Fem-Souji/Yuu! When mysterious murders break out in the small town of Inaba, can Suzumi Seta the new transfer student from the City, solve the case? She can't do it alone, but will the many bonds she has made be enough to help her reach out to the truth?

Our beloved protagonist goes through something we like to call 'New Game Plus!' Except this time, he gets boobs. Fanfic will be based off the game, with minor changes and Anime references.

A/N: Good news! My computer is cured of the virus! Bad news. I have been procrastinating again. This Chapter should have come a lot earlier than just now, sorry. A LOT earlier. This Chapter- not even that important. Sorry for those who figured I lost all motivation or something, or thought I wasn't going to update again. But I AM back. So that means you get to read more, yeah? By the way. I cut out the Velvet Room scene, you know where you find the door after leaving Daidara Metalworks. Not only was I lazy, but I wanted to make it like the Anime, where Yu didn't need to head to the Velvet Room to fuse Personas. . . Anyways, bad chapter name. jkdfhjhjfjdf. ENJOY!

DISCLAIMER!: I do not own Persona! Or Atlus by any chance either. If I did, I would. . . er. I'm running out of creativity here.


Chapter 8: Swords and Police Officers

Sunday, April 17, 2011
- Sunny Early Morning -

"Oh, good morning."Nanako says as she greets me with a smile.

I had just gotten dressed to head out to Junes. A loose black cardigan was draped from the top of my shoulders all the way to the bottom of my torso, with the sleeves hanging almost over my hands. Underneath it was a layered, long sleeved gray dress that was tight around my waist and defined my hips- not that anyone could see it. The very edges of the dress billowed loosely around my ankles, so it made my movement more flexible, unlike the Yasogami Uniform's skirt. Today, I felt very refreshed, and even woke up early and had taken a bath. Last night, Yukiko unmistakably appeared on the Midnight Channel, and just watching it felt all ominous and odd. If a person who appeared on the Midnight Channel was supposed to die, then what in the world did I witness yesterday? . . . The plan was to meet up with Yosuke, and possibly Chie, to discuss this matter so we could do whatever we could. But what I had totally put in the back of my mind up until now. . . What I hadn't accounted for. . . was Nanako being home by herself.

"O-Oh. Good morning, Nanako-chan. . . W-Where's your father?"I asked, legs fidgeting to hurdle towards the door.

"He left already. He's said he's gonna be late."

My sweat drops. That's perfect. What was I supposed to do now? If I left, Nanako will be left all alone to look after the house. . . And Uncle Dojima probably wouldn't like it one bit if I left his 7-year-old daughter by herself. . . On the other hand, I've got important businesses with Yosuke. . . Bringing her along would be a bad idea too, considering we going to formulate a plan to stop Yukiko from being possibly murdered. . .

"Are you going somewhere?" she says nonchalantly and cocks her head slightly to the side. . . "I'll be fine by myself.". . . and she picks up the remote to turn the TV on and watch the screen in fascination.

[[-so the weather this weekend will be perfect for going out. As for next week's forecast. . .]]

"Oh, the sun's gonna come out. I should do some laundry."

. . . Was it really okay to go? Part of me wanted to stay, or I'd feel guilty for leaving. . . but. . .

"Uh. . . Weren't you going somewhere?"Nanako asks again, restlessly.

. . . I decided to go out to Junes.

- Daytime -

Junes, food court. . .

I sit at one of the free tables and wait. Sure, I didn't really notify Yosuke on what time we'd meet, or when I'd get here for that matter. But. . . The fact that he hasn't arrived after 10 minutes worried me slightly. He couldn't have forgotten, yeah? This was direly important, so we had no time to slack off. . . However, being restless and impatient wouldn't help Yukiko's cause in the least bit and if. . . Moments pass, and I get more lost in thought than I had intended to. . .

"Sorry for the hold up."A voice calls to me.

I jerk up and rub my eyes. "H-Huh?"How long had he been standing next to me like that? Yosuke was close and. . . looking extremely excited? His hands were folded behind his back so I couldn't see them. What. . . could he be hiding while showing such a prideful smirk?

