Her brows knit together as she tried to process the information. "Wait... Dark Hour? Shadows? Personas? You're going to have to explain better than that, especially about that doomsday bit you mentioned," she said. At this point, her interest was piqued, but she wasn't getting a clear understanding of his story. She felt like there were a lot of missing details, and that his story wouldn't make sense until she heard them.

I am the manry-est of men!

She tried to make sense of what Minato was saying and said, "So... basically, you fought monsters... called Shadows... in this thing called the Dark Hour... using what you're calling a Persona... that was... given to you by that Igor guy? And there were different kinds of monsters that came together to make one bigger one? Is that about right? But wait, what was that about coffins? And what about the end of the world?" Things were starting to make sense, but it was all still seeming rather like fantasy than reality.

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"Wow, that's... kinda creepy if you think about it. So you had to fight the mother of all Shadows?" she asked before pausing to think for a moment. "Well, I'll buy that. It's still a bit of a shaky story, but you don't strike me as the sort to lie about something like that. There's just something about you... I can't put my finger on it, but it's a good thing," she said with a smile. "Alright, we'd better buy something now so they don't get mad... hey, the new Pyro Jack puzzle game is out!"

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She pulled the game off the shelf. "Yeah, it's a children's puzzle game adapted from an old arcade game. You see, Pyro Jack is looking for his brother, Jack Frost, who's been taken captive by the evil Black Frost. You go through this big puzzle maze to find him. It's actually pretty fun and challenging, even for adults," she said as she handed him the case and looked through the other games on display. On the cover was a picture of Pyro Jack and the words 'Pyro Jack Puzzle Maze II' in bold print. At the bottom corner there was a blurb about winning a free Jack Frost Doll and a picture of Jack Frost's head.

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"You summoned... videogame characters... to fight monsters?" she asked as she took out another game. This one was 'The Adventures of Jack Frost' and looked like another children's game. "I have the first one of that series if you'd like to check it out sometime. This one is pretty fun, too," she said as she handed him the Jack Frost game.

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"Ah, that's right! If we get these and leave now, we should be able to get to campus before the registration line gets too long," she said and brought their games to the checkout counter. The trip to campus wasn't that long since the university was only on the other side of the shopping plaza. "We can check out the old dorm after we register. By the way, what's your major?" she asked.

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"Hmm, there's always time for that later. I'm in the Criminal Justice program. It's only my second year, though, so I'm not up to the higher-level courses yet. Since you haven't declared a major, how about we take some prerequisite classes together?" she offered as they wandered into the administrative building. The line for the registration kiosks wasn't very long, but there were more students arriving already.

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After they registered for their classes, Raenah led Minato out onto the grounds to the fenced-off area where the old dorm was. "Well, here it is. It's hard to believe they just left all the remaining building equipment when they fenced off the area," she said as they gazed out at the rubble. There was an eeriness about the area, and a violent, oppressive presence could be felt from inside the chain-link fence.

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Raenah nodded and tried to fight the chills she was feeling despite the warm weather. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Most people stay away from this place out of principle, but there are a few people in town who are just plain scared of it," she said with an anxious edge. Something towards the center of the area seemed to shift slightly, and Raenah couldn't help but shiver.

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"You saw it, too?" she asked, surprised. "Wait, don't get too close!" She grabbed Minato's wrist before he could touch the fence. "It's electric. You'll get zapped if you touch it. They electrified the fence last year because a few people broke into the area and wound up getting hurt pretty bad," she explained. The oppressive presence seemed to notice them. Some bits of wall crumbled away, and a faint growling sound came from within the rubble.

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"Wait, ready for what? You actually want to go in there? That's just plain crazy. One, it's broad daylight out. The security guards would see us snooping around and arrest us. Two, there's still the matter of the electric fence. The control panel for it is probably in the maintenance building. Three, and this one is really important, did you not hear that growling? Something in there obviously doesn't want to be disturbed," she tried to reason with the raven-haired boy. She truly was curious about the truth behind the incidents, but the presence she could feel beyond the fence struck terror right down into her bones.

I am the manry-est of men!

A security guard drove by on a golf cart and said, "Hey, you two get away from there; it's dangerous!" Raenah turned to him and said, "Yes sir, we're sorry. Well, let's go, Minato. We should go reserve our textbooks at the bookstore. If we don't, they'll be sold out almost as soon as they're in stock." She walked away on slightly shaking legs. The security guard drove on, muttering to himself.

I am the manry-est of men!

((Stupid forum made an extra post))

The bookstore was nearly empty upon their arrival, and by then Raenah's nerves had calmed down. Although she hated to admit it, she was absolutely terrified of whatever lurked inside the fenced-off area. She used to pass it on her way home from her evening classes, and she knew she saw someone- no, something -watching her. She had felt it again today, but with less intensity than she had in the past.

She pulled out her schedule she'd printed out and asked Minato to do the same. "All we need to do is hand these to the clerks and they can look up which books we'll need and have them ready when the shipment arrives. Isn't that great?" she said with a grin. "What do you want to do when we're done here?"

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"We could check out the electronics store. The guy who works there is pretty nice, so he would probably let us play our new games on some of their demo equipment," she said taking out the small bag with their games and handing Minato The Adventures of Jack Frost. The sky overhead was starting to darken with the threat of rain. "Ew, it looks like it's going to rain. Do you have an umbrella?"

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She took out her own compact umbrella and strapped it to her wrist. "Oh, I heard Kirijo released a new phone recently. Apparently this one has a full keyboard and is wi-fi compatible," she said smiling as they walked. "The model I have is a couple years old, but it can take pictures and send emails. How about you? What kind of phone do you have?"

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She let out a low whistle at the sight of the phone. "Wow, that's sleek. You seriously went to school with her?" she asked curiously as they entered the electronics store. Although each type of gadget had its own department, the Kirijo products had a whole section to themselves. There were a few people milling about the store, chatting about this product versus that product and so on.

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She raised her brow a bit and said, "A robot and... a dog? Seriously?" She chuckled a little. "I'm not saying I don't believe you, but it does sound a bit fantastical." There were a couple demo areas near the back of the store, and she loaded their games into a couple of the consoles. Pyro Jack and Jack Frost showed up on the screens, and Raenah smiled at the childish characters.

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She looked at the picture and chuckled. "It looks like you were having a lot of fun. I recognize Miss Kirijo and her late father from the news reports about his death, but who are the others in the picture? Is that the dog you mentioned?" she asked with a smile. A peal of thunder rang out, and the soft pattering of rain could be heard falling down on the store.

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She looked over the photo again and handed it back to the dark-haired young man. "You must know a lot of interesting people. Anyways, what did you think of the old dorm? I've been by there a lot in the past, and it's always felt like there was something watching me from in there. Today it seemed really violent, though," she said with a thoughtful look.

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She started up her game and began to play as well. "I wonder... what it's waiting for," she pondered aloud. "Since this is the first time it's acted like this, at least from what I can tell, maybe it has something to do with you." There was another loud crash of thunder, and the lights of the store flickered ominously for a moment. "Dang, it's getting pretty bad pretty fast. I hope the power doesn't go out before it blows over. It gets dark as pitch here in the valley on cloudy nights."