The initial jolt of being shoved aside had surprised the girl, but the sight of seeing Shiro go down had her gasping. Even worse, there was a shadow on top of him and some weird guy with a ponytail poking it with a stick. The English-speaking boy laughed in response to all of the commotion before asking something, and Akira merely gave the newcomer a strange look before attempting to help Shirogane up.

"No, no new friends for you to play with. Your entry was rather unconventional, but I would appreciate it if you let me help my friend up." Akira stated, obviously annoyed. This entire night was becoming a headache, and just before she could cool her nerves another jarring blast of static blew through her earpiece. She hauled Shirogane up with a sudden burst of strength before releasing him and attending to her earpiece. "Dammit Fukugawa, We're still at the dorm! Just hold out for a bit longer, don't give up!" Akira barked before turning to the newcomer and her new dorm-mates. It was time to make or break it, it seemed. There wasn't enough time to lollygag around with just three group members on the train, and without her it was possible that they could....

"Okay look, we can't stand around anymore. We need to go, now." her hazel eyes then focused on ponytail-boy with a withheld glare. "You. You like killing these blobs, yes? Want to kill more? There'll be lots where we are going and we could use the help. Sorry if my methods are a tad unconventional, but there isn't any time for formalities I'm afraid."

Kashiwara Yuuhei remained stoic through the ordeal. Apparently there were people on the opposite side of the door. They didn't look like shadows. One of them was trampled under the shadow Yuuhei kicked in here. Yuuhei stood up and swiftly eyed the scene. Few people in here, all of them having strange personalities. One ran up to the shadow he defeated and began talking to it. Another person glared at Yuuhei. He fixed his icy blue eyes on the person. "You," Yuuhei pointed at himself, "You like killing these blobs, yes? Want to kill more? There'll be lots where we are going and we could use the help. Sorry if my methods are a tad unconventional, but there isn't any time for formalities I'm afraid."

Houh? Do I enjoy killing them? No. Does it give me something to do? Yes. He gave an unwavering stare at the person. It isn't like he didn't know how to talk. He felt it would be wasted. He could get out of this in any way he wanted. He stepped to the side, revealing past the door at least 14 Shadows defeated. He used his hand to guide them to the door in an "after you" motion.

"W-what...?" Shirogane began to thank Ikeda for lending a hand, but it was so surprising to see someone like her take charge of the situation that he stopped mid-arigato. He couldn't believe someone so moe-moe-kyun was actually barking orders. That's...kinda...hot...? Call it being naturally drawn to the alpha, but Shirogane was one of those weaker type-B personalities and the sweet Ikeda had suddenly shifted to a dominant type-A. It was like if Youhei was a short, bespectacled girl. Although he had come back for Ikeda, he wanted to stay here and use protecting the newbies as an excuse to do so. However, her large-and-in-charge-despite-her-diminutive-cuteness attitude left no room for argument. "R-right." He stammered despite himself. He still had his doubts about leaving the dorm and he was especially wary of this wild man, but he kept it to himself. Then, upon seeing the carnage that lay beyond the door in the wake of the strange shadow-kicker Are we seriously asking this monster for help? Does he even have a persona? He couldn't comprehend how someone could be so strong. He had yet to kill a single shadow himself. Before walking through the doorway, Shirogane had to confirm something first. Would this stranger fight alongside them? Could they trust him as their ally? "Wait." He turned to face Yuuhei "Hey...say something. You're on our side, right? We're all human. The shadows are the enemy. Right?"

That weird Strega cult was still out there, and SEES had no information on them. Shirogane had no reason to trust anyone awake during the Dark Hour who wasn't a member of SEES. The shadow to the face he had received and this guy's silence weren't helping his case either. On top of that, Shirogane had a hard time trusting new people in general.

Takahiro growled through the communicator. "Yeah, I hear ya, you little shit. Hold on just one goddamn second."

---

Takahiro checked his phone. "Hm." The communicators of the rest of the SEES members were off. He sighed. "I hate doing this... it feels so weird... but..." He closed his eyes and focused. The SEES members would hear a familiar voice in their heads. It felt like a thought was being forced into their heads. It was not like hearing someone speaking next to you. "Hey, where the hell are you guys? Yoro and Youhei are being attacked by Shadows. FUCKING SHADOWS. Get your asses to the monorail before they get themselves killed!"

