Chapter 9

Man Bonding

( is bothering me. Stop messing with my formatting :/.I don't think I've ever written a chapter, or anything, in which I've used the word 'man' so often. Dropletofsour- Yeah, I usually avoid stories with OC's myself but I find with the Persona series the relationships between the characters in game are pretty well explored to so to expand on them it's easier to put in elements that you won't find in the game- for instance, OC's. Glad you like it so far Disclaimer: We own nothing)

(Junpei's POV)

"Akihiko, my man." I announce as I sit down next to the sewing boxer- yes, he sews. BUT, it's still manly cause he's sewing his boxing gloves which are falling apart cause he uses them so much. "Wanna hang?"

Yeah, that sounded casual. Totally cool.

"No."

"What? Why not?" Aw man. Was hoping he'd say yes. We coulda hooked up with those fine senoritas that always follow him around. "Come on, man!"

"No. I'm busy."

"You're sewing!"

Akihiko puts down his glove and looks at me. I wonder how much damage he can cause with that sewing needle. "Not that sewing isn't important! Just… man, the girls are all out with Yuka-tan doing that girl bonding thing so why shouldn't you, Minato and I all hang? It'll be team building!"

That's a lie; I don't know where Minato is or what he's doing. Maybe trying out that new MMORPG I suggested- ha ha. Know how that goes, might not see the light for a couple of days if we don't help him out of it.

"All right." Akihiko says, looking resigned. He's totally pumped though, I can tell. "What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know. We could go to Game Panic and test our awesome skills, eat some Hakagure ramen, or read some manga at Book On." I say as I imagine our vey manly quality time.

Before Akihiko can answer, Minato walks down the stairs holding a pair of pants with a gigantic rip in the middle of them. "Dude, what happened to your pants?" I laugh. What a riot! Poor dude.

"…Would you believe I was mugged?" Minato says as he sighs.

I notice that Akihiko-senpai is looking at Minato and then the pants that he's holding. "I could teach you how to fix them it you want."

"Sure, thanks senpai." Minato nods and hands the ruined pants to Akihiko, who's already rethreading a fresh needle.

I can't believe this! First we're talking about bonding, and playing video games, eating ramen, reading manga, and maybe picking up some chicks. Now, I'm here, getting lessons on how to fix my pants. By Gekkoukan High's Golden Boy too! There's only so much a guy can take. "Uh, hello? What about our manly team bonding?"

"Isn't this bonding?" Akihiko asks.

"We are having a sewing session together…so yeah. It's considered bonding." Minato says with a shrug. How can he be so calm?

"Screw this! I'm going out for some real male bonding with the manliest guy I know." I say as I busted the door open. "So long, amigos."

"…I feel bad for the person who gets stuck with Junpei's crazy ideas." Akihiko sighs.

"Agreed." Minato says.

Some time later…

"NO!" Shinjiro-senpai yells as he glares at me.

"But why not? Come on senpai. It'll be fun!"

"No, means no. I don't have time for this shit" Shinjiro rolls his eyes.

"But bonding is just what guys do!" I say, trying to persuade him to join me in the fun.

"If you want to bond so much, do it with Aki or that new guy Minato." Shinjiro says getting more and more irritated with me as befits an angry, axe-toting, shadow-slaying badass.

"I tried but they're having sewing lessons. SEWING! Come on senpai. You're unbelievably manly- you know how boring sewing is for manly men such as us!" I protest.

"Not my problem." Shinjiro says as he looks through his kitchen cabinets for something.

"So what are you doing Senpai?" I ask. Knowing him it's something unimaginably hardcore. He's probably gonna eat a raw egg before getting into a fist fight with a bull. He'll win by ripping off its horns and head butting it. Afterwards he'll go drink straight vodka and pick up unbelievably hot chicks.

Shinjiro pulls down a bag of sugar and sets it down beside an empty bowl and a carton of cream. "I'm making cream puffs for Charla."

