"So, this is going pretty well…"

It was a nothing statement, but Kanji had to agree with her. The security guards were stretched out on the beach, only a couple minutes' walk down a dirt path at the back of the mansion. They had been official employees of the Kirijo group for a couple of days now, but hadn't really had much time to talk, with having to adjust to their new duties. "Yeah," he said, "Kinda wish they'd make the chefs cook for us though. Can't live on the microwavable stuff in the staff lounge all year…"

Chie nodded. "Yeah. Guess we'll have to get some fruit and stuff ourselves. Oooh, we could have a rota, I cook one day, you the other!" She turned to him and grinned. "That'd be great!"

The blonde's stomach performed a double somersault. His time high school had taught him all about his senpai's most likely illegal experiments with food. "Uh, you know what? I think we'll be good. Saves us money to eat junk anyway, right?"

The martial artist adopted a strange expression. "You really care about that? With the money we're getting, we could eat the finest steaks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?"

Kanji blanched. "All three of them? You can do that?"

Chie sighed happily. "That was a good day…"

He stared at her serene features for a few moments, and then shook is his head. "Can't. I wanna save some of it for Ma."

"Really?" Chie asked, staring over the ocean. "I thought the shop was doing pretty well, for post-Junes Inaba at least."

"It is," he admitted, "But I can't make those dumb dolls while I'm here. Gotta make up for that. Plus I feel like I owe her, y'know?"

Chie snorted, making her friend visibly annoyed. "Sorry," she apologised, "but my parents aren't seeing anything of what I earn. We're a 'once you're out your out' kinda family."

Kanji thought treating your own daughter like that was a little brutal "That seems pretty harsh."

"Nah," she brushed off, "I'm ready, and they know that. It's not absolute," she clarified, "I mean, if my house burned down I could move back in. We just like to have everyone be able to stand on their own two feet."

Kanji shrugged. He knew it was difficult to comprehend the ways of a family that isn't your own. "That's alright I guess." There was a peaceful quiet, the two partners watching the lap of the tide with a disinterest, the orange sun falling ever closer to its resting place for the night. Kanji couldn't think of the last time he could find a spot in Inaba where he could do this, where they could do this. Everywhere in the town had memories, and even places where the memories were only happy couldn't help but bring up the ones less so in tandem. He cursed quietly. Crap. It's happening here too. Now he had to bring it up. "You reckon you're happier here?" He asked bluntly.

Being lulled from her calm state with such a tricky question meant Chie took a few moments to find her answer. "I guess? I am thinking about the bad stuff," Thank you Labrys, she thought dully, "but I think I'm actually kicking back at it for a change. Like, I feel I could actually be happy here. There wasn't a chance of that back home." She sighed, trying to keep the bad thoughts at bay, and turned the tables on Kanji. "What about you? Still thinking about her?"

"About who?" He challenged, before remembering if anyone knew the extent of how he felt, it was Chie. "Sorry, force of habit." He mumbled, before speaking with total honesty. "Yeah. Not much different to home, 'course, she hadn't been there either. Doesn't help-" He clammed up.

Chie raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't help...?"

He sighed. "Promise me ya won't tell me I'm being dumb?" She didn't nod, but gestured him to continue. "Well, Fuuka, Labrys mentioned her, remember? She works in the Lab, so in my lab shift I see her all the time. A-and," he stuttered, a blush on his cheeks, "Her hair's blue too. I know it's dumb, but it keeps making me think of…"

"That's not stupid at all," Chie reassured him, sitting up and placing her nearest hand on his shoulder, "You won't believe how many old people I've started hating for the same reason." Dark-haired people too, she thought bitterly. "What's she like?" She asked, once again trying to distract her brain from going somewhere dark.

Kanji's expression was blank. "I dunno really. Doesn't talk much. So shy I guess? Makes things feel pretty awkward actually, since it's just me an' her."

"Wait, she's the only scientist?" Chie had pictured an army of geeks, assembling weapons of mass destruction for the glory of the Kirijo group. "What does she even do down there?"

"Not much from what I see. She's either reading or just fiddlin' with little doohickeys."

