[Summary: Nanako talks to Yukiko about her future and challenges Yosuke's opinions on sexuality. Kanji takes his anger out on a dog-faced cop. Souji opens up a little about his father. And then there's that gas station part time job...]

[5/24: Tuesday]

Instead of paying attention in class, Nanako worked on the essay Morooka had assigned her. He was going to love it. Or hate it. That was always a possibility, but it was definitely a Nanako production, he wouldn't be able to deny that.

Kids do not listen

They will eat the yellow snow

Knowing no better

She was writing it in haiku.

Hey, he hadn't specified a word count, just a page count. She could have bent the rules and made the text size incredibly huge and the essay maybe five sentences long just to spite him, but this was way more fun.

It was too bad that her name, Nanako Dojima, was six syllables. She'd wanted to start a line with it.

Kids have it rough too

Hard to pay attention when

There's no interest

Really, who needed to know how to get the height of a building by the distance its shadow made? Just get a guy with a tape measure on the roof and have him drop it down. Hell, even a piece of string would do.

Not that Mrs. Nakayama was even teaching that.

Sensei please tell us

How loveless your marriage is

We so wanna know

The next period was world history, so she added another while kind of absently staring at the headdress Ms. Sofue wore.

I am so sorry

I've no clue where Egypt is

Pharaohs still exist?

She crossed it out because it didn't really fit the theme of the paper, but kept it legible in case Morooka got curious.

And since the paper was for Morooka, she was tempted to add something about teenagers being horny all the time in reminiscence of some of his rants, but thought better of it. Could get them in trouble.

Boring ass lectures

Make me wish I was Vishnu

Sleeping on a snake

There! Now the paper was personalized! If unprofessional... She didn't bother changing it.

Throughout the day, she came up with more and more until there were five whole pages of haiku. She ended the paper with a 'zinger.'

A teacher without

Respect teaches not even

Scholarly students

It was probably cheating to make the entire haiku one whole sentence like that, but she was satisfied with it anyway. It took effort to choose words of the right length, right? Hopefully Morooka would appreciate it.

[5/25: Wednesday]

"Tell me about Tokyo?"

Nanako wasn't prepared for the wistful longing on Yukiko's face. They were heading to the bookstore together, although the girl hadn't told Nanako what sort of books she was looking for. It wasn't yaoi manga because the bookstore didn't sell any. No, instead it was quite proud to offer the "Man's Life" series and Nanako wondered if she should be offended.

Regardless, the question had come out of nowhere; she'd thought everyone was done asking about her hometown by now.

"Uh, well... It's really busy," she said. "Like this street. In Tokyo it'd be half as wide and with about 30 times as many people." This area of the central shopping district only had five people on it, including the two of them, at the moment.

Yukiko's eyes unfocused as she attempted to imagine that. "I'd love to be able to get lost in a crowd."

"You're tired of living where everyone knows your name?"

She nodded. "Sometimes I feel like... I can't let my hair down without someone commenting on it."

"Rumors probably spread fast here," Nanako mused, recalling the worry on Saki's face at the club when she'd pretended they were, well, lovers. She definitely hadn't thought about what she was doing until she'd already done it. Hopefully Saki wouldn't be negatively affected by it... She shook her head. "Anyway, the city's great, but it's also kind of lonely."

"I'd still keep in contact with everyone." Yukiko nodded. "I think I'd be able to manage."

"Thinking of moving away?"

"Not until after I'm finished with school, but... I have been considering it. I'm just not sure how Chie will manage."

"You should go to college in the city. You'll do well on the entrance exams, Missy. You did get the top score in our class, after all!" Nanako had managed to do better than both Chie and Yosuke, but not by that much. She was quite jealous of Yukiko, mainly because she hadn't impressed her aunt enough to get that cash money reward. "That way you get the big city experience without it being permanent, and an education to boot!"

"My family isn't interested in my education," Yukiko said, eyes downcast. "That is, they're happy with my grades, but they don't see college in my future. They want me to take over the inn."

Nanako thought it over. Yukiko was an only child, so it made sense. Wait, she didn't want to inherit the inn? B-but the hot springs! "So they're grooming you for that, huh? You do seem forced to help out a lot."

"They needed me because my mother fell ill. She's doing much better now, but... Yes, they are preparing me for management."

"I could see you as a manager," Nanako said, "but if that's not what you want to do, then don't stand for it!"

