Disclaimer: Persona 4 is owned by Atlus.

The Trials of Yosuke Hanamura

Chapter One

Switch'd

Yosuke wasn't sure how his best friend did it. And it slightly irked him. …Okay, maybe not slightly. More like, a lot.

Monday through Sunday, bar no holidays and the like, Souji Seta had ladies falling at his feet, kissing the very ground he walked on like he was some kind of god. Every possible day of the week that Yosuke had ever passed the silver-haired boy in question, he looked to be on a date with a different girl, and they came from such varying walks of life that the brunette was positively sure that Souji must have been drugging them all or something. Seriously, what was he doing? The guy was definitely charming, he had to admit, but enough to date seven girls at the same time? There had to be a secret.

"It just doesn't make any sense," Yosuke mumbled bitterly to himself, earning him a strange look from Chie and a worried one from Yukiko. They were all having lunch, and Souji had left them saying he had plans to eat lunch with someone else. Another girlfriend, probably, he figured, wondering for the nth time whether any of these girls had any idea they were being played.

"What doesn't, Yosuke-kun?" Yukiko asked, chewing lightly on her bread. As the more intuitive of the two second year girls, she had sensed something was slightly amiss with the Junes Prince for a while. Although, considering how much sulking and brooding he was doing lately, it wouldn't have been surprising if Chie had noticed it as well.

"Don't ask him, Yukiko. Lots of things don't make sense to him," Chie stated as-a-matter-of-factly, resuming her occasional stealing of Yukiko's lunch. Yosuke knew she wasn't being purposely mean—the playful jabbering at each other and constant arguments were part of the reason why they were such close friends in the first place—but he couldn't help himself from thinking, We'll see who's laughing when you find out your best friend's dating your boyfriend. It was a cruel thought, and Yosuke knew that, somewhere in the back of his brain, letting his best friend cheat on all of the closest girls the brunette knew wasn't the brightest idea.

"It's nothing. I'm gonna go see what's up with Souji, so…I guess I'll see you guys later," he answered, decisively ignoring Chie's prior jab. The two waved him upon his leaving, going back to a conversation he hadn't even been aware they were in before they'd decided to butt into his thoughts. The hallways were as crowded as they normally were during lunch, many students taking the time to just walk around with their friends or significant others, and Yosuke had to stop himself from imagining the verbal, and possibly physical, beating Souji would receive if he was caught dead in the act of cheating. But really, what did Souji have that Yosuke didn't? They were both guys, they were best friends, for god's sake! Sure, the guy was practically Iron Chef of Inaba, had a cute younger "sister" that anybody would want, held a kind of mysterious air, was a practical leader-type…

No! Stop thinking about how he's better than you! Yosuke almost slapped himself in the face to relieve his thoughts, but settled on pinching himself in the arm instead, causing him to yelp louder than he had intended to. He ignored the odd stares people were sending him as he ascended the stairs towards the roof, knowing for sure that's where the silverette would be. It was funny how none of the other girls checked on the guy during lunch; maybe if they did, they'd notice him spending it with someone else. But Yosuke supposed that was neither here nor there.

"Hey partner, you up here?" the brunette called out, more as a show of goodwill than for an actual answer. He knew Souji was up here. Opening the door leading to the roof, Yosuke shouldn't have been surprised to see Souji enjoying a packed bento with Naoto, the latter smiling slightly as she commented on how delicious the food was. Of course, Souji's food was always delicious. And nobody could say the guy was gay for being able to cook because nobody would dare accuse the great Souji Seta of such a thing. As much of a cool guy Yosuke knew him to be, the guy was just so damn idolized, it wasn't even funny anymore. Why couldn't he be that popular?

"Did you need something, Yosuke?" The other boy answered evenly, taking a moment to glance at the brunette. Yosuke almost felt like he shouldn't have been there. He had been meaning to ask his best friend on that secret to getting women to fall at his feet, but now he was having some doubts. Maybe another time would be better? When would he even get a chance to talk with Souji that wasn't ill-placed or just plain bad?

"Ah, actually, nevermind. I'll just…come back some other time, since you're busy and, you know…yeah," he finished lamely, making his way back towards the staircase, but as he turned slightly towards the Detective Prince, he noticed her scarily piercing gaze at him, searching his soul and reading his mind. Crap, I don't wanna get on Naoto's bad side. I bet she'd have no problem shooting holes into me until I'm Swiss cheese. And, oh god, Kanji… It had taken him a second to suddenly remember the existence of none other than Kanji Tatsumi, bike-gang-butt-kicking extraordinaire. What in the world would Kanji say to Souji's wooing of the detective? Not even the silverette's way with words could possibly save him from that brutal beating.