See! Cream puffs. That's so manly! … Wait. What? "CREAM PUFFS?"

"You got a problem with that?"

Well he's threatening me, that's a start.

"N-no. Er… um, why?"

Shinjiro shrugs, puts on a plain white apron. "I like to cook and I owe her one."

Ah, he owes a pretty girl a favor. That's manly. Maybe he's trying to pick her up. "Heeeeyyy, I see how it is. Very suave, senpai. So, uh, what d'you owe her for anyways?"

Shinjiro laughs "Suave? Not for Charla. She's a friend. She picked up some stuff for me the other day that's all. Look, kid, you just gonna stand there all day? You can leave or you can help."

Cooking, sewing… man, what is the world coming to? "Er, no thanks senpai. I… um… I'm gonna go… do… something."

What am I gonna do? Guess I should head over to the mall or something. There's gotta be somebody at the arcade today. Still, I was really looking forward to bonding with the guys. I'm a pretty open minded dude, if I say so myself, but cooking and sewing? Man. That's too much for me.

I'm at the arcade in no time flat. Doesn't look like there are too many people here though. Man. Oh well. But, hey! That's Akihiko and Minato isn't it? They must have decided that sewing really was lame and that they wanted to come beat up pixilated bad guys instead! "Hey, Akihiko, Minato! Over here!"

"Hi Junpei, where'd you go?" Minato asks me as they come over.

"I went to go find Senpai but he's um…" Do I tell them about his shameful cream puff cooking? Better preserve his dignity "Passed out on the couch."

Akihiko makes a sound of disgust and shakes his head, "Typical."

"You guys here for the arcade?" I ask.

"Nah," Akihiko shakes his head, "We're going for massages."

Un… believable. No way. I'm not hearing this. I'm dreaming.

"What? What's with the face? I am injured." Akihiko says with a dignified air.

"You broke a rib, you didn't pull a muscle!" I protest. "And YOU!" I round on Minato and point at him with an accusing finger "What's your excuse?"

Minato blinks innocently "I like massages. I find them relaxing."

"Besides Junpei, it's good to get the knots worked out of your muscles. You have to take good care of your body." Akihiko says. How can he be so calm? "You should come with us."

"Oho no, no no no. I am not going to the spa. I am going to the arcade and then I'm going to fight shadows and I won't shower and my manly BO will attract all the ladies." Maybe I am getting a little too wound up about this.

I take off my hat and run a hand through my hair with a sigh. "I'm sorry guys. I was just really looking forward to bonding with you guys and doing something cool today. I didn't… really have the spa or sewing or cooking or any of that stuff in mind."

Akihiko shrugs "Well, come on. All of the masseuses at this place are girls- and some of them are really pretty. You never know man; you might get a cute one." He sounds calm but his face has gone all red. That fox! This must have been his plan all along. Hah. Knew it.

"Yeah, hey, sure. That maybe does kinda sound OK. Let's do it!" I put my hat back on and grin.

I've never been to the spa. It's this clean little shop a few blocks down from the mall. When you walk in the door there's this overwhelming assault of scents. Seriously, it's like the owner went and found a half dozen of their favorite smells and painted the walls with them. They also clean out your pocket pretty quick too, it's unbelievable.

But ah! Here are some of the masseuses. Pretty girl with weird make-up, OK, but mmmmm wouldn't mind her working out my newly developed back problems. Maybe it'll be chronic. Minato nabs her. All right, no big deal, it's cool, here's another one. Some blonde western chick, but she's so tall- look at her legs! Wooowww…

"Hello Maggie." Akihiko says, wandering off with her. No WAY! He's on a first name basis with some older western senoriiitaaa. What a man!

I can hardly wait! I pay and wait for my masseuse. She'll be gorgeous, I just know.

"Hello Sir, I am Olga. Come vith me please." Suddenly there's this impressive mountain of flesh towering over me. Is this my masseuse? No way. No WAY. This is because I didn't want to sew isn't it? That Akihiko! He did this on purpose, Oh God.

