Disclaimer: I do not own Persona or Fate Stay night, any resemblance to any other Persona 4/ Fate Stay night fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please constructive criticism only.

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[October 26th, Class 2-2, Yasogami High Inaba]

"Ok so in regards to what our class is doing for the Culture Festival is a Group Date Café." The male Class 2-2 Representative said.

"YOU'VE GOTTA BE FREAKIN' KIDDING ME!" Chie said, standing up from her desk, irate. "What the hell is a group date café, anyway? Whose idea was this?!"

"I effed up, man…. this was supposed to be a joke." Yosuke groaned laying his head down on the desk.

"YOU DID THIS?!" Chie yelled at him.

"It's okay," Yukiko said, interlocked her hands beneath under her chin with a blush. "I've never been on a group date, so I thought it might be okay to give it a try."

"You actually voted for it?!" Chie asked, stunned that Yukiko of all people would vote for a group date cafe.

"I gotta say, I was curious myself..." one male student stated.

"I thought it was good for some laughs…" A female student confessed.

"This class is pathetic…" Chie said sweatdropping.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Later on, Chie and Yukiko noticed a bunch of girls crowded around the bulletin board.

"I can't believe people entered that beauty pageant." One girl said.

"They've got some guts getting up on stage." another commented.

Getting a closer look both Chie and Yukiko froze in anger and shock upon seeing the names on the entry list.

Miss Yasogami Pageant

Yasogami High Gym, 14:00, 30/10

Contestants are as follows:

Entry No. 1 Satonaka Chie

2. Amagi Yukiko

3. Kujikawa Rise

4. Shirogane Naoto

5. Kashiwagi Noriko

6. Ohtani Hanako

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Upon gathering up on the rooftop, Yu and the others were treated to the sight of Chie kicking Yosuke into the fence.

"You signed our names up without asking first?!" Chie growled

"It seemed like a good idea…I mean, everyone's got a secret crush on Yukiko. Plus, we have an Idol and a Detective Prince…I just wanted to make sure our stars at school didn't get overlooked." Yosuke replied trying to defend his actions. "I did it with good intentions!"

"Then why did you put ME in the mix?!" She gasped and kicked Yosuke hard as she realised the reason. "I don't wanna be the comic relief!"

Yosuke was about to reply when he cried out.

"GHHHHGGGAAA!" his hair stood out on end and he smoked a little bit before dropping to the ground. "AHH…. Dude what did you shock me for?!"

"Because…" Yu looked at Yosuke taking his hand off of the fence "Whenever you do something dumb Kanji and I are usually dragged along for the ride later when you get karma'd."

"That didn't seem like magic." Rise pointed out.

"Indeed for it is no mere parlour trick!" A loud voice boomed making everyone save Yu to jump.

When they all looked they saw standing before the doorway was a tall handsome man with black hair and electric blue eyes. He had a black cloak draped over his shoulders and most prominently a gauntlet of some kind over his right hand.

"Greetings, under the Arcana of Magician in the Class of Archer I am NIKOLA TESLA!" The man boomed haughtily.

"Nikola Tesla!" Naoto's eye's widened "As in 'the' Nikola Tesla?"

"Er….who?" Yosuke asked

"He's a scientist, one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century, he pioneered AC or Alternating Current, electricity," Naoto explained. "Mark Twain dubbed him Professor Thunder and Lightning."

"Indeed, the Modern Prometheus, just as the ancient Prometheus brought fire to humans, I have revealed Zeus' thunder to the world." Tesla declared proudly. "With your help, I shall advent of a new world in which interacting electric currents come and go in space itself and nothing can stop us! Save for a miscreant named Edison." He grumbled that last part.

"Cool…. Wait what about Semiramis?" Yosuke asked, "I thought she was The Magician?"

"Semiramis is gone," Yu said with a sigh.

"Indeed, the poisoner cancelled her contract which means she won't be getting her wish," Tesla stated with a shrug. "One of the rules of this war is that until our wish is granted by the Grail we have the right to bow out of the war. However our wish obviously won't be granted, but when it is granted we must stay as your Persona's until the end of your lives."

"But why would she do something like that?" Naoto wondered. "I'm sure she had one otherwise someone like her wouldn't have entered into this war, to begin with."

"Yeah, I think her wish was to live and rule forever," Yu stated.

"Something doesn't add up here," Naoto said rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Someone like Semiramis just giving up on her wish just doesn't make sense."

The Team remained silent as the ominous mystery hung in the air. Something else to add to the pile of questions needing an answer.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[Soccer Field, Yasogami High, Inaba]

After lunch ended Yu had been asked by the coach of the soccer team to help out with the team's practice.

"You remember Narukami from the basketball team?" Kou asked introducing Yu.

"Yeah, thanks for helping out man. This festival has been killing us, a bunch of guys bailed." Daisuke said.

"Well, what our class is doing for the festival is lame we're doing a freakin' play," Kou whined.

"Stop your whining, Hammy," Daisuke teased as Yu intercepted the ball with his stomach and began dribbling it up the pitch.

"C'mon, Narukami, SHOOT!"

"Where'd 'Hammy' come from?" Yu asked kicking the ball very hard, however it missed the net narrowly and hit someone.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Yu had been waiting outside the nurse's office when the girl he had accidentally hit with the ball came out. She was a short girl with very rosy cheeks and was carrying an instrument case.

