Shin Megami Tensei

Persona 3: Carpe Diem

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Persona 3, SMT, or any characters within. They belong to Atlus.

Author's Note: This fic will consist of small stories acting as a tie between the events of RES and the sequel. Yes, a sequel is already in the works.

But before the start of this fic, I'd like to thank the anonymous reviewer who gave me this idea in the first place. You guys want closure from the epilogue in RES? You got it!

First Story – Will You Marry Me?

Junpei hadn't exactly been the most charismatic one in his class, in fact, one of the reasons he had friends like Kenji and Minato was so that they could take care of his charisma problems for him.

But, as he was sitting at one of the best tables in one of the fanciest restaurants in Tokyo, waiting for Chidori to return from the bathroom, he realized just how bad of a coward he really was. It cost him five months of his S.E.E.S. salary to buy the ring in his pocket. Not only that, but if Mitsuru hadn't given him a free table at her family's private restaurant, he would've proposed to Chidori at the nearest McDonald's.

That would not have been good at all.

The only thing Mitsuru asked in return was that Junpei return to Yakushima by next week with Chidori by his side and a ring on her finger, he would get a paid vacation until then.

If he failed…

LAST WEEK – OCTOBER 20, 2011

YAKUSHIMA S.E.E.S. HEADQUARTERS

Mitsuru Kirijo was busy finalizing plans for S.E.E.S.'s first combat deployment outside of Japan. That being said, Junpei could see her sitting at her computer, in her office, a cell phone in her hand and a pair of glasses in another. If he disturbed her now without an adequate excuse…

"Ow!" Junpei yelped as he caught a punch in his arm from out of nowhere. Right there, standing next to him was a grinning Kenji Tomochika.

"Damn it Kenji, don't you have something better to do than scare the crap out of me – and damn my arm hurts!"

"Shut up, Stupei. So I hear you're gonna' propose to Chidori. Huh? Is it true, eh?" Kenji heckled Junpei for the truth, causing Junpei to raise his arms in his own defense and making a "shush" sound.

"Hey, be quiet will you? I still haven't finalized it yet!" Junpei said in a whisper, glancing over at Mitsuru's office again.

"What there to finalize, you idiot! Just take her to some place nice that she'll enjoy, buy a ring, and propose. Guaranteed that she'll say yes. Absolute guarantee."

"Do you think I have the money for that stuff…hey, wait! Aren't you supposed to be on a mission!?" Junpei asked in the same hushed voice, while Kenji still blabbered on in his "let the world know" tone.

"Oh, the deployment to America? Yeah, Mitsuru's working on that right now. Since you guys are still on that terror alert list, she's gotta' clear your name somehow, so in the meantime, I'm here for ya' buddy!"

"God kill me," Junpei muttered, looking over at Mitsuru's office again as she hung up her cell phone by throwing it against the bulletproof glass and sat down with a sour look on her face.

"Hey, she's off the phone! Hey, MI – TSU- RU!" Kenji began shouting while he was walking over to Mitsuru's office, prompting her to look in their direction and also force Junpei to tackle Kenji to the ground…

PRESENT DAY

Needless to say, Kenji's antics had gotten Junpei into the scariest situation of his life. In exchange for Mitsuru helping him get into a fancy place, Junpei swore to always be with Chidori (as well as do some "favors" for Mitsuru from time to time). However, despite all these measures, Mitsuru still felt it necessary to have Kenji provide backup via an earpiece and a small camera hidden in Junpei's coat.

Chidori got back from the bathroom after a few minutes, instantly noticing that Junpei hadn't touched his food nor his drink – quite odd, considering in the past six months since they had lived in the Yakushima HQ, Junpei was always the first one to finish his food.

"Junpei, is…something wrong?" Chidori innocently asked as she sat down in her chair, leaning in towards Junpei as she did so.

"No – nothing…nothing's wrong, Chidori," Junpei said quietly, looking down on his food as he did so.

"You haven't touched your food. You're lying," she said flatly, looking at Junpei with a mixture of curiosity and hurt that he wouldn't talk to her about what he was feeling. "Junpei, if there's anything you need to talk about-"



"Do it man, propose to her now!" Kenji shouted through the earpiece, causing Junpei to slightly jump out of his seat. Although, as one of S.E.E.S.'s most talented psychics, she could probably read Junpei's mind right now – but she had far too much respect and love for Junpei to do that.

"I…Chidori, have you ever had to…make a difficult choice – life altering – with someone you love?" Junpei asked, causing Kenji to sigh loudly into the earpiece.

"Junpei…" Chidori said his name with a slight emphasis, hoping he would notice that she noticed something was wrong with him, but after a few seconds, she yielded to the question.