"That's why I wanted to go to the bookstore and look up job certifications," Yukiko told her. "To find something else I might want to do instead."

They spent the afternoon coming up with several different jobs that Yukiko might be able to do. Lion tamer, Nanako joked, recalling the time Yukiko had slapped one of the lion-shaped Shadows with her fan in the TV World. Advice columnist. Hypnotist. Flamenco dancer.

If only a Persona could be summoned in the real world. Yukiko could totally be a doctor! Or, uh, what was the opposite of a fire-fighter? She knew in some areas controlled burns were done to prevent wide-scale forest fires. Or a pyrotechnician working with fireworks. Yeah, being focused on fire meant she was a pyromaniac at heart, right?

Nanako mentioned the part-time job board. For now Yukiko could probably fold envelopes in her room at night and start saving up money from it. It was an unobtrusive job; even if the envelopes were found in her room, her family couldn't complain about it. If she was allowed out at night, she could also try that tutoring gig. She had both the patience and the knowledge for it, after all.

[5/26: Thursday]

Nanako's plans to work on the piano were canceled when Yosuke offered her an after-school snack of steak croquettes. Next week, she vowed, the piano was going to get a makeover. She'd have it gleaming and everyone in band club would be begging her to officially join and maybe even become the club president and the first thing she'd do is relegate Ayane to a position that didn't involve actually playing an instrument, because really.

Anyway, it wasn't a club day, and since Nanako didn't really wanna track Ayane down for the key to the band room, steak croquettes it was.

Nanako sat at the small picnic table outside Souzai Daigaku and marveled at the fact that Yosuke was buying her food. Food without a discount, even. He complained so much when she made him buy drinks for everyone at Junes, but maybe it was different when it was on his own terms.

"I just got paid yesterday, so..." he explained when he brought the food to the table.

"You should've invited Chie instead of me," Nanako said. "She loves this stuff."

"I don't make THAT much money!" He laughed and then bit into his own skewer. They talked about the toughness of the steak and Chie's teeth before Yosuke mused, "You know, back in the city, all my friends were guys. Here, all my friends are girls."

"And Kanji-kun," she pointed out.

"Y-yeah..." he said somewhat reluctantly. "Not sure if I can call him a friend yet."

"You say that after almost carrying him out of the TV World in your underwear. If that's not a solid foundation for friendship, I don't know what is. Though... honestly, I was surprised you'd offer so quickly after that Shadow fight." Kanji's Shadow had been about to stab him where it mattered, after all!

Yosuke shrugged. "Kanji's a big guy. You had enough trouble trying to pull him out of danger on your own. I was the only one who could support his weight, and... I was sure he didn't want to be there any more than I did. After all that, I think everyone just wanted to go home and take a bath." He paused and fiddled with his headphones cord. "I'll admit I was a bit scared to, well, get close to him... But his Shadow said I wasn't his type, so I didn't think I had anything to worry about. Uh... do you think I should worry?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Yosuke. Really. Do you hit on every girl you see?"

He frowned, wondering what she was getting at. "No...? I mean, not all girls are, well, umm..."

"You see what I mean? Even if Kanji-kun is gay, it doesn't mean he'll want to date you out of all the guys in the world. Yosuke, please pay attention here." She leaned forward. "If Kanji-kun is going through any sort of sexual identity crisis like his Shadow pretty much told us, well, we have to be as supportive as we can, okay? No matter what he decides in the end. What people want most out of life is acceptance, okay? No name-calling, no stupid jokes, no smirking behind his back when he says something that could be misinterpreted, okay!?"

Yosuke leaned back because she had pressed forward so far over the table that she was up in his face. He blinked rapidly at her, but she hardly noticed. "Uhh..."

"The security that your friends will be your friends no matter what, that's what he'll need. Because it's. So. Damn. Rare." She pounded her fist against the table with every word in emphasis. She panted for breath, then drew away, realizing she was attracting attention. Well, it was only the owner of Souzai Daigaku, so who cared? She continued to lean over the table. "And you, too, Yosuke!" she rallied on. "If you ever have any issues, I'll support you. Whether you like girls or boys or crossdressing or people who like to dress as animals or even ponies, I'll be your friend and defend you!"

For a long moment, she thought she'd rendered Yosuke utterly speechless, but then he asked, "Nanako, are you gay?"

