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[Winter was now over and spring had just started. Minato kind of missed the snow, but at least the weather was cool and comfortable instead of being too cold. For a change of pace as he wandered outside, now that the space event was over, he decided to head to the Checkerboard Hills. He hadn't been there often. It was time to check it out again.

That is, if checking it out meant doing a once-over on the checkered patterns from dark to light, then ending up laying in one of the darker square patches, his comm device off to the side as he looked up at the sky.

It's spring here and spring at home. School would be starting again, if he were there and time progressed.

Were these questions even fair? Did he have too much time on his hands, playing around with or thinking about 'what if' in a place that may make him forget his existence here at all?]

..... Would you rather be dead at home or alive here?

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We spent most of the time at the school there, but we went a few other places. Uh-- the ramen shop at Iwatodai, that was great! There was also a club at the mall, but...

[He's not sure he wants to talk about what happened there.]

Well, our friend Rise really wanted to go there. Think she'd performed there before or somethin'?

[Casually best friends with an idol, no big deal. They have the same taste in animal crackers.]

[Hagakure. He missed the ramen there. Best ramen. And Club Escapade. Minato had heard about a certain idol too who had been around the area.]

Mn, I've seen her picture up at Hagakure. And we fought a Shadow at Club Escapade that was powered by electricity.

[Hence the blackout. Who knew though that Kujikawa Rise was a Persona user? The world was so small.]

Was that when there was a blackout? Rise said she had a secret concert that got cancelled there because of that!

[Small world, indeed.]

Crazy.

[Minato nodded, smiling a little more. He found it almost unbelievable that their lives were this intertwined. But he hadn't wanted it any other way. Some people might think they weren't that related, but every little thing added up for Minato.]

I heard you went to a love hotel too on Shirakawa Boulevard.

[It was still there, for better or for worse.]

[He grimaces.]

I don't, uh-- I don't think most of us knew what we were gettin' into... senpai's homeroom teacher made the reservations for that one. Weird place.

[You couldn't pay him to go back.]

We fought a Shadow there too.

[Minato thought it'd be kind of fun to go back and see what it was like. He went there when it was creepy. Now it wouldn't be creepy. Well, maybe not that kind of Shadow creepy.]

I'm glad you went there and that it didn't change much.

Yeah? A Shadow out in the real world?

[That's definitely different than how things worked with the TV world, but he'd already heard a little about how Port Island operated differently from Inaba beyond its being far more developed than their rural little town.]

It's been a long while since you've seen it now, huh. Sometimes I forgot how much time has passed here.

During the Dark Hour. Except for one who could wander around outside of it.

[Thinking about him... Minato missed him a lot too. Friends with a Shadow? The IT had someone like that too from what Minato had heard.

And he did think about home again as he talked about it with Kanji. He thought maybe he should tell him more then.]

I'm not sure when I'll see it again, even if I go home.

Mm.

[Kanji frowns, his brow furrowing.]

That's gotta suck. Can't be a good feeling, not knowing when you'll see your friends again. I mean, I already feel that enough, even knowin' that if I go back, I'm goin' to Inaba. What about you, though? You take a trip or somethin', or move away?

[Minato had made his peace with it already. He had accepted it then and had accepted it now. He just didn't think Wonderland would intervene in his life and give him time to think about or look back at it. He didn't have regrets. But Wonderland liked to think that maybe he should, now that he had time. Twist the knife and open up a wound.]

I died after it was over. But it's okay. I meant to.

[That sounded a lot worse than it came across, but that had to be more than enough for the present moment.]

I'm sorry I didn't tell you before.

You meant to?

[Without context, that doesn't make sense. Hell, Kanji's not sure it would make sense even with context, and his frown pulls deeper.]

It's okay. I mean, you don't... owe me anything. You didn't even hafta tell me now, but shit. Makes me feel like an ass for always sayin' how great it'd be to go home.

What the hell happened?

[Maybe this isn't a conversation for the network, but he has to ask.]

