Persona Series 1. Hamuko

**Hi. -waves- Ever wondered what the lovely kids of Iwatodai Dorm would have turned out like if they didn't have their Personas, yet were still all thrown together in the same dorm? That little idea kept poking at me until (with the help of the song XO by Fall Out Boy) this kinda came tumbling out. Eventually, I wanna have a one-shot for everyone in the dorm, but Hamuko comes first. (Aside: I like the name Minako better, but with Minato in here too that would just be...wrong.) When I first thought of this, I didn't intend for it to come out the way it did, but hopefully you'll all be satisfied with the way I characterized her and everyone else.**

**If anything confuses you, it should be cleared up in later chapters, but I made Aigis human...I couldn't justify a robot without the Dark Hour. ^.^;**

**WARNINGS: I'm not sure it's still considered a spoiler, but it'd be a hell of a hint if you haven't played the whole game before. And there are mature themes, I suppose. And foul language. **

* * *

_"It never calls me when I'm down_  
_ Love never wanted me._  
_ But I took it anyway._  
_ Put your ear to the speaker, and choose love or sympathy..._  
_ But never both."_

_-XO, Fall Out Boy_

* * *

They fit.

She always loved how her head rested perfectly on her twin's shoulder when he hugged her. They were opposites, in looks and personality, and it always amused Hamuko how people assumed they were dating before they knew they were related. But she couldn't blame them for the assumption; it was almost like the cosmos were playing a joke on them. They were even opposites on the color wheel, with her defined by reds and oranges and him strictly by blues. But they understood each other.

Sometimes she wished they weren't related.

"What do you think it would have been like if we met under different circumstances?" she asked one night when they were in his bed, one of their last nights before they moved yet again. This time to Iwatodai, where they lived before their parents died. Her memories of then were only vague expositions, ones she might have made up herself to feel remotely normal.

"What do you mean?" Their heads were close, and his hair had fallen out of his face and onto the pillow. It was rare that she could see his whole face, and she appreciated it for once.

"Would we be close? Would things between us be different?" She didn't allow her mind to complete the thought.

"I don't know," he said, his hand finding hers under the blankets. "We probably wouldn't be allowed to sleep in the same bed, though."

"Probably not."

There was a moment of silence.

"I'm not a virgin."

Minato blinked, confused. "I know."

"But we've never talked about it," Hamuko pointed out, not sure where she was going with this.

"Okay. Me neither."

"I know."

They blinked at each other. Wordlessly, Minato reached to turn off the lamp, but she could still see his eyes shining at her. She wished she could remember the same eyes on their mother, but that memory had long faded.

"How many?" he asked.

"Four."

"One."

The conversation ended.

* * *

She had adjusted to dorm life easily. It was a small dorm, nothing like she expected when the letter and brochure came to their aunt's house. Mitsuru was a matron, it seemed, always looking out for everyone in her weird way. Yukari was easy to get along with, but her crush on Minato was painfully obvious. She burned with jealously, but covered it by trying to push them together every chance she got. She didn't want him for herself, not even she was that fucked up, but he was still _her _brother and understood _her_ and he never did tell her who that one girl he fucked was.

Anyway.

Akihiko was a bit of an enigma. She noted how fine he was immediately and wondered if he would notice her (or fuck her, either would do), but Yukari warned her straightaway that he was either asexual or in love with Mitsuru. After a month, she had to agree. She'd worn her infamous shorts one day (that Minato actually hated because they were basically non-existent, but desperate times call for desperate measures) and he didn't even give her the usual double take. She gave up and decided to label him the patron.

Junpei was different.

They were fast friends, meeting after he spoke to her and Minato on a whim after school one day. He wasn't as outwardly attractive as Akihiko or even as her brother, but he was cute and he had a ridiculous charm about him that most people would find annoying. Hamuko thought it was endearing. He was like an open book, and it was clear he was enchanted by her. She noticed more than once that he seemed hurt and he even missed school a few days, but it wasn't until he was ushered in by Akihiko (still looking good in jogging shorts, damn boy) with a black eye that Hamuko understood.

She hugged him and he shook in her arms.

"Why didn't you tell me, you idiot?" she asked.

Junpei swallowed hard, looking like he was trying to keep his dignity but failing as his eyes filled with tears. "I didn't wanna worry you. It was…no big deal."

"You're an idiot, Junpei." She squeezed him, the sudden rush of affection startling her. She hadn't ever felt that much for a person, not besides her brother and she decided in that moment that she wanted to take care of him.

* * *

"Why haven't you tried to have sex with me yet?"

The question obviously floored Junpei. He literally dropped his COMPstation Portable and stared at her with wide eyes. "Say WHAT?"

Hamuko moved the player off of his lap and lay her head on it. They were alone in the lounge on a lazy Sunday afternoon and he had the perfect opportunity to get her naked, yet he hadn't. She was confused. "I'm serious. Why haven't you? Most would have tried weeks ago."

He blinked at her. "I know I like to joke around, but I'm a gentleman."

She sat up and grinned at him. "Does that mean you're a virgin?"

Now he blushed. "Um…no!"

"Shut up. You're a bad liar."

He turned an even deeper shade of red. "What's it matter anyway?"

"It doesn't," she said honestly, then leaned forward to kiss him. It took a bit, but Junpei soon kissed her back. It didn't take long before they were lying back in the couch, her hands in his hair and his hand making its way up her thigh. He didn't go very high up, though, and Hamuko couldn't say she was disappointed. This felt weird. Usually she felt nothing during this stage (which kinda failed as that was her general aim with sex…to feel) but it just…was odd. Junpei seemed to think so too, because soon he pulled back and gave her a strange look.

"Was that as weird for you as it was for me?"

Hamuko nodded. Junpei pushed himself off of her and she sat up, straightening her clothes. After a minute, she grinned at him again.

"Okay, nevermind. Let's pretend that didn't happen."

Junpei nodded. "Agreed." He picked up his COMPstation off the floor where it had fallen during their short tryst. Hamuko rested her head back on his lap.

"Does this mean we're just best friends?"

Junpei tore his eyes away from the game system and glanced down at her, then back at it. "Must be. We just friend zoned each other."

They both laughed and he ran an affectionate hand through her hair before focusing on the fight in his game. Hamuko marveled at the bittersweet moment, not quite understanding the bitter part.

* * *

Hamuko hated females.

It wasn't for the standard reason that they bitched too much or whatever the new stereotype for chicks was these days, but it was because they were just all…so…damn…predictable. Each time a new girl came around her brother, it took approximately .5 seconds for them to be in love with him. Minato didn't even bask in the attention like a normal male would, but he was never rude. Always smiling, usually humoring them at least for a while. She hated _him _sometimes too. He wasn't even interested in the lot of them but he still had to be there smiling and doing that goddamn hair flip like a stupid Pantene Pro-V commercial on legs and he _still _hadn't told her who that one girl was.

Aigis was a special case.

Confusion ensued when Minato returned one night with a beautiful blonde girl in tow. Already feeling resentful of the tender way her brother handled her, it took every ounce of willpower in Hamuko's body to smile and agree to help get her cleaned up. She looked like a deer in the headlights as they helped her into the bath and began washing her hair, and Mitsuru came in and nearly screamed upon seeing the blisters under her feet. Hamuko didn't care about her plight at the moment…amnesia, wandering the town for days, yeah, whatever.

Mitsuru told them to make sure her feet were completely clean to avoid infection while she went and made some necessary phone calls. Hamuko grinned at Aigis and picked up one of her dainty feet, fighting the urge to break every single one of her cute toes. When she gave her a few of her outfits to wear to hold her over before Mitsuru took her shopping, she hoped Minato would at least think of her when she wore them. (She made sure to give her the brightest orange she had, just so it would clash with her gorgeous blonde hair and maybe Minato would think she was ugly.)

She had just gotten used to Aigis and how her brother damn near _fawned _over her ("You've never had ramen before, Aigis? I'll take you to Hagakure sometime, just say the word." Cue million dollar smile.) but then matters worsened when Fuuka Yamagishi came into the picture. Apparently her twin had a knack for finding females in odd places, because he pulled her out of a locked storage closet. She wasn't as beautiful as Aigis, but she was tiny and cute even if she always looked sad. She didn't talk, like at _all _and Minato was the only one who seemed to have the patience to deal with her. It wasn't long before she was adopted into the dorm too, when she had been locked in the back closet of the gym for two days straight by some sluts that bullied her and her parents seemed totally unconcerned that their child went missing for that long. (But at least she had some, right?) Mitsuru's bizarre maternal instinct kicked in and Akihiko just seemed agitated that the dorm was becoming a makeshift orphanage.

(She had to agree with Akihiko.)

One day she saw them talking on the rooftop, back to back on a bench and her eyes burned because _they _used to sit back to back and talk. Hamuko knew she was being ridiculous, he was her brother, not her boyfriend, but he was still _her _twin and _she _was the one who had a special bond with him and maybe it was that one bitch he was always with in junior high that he fucked.

"Minato-chan, are we drifting apart?" She hadn't used that nickname for him since they were around 7, but she wanted to solidify that she was still the only one allowed to give him that suffix.

He looked over at her from his desk, his desk lamp hitting the back of his head and casting a shadow on his face. It was how she remembered their mother now; just blue hair and a shadow for a face. "What gives you that idea?"

"We never hang out anymore."

Minato frowned. "I suppose not as much as we could. How about we take Sunday? Just you and me?"

Hamuko grinned. "Sounds good!" But just as soon as she said that, her eyes filled with tears. "I miss you."

His frown deepened as he crossed the room to her, and she fell onto his chest and cried some more.

She wished he wasn't her brother so he'd pay her more attention.

