The air hung heavy in Chie's room. The humidity was her least favourite part of summer, and it seemed to have brought down the rest of her guests too. She was sat on the floor next to Yukiko. They were both leaned back against her bed as the fan blew cool air onto them. Kanji sat some distance away, trying desperately not to touch anything other than the floor. A small present, the paper to which was now covered in sweat from Kanji's fiddling with it, sat on his lap. Some tinny pop song was playing on the radio. It was a while before anybody spoke.
Yukiko checked her watch. "They're twenty minutes late already." she said.
Chie shrugged. "That's our Yosuke."
"I'm sure he wouldn't want to be late for your birthday." Yukiko said, pulling out her phone.
"Yeah, Yosuke-senpai ain't that bad a guy.
"What high praise." Chie asked. She closed her eyes, thinking of all her friends who couldn't make it today. Yu, on some holiday with his parents, Naoto was undoubtedly on some case and Rise off on a promotional tour.
She must have dozed off, because the next thing she remembered was the sound of Teddie's voice. "Ta da! The main event has arrived!" Teddie said, throwing his arms in the air. He had a carrier bag in one hand and a rolled up piece of paper in the other. Yosuke was standing behind him, though his mind seemed somewhere else. He saw Chie looking and offered a smile. Chie found herself returning it.
Teddie strode over to Chie and thrust a crudely drawn picture in front of her face. "Happy birthday Chie-chan! Nana-chan and I made this for you."
Chie took it from him. It was covered in crude facsimiles of the Investigation team with Chie front and centre, flanked on ons side by Teddie and the other by Nanako. The words 'Have a beary happy birthday!" were scrawled in spider-y crayon letters over the top. "Thanks, Teddie. It's...very sweet of you." Chie put it to one side, making a mental note to thank Nanako for it. There was another friend that wasn't here. Nanako had been so upset that her big bro wasn't coming home for the summer break that Dojima-san had arranged to take Nanako to where Yu and his parents were staying on their holiday to join them.
"That's not all, in fact I've bear-ly scratched the surface. Just went you thought it couldn't get any better, Teddie delivers!" he pulled an ice pop out of the bag and handed it to Chie.
The ice pop was both refreshing and unpleasant in her hands. "Oh! Thanks Teddie." Chie said, shocked back into attentiveness by the cold.
"And how about a birthday smooch for your bear-y generous bear-nafactor?" Teddie asked, grinning wildly.
"Don't push your luck." Chie said.
"Yo Tedd, I'll have one of those ice pops." Kanji said from his corner.
"Sorry, you can't. I need all these just to keep my strength up." Teddie said, turning to face him.
"The hell? You got a whole bag full of them right there!" Kanji replied.
"B-but I need them all! I spent my entire pay check on ice pops!" Teddie said.
"That's not very nice, Teddie. You should share." Yukiko chided.
"Ooh," Teddie said, rounding on Yukiko "Do you want one, Yuki-chan? I'll trade you for a smooch."
Chie lashed out with her foot, kicking Teddie in the shins. Teddie near toppled over in pain. "Ow ow ow! Mutiny! Defend me, Yosuke!" he cried, hopping over to hide behind Yosuke.
"Huh? Dude, just give them a damn ice pop." Yosuke said, trying to shake Teddie off of him.
"Fine," Teddie sniffed, taking a seat opposite Yukiko and handing out ice pops to the others. "Are we too late for everybody else to give their presents?"
"No, we were waiting for the two of you," Yukiko said. She looked over at Chie, who was staring off into space. "Yosuke, Kanji, why don't you come closer?"
Kanji shuffled closer, and Yosuke walked over and sat next to Teddie, opposite Chie. "Should I go first?" Kanji asked, fidgeting with his present again.
Chie snapped back to reality. She smiled at Kanji. "Sure," she said, taking it from him. Whatever is was was small and soft. She pulled at the wrapping and saw something green. She tugged harder and there, in her hands, was a little plush Chie doll. "Aww. Thank you Kanji, it's adorable."
