[Summary: The DEATH Squad members respect nature by picking up trash. Mystery Food X does not make an appearance, the girls play the Persona Game, and everyone ends up in the river.]

[6/17: Friday]

As she speared an aluminum TaP Soda can with a pointed stick, Nanako reflected on how she kind of hated the outdoors. The sun cheerfully beamed down on her, its unending heat soaking her clothes with sweat. Stupid school making them wear their stupid P.E. tracksuits for this. It was officially summer. Too damned hot for this.

At least everyone in her class was suffering with her. Down the road a little were Chie and Yukiko. Chie was holding a trash bag open while Yukiko contentedly speared litter to put in it. Everyone was supposed to be working an assigned plot on their own, but Yukiko, as always, got a free pass, and better Chie as her partner than any of the boys, right?

Speaking of boys, Yosuke was up the road some. He'd complained a lot at first—Nanako agreeing completely—but now that he put his mind to the work, he'd quieted down. It was nice at first, but the silence got boring real fast, especially since there was an exceptionally chirpy bird in a nearby tree. It sounded too damned happy to watch them suffer, and Nanako wanted to throw a rock at it, but she didn't want to risk actually hitting it or anything, so she just repeatedly muttered at it to shut up.

She didn't have to use the bathroom, but thought about claiming the need just so she could take a little break when she noticed Yosuke struggling with something in the tall grass not far from her. "L-look at this!" he called.

She walked over to see it as he pulled it up. It was an old bike so rusty that it was impossible to tell what color it had been. One handlebar was bent, its grip missing, and both tires were flat, one of them shredded like an animal had gnawed on it. Had to have been a dumb animal; rubber wasn't edible. It reminded her of the abandoned bike at the train station and she wondered idly if it was still there.

"Who'd throw a whole bike away like this?" Yosuke sounded somewhat mournful.

"Yours will end up here one day," Nanako predicted.

"I am thinking of getting a new one," he admitted. "But I wouldn't throw it away. I'm sure I could find someone who'd want it."

"It only has a few dents, after all," she joked.

"Hey, that bike was my first friend here," he said, putting one hand on his hip. "My dad got it for me as a 'sorry we had to move' gift. I don't know, it cheered me up a little bit, I guess."

"I didn't know it was that important to you," she said apologetically. He protested that the bike really wasn't important, and then she asked him about his headphones since they were another item he was rarely without.

He let go of the bike's handlebar to unconsciously move his hand up to his neck, but the headphones weren't there because he hadn't brought them on the trip. "They're what I bought with my first paycheck from Junes! Nothing special about that, I suppose—"

"Dojima! Hanamura!" Morooka shouted. He'd apparently spotted them standing there instead of picking up trash. "If you keep shooting the shit, you'll be out here cleaning past nightfall! Get back to work!"

The two looked at each other and shrugged, and then Yosuke began to drag the broken bike down the road and ultimately into the campground's large rubbish bin.

"So, what," said Nanako. "Does the campground only get cleaned once a year, using the high schoolers as slave labor?"

"There should be volunteer groups to maintain the campgrounds," Chie said, "But that was an awful lot of trash we picked up. The camping season started last month. That might have something to do with it."

After spending all morning pitching the tents and all afternoon picking up litter, the students had been given some free time. It was intended for the students to cook in using the campground's grills and food brought from home, but most were using the free period to relax instead. Nanako sat across from Chie and Yukiko at a long, wooden picnic table. A few other students shared the same table at the far end. It was canopied, fortunately, so they were out of the sun.

"I don't think my back will ever feel straight again," Nanako complained. Bending down repeatedly had taken its toll on her posture. She was going to be sore in the morning, that was for sure. She wasn't looking forward to sleeping on the hard ground. "I wish we had a TV so we could go to the bathhouse!"

"We aren't supposed to enter other TVs," Yukiko reminded her. "Teddie said it might take us somewhere else, somewhere dangerous."

