A/N: Special Thanks to DualSelf for reviewing this Chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Persona. I own Charles Waldo and Reiko Setsuka.

Chapter 25
"Love and Basketball"
April 26/29, 2011

April 26, 2011

Yasogami High Gym

Basketball practice was proceeding well, until Kou, having come back from Mr. Kondo's office, said, "Guys, listen up! I've put our team down for a practice game this weekend."

Yu and Charles didn't verbally respond like the other four players did. "OHHH!"

Kou wasn't having any of it, though. "C'mon! We haven't something like this for a while so let's go out there and kick some ass."

"Sure," the whiners said in resigned unison.

"Yo, you gotta second?" Yosuke asked, coming in the gym.

"Oh, Yosuke," Kou said before he noticed Yosuke had a companion, and started blushing.

"What are you two doing here?" Yu asked.

"Shit! I completely forgot," Charles said, facepalming at himself. While Charles didn't know the details of Yosuke's plan, he knew this wasn't a good situation.

"You see I've been talking to Chie here, and she said she wants to become Team Manager."

This was a surprise to both Chie and Kou.

"What?" Chie said.

"Sure, that'd be great," Kou said to Ai's surprise.

"Wait, is that why you dragged me here?" Chie said.

"If you want to beat Ebihara, you've gotta level the playing field," Yosuke said out of the side of his mouth.

"What?" Chie asked.

"Life sure is tough for a girl in love." Charles facepalmed again.

"I so do not get you." Chie was looking at Yosuke with a "what did you get me into?" look.

"Oh man, this is great. We could use some help for the upcoming game," Kou said excitedly.

Making the best of it, Chie said. "Well, I could help out for just one game." Then she looked over Kou's shoulder.

Ai was growling with just her throat, staring daggers at Chie.

How did we get into this? Kou likes Chie. Ai likes Kou, but is dating Yu so Kou or someone else will notice her. Chie doesn't like this, so Yosuke thinks Chie likes Yu. But the problem is is that Chie actually likes Yosuke, and has for years, and Yosuke's denser than even I'm accused of. The ONLY thing that makes sense is that I like Yukiko. Even though admitting my like of Yukiko to Kou did sort of snowball into this quagmire, Charles thought. Then he thought, Did everybody get that?

"I think I'm getting the stink eye," Chie said, referring to the acid look she was getting from AI.

"Whoa, it's a knockdown, drag-out battle for love."

Charles facepalmed again and said quietly through gritted teeth, "Yosuke, that light bulb you had above your head on Saturday was on AC, but the rest of your brain is on DC."

"What are you trying to do?" Yu asked Yosuke, slightly exasperated.

After practice was over, Charles, Yu, and Kou were changing into their uniforms. "Hey, uh, Narukami?" Kou asked.

"Yes," Yu replied.

"Listen, after this next game, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to quit the team."

"Hmm, what for?" Then Yu looked at Charles.

Charles's eyes informed Yu Charles knew the reason, but then the way they pointed towards Kou, indicated that this was Kou's right to explain.

"My grandmother never really approved of the whole basketball thing. I was adopted into a big family and I was the first in line to run things until my sister was born. Now, that I don't have to be the first in line, I could play basketball, but then I realized what was the point? I got what I wanted, but I felt my parents didn't care for me as much now that my sister is the true heir."

"Ahh." Yu said, tentatively. "I've only told this to Nagase and Charles, but I figure I could trust you with this. This last game though, I really wanna win it. Go out with my head held high, you know? So, can I count on you?"

"Sure," Yu said with a smile.

"Awesome, Thanks for helping me out. And if we win…I'm gonna tell Chie how I really feel about her."

Yu looked stunned and uncomfortable. Because of the Ai thing.

April 29, 2011

Yasogami High Gym

Fortunately, no one showed up on the Midnight Channel on either of the two nights previous when it rained. This was bad, because there was a rain/fog combo that night, and Charles would have hated to go out after curfew, because Senpai had died after an hour of fighting her Shadow. The Medical Examiner had confirmed it. This means they would have a tighter deadline than Yukiko's if someone showed up.

However, they did check with Teddie and no one had been thrown in there. No one had even been on the news, which Charles had started to think that was another key factor. Better than "they were all female" theory. But the fact that despite appearing on TV and being thrown in, his escape may have hinted at some lack of worthiness compared to Yukiko and the other two women. Maybe the next victim will be a girl, at that. Minako? No, she looks like can take care of herself. She's pretty much had to. She and her brother.

