We would be friends…
Disclaimer: Persona 3 does not belong to me. It belongs to Atlus.
Junpei Iori is admittedly not the smartest person there is. He understands that. However, as a human being, he is capable of doing one of the many things people can do.
Reflect and wonder.
The incident occurred somewhere on September as he is watching the anime, Innocent Sin (Man this anime is pretty cool" thought Junpei) when a thought occurred to him.
He notices that he and SEES all get along together well. That would be true since they all live underneath the same room. Junpei never gave it much thought before, but a possibility popped in somewhere in his head.
"What…what if the Dark Hour never existed?" muttered Junpei to himself "I mean, it's not like it's a good thing it is here…but we're only together because it IS here." Junpei didn't like the idea. It was bad enough that he wasn't much without a Persona, but a day without some of his friends is starting to trouble him.
He tries to push it away from his head. He succeeds for tonight.
The next day in school, Yukari notices that Junpei isn't acting himself. She does everything to get his attention, in which she does by putting an ice cold soda can next to his face.
"Whoa! Yuka-tan! W-What are you doing?" asked Junpei.
While Yukari admits that she isn't always nice to Junpei (there are times when she regrets making fun of him), she does worry that Junpei is so…silent. She would get annoy with his comments, but that annoyance is pretty comforting, as weird as it sounds.
"Sorry, but you were…spacing out. As though some thing is troubling you." said Yukari as she sips from her soda "It's not like you. You didn't even reply to the teacher's question immediately."
Junpei hesitates. Was it really that noticeable? It seems like that thought was more troublesome than he realize.
"Maybe…maybe I should talk to Yuka-tan about this…" thought Junpei as he mentally shakes himself "Nah, she probably won't get it." "Nah, just…tired that's all." He forces himself to smile like always, to pretend everything is alright.
Yukari isn't entirely convinced, but seems to accept his answer. "If you say so." she continues to eat her sorry excuse of a lunch.
…
"Hey Yuka-tan, can I ask you a question?" asked Junpei. Yukari is surprise by his comment and swallows her sandwich.
"If it's about notes, you should probably ask Minato-kun."
"No it's not that." said Junpei as he scratches his head "Um, it may sound too personal but: what would your life be like…if the Dark Hour if it didn't exist?"
Yukari looks at Junpei strangely.
"I mean, if we didn't have our Personas and junk?"
"Hmm…I guess I would be living with my mom, as much as I hate the idea." Yukari looks at Junpei again "You're acting pretty weird."
"Oh that…ummm…you see…I…stayed up all night watching the Handsome Men show!" lied Junpei.
Yukari blinks a couple of times and goes back to eating lunch.
Back at the dorm, Junpei sees Mitsuru reading all by herself in the lounge, except for Koromarru sleeping in the corner.
"'Sup Senpai." said Junpei.
"Oh welcome back Iori." she greets her dorm member as always while looking away from her book. "You came back earlier than usual."
"Huh?" It seems Mitsuru notices that about Junpei as well. "Sorry, wasn't feeling well today."
"I see. In that case, would you like a night off from Tartarus tonight?" asked Mitsuru in a calm, yet concern manner.
"…Yeah, I guess." Junpei heads upstairs to his room until he asks something "Hey senpai…this dorm is only for Persona users, right?"
Mitsuru looks at Junpei , puzzled by his rather abrupt and strange question. "Yes. Is there a problem with it?"
Junpei shakes his head. Right now he doesn't feel like talking at all.
A week goes by. A week of that fear growing inside of Junpei. It kept on growing and growing. He forcibly goes to Tartarus with the group, but doesn't really feel like he's there. It's even evident when his Persona looks depress. His attacks got a lot weaker, he stumbles more, and wasn't even trying at all.
He has never been this glad to come home…if a dorm could be call a home.
Today is Sunday, no school. Junpei doesn't feel like talking to anybody today. He heads downstairs to the kitchen to make some breakfast. He stops when he sees friend, Minato Arisato…in his pajamas no less.
"Morning Junpei." he said. For some reason, Junpei thinks Minato looks a little off. He just cannot figure out why."
"Morning dude." he said as he grabs a doughnut from the counter. He munches in the pastry until he looks at his friend. He sighs, as leans his back to the counter. "Hey can I ask you something?"
Minato turns around to look at Junpei eye to eye. "It's that thing that has been bothering you."
