OK!
real quick for operation babe hunt i mashed up
both how the male vers and the female vers went down
so i hope i executed it okay
in this chapter the boys clean a beach of all its women by talking to them
July 21st, 2009.
Daytime.
The girls had decided to go for a small hike, to see a cryptomeria tree that was considered a world heritage site. Though they had asked the boys to come along, Junpei had gone on and on about how ridiculous it was for them to go for a hike while they were beachside, and insisted that the three 'men' would stay back at the beach and have more fun. None of them wanted to be at the beach from dawn to dusk again like they were the day before, so ultimately they just decided to go alone. And besides, they were having plenty of fun without the boys!
"Ah, the air is so fresh..." Fuuka takes a deep breath in, a smile bright on her face. "I never thought a walk in the woods could be so enjoyable. You can't do this in Iwatodai."
Mitsuru and Yukari don't respond, leaving an awkward silence hanging in the air. Clearly, the tension between the two wasn't resolved in it's entirety last night; even though Their leader had done his best to take care of the burning rage that Yukari had last night, but there was nothing he could do to get the two to try talking to each other about it.. They just needed time.
"Oh, so listen to this... Junpei was acting like such a pervert yesterday, and I didn't know how to react.." She sighs. "It's probably a good thing we came out here by ourselves.."
"Huh?" Takeba is the first to snap out of her trance, looking around for a moment before realising she was being talked to. "Oh, yeah."
The teal haired girl meets concerned carmine eyes, eyes full of emotion that just tell her to just give up at the moment. She's trying her best; and she's doing as much as she can, but these two weren't going to do anything but sit there in their own thoughts, and there wasn't anything that either of them could do about that. All they could do was continue to smile and pretend like everything was okay with how things were going.
They continue to walk up the path, in pure silence until the loud ping of a ringtone breaks through, causing them all to look around at each other; wondering whose phone was going off. Rather quickly, Mitsuru pulls out a deep magenta coloured flip-phone, answering their questions as she puts it up to her ear.
"Mitsuru speaking.." She pauses, listening for only a moment. "...One moment, let me switch over to speakerphone."
She pulls the phone away, and presses a button on the keypad, and holds it out for the girls to listen into.
"Please continue."
To the group's surprise, it wasn't the boys on the other side. Rather, it was their chairman, Ikutsuki Shuji.
"Well, I'm at the lab here on the island..." A lab? That existed on this lovely vacation spot? It felt almost unreal to think about. "And a machine that was considered inoperable suddenly left the facility on its own.."
Yukari is the first to speak her surprise. "A machine..?"
"What kind of machine is it? I need detailed information to locate anything other than Shadows.."
"It's a combat vehicle- an anti-Shadow weapon, to be precise."
"A combat vehicle!?" What the heck?! Why does a lab run by the Kirijo Group have a- never mind, she doesn't want to know.
"You mean like a tank!?" The pink clad girl splutters in disbelief. "We gotta let the others know! Where's my cell..."
The three girls begin digging through their pockets for their cell phones, but Kotone is the first to pull out hers, it's bright orange colouring catching the others attention. Takeba too, pulls out her own phone and begins to go through her contacts. Who would be the best to call in this situation... She doubts her brother would put the phone on loud-speaker, and she's never once called Sanada-senpai on his cell before.. Which leaves Junpei, who seemed like the best option in this situation, a first.
She goes through her phone, going down to the 'I' section, and selects Junpei's name out of the bunch.
"We're not currently with the others, so it may take some time for us all to assemble." Kirijo-senpai quickly explains to their group's founder, worry coating each word.
"I see..." He pauses for a moment, and they all hold their breathes. "Well, regardless, I want you to handle this as soon as possible. I'm on my way there now."
"If the target cannot be captured, do we have permission to destroy it?" Oh man, they're going to destroy a tank!? It's beginning to sound like a twelve year old boy's fantasy right now..
But Ikutsuki-san simply laughs at them, and a dark tone fills his normally cheerful voice. "I highly doubt you'll be able to destroy it."
"What..? But then how are we supposed to stop it?" Fuuka clutches her dress, and they all begin to wonder whether or not this is some sort of sick prank. If they can't destroy the weapon, then are they supposed to just sit there and take it's attacks until the lab people came for it?
"Just do your best. I'll call you again later." He ends the call, leaving the four staring at each other with anxiety in their minds.
