This Chapter contains multiple references to sex... Reader Discretion is Advised.
I don't own Persona. I own Reiko Setsuka.
Chapter 53
May 28/29, 2011
May 28, 2011
"YOU RUINED MY MAGAZINE?!"
Junes Food Court
Charles had come clean about the magazine that had been under Yu's bed.
Though the voice who was upset was not Yu's…
…It was Yosuke's.
Charles had actually privately told Yu when he got home from hanging with Yosuke, which was why Yukiko had brought the homework.
Yu had been a little angered…but was more dismayed…
Because that magazine was a loaner from Yosuke.
Yosuke had visited Yu and Charles's room while Charles had been out with Yukiko at the store, after Yu had visited Minako in the hospital. To Yu's embarrassment, Yosuke was dismayed that not only did Yu not bring a girl to his room yet…
…but also Yu just had those two manga books under his bed.
"NO! NO! NO, Partner! You don't just keep Manga like that under the bed if you want people to think you're just like any other teenager… You GOTTA have a MAGAZINE!" Yosuke had said to Yu.
Now Charles was feeling miserable because he had ruined a magazine of Yosuke's.
One COULD argue that Yosuke shouldn't even HAVE such a magazine, and might even win. But that would be missing the point of Yosuke's feelings.
Charles ruined property that belonged to Yosuke.
"I'm sorry, Yosuke… if I had known you lent it to Yu, I wouldn't have looked."
"But it was okay to look at my manga?" Yu said with a raised eyebrow.
"You looked at my sex advice books. And don't lie. I know you did because they were piled neater than when I left them…Even my clothes covering them were piled neater."
Yu actually blushed because he had been caught by his organizational skills.
"Whoa! Whoa! WHOA! You have sex advice books, Chuck…. With PICTURES?! As in PHOTOGRAPHS!?
It was Charles's turn to blush…he had had them for 2 years after buying them with a fake id (Charles in some of his darkest moments played a little fast and loose with the law by getting a fake id. Problem was he didn't even LOOK 18 when he did that, but he had explained that his near-death experience also left him looking much younger than he was.)
(Which was total bullshit.)
"Don't get your hopes up, Yosuke. I read them and the photos aren't that explicit," Yu said.
"Which is why I bought those books. Because I DIDN'T want explicit."
"So what happened to the magazine?" Yosuke said, having calmed down.
Charles sighed and explained, with much embarrassment and blushing what happened the previous day, including the image of Yukiko tormenting him. He had even mentioned how it had started…with his 'confession' to Moron, who by the way, seemed to treat Charles with some restraint in class.
When Charles finished, he took a drink of the soda he bought for himself. He did however buy some for the other two as it had been his fault for ruining the magazine. Yosuke had just looked at Charles and said nothing…
"So…you've never done it?!"
"Yosuke, did you NEVER pay attention to how much of a loser I am?! Rejected multiple times by girls? Did you NOT hear me say that at any of the MULTIPLE times the subject came up?
"That was for dates…I thought you had had a random hookup and just didn't want to talk about it."
"That is the most…sensible assumption you've had about me. But it fails for the fact that my first kiss…EVER…was with Yukiko. I mean you had already lost it by the time you had relations with Chie in that storeroom at the hospital."
Yosuke looked down and muttered something.
Yu apparently was able to hear every word, though…as he was horrified.
Charles apparently didn't hear, but decided not to antagonize Yosuke by saying instead of, "What was that?", "Please speak up," or "I didn't hear you," he said…
"Yosuke, what's wrong?"
"I said, 'I lied to Chie, She WAS my first.'"
"WHAT!" Charles gasped.
"There WAS a girl in Tokyo who was bored and wanted me to take her virginity…problem was when the moment came after we had been…preparing…she had exhausted herself and fell asleep. She always said she did it with me so she wouldn't be embarrassed and I backed her up, because it wasn't a secret that she and I were going to do it."
"That must have felt awful…"
"Actually it was a relief because after a few days passed, I realized, I WAS still in love with Chie, and I wanted her to be my first…but when I found out that she had slept with Daitaka, and worse, he was bragging how he used her…I decided she didn't need to know I was a virgin…I hated lying to her when she asked me in that storeroom…but I loved her too much to make her feel miserable that she was more experienced than I was, because that was her whole reason in asking me."