Several minutes later…

"Well, and then I was all like 'Go out with me' and she made this face and was all like" I pitch my voice really high and squeaky, "'I won't go out with you, you smell bad' and I was like," I pitch my voice back to its natural manly bass, "'whaaat? Baby it's my manly odor I get from working out so much'. She ran off! Can you believe it?"

"You don't worry about it, Junpei, she is crazy." Olga says. "You find nice girl with appreciation for your man scent and you forget about this other girl."

I've never felt so relaxed before! Large and hammy though Olga may be she has an unbelievable talent as a masseuse. Still it's time to go. We shake hands and I promise to come and get another massage sometime.

I meet back with Akihiko and Minato outside the shop and the city has never stunk so beautifully before. "Man! I never thought I'd miss the smell of fish so much!"

Minato nods "That… that was a scent marathon in there. Too much."

"Yeah, well." Akihiko shrugs, "I don't even notice it after I'm in there for a little while. Hey, Junpei man, bad luck. I saw your masseuse."

"Whatcha talking about man? Olga was great!" I exclaim.

"O…k. Didn't know you liked that kind of woman but…" Akihiko is red in the face again.

"What? No! Nooooo, no. Not like that. What? Is that the only reason you come to the masseuse Akihiko? To get felt up by pretty women? Shame on you." I scold him righteously.

"I do NOT!" Akihiko protests.

Minato is walking off already "Well come on you guys, I'm getting hungry. Let's go back to the dorm. Maybe the girls will be back."

The girls? What do we tell them? We were sewing and then we went to the spa? Oh… Man.

Luckily they're not there when we get back. Minato heads into the kitchen to heat us up some instant ramen and Akihiko and I sit on the couches in the lounge. Akihiko has left his sewing stuff out and he returns to mending his boxing glove. Before too long there's a knock on the door. Even though Akihiko is busy he's still up to answer it before I am.

"Shinji? What's up?" Akihiko asks.

"I just made some stuff for Charla. She's too much work to track down on my own but I figure you spend an awful lot of time with her and so it'd be easier for you to get 'em to her." Yep. That's Senpai.

Akihiko is red in the face again. Dude gets embarrassed pretty often. It must be exhausting. "I know what this is about Shinji, and for the millionth time, butt out!" he says through gritted teeth.

"Just take the pastries, will you?"

Akihiko is silent for a moment. "… Fine." He takes the box from Shinjiro and they just stand around not talking for a while.

"Hey Senpai!" I shout from the couch "You should come hang with us for a bit!"

"… I'm busy."

"No you're not." Akihiko says tensely. "Just go."

"Nah, man! Don't go! We got plans tonight! Big plans! You gotta come and hang with us; we'll make you some instant ramen and everything!" I shout again.

"You're eating instant ramen?" Senpai sounds ticked. "Have you eaten it yet? I'll cook something for you. You can't just eat any old stuff all the time."

Akihiko is perplexed but stands aside to let Shinjiro come in. Senpai makes a b-line for the kitchen and Akihiko just stands there with the door in one hand and the box of pastries cradled in the crook of his other arm. He shoots me an annoyed look.

"What?" I ask, "You guys are buds right? Senpai's a cool dude."

He just makes another face that I don't really get and heads for the stairs. "I'm tired. I'm going to bed. Good night." He says.

"Whaaaat?" I jump up off the couch "But you don't even know what my big plan for the night is."

"Goodnight." Akihiko repeats firmly and disappears up the stairs.

Fine. We'll just go get him later. I know where he sleeps.

I join Minato and Shinjiro in the kitchen. Shinjiro has already started frying up some eggs and Minato is sadly pouring out the reheated ramen instant noodles. "So, Minato, Senpai, big plans tonight."

Minato looks at me with wide eyes- well, wider eyes than normal- and Senpai ignores me. "The girls are still out right? This is a golden opportunity, men."