[Minato knew he had to explain. It was a little complicated, but for Kanji, he wanted to tell him. If he had to be now, then that was fine too.]

Don't worry about it. And I do owe you. I have to thank you.

[It was because of Kanji and Souji and the IT that he could trust that the future was safe.]

... We can talk at the Diner, if that's better.

[He pauses before nodding. Yeah, that's a good idea.]

Seems like this is an in-person kinda talk. I'll be there soon.

Thanks.

[The Diner was safe. Felt safe. Minato could go over there too soon. He wanted to.

He did wait at one of the tables, not picking the one not too far in the back or tucked away in the corner. He shouldn't have to hide, not literally either. There wasn't anything he should be hiding or wanted to hide from Kanji at all.]

[Kanji shows up not long after, his face seeming to have taken on a permanent frown. He spots Minato easily, offering a half-hearted wave as he heads over, the topic of their previous conversation weighing heavily on him, making him wonder how he'd made it this far without ever knowing, without guessing that things weren't so great for Minato back home.

He does manage a grim smile as he slides into the seat opposite him. In-person was definitely better for this.]

Hope I didn't keep you waiting.

[Minato shook his head. He was the one who made Kanji wait this long. There hadn't been a good time to tell him, and that was also Minato's fault for not bringing it up any sooner.

Where to start though? Maybe just in general for now.]

You visited Gekkoukan. The school was built over a decade-old testing site where scientists experimented on Shadows to harness their power. Things went wrong, and a Shadow with the Death Arcana was created.

[This was all so much out of context, but Minato thought explaining more might help along the way. He needed to set the background first.]

Death was supposed to bring the Fall, or end of humanity. It got separated into different parts though to stop the Fall from happening.

[It sounds familiar in a way, even though it's entirely different than what had happened in Inaba-- but in both cases, it was something so much bigger than they'd first expected, something that threatened all of humanity, not just the place where they lived.

He grimaces, and he nods.]

Off to a bad start already.

In SEES we were told to defeat the Shadows, but in doing so, we brought those parts together. I had one part in me too.

[And every time he thought of that part, he missed the person who was with him for ten years.]

Since we inadvertently initiated the Fall, the only way to stop it was to put a seal on a door.

[That part sounds like a complicated story in and of itself-- maybe too complicated for Kanji at the moment, but he'll be making a mental note about it all the same, because of course he's curious.]

You guys thought you were doin' the right thing, huh. No idea what was in store.

[He grimaces. That has to have been a low blow.]

The world is still there, so how'd you seal it?

[Minato nodded and only realized later what it was like to be manipulated. He had his good intentions and so did his friends. It was also afterward that he figured out with them how to turn the entire situation around as much as possible.]

I used my soul.

[Or basically that, his life essence, as it was explained later, although it wouldn't be a term that he would use. If he had to explain how in the world he was able to function and live a month after he seal the door, he'd have to think of how to do that.]

That's why I said I meant to do it.

You...

[The concept is so strange to him, so surprising that he doesn't even know how to begin to process it.]

How? How is that even possible?

I'm not sure. It wasn't supposed to happen or be an option at all, but it felt right.

[It was impossible. It should have been, anyway, until he realized there was a chance to change it. It just kind of happened at the moment, from when he visited the Velvet Room one last time and then started floating, then faced off against whatever he had to face.]

Edited 2017-05-27 02:38 (UTC)

It felt... right?

[But how could dying ever feel right? How could he have known that it would get the job done?]

I was told that I could pull off a miracle through the bonds I forged after a year. So I wanted to do it if it meant saving everyone.

[Minato had been told that he would be dying at some point, any point. Maybe that's why he wasn't so worried about it.]

You were able to do what you did... because of your friends.

[His frown deepens. He can't help thinking what it would have been like for all of them if they'd lost Souji the same way.]

... you don't seem like it bothers you too much. That 'cause you've had so much time to get used to it?

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