was my friend you did that to. I don’t like my friends fighting each other.” She looked past Aigis, to the other second-years. “That goes for whichever one of you is fighting with Yukari-chan too, by the way. I’m pretty sure I know who it is, but I don’t think I need to name him, do I?” Makoto’s eyes promptly widened, and he looked away with a flushed face. “So, Aigis-chan. You are apologizing to Natsuki-chan. Maybe not today, but you are going to do it, and I will be there to see you two make up. Alright?”

“...When did she progress to being ‘Natsuki-chan’?” Aigis mumbled bitterly.

“This morning, actually. She came into class, apologized for how she’d been acting towards me, and said we should be friends from now on so that I wouldn’t be so lonely all the time. She didn’t remember the Dark Hour, obviously, but she sure as heck remembered how horrible she felt when I went missing. People grow. People change. You of all people should know that very well, Aigis-chan.”

Loath as she was to admit it, Fuuka had a point. But...

“I’ve... I’ve never... forgiven anyone before,” she muttered.

“Huh?”

“I’ve never forgiven anyone before,” Aigis repeated, in a louder tone. “I’ve never hated someone as deeply and utterly as I’ve hated Natsuki Moriyama. I’ve never had to forgive someone who’s changed their ways. I don’t know if I can forgive her.”

“Well, I know that ain’t true,” Junpei spoke up, surprisingly. “You forgave me, didn’t you?”

“There was nothing to forgive.”

“Yes there was. There was a lot to forgive. And you just didn’t give a damn about any of it. You did forgive me for what I’d done. You’ve done it before, you can do it again.”

“That’s not it,” Makoto interrupted. “That’s not what she means.”

“What do you mean?”

“Moriyama never did anything to Aigis, did she?”

The silence that fell over the group was a crystal-clear answer.

“You hate her because of what she did to Yamagishi,” Makoto went on. “You’re hating her on someone else’s behalf. Someone who doesn’t even want you to hate them for it. Is that right?”

“Y-yes, Makoto-san. That’s correct. But how—”

“Let’s just say I have some hands-on experience with how that scenario tends to go,” he said, looking directly at Yukari, “and trust me, apologizing is definitely the better option compared to the alternative.”

“Makoto...” Yukari said under her breath, eyes widening and glistening with tears.

“So, Aigis-chan?” Fuuka asked. “What do you think? Do you have it in you?”

Aigis turned to meet the teal-haired girl’s smile.

How could she ever say no to that smile?

“...Of course, Fuuka-chan. Thanks to you, that is.”

“So... everyone is cool with each other now, right?” Junpei asked.

“I don’t know, are we cool?” Makoto’s question had one obvious recipient.

The rest of the friend group looked at Yukari expectantly.

The brunette pursed her lips, then sniffled. “...Yeah. Yeah, we’re cool.”

“Oh, thank fuck,” Junpei exclaimed. “Neither of you were any fun when you were fighting.”

“Way to make it about yourself, Stupei,” Yukari groaned.

“Hey, gimme some credit here! I worked hard to make Makoto come out of his sad sack, then boom! I had to deal with two. Even someone as exceptional as Junpei Iori has his limits, you know!”

“Think we should sack him instead, Yukari?”

“Oh, sacking’s too soft. We should fire him. Literally.”

“Hey, hey, hey, hey!!!”

As the three teenagers went off to commit their antics, Fuuka and Aigis were left behind, side by side, observing their more rambunctious friends.

Aigis looked down at the smaller girl. She hoped Fuuka knew how important what she’d done today was.

She hoped Fuuka knew how important she was to Aigis.

-------------------------

Mitsuru hoped Aigis knew how important she was to her. She certainly wouldn’t have cleaned up a mess this big if Iori had caused it. Or even Yuki, despite how he would never lash out in this way.

Still... It’s not as if I hadn’t thought of taking similar actions myself. Her lack of filter is certainly refreshing, and unlike me, she has no image she feels the need to uphold beyond simply being herself. I’m almost envious. I think I have a few roles too many by now.

She’d been forced to stay at school longer than necessary for a student council meeting concerning the rampant issue of bullying across the school. It wouldn’t have taken very long if the circumstances were more normal, but Odagiri had a fire lit under his arse ever since he’d found that cigarette in the school bathroom and took every issue that came his way extremely personally. The Disciplinary Committee Supervisor certainly had a strong sense of justice which Mitsuru admired, he wouldn’t have been on the council otherwise, but...

For crying out loud, it was just a cigarette. Her father smoked five cigars a day. Who gave a damn, really?

Me, apparently, since every problem at this godforsaken school is my problem too.

Mitsuru sighed longingly. I need a break. Should’ve taken the car... Why did I decide to walk back to the dorm?

“Koro-chan, shake!”

Yes, Yukari, anything- What the fuck am I thinking?

Her gaze focused itself on the scene in front of her. Takeba and Yamagishi were playing with a medium-sized gray dog in front of the dorm entrance, and the dog was currently in the process of giving the brunette its paw with a toothy smile and enthusiastic pants.

“You weren’t kidding, Fuuka-chan, he really is a smart dog!” Yukari exclaimed.

“He is, isn’t he?” the other girl giggled.

The redhead chose that moment to approach them. “And what do we have here?” she said with a smile. She wouldn’t call herself an animal enthusiast, but she had no distaste for them either. This dog in particular had a charming aura around him as well, and Mitsuru felt instantly endeared to him.

“Oh, hi, Kirijo-senpai!” Yamagishi said. “Welcome back!”

“H-hey, senpai,” Takeba followed meekly.

What is it, opposite day? “Good to see you two. Or should I say, you three.”

“Go on, Koro-chan,” the teal-haired girl encouraged. “You know how to say hi, right?”

Koro-chan trotted up to Mitsuru, and who was she to not give him what he wanted? She promptly kneeled down and gave him a good scruff behind the ears that he clearly enjoyed, judging by his satisfied whines.

“His name’s Koromaru,” Yamagishi went on. “He... well, he used to belong to the priest at the Naganaki Shrine. Right now... he’s his own man! Or, well, dog!”

“No one’s taken him in?” Mitsuru questioned.

“It’s more that he doesn’t want anyone to take him in. He’s been living at the shrine on his own since the priest passed away. He doesn’t have to worry about shelter or food, since practically anyone who goes to the shrine knows him, but he hasn’t accepted anyone who’s wanted to take him home.”

“Still loyal to your master even in death, aren’t you?” Koromaru barked in affirmation. “Good boy.”

Wait, how could I tell what he meant by that? Surely he doesn’t...

Deciding she was imagining things, Mitsuru got back up to her feet, and addressed the other two girls. “At any rate, it’s good that both of you are here. Do either of you know where Aigis, Yuki, and Iori are?”

“Probably inside,” Takeba replied. “They had no clubs today. Well, in the case of Junpei, no clubs period, but yeah.”

“C’est magnifique. It’s high time I did something that requires every second-year to be present. Let’s head inside.”

“Sure! See you later, Koro-chan!” The dog barked its farewell not just to Yamagishi, but to everyone else as well, before walking away from the three girls.

“Where is he going, anyway?” Mitsuru wondered aloud.

“He... goes on the same path him and the priest took every day. Stops at the crash site for a little while, then walks back to the shrine.”

“Crash site?”

“It’s where the priest...” Yamagishi rubbed her arm sadly. “You know.”

Mitsuru was speechless.

“...Anyway!” Yukari cried out. “Let’s get a move on, yeah?”

Thank god for your enthusiasm, Takeba. “Y-yes. Time to get down to business.”

It didn’t take long for the other second-years to be fetched and brought to the lounge.

“So, what’s up, senpai?” Iori questioned, ever the initiator of interactions.

“Well, with the addition of Yamagishi to the dorm’s residents, I was planning to give her a tour. Then, I recalled that I never gave any of you a tour, so... This is my attempt to make it up to you all.”

“You really don’t need to, senpai,” Takeba said. “It’s okay.”

“Yeah, I mean, we’ve been here for months,” Iori went on. “We can just show Fuuka-chan around. This place isn’t a labyrinth or anything.”

Mitsuru frowned. “Is my company really that detestable?”

“I believe it’s less about your company and more about the deep bags under your eyes, Mitsuru-san,” Aigis provided, making everyone else wince.

“Aigis...” Yuki muttered.

“Being honest will prevent future misunderstandings,” the android said matter-of-factly. “Mitsuru-san, you are clearly overworked and exhausted. Just today you’ve spent hours in a student council meeting. Please don’t feel the need to do this for us. I can show Fuuka-chan around myself if need be.”

The warmth Mitsuru felt in her heart could not be understated, but still... “I appreciate your concern, but I assure you, my work-life balance is just fine. Besides, there are some new expansions I must point out myself, otherwise I’m certain they’ll never be noticed by any of you.”

“Woah, new additions?” Iori asked enthusiastically. “Like hot springs? Or a casino?!”

“I would like to go gambling,” Aigis exclaimed. “I’ve heard it’s an extremely fun human pastime, though I am unaware of what it truly entails.”

“No gambling, Aigis.” “I don’t think that’s a good idea...”

Yuki and Yamagishi immediately realized they’d spoken at the same time, and their eyes met as they assessed one another in astonishment.

Mitsuru cleared her throat. “Well, good idea or not, if there is a slot machine somewhere in the dorms, no one who’s underage is allowed to use it either way. So your gambling will have to wait for a good few years, Aigis.”

“Maaaaan,” the blonde whined.

“That’s my line...” Iori whined also.

“Now, let’s get a move on. Everyone, follow me.”

The group’s first stop was the kitchen, which had been recently refurbished.

“Well, this place looks exactly the same,” Takeba said.

Iori nodded. “Yup. All those cooking tools I have no idea how to use and will never know how to use, in all their glory.”

“Amen to that...” Yamagishi mumbled.

“Aren’t you part of the cooking club, Fuuka-chan?” Aigis questioned.

“There’s a big difference between being part of something and being good at it, Aigis-chan...”

“Do any of us know how to cook at all?” Yuki asked.

Takeba nodded. “I can work a stove. I’m not great at it, but my meals end up tasting okay, I guess.”

Yuki looked impressed, and gave her a thumbs-up. It’s a good thing they’re talking again. It was a sorry sight to see them avoid each other the way they did.

“Akihiko cooks as well,” Mitsuru pointed out. “I’ve dabbled in the art, but have no interest or time to pursue it any further. I mostly brew tea.”

“I can cook,” Aigis stated. “I would be happy to cook for everyone. I recall Akihiko-san proposing this option to me earlier in the year as well, but it consistently slipped my mind to actually do so.”

“You can cook, Ai-chan?” Iori asked, flabbergasted. “Where did a super fighting robot learn how to cook?”

“...In the lab, naturally,” the android said after slight hesitation. “It’s mostly following recipes, it’s not a very complicated thing to do...”

“I’d love to eat something you made, Aigis-chan!” “I’d be down to taste-test your food, if you don’t mind.”

Yamagishi and Yuki’s eyes met once more. But this time... a spark of recognition passed between the two of them. A spark that Mitsuru understood as well.

...Oh dear.

“Ahem. Let’s visit the next place, shall we?”

On their way up the stairs to the rooftop, Yamagishi noticed the bookshelves on the second and third floor. “Kirijo-senpai, are we allowed to use those books?”

“Oh, of course,” she replied. “All the books in the dorms were donated by prior residents. I peruse them myself from time to time.”

“Lemme tell ya, those chairs? Probably the comfiest in the whole dorm,” Iori pointed out cheerily. “When I start reading on ‘em, I forget to get up at all. I’ve drilled through three whole volumes before realizing it was 3 in the morning.”

“Yeah, volumes of manga,” Takeba sighed.

Yamagishi wasn’t of the same opinion as Takeba, though. “I don’t know, I like manga too.”

The boy’s eyes sparkled. “Hey, maybe we can trade our favorite runs!”

“Umm... I’m not sure our tastes would match, but sure!”

“It’s good to know that these books are free to be used by everyone,” Aigis pondered. “I had been meaning to ask once I finished my current volume. It would be wonderful to have access to such a large collection at no material cost.”

“Yeah, ever since I took you to Bookworms, you’ve turned into a real bookworm,” Yuki said in a louder tone than he usually spoke in. His joke got a chuckle out of Aigis, which was clearly his goal.

“H-how about we be bookworms together, Aigis-chan?” Yamagishi said, half snapping and half pleading. “Munch on the pages together, huh?”

Good lord, please try harder next time, Mitsuru thought despite herself, and raised her voice to prevent Aigis from replying. “Only one more place we need to visit! Come on, everyone!”

“What’s the hurry, senpai?” Takeba asked.

“I feel a migraine coming on all of a sudden...” Mitsuru muttered under her breath.

“Huh?”

“No reason, I just feel as if we shouldn’t tarry too long.” I’m not getting in the middle of whatever that’s shaping up to be. Poor Aigis. I should give her some advice on how to deal with that when I find the time... God, I’m exhausted.

Finally, they all arrived at the rooftop.

“The rooftop had been off-limits for a while now, but the chairman found some gardening supplies in the storage room and decided to set up a small garden here,” the redhead explained as everyone stood in front of the new planters.

“Eat your veggies, peas, as he would say,” Aigis said in a deadpan tone.

“I hate the fact that I can hear it in his voice...” Iori groaned.

“If anyone’s interested in actually planting anything, they can take responsibility for the garden. If not, we can just brush this off as another one of the chairman’s whims, and no one needs to tell him anything.”

“I would like to manage the planters, Mitsuru-san,” Aigis volunteered. “I believe I’ll be able to fit it into my schedule.”

Yuki and Yamagishi were clearly gearing up to volunteer to help the blonde, but Mitsuru wouldn’t have any of it. “Of course, Aigis. I believe Iori could be of great help to you in this endeavor, seeing as he seems to have a lot of free time on his hands.”

“W-why me?!”

“Takeba told me you aren’t part of any after-school clubs. This could be yours. You might even receive a special prize for it if the produce is quality enough.”

“A prize? Hell yeah, sign me up!”

“I’ll be looking forward to your assistance, Junpei-kun.”

As Iori and Aigis shared a fist bump, Mitsuru noticed both Yuki and Yamagishi silently seething, and promptly decided to ignore them. Best if they think everyone else is oblivious. Takeba and Iori certainly are, and Akihiko won’t notice even if I tell him outright. “That wraps up this area, and the tour as a whole.”

“That’s it, huh? Felt kind of short, even if I didn’t expect it to be that long...”

Iori ‘tsk’d disapprovingly. “Kirijo-senpai’s not gonna tell us about the casino, Yuka-tan. That’s for the adults. But we’ll find it, I promise you. The Ace Detective will sniff out where the Great Iwatodai Underground Casino is, gamble his entire life savings away, and win them back tenfold!”

“This may be coming a little late for most of you, but welcome to the dorm, everyone,” Mitsuru concluded, ignoring the boy’s enthusiasm.

“Thank you for doing this for me, Kirijo-senpai!” Yamagishi said gratefully.

“Any time, Yamagishi.”

Before the group could disperse, though, Mitsuru called out to Aigis. “Aigis, a word in private?”

“Of course, Mitsuru-san.” The rest of the second-years headed downstairs, leaving Mitsuru and Aigis alone on the rooftop. “Is this about my behavior at school the other day?”

“Partially. But first, I’m going to ask you a question, Aigis.”

“Of course.”

“And you have to answer it with complete honesty.”

The android’s whole body tensed up. It’s as I feared. She has things to lie about.

“Did you purposefully leave Moriyama to her own devices on the night of the full moon, knowing there was a risk of her death?”

Aigis did not answer immediately.

The redhead sighed. “So you did.”

Aigis immediately began to protest. “It’s- it’s not how you think—”

“Aigis. I’m not mad.”

The sentence stunned the other girl into silence, and Mitsuru went on, “I understand your thought process, and I don’t blame you for drawing the conclusion you did.”

