Chapter 1: The Transfer Student

A/N This is the first chapter of a new P4G Fanfic. This story happens in an AU where none of the supernatural things exist, and there aren't any murders. No shadows, no Personas, no murders. The Velvet Room characters (Igor, Margaret) are still going to be in the story, but only as normal people. Marie is going to be a transfer student attending Yasogami high.

A few things about my writing first. Italicized text is a characters' thoughts, and the thought belongs to the person who spoke or was mentioned in the previous paragraph. Italicized text in quotation marks means that the character is speaking in English.

Please leave a review. No hate, but positive feedback and constructive criticism is welcome.

"Yu, wake up!" A male voice yelled into the ear of a silver-haired teenager sleeping on his desk. The voice belonged to a teen with light brown hair and a pair of orange headphones around his neck. "You know what'll happen if Morooka catches you sleeping in class again."

"He'll give me a slap on the wrist and put me a spot higher on his shit list." Yu Narukami said, groaning and waving his brunette friend off. "I don't really care..." A girl with short brown hair and a green jacket walked into class and sat in front of the silverette.

"You look tired, are you okay?" She asked, looking back at her sleeping friend. Yu's hand came up and pointed a thumb at the brunette wearing the headphones.

"I am tired. I ended up spending the night tutoring Yosuke for the exams next month." He said. The green-wearing girl looked surprised.

"Yosuke, you ACTUALLY studied for the exams? And a month before they happen?!" She asked. Yosuke's face became downcast and he sat in his desk.

"Gee, thanks Chie." He said, trying to act hurt.

"Oh come on, Yosuke. I love you, but I'm not gonna lie and say that you actually study most of the time." Chie Satonaka said, giggling.

"...fair enough." Yosuke Hanamura smiled, his cheeks turning slightly red.

"Where are Yukiko and Teddie?" Yu asked, noticing that his red-loving and perverted friends were noticeably missing from the conversation.

"Ted texted me earlier and said he was sick and Yukiko's helping out at the inn today." Chie said.

"Again? That's the third time this week..." Yu replied, yawning. The classroom door opened once again, and his head shot up as he heard his teachers' voice.

"ALRIGHT SHUT YER TRAPS!" Morooka roared, walking into class. A few seconds later he was followed by a girl none of them had seen before. She had chin-length black hair, dark green eyes, and was wearing a Yasogami High uniform with a blue ribbon tied around her neck.

Morooka, their homeroom teacher, walked to the center of the classroom, and the girl in stopped to the right of him. "Now I hate to waste my time, but I have to introduce the transfer student," he said, giving the girl an angry glance. "This sad sack's been thrown out of her comfortable life in the U.S. to this shitty little town on another continent. She's just as much of a worthless little skank here as she was back in America, so don't even THINK about getting involved with her." He turned his head and glared at the girl. "Write yer name on the board, and make it quick!"

The girl turned and wrote out her name in Kanji on the chalkboard, then turned to Morooka. "who are you calling a skank? I saw you staring at my ass when I went into the faculty office, you creepy old perv." She said bluntly. Our teacher's face turned beet red and smoke started puffing out of his ears.

"THAT'S IT! You're on my shit list, effective immediately. Hurry up and sit next to..." He scanned the classroom and saw that the only open seat was next to Yu. "...Narukami."

"Alright. Just try to remember that my eyes are up here, kay?" She smirked and sat down next to Yu. Still fuming, Morooka began taking attendance, and the class had broken out, murmuring about the new student.

"I can't believe she talked back to King Moron!"

"Dibs."

"Her skin is soooo pretty! And her body is amazing!"

"That girl has some balls, talking back to Morooka."

As she sat down, Yu noticed that her name on the board was written very messily.

Marie Kasumi...

Her kanji writing is messy. She struggles with writing Japanese, might have trouble speaking it too.

"Sorry that you got stuck with King Moron for your homeroom. He can be... Difficult." Yu whispered, leaning over to her.

"If by difficult than you mean an annoying perverted scumbag, then I agree." She said with a small smile.

