A.N. (3/16/21) - Some slice-of-life stuff.
Persona (51) - Mixer Event
Both of them enjoyed the festival for a few hours before Negi came up to them and asked if Takuto wanted to join them in exploring the labyrinths.
Takuto seemed surprised by that, but Nagi had a feeling that was coming. From what he saw yesterday, Takuto might actually be one of the stronger Persona-users amongst them. Not that Nagi actually knew how powerful each person was, but that was his impression from Rise's reaction.
"Not today though," Negi reassured him. "But if you're up to it, we can know to bring you along tomorrow when we're fighting."
"I-I'll think about it," Takuto eventually replied. "Speaking of which, where's the next dungeon."
Negi snickered for some reason before beckoning them to follow him.
The three of them made their way to where the rest of the Persona-users were, and Nagi saw some of the members of the P4 cast looking away in embarrassment as they got close to them.
Nagi found out why once he saw the sign overhead and tilted his head in confusion. "Group Date Café?"
"It was our class display for the Culture Festival," Yu explained. "It seems that our classroom's been transformed into the next labyrinth."
"What even is a group date supposed to be?" Takuto asked.
"I'm also interested in what a group date is," Rei said.
Yu looked like he was thinking for a moment. "Well, the theme of our display was just to have boys and girls talk with each other in a group."
Nagi blinked at that. "You mean like a mixer?"
That caused the older boy to pause. "...huh, come to think of it. That might actually have been a better way of calling it."
"What's a mixer?" Rei asked curiously.
"Um…" Nagi hesitated. "It's sort of like a group blind date where you meet up with different boys and girls with the intention of getting into a potential relationship with one another."
She seemed interested in that for some reason. Turning to Zen next to her, she tugged at his arm.
"Zen! Zen! I want to do this mixer thing!"
He nodded and turned to Negi for some reason. "Then I'll leave it to you to organize everything."
"You can count on me," Nagi said brightly, saluting before dashing off to gather more participants.
Takuto turned towards Nagi. "What just happened?"
"I have no idea," he replied back.
}-{
It didn't take long for Negi to somehow gather everyone up and actually involved in this idea. Nagi was just confused at how Negi was able to convince everyone to play along.
"So, how are we going to split this?"
Negi quickly wrote in a small journal in front of him. "We're separating the boys and girls from each group and mixing them up. So the boys from S.E.E.S. are going to be paired with the girls from the Investigation Team and vice versa."
"What about me, Takuto, Zen, and Rei?" Nagi asked.
"I talked with Rei, and she said she was fine with splitting with Zen for this." He chuckled at that. "I'm not too sure she understands what a mixer is supposed to be."
"Well, if it's all in the name of fun, then it should be fine." Nagi peeked over Negi's shoulder and checked the list. "That said, we're going to be a bit uneven for the second group with the P3 boys and P4 girls."
"I'm thinking of having Margaret and Marie join that group."
Nagi gave his older self a strange look. "Are you sure?"
"Well, they didn't say no when I asked." Negi shrugged his shoulders. "And I couldn't find Elizabeth or Theodore, so it all works out in the end. Koromaru's just going to be watching the second group."
The next thing Nagi knew, he found himself pushed aside as Negi shouted over everyone else.
"Alright, people!' He held up the list in his hands before him. "This is how we're gonna do it!"
}-{
They were using an empty classroom at the moment.
Nagi was paired up with the rest of the boys from the Investigation Team. That being Yu, Yosuke, Kanji, Teddie, and Negi. On the girls' side from S.E.E.S. excluding Rei were Kotone, Mitsuru, Yukari, Fuuka, and Aigis.
The twelve of them sat awkwardly around the table.
Nagi was honestly the most uncomfortable with the situation. He noticed that his older self seemed content with letting everyone else speak first, and he didn't know what to say about that. After all, he was technically the youngest person here if you went by appearances. So he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do.
"W-Well," Yosuke began. "I guess this is the official start of our Group Date Café: Round 2."
"So this is a group date," Aigis said.
Rei was bouncing in her seat excitedly. "So? So? So?"
"So… what do we do?" Mitsuru asked.
"I guess we start by asking each other questions," Yu answered. He gave a heavy sigh after saying that. "That's pretty much what we did at the festival."