Kanji blushed. "Didn't really know what to get you, so..."
"I love it. Really." Chie smiled.
"Your turn Yuki-chan!"Teddie shouted.
"Not so loud!," Yukiko replied "Besides, I already gave her mine."
"Guess it's your turn then, senpai." Kanji said.
"I...can't." Yosuke said, frowning into his lap.
"What? Why not?" Kanji asked. Before Yosuke could answer, his phone rang.
Yosuke looked down at the called ID. "Sorry guys, I gotta take this." With that, he up and left without another word.
"Huh? I wonder what's gotten into Yosuke." Teddie said, staring at the door.
"It was very rude of him to just walk out like that." Yukiko said.
"Damn punk, I take back all that nice stuff I said about him earlier. Who does he think he is, walking out on Chie-senpai's birthday like that?" Kanji said.
Chie stood and started walking towards the sliding door that lead from her room into the garden. "Chie, are you OK?" Yukiko asked.
"I'm fine. Just getting some air." Chie called back, not stopping or turning round.
"Hold up, I'll come with you." Yukiko said, scrambling to her feet.
"No, that's OK." Chie said, closing the door behind her.
She sat down on the step, listening to the cicadas crying off in the distance. She thought for a moment about going back in and apologising to the others, but as she thought about it the seconds turned into minutes and she still hadn't moved. Chie sat there, lost in thoughts about nothing in particular, unable to get excited about her birthday.
"Chie?," came Yosuke's muffled voice from the other side of the door. She didn't answer,but Yosuke slid the door open and stepped out onto the step anyway. "I uh, I got your present." he said, holding out a large box.
"Thanks." Chie said, looking up at it but not taking it.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing," she said, and then fell silent for a moment. "Just feeling kinda bummed that Yu and the others couldn't be here, I guess."
"Yeah, me too. This is our final year at Yasogami High too. Who knows where well end up after that? Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever all be together at the same time again."
Chie listened but said nothing. It was as if Yosuke was articulating her thoughts. Yosuke sat down next to her. "What about you?," Chie asked "Planning on skipping out on us and going back to the city?"
"I was planning to, but who'd look after Teddy. Besides, Inaba isn't that bad. Trouble always seems to find us here." Yosuke said, smiling at her.
"I want to join the police force," Chie said. She hadn't told anybody this before, except Yu. "So I'd have to move into dorms at the Kanto Regional Police School."
"Well that sucks, I was kind of counting on you staying around." Yosuke said.
She turned to look at Yosuke. "Why?"
Yosuke shrugged. "I dunno," he looked down at the box in his hands and held it out to Chie. "But at least you'll have a lot of chances to use this. It turned up like, twenty minutes ago, sorry I didn't have time to wrap it or anything."
Chie took it. "This is what you went to get?" she asked.
"They said it would be here yesterday. Last time I trust that company." Yosuke said. Chie took off the lid and started pulling away at the thin packing paper. She reached inside and pulled out a yellow jumpsuit.
"Is-is this what I think it is?" She asked, turning to Yosuke.
"Tailor made official licensed product." Yosuke said, smiling at her.
"A real Game of Death jumpsuit?" She asked.
"Yup. Wasn't cheap, but I saw it online and-" Yosuke started.
"It's great," Chie said, throwing her arms around Yosuke. "Thank you."
"Hey!," Yosuke chuckled and put his arms around Chie "I'm just glad you like it."
Chie pulled herself away from him. "Wait, how did you get me a tailor made jumpsuit?"
Yosuke threw his hands up in front of him "Whoah, Kanji still had it on file from when he altered that Featherman costume for you."
"You asked Kanji for my measurements?" Chie asked.
"What? No. I told his mom what I wanted to do and got her to type them in for me. I swear, I didn't see a single number!" Yosuke said, trying to shift away from Chie.
"I guess that's OK then," Chie said, standing up. "Guess I should get back in there and start celebrating. Come on, Yosuke."