"Yukiko~" Nanako sang. "Then maybe we can field trip it to the Amagi Inn and use the hot springs?" It couldn't be that far from here; they'd passed it on the bus ride, after all!

The girl gave her a half-smile. "It's policy that I don't bring friends over to use the hot springs. I'm sorry..."

"You need to inherit the inn just to change the rules," Nanako told her directly. "Because that's no fun at all!" She continued to try and persuade the girl that rules are meant to be broken, but Yukiko wasn't budging. I'm so splashing you when we go swimming tomorrow, Nanako thought.

"It's just not fair to our paying guests," Yukiko said.

"Yeah, yeah..." Nanako sighed, tired of hearing it.

Yosuke walked up to the table with his cell phone in hand. He'd been taking a few pictures of the place. Nanako presumed he'd send some to his friend in the city and wondered if he'd taken one of that mangled bike earlier.

"So, uh, what are we eating?" he asked after putting the phone away. "You know, it's pretty funny how the four of us were assigned in the same group. Maybe King Moron doesn't hate us after all."

"Nanako was in charge of the food," Chie said. "But... she didn't pack anything like that, as far as I can tell."

The three of them looked at Nanako. "Oh, you wanna eat? Gimme a minute," she said. She took out her cell phone and made a call. "Yeah, I'd like to make an order for four of your beef bowls. Yes. Four. Actually, make one of them a mega bowl. And a side order of pot stickers, please. Yeah. Oh, we're at, uh," – she turned to them and asked the campground's official name – "and the name's Nanako. Mmhm. Perfect." She hung up and told them it'd be about a half an hour.

"Did you really just order takeout?" Yosuke seemed to be in disbelief.

"What, Aiya delivers anywhere, right?" She thought of Naoto when she said, "Might as well test it!"

"Beef bowl? Hell yes!" Chie, at least, was enthusiastic.

"And here I thought I was going to be treated to a home-cooked meal." Yosuke shook his head wryly. "So I guess you can't cook?"

"Only Adachi-san and Souji-kun have suffered my cooking," Nanako replied. "It mustn't have been that bad, anyway, because they both ate it. And no one got sick, as far as I know."

"Adachi-san is that policeman? And Souji-kun is... Oh, your little cousin, right?" Yosuke asked. "Does he look like you? I'm curious now."

"He's cute as a button," said Chie. "She brought him when we went training on Sunday. I think he looks up to her."

"I do have a few pictures," Nanako said. "But, actually, Yosuke, I wanna know what your city friend looks like. So... let's picture swap!"

"Wh-what? I don't really have many pictures of him... He likes to send pictures of everything around him instead of himself."

"There has to be a few. I bet you cherish every picture you do have of him."

"I do not!" Yosuke scowled.

"There's nothing wrong with it, Yosuke. I've got several pictures of my friends from Tokyo saved on here." She flipped through her phone to find a picture of Souji she'd taken during Golden Week. He was in his Lieutenant Briefs costume. She handed Yosuke the phone.

"...That has to be child abuse," Yosuke remarked. She told him to flip to the next picture since it was one in which she was wearing her own silly costume, and he laughed out loud. "God, you're weird."

"I'm special," she corrected.

"Hey, I wanna see!" said Chie, and Yukiko followed suit. He pointed the phone's screen at the two girls, and soon Yukiko was almost falling off the bench in her laughter. Chie had to hold her upright.

"Do I have to confiscate those?" Morooka growled. Apparently their racket had drawn their chaperone's attention. Cell phones were allowed on the trip, but only because they were away from school grounds. The teacher still had the right to control their use. "No sexting on my watch!"

"I would laugh harder than Yukiko if Yosuke was sexting his friend in the city," Nanako remarked.

Sadly, Yosuke wasn't listening. He was flipping through the photos on Nanako's phone. "Hmm? Are these your friends in Tokyo? All girls, huh... Oh, hey, who's the mean-looking guy in this one? That is an impressive five o'clock shadow."

"That's my dad!" Nanako said with a smile. "He looks scary, but he's really a softie. Like Mr. Morooka!"