Suddenly, Yosuke felt slight pity for his pimp of a friend.

"Oh, um…" Naoto began, feeling slightly awkward for breaking the silence. She surprised Yosuke when she suddenly stood up from her spot, dusting off her uniform as she turned towards Souji's questioning gaze. "My apologies, Senpai, but I have certain matters to attend to. Please excuse me. Lunch was most satisfying." She bowed her head at her senior—who looked slightly disappointed, Yosuke noted amusedly—and strode past where Yosuke was standing, her school bag and lunch in tow. As the pint-sized detective passed, she sent a look at Yosuke (was that sympathy?) before descending the stairs, leaving the two upperclassmen alone. Souji sighed briefly before motioning for Yosuke to join him on the roof, an invitation the brunette was all too willing to take—and, somewhere deep in his mind, he silently thanked Naoto for picking that opportune moment to leave.

"So, what is it?"

"Hmm?" Yosuke hummed obliviously, earning him a pointed look from Souji. The brunette decided that beating around the bush might not be the best idea right now. Heaving a deep sigh, Yosuke leaned back on his hands and stared his best friend right in the eye.

"How do you do it? What's the secret, man?" A raised eyebrow from his companion was all he needed to continue. "To, you know, getting all the chicks. You're like, eight-timing right now—"

"Seven." At this, Yosuke looked bewildered. Seven? He was sure, with the addition of their most recent female party member, it was eight. Chie, Yukiko, Yumi, Ayane (how had he joined two culture clubs at once?), Ai, that Sayoko lady he worked with at the hospital, Rise, and now Naoto. Eight people. And, unless he suddenly didn't know how to count—the brunette was positive he wasn't that dumb—that was eight girls. And he was also sure that his best friend, top student, was able to count just fine.

"You suddenly forget how to count, partner?" Yosuke snickered, though that mild glare he was receiving obviously meant that, no, he had not forgotten how to count. "C'mon, it's eight. Chie, Yukiko, Yumi, Ayane, Ai, that Sayoko lady, Rise, and Naoto. Eight."

"I'm not dating Naoto." What? Yosuke almost did a double-take, but caught himself in time to laugh it off instead.

"Dude, you were just having lunch with her."

"I'm having lunch with you, aren't I?" And to further support his statement, Souji offered Yosuke what was left of the bento, which the brunette denied.

"…Point taken, I guess. But still, not dating the Detective Prince? Too boyish for your tastes, partner?" The reaction he received hadn't been what he expected. Souji had a scary look on his face as he muttered to himself darkly. The brunette caught words and phrases of what his best friend was trying to communicate, things like, "accidentally picked wrong phrase" and "missed the damn flag", among other odd admissions. Yosuke decided it was best to just wait out the ranting.

"…it's too bad, she was rather interesting," Souji finally finished, letting out a disappointed sigh before sipping at a carton of juice. He side-glanced at his brown-haired friend, questioning the boy's motives with his eyes. Said boy caught the look, and pressed on.

"Well, don't let it get you down, at least now Kanji won't have a reason to smash your face in, right?" Souji continued to look at Yosuke, and the Junes boy frowned slightly at what it implied. "Yeah, yeah, I know. The guy doesn't have a chance. Poor dude. But at least now you aren't crushing his hopes." At this, the silverette shrugged.

"Fair enough." Another sip, another sigh. Yosuke could have laughed at how hard Souji was taking it. It almost convinced the prince of Junes that his best friend had actually taken a liking to the boyish detective, but with the seven other beautiful, and varying types of unobtainable women, the brunette doubted that was the case. What was an antisocial genius to the Amagi challenge or a teen idol? But that, too, was neither here nor there of what he was trying to get at.

"So…about that secret." They had been off on a tangent for far too long, after all.

"Main character privileges." Again, what?

"Main…character?" What the heck did that mean? The dying sound of an empty juice carton answered him as, with amazing accuracy, Souji tossed the now finished drink into a nearby wastebasket.

"How many personas can you summon, Yosuke?" That was an easy question.

"One, Susan-Oo." The other boy nodded.

"And how many can I summon?" What was he getting at?

"A lot. Where are you going with this?"

"Your persona is a facet of your own personality, right?" So, he was just going to ignore the question? Nonetheless, Yosuke continued to answer.

"Yeah…"

"And I am able to acquire many different types of personas. Why do you believe that is?" And suddenly, it all made sense. Yosuke's eyes widened in realization, and Souji had to grin at it.

