Days passed and it was the day Fuuka has been discharged from the hospital.
Currently Terry offered to pick her lucky mitsuru or ikutsuki didn't object.
While they were walking to the dorms Terry made sure to ask Fuuka if she was positive in what she was going to do which she confirmed.
So he decided to stop asking and see where this goes.
(At the operation room)
Ikutsuki: you are Fuuka yamagishi yes?
Fuuka was startled by ikutsuki's voice and got up at attention.
Fuuka: y yes!
Ikutsuki let out a small laugh at this.
Ikutsuki: there's no need for you to be nervous.
Fuuka sat down after realizing that after the events that happened she was a bit jumpy.
Ikutsuki: now then before we get to the topic I think it's fair to let you know that the girls made a full recovery.
Hearing that made Fuuka relieved.
Fuuka: thank goodness.
Ikutsuki: from what we've able to gather they each sneaked at night and waited for the security guard to leave.
Yukari crossed her arms and let out a huff.
Yukari: I knew right away that it had nothing to do with ghost.
terry: aren't personas like your avatar of your mind? Then when you really think about it they are technically your ghost.
That gave pause to everyone especially yukari who never thought about her persona like that.
But she quickly shook her head to get that thought out of her head.
Yukari: shut up that's different.
Terry: sure.
Terry noticed that Fuuka looked downcast.
Terry: hey Fuuka what's wrong?
Fuuka: it's my fault.
Terry: huh?
Fuuka: I've made so many people worry and-
Terry: don't apologize.
Fuuka: huh?
Terry: I heard from these guys that those girls picked on you and locked you up in the gym and if they didn't do that then they wouldn't have to get caught up in the dark hour so yeah you didn't do anything wrong.
Fuuka wanted to say something but when she thought about he was right.
If she wasn't locked in the gym then non of this would have happened.
Mitsuru took that chance and speak up.
Mitsuru: we would have lost that battle if you didn't awakened to your power. You have special power that you can use to help others.
Terry easily saw that mitsuru was gaslighting Fuuka but he already knew that Fuuka agreed to join.
Fuuka: I'm aware senpai that's why I agree to join.
Everyone were surprised by this even mitsuru.
Yukari: woah since when did you agree to join?
Fuuka: Terry came to visit me in the hospital and he told me about everything.
Everyone then turned to look at Terry was just shrugged.
Terry: I tried to do the opposite but as you can see I failed at that.
Akihiko: why did you try to stop her?
Terry: like I said before living the supernatural life leaves you with scars that you can't heal from.
He pointed at himself to show his point.
Terry: my whole body itself is a scar and trust me things are easy but soon enough shit will hit the fan.
Junpei: you're too worried we're persona users nothing bad is gonna happen to us.
Terry: you can't use your power outside the dark hour remember so what's stopping someone from shooting you with a gun?
That made everyone pause and Junpei didn't know why but he felt something like a phantom pain near his chest.
Yukari: well that all aside Fuuka are you sure about this? If you join you will have to live here and-
Fuuka: oh that's fine this place feels more comfortable than my home anyway.
Ikutsuki: that's good to hear.
Yukari however was starting to get suspicious of mitsuru because she remembered moments were Junpei asked questions and sometimes she didn't answer.
Ikutsuki: now then let's move on to the matter at hand Akihiko reported that the special shadows come out during a full moon so now we know when to expect them.
Akihiko: with this information we will be more ready to get in the ring.
Junpei: damn right senpai.
Terry looked over at Makoto who didn't say a word but was listening.
The two made eye contact and they looked at each other with different intentions. One was indifferent while another is suspicious but not hostile.
Terry knew damn well that things happened for a reason and he had a feeling that Makoto is gonna be the main catalyst for this whole thing.
Ikutsuki: there's something else we had to get out of the way. Terry?
Terry just gave a hand motion to say go ahead.
He honestly didn't care about his origins being revealed because they don't have any to threaten him with.
They don't have a way for him to get home and more or less the bastards that turned him into a halfbreed aren't here so he's pretty much saved from them for now.
Ikutsuki: well our friend terry isn't from this world.
Fuuka: huh? What do- wait are you saying he's like a shadow that took a human form?
A silence came across the room and Makoto could have swore he heard the prison kid laughing.
Terry himself was somewhat surprised by Fuuka's wild theory and honestly from her perspective it's possible that he himself is a shadow but he knew himself and he wasn't a shadow.