"Huh." She couldn't pretend to be too jealous; her patrol was a bit of a workout, but she remembered the couple shifts she had taken during Junes' busy season being much more stressful then her job had been so far. "Maybe it's a job for life kinda deal, Labrys did say she went to high school with Mitsuru, probably just doing her a favour." She had an idea. "You should ask her about Mitsuru in high school, it's always good to have dirt on your boss!"

Her friend tilted his head on the sand. "Little crass don'tcha think?"

She stood up and shrugged. "It's something you can talk about, then at least you won't be all awkward with eachother." She pointed inland. "I've gotta go meet up with Labrys, so I'll see you tomorrow I guess."

She began to walk, but Kanji's voice stopped her. "Wait, why wasn't I invited?"

"Girl's sleepover," Chie explained, "She's never had one before and looked pretty excited. I think she wants it to be like the ones from the movies."

Kanji propped himself on his elbows. "So junk food and pillow fights?"

"Sounds like it. See ya!"

"Wait that sounds fun!" He yelled to her.

"No boys allowed," she called, "You can catch up on your knitting!" She left hearing the sounds of Kanji's mumbling, knowing fully well that one, he would be much better suited to getting invested in a girl's sleepover, and two, that he would be entirely happy with having his own intimate night with a ball of yarn.

Shit, the boy thought, throwing a rock out into the sea, I should have remembered my goddamn needles.

Labrys' room was somewhat strange for Chie upon her first entering. It was identical to the ones she and Kanji had been provided, yet there was a couple years' worth of evidence that it held residence to a young girl, one who clearly had too much time on her hands.

There was no part of the wall that was bare, the dull white covered with bright posters, of TV shows and movies, from the biggest blockbusters of the decade, to low key productions Labrys must have taken a liking to. She had a bookshelf, made of a cheap wood that didn't match the rest of the furnishings at all, straining with the weight of books, manga, and DVD's. "You sure have a lot of stuff, Labrys-chan." Chie acknowledged, pleasantly surprised when she spotted a few martial arts movies in the collection.

"Eh," the maid shrugged, plopping down onto her bed, "it's not that many. There was a whole bunch of other stuff, but Takenowa threw a fit…"

"Seriously?" Chie rolled her eyes. "It's your room, you should be able to do what you want."

"According to him, as estate manager, he's my landlord. And, er," she blushed slightly, "It was kind of difficult for the other maids to actually get in to clean."

Her friend joined her, sitting at the foot of her bed, looking impressed. "That much? Damn. Wait, shouldn't you be cleaning your own room?"

"We're in the presence of the rich, Chie-chan, we shouldn't have to perform such petty chores! Keeps the maids in a job, that's what I think."

"But you are a maid," Chie pointed out. "It is your job."

"So?" Labrys said incredulously. "No way am I gonna be the one cleaning my own room, that's like homework. Do you do a security sweep or whatever of yours?" Her pointed expression sent Chie's eyes down to the floor, leaving her rather smug. "Thought so. Okay!" She clapped, jolting her friend upright. "Sleepover!"

If Chie was honest, the exercise felt a little childish, but she knew with Labrys' amnesia, she would have a penchant for such things. "Yeah, woo…" If her friend was annoyed at the lack of enthusiasm in her voice, she didn't show it, and quickly reached under her bed and pulled out a colourful plastic package. "Hey, is that-"

"Giant marshmallows!" The girl announced, grinning widely. "I thought they'd be fun, then realised it might be a little sad to eat 'em on my own…" She trailed off, before quickly regaining her pep, and threw one of the huge white candies across. "But now you can share the food guilt with me!" Its size was incredible, just larger than Chie's fist. She inspected from multiple angles, twisting and squeezing, trying to work out how to even approach such a thing. A squelching sound drew her attention elsewhere, to the sight of Labrys, her mouth wide open and completely blank inside. Her jaw closed slowly, a low groan behind the wall of marshmallow showing how much effort it was taking, before snapping shut, with an uncomfortable gulp. She coughed and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, holding out the bag with a viscous glee. "So," she asked slyly, "How many can you fit in your mouth?"