"So, you're telling me that you can be any kind of person you want…?" The shock was painfully slowly subsiding. Why hadn't he seen it before? It should've been so obvious!

"More or less. I am able to be access various facets of my person in order to help others. Unfortunately, it's not something I can just pass on to you. Even with that ability, it still took a bit of work."

"Er…" Yosuke stated dumbly, still slightly stupefied at this revelation. Wait, work? "Hold on, work?" Souji nodded.

"I wasn't born courageous or smart, Yosuke. I had to study and take part time jobs. That Mega Beef Bowl Challenge on rainy days helped, too." It certainly made sense, Yosuke had to admit. At least now he knew he wasn't at a disadvantage for no apparent reason. But wait, if Souji had to work to get all the respect, then…

"Hey…you think if I, you know, did all those things…" He trailed off, looking beseechingly at his leader, who seemed only slightly surprised at the idea. In fact, he seemed to be smiling at it. Grasping Yosuke's shoulder, Souji took on a glint in his eye that scared his companion somewhat.

"Well then, why don't we switch places, partner?" This time, Yosuke did do a double-take.

"Wh-Wha—Switch places…!" Was he crazy…? That nod Yosuke had just received made it certainly seem so.

"You want to be popular, right? We'll live each other's lives for a month's time. How does that sound?"

"Dude, are you crazy? How would that even work? I'm me, and you're you, I don't know how you expect us to just…switch places!"

"With a bit of haircutting, hair dye, some outside help…I think we can make it work. Here's my schedule," Souji stated, almost too nonchalantly for Yosuke's taste. A small planner was being offered, and the brunette did nothing short of push it away.

"How can you be so calm about this? There's no way!" But even as he vehemently denied the opportunity, it actually sounded pretty cool. Becoming the leader for a whole month? Yosuke had to wonder why he was even rejecting the offer. Maybe it was his conscience. Or maybe it was that gut feeling that Souji was actually using this chance to try and escape from something. From what, Yosuke had no clue, but if it merited allowing the Junes boy to take over as official leader of the Investigation Squad and date all seven of said leader's girlfriends, it must've been something Souji definitely wasn't looking forward to. The debate continued, Yosuke valiantly attempting to keep his resolve from slipping, but as lunch wore on, all of his 'no way's and 'I refuse's became "I guess" and "it couldn't hurt…"

As the bell finally signaled the end of the longest lunch period the brunette had ever experienced, his complete distaste for the idea had become a longing to try it out, even if it was just for the sake of trying it out.

"Are we in agreement, then?" The planner that had been rejected moments ago was held at Yosuke again, and its acceptance would mark the signing of an unspoken contract between the two friends. A staring contest ensued between the prince of Junes and the schedule book.

"Yeah, I guess so. But only for a month, got it?" Yosuke swiped the small book out of Souji's hands, a strange grin creeping onto the silverette's face as it left his hands.

"Good. Meet me after school so we can begin. Tomorrow is the first of the month, so this will be in good timing." And in the blink of an eye, Souji was gone, already heading down the flights of stairs to their classroom.

Quickly flipping through the pages of the planner, Yosuke had to let himself grin. A whole month as team leader? What were the chances?

"Let's see…tomorrow is…" Further perusal of the book led Yosuke to land on the current date, bookmarked with what seemed to be a dying post-it note. "February the first?"

Wait a second, February?

"…That scheming bastard."

A/N: So…I thought this was a good idea. I always wanted to play around with the idea that one day, Yosuke would become the main character and then stagger at how much he has to do. Besides, he was always jealous of Souji getting everything anyways.

A bit of a note on the pairings for the story: The basic idea is that the story features a kind of "first playthrough with maxed social links using no guides" feel. I always did want to play around with the idea that Souji dated everyone, but wasn't doing it to be a total ass. So, if he's supposed to be dating everyone, why isn't he dating Naoto? Because I always felt like her Lovers path was the most difficult one (I actually didn't find Ai's all that difficult, even with so many reversals thrown in) and I thought it'd be funny for Souji to mess up on it, as most people usually do on their first go-through of the game. And no, he isn't going to magically start dating her somewhere in the middle of the story.

This is also sort of a mock Yosuke x All Girls except Naoto, which I don't believe has been written before due to the sheer impossibility that Yosuke will ever be popular in-game. It's almost ironic considering his fanbase.

And, just in case anyone hasn't gotten this yet, this is most probably a crackfic. Given its premise and the sheer idiocy that is Yosuke and Souji suddenly switching places out of nowhere, it's safe to say that seriousness has left the building.