"I found some stuff we can use in the closet at home. Take a look at these!" The boy pulls two sharp blades from behind his back, one shorter than the other. In retrospect this was a bad idea. Surely he knew the dangers of bringing weapons into a public place- But in the end, I gave up thinking and I shrugged my shoulders, really not knowing what to take of this scene at the moment. People around us were staring, but the weapon wielder wasn't paying attention at all. He seemed to be more focused on what I'd think about them. . . "We've got our Personas, but a kendo stick is not that reliable of a weapon for you. So, which one strikes your fancy?" he winks to me in a certain fashion that says, 'who the hell cares about the staring?' . . . Either it said that or, 'I'm so oblivious as to what the people around us are thinking and care more about your opinion because this is more important right now.'It was generous of him. . . in the least bit.

Anyways, I could chose? Well. . . I decided to use this moment to my advantage. "The katana."I've noted the fact that I've never withheld a real sword before, but it wasn't something I couldn't handle. Dangerous yes, but if I was face to face with the murderer, than this would be something I wouldn't hesitate to use in defense. I would learn soon enough from gaining experience. For now, I could handle it the way I did the kendo stick, yes?

He seems impressed with my choice judging on the bemused grin on his face and shows me the blade. It sparkles in the sunlight. "Ahh, you've got discerning taste. This is a Junes exclusive. The blade's fake, though. . ."

"Oh."So much for that. Then this was the fabled Imitation Katana? . . . Actually, I think bamboo wood is more effective than plastic or whatever it was made of.

"As for me. . . Wait, maybe both would be good, too." The brunette contemplates. Hanamura then strikes a pose, slinging the aikuchi to his right, and the katana to his left. I push myself back on reflex to avoid the sharper edges of the blades hitting my face. . . "K-Kinda like this!" . . . and he pushes his back leg up into the air like a ballerina. Next, the boy lifts the blades up into the air begins to slash at the open air to the right of him. "Or like this! What about this!"

". . . If you want."I look off to the side. There are people still looking at him as if he were crazy or dropped as a child. . . wouldn't blame them. This whole scene was just. . .

"One suspicious young male found armed with multiple weapons. The male seems to be harassing a young lady. Requesting immediate backup."A patrolman not very far from us speaks into his communication device. Upon hearing this, we both stand up in unison, shocked at the result of Yosuke's fooling around. It's not like I didn't expect something like this to happen, it was more like I didn't expect the police to not realize who the 'suspicious male' really was, and how he practically owned Junes under his dad.

"Huh. . . ? Ohhh crap, I mean. . ." The boy besides me hides the weapons behind his back, stuttering in panic. "No. . . No no no no, this isn't what it looks like. We didn't steal it. . . Uh, I guess that's not what matters. . . A-Anyways, I'm not doing anything bad! I'm just an ordinary kid who likes weapons and. . . Ugh, that doesn't sound right either. Ahaha. . . ."

I groaned, slapping my forehead.

"Put the weapons down now! We'll listen to your story at the station." The police man barks sternly at Yosuke. "Hands where I can see them, too! I said now!"

"B-But. . . This isn't. . ."The accused boy shakes his hands frantically, but. . . while holding on to the weapons.

"Are you resisting an officer of the law! Y-You're under arrest!"He backs away, obviously terrified.

"Y-Yosuke!" A dozen of police officers arrive and surround said boy that very moment, and take him by the arms, shoving him to the elevator. "W-Wait. . . This is a misunderstanding-" I shout at the men, but to no avail. The weapons are confiscated. . . And as the elevator doors close. But I briefly catch Yosuke with a new expression on that says, 'save me'. ". . . What am I going to do?"Nothing else to do but go after him. . . But I didn't know Inaba that well, where was the Police Station. . . ? Would the Police listen to his story? Well, they had to believe he was the Junes manager's son. Then again it would be no excuse, slinging around fake weapons wasn't exactly the best thing to do, especially during the period of an outbreak of the murders. My dark gray eyes drank in the whole scene around me. People were still talking about his arrest. . . At this rate, we wouldn't be able to get to Yukiko. . .

"H-Hey! Suzumi!" To my relief, I instantly realize who was calling for me, and thank god she was here right now. Chie Satonaka. "W-Was that. . . Who I thought it was? Did you Yosuke actually get taken in by the Police? What's going on- I mean, what happened here. . . ?"

I shook my head. "Can you get us to the Police Station? I'll explain everything on the way there. . ."

Inaba, Police Department. . .