Chie knew the girl was too innocent to grasp the potential implications of that phrase, and she couldn't contemplate that herself, too busy with working out the logistics of such a feat. She had almost won the famous 'Rainy Day Beef Bowl' challenge in Inaba, but this was a whole different beast. Her mealtime exploits had been devoted to the devouring of delicious carcass after carcass. Savoury, she was prepared for. Sweet, she was not. She had to test the waters. "How many did you have?"

Labrys held up her fingers. "Three." She stroked her chin, and looked her friend up and down. "But you're older, I reckon you could get four easy."

With the wink that accompanied that encouragement, Chie realised the maid may not be as innocent as she first thought. But the challenge had been set, and she had to rise to it. Okay, so all at once, or one at a time? She debated. I could put them as fair back in my mouth as I can… Wait, I don't want to choke… But remembering the pitter patter of rain on Aiya's window, she decided on her usual tactic. Brute force. She screwed her eyes shut and shook her arms, psyching herself up. "Here I go!"

Before she could tell herself otherwise, she stuffed fluffy blob after fluffy blob into her mouth, until the contingent of four was in, and a single tear rolled down Chie's cheek. "Wow, you actually did it!" Labrys exclaimed, moving closer. She poked the mass visible through the martial artist's wide open jaw, making all sorts 'Hmm,' and 'Ah,' noises, while Chie's protesting scream was muffled by what felt like miles of insulating marshmallow.

She managed to swat her gawping audience with an arm that was perhaps too strong, sending her tumbling to the floor. Chie didn't notice this, occupied with trying to clench her jaw and end her torture. It took her placing her hands on the top and bottom of her head and pushing with a ton of force, but eventually her upper and lower teeth met, and she repeated the motion, eventually breaking down her white Everest into more manageable but still horrible boulders. She swallowed the chunks, one by one, until her mouth was empty, rough, and panting. She feel down to her side, with a bounce on the mattress, mind as blank as the candy she had just somehow ingested.

"That was incredible!" She heard somewhere distant, tears in her eyes blurring out the face pressed almost right up to hers. A 'Buh?' was all she could manage, allowing the figure above her prattle on endlessly. "I mean, I knew you we're tough, but man, not that tough!" Chie felt a faint bump on her shoulder, which was more than enough in her state to roll her to her back, and start staring at the ceiling. "So, what's next?"

"Next?" She asked weakly.

"Yes next. Sleepover, remember?" Labrys held a finger over her friend and moved it back and forth, becoming slightly worried when her pupils didn't follow the motion. "Uh, do you need a doctor or summit? Mitsuru-chan's might be in."

Chie shook her head slowly, and groggily moved herself upright, head still feeling sway-y. "She has her own doctor?"

"Sure," Labrys nodded, "Like, she so much as has the sniffles in public the company stock goes down. People are fickle like that."

Once again, Chie was perturbed by how important her boss was. I really need to find out more about her… She looked at Labrys. Well, this is a sleepover. "Okay, so next." she started. "At sleepovers, people usually talk about other people, so I wanna know if you know anything interesting about Mitsuru-san!"

The maid's eyes brightened. "Oh, that's right, we are supposed talk about people!" She tapped her chin. "Lemme think... Ugh, Fuuka would be so good to have around right now…" She raised her hand. "I got one, she used to be engaged!"

"Engaged?" Mitsuru didn't like a person to let anyone that close, she was still so young, if she could believe it. "To who? What called it off?"

"Eh, some stooge at a rival company," Labrys replied dismissively. "Apparently it was supposed to bring them together, I dunno, sounds like some of that old fashioned crap. Get your princess to marry the enemy's prince, y'know?"

Chie had watched at least three kung-fu films with that premise, the twist being the couple both falling in true love and running away from both of their families, or the princess calling off the engagement in a flurry of kicks and punches. Naturally, now she pictured Mitsuru throwing those punches and kicks, and had to admit, in her mind's eye, it looked rather natural to her. "So I'm guessing she didn't like the guy and called it quits?"

"That's the gist," Labrys said, "though apparently it wasn't easy, lots of old men in the company who wanted it to go through, and this was before Mitsuru was really the de facto CEO."

The security guard thought for a few moments. "Wait, how long has she been running the company?

"A few years," Labrys answered. "Took over when her dad died… Still in high school, so you can guess how that went down with some of the brass back then."

