Persona: Rise of a New Wild Card

Chapter 6: June of Bloom

Maki was making great progress in her classes, thanks to her friendships and family. After class ended Kojiro asked Maki if she was busy, they wound up hanging out at Paulownia mall for the rest of the day playing at the arcade and singing Karaoke. The two had a blast, when they got home Makoto was in the kitchen with Yukari making dinner for Maki, Kojiro wished her well as he left to go home. Maki's dinner with her parents was great. Kojiro was worried cause he hadn't been home in a couple days since he's been hanging out with Maki so much. When he stepped through his front door though he was greeted by his mom Kotone and dad Shinjiro. Shinji had made him his favorite meal when they heard he was coming home. Makoto had been keeping in contact with Kotone this whole time. "We're just glad you're getting out of your shell. Maki's the first friend you've had since you were a toddler. I wish I could be joining you guys on those missions, but Castor accepted leaving me in order to save Makoto." Kojiro was confused.

"What do you mean Castor left you? Isn't he mom's persona?" Shinjiro and Kotone had a lot of explaining to do now. "Well... You see, your father used to be a persona user. But after a grave battle on October 4th over 20 years ago your uncle Makoto had given his life to perform an ultimate attack against a shadow that would have caused your father's death. Y-Your... Father gave up his persona Castor in order to save Makoto from death. Thankfully in our time of need I summoned him once again to continue a losing fight." Kojiro understood as he ate his food. Shinjiro and Kotone embraced their son for what seemed like hours before he headed back to bed. The month of June was going to be upon everyone soon and another full moon would arise. Maki, Kojiro, and Lance were ready. Makoto and Akihiko were researching yet another Persona user the next morning.

"So you're telling me this girl might end up being similar to Fuuka when we first rescued her?" Akihiko asked Makoto. "Well in a way, yes. From the readings on her, she does seem to have been bestowed similar powers to Fuuka. Though they are not related it is possible that some persona users have similarities. She's not the top of her class by any means but she is a kind student. At least unlike Fuuka he isn't going to be getting trapped inside Tartarus for bullying reasons. I'll speak to her parents about getting her signed up for the SEES club. Ikutsuki had only one good idea his whole life and it was making SEES look like a normal club on the surface. Made it easy to re-establish it as a club." Makoto and Akihiko continued to research the new student who could be joining Maki as a support member.

The next morning Maki was relaxing at her lunch table when Lance and Kojiro sat next to her. They had been informed by Maki's father just moments ago that they would need to convince yet another student to join SEES. Their name was Minerva Kijosana. She was roughly the same age as Maki and Kojiro but was quite tall for a student of her age. They hadn't seen Minerva at all during the day but it was also because she didn't have the same class as Maki, Kojiro, and Lance. Even during lunch though they couldn't fine Minerva at all, it was as if she'd vanished from the school. When school ended for them they had to head straight home to prepare for the next full moon operation. Makoto had explained to the kids that they'd have to fight the Empress and Emperor Arcana this Dark Hour. Maki, Kojiro, and Lance spent the day waiting at Maki's house for the Dark Hour.

Minerva was wandering around the city filled with confusion as she found herself at the Nanjo tower. Just as she was about to enter the tower the clock struck twelve and the tower turned once again into Tartarus. She stepped back in fear at what she was looking at. She became curious as she hadn't known what was going on. As she walked in Makoto was leading the team to Tartarus when he got a massive headache. He had sensed someone was in trouble thanks to him using Cybele so much to support the team lately. The team made a straight run for Tartarus, they burst through the front door of the tower to see the Emperor Arcana holding Minerva by the throat. "Persona!" Maki called out as she summoned Mimir to blast the Arcana with bufu.

The Emperor Arcana fell over as he was weak to bufu skills. Minerva fell to the floor as she gasped for breath. Kojiro rushed over and handed her an Evoker. "Is this, a gun!?" Kojiro quickly explained she needs to use it to help them fight for her life. Maki, Kojiro, and Lance all tried to fight the Arcanas but they continued to change their affinities which left the team unsure what the weaknesses were and they slowly got weaker and weaker. Makoto wasn't able to detect what the weakness of each of them was. It wasn't until everyone was on the ground nearly defeated when Minerva took the Evoker to her head and said, "Persona." Wind shoved both Arcana's to the floor as the being of Pax appeared. "I'll try and search for the enemies weakness. Please give me time." Makoto then stood to his feet as he took his Evoker and summoned, "Orpheus!" Minerva called out that the Empress was weak to agi skills. Makoto had Orpheus blast the Empress which vaporized her thanks to Orpheus' drastic power difference. Kojiro and Lance hit the Emperor with a powerful attack which knocked him over.

"Now's our chance for an all-out-attack! Let's get him!" Kojiro and Lance charged in with Makoto and Maki short behind them. Yukari healed the team up once the battle was over. Maki and Kojiro ran over to Minerva who was breathing heavy. "I... I did it." Minerva then passed out as Maki and Kojiro layed next to her to check on her. Once they found that she was alright they took her to her house. They made sure to leave a note telling her where to meet them once she woke up and what was going on briefly as to not confuse her parents. Minerva would soon join SEES as their new navigator. But for now Maki and Kojiro said their goodbyes to Lance for the night as they all headed home after beating yet another full moon boss. They would soon enjoy yet another break to a place Makoto and Yukari wouldn't have gone to for years.