"I'm Yu Narukami. It's a pleasure to meet you." Yu said respectfully, holding out his hand.

"Don't be so formal, Narukami-kun. We're neighbors now." She giggled and shook his hand. "I'm Marie Kasumi." Out of nowhere, a whiteboard eraser flew at Yu and struck him in the head.

"NARUKAMI! Stop flirting with Kasumi, or you're getting detention!" Morooka yelled, glaring daggers at the silverette.

"Jackass..." Yu muttered, rubbing the side of his head.

"What was that?!" The teacher yelled angrily.

"Nothing, esteemed Sensei." Yu replied in a mocking voice, eliciting a giggles from Marie and Chie.

•*•

Yu spent the next three classes talking to Marie, much to the dismay of some of their male classmates who noticed how well the two of them were getting along.

"Alright class, your homework is problems 18 through 36 on page 109." Mrs. Nakayama said as the bell rang, dismissing the students for lunch.

"What did you bring for lunch, Kasumi-san?" Yu asked as he slung his book bag over his shoulder. Marie picked up her messenger bag and the two of them walked into the hallway.

"I didn't bring a lunch. My guardian told me that I was allowed to leave campus during lunch, so I could go buy something." She said, stopping and leaning on the railing of the balcony that looked down on the first floor.

"Do you know what you're going to get?" Yu asked her. She shrugged.

"Nope. I've only been here for a few days so I haven't eaten out yet." Marie replied. Yu leaned on the railing next to her, thinking. An idea popped into his head and he turned to face her.

"Actually, do you want to have lunch with me? I know a great place we can go to in the shopping district." Heasked her. She mulled it over for a moment.

"Sure, it sounds like fun." Marie said, smiling. As the two of them turned to walk down the stairs, Yu heard a familiar voice.

"Yu! Kasumi-san!" Yosuke yelled. He and Chie walked up to the two, holding hands. "Getting along with the new transfer student, Narukami?" He asked, winking at Yu.

"I'm not flirting with her, Yosuke, if that's what you're implying," Yu replied in an annoyed voice.

"Unlike you, Yu here doesn't just think about how to get into a girls pants." Chie said. Yu noticed Marie being quiet and remembered that she hadn't met the two of them yet.

"Oh, Kasumi-san, this is Yosuke and Chie. They have class with us." He said.

"Yeah, I know." She replied, turning to the couple and smiling. "It's nice to meet you two." She held out her hand and the two shook it.

"We're going up to the roof to eat. You two wanna come?" Yosuke asked, holding up a large takeout bag from Aiya's Diner.

"We've got beef bowls!" Chie exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air. Marie and Yu sweatdropped and exchanged wierded-out glances. Yosuke grinned sheepishly.

"Thanks for the invitation, but I was going to take Kasumi-san to lunch in the shopping district." Yu said. Yosuke raised an eyebrow. His eyes then widened and he slapped his silver-haired friend on the back.

"She's been here for less then three hours and you've already got a date with her? Good job partner!" Yosuke grinned, proud of his friend. Chie kicked him in the leg, causing him to yelp in pain. Marie noticed that a few girls from their class were looking over at them and giggling, having heard what Yosuke said.

"It's not a date!" Marie said loudly, making sure that the group of girls heard her."We're just getting lunch. That's it."

Dammit! It's my first day, I don't want rumors spread about me this soon!

Yosuke stood there, confused by Marie's haste to dispel what he said. Chie elbowed him and motioned for him to say something. "I-i'm sorry, Kasumi-san. I only meant it as a joke." Yosuke stammered, looking at his feet. Marie took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

"It's fine. Just don't go saying stuff like that if you don't know it's true," she said, taking another deep breath. "Its only my first day. I don't want some rumor to start and make me the center of attention in our class."

As Marie spoke two male students walked past the group. She could tell by the way they stared at her that they were undressing her with their eyes.

Too late to avoid being the center of attention, I guess.

"We should probably head up to the roof now. It was nice meeting you!" Chie said, waving goodbye as she and Yosuke walked away.