* * *

"Have you ever wanted to jump off of a really high building? Not even to die, just to…fall. Feel the adrenaline. Get a rush, a high almost. To close your eyes against the wind and hear it whistle in your ears and try to smell it and wonder if you stay in the air long enough, you'll become aerodynamic. Then you don't have to be scared of hitting the ground because you never will." Hamuko turned from the ledge of the Gekkoukan roof to Junpei, who wasn't looking at her like she had grown another head like she expected, but rather had complete understanding in his eyes. "Because you morphed into a pterodactyl," she finished.

He laughed, and soon Hamuko was laughing too. He put a hand on her shoulder and they both looked out at Port Island, admiring the view.

"Yeah, I know just what you mean," he finally answered.

* * *

He had kept Chidori a secret from her for only a few weeks, but she knew something had shaken him when she opened the door for him one night in the middle of the summer.

Junpei crossed the room to sit at her desk, an uncharacteristically pensive look on his face. "Hamuko-chan…have you ever known someone in a psych ward?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Can't say I have." Then she smirked. "Are you in love with a loony?"

He smiled. "Shut up."

"I'm only kidding." Hamuko skipped across the room to sit on his lap. "Tell me about her."

"Most people wouldn't even think she's pretty, but I think she's beautiful." Junpei looked out of the window, that pensive look on his face again. "I wanna help her. I wanna take care of her, but…I dunno why. I haven't even known her that long."

She wasn't as jealous as she thought she'd be. Hamuko was mostly shocked at how mature Junpei sounded. "I need to meet this girl. She sounds like a miracle worker."

"I resent that." But he was smiling again.

* * *

When Hamuko saw her twin give Aigis a sweet kiss on the cheek, she "accidentally" poured half of the salt container into her bowl of soup she was preparing with Yukari.

* * *

Their next adoptee was a little boy, Ken. He was damn near the cutest thing Hamuko had ever seen, but he was withdrawn and silent most of the time, only animated when watching his favorite TV show Featherman R. While in the mall with Junpei one day, Hamuko saw an action figure of Featherman and bought it on a whim. When she gave it to Ken, his eyes lit up and he gave her the first real smile she'd seen from him.

* * *

There was a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. She watched as Akihiko walked in, a tall, thin boy with a purple pea coat hanging onto his shoulder. There were huge bags under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept since 1800 or so, his brown hair was messy and covered in an old beanie, and he was shaking. Everyone stared, confused, except for Mitsuru who seemed to be on the verge of tears as she watched Akihiko help the boy upstairs.

"What the hell happened to HIM?" Junpei asked, once everyone got over the collective shock.

"He—" Mitsuru stopped and cleared her throat. "His name is Shinjiro Aragaki. He used to live here with Akihiko and I a long time ago."

Minato stared after him, Hamuko briefly noting how his fingers brushed Aigis's on the chair between them while Fuuka sat comfortably beside him. What, were they having a ménage-a-trois? "He looks like he's lived a lot of life since then."

"Maybe too much," Mitsuru agreed, excusing herself.

Later, when everyone else had gone to bed, Hamuko snuck downstairs and stood at the door of the room Shinjiro was staying in. She almost went in, but then she heard Akihiko's voice on the inside and decided against it.

* * *

If she had never known that drugs were bad for you before meeting Shinjiro Aragaki, she knew now. According to Mitsuru, he had been on some pretty hardcore stuff, evidenced by the needle marks up and down his arms. Akihiko had made him go cold turkey, so he was either having hot flashes, cold flashes, throwing up, or all three. He had random fevers, it was impossible for him to keep anything down, and at times he could barely walk from how badly his body shook. Hamuko probably should have been grossed out, but…

She heard him retching in the bathroom. She was originally going down to Minato's room, but before she could think about it, she was in the bathroom and holding his hair back while he finished vomiting into the toilet. (It was a terrible yellow-orange, and Hamuko almost rethought her favorite color.) He gave a few dry heaves before he nearly fell backwards. Hamuko caught him, saddened by how light he was. They sat like that, Shinjiro still breathing heavily and Hamuko still holding his hair.

"Aren't you grossed out?"

"A little."

"Why are you helping, then?"

"I don't know," she said truthfully. "I just wanted to."

"What's your name?"

"Hamuko."

"Shinjiro. Nice to meet you. I've had better days."

Hamuko looked down into his face, and for the first time she could see a shade of what he used to be, underneath the dark circles and the dry lips and red eyes. He was handsome.

* * *

The worst of it was over after a little over a week. Akihiko kept trying to get him to go to a doctor, to rehab, something, but Shinjiro flat out refused. Gradually, he began moving around more and interacting (as much as he could, anyway, he was a bit socially inept) with the rest of them. Akihiko kept a close watch on him, not quite trusting him to go out on his own lest he repeated the whole cycle again, so Shinjiro became a permanent staple of the dorm. They were sitting on the couch alone one day (watching a cooking show for some reason) and Hamuko turned to him.

"What did it feel like?"

Shinjiro didn't have to ask what she meant. "Sometimes, I swore I could fly."

He turned back to the television and suddenly it wasn't such a mystery why people did drugs.

* * *

"You like him."

Minato said it plainly and without looking up from his homework or even taking out his headphones.

"No, I don't."

But he only smiled and continued working.

Hamuko dwelled on this for a while. She had never had a crush on someone before. Well, maybe the first guy, but after that it was nothing. But it _was _weird with Shinjiro. She simply liked being around him, and now that he was beginning to gain his weight back, she was becoming more and more attracted to him. It was different from being with Junpei or even Minato.

Putting this theory to the test, she knocked on his door later that night. He grunted from the inside, probably assuming that it was Akihiko since he was the only one that ever demanded entrance that late at night. His eyebrows shot up upon seeing her.

"Yeah?"

Hamuko closed the door behind her, suddenly nervous. Nervous? What? "I just wanted to talk."

"What about?" Shinjiro lay back on his bed, his hands behind his head. His pea coat was off for once, letting her know that yes, his legs really _were _that long. His beanie was off too, and his hair was sort of falling into his eyes. She wanted to cut it for him, but she also thought it was cute the way it was. She sat on the edge of his bed.

"I'm not sure."

"You okay?"

Since words were failing her, Hamuko chose the route she knew best. In one swift movement, she had turned and crawled up his bed, her legs on either side of him. He seemed to freeze, not quite knowing how to process what had just happened. She took his face in her hands and noted how the dark circles under his eyes were disappearing, but they still seemed dead. There was no light in them, no light in his life at all and she wanted to _be_ that light. She would be, if he'd let her. Everything she had been looking for was suddenly staring her in the face and she had a word vomit.

"I don't know what you've done to me, but I don't even want to fuck you."

He wasn't as confused as he should have been, but he simply brought one of his hands up to cover hers (God, they were _huge_) and smiled humorlessly. "We aren't that different, you and me. I took one way, you took the other."

Hamuko felt like crying. He understood. She didn't even have to explain, but he just _got _it and it was too much all of a sudden. She smiled, a real one. "I think my way was a safer."

"Yeah, well…mine was cooler. For a while. I'm glad Akihiko found me."

"I'm glad you found me."

He squeezed her hand. It wouldn't last very long; as soon as they broke eye contact it would be back again, but at least for these few minutes, her world made sense.

* * *

Her life had turned into a teen novel. It was too much too fast, but she didn't care. Both Minato and Junpei warned her that they should slow things down (frankly, she wanted to kick Minato in the motherfucking _balls _when he said that to her; he was one to talk, Mr. I'll-take-you-to-Hagakure-whenever-you-want-Aigis) but she ignored them both.

"I don't know how to take things slow," she argued to Junpei, hanging by her legs off of the monkey bars. "I'm like the wind and so is he. Strong while it's there, but it's gone just as quickly as it comes."

"The guy doesn't even go to school," Junpei argued.

"I didn't lecture you when you started dating your loony toon. Give it a rest."

Junpei looked hurt, and for a second she felt bad. But it passed.

* * *

Her hands gripped the headboard, resorting to stuffing his beanie in her mouth to keep quiet. It was Sunday afternoon and most everyone was out, but the last thing she needed was for Mitsuru to come home early and give them both a lecture. Above her, Shinjiro breathed heavily, his eyes focused on hers. She wasn't sure what made this different. She had been underneath her share of guys before this, just as she was sure Shinji had been on top of his share of girls. Usually her mind drifted somewhere in the middle, somehow channeling what was happening below to her head and using it to create images and pictures in her head of a happier time. But now, she was focused solely on him, on how his eyes changed from brown to green when he was concentrating or horny (or both) and how one hand gripped her thigh tightly and the other held himself up on the bed and how his hair that was getting too long now fell around his face and how his nipples were a bit darker than she would have imagined them and how he threw his head back when he came. She felt full of him, in every sense of the word.

"We didn't use a condom."

His nonchalance amused her and she burst out laughing. "I'm on the pill, don't worry."

Shinjiro turned on his side to look at her while she still stared up at the ceiling, coming down off of the closest thing to a high she'd ever felt.

"Akihiko and I grew up together. We met when we were just four, and his sister was three. Her name was Miki. She died in a fire, then everything fucked up. We left the orphanage and he was suddenly so far ahead of me that I couldn't take it. I left."

She understood. "Do you still hate him sometimes?"

"He wouldn't be my brother if I didn't want to punch that smug look off of his face most of the time."

Their day was spent in Shinjiro's bed. It was around 10 when he finally stood up and got dressed. Hamuko frowned.

"Where are you going?"

"I just want some fresh air. I don't think Aki will mind if I take a short walk if I promise to be a good boy." Shinjiro rolled his eyes.

"Don't be gone too long."