“...But there’s a ‘but’ coming, isn’t there?”

“But the fact that you felt it was something to hide, obscure, and lie about explains the nature of the act, doesn’t it?”

Aigis pursed her lips.

“We don’t do moral things for fear of being judged by others, Aigis. We do them because they’re the right things to do.”

“What is ‘right’? I’ve found it to be extremely subjective. Religions disagree on the details, people debate morality all the time, and there’s no one correct answer to everything. What is the right thing to do?”

“Only you can decide that for yourself, Aigis. But I can tell you this: You’re the kindest person I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. Don’t suppress your kindness by hate. Follow that principle, and I’m sure you’ll make the right choice at every crossroads you come across.”

“...I comprehend, Mitsuru-san.”

“Wonderful. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” The redhead turned to leave, but was stopped by Aigis calling out to her.

“Mitsuru-san. May I request something from you?”

She faced the blonde once more. “What do you need?”

“I would like to become a member of the student council.”

Mitsuru’s brows were raised. “Pardon?”

“I want to help you with your workload, Mitsuru-san. My presence at the student council is sure to relieve you from some of your burdens.”

“Aigis, I- You’re already doing enough. I can’t possibly—”

The android interrupted Mitsuru. “I’ve come to realize that power is something that corrupts people. I myself have felt this, considering my inhuman physical strength and intellect that processes concepts faster than most. I’ve felt the allure of believing myself superior to any and all people around me, and in times, I’ve considered myself above those who taught me all I know today, which is a most foolish notion. You, however, are among the most powerful people I know. You wield a Persona, are capable of fighting without one, possess a vast amount of wealth, and your political influence over certain matters is nothing to overlook. Despite that, you remain kind, hardworking, and positively untouched by the dark call of power. I can’t in good conscience allow you to undertake all your burdens on your own, and would also like to spend more time around you to learn how to resist that call myself.”

And for the second time in the day, Mitsuru found that she had nothing to say.

How could you possibly spin a selfless act you’re doing for my sake into something you’re doing for yourself? Do you really not see your own kindness?

...Was I right to confront you about this at all? If you doubt your own heart because of what I’ve told you today...

“Mitsuru-san?”

“O-oh. The student council, yes. I’ll... I’ll prepare an application form for you, Aigis.”

“Thank you so much, Mitsuru-san,” Aigis replied with a warm smile. “I’m extremely grateful for this opportunity. I won’t let you down.”

I fear I’ve already let you down, though. How immensely I fear letting you down, Aigis.

You have no idea how much we all owe to you.

But she didn’t speak any of that. All Mitsuru offered the other girl were empty words of gratitude as they left the rooftop, because there was nothing she could put in her words that wasn’t doubt and dread.

Mitsuru could only do her best. But Aigis deserved far, far more than Mitsuru’s paltry attempts at perfection, and yet it was all she had. The universe was truly a cruel place.

Chapter Text

Familiar sensations were known to bring comfort to human beings. Nostalgia was coined as a term to allude to this concept, and was immensely popular in the world of media as a means to garner positive attention from people’s fond memories towards events they’d experienced in the past. Aigis herself had felt nostalgic for certain things at certain times; her pretty blue dress, which she seldom wore these days due to her need to attend school for most of the week, seemed to call to her every day and reminded her of all the beautiful things she’d experienced while wearing it. Its call was unfortunately dulled by the thirty-three identical copies of the Gekkoukan school uniform hanging in her closet, placed there to provide a semblance of variety considering she chose a different one every day, but it beckoned nonetheless. On some weekends, Aigis even answered its call.

The current situation, on the other hand, was familiar for all the wrong reasons, and Aigis was sure she would never feel nostalgic for it.

I shouldn’t be surprised that the chairman is disgustingly late once more, but somehow he keeps lowering the bar. Not even Dante descended that far down into Inferno, I believe.

Even then, the atmosphere in the command room was quite different from the last time they’d been stalled by Ikutsuki. Rather than keeping to themselves, each member had busied themselves by interacting with their other friends. Fuuka stood next to the grand computer, and was enthusiastically reacting to Mitsuru’s detailed rundown of how its systems functioned and in what way could they interface with their Personas to detect large-scale threats around the city, such as the full moon Shadows. Makoto and Junpei were playing charades on the other side of the room, each taking turns to mime out an action dictated by the other boy, with Yukari and Akihiko rivalling each other on who could make a guess first. Aigis was content with observing from afar, seeing as she hadn’t managed to guess anything either boy had performed.

“It’s a baker! Has to be!” Yukari yelled out. Aigis didn’t see the connection between miming out what seemed like typing on a keyboard and then pushing it off the table with baking, but the brunette seemed to have guessed correctly based on Junpei’s snap and grin.

“I was sure you couldn’t do that one... Dammit,” Makoto complained playfully.

“What can I say? I’m Ace Performative!” Junpei boasted. “Now, to give you one you absolutely can’t act out, Yuki boy!”

“As if. Hit me!” The other boy leaned over to whisper in Makoto’s ear, and the blue-haired boy’s eyes lit up immediately. “Oh, you think this one is hard? Really?”

“Well, go ahead! Act it out!”

Makoto turned to his captive audience of three, and held up one finger.

“It’s one word?” Akihiko asked, and received an affirmative nod.

Makoto then walked past the group and exited the room.

“Hey, hey, wait, huh?” Junpei cried out. “Where the heck are you going?!”

“Is... is that the act?” the boxer asked. “Like, he didn’t look like he really had to go to the bathroom. Is that seriously the act?”

“Something that... isn’t here? Something that leaves? What is that supposed to mean?” Yukari thought aloud.

“A tree has leaves?” Akihiko pondered. “It’s also not here?”

“That’s... a bit farfetched, senpai.”

“Oh, I know!” Aigis suddenly yelled out. “May I guess?”

“Sure, Aigis, give it a shot,” Yukari encouraged.

“It’s the chairman!”

“How did you get—” “Why, yes, it is me! Your sensors are quite sharp, Aigis-kun.”

The group whirled around, mortified. Ikutsuki stood in the doorframe, with Makoto standing behind him.

“O-oh, Ikutsuki-san, hi...” Junpei laughed nervously as they all took their seats.

“Good to see you all again!” the man said jovially. From behind Ikutsuki, Makoto mimed out the flapping of lips with one hand and made a ridiculous expression that Aigis had to try her hardest not to laugh at. Ikutsuki went on, “Why don’t you step inside, Yuki-kun, so we can get started?”

“Sure,” he said as he walked back inside and sat down next to Aigis. “You were right, by the way,” he whispered to her, and she giggled in satisfaction.

“Now!” the chairman said with an unnecessary clap of his hands. “I bet you’re wondering why I’ve gathered you all here.”

“Not particularly,” Makoto said under his breath. “Unless you’re gonna say you’re finally buzzing off forever instead of for weeks at a time.”

Aigis elbowed him in the side, holding back her laughter fiercely.

“Actually, this concerns a breakthrough we’ve had over at the labs. It’s about the full moon Shadows, no less!”

Everyone sat up more straight immediately.

“Good, I have your attention now.” Clearing his throat, Ikutsuki continued, “As our two navigators are very well aware, Shadows have twelve distinct categories they can be slotted in, based on their characteristics, spells they have access to, general appearance, and so on and so forth.”

“Thirteen,” Fuuka interrupted.

“Thirteen?”

“It’s less of a category and more of a unique individual Shadow, but yes, we’ve recently encountered one that didn’t fit into any of the pre-existing twelve categories while exploring Tartarus,” Mitsuru elaborated. “We’ve decided to call it the Reaper, due to certain... similarities it had with the concept of a harbinger of death.”

“How interesting... Well, at any rate, my point refers back to something else. While classifying the unique Shadows you all have encountered each month, we realized something quite interesting!”

If he says they belong to classifications one through four—

“The four Shadows belonged to classifications one through four, in order of their appearance! Even if they looked pretty different from the rest, they could still be classified like that!”

Everyone looked at Ikutsuki blankly.

“...What? Isn’t this great news?”

“Isn’t that something Aigis has been saying for months now?” Makoto accused. “And you kept saying it was baseless shit.”

“Plus, how is it something to be excited about?” Junpei continued. “It’s just charting crap. Who cares?”

“Unfortunately, both of you are missing two important points,” Ikutsuki said as he sat down on the sofa at the head of the table. “Point one: there are twenty-two Major Arcana cards, not twelve or thirteen. And the journey begins with the Fool, not the Magician. Even if we were to take Aigis-kun’s theory into account, that the numbers on the Shadows’ masks indicate their placement in a tarot deck, where’s number zero? Hmm?”

Aigis knew very well where the number zero was. Despite this, she did not speak up.

“And as for point two... I see Yamagishi-kun’s already realized it. Go ahead, tell your friends.”

“It means there’s only twelve special Shadows,” Fuuka said disbelievingly. “It means we’re already one-third of the way done.”

“But what about the Reaper?” Aigis asked.

“Did you encounter this ‘Reaper’ on a full moon?” Ikutsuki clapped back. “No? Then it can be dismissed as an outlier, in my opinion. I don’t think dealing with this Reaper Shadow is a priority for us. It’s most likely just a byproduct of Tartarus’s existence, and will vanish alongside the tower itself once we’re done.”

“Once we’re done with what?” Yukari asked.

“With killing all of the special Shadows, naturally. You’ve all noticed it; Apathy Syndrome cases crawl up every month when we get close to the full moon, and when the Shadow’s out of the picture, they fall back down. They feed on the minds of their prey to gather power and strike on the night when they’re at their most powerful, thanks to whatever tie they might have to the cycles of the moon. So, logic holds that if all of them go away...”

“...There’s a real possibility that the Dark Hour does too,” Akihiko realized.

“But what made all of this exist in the first place?” Yukari demanded. “They definitely didn’t always exist, right? If they can go away, they were brought on by something first. So what brought that on?”

Aigis noticed that Mitsuru immediately stopped looking at Yukari the moment she breached this topic.

“That, Takeba-kun, is something we can’t answer yet,” the chairman replied. “All we can do at this point is keep up the pace we’ve established; keep getting rid of the Shadows and hope for the best.”

‘Can’t answer yet’... Obscuring the truth rather than lying outright. You truly are an expert at this, Ikutsuki-san. Or at least, you lie better than you joke. How blessed I am to be the opposite.

“So... is that it?”

“What do you mean, Iori-kun?”

Junpei squirmed in his seat with furrowed brows. “I mean this really could’ve been, like, a text. ‘Keep doing what you’re doing’ isn’t the craziest change of affairs. We’ve been sitting on our asses for twenty-five minutes waiting for you to show up, Ikutsuki-san. No offense, but you seriously gotta work on that.”

“Thank you for your criticism, Iori-kun,” the chairman replied with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “You can all leave now. I’ve taken up enough of your time as is.”

As SEES dispersed, Aigis couldn’t help but recall a conversation she’d had with Mitsuru a few weeks ago.

“Thank you for your leadership advice, Mitsuru-san. I will follow them as closely as I can in order to live up to the standard SEES deserves.”

The redhead gave her a smile. One that was unfortunately short-lived. “Then we need to discuss one last thing.”

“Is it related to why we are having this conversation in a café rather than back at the dorms?”

“Yes. Aigis, what’s a ‘Wild Card’?”

The android blinked. How was Mitsuru aware of the term? She had never spoken the phrase to any member of SEES. Not even Makoto, and he was actually aware of the Velvet Room.

Then again, who could she trust if not Mitsuru? “It is how I am capable of summoning more than one Persona.”

The older girl’s eyes widened. “I... I didn’t expect you to actually tell me.”

“Why would you not?”

“N-no matter. Did you name it yourself?”

“No.”

“Then where did its name come from?”

“Would you believe me if I said it came to me in a dream?”

“You can—Why am I even surprised at this point,” Mitsuru sighed. “Is anyone else aware of the Wild Card in any way beyond just... seeing you use more than one Persona?”

“Makoto-san is. He asked, and I told him. I also requested for him to remain secretive about it, and I am sure that he has not broken my trust.”

“Where did you tell him about it?”

“On the street, as we walked to Paulownia Mall.”

“That doesn’t explain how he knows...” the redhead thought aloud.

“Who does?”

“Have your memories been accessed by anyone since you arrived at the dorms?” Only one person she could be talking about, then.

“No, no one. The resting station is also incapable of storing them.”

“Then... have you ever uttered the phrase ‘Wild Card’ at all? Wait, this is an asinine question—”

“I would remember, Mitsuru-san. I have never spoken the phrase aloud, not even in my explanation to Makoto-san.” Apart from when she conversed with Igor, but that was not— “Wait. Apologies. I have spoken the phrase exactly once before.” The redhead immediately straightened her posture.

“But no one else should have heard it...” Aigis went on. “I was alone in my room, and everyone was asleep. Ikutsuki-san was certainly not present in the dorm at the time either.”

“There’s only one possibility left, then.”

“My room is bugged.”

“Not just yours, Aigis. Your room was never supposed to have a resident, and I supervised everything that was moved into it. No one would’ve had the chance to plant a bug since you moved in. The only possible option is that every single room in the dorms has been bugged beforehand.” A scowl marred her beautiful face. “Even mine.”

“But why would he do such a thing?”

“I have no idea, and that’s what’s bothering me. Be careful of what you say and do around him, Aigis. I have reason to believe he’s keeping things from us. From me, from SEES, and perhaps even from my father.”

Aigis knew of at least one thing the man was keeping from everyone else. Still... it was not something she wished to share, either. “I comprehend, Mitsuru-san. I will keep my behavior in check around the chairman.”

“And in any location within the dorms. Don’t say anything you wouldn’t want looked into when you’re there.” The redhead sighed. “I shouldn’t even have to ask this of you. You should get to be comfortable when you’re at home, but if I take out the bugs now, it’ll raise alarms in his head.”

“It is not your fault, Mitsuru-san. I am not fond of returning to the laboratory either. This only prevents it. I understand that not even your power can supersede everything that comes your way. Thank you for informing me.”

Mitsuru drew in a shaky breath. “Well then. Just... be careful, Aigis.”

“I will try.”

What did the chairman want? Aigis wished she knew. She couldn’t think of anything any sane person would want more than the dissipation of a phenomenon harming humanity on a massive scale. The idea of Ikutsuki wanting something other than this didn’t compute to her, but him keeping secrets from the rest of the group implied his goal contrasted theirs in some way.

Either way, he was one man, and Aigis was a walking military arsenal. If push came to shove, it would be child’s play to manage any issue coming their way. Of that, Aigis was confident.

-------------------------

Yukari had a problem.

A big, big problem. Or, well, more shopping bag-sized than enormous, but it was still pretty big and pretty serious, dammit!

“What do I do with all of these...? Ugh...”

The cakes and chocolates and sweets piled upon one another in the plastic bag clamored in unison, begging to stay with her, winking seductively and boldly showing off the images of what was underneath their wrappings, beckoning for her to take a bite, just one bite. They’d be good to her, they wouldn’t fatten her one bit, and they’d taste so, so delicious for their princess in pink.

“...That was more vivid than it usually is. I definitely have to pawn them off to someone now.”

“Takeba? Fancy running into you here.”

“Oh thank god you’re here, senpai.” Sanada-san’s surprised reaction was muffled by Yukari shoving her shopping bag in his hands. “Here, this is yours!”

“Wait, what?”

“Take them! If I look at them for even another second I’ll end up keeping them, and then I’ll end up eating them, and ughhhhhh...”

The boxer took a look inside the bag. “...Huh. I mean, sure, I’ll take them off your hands, but I can’t take them for free—”

“No! No, no, no, no! If you give me the money back I’ll just buy more!! That’s the whole point!!!”

Sanada-san blinked at Yukari in a most Aigis-like way. “...This is sounding more and more like an addiction, Takeba.”