...He doesn't pick up.
"He's not answering.." Kotone mumbles, hanging up the call before it went through to voice mail.
"None of them are."
The redheaded woman sighs, and begins to turn around on the spot, heading back down the trail. "Don't worry about it. Let's go back and get our equipment. Then we can have Yamagishi's Persona scan the area. Although, this island is quite large..."
"Geez! What's so important that they can't answer a phone call!?"
Junpei huffs loudly, his arms on his hips as he begins to yell at the top of his lungs to both of his friends, one of which was currently drawing patterns in the sand beneath him, and the other looked ready to fire a water-gun at his back.
"It's ridiculous! We're at the beach, it's the middle of summer, and they're going on a hike in the woods!?" He throws his inflated tube down on the ground. "Now that it's come to this, we have no other choice!"
Minato looks up from his odd doodles, confusing filling his blue eyes as he stares at the taller boy, who was causing quite a ruckus and bringing plenty of attention with how far his voice carried.
"What do you mean, 'we have no other choice'... That sounds ominous.." He mumbles, crossing his arms over his knees.
"We're on our own now, just us guys! If you're outta ammo, you pick it up on the battlefield! That's one of the most basic military tactics! Looks like it's finally time for.. Operation Babe Hunt!"
"...Babe hunt? You mean like, pick up girls?" Akihiko doesn't like the sound of this already, and it's clear in his voice.
"Whaddya think, Sanada-san? With you on the squad, we're guaranteed to succeed!" The amount of cheer and pride in his voice was almost swaying though. "And we've got Minato here too! His quiet charm would pick up chicks!"
"I think I'll pass." He runs a hand through silver locks with a sigh.
"Oh, scared you'll lose?"
"W-What!?" That clearly sets something off. If one thing was clear about Sanada, it was that he hated even the idea of losing. The senior turns his hesitant gaze onto their shorter companion, a questioning tone in his voice. "What do you think about this, Arisato?"
"...Why not." Nothing else to do anyways. And this sounds like it'll be fun.
"Then, Arisato'll be our leader like usual."
"Gotcha."
The one who suggested this now seems a little lost; if not a little heartbroken. He clearly wanted to be the leader this time around too.
"The loser has to buy dinner at Hagakure when we get back home!" Their senpai exclaims, and once Minato's standing firmly on his feet, he calls out. "Commence the operation!"
"L-Loser? Whaddya mean loser?" Junpei becomes more and more anxious, as it dawns on him what's being implied. "Wait, we're hitting on them separately!?"
Operation commence!
"Hi there miss," Junpei gives a wink as he approaches a slightly older looking girl, most likely university aged. "You here alone? Why don't you come hang out with me for a bit?"
The reaction he receives is expected, as the older woman clicks her tongue in distaste, her eyes looking down at him like he's vermin; the scum of the earth. She quickly explains that she's here with her boyfriend, putting as much emphasis on that as she can so the teenager gets the image.
"O-Oh, I see... you're here with your boyfriend, haha.."
A little closer to the beach's curling waves, Akihiko wasn't having much luck with his 'attacks', either. He approaches a young woman, who seems rather excited to be approached by him, right up until he opens his mouth.
"H-Hey there! Say, do you know the most efficient swimming technique? The butterfly stroke uses your leg strength to.." The woman quickly shuts him up however, bluntly telling him that she doesn't care. "..Oh, I-I see."
In an unsurprising turn of events, Minato isn't actually participating in any of the flirting, instead choosing to sit down on a large rock and watch as his two team mates fail miserably at picking up women, something he actually doesn't find too surprising. Sure, Sanada was a pretty face, but three months of knowing him has taught the leader that his senior is the most socially awkward man to ever walk the face of the earth.
..And that didn't even get him started on Junpei.
Speaking of which, he was approaching another girl, this one trying to apply sunscreen to her body. He grins wide, and speaks with a confident tone.
"Need someone to rub sunblock on your hard-to-reach areas? Oh, don't worry. I'm really good about it." The girl scoffs at him, loudly exclaiming that she's trying to get a tan, and for him to move out of the way. "Oh, 'scuse me, then..."
Yikes.
The two teenagers quickly return back to their leader, who has a wide smile on his face, one that almost mocks them.
"Y'did good." The blue haired teen snickers, and the two glare at him.
"What were you doing!?"
"Watching." The two scoff.
