I don't own Persona. I own Reiko Setsuka.

Chapter 36
May 16, 2011

Tatsuhime Shrine

"So what's up?" Charles said to Yu. Yu had wanted to talk to Charles at the Shrine.

They had been chased away from Tatsumi Textiles by Kanji. The First-year who had a violent reputation. Charles knew there was more to him than just that, but the others had trouble seeing it. Charles had wanted to just ask Kanji, but they all went to the textile shop and found there was a connection between the shop and Yamano Mayumi's murder.

Then they noticed Kanji speaking to a young boy. Charles knew it really wasn't a boy, but rather a girl. Shirogane Naoto, to be precise. The others hadn't heard of her or "him" yet it seemed, so Charles felt secure in not revealing Naoto's true gender. He had promised himself he wouldn't reveal it because she had built her reputation for solving cases as a boy genius. Revealing it would humiliate her because the Shirogane family consulted with the police a lot and due to rampant sexism. Naoto would be humiliated, rather than praised.

Sure…He felt bad not telling his other friends. But he did not want to because…he was afraid Naoto would…

Plus, he didn't think his friends would believe him anyway.

Kanji then chased them off, because Naoto said Kanji was found to be intriguing and Kanji thought that was a more than general interest.

Still after making plans for the next day, Yu still had a reason to see Charles.

"Charles…I don't know how to explain this, but I hope someday you can forgive me for what I'm about to tell you. It's…about Yukiko."

Charles just stared. Then he smiled. "Ohhh, sooo you can't fight it anymore. You've got a crush for her too, and now you want to tell me I have no chance and you'll be dating her."

"What! NO! I'm not going to get in your way."

"But you do like her."

"As a friend."

"Then I don't understand."

Yu sighed, "I thought I could deal with this, since you were so happy, it stopped bothering me for a while. But now. After what you told me… I can't keep it from you, you deserve to know."

"Know what?" Charles asked, smile no longer playful, but still there.

Yu sighed again, "This is not my first time in Inaba."

"I figured that. I figured when Ryo-san said he changed your diapers, he did it sown here, rather than go up to wherever you and your parents were living. They would use Inaba as a Maternity sabbatical."

"No, Charles. THIS is NOT my FIRST TIME in Inaba."

"What…What do you mean?" Charles's smile dropped.

"When I came to Inaba…the first time. I was pissed at my parents. After 2 years, I was being uprooted again. Add to that, I was going to have a pain-in-the-ass fish-out-of-water roommate…"

"Well, I remember you weren't in a good mood."

"That's what YOU remember. The first time…when I found out it was the same guy I shared a train car with... It made me even moodier.

"I'm sorry I've been bad company," Charles said, smiling again.

"You're not getting it. I was a total ass with you. I hated your guts. Just because you were conveniently there!"

"What… B-But you've never been that…" And then it started to dawn on him what Yu was trying to say.

"Are you getting it now?" Yu asked. Not in a snide or sarcastic manner, but rather an earnest manner. As if he felt he couldn't proceed until Charles was getting what he was saying.

"Yu…you better not be saying what I think you're saying… I can believe parallel dimensions. I've got my head almost wrapped around Shadows and Personas…No offense, Rei. I can even accept a talking-bear thing. But that. What you're saying is not possible. It's not."

"Charles, please. You have to accept this! I treated you like dirt. You always kept being nice to me even though I was hurting you. Every time you talked about Yukiko, I told you to shut up. I was more interested in being friends with Yosuke and Chie. I didn't want you around…"

"B-Because I was A-American?!" Tears started welling up in Charles's eyes He's finally starting to accept.

"No, just because you were my roommate. I WANTED a whipping boy, just so I could feel better about myself. Because I thought I was in Inaba because I pissed my parents off."

"Yu. You've been a good friend. You just…You just lost oxygen in your brain because you suddenly ran from Kanji. It makes sense. Just breathe a few times."

"I'm in full control of my faculties, Chuck. No. I wanted to make you suffer. Because I wanted you to feel what I felt."

"'It…It feels awful'" Charles said quoting Chie's feelings on that topic a month before.

"What?"

"Something Chie and I talked about. But you haven't explained about Yukiko."

"This is the part that is truly going to hurt. You two still got kidnapped, and then you escaped. But I didn't care about your "confession" whatever it was at the time. I just felt the need to rescue Yukiko so you'd shut up about her being missing. In fact… If I had had my way and you hadn't shown up…I probably wouldn't have shed a tear if you died."

"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!"

"And then Uncle asked you to be Jiminy Cricket…I wasn't sanguine about it as I am now. I punished you by saying you couldn't help rescue Yukiko. Even though you had impressed me the day before with Chie's Shadow Battle… I felt you betrayed me. You had pleaded, 'PLEASE DON'T LET HER DIE JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE PISSED WITH ME!'