It took us a while getting up the hill towards the isolated part of Inaba, namely where the few of the population lived, where Day Care Center was, and also the Amagi Inn. This was information in which I had found out from Chie just now. We had no time to ride the bus here, due to all of the unnecessary stops the bus took, even for such a small area. In the end, running was our best bet, and the brunette was way better off than I. Panting and huffing, I struggled to keep up with her. The skirt I wore improved my mobility, yes but didn't change how fast I could sprint. For an average girl, I was average. But for a Chie Satonaka who most likely practices kung-fu everyday in front of her TV screen, not so good. Running up the steep hill did murder on my remaining stamina. . . but we finally arrived here at the police. station.

"Is Yosuke really here?"Green Jacket pats my back in hopes I could quickly rejuvenate and answer her question.

"Y-yeah. He has to be here. . ." I took a few more seconds for me to catch my breath, but in no time, I came to. "Chie. Can you stay here? I'll find Yosuke."My legs took off once again, even before listening to her response.

The halls were dark. And depressing, but thanks to the lights on the ceiling, it didn't seem so bad. I could get lost in these halls, and yet the scary part about this was that the Station building didn't even look that large from the outside. . . Where could he be? What room? I turned to the next hall, making a right. And. . There he was! "Yosuke!"

"Huh? Suzumi-chan!"The brunette meets my eyes and shifts a bit. But from behind him, I see. . . Someone relieving to find chatting with the boy, but. . .

"Suzumi, you know this boy? And what are you doing here?"Detective Dojima. My Uncle. Something about him 'chatting' with Yosuke made me want to heel turn and then walk away like nothing happened. It was just a feeling I got, since he seemed like one of 'those' detectives.

"Uncle Dojima. . . I. . . Well, yes I do know him. Yosuke. . . -kun, is a friend from school. I saw him being taken in and. . . Ended up wanting to know why."I did my best to create a plausible fib that was slightly close to the real reason why I was here. Yosuke gave me a quirked brow, possibly surprised that I added 'Uncle' instead of 'Detective' in front of the older man's name.

". . . I see." The man pauses, trying to think of a better way to talk to the Junes kid now what I was around and claimed to be his friend. "Anyways. . . As the son of the manager at Junes, I didn't think you'd be the type to pull a stupid stunt like this. You know what's been going on around town. We got men stationed everywhere. For God's sake. . . You're lucky I was around, or this would have ended up on your permanent record."

"I'm sorry. . ."Yosuke mutters. At this point, it would be safe to say that we weren't getting our weapons anytime soon, or at all.

A Plainclothesman walks by, talking to talking a Uniformed Officer.

"Wait, so the one that disappeared us the Amagi girl. . . ?"

"Seems like it. . . But she's just a high schooler, you know. Could be that she decided to run away from home. . ."

"Hey. . ." The brunette whispers over to me, suddenly all antsy. "Did he say Amagi. . . ? Then. . . she really is. . ."

"Hm? Who's what now?"My Uncle muttered in suspicion.

Breaking sweat, Yosuke and I stand straight up and exchange glances, and by the looks of it, we were both agreeing to watch ourselves in front of the older detective from this day forth. To us, we figured that Dojima finding out that we were involved with the murders seemed far from a good idea. He couldn't know about how we could possibly know and find out more about the case that the police can't. Who would believe us anyway? We jumped through TV's to obtain a few new leads. Worst case scenario, he would keep us under his watchful detective eyes. . . And really, that was the last thing I wanted.

The boy beside me chokes with a, "Oh uh, nothing."

After sizing us up for a few more minutes, my relative continued. "I'm sure you've seen on the news that there's an investigation in progress. . . We're sensitive about certain 're free to go, Hanamura. But this better not happen again."

"Uh, yes sir! Thank you sir!"

He walks past us, and barely brushes by my shoulder. . . Actually Uncle seemed to stop all of the sudden, for I felt his presence only perhaps a foot away from me. Without looking back or meeting at any contact at all, the older man finishes with, ". . . Make sure you don't get yourself into too much trouble."A sentence that felt painstakingly directed to none other than myself.

And off he went into the next hall.