"Wow. That's incredible…"

"Yeah, it's a real tale of dedication and perseverance," Labrys said in a faux-timid voice, "So Fuuka tells it anyway…" She snapped her fingers. "There's something about her, the dork completely fangirls over Mitsuru."

"Really? I get it I guess," Chie reasoned, "she's kinda impressive. Didn't you say she was her senpai? That would have had a lasting impression."

"You have no idea. She talks about this club Mitsuru was a head of that she join, and she taught her so many things about life and most importantly, herself." Her mocking tone made Chie a little uncomfortable, and she must have shown it. "Sorry. She's a really nice girl, but she can be a broken record sometimes. Okay, I'm done," She finished, pointing at Chie, "Your turn, though I guess I can only really ask you about Kanji-kun though."

"Oh, this is easy!" She looked over her shoulders in dramatic fashion, and whispered low. "He likes knitting, sewing, and most of all, stuffed animals." Labrys' eyelids were half closed; she was clearly unimpressed. "What?"

"C'mon, that's obvious. Guy as big as him is obviously a big softie at heart." She crossed her arms. "Ya got anything better?"

"Uhh," she struggled, before settling on appealing to Labrys' more violent tendencies. "He once beat up an entire biker gang because they were keeping his mom awake at night."

Labrys gasped. "That's so cool!" She giggled excitedly. "Still a softie because it was for his mom but still… How old was he?"

"Oh, 15…" Chie sad casually, widening the maid's eyes as expected.

"Holy crap! That's amazing! I should ask him how he did it, he isn't trained like you isn't he?"

She thought back to their adventures in the TV world. "Not in a manner of speaking…"

"Man… He must've just done it on pure power." She started boxing the air in front of her. "He should teach me how to throw a punch!"

A thought flashed across Chie's mind. "You can't ask him about it though," she said hurriedly.

"Aw," she whined in disappointment, "why not?"

"It just reminds him of a time he was stupider, more reckless. A…" she paused, "Friend, helped him go through it. Anyway, its personal, you didn't hear it from me, yadda yadda."

But Labrys had picked up on her hesitation. "Friend? Ooooh, is it your grey haired loverboy again or someone else?"

Chie clenched her teeth, annoyed both by her friend's directness, and the fact merely thinking of Yu could still set her on edge like this. "Yeah. It is."

"Alright," Labrys nodded, noticing the straining tendons in her friend's neck. "We need to go through part two of 'Chie's bad breakup'. First kiss time!"

Her candour once again threw Chie, thankfully off her rage train. "W-what?"

"C'mon, you were all over him when you finished the story last time. Who pulled the trigger, you or him?" She pondered for a moment, and winked. "It was you, wasn't it?"

"Ugh, are you calling me a slut?" Chie snapped, getting tired of the teasing tone, and looked away immediately as the words come out. "Sorry, it's just… You have no idea…"

"Hey," her friend said soothingly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "No I don't. So you gotta tell me." She grinned. "And then I can hate the guy like you do!"

Chie smiled softly, and continued her tale. "Alright, so, we were training at the river as usual, right, and…"

Weeks passed, and things only became stranger, what with the fervour of the murder case sweeping through Inaba, and Chie's blossoming relationship with one Yu Narukami, fanned by their meetings by the river. The duo had become quite confident during their journey in the martial arts, and when they heard rumours of a gang of hoodlums in the shopping district, Chie was indignant. "They're scumbags!" She declared. "Someone should teach them a lesson…"

Narukami shook his head, sat at their usual bench. "The police can't do much in an area like this, too many connections. It's much easier to give your nephew a slapped wrist than a caution, avoids an argument in the family…"

Frustrated, Chie kicked at the dirt. "Hell to that, we can stop them!"

Yu's smirk had an amazing quality of always being not quite condescending, so never became grating. "How?"

"I don't know…" Chie mumbled, hunching down in her seat. "We could like, patrol I guess. See anyone causing trouble and tell them to stop."

Her friend nodded solemnly, and simply said "Ok.".