He smiled over his shoulder. "I won't be gone long. You can even stay in my bed."

Hamuko thought about calling after him, but she would see him soon anyway, so it could wait. She closed her eyes and sniffed the pillow, taking in his spicy scent and drifting off.

She was jerked awake sometime past 2am by a frantic Akihiko.

* * *

Hamuko lost track of time.

From the moment she watched the ambulance cover Shinjiro's cold, stiff body with the white cloth to when his casket was lowered into the ground, she wasn't aware of anything around her. She didn't go to school; she couldn't. She vaguely recalled both Junpei and Minato trying to talk to her, but she didn't even recall what they said to her. Everything sounded far away and everything felt like a dream. She heard Mitsuru crying into Akihiko's shoulder beside her. He was crying as well, but silently. Aigis hung onto Minato's arm, her eyes rimmed with red while he stood and watched like he couldn't quite believe it was actually happening. Fuuka and Yukari were somewhere behind her, sniffling every so often. Ken was holding Fuuka's hand. Junpei had an arm around her shoulders.

Surely this couldn't be real. He was just with her, just last week. He told her that he didn't want the drugs again, that he didn't need them. _She _was his drug, she was all he needed.

"You lied to me," she said aloud. Everyone turned to look at her, but she didn't care. "You said you'd be back soon. I didn't even get to tell you I loved you. I didn't even get to tell you I loved you. I didn't even get to tell you that I love you." She just noticed she was crying and that she had a headache. "I love you, you fucking idiot! Why did you…why did you do that? Why did you leave me by myself? Why did you lie to me?"

Junpei was trying to calm her, but she wouldn't hear any of it. It wasn't until Minato came over and hugged her tightly that she finally gave up. She sobbed unabashedly into his shirt. She sobbed until her head pounded and she swore she could hear the blood rushing around in her ears and then she sobbed more.

* * *

"How did it work? So quickly, I mean."

Hamuko looked up from the table. Akihiko was sitting across from her, absently fixing his boxing gloves. "Huh?"

"You and Shinji. "

"We both needed something, and we didn't have to look far to find it."

She didn't say anymore. Akihiko didn't ask for more than that.

From that point on, she and the boxing captain were friends.

* * *

It was strange how one thing could put your whole life into perspective.

Hamuko no longer seethed when she saw Minato and Aigis holding hands, or when he spent time with Fuuka. It hurt, but only because she missed Shinji and not because of any possession she thought she had over her brother. It all seemed a bit silly to her now, how she was about that. She approached Aigis in the kitchen one day.

"Aigis? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yes, of course, Hamuko-san."

She wasn't the only one who had changed, she noticed. Aigis was clad in a pair of jeans and a pretty blue blouse, one that complimented her eyes near perfectly. She was still a bit awkward, but the progress she had made was almost inspiring. "I wanted to say…that I'm really happy for you and my brother."

Aigis blushed immediately. "Oh…thank you. I…like him very much."

Hamuko managed a smile. "I know you do. And…I hope you find out everything you've forgotten."

Now Aigis smiled at her. "Thank you, but truthfully I do not even wish to find out anymore."

Her eyebrows raised. "Oh?"

"I cannot have come from far away if I made it to Iwatodai on foot. If anyone were missing me, Mitsuru-san would have found out by now. I don't know what it is I originally wanted from here, but I've found a new home and a new family to appreciate, and I don't long for anything more than such." Aigis smiled. "Although I do wonder if Aigis is truly my name."

Hamuko found herself smiling. Family, huh? "You're right. Thank you."

"For what?"

Hamuko stood and began walking out of the kitchen. "Just for the talk."

That night, she lay beside Minato in his bed, like old times. They stared at each other, their opposite color pallets reflecting in the other's eyes. Minato reached out to poke her nose.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm not sure," Hamuko answered truthfully. "I think my brain is threatening to self-destruct."

Minato seemed to hesitate before asking his next question. "Did you really love him?"

"I did. It's impossible to explain, but…" she shrugged, remembered what she told Junpei one day, about how she and Shinjiro were both like the wind. Irony, much? "I didn't think it was possible to miss someone so much."

"I think he got you in a way that no one else could. I may be your twin, but I can only give you so much," Minato said suddenly. "I might have been jealous, in an odd way."

Although her eyes were once again welling up with tears, she smiled at him. "It's okay, Minato-chan. No matter what, we'll always be together."

He smiled back and kissed her forehead. "Of course."

They were almost asleep when Hamuko remembered something.

"Okay wait. Minato?"

"Huh?"

"Who the hell did you have sex with?"

He laughed, as if he were waiting for her to ask. "Ayumi…remember her? From junior high?"

"I _knew _it was that bitch!"

* * *

"Junpei, why didn't we fall in love?"

The January air was brisk, yet the pair still insisted on being outside on a bench at the shrine. Hamuko's head was resting in Junpei's lap and he looked down at her, puzzled.

"I wondered that too. It would have been perfect, you know. We get along almost too well sometimes." He grinned.

Hamuko closed her eyes. She liked closing her eyes against the sun, because then the inside of her eyelids looked red. "Well, you have Chidori anyway. I just always wondered. Maybe we're soulmates in another life. Or at the very least…some bizarre, alternate universe."

"Where Akihiko-senpai is a high school dropout and Mitsuru-senpai is dirt poor."

"And Minato and I aren't related and Aigis has a memory."

"And Fuuka talks and Yuka-tan is an unpopular dork."

"And Ken is older than us, yet vastly immature."

When she opened her eyes again, Junpei was giving her a sad smile. "And Shinjiro-san is still alive."

"And happy," she finished. "I think he's happy now, though…wherever he happens to be."

"Yeah…I think so too."

They remained silent after that. Hamuko closed her eyes again, against the wind. It picked up and she heard it whistling in her ears, but a gentle one…like the kind that accidentally comes out sometimes when you're trying to say "Shhhh!" She breathed in deeply, so hard that the cold air hurt her nose and it was like a mixture of heaters and snow and candy and burning wood and whatever else people did in the winder. She wanted to spread her arms, to see if she had become either aerodynamic or a pterodactyl, but she didn't have to because she knew she wouldn't hit the ground no matter how fast she fell.

* * *

.

**Oh. And I obviously don't own Persona. ;) Hope you enjoyed, and congrats on reading that long ass thing.**


	2. Mitsuru

**Hi again. -waves- K, so Mitsuru is up next. It was surprisingly hard. Mitsuru is complex, but in a massively different way that what one is used to. So I'm not sure I encompassed all that, but hot damn I certainly tried. _ It was also near impossible to follow up Hamuko with anything because it was so, erm...profound? Also, the title of this is going to change, but I think I'll wait until the title I'm planning makes sense before I change it. Just for convenience sake. I also had the bright idea to start each chapter with appropriate song lyrics, as I'm easily inspired by music and actually this entire concept spawned from me being coerced by a song. I'll go back and add that to the first chapter one of these days.**

**WARNING: Massive hint if you haven't played the entire game. Just sayin'.**

* * *

"_Now, when you work it out, I'm worse than you._  
_Now, when you work it out, I want it too."_  
_Now, when you work out where to draw the line..._  
_Your guess is as good as mine."_

_-God Put a Smile on Your Face, Coldplay_

* * *

Although her hands gripped her knees tightly, Mitsuru kept her strong gaze on her father's face. Even with one of his eyes obscured by an eyepatch, he still managed to have an intimidating stare. They kept this up for a few seconds before he cleared his throat.

"What brought this about?"

Mitsuru swallowed before speaking. "I've been thinking about it for quite some time now. There are several…less fortunate students that I go to school with, and I think if it's within our power, we should help them."

Takeharu frowned. "What is this really about, Mitsuru?"

She immediately flashed back to seeing the two boys at lunch, sharing a small container of stringy looking stuff that Mitsuru wouldn't have thought edible if not for the way they were tearing into it. "We'll regret eating this early later," one of the boys had said, but Mitsuru could only see the back of his head. She'd never seen a boy with hair that long before. The other made a face. Mitsuru recognized that boy; he was on the boxing team. "We don't have a choice." She swallowed again.

"Nothing," she said firmly. "I was just thinking about it."

He looked like he didn't quite believe her, and Mitsuru couldn't blame him. This _was _totally out of the blue and her reasoning was slightly flimsy. Much to her relief, he didn't ask her anymore questions. "…I'll look into it."

"Thank you, Father." Mitsuru stood and turned to leave, but looked back before opening the door. "Is it alright if I invite people over for dinner tomorrow?"

Now his eyebrows shot up. "Who?"

"Friends. Just two."

Mitsuru saw his mouth open, and then close again. She could almost hear the question anyway, _"What friends?" _but thankfully he simply nodded.

Mitsuru nodded back and then left.

* * *

"I've never eaten that good in my entire life," Shinjiro was saying from the floor. Akihiko sat in one of the chairs across from Mitsuru, who was perched on the other couch. She had been embarrassed to bring them up to her room initially, because it looked more like a living room than an actual bedroom, but even if they had wanted to say anything, they didn't. Mitsuru found it odd that Shinjiro insisted on sprawling out on the floor when there were so many places to sit, though.

"You know it's not good to lie down on a full stomach, right?" Akihiko was grinning down at him.

"Oh yeah?" Shinjiro rolled over to his side.

"Because if you burp…you might throw up."

For some reason, the two boys found this hilarious. Mitsuru was lost on the joke, but was still fascinated by their interaction. She must have looked as fascinated as she felt, because Akihiko turned back to her with an apologetic look.

"Sorry. Thanks again for inviting us."

Mitsuru nodded. "Yes, of course."

