"That's correct, Narukami-kun! The answer is indeed 64. Now will everyone turn to page 512 for the next question. Be sure to take some notes because I can guarantee that you'll see similar equations on the upcoming exam, which you should all be studying for by now."

Yu Narukami sat back down after answering. He could feel the other students gazing at him, as they always did when he was asked to answer a problem. It was a difficult one and he passed it with flying colours. It was no doubt that he amazed them. He was a model student and he knew it. Although he was beginning to find his popularity difficult to deal with. Yu knew how important it was for him to maintain his many friendships, some of which he didn't even care for and only made for the soul purpose of establishing a social link, which strengthend his Personas. It was easy enough to make these friendships as he had a natural aura about him which drew people in. The girls of Yasogami would flock to him like sheep and the guys were always asking to hang out with him. But keeping up with so many friendships was a lot to handle, topped off with his studies, participation in school clubs, part-time jobs, taking care of Nanako-chan, and the exhausting battles within the tv world, he was damn near the busiest guy in school. No... in Inaba!

But today was different. Today he wasn't planning on spending time with anybody and he was taking the week off from his janitorial duties at Inaba General Hospital. Exams, as Orasaki-sensei had reminded, were coming up fast and he was heading straight to his uncle's for some much needed studying. Something he had been slacking on for a couple days due to training in the tv world. As such, he was paying close attention to the current calculus lecture and was taking notes furiously. The last thing he needed was Dojima-san on his ass about crummy grades. He glanced at his watch, twenty more minutes and school would be over for the day. The weather was holding up nicely, and according to the forecast, it wasn't going to rain for another three days. Which meant they still had time before the fog set in. Naoto Shirogane's rescue would have to wait.

Once the bell rang, Yu packed up his books, papers and pens into his bag and stood up to leave the classroom. He walked with a rapid pace through the hallways, polietely turning down any offers of after-school socializing. Even the ones who wanted to study with him. He just mentally prayed that he wouldn't run into-

"Seeenpaaaiii! Yooo-hoooooo!"

"Oh please dear god not this again..."

The sensational pop idol, Rise Kujikawa, was once again waiting for him at the school gates. She joined their Investigation Team about a month ago, shortly after they had defeated her Shadow and rescued her from the TV world. She was nice enough, he'd give her that much. And she had proven to be a valuable asset to the team. The girl just had an obssessive crush on him and he couldn't seem to shake her off. No matter how hard he tried, she couldn't take a hint. She was fiercly determined to become his girlfriend. Any other guy, he reckoned, would be absolutely ecstatic to have a super-pretty pop star like Risette be all over them like a tent. But Yu didn't like it one bit when girls treated him like a god on a pedastel. He preferred calmer, less eccentric friendships where everyone treated each other equally. But THIS crazy girl just wouldn't leave him alone! Sometimes the very sound of her voice gave him a migrane. But being the infamously polite young man that he was, he acknowleged the pig-tailed girl with a curt nod and a shaky smile. Although the tone of his response held less enthsiasm in comparison to her initial greeting.

"Hey, Kujikawa-san. How was your d-"

"Senpai! I told you to call me "Rise!"

"...And I told you to stop calling me "Senpai" all the time."Yu murmured.

"What was that, senpai?"

"Uh, nothing. Sorry about that... Rise."

It felt a tad awkward using her first name especially without any appropriate honorifics attached to it. He had only known her for a few weeks after all. But Rise squealed with delight. She gripped his left arm tightly and Yu was certain she wasn't going to release him until he walked her all the way home. She would get so excited around Yu, it was almost hard to tell who the celebrity was between the two of them. But her advances didn't phase him in the slightest. He didn't hate Rise, he learned after meeting her that she was a good person with a strong will and a bubbly personality, but her endless flirting wasn't appealing to him at all.

"Oh my gosh I actually can't believe I haven't seen you ALL DAY!"

To be fair, the reason for this was because Yu had been making an effort to avoid her. But he didn't dare tell her this. Rise-chan was a sensitive one and her tears were easily evoked. They walked side by side out of the school district while she maintained her iron-clad grip on his arm and prattled on about her day. They were halfway across the Samegawa floodplain and she was still talking.

"So then I told him; "No you may NOT have my autograph. I'm not signing anything for anyone. I'm on hiatus from showbiz anyway." But then he was all like; "Why not!? It's not like you stopped being Risette, right?" And then I said; "Could you please not call me that?" And then the next thing I knew I had like, six pervy boys chasing after me. Kanji-kun came and scared them off, which was nice of him, but I couldn't help but wish that it was YOU who saved me from them, Senpai. But you'll be there to save me next time, right?"

I'm the one who needs saving. thought Yu.

"Yes Rise, I'll be there for you, I promise." said Yu, flatly.

It was probably the wrong thing to say, because he was just feeding the fire, and he had no intention of keeping that promise anyway. But it was easier to just play along for now. They were almost at her place anyways and then he'd be free of her... until tomorrow of course.

"So senpai, where do you wanna go today?" Rise chirped. As if Yu should have been expecting a date with her all this time.

"Huh?" he said, bearing a puzzled expression. She continued;

"Well, we're not going into the tv world today, right? So we have some time to hang out! Do you want to get some ramen? Or a coffee? Or maybe we could go to that romantic shrine in the shopping district? Doesn't that sound fun, senpai? Just you and me? We could even hold hands!"

Yu stopped, scratched his head and stared at her in disbelief. She couldn't possibly have been serious. She gazed up at him with an innoncent expression, patiently awaiting his answer and it became apparant that she had indeed been serious. Very serious in fact. But Yu polietely stood his ground and declined her offer. He needed to get good marks on these exams. There was no time for anything else at the moment. Come to think of it, Rise needed to go home and study too...

"Sorry, Rise. But I can't do any of those things today. Exams are coming up and I'd rather go home and study."

"Ohmygosh exams! I totally forgot! Ugh that's so lame." she pouted. She looked genuinely displeased. But then her face lit up again, a hopeful look in her eyes.

"Senpai maybe we could study together? You could tutor me! You're always so amazingly smart and I could use a bit of help with math right now. Pleeeeeaaaaase?" she batted her eyelashes at him. Yu felt slightly cruel for saying this, but he knew he needed to ace these tests and being with Rise wasn't going to achieve that in any conceivable way. He'd be nothing but a distraction for her anyways.

"Look I'm sorry but maybe some other time. I was actually planning on studying by myself today. I need the isolation if I'm to properly focus."

And frankly Rise, when I'm with you, I'm anything but focused.

Rise looked crestfallen.

"O-ok senpai. I understand. You're probably right, this isn't a good day to slack off."

"Thank you for understanding, Rise-chan. Don't take it the wrong way, you're my friend and I like spending time with you but we gotta find time for school too, you know? I promise I'll help you study sometime this week."

Rise looked a little too happy after hearing this.