---

As Ares attacked one of the Shadows, it swung a long arm out at it the Persona, catching it right in the jaw. Ares flew across the car, slamming into the wall. Luckily, only a window was cracked. Yoro let out a pained cry and flew into the wall next to Ares. "Rrrngh..." Yoro and Ares stood up at the same time. Yoro looked over at his Persona. "Take them." Ares nodded, charging head-on once again. The Shadow repeated the same tactic, swinging its arm. Ares moved at the last second, drawing its sword from its sheath. The green light of the full moon seemed to reflect off the blade for a moment. "Getsu-ei!" Ares drew his blade across the group of Shadows, destroying three of them in a blast of green light.

The other Shadows recoiled for a moment, but renewed their assault. Two went after Yoro, who fended off one with his epee before Ares managed to destroy it with a couple of well-places sword strikes. The last one went at Youhei. It would be clear that Yoro wasn't as strong as he was before, but his experience certainly was showing. He was unflinching and he executed a simple, but well thought out strategy.

In stark contrast to Kirijo's elegant technique, Youhei fought with sheer brute stength, kicking, curbstomping and headbutting any Shadow he could get his hands on. His style was rough, full of openings and the Shadows knew it; he had taken a few heavy hits already and was in dire need of healing. He staggered back again, wheezing raggedly, when a burst of static broke though his earpiece. Youhei could just about make out a girl's raised voice on the other end, but he couldn't understand what she was saying. Naturally he immediately thought the worst; what if the dorm was under attack again or if they had been ambushed en route? Before he could voice his fears, Takahiro finally deigned to answer his earlier call. 'Not... gonna argue. Just hurry... the fuck up.' Youhei paused a few moments, allowing his ragged breathing to ease a little; a smooth counter by Kirijo's Persona earned them a brief reprieve but there was no time for celebration. Within seconds the Shadows rallied and came again, splitting up to attack them both. Youhei knew he couldn't react in time, wouldn't be able to get a solid hit in; instead he tried reaching out to his Persona, calling Inugami for help, Pretty sharpish if you would, thank you very much. The beast did not disappoint. A bright flash filled the car and a bolt of lightning hit the charging Shadow on it's blind side, sending it sprawling past Youhei, who stood frozen in confusion for a moment... before bringing his boot down hard on the quivering mass, just in case. 'Zio, eh...?' It was the first time his Persona had shown an aptitude for anything more than biting people and it would have been fascinating if they weren't fighting for their lives. Youhei turned back to the fight, eager to give his new found magic a proper go.

Masaharo was standing in front of his new school.He was very nervous and took a deep breath then said "Here I go".He ran to the entrance of the school but the school was empty.He looked at his watch and it's only 6:00 am."I'm very early,the school will start in an hour..... I guess I should tour myself in my new school".He started exploring the school for 45 minutes so he can get to his class in 15 minutes.Masaharo's first subject was Math, so he entered the math class expecting to meet someone.

Yoro went for a thrust, but the Shadow managed to dodge and get a few shots in on Yoro, pinning him into a seat and getting in a couple more. However, once the Shadow realized it was alone, it slinked towards the door of the car, getting through safely. Yoro dismissed his Persona, sitting in the seat where the Shadow struck him. He panted heavily. "Ngh... this isn't good... i'm still not at 100%... I need healing really bad..." He spoke to the air. "Tak, where are Aki and the others?" A voice entered Youhei and Yoro's head; Takahiro's voice.

"Shit man, I don't know. I haven't gotten a response yet."

"Alright... one last shot..." Yoromatsu took out his communicator, tapping the touch screen a few times. All of a sudden, Youhei's screen on his communicator started glowing red and the communicator let out a loud siren noise. The screen would read; "DISTRESS SIGNAL RECEIVED - KIRIJO, YOROMATSU. LOCATION: QUARTER MILE NORTH OF PORT ISLAND STATION. STARTING GPS... OPENING MAP..." Then, a map would fill up the screen, showing the current location of Yoromatsu's phone.