She hadn't been expecting that. She crossed her arms and tilted her head. "Would it matter if I was?"

"I-I didn't mean that in a bad way!" he continued quickly, bringing up his hands in a defensive gesture. "But it seemed like you felt very strongly about it just now, like it was really personal to you." He didn't sound judgmental, but...

"Would it matter if I was?" she repeated.

Yosuke's eyes had lost their focus as he thought about it. Then he shrugged. "Not really. I mean, Chie and Yukiko seem really close. I've been wondering about them. It would be pretty funny if all my female friends were, well..."

"It would be pretty funny," she agreed. "But I'm not. I'm way more than gay. I like boys and girls. And everything in between." She'd told Kanji that too and wondered what he thought about it.

"That's possible?"

"It totally is."

"It's a bit weird, Nanako…"

"I'm special. Just get used to it, Yosuke!" She threw him a dazzling smile, and he snorted and shook his head. With the mood lightened, she pressed on. "Now, would it matter if Kanji-kun was gay?"

"Umm... I suppose not," he admitted, "as long as he's not interested in me." He let out a nervous chuckle.

Nanako shook her head. "Yosuke. We can only be friends if you're not interested in me."

"Hey, now..." he protested. "That's not…" He paused for a long moment, looking very uncomfortable. "Yeah, okay, I get what you're saying."

He didn't seem happy about it, but Nanako was satisfied anyway. "Good," she told him.

A moment later, Yosuke's expression brightened. "But his Shadow said I wasn't his type, so..."

"That's right," she agreed. He was fixated on that, wasn't he? It bothered her, but she knew it was as good as she was going to get for now. "You probably won't have to worry about it. But you know what I expect out of you, and you're on board, right?"

"Yeah, I think I got it, 'Boss.' Hey, did you finish your drink? I'll get you another. Second Maid or what?"

She smiled at him. Yeah, if she worked on it, maybe she could turn him into the nice young man Kanji's mom thought he was.

[5/27: Friday]

Friday afternoon Nanako's DEATH Squad was assembled in the bathhouse's changing room, stripped to their underclothes and preparing for their final push. They'd made it to the top floor again, and it was time to eject the large Shadow from within the final chamber. They'd never even had a chance to use the baths.

Well, Yukiko had used the bath, heh heh, even if it was accidental. Nanako had replayed that scene in her mind more than once. Maybe if she was lucky it would happen again!

During their previous training mission, the cheap plastic box Kanji had been using as his weapon had broken spectacularly against a Shadow resembling a big rock. Before entering the TV World, then, Nanako had taken him over to Daidara's, but he hadn't been interested in any of the weapons available. Instead, he'd grabbed a metal folding chair from Junes on their way in and planned to use that. She'd given him a funny look, then shrugged. At least he could sit on it between battles.

After ensuring everyone was rehydrated and that Yosuke had relieved himself—he'd given her an unamused look when she'd asked, and she'd stuck her tongue out at him in return—they entered the final chamber.

The Shadow was one of the police-dogs they'd been fighting all along, just much, much larger in size. It was about as wide as it was tall, and it was almost twice as tall as Nanako. "I did think it was criminal that we hadn't used the baths," she muttered at the sight. "But I didn't mean that we were criminals!"

When it saw them, it immediately attacked by conjuring a block of solid ice around Yukiko. The girl screeched and fell to the ground; despite—or perhaps due to—her affinity for fire, ice and cold were her weaknesses.

"Damn cops!" Kanji growled, laying into it with the folding chair. The officer barely flinched and sent the boy flying away with a quick gust of wind.

Oh, so it wasn't just a cop—it was a magic cop.

"You don't have to be so nice, Kanji-kun. Fuck the police!" Nanako tried to slice at it with her naginata, but it raised its handcuffs like a chain whip and caught the weapon, and she had to let go before she was flung away. Well, having no weapon didn't make her defenseless. She brought out Valkyrie, which cut down at its head with dual swords.

Chie had pulled Yukiko back to her feet and was trying to get the girl to summon her Persona, but the officer again targeted her with its ice attack. It followed up by bowling Kanji over with wind again, and then shot Nanako in the chest with its gun.

It hurt like fucking hell, but didn't kill her like it would in the real world. She realized through the pain, though, that her friends' weaknesses were liabilities here. She summoned Cu Sith and had it form an ice-resistant barrier in front of Yukiko. She didn't have anything that would stop wind from hitting Kanji, however.