Terry: no what he means is that I'm literally from a different world completely different from this one.
Fuuka now was shocked by the truth of terry's origins.
Fuuka: but how if this true then how are-
Terry: here? Well I'll tell you this I didn't mean to come here. I was jumped by some asshole who basically caught me off guard.
Everyone looked at each other gathering their thoughts.
Yukari: hey Terry what do you do in your world?
Terry: why are you asking?
Yukari: well um you see we've been curious because this is the first time we met someone form another dimension or universe or whatever. So we thought if we are stuck together we might as well get to know you?
Terry actually gave this some thought because if he was stuck with this group he might well actually try and cooperate of course he will keep his guard up especially around Ikutsuki.
When Terry looks at him he gets a sense that this man isn't who he pretends to be.
His soul gets vibes of a mad man but he can't just say that out loud and he's pretty sure he's not wrong.
After all the soul is the embodiment of your character.
He will have to be careful.
Terry: well what do you want to know?
Mitsuru: do those ears on your head actually work?
Terry: well yeah it's like hearing in both of my ears.
He removed some parts of his hair and revealed that he still had human ears.
Junpei: isn't that wierd?
Terry: oh it was everytime I heard loud noises I get a massive headache but overtime I got used to it.
Mitsuru: Terry I must ask. Do you have any issues with your body.
Terry: excuse me?
Mitsuru: don't get the wrong impression I'm asking if you have any problems we should be concerned with. Like you having episodes or anything else.
Terry: I'm offended and no I'm don't have episodes.
That was a half lie he does have nightmares but it's just nightmares nothing more he grew up in pain and he was numb to it and he no longer had episodes just nightmares.
Akihiko: how strong are you?
Terry: enough to punch the jaw of a normal human. If I feel irritated. But if I just feel like not trying hurt someone too bad I only dislocate someone's jaw. But as for scale wise. Even with your personas I have more experience and unlike you I don't need conditions to use my powers. So in short I'm strong enough to wipe out the entire island if I wanted to.
Everyone looked at him with some weariness they completely forgot that Terry was a superhuman and if he can use his powers outside the dark hour and hearing that he can wipe out tatsumi port island. They had can't deny that Terry could do so by himself.
And internally Ikutsuki had plans for the rabbit eared boy because in the future he will become a threat to his plans
Terry: don't worry. I'm not gonna go on a rampage without reason I may not be completely human anymore but I still have self control.
Makoto: where did you get those weapons?
Terry didn't answer for a moment but instead he got and he got close to a wall and he sunk his hand inside the shadow and pulled out his weapons.
Mitsuru: how do you do that?
Terry: store my weapons? These things are sunk inside my own shadow and as long as I have my own individual shadow I have my weapons on me even when I pull it out in other surfaces.
Makoto: so as long as you have your own shadow your weapons don't end up somewhere else?
Terry: pretty much.
He sat back down and placed his weapons on the table.
Now that the sees group had a good look at terry's weapons they noticed some odd things.
For one his knife has red cracks not in signs of breaking but looking more infected than anything.
As for his gun it had spikes on the butt end and a spike one the barrel and not only that but there were holes on it. like it was an exhaust pipe with holes.
These unique designs were completely alien to me the sees group and they were curious especially mitsuru since she didn't like how the knife looked.
Mitsuru: well. What's the story behind these weapons? They don't look like ordinary weapons.
Terry: they were crafted from special materials some spirits have special abilities were it comes specifically from a body part. Like a tail if you cut the tail off it will remain and in some rare occasion the spirits leave behind something like remnants of themselves.
He then pointed at the knife with red cracks.
Terry: this was made from a territory of a lost knight that had a bounty on its head for killing a spirit that became an exorcist.
Junpei: wait wait. Hold on. What are talking about? What is a lost knight? And spirits can be exorcist?
Terry: lost knights are basically an evolved form of a lost soul where they regain their humanity but twisted thanks to their own hunger for souls.
Akihiko: and the thing about spirits becoming exorcist? How does that work?
Terry: think about it like this. Exorcist is more like a job. To the public they act as private detectives who take requests. EXO which the organization's name send out exorcist to deal with the situation like disappearances mysterious incidents ect. EXO doesn't discriminate against spirits joining if they want but most would rather have a simple life which is understandable.