---

As the group stood around the lounge of the dorm, the communicators of the SEES members would suddenly switch on, letting out a loud, blaring siren. The screen began to glow red. On it in white letters, the screen read; "DISTRESS SIGNAL RECEIVED - KIRIJO, YOROMATSU. LOCATION: QUARTER MILE NORTH OF PORT ISLAND STATION. STARTING GPS... OPENING MAP..." Then, a map would fill up the screen, showing the current location of Yoro's phone. After a couple of seconds, a mechanical voice on the phone said; "DISTRESS SIGNAL RECEIVED - KIRIJO, YOROMATSU. LOCATION: QUARTER MILE NORTH OF PORT ISLAND STATION. SHOWING MAP."

---

Yoromatsu let out a deep breath and set his phone next to him. "Press the "X" in the upper right hand corner of your communicator. That will shut the siren off."

"Locked? Shit...I just got here too..."
Itsuki cursed as he tried to gain entry to the building. He'd received a letter when he transferred detailing the dorm where he'd be staying at, he didn't really understand why he couldn't just stay with his dad like normal, he recalled something in the letter about "strengthening the bonds between the students", but it looked like who ever was staying there was out. Didn't even leave a key under the mat. He sighed as he placed his hands in his coat pockets and began walking to the only place a Japanese transfer student can ever go when they got nothing better to do: The Convenience Store!

Of course, what with it being a convenience store, it was pretty damn boring, nothing really caught his eye aside from their big freakin' pretzels. He glanced at the price tag for the baked doughy deliciousness before him and found it to be...only ¥280? It probably took a single attosecond for him to ask the cashier for one, deciding that he'd need to kill some time while waiting for the dorm to reopen he pulled some manga volume from the magazine rack and waited as the Cashier printed out his receipt and gave him his change.
11:59:45
He began making his way towards the automatic door, telling the cashier to have a good night, the farewell was reciprocated as the cashier waved goodbye.
11:59:56
The automatic door began to slide open as he began walking towards it, flipping through the first page of the manga.
11:59:59
*Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick*
*Tick*
12:00:00
"...Witch Detective? The fuck is- OW!' He ran into the partially open door, which had stopped moving once the clock's hands reached 12. He turned to where the cashier had been and grumbled, saying: "Hey Buddy, I think you door is-Whu-WhuWHAT?" Where the guy had been there was now some sort of coffin...needless to say Itsuki flipped the fuck out and backed against the door as much as he could, as if he was going to open it by doing that.

"This...T-This can't be real, nope,nope,nope, I'm going insane, Itsuki, you have LOST YOUR MARBLES. Oh god....E-Even the moon is fucked up...oh god oh man..."
He sidled out of the convenience store by shuffling sideways through the crack in the automatic door, the cheap plastic bending slightly as he forced his way through. He'd seen a bum hanging out on the street corner a few minutes ago...coffin. He saw some weirdo walking his dog at midnight...two coffins, one small, one like the others. He started breathing raggedly, this was just to surreal, a thousand thoughts raced through his mind: Was his father alright? Was he the last person alive? Why did this happen and how? All of these questions, and none of them he could answer. He sat down on the street corner next to the new bum-coffin and clutched his head in his hand. He thought about how much he wanted to start over fresh, someplace new, someplace where he didn't know anybody, it all just seemed too perfect. Just before he started getting too deep into his thoughts he thought he saw some sort of...black sludge move in a dark alley across the way. He was finally feeling it, he thought for sure he'd gone insane-until he saw that there was indeed something moving in the shadows. Not willing to risk staying around this place any longer, Itsuki ran. He ran as fast as he could, trying to make his way back to the dorm, if he was lucky, he'd find something that wasn't the alley-creature.

Akira let out a startled gasp as Takahiro's voice echoed in her head, and soon after her phone started screeching like crazy. Her headache intensified with each passing second, and she let out a frustrated cry as she frantically searched for a way to shut it up. It wasn't long before she'd silenced her device, eyes wild behind her glasses and she quickly made an attempt to help shut up Shirogane's as well. Afterwards, she excused herself with a small cough to clear her throat before stepping outside stepped outside.

