A smile graced her features before she even realized it. Odd, no one made her smile. At least, not a lot of people.

Maybe it was because the girl seemed genuine. Like she really meant it when she said she was happy to meet you.

She raised an eyebrow at Mitsuru, as if saying 'You tellin' me what to do?' but she shrugged, honestly too tired and too laid back at the moment to really make a big deal of it.

"Fine, whatever." She gave one last grin to both Amaya and Yukari(who fought back a surprised gasp) and started on her way up the stairs...

Oh. And what did she have here?
As he walked out of the room, Junpei was still laughing at his friends red face, although his was a similar hue of reddish pink. But hey, who could blame him?

He felt an arm wrap around his head in a headlock and a pair of legs wrap around his legs.

"Wha-"

"Well, well, what were we doing in there?" came the voice of a girl who was normally not there at this hour.

And thus began the most painful noogie of his life.
Yukari looked back at Mitsuru, to see if she was as surprised as she was, but that's when she heard Junpei's cries from upstairs.
"Pervert~! Weirdo~!" She mocked in a sing-song voice
"Ahh!! I was not! I just..thought I saw a mouse!"
"Bullshit!"

Minato used this moment to escape from Sora's grasp. He did not want to be labeled a pervert by her either...

"Something sounds exciting up there!!" Amaya exclaimed as she started up the steps before Mitsuru could say anything.

Mitsuru was about to open her mouth when Amaya yelled. Then she disappeared in a flash. The red-head decided to close her mouth and go to bed. Today was just too tiresome...

Akihiko just laughed and began climbing up the stairs too. He was a bit curious at what was going on.

Amaya got up to the third floor in a few seconds and saw Sorairo giving Junpei a noogie. She also saw the Minato inching his way out. "Whatcha guys up to?" She asked loudly, bringing all the attention to her.

Minato froze when he saw Amaya standing by the stairs. "Crap..." He muttered. He prayed to God that he didn't miss any clothing in her bedroom and that Junpei would keep his big mouth shut.

"It-it's not what it looks like Amaya! It was Minatos idea-" Sora covered his mouth just in time.

"They were tellin' pervy jokes and didn't hear me come up.." She gave a look to minato that said 'You owe me your life' an equally wicked grin spread on her face.

For all she knew, they really were looking for panties, after all, she knew nothing of the dark hour. But she couldn't just tell on them, it'd be really bad and awkward. Plus the poor girl, she didn't know how she's respond!

"And I think Junpei here mentioned he wants a date with you some time...~" She teased. Junpei's face went beat red and his talking was terribly muffled. She pulled her hand away and hopped off him when his eyes went swirly.
Junpei fell to his knees attempting to breathe, his forehead on the floor.

"I.." he mumbled "I...Can't...breathe...right..."
Yukari was extremely confused, she gave Minato a peeved look and crossed her arms.
"Perverted jokes?! Figures! You're just like every other guy!"

Amaya just blinked throughout Sorairo's whole explanation until she heard the the dating part. She immediately blushed. "Me?!" She cried. The girl never dealt with boys... ever. She was flattered, of course, but she still didn't know how to react. She just stood there and went red, trying to wrap her head around this new predicament.

Minato sighed and gave a small nod to Sora. She wasn't so bad after all. He decided to treat her to some ramen the next chance he got. That's when he noticed how red Amaya had gotten. Did she like Junpei too...? He thought about it for a moment, then decided he didn't care. And that's when he heard Yukari. "I didn't tell any jokes!" Minato panicked. For one thing, he didn't want Yukari to label him a pervert. "It was all Junpei!!"

((lmao @ minato XD I always thought of him as a spaced out jerk who was only nice to people for Social links! XD))
Junpei's face was a similar red. He wanted to hug Sora and hit her at the same time. He wanted to ask her, but now she looked absolutely mortified!

"What she means is..err, we should hang out! You know? After school! With a bunch of people! But together! Yeah!...Oh man, that didn't make sense."
Sora laughed at the predicament and yawned. If only her romances were cutesy like that....

Nah, she only liked jerks.

"Man, I'm tired...Well, good luck you two! Me and minato will gladly be there for your 'hanging out together with other people' thing! Night-niiiight!"
Yukari herself was in shock as well. After all, it did seem like she liked Junpei....but maybe that's just because she didn't get to know him first?

