Chapter 2: Playing Hero

Yosuke Hanamura led a pretty bland life to the outside observer. He was the manager of the Inaba branch of Junes, a large superstore chain that had stores up and down Japan. Yosuke himself really couldn't say when he took command, one day his father called him into his office and promoted him on the spot. It all happened so fast that Yosuke could not decline and now while his father enjoyed retirement, Yosuke enjoyed a significant pay raise and the leadership responsibilities that he never had.

The first thing Yosuke did with his money was move out of his parents' house. It wasn't like he did not like his parents, but he had always wanted his own place to crash. Yosuke had matured a lot over the years and he owed that to two things: His new job as manager, and his girlfriend Chie. Honestly that last one still blew Yosuke's mind, somehow he had ended up with the person he always had screaming matches with in high school. Right now he was on the roof of his Junes thinking about how exactly it had unfolded.

Senior Year, Christmas, Flood Plain

Yosuke ran a hand through his hair and sighed, not far behind him was Chie wearing her heavy dark green coat, Yosuke had to admit, she looked great in that coat. Chie's voice broke his thought,

"Yosuke! Why did you drag me out here? It's freezing!" Chie blew into her hands to emphasize the thought.

"Well, I just wanted to talk" that wasn't the truth and Yosuke knew it, in fact he knew exactly why he asked Chie to come here on such short notice. Their senior years were almost over and Yosuke didn't want any regrets. Chie had already informed everyone she knew that she was going to some fancy police academy about an hour away from Inaba. Yosuke needed to tell her how he felt, in case he didn't see her for a while.

"So, um, do you like me?" Yosuke asked a little quietly, but loud enough for Chie to hear him clearly,

"What kind of question is that? Of course I like you!" Yosuke cringed,

"Of course, she's gonna make me spell it out" he thought while gripping his nose between his fingers.

"No, not like that Chie, like, have you ever thought of you and me before?" Chie raised an eyebrow her lip twitching slightly,

"You and me doing what?" Chie asked,

"No, she did not just say that, she is playing with me right?" Yosuke was getting frustrated now at how Chie was avoiding his attempted confession, after all there was no way she was serious at this point right?

"DATING! Birdbrain, I mean you and me dating!" Yosuke almost yelled the first part; however there were not many people around to listen in much to his comfort.

"Who the hell are you calling birdbrain? I thought you promised never to call me that again and" Chie stopped her rant as Yosuke's other words from his previous sentence finally landed. Chie started to blush and looked away from Yosuke.

"W-What did you just say?" she asked a little timidly. Yosuke sighed, his frustration overriding his embarrassment, which was a good thing because he would probably be lighting up like a Christmas tree if he was not so frustrated with the woman before him.

"I asked you if you ever thought about you and me dating before?" he said tying together all of his previous sentences making it clear as the winter sky what he was talking about. Chie stopped blushing and focused on her and Yosuke actually dating. They did fight all the time and Chie had inflicted bodily harm to him on more than one occasion, but ever since the P-1 Grand Prix incident something changed. The pair would still have arguments, but they were different then from when they were sophomores, in fact most of the time it seemed playful, almost flirty. She even hid out at his place occasionally over the past year when Yukiko was busy and she did not want to face her ridiculously strict parents. Chie knew that they both had grown up a lot over the past two years,

"Well" she finally said rather quietly,

"I never really thought of us like that before, but…" she trailed off trying to find the right words to say,

"Come on, don't trail off like that" Yosuke said in a slightly panicked tone. Chie looked a bit irritated herself at Yosuke's last comment,

"but I suppose I wouldn't mind giving it a try." She finally managed to say, Yosuke's eyes lit up has he leaped forward and grabbed Chie in an embrace, Chie promptly blushed furiously but she did not seem to mind the hug,

"At a girl! I promise you won't regret it!" Chie pushed Yosuke off her

"I better not" she said with a slight smirk.

"So, uh, you wanna meet up tomorrow? Maybe go see a movie? I heard that new kung fu one got good reviews" Chie nodded,

"Yeah that sounds good, I'll meet you in front of school tomorrow, ok" Yosuke nodded,

"Yeah, and don't you worry, I'm buying!" he said. That one movie was all they needed to realize the feelings they had were mutual, Yosuke was feeling bold towards the end and put his arm around Chie expecting to get a punch for it. But none came, in fact she leaned into him. After the final credits they went for a walk,

"So I figure I have to ask this: Why are you ok with us being together? I know for a fact that two years ago you wouldn't have even considered my offer." Chie thought for a moment,

"I don't know, I guess you've gotten a lot more mature since I met you and you're defiantly not a pervert anymore." Yosuke was going to make a smart ass joke but bit his tongue as he continued to listen to Chie's explanation,

"Besides, I'm leaving after this semester and I figured it was now or never." Yosuke smiled, he had thought the exact same way,

"Well I'm glad one of us decided to ask the other before it was too late" he said, Chie grabbed his hand softly and looked up to him,

"Yeah, I'm glad" with that they held each other in a tight embrace before Yosuke kissed Chie on the top of the head lightly, she did not object.