As if reading her thoughts, the officer sent another gust at Kanji, knocking him back again. The boy almost landed in one of the baths. Nanako was vaguely disappointed that he hadn't.

Wind whipped around the officer—Yosuke was trying to get its attention. She could see him behind the officer through the hole in its body. It ignored him, though, and tried once again to encase Yukiko in ice. The barrier flashed, absorbing most of it, and Yukiko was able to stay on her feet and summon her Persona to refresh them all somewhat.

While Nanako reached for her naginata on the floor, the officer went after Kanji with ever more wind, but Yosuke jumped in the way and blocked the attack from hitting him. Abusable, Nanako thought. Still on his feet, then, Kanji summoned his Persona, and its lightning knocked the officer flat on its back.

"I'm not in a fucking biker gang!" he screamed. He whacked the Shadow with his folding chair while simultaneously bringing out his Persona and repeating its attack. "And I never punched anyone who didn't punch me first!"

"Yeah, Kanji-kun!" Nanako joined him, bringing out Omoikane for its electricity. Man, that tentacle-brain was still useful! She continuously attacked the Shadow's legs with her naginata.

"I never broke a window," – Kanji slammed the chair into the flailing Shadow – "and I never mugged anyone! Tch! You piece of shit!"

The others on the team approached to help attack, but Kanji and Nanako together had it won. Soon enough, the Shadow crumbled into dust.

The chamber was silent save for their heavy breathing and the ever-present sound of the steam until Kanji spoke. "Cops are all the same," he growled, standing over the place the Shadow had recently occupied. "They look at me and think..."

"Yeah, they'd never know that you're actually—" Yosuke began jokingly, but then he saw Nanako's 'what did we talk about yesterday?' look and continued with, "uh, a real nice guy."

Kanji scratched his head. "Wouldn't say I'm nice, exactly, but... I just wish being different wasn't such a damn crime. Something happens in the shopping district and I'm the first person the cops call in, even when I was nowhere near the scene."

"Don't they know by now?" Chie said, a contemplative frown present on her face.

"Some of 'em do," he admitted. "But the rest... I look like a punk, so they treat me like a punk." He shrugged, his arm muscles rolling with the action.

"Appearances are totally deceiving," Nanako observed, watching those muscles closely.

"You don't look half as dangerous as you are, Nanako," Yosuke teased. "The way you swing that naginata around... No one would suspect."

"I can have Teddie call me 'Danger' instead of 'Boss,' but I'm kind of attached to 'Boss.'" She grinned. Nanako 'the Boss' Dojima. She totally needed to tell her mom that one.

"'Danger Boss,'" Yukiko suggested, and they laughed.

Before heading back, Kanji found an iron plate on the ground, and since his folding chair had been dented beyond recognition after that battle, he took it with him.

[5/28: Saturday]

It was raining, a steady, dreary drizzle. All the kids at the daycare would be indoors and watching a movie. Nanako wasn't in the mood for Disney, even if it was Sleeping Beauty. It wouldn't be that, though. That was way too old school. It would probably be Featherman since there were more boys than girls at the daycare.

She wandered down the shopping district with a purple umbrella in hand. She'd bought it from Junes a while ago since the Loveline one was definitely Souji's. In the darkness brought on by the cloudy sky, the Velvet Room door shone like a beacon. She continued to ignore its presence. She wondered if it would go away if she kept avoiding it. Truthfully, she didn't really want it to. She missed Igor and his perpetual smile. He'd never punch her (unlike that bitch). She could probably make some super awesome Personas now, what with all these social links. He'd be so impressed with her ability…

It was food for thought, anyway. Oh, she'd already reached the gas station. It was her goal today; after the victory yesterday, she was feeling brave.

It was time to take on the gas station part-time job.

She entered the convenience store and spoke with the cashier, an older gentleman, and it turned out he was the manager. She got the job without much of an interview at all. Sweet deal.

With a somewhat glazed look on his face, he told Nanako to go outside and speak with the man out there for training.

She hadn't seen him at all upon walking into the station, but there he was now, standing next to a gas pump—the same red-eyed guy she'd sent flying down with aikido on her first day in Inaba. His lip curled as she approached, and her hackles were immediately raised. "You decided to take the job," he commented.