"But I didn't care and I left you behind. It was the greatest mistake I made. Yukiko was rescued… but then, without you there for a confrontation with your Shadow… The Contrarian King showed up. We weren't knocked unconscious as there had been no confrontation with your Shadow. But she told us to get away, she would hold off the Shadows, as a lot had gathered."

"We went back to Junes but then after a few minutes, went back in. We reached Yukiko's Castle. She wasn't dead, we knew that much because as you know we can sense each other's Personas in the TV. But the problem was… She was somewhere back down on the fifth floor. Which had somehow become a big maze. You would go down a corridor, then be transported somewhere else on the floor."

"We decided we were too tired. Plus it wasn't even positive that storm was going to stay on the same path. We went home and planned to return the next day."

"I…for some reason…decided to reassure you. I don't know why I did. But I started to feel awful about how I treated you."

"What…What happened next?" Charles asked.

"It was nearing midnight… You were praying, like you did this time. Then the fog came"

"A wave of dizziness came over me. Then I heard sirens."

"Then Yosuke called."

With tears streaming down Yu's cheeks, he said, "Yosuke told me they found a body. It was Yukiko's."

"W-what?!"

"I fell to my knees, but I didn't get to wallow in defeat for long…"

"Because I heard… and…I'm betting the reason why you're telling me this… why you feel the need to unburden yourself… is because…I didn't take it well," Charles said numbly.

"No, you…didn't. You attacked me. You screamed at me and pounded my chest," Yu said.

"What…did I say?"

You said, "SHE'S DEAD! YOU KILLED HER! YOU SHOULD HAVE LET ME HELP! I HATE YOU, NARUKAMI, I FUCKING HATE YOU! WHAT DID I DO TO YOU?! I LOVED HER! YOU TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME! YOU BASTARD! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"

"So, you were pissed at your parents…and you took it out on me. You treated me like shit. You punished me because I agreed to keep Yu out of trouble… and because I wasn't there in Mayonaka… You left Yukiko there… and therefore, Yu let her die," Charles said in summation

Charles then stiffened. His face was unreadable.

"Charles... Charles? Are you all right?" Yu was concerned. He didn't want to lose Charles as a friend…But he didn't want Charles to harm himself, either.

"Then how did you… 'come back'?" Charles asked in a hollow, emotionless voice.

"There's a place… I go to, that borders on dream and reality. I… had passed out after you collapsed from crying. The dizziness returned. I ended up…in that place. I was offered and therefore agreed to go back in time a week. As it appears that the journey that…room was taking depended on anyone and everyone being rescued from Mayonaka, as well as solving the mystery/."

"And so when I met you this time…?"

"I was annoyed at first because I was disoriented. They had warned me that I would not remember everything immediately. Indeed, I didn't until I shook that Gas Attendant's hand. But I guess it was subconscious at first, because…I was brusque…but I was much nicer to you than I was the first time."

It started to rain.

Charles just looked straight ahead, his eyes stony. He wasn't looking at Yu. Wasn't really looking at anything. But Yu noticed Charles was clenching his right fist. And the fist was shaking.

"Charles, please…say something. Anything. Or you can hit me. I deserve it. I was a bad friend. Hell, we weren't really friends. You were trying, but I wasn't. Please, Chuck?"

Charles just walked past Yu, his shoulder hitting Yu's.

"I'll be home late. I have to think things over."

"But it's raining."

"I'll be at Aiya's… Tell them not to worry about dinner… I'm having the Mega Beef Bowl. Maybe I'll win."

"But Charles, I don't think you should be alone right now…"

"I disagree."

Yu looked at his friend as he walked off. Yu felt terrible. But Charles was right. Self-forgiveness can be such a bitch. And now Yu was worried he had lost the one friend he had tried so hard this time to keep.

He looked at his Persona card. The link with the World Arcana was still active…so Charles must not hate Yu…

Right?

Amagi Inn

Minako had enjoyed the hot springs. She felt relaxed for once. She had devised a workable plan to follow the others the next day as they no doubt had concluded as she had the next victim would be Tatsumi Kanji."

She was in her room, wearing the Yukata and she had decided to dry her hair with a towel.

"I thought your hair was longer." She turned around. There was Shinjiro.

"Chef Aragaki…to what do I owe the pleasure?" She said coldly.

"Tch. Figures. I come to apologize and you're not going to give me a chance."

"Apologize for what?" Minako asked.

"For dumpin' all my shit on you again, when obviously you already were carrying way too much shit."

"Well, no…I don't accept your apology because I need to apologize to YOU. I shouldn't have taken for granted that you would have been OK with Aki and I being together. I…I just wanted the pain to stop."

"Look, Itkutski was a bastard. Fact is, though, everybody, even I, thought he was a good guy with bad jokes. It's too bad I was in that coma, because I swear, if he had hurt you in any way other than emotional…. Aki and Mitsuru would have had to hold me back."