". . ." I've known Uncle Dojima for six days. Yes, upon coming to Inaba, this is the first time I've ever met him that didn't include the times where I couldn't speak a word of my own language. And there he said something to me that interpreted that I possibly meant so much as a silver of importance to him. I'm sorry.I bit my lower lip to hold back those words. As much as I wanted to live up to his request under the assumption that he cared for me. . . There's no way I could make any promises. No doubt, it was a tad too late to play it safe. Perhaps if the murders stopped, than I could hold true to that promise. . . The Junes kid and I stood in silence for what had seemed like eternities. Perhaps he was deep in thought or stuck in his own world of some sort as well. But I'm sure he had his own conflicting emotions to deal with.

The clacking of dress shoes on the floor made us come to and realize there was someone approaching. . . A young detective in sloppy attire.

"Whoa. . . pardon me. . ." he stops in his tracks just before walking right into me with a full cup of black coffee in hand. "Huh? Aren't you the kid staying at Dojima-san's place?"

My grey eyes met his. Was this man an acquaintance of my Uncle's? . . . Wait a minute. I've seen this man before. The one detective that ran past me, Yukiko and Chie on the day that announcer's dead body was found near the Samegawa Flood Plain.

"Yes. That would be me."I answer to the raven-haired man's goofy grin accordingly.

Hanamura suddenly steps up, eyes lighting up with a new found determination. He quickly gets the young detective's attention. "Oh. . . ! Uh, can we ask you something? It's about Yukiko-san. . . I mean, Yukiko Amagi of the Amagi Inn. . . Did something happen to her?"

"Huh? Oh, ummm. . . Am I allowed to say. . . ?" he ponders. "Well, if you're friends with Ms. Amagi… Keep this between us, okay?"

Grateful for the man agreeing to share information with us, we nod in unison.

"We got a call from Ms. Amagi's parents yesterday evening saying they couldn't find her anywhere. Since it was the weekend, the workers at the inn were extremely busy, and no one saw Ms. Amagi around that time." his eyes suddenly widened. "Oh, but that doesn't necessarily mean this is a case just yet! But, people've been turning up dead on foggy days… So we're really sensitive to stuff like this. By the way, did she say anything to you guys about maybe going through some hard times?"

"Uh. . . ? Hard times?"Yosuke questions.

"Well, that announcer, Ms. Yamano, was staying at the Amagi Inn before the first murder. Seems Ms. Yamano had some harsh words for the manager about the staff's attitude towards guests. The stress of it caused the manager to collapse. And with Ms. Amagi being the manager's daughter. . . She must've felt pretty strongly about the incident, y'know."

. . . No wonder Yukiko always left school early, and hasn't even showed up in a while. In a situation such as that, I wouldn't blame her one bit. But to me, she should have at least told Chie about all that before making the brunette want to pull out all of her hair in result.

"By the way," the detective adds, "did Ms. Amagi ever hint that she might be leaving the house? 'Cause if not, there's been some theories floating around that she's laying low for some reason or another. . ." a pause. "Crap, I think I've gone too far. You didn't hear that, okay?"he shudders with panic and gazes around to make sure no one heard him.

"Adachi, what the hell are you chatting with civvies for! And where's my coffee!"From a surprising distance, it's Uncle Dojima's echoing bellows reaching the young male who went by the name of 'Adachi', and in turn, he jumped, spilling some strong scented liquid on the floor, barely missing my feet.

"S-Sorry! I got it right here! Psst! Forget I said anything! Please!"With that, Adachi darts down the corridor.

. . . An interesting fellow that man was. But thanks to him, now we are aware of having yet another problem in our hands, and that we weren't going to go at this blindly. I face Yosuke.

"Chie's waiting for us at the lobby. We'll talk about this when we get to her."Thus, we made our way to Green Jacket.

. . . We finally reached the main lobby after passing through the labyrinth of hallways.

"There you are, Yosuke! Sheesh, what were you thinking?"Chie scolded him, most likely referring to the story I told her about the male swinging weapons around not too long ago. She was angry and definitely impatient, but hints of relief are not too hard to pick up.

He bits his lip. "Uh, well, there's was a slight misunderstanding. . . Anyways, something's up with Yukiko-san!"

"Huh? You know already! I kept calling her cell, but she didn't pick up…So I went to her house, and it turns out Yukiko really did disappear…!"

"I guess we've got no choice but to go now. . ." he mutters. "But that aside, the cops are saying some weird stuff. They think Yukiko-san's hiding to 'lay low'. . . Apparently, Yukiko-san's mom collapsed because that announcer's lady bitched her out. They think that gives her a motive, and the fact that the announcer died right after makes her even more suspicious. . ."