"I'm sorry. Are you okay?" Yu asked seeing that the left of her forehead had a bandage on it.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's no big deal. I promise" she said. "Please, don't worry about me."

She walked off, only to trip and fall on her face.

"Ow…that hurt," she said as both she and Yu sweatdropped.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[Samegawa Flood Plain, Inaba]

Yu felt bad and so had decided to help her out by carrying her trombone for her on her way to Samegawa.

"Thank you, but you didn't need to carry that for me." The girl reassured him her head now sporting a bandage on the right side of her forehead as well.

"It's alright," he told her. "So is this where you like to come and practice?"

"Yep! The culture festival is coming up so I gotta get ready."

She put the trombone to her mouth ready to play but paused when she noticed Yu was still there.

"As long as I'm here, I thought I'd hear you play something." He explained his presence.

"I'm not really good at, though…" she said, worried he'd be disappointed.

"Okay…" he said, not worrying about it being an issue.

"All right…here goes…"

Yu listened to her play, sure she could use some improvement but she wasn't terrible. After she stopped she looked at him and laughed sheepishly.

Yu introduced himself to her and learnt that her name was Ayane Matsunaga. After a few more tries at practising, getting a bit better each time she stopped.

"I wasn't supposed to be the one performing in the festival, the school symphony on has two trombone players, and the guy who's way better than me got hurt and now he can't do it," Ayane said as she and Yu sat on the steps leading down to the riverbank, watching the sun go down.

"Well, that kind of stuff happens," Yu said.

"I know I'm not a naturally talented musician, but…I really do love playing music. So I keep at it because I have this crazy dream…that I can make someone happy with a song."

"That's an awesome dream…" Yu said.

Ayane just chuckled at that. Then she said, "I'd better practice."

She stood up. "By the way, thanks for staying to listen to me. For some reason, my head feels better now."

Instead of leaving, Yu just looked at her.

"Aren't you leaving?" she asked pointedly.

"When you finally put on a good show then I will," he replied bluntly.

"For a nice guy, you're kind of a jerk," Ayane chuckled.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[October 28th, Class 2-2, Yasogami High Inaba]

Two days later Yosuke came bursting into the classroom where everyone else was preparing decorations for the group date café.

"DAMN YOU CHIE!" Yosuke yelled.

"Problem?" Chie asked

"Hell yeah, there's a problem! What the eff! You entered me into a freakin' drag show?!"

"Oh, right. That…" Chie said with a devilish smirk on her face as she and Yukiko were making some curtains and decorations for the group Date Cafe. "Rise said it was important for all of us to have fun at the festival."

"That's one messed up version of 'fun'! A drag show, really?! I mean this is Crossdressing. CROSS. DRESSING!"

"Maybe next time you'll think twice before signing me up for a beauty pageant!" Chie growled turning to glare at him.

Both of them grit their teeth and glared at each other.

"Wait, so why didn't you sign any of the other guys up?" Yosuke demanded

"Because you were the one who signed us all up, why should they take the fall because you're a dumbass?!" Chie asked

"You don't have a choice sempai, remember Kashiwagi is in charge of these events." Kanji pointed out.

"Aw, man might as well give my all." Yosuke groaned.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

After classes, Yu met up with Rise at the Second Floor stairwell.

"Yosuke shouldn't worry about a thing, with us as his producer's I'm sure we can make a girl out of him." Rise said.

"All things considered, it shouldn't be too hard," Yu said with a smirk causing Rise to giggle.

"Hey! I heard Risette is entering this year's beauty pageant!" A male student said from below them.

"They went all out with the posters, too!" another guy said.

Rise growled as she saw the pageant poster featured her in one of her in one of her Idol costumes. Black stockings, pink skirt, sleeveless vest that was black in the front and pink in the back, white dress blouse with a pink bowtie that had a diamond brooch in the centre of the knot. She had her arm reaching out to the audience as she smiled, her right hand covered in a pink glove.

"I think everyone in Inaba's gonna turn out for this thing!"

"Why am I the focus of the poster?" Rise wondered as she Yu went to the ground floor and looked at the poster which prominently featured the idol. "I already said I didn't want to be the Idol Risette anymore."

"Don't worry about it." Yu said, "You are what you wish to be and nothing can change that without your consent."

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[October 29th, Class 2-2, Yasogami High Inaba]

The Festival was in full swing. There various booths created by the various clubs showcasing their talents lining the hallways and outside. Various forms of entertainment, games or even small cafés had been set up to entertain the guests in the classrooms.

As for the Group Date Café. It had been a bust, no one turned up and It looked like no one was going to turn up so pretty much everyone ditched the event to go look around the rest of the school. Yu first stopped off at Kou's classroom to see the play, "Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet."

"Is it to be Romeo or to be Juliet?! That IS the question!" Kou said. He was wearing a long blue tunic with a small headband that had a feather in it and was holding a katana in its scabbard.

"He's Hamlet…" Yu said, not sure of how to react. "And a ham…"

"That's Hammy," Daisuke said, smiling and not surprised.

Yumi was behind them shaking her head. "Why did I agree to do this, I'm no longer part of Drama Club?"