"But that doesn't excuse the fact that, Yes, I took what grew between you and Aki badly…"

"But I took your breakup with him even worse."

"Why? He didn't…" Minako asked.

"He moved on for a second time, and unfortunately…It seemed more permanent with Takeba, than it did with you. That's why it hurt. Because even though I was mad…you were right, I would have…very deep down…for Aki to have taken care of you."

"Training sessions will do that to you," Minako said dryly

"Look, I still love you…at least in a special place in my heart…but I moved on, too."

"We all have, Shinji. But…If there were a chance…" Minako trailed off

"Too many comas have ruined things. You're better off with that Narukami kid. He's got Aki's hair color, but not Aki's need to overexert himself," he said ruefully

"I would like to think it was more than hair color that attracted me to you or Aki," She said fondly.

"Look, I gotta get going. I just wanted to say I'm sorry and that's it. But I'd like us to still be friends,"

"Shinji, nothing's ever going to change with us. We'll always be friends."

"So, have you done it yet with the kid?" Shinji smirked lasciviously.

"Dammit, Shinji, I'm not LOO-"

"OHHH SHITTTT, MINA! YOUR HAND!" Shinji said.

"What are you…?" Then she turned around.

Her left hand was in the TV. She had angrily waved her hand back and it ended up in the TV.

"Shinji!" She said. Her red eyes were filled with fear.

"Can you get it out?"

"Yes, I can!" She pulled her hand out.

"What the hell was that?"

"I think, that's what their secret is, Shinji. What they've been hiding. There's a Shadow Realm in there."

"But how…?"

"Only a person with a Persona can touch it, because I saw little kids smack the TV screens at Junes, their hands didn't go through." Minako was picking up her Cell phone from her uniform jacket pocket.

"But… Ohhh, you've worked out."

"SHINJI! STOP LOOKING AT MY ASS!"

"Tch. Sorry," He smirked.

"Old habits die hard, eh? Look, just put your hand in there."

Shinji did as he was told. Then he looked in, then pulled his head and hand back out. "Seems spacious. I wonder what the rent is?"

"Somehow, Shinji…I get the feeling that joke's been used," Minako said tiredly.

"So are we going to go in there?" Shinji reasonably asked.

"Are you shitting me?! Shinji…We don't know how similar it is to Tartarus and how different. All we know is that you need a Persona to get in… C'mon Mitsuru, why aren't you answering?"

"Because our flight just got in." Kirijo Mitsuru said

"Suru-chan?!" Minako said with surprise. Then she hugged Mitsuru. "How long…?"

"Will we be here? I'm afraid, only a couple of days, so I'm afraid you are still on point for this. But I felt you needed a bit of a break."

"That won't be possible for tomorrow. After school, I think they may be intercepting Tatsumi Kanji. I wanted to keep surveillance on him and them."

"Waldo is our primary interest, but I would have to say downgrade the priority on him, and upgrade on Tatsumi. But the others would like to see you right now."

"Actually, Mitsuru, as much as I hate to interrupt that or you two…as you do make a cute couple…" Both women blushed. "You're going to want to touch the TV."

Mitsuru frowned. Shinjiro was not opposed to Mitsuru and Minako's…"friendship" but she still felt like he was up to something.

"Very well," She said. And then saw the results.

"Merde!" was her response.

Dojima Residence

"Welcome Home, Big Bro!" Nanako said.

Yu walked in. Dojima must have been out.

"Is Charles home yet?"

"Uh-huh. Big Bro Charles said he wanted to speak to you when you got home."

"Nanako…How did he sound?"

"Like Daddy normally talks."

"Oh."

"Big Bro Yu, did you and Big Bro Charles get into a fight."

"No, Nana-chan. But I apologized for something I did wrong to him without him knowing it and I think I made him feel bad."

"What did you do?"

"I was supposed to do him a favor and I let him down and then I…was scared to tell him."

"He'll forgive you," Nanako said with a smile.

"I hope so, Nana-chan."

Yu went upstairs. He inhaled deeply at the door, and then exhaled deeply.

When he opened the door it was as he expected.

Charles looking at him.

Charles rushing toward him.

What he did not expect was…

Charles hugging him and crying.

"Domo Arigato, Narukami Yu, Domo Arigato!"

"Charles…?"

"You helped me save Yukiko this time. You were there when I needed you. You let me help. You're a true friend. She's alive because of you. Domo Arigato!"

Yu put his arm around Charles's back to give support.

When he did he saw blue and Margaret's voice was heard.

You have increased your bond with the World Arcana to the Second Level. Charles Waldo will now take a mortal blow for you in battle. Continue forth on your Journey, O Chosen One.

"Domo Arigato! Domo Arigato!" was all Charles said through his tears until he had exhausted himself and sleep claimed him.

And Yu held him that whole time, not saying anything for a time until Charles had fallen asleep…

"You're welcome… my friend."