"Well…yes…in my…past life," Chidori put her right hand on her left arm. She never did revisit memories from her past life before. Only now that she had someone to care about; someone to trust, did she allow herself to revisit those dark days. "There was a boy in my school – actually, it was…do you remember our battle with Takaya six months ago?"

"Yeah, why?"

"In our previous lives…we were lovers. But that all changed after the Shadow Incident…I loved him."

"Do you still-"

"Oh, don't even suggest that!" Chidori shot back, waving her hand in the air. "I loved him back then…but then the power changed him. He's – he's not the boy I fell in love with. Not anymore. But, I have you now Junpei."

"Well…about that."

"Do it now!"

"Damn it!" Junpei shouted, standing up from his seat with enough force as to force the chair over and cause everyone in the restaurant to look at their table.

"Junpei? About what, exactly?" Chidori asked, also standing up. She didn't need to be a psychic in order to read Junpei like an open book.

"It's just…right now, it's so hard to do this-" Junpei said while his legs began to shake.

"So hard for – oh! Well, you could have decided to do this in a less expensive location!" Chidori said, folding her arms in clear annoyance.

"Oh, really? I could have!? That…would have been good to know."

"Yes, I'm sure it would have," Chidori said, grabbing her coat as she turned around and began to leave the restaurant.



"Junpei, she looks pissed. This is your last chance, buddy." Kenji said, more serious than he had ever sounded before. But Junpei didn't need Kenji's advice from an earpiece to know that it was now or never, and Junpei chose now.

He ran up to Chidori and grabbed her hand, swinging her around to face him.

"Chidori, wait!"

"What, Junpei! If you were going to break up with me, you couldn't have done it in a more private place? You had to humiliate me!? Is that it!? What did-"

Chidori was hysterical, but Junpei still had that same confused look on his face as the day he met her.

"Break up…what? Where did you get that idea from?"

Chidori felt insulted, ripping her hand away from his sharply and turning her face towards him.

"Junpei, you don't need to be psychic to know what you were about to say…I see it on Yukari's television show's all the time! You have the 'tell-tale signs' that you're about to break up with me!"

"Wha – what!? Geez, American TV is really making this difficult…look, Chidori…" Junpei said as softly as he could to rectify the situation before he totally lost his grip on reality. Once again, he grabbed her by the hand and looked her in the eye, but this time, he knelt down on the ground.

"Yeah, Junpei! My man! That's it!"

"Chidori, you have no earthly idea how hard this is for me to say, but…will you marry me?" he said while pulling out a box from his pocket, never taking his gaze away from her.

"Action, this is observation. Mission accomplished." Kenji said over the his headset as he switched comms channels on his dashboard, looking greedily on the television screen where Junpei was proposing.

"Observation, this is action. Roger, initiating celebrations in ten, nine, eight…"

"Junpei…" she said quietly as she touched the box with her free hand. He let go of her other hand for just a moment before he got up from his kneeling position and brought the box close to him so that he could open it and show her the ring he'd bought her.

"Three, two, one; beginning celebrations now."

"Congratulations!" shouted everyone in the restaurant as Junpei looked into Chidori's eyes, slowly opening the box.



"Oh, shit."

"Oh, shit?"

"What do you mean 'oh shit'? What the hell is that supposed to mean! Answer observation!" Mitsuru shouted into Kenji earpiece as he looked in awe and wonder as Junpei opened the small velvet box only to reveal a wonderful crimson suede interior with no ring.

"Now, Chidori…about that ring." Junpei said, retracting his hands from her and rubbing the back of his head to relief the stress and humiliation. His cheeks were as red as her hair when she came closer to him and removed the box from his hands.

"Well, ring aside, I think I can say yes to that question. I'll admit though, Yukari's soap operas really made me think you were going to leave me, though!" she said, coming in closer to him and whispering those words so close to his ear that he tingled from the warmth of her breath.

Aside from the fact that he just made himself look like a fool in front of several complete strangers who apparently knew when to yell "congratulations" simultaneously – and the fact that he would have to correct Chidori's television habits later on, this was all her could hope for right about now and Chidori hugged him as close as she could.

"Way to forget the ring, dumbass!" Kenji shouted into the earpiece, but then, as Junpei hugged his future wife back, he took a small moment to yank the device from his ear and throw in on the ground altogether.

"I guess Yukari won't be the only lucky girl in the H.Q. next week, huh?" Junpei joked, prompting Chidori to pull away from him and bring her nose against his, bringing their faces as close as possible without actually kissing.

"What's that supposed to mean, huh?" she asked in a playful tone, before Junpei answered her with that stupid smile of his before bringing his head close to her ear.

"You, me, weeklong 'vacation'."

"I think I like the sound of that," she whispered back, just as she used her psychic powers to shut down the surveillance camera Junpei had hidden in his jacket.