"Well, you were kind enough to offer," she said flatly. Get a haircut, bro. His hair was wavy like Saki's, only gray. He looked kind of young for it to be graying, though.

"Let's get you suited up." She followed him into the convenience store and into a stockroom in the back that he unlocked with a key from the pocket of his uniform. The stockroom was dark, cramped, and packed with stacks of boxes. Her body tensed as the door slammed shut behind her, but all he did was take out another red and orange Moel gas station uniform from a box and hand it to her along with a cap hanging on the wall.

"You can change in here or in the bathroom," he said. "I'll be waiting for you outside."

She changed in the bathroom since the stockroom didn't feel safe enough. The uniform fit perfectly—too perfectly. Had he been measuring her? Sizing her up? She fussed with it in front of the bathroom mirror. She had to take her ponytail out to put the baseball cap on. With her hair down, it matched the attendant's in a way, since it was still permed.

God, what the hell had she been thinking, taking on this job? She wasn't this self-destructive, was she?

She swallowed her fear and headed back outside. The guy was leaning casually against one of the pumps. He didn't move when she returned, nor did he say anything, though he did look her up and down now that she was in the uniform.

"So, uh, how do I pump gas?" she asked in a businesslike manner. Get your eyes off me, please.

He walked her through the steps from start to finish, although it was sort of difficult to demonstrate without a vehicle. "Don't drink out of the nozzle," he said with a chuckle.

She couldn't tell if he was trying to be funny or just condescending.

He told her about the gas station's other services. In the back was an auto shop, and the mechanic was a local. "Anyone wants an oil change or a lube job, send them in the back."

"Okay... Uhh, is it always this dead?" No one had come to the station at all and she'd been here for almost an hour now. If this kept up, she'd be back to calling it a damned ghost town.

"It's the rain. People always seem to be afraid of going out in the rain..."

He didn't seem to mind it himself. In fact, he walked straight out into the drizzle without an umbrella, held his arms out, and looked up at the sky. The clouds did not part or anything, although Nanako expected them to for some reason. Instead, the rain became noticeably heavier.

He took a deep breath. "I love the rain."

He was getting soaked.

"Do you...?" he asked softly, barely audible above the downpour.

Nanako tried speaking for several moments but failed to make words.

"It washes away all the grime," he continued. "It makes me feel... refreshed."

He turned around to face her. His thoroughly-wet hair was now a much darker hue and stuck to his neck.

"And don't you just love the smell?" he added.

She attempted to agree with words but could only nod.

He chuckled and then finally stepped back under the gas station's awning and out of the rain. He was so drenched that a large puddle grew under him on the damp concrete.

'Do you want to get a towel?' she mouthed to herself.

He didn't notice. He put his hand to his chin in thought. "Hmm. I suppose that is it for today. You should get your pay from the manager."

"Oh, is it that time already?" She couldn't hide her relief. "Well, see ya!" She turned, intending to run into the convenience store.

"A moment, if you will," he called after her. She stopped and glanced back. He was walking towards her with his hand held out. "Hmhm... Am I allowed to shake your hand?"

Nanako paused and hunched her head close to her shoulders. "Y-yeah," she said, turning to face him. She held out her hand. "I'm Nanako."

He took it and shook it firmly. His hand was clammy and cold, probably from his time in the rain. He let go and smiled smugly at her.

"And your name?" Nanako prompted.

He blinked at the question, and then smiled again. "My name? I am Iza—yeah. Izaya. It is… a pleasure… to meet you, Nanako."

The familiarity made her skin crawl. And then a card formed in her mind. It depicted the silhouette of a man hanging upside-down. In a flash she rushed straight into the convenience store and had dry heaves in the bathroom until she calmed down.

[5/29: Sunday]

Chie called and invited Nanako on a training date. She accepted, then looked at Souji, who was sitting at the tea table and watching whatever was on after Featherman. She hated leaving him alone on Sundays. It was just too damn sad.

She put him in some shorts and a t-shirt that had a picture of a dinosaur on it—play clothes she'd bought for him. Then she made some sandwiches in the kitchen, just like last time. It was too bad she presently had no cookies.

She was in the middle of packing the sandwiches when Souji tugged at her skirt. "B-big sis... A package came for you a few days ago... I'm sorry... I forgot..."