Then there were two guys walking by. "Hey, I heard the school symphony's screwed this year…"

"Yeah, I guess the trombone player they've got sucks big time."

That caught Yu's attention so he decided to check in on the band. He went to the music room and heard Ayane bow in contrition to the club leader. "I'm sorry. I know I keep messing up!"

"I knew this was too much to ask of you…" the club leader said.

Then Yu saw someone walk past him at the doorway and gasped.

"Long time, no see…" the person said. It was the person who had gotten injured several weeks before that Ayane had replaced.

"Where's your cast?" The group's leader said.

The trombonist just laughed and said, "They took it off, just in time for our big concert for the Culture Festival!"

The leader looked awkward. "Yeah…about that…" He said as he looked at Ayane, who had her head down.

The trombonist looked puzzled and then looked at Ayane, understanding dawning on his face. "Oh right, gotcha…"

"I-I think you should play the Trombone for the concert!" A girl said to the returning trombonist.

"If she choked during the concert, we're screwed," The trumpet player who beat out Yu said. Yu was slightly irritated at the girl's bluntness. "Look, you're all thinking it. Admit it."

Ayane looked down and sad.

"I-I'll step down…" Ayane murmured.

Everyone was stunned. "Go ahead…take my part."

"Really? Are you sure?" the leader asked.

"Yeah…" Ayane said, putting her head up with a weak smile.

"I think you should let her play."

"I'm sorry, Narukami?" the leader was confused as to why Yu was speaking up like this. "You may not have been here every club session, but surely you've seen…"

"She's been practising every-!" Yu said before he was cut off by Ayane dragging him away by the hand, leaving the remaining band members confused.

Ayane had taken Yu to the walkway between the Practice Building and the Main Building. Then she let go of him and ran a little further while catching her breath.

"You sure you want to do this?" Yu asked. He wondered why she would give up…Especially as she wanted to play in the concert before.

Especially since he hadn't really paid attention to her in Band when he had joined.

But now Yu was confused that she would give up that dream. While he didn't pass by every day in Samegawa, every day that he did…she was there practising. He also paid attention to her trying in Club. He knew she was trying…but then her nerves would come in and ruin things.

"Yes. I can live with myself if I mess up, but I don't wanna screw it up for everyone else."

"Okay…" Yu said, not really knowing what else to say, but accepting that as an answer that was valid for her.

She smiled with her eyes closed. "It's just that I feel like such an idiot…"

And then the tears started falling as she started to cry.

She put her hands to her eyes and cried into the fists she made. "Here I thought, I was one step closer to making my dream come true…It's so frustrating…" she said as Yu gave her a tissue.

"Thanks for sticking up for me. It made me feel a whole lot better," she said. "I guess it's not a complete loss. I mean all that practising reinforced what I already know: I love playing music. So I'm gonna keep on playing." Then she sobbed again.

"And next time they'll ask you, you'll be great," he replied.

"Yeah, I know it's silly…I really have no reason to cry, but…I just can't make the tears stop falling."

Yu now knew why she was crying. And it was so obvious…No one else in the Music Room had her back. She had been practising hard for them to try to make this work. To live up to the responsibility fate had placed upon her.

And at the moment that fate decided to add a difficulty spike…Ayane decided to Quit because she didn't want to be a burden to them…even if the others fears were misplaced and she had played well…they would have been on edge.

So Ayane made a sacrifice…and while she didn't regret it…she was still saddened by her loss of a major opportunity and the lack of confidence her peers showed.

"Then come with me," Yu said.

"Where to?" Ayane asked through her tears.

"Let's check out the Festival…I hear it's pretty cool…" he said.

Yu smiled.

Yu took Ayane around the various booths. First, they had Yakisoba noodles. Then they checked out Classroom 1-2's Kabuki play. Then they checked out the Haunted House.

"That was so fun…Everything was so scary…" Ayane said.

"Hey, jerk." "Pardon me." Yu looked to see Marie and….Ruler?

Indeed, Marie was here at the festival standing next to Jeanne who was wearing a female school uniform. How was she here? Yu did not remember materialising her.

"My apologies but may we borrow him?" Jeanne asked politely "We're friends from out of town we were hoping he could show us around the festival."

"Oh uh…sure see you later senpai and thank you," Ayane said before cheerfully walking away.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

"So how are you here?" Yu asked Ruler as he walked with her and Marie around the festival. "I don't remember materialising you."

"Margaret came and asked me if I would mind showing Marie around the festival." Ruler replied cheerfully. "Margaret supplied me with even prana to stay materialised on my own. I was able to show her quite a few things before we spotted you."

Yu was rather disconcerted that this had all happened without him realising it. The fact that none of his other Persona had said anything meant they probably were not aware of it either.

"Hey, come on, let's go I want to see more," Marie demanded impatiently.

Yu nodded and the three began a tour around the culture festival. They played games which surprisingly Jeanne didn't do so well, while Marie aced them winning several top prizes much to the awe of some of the people who watched her play and the dismay of the people running the games.

Then they went to get some food from some of the vendors. Marie enjoyed many of the steak based food and snacks, while Jeanne was interested in sweets.

Eventually, their time came to end and as the festival began to close for the day. Yu and Ruler escorted Marie back to the shopping district where the door to the Velvet Room was.