“Yes! Yes it is! And you’re my only saving grace, so just take them away! Please!”

“And people call me weird...” the boy said under his breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, nothing... I’ll have to balance my diet around these, I guess. I’ve never actually been to that shop,” he pointed at Azuki Arai, just behind Yukari, “so I’m not the biggest expert on how to tiptoe around sweets.”

The brunette shrugged. “You can just pawn them off to other people, like I did. I don’t expect you to eat all of that on your own, senpai. You’re a professional athlete and all.”

“Don’t you eat all of this on your own? You’re a professional athlete too.”

“I don’t have self-control like you do, senpai...” Yukari whined, rubbing her arm. “Plus, I don’t reap all the gold medals like you do anyway. I like archery, but not enough to center my whole life around it.”

Sanada-san pursed his lips. “There really isn’t that much to my life outside of boxing, huh...”

Good fucking going, Takeba. “No, no, that’s not what I meant, senpai—”

“I know you didn’t. It doesn’t make it any less true.” The boxer sighed longingly. “Just... on par with the course for me, I guess.”

That’s a whole can of worms. And they don’t call me Yukari Takeba, Ace Can Opener for nothing. “You know, senpai. I’m doing nothing right now, and you’re doing nothing right now too. It’s a nice Sunday. Wanna go hang out or something?”

Sanada-san’s brows shot up. “...Hang out?”

“Yeah, you know, like friends do. We don’t really get that much one-on-one time, maybe we could fix that.”

“O-oh, like friends. Right, yeah, sure, makes perfect sense.” Of course his mind went there. Men. “Where do you have in mind?” he went on.

“Could always head to the shrine. Nice atmosphere, benches, no one around.”

“Yeah, sounds good. Lead the way.”

The walk was quiet. Yukari didn’t expect the boxer to be talkative, but... The silence had a weight to it that wasn’t comforting at all. She knew he probably wasn’t mad at her, there was no reason for him to be, but it still made her uneasy.

She was used to making people upset with her, after all.

Before long, they took a seat overlooking the playground. A little girl was playing on the seesaw happily, and a scrawny guy looking three times her age was pushing it up and down for her. There was no one else at the shrine.

“Wonder if they’re siblings,” she thought aloud.

“H-huh? Oh, them. I don’t know. You can never really tell. Even if they don’t look much alike, it could be the case.”

“Yeah, adoption’s always a thing.”

“Sometimes it’s not being adopted that makes siblings out of people.”

Stay quiet, Yukari. Let him talk.

Sure enough, the boxer drew a deep breath, and began to speak. “I know I probably shouldn’t burden you with all this, Takeba—”

“You can talk to me, senpai. Say what’s on your mind.”

“Seeing the Reaper... It’s making me think about some stuff. Stuff I didn’t really want to think about before. I used to talk to Mitsuru about this kind of things, but she’s dealing with enough as it is. You’ve seen how she’s acting recently. Just her own set of problems is making her bury herself under work to not think about it. What kind of friend would I be to pile my own issues on top of all that?”

He had a point, and Yukari ‘tsk’d in affirmation.

“You’ve met Shinji, right? Aragaki.” Yukari nodded. “And you know by now that he was in SEES, with me and Mitsuru.” And what a grand mystery his departure is. Just what did he do?

“Well, Mitsuru wasn’t always there, and we weren’t always in SEES. But it was three of us then, too.” Not getting any answers for that this time, then, Yukari sighed, before taking a look at the senior. His gaze was on the playground, but he wasn’t really looking at it. He had probably never really looked at a playground and seen a place meant for play. “He was in the orphanage before us. No one had adopted him, because he was a problem child right from the get-go. They said he was a bully. That he was scary, that he beat up the other kids. So I knew I had to keep Miki safe from him. I knew it was my job to take care of Miki, now that our parents weren’t around anymore. It was the only job I had. So, when one day Miki told me her little rabbit was missing, I did what I do best. I went out swinging, demanding it back from whoever had took it. It was a real ruckus.”

The boy chuckled drily. “It didn’t go anywhere. I was a scrawny, snotty boy back then. Not even remotely scary. No one admitted anything. Miki told me it was okay, that she didn’t mind, that she could find another favorite doll. But I didn’t care. I had to get it back, because if I didn’t, what the hell else was I good for? So I went to the devil, or the closest thing I could find to one. I went to the scary kid no one liked, and I told him my sister’s doll was missing and I wanted it back. He asked me, ‘You think I took it?’ I said no. I said I knew he was the one who could actually get it back for me. So he takes a long look at me, gets up, and walks right in the middle of the room. Then he yells out, ‘Whoever took the rabbit, better give it back now, otherwise I’ll shove ‘em so far up their own ass no magician’ll ever get ‘em out.’”

Yukari burst out laughing. “Aragaki-senpai said that?”

“Yeah,” Sanada-san replied with a faint grin. “Always a corny idiot. Was corny then, is still corny now. But when someone who looks like that threatens you, you listen. He got the rabbit back instantly. Gave it to me, then just went back to his bed like nothing ever happened. He thought that’d be the end of him dealing with a snot-nosed brat like me. But of course, what he’d done made him Miki’s new hero, and my new idol. Or at least, until I realized he was just as much of an idiot as I was.”

He drew in a deep breath. “Sometimes I feel like this is all a dream, and Miki’s gonna wake me up soon. Saying the nuns are divvying out chocolate today, that I should get up before Shinji eats my share.”

Yukari felt a lump in her throat. “...I’m sorry for your loss, senpai.”

“Don’t be. It’s been eight years, even if it doesn’t feel like it sometimes.” He finally met Yukari’s eyes. “I think Miki would’ve liked you a lot, Takeba.”

“I bet I’d have liked her a lot too,” she answered with a smile. “We’d both be shoving bags of sweets onto you. The greatest threats to your boxing career.”

“Hah. Who knows if I’d even box now if she was around. It’s funny. It was one day, and yet it’s led to everything I am today. Life can change in the snap of a finger.”

“...Yeah. I know how that feels.”

The little girl and the man accompanying her had left the shrine by then, and it was peaceful. Quiet. It was at that point when Yukari finally understood the kind of person Akihiko Sanada really was.

She hoped he’d never lose what he was fighting for now, like he had before. But then again, hope wasn’t worth that much anyway. It wouldn’t mean anything if she didn’t fight for it too, right by his side.

And to think she wanted to leave the team. Ridiculous.

“By the way, Takeba.”

“We’ve known each other long enough for you to call me Yukari, senpai.”

“Only if it goes both ways.” Seeing Yukari’s grin, he continued, “What do you think of Mitsuru?”

A shock went down her spine. “H-huh? Kirijo-senpai?”

“Yeah. What do you think of her?”

“W-what do I think of her? Um... Uh... She’s pretty, I guess? And hardworking?”

A smile spread on Akihiko’s face. “Go on.”

“A-and... uh... she fights good?” He nodded encouragingly. “Aren’t these just objective facts?! What do you want me to say?”

“Nothing specific. Just want to know your opinion on her.”

“I mean, she’s kind and stuff, and I literally owe her my life, but she’s just so... you know?”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, she clams up sometimes. Have you seen that? You know her more than anyone else, Akihiko-senpai. You must’ve noticed how she just... shuts everyone away when some stuff come up.”

Akihiko’s smile vanished. “We all have stuff we’re dealing with on our own. Don’t hold it against her.”

“I’m not, it’s just... weird. Sometimes she teases me like she wants to be best friends, but suddenly pulls back. It’s so weird.”

“Maybe she wants something else.”

“Huh?”

“Forget it. It’s not my place.” The boxer got up from his seat and dusted his pants, then picked up the bag of confectionaries. “I’ll let her know you think she fights good.”

“I-is that even necessary?! Shouldn’t she already know that?!” Why the hell is she blushing?

All Yukari got in response was a laugh as she ran to catch up with the older boy.

On their leisurely walk back to the dorm, though, Yukari’s phone pinged to alert her of a text message.

Fuuka

Kirijo-senpai left to her room. The command room’s empty now.

When will you be back? I’ll need someone to cover for me.

Here goes nothing, Yukari gulped as her fingers typed out a response.

Go for it. I’ll be back soon. I can get the other senpai to not go upstairs too.

I wish I didn’t have to do this, but none of you have been forthcoming. Not about the things you should’ve been, anyway.

If I want to get to the bottom of this, I won’t get my answers by being a shoulder to cry on.

...I’m sorry.

She pressed send.

Chapter Text

“Not that I mind bashing in a few Shadow heads, Ai-chan,” Iori-kun said, leaning on his greatsword which had its blade stuck in the floor, “but didn’t we already max out the new block? The tower isn’t opening up another section until the next full moon, right?”

“Practice makes perfect, Junpei,” Sanada-senpai answered with a roll of his shoulders. “I, for one, can’t wait to get back in there.”

“I could do without it, honestly...” Yukari muttered.

“We’re not here for mere practice, Akihiko-san,” the leader stated. “Fuuka-chan, can you scan Tartarus for life signs?”

“L-life signs?” Fuuka stammered. “Like... like humans?”

“Yes. I have... a hunch about something.”

The instant she summoned Lucia, she felt it. “No way... There- there really are people in there. Around floor forty, I think.”

“How’d you figure that out, Aigis?” Yuki-kun asked.

Aigis, for some reason, looked away to an empty corner of Tartarus’s lobby before responding. “People with Apathy Syndrome haven’t gone missing before. Especially not near the school. The police station’s missing people noticeboard is very informative.”

“Tartarus is luring people again...” Fuuka trembled.

“Don’t worry, Fuuka-chan,” the blonde replied. “I’ll make sure what happened to you will never happen to anyone else.”

The navigator’s heartrate quickened. She prayed Aigis wouldn’t notice it. With lines like that, how am I not supposed to swoon?

“Well, then what are we waiting for?” the boxer asked. “Let’s get in there and get them out. We’re on the clock, people!”

Aigis turned back to face the team. “Junpei-kun, please watch Fuuka-chan’s back. Everyone else, follow me.”

“Aye-aye, captain!” the boy replied enthusiastically, and waved everyone goodbye as they stepped into the teleporter. His energy disappeared the moment everyone else was gone, and he slumped his way to the stairs before plopping down on the second step with a sigh.

Wow, gee, that makes me feel so much better about not being able to fight, Fuuka thought to herself bitterly as she took a seat next to the teleporter and set up her navigation system. You could at least bother to hide how much you’d rather not be stuck babysitting me. Like I don’t know I’m a burden.

Why’d she have to leave you with me anyway? Why not... I don’t know, leave Yukari-chan here? At least she’s easy on the eyes.

Fuuka shook her head with a grimace. Wow, I sound like a perverted old man.

“Yo, Fuuka-chan. You got any games on your computer or something?”

“No,” she snapped before she could filter her tone. “This is my Tartarus setup that Kirijo-senpai gave me. It just has navigation software on it.”

“Damn. Lame.” Just as Fuuka began to refocus on her work, though, he spoke again. “Any... uhh, movies?”

I got movies, alright... Five password levels deep, though. “No, Iori-kun, I don’t put movies on a work computer.”

“Shit.” Okay, where was I... Right, yeah, let’s see if I can analyze this— “Not even space pinball?”

Oh my fucking god. “Please, Iori-kun, I really need to focus right now.”

“Oh, right, yeah, sorry.”

Junpei’s mouth stayed closed, but he wasn’t exactly quiet. He tapped his feet in nervous, uneven rhythms, hummed to himself, and sighed really loudly every once in a while. Worst of all, Fuuka’s headphones couldn’t filter any of the noise he made, so she was at a constant state of frustration she could do precious little about besides gritting her teeth and coping.

Eventually, the boy spoke again, and by then, Fuuka had gotten to a point where she welcomed the break from the repeated offenses against her senses. “Hey, this clock is weird.”

“What clock,” the girl asked without looking up.

“You know, this big white clock. I don’t think this thing is tuned right.”

Fuuka looked up. Indeed, Junpei was next to the grandfather clock that inexplicably existed in Tartarus’s entrance area, and his face was close enough to the clock face that he could kiss it if he puckered his lips. The girl frowned. “What do you mean not tuned right?”

Junpei stepped back from the clock to turn towards Fuuka, a befuddled look on his face. “It’s moving slower than it should. I ain’t got a good sense of time in general, but I counted to three before its second hand moved ahead. I’m pretty sure that ain’t how it should be.”

The navigator got up from her seat to take a closer look at the clock. Junpei was right; the clock was actually moving much slower than it should have been. But that wasn’t its only notable feature. “Why is it on 11:17?”

“Yeah, actually, that’s a good question. What does that mean?”

“It’s not going backwards or anything, so it’s actually calculating—” The girl’s eyes widened, and she rushed back to her computer. The time on the computer’s clock was 23:23, seeing as it was specially programmed to count back one hour at every 00:00 to remain in sync both in and out of the Dark Hour. “It took us around fifteen minutes to get to Tartarus.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s already counted 17 minutes. Which means it wasn’t slowed down before we were in the tower. It also counted another two minutes after we made it inside, which means it wasn’t slowed down while we were in the lobby.”

“Yeah?”

God, he’s dense. “It means the clock only slowed down when everyone went up. As in, actually inside the tower. The tower itself slows this clock down, for whatever reason, when there’s people exploring it.”

“What, so Tartarus is extending the Dark Hour or something? That doesn’t make sense. I’ve stayed home when the team went exploring before and I’m pretty sure it all went back to normal after an hour, like it always does.”

“It’s one of two things. Either the time dilation—”

“Hehe, dilation.”

What does that even mean? “Either the time dilation only affects the tower itself, or it’s been progressively slowing down time more and more the higher we explore, so we didn’t really feel it before. Actually, it’s probably both of these things. Maybe the tougher the enemies get, the more time Tartarus wants to give us to defeat them.”

Junpei put a hand to his chin thoughtfully. “So... Tartarus doesn’t want us to get stuck in it overnight? Tartarus wants us to have a lot of practice time?”

“...I guess so.”

“Ain’t it supposed to not want us to get stronger? Like, the Reaper was kind of a clear-cut message that the tower can and will kill us if it feels like it. Why isn’t it hostile all the time? Why let us train? Hell, why doesn’t it just lock the doors while we’re in it forever and never let us out until we die of thirst and hunger? I mean, I’d do all that if I was an evil living building that was a place to torture children both in real life and outside of it.”

Fuuka blinked. “That’s... a good question?”

“Why’d you say that like it’s surprising?”

Goddammit, of all the cues he’d actually catch. “I mean I hadn’t really thought of it like that myself.”

The two stared at each other in silence. Junpei broke it first. “Whatever. Holler if a Shadow jumps you or something,” he threw out before walking back to the stairs.

Yay, I love being useless and unable to fight. Thanks for throwing that in my face. That makes me so happy, the teal-haired girl thought angrily as she walked back to her laptop and took up her navigation position again.

Sliding her headphones on, she called out through Lucia’s mental link. “Is everything going fine? I had to step away for a second.”

“Yes, the Shadows are not posing any trouble,” Aigis’s beautiful, melodic voice replied. “I recognize their weaknesses instantly and our attacks are more than enough to demolish them. No need to worry about us, Fuuka-chan.”

Awesome, so I’m here for no reason. “Uh, that’s great! Good luck!”

She didn’t receive a reply.

“Yeah, I know how that feels,” Junpei called out. “Sucks when they don’t need you. I’ve been there.”

“I am needed,” Fuuka protested, but her voice barely echoed over the walls. “I’m the navigator.”

“And I used to be leader. Funny how that ended up working out.”

“Leader?” she asked disbelievingly.

“Yeah, believe it or not, this handsome devil was the field leader before everyone’s favorite cute blonde took the reins.” The smile on Junpei’s lips was faint, a façade of its usual self. “Those were the days. I led like a badass, Kirijo-senpai’s smooth voice was over the comms... You should’ve been there, seriously.”