"So why did you anyway?" Shinjiro had rolled again, so now he was on his stomach. He'd end up under the bed if he kept doing that, she thought absently. "Not that I don't appreciate it," he added quickly after Akihiko shot him a Look, "but…I mean. Why us?"

Mitsuru blinked back at him, then shot a glance to Akihiko. He raised a valid point. Why _had _Mitsuru felt so compelled to help them? This was their last year of junior high anyway, and while she would go on to Gekkoukan they would likely head off to a different school, that is if they could afford to get into a different school. She thought back to what she asked her father the day before, then remembered the stingy food they were eating and blurted it out before she could change her mind.

"How would you two like full scholarships to Gekkoukan High School next year?"

They both blinked at her like she said she owned Japan. (Wait, scratch that. Her owning Japan was actually plausible.) Shinjiro ran a hand through his hair, so now his eyes weren't as hidden by his fringe. Akihiko only kept blinking at her. They looked odd together, she noted. Akihiko was clean cut, with his grey hair cut short and his uniform nice and crisp…while Shinjiro had long brown hair that his face (which was actually pretty cute, if only he would show it more often) was hidden behind and his uniform was barely within school regulations. Akihiko was routinely showered in affection by fangirls after his boxing matches, while Shinjiro probably laughed at the term "extracurricular activities". Nothing about them should fit, but they worked so well together it almost seemed choreographed at times. Mitsuru wasn't sure if she was jealous or not.

"You're serious?" Akihiko finally asked.

"Yes, I am." Mitsuru straightened her back, looking at them each in turn again. "Do you accept?"

Shinjiro looked like he was hesitating, but Akihiko nodded. "Of course we do! We'd be idiots not to."

There was an awkward silence for a minute.

"Will you promise to feed us like this all the time?" Shinjiro was grinning again. Akihiko rolled his eyes, but he seemed to agree.

Mitsuru felt the corners of her lips twist upwards. "I think that can be arranged."

* * *

Although Mitsuru knew it wasn't necessary for her to move into the new dorm herself (and her father was avidly against the whole thing, her living alone with two strange boys), but she had told her father that Shinjiro and Akihiko needed someone there to watch over them. To be a dorm mother, as she had put it. Takeharu had pointed out that she was the same age as the two of them and therefore her logic was flawed, but Mitsuru had won out in the end, under the stipulation that he would send someone to check up on them every week.

"Have you ever been away from your dad this long?" Akihiko asked one day. Mitsuru was sitting in the armchair, reading a book. Shinjiro was on the floor (Mitsuru would never understand his affinity for floors when there were chairs right there) watching television, and he was across from her on the other chair fixing his gloves.

"Yes, only not like this. To be honest, I don't see him much anymore anyway. Business." She put her book down on her lap. Shinjiro hadn't noticed they were talking. "Why?"

Akihiko went back to fixing his boxing gloves. Mitsuru noted how long his fingers looked as he was doing this. "You just seem a bit lonely here, is all."

Mitsuru picked up her book again, but she couldn't concentrate anymore.

* * *

Time passed.

The dorm had become tense, and Mitsuru wasn't sure why. Akihiko began to train almost constantly, and soon he asked if it was alright if he moved a punching bag into his room. Shinjiro had taken to wearing a long, purple pea coat over his uniform, and it bothered Mitsuru that it didn't match with the beanie that he wore sometimes. Several nights passed where no one spoke a word to each other. She wanted to ask, just to know what had happened between Akihiko and Shinjiro that they no longer seemed to have the same bond they did when she first met them, but she supposed it wasn't her place.

Suddenly needing fresh air, Mitsuru stood up and placed her book on the table. Akihiko was sitting across from her, fixing his gloves as usual. His hands were shaking, though, a far cry from the usually pristine way his fingers moved as he stitched. He didn't even seem to notice that she had moved, so she walked past him, ignoring the urge she had to place a hand on his shoulder or his hair or just _something _so he knew that she was concerned. She sighed when she stepped outside, but stopped short when she noted Shinjiro sitting on the bottom stair, smoking a cigarette. When had he started doing that? He turned his head, but upon noticing that it was her, he looked back out at the street.

Mitsuru walked down the steps, her boots clicking loudly against the concrete. Cautiously, she sat on the stair above him. Shinjiro had grown quite a few inches in the time she had known him, so he seemed to be almost uncomfortably folded onto the stair. Neither spoke at first.

"Something eating you?" he asked abruptly, lighting yet another cigarette.

Mitsuru fought the urge to hold her breath. She hated the smell of cigarette smoke. Her father insisted on only smoking expensive cigars. "Not particularly."

He grunted and continued smoking. "How's Aki?"

The question struck her as odd. Hadn't Shinjiro seen Akihiko just a few minutes before? Then again, it seemed valid. She recalled the way he shook as he fixed his gloves. It was rare to see Akihiko rattled about anything. "I'm not sure."

He grunted again, then looked over his shoulder at her. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"When you said Aki and I could go to Gekkoukan…" he took a long drag. "Why did that invitation extend to me?"

Mitsuru frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Of course Aki would get it. He's Gekko's Golden Boy now." Mitsuru didn't miss the bitterness. "But me. I don't get it. Were you being nice?"

Her frowned deepened. "I'm not sure what you mean, Shinjiro."

Now he turned and stretched his legs. Mitsuru noted his boots. Now since when had he had _those_? He also had what looked like a bruise forming on his cheek. She recalled Akihiko and his shaking hands, and at least part of the puzzle came together right then. "You're smart, Red, think about it."

Had the situation been different, she would have smiled at the nickname. Shinjiro told her a million times over that he had never seen hair that red (and certainly not that long) until he met her. "Would you believe me if I told you I had never even really seen ramen until I met the two of you?"

Shinjiro huffed. Mitsuru interpreted it as a bit of a laugh. "Why am I not surprised?"

"I saw you two sitting there eating ramen and I asked my father if it would be alright if the two of you came over for dinner. I…" She stopped. "I don't know why."

"I think you and Aki will be okay," he said almost absently. Mitsuru started to ask what he meant by that, but he stood up before she could get it out. "I'll see you around."

"Where are you going?"

Shinjiro shrugged. "For a walk, I guess."

Mitsuru watched his back as he walked away, a goodbye dying on her lips. She watched him until his purple coat was no longer visible in the dark, and then she went back inside.

He didn't come back.

* * *

Adjusting to the absence of Shinjiro was an unspoken process. If Mitsuru ever accidently let his name slip, Akihiko became visibly upset, so they adopted the "it-never-happened" principle. Their conversation rarely steered in the personal direction, so Mitsuru never asked how he was really doing, as much as she really wanted to. Gradually, they grew and became independent, her father no longer sending Ikutsuki to check up on them every week. Akihiko had grown quite a bit; they were the same height when they met and now he had almost a full head above her. Mitsuru, too, had thankfully grown out of her awkward phase and felt more confident about herself. She was almost a senior when she went to her father about perhaps taking more people in at the dorm.

"It's a big place and once Akihiko and I move out, it'll just be sitting there," she reasoned. "Perhaps we can consider it?"

Takeharu nodded after a minute. "I admit, I'll be more comfortable if there are more people living there than just the two of you."

Mitsuru frowned. "Father, surely you don't think Akihiko—"

"It's not that," he said, and Mitsuru swore he smiled for a split second. "But it matters not. I'll agree, but we'll have to choose carefully. Preferably students that we…owe something to."

Mitsuru nodded, her eyes lingering on her father's eyepatch. "I understand. Thank you."

That night, Akihiko was eating ramen in front of the TV. Instead of sitting across from him like usual, she sat beside him on the chair. He looked over at her.

"Something wrong?"

Mitsuru met his eye and remembered what her father said, about feeling more comfortable if they were no longer alone in the dorm. Akihiko _had _turned out very good looking, but Mitsuru didn't allow her brain to finish that thought. "No. I just spoke to my father today."

"Yeah?"

"We might be adding some people to the dorm. For the new school year, that is."

He didn't react much, he just took another bite of his ramen. Mitsuru found that she was slightly disappointed. "Are they gonna be junior high kids like we were, or…"

"That I don't know yet. My father has yet to work out the details. He said he wanted it to be people we…owed something to, though, in his words."

Akihiko's face darkened. It was one of the few times they had ever discussed their pasts, with Akihiko briefly mentioning his sister and the orphanage and Mitsuru telling about the explosion caused by her crazy scientist of a grandfather. (Mitsuru supposed it was karma, for him thinking that using a high school basement as a place to conduct his crazy chemistry experiments was a wonderful idea. As a result, chemistry was her lowest grade.) "Don't let it get to you."

"What?"

"I know you," Akihiko said, gesturing with his chopsticks. "And you're already feeling guilty for something that's not your fault. Whatever happened to these kids because of back then is not your problem."

"Maybe not directly."

Akihiko sighed and Mitsuru leaned back onto the couch.

"But I will take what you said into consideration."

Akihiko seemed to think this was the best he could get, so he went back to his ramen. He froze before he put the next bit into his mouth. "Mitsuru."

"Yes?"

"Do you want to try some?"

Her eyes fell on the stringy noodles hanging from his chopsticks. Mitsuru's eyebrows involuntarily furrowed. "But I've never—"

"Yes, I know. I promise it tastes good." Akihiko held the chopsticks closer to her face. "Come on, Kirijo. You never back down from a challenge."

It was more his smile than the noodles that convinced her to move her head forward to take the stringy things into her mouth. Expecting it to taste as weird as it looked, she was pleasantly surprised to find it was actually very good. Upon noting her reaction, Akihiko stood up and walked to the kitchen, then came back a minute later with an extra pair of chopsticks. The smile was still on his face when he handed them to her.

Mitsuru smiled back.