"What!" screeched the brunette girl in response to the new found information. "They think Yukiko did it! What the hell is wrong with them!"

"Dude, don't snap at me! Yukiko's the victim here, dammit, not the suspect. . ."

They both seemed agitated. But right now, we needed to focus on what was most important.

"Let's all calm down."I told them both, now inching between the two to prevent a potential cat and dog fight if things got bad.

"R-Right. . . You're right."Satonaka sighs, coming to her senses, much to my relief.

"With the police totally on the wrong track, we've gotta handle it ourselves."he states.

"I'm going too!" Green Jacket clenches her fist. "AND that's final! I'm going to save Yukiko no matter what!"

W-Wait. Chie was going with us? . . . It's true that it wasn't like before, where we couldn't defend ourselves without an object of defense in hand. Now, we had our Persona's to help us fight. But bringing her along can prove dangerous. We were most likely going to fight enemies along the way, and if that was the case, there was no way we could guarantee her safety if anything happened.

"Are you gonna be all right…?" Yosuke asks, now deeply concerned. "But man… They just confiscated our weapons. We can't go in empty-handed…"

"Weapons…? I know just the place! C'mon, follow me!"she shoots out the door.

. . . Chie knew just the place? How? Why? There was a place to obtain weapons in Inaba legally? And how far was it from here. . . ? Don't tell me we had to do yet another sprinting session. . . We hesitantly followed her to the given destination.

Shopping District, South - Daidara Metalworks. . .

"Here we are!"

". . . . . ."My sweat dropped down my cheeks. Disregarding the running, disregarding today's unusual warm weather, disregarding that fire blazing from far away. . . Where we were exactly? Was this even allowed. . . ?

"Wh-What kind of shop is this…?"Yosuke asks, suddenly antsy.

I don't think I could have rephrased that question any better.

"A metalworks… I guess?" The way Chie answers, breaks all the logic I've built in my head during the years. "They sell all sorts of metal crap… like katanas and stuff."

Was this shop okay to be located in a local shopping district? It stuck out like a sore thumb, but I didn't think Yosuke and I ever bothered to notice it before. . . . I guess Chie's obsession with martial arts works in our favor, but. . . there seemed to be a lot of things wrong with me standing within the range of sharp killing weapons on the wall, with absolutely no officer in sight. Our trio seemed to be the only customers in here as of now, and the only other person who was here was the blacksmith near the corner of the room who ignored our high school student presence and continued to work desperately on some find of kunai as if he were running out of it in stock. Well, there was a pile of kunai on the display shelf to my left. To my right, shields and heavy looking armor. The shop just felt more rustic than Inaba itself, but literally smelled like rust too. Dirt and rust and iron and burning.

"Doesn't that seem weird to you! Why would you know about a place like this anyway?" he pauses. "Oh, I get it… You watched one too many kung-fu movies, and…"

"It's not that at all! I overheard some guys in our class talk about it. They said this place sells weapons and armor." the girl leers straight into his eyes. Her gaze meets the side table and begin to sparkle. "Here, this one looks good." but her expression falls once again. "Oh, but it might be too heavy…"

Yosuke taps her shoulder gently. "I dunno, Chie… I still think it's too dangerous. I know how you feel, but-"

"You don't!" She reacts violently to that and lashes at him. "You don't know shit about how I feel… Yukiko might die from this, for crying out loud! I'm going, and that's that!"

. . . I did understand how she felt. At this point, we weren't going to accomplish anything out of persuading her to stay behind. Yet at the same time, Chie didn't know what kind of horrors were waiting to tackle us in that place- the TV World. I breathed out. "Okay, but stay behind us."Folding my arms demanding, she needed to understand what we were up against. The fact that we weren't sure of what was going to take place was far worse.

"Psh, I'll be fine! My reflexes are second to none!"

"Listen… I'm not kidding around. You don't know what it's like in there! If you're not gonna listen to our warnings, we're leaving you here! If you insist on coming, just make sure you have something to protect yourself." Hanamura voices out for a final time.

"Alright…"

"But man, what should we get…?" the male turns to me, "Hey, Suzumi. Mind picking out something for me, too? You're our main asset in battle right now, so I think you should choose whatever makes it easiest for you."