Minako wasn't at the game. She wished Charles luck, but she stated she had to do other things. She wasn't avoiding Charles, but it seemed she was just not interested and was being polite.

Yukiko, however, was there. She wanted to cheer Charles on.

Which was impossible, because he was riding the pine.

Kou had decided that the strategy was going to be lull the other team into a false sense of security and have Charles come out as a sixth man. This would cause confusion as the other team would not be expecting a good player to be coming off the bench.

"Hey, I just came to root for you guys, how did I get roped into playing?" Yosuke asked.

"We didn't have enough players, bro, some were no shows," Kou said.

"It happens all the time. Just do your best." Daisuke said.

Yeah, no shows and a little gnome named Chuck. Charles had been annoyed that Yosuke had unknowingly escalated things, so when Kou suggested Charles come off the bench, Charles suggested Yosuke as a walk-on starter.

Speaking of escalations, Yukiko was allowed to be with Chie as an assistant, but Ai for some reason was not happy with either of them, though her ire was more focused on Chie, who was working the video camera. "I don't care if you're here for one game, you're not welcome."

"Why do you care what happens? I hear you hardly show up for practice, anyway." Chie said, which angered Ai.

From the court, while everybody who was a starter was warming up, Yosuke said, "It's hard being a ladies' man, right, Narukami?"

Yu just said, "What?" while in the background Ai and Chie were arguing.

The referee whistled for attention. Before the tip-off the starters on both sides said. "LET'S PLAY FAIR!"

The ball was thrown in the air. Kou lost the tip and it was up to Yu to play defense, planning to take a charge and draw an offensive foul against the other player. However, a pass wide right ended that and the other team was up 2-0. Kou had managed to get a screen from Yu, and was able to pass it to Daisuke…who missed the easy layup. Which their opponent capitalized into a 3-point shot.

The next three possessions ended up going against Yasogami as well as some mistakes made by Yasogami caused the other team to capitalize on it.

"DAMN!" Charles said. This was not going well. They were now down 11-2 and Yosuke just lost the ball doing a standing crossover dribble.

"Umm, De-fense?" Yukiko said, as a way to (hopefully) boost team morale. Daisuke was planning a no look pass to Kou when, someone on the other team intercepted it.

"Just seeing you up close pisses me off even more," Ai said. She and Chie were mainly working off of strategy clipboards. Yukiko was taking down general notes on how play was going and put in suggestions, if one came to her. "I can't believe I lost to a frumpy dog like you."

"What are you talking about?" Chie asked.

"Don't act like you don't know. I'm going through hell because of you!" Ai said.

Charles was finally allowed to enter the game. Unfortunately, it was the other team up 42-19. Late in the second period. Nakamura, the power forward, got himself hurt. Not too badly after this game, but enough to take him out and have Charles in the second half.

The strategy didn't completely work, as Charles missed a couple of easy key shots that would have put them within striking distance. Yu missed intercepting a pass afterward. Still, Charles's presence was helping a bit.

However, in the second half, it was all Kou. He was making his shots. Charles had pulled in a 3-pointer that got them to being a challenge on a 62-48 tilt. They were still losing, but at least at this rate the loss would be respectful. All we need is to get less than 7 points to give us a respectful deficit, Charles thought.

"Well as long as we're sharing I've got something to tell you," Chie said in the fourth quarter. They had stayed in bitter silence until that point. Both only talking to Yukiko. Ai was annoyed at Yukiko for something, but at least she talked to her and grudgingly admitted that Yukiko had good suggestions. "I've seen the way you treat Narukami, pushing him around like that, and I think it's wrong."

Ai reacted to that, and with bemusement said, "No way, you've got the hots for Narukami."

"He's my friend!" Chie responded.

Ai got angry at that. "You're loved and you've got friends to boot." Then Ai stood up and said, "YOU'VE GOT EVERYTHING!" And then, she slapped Chie across the face, saying, and "YOU BITCH!" as she did so.

Chie became angry. "What the hell?! All I was saying is if you're going to be Narukami's girlfriend you should treat him better." Then Chie slapped Ai back, which resulted in Ai slapping Chie again, which resulted in… well, you get the picture, they're trading slaps.

"Umm, girls, is this supposed to be a way to boost team spirit, or is it to teach a lesson on sportsmanship?" Yukiko asked.