"Hey, thank you," Marie said keeping a hold of her prizes. "It was fun, I'll cherish this memory." With that, she stepped through the ethereal door vanishing from sight.

"Well, that was fun." Ruler said cheerfully. "We never really had festivals in my time."

"Who'd thought it," Yu said, earning a confused look from Jeanne. "The famous Jeanne D'Arc has a sweet tooth." This caused her to blush.

"Yeah, you were really going all out on those sweets." Cu Chulainn commented with a chuckle appearing in spirit form along with Jeanne Alter.

"To think the other me is such a gluttonous pig." Jeanne Alter laughed. "I can't wait to spread the news." With that, both persona's vanished returning to Yu's soul.

"Hey wait come back here!" Ruler yelled indignantly with a cherry red face, she gave chase to the two as she vanished as well.

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[October 30th, Dojima Residence, Inaba]

The next morning Yu woke up, did his morning routine and went downstairs to find Nanako already preparing breakfast.

"Umph…There! All Done!" Nanako said happily as he came downstairs. "Teacher says that you need to eat well in the morning. I just know how to make toast and cook eggs. So I made eggs sunny-side up and a rolled omelette!" Then she noticed the eggs in the pan. "The rolled omelette turned black."

"That's okay, Nanako …I can just scrape the blackened part off and eat the omelette," Yu said.

"No Big Bro!" she laughed. Then she said, "I heard the burnt parts are bad for you."

"Yes…they are really bad."

"But Dad likes it like that, so I always tell him he shouldn't eat it."

"Well, Itadakimasu!" Nanako said.

"The eggs are yummy! Chickens are amazing!" Nanako said happily.

Yu simply smiled.

Then the doorbell rang. "Huh? Someone's here?" Nanako said. Then she and Yu went to the door.

"Y-yo," Kanji said, nervously bowing.

"It's Kanji! Good morning!" Nanako said excitedly.

"Sorry to show up, this early in the morning, man. The old hag wouldn't shut up about me taking this to you," Kanji said. "I thought it'd be a pain to lug around school, so I brought it now. Uh…you don't want it, do ya?" he asked.

Kanji was holding a large bento box, looking embarrassed.

"Ooh!" Nanako said. "We're having breakfast now. Let's eat it!" Nanako said.

Kanji was surprised and blushed. "Huh? Uh, I don't know if you'd… like it, Nanako-chan…haha..." Kanji nervously laughed.

Then he spread out the dishes. There was Chikuzen-ni, Konbu-maki… And more simmered dishes.

But Kanji looked sheepish. "Sorry,…it's all brown and stuff…"

Nanako disagreed. "It's great! Your Mom is a really good cook!"

That took Kanji by surprise. "Y-you think so?! C-cool, I'm glad to hear it!" Then he said with embarrassment, "Actually, I-I cooked part of that… It's, uh, that…that simmered one."

Nanako was surprised. "You can cook?" Then she said with awe. "You can make knit dolls too! You really can do anything!"

That caused Kanji to smile. But Nanako wasn't done yet, "When I get bigger, I want to be like you, Mist…Um, Kanji!"

"'Mist…?'," Yu asked.

"You just HAD to ask that part!" Kanji said.

Suddenly there was a musical tone coming from out of Yu's pocket, he reached in and withdrew his phone and answered the call.

"Hi-mom?" Yu was surprised, his parents hardly ever called him.

…. …

"Hold on, slow down." Yu tried to get her to slow down however she was not deterred and simply kept talking.

…. ….. ….

"Wait, what?"

…..! ….!

"Email? My own good! Hey hold on just a sec-" Suddenly the phone let out the tone that indicated the call had been ended. Yu glared at his phone before locking it and putting it back in his pocket.

"Dude, what was that about?" Kanji asked with surprise.

Yu sighed and rubbed Nanako's head reassuringly.

"I'll tell you and the others later, it's kind of important."

"Are you gonna be ok big bro?" Nanako asked with worry.

"Yeah, everything is gonna be fine." Yu told her.

Suddenly the boys heard a sound like bells ringing. They looked at each other, puzzled and soon the sound stopped.

"Oh, you're going to be late Big Bro. There's a festival at school today, right?" Nanako asked.

But Kanji interrupted. "Whoa! Look at the time! Guess we'll have to use my secret passage."

"Secret passage?" Yu asked.

"There's a hole in the school fence. It's a shortcut that lets you avoid the teachers," Kanji explained.

Nanako was aghast. "Kanji! You're a delinquent!"

Kanji remembered Nanako was still there. "Ah crap!" he said, sheepishly running his hand over the back of his head.

"That's so cool!" Nanako finished.

"Cool..?!" Kanji said with a blush. "U-uhh, not really…"

Then he realised Yu was giving him a glare. "I mean, Senpai! C'mon. stop glarin' at me!"

"Nanako, will you and Uncle be at the Festival later?" Yu asked.

"Um-hm!" Nanako said with an excited bowing nod. "He said he was gonna got off early."

"Bye, Nanako!" Kanji said. Then he said, "Man, times like this I wish I had a sister like her."

