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Still, as they dug deeper, the differences began to surface again. Some of them were fairly easy to understand, given their difference in gender - it made sense that Kotone, who couldn’t join the men’s sports teams, hadn’t heard of Mamoru and only knew Yuko in passing as a friend of a friend. Other changes, though, had no apparent reason behind them.

“Wha- you don’t have a social link with Akihiko?” Kotone asked.

Minato shrugged. “Or with any of the other guys.”

Kotone frowned. “That… doesn’t make any sense. I mean- you have links with the girls, right? And you do get along with guys as well?”

“I don’t have a link with Mitsuru or Aigis,” Minato pointed out, “And as for the other guys - I do get along with them well enough, it’s just… I guess I’m more drawn to the other guys at school than them, for whatever reason.”

Kotone frowned. “I mean, I don’t have links with Mitsuru and Aigis either, but it’s more like I just don’t have them… yet, or something. And also - all of our shared links have the same Arcana, but Akihiko is my Star while Mamoru is yours, so- I don’t think you’ll ever have a link with him.”

There was something sad and wistful in her voice there, and Mianto took a guess as to why. “You miss your version of SEES.”

Kotone nodded, her expression starting to break. “It’s so weird, seeing people that I know and love so much, but they have no idea who I am and they’re all closer to you, and I miss them so much, and what if I can’t see them again- !” she ends up flinging herself at Minato, clutching into him and sobbing.

“C’mon,” he mutters to her, putting his arm around her and guiding her to the floor. He curls up to her and lets her cry for a bit longer before saying, “Listen, we’re gonna make it out of here, okay? My SEES is here, and so are those other teams of persona-users, and I know that if we work together we can find our way out. I’m sure you’ll see your friends soon.”

“Y-yeah, you’re right,” Kotone replied, wiping her eyes. She disentangled herself from him a bit, before tracing her fingers down his arm, then finding his chand and clutching it. “From what I can tell, they’re just like my version of SEES… so I know that they can find a way out of this.”

They sat like that for a bit, before Kotone asked, “Um, this might be a weird question, but- have you ever thought about being a girl?”

“I don’t think that’s a weird question at all, not in these circumstances.” Honestly, he’s a bit surprised that he didn’t think to ask the opposite question of her. “And… I guess I have, a bit.” The thought has crossed his mind a few times, but he’s never given it any serious consideration. 

Kotone hummed. “Uh - do you… want to be a girl? Or think you’d be happier as one?”

Now there was an interesting question. Minato squinted, trying to think. “No? Not really? I don’t think being a girl would make me less happy, at least.” He shrugged. “I don’t really care, I guess.”

Kotone nodded slowly. “I just wanted to make sure, because… well… I used to be a boy like you, and I was so sad and frustrated all the time. But then I realized I could be a girl, and while it didn’t solve everything, it made me so much happier… I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t stuck in that same situation.”

“No, I’m pretty happy with how I am right now,” Minato assured her. “But it’s nice to see that I could be a cute girl if I ever wanted to be.”

Kotone smirked at him. “Are you trying to flirt with me now?”

Honestly, no, he was just trying to cheer her up and compliment her. But now that she’d said it… “I guess it can be if you want?”

“Oh, I very much want.” She raised the hand of his that she was still holding and kissed it.

Minato could feel himself heating up. Oh, well, there were worse ways to spend time with themself.