* * *

Mitsuru couldn't quite place her feelings upon meeting and interacting with Yukari Takeba. She was the first on the list of people to move into the dorm, as her father had been one of the head chemists under her grandfather and was killed in the explosion. She was cute, dressed stylishly in all the latest trends Mitsuru remembered seeing in the magazines she sometimes read in her room. Both she and Akihiko helped Yukari move into her room, with Akihiko putting the heavier things in place while Mitsuru offered to help her set up the smaller things around her room.

"You can help me put my posters up," Yukari said, giving Mitsuru a friendly smile.

Mitsuru smiled back, but it probably looked a little strained. It was amazing how Yukari had so many posters of so many bands and singers, yet Mitsuru managed to not know a single one of them. (Even Akihiko mentioned something about a few of them.) Finally, Yukari stepped back and nodded approvingly.

"It looks good, yeah? Thanks for all the help."

Akihiko nodded. "Sure thing. Let us know if you need anything." He made to leave, but Mitsuru kept looking around. It was a lot smaller, yet it still managed to look homier. She swallowed before nodding.

"Yes, it's nice. We're right downstairs if anything comes up."

She followed Akihiko out of the room. He gave her a weird look, but she kept walking.

* * *

The Arisato twins were the next edition. They were both brilliant, but that seemed to be where their similarities ended. Her family had apparently done a number on their lives, since their parents died in an accident relating to the explosion and they had been carted around to family member after family member before they wound up back here. Minato generally kept to himself, but Hamuko was all over the place. At the beginning she had a less than subtle interest in Akihiko, which Mitsuru admittedly didn't appreciate too much, but luckily Akihiko was oblivious to everything and Hamuko soon moved on. But still, Mitsuru felt the need to be sure.

"What do you think of Arisato?"

Akihiko raised an eyebrow over his beef bowl. "Which one?"

"Hamuko."

"Um. I don't? But I suppose she's nice?" Akihiko was still blinking at her. "Why?"

"I was just wondering." Mitsuru picked her book back up and continued reading before he could ask any more questions.

* * *

That was to be it for the additions, but school had only been in session for a week or two when Akihiko came in one morning after his morning jog with a boy in tow. He had a nasty black eye, a hat, and a Gekkoukan uniform, but Mitsuru didn't recognize him. The rest of the juniors did, though, and Akihiko gave her a bit of an apologetic glance as he walked over to explain himself.

"It wouldn't feel right making him go back to wherever he got that from," Akihiko said.

Mitsuru nodded in agreement and watched as the boy (Iori, Akihiko told her) tried to keep a brave front in front of the other students. They could make an exception this time...

...But then a month later, Minato came back one night with a barefoot blonde girl in a dress far too thin for the temperature outside. Before Mitsuru could even ask, Minato came to her with a sheepish look on his face.

"I'm sorry, Senpai…but I couldn't just leave her. She seems to have amnesia," he explained. "She could only remember Iwatodai and the word Aigis."

Mitsuru looked over his shoulder. Yukari and Hamuko were already fussing over her, Yukari saying something about how they would have to wash her hair for days to get all the oil out. She sighed and looked back at him.

"Alright. I'll look into it and see what I can do about getting her some help."

He smiled. "Thanks, Mitsuru-senpai."

For another month, it seemed that it would remain the way it was, but this time it was Mitsuru herself who brought Fuuka Yamagishi to the dorm. She had been missing for two days (two!) and no one seemed concerned for her well-being except for Mitsuru. She had never seen such appalling behavior from a teacher and parents before and had Akihiko not told her to calm down, she would have had Ekoda's job.

The last time, she received a phone call from Ikutsuki about a young boy. He had been living in a dorm for elementary school children, but once summer vacation started they all figured it wouldn't be appropriate for him to stay by himself the entire break. From speaking to her father, they learned that Ken's mother had also worked for them at one point, but her death was caused by an unrelated car accident. Still, Mitsuru felt some sense of obligation to the little boy, especially upon meeting him and seeing how adorable he was, albeit a bit sad.

"If you need anything at all, don't hesitate to call on Akihiko or myself," Mitsuru was telling him once they had his room set up.

Ken nodded, his eyes on the ground. "Thank you for letting me stay here. I'll try not to get in anyone's way."

"It's not a problem. Please, make yourself at home."

When he retreated into his room, Mitsuru and Akihiko exchanged glances.

"Doesn't it…feel a bit like we're parents?" she asked.

There was a hint of a smile on Akihiko's face. "You should have warned me before getting off of the birth control, if that was the case."

She couldn't help her laughter, although the slightly uncharacteristic joke brought on a bit of a blush. "I'm not sure how I'll explain this to my father."

Akihiko laughed too at that. She realized then that she hadn't seen him laugh much since Shinjiro left.

* * *

This was awkward.

Well, perhaps awkward wasn't the right word. She hadn't stepped foot in this room for the full two years, but it was exactly the same as she remembered it…almost bare. Shinjiro was on the bed, shaking and under at least three blankets. Next to him on the bed was Akihiko, looking like he had a million things to say but not quite knowing how to say any of them. Finally, she couldn't take the silence anymore.

"I'm glad you're…alright, Shinjiro."

He made a sound, but since he was under so many layers she didn't really know what it was. "I take it you mean relatively."

"You're in no place to be a smartass," Akihiko chided, but he didn't look as angry as he sounded.

"Red's used to it." He coughed, then paused. "Yeah, I knew you two would be okay. You even had kids."

"Does that make you an uncle?" Mitsuru asked without skipping a beat.

"Guess it does. Didn't think you had it in ya, Aki."

His current condition was probably the only thing stopping Akihiko from hitting him. It was wildly inappropriate and honestly Mitsuru felt more like crying seeing Shinjiro looking so _gaunt _but she started to giggle. Akihiko leaned back on the headboard and snickered as well.

For a minute it was like Shinjiro never even left.

* * *

For some reason, Mitsuru was uncomfortable.

It was one of the rare occasions that everyone in the dorm was downstairs. Minato and Aigis were at the table, their heads close together as he explained a math problem to her. Fuuka was across the table from them, doing her own homework. Akihiko was at the breakfast bar, alternating between eating ramen and stitching his gloves. Ken, Yukari, and Junpei were on one couch, with her doing her nails and Junpei playing his handheld system, every so often checking his cell phone. Ken was watching Junpei's game over his arm. Then there was the scene on the couch adjacent to her.

Hamuko and Shinjiro were both lying down, her settled comfortably between his legs as they both watched TV. Their hands were laced together over her stomach, and even when she let go to gesture with her hands they settled back on her stomach and he took it again. No one else seemed to even notice their open display of affection (save Yukari who would look up from her nails and smile every so often), but Mitsuru found she couldn't even concentrate on her book with them like that. Their closeness was no surprise to her, everyone saw it coming from a mile away; but she didn't peg Shinjiro as the affectionate type before now. He even looked content (…as content as he could look when he was still too many pounds underweight).

Her eyes ran across the room to find Akihiko at the bar, still concentrated on his gloves.

On a whim, she stood and marched across the room to join him. He over at her, seeming a bit startled at her sudden appearance.

"Something wrong?"

"I'm engaged," she blurted.

He swore as he lost his grip on the gloves and they went tumbling into his ramen bowl. Mitsuru narrowly missed getting hit by stray ramen as it scattered across the bar. Mitsuru reached to get paper towels to help clean it, but he shook his head.

"No, no, I got it. Sorry." Akihiko's face was completely red. Their hands brushed as he reached past her to get the paper towels and Mitsuru snapped her hand back. He wasn't looking at her anymore. "When did that happen?"

"Recently. My father arranged the whole thing. I haven't met my fiancé yet, but he assures me he's a…nice man. I meant to tell you sooner, but with the return of Shinjiro it was overshadowed."

Akihiko continued to mop up the spilled ramen, muttering when he noticed the stain on his gloves. She started to ask if he wanted help cleaning them, but he spoke before she could offer. "That's, um...great. Short notice, though."

Mitsuru was still staring at his gloves. "Yes, I know. But that's how it works in my family…as you know. I just wanted you to be aware."

"Yeah well. Thanks. For telling me."

He wouldn't look at her now. She stood up and swallowed hard. "My parents had an arranged marriage as well. My father said that…over time…they grew to love each other very much." She wasn't sure why she was telling him this.

"I'm sure you'll get lucky like that too," he said, too quickly. "I mean it's not like—" He stopped. Now he looked at his gloves a bit forlornly. "Shit."

"I can help you clean them. I can send them to—"

"It's alright. I can do it myself." Akihiko stood and picked up both his bowl and his stained gloves. He didn't look at her as he headed into the kitchen to put his bowl away.

Mitsuru started to go back to her book, but at the last second she turned and went upstairs to her room, suddenly not wanting to look at Shinjiro and Hamuko cuddle in the chair.

* * *

Mitsuru didn't know what time it was, but it was pitch black in her room when the knock came. Groggily, she sat up, but the knocking didn't stop. Too tired to register that something was probably wrong, she put on her robe and shuffled to the door to open it.

"Akihiko?" She squinted against the light in the hallway.

He nearly collapsed into her, catching her completely off guard and nearly sending them toppling over. His body was shaking, heaving almost, and it took her a good minute to realize that he was _crying_. Now she was alarmed.

"Akihiko, what happened?"

She couldn't understand much of what he was saying, between his tears and the fact that his face was in her neck. She barely caught the words "Shinjiro" and "found" and maybe "gone". "I'm sorry, what?"

"Shinji's gone," he finally coughed. "That stupid…fucking idiot…he's…"

"Gone _where_?" Had he left again? But why would it make Akihiko that upset? The obvious didn't click in her brain until he pulled back to look at her. The dead, defeated look in his eyes told her everything she needed to know.