"Shut up!" Ai said, "You're also the reason why I'm going through hell."

Then she slapped Yukiko.

"Don't slap her," Chie said, slapping Ai.

Yukiko looked at Ai with rage. "Why did you do that for, you pompous ass BITCH?!" Yukiko asked.

Chie was stunned. Yukiko hardly ever used profanity, hardly ever got mad. But there was one thing that always made Yukiko mad. One rule one needed to live by if they wanted to survive.

Don't ever bitch slap Yukiko in the face. Ever. Period.

Yukiko was a very nice girl, but she, like every other person, had a button when pressed, would turn them angry in an instant.

"You mean he hasn't..?" Ai said with horrified sadness on her face. She didn't finish what she was saying. Yukiko slapped her, not even listening for an explanation. "Look, I'm sorry. I made a mistake with you, Amagi," Ai said with complete contrition.

"You sure did," Yukiko growled as she slapped Ai again.

Ai got angry and slapped Yukiko.

"Hey!" Chie said, slapping Ai.

"Will you stop that? Amagi can fight her own battles," Ai said, slapping Chie. Then Ai got slapped by both girls. Then, Ai and Chie engaged in hair and face pulling while Yukiko was trying to pull Ai off of Chie.

Yosuke was watching this and with amusement, said, "Ah, to be young and in love." Yu stared at the fight.

"ONE MINUTE LEFT!" Kou said with an intensity he hadn't felt early on in the game. He was looking at the clock. 51 seconds left. A late run by the other team put Yasogami down 68-50.

"HEY!" Yu said, "Knock it off. This might be Ichijo's last game. Sit down and watch him." The three girls stopped and looked at the court.

Kou had received a pass from Charles, and started running down the court. There were only seconds left.

Kou had jumped up to fire that final shot at the buzzer.

His aim was true.

The shot fell in.

But the game was over.

The Final Score was 68-52.

Kou for his part was breathing hard and sweating, but in some way…

He had enjoyed the game.

Not that it was visible to Ai. She looked sadly at Kou.

Charles had not seen or heard any of the fighting, but saw 3 girls with very red faces. Both from embarrassment and from being slapped. "What happened?" None of the girls looked at anything other than their shoes. "You girls aren't hurt are you?" Still no response.

"Do you know what they say about spring and a young man's fancy, Narukami?" Yosuke asked.

Charles replied with an impatient look, "Yosuke…Not now, please."

Chinese Diner Aiya

"WE DID OUR BEST!" Everybody said, holding up their glass of tea. Then they all drank from their glasses.

Yu, Ai, Kou, and Daisuke were sitting at a table, while Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko and Charles sat on booth seats.

"One beef over rice," Nakamura Aika said. She had blue hair and black eyes and was wearing a waitress outfit with wedge sandals.

"That'd be me," Kou said.

"Hey, wait a sec, does your family run this place, Aika? Could we have been classmates this whole time and I didn't even know this?" Yosuke asked.

"Yeah, guess so," Aika said calmly.

Yukiko started to snicker at that.

"Man, I'm always starving after a game." Kou then began to dig in.

"Ichijo, I'm sorry bro," Daisuke said. Kou looked confused.

Yu had looked downcast as well. "I let you down, and it was your last game, too."

"Oh, right, I've changed my mind about that," Kou said. Everybody looked shocked. "I realized during that game, I loved playing basketball. I hate losing and so I refuse to let it end like this. We were only able to compete because you and Charles agreed to be on the team. I totally owe you guys one. Thanks Narukami, Charles."

"Sure, but I didn't do that much," Charles said.

"And someday when our team actually wins a game, I'll tell Chie how I really feel about her," Kou whispered so only Yu could hear him. "So are you two going to stick with the team and help us win some games?"

"Sure," Yu said.

"Why not?" Charles said with a smile.

Chie said, "Well, I'd love to stick around but it seems I don't get along well with a certain someone. And I'm sure Yukiko feels the same way."

Yukiko just sweetly said, "You don't have to speak for me, Chie. I accept your apology, Ebihara-san, but I figure if we were to fight again…I'd take you down in one strike." And this last was in no way sweet.

"Yuki, isn't that a little much?" Charles whispered.

"No," She replied with the blank look again. Charles sweatdropped.

Ai's reaction to the two girls was simply a sardonic smile.

"You're bailing?" Kou asked.

"So Ichijo, you mind I stick around with the basketball team?" Ai asked. "Of course not." Ai blushed at this. Yu just smiled.

