Good day, all. I'll be diving into the wonderful world of fanfiction with this here long fic. Persona 4: Denouement takes place a few months after the protagonist leaves Inaba, where the others go back to their lives. This is mostly for me to explore character interaction, but there will be some plot soon.

Main viewpoint characters are Chie and Kanji for now, with a bit of focus on the Dojimas. Fair note: There'll be quite a lot of Souji/Chie, with a bit of Kanji/Naoto on the side. I will focus on the others and their interactions though so there's more to it than just romance - but I suppose that could be said for most longfics.

Anyway, on to the story. Next chapter will be up very soon - can't say the same for the rest though, BUT ANYWAYS LET'S START.

The roof of Yasogami High. Three students were sitting there, accompanied by the cool breeze and the wispy clouds. Yukiko opened her bento, releasing the pleasant smell of the Amagi Inn's specialty.

"Chie always sits here. I wonder where she went?"

"Beats me, probably went home early." Yosuke struggled with a soda can, next to Yukiko. "If my hunch is right, though, she's probably down at the flood plain, staring off into nowhere again. Ha, there!" He cheered to himself as he got the can to open in a victorious spray of fizz.

Kanji was on the other side of Yukiko. He just took some egg tarts from a plastic bag and started munching at them, one by one. He didn't say anything for a good while, it seemed he was just enjoying the calm, fogless sky. "Y'know," he finally said, mouth full. "Things haff gotten really fuh, fuh, fuh-reakin' boring around here." He swallowed.

"You're telling me." Yosuke took a quick sip. "Rise-chan's back on our TV sets, Naoto's off on the next big case…"

Kanji stopped chewing, hearing that last bit, but then got back to it. "…Yeah."

"And Souji. Who knows where he is now. Off in the city, maybe." He took another sip. "Or maybe his folks went off to some other continent, and he's feeding a school's worth of orphans in Ghana or something, telling them to wear goofy glasses, summon the great Kumbaya in the sky and smack crocodiles with golf clubs."

Kanji nearly choked on his pastry. "You're talkin' piss. No wonder you suck at Geography."

"Just an example, Tatsumi-san. Just an example."

Yukiko giggled, controlling it before she got carried away. "Both of you have to bear with each other. It's just the four of us now."

"Bear with each other? Pft, sure thing." said Kanji.

Yosuke brushed his hair with his hand, groaning. "Please… don't say 'bear'."

"Oh." Yukiko fiddled around with her chopsticks. "I forgot about him. Hehe."

"Who knows where that blonde pervert ran off to." Kanji snarfed down the last egg tart. "Probably at Junes, sniffing everything in the women's section."

Yukiko snickered, Yosuke nearly drowned himself in soda from the horror.

Elsewhere, at the Samegawa Flood Plain, Chie was spending her after-school hours, sitting on the grass, looking at the water. She stood up, and started kicking the air, practising some of her old moves. A swift left swing. A right kick upwards, taking her a few inches off the ground. Another, and another, each one getting faster, her feet going higher than she could stand. Shouting martial arts moves, kicks being shot off before her sweat drops could fall as dew on the grass. She tumbled back down onto the grass, panting.

"Man, it's been a while since I've done this. I'm getting out of shape."

Her attention was back to the river. She turned and lay down, her head turned towards it. "Sure wish you could have trained with me." She smiled to herself. "I would've kicked you, you would've tripped and took me down with you and we'd both roll down into the river or something."

More thoughts filled up her head. She rolled in the grass and curled up. "What am I saying?" Pieces of dirt and grass in her hair, she stared off again. "…Stupid."

She sat up, brushed her hair, and pressed her hands on both sides of her face, elbows on knees. She was looking down at the grass, the grass that Souji stepped on, the grass she stepped on.

"Stupid."

The Dojimas' house, lit by streetlights and the stars. Nanako was inside, watching TV. She heard keys jingling and a click in the door. Detective Dojima walked into the house, coat over his shoulder, with a smile on his weary face. "I'm home."

"Dad! You're early!" She ran into his arms as he knelt down. Dojima was laughing.

"You say it like it's a new thing." Dojima was home early for the past few months. "What's for dinner?"

He got up and walked to the table. Looks like Nanako brought back some food from Aiya's. He microwaved them and sat down at the table, promptly eating the portion of noodles up. Nanako was standing next to the fridge. "…Dad? Do you want dessert?"

"Hm?"

Nanako rummaged through the fridge. She nervously held out a plate, with some strange snacks, neatly arranged in a trio, each looked different from the other. They appeared to be mochi. "I-I made these myself. Yukiko-san helped me with them. She said her cooking skills were getting better." Yukiko had better be right. "She wanted to make mochi for the inn, so she taught me how to make them."

Dojima was sure mochi were made in bulk, not in sets of three. "How come there's only three?"

"Yukiko-san wanted me to take more, but I only wanted to keep three to decorate. She needs the rest to feed the people in the inn." She puffed up her cheeks slightly. "I'm not greedy."