When she passed the doorway she realized how strong the man she'd invited along really was, and she wondered if she made the right choice. Oh well, things seemed to be going to hell already, and if they all didn't make it to the train station where Yoro and Youhei were, they'd all end up dead regardless of whether or not she brought him along.
After absent-mindedly brushing strands of strawberry hair away from her face, Akira faced her companions from her position outside of the dorm, and with a simple "Let's go. All of you." she set out towards the train station, her headache as intense as her backwards "Alpha type" attitude.

Waiting on a response to his earlier question about their newest ally's motives, Shirogane froze completely, both mentally as well as physically, as Tak's thoughts entered his mind.The guy could have been Strega and put a blade through Shirogane as he stood there and it wouldn't have made any difference to him in that moment because the moment he realized someone else had somehow trespassed on the refuge of his mind a deeper terror than anything he had ever known swallowed Shirogane whole. His mind was the only place that belonged to him alone, an asylum that is as much a sanctuary as it is a prison, like Hell is as much a kingdom to the Devil as it is his damnation.

He was completely unfazed as the alarm on his phone exploded, and remained catatonic even as Ikeda drew close enough to help shut it off which necessitated the kind of proximity that ordinarily resulted in him getting all flustered and snapped him out of his mental episodes. The fear of death put in him by the first excursion into Tartarus and the unknown dangers which lurked within was a bolstering warmth of adrenaline, though it was a fool's confidence, the encounter with The Other and later Strega had been a chilling terror, but this new terror was another beast entirely. How had the whole world come unraveled so simply? Still frozen, Shirogane felt an immense urge to cry swell up, but he did not although he felt the need to as strongly as a baby just born into the world does. Then he wanted to scream, to shout his lungs out, to roar in defiance of terror and death and then expire all in an instant like a great bolt of lightning that produces such light and sound as it splits the night sky that it seems the whole world might be torn apart by the calamitous force of its existence, but he couldn't do that either. Unable to come to terms with the overwhelming feeling of having 'his place' intruded on, he slowly slumped to the ground.

He felt sick and exhausted, like he'd been running frantic in the dark seeking a safe place to rest and, finding none, ran until he collapsed.
Sitting in the doorway, there was 'outside' on one side of him and 'inside' on the other, and there were 'others' around him, people, but they were like figures or cardboard cut-outs to him. They didn't matter, and he didn't care. The only thing that mattered, the only thing he cared about was this spot. If only the whole world was just this one spot and if he was the only person, then he wouldn't have to be afraid. Except there were others, other places and other people, and he resented them. They turned the world into a much larger place when it would be so much simpler without them. When he could no longer ignore the existence of others, it was then he remembered his sickness because the realization that he was not alone forced him to see himself as others might see him. If the whole world and the people in it are like a mirror and if the reflection in that mirror is made up of how others see us, then Shirogane would turn away from his own reflection disgusted. Resenting himself and then other people, other people and then himself--he knew not which came before the other--each revolution only exhausted him further, and so he drew inside himself more and more hoping to make all his cares, worries, and fears disappear.

For a few minutes, everyone stood around twiddling their thumbs as they stared at this blob thing. They also said some things that Leo couldn't really comprehend the meaning of, because he was the only person in this dorm didn't speak Japanese. No one actually answered his question. Finally, the new arrival gestured to the door. The boy's eyes widened excitedly. Yes! Let's go already! Everyone's Cell Phones went off before the girl in glasses finally said something, actually opened the door and went outside. Leo happily nodded, and followed.

Or, at least he would have, if it weren't for the guy who was attacked by the shadowy blob suddenly It collapsed on the ground in front of the doorway. Leo may not have been able to speak Japanese, but recognized a person in distress when he saw one. He tilted his head, and frowned concernedly. "Hey buddy... Are you alright?" He knew he was probably wasting time asking this question in English, but it couldn't hurt to at least try to help.