The boys made their way to school.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

"Heh heh…And so it begins…" Kashiwagi said, chuckling with a hint of dark glee that the pageants were starting, first with the cross-dressing pageant.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! IT'S WHAT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! THE 'MISS' YASOGAMI PAGEANT! He was wearing a white tux without tails.

"Entry #1This lively beauty is the heiress to Junes and has more heart than sodding brains. From Class 2-2 it's Hanamura Yosuke!"

The spotlight then lit up Yosuke he was dressed up in a white schoolgirl blouse, with a cream sleeveless sweater that had a red bowtie tied at the neck, red checkered skirt, white socks that to below his knees, black shoes. A few locks of his hair tied up in a slight, very high ponytail. He had blush and lip gloss on.

"H-Hi!" Yosuke said in a nervous, effeminate voice.

"Holy Crap!" a girl said.

"And I thought Yosuke-senpai would pull it off," another girl said.

"Dude, it's terrifying… I can just imagine someone like him sitting across from me on a train!" a guy said.

The video screen lit up with a large "WARNING!" in red, highlighted by lightning. Underneath it said, "New Challenger" In yellow as several smaller "Warnings" in red crawled in the background. "All right people, we have a new challenger! A last-minute sign-up. She says she's king of the TV world and she's one cute and sexy minx! It's Miss Teddie!"

The spotlight flashed on Teddie's human form. Everyone looked at him. He was skipping out in a blue dress with white socks and black shoes. He had on a blonde wig with a blue hairband that had a knot on top.

"My love!" he said, putting a finger to the side of his mouth in a girlish fashion, and moved the finger and made his hands look like he was holding a pistol, "is a WEAPON!"

Everybody cheered as they felt the impact of Teddie's "shot."

"She's so cute!" a girl said.

"She's totally awesome!" another girl said.

"I'd hit that…" a guy said.

"Oh, man," Yosuke said. "This can't be good."

"Hi, Everybody! It's me… Teddie!"

"Who did your makeup, Teddie?" Asked quickly.

"Nao-chan did! I wish to thank her beary much!"

Naoto was offstage, looking at Teddie, feeling self-conscious and self-consciously waving.

"We're tabulating your votes," On the video screen, there was a bar increasing as more votes were processed. There was also a percentage number that increased.

He then asked Kashiwagi, who replied this had never happened in the history of the school holding the cross-dancing pageant.

"LADIES and GENTLEMEN! We have the results and Kashiwagi-sensei has confirmed that what we have is unprecedented. The winner of the Cross-dressing pageant is… MISS TEDDIE!"

"I WON?!" Teddie said excitedly.

"It seems a lot of girls and several boys voted for you."

"And now…The prize for being the hottest girl is that both of you will be the judge for the REAL pageant,"

"You're just judging on our performance…if we're staying within the rules. It'd be unfair for the students to judge this pageant and not the other one. Which is too bad… Because I know you'd use your best judgment in deciding MY performance."

"Hm-hm-hm!" Teddie chuckled darkly. " I'm beary happy. That is why for the first time the Miss Yasogami Pageant will have a swimsuit competition."

"A swimsuit competition?!" Chie said.

"What is he thinking?!" Rise said.

"That bear needs to be disappeared," Yukiko said.

Kashiwagi started laughing. "My mature charms will win the day!" Then she calmed down a bit and said, "I brought my own swimsuit, of course."

"I brought my own too," Hanako said.

"What's with these people?!" Chie said, speaking for everyone in their group.

"H-Hey, l-let's not do this…" Yukiko said.

"What's that? Getting cold feet? Wise of you to back out of a fight you can't win," Kashiwagi said. Then she said to Rise, "You call yourself an idol… But you're just jailbait with no brains, no guts, and especially no figure."

"What?!" Rise said.

"There's no way their type would be crowned Miss Inaba. Why not let them just back out?" Hanako said.

"Typical…"

Chie and Yukiko were becoming angry. "Oh, and I suppose you think you're going to take the crown?! You little… snoring pig!" Chie said.

Hanako laughed, "Snoring? What're you talking about? Your face is as foul as your mouth and your brain's as rotten to boot."

"We went through hell because of you…" Chie said. "Th-that's it! Now I'm PISSED!" Chie said.

"Oh? Are you gonna challenge me? It's useless… Don't waste your energy…" Then she paused for effect. "Let this be a warning to the others, too. You're going to lose. Now's your last chance to run away."

"Run away?! Why the hell would we run from someone like you?!" Chie said.

"Well… We did kinda run away last time…" Yukiko said.

"That's what I'm saying! We gotta stand our ground and get our revenge for that!" Chie replied. "How can we cower and hide when they're picking a fight?!"

"Y-yeah… We'll take you both down in one strike!" Yukiko said.

Kashiwagi chuckled. "Brave words… From a toothless lioness…"

Yukiko looked at Kashiwagi. "WHAT?!"

"Let's face it…the only thing you have going for you is that your family owns a ryokan. Your looks and your brains may wow the sheep, but you don't have what it takes to be competitive…"

"All right! Let's begin!"

Meanwhile on the other side of the stage, looking out at the audience, Rise looked out and said, "This is so weird. I put posters up all over town and yet all I see are classmates."

"You wanted a big crowd? Is that it?" Yu, who changed back into his school uniform, said.

"II's okay, this is fine…" She said, trying to put a positive spin, yet not looking at Yu.