For Chie, the walk to the shopping district was punctuated with an ever rising tension. She wasn't Kanji Tatsumi, the thug rumoured to have taken out an entire biker gang, she was Chie Satonaka, part time kung-fu enthusiast who wasn't even professionally trained. She was comforted by Yu however, despite his silence; he was stoic, as ever, and carried a certain strength on his shoulders.

Their arrival was anticlimactic, lacking the prowling hoodlums and burning trash cans she had found in her overactive imagination. Honestly, the pair just wandered for half an hour, an hour, talking about anything, the murders, their childhoods, their dreams, and soon Chie forgot why they were roaming from the river at all.

"-so then Yukiko said…" She stopped, eyes locking to a spot down an alley to her right, only looking over there to avoid Yu's cloud-like eyes, and stop herself from trying to read too much into them. There was a shadowy threesome, looming over a boy that in comparison was impossibly small. She moved on instinct at this point, forgetting all about Yu, and stalked towards the group with the aura of a lioness. "Hey!"

The boys all turned, including their prey, whose knees were shaking and nose was running. The older ones were all the same type, clothes that were too large, obnoxious caps, and a tiny gold earring that made them oh so edgy. As did their language. "Well, what does this bitch want?" one muttered loudly.

"This 'bitch'," Chie growled, stopping just a few paces before them, "Thinks you should pick on someone your own size."

There was silence, as the punks shuffled in their shoes. "Well," one piped up, "Your boyfriend's too much of a wimp to put up a fight, and you aren't nothin', girly."

They started laughing, scoffing at the newcomers, making Chie flush hot, and forcing her to put every effort in keeping her arms and legs by their sides. "Wait a second boys," one of the thugs said, "This fucker's got grey hair. He must be that new kid." His team chorused with 'oh yeahs' and he smiled. "From what I hear, you're livin' with your uncle 'cus your mom's too busy sucking dicks."

The 'oohs' and hand gestures the guy's cronies followed up with may have provoked a reaction in Chie, but it certainly didn't with Yu. Gripping her arm, preventing her from doing anything rash, and smiled sweet as sugar. "That's funny, because I hear your dad's in the same business."

It was a cheap rise, everyone knew it, even the kid, but it broke the punk's composure, so he looked for a rise somewhere else. "You're lame. This chick however…" He looked her up and down, licking his lips in the foulest manner possible. "Covered in green. She's Yuki-chan's bitch." And of course, with the mere mention of 'the Amagi Challenge', everyone had to join in.

"Oooh, can you get us a date?"

"Man, I bet she's a total slut in bed…"

"I hear the inn's actually a 'massage parlour'."

"I should book a room some time…"

"I hear their food is incredible. Five star." Yu's out of the blue statement at last broke the chain, leaving everyone staring at him. "And the gardens are supposed to be gorgeous." Chie only realised when she look down that he had two hands on her now, gripping her even more securely. She was angry at him for a moment, before seeing she already tried making a stride with her right leg, her foot set down on the ground mid stride.

The bullies were all eyeing Yu with suspicion. "…Well, anyway, why don't you two run along now. You don't want us to pay Yuki-chan a visit, do ya?"

Now they had crossed a line. Nobody threatened Yukiko. Not teachers, not animals, and certainly not lowlife idiots. She tried to move forward, but Yu still held her, and she turned back to him, ready to scream a barrel of obscenities. But seeing his face, she couldn't yell. Even in a tense situation, it was calm, tranquil, states that were soon overriding Chie's red tinted mind. Then, after what felt like hours, he simply nodded, and released his grip.

She stumbled forwards, which the boys jeered of course, but this time, it didn't make her angry. They were sad, perilously sad, and, as unlikely as it seemed a few minutes ago, she wasn't going to stoop to their level. "So you want us to leave huh? And you want to pick on this kid?" She strode past them coolly, and stood right in front of the kid, who had been frozen on the spot for the entire exchange. "Then you'll have to go through me."

The boy closest frowned. "What? Just move bitch."

He stepped closer, while she stood like a rock. "No. I won't fight back," she offered, "Honest. Get me in the gut, the face, whatever you want, I won't do anything. But I won't budge. I am not letting you hurt him."