Ranko looked around the streets feeling confused and anxious, somehow she'd been zoned out for most of the ordeal ,as if her body was on autopilot, and had found her way in to the streets. All around she could see coffins, as if someone had dug up a graveyard and just set them around the city. Strange enough, Ranko was calm, maybe it was because she'd faced a shadow before, seeing hoe terrible things can become but....she was calm. Reaching in to her pocket, she pulled out her cellphone and looked at the clock on it. "12 am....." She mumbled quietly to herself before putting it away. From the corner of her eye, Ranko saw something running towards her. Was it a shadow? Someone from Strega? Or an ally? She couldn't really tell, as it drew closer.

Itsuki stopped as the fatigue started setting in, the adrenaline from seeing...whatever that thing was, was gone now, instead replaced by vigorous sweating and panting as he leaned on a lampost, which only an hour ago had been shining like always. It was funny, thinking that that would be the last luminescent light he'd ever see depressed him even more. "Guess it's true what they say...you never appreciate what ya have until it's gone and people turn into fucking coffins." He chuckled a bit at his own bad joke, honestly, if he was going to spend the rest of his life being alone in this sorta hellhole, he might as well work on his material. Not like anybody else was going to be-

He stopped panting and stood completely still, and breathlessly stared at the figure of a young woman, looked to be around his age ahead of him. His mouth was completely agape, he thought everybody had been turned into coffins, or into...whatever that blob thing was. Now, he felt a semblance of peace return to his mind, he wasn't the last man alive, and heck, if she survived the "Coffinpocalypse™", what were the odds that more people couldn't have as well? Putting his thoughts into motion, he quickly made his way over to the girl, even though he was nearly out of breath, he still sprinted full speed, coming to a halt a few feet from her. He stood there gasping for air for a moment, now the fatigue fell upon him again, this time taking the words from his mouth as he anted heavily, hands on his knees as he stared at the ground in front of him. He tilted his head up as he was still breathing, trying his best to look the girl in the eyes; she seemed to have a tan complexion, though the pale-green light of the new creepy-as-all-hell moon made that a little difficult to see her actual skin pigment. As his breathing grew less ragged, he stood up a bit straighter, though his hands still rested upon his kneecaps. He finally gathered enough breath in his lungs to say: "Are....Are there...any others? Did....D..id...anybody else not get turned into a-*cough* a coffin?" He returned to staring at the ground, trying to regain his breath once again.

Ranko watched as the figure stopped for a while before continuing forward, and then suddenly sprinting towards her. Panting heavily in front of her was a guy with dark hair that looked to be her age, he seemed frantic as anyone who didn't know what was going on would. Getting closer to him, she gently patted his back and helped him stand up straight. "There are others who didn't get turned, I'll take you to them right away so just stay close to me..." Ranko tried to be as reassuring as possible, giving him a soft smile before grabbing his hand and beginning to walk towards the dorm building that was luckily not to far from where she was. She was still on high alert, She had seen a lot of the weird ooze around the coffins and it was unsettlingly quiet. Ranko instinctively held the boys hand tighter and walked faster than she already was, but not too fast since the boy was so fatigued.

Yoromatsu huffed, clearly annoyed. "Let's go ahead. They should be here soon." As he got up and walked into the next car, Youhei would hear him mumble, "I swear, they'll all be scrubbing bathrooms for a year."

---

Takahiro paced around outside. "Where the fuck are they?" He asked himself, stopping and facing the station.

"Hello there." A male voice said. Takahiro froze. He didn't sense this person until just now. Just as he was turning around to see who was addressing him, his vision went dark.

---

As Yoromatsu walked through the car, he noticed that Takahiro had been strangely quiet. "Hey, Tak, talk to me. What does it look like ahead?" No response. Yoro glanced at his communicator. Tak's was off, according to the display. "Did he forget to charge it...?" Yoro wondered. Just then, two rather large Shadows dropped in Yoro's path, protected by a cube-shaped barrier of paper. On instinct, Yoro pressed his Evoker to his temple and called forth Ares. He looked back to where he came and noticed Youhei had not yet followed. He turned back to the Shadows. Why didn't Tak warn him?