Too shocked to be upset or to even ask _how _or _why_, she only led him over to one of the couches and pulled him back to her. She lost track of how long he cried for, not minding when his fingers tangled in her hair or even when he pulled a bit.

* * *

Takeharu leaned across his desk, his gaze hardening. Mitsuru didn't flinch, she only met his gaze with the same intensity. "What caused the sudden change?"

"To be honest, I was never thrilled about the idea. But my marriage is not pivotal to the success of the company. I've already looked through the information myself and our stocks are perfectly stable without a marriage between the two families. And especially since it will be quite a number of years before I'm expected to take over." She folded her arms across her chest, but didn't drop her gaze. "And a lot of things have been put into perspective this past month."

Her father 's gaze softened. "Is it him, Mitsuru?"

Now she dropped her eyes to her lap. "What are you—"

"You know who I'm referring to. I saw this coming for years, if I'm being honest."

Mitsuru glanced up. Instead of the scowl like she imagined, her father was giving her a small smile. "I…"

"It's alright." Now he leaned back, popping a cigar into his mouth.

She stood now, processing what had just happened. "I…thank you for your support."

He nodded at her, then turned in his chair.

She wanted to hug him and took a step forward, but she decided against it and instead left his office.

* * *

Mitsuru looked down at the burger in front of her, not quite knowing how to go about eating it. Across from her, Akihiko had long since picked his up and was eating it. Mitsuru twitched a bit.

"You're supposed to pick it up and eat it with your hands," Akihiko told her, reading her mind. "That's why they didn't give us any utensils."

"But that seems so…primal," Mitsuru said, making a face. "And it looks so greasy. Surely the cheap price means something."

Akihiko seemed more amused than anything. "Why don't you go ahead and try it? I'll make sure the paparazzi don't come in here and take pictures of the Kirijo princess eating fast food, alright?"

"Speaking of which…" Mitsuru began, glad for an excuse to prolong trying the burger, "That's the reason I asked you here."

"Paparazzi?"

She smiled. "No. I broke off my engagement."

His eyebrows shot up. "…oh. Why'd you do that?"

Mitsuru folded her arms across her chest, readying herself for the word vomit she had been preparing. "I've been thinking a lot. Especially since we lost Shinjiro. But even before that, I observed the relationship between he and Arisato and it made me…contemplative."

Akihiko had put down his burger by now. "About what?"

"It made me realize how much time I've been wasting. They only had a month and a half together and I didn't even have to ask to know that it was the happiest either of them had ever been." She took a deep breath. "Yet we've had almost 4 years and we haven't done a thing."

Akihiko was red in the face, but Mitsuru could see a hint of a smile. He stared down at the table. "You know what Shinji said? He asked what we had been doing all this time…in short, I'll spare you from all the crude details." He snickered a bit, but it seemed somewhat wistful. "But I thought…and then when you told me you were engaged…"

"It doesn't matter now." Mitsuru managed a smile at him, thought she was sure her face was still red. "We won't waste anymore time."

Akihiko slowly reached across the table to put a hand over hers, managing a smile back. "Yeah."

"But I'm afraid I don't really know how a relationship works. Takeba let me borrow a few of those magazines but they all seem a bit ridiculous to me. The concept of "flirting" they all speak of is just…" she shook her head.

Akihiko looked like he was trying hard not to laugh. "Try the burger, that's a start."

Mitsuru sighed, then with her free hand picked up the greasy heart-attack-between-buns. She bit into it, then furrowed her eyebrows in concentration.

"Well?"

"…it's terrible."

Now he laughed. "Well, it was worth a shot."

* * *

"Mitsuru-san?"

Mitsuru looked down at Ken, who was on the floor playing with an action figure next to the chair she was sitting in. "Hm?"

"I'm glad you're with Sanada-san."

Immediately, her cheeks darkened. "Thank you?"

Ken stood and began walking towards the stairs. "You're so happy you haven't even bugged me to clean my room in a whole _week_!"

He was in his room with the door locked before Mitsuru could catch up to him.

* * *

.

**Did you like it? T-T It took ages for me to decide I liked it enough to post it. **

**In any case...I think one of the guys is next. Junpei? **


	3. Junpei

**First off, thanks for all the reviews, guys! =D I'm glad this is being received so well. Btw, I noticed that Mitsuru is not a popular character in this game. I suppose she isn't the easiest person to relate to, but some folks just outright hate the girl. O.o I'll cry if I come across another story that has her as the random bitch girl to create drama. D8 Anywho. Junpei was significantly easier to write than Mitsuru was, but it turned out more complex than I originally thought it'd be. Junpei has hidden depths, I think. These one shots are beginning to coincide as well...although not entirely necessary, it'll probably help to remember what happened in Hamuko's chapter. Also, I listened to blink-182's self titled album to help me write this and I must say that most of their songs are the story of that kid's life. **

**So then why did I start this chapter with a Weezer song? .**

**Anyway. Without further adieu... **

* * *

_"In a perfect situation_  
_I lead love down the drain._  
_There's the pitch, slow and straight._  
_All I have to do is swing and I'm a hero..._  
_But I'm a zero."_

_-Perfect Situation, Weezer_

_

* * *

_

Junpei had always thought they were exaggerating in cartoons when someone got hit on the head and there were suddenly little stars or birds flying around the poor recipient's head. He figured if anyone got hit that hard, they'd simply black out and fall over. They wouldn't take the time to sway and count the little birdies flying around their head.

But as he staggered down the street (shivering a bit because he had forgotten his jacket; he'd have to go back and get it, he supposed…eventually) he could still recall the bizarre heavy feeling in his head and the bright flashes of light he kept seeing as he fell forward to the ground. When he finally woke up, his house was dark and his father was nowhere to be seen. He didn't want to find out where the bastard went, so he just pushed himself up, ignored the headache and left the house.

He wasn't sure where he was going.

It didn't matter.

It was always funny in the cartoons when the poor recipient saw stars. Maybe if he walked long enough, this would be funny too.

* * *

He surveyed the new transfer students as they took their seats after Ms. Toriumi's awkward introduction. The guy already kind of pissed him off with the way he flipped his hair and shit, but Junpei supposed he couldn't be that bad a guy, especially not with a sister that cute. She noticed him looking her, and instead of being weirded out, she simply smiled at him before turning back to the front. He smiled back, but it was too late, obviously.

After school, he grinned to mask his nervousness as he made his way over to the two of them. The girl had her head leaned in close to the guy's, and had Ms. Toriumi not introduced them as twins he would have assumed they were a couple. It kinda grossed him out, but he cleared his throat anyway. They looked up. The girl smiled again.

"Hey! What's up?"

The guy blinked at him, probably wondering who he was and why he was talking to them. He shot a glance at the girl.

"Hi! What's your name?"

"Me?" Junpei asked, then kicked himself for asking such a dumb question. Who else could she mean? "I'm Junpei Iori. I know what it's like to be the new kid…I transferred here in 8th grade. So I wanted to be nice and say hey."

Now the boy finally gave him something close to a smile, while his sister grinned away. "That's nice of you. Well, this is my brother Minato, and my name is Hamuko. Nice to meet you!"

"If you guys aren't busy, maybe you wanna hang out? You know, if you don't have anything better to do." The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. Although his invitation extended to the both of them, he found his eyes lingering on Hamuko.

"I think I'll pass," Minato said, his voice deeper than Junpei would have expected from such a pretty boy. "I'm still tired from the trip. But you can go ahead," he said to his sister.

"Are you sure?"

Minato nodded, then picked up his bag. "Thanks for the offer, though. Maybe next time."

"Okay, I'll see you at the dorm." Hamuko frowned after her brother, then she turned back to Junpei. The smile was back on her face, and for a second he wondered if he imagined the frown. "So, what are we gonna do?"

"I dunno, whatever you wanna do."

"Well, I don't know what I wanna do. I'm new here. Take me on a tour," she said.

At this, Junpei grinned and extended his arm to her. "Then follow my lead! You'll know Port Island and Iwatodai like the back of your hand by the time we're through."

Hamuko rolled her eyes, but she took his arm anyway.

* * *

She was always touching him.

It didn't even seem like she was aware of it most of the time and they ranged from something as simple as her hand brushing against his as they walked to her sitting on his lap even when chairs were readily available. It was no surprised that people were beginning to assume that they were a couple, but Hamuko didn't seem all too concerned about the rumors following them. If she even noticed. He wasn't sure if he should point it out or not. It wasn't that it made him uncomfortable—quite the opposite. Maybe he was afraid she'd stop.

"I want ramen. What about you?" she asked it out of the blue, as they were walking out of school one day.

Anything to prolong his going home. "You're paying."

"Well, that's no way to treat a lady." But she was smiling and his stomach felt funny. She picked up her pace and pulled him with her, keeping their hands locked together even as they walked.

He was afraid she'd stop touching him because when he looked down at his tan hand in her pale one he was able to forget.

* * *

Now that he was shivering on the bench at Naganaki Shrine, Junpei acknowledged that perhaps this hadn't been his best idea. He wasn't sure why he had chosen this place of all the other open spots in Iwatodai to be homeless in. It wasn't as if he had any memories of the place drawing him here. By the time he and his father arrived, he was too old to play in sandboxes or go down the slide with a carefree smile.

His eyes burned, but he wasn't sure if it was finally his resolve cracking or lack of sleep. He shut his eyes, but then the _outside_ of one stung—he would probably have that black eye for a week. It was a miracle he could still see. He wondered what Hamuko would say if she could see him now, with his bruised eye, trembling body, and wrinkled clothes.

Guess he wasn't going to school today.

* * *

"Hey, wake up."