Her speech had been lost on her audience, who just looked frustrated. "Move already!" One tried cutting past her but she stepped to the side, and snarled. The punks all looked at each other, knowing it was three on one effectively, but beating on a girl was fundamentally not cool, especially when she wouldn't fight back. "Wait a second…" One of the boys pointed at Yu. "Ain't his uncle a cop or somethin'? Doji-whatever."

Yu simply shrugged, but the thugs decided it had gotten to the point where this just wasn't worth it. "Let's just go guys. Bitch clearly loves younger dudes." While his cronies laughed, they stopped when Chie stuck her leg out, making their leader trip in the process of his exit. He yelled in pain, and got right up to stare her down, but the fire in her eyes confirmed this kid was really not worth the effort.

So they left. Leaving Yu, Chie, and an incredibly uncomfortable boy. "Um, thanks." He offered, before promptly scarpering, leaving the girl breathing heavily, and a few steps from her classmate.

"How do you feel?" Yu asked casually.

"I… feel…" She panted, "Wonderful. Well, a little sick right now but…" She started to grin. "We just helped that kid. Well, I know it was mostly you, but…"

"Chie," he said seriously, "I would have never noticed what was going on in the first place, and I would never step in like you did. That was what chased them away, not my uncle. That was incredibly brave."

She blushed slightly at that assessment. "I just feel like… This I want to do. Protect people. Yukiko-chan, that kid, and… You." She added, completely abashed. "I want to be there for you. When you need me. And maybe even when you don't…"

Before she knew it, Yu was in front of her, tantalisingly close, and asking the last question she ever thought he would. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

Straight. Direct. And utterly absurd. "Wait… You know this is me, right?"

"That's the point," he said, stepping even closer, taking her hand. "It's because you're you, and that's what makes you amazing." He stroked her cheek with his free hand, and Chie was suddenly paralysed, and much more afraid than she was ten minutes ago. "You're strong, determined, and beautiful, and I know you don't believe that last one," he smiled as she snorted, "but you are. So, I'll ask again…" He didn't actually, moving down to touch their lips. She didn't move hers at all at first, mind entirely blank. Then they started moving on their own, wrapping round his, moving in tandem, as her hands wrapped around and clenched his back.

Eventually they broke apart, and a red Chie looked up to Yu, uttering only two words. "God yes."

"Wow, that's amazing," Labrys gushed, clapped, "this was even more like a movie!"

"The feeling when helping those people…" Chie said quietly, still smiling from the memory. "Honestly, it's why I wanted to become a cop. Protect people. Keep bad people from causing problems to those who don't deserve it."

Labrys couldn't help but be in awe. "Wow, Chie, you're amazing! I wish I knew what I was doing with myself. Sometimes I just feel stuck here…"

The maid sighed, and Chie felt incredibly sorry for her. "Hey," she said, making eye contact. "No depressing crap, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Labrys remembered. "Forgot about that. Okay," Labrys clicked her fingers, and said, apropos of nothing, "It's past midnight, time to get dirty! First time?"

Chie was snapped wide awake, and scotched down the bed, away from her friend. "W-what are you even asking?"

"You know what I'm talking about," Labrys teased, "Unless you never…"

"Well we did." She coughed. "I mean, I have. But I'm not sure I…"

"Come on, I'm not getting sex-ed from any other girl round here. Jeez, Fuuka would probably explode. And I can't use the internet; the stuff on there just gets weird." She looked at her friend with pleading eyes. "Just help me. I gotta learn. Plus, it's perfect sleepover material!"

Chie wasn't entirely comfortable, but she couldn't say no to those eyes. Or alternatively, just figured she was already sharing, so she might as well go all in. "O-okay. It happened one day. I went over to his…"

She was over at Yu's. It hadn't been the first time, they had been dating for a couple months now, and she'd been to his house before, playing with Nanako-chan, or just cuddling in his room, but today felt different. Probably because they were alone, with no Dojima's to speak of, and what felt worse, it really excited her. There they were, watching a particularly crappy martial arts film, a cover over them, though it wasn't particularly cold. She was curled up against him, head on his breastbone, and she just couldn't concentrate on the film, and not just because of its quality. She was just far more interested in the man besides her. Deciding enough was enough, she rolled over and took Yu's lips into her own, and after a long drawn out kiss, started pecking the top of his chest, visible through the two open buttons at the top of his shirt. "You must really like that part." He quipped quietly, earning a smack on the arm.