"SERIOUSLY?!" A guy in the crowd said.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! IT'S NOW TIME FOR OUR MAIN EVENT! THE MISS YASOGAMI PAGEANT!"

Everyone cheered. Yu, Yosuke, and Kanji were in the audience.

"Our first contestant needs no introduction…as no introduction COULD do her justice. It's the Sensei from Class 2-2! Noriko Kashiwagi!"

There were many cheers. "Ohh…you love me…You really love me…" she said.

"Voting for me is voting for your future…" she said with false cheer.

"Thank you, Ms Kashiwagi. Our next contestant, from Class 2-1 is that beauty whose beauty knows no bounds and shows us that real women have curves. Ms Hanako Ohtani!"

Hanako came out to the stage. "Hey guys!" she said. She got some cheers, but not as many as Kashiwagi.

"Do you have anything to say to the audience?"

"Yeah! Vote for me! You could do worse!"

"The fun's beginning here, but it's not over yet! The judging continues! Can you hear the crowd go wild?!" The announcer said. "Now, for our next contestant, Ms Chie Satonaka of Class 2-2! Come on out, Chie!"

Chie came out in her winter casual outfit of a green winter jacket, white shirt grey striped shirt blue shirt combo, green shorts, and green boots. She was wearing her heart pendant.

"H-Hi! My name is Chie Satonaka!" she said, trying not to be nervous.

"Tell us a little bit about yourself."

"Um? I'm kinda shy and reserved…and I'd have to say my favourite food is…pudding…"

"You big liar! It's steak!" Yosuke yelled from the audience, causing Chie to groan and grimace.

"So, we have the shy, reserved type…nice to know that the standards haven't lost their averageness."

"Next up, another contestant from class 2, Ms Amagi Yukiko!"

Yukiko walked out in her red long-sleeved dress over her black shirt, black knee-high socks and black boots, and her red scarf with the pink and white trim on the end.

"H-Hello, my name is Amagi Yukiko," she said with a nervous smile. "Um, my family runs the Amagiya Inn. If you ever find yourself in the area, please give us a visit. Our hot springs are open to the public year-round, so whenever you're in the mood to enjoy them, please drop by…" Everyone cheered.

"…A familiar face. From Class 1-2, it's Ms Rise Kujikawa!"

Rise stepped out. She was wearing her orange dress over her white turtleneck shirt, black stockings, and brown boots.

She looked out amongst the crowd and saw how excited they were to see Risette. Especially the guys.

Then she turned her microphone on and while waving both her hands, said. "Hi-hi! My name's Rise Kujikawa!"

A lot of people cheered. "I haven't been in town very long, but it's a great place and I'm 100% thrilled to be here! So sorry I'm not working as an Idol, but Risette is gonna do her best!"

There were a lot of cheers and Yukiko and Chie sweatdropped.

"I thought Rise-chan was Risette," Teddie said.

"The real Risette in the flesh! That was wonderful. Thank you Now…our last student contestant. Also in Class 1-2 it's the woman where the word 'mystery' is not only her hobby but applies to her as well, it's Ms Naoto Shirogane!"

Naoto walked out wearing her white Victorian shirt with the collar up, blue ribbon tie, blue waistcoat. Blue plaid pants and brown shoes over her dark grey socks. She wasn't wearing her beanie cap but was wearing blush of bashfulness.

"…I-I'm N-Naoto Shirogane."

Silence.

"It's hard to believe I'm up on a stage at a pageant like this…"

Naoto was disheartened…but she maintained her shy, polite attitude. "This is beyond my wildest imaginings… I-I really don't know what to say…"

"Wh-Whoa…" Kanji said after pondering upon her performance.

Then people cheered. Teddie continued, "Please keep in mind that if you anger me, you will be at a disadvantage…"

The girls on the IT sweatdropped. "For starters," Teddie said. "Ms Chie-chan, do you have a boyfriend?"

Chie blushed. "Wha-?! T-Teddie, you…!"

Moving on, Teddie said, "Miss Yuki-chan, have you ever smooched anyone before?"

Yukiko was embarrassed. "Huh…?! S-stop it!" she hissed

Ignoring her and moving on, Teddie asked. "Ms Naoto, where are you ticklish?"

"I-I beg your pardon?" Naoto said with a blush.

"Ehem! I have more questions…" Teddie said. "Can I stay at your house next time, Rise-chan?"

"What kind of a question is that…?" Rise asked

It went on like this for a while until finally, it advanced to the swimsuit portion of the contest.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Kashiwagi came out in a black one piece that was secured around her neck and black strappy heels.

"Hello…" she said, putting her hand on her hip and winking seductively. "It's best to start off with a woman."

Kashiwagi grumbled and took her place in the back. The other judges gave their more favourable scores to her, and so Kashiwagi averaged a 3.8.

Next came Hanako. She was in a pink bikini that had a slight tutu or skirt to it and was wearing red heels. She tried to pose and wink the same way Kashiwagi had.

"I'm all woman, Senpai. Just remember that…" Hanako said.

Hanako ended up averaging a 2.8, however, these scores were only the judges' opinions, and had no effect on the actual voting.