"We know you were watching! You were supposed to join in!"
"...Then, why don't we try together? Like the original plan."
The other two boys look at each other, as if communicating with their eyes on whether or not that sounds like a good idea or not. If Minato suggested it, then he might've had a plan of some kind, if he was treating this like another operation into Tartarus.. But whether or not that was a good thing was yet to be seen. Junpei seemed to think of this as a fantastic idea, as he excitedly bounces around on the spot.
"Nice, Minato! Good idea!"
Soon, their leader pushes himself off the rock, and the three begin to walk towards the nearest group of girls. Three, all sitting down and relaxing around a parasol, talking about whatever it was that girls talked about. It wasn't like any of them knew what that was.
"Alright, this is my area of expertise, so listen up.. First off, think of something to talk about- something they might be interested in. Give them an easy question to get the ball rollin' That's the golden rule. Somethin' like... 'Where're you from?' or 'Havin' fun?'. Pretty soon, you'll be tossin' questions and answers back and forth like you're playin' catch. I'll start things off, and you can ask the questions, alright?"
With a nod from Minato, they approach, and the three ladies take their attention off their conversation to look at the newcomers, albeit with rather upset faces.
"Hey, ladies!" Junpei starts them off, waving his hand in an attempt to come off as friendly and likeable.
"...Having fun?" He flinches slightly when he's shoved in the back by Sanada, for what he presumes is absolutely no reason.
One of the girls, her green clothing and short bob being her most noticeable features, immediately begins to talk, her tone full of dislike for the three already.
"..None of your business."
"Hey, no need to be shy. We don't bite."
The girl wearing a yellow bikini speaks next, and just like her friend, she's equally spiteful.
"Why should we tell you?"
"Come on, cut us some slack.. We just want to talk."
Akihiko clearly begins to become rather uncomfortable with the way things are turning out as he whispers to Junpei in a rather hushed voice. "I thought you said you were an expert.."
"Hold your horses... I'm just gettin' warmed up. Watch and learn.." He whispers back, and quickly turns back to the three ladies with his signature grin. "So, ladies, are you in college?"
"Um.." The last girl, her brightly coloured orange bikini standing out in the blinding sun, speaks up. "Don't tell me you guys are still in high school.."
"That's right." Welp- their leader's just doomed them all.
The green clad one clicks her tongue. "High school kids vacationing in Yakushima? That kind of pisses me off."
"Well, we were invited to our friend's vacation home.." Akihiko trails off. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"Good for your friend. We, on the other hand, have to pay for our vacation with our hard-earned money."
"I guess we're just lucky..." Had that just now struck the baseball loving idiot?
"Yeah, lucky you." The yellow one sighs. "Whaddya want, anyway?"
Minato speaks up before any of the others. "We came to hit on you."
"Huh?" The girls all begin to laugh. "Hey, you're pretty bold."
More like blunt to the point of being stupid.
"Stop giving them compliments and just ignore 'em."
Iori waves his hands, in an attempt to catch their attention. "W-Wait, don't do that! How can you blame us for wanting to talk to such beautiful women?"
The girls sigh. "These guys are full of shit."
"Yeah, let's get outta here."
The blue haired teen waves them goodbye, as they begin to pack up. Iori, on the other hand, tries to continue talking.
"Come on, give us a chance... How 'bout a walk on the beach?"
"You're annoying."
"See ya, boys."
Their senpai scoffs at them, crossing his arms over his chest as he looks at Junpei with quite a bit of disbelief. "So much for your expertise."
"Hey, I did my best! What about you, senpai!? You think you can do better? Come on, show us what you got."
"W-Why should I?"
"Well, you're supposed to be a tactical master, right? And, isn't our duty to help each other succeed?"
"Ugh.. I guess you have a point there." He begins to look around the beach. "Fine. I'll give it a shot. I'm sure I'll do better than you. Can you give me a hand, Arisato? I'll set the pace, of course."
"Gotcha."
The three find a pair of women talking quietly while sunbathing, and Junpei hisses at Akihiko to finally 'show them how it's done'. Their senior, however, stands there quietly watching the two women, and hisses back that he should keep his mouth shut.
Finally, one of the two women notices they're being watched. "Hey, Nobuko. Are they staring at us?"
Nobuko turns around, and nods her head. "Yeah, I think so.. Wow, Yoshie, you can see them from there?"