(I read a little bit of the Persona 3 manga and decided that Minato would be a spaced out guy who didn't care, unless it involved him. Kinda jerky, but not really. He's fun to play)

"Um... okay." Amaya replied, still looking down and still beet red, "That sounds like fun. Uh... I'm gonna go to bed too." She tried to look calm as she walked past Junpei to her room, but she ended up tripping over her own two feet and fell face first in her room.

Minato flinched when he saw Amaya fall. That had to hur- That's when he noticed that when Amaya fell, her skirt flew up. He blushed and slapped his forehead. Did fate want to make him and Junpei look like a pervert in front of the girls they liked? (I support YukariXMinato!! Is that okay?)

Mitsuru climbed up the steps to see about half the team still awake. "Didn't I tell you all? Go to bed." She replied, "Minato, Junpei, what are you two doing on the girls floor?" This was so stressful... Hopefully she would get to fight tonight; she was really in the mood to hit something.

Minato saw Mitsuru and flinched again, this time at her order. "Right, leaving." He mumbled as he quickly went down the stairs. He didn't want Yukari telling him off about looking up Amaya's skirt. Maybe she didn't notice him looking...

Amaya squeaked as she stood up and pulled her skirt down. God this was so embarassing! She took one last look at Junpei, blushed madly, then slammed the door. 'Oh wait, that might be rude...' She thought. Amaya decided to crack open the door. "Good night!" She yelled, trying to sound normal and failing miserably. She quickly closed the door again and ran to her bed to hide her embarassment in a pillow.

"G-goodnight..." Junpei said dazedly.

He must have died and went to heaven. Even Mitsurus glares didn't both him. He gently wiped the little bit of blood that left his nose and jetted upstairs, doing a little happy dance.

"Haha! Man, life is good!"
"Speak for yourself." Grumbled Yukari, who was giving a murderous glare to the back of Minato's head.

"Perverted jerk!! Don't think I didn't see you peeking!" she was pointing at him, a light blush of anger on her face. "And what's with Sora saying you'll go to lunch with them!? You two such good friends now!? Whatever, I don't care!" Obviously it was jealousy filling her veins, not disgust or contempt. She huffed and slammed her door as she entered her room.
((^^ Yaay! I am too, but be warned I also like a little AegisxMinato. ^.^ So chaos will ensue XD))
Sora was, at this point curled up in her PJs laughing in her pillow. It was fun to play match maker! But she knew that it was going to take a lot of work....especially for Junpei.

Her eyes went to the clock. Wow, it was nearly 12, already? She...she hated being a lone around twelve. Not like it really helped her when she was around people anyway, b/c they turned into coffins...

"I must be delusional." she muttered.
((So...should we have something attack the dorm...or...something?))

(Attack the dorm!!!)

Minato heard Yukari and turned back up the stairs in a panic. "Yukari it's not what you think!!" He yelled as he tried to get to her room. That's when he saw Mitsuru's glare and quickly went back downstairs, heavy hearted.

Akihiko came out of his room to check out where the boys where when he saw a happy Junpei and a saddened Minato. He sweatdropped a bit. "Um... did I miss something?"

Minato just sighed and walked into his room. He didn't feel like going to Tartarus tonight...

Amaya threw her pillow across the room when she felt her embarassment drift away. She looked at the clock and saw it was almost 12. 'I should go to sleep now.' She thought, as she sat up. She went to her bag and pulled out her PJs just as her clock struck midnight.

This truly was the suckiest hour of the day. She was hiding under the covers, like a child hiding from the monsters under their bed. She peaked from under her covers and had to admit at the warped greenish yellow light from the moon highlighted the blood seeping from the walls quite nicely.

"Friggin' eww."

"Dance with me Senpai! Isn't the world wonderful?!" he did a little spin and went to open his door.

But that's when the tremors started.

"...Wha-?"

He looked out the window and all the oxygen from his lungs seemed to disappear.
Outside were two, gigantic shadows. Not as big as the building, but still relatively large. Their bodies much larger then there heads, which were covered by a red mask. They seemed hunched over, like a cave man with their large hands swinging, it seemed that there knuckles scraped the cement as they walked. And of course they brought reinforcements. Dozens of little shadows.
"Man, it just figures." Junpei whined "The second I'm happy I have to die."
Sora had heard and felt the shake. Her body stiffened, then limb by limb she slowly got out of the blanket. She was grateful she was wearing her black tank top and green/black plaid flannel PJ bottoms, since last night she was wearing pink pjs with stars and moons and....that would not be good for her reputation.

