Persona 3 : Two Souls

Part 42 - The Fall

January 28th, the day of Nyx's arrival was fastly approaching, the group had worked tirelessly to get to the point where when she did arrive they could reach her easily and confront her without fail. The afternoon after school Takuya felt it was only right to visit Naganaki Shrine and see Akinari one more time before the battle, when he got there his friend was sitting exactly where he expected to see him.

"Yo..." Takuya said plainly catching his pale friend's attention.

"Hey..." Akinari replied back with a calm smile on his face as his friend sat down next to him, the two boys had grown accustomed to their rather casual greetings.

"I finished my story." Akinari said without losing his smile "I want to show it to you."

"Great." Takuya replied happily, his friend gladly pulled out a worn-out notebook and handed it to the blue-haired young man. "I would love to talk all about it but I think it'd be best if you read it yourself." Akinari said.

"I'll make sure to read it soon, promise." Takuya replied.

"The meaning of my life isn't something I'm worried about." Takuya became confused very quickly by what his friend had just said. "It's really what others think of my life that gives it meaning, I feel."

"Akinari..." Takuya quietly stuttered "...You okay?"

"You've helped me realize something, Takuya." Akinari replied "That the meaning of our lives is something we make ourselves, not something that's given to us at birth." the pale young man stood up prompting his friend to stand up as well.

"That notebook in your hands is all that's left of me, all I have to leave behind, I want you to have it." Akinari explained "It only felt right giving it to you, since you were the one who shared my final moments with me."

"My...body feels lighter..." Akinari blurted out with his eyes closed contently and his lips curled up into a warm smile. "Thank you, Takuya Shiomi, for everything."

"Think nothing of it, Akinari..." Takuya replied somberly "...I'm glad I gave you that."

"Because of you...I can be glad I was born...." Akinari said in response, he opened his eyes so he and his friend could make eye contact "I hope...we someday meet again..." with those words the pale young man faded from sight right before Takuya's eyes, in emotional shock he gripped the worn notebook tightly as he realized what this meant, he decided to return back to the dorms with his gift in hand and retreated straight to his room for the rest of the night as he had some important reading to do.

January 29th, Takuya returned home from school once again, immediately he was greeted by Koromaru who begged to be taken out for a walk. Making things less boring, it seemed the others wanted to come along with them so they all went out for a nightly walk together with the dog. They all stopped at Naganaki Shrine and decided to hang around the nearby playground just to relax and take a break from walking.

"The day is fast approaching." Yukari said breaking the silence, Takuya turned to look at her "You've got a point." he replied "No turning back now."

"Do you think we have a chance?" she asked "Be honest." he turned to look at the others who were far enough from them that they couldn't hear what they were saying, he turned back to look toward the pink-clad girl and simply answered "I believe in all of you, yes."

"Far cry from when you didn't trust us." she joked with an awkward laugh.

"To be fair, you pulled a gun on me." he joked back, she playfully shoved him in response. "You jerk, you know it wasn't a gun." she said through laughs. "Yeah, I know that now." he laughed back.