"Huh?" She looked, and Souji opened a low cabinet and took out a large cardboard box from inside it. The label on the package had her name on it, and the box was decorated with the 'Tanaka's Amazing Commodities' logo featuring Tanaka's shit-eating grin. "Oh, it must be the medical kit!"

"Medical... kit?"

After a bit of a struggle, she had the package open. She popped open the medical kit's lid and whistled. Despite the show's cheesiness, the medical kit was as stocked as they'd advertised. It had rubbing alcohol, bandages, a sewing kit, aspirin, antiseptic, lots of gauze and cotton balls, an instruction booklet—and that was just the top layer! There was more underneath.

Such a quality product. She wondered if Tanaka did this every year, just in case a ragtag bunch of teenagers were trying to thwart evil... She shook her head. It didn't bear consideration.

She put the medical kit in her room, planning to smuggle it into Junes and the TV World at a later date. Then she made Souji use the bathroom one last time before they headed out to the flood plain.

"Oh, it's Souji-kun!" Chie said upon seeing the boy. "Hi there!" She was bouncing from foot to foot. She wore a tight sports bra and shorts, ready for action.

"H...Hi," he said demurely.

"He's gonna train with us," Nanako declared.

Souji looked apprehensive about it. He might be at the top of his class, but that probably did not include P.E.

They started with some stretches and followed up with jumping jacks. They jogged together down the flood plain, and Nanako stayed slow so that Souji could keep up. Chie entertained herself by repeatedly jogging ahead and then jogging backwards to where they were. Yeah, she was still in way better shape than Nanako was.

By the end of the afternoon, Nanako was soaked with sweat, almost like she'd been running in the bathhouse. Souji was red-faced and wheezing, his shirt dirty and torn. She'd playfully tackled him to the ground when they'd reached their arbitrary finish line, the picnic table.

"Chie, god, how do you do it?" Nanako gasped on the grass.

"Being fit feels great!" the girl announced. "Don't you feel the adrenaline flowing through you? No one can keep me down!"

Nanako took the water bottle the girl handed out to her and downed it.

"If you keep it up," Chie added, "you'll really start to like it. The hardest part is starting! I think you should try to run in the morning before school starts. That's what I do. You can join me!"

"I'll think about it," Nanako promised, but she didn't really want to. She'd have to get up earlier! But maybe if she made Souji come, too, it wouldn't be so bad, hehe...

The little boy in question was gnawing on an empty water bottle's top. It was probably time to take him home, so she bid farewell to Chie and thanked her for the training advice.

Back at the Seta residence, Nanako dragged Souji to the bathroom and pulled his shirt off before he knew what was going on.

It was bath time!

After turning on the tub's faucet to start filling it with hot water, she made him remove the rest of his clothes, sat him down on the stool in front of the wash basin, and started scrubbing him clean. His arms and legs were visibly dirty, and she took care to get between his toes, though he complained that it tickled. Gosh, now she could see how thin and pale he was. He needed to eat more and get out more, that was for sure.

"You d-don't have to help me," he said when she started lathering shampoo into his gray hair. "I'm a big boy..."

"Souji-kun," she said briskly. "I want a bath too. You don't need help, but I want to give it. So you're gonna get it." She knew he took baths on his own, but that didn't mean it had to always be on his own.

After rinsing out his hair, she began to clean herself. When it came to the shampoo, she asked him to help out and he obediently lathered up her wavy hair. It felt great having someone else's hands on her scalp, though he tugged the hair a little too much.

"You have a lot of hair," he observed, stroking the hair down her back. "It's longer when it's wet."

"Souji-kun..." she murmured. "Do you like your haircut?"

"Mama cuts my hair for me," he said.

Yeah, that answered that question.

She helped him into the tub, and she wondered how he got in on his own since the rim was rather tall. He probably used his step stool. There wasn't a lot of room for the two of them, but it was comfortable enough. The hot water made Nanako vow to use the baths at the TV World bathhouse. They'd fought hard for the right, after all!

Since she hadn't planned ahead for the bath, she didn't have any new toys to bring in, so she had to make do with the ones Souji already had on a nearby shelf. One of them was a plastic penguin with an inner-tube, and it floated when she put it in the water. There was a rainbow-colored fish, too, but it wasn't designed to float, so she gave it to him to hold. No dinosaurs? That would have to be remedied.

They played with the toys, and Nanako tried to get Souji to talk with her.

"Sooo, Souji-kun. You like going to cram school, huh?"