She snuck out of the room, still assuming she's all alone in some eery time where everyone else is just coffins. If there was something big and bad out there...she might be done for, and no one would know what happened to her...

Amaya dropped her lacy black nightgown over her tiny body when she suddenly felt a change in her surrounding. A greenish-yellow color flooded her room from her window. 'What the?' Amaya turned to her window and opened the curtains. There shining sickly in the now red sky was a yellow moon.

"What's going on?!" She screamed. Amaya had never stayed up this late before. In her old home, she had to sleep early since she always had to train at sunrise. This was the first time in a long time that she stayed up this late. And that's when she felt the tremor. She looked out her window again and saw two giant... things with masks on. This was definately not good!

Amaya spun around and ran for her bag. She opened up her suitcase and threw out some of her clothes to reveal two long wooden tonfas. She took both of them in her hands and rushed out of her room only to see Mitsuru coming out of her room.

Mitsuru was out of her room by the time the Midnight Hour rolled by. Luckily for her, she didn't need to check the cameras to see Amaya run out of her room the same time she did. And armed! "Come with me." She said, not even waiting to explain the situation to her.

Minato got out of his funk and rushed to the window. He cursed under his breath when he saw the two giant shadows outside the dorm. He then ran out of his room and saw Akihiko-sensei and Junpei still awake.

Akihiko grew serious when he felt the small quake. Before he could say anything, his blue-haired kouhai ran out of his room. "Good, you're awake. We have to go." He said as he started for the stairs.

"Shadows are outside..." Yukari sounded shaken, but prepared, bow and arrow in hand, but a pink nightgown on that was cute but a little more revealing then most...Maybe her and Amaya shopped at the same store.

Sora had been staring out the window from the girls floor.Was it her time to pay the piper already? Wasn't it too soon?

She heard Amaya scream from a few doors down and watched as the girls began to file down the stairs.

She wasn't alone.

"Shit." She whispered, but it was a grateful kind of voice. She ran after the girls, maybe a bit slower then the others but still there.

"What's going on!?" she asked, her hands clenched in fear. She heard the guys coming down the stairs behind them.
"It's a shadow." Junpei was catching up to the girls, and heard Sora's question.

"Here. I brought another one since I figured you didn't have a weapon." He tossed his sword to her and she caught it, but gave him a 'what the fuck' look.

"I'm supposed to fight this thing with a sword?!" She scoffed "Jesus! What about guns!?"
Junpei laughed "Funny you should mention that..."

Mitsuru led the group outside and saw that the shadows were heading close. "Alright, I'll stay here and analyze the enemy." She said as she ran over to get her motorcycle. (Where do they keep that anyways?)

"Wait, what are we doing?!" Amaya asked, "What are those things?! And why does it seem like you know what's going on?!" This was totally freaking her out; so much that she didn't even notice Junpei yet. If she had, she might have been freaking about him.

"Those things are called shadows. They only appear during the Midnight Hour, which is the hidden hour that appears at midnight." Akihiko started explaining, "People during this time usually turn into coffins. But, those who hold a special ability and can fight the shadows can still walk around during this hour."

((...I can only imagine it's in the chairmens room O_o That's the only place you can't friggin enter!))
Junpei had gotten beside Akihiko, of course trying his hardest to be cool in front of Amaya.

"By people with special abilities we mean us!" He swung his sword dramatically, but nearly stumbled.

"Haha...And you two, of course!"
Sora pointed to herself, then at Amya. "Us two?! Are you friggin' nuts!! I've spent my life dreading this hour every night!! I don't want it! I HATE YOU!" She stomped her foot at the last part, sounding like a stubborn child.
"H-hey!" Junpei held his hands up in a 'no offence' gesture. "It's not our fault! Don't hate us!"
"Oh fuck it!" She gripped the sword in her hands and looked over at Junpei, ready to clobber him with the hilt of the sword. But that's when she noticed the gun strap on his leg.