Present Day, Roof Top of Junes, Evening

Yosuke's memory was interrupted by his ring tone, the new single from Rise's upcoming album, he answered after a little bit because he enjoyed the song.

"Hello this is Hanamura speaking" The voice on the other end was all too familiar,

"Yeah, I know who I called" it was Chie, "So, you off work yet Yosuke?" Chie asked,

"Yeah just got off, I'm walking home now" he lied but it was not a damaging one, he was in the elevator to get to the ground floor after all.

"So how are things at the academy?" Yosuke asked trying to keep the conversation going,

"Things are going fine, I might even have a job offer in our hometown! Isn't that great!?" Yosuke's eyes lit up, that might have been the best news he had heard in a while,

"That's awesome Chie, is it with Dojima-san's people?" Yosuke asked,

"Yeah, he is the one that offered me an entry level position with the Inaba police department." Chie explained.

"I'm really happy for you, Chie." The conversation continued until Yosuke got to his apartment just outside of Inaba,

"Ok, I love you too Chie, talk to you soon, bye" he hung up and unlocked his door; he was exhausted from a long day at work.

The next day Yosuke was typing up sales reports for his store in his office when a relatively new employee knocked on the door.

"Come in" Yosuke said without looking up from his computer,

"Um, Hanamura-san?" the employee asked, Yosuke finally looked up to see Shen Mayamusa standing at the entrance, he was a few years younger than Yosuke and was a high school student trying to make some extra money.

"Yes Shen, can I help you?" he asked with an eyebrow raised,

"Yeah, I need a little help with a delivery truck, he dropped off a lot less than we ordered." Yosuke got up from his desk actually relieved to stretch his legs for the first time today.

"I'll get on it, Shen thanks for telling me" the two left the room and worked things out with the delivery company,

"Hey I'm heading for lunch, you wanna have a chat?" Yosuke asked, Shen nodded,

"Yeah, sure why not? I'd be happy to join you sir." Yosuke cringed,

"Come on you don't have to call me sir, just call me Hanamura alright." Shen nodded as the two grabbed lunch together, it was nice to talk to one of his common employees every once in a while, it gave him perspective on the morale of the part timers.

"You ever think life in this small town can get boring?" Shen suddenly asked, Yosuke froze, for some reason all he could think about was his shadow he had faced so many years ago,

"Well, yeah, but it's part of the charm, you know?" he quickly answered the younger man and ended the conversation, now he sat alone in his office,

"Dammit, why is this bothering me so much anyway?" he asked himself,

"I faced down that thing before, got my persona, but it has been kind of boring around here lately." Yosuke sighed heavily.

It was late now and Yosuke was heading home for the evening still thinking about what Shen had said,

"You ever think life in this small town can get boring?" The question rang in his head more than it should have, it wasn't Shen's fault it was an honest question. Yosuke took his phone out of his pocket,

"I really need to talk to someone about this" he muttered to himself as he dialed Chie's number, he put the phone to his ear,

"Come on Chie pick up" he said out loud.

"Hello?" it was Chie's voice,

"Hey Chie you got time to talk?" Chie could sense the urgency in her boyfriend's voice,

"Yeah of course, is everything ok?" Yosuke nearly broke down, he knew she would be there to listen to him,

"No, no everything is really not ok" he said,

"Yosuke what happened?" Yosuke explained what Shen had said earlier,

"Not to sound bad but why is that question bothering you so much?" Yosuke came to a halt in his conversation,

"Holy shit I never told you did I?" Chie seemed confused now,

"Told me about what?" Yosuke paused,

"About my shadow" Chie did not respond for a few seconds,

"No you did but it's been a long time, mind refreshing my memory?" she said,

"Ok, I'll give you the quick version, My shadow was bored with everything it even said that the only reason I entered the TV that day was because it sounded like a cheap thrill, that I didn't care about the murders at all as long as my boredom went away." Chie listened quietly,

"And now look at me, I'm more bored with this place then ever! I thought I was over this, dammit!" he was starting to sound more panicked, Chie cut him off,

"Yosuke, calm down. Look, there is nothing wrong with getting a little bored but that doesn't mean you are turning into your shadow." Yosuke took a deep breath,

"And besides, if I remember correctly, your shadow was really immature, like he was complaining about everything. You've grown up Yosuke and you are nothing like him." Chie reassured him and Yosuke believed her,

"Thank you for that Chie, I really needed it. I might come into town and see you soon, I've got a few vacation days coming up." Chie smiled on the other end of the line,

"I would like that Yosuke."