"They're not eating with us, so that means we each get two beef bowls like we planned." Yosuke said.

"More like I get three and you get one." Chie replied.

"Unfair!" Yosuke whined as the couple disappeared up the stairs.

"That was... Interesting," Marie said. "Is Hanamura-kun always like that?"

"You get used to it after a while," Yu said and they both laughed. "We should go too. We need at least 10 minutes to get to the shopping district and 10 minutes back, so that leaves us about half an hour to eat."

Marie giggled. "Okay Mr. Time management. Let's go." The two of them walked down the stairs. On the first floor, Yu noticed a familiar looking blonde punk walking next to a redhead with long pigtails and a girl with short blue hair.

"Senpaaiiiii!" The redhead yelled when she saw Yu. The three walked up to him and Marie. "Who's your cute friend?" Marie blushed lightly at the compliment.

Yu looked at her and a small smile formed on his face.

She's so cute when she blushes- wait, what am I thinking? I just met her!

"Guys, this is Marie Kasumi, she just transferred here from the U.S.," He said, forcing those thought out of his head. "Kasumi-san, these are Kujikawa Rise, Tatsumi Kanj, and Shirogane Naoto." He named them off from left to right.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kasumi-san." The blue-haired girl named Naoto said, bowing.

"Uh, yeah. Same here." Kanji, the tall punk said, bowing also.

Rise held out her hand and Marie shook it. "So Kasumi-san, what grade are you in?" She asked.

"I'm a second year, in the same class as Narukami-kun." Marie replied.

"Oh, so you're our Senpai!" Rise said happily. Marie nodded.

"What are you guys doin' for lunch?" Kanji asked.

"We're going to go eat in the shopping district. How about you guys?" Yu asked.

"Oh well, y'know... With exams comin' up and everything, Naoto's gonna to help us study." Kanji said nervously, hanging his head.

"Kanji, there's no shame in admitting that you need help with your schoolwork," Naoto said as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "We need to go to the library now. Once again, it was a pleasure to meet you Senpai."

"See ya around." Kanji said as the three of them walked off.

"We should probably get going too." Yu said. Marie smiled and they walked out of the school. He led Marie to the shopping district. They arrived at a shop called Souzai Daigaku, Marie sat down at the large table outside of the shop. Yu went up to the counter, and a came back a moment later carrying two plates.

"Steak skewers?" Marie asked as Yu sat down and placed a plate in front of her.

"Yeah." He said as he took a bite of the steak. "Why do you seem surprised?"

"I don't know. It just seems like steak skewers are more of an American thing, so I wouldn't have expected to see them here." Marie explained as she picked up and buy into the steak skewer.

"What do you think?" Yu asked.

"It's a lot tougher than other steaks that I've had, but the taste is amazing!" Marie said happily, taking another bite.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I'm going to get us a few drinks." Yu said, getting up and walking over to a vending machine at the next store. He put 1200 yen into the machine and bought two cans of UCC coffee. He went back and handed a can to Marie.

"They have canned coffee here?" Marie popped the can and took a sip. "Not bad."

"I'm guessing they don't make canned coffee in America?" Yu asked.

"Nope," She replied, taking another sip. "You seem to be pretty popular at..." She trailed off and looked like she was struggling to come up with the right word. "At... Dammit!"

"You're having trouble with Japanese?" Yu asked. Marie nodded, not meeting his gaze. "I thought so. I noticed that you were having trouble writing, and I thought you might be struggling with speaking it too."

"I'm getting better, but it's so frustrating sometimes." Marie said glumly.

"Would it be easier if I talked to you this way?" Yu asked. Marie looked up at him, surprised.

"You speak English?" She asked. Yu smiled, and Marie found herself unable to look away.

He's really handsome...

"What were you asking me before?" He asked, breaking Marie out of her trance. He didn't seem to catch her staring, nor did he notice the light blush on her cheeks.

"I was asking how you met all of your friends. It seems like you're pretty popular." She replied.