He nodded without looking up from moving the fish through the water. "The teacher is really nice... I wrote a story and she put it on the wall." She asked him what the story was about, and the fish froze in the water and he stared down at it. "U-umm, well... G-Golden Week. I wrote... that big sis played with me and it was fun..."

She laughed and told him that it was really sweet of him to say. She asked him more about school and discovered that he walked to the cram school with a friend and his mother. It was a relief on two levels: that he didn't walk around town alone all the time, and that he actually had a friend. His name was Takeyoshi-kun and Souji sat next to him in class. She'd have to learn more about this boy and get to know him!

"A-and at school," he further volunteered, "umm, they liked my umbrella. Umm, your umbrella..."

"Oh, the pink one?"

"It's not pink, it's Loveline!" He pouted.

With a smile she began to sing the theme song to Magical Detective Loveline, and then he joined in and they sang together.

After they finished the last line of the song, she patted him on the head affectionately, ruffling his wet hair. When she tried to draw her hand back, though, Souji was holding it in place. "...Souji-kun?"

"P-Papa used to do that..." he murmured. "With my hair."

That gave her pause. "Oh? Is it okay if I do it?" she asked.

He moved her hand from his head and into the water, but continued to hold it. Then he nodded. "He did it every time he picked me up from school. He always used to walk me home..."

"So... you weren't home alone after school?"

"He had to go back to work after that... but sometimes he'd take me to work with him." Souji was smiling, perhaps at a memory. "The people there were nice to me... They said I look like Papa."

With his gray hair and gray eyes, he looked almost nothing like his dark-haired and dark-eyed mother, that was for sure—although his hair seemed to be darker in the back, and his small nose resembled hers to a point.

"I miss my papa," he said. He let go of her hand to pick up the fish toy again. He took it out of the water and showed it to her. "He gave me this!"

"What about... the penguin?"

He nodded. "Yeah and that. We played with them in the bath together, too, just like this. Then one time he taught me to take baths on my own. And now he's gone so he can't give me baths anymore... So now I play on my own."

He knocked the fish against the floating penguin and watched it bob up and down in the water.

"I'll play with you," she blurted. Normally she took her bath after he was done using it since she respected his privacy, but... "We can do this more often."

He smiled shyly and handed her the fish.

That night, Nanako volunteered to put Souji to bed since Aunt Seta was busy with the phone. After helping him change into his pajamas and tucking him into bed, she began to read a volume of Loveline manga to him.

"'And crime never pays,'" she read. "Isn't that right, Foxie? Don't make me hit you with my truth ray!"

At her cue, Souji took the plush fox out from under the covers. "Uh, umm, yeah," he said in a small voice. "I'll be good."

"That's right! I've got my eye on you! Okay, that's it for tonight, Sou-chan!" Nanako gently pushed the boy down to his pillow and retucked him into bed with Foxie under his arm. She turned off the light and then brushed his hair away to kiss his forehead. "Sleep well," she murmured.

"Goodnight, big sis..." the boy replied, and then he yawned.

She hugged him against the bed impulsively. "I love you," she told him.

In the darkness, she could only imagine the blush on his face. "Uh, umm... I love you, too, big sis..."

[AN: In Yosuke's rank 5 social link in the game, little cousin Nanako mentions she has classmates named Takeyoshi-kun (who sits next to her in class), Miwa-chan (who has a crush on Takeyoshi-kun), and Yo-chan. None of them are ever seen in game or mentioned outside of this scene. So our little Souji has at least Takeyoshi-kun as a friend. It'd just be too sad if he didn't have any friends!

In the game, the gas station attendant was male. I know the person was female in the anime. The male version is the one we're going with here. He is our Hanged Man link.

Speaking of links, here's an updated list of the social links for everyone.

Established

Chariot – Chie

Empress – Margaret

Fool – the DEATH Squad

Hanged Man – Izaya (gas station attendant)

Hermit – Souji

Hierophant – Morooka

Justice – Adachi

Magician – Yosuke

Moon – Saki

Priestess – Yukiko

Sun – Chisato (Nanako's mother)

Not established (yet)

Aeon

Death

Devil

Emperor

Fortune

Lovers

Star

Strength

Temperance

Tower

We still don't have any plans for Tower or Devil at this point.

Next Chapter: Boy Talk, Girl Talk, Family Talk

In that order. More social links, go~]