She seems to be charmed by Sanada, as she giggles slightly. And he mutters that it's 'his cue', and he tells them all to approach. They do, and their senior gives a slightly shy smile and greets the two.
"H-Hi. S-Sorry to bother you, but I wanted to ask you something..."
The first girl, Yoshie, tilts her head curiously. "Yes?"
"Um.. Are you here alone?"
Nobuko giggles. "Are you hitting on us?"
He shakes his head. "N-No, not at all... We just thought that if you're bored, you might wanna talk.. We could get to know each other better."
"Um, that's what it means to hit on someone." Yoshie mumbles. "Don't you know..? It's so lame to hit on girls at the beach.."
Nobuko turns back to her friend.
"We were bored anyway, so why don't we just play along?" She faces the boys again, and gives them a sweet smile. "Hey, you boys are kinda cute."
"Nobuko!"
"Hey, how old do you think we are?"
"...Around twenty?" Minato asks. He's not too sure, actually. He knows it's rude to say one thing, but he also knows that some girls look way older than they actually are. Kirijo was just one of those examples. So, saying twenty seemed to be an even place..
"Seriously?" Her face lights up. "We look that young? Wow, you made my day... even though you're just trying to flatter us. To tell you the truth, we're older than that.."
Akihiko sighs. "Oh, reall? That's too ba-"
"Dude, wait!" Junpei cuts in. "Don't you know that older women are more experienced!? They're like fine wines!"
Yoshie raises an eyebrow, her tone impressed. "You're a pretty smooth talker for someone so young. How old are you guys, anyway?"
"We're in high school."
"I'll be graduating next year."
"That's a bummer..." Nobuko sighs. "We're not astrologically compatible.."
"Look, it isn't gonna happen, so just give it up. You don't even look like you're having fun talking to us."
"...We are."
"Or so you say. We don't have anything to talk about... other than work.. and that's all just complaints."
"That might be interesting." Sanada cuts in.
"You're not very good at lying, are you? You don't have to pretend to be interested."
Nobuko pouts, and sends a slight glare to her friend. "Come on, Yoshie, give him a break.. He said he's interested, right?"
"Hey, let's head back. They're waiting for us." Yoshie stands up, collecting her things.
"Th-They? ..You mean, you have boyfriends?" Junpei genuinely seems heartbroken.
"Oh, yeah, sorry. Did we forget to mention that? Well, gotta go." Nobuko gives a wave. "We're having a barbecue at the villa. You can come, if you want."
"...Uh, n-no thanks."
"Bye then."
That didn't go very well either..
In the end, the three decided to just return to where they started and went back to sitting down and relaxing. The three all seem rather upset about the outcome, but nobody seemed as roughly hit as Junpei, considering how badly his turn went. Akihiko did no better, but they were both pretty awful in the end..
"Operation- total failure." Minato mumbles, digging his head back into his arms.
"If this were actual combat... we'd be dead." When Junpei doesn't respond back with a silly response, the two turn their attention to him. "What's wrong, Iori?"
They all finally take notice of who he's looking at. A soft, blue sun dress clings to her thin frame, her short blonde hair dancing in the wind, a contrast against the deep sky. She stares out into the ocean, her eyes the same colour as the clothing she wears. She's a beautiful looking girl; it doesn't take a genius to know that. Maybe it was just the foreign looking features she had, her blue eyes and blonde hair, but she was definitely nice to look at.
"Right at the eleventh hour- an unbelievable wave!" Junpei clenches his fist. "You're truly cruel, God! I mean, she's seriously cute!"
"I agree."
"This is our last chance to make up for our failures.. Alright, here I go!"
He begins to walk forward, up the dock at a rather fast pace, whether out of excitement or nerves, Minato can't tell. The sound of his feet hitting the wood alerts the girl, and she soon turns to look at him with confusion etched on her pretty face.
"Uh, a-are.. are you alone?" He asks, his cheeks heating up. "I, uh, noticed you've been staring at the ocean.. I'm.. J-J-Junpei."
"...Ju?" Oh man, that's kinda cute.
"Uh.. um.. If you're free, wanna talk or something?"
"...I'm looking for a human." She turns back to the sea. "And that person is not you."
Junpei flinches, not expecting to be shot down so quickly, and turns back. He then practically forced their senior to go next, and he walks up to her. She's alerted of his presence quite quickly too, and turns around before he speaks up.