Fuuka couldn’t help herself. “Well, gee, sorry for taking away Kirijo-senpai’s role.”

“Nah, not what I meant. You’re a better nav, like, objectively, and she’s better off fighting. Just, you know, it was a different vibe. Her ordering us around and shit. You get me?”

“I sure wouldn’t mind it if Kirijo-senpai was ordering me around,” she muttered.

“Yeah, you get it! It was kinda like being stepped on, you know? I miss it sometimes.”

“Like I need more fantasies about people I’m living with,” the teal-haired girl groaned.

“Ho-ho! Am I anywhere in them?” Before Fuuka could respond, though, Junpei’s brows wrinkled into a frown. “Nah, ‘course not. If you’re fantasizing about Kirijo-senpai, why the hell would I be in there?”

Fuuka physically felt her brain slamming on the brakes. “Wait, Iori-kun, what—”

“Unless you like both? Do you like both? Nah, that’s wishful thinking. Even if you did, why would you—”

“No, Iori-kun, I don’t—”

Junpei raised an eyebrow inquisitively. “I don’t like boys either. Why would I care if you don’t? Just means we got something in common.”

Fuuka blinked. “Huh?”

“Yeah. I don’t really give a shit if you’re gay. I don’t think anyone else does either. The way Sanada-senpai bats away all the girls, he’s definitely some flavor of gay too. And he’s, like, the coolest dude I know period. So yeah.”

All the girl could do in response was stare at Junpei in shock.

“Come on, is it really that crazy that I’m not a dickhead? I mean, yeah, I know my image, but it can’t be this bad, can it?” Junpei took off his hat with a weary sigh and ran his hands through his extremely short hair. “Oh, who am I kidding. My rep’s shot to hell and back.”

“I... That’s not why I’m...” Fuuka trailed off, realizing she’d be lying. She really had expected Junpei to be mean about it. He just came off as someone who would be like that. She knew now that she’d greatly misjudged him on every front, though. Particularly when it came to the boy’s intelligence, emotional or otherwise.

The boy didn’t look up at her. “Whatever. Don’t worry about it. I can keep a secret, I’m not that dumb.”

Of course he has self-esteem issues. Who wouldn’t if they were in his shoes? “You’re not dumb, Junpei-kun. I don’t know why you pretend you are, but you’re not.”

“It’s easier that way. Less expectations, more fun. Least, that’s what I thought.”

“Shows how much I know. I put my smarts on full display and now my parents pull me out of clubs if I don’t top every exam. I’d probably have it easier if I did it your way.”

“Not like my way worked out all that well for me. I mean, hell, you can tell just by looking.”

“Who cares about my opinion? At least you had friends before SEES.”

“Yeah, stupid friends. Like some doofus who thinks he can date a teacher and not get in trouble for it. Really big fan of having a friend like that.”

“I mean, hey, Ms. Kanou’s a looker. I don’t really blame Tomochika-kun.”

“Dear god, I’m surrounded by grandma hunters.”

“She’s only 26!”

“How do you know her exact age?”

“I... have the right to remain silent.”

Junpei snorted. “At this point, it’s hilarious how wrong we both were about each other. I didn’t think you knew how to have fun. My kind of fun, anyway.”

“What’s your kind of fun?”

“Stash under the bed kind of fun. Except yours is probably five password layers deep in the laptop, ain’t it?”

Fuuka’s face went beet red. How did he guess the exact amount?? “W-well...”

“Heh, there’s the confirmation. I think I’ve got some stuff you’d like.”

“I don’t know if I have things you’d like...” She’d never felt more embarrassed in her life. What was she even saying?

“Eh, doesn’t need to be back n’ forth.”

“How did we even get to this point in the conversation?”

“Who cares? We’re friends now. Ain’t that all that matters?”

Fuuka exhaled with a smile. “...Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.”

After a few seconds, Junpei put his hat back on and cleared his throat. “So, does this mean we can talk about hot girls with each other now? ‘Cause I ain’t got anybody to do that with. Kenji keeps talking about people three times his age and Makoto’s all about one specific girl and it just gets grating after a while.”

You know what? Screw it. What’s the point of being embarrassed about it anyway? “You’re shit out of luck, Junpei-kun—”

“WHOA! You cuss?”

“Of course I cuss. We just established that I do way worse already. Anyway, me and Makoto-kun like the same girl, so you’re probably gonna be hearing the same stuff from me.”

“You like Ai-chan too?? But what about Kirijo-senpai—nah, anyone with eyes knows she’s hot.” Junpei shook his hand as if to cool it off. “Hoo boy, is that gonna be complicated.”

“Yeah. He knows I like her too.” Fuuka’s lips fell. “Which probably means it’s doomed already. He’s gonna try harder now that he knows.”

“Could just confess to her first.”

“It wouldn’t work. She’s known him for longer. I need to establish a proper friendship with her first, then slowly gear it towards letting her know I like her that way, then confess.”

“Yeah, but there’s also the fact that she already likes Makoto. Like, she knows she likes Makoto. I... kinda helped her realize it.”

“You what?”

“Yeahhh... Sorry?”

Fuuka sighed. So it’s basically over. Yay. “I’m half-tempted to abandon this beautiful friendship we just established.”

“But you won’t, because I’m so charming and awesome, right?” the boy said with a sly grin.

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“Like you do?”

The girl sighed again, mood utterly shot. “Yeah... Yeah, like I do.”

Junpei got up from the stairs and came over to sit next to Fuuka. “Hey. Don’t do that.”

Fuuka looked up at the boy. “Do what?”

“Tell yourself you suck. Don’t do that. It makes you actually suck.” Junpei got a faraway look in his eyes. “I would know.”

“How am I supposed to take that advice if you’re not taking it yourself?”

Junpei blinked multiple times, snapping out of his daze. “...Shit, you’re right. Yeah, I’m fucking awesome, that’s what I am. Damn straight. Ain’t nobody rocked like me and you do.”

“Woohoo,” Fuuka said unenthusiastically. “The Awesomenauts, that’s what we are.”

“Hell yeah! That’s our name forever, by the way. Trademarked and coined by Junpei Iori Incorporated!”

“I came up with it, though.”

“And I just scammed you out of the royalties! Muhahahahahaha!”

A faint smile pulled Fuuka’s lips upwards. “I know where you sleep.”

“It won’t help you! I’ll use the royalties to hire ten trillion bodyguards!”

“Knowing you, they’ll be girl bodyguards. Since I’m a genius and master of interacting with people, I’ll seduce them all in one shot, and they’ll come to work for me without even wanting a paycheck. Then, we’ll all kill you in your sleep, yes, all of us will take turns to stab you, and after we forge your last will and testament, I’ll be the one to inherit the fortune you’ve amassed from the royalties you so abhorrently stole from me. That’ll make me as rich as Kirijo-senpai, and since I’m already drop-dead gorgeous, Aigis-chan will have no real choice but to fall head over hooves for me. But just for good measure, I’ll have Makoto-kun assassinated too so that he can’t get in the way of true love. And then I’ll take over the world with my beautiful bride by my side and the corpses of my enemies at my feet. As one does.”

Fuuka turned her neck to look at Junpei once her rant was done. The boy was staring at her with a look that was half awe, half terror. “Holy shit, Fuuka-chan. You have the mind of an actual supervillain. Please never gain any sort of power. Ever. Please.”

The girl laughed. It felt nice to laugh. And at that point, she decided something.

Junpei might’ve not liked having stupid friends, but she was going to be the dumbest friend the boy had ever had in his life. Bully for him.

-------------------------

On the TV screen, lasers flew past, actors in plastic armor backflipped all over the battle arena, and sparks came off of battle wounds rather than blood. It could not possibly be more fake, and yet Aigis could not possibly be more engaged.

“Why did I let you talk me into watching more of this?” Yukari groaned.

“Because you enjoy it very much, and you also enjoy my company, and these two things together create a most exceptional and enjoyable pastime,” Aigis replied without taking her eyes off the screen. Lord Sectorius’s plan had progressed so far, and the girl couldn’t wait to see how it would all fall apart in the last minute. The Feathermen would prevail, that much was obvious, but the how... That was something she simply had to see for herself.

“Hey, I don’t enjoy Featherman.”

“Yes. One does not simply enjoy Featherman.”

“No, that’s not—”

“Yukari-chan, your incessant stream of lies is breaking my concentration and your own as well. Please cease your telling of falsehoods and focus on the peak fiction unfolding on the screen, as they say.”

The brunette huffed, but didn’t say anything further. Just as the Feathermen fell for Lord Sectorius’s cunning trap and were imprisoned in his dungeons, the front door to the dorm opened, and in walked Makoto with Junpei in tow.

“We’re baaaack!” called out the boy in the baseball cap.

“That’s marvelous, Junpei-kun.” Aigis’s eyes had refocused on the TV once more after realizing who had walked in. “I will properly greet you in approximately four minutes.”

“Well, I was gonna give you this very nice,” a metallic rattle interrupted Makoto’s voice, “bag of fresh coins I just got from the bank, but considering you didn’t even say hi to me... Maybe I’ll give it to some other pretty android girl.”

Aigis was in front of him in seconds. “Hello and a great day to you, Makoto-san. It’s so very wonderful to see you. I’ve been missing you greatly since you departed from the dorm earlier this evening. How has your day been? I certainly hope it’s been fine. No, more than fine, your day can never be anything but—”

With a chuckle, the boy handed her the bag alongside Aigis’s own credit card. “Okay, okay, alright. Laying it on too thick, huh?”

“It can never be thick enough, I’d say,” The android replied as she opened the bag. “100-yen coins. This is incredible.”

“Isn’t that a bit much?” Yukari questioned as she lowered the TV’s volume.

Makoto shrugged. “It’s her allowance. I just got it for her from the bank while I was out.”

“Plus, it is certainly lower than if I were to withdraw the coins myself,” Aigis added. “I only ask Makoto-san for this once a week to prevent overindulgence.”

“I’d indulge more if I were you, Ai-chan,” Junpei said. “If it’s your idea of sweets, you should get to eat more. Not like you’ll put on weight.”

“Letting your desires control you is a terrible thing to do, I’ve been told. Moderation is key, always.”

“Ehh, moderation’s overrated. Get what you want when you want it for as much as you like, I say!”

“Perhaps I will. Perhaps I won’t. Who knows?”

Yukari sighed. “Not to yuck on your yum, but I still don’t get why you go for coins all the time, instead of, like, candy? Cakes? Chocolate? Hell, actual food, maybe? I know you don’t like fish, but chicken or meat? Why not go for those? Literally all you eat is coins. Far as I know, anyway.”

Aigis was about to respond normally, but an idea crossed her mind that would hopefully demonstrate exactly why she didn’t adhere to human culinary habits. Dissecting Yukari’s declaration into its individual words, she then formulated her response, and spoke it in the form of cut-and-pasted audio clips of the brunette’s own voice.

“[instead of, like, candy?] [I] [go for coins]. [instead of,] [Cakes?] [I] [go for coins]. [instead of,] [actual food,] [I] [go for coins]. [instead of,] [fish,] [chicken or meat?] [I] [go for coins]. [Why not] [go for coins] [all the time]? [yum] [yum] [yum].”

No one replied for several seconds, and the only sound in the lounge was Aigis crunching on three coins she popped into her mouth the instant she was done.

Junpei broke the silence, face scrunched up. “Makoto.”

“Junpei,” the blue-haired boy replied, face painfully neutral.

“I really, really want to laugh.”

“Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh. She’ll kill us.”

“They seem much more afraid of you than they are of me, Yukari-chan,” mused Aigis. “I wonder why that is, considering I am the one with the deadly artillery.”

“Prrrrobably because they know I’ll actually kill them,” Yukari said nonchalantly. “Not over this, though. This was pretty funny.”

“Ohthankgod,” Junpei rushed out before exploding into laughter, an activity Makoto joined him in immediately. As they laughed, Aigis glanced back at the TV screen, and realized that the end credits to the episode were rolling.

“Oh no, I missed the ending...”

“It was no big deal, Reggae and Vaporwave tripped on the Doomsday Doom Ray of Doom’s power cable and disconnected it just as it was going to disintegrate the Feathermen, then Lord Sectorius looked directly down the nozzle of the ray to see what was wrong, and at that exact moment Vaporwave plugged the ray back in and Lord Sectorius went bye-bye. Then they all saved the day and whatever.”

“That is... certainly one way to remove the show’s greatest villain from the equation.”

“Yeah, kinda sucks. Dunno why they even brought Reggae and Vaporwave back. They can’t be that popular, right?”

“I enjoyed their presence for the most part. They are amusing villains.”

“Yeah, but the stakes in Phoenix Ranger R are just way higher than those old lame versions. The tone’s way more serious too. They don’t fit in with this continuity.”

“I thought you didn’t enjoy Featherman, Yukari-chan,” Aigis asked slyly. “These are rather informed opinions, wrong though they may be. And to think we both started the show at the same time...”

“Hey, I don’t enjoy it because it keeps ticking me off! It’s not like I go into things wanting to hate them!”

“I believe you, Yukari-chan.” The blonde’s smug grin remained on her face as the intro to the next episode of the show began to play.

“Like I needed someone else to start teasing me. First these two knuckleheads, then Akihiko-senpai, now you... I need a break.”

“Summer vacation is almost upon us. Once we deal with this month’s full moon operation, we should have ample free time to enjoy ourselves.” Something was nagging at Aigis, though. Hearing Yukari’s last sentence had reminded her of something she was forgetting. But what...?

Junpei, finally done laughing, chose to re-enter the conversation. “Ooo, summer! Can’t lie, I genuinely forgot it was close.”

“You? Forgetting summer?” Makoto scoffed. “Who are you and what have you done with Junpei Iori?”

“Actually, I’m an alien from outer space taking your best friend’s form, thank you for asking. I come from a frozen, icy planet that has no summer at all, so I tend to forget it’s even a thing. Plus, since I’m madly in love with school and studying, I try my best to ignore the times I’ll be forced to spend without it.”

“Ah!” Aigis suddenly exclaimed. “I was supposed to speak with Mitsuru-san today! Oh dear, I completely forgot!”

Yukari’s face fell. “Damn. I’ll pause the show, you go and come back.”

“Thank you kindly, Yukari-chan,” said the android, already halfway to the staircase. “Don’t progress without me!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it!” the brunette called back as Aigis ascended the stairs two at a time.

Finally in front of the door to Mitsuru’s room, the android steeled her nerves (a metaphor she had become exceedingly fond of since learning it existed), and knocked on the door. “Mitsuru-san? Are you there? I sincerely apologize for my tardiness...”

No response came. Listening closer, Aigis heard the sound of running water from inside the room. Recalling the layout of Mitsuru’s room, the android realized that the girl was likely taking a shower at the moment. It seemed that Aigis had taken so long to remember she was meeting with the redhead that the girl had elected to bathe while waiting. Aigis would have to profusely apologize for wasting the older girl’s time.

To pass time, she busied her processors with queries. I do wonder how it feels to take a shower. I highly doubt the sensation of grime being wiped off of my chassis is in any way comparable to a human body achieving the status of cleanliness. After all, the bodies differ so greatly. Various bodily functions occur that affect this state as well; if I were to stay in my room for days on end, I would merely gather dust, but humans get much dirtier than I do due to the various functions and cycles operating their body. I’m sure it’s much more satisfying to clean off a level of dirtiness that is higher compared to what I experience.

There’s another difference as well, now that I think about it. My personal ‘default state’ is lacking clothing, and no one is particularly surprised to see me without them. However, humans are clothed at all times and only shed them for very specific matters, such as bathing. Even Elizabeth and Igor, beings from beyond this world, adhere to this societal norm. How very intriguing. I wonder why this custom came to be.

As this thought travelled through Aigis’s circuitry, a few squeaks signaled the shower turning off, and thus the blonde chose to knock on the door again.