"Hm. . . ?" I was the main asset in battle? Since when? I understand I took down a few Shadows, and even Yosuke's Shadow. But in the end, that was all Izanagi. . . Then again, it was also true that he and I were one in the same. Perhaps I figured that now Yosuke had obtained a Persona himself, he'd want to take charge right after. Guess that wasn't the case. "Alright."I told him.

Yosuke- what seemed like a balanced weapon for him? . . . The way he was swinging the Imitation Katana and the Aikuchi around seemed fine, but for future events, I wouldn't trust him trying to sneak those into Junes ever again. With no clue what Uncle Dojima said to him, I didn't want to find out during the midst of our investigation by having Yosuke get taken in yet again and have him relive that moment. Let's try something other than those two, shall we?I figured that was for the best. Yosuke actually ran pretty fast if he wasn't tripping on his own balls, and all over the place. Something light and effective would be nicely suited for him. So what about. . . My steely eyes rolled off to my left to meet with a small metal knife- that kunai. . . Now that I think about it, that felt like it would be at the best fit for him and work like a charm if my assumptions were correct. It also worked well with the image of his new Persona, Jiraiya, to boot.

"How about these."I told the Junes kid, picking up the dual daggers and gesturing him to take it from my hands.

"Hrrmm. . . I could hide those in my pockets if I tried. . . Though, it would be hell on me if the blades ever ripped a hole through 'em, though. . ." he laughs and puts a thumbs up of approval. "I guess that doesn't matter as much, these seem pretty easy to handle. Maybe swords just aren't for me."

My thoughts exactly. In fact, I was relieved to see that he had learned from his earlier mistake. Uncle must have really set him straight. Yosuke went off to the counter, and casually left the money for his new weapons, since the blacksmith seemed too busy to deal with us at the moment.

All that I needed to worry about next was what armor I'd use, and my weapon. . . The bulletproof vest was pretty expensive. . . And here I thought this was some traditional Chinese armor shop. Now they suddenly have defense ware for guns? . . . Well, in the least bit, this place was definitely. . . resourceful. If I obtained enough money somewhere along the lines I'd purchase it.
My weapon. Actually, was I ready to let go of my kendo stick yet? They were practically found in the sports section of the June isles, so carrying it around wouldn't make me look too suspicious. But if I needed a better source of power than just smacking Shadows with a piece of bamboo wood, what then? I couldn't rely on Izanagi forever in battle. Then again, getting a heavier hitting weapon that was almost equivalent to a kendo stick meant getting a sword. If anything, a katana would be preferable, but strolling around with it would be bad- very bad. . . On another note, my dress seemed long enough to hide one from underneath the fabric. Actually, that wasn't too bad of an idea. . .
Picking up my feet from the ground, I casually examined the blades of the swords under the watchful mocha-brown eyes of my peer. I took to consideration what each sword felt like in my hands. . . Some felt as though they were falling apart, some had dull blades, and some were a tad heavy to the point where if I lugged it around for too long, my arms could possibly pop off from the rest of my body the following day. I came across an Imitation Katana, similar to that of Yosuke's, before it got confiscated by the police, that is. It sure was a waste buying a weapon I could've gotten for free. But just taking it in my hands, it seemed like the best fit for me for now. And it was also fairly cheap for a sword- a whole 4,800 yen. Well, if I bought it, that'd leave me with 1/4 of my savings. Not. . . too bad. The craftsmanship on the blade was actually impressive for a fake. Yes, perhaps impressive enough for me to take it to the counter, lay money out on the table, and purchase it for a price that blew almost everything out of my wallet. . . And that actually I did within the few seconds of coming up with the idea. With me as it's new owner, I marched back over to Hanamura, who held back a snicker at my arrival.

". . . You looked really deadpanned while choosing, y'know."he informs me with a soft grin.

"Oh. . . Did I?". . . Was there something wrong with having a straight face?

Chie trots back over with a plastic bag in hand, and it was painstakingly obvious that something suspicious was in that bag, judging by the 'clings' and 'clangs' it resounded as she walked. "I got my stuff all picked out! How about you guys?"

With a nod, I told her, "All set."

"You know. . . if we wear this stuff around town, we'll just get picked up again. But its not like we can waltz into Junes with a sack of full gear and expect no one to notice either."Yosuke informs us.