"We totally bit it," Kanji followed up.
Nagi tried to pick up the conversation. "W-We can play some kind of game instead?"
"I've got just the thing!" Teddie pulled out several pieces of paper and pens in his hand. "Tada!"
"What are those for?" Fuuka asked.
"We're going to play a question game," Teddie answered excitedly. "The rules are, each person writes one question on a piece of paper and puts it into this box I've made for this occasion. Once everyone's done, we each draw a question from the box and answer it. It's that simple!"
"Where'd you get the box?" Yosuke asked with suspicion.
"That sounds interesting," Kotone cheerfully replied. "Let's go with that."
Nagi stared at the piece of paper that was passed into his hand and thought about what to write. Figuring that it was fine as long as he wrote something simple down, all he wrote was How old do you think it's okay to date?
Since he was fourteen, he hoped everyone's answer was somewhat reasonable.
"Alright, I'll start us off!" Kotone reached into the box and pulled out a slip. "Let's see… it says who of us would you want as your boyfriend?"
"Woah," Yosuke exclaimed. "We're getting right to the point already!"
Kotone didn't even hesitate before answering. "Nagi."
"Wait," he looked up in surprise at that. "What? Why me?!"
She gave him a mischievous grin. "You're the youngest, so I can exercise my right of seniority."
"Heh," his older self gave a bark of laughter at that. "She's not wrong. Looks like she got through that question easily."
"An unusual choice," Mitsuru said. "But one that seems to fit your personality."
"Maybe it's because she knows how he'll grow up in the future," Fukka added. "I mean, we've already met two different future versions of Nagi-kun."
"Hm, it's true that Nagi— sorry, I mean Nagisa," Yukari corrected herself. "Is pretty good looking."
Negi scratched the back of his head. "Aw, you're making me blush."
She gave him an unimpressed look. "Too bad he grows up to be such a frivolous person."
"Ouch," he playfully winced at that. "Yuka-tan's still got the sharpest mouth I know."
"I'm next!" Rei grabbed the box from Kotone and reached into it with her hand. "Okay, I'm going to draw one with all my might!"
She pulled out a slip. "Got one! Um… what kind of guy is your type?"
"That's obvious," Yosuke quickly replied.
"No question about it," Kanji said. "It's Zen."
Rei's face instantly turned red. "W-What?! I-I mean, I do like Zen. But l-like…? Waaaahh!"
Her face met the surface of the table.
Yukari sighed out loud. "You boys have no tact."
Nagi felt sorry for her and tried to distract everyone. "I can go next, I guess."
Pulling out a slip of paper, his eyes squinted. "All it says is rank the top three people you think is the most attractive." He looked up hesitantly. "This is the kind of question where there's no right answer to this, isn't it."
Negi snickered. "You're screwed, buddy."
Everyone stared expectantly at him, causing Nagi to begin to sweat.
"Well…" he tried to drag this along. "I mean… if I really had to pick…"
Negi smiled while he stared at him mischievously. "Yes?"
Oh gosh, there really was no good answer to this.
"The most attractive…" Suddenly, it was like a Zio went down his back as an idea came to him. "Is it okay if I say someone who's not here?"
"Ehhh~," Negi whined at that. "That's no fun. Unless you're picking from the other group, then no."
While that was still bad, it wasn't as bad as choosing anyone from here. "I pick Rise, Naoto, and Marie!"
"Ohhh!" Everyone seemed interested in his response. "Care to explain that?"
"W-Well," he hesitated for a moment. "Rise's my cousin, so I'm not risking excluding her since that's going to bite me in the back if she finds out. And Naoto gives off that… ambiguous look that's sort of cool. And Marie's the only other person I've talked to out of them other than Margaret, who looks like she's Negi's age."
His face was bright red at that point, and everyone was chuckling. All in all, the group date ended up on a light note.
Several hours later, Rise ambushed him with a powerful glomp, praising how loyal he was with his answer. Naoto, who Rise dragged along, stood nearby with a flush on her face.
Nagi vowed that he was going to somehow kill Negi later.
If I ever rewrite the PQ events, I might show what the other group's interactions were like. This was mostly a chapter that teased Nagi.