As Marie and Nanako eye the TVs with awe, Yosuke and Yukiko walk beside them, both guiding and looking after them.
Francis and Chie walk at the back, shoulder to shoulder, their hands holding the other's tightly.
"I kinda wanna take off my jacket." Chie says bashfully.
"Let me help." Francis says kindly.
"Then…" Chie pauses and smiles bashfully, looking away as she does. She then looks to Francis and asks blissfully. "Can I help you?"
Without their jackets, they can feel their skin touching. Francis turns over to Chie as they walk, seeing her smile happily with red flushed cheeks.
"God, I love you so much." Francis goes off in English.
Chie replies in Japanese while still looking ahead. "I love you too."
"It's so big!" Nanako shouts. As Francis looks over, he realizes the group is standing in front of the TV they used to enter the other world.
"Looks like you can just fall inside!" Nanako says excitedly, prompting a chuckle from Francis.
"Oh, don't you know, Iza and the others can.."
"Marie-chan." Yukiko cuts Marie off calmly. She then brings her to the side as Yosuke takes Nanako around.
As they stand in front of the TV, Francis decides to check on Kuma.
"I will look out for you." Chie says calmly before Francis stretches his hand in.
"Kuma?" Francis says gently.
"Sensei…." Kuma sounds like he's crying.
Hearing Kuma's sadness, Francis swiftly asks with concern. "Kuma, are you okay?"
"I am so beary lonely in this bearen land…" Kuma makes a joke, which Francis' mind translates to a sentence that makes sense for him.
Francis chuckles. "Sorry. We don't have time to go in right now."
"Kuma understands…." Kuma says sadly.
"Maybe we can bring Kuma something next time?" Chie says from the side.
"Can Kuma go on a date with Chie-chan and Yukiko-chan?" Kuma says sadly.
"Can you not hit on my...uh…" Francis says in anger before coming to a pause. He then looks at Chie, who simply blushes and smiles at him.
"She's not dating you so she's fair game, no?" Kuma keeps going.
Francis replies in silent annoyance. "Have fun in there." He then takes his hand out.
"Oniisan, did you just take your hand out?!" Nanako asks in surprise.
Francis turns over, seeing Yukiko and Yosuke stand behind Nanako, who is staring at him with wide eyes. Marie stands alongside the Persona users with a calm expression.
"Uh…" Francis stammers. He then turns to Chie and whispers. "Help, I am terrible at lying…."
"Yukiko!" Chie cries out loudly.
"Oh, ya." Yukiko replies in surprise. She then says calmly. "I think you made a mistake, Nanako-chan! How can anybody put their hand in the TV?"
"That's right. That's right." Marie says with awkward excitement, seemingly trying to back Yukiko up.
"Yeah, Nanako-chan. Let's go see something else, okay?" Yosuke says kindly.
As Yosuke and Yukiko take Nanako somewhere else, Marie walks up to one of the TVs. As she stares at one, her eyes spread wide with excitement.
"Marie-chan?" Nanako asks curiously.
"Oh. Go ahead, Na-chan. I just wanna look at the TV for a bit." Marie says kindly.
Francis and Chie decide to stay behind and accompany Marie as she studies the TV with excitement.
"StarzScandalz." Marie says gloomily.
"Huh?" Francis and Chie reply in confusion.
"The show where they go blahblahblah. You think I can watch it on the TV?" Marie keeps going, her tone serious and her face filled with determination.
"Uh…" Francis stammers awkwardly. "You should be able to…"
"They should be able to get a signal in there seeing you talk to Margaret on the phone all the time." Chie says helpfully.
"But there's no electricity there." Marie grumbles. "Margaret's phone is weird so it works."
Marie then turns around with a sour face.
"Marie?" Francis asks with concern.
Marie looks up in contemplation. She then speaks seriously. "I am gonna have Nose install electricity so I can watch StarzScandalz."
After she finishes the sentence, Francis can make out a fierce look on Marie's face. He chuckles and speaks awkwardly. "I will try and help you with that."
As they approach the entrance, Francis looks at Chie blissfully while holding hands with her.
"I am glad I brought Nanako today."
"I am too." Chie says blissfully, smiling and blushing while looking down.
"It's like couple's therapy, except it's free. If you don't count having to buy Nanako and Marie meals that is." Francis jests.
Chie chuckles. She then says happily and with blushing cheeks. "It's like having two kids around."
"Makes for good practice. After we…" Realizing what he's saying, he comes to a pause. He then apologizes worryingly. "Sorry, it just came out."
"It's fine. Although, it's easy for you to joke about having kids since I do all the work." Chie complains. Despite that, Francis can make up a blissful smile on her face, which is covered in red.
"I do part of the work." Francis jests weakly.
"The fun part." Chie complains humorously.
"I can take care of you while you are… you know." Francis comes to an awkward pause. Both him and Chie blush as he does, with their smiles conveying pure happiness.
Francis and Chie look at one another. He puts his hand on her face, drawing her closer.
As their faces get closer, Francis takes the time to study Chie. Her face, her hair, the touch of her skin. Francis feels as if every part of her is cloaked in some form of magical shine, making Chie look like she came out a fairy tail.
As he can feel her breath, he notices Chie averting her eyes. Seeing this, Francis pauses.
"What are you doing, you pervert!"
Marie's shout prompts Francis to look over. As he does, she sees the others covering Nanako's eyes.
"Wait, did you just call me-"
"Pervert?" Nanako repeats innocently, cutting Francis off.
"Ah." Marie says in a guilty tone, as if realizing what she did.