"Hey! Gimme the gun! No fair!"
"What, so you ca friggin' shoot me!?" He was, at this point hiding behind Amaya. "It's not really a gun, it's an evoker! It's to summon your power...You see, you shoot yourself in the head-"
Sora had nearly had enough.
"OH! You just want me to shoot myself, don't you?!"
"N-no ma'am!"
Yukari just watched on, shaking her head. And here she thought having new members would make fighting shadows easier...

Minato opened his mouth to stop the group from fighting when he noticed two shadows coming at them. "Watch out!!" He immediately yelled and quickly slashed one with his sword. A part of its body was cut off, but it immediately grew back. 'Crap...' He thought as he moved to get his evoker when a black blur passed him.

Amaya saw the shadows once Minato yelled. Those things reeked of evil and that's all she needed to know. She ran towards the one Minato tried to cut and kicked it in the mask. It fell back and instantly disappeared. Amaya then turned around and flipped her right tonfa so that the long part was facing out and slammed it into the mask of the other shaodw. It also disappeared after flying back a few feet.

Minato's jaw dropped. 'Damn...' He thought, 'Luckily she's on our team.'

Akihiko grinned. "Awesome job Amaya." He complimented as he patted the girl's head.

Amaya blinked and smiled back. "Thank you Akihiko-sempai!"

Mitsuru shook away her surprise and cleared her throat. "Um... Here, you two will need these." She handed Amaya and Sorairo each a gun, "Like Junpei was saying, you summon your special power by shooting yourself. This power is called a Persona which is like your inner self. These Personas can help you defeat shadows more easily."

"Like Amaya needs the help..." Minato mumbled.

Amaya blushed and looked down. She hoped she wasn't scaring anybody with her strength...

Junpei was still staring at where Amaya once was in complete shock.

"That...was...Kick-ass!! Can you do that again!?" although internally he was sad that he didn't have to protect her, it was still really cool!
Sora made a face of disbelief. Mitsuru AND Junpei just told her to shoot herself in the head...probably not the most reliable sources, she was fairly sure the redhead hated her.

To make sure she pointed to gun at the wall, closed her eyes and shot.

Nothing.

"...Huh. So you weren't makin' it up.."
Yukari shook her head at the girls antics.
"Yes. Do you trust us now? We really should get back to..." Violent tremors hit the floor as the two big shadows walked, and a couple more shadows appeared.
"Crap! We'll just have to show you."
"Oh! Oh! I'll do it!" Junpei raised his hand and hopped up and down as if in class, before taking out his gun and pointing it to his head.

"Meet Hermes!" The person seemed to appear from nowhere and a blast of fire was thrown at one of the shadows, making it disappear.
Sorairo just clapped dumbly.

"...I think I could like this power..."
((I might not be on that much for the next couple days. I'm getting my tooth pulled on wed, but until then I don't have any painkillers, so I'm dying O_o It makes it hard to concentrate on things...like writing. XD but I'll try to check back as much as I can. TT.TT Why does no one want to buy me advil!? *sob* ))

(I'd buy you advil Shmougie-chan!! If only I could!!)

"Ooooh~! I wanna do that!!" Amaya exclaimed with stars in her eyes. Junpei looked so cool when he summoned his Persona!!

"It's not that exciting..." Minato said with a blank look and a sweatdrop. The roar of a shadow made him spin around. He pointed the evoker to his head and out came Orpheus. It blasted a burst of fire that instantly destroyed the shadow.

Mitsuru turned to Amaya and Sorairo with a serious face. "Are you ready to summon your Personas?" She asked.

Amaya looked down at the evoker in her hands and swallowed hard. It was one thing watching someone shoot themselves and summoning a Persona, it was another thing doing it yourself. She wanted to trust these people, but she just met them a few hours ago. Could she really go through with this?

The black-haired girl looked up and locked eyes with the other newcomer. "I'm... scared Sora." She mumbled sheepishly to her. She didn't even notice that she didn't say Sora's full name

((Thankles kuru-biz~ xD But now that it's yanked out, I feel nearly 80%! Woo-hoo!!))
Junpei was at first celebrating, but pouted at Minato's words. "Hey, you're just upset 'cause the ladies like my persona better."

After his retort his eyes swiveled to Amaya and Sora. Woah, were they gonna have a moment.
Sora couldn't help but laugh, though she was pretty sure her eyes held the same emotions. Distress, anxiety...fear.