“Yes, yes, one moment,” Mitsuru’s voice called out from inside the room.

“I’m in no hurry, Mitsuru-san,” she called back. “Take your time. I’ve wasted plenty of it already.”

“A-Aigis?! Oh dear, I completely forgot!”

A few moments later, the door was opened, and Aigis achieved complete and utter comprehension of why the custom of covering one’s body was invented by humans in the ancient times. Even obscured by a towel, the sight in front of her eyes was... “C’est magnifique, as they say.”

“Pardon? What are you—” Mitsuru blinked. She noticed Aigis’s line of sight. “I’m sure you haven’t forgotten where my eyes are by now, Aigis. They’re certainly not where you’re looking.”

Aigis felt a logic resistor melt. She hadn’t ruined her circuits in months. “M-my apologies, Mitsuru-san.”

“You’re still looking.”

Another resistor down the drain. The fans on the sides of her head began revving up to prevent an imminent overheat. “My apologies, Mitsuru-san.”

With a sigh, the redhead closed the door. “Give me a minute.”

Despite Aigis’s methodical and focused countdown of sixty seconds, the sight that greeted her afterwards was a fully clothed Mitsuru Kirijo, and it appeared much later than that.

“Try to look a bit less disappointed, Aigis,” Mitsuru said disapprovingly as she stepped aside to allow the android entry.

“I-I will.”

When inside the room, the two girls sat facing each other, and Mitsuru crossed her arms with a frown. “I know you mean nothing of it, Aigis, but... What you did is not exactly condoned behavior.”

“Naturally.”

“If you were Iori, you would’ve received some form of punishment by now.”

“Deservedly so, though for a different reason, I would assume.”

Mitsuru’s brows furrowed further. “Different reason?”

“Junpei-kun would be punished for allowing his perverted instincts to overtake his better judgement. My punishment, on the other hand, would be for looking at another girl in such a way.”

The redhead’s eyes widened to a size that distinctly reminded Aigis of the Velvet Room’s master. “Absolutely not.”

Aigis tilted her head. “I am wrong?”

“Of- of course you are. There’s nothing wrong with—How did you even come to understand—”

“People who are the same gender can pursue romantic and sexual relations with one another? All of my available sources implied otherwise.”

“The sources were wrong, then. Ignore every last one. What you felt was not... It was not wrong, Aigis. Just natural. And some natural behaviors and reactions are not to be broadcasted outwardly. You understand this by now, yes?”

“I comprehend. Readjusting internal logs documenting SEES interpersonal relationships based on new information. Reinterpreting situational contexts observed in the past based on new information.”

“Eh?”

Aigis blinked the instant her processing was finished. “You love Yukari-chan. This makes far more sense than my prior conclusion.”

Mitsuru broke into a coughing fit.

“Everything is so much more clear now,” the android went on. “This is truly magnificent. Thank you so much for enlightening me, Mitsuru-san.”

The redhead poured herself a cup of water from the pitcher on the table and drank it in one go before she answered Aigis. “You’re—you’re welcome, Aigis. Happy to help.”

“But how does the sexual side of the—”

“We aren’t discussing that right now, Aigis, alright?”

An uptick in heartbeat rate, a moderately flushed face, and dilated pupils. Mitsuru was clearly uncomfortable. That was fine. Aigis could do her own research. “Very well, Mitsuru-san. At any rate, I came here to discuss a different matter entirely.”

The older girl cleared her throat. “Yes, of course. I really do apologize for postponing this matter over and over. It’s high time I rewarded you with the dress I promised you’d receive if you were to do well on the midterms.”

Instead of jumping up and down repeatedly with a ridiculously wide grin on her face like she wanted to do, Aigis clasped her hands together with a modest smile and exclaimed, “Thank you so very much, Mitsuru-san.”

“Of course, Aigis. You’ve earned it.” Mitsuru quickly fetched a package from her closet and presented it to the android. “Here, see if it’s to your liking.”

Aigis unpacked the dress as fast as she could and stood up to hold it in its full height.

Her excitement evaporated like morning dew.

The dress was mainly a dark blue, with horizontal black stripes breaking up the solid color at irregular intervals. Thick stripes on the top, thinner ones as they went down, but then random mid-sized ones were slotted in without care or thought. In addition, the solid color patterns were also covered in horizontal lines of equal distance from one another. Neither of these patterns extended to the sleeves of the dress, even if they were the same shade of cobalt as the rest of it.

In short, it was the ugliest, most inconsistent piece of clothing Aigis had ever seen.

“S-so?” Mitsuru asked, attempting to keep her tone spirited.

“It’s... a unique article of clothing,” was the most polite thing the blonde could say about the dress.

“You don’t like it,” the redhead sighed.

Aigis pursed her lips. This felt like the perfect opportunity to tell a lie and not hurt Mitsuru’s feelings, but...

The dress was just so hideous.

“It’s alright, Aigis, you don’t have to pretend to like it for my sake. There’s a reason I don’t dress myself. I’ll be sure to ask for Takeba’s opinion when I purchase a replacement. Or perhaps you’d like to choose it yourself?”

“Yukari-chan has great taste from what I’ve come to recognize over time. I’ll trust her judgement.” She was not merely talking about the brunette’s clothing choices, but she also didn’t particularly want Mitsuru to realize this.

“Very well then. Is there anything else you’d like to discuss?”

Aigis opened her mouth.

“Apart from the thing I know you will ask about.”

Aigis closed her mouth.

“Then I’m afraid I’ll have to bring our get-together to an end. I have quite the hefty pile of work scheduled for tonight, unfortunately.”

“I could assist you in finishing your work,” the blonde offered.

“Thank you, but no. This one is something I’ll have to accomplish myself. I do appreciate the offer, however.” Despite her confident claims, the bone-deep tiredness in her eyes was not something one could miss, and her eyebags were not hidden away under makeup at the moment. She would have benefitted greatly from Aigis’s assistance, much like how she did in the student council, but...

“Very well, Mitsuru-san. I’ll leave you be, then.”

“It was nice to talk with you, Aigis,” the redhead said as Aigis got up to leave the room.

“Likewise, Mitsuru-san,” she replied before closing the door behind her.

What are you running from, Mitsuru-san? Aigis thought sadly as she went down the staircase back to the lounge. You can’t run forever. No one can. Even I’ll have to come clean one day.

Then again, neither of us wants to stop running today, do we?

Yukari’s voice snapped Aigis out of her thoughts. “Oh, Aigis, hey! You’re back!” Taking a look around the lounge, the girl noticed that Makoto and Junpei were no longer there. It was slightly disappointing, but not entirely unexpected.

“I certainly am.” But as the android took her seat in front of the TV once more, she noticed that they were most definitely not on the episode they were going to watch before she left. “Yukari-chan.”

The brunette hastily defended herself. “Look, you were gone for so long, I got bored!”

“Do you always remedy your boredom by watching shows you don’t like?”

“Um... Uh... Yeah! Yeah, I do that all the time! Mhm!”

“Junpei-kun’s tactics aren’t something you can execute very well, Yukari-chan. I’m disappointed in you.”

“I’m sorryyyy... We can just go back to the one you left on.”

“We most certainly will. And now you’re condemned to seeing episodes you just finished. You have no one but yourself to blame.”

But as Yukari went back to the DVD’s episode selection screen and made half-hearted excuses all the way, Aigis realized something. Something that, in hindsight, she should have realized far earlier.

Fuuka liked Aigis romantically.

...Oh dear.

Chapter Text

Aigis waved her friends goodbye as they went inside the train station to depart for the dorms. She was not going back with them today, for she had things she needed to do first.

Her first destination was the back alley behind the station itself. It was empty this time of day. Empty of people, mind you. It wasn’t as if a sickly little stray cat could go anywhere else.

Weak yet fond meows were her greeting and the complete message of such short syllables was not lost to her, for she knew all the small microexpressions of cats and knew how deep the well of meaning ran. Hushing the cat softly, she kneeled down and brought out from her bag a bowl, a bottle of water, and a can of cat food she’d purchased from the pharmacy. She did not pet the cat as it fed itself, despite how much she wanted to. It would be impolite. But of course, after the meal, everything was fair game, and she enjoyed the animal’s company greatly for the amount of time she allowed it to last.

She went to Bookworms next. The old couple were quite fond of her by now, and it had nothing to do with her being their biggest customer, or how she had stopped purchasing books recently thanks to the bookshelves back at the dorm, or how she helped them clean the store these days. They had resisted her offer to do so valiantly at the start, but no barricade ever lasted long against Aigis, and she had persevered in the end. Of course, with how diligently she visited them, there wasn’t much to clean anymore now. Once she was done, she asked if the couple had any board games in their stock. It turned out that their late son had been fond of tabletop gaming as a child, and Aigis left with a pile of games she had been forbidden from paying for. She’d pay for them, though, eventually. The couple would never see it coming, but they would get the money in due time.

She made it back to the dorm, and the games she carried inside surprised her friends. She stated that she was going to study all their rules and then play the most fun ones with the rest of them as a group activity, and no one objected. No one asked how she would determine their level of fun, either. They trusted her enough to not ask such questions by now, but sometimes Aigis wondered if they were afraid of getting too curious into her internal workings. Whether they were afraid that Aigis being forced to explain her state of mind would offend her in some way. It would not, but Aigis still loved her friends and appreciated their consideration for how she would feel.

Once the games were safely stashed inside her room, Aigis went back to the lounge to spend time with her friends. Makoto had finally beaten his track rival in a race today, and his joy and sense of accomplishment was infectious. Aigis was happy for him. It was hard to believe this was the same boy whose sentences rarely exceeded ten words back in April. He’d come so far.

When Akihiko proposed the idea of visiting Tartarus, Aigis rejected it. The full moon was close, and the team needed to conserve their strength to prepare for the operation properly instead of training when they truly did not need to do so. They were ready for anything that would come their way. Besides, Aigis had other plans for tonight’s Dark Hour, plans she shared with no one else.

Soon, the clock marked midnight, and the moonlit night was bathed in emerald green. The moon was almost full, and so the light was stronger and brighter than usual. It could be called beautiful, in a morbid sense. Anything could be beautiful if looked at the right way, the android had come to realize.

Her guest arrived shortly after, and Aigis greeted him with a smile. Pharos gave one in return, and asked if she knew why he had come here. She said yes.

She said that Pharos had come to play games with her.

The boy was surprised. He said no, that he had come to remind her of the ordeal that was to come very soon. Aigis laughed softly, and replied that if the boy was so all-seeing of anything the android did, he should have seen her rejecting her teammates’ offer of training for said ordeal just a few hours ago. She said that the boy had come because he wanted to spend time with Aigis, and that lying was not a trait to praise.

Pharos still did not understand; what games and why?

Aigis pointed to her tall stack of board games. She did not answer the why; the boy would realize it himself.

They spent the hour playing snakes and ladders. It was extremely luck-based and thus inconsistent in a way Aigis did not truly enjoy, but Pharos’s laughter whenever Aigis got bitten by a snake and descended several rows was innocent and beautiful, and so she enjoyed her time.

As the Hour was about to come to a close, Pharos insisted that Aigis allow him to clean up after himself. She let him do so, and the boy vanished alongside the emerald moonlight just as he placed the game back on top of the stack, with a smile on his lips that he’d forgotten about completely.

They would play Ludo next, Aigis decided. It seemed to involve a bit more strategy.

Lying on her resting station to dose off for the night, she thought of how the games they were playing used to belong to a vigorous, lively boy, just like Pharos.

Games from a dead boy to entertain Death. It was fitting.

Chapter Text

July 7th. The day of the operation.

“Well, here we go...” Junpei muttered as Fuuka summoned Lucia.

“There’s a Shadow in the city, just like we expected,” the navigator said with closed eyes, the ripples of water inside her Persona’s bubble giving her an ethereal appearance. “It’s in Iwatodai, somewhere in Shirakawa Boulevard.”

“Oh, that is the place I am not allowed to visit,” Aigis pointed out, if only to provoke reactions out of everyone else. It was a safe enough sentence to say around the chairman, anyhow.

“And that’s for a very good reason, Aigis,” Mitsuru deadpanned. The blonde disabled her facial expression module to prevent laughing out loud.

“So that’s why they’ve been finding the Lost in pairs lately...” Ikutsuki mused. “It all makes sense now.”

“Wait, where’s Shirakawa Boulevard again?” Akihiko questioned. “I don’t really go to that part of town.”

“...Don’t worry about it, senpai,” Yukari sighed.

“Oh, right, it’s where those hotels are,” Makoto realized. “Yeah, Yukari’s right, senpai. It’s probably not your speed anyway.”

Akihiko shrugged. “Fair. Why would I go to a hotel anyway? I mean, this place is practically a hotel itself.”

Aigis was so, so grateful that she’d disabled her facial expressions. Junpei, Makoto, and Fuuka didn’t have the same luxury, though, and guffaws, snorts, and barely concealed giggles filled the Dark Hour’s dead silence.

“Let’s all be mature, everyone,” Ikutsuki chastised. “They’re normal hotels, just more... exotic.”

“Oh, really?” Junpei said, sounding mildly disappointed.

Yukari rubbed her arm pensively and looked down to her shoes. “I... I don’t feel so good about tonight, honestly. Maybe I should sit it out.”

Aigis was surprised. Yukari had been rather motivated to be part of the next full moon operation the past month. Even with her gripes about visiting Tartarus to train on the same floors over and over again, she gave it her all nonetheless and had become a stable member of the team in her own right. Wanting to skip a full moon operation altogether didn’t seem like her.

Could it have something to do with the location? Hmm. Now that I think about it, I know so little about her past... I hope I can help her with it, whatever the matter may be.

Junpei, though, handled the situation like how he usually did. “Aww. You can be really childish sometimes, Yuka-tan. Then again, it’s not like I expected you to be a chicken either back then. The more you know!”

“If I ‘accidentally’ trip you right in the Shadow’s mouth, know that you only have yourself to blame,” Yukari growled. Well, there’s her determination back.

“So, Aigis, your plan for tonight?” Mitsuru said with a sigh.

“A party of five should be safe. One person remains behind with Fuuka-chan for protection while the rest of us go in as a united force.”

Junpei bounced on his toes. “Ooo! Ooo! Pick me! Pick me!”

“For what, Junpei-kun?”

“Fuuka backup duty! I’m an expert at that by now!” In a surprising turn of events, he then held his hand up high, and Fuuka promptly high-fived him after a moment of hesitation.

“When did you two become friends?” Makoto questioned.

“Don’t buy it,” Yukari said dismissively. “He’s probably just building up to the part where he hits on her.”

“Come on, Yuka-tan, you think I have enough game to score with someone who doesn’t like...” Junpei trailed off into a confused silence.

“...Doesn’t like what?” the brunette asked.

“...God, I recoiled just thinking it,” Junpei continued with a theatrical shudder. “Doesn’t like ramen. Can you believe it? Ramen, of all things!”

Aigis glanced at Fuuka, who did not look like a person that disliked ramen, or someone who would be happy about such accusations being made towards her. Once the teal-haired girl noticed Aigis’s gaze on her, she made a small ‘eep’ sound and flushed scarlet instantly. The android looked away, slightly confuddled.

What an odd lie. What could the point possibly be?

“...I’ll be sure to exclude ramen from our victory meal for tonight, Yamagishi,” Mitsuru said after a moment of silence. “Now that it’s all settled... Shall we be off?”

And off they were, to a place Aigis had long since wanted to see for herself. Sadly, it was just a normal street. As normal as things got during the Dark Hour, at any rate. They stopped in front of a hotel with a sign proudly presenting its name as Champs de Fleurs.

“Champ the floors? What, do they give the floor an award here or something?” the boy in the baseball cap joked.

“It means ‘field of flowers’ in French,” Mitsuru provided. “It’s also pronounced... not like that.”