"Ok I'll talk to you again soon, alright, good night." They hung up as Yosuke decided to go check his mail for no particular reason. That's when he found it, a package in the mailbox, Yosuke grabbed it and read the label, it was addressed to him with Kirijo Group written on the bottom of the label.

"Wait, weren't they the ones who helped us back during the Grand Prix?" he questioned has he shook the box lightly receiving a small racket came from inside the mysterious box. Yosuke took it inside his apartment and placed the box on the counter; he opened it up and pulled out a letter, a red armband with "S.O" written on it in black letters and a device that looked like a silver gun.

"What is this? A gun?" Yosuke freaked out dropping the device on the floor of his kitchen. He decided to read the letter before he jumped to conclusions.

Dear persona user

You have been selected by the Kirijo Group as a recruit for the "Shadow Operatives". Inside this package is a mission brief, complete it and the position is yours. The gun shaped tool in your package is not the type that shoots bullets; it is called an Evoker and is used to summon a persona anywhere, any time. Instructions for its use are enclosed. Please make sure you can use it with no trouble before you embark on the mission. Do not tell anyone about your mission it is specific to your own skill set. Thank you and good luck

Mitsuru Kirijo

Yosuke looked back into the box and found the instructions for the Evoker's use,

"I have to shoot myself in the head with that gun thing to summon my Persona?" he questioned out loud. He also read up on the mission brief in the box,

"What the hell? It's in the Junes warehouse!? How did that happen?" Yosuke knew he had to protect his own store but he was not so keen on shooting himself in the head with a gun to do so.

"The letter said that it isn't a real gun, and that Mitsuru woman from the Grand Prix was a persona user herself, so I guess I can trust her." He picked up the Evoker and stuck it to his head, his hand shaking as he did so.

"Damn, this is crazy" he said as the sweat dripped down his face. He was struggling to pull the trigger, the apartments around him were not occupied so no one would hear a noise if he pulled the trigger.

"Alright, come on Yosuke, this is for Junes" he closed his eyes and pulled the trigger slowly, the bang sound went off making Yosuke's eyes fly open. What he did not expect had happened, he was staring into the eyes of his persona, a figure he had not seen in years.

"S-Susano-O?" he asked reaching out to his persona, Susano-O simply nodded his head and crossed his arms signifying that he was ready for action again, with that he disappeared form Yosuke's field of vision.

"Damn, I never thought I would see him again, that's for sure." Yosuke held the Evoker in his hands for a moment before placing it on the table and sighing,

"Guess it's time to do this, hopefully I'm not too rusty." He went to his bedroom and opened his closet doors, he reached for a box labeled "memories" and placed it on the bed. He dug through the box until he pulled out his Kunai knifes from his days of adventuring into the TV World.

"Good thing I didn't toss these" he thought out loud. He also dug out his glasses from his time in the Shadow world and threw them on his face,

"Now then let's do this!" He said almost running out the door, he was headed to Junes to face down his first shadow in years and he was actually really happy he was doing it.

Yosuke rolled up to his Junes with master key in hand to start looking for the shadow that Mitsuru said was hiding out there.

"Alright, come on out, I'm ready for you." That's when he saw them, a couple of low level shadows that looked really agitated,

"Perfect warm up" he said taking out his Evoker from his jacket pocket, he shot himself in the head as his mighty persona appeared before him,

"Let's shake off some rust! Garudyne!" he yelled, Susano-O slammed his hands together and a blast of wind exploded up from underneath one of the shadows like a geyser. The first shadow was vanquished but one still remained,

"Ok, one more, use Brave Blade!" Yosuke yelled as Susano-O kicked his giant ring around his body towards the second shadow, it was blown up immediately.

"That's what I'm talking about! Why to go Susano-O!" His persona bowed to him as it disappeared into thin air. Yosuke continued running through his store until he reached the back room, he tried to open the door but was interrupted by some ice that a shadow behind him summoned.

"Damn, you things again?" Yosuke questioned as he readied his Evoker, but before he could summon Susano-O again, lightning surrounded the shadows and blew them up in on attack.