After dinner it had stopped raining. They were walking and Kou said, "Did you see that last shot I made? You saw it, right? You saw how awesome it was?"

"Oh, yeah," Daisuke said, feigning politeness.

Charles was walking with Yukiko. Ai was up ahead with Yu, talking about something. "Are you OK?" Charles asked Yukiko in English.

She shook her head. "No. I got angry. I rarely get that angry. I used profanity."

He looked at her intently. "That's a big deal with you, isn't it?"

"Mom taught me a lady never uses profanity when there are other words that could be used for the same meaning."

"Yuki, if you think I think you're less of a lady after hearing that, Don't. Just, please don't. You're human. You make human mistakes."

"What if I were making a mistake right now? What If I wanted to tell someone something very much, but it would leave things awkward, unless I find the right way to say it?"

"Yukiko…" Charles said.

"Yes, Chuck?" Her heart suddenly feeling anticipation.

"You'll never have to worry about that because you'll always find the right thing to say."

Yukiko just looked straight ahead in order to hide her disappointment. This "friends" thing is already difficult. I'm already starting to waver. No, I said I would be his friend and I will.

Loving him just won't make it easier though, she thought.

"Are we still going to hang out after school?" Charles asked in Japanese.

"Won't there be practice?" she asked.

"Nahh, Kondo-sensei is giving us the day off," he said.

She smiled. "All right, then. Meet me at the bulletin board on the first floor after school."

"It's a date," he said.

A date. He calls it that, but it's not how I want him to mean it, she thought.

A date. Shit. I called it that, didn't I? I hope I didn't give her the wrong impression… he thought.

Dojima Residence

"Is Ryo-san in bed yet?" Charles asked, his voice a whisper.

"Yes, he is" Yu said.

"You know, Yu he's going to be really angry if he catches us sneaking out like this," Charles said.

The boys were dressed in their school uniforms, ready to go into the Midnight Channel from the downstairs TV, if need be, It was already almost midnight.

"We don't have time to go to Junes. If we see a person on there and they're broadcasting themselves, then we have 58 minutes from when we get in to find them and rescue them," Yu said.

Charles looked troubled. "Yes, but the charging the hill approach. Especially since we don't know what hill we're going to find, much less land at the same place. It varies from TV to TV, Ted said."

"That's why we told him. And that's why Yosuke got us flare guns."

"You're just lucky I was able to teach you guys." Charles paused. "Yu, we're going to need more training of our Personas."

"I don't dispute that, but let's worry about tonight first."

"So, what did Ai say to you?" Charles asked.

Yu thought about it for a moment. "She thanked me for my help, but said she would be fine on her own."

"So no more suicide?"

"No more suicide?"

Charles's shoulders relaxed. "Good, because if we fail tonight…"

"We won't," Yu said confidently.

Charles continued as if Yu had not spoken. "…I didn't want her death on my conscience."

Yu then looked odd at him. "What?" Charles asked.

"Well, if we're discussing things we don't want on our conscience if we die tonight… I wasn't exactly truthful about how I got into this mess with Ai, and how you were a part of it."

Charles was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well… are you sure you want to hear this? We've got only a minute."

Charles waved dismissively at Yu's stalling. "Yu've been a man of few words. Time's fine."

Yu sighed. "All right…"

April 21, 2011

Yasogami High

"Wait up…" Yu said to Ai. She had just walked out of the gym after locker room talk had been made about her. "You ok?" He asked.

"They're always like that, I'm fine. It's no big deal. To be honest, I think it's awesome." She turned around and smiled with a blush. "I love it! I find it flattering! You see I've totally got the hots for…"

Yu started to blush, was she actually going to say it?

"Waldo…he's so cool."

"He sure is," Yu said in his trademark deadpan, hiding his disappointment well.

April 30, 2011

Dojima Residence

Midnight.

The TV came on, but it was all static.

However, Charles wasn't focused on the fact that there was no possible suicide mission.

"Wait? WHAT?!"

A/N: I'll explain everything when I get back. Also, I guess it's safe to say... Minako was actually the Existing Character with the OC name and Background. However, When I had written the character in my rough draft... It was only good for a few jokes. Basically, she and Minato would have been secretly separated after the accident. He would have experienced P3 FES. She would have been adopted in Boston and developed an attitude problem. Nice idea, to be sure, but my execution was very short-term. I hope you like Minako as she was meant to be.