Fuuka: wow are you an exorcist Terry?
Terry: nope I'm technically vigilante in the spiritual world but luckily if I get found out I won't be in much trouble. Exorcist aren't really police and they don't really say no to outside help but I rather not get too close to exorcist because they would sense something on me.
Yukari: so that explains some things.
Terry: anyway I decided to take the job and I found his location and I found him hiding in an abandoned subway lane he had the ability to disrupt my spiritual energy with those cracks you see if one managed to touch you your body twitches violently along with your spiritual energy having a glitching effect.
Akihiko: how did you survive that?
Terry just shrugged.
Terry: I fought dirty.
This didn't really explained anything so he decided to get to the details.
Terry: I basically made him believe that I was slowly getting weaker by fighting him and when he thought I was vulnerable.
He gestured his hand in a piercing motion.
Terry: I stuck my hand deep in his stomach and I basically killed his from the inside out. He made the mistake of being over confident and getting too close to me and I made sure to chop off a few of his body parts.
When no one answered he looked up and saw everyone looking at him in a disturbing way.
Terry just rolled his eyes at this.
Terry: don't look at me like that. it was either my life or his and besides you guys are no different from killing shadows.
Mitsuru: the shadows are different. From what you told us these lost souls and spirits are basically sentient beings you basically brutalize someone.
Terry: well here's something I didn't tell you about lost souls or spirits. You know how they get stronger?
Junpei: um. By training?
Terry: that's one way yes. But how they mainly get stronger is via cannibalism.
That got shocked reactions from the group.
Yukari: you mean that. They eat each other?
Terry: yeah and humans aren't free from the list and lost souls are the most common causes from brutal murders and disappearances. Pure souls can eat souls too but unlike lost souls they have self control and they pretty much eat the remnants of spiritual energy of dead cultist.
Fuuka: but that's inhumane and horrible! why would they do such a thing!?
Terry: I didn't invent the system and besides if you're bothered by it because of your own sense of justice then you guys aren't seeing things from a realistic perspective.
He pointed at where his scar was located.
Terry: this was done to me by scumbags who took my sister and father figure and put other people going through horrible experiences. Those kinds of people can't be reasoned with and are better off dead instead of alive where they can cause more suffering on to others.
He then looked at all of them in the eye.
Terry: I already told you. I'm not a saint and I've done horrible things like killing but most of the skeletons in my closet are more scummy than me the world it self it's cruel and you either grow by being a bit cruel yourself or stay in a corner and cry. I was the latter until I met someone who teached me how to defend myself from scum. And if your saying that I'm wrong. Try going through what I've been through and then you will see that some people are irredeemable bastards.
When he was done with his rant the sees group went quiet because they gone through some stuff from loss and insecurities.
But hearing Terry speak with a mix of hatred and a bit of nihilism.
On the one hand they wanted to say that he was wrong but they can't deny it since Junpei yukari and Makoto ran into punks who were about to assault them if shinjiro didn't came in to bail them out.
Shuji: why don't we calm down a bit we asked about your weapons Terry. Please continue?
Terry let out a sigh while he was looking at the ceiling and rest his hand on his face to relax since he kinda blew up on them.
Terry: sorry about i got off topic and blew up.
He looked at his knife again and decided to just getting over with.
Terry: anyway after I killed the lost knight I went to a guy who manufactures weapons either standardized or custom made. So I told him that I wanted a knife with the abilities of the knight and. You have this.
Akihiko: does it work like you said?
Terry didn't answer instead he took off on his his gloves and grabbed his knife and he put the bladed tip on the back of his hand.
The sees group saw as terry nicked his grey skin and dark red blood was leaking out but what was surprising was red cracks appearing on his hand.
Terry: satisfied?
Yukari: doesn't that hurt?
Terry: nope. I kinda stabbed myself once in a while to develop a resistance to abilities that disrupt my body and spiritual energy. Don't worry I basically nicked myself from time to time and overtime I grew immune to my own knife but get cut by it multiple times and my immune system gets called into question.
Yukari: you are taking about it as if it's a normal thing.
Terry: that's the benefit of having a healing factor that heals mostly my entire arm if I don't take too much damage.
Junpei: okay that aside what about your gun?
Terry: now that. I won it as reward for an underground fighting arena.
That resulted in another shocking reaction.
Mitsuru: you. Participated in an underground fighting arena?