Dojima laughed. "I'm not saying you are. Can I see them?"

Dojima gently held one end of the plate to get a closer look, Nanako still holding the other end of the plate without realising. All of them were red, but Nanako seemed to have tried her best decorating each one. "Nanako, these are… you must have taken all afternoon making these. These are beautiful, thank you."

Nanako lifted her head. "Really?" She was tugging at his sleeve non-stop. "You really think so?"

"Yes, yes!" Dojima laughed, bent to the side from Nanako's pulling. He looked at the plate. "Did you make these just for me?"

"No, silly!" She started to defensively cover the mochi with her hands. "There's only three here! One per person! This one's yours." She handed him one of them. It was a square one, with a toothpick through it. On the toothpick were three tiny marshmallows, stacked on top of the other like a tiny shish-kebab. Dojima had to remember to restock the pantry, seeing how Nanako had so few choices she had to end up using marshmallows as a mochi decoration.

Dojima decided to pick two of the marshmallows out and eat them first - otherwise he wasn't sure if he could've fit it into his mouth. Nanako was fidgeting. He took a bite out of the mochi. Pleasant surprise was apparent in his eyes. "There's red bean inside." He chewed a bit before swallowing. "This is daifuku."

Nanako nodded. "Is it good?"

"Well, I'm not sure, Nanako." He held the plate on his lap and smiled at her. "This is the most delicious thing I've ever eaten."

"Really?" Pure joy took over Nanako as she pulled her father's sleeve again. She was laughing for a while before she finally calmed down. After that, she raised an eyebrow. "…Really?"

Dojima nodded. Nanako smiled again as he held out the plate to her. "Which one's yours?"

"This one." It was crudely star-shaped and appeared to have nothing but powdered sugar and sprinkles on it. Nanako handled it carefully before taking a small bite out of it.

Dojima watched her eat what was basically a mochi sugar bomb. He definitely needed to restock the pantry. He continued eating while he pointed at the plate. "What about this last one?"

Sitting alone on the plate was a circular mochi, with a layer of grated coconut on it. Nanako took another bite out of her mochi. "That one's for big bro."

Dojima held the plate closer. "Souji?" He looked at the confection again. "You're… saving this?"

"Yeah, when big bro comes over next time, we can give it to him."

The Souji-mochi started to look lonelier the longer he looked at it. Dojima took some time to pick his words.

"…Nanako. I'm not sure if we can keep this long enough for Souji. Home-made mochi doesn't last as long as the ones from the store."

Nanako looked up at him. "What? Can't you call him? Ask him where he is. He's not asleep, is he?"

"Nanako…"

She stayed silent, frowning. She turned her head down, staring at the Souji-mochi. Dojima sighed and reached for the phone in his pocket. He hesitated before finally making the call. He put the phone to his ear, looking at Nanako. "I'm sure he's very busy, so don't be sad if he's not free, okay?" Nanako nodded slowly in reply.

The call went through. "Hello? Souji? This is Ryotaro, speaking." He paused, then cleared his throat a bit. "Maybe it's better if Nanako talked to you." He handed the phone over, which was quickly snatched off.

"Big bro?" Nanako held the phone tightly against her ear. "I made mochi for you, Dad and me, all by myself! When can you come over? Yours has coconut on it!"

Dojima put the plate on the table. Nanako's grip on the phone slowly loosened.

"Singapore? Is that far?"

Quite far. Dojima attention was partly on the Souji-mochi. For some reason, he had this small concern that the little coconut-sprinkled snack would just suddenly melt into a moldy slurry. He got the thought out of his head and waited for Nanako to speak. "Oh. No, it's okay. Yeah." She gave the phone back.

"Hello? No, no, I understand." Dojima paused for Souji's answer. "Alright. Take care of yourself. Goodbye. Dojima put the phone on the table. "Sorry, Nanako. Souji's all the way in Singapore, and has a lot of school work." He knelt down to give her a small hug. He patted her on the back, then got back up. He took the plate and gave it to her. "It'd be a shame to waste it. Why don't you eat this one too, for Souji?"

Nanako held the plate and gazed mournfully at the Souji-mochi. "But it's big bro's. I can't eat it."

"Well, why don't you give it to Yukiko-san? She had to make all of that mochi for the inn, she'd be happy if you gave it to her. Or any one of Souji's friends. Maybe when Souji comes over next time, you can make some new ones with him."

She was still holding the plate. He shook his head, finishing the rest of his mochi. "I'm off to bed, Nanako. You should be soon, too. Thank you for the mochi, it was delicious."

Nanako watched Dojima walk off, yawning. She circled around the Souji-mochi with her finger. Quietly, she sneaked over and opened the refrigerator door. She found the furthest, most isolated part of the shelf, and gently placed the plate there. She watched the Souji-mochi as she slowly closed it back.

Nanako decided to go to bed early. She felt it best not to have a glass of milk before going off. The milk was in the fridge, and she couldn't bear looking at the Souji-mochi again at the time. She walked off to her room and closed the door.