"H-hey, me too. I'm just about ready to crap myself." she ran a hand through her short hair and her eyes turned to the giant shadows, which were the only ones still destroying random things while the little shadows attacked there friends.


......Friends?

Did she just call them...

"I think it's time to step up though. Together?" She put her gun to her head and grinned. What the hell? A little trust never killed anybody!

....

Well, yeah it did but, this was the first time she was trusting someone in a long while, so she could take it.
Junpei and the others were stuck fighting shadows, so they didn't hear what they were talking about, but he had faith that Sora and Amaya would do the right thing.

They'd pull the trigger.

The grin on Sora's face eased most of Amaya's anxiety as she pointed her gun at her head.

"Together." She agreed. She squeezed her eyes shut and pulled the trigger.

Minato slashed at another foe when he heard a collection of gunshots where Sorairo and Amaya stood. He spun around, noticing he wasn't the only one watching the two girls. His eyes widened when he saw the two new Personas appear above their heads.

"They did it!" Akihiko cheered before punching a shadow in the mask.

Amaya widened her eyes as she stared at the blond woman floating above her. Her Persona was so beautiful... She took a quick look at Sora's and had almost the same reaction. A new power built up inside her as a name popped into her head. "Pandora, attack!" She cried.

Sora looked over at Amaya's after giving hers a brief once over.

"Haha, nice! We're not dead!" She pointed at her persona, then a shadow.

"Alruna! Show them what you can do!" the persona gave a haughty laugh and spun her boa around and hearts surrounded the one shadow.

"...What the-" It began to attack it's allies and Sora snorted, looking up at her vuloptuous, purple skinned persona.

"...You whore." She let out a laugh "But what does that say about me?"
"We're going in for the big guys!" Junpei cried, looking back at them with a big grin.

"You guys ready?!"
"Born ready, of course." she couldn't help but let out a similar laugh of her persona.
"Hey, who made you the leader?!" she glared at Junpei "That's for Minato to decide! Right Minato?"

"Maybe you're the same...?" Amaya asked innocently, quite unaware of what the word 'whore' meant. The sound of the last shadow roaring made her spin around. "Pandora, Bufu!" She cried. The blond Persona above her opened the box in her hands and a blast of ice hit the shadow, destroying it instantly.

"Alright, let's go." Minato announced, a bit happy that Yukari wasn't mad at him anymore. He pointed to Akihiko-sempai, Yukari, Junpei, Sorairo, and Amaya. "You guys follow me. Misturu-sempai, can you stay here?"

Mitsuru nodded as she climbed on her bike. "Yes, I will provide assistance from here. Now go."

Minato nodded and faced the two large shadows, readying himself to run. "Yukari, Sorairo, Come with me to fight the one on the left. Akihiko-sempai, I want you to lead Junpei and Amaya when fighting the one on the left. Got it?"

Akihiko nodded. "Gotcha." He gave a quick glance to each of teammate and ran at the giant shadow monster on the right.

The emo-looking boy copied Akihiko's movement and glanced at his team before heading out to their assigned giant shadow monster, expecting them to follow.

Amaya slightly blushed, remembering that she was in fact hanging out with Junpei. And now on the same team with him. She swallowed her embarassment down and turned to the cap-wearing boy. "I'll follow you." She announced with a smile.

Sora's eyes turned to the girl and she snorted. SHe seemed way too calm and innocent to have given such a comment.

"What the fu-"

But that's when Minato said it was time to move out, so she ignored the comment...

For now.
Junpei wanted to protest when Akihiko was proclaimed leader of the group, he grumbled to himself a little, glaring at Minato's back.

"I'll follow you." his heart nearly skipped a beat at her words and her could tell there was a flush of red on his cheeks, but he ignored it, giving her a wide grin. She didn't know how much that meant to him, who was never the leader, and for her to look up to him like that.

"Alright! Let's go!" He followed after his silver haired sempai, sword out and ready to kick some ass.

Even when fighting shadows, Yukari still felt a little jealous. After all, why'd he have to go and bring Sora with them? Because they were going to eat together with Junpei and Amaya like a double date?! Hmph!

"Yukari, Minato." Sora tried to get there attention, her sword weilding hand visibly trembling.