"Exactly." She said, in between her kisses. "The. Opposite." Then he held her, gently moving her away, and returned her gesture, slowly kissing his way down her neck, and down to her chest, though avoiding intruding on the breasts below. She sighed happily, but it wasn't enough. Today, she needed more. She edged her body upwards, her boyfriend startled by a face full of her womanhood. But he didn't stop, fully understanding her cue, sinking his lips deeper into her skin, moving a hand to cup- "Wait." She said weakly, slowly, and with regret, moving away from him.

Yu, being the perfect gentleman, let her go without complete. "Sorry, did I read something wrong? I thought…"

"You thought right," Chie quietly reassured him, "But…"

"It's okay." He said soothingly, placing a hand on her knee. "Whenever you're ready, I will be."

"But I am." She took his hand in both of hers. "Yu, I love you."

"And I love you," he concurred, a phrase that always sent Chie's heart a flutter, while he placed his other hand over hers. "You know that, right?"

"Sure I do, it's just…" She exhaled, and closed her eyes. "I know I think I'm ready, but am I really ready?"

"Chie." He said sincerely. "I have everything we need. And we can take it slow. I want to enjoy every second, with you."

He was so collected, so prepared, so wonderful, Chie finally relented. "I'm ready." She said, standing up, holding her hands in hers. "Are you moving?"

"I was thinking why not down here," Yu murmured rather brashly.

Chie frowned and placed a hand on her hip. "Yu Narukami, I am NOT losing my virginity on the same couch your cousin sits on when she watches Junes commercials."

In hindsight, it was a red flag when he paused for a scant few seconds before saying "Neither am I." He smirked, knowing she was right, and allowed himself to be lead up the stairs, and spend a long time with Chie…

"Then you took off your clothes…"

"Obviously."

"And he got close."

"Yes…"

"So wait, he-"

"That's how it works."

"But then it makes you-"

"It's only the first time."

"But then did you do-"

"Jesus, no, it was the first time."

"But how did it make you feel?"

Chie had to think for a while, before sighing her answer. "Better than anything."

Naked, panting, tangled in his sheets, Chie never guessed when looking at the transfer student this would be where she found true happiness. Looking up to her boyfriend, she told him "I love you."

"I figured you would afterwards," he smirked, only harder when he felt a weak kick under the sheets.

"Arrogant bastard… But," she admitted, "You were amazing."

He kissed the top of her head tenderly. "So were you."

Things were peaceful, wonderfully so, for a blissfully long time. Eventually, Chie found it in her to ask a question. "Yu?"

"Yeah?"

"Will be together…" She knew the next word was tacky, and probably too much, but she had to ask. "Forever?"

She looked up to him, and their eyes locked, and he spoke completely seriously. "However long I can be here with you. And I will be trying my hardest to stay." Chie snuggled closer to him, for the first time in her life, feeling entirely safe, secure, and hopeful, for her future.

It was only a few months later it all went to shit.

"Damn," Labrys cursed.

"I know. Sorry to end it on a depressing note but-"

"Not that." She interrupted. "Sex sounds amazing. Now I have to get a boyfriend and everything…"

"That's what you got out of that?" Chie asked in disbelief. "'I gotta get me some of that'?"

"Totally, I know your trying to talk about how bad it is, but-" She stopped in her tracks, her diminutive sense of tact pricking her. "Oh, how could something so good turn into something so bad, uh, it must be so horrible…" she rushed out unconvincingly.

"Yeah." Chie said unimpressed. "I'm not going any further today, I can't…"

"That's great, because we have another sleepover activity to do!" She pointed over to her stacked bookshelf. "We watch a bad movie and laugh at it."

Chie smiled. "You know, that sounds good right now…"


AN- Yeah, I diverted a little from canon here, but I wanted to speed things up. I got most of the 'happy' flashback done now, it might feel a little rushed, but I wanted to move on to what the core of Chie and Yu's relationship is in this fic. Besides, divergence is interesting! But as usual, tell me what you think, about that, the story as a whole, my writing, anything. I love feedback, so if anyone could find some time to give some, I'd be grateful! -WN