"Are you asking for detention, Dojima?" Morooka growled. He was still standing there in his perpetual slouch, in spite of—or perhaps due to—the fact that they'd ignored him.

Nanako pretended to think about it. "Depends. Would I be spending it with you, sir?"

"The Student Health Association needs members," Morooka said, turning a bloodshot eye on her, "and you haven't joined a culture club or sports club."

"Yeah, and none of my friends here have either," Nanako pointed out, "what's up with that?"

"D-don't bring us into this!" Yosuke hissed.

"Satonaka is on the track team," Morooka replied, to everyone except the girl in question's surprise. He ignored their reaction. "At this rate, Dojima, without an after-school activity of some kind, you will forever remain unhealthy, uncultured, and unsportsmanlike. Somehow I imagine you're completely fine with that, but I won't let you get away with being a lazy bum. Detention will temper that attitude of yours and I'll give it as often as I need to!"

Nanako didn't know how to respond to that. She didn't mind getting another lesson in philosophy, but she'd rather have it on her own terms. She was saved from answering because a dark-haired girl came forward with a large takeout bag. "Delivery for Nanako," she stated.

"Aika-chan!?" Chie exclaimed.

"Ah! Put it on the table!" Nanako proceeded to take out her wallet and pay for the meal.

Morooka glared at her with the force of uncountable years of teaching. "You were supposed to have a homemade meal with your classmates, Dojima!"

"With all due respect," Nanako replied, "I'm supposed to have classmates who know how to cook a homemade meal. And, hey, Aika-chan is a classmate!" Nanako hoped she was, at least. The girl was wearing the same teal tracksuit as everyone else. That had to mean something! "This was homemade right, Aika-chan?"

"Homemade in Aiya's kitchen," the delivery girl replied evenly.

Nanako opened the bag and pulled out several boxes. "Would you like a pot sticker, Mr. Morooka?"

The teacher simply walked away, muttering exasperatedly to himself.

She shrugged and took a bite out of one.

"You're making deliveries?" Chie asked Aika while Nanako was doling out the takeout boxes and divvying up the pot stickers.

Aika nodded. "Delivery anywhere, anytime."

"But you're a student on this trip, right?" Nanako asked. "You didn't make this food for us?"

Instead of answering, Aika just told them to leave the bowls and then left the area. Hungry from their work, they dug into the food with relish.

"Too bad Aiya isn't hiring part-time," Nanako said while stuffing her face. "I'd learn the town well doing delivery."

"But then you'd need a scooter and a scooter license," Yosuke pointed out, possibly still miffed at her for shooting down his scooter idea last week. "Anyway, Chie, you're on the track team?"

After swallowing a few mouthfuls of beef, Chie shrugged her shoulders and told them it would look good on her college applications next year.

"Which is why," Nanako continued, "you should join a club, Yosuke! Sports! You don't have to go every day, you know. Even once a month is enough for you to be considered an active member, I think."

He gave her an ultimatum: he'd join a club if she did. She scowled because she didn't really want to join the band. She far preferred solo play to accompaniment. Maybe she could join track team with Chie, or help Yukiko make a cooking club. Then Yosuke could be stuck trying out their amateur cooking.

"Fine," she said. "Now show me pictures of your friend in the city. Come on, I showed you my little cousin! Now it's your turn. It's only fair."

Yosuke sighed like she was asking him to do her homework for the next three weeks, then took out his cell phone and navigated it to a picture and handed it to her. "His name is Katsuragi, okay?"

"He's cuuuute," she trilled. He had messy black hair and friendly gray eyes. He looked rather mature for a high school student. "You sent him that picture of us and the piano?"

"Yeah..."

"What did he say about it?"

"I'm not t-telling!" he said.

"Oh? Well, I'm sure I can find it in the log." Nanako proceeded to mess with his phone. Yosuke squeaked and made a grab for it, but she nimbly moved away, continuing on her task. Then she closed the lid and handed the phone back to him, because it was private, after all. Though she would've loved to find out he was sexting... heh heh. And he should have one shirtless pic of his friend, at least!