"I know I'm new at this, and I've never fought anything taller then six feet. I'll try not to get in your way." She was being uncharacteristically sincere, but once you're about to face death, maybe you just realize lying to make yourself seem tough just seems silly.
Yukari was shocked for a second, but her eyes softened, she forgot her jealous rage from before.

"...Don't worry. We were all new once. Just stay calm and we should be able to do this." She used her bow and arrow, successfully hitting the large shadow in the arm and making it turn its attention to them.

"Good, now let's figure out this shadow's weakness." Minato said as he shot his head, "Orpheus! Agi!" His Persona appeared and shot a flame at the giant shadow. It deflected the attack right back. "Watch out!" He yelled as he jumped back to avoid the returning flame.

Amaya followed Junpei to wear Akihiko-sempai was standing. "What first?!" She asked.

"Fire doesn't work." Akihiko said as he saw what happened to Minato's team, "Let's try lightning!" He pulled out his evoker and shot his head. "Polydeuces! Zio!" A large Persona appeared above him and sent a bolt of lightning at the shadow. It hit, but it didn't fall down. "Lightning's okay, but let's try ice." He turned to Amaya.

"Oh, me? Um... Okay." Amaya pointed her gun to her head and pulled the trigger. Pandora came out and shot another ice blast at the shadow. It hit again, but still nothing. Before she could say anything, the shadow roared and swung its large hand at her. All of Amaya's instincts told her to move, but fear kept her rooted to the concrete ground. She had never faced anything so big, no wonder she was afraid. The only thing that moved was her mouth as it let out a terrified scream.

"Amaya!!"

Junpei didn't even realize it, his feet were moving by themselves as he ran towards the girl and tackled her, making them both fall to the ground. He felt the rush of wind as the shadow's arm wooshed past them and his hat went flying off. He looked down at Amaya and smiled gently.

"Are you alright? Can you stand?"
Yukari let out a yelp and ran out of the way of the flame.

"I friggin' hate when it reflects!" She put the gun to her head.
"Io, garu!" It seemed that wind was alright against it, as strong as lightning.

Sora was scared, but that didn't stop her from being ticked.

"What the heck? Wind, lightning, fire and ice? Why doesn't mine have anything like that?!"

She put the evoker to her head again. "Alruna! Let's do something useful!" She closed her eyes, trying to think of something useful. "Er..Tentarafoo!!"

She had no idea what it was, honestly, but it sounded fun!

Alruna popped up again and spun, a purple light burst from her and hit the giant monster. Stars surrounded it and it began to spin like a drunken sailor.

"Hahaha, take THAT sucker!"

The obviously confused monster punched his twin friend, which sent the other one to the ground.

....On top of there comrades.

"Oh, shit! Watch out you guys! SORRY!"
Junpei had gotten up at that point and was pulling Amaya to her feet when he saw the giant shadow eclipse them.

"Oh...crap!" instead of just picking her up, he grabbed her bridal style (one arm under her knees and the other on the small of her back) and ran like hell.
((sorry if I took over or something ^^; tell me if I do something you dislike.))

(That's perfect! Good job!!)

Amaya blushed and stared at the boy above her. Her heart skipped a beat when he smiled. 'Wow... He's really cute.' She thought off-handishly, then blushed a deeper shade of red. What was going on with her?

"Guys! Get up!" Akihiko yelled when he saw the shadow they were fighting about to fall on them.

The black-haired girl hadn't said a word when Junpei helped her up. It was like her mouth couldn't function. That's when she saw the shadow fall on them. Before she could scream again, she was picked up by her savior. She squealed and held on tightly as they rushed out of there.

Minato's eyes widened, but he quickly turned back to the battle. He summoned Orpheus once more and made him bash the confused shadow. It finally fell to the ground as well. "Everyone, give one last attack!!" He ordered.

(woo-hoo~!)
"Alright!!" Yukari let out a battle cry as she ran towards the two fallen shadows.
Sora blinked as Yukari charged, but shrugged. When in doubt, imiatate!!

She lifted the sword and ran towards the monster as well, it was nothing but a flurry of clouds as they all ganged up on the shadow.

"Haha, I like this part!"
Junpei let her down gently, his own body still shaking with adrenaline.

He heard Minato's cry for one last attack and grinned.

"You alright? It's time for an all out attack! You ready?" he asked, but couldn't look at her anymore, even in the middle of battle he blushes.