Summary: the curious habits of one Arisato Minato examined from his friends.

A/N: Basing this off of my personal impressions and the game. Loved the movie – oh my god, the movie was soo pretty and enjoyed it very much so -, but will not be pulling too much information from it. Also my first multi chapter fic, so bear with me.

There'll be days where the group made the trip to Tartarus for various reasons such as to practice and find their way to the top. They endured countless near death experiences while bathed in luminescent green, but nobody ever dared to talk about it.

Junpei liked and disliked those kinds of days. Yeah, it was awesome to actually do something with his life besides just going to school. However, those days stretched out into eternity. The group would go in, energetic and ready to fight their way through. Most of the time, Akihiko-senpai and Yukari-chan would be in the group (as if there was actually a choice) and with Arisato at the lead, how could they fail? The man had an innate talent to lead the group through hazards despite his dead silence.

He glared at him from the corner of his eye. How dare he act so…stand-offish? He had lives in his hands and here he was, sitting there as if nothing would hurt him. It annoyed Junpei so very much.

So naturally, those days were kind of hit and misses. He liked the guy, no questioning that. Again, his nature was kind of hard to manage because most of the damn time, conversations were entirely one-sided. Outside of Tartarus, Iori Junpei would scream that he was friends with Arisato Minato at the top of his lungs. There was no denying that. Inside the dungeon though, that same behavior chafed at his nerves.

When Minato dusted off his pants and began moving again, Junpei could only watch as his (best?) friend walked into the darkness by himself.

The other days though, they were relatively…dull. Junpei liked having the thrill of battle rushing through his veins, but sometimes, they would all be so sore that they literally felt pain in every joint and muscle.

Not that Minato would actually say anything, but nothing said about that.

At the moment, the lounge was filled with the rest of his dorm mates. Of course, Akihiko-senpai, being the battle hungry boxer he was, cleaned his gloves in a slow and methodical way. Junpei watched for all of five seconds before giving up on catching his attention. On the other hand, Mitsuru-senpai wasn't any better. She clicked her tongue as she sifted through 'Kirijo business' as he had dubbed it.

The great senpai had never seemed so…ungreat in that moment.

Yukari, lovely girl that she was, sat away from the rest of them, texting on her phone. He mused at how snarky she was to him, but watching her now seemed odd. He was used to energetic and brash Yukari with enough temper in her to…well, he didn't really want to think too hard about that. He was used to her being all uppity and stuff that in moments like these, he didn't know how to act. Regardless, the brunette girl frowned at the cellular device and he could only watch before slowly shifting his gaze.

And then there was the leader himself.

To be fair, the guy did have it somewhat rough. Junpei watched him maneuver through school clubs like it was Tartarus. Student council meeting on Monday and Wednesday, art club on Tuesday, kendo practice on Thursday. Junpei didn't even want to mention the extra-curricular activities he picked up like going to that weird bookstore with the old couple or talking to guys from other schools.

However, no one told him that he had to go and do all that. That taxes a person rather quickly, Junpei told him at one point. He remembered the shrug and the noncommittal grunt. I can handle it, he said so calmly.

Joke's on him. He tried to fight off sleep as he read the assignment Toriumi-sensei gave them for homework. The boy seemed ready to pass right here. Junpei held back the urge to play a prank on him.

He didn't really know the whole story about any of the people living here in this dorm. Most likely, they all assumed Iori Junpei was just another joker who was looking at this like a game. He knew the risks, but oh my god, how could anyone not be excited? They were slowly saving the world from the shadows and solving the mysteries of the Dark Hour and Tartarus. Taking breaks like this while people are clearly suffering from Apathy Syndrome was painful and he needed to move. To be able to do something with his life would be the greatest thing ever.

He never liked these days.

In those off days they don't actually go to Tartarus and they all actually get sleep, Junpei stayed up. He didn't know how anyone that knew of the Dark Hour could actually sleep off the terror. Sure, the dorm was well-protected and it housed Persona users who knew how to fight, but the danger still existed out there. There were shadows actively threatening human lives.

…he could be scared once in a while, right?

He huddled under his blanket, trying to maintain his cool in an otherwise frightening experience. No one should be used to seeing pale green light and fuckin' blood and coffins-

But he digressed.

On one day, he could hear mutterings coming from Minato's room. The boy loved his sleep. No one would ever volunteer to go and wake him up for school solely because it was near impossible. He woke up on his own schedule and went about his day as if he didn't just earn another Kirijo glare and annoyed Yukari scoffs. Him and sleep came together so naturally that now Junpei just assumed he knocked out as soon as his head touched the pillow.

So yeah, hearing his voice at this hour was terrifying.

He could only hear various words from the room. The thick walls muffled what little noise came from his room. In the midst of his fear, curious ears strained to pick up what was going on.

"…is that so?" Definitely Minato's voice.

The most startling thing though was that he didn't hear anyone else's voice in the room, yet he still replied back and answered questions. Junpei wanted to chalk it up to sleep talking, but when he took naps in the lounge, he never did that.

"I understand."

Junpei was going to get to the bottom of this. It'd be a good addition to his Spooky Hour if he could describe it right.

Unfortunately, no one took him seriously. Though, it wasn't like he could talk to a lot of people about Minato. Mitsuru-senpai was near unapproachable, save for exploring Tartarus only because they had to work together. Akihiko-senpai was a similar ordeal, but with different reasons. He kind of just shrugged his questions off unless they pertained to training. Not to mention, he was still dealing with the checkups from that attack on the dorms.

"Don't cha ever wonder what our great and mysterious leader gets up to, Yuka-tan?"

Said person scoffed at him with disdain. She slung her bow over her shoulder, obviously ready to go to archery practice later today. "Isn't he always at clubs and studying? He's a busy guy unlike you."

"Hey, I'll have you know beating all of the games take time and practice."

She hummed. "Sure. Look, Stupei, I have to get going. If you want to talk about Minato, maybe we should do it when he's not sleeping right here in the lounge."

He stilled for a brief second and then turned to the couch. Lo and behold, Minato was sleeping upright, a book on his lap in danger of falling to the ground. Junpei stared agape at him while Yukari scoffed again.

"Seriously? Geez, Stupei, he's been snoring for about ten minutes now." She snapped on her boots and looked ready to leave any minute now. He still didn't move. "Look, I have to go. Anything else?"

He shook his head. With that, she turned and left for the school. He watched him a second longer.

Okay. Since clearly, no one was serious about this, he would have to lead. He giggled to himself at the thought of leading a sneak operation. Right, he has to name it too. He thought long and hard about what he could name it.

He left the dorm, thoughts brewing about how to go about figuring out what Arisato Minato does in his room during the Dark Hour. He'll figure it out.