"For what?" Minato asks me. Poor, innocent boy.

"Panty raids." I say decisively.

Shinjiro does stop now, and glances back at me with an arched eyebrow. "You're joking right?"

"No! Why would I be joking?"

Shinjiro shrugs and goes back to what he's doing. "I think you'll find women's underwear less exciting than you think you will."

Spoken like a true, nonchalant and experienced man. He is, as always, my idol. "Well it's not about the panties by themselves; it's imagining the girls in them."

"Suit yourself. I don't care." Shinjiro says as he puts the food on the table.

"But imagine Kaguya in them." I purr, putting on my most suave of all faces- and I have a few.

Shinjiro shakes his head and chuckles. "I've seen hers."

I shouldn't be surprised, because it's Senpai, but K-CHAN? She doesn't really fit the sexy, experienced older woman type but I guess it must be in her there somewhere… deep down. Wow. K-Chan, you FOX.

"Well, Senpai, think of it like a prank then. We get their panties and we sneak into the school and hang them around everywhere." I look at them with eyes of pure manliness.

"That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard. They'll know we did it and then they'll just do something worse to us." Minato says irritably. Kill joy.

"Oh but it'll be so WORTH it!" I lean back in the chair and throw my arms up in the air enthusiastically.

They're both quiet and when I look back up I just catch Shinjiro and Minato whispering something to each other. They stop when they see me and Shinjiro turns off the stove top. Minato smiles, "We'll do it."

BONUS!

"You better put that food in a doggie bag, Senpai. It's mission time!" I say as I help gather the food to give to Minato to put in the refrigerator.

"Alright, everyone huddle. I'll give the plans." I say and Senpai and Minato stay where they are.

"Okay, so Minato you and I will take Yuka-tan's room. Shinjiro-senpai, you take K-chan's room. Got it?" I commanded. Man, I'm pretty excited. This is gonna be the highlight of our entire manhood.

"Wait, who's going to take Mitsuru's room?" Minato asks.

"I got it covered. Now, hurry before the girls get back. Minato go on ahead of me, I'll catch up with you." I say and we head our separate ways. I head to Akihiko-senpai's room. I wouldn't want him to miss out on all the action. He needs it more than any of us. "Hey Senpai, wake up!" I throw open his door.

"What the hell? Junpei what do you want?" Akihiko grumbles from his spot on the bed. He's reading a book.

"You're missing out on the panty raiding, man. Come on, we saved Mitsuru's room for you." I say as I try to yank Senpai out of bed. Unsuccessfully. I find my ass on the floor with a stinging feeling on my nose. "Owwwwww."

"No. Not happening. I don't want to see Mitsuru's panties." Akihiko growls with the reddest face I've ever seen. He's so full of shit. "Stop harassing me."

"This is a once in a life time opportunity. Now or never!" I say as I get up and try to grab his book away from him. Unsuccessfully, again. I'm on the floor again and after a short moment the book has catapulted into the space between my eyes and I'm seeing stars.

"No means no! Get the hell out of my room!" Akihiko-senpai shouts, grabbing me by the collar and dragging me out of his room.

"I see how it is…you're too scared to do it. I can see the headlines now, 'Gekkoukan High's Golden Boy a wimp.'" I gasp, grabbing at my collar so he doesn't choke me to death.

"Forget it Junpei."

"Backing down from a challenge? The Akihiko I know would never- oof" he has tossed me out the door.

"This isn't a challenge." Akihiko says, but he's losing confidence I can tell.

I rub at the red marks on my neck and clear my throat, "It tests your courage, determination, and charm when the ladies are distraught about their lost panties. I can't think of anything more challenging!"

Akihiko considers it and then slowly glares at me. "You're right. I'll do it."

Ah, reverse psychology…works like a charm. "Alright, let's do this thing!" I cheer and the both of us head to the girl's floor. I point to Mitsuru's room and Akihiko-senpai goes without a single word.