“Wow, so the flowers are what the floor’s winning awards for. Cool.”

“In we go, then,” Aigis declared, and everyone followed her inside.

The moment they set foot inside the hotel, the entrance door slammed shut behind them by itself, making Yukari jump with a squeal.

“It’s infected the entire building already,” Aigis observed. “No point in checking the lock, I would say.” Junpei, hand already on the doorknob, returned to where he was.

A text notification from a phone pinged after the android was finished talking.

“That’s one way to end your sentences, Aigis,” Akihiko chuckled.

“That wasn’t me.”

Another text notification, and now that she noticed it, the source was Makoto’s pocket.

“That’s not supposed to be working right now, is it?” Yukari said with a tremble in her voice.

“It’s not our first instance of Shadows forcing technology to work during the Dark Hour,” Mitsuru pointed out. “Let’s see what it has to say.”

Makoto pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Okay, two new messages from ‘unknown sender’. The first one is ‘Who dares set foot inside my domain?’ and then, ‘Of course that wasn’t her, idiots.’ Oh, there’s a third now. ‘Good, so you can read,’ it says.”

“This one’s far more intelligent than the ones that came before,” Aigis stated. “That’s worrying.”

Ping. “Oh, I’m more than just intelligent.”

Ping. “I am divine.”

“You must be Hierophant, then?” the android asked. The chairman is such a fool.

Ping. “Correct, abomination.”

Makoto immediately objected to what he had just read. “You take that back, jackass.”

Ping. “Of course humanity would rush to defend and excuse its sins. Then again, she’s just a drop in the bucket. None of you is pure. Not a single one.”

Ping. “And for that, you will remain here for all eternity. That is my judgement, and it is far too small a punishment for you murderers, yet it is also all I can bear to bestow.” The murder accusation made Aigis’s Heart go cold. Did it know what she had done, or was it merely speaking of the previous Shadows?

“The Dark Hour ends in one hour, genius,” Junpei scoffed. “Not that it ain’t enough for us to find you and dish out some real divine justice, but even if it wasn’t, everything would just go back to normal anyway.”

Ping. “Oh, does it really? Could’ve fooled me.”

Fuuka’s face went pale. “Oh god. Does it have access to the same kind of time dilation as Tartarus itself?”

Aigis assessed her internal chronometer. After understanding the rules of Tartarus’s time dilation and how it didn’t affect clocks since they were still three-dimensional objects, a question was raised on how Aigis hadn’t noticed this; her clock should’ve been long since out of sync, but as they came to realize, it wasn’t. This brought them to the conclusion that somehow, Aigis’s chronometer could actually track Tartarus’s time dilation, which was why it had always marked the Dark Hour as a single hour despite how it hadn’t adhered to this timeframe in a long time. Of course, Aigis already knew of her internal clock adjusting to time anomalies thanks to Pharos’s visits, but she seldom paid attention to the progression of time while eliminating Shadows.

And just like with Pharos’s visits, her chronometer currently stood completely still. Not even counting an attosecond.

“It does. It’s also completely frozen time around us.”

Ping. “For your own sake, I hope you choose salvation quickly. I do not wish to see you suffer.”

“Choose salvation?” Akihiko asked. “How are we supposed to choose it?”

“It means death,” Aigis replied flatly. “It says that we should take our own lives before this drags on for too long.”

Ping. “A follower of the gospel? You are most interesting, simulacrum.”

Aigis did not deign the Shadow with a response. Being raised around wrong beliefs did not make her obligated to uphold them.

“I have a better idea. Instead of killing ourselves, we can just come and beat your ass!” Junpei threatened. “How about that, huh?”

Ping. “You’d have to find me first. Good luck with that!”

Aigis went for the immediate and obvious option. “Fuuka-chan?”

“Nothing. I can’t sense any presence in any part of the building.”

Ping. “Told you.”

Before Aigis could come up with an alternative solution, Mitsuru spoke in a clipped, bitter tone. “You’re just a coward, then. You won’t attack us yourself, you won’t sick minions on us, and your entire plan is to wait for us to either die of old age or take our own lives. And you preach of divinity? Laughable. Truly laughable.”

Ping. “You better watch that silver tongue if you want to keep it for the little time you have left.”

“But I have an eternity to myself, don’t I? It’s my time to spend, and if I choose to insult you with it, that’s well within my rights. After all, your punishment is just making us wait here. If you attack us in any way, you’d be going against your own rules. And would that really be divine of you?”

No response came.

“Damn, Mitsuru,” Akihiko said with widened eyes.

“It’s pathetic, just like the rest of its kind. At least Emperor and Empress had the guts to face me in true combat.”

Ping. “Fine. New rules. Find me, and we’ll fight.”

“How?” Aigis asked.

Ping. “Figure it out.”

“If Fuuka can’t do it, then what can we do?” Yukari wondered nervously.

“We’ll just have to tackle this the old-fashioned way,” Akihiko smiled. “Not like we’re short on time.”

“How are we doing it, though?” Makoto asked. “Are all of us just going around one by one in the whole hotel? That’s a basic horror movie setup. Even if we go with the old plan of leaving Fuuka and Junpei in the lobby, there’s no guarantee they’ll be safe.”

Ping. “I am nothing if not fair. The rules of your initial punishment have not changed. You are safe from harm until the hour of battle arrives.”

“And what makes you so trustworthy?” Mitsuru questioned. “In fact, what makes you the authority on judging the sins of others?”

Ping. “I am not free of sin. But I am also not human. Being human is the greatest sin of all, and it pales in comparison to all of your other crimes.”

Ping. “As for being trustworthy, you’ll just have to take me at face value. After all...”

Ping. “Blind faith is the final barrier between man and its original sin.”

“This fella’s got a real twisted understanding of what ‘trustworthy’ and ‘fair’ mean...” Junpei muttered.

“What’s the plan, leader?” Mitsuru asked, no sign of fear or doubt in her tone.

Aigis drew up on every bit of confidence she could find in her Heart. “The plan? We search every room, look for any clues, find the Shadow, kill it, and return home for our victory meal. Considering how time is frozen, we’ll make it back before the chairman even realizes we went inside at all. This is extremely ideal, all things considered.”

“You know, when you put it like that, it really doesn’t sound so bad,” Yukari remarked.

“That’s Aigis for you,” Makoto said with a grin.

Aigis smiled in return. She tried to make it as real as she could. She wondered if anyone could tell the difference. “Well, let’s begin the search, then.”

The team began exploring the first floor. Despite the Shadow’s claims, Aigis decided against the group splitting up; the last thing she wanted to do was trust the enemy. No door was locked, but that was little surprise considering the entire building was under the monster’s command. Room after room after identical room, they explored every nook and cranny, and Fuuka in particular kept her senses sharp in case something gave the Shadow’s location away. Unfortunately, the search remained fruitless, and the team’s mood fell with each failure. Many rooms also featured two or more coffins on the oversized beds, but the atmosphere was tense enough that not even Junpei cracked a crude joke over them.

Aigis’s dread grew and grew, and in the back of her mind, a treacherous thought began to take form. It asked her of what she would do if they never found a clue. If they really were to be stranded in this hotel for good. Would she execute her friends? She was sure to outlive every single one of them, so it was only logical for her to be the one to finish the job. But then... then she would be left all alone. Forever. Unable to take her own life thanks to her crippling internal protocols.

Aigis didn’t want to be alone.

As she did her best to stave off these thoughts, the search in the first floor soon came to a close with no progress having been made, and the team resigned to moving on to the next one. As they ascended the stairs, though, Makoto broke the gloomy silence reigning over the team.

“Oh my god. Wait. Wait.” Everyone turned to look at the boy, who had started fiddling with the MP3 player around his neck. He soon dropped it with a disappointed groan. “Goddammit, it doesn’t work. Would it kill you to extend the tech thing to my MP3?” he called to the ceiling.

The Shadow didn’t reply.

“I mean, I could sing. If you want me to,” Junpei offered.

“Please don’t,” Yukari sighed.

“The asshole chooses me to text but doesn’t give me any benefits,” Makoto said with a scowl. “Why the hell did it pick me anyway?”

“Because the rest of us left our phones at home,” the brunette replied. “You know, because they don’t work and we didn’t wanna break ‘em.”

“Why bother taking it out? You’ll just have to put it back in.”

“Again, I don’t wanna have to buy a new phone because a Shadow hit me in the wrong spot or Stupei swung his sword too wide.”

“Why’re you dragging me into this?!”

Yukari shrugged. “I don’t know, actually. Does anyone want to be dunked on instead of Junpei? Raise your hands.”

“I... think you can keep it the way it is,” Fuuka spoke up.

“Fuuka! I thought we were friends! The Awesomenauts??”

“I don’t know, Yukari-chan has a point with the whole ‘Stupei’ thing in my opinion.”

“Everyone’s turned against me... Ai-chan, tell me that’s the Shadow’s influence...”

“I’m sorry, Junpei-kun. I don’t think any aspect of what’s happening to you has anything to do with religion,” Aigis replied as they finally reached the second floor’s main hallway.

“I figured Hierophant stood for something like that,” Akihiko said. “With all the talk about sin and gospel and stuff. Sounded like the nuns from back at the orphanage.”

“Orphanage?” Junpei asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Yeah. I’m adopted now, but I was more or less raised in an orphanage.”

“Wow, guess all of us won the orphan lottery, huh?”

“Not me,” Fuuka spoke up. “Though that’s not saying much...”

“Both of my parents are alive and well too, I’m afraid,” Mitsuru objected. “Though ‘well’ is... not how my mother is at the moment.”

“...Sorry to hear that, senpai,” Yukari said.

As Mitsuru thanked the brunette, Aigis opened the door to a new room, and the team followed her inside and spread out to search.

“Anyway, you know some religious stuff, right, Sanada-san?” Junpei asked as he threw open a bedside table’s drawer and began examining its contents. “Any idea what it meant by ‘the original sin’? It made that sound real important. Even texted it in a whole other message, with ellipses and everything.”

“Well, the original sin is kind of a big deal in Christianity. Adam and Eve ate from the apple of knowledge and were punished by being cast out of Heaven and sent to Earth. God didn’t really want them eating that, and when they did, he got pretty mad.”

“I comprehend,” Aigis said as she laid down on the ground to look under the bed. “So that’s what the Shadow meant by ‘blind faith’. Unwavering trust in God’s word, despite a lack of proof or valid reasoning.”

“It can’t just be going against what God asked,” Makoto pointed out. “Yeah, that on its own is a sin, but it’s also practically what every single sin is. It has to mean something specific.”

“I’ve read many interpretations describing it as curiosity,” Mitsuru stated, opening the refrigerator to find more clues. “Wanting to know more than what was meant for you. They also specifically blame Eve for being curious, seeing as the Devil misled her first, and then she encouraged Adam to try the apple. Naturally, those takes reach the conclusion that women are to blame for all the woes in the world, because that’s the narrative they wish to spread.”

“Yippie... Like we need more of that,” Yukari groaned. “What if it’s greed? Wanting more is greed, right?”

“Hmm. I’m not sure...” Akihiko mused. “I honestly didn’t really pay attention all that much. I only remember all this because they kept saying it over and over again.”

“Even if we did know what the sin was, we’d have to interpret it to match our current situation, wouldn’t we?” Fuuka pointed out. “We’re already plenty curious, so that’s probably not it. And if it’s greed... Would we have to empty every mini-fridge in the building? I think that’s a little too ridiculous, even for a Shadow.”

“I mean, I could do that,” Junpei chuckled as he opened the bathroom door and stepped inside. The instant he went in, however, he froze up. “Yo. Yo, Makoto, get over here.”

“What is it?” the boy said, making his way across the room to stand next to the Junpei. He, too, became entirely motionless. “Holy shit. Oh my god.”

“Dude... does this mean what I think it means?”

“It gotta. It has to.”

“We can’t tell ‘em. No way we can tell ‘em.”

“Yeah. This we gotta keep to ourselves.”

“What are you two yapping about?” Yukari demanded.

Upon hearing the girl’s voice, the two boys whirled around with a whoosh, staring directly at her with widened yet empty eyes.

“Our transformation is finally complete...” Junpei drawled out, raising his arms over his head as the boys took long, slow steps out of the bathroom.

“There’s no hope for any of you anymore...” Makoto continued in the same tone as he covered his face with his elbow.

“Well, except Ai-chan...”

“Yeah, except her...”

“Yeah, real scary, you two,” the brunette said as she walked up to the boys, slapped them upside the head, and went inside the bathroom. “Oh. The mirror has no reflection.”

“Dammit, she’s a vampire too, it’s over,” the blue-haired boy sighed.

Junpei’s shoulders slumped. “An eternity of terrorizing the night but with Yuka-tan right there? Forget blood, this is more like sucking out all the fun.”

“Wait, the mirrors in the first floor weren’t like that,” Fuuka cried out. “This is it, this is the clue.”

“But is it an effect of this floor, or does it only extend to specific mirrors?” Aigis questioned.

“There’s an easy way to find that out,” Mitsuru replied as she unsheathed her rapier and held it up to her face. “My blade reflects my face. It’s that specific mirror.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Junpei said. “Let’s smash it!”

“I got this,” Akihiko rolled his shoulders. “Clear out, everyone.”

Once everyone else stepped away from the bathroom, Akihiko went inside and broke the mirror with one precise punch. The glass shattered, and black smoke rose from the empty frame once it did.

“That did the trick! I can finally sense a presence!” Fuuka cried out. “It’s faint, but I’m picking something up!”

“Everyone, we’re splitting up,” the android commanded. “Search the floor and break any mirror with no reflections that you find. Quickly!”

Crying out affirmations, SEES dispersed across the hotel to accomplish this task. Aigis was about to leave the room as well, but a system message flashing in her HUD stopped her.

Do you truly think this will make a difference?

Fear coursed through her circuits, slowly spreading to every joint, every function, everything big and small that made Aigis who, no, what she was.

I have seen the future, little pretender. You will lead them all to ruin. My facsimile of eternity is but a taste of what is yet to come.

I look forward to keeping you company when The Fall descends over this world.

Images flashed in Aigis’s mind, without permission, and without warning.

Pandemonium ruled over the world. Shadows descended over the Lost like vultures hungering for rotten flesh, and the people showed no resistance, for they no longer had wills of their own. The full moon, no longer green but its true and original shade, gazed upon the horrors from its vantage point in the sky, becoming a crescent grin of malice whenever it blinked. Then, from far into the horizon, Tartarus began to grow. It became taller, and taller, and taller still, until it pierced the moon right in the iris. The moon, which was no longer green, because the horrors of the world were no longer kept at bay by a single hour. The moon, which cracked open and cried tears of blood, tears that fell upon the earth like rain, running everything crimson. And Aigis could do nothing but watch, watch as the humans died, as the animals died, as the moon died, as everyone and everything died except her—

“Aigis? Aigis, we’ve detected where the Shadow is, where are you?”

She shouldn’t be here, she shouldn’t, she— “Fuuka, Fuuka, you need to run, you have to—”

“Aigis, your mind’s under the influence of something. Whatever you’re seeing, it’s not real, okay?”

There was so much blood, blood from the moon, blood from the corpses, blood from her friends, but none from her, as she had no blood to shed—

Hands descended on her shoulders. Cross-referencing the sensation returned a single match. The most important match. Her true purpose.

“Aigis. Aigis, it’s not real. Can you hear me? It’s not real. None of it.”

And Aigis believed him with all that she had, and the horrors disappeared in an instant, replaced by the face of the boy she loved so dearly.

“M-Makoto-san... You’re... I...”

“The Shadow hit you with something when we all left,” he replied, looking directly into her eyes. “We should’ve thought of it when it texted my phone. It can worm its way into technology, so that made you more vulnerable than any of us. You’re okay, though. It was just an illusion. Okay?”

The girl could not find it in her to respond verbally, overwhelmed with relief as she was, so she merely nodded.