"…You knew it huh?" replied Junpei flatly "Than again, you always do know. I guess I have no choice."
Junpei looks out to the window and asks, "Do…you think we would still be friends if we never got our Personas?"
"…Huh?" was all Minato could say. He may be a Charismatic, Genius Badass, but sometimes he doesn't quite understand people too well (and he should probably learn how to express himself mmore and be more diligent).
"I mean…" Junpei hesitates a little and finally speaks what has been bugging him "The only reason we're together like this is because we have Personas, and we share a common goal." He sighs as he continues "But…when it all comes down to it…we're here because we got a job to do. Sometimes, I wonder if we would all still be friends."
Minato stares at Junpei, eyes unfazed by all this. He feels his pockets, get up, and walks closer to Junpei. "Is that what has been bothering you?"
Junpei only nods as his reply.
Minato thinks about it some and says, "Well I can't speak for Mitsuru-senpai, Akihiko-senpai, Shinjiro-san, Aigis-chan, Yukari-san, or even for Ken-kun. But I can and will say this: even if we didn't get our Personas, YOU would still be MY friend."
"…Huh? What makes you say that?" asked Junpei not wanting to believe "And with so much certainty?"
Minato smiles calmly and says, "Do you remember the first day we met?"
Junpei vaguely remembers the event, but he knows what his friend is talking about. "Yeah, so?"
Minato pauses for a moment and continues "You and Yukari might not think that, but I was…happy."
"Happy…?"
Minato takes his hands off from his pockets. Junpei notices that he's holding onto to something. "Be honest, how often do you see people with blue hair?"
"Er…not a lot I guess. But why should it matter? You're cool man."
Minato mockingly laughs at himself. "Yeah, but people don't really see that. They would always make fun of me, make assumptions as to…who I am, bully me…all that stuff." Minato's mouth quivers as he tells his experience to Junpei "No one really wants to be friends with me. There were several who would…use me as their bodyguard since I was the toughest out of my old neighborhood. Eventually…I just shut people altogether."
"Ouch, guess you couldn't trust people back then."
Minato's expression looks twisted with pain and sadness. "Yeah…I didn't want to deal with people anymore. No matter what, people will either use me or won't see who I truly am." His expression softens up when he looks at Junpei "But…you changed that."
Junpei scratches his head and modestly said "Come on man, you're giving me too much credit." Junpei is trying his best not to cry.
"But you did. For the first time in my life, someone approached me just to say hi. To offer a friendly hand. You didn't make any assumptions as to who I am. You saw me as…me." Minato smile very wide, which is a rare event. "Because of you, I started to think 'maybe…people aren't all bad.' Hell, I wouldn't go Track, join Photography, or even get a girlfriend if you never gave me the courage to talk to people."
Junpei is astounded by Minato's explanation. He always did treasure his friendship with him, but never in a million years would he think that is how Minato truly feels. "Wow man, and here I thought nothing would faze you."
"…To be fair, there is a time when I wasn't sure we would be friends." said Minato "Do you remember the July incident? When you were trying to push me away?" Junpei nods "I…was scared. Scared, that maybe I destroyed out friendship somehow. I just couldn't stand the idea of losing you as a friend."
The only sound that can be hear is the people walking by, chatting away the day way. Junpei does not know what to say. He feels like the atmosphere needs to lighten up somehow. He grins and says, "Wow man, you are sure saying a lot of mushy stuff today."
Minato looks a little sheepish and hits Junpei on the head. "Damn it Junpei, don't do that, especially when I'm on a roll like this. Oh well, I guess I should give you this."
Minato takes Junpei's hand and puts something in it. That is when Junpei finally makes the connection.
Minato is not wearing headphones. The main reason is that…Junpei is holding it right now.
"Dude! I can't take that!" He tries to give it back to Minato, but pushes it back to him.
"Don't worry. I don't need it anymore." said Minato with a light hearted smile. "I was only using that thing to shut off from other people. But now…I don't have to make a wall from other people. I won't try to run away from people anymore. So please, keep it."
Junpei doesn't know what to say. Admittedly he will sometimes see his friend hang out with others, specifically Kenji and Kaz. And for some reason, those two gave them something that most people would register meaningless to him. He never understood why…until now.
With a smile, he says, "Alright man, I promise to take care of it."
Minato closes his eyes and says, from the bottom of his heart, "Thank you…so much." He opens his eyes and suddenly said, "Hey we should go to the game store. I heard they got No More Heroes 1 & 2 today."