Chie waves her arms in front of her to get our attention. She must've had an idea. "Why not conceal them underneath our uniforms? I don't think people would notice."

"Our uniforms?" Yosuke responds in disbelief and begins to challenge her theory. "Who the hell wouldn't notice armor- . . . well, actually, our Winter Uniforms are pretty thick looking. . . That isn't a bad idea for a normal school day. But I seriously doubt we would be able to walk past people wearing our school uniforms on a Sunday without be stared at strangely. We'd look way out of place, even without the armor underneath it all." Hanamura points out, and he did have a big point. "But what we're wearing now seems to be fine for concealing armor."

"Uh, that's what I meant!"

"Alright, this works then. But let's split up and get ready. The store'll be crowded until the afternoon sale ends, and if we walk around together, the cops might get suspicious. "the male stares at his watch.

"Then I'll see you guys at the Junes food court!"Green Jacket finishes. We all nod in agreement at the plan.

The two disperse from our trio and make their way back to their respective homes to get ready. All I did right then and there was slip the katana down my back and beneath my winter clothing. . .

. . . It was very uncomfortable as expected.

Shopping District, South. . .

Walking in an awkward fashion out of Daidara Metalworks, I stop to examine my surroundings adjacent to me. This was the Shopping District, I knew. The south part, and down the street was the north. The book store was practically next door, and so was Marukyu Tofu. . . What was beside that shop, the Shirokyu store? Speaking of this area, I vaguely remember my first visit here when Dojima stopped by the MOEL Gas Station to refill his car with gas. . . I talked to the Gas Station Attendant here, who offered me a part-time job. . . How much money would I make if I did take him up on the offer? I would stop by sometime if it would fill up my wallet, if only a little bit at a time. I didn't need to get ready since I didn't buy any armor. I just needed to head to Junes when the time was right. But the sword I had placed at my back underneath my clothing- words couldn't express how terrible it felt, hanging on the back of my bra clasp to avoid being exposed and fall to the floor. While Chie and Yosuke were getting ready, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't mind one bit if I got there first and waited for them to arrive.

Which way was it to Junes anyway? Do I head north or south of the district? Inaba was still unfamiliar to me, I don't know how many times I had to point out and emphasize the fact while thinking. I decided to take the north route of the shopping district to get a better look of the place. . . And that's when my eyes met a certain machine next to the Shiroku Store. . . It was a beverage vending machine. The soda here costs a cheap 120 yen. . . "Hm."I felt quite parched actually. It wouldn't hurt to go for a quick drink. . . Inserting 120 yen exactly into the machine, I scanned the names of the drinks I could buy. . . Orange Smash. . . And-

" ! ! "

Is that what I think it was? You could buy TaP Soda for a measly 120 yen! Back in the city, it was a popular drink and charged for 250 yen. Yes, it was such an outrageous price built into every single vending machine possible located within my reach, so I got it once in a while. . . I wonder how much cans I could purchase with the remainder of yen I had left. . . "Hm." I selected the button for my favorite soda and anxiously awaited as it clanked down to the bottom of the machine. . . I would love to buy as much TaP Soda as I desired to, however that wouldn't be very reasonable with the money I had remaining. Perhaps another time I could. . . It did seem like a shame. What if the price went up over night, or. . . "Buying one more wouldn't hurt."I murmured to myself.

. . .

After leaving the shopping district for Junes, I noted the five cans of the carbonated beverage in my hand. Shame the machine ran out before the sixth can. It must've been refilled periodically. "Ah." I seemed to have dropped one of my cans on the ground. It rolled away from me by a few feet. ". . ." . . . How was I going to bend with a sword down my back? . . . Maybe getting back to Junes could take a while.


A/N: Er, yeah. Sorry. Are you wondering what I did with the ending there? You see. . . If you didn't notice, Suzumi has a thing for TaP Soda. In the game, it restores 10SP outside of battle. On my 3rd playthrough of Persona 4, I decided- "Hey, why don't I start collecting TaP Soda at the very beginning of the game so I can spam SP recovery near the end game when I need it?" . . . Towards the mid point of the game, I became obsessed with checking the vending machines for TaP Soda especially. And then I thought, hey- why don't I make Suzumi have a thing for TaP? Like Adachi with cabbage, or Chie with steak? Yep. I'm going to have LOTS of fun with this. . . ^^