"Oh, well it's all kinda a long story, but I'll summarize it," Yu replied as he finished his steak skewer. "I should also point out that two other close friends of mine that you haven't met yet, Yukiko Amagi and Teddie Kuma. Chie, Kanji, Yukiko, and I were all born here and we basically grew up together. Rise moved here when she was 6 and we all became friends, but over the last few years she's been going to back and forth to Tokyo to work on her singing career."

"She's a singer?" Marie asked.

"Yeah. She's actually become pretty famous over the last year and has been doing a lot of modeling too." Yu said. "But getting back on topic, Yosuke and Teddie both moved here three years ago and just kinda fell in with our group, and last year Yosuke and Chie started dating." He finished his coffee and tossed it into the garbage can. "Oh, and before I forget, I have to warn you about Teddie. He's a great guy once you get to know him, but he's also perverted and acts like a giant flirt."

Marie giggled and finished her coffee. "Thanks for the heads up. But what about Naoto?"

"Naoto was the newest edition to our little group. She's a detective, and she came to town two years ago to work on a case. She enrolled at Yasogami high while she was here, and she ended up liking it so much that she moved here permanently. Although she still travels around to work on cases."

"You sure have some interesting friends." Marie said, laughing. She finished her steak skewer and threw the plate away along with her empty coffee can. Yu checked the time on his phone.

"Already? Wow, I guess time does fly by when you're having fun," He smiled and stood up. "Lunch is almost over. We should get back to school."

"Lead the way." Marie said, standing up. Yu lead her back to school and they got to class just as the bell rang. The remainder of the day passed by uneventfully, and Yu and Marie decided to walk home together. The two of them walked to the train station.

"Why are we at the station?" Yu asked as the two of them stood outside of the Yasoinaba train station.

"I live in Okina City, so I take the train to and from here." Marie replied. Yu looked surprised.

"You live in Okina City?" He sounded surprised too. Marie nodded. "Then why do you go to school here?"

"Have you ever seen any of the schools there? They're all terrible!" Marie chuckled. "Yasogami high seemed like a really nice school, and after some convincing my guardian let me commute here for school." Marie replied. Suddenly the couple heard a metallic voice coming from inside the train station.

"THE 4:45 TO OKINA CITY HAS ARRIVED." The voice said. Marie sighed.

"I guess I should be going now," she said, a hint of sadness in her voice. "It was nice meeting you and all of your friends. I'll see you tomorrow!" Marie turned to leave.

"Wait a second." Yu called to her. She turned to face him once again. "Before you go, can I have your phone number?" He asked.

"What?!" Marie practically yelled, blushing heavily. "Uh... Sure." She said hesitantly, taking out her phone. She and Yu exchanged phone numbers. Yu sent her a text to make sure that he put in her number right.

Yu: is this Kasumi-san?

Marie: yeah. I'm assuming this is Narukami-kun?

Yu: yeah.

The two of them looked up from their phones and started laughing.

"Kasumi-san must be kinda annoying to say all the time. Why don't you just call me Marie chan?" She asked nervously, looking at the ground. Yu noticed that she was blushing as she asked him.

I hope he's okay with calling me that. It would me so embarrassing if he wasn't!

"Oh.. Sure, Marie-chan," Yu replied, trying out her new nickname hesitantly. Marie breathed a sigh of relief. "And you can just call me Yu-kun if you want."

Marie blushed even harder. "O-okay, Yu-kun." She said.

"LAST CALL FOR THE 4:45 TO OKINA CITY."

"I guess I really do need to go now..." Marie said, disappointed. She leaned in and gave Yu a kiss on the cheek. He gasped quietly, and as she moved away from they realized that they were both blushing. "Thank you for such an amazing first day, Yu-kun. I'll see you tomorrow." She turned and walked into the train station. Marie ran onto the train and took a seat just as it was about to leave.

Yu stood outside of the station, frozen in place. His hand touched his cheek, right where Marie had kissed him. As the train took off, Marie leaned her head back and stared up at the ceiling of the train.

Their thoughts drifted back to each other, and though they didn't know it, they were thinking the exact same thing.

Wow...