"Hey, you. Do you like the ocean?"
"What do you want? Is your question directed at me?"
"Um, I mean, the ocean's great, huh?" He places his hands on his hips, and begins to go off on another sports tangent. "They say that among triathletes, the ones that train in the ocean are way stronger than the ones who mainly train in pools. Just as you'd.."
"I have no need for information of that nature. It is irrelevant to me." She turns back again, and Akihiko returns, slumping down with a determined look on his face.
"..I haven't lost. I haven't lost, alright?"
For some reason, the girl is so familiar to Minato. He's sure that he'd remember someone who looked like her, someone beautiful, with such a stand out hair colour. But he can't seem to recall where from. He wants to find out where, though. It sits in his mind, aching and begging for an answer that he can't provide it with.
..So he stands up, and begins to approach the girl.
"Oh man, he's into it for once!"
He walks up in complete silence, listening into the waves hitting the beach shore and the soft sound of his flip flops hitting the dock. Something about this location is so relaxing to him. It's the light breeze that smells of salt, the sound of the foamy ocean, and how gentle the sun's rays are on his skin.
Somehow, it reminds him of his mother. Her maiden last name, anyway. It had been 'Shiomi', with the 'shio' meaning tide, and the 'mi' meaning watching. Apparently she always liked the beach too, according to his aunt. It was one of the few things that they seemed to have in common, anymore.
He speaks up, voice soft and almost uninterested. "It's almost time for full tide, huh."
She turns to face him, and his eyes widen. Though her eyes are the exact same colour of the monster he remembers on that awful night; and it shakes him right down to the core, her eyes aren't that terrifying ice cold. No, her eyes are warm and life like, filled with a purpose.
"You are..." As the other two boys begin to run forward to see just what's going on, she narrows her eyes. "Initiating evasive maneuver. Confirmation must be made at a secure location.."
She quickly moves past the three boys, and runs off into the forest.
Junpei crosses his arms with a sigh. "What did you say to her to make her run off like that!? What're you waiting for, an invitation!? Go after her! If you don't, we'll all be in big trouble!"
"...Gotcha."
"Go tell her you're sorry!"
He's been running through the forest for a while now, but so far, he's had no luck finding the girl. He continues to run and run, itching as dirt gets all over his feet, but soon they come into a clearing. She hides behind a large sign, one that sits in front of a towering tree; and soon, she peeks out at him from behind it.
"I was correct. I have found you." She runs forward, and embraces him tightly. Her body is surprisingly firm, especially for such a skinny girl, but he's more shaken up by the sudden touch. "I have been searching for you. My highest priority is to be with you!"
...She really doesn't want to let go.
The other two come running forward, and all he can hear is Junpei screeching out in his 'sorrow'.
"What!? I can't believe this!"
"What's goin' on..? He didn't even say anything to her.."
Even though the others are around, she still seems like she has no plans of letting go any time soon.. It's beginning to make him a little uncomfortable. He's used to his sister clinging onto him, she's done that for all sixteen years they've been alive, but having another girl do it made his stomach crawl a little.
"There you guys are!" The four flinch in surprise as Yukari's voice resounds out over the forest, and four sets of footsteps come running towards them. "What are you guys doing here!? We've been looking all over for you!"
Fuuka purses her lips in confusion. "Um.. What're you all doing in the middle of the woods, in your swimsuits?"
"You have no idea what we've- Huh!?" She finally takes notice of the blonde girl. "Who's this?"
Mitsuru sighs. "Listen, we've encountered a problem. I'm sorry to interrupt your vacation, but I need you all to go back to the house and prepare for battle."
"That wont be necessary." The entire group nearly screams when Ikutsuki's distinct voice joins them. "We've found what we were looking for."
"What do you mean?"
He walks towards the blonde with a sigh on his lips. "You had me worried. You don't have permission to leave the lab on your own, Aigis."
"...I know."
THIS GOT.. RIDICULOUSLY LONG.
this entire day in game is a very long one but
i dont think i coulda squeezed it all into one chapter without killing myself
anyway i love the operation babe hunt it adds so much character to the boys lmao theyre so dorky
i liked both the femc's vers and the mc's so i mixed the two together.
i hope it was executed ok!
this was a very minato centric chapter; we havent had one of those in a while!
it was because aigis is introduced.
anyway, i hope y'all enjoyed!