Next came out Chie, wearing a green bikini with a #3 Button clipped to the waistband. (Kashiwagi and Hanako had #'s 1 and 2, respectively.) She went up to the front and said, "Uh ha-ha-ha…hi…" nervously.

"OOOHHHHH!" Yosuke said.

"You sound like a dirty old man…" Kanji said.

"He once WAS a dirty old man…" Yu said.

"Chie-senpai is cute, I will admit…" Kanji said.

The judges all gave Chie an average of 3.3.

Yukiko went up next. She wore a red bikini in the same style as Chie's green bikini, tied around the back. She spoke in her microphone, blushing.

"I'm… S-Sorry…" she said nervously.

"Oh, no…it's truly a pleasure…" Yu said, clasping his palms together and bowing.

"Why is she sorry for? This is totally great!" Yosuke said.

"Wow, Yukiko-senpai...She's exactly how I imagined she'd be in a pageant like this."

Then Rise came out in a bikini that used jagged stripes that were two shades of pink. She looked out at the audience. All the guys and Yuri girls were expecting her to say something. Hell, even her fans overall were expecting her to say something.

Finally, she set her eyes and knew what she had to do.

In her hand was a cordless microphone, so she said, pointing to the audience. "Hey there, it's me! Risette!" which brought the house down.

"Wow, Kanji, she is so awesome!" Yosuke said.

"Huh?" Kanji said.

The judges gave Rise an average of four.

"Next up! We have Naoto Shirogane!" Kanji gulped.

The spotlight popped on where she would be, but she wasn't there.

"Yeah, uh…I can't do this…" she said, blushing hard and looking down. She was wearing a blue bikini that was in the same style as Chie and Yukiko's.

"It'll just be for a few moments and then you can put your yukata back on."

"Sorry…" she said,

Naoto shook her head. "Show us your stuff!" he said in the microphone.

"I'd love to, but I'm not feeling well…" she said as she left the wings to go backstage.

"Our first dropout!". She had been reluctant most of the way on this and so it was no surprise that her nerves got the better of her.

The judges gave her a zero.

"Oh well, Kanji, sucks for you, huh?" Yosuke said.

"Yeah, but she tried her best and in the end that's what matters," Kanji said, smiling now that all of his things were straightened out anyway.

"Great. Now wipe your nose," Yosuke said as Kanji's nose was bleeding.

"Heh, Shirogane's leaving is fine by me. The fewer rivals I have to crush, the better," Kashiwagi said.

"So, Partner, who are you going to vote for?" Yosuke asked Yu.

Yu considered his options. On the one hand, there was Chie, who managed to rock in her bikini…but her lie about her favourite food hurt her. He did think Yukiko was quite attractive as well, but she was too nervous. As much as he wanted to vote for Naoto, he doubted she'd get much more than a few sympathy votes.

"And now, we have the results. The envelope, please?"

The announcer received an envelope on a pillow that in kanji script that said, "#1 Girl."

"Anyway, the winner of the Miss Yasogami pageant is…and I had nothing to do with it, for the record." The spotlight was moving back and forth. " NAOTO SHIROGANE!"

Everyone was stunned. Rise gasped in surprise.

"Her androgynous charm seems to have won most of the girls' hearts. Now I'd like to give her the award, but it seems she stepped outside…"

"Naoto won and she didn't even finish? That Rocks!" Chie said as she laughed along with Yukiko.

Kashiwagi looked incensed.

"Grr…How could I lose a BEAUTY PAGEANT?!" Kashiwagi growled incensed

"Ms Kashiwagi…I can't believe this…" Hanako said, starting to cry.

"Neither can I! Oh Hanako, I know how you feel!" Kashiwagi said as they both hugged to give each other solace.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[October 30th, Class 1-1 Yasogami High, Inaba]

With the beauty pageant out of the way, the team decided to go back to the empty classroom 1-1.

"Well, at least that's over." Yosuke sighed leaning down on the table.

"Maybe that'll teach you to stop pulling stupid shit senpai," Kanji said leaning back on his chair.

"Well the festivals not over yet, there are still some more events before it ends." Naoto pointed out before noticing Yu giving her a strange look. "What is it?"

"Naoto can you bring out Archer for me? And Rise can you set up a bounded field to keep people out?"

"Sure," Both girls said confused with the request.

Rise with Casters help erected the bounded field and the red cloaked Archer appeared in a swirl of blue flame.

"What do you need?" he asked gruffly.

"I awakened a new Persona under the Death Arcana recently, he's an Assassin and well…. He wants to talk to you." Yu told him. "It seemed kinda personal."

"Alright bring him out." Archer shrugged without concern.

"Come on guys lets give them some space," Yu said standing up and leading the team out of the room. When he was the last one Yu summoned the card and crushed it before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

From a swirl, of blue flames appeared the Assassin question. He was wearing a red hooded cloak with bandages covering his face completely concealing his identity.

"So what is it you wanted to talk about?" Archer asked the Assassin who stared at him in silence for a few seconds.

Then he undid the bandages concealing his face and pulled down the red hood Archer's eyes widened. Even with the White hair and tanned skin from the overuse of his Timer Alter magecraft, he knew this man, this Assassin. It was impossible to mistake him for anyone else. This was Kiritsugu Emiya, the magus killer, the man that he, Shirou Emiya had called father.