Itsuki sighed happily for a bit as the girl helped him stand up, his breath was still ragged, but at least now he was calm, and soon his breath would return to normal. As they walked along, the sights remained the same all-throughout the streets, no people, just coffins. It was dead quiet, an occasional sound that vaguely resembled water dripping came from some of the alleys, but to stop and check would mean finding things...things like the sludge that stole Itsuki's precious hard-earned pretzel. He missed that pretzel. Itsuki felt something odd about the girl...aside from her above-average tan. She seemed completely unfazed by any of the oddities in the world now, in fact, she even knew where other people were who didn't get "coffinized™". Realizing that something was up beyond his understanding, he silently kept up the pace as the girl pulled him by the hand, letting the thought toil in his mind, hoping to find a good way to word his question.

As they Got closer to the dorm building, Itsuki finally spoke up, his breath now even once again, he stopped walking, and looked up to the pale-green moon floating above the city. "You don't seem...fazed by any of this. Do you...know what's happening to the island? Last I checked, people didn't turn into coffins at night, black jell-o wasn't dicking around in alleyways, and the moon wasn't puke green."

It seemed that Akira had reached her breaking point when she witnessed Shirogane's breakdown, for a lack of a better word. It was as if the boy had completely shut down, and to be honest she was surprised that she was managing to remain somewhat untouched by the night's events. All she chalked it up to was that she could deal with all of this after everyone was safe, and she couldn't do that unless she got everyone moving, including the introverted boy who had clammed up in a matter of seconds. She took a couple of quick strides before clasping her hand around Shirogane's wrist, and then pulled him forwards and out the door. She then continued walking forward, growling out "We don't have time for this!" and then pressed onward.

Hopefully the adrenaline running through her would hold out a little longer, or at least long enough to get everyone safely to the train station. Akira was ready for all of this to end, and this time she didn't bother to look back towards the dorm and see if the rest were following. To be honest, she couldn't find it in her heart to care anymore, and her concerns were set on the boy she was tugging along, and the others who were probably fighting for their lives on the train this very moment.

Shirogane hadn't had the strength to move himself, and he certainly didn't have the strength to resist when he felt someone grab his wrist. His own weight resisted at first, but it seemed whoever had decided it was worthwhile to move this deadweight had determination since they didn't have any help from him. For a while he only noticed the ground beneath him as his feet moved only so much to keep him from falling. Whoever had to drag him along surely had a hard time of it since it was slow going with a person who was falling on to their next foot rather than willingly walking on their own. It took some time but eventually he noticed the heels of the person ahead of him, and then the person herself. Hmm...? Despite being forced against his will--although there was no reason to call it his "will" anymore--the strength of whoever was carrying him was interesting enough to pull him out of his stupor if only just a bit. Shirogane recognized the person pulling him along of course. For the briefest moment something other than his brain responded to this person. His feet moved a little less heavily for the rest of the journey.

Rank looked down for a moment to think before looking over her shoulder at the guy. "To be honest, I know but at the same time I don't. I know that all this happens but I'm not 100% on why.." she tried to explain as easily as possible. In short, she knew 'what's but not 'why'. Soon they reached the torm building and Rankle took a moment to look behind her and the guy as well as around to make sure nothing was following them or sneaking up. "I know there's someone who can better explain this than me so you should probably ask them." She knocked on the door loud enough for the people inside to hear. "It's me, Maeda, I found someone who wasn't a coffin!"

With the last Shadow defeated, Youhei slumped down into a seat and erupted into a violent fit of coughing. As it slowly subsided, he heard Kirijo call him on. 'I'll be right behi-' Another heavy fit cut Youhei off, this time sending him crumbling to the floor; he could feel a metallic tang in the back of his throat and the floor was flecked with red droplets. At any other time he would have gone straight to A&E, but unfortunately he didn't have that luxury... He hauled himself upright, using his hammer as a crutch and limped on down the train after Kirijo. When he finally caught up, the leader of SEES was once again facing off against a pair of Shadows; both looked an order of magnitude more powerful than the small fry they had been massacring so far. Youhei knew he wouldn't be of much use if he waded in; he probably had broken bones, one arm hung limp and his eyesight was getting hazy. All he could do was support Kirijo with his Persona. Raising the black Evoker with his good arm, Youhei summoned Inugami once more and it flew up above Kirijo's head, ready to support his attacks with a bolt of magical lightning. Behind them, Youhei slowly slid to the floor, focusing on analysing the Shadow's movements and controlling his Persona.