"Marie!" Francis shouts angrily.
"Sorry..." Marie apologizes softly whilst her eyes avert Francis' glare.
Yosuke chuckles. He then comments with humor. "Kinda your fault for trying to kiss in front of a kid."
"Kiss?" Nanako repeats innocently, looking at Yosuke curiously as she does.
"Oh." Yosuke says with guilt.
"Hanamura!" Both Yukiko and Chie shouts at Yosuke angrily.
"I am sorry!" Yosuke apologizes in a panic.
"Dojima-san is gonna kill me." Francis covers his face with his free hand.
"No, Nanako won't let Daddy kill Oniichan!" Nanako shouts in panic, prompting the group to look at her with wide eyes.
"Wait. Did you think…" Francis says humorously before breaking out in a laugh.
Yukiko soon joins after, with Yosuke and Chie joining in with chuckles as well.
"I don't get it." Nanako grumbles.
"It's okay. He's lame." Marie says triumphantly, a face matching her tone.
Francis tries to collect his breath, speaking humorously as he does. "Lame is fine."
Before they leave Junes, Chie requests to share a photo with Francis. As they ponder how and where to take it, Francis decides to take a group photo before that.
"Um…" Nanako thinks about who should take it.
Francis sighs and asks a passerby to take it. After taking the group photo, Yosuke takes Francis' phone while Yukiko takes Chie's.
At a corner with less traffic, Chie holds onto Francis' hand. The two then look at the camera and smile.
As Yukiko takes the photo, Francis notices sadness in her eyes. The same sadness permeates her face as she hands Chie's phone back to her.
"Yukiko, what's wrong?" Francis asks after Yukiko handed Chie her phone.
Yukiko looks at Francis in surprise. As she does, Francis sees a glint in the corner of her eyes.
"Yukiko?" Chie asks with concern.
Yukiko pauses and takes a deep breath. As she does, everybody looks at her with concern.
"Hanamura, can you take Marie and Nanako away for a while?" Yukiko asks sternly.
After the trio is gone, Yukiko looks at Francis. As she does, Francis notices tears coming out.
"Francis." Yukiko pauses. As Francis looks into her eyes, which are slightly wet in the corners, he sees a mix of adoration and sadness.
"I love you."
Yukiko then turns around and runs.
Francis stares blankly for a while. He then remembers Adachi's words.
"No." He says in English. He then looks at Chie, who is also in a daze.
"Amagi!" Yosuke shouts from a distance.
Francis quickly runs after Yukiko, but stops when he feels Chie frozen in place through their hands. Turning around, he sees tears flowing down her cheeks.
"Yosuke, go after her!" Francis shouts out.
Francis and Chie decide to drop off Nanako and Marie before talking.
"Is Red okay?" Marie asks while looking sad.
Nanako also asks about Yukiko with concern.
"Is Yukiko neechan all right?"
After assuring the two, Francis and Chie decide to stop at the riverbank once more. As they sit on the bench, the setting sun turns the sky to yellow. While they sit, there is a gap between them.
Chie looks to the ground, sadness on her face and her eyes bruised from crying.
"Are you okay?" Francis asks with concern.
"After all that talk about protecting Yukiko…" Chie says guiltily.
"It's not your fault. It's kinda mine if anything. I never thought of the possibility of her falling for me."
Chie looks at Francis, slight anger in her face and tone. "Why did you choose to jump into the flames to save her?"
"For one, my Persona was the only one that was resistant to fire."
"For two…" Francis comes to a pause, looking down as he does.
"What's the second one?!" Chie shouts. After she does, she seems to realize what she did. "Sorry, I… I am just angry that I hurt Yukiko."
"You didn't hurt her." Francis assures Chie in a hurry. "We did everything we could."
Chie looks away silently. Meanwhile, Francis looks at her with concern. After a while, Chie looks back to Francis, smiling sadly as she does. As their gazes match, Chie asks with concern.
"What was the second reason you chose to jump into the flames?"
"My father…" Francis pauses. As he does, Chie remains silent, as if waiting for him to continue.
"He was shot while I was in the US." Francis looks to Chie with concern. Chie stares at him wide eyed.
"You okay?" Francis asks with concern.
Chie rubs her eyes. As she does, she speaks with a broken yet confident voice, like she is trying to muster as much confidence as she can. "Um. Keep going."
Before Francis can continue, Chie inches closer to him, causing her thighs to touch his pants.
"The police don't know who did it. They assumed it was a mugging, but they never managed to break the case. Soon enough, my father's murder was just left forgotten."
Francis pauses to take a break, with Chie waiting for him silently.
"That's one of my worst fears, to die and be forgotten. To die like a nobody."
Chie looks at Francis, her eyes spread widely.
"Did I scare you?" Francis asks, fear evident in his voice.
"A bit." Chie rubs her eyes.
"Sorry."
"It's fine." Chie then smiles cheerfully, she speaks again with what Francis thinks is forced confidence. "Guess I know you a bit more now."
After Chie says that, she puts her arm around Francis', with her hand holding onto Francis' hand.
Francis smiles blissfully, feeling something grip his chest as he does. "I suppose that's why I keep risking my life. I figure, if I am going to die eventually, I might as well die heroically."
Francis pauses to breath once more.
"But right now, I no longer wish to die a heroic death." Francis says gently.
He then looks at Chie with warm eyes. He inches closer, and Chie follows suit. Their foreheads touch, and he can feel Chie's breath going into his mouth. The two smile at another blissfully, with their gazes locked into each other's eyes.
Francis proceeds to say happily. "Because I wanna spend my life with you."