Yosuke looked even more downcast. "Now she's mad at me for inadvertently saying 'Saki' while we were doing it. I had no idea. None! And no…she's probably going to dump me."
"If I were going to dump you, Yosuke, I would have done it back in the storeroom when I realized you were trying to act cool."
"!" Yosuke said.
"I knew you were lying because how could a guy keep on loving me…but lose it to some random girl… That's when I realized….you WERE trying to spare my feelings AND maintain your dignity…but I realized I still loved you after that." Chie had shown up to Junes.
"Chie, please believe me…" Yosuke started.
"I DO. That's what hurts so much about this situation with Senpai's name being uttered. The irony that you WEREN'T trying to hurt me…it just happened. Chuck was right… She is still in your heart in a place I can't touch…but I don't want to touch there…I just want to touch the rest of your heart…uhhh, figuratively speaking."
Chie and Yosuke hugged. "I love you, you doofus."
"I love you, too…Chie-chan." Yosuke had wisely decided not to use an insult…even though it would have been considered teasing.
"And you, Waldo-san… sex advice books and yet you're still looking at a dirty magazine!"
"Don't forget my manga!" Yu chimed in.
"Why are you lecturing me…instead of Punting me?"
"Because I looked at the same magazine at his house on Wednesday."
"Wait, Yosuke….you lent that to me on Tuesday. How could Chie have read it?"
"Well, uhhh..."
"He has more than one copy," Chie said.
"Chie…why did you say that?!" Yosuke was horrified.
"What? It's not like it's a secret. You keep one out for me to read….one to keep under your bed…and one to actually read."
"So you had two other copies?" Yu said.
"And you gave ME crap because I ruined it with my bloody nose?!"
"Not after I heard what happened."
"But I felt awful because you trusted me with it and made me swear nothing would happen and then Charles's nose bled," Yu said with mild annoyance.
"Uh, guys, I'm sorry, I guess I overreacted."
"You GUESS?!" Both Yu and Charles said.
Yosuke did what any man would do in a situation like this…
…
Run like hell.
Yu and Charles chased after him.
Chie put her feet up on the chair Charles had been sitting on.
She loved Yosuke…but she still needed to teach him a lesson about honesty.
Because it's not fair to put your friends through hell over a magazine if you have more than one copy…
Even though it is fair to pretend you were experienced to spare your girlfriend's feelings.
"Hanamura, just make it easy on yourself! I promise I'll only beat up your torso! Chie doesn't need that!" Charles said.
"You're bluffing, Chuck! I know you went to Basketball club! You gotta be tired!"
"You think so…? Watch as I do a few charging fouls on you!"
Yosuke ran faster.
May 29, 2011
Samegawa Flood Plain
Yukiko had dragged Charles out to the flood plain.
Not that he was TOO resistant. It was just that he was still tired from chasing Yosuke.
Once he and Yu caught Yosuke, all Charles did was just give Yosuke a slap on his wrist.
Yu just smirked. Charles wasn't the cruel type and besides, Yosuke learned his lesson.
She led him to the picnic table where they had their first private conversation, back on April 14th.
Was it back then where our feelings for each first bloomed? Charles wondered.
Once they sat down she handed him the bento box she had been holding.
"Umm… It came out well, so I packed it up. Try it out, please," She said to him.
It LOOKED normal to Charles…
But for some reason, an unusually pungent smell was hanging in the air…
…and it was coming from the box.
Charles had to maintain a straight face…because he was HORRIFIED!
"Yuki, I was wondering, you said it came out well…I assume you tasted it?" He said with a warm smile. Yukiko would NEVER endanger his life.
"No…I wanted to see what you thought of it first…" She said expectantly.
Externally he kept the smile.
Internally…
SHIT!
Charles felt he had no choice.
However, he actually knew that there had been some foods in America that had smelled awful, but ended up tasting quite good…like seven-layer bean dip.
So he decided to try first with the…omelette-looking… thing…
He bit into it and found it was actually sof-
OW! I bit into something hard.
Worse…it tastes… despite logic… as burnt, yet raw as well as this hard bit's smell.
How's this going to look if I'm sick and have to stay home tomorrow… Whatever this foreign matter is, I have to make sure my body DOESN'T reject it.
There were men in the world that had been lauded as strong men. Men of courage and fortitude. Men who could handle anything.
They were nothing compared to Charles Waldo…
Because he had managed to swallow it…
"…You're not about to tell me how delicious that was, are you?" She said sadly.