“Alright. Fuuka’s detected the Shadow, it’s on the third floor. Waiting to get pounded into the ground by you. You feeling up to it?”

Aigis drew in a shaky breath. The action brought her no relief. The anger she felt at the pointless human instincts she was programmed with brought clarity to her mind, and her gaze sharpened. “Yes. This ‘eternity’ ends now.”

Makoto smiled. Aigis saved and savored it all. “Damn right. Let’s do this.”

A quick ascent of the stairs later, SEES stood in front of the hotel’s suite chamber doors, which were much larger and fancier than the other rooms.

“It’s still in there,” Fuuka informed. “Hasn’t tried to leave at all. Didn’t send anything outside either.”

“Its arrogance will be its downfall,” Mitsuru declared passionately. “Are we still sticking to tonight’s original plans, Aigis?”

“Yes. Especially now that we know the Shadow is capable of instilling great fear. It should be much safer if Fuuka-chan remains outside. With Junpei-kun by her side for protection, she should have nothing to worry about.”

“Let’s get this over with,” Akihiko said. “I’m sick of this hotel.”

With nothing left to say, Aigis opened the door, and the team stepped inside.

What greeted them was a queer beast, grotesque yet not at all terrifying, pathetic in its own special way. An extremely obese man-shaped creature reclined on a throne far too small to contain it, constrained by the chair yet relishing the pressure. Its garb resembled that of a priest, but the blue mask on its face that was emblazoned by the number V clashed with the red, white and gold clothes. The throne itself was something to behold as well; four-legged, quite literally, with the legs wearing provocative fishnets and stilettos. Additionally, a figure grew from the throne’s backrest, feminine in shape and entirely beige with a head shaped like a crooked six-barred cross. The feminine figure caressed the obese male with its long, shapely arms, and its head flailed around like a snake seeking prey. At the throne’s feet, two cross-shaped paper dolls stood at worship, begging to bow down and kiss their master’s feet, yet unable to do so due to their nature. The Shadow raised its head upon noticing the team, but laid it back down on its chest shortly afterwards.

“Nothing to say, huh?” Yukari spat as she nocked an arrow and took aim. “Don’t worry, you’ll be singing a real nice tune soon enough!” The arrow flew, striking the Shadow directly in the mask. The monster howled in pain, sounding almost as pathetic as it looked, before both figures rose their arms in the air to summon an orb of heavenly light. The orb was then launched directly at the brunette.

“Virtue!” Aigis summoned, and the angelic Persona appeared in front of Yukari to block the attack, repelling it back at Hierophant. Upon contact, the orb was absorbed by the Shadow, its tendrils of light crawling back inside the monster’s skin.

“It absorbs light and dark attacks,” Fuuka informed. “Otherwise, anything’s fair game from what I can tell.”

“Good!” Mitsuru cried out, before calling upon Penthesilea to bring forth bone-freezing cold. The monster did nothing to protect itself, cried out in agony once more, and summoned another ball of light to attack the redhead with. Predictably, this attack was also repelled right back at it by Virtue.

“My turn now,” Makoto said with a grin as he put his Evoker to his temple, but Aigis held up an arm.

“Wait. Don’t attack.”

Confused, the boy listened to Aigis nonetheless. The battlefield went quiet, with no attacks coming from either side.

“This is futile. For you, that is.”

Hierophant struggled to look down at Aigis, squeezing its fat neck down to lower its head painfully.

“You only attack the person who attacked you first; retaliate with what’s been done to you. Not to mention how your original plan was to leave us to rot with the passage of time. You don’t want to fight, do you?”

Ping. “...No.”

“Then lay down and die. Follow your doctrine to the letter. We can negate all of your attacks anyway, with the pace this is going.”

Ping. “...I do not wish to die. I am... afraid.”

“There’s only one way this night will end. With death, ours or yours. And the situation we find ourselves in only leads to the latter.”

Ping. “Then kill me with your own hands, deathless one. It is what you were made to do. Take my life yourself. If it is so inevitable, bring about this reality of your own free will.”

Aigis drew in a breath, and raised her arms into the air, taking aim at the Shadow. She loaded in bullets in her chambers.

‘Yet it is all I can bear to bestow’... ‘I am not free of sin, but I am also not human’...

‘I am... afraid.’

She did not fire.

Ping. “Go on. Kill me. Did I not strike great fear in your heart? Is it not what I deserve? End my existence.”

Still, she did not fire. But this time, another voice spoke up.

“I’m sick of this mind game bullshit,” said the white-haired boy. “Aigis, cover me with Virtue. Polydeuces, fry it to the core!”

Lightning struck, and Hierophant’s cries echoed over the room’s walls. Before it could attack Akihiko in response, however, Orpheus appeared to strike it with a ball of condensed flames.

“If we’re all guilty sinners, then we just won’t give you the chance to punish us,” Makoto said with a grimace. “Come on, let’s finish this!”

The beast attempted to prepare an attack, but Penthesilea interrupted it with a wide slash across the chest. Black blood stained the priest’s garb and splashed across the floor. The throne’s backrest attempted to stop the bleeding by holding its hands over the wound, but its efforts were made null and void by a fierce gust of wind from Io, who blasted the figure backwards with great force.

And so Aigis watched on as the assault continued, until the Shadow was ragged and breathless, the figures at its feet lost their vigor and fell to the floor weightlessly, and the throne’s figurehead became a lifeless statuette.

Ping. “Please... Mercy... I repent... I apologize for everything...”

“Enjoy your salvation, hypocrite,” Akihiko said with no pity at all, summoning Polydeuces one last time to deal the finishing blow, reducing the Shadow to dust.

“Well, that’s that, right?” Yukari asked, returning her Evoker to its holster. “Is time back to normal?”

“...Yes, the flow of time is restored,” the blonde replied flatly, staring at the field of flowers that surrounded where the Shadow used to recline. They must have been part of the room’s aesthetic, considering the hotel’s name. They wouldn’t be winning any awards any time soon, though, covered in black ooze as they were.

“Never thought I’d see you hesitate to kill a Shadow, Aigis,” Akihiko observed.

“...This was not an ordinary Shadow.” I am not an ordinary machine.

“Yeah, it was a guilt-tripping Shadow. That’s all it could really do, and you were kind enough to believe it. It was a monster, just like the rest.”

Aigis breathed in. The air was cycled back out immediately by her fans. It frustrated her.

Do I not truly live because I am deathless? Can I never reach salvation because of what I really am? What will I do when I’ve outlived all that I know today? What awaits me then? What awaits Hierophant, now that it’s gone?

“Aigis, you okay?” Makoto called out.

Approaching the large, decorated mirror on the far end of the room, the blonde did not reply. She walked closer and closer, and her reflection mimicked her step for step.

Humanity’s salvation is death. But what is its original sin? What is blind faith barricading away? What gave Eve’s word more value than God’s in Adam’s eyes?

She looked her reflection right in the mechanical eye, and in an instant, she realized the truth.

Love. It’s love.

From inside the mirror, Makoto smiled proudly, glad that Aigis was finally seeing things for how they really were.

Aigis raised her hand to touch the glass, to remove the one thing holding her back from claiming what she wanted most in all the world.

The moment her finger made contact with the surface, everything went white.

Like a beautiful, stainless wedding dress.

Chapter Text

Boom, smash, step on the glass

Better keep it moving or get left in the past

No chance, no hope for a change

If we can kill religion, then who else can we blame?

So save your breath ‘cause no one’s listening

Take away the choice, what have you got?

It’s better to be loved for what you’re not

I better shut my mouth, I’ve said too much

Just obey, pay the price, sell the dream

Don’t let the party die

- Don’t Let The Party Die, Sleeping With Sirens

-------------------------

Hi. Did you like the song? I hope you did. I like it a lot too. Lines up with what’s going on a lot, doesn’t it? That’s why I like it. Art imitates life, and life imitates art, and we all imitate each other in an all-devouring ouroboros until there’s nothing left. Perfect closure.

But enough of that. Let’s ask some real questions. Hmm. How about this one: What is love, anyway?

Everyone’s asked themselves that at least once. There’s as many answers as there’s people in the world. There’s people who see it through a classical lens; boy meets girl, sparks fly, birds start chirping, the works. There’s more open viewpoints; gender’s irrelevant, having sex is irrelevant, even the mere idea of romantic attraction’s irrelevant if you just really, really, really like your friends. There’s even people who don’t believe it’s real at all.

But what do I think? After all, I am love. Surely I have an opinion on myself, right?

As a matter of fact, I do.

Love is insanity.

Take room number 1, for example. A machine and a human, both thinking they love each other. Isn’t that just completely deranged to you? I mean, for crying out loud, she’s a toaster! Who let a toaster form individual thoughts?

Probably the same idiots responsible for me, actually. Isn’t that a scary thought? They made love, and death, and also a thinking toaster. That’s just downright hysterical. What will they come up with next? Someone actually loving the toaster back?

Oh, wait, they did come up with that. You’re a prime example yourself; why else would you be here, listening to me? You love her too. Oh, humanity never ceases to amaze, does it?

And what’s more, they even took the time to be angsty about it! He doesn’t remember the incident yet, but the machine does, and look how it’s eating at her. She would’ve taken everything she wants by now if it wasn’t for that tiny minuscule incident that birthed love and death and the toaster’s ability to think into this world. She wants it, he wants it, everyone wants it. But she won’t let herself take it, because she has a conscience and thinks she doesn’t deserve it. As if love is something to deserve. Ridiculous!

And speaking of thinking you don’t deserve things... That foolish, foolish boy. He’s deluded himself so badly, he thinks he doesn’t want things anymore. But he does. He wants everything there is to want. But he can’t stop lying to himself, because someone else lied to him first, and he thinks lies have a hierarchy. As if the first lie is more valuable than the second. Foolish, foolish, foolish.

Everyone knows lies don’t have a hierarchy. Lies are a house of cards. It doesn’t matter which one falters; they all fall together. Just like true lovers do. And of course, it’s completely crazy to abandon your own life once someone else dies. Which only confirms what I’m saying more, doesn’t it? That’s what love is. That’s what love does to people. That’s what I’ve done to them. That’s what I’ll do to you.

But, of course, I never said I don’t like crazy. What would I be if I didn’t love myself?

Nothing.

I would be nothing.

And love is real, right? Of course it is. Of course I’m real. I’m right here, talking to you. Talking to them. Talking to whoever I want to talk to.

So, because I love myself, and I love crazy, and I love loving, I’m going to let them make a choice. I’m going to ask them a question, and then make them answer it. Not just them, but their friends in the other rooms too. I’m going to ask the machine how far she’s willing to go to take what she wants, and I’m going to ask the boy how much he’ll let her take from him.

But not now. Now, we need to go to their friends in room number 2.

At least they’re both human this time. But that doesn’t make it any less crazy, oh no. If anything, these two are worse! Paradoxes upon contradictions covered with wrongness sauce. Girls who like other girls, but hate themselves. Girls who want things with such intense desires, yet don’t think they’ll ever have them. Girls who are honest with everyone except themselves. Girls who live so fiercely, and yet want to die, die, die, oh so badly.

How can you have so many things wrong with you but not realize it? How can you want things that clash with each other? How can you believe two opposite things at the same time?

The answer’s obvious. You can only do that if you’re crazy. If you’re in love. And they’re in love, aren’t they? Yes, yes they are, just look at their eyes. It’s all there. Eyes are windows to the soul, and their souls are little kaleidoscopes twisted by love and crazy and so much else, you can’t make any sense of it anymore.

But I can make sense of it.

I lied to you, back there. Love isn’t just crazy. It’s choosing to be crazy. That’s why I’m having everyone make a choice. You can only be crazy for as long as you want to be crazy. You can become sane, any time you want.

But what’s the choice here?

The older girl takes charge and responsibility and anything else she wants to take. But she never takes the opportunity to give in. That’s her choice. To surrender. To let the other one do anything she wants with her. Look, she’s already tying herself to the bed. I haven’t even asked her to make the choice yet! So eager, so lovely, so insane.

The younger girl’s choice is who to kill; the older one or herself.

Don’t act so surprised. You already knew she felt like she’d be better off dead. You already knew she blames the older one for everything wrong with her life. Her dead father, her whore mother, her wrecked life, her secret fears and silent tears, and that delicious little burning in her chest every time she notices how beautiful other women are. It’s all her fault. So why shouldn’t she pay for everything she’s done to her? People get executed for less, in the lovely, insane world of humans. And, of course, with so many contradictions up in the air, the only way to become sane again is to remove one of the lovers from the equation. You can’t choose to be insane if there’s nothing left to be insane about. But then again, you can’t love when you’re dead, either. So, whatever choice she makes, her problems will be solved.

And with the way she’s holding that knife as she walks up to the bed, I think she already knows what she wants to do.

But we can’t forget about room number 3.

You’d think he’s all alone in there, but he’s not. He’s never alone. That fire in his eyes? His sister’s still burning in it, after all these years. He can’t put it out. He’s too weak to put it out, so he burns and burns and burns. One day he’ll go ‘poof’, like a melted little candle, and that’ll be that. The end of his insanity, once and for all.

His insanity is one I don’t like. Not at all. Because he dares to contradict me. He chooses to love someone who’s long since dead. He chooses to be insane when there’s no reason left to be insane. You can’t be unreasonably insane! There’s always something. There’s always a method. It’s always something you can suss out. Nothing’s incomprehensible. But he? He goes against me. He goes against love, so he can love on his own terms. Who does he think he is?

So, he doesn’t get a choice. I’m just going to kill him. I’m going to show him what real love is, what real insanity is, and then I’ll kill him. I’ll kill him so good, there won’t be anyone left to love him when he’s dead. I’ll kill him just like he killed Hierophant, so that he can learn just how much I don’t love Hierophant anymore now that it’s dead and gone. He’ll understand it with every single worthless little cell of that despicable body he prides so much, and then he’ll be dead, and no one will love him once he is. Because you can’t love someone who’s dead.

I would know. I am love. I know everything there is to know about it.

Now, little navigator. Are you going to keep listening to my deranged ramblings, or are you going to get up, make yourself useful for once in your parasitic, meaningless existence, and keep your party alive?

Make your choice.

Make it.

Make it.

MAKE IT.

-------------------------

Fuuka lurched awake breathlessly. She wanted to scream, but it wouldn’t come out. Her vocal cords refused to listen to her. Why didn’t anyone listen to her? No one ever listened to her, no one ever—

“Fuuka. Fuuka, it’s okay. I’m right here. Focus on me.”

She listened docilely, like the sheep that she was, because she couldn’t do anything else, because she wasn’t good for anything else, because—

“Fuuka. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Count them one by one. Inhale. One. Two. Three. Four. Exhale. Good, that’s good. Inhale. One. Two. Three. Four. Exhale.”

The world cleared up little by little with each breath, and Fuuka finally saw what was in front of her. Junpei’s face, illuminated by Lucia’s waves and looking more serious than she’d ever seen it.

“J-J-Junpei,” she stuttered out, voice hoarse from overuse. “Junpei. Junpei, I—What’s—”

“Do you remember where we are? Think, Fuuka. Think. You’re good at that, way better than me. Come on. You got this.”

“The love hotel—The Shadow—It all went—Oh god, where’s everyone else?” Fuuka shot up to her feet as Lucia dissipated into blue mist. “Where’s the rest of the team?”

“We killed one Shadow, but there was another one. You detected it right as it tried to hit everyone else and pulled me inside Lucia, then you just... blacked out on the spot. The rest of the team was in the room, though, so I don’t know what happened to them. I was just trying to wake you up. You were... you were really freaking me out, Fuuka. Screamin’ and cryin’ and beggin’ and... and laughing...” Junpei shuddered, almost unaware of it himself.

“The Shadow... I know what’s going on with all of these Shadows. All of them, from the first up to right now.”