Junpei rubs his nose at the conversation turn and said, "Cool, but I want to get that new fighting game…what was it…Persona 4 Arena!"
"Oh yeah, it just came out recently. I got to get that. And I know how much you hate studying, but how about I help you?"
"Sure pal."
With that, the two friends head outside on a nice Sunday afternoon.
Despite that Minato is still wearing pajamas.
Man it feels great to write again! And a one-shot no less! I really hope to do a Persona 4 one. Anyway I guess I have to make some omakes.
OMAKE 1
While walking, Minato suddenly realizes something.
"Oh hey Junpei, could you give me those headphones?"
Junpei looks at his friend, but he pulls them out and hands them over. "Er, can I ask why?"
"Oh Fuuka made those, so I like to keep it." he replied.
"Oh that makes sense. You wanting to keep a gift from your girlfriend." said Junpei.
"What? No, she's like a little sister to me. I actually like Yuko more…" said Minato absent mindedly.
"Whoa, wait! Yuko? As in, Yuko Nishiwaki from the Track Team?" asked Junpei.
"Yeah, and I want to ask her out on a date, but…"
"Don't worry man, I got your back." said Junpei "By the way, why do you keep stuff from other people?"
"Those stuff allow me to fuse some of the strongest Personas I have like Siegfried, Surt, and Thor."
"…How does that work out?"
"A guy named Igor uses it as a sort of power supply where his assistant Elizabeth keeps a record of my Personas." Minato explained nonchalantly.
"…Okay." was Junpei's reply.
His friend is weird, but he wouldn't have it any other way.
OMAKE 2
At Paulownia Mall, Junpei and Minato heads to the Game Store when Minato stops him. Junpei is confused until he sees why.
Over there is eye of Minato's affection, Yuko Nishiwaki.
Minato starts sweating a little bit and is actually trembling. "How do I look?"
Junpei snickers at his friend. Normally Minato doesn't let anything faze him, but with a crush, he can't help it. "Well, besides the fact you're wearing pajamas, I say you're good."
Minato takes a moment to realize what Junpei is talking about and looks at his attire "Crap you're right. Oh man, what am I'm gonna do?"
"Dude, just be yourself. And I'm going to help you." Junpei waves his arm around to Yuko's general direction "Hey Yuko-san!"
"Junpei this is not helping at all." complained Minato as Yuko comes over to them.
"Oh hi Junpei-kun…Minato-kun? What are you doing here…in your pajamas?" asked Yuko.
"Ah, well, you see…I…er…" Minato has a hard time finding words for all this.
"Dude was so excited about the new Persona 4 Arena and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 that he didn't bother getting dress." covered Junpei "Anyway he wants to ask you something. I'll go pick up the games." With that, Junpei leaves, but not too far for Minato to see him.
"Huh? What is it you need to know?" asked Yuko.
"Er…" Minato's heart is pounding as the following thought goes through: "Man now I know how Shinjiro feels when facing you're crush" "I…was wondering….if…if…"
"If what…?"
"If…you…want to hang out this Saturday?" asked Minato, mustering all of his courage.
Yuko is silent for a moment, but a moment is an eternity for Minato. She smiles and says, "Should I come in pajamas too?"
"…So is it a yes?"
"Of course! See you on Saturday." Yuko leaves to the pharmacy. Minato's knees feel weak as he is about to fall only for Junpei to catch him.
"Well?"
"She…said yes…she said yes!" exclaimed Minato with glee. "Looks like I own you another one."
"Save it man. Now lets go get some video games."
OMAKE 3
They just put the disc for Persona 4 Arena into the XBOX (Minato is a firm believer that online heavy games are for that system).
"Dude it will be so awesome. Even though I hardly know the game, I'm so maining that Yosuke guy."
"Good luck with that Junpei. Once I get good with Yu, I'll be force to be reckoned with."
However once they see the character select screen, they are…surprise to say the least.
"Huh? Why is Akihiko-senpai here…without a shirt?!" asked Junpei.
"Forget that, Mitsuru is in here as well…and what is she wearing. It looks like Koro-" Minato stopped himself before he finishes his sentence. "I…probably don't want to know."
"Dude…Ai-chan is there as well!"
"What?!" True to Junpei's word, Aigis is there. They look at each other for a moment and said.
"Well Junpei, looks like I'm maining Aigis."