"Sorry about the kill steal, Yosuke" the voice was calm and collected, this guy clearly knew what he was doing, "Wait, I recognize that voice" Akihiko emerged from the darkness waving his hand,

"Hey Yosuke, I was told by Mitsuru to back you up, looks like we both arrived around the same time." Yosuke nodded

"You're that protein junkie guy from the Grand Prix right?" Akihiko cringed at the name he was called,

"Yeah and you're captain resentment." Yosuke sighed,

"Right, sorry, so where is the target anyway?" he asked trying to change the conversation,

"It's behind that door" Akihiko said calmly,

"You ready for this Yosuke, should be one hell of a fight" Yosuke nodded, "I think I can manage." Akihiko nodded slightly,

"Good, then let's go."

Yosuke opened the door to the back room it was really dark except for on light coming from the loading and unloading area of the warehouse. There sat a sinister looking man with a magician mask on his right shoulder.

"Finally some competition" the figure said suddenly,

"I've been waiting for you two to make your way here, things might finally pick up after all." Yosuke held his Evoker tightly,

"What are you talking about, get out of my store!" Akihiko said nothing; he just looked on to see how Yosuke handled this situation.

"I'm talking about entertainment, that's why I am here." The figure started walking forward,

"I am a shadow, all I know how to do is kill" the shadow said flatly, Yosuke felt a bead of sweat drip from his forehead,

"This is my store, get out!" Yosuke yelled at the shadow.

"You have it wrong, boy, this is my store now!" the shadow said,

"Now show me this strength you have" the shadow reached out his fist and extended his fingers creating an electric current around the nails. He launched it at Yosuke who did not have time to react, thankfully Akihiko did react, as his persona Caesar stepped in front of Yosuke to absorb the Ziodyne attack.

"Snap out of it man, I need your help!" Akihiko yelled snapping Yosuke out of his trance,

"Right" he simply said shooting his Evoker and summoning his persona,

"Alright, let's show him what we've got, Garudyne!" he yelled as Susano-O created an eruption of wind under the mysterious shadow, he was blasted back and slammed against a wall but he was still coming at them.

"Now that was power, Yosuke, great shot" he cracked his neck to the left and right has a twisted smile appeared across his face.

"But it's gonna take more than that." Yosuke nodded,

"Fine. Akihiko you used Zio attacks right?" Akihiko nodded,

"Yeah, what did you have in mind?" he asked wondering where Yosuke was going.

"A double attack, distract him with a Ziodyne then I'll have Susano-O use Brave Blade from behind, that should knock this joker down for the count!" he smiled at his own plan, Akihiko nodded,

"Alright sounds good. You heard him Caesar, let em have it, Ziodyne!" the persona launched a lighting barrage against the shadow who assumed a defensive position to block the electrical storm. Yosuke told Susano-O what to do in the meantime, the persona snuck around the distracted shadow and slammed his round blade into the dark skin of the shadow,

"Argh!" The shadow flew forward and landed on his face, blood streaming from his back.

"Damn you two, that was dirty!" the shadow cursed from the ground.

"That was a good strategy, great work Yosuke" Akihiko said as Yosuke approached the shadow on the ground and kneeled next to him,

"Why are you here, who sent you?" he asked, the shadow laughed and grabbed Yosuke by the collar,

"No way I'm telling you, guess you'll just have to figure it out by yourself, huh?" With that the shadow melted into the ground and the lights returned to the facility. Yosuke sighed as he stood up and looked at Akihiko,

"So what happens now?" he asked him,

"Now if you want to join us, I will take you back to Kirijo headquarters to join the others." Yosuke raised an eyebrow,

"The others?" he repeated. Akihiko nodded,

"I believe your friend Souji is already there." That caught Yosuke's attention,

"Souji is there?" If he was joined up then it must be serious, he was in the middle of school after all. Akihiko smirked knowing he was joining there cause,

"Come on we can talk more in the car, alright, I'll fill you in on the increase in recent shadow activity." Yosuke nodded as the two left the building,

"I guess I am taking those vacation days now, sorry Chie" he thought out loud, Akihiko,

"You and Chie dating now?" he asked, Yosuke nodded,

"Yeah, for a few years now" Yosuke said.

"Don't worry about her; I think she is on Mitsuru's list so hopefully she will join up with us as well." Yosuke's eyes lit up, this could be the chance for some excitement after all he missed his days of saving the world. Fighting shadows was one of the only things he was actually good at. So now it was his time to shine, it was time for him to play hero once again.

Well there's another chapter, had a good time writing this, I don't usually write from Yosuke's perspective but I think I did a pretty good job. Anyway PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW, NO ONE HAS DONE IT YET AND I AM FLYING BLIND WITH NO CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. Thank you and look forward to my next chapter: It's Chie's solo story entitled "Serve and Protect"- IshvalanBlood