"Hey, how's everything going?" I ask Minato in Yuka-tan's room. Dude, I'm actually in Yuka-tan's room…looking for her panties. Awesomeness! I've never felt manlier in my life!

"I can't find her underwear drawer…" Minato shrugs.

"Well, it's gotta be here somewhere. Keep looking, I'm gonna check on how Senpai is doing." I say and I head to K-chan's room.

"Senpai, found anything?" I ask.

Shinjiro motions to the open drawer full of panties. "It's always the top drawer."

"Great job, Senpai! I knew we could count on you!" I was right about him being the manliest guy I know. "Quick get as much as you can, Senpai. Before the girls get back or else our mission will be ruined! I have to check on Minato again." He rolls his eyes but nods and I run to see if Minato has found Yuka-tan's underwear.

"FOUND IT!" I heard from across the hall. That's means…oh yeah, baby! Yuka-tan's panties are now claimed in the name of manliness.

"Awesome, dude! Snag as much as you can. I'm going to Mitsuru's room to help Akihiko-senpai." I say and I high-five Minato.

"You got Akihiko-senpai in on this too?" Minato sounds almost concerned. Must be for my health cause he knows how violent Akihiko can be.

I rub my nose. "I know, I know…"

Then, swiftly like a ninja, I rush to Mitsuru-senpai's room. It's like visiting a mansion or something. Dang, I wish my room was like this. I spot Senpai looking in a drawer so I skip over to see the last bounty of the day.

"Man, oh man…" I stand by Akihiko and behold the most luxurious lingerie I've ever seen. Akihiko resembles undercooked steak. Suddenly I hear the door downstairs click open and there are voices coming from downstairs.

"Hey, guys! We're back!" That was Yuka-tan's voice. Holy crap!

I quickly snatch some panties and make a break for it, fumbling with the lock on the door. Akihiko is still in there, yes, but he's not moving and I can't wait for him. Hopefully he'll have the good sense to jump out the window before Mitsuru opens the lock.

"Every man for himself!" I say quietly. I don't see Shinjiro or Minato anywhere, but Yuka-tan and K-chan's rooms are closed and locked so they must have already run for it. I shove Mitsuru's panties into my coat pocket and run for my room. I can hear the voices from downstairs.

"Shinjiro? It is nice to see you again, albeit late. Are you here with Akihiko?" Mitsuru asks.

Shinjiro is downstairs with their panties hidden in his coat? WHAT A MAN!

"Sort of. I brought him the cream puffs I made for Charla, so he'd have an excuse to go and see her." Shinjiro says and he and Mitsuru laugh a little.

"I doubt he said so, but I'm sure he appreciates the sentiment Shinjiro." Mitsuru says.

"Yum, cream puffs!" K-chan exclaims.

"So, what have you been up too since we've been gone?" Yuka-tan asks.

"Nothing really…" Minato says.

"Nothing huh…where's Stupei?" Yuka-tan asks, I can hear her moving around.

.

"He went to bed early. He went to the spa and it tuckered him out." Minato says. EVIL. That treacherous guy! Have they been planning this from the beginning?

The girls laugh, some delicately, some- Yuka-tan- letting out something resembling a shocked guffaw. Oh. They can laugh. It was manly. They don't even know.

I reach my room and close the door quietly. I can still hear their voices but they're muffled. I hide the panties under my mattress and relax on to the bed. I worry a little about Akihiko-Senpai but…

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Mitsuru screams from downstairs. "Akihiko, what are you doing?" I hear a gasp and another scream. "Akihiko, I'm going to execute you!"

"You perv!" Yukari screams.

"We'll never forgive you!" Kaguya yells.

"Wait, wait! It's not my fault!" Akihiko says, sounding strangled.

I wince a little but can't help but laugh. It is pretty funny.

"WILL THE MADNESS NEVER END?" Akihiko lets out a blood curdling scream.

No, and neither will the man-ness. HAHAHA, Oh, I slay me.