Terry: yup it was mostly held as a makeshift tournament for spirits to beat each other up. And a lot people who were non participants bet on thier fighters which resulted for some time of me being harassed by people I beat up or others who. and I quote " lost a lot of goddamn money"
Akihiko: I'm guessing that you won thanks to your shadow abilities.
Terry: nope. Using abilities was prohibited and we were forced to were wristbands that restricts our spiritual energy and abilities.
Yukari: wait. So you won using only your bare hands!?
Terry: yup. I didn't enter the underground arena because I wanted the reward it was to test and prove myself.
Mitsuru: for what?
Terry: I was ready to go after bastards. And to show the results of my efforts to sidian.
Fuuka: who's sidian?
Terry: he's like another father figure to me and my trainer. I saw him beat up some thugs and I wanted him to train me. He denied me at first but after some time he gave up and brought me under his wing and from there I know how to fight and counter attack and also being creative with my abilities. But mostly hand to hand combat.
Shuji: this sidian sounds like a good man.
Terry: yeah he is. He might look like a stoned skinned guy who tries to pretend he doesn't care but he's just playing hard to get.
The sees group noticed that he made it sound like sidian had rock skin.
Makoto: so Is sidian a spirit?
Terry: yeah he is.
Yukari: wait. So a ghost took you in?
Terry: the term is spirit. And he's basically a strong pure soul and he looks like this.
He took out his phone again and showed a picture of sidian with Terry also there but a bit younger.
They sees group noticed that sidian was a literal rock man however he only had one eye.
Junpei: so that's him? What happened to his eye?
Terry: like me he was scarred and it was permanent.
Mitsuru: so what after you won?
Terry: well they didn't give me the gun itself but they gave an ore that has remnants of spiritual energy. That happens with a spirit lost soul or other wise dies or they stay in one area for too long thier energy will have a type of effect on the environment if it's compatible.
Fuuka: so what does gun do?
Terry: well it basically turns my spiritual energy into energy bullets but thanks to the contaminated ore its has the added benefit of being heated like a fire bullet.
Akihiko: so you don't need bullets?
Terry: nope. just spiritual energy.
Mitsuru: is there anything spiritual energy can't do?
Terry: nope not really. Spiritual energy is basically an unlimited energy powered by the soul so as long as you have a soul spiritual energy flows like water. Even animals have a soul. Like holiday.
Suddenly from his shadow holiday came out and stood on the small table.
Holiday: damn right we do. I'll admit when we are alive our brains don't exactly work well but once we die we become just as aware as humans.
Yukari: so you were just a regular rabbit before?
Holiday: yup and until terry found me and we basically just got along from there.
Of course that wasn't the full story but Terry shared enough of his background.
Shuji: well that done I think it's better that we all get some sleep.
They all got up while Terry put his weapons back into his shadow and we're about to leave to their rooms but shuji had something else to say.
Shuji: oh also tomorrow we will get back infiltrate Tartarus but I have a surprise for all of you.
Terry: I'm gonna assume that I'm not on that list
Shuji: unfortunately no. But don't worry about it. Oh but tomorrow I'll introduce you to the staff of gekkokahn.
Terry didn't exactly enjoy hearing that but he didn't exactly had a choice.
Terry: great.
With that said they all left but Fuuka was still processing this information of Terry's background and his ideals she wanted to say something about it.
But what can she say about it? If Terry really suffered at the hands of terrible people who just saw him as a lab rat what can she say to him?
So all she could do was look at him not sure of what to do with Terry.
As for the person in question he went back to his room and took off his jacket and leaving him with just a plain white shirt and drop flat on his bed.
Holiday: you okay?
Terry: I'm fine just mentally tired.
Holiday: so how do you think your first day of school will go?
Terry: don't make it sound like I'm gonna be a student. Remember shuji is making a front that I'm just his personal student.
Holiday: you'll still be going to school.
Terry: that's different I'm going to be taught how to become a chairman while not doing any work from school.
Holiday: speaking of shuji. You notice how he looked at you right?
Terry: of course I did I recognize that look from anytime. He's planning something and I'll be ready when he pulls the trigger.
And he meant that he's relaying information that shows signs of trust but Terry wasn't and idiot he can tell that shuji was just pretending and he was hiding his real intentions and whatever that is Terry will let him fire and pull the plug on shuji himself.