However…
Swallowing something down and keeping it down is two different things.
As Charles proved when he vomited it back up.
Fortunately he made sure his line of fire was well away from Yukiko.
As in he ran into the grass and vomited…
When he came back she had her head buried in her hands and was crying.
"Yuki, Please listen…I didn't mean to make you cry… Because you TRIED. That's the important thing. It doesn't matter if you didn't taste it and there was something in it that didn't agree with me. You had the courage to stick through making this bento. There's always next time…"
"I-I suppose… Thank You." She was still sniffing.
"Although, please taste-test first… I don't want you to be visited by a London-by-way-of-Scotland chef. His honesty will break your heart."
"I doubt Chef Gordon Ramsay would have interest in me…ha hah ha!" She felt better.
"Hey, Big Bro! What are you and Onee-chan doing?"
"Ah, Nanako-chan… Well, I was just having him try my bento…"
"Ooh, I want some.
American, 16, Kills 6-year-old with toxic bento. Grieving father vows swift and terrible justice. Cousin has no comment.
No way in HELL, am I letting Nanako try this…
Yukiko looked sad again. "I-I'm sorry, but I can't give you any, Nanako-chan. It's not good…"
Nanako wasn't fazed at all. "Oh. If you make a good one, will you let me have some?" She said, still smiling.
"Huh…? S-sure, if you want…" Yukiko said with surprise.
"Yay! I'm rooting for you!" Nanako said.
"Nanako-chan…" Yukiko said, feeling touched. "Thank You. I'll do my best, okay?"
"I need to go now… I'm going to Mai-chan's house. Bye!"
"Be careful." Yukiko said.
Nanako waved at them, they waved back.
"Umm…I'm sorry to drag you around…"Yukiko said.
"I'm having fun…" Charles said genuinely.
"R-Really? I'm glad to hear that…" Yukiko said with complete relief.
"I'm sorry I made you cry…" Charles said.
"Considering the fact I made you sick, I think you get off easy this time."
"Oh, only this time?" He said with a smirk.
"If you're worried about Dad, don't be. I regret him overreacting to what happened with our first kiss."
"Well, it was actually the crying you had done and had hid from me that he took exception to…though he thought I knew."
"No, I think he would be angrier at the fact you were looking at a dirty magazine and were fantasizing about me…" She said.
"Yeah I kind of think he wouldandhowdoyouknowaboutthat?!" Charles said with horror.
Yukiko just smirked.
"Please tell me you did not make this bento bad on purpose and then played with my feelings?"
Her face darkened…"No, it came out that way."
He hung his head down in shame… "Sorry," he said, feeling very small.
"Charles-chan…it's okay…I probably would have asked the same question…"
"So Chie told you…" He said, feeling even smaller.
"Yes…though she didn't tell me my cousin Sakura was the Centerfold. Sakura took Shiro's change in feelings very hard. I had heard she had gotten into adult modeling, but didn't know about it until Dad came home from a business trip the other day and was complaining."
"Look, Yukiko, I didn't…enjoy…that image of you…especially since it was taunting me about how I felt about you.
She looked at him. "Charles-chan…you don't have to feel guilty…you think all I've done is admire your ass? I've had dreams…and fantasies about you."
"Yukiko! People don't say that second thing out loud!" Charles said, stunned.
"Normally…but I said it…because it's perfectly natural for you to have those feelings."
She looked in his eyes. "And I think you've had the same dreams and fantasies too…because I feel someone else's presence."
"I won't deny anything you said…"
"But…I don't think of you in that way…as just a sex object…I see you as a human being…who deserves respect… It's like you said the other day…You don't just want a hot stud and I don't want a girl who's loose. I care so much about you being treated the right way. Especially after what happened to Chie and Siobhan… Two girls, who liked their boyfriends very much…had sex for the first time, and then were tossed aside and cruelly insulted behind their backs."
"No, I would NEVER do that to you or any other girl. NEVER!" He finished.
They sat in silence for a while…
"Only about a year left, huh?"
Charles just nodded.
"I want to be able to do anything by myself…when it's time to leave the Inn."
"And I believe you will…" Charles replied.
Even though you leaving Inaba will break my heart. Because once that happens…I'll never see you again.
And maybe…It's better you and I don't have sex. Ever.
Because if I did…would I just be using you?
…
I don't have an answer.