The boy’s eyes widened. “You do?”

“They’re not just the Arcana. They’re the reversed forms.” Fuuka started pacing nervously. “Think about it. Emperor and Empress, they’re guiding figures. They... they lead you, because they’re well-intentioned. They want you to prosper. Those Shadows... they just wanted submission. They just wanted to gloat, to have someone to bully. And Hierophant. Hierophant was guilt-tripping and preaching of no hope and indulging itself in sin. The exact opposite of what religion’s supposed to do.”

“Well, what’s the one we’re dealing with now?”

“It’s Lovers. Lovers is about making a choice. About listening to your conscience. And it’s about love.” The girl stopped in place, and looked at Junpei’s eyes with all the terror that she could muster. “It hates us. It hates us like nothing’s ever hated anything before.”

-------------------------

Here you are. The doorway to bliss.

Silly inner voice. Makoto wasn’t a doorway at all. Makoto was a person. A person that Aigis loved very, very much.

That’s right. Embrace your desire.

That sounded like a wonderful idea, so Aigis did just that. She took Makoto into her embrace, and it didn’t take even a second for him to do the same.

There is no future. There is no past. All that matters is what you want now. Take what you want. You deserve all the pleasures that were, are, and will be. Embrace your desire.

To hell with moderation, Aigis decided, and pressed her lips on Makoto’s. He didn’t even resist, and kissed her back with no hesitation at all.

It was everything she’d ever wanted. Everything and more.

Free yourself from your chains.

Aigis disabled the ridiculous internal functions that demanded her to behave akin to a human, the processes that made her blink, the processes that made her gasp, the processes that made her breathe. All pointless, all meaningless, all worthless.

Embrace your desire.

She deepened the kiss, hungry for more, desperate to take all that she could from Makoto in the little time they had left together.

Embrace your desire.

Makoto clutched her arm. She pulled him in closer. Makoto tried to shake her away. She pulled him in closer. Makoto’s lips tried to detach from hers. She pulled him in closer.

Embrace your desire.

He looked far more beautiful when his face matched his hair, Aigis decided.

“-gis! Aigis, can you hear me?!”

Aigis ignored Fuuka. Fuuka didn’t matter. All that mattered was Makoto.

“Aigis, Makoto-kun’s vitals are dropping fast! I think he’s close to your location, he might need help!”

Makoto? Vitals? Dropping? Impossible. Aigis could detect anyone’s vitals on her own, that was what her internal functions were for.

The internal functions that were currently disabled.

Aigis’s systems blared to life, and the instant she gained lucidity she threw Makoto away from herself. He landed on the soft bed that was, thankfully, behind the two, but he did not react. He couldn’t react, because according to Aigis’s vital analyzer, he was unconscious.

The cause appeared to be oxygen deprivation.

“Aigis? Aigis, please say something so I know you’re hearing all this. Please.”

“I... I...” What would she say? What could she say?

“Oh thank god. Aigis, the Shadow’s got almost the entire team under its influence and scattered them across the hotel. I can’t pinpoint any of you, but Makoto-kun’s signal is near yours. Do you think you can find him?”

“I... have visuals on Makoto-san. We are... in the same room.”

“...Of course, that—that makes sense, it said the two of you are in the same room, and that—Oh god.”

“What is it?”

“I think Yukari-chan’s about to kill Kirijo-senpai. Or herself. I’m tapping out to see if I can break through to her.”

“What?!” the android shrieked, but received no response. Lucia had departed from her mind, leaving her alone.

Alone with naught but herself, and the horrible deed she’d done, and all the consequences that would follow.

-------------------------

Here you are. The doorway to bliss.

This wasn’t bliss. This wasn’t right. Nothing about this was right. Nothing about Yukari was right.

Then fix it. Embrace your desire.

Mitsuru wasn’t her desire. She wasn’t. She couldn’t be. It wasn’t right.

What is right? What is wrong? Who decides that, when there’s no one left to guide you?

...No one did. Everything was right, and everything was wrong.

Then take it all. Take what you want, and don’t look back. Free yourself from your chains.

What did she want to take, more than anything? What was it that gnawed at the back of her mind every time she looked at Mitsuru and observed how her silken hair glowed such a beautiful shade of crimson under the sun? Every time her brilliant lips parted to speak such eloquent words with that mesmerizing voice?

Embrace your desire.

Of course. It was all so clear now. She was broken, and nothing could ever fix that.

Embrace your desire.

So if there was no way to heal her heinous, depraved mind, the only real option was to never want anything anymore. And the only way to stop wanting was to stop living. After all, it wasn’t as if anything Mitsuru had done could be as horrible as this.

Embrace your desire.

Yukari held up the knife, and aimed the tip of the blade at her stomach. From underneath her, bound to the bedposts, Mitsuru smiled, happy that Yukari had finally achieved enlightenment.

“YUKARI-CHAN, SNAP OUT OF IT!”

...Fuuka? No, not her. She couldn’t know. She could never know. If she knew, she would... she would leave her. Leave her alone, all alone with the letter and the darkness and the fear.

“God, I hope I broke through in time... Yukari-chan, please say something. Please?”

“I...” Yukari blinked. Yukari looked at the blade in her hand. Yukari looked at Mitsuru, tied up beneath her.

Yukari shrieked, threw away the knife, and moved far back enough to fall off the bed, curling up into the fetal position on the floor.

“Yukari-chan? Are you alright?”

“We’re fine, Yamagishi,” Mitsuru’s voice, smooth as satin, so beautiful —nononononostopstopno— replied calmly. “Both of us are fine. What’s the situation?”

“Oh thank god. The Shadow... It’s manipulated all of our minds and separated us across the hotel. Only Sanada-senpai’s left under the influence right now, I think.”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” the redhead said soothingly. “But just in case, why don’t you check up on him right now? We’ll rendezvous with you at your location once we’ve gathered our bearings.”

“O-of course. Me and Junpei-kun are on the third floor, in front of the suite. The Shadow’s still in the suite too, but we haven’t tried to go inside. I’ll check in with Sanada-senpai right now.”

Lucia’s presence washed away from Yukari’s mind, and she was all alone again. Except she wasn’t alone. Except Mitsuru was in the room with her, and she knew everything now, and it was all ruined.

“Takeba.”

She didn’t reply.

“Takeba, pull yourself together. You’re stronger than this.”

“I’m not,” she whispered.

Mitsuru didn’t immediately answer, and when she did, her voice came out ragged and choked.

“...God, Yukari, if you’re faltering now, how am I supposed to keep it together?”

“Huh?” the brunette muttered, raising her head to look over at the older girl.

“You think I—You think I’m calm right now? You think I’m fine? I’m not. But someone has to be. Someone has to get us all out of here alive. And you’re what keeps me going, Takeba. You’re how I can stay strong for the rest of us. So please, I’m begging you, don’t give up now. Because then I’d have to give up too. Please.”

Get up. It doesn’t mean what you think it means. Get up, Takeba. Get your ass off the floor and out of this room and never think about any of this again and it’ll all be fine. Get the hell up.

Finally, finally, her body listened to her, and Yukari stood up.

“I’m gonna shove that Shadow so far up its own ass, no fucking magician’s ever gonna get it out,” she said through gritted teeth.

“That’s the spirit,” Mitsuru said breathily. “Cut me loose first though, won’t you?”

And as Yukari picked up the knife and hacked away at the redhead’s binds, she thought of how Mitsuru could trust the brunette with a knife near her so easily after what had just happened. She thought of what the other girl could have experienced under the Shadow’s influence. She thought of how she didn’t remember tying Mitsuru to the bed. She thought of Mitsuru’s smile under her, filled with such odd, misplaced relief.

And then she gathered all of these thoughts, locked them in a box, and threw away the key.

-------------------------

From his place on the floor next to the staircase, Junpei watched Fuuka scramble over the comms, bringing people to their senses and frantically moving on to the next. And as he did that, envy burned in his chest brighter than ever before, because he was a pathetic, needy person who couldn’t stand others doing better than him.

Wasn’t even last week when she felt as useless as me. Look at her now. We’d all be long gone if it wasn’t for her. And what the hell have I done since I got here? Nothing. Sat out of the fight, didn’t do shit for the search. I mean, wasn’t I supposed to be her bodyguard? She saved my ass instead.

Why the hell am I even here, huh? What’s the point?

Junpei knocked the back of his head against the wall he was leaning on lightly. Least I still got the chance to get some good licks in against the Shadow. That’ll make me feel better. What did it even do to everyone?

Hey, that’s another thing you’ll never get to see for yourself. Just like the Reaper. Junpei Iori, the greatest benchwarmer the world has ever seen.

Before he could sink deeper in his misery, though, he heard rapid footsteps from downstairs. Their metallic echoes meant they could only belong to Aigis, so he got up to his feet and tried to plaster on his winning smile. It didn’t stick, but that was fine. Not even Junpei Iori would be grinning in a situation like this. He’d play it by ear.

The blonde finally arrived to the floor. “Hey, Ai-chan—” Aigis quickly walked past, not even sparing him a glance. She came to a stop in front of the suite door, near where Fuuka was working. Neither girl looked at the other. Well, that’s... Huh.

Another set of footsteps. This one Junpei didn’t recognize, but he could hazard a decent guess. He went down to meet their owner firsthand, and found that he was right; Makoto was climbing the stairs sluggishly, looking like shit warmed over.

The blue-haired boy looked up to meet Junpei’s eyes. “Hey, Junpei.”

“Hey, dude. You... look like hell, and I’m putting it real nicely. What happened?”

The boy’s tired expression folded into a scowl aimed at no one in particular. “Nothing happened.”

“We’ve done this shit before, man. It’s not ‘nothing’—”

Makoto harshly interrupted Junpei. “Nothing happened, got it? Nothing. And don’t try to fish it out of Aigis. If you try to talk to Aigis about this at all—”

“Okay, okay, man,” the boy placated, holding his hands up in surrender. “Nothing happened. We won’t talk about it. Got it.”

“Good,” Makoto said, before moving past Junpei to head to the upper floor. The boy in the baseball cap watched him stomp up the stairs one at a time with a frown. ‘Don’t fish it out of Aigis’, huh? I didn’t even know she was involved. Sounds like she did something you don’t want anyone else to know about. Lines up with how she was acting. But what about you? Who’s gonna help you with what you’re going through?

“You’re blocking the staircase, Junpei.”

Junpei turned around, and came face to face with Yuka-tan and Kirijo-senpai, who looked... way more okay than Makoto did. “Oh, hey, yeah, sorry,” he answered as he moved aside to let them pass.

“Good to see you on your feet, Iori,” the redhead said to him as she walked past. “Keep your spirit up.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t exactly... have to... deal with anything,” he trailed off after realizing neither girl was listening. Yeah, sure, senpai. I’ll keep my spirit up. As if that’s not what I’m doing every single fucking day.

He moved back upstairs with his hands in his pockets, and saw that Fuuka was seemingly finished with what she was doing, sweat slicking her face and her manic energy slowly subsiding as she took long gulps from a bottle of water. Kirijo-senpai kneeled next to her, softly patting her shoulder to help her calm down. Yukari stood next to Makoto on the other end of the room, but neither of them were saying anything to the other. Aigis was still staring at the suite door and ignoring everyone else.

He thought about cracking a Junpei Iori Classic, but... things had a time and place, and this sure as hell wasn’t an atmosphere you could smooth over with a joke. Useless even for that, huh. Figures.

The sound of angry feet stomping up and down made him turn around. Sure enough, it was Sanada-san, and he was pissed. Junpei hopped away to give him a wide berth, but he still growled out, “Get out of my way, Junpei,” as he saw the boy.

The boxer moved past everyone, not stopping even for Kirijo-senpai’s “Oh, Akihiko—” as he kicked the suite door open hard enough for one of its hinges to come off.

Inside the room was a creature that could only be the Shadow. A giant translucent red heart, with slimy pink wings that dripped on the floor. For whatever reason, it had a head covered with a mask on top of it. It let out a giggling sound when it saw Sanada-san walking in.

“You,” the boxer bristled as he came to a stop in front of the monster.

“Me,” Lovers gleefully answered in the boxer’s own voice, sounding nothing like him.

“I’m going to kill you. And I’m going to enjoy every fucking second of it.”

“What’s wrong? Can’t handle a few tough questions?”

Sanada-san pulled out his Evoker. “I’ll see if you can handle THIS! POLYDEUCES!”

Electricity rained on the Shadow, but it didn’t look all that bothered to Junpei. “Cute. I resist that, though. Ask the little leech before rushing in like that.”

The boy’s response was a guttural yell as he summoned Polydeuces again to bring down more lightning.

“Did I actually break you, or are you just that dumb?”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Another sound of shattering glass brought out the boxer’s Persona again, for another serving of thunderbolts.

“Akihiko, calm down and fall back—”

“Oh, I forgot. You hate the sound of your own voice. That’s why you never really talk all that much. Fine. Let’s try something else.” The Shadow’s next words were in the voice of a little girl that Junpei had never heard before in his life, and they chilled him to the bone. “How long are you gonna keep this up, ‘big bro’? It’s not like you can do anything on your own. Ask someone else to help you out with this. This isn’t what you’re good at, after all, right?”

Sanada-san froze.

“Good boy. Let someone else take care of it. How about you, back there? You, with the cap. You haven’t done anything all night, right? Come on, get a few hits in. Don’t let ‘big bro’ hug all the fun!”

Before Junpei could even register that the Shadow was taunting him, Sanada-san’s shoulders shook with barely concealed laughter. But when he laughed aloud, it was a short-lived chuckle that came out like a gunshot.

“You know what? I’m sick of pulling this fucking trigger,” he said as he threw his Evoker to the floor. Despite that, though, Polydeuces manifested behind him, seeming in deep agreement with its master. “Resist this, bastard.”

What happened next was easy to describe. Visually, anyway.

Polydeuces held its arm out, and a small white orb moved towards the Shadow from it. Upon making contact, it fell to the floor underneath the monster. Then, with the sound of a thousand jet engines, it expanded, covered the Shadow’s entire body, and detonated with blue smoke. Once the dust settled, there wasn’t a Shadow in the room anymore. Or any furniture, or an unburned surface.

Easy to describe visually. But the awe and terror in Junpei’s heart, that was what he had no words for.

Once Polydeuces vanished into thin air, Sanada-san also fell to the floor face-first like a log, and everyone rushed in to check on him. Fuuka yelled out that his vitals were steady but weak, Kirijo-senpai holstered his Evoker and chastised him for being so foolish, and Aigis lifted him over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry wordlessly.

And Junpei just stood there. Because he was fucking useless. That could just be his role from here on out, seeing as he was this good at it.

-------------------------

Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.

“Merry band of misfits, aren’t they?” Takaya said, delivering a mocking, slow applause from the rooftop across the hotel. Down on the street, the team of idiots Aigis was a part of walked away, each of them looking like hell in their own special way. “They made impressive time, too. Bravo, bravo!”

Chidori ‘mmm’d passively, eyes focused on the traitorous android. Apparently she was still stupid enough to care about her. Her loss. Jin couldn’t give less of a shit.

“What the hell gathered so many Shadows here anyway?” Jin asked. “There something to that place?”

“We could always ask our ‘friend’ for more info, seeing as he owes us more than a few favors. But recruiting more and more chosen, making forays to the Tower of Demise, and visiting certain locales with abnormal Shadow presence on a full moon night... Speaks of a greater purpose, doesn’t it?” The man turned to face Jin. “Only remaining question is... Does it align with ours?”

“Fat chance it does,” the blue-haired boy muttered. “If it did, he wouldn’t take her away. He’d just have us do it.”

“Brilliant observation. All we have to do now, then, is bide our time. The little of it we have left, at any rate.” Takaya’s eyes shone with malice. “Until then... a toast, to the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, and their flawless victory tonight. A most magnificent show indeed.”