Junpei's eyes fluttered open at the unfamiliar voice above him. Truthfully, he was a bit annoyed; he had just gotten comfortable on the godforsaken bench. He wasn't sure what he was expecting when he opened his eyes, but Akihiko Sanada wasn't at the top of the list in any case. He was a legend at Gekkoukan, so of course Junpei knew who he was, and he sometimes saw him in passing when he walked Hamuko back to her dorm.

"I've seen you out here the past few mornings," Akihiko said, clad in a t-shirt and jogging shorts that Junpei himself would never be caught dead in, let alone be able to pull off. "Is everything okay? You shouldn't be sleeping out here, you know."

Junpei swallowed. "Um, yeah. I just…"

But Akihiko was giving him a suspicious look. "And what happened to your eye?"

"I…tripped."

"On what?"

"A…" It was too early in the morning for him to be coming up with excuses. Unable to come up with something plausible, he decided to focus his attention elsewhere. Like why the hell was _Akihiko Sanada _asking about his well-being? "What's it to you anyway?"

At this, Akihiko made a face. "You should go home, kid. If an officer sees you here, you'll get in trouble for loitering."

Junpei said nothing. Home. Yeah right. Getting arrested for loitering wouldn't be so bad; they would feed him in prison. And the cots in his cell were probably more comfortable than this damn bench. He was startled when Akihiko suddenly reached out and hauled him off the bench.

"I've seen you out here for a few mornings now. That bruise is new, though." He seemed to be debating with himself for a minute, then he finally let Junpei's arm go and sighed. "Just…come with me."

"Huh? Come with you where?"

"…back to my dorm. And stop asking me so many questions before I change my mind. What's your name anyway?"

"Junpei Iori."

The trip was short, and Junpei alternated between looking at Akihiko's shoulder blades and the sidewalk. If they were going where he thought they were going, then the jig was up. Hamuko lived in the same dorm as him. Before they went inside, Junpei almost said that it was okay, that it didn't want to go inside and he would go straight home, but Akihiko swung the door open too quickly. He heard her voice immediately.

"Minato, hurry up! You said you'd take the train with me!" She gave a frustrated grunt before she came into view, holding a bagel in one hand and her shoes in the other. "Oh, hey Senpai! Finished jog—Junpei?"

"Oh, so you know him. Good." Akihiko stepped aside. "Where's Mitsuru?"

"The kitchen," Hamuko said flatly, her brows furrowed. "Junpei, what happened?"

Akihiko nodded and went into the kitchen, leaving them alone. Junpei kept his eyes on the ground. He heard her coming towards him, but he made no effort to meet her halfway. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but her arms soon wrapped around him.

"I knew it," she said, her voice muffled by his shoulder. "You should have told me, you idiot. This is why you weren't in school? And why you always seem tired? And why you never let me see your house?"

He didn't question how she able to put so much together. She was supposed to be a genius or something close to it, after all. "I didn't want to worry you. It was…no big deal." Junpei was shaking. His eyes were watering again, and this time he knew it wasn't from the lack of sleep.

She squeezed him tighter. "You're an idiot, Junpei."

He sniffed, just as Minato appeared in the staircase. Great. There went all his pride, right out of the window. Nonetheless, he knew that it would be okay now. At least a bit.

* * *

All he could think was if she could that he hadn't really kissed a girl before this.

Well, he had, but not like this. He'd never even really had a girlfriend before; not a serious one anyway. He was almost too overwhelmed to be turned on, which was saying something because people generally thought that he was never turned _off._ He was more concerned. Hamuko was allowing him to do whatever he wanted…touch her wherever he wanted…but why? Yeah, they were close, but was this really what the two of them wanted? Did they really have that kind of connection?

His hand was sliding up her thigh now. He kinda sighed into his mouth and he died a little on the inside. His head was spinning and he was sure if his eyes were open the world would be spinning right along with it. Her hands were on his back, then they were in his hair and then his hat was on the floor. He could take it anymore. He really couldn't do this, not with her, not like this.

Junpei pulled back. Hamuko blinked back up at him, her hair spread out around her head and her cheeks slightly tinged with red. She was beautiful, but it was wrong. For some reason, this was all wrong. "Did that feel as weird for you as it did for me?"

Hamuko nodded slowly, and Junpei pushed himself off of her and reached to pick up his hat. They sat in awkward silence for a minute, with her straightening her clothes and him reaching to pick up his COMPstation Portable that had fallen on the floor.

"Nevermind. Let's pretend that didn't happen," she finally said, the grin reappearing.

"Agreed," he said after slightly hesitation. She put her head back on his lap. He avoided her eye and instead concentrated on the game.

"Does this mean we're just best friends?"

The question caught him off guard. He looked at her briefly, then back at his game. "Must be. We just friend zoned each other."

She giggled, and he laughed too. He ran a hand through her hair and she closed her eyes. Hamuko was still smiling. He tried to smile back, but he couldn't. He was starting to understand that she didn't only smile when she was happy, and right now he knew she wasn't happy. He swallowed.

"I think you're really pretty, you know."

She opened her eyes again. They were such a strange color. Red. How many people had red eyes? "Are best friends allowed to say stuff like that?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, I don't think we fall under the conventional definition."

"…I don't think so either."

They didn't speak again for a while.

* * *

"Junpei. Can I ask you a question?" He looked up from his comic book and raised an eyebrow at Yukari. He hadn't felt like going downstairs to join the circus (it was rarely quiet anymore now that they added Aigis, Fuuka, AND Ken) so he parked it on the benches by the vending machines of the second floor. He had thought Yukari was downstairs with everyone, but…

"What's up, Yuka-tan?"

"What do you think of Minato-kun?" Yukari sat down on the bench across from him.

"What do you mean? He's a cool guy?" Junpei shrugged. They didn't hang out all that much, but when they did he liked him okay. Otherwise he was too busy being a chick magnet. "Why do you ask?"

"Well…he hasn't said anything to you…you know about…" Yukari trailed off.

"About…what?"

"You know, about me!" she finally spit out, scowling at him.

Junpei couldn't help his grin. "Does Yuka-tan have a crush? Awwwwwwww."

"Ugh! Why did I even bother with you?" Frustrated, Yukari stood up to leave, but Junpei caught her arm.

"I'm kidding. But no. Not to me. Why don't you ask Hamuko? Or Fuuka? I'm sure he told one of them. Or maybe even Aigis…" But as soon as Junpei said her name, Yukari visibly stiffened. What was it with girls anyway? Hamuko did the same thing but when she was around they were pretending that everything was all good and well. She seemed okay to him...you know, for a girl who was a bit awkward and couldn't remember her own name. And it was obvious that Minato liked her a lot—oh. That's what it was, huh?

"Maybe I'll try asking Fuuka," Yukari sighed.

Junpei grinned and crossed his arms. "Look, lemme give you a word of advice from Junpei's Book of Love. If you want the kid, you have to go get him. You can't just sit there and look cute and expect him to understand that you want him. Guys don't think like that. At least…I don't."

Yukari rolled her eyes. "Of course you don't." She sat back down and sighed. "But I suppose I don't have a choice. It's hard when you're competing with three other girls."

"Three?"

"You know I've got nothing against Hamuko-chan, but she's a bit…territorial isn't she?"

"…huh?"

Yukari sighed again. "Nevermind. I'll go now. Thanks for the advice, I guess."

But it was bothering him now. He dawned on him just then that his conversations with Hamuko never really crossed into deep territory. It was almost as if they had an understanding that there were some things that neither of them were ready to voice yet. It bugged him for an entire week, until he finally cornered her on the roof after school one day. Her back was to him, but he knew something was wrong, or at the very least, different.

"Hamuko-chan?"

Her shoulders heaved as she took a shaky breath, then she turned to face him. Although she was smiling, her face was wet with tears. "I knew you'd find me eventually."

For some reason, it broke his heart more that she still insisted on smiling rather than her tears. "What's the matter?"

"I'm not sure."

He moved to hug her. Hamuko buried her face in his shoulder. "You know those days where you hate everyone?" she asked.

"Yeah, kinda."

"I think this is one of those days."

"Should I leave you alone, then?"

"You don't count, dipshit."

"Okay."

* * *

This was the third time he stumbled across her sitting right there. Each time he passed by, he tried to see what she was drawing, but she always glared at him and held her sketchpad closer to her body. They hadn't really spoken to this point (except for when she told him to "Move!" when he was apparently standing in her sunlight) but he decided that today he was going to talk to her.

He saw her hair before her face. It was a really vibrant red, totally unlike Mitsuru's dark red that he had gotten used to. It also didn't help that she insisted on wearing white, in various frilly things that Junpei was sure he could never figure out how to work. (It was the gothic Lolita thing that he'd only ever seen in movies to this point. He'd asked Akihiko if he ever met someone who dressed like that and he told him to stop talking nonsense.) He swallowed before approaching her and standing in the exact spot that she had complained at him for the first time.

The girl glared up at him. Her eyes were half-lidded, like she couldn't be bothered to actually open them all the way, but the glare was fierce all the same. "You again. I told you to move."

Junpei swallowed again. "I wanted to know what you were drawing."

"I can't draw if you're in my light."

Figuring that brute force would be the only way to get anywhere with this girl, he sat on the bench next to her. She stiffened, but she didn't move away. Before she could move it, he stole a glance at her sketch pad.

"What's that?" Junpei could make out a few buildings and maybe people, but it was too abstract for him to figure it out.

"What does it matter to you? No one can understand my drawings anyway." She gave up trying to hide the book at this point.

"I'm trying to learn," Junpei said with a grin. "I've never really been an art person."

"I never would have guessed."

"So..." he shifted a bit. "What's your name?"