"Shirou I-" Kiritsugu was cut off as a reinforced fist ploughed into his face, sending him crashing through desks and into the wall where he fell onto his behind, thankfully the wall wasn't too damaged but the cracks were visible.

"Damn you Kiritsugu Emiya" Archer spat his name like a curse at the man who looked up at him from his position, mild surprise on his otherwise emotionless face, tears rolling down Archer's cheeks. "Damn you to hell, you infected me with this ideal, the ideal of being a hero, it's like a disease, one that infected me completely."

Assassin used the wall as a support to slowly get to his feet, before meeting Archer's eyes once again.

"When I was a child, I wanted to be a superhero," Archer said the phrase in a way that he mock emulated Kiritsugu's own voice. "Everything about my past life burnt up in those flames, my memories any family, you were all I had, so naturally I was going to try and emulate you when you said words like that, I wanted to live up to the ideal you weren't able to accomplish yourself. Everything I have is borrowed, fake. These ideals, even my humanity is something I got from observing others and how they reacted!"

Kiritsugu remained silent, watching as Archer's feelings, which had been held in his soul for so many years poured out from the doorway of his heart.

"It was inevitable I suppose," Archer said wiping the tears from his face. "I learnt about you as I pursued this path, the man feared as the Magus Killer. At first, I denied it, that this Magus Killer was the same man I knew, the one I looked up to was this murderer, this pragmatist who didn't just dip his hands in blood but took a fucking swan dive into it!"

"One to save ten, ten to save a hundred, a hundred to save a thousand." Kiritsugu said simply "It's the most efficient way to save as many as possible. Sacrificing the few for the many, saving everyone is impossible, a fantasy."

"Fool! How was I to even conceive of that! I had no dreams of my own, no life goals, only you and that stupid ideal of a Hero of Justice, a stupid dream, an ideal that can only betray you as it did to me!" Archer yelled furiously "In life, I was a machine listlessly moving forward and emulating the humans around me and in death, I became nothing but a killing machine fighting against my own ideals time and time again."

"I know that no words I speak can change anything." Kiritsugu finally said moving towards Archer "To me, you were a symbol of hope that allowed me to believe that I hadn't abandoned everything for nothing, because I was still able to save one person at least. I should never have taught you magecraft, never passed on the ideal of a 'hero of justice'. My actions have trapped you in this endless cycle of bloodshed and war along with me, there is nothing I can do to atone or express how sorry I am for what I did to you. When I see a solution, I take it no matter how bloody it is, but you, you see the bloody option and try to find alternatives even if it is the best option, the way I see it, you came closer to being a hero of justice than I ever thought possible."

Kiritsugu found himself tacked to the ground, receiving another punch to the face. Archer had one hand holding his front while his fist punched again, but Kiritsugu did nothing to stop him, as each punch grew consecutively weaker as the Archer's tears flowed from his eyes quicker and quicker until finally, the punching petered out, with Archer's sobbing becoming the only sound in the room.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

With the group date café being a for the entire festival Yu, Chie, Yosuke and Yukiko had lots of free time and wandered around as a team after Archer and Assassin had concluded their business. Neither feeling very chatty about it and no one respectfully inquired.

Suddenly the whole team found themselves startled, all of a sudden they looked at their surroundings and found themselves in a hallway near the stairwell.

"Hey, how did we get here?" Chie asked the question that was on everyone's minds.

"Yeah, we were walking around the festival looking up some stuff together." Yosuke said, "But I don't remember coming here."

Yu looked around and saw behind them an empty space, he swore that was where Margaret had her fortune telling booth, so why was it gone? Had she closed up and returned to the Velvet Room early?

"Hey, what's that your holding senpai?" Kanji asked pointing to Yu who was surprised to see himself holding a box of some kind with a horn protruding out of it.

"That's a phonograph cylinder." Naoto stated. "It's a device for recording and reproducing sound, this model looks like the kind invented by Edison."

"Clearly trash then." Tesla grumbled. "it's probably useless which is just as well, we don't need anything invented by that DC obsessed fool."

"Hey, there's a note." Chie picked up the piece of paper which was attached to it."Let's see, to Yu Narukami and his friends, this device is a one-of-a-kind one use mystic code type device which is capable of restoring lost memories, specifically those which were lost due to corrections of distortions in time. There may however be side effects to please use it in a safe place. Signed E T E…. who the hell is ETE?"

"And what should we do with this thing?" Yosuke asked.

"Should we turn it on?" Teddy put in.

"I say we do it maybe tomorrow after school," Yu suggested before breathing in and out deeply before setting the device down on the ground. "I kinda have something important to tell you all."

Noting their leader's serious tone they all fell silent and paid attention.

"Well, I have good news and well other news."

"So what's the good news?" Yosuke asked.

"The good news is my stay in Inaba's been extended, I'll be staying in town until the end of May next year," Yu told them with a smile.

This got a round of cheers from some of the group, Naoto however while pleased wasn't too cheerful.

"And what's the other news?" She asked bluntly.

"Well, my parents called and then emailed me more details, they arranged a marriage for me so I'm now engaged."

"WHAT?!"

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

AN: Cliff hangers amrite? To be honest I'm not happy with his chapter but I really wanted to get it done and as such the quality has suffered for which I apologise.