She ignored him and went back to drawing. He sighed and decided to give up for the day.

"Well…in any case…I'd like to see it when you're done. Okay?"

He didn't wait for her answer, not that he was expecting her to give one in the first place.

* * *

Gradually, he was able to coax her into standing his presence for more than ten minutes at a time. Every day over summer vacation, Junpei would come and visit her and talk to her, or sometimes just watch her draw. She finally relented and told him her name after a few days. Chidori. Junpei wasn't entirely sure what kept him coming back to her each day, but he decided that for now it was best not to question it lest she changed her mind.

"Still working on the same picture?" Junpei asked as he plopped himself next to her.

Chidori's brows were furrowed and she erased the page furiously. "I can't…I can't…"

"Huh?" He leaned closer and squinted. "What's the matter?"

She was still rubbing the eraser vigorously, staring at the offending page. "I can't…I can't…"

"You can't what?" Junpei made a face. "Chidori, the page is blank."

"No it's not, no it's not, no! It's! NOT! Don't you see it? Why can't you see it?"

Junpei saw the blood dripping before he realized what was going on. His eyes widened. "Chidori! You're bleeding!" He reached for her hand, to try to put pressure on it or something but she jerked away.

"Don't touch me! Just stop! Look at what you've done to me!"

"You have to put pressure on it, Chidori! The blood's getting everywhere!" Junpei tried again, but footsteps pounding towards them prevented him from trying to stop it himself. A man and a woman approached, looking like a cross between concerned and exasperated.

"Yoshino! Yoshino, calm down!" The woman reached out for her, but she jerked away. Now she was crying and Junpei's stomach twisted into knots. The man sighed.

"I thought she was getting better. What set her off now?"

"I don't know, but you know what that means," the woman sighed.

"Hey, wait! Who are you guys! What are you gonna do with her?" Junpei demanded, turning his attention to the two strangers. Chidori was shaking now, the blood all over her white dress.

"We're from the hospital," the man calmly explained as the woman again tried to reach out for Chidori. "Yoshino is a patient there. We were trying something with her, you know...letting her out to get some fresh air but apparently that was a bad idea."

"A patient? What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing physical," the woman muttered. "Yoshino, if you do not calm down, we'll have no choice but to restrain you. Do you want that?"

"No!" she sobbed. "Not again, please not again."

"Perhaps letting her out for all this time was a bad idea. Imagine if we weren't here to keep an eye on her," the man was saying.

"Wait! Let me try!" Junpei approached her slowly, seeming to catch on that if he made any sudden movements she would flip out again. She kept her eyes on her bleeding cut, her body still shaking and the tears still pouring. "Chidori?"

"I didn't want you to know," she said quietly. "I didn't want you to know."

He kneeled in front of her and took the hand that wasn't covered in blood. "It's okay, Chidori. I promise I'll still come see you. Please let them help you."

"But they won't let me out," she sobbed. "They'll lock me in that room again and the monsters will come for me."

The knots in his stomach tightened. "Let them help you and I promise you I'll come visit you tomorrow. And the next day, and the day after that."

At this, the man and the woman move forward and helped her off the bench, the man pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and finally wrapping up her cut. Chidori turned and looked over her shoulder as they led her away. Junpei noticed that they left her sketchpad on the ground where it had fallen during her freak out, so he bent down to pick it up. Lying on the ground next to it was a razor blade tinged in red. Feeling heavy all of a sudden, Junpei ignored the blood on the page and closed the sketchpad, kicked the razor blade into a patch of grass and sat back down on the bench, trying to process everything that had just happened.

* * *

Shinjiro Aragaki was the dorm's weirdest addition yet.

Initially, Junpei didn't see much of him. Akihiko and Mitsuru remained tightlipped about what was actually wrong with him at first, but eventually they let slip that he was a drug addict of sorts. Junpei stayed out of his way for the most part, but he couldn't help but notice that Hamuko was beginning to spend more and more time with him. The guy had only been in the dorm for a total of two weeks yet Hamuko was giving him the brightest smile he'd ever seen on her. He wasn't sure if the contempt he felt for Shinjiro was actual jealousy or something else, though.

"Hey, Junpei."

He hadn't expected Hamuko to track him down on the rooftop. These days, they went their separate ways after school, with her skipping off to the dorm to be with Shinjiro and Junpei running to the hospital to see Chidori. "Oh, I didn't know you were still here."

Hamuko stood by him, putting her hands on the railing. The wind blew her hair out of her face and she smiled. For the first time in a while, Junpei couldn't tell what kind of smile it was. "Chidori," she said randomly. "I'd like to meet her soon."

He was taken by surprise. Hamuko hadn't expressed too much interest in his life since Shinjiro came along. "Okay. Whenever you want, just say the word. I'm sure she'd like to see the person I'm always talking about."

"Sounds good." She pushed away from the railing and began walking away. "And one day…I'd like you to talk to Shinjiro, too. I'm sure if you guys got to know each other, you'd get along great."

"…okay." Was that really all she wanted? "Hey, Hamuko…!"

But she was already gone.

* * *

"Hey, Stupei."

Junpei frowned and looked up from his COMPstation Portable. "Hey, what was that for?"

Yukari was glaring down at him, looking like she was fighting back either a slew of insults or a waterfall of tears. "You give shitty love advice."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

But she only stormed off upstairs. A few seconds later, Junpei heard her door slam.

* * *

He couldn't calm her down. No matter what he said or how tightly he held her, Hamuko wouldn't stop screaming. The graveyard was empty except for them, pallbearers hired by Mitsuru's family, and a priest (even though Junpei had the sneaking suspicion that Shinjiro was laughing wherever he was at the idea of some guy in a robe saying empty words over his dead body) so her screams seemed to echo much louder than they actually were.

Finally, Minato came and put a hand on his shoulder, signifying that he would take over from there. Junpei almost reluctantly let her go, and Minato wrapped his arms around her in his place, speaking to her gently and rubbing small circles into her back. It didn't take long for Hamuko to calm down…well, at least a bit, and then she just wailed into his shoulder.

Junpei was numb.

His head turned and looked at the mahogany casket halfway in the ground and he remembered that he never kept his promise to talk to Shinjiro.

Maybe they really would have gotten along great.

* * *

"Chidori, have you ever lost someone close to you?"

He had been sitting with her on her bed. Chidori lifted her head off of his shoulder and tilted her head. "No."

Junpei leaned his head back and stared up at the ceiling. The light directly over the bed flickered constantly and he wondered how it didn't drive Chidori mad. Figuratively speaking, anyway. "Good, then."

"I've never had anyone close to me before," she said plainly. At first her bluntness used to startle him, but now he just accepted it as something authentically Chidori. "Before you."

He felt his cheeks burn. She put her head back on his shoulder. "Are you feeling guilty, Junpei? About your friend Shinjiro?"

"Yeah. I guess I am."

She was silent for a minute, then he felt her tiny hand reach for his under the blanket. "I'm not sure what you've done to me. I never would have dreamed of this before. Sometimes when I think of you my chest gets tight and I didn't know why. I thought you were hurting me."

Junpei looked down at her, but her eyes were downcast. "Chidori?"

"But I understand now. I want to show you something, Junpei." She sat up and reached into the drawer by her bed, then pulled out her sketchpad. She smiled when she placed it in his lap. "Go on. Look."

His breath caught when he opened the newest page and saw his eyes staring back at him. She had drawn him nearly perfectly and gotten down to the tiniest detail, like the way his hair stuck out of his hat now that he had prolonged getting a haircut for a few weeks. Junpei felt his eyes filling with tears and he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was the past few weeks catching up with him. Maybe it was his whole life catching up with him.

Maybe it was just a nice picture.

Chidori frowned. "Junpei? You don't like it?"

"No, no…I love it. It's amazing, Chidori." Sniff.

"Then why are you crying?"

"I don't know."

She put her arms around him. She was so much smaller than he was, and he wanted to envelope her. He wanted to wrap her up within himself and keep her safe from everything. Junpei hugged her back, tightly.

"Will you leave me, Junpei?"

He squeezed her. "Never. I promise."

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Hamuko asked, biting her lip.

Junpei smiled. "Yes, I'm positive. Come on."

Reluctantly, Hamuko followed him down the hospital hallway. Junpei knocked twice and then popped his head in the door. "Chidori?"

She looked up from her sketchpad and smiled. "Oh, hello. I wasn't expecting you so early."

He swung the door open and returned her smile. "I brought someone to see you."

Hamuko stepped into the room timidly and bowed politely. "Hello, Chidori-san."

"Chidori, meet my best friend, Hamuko Arisato. Hamuko-chan, meet my girlfriend, Chidori Yoshino." Nothing could wipe the stupid grin off of his face and for once he didn't care how much of an idiot he probably looked like.

Chidori bowed back the best she could sitting up in bed, and Hamuko approached her bed to sit down. "Junpei has told me a lot about you," Hamuko said. "And I told him I wanted to meet you. You deserve an award for being able to tame him."

Chidori laughed a bit. "Tame? Then you deserve an award for dealing with him beforehand, if that's tame."

"Hey! I resent that!" But Junpei's cheeks were hurting from how big he was smiling. The two girls continued to talk and Junpei felt like his chest was bursting somehow. He looked out of the window and up at the sky.

"I think she'll be okay, Shinjiro-san."

* * *

**Blah. I'm not sure if I like the ending enough. Do you like the ending enough? In any case, I'm not sure who's next, but it'll probably be one of the girls...maybe Aigis or Fuuka. I'm leaning toward Aigis since I owe the most explanation with her...making her human and all. We'll just see how it goes. =D **

**Oh, and please excuse any typos. . No beta, you see.**


End file.

Persona Series, Friendship, Romance