Nanako had been expecting the school to have everyone gather around a bonfire to sing songs and make smores, but when it started to get dark out, they were told in no uncertain terms to take one last trip to the restroom and then head right into their tents. Anyone caught out of their tents after that would be expelled.

"What if Yosuke has to pee in the middle of the night?" Nanako asked before they parted ways with him. She, Chie, and Yukiko were sharing a tent in the girls' section of the campground, and Yosuke had a tent to himself in the boys' section. Apparently the boys he was assigned with hadn't shown up. She almost felt bad for him. He wouldn't have anyone to tell ghost stories with. Oh, unless he called Katsuragi up or something!

"That's not funny, Yakuza Girl," Yosuke said, his tone flat.

"I haven't mentioned the yakuza in forever," she protested.

"I haven't had to pee when you're around in forever," he retorted.

"Yes, you did, you totally did!" she exclaimed. She reminded him of their trip through the bathhouse to defeat the Shadow that took over the baths. "...But you have a point—that joke's getting old. Sorry, I won't bring it up again."

Yosuke hadn't expected that, but before he could say anything, Morooka was hassling them to get going. She waved a good-bye and then headed to her tent, where Chie and Yukiko had already set up their sleeping bags. It looked like Chie was going to be in the middle. Nanako almost snorted at the sight. Yes, keep Yukiko all to yourself, why don't you?

The tent was a large one. Nanako had been surprised about that when they'd set them up in the morning. They could stand up straight in it and not hit their heads. She'd figured the school would have provided smaller, cheaper tents, but they even had old-fashioned lanterns to use—though upon closer inspection the lanterns were battery-powered. The blankets, also provided by the school, smelled musty, but would definitely keep them warm in the cool mountain air.

Nanako had brought Chan-chan in her backpack. It was kind of tradition that she keep the toy rabbit with her on trips, and of course she'd like to go camping, too! She'd take the stuffed animal out to cuddle later.

...Unless she was busy cuddling Chie instead. Heh heh.

This trip could totally be worth picking up all that trash.

"We've still got a few hours 'til we have to go to sleep," Nanako said after sitting on her designated blanket. "So... Ghost stories time?"

"No!" Chie said emphatically.

"Oh, yes!" said Yukiko, eyes glowing.

"Heh, heh. Looks like the 'ayes' have it, Chie!" Nanako rubbed her hands together in delight. "Let's get the proper ambiance going, first." She turned down the electric lantern until it was giving off only a faint light. Oh, she had her pocket flashlight in her backpack. She decided against bringing it out and lighting her face with it because she'd have to turn the light back up to find it.

"A group of high school students," she began, "were visiting their friend in the hospital, a girl who was chronically ill. She was born with a weak constitution and was always bedridden. Anyway, they were talking to her to cheer her up when suddenly she collapsed in the bed. The students rushed to find her doctor, but when they opened the door down the hall, it led right into the wall! Yeah, the hospital had redesigned itself into a maze, and when they turned around, they saw—"

"Dojima!"

Nanako shrieked at the interruption. "Wh-what the hell, Mr. Morooka!?" she cried weakly. "That was scarier than my damn story!"

Their teacher was outside the tent. "Lissen up, Dojima! And don't give me any of your crap. There'sh a huuuge diff'rence between bein' insholent and indeshent!"

"Is he drunk?" Nanako whispered at the girls.

"S-seems like it," Chie whispered back. Yukiko began to titter, but Chie clamped a hand over her mouth to suppress it.

"Y-yes, Mr. Morooka?"

He hiccuped loudly. "You girls bein' de... deshent?"

"I'm feeling Chie and Yukiko up as we speak," Nanako replied, grinning to herself in the darkness.

"She is not!" Chie shouted in irritation.

"Yer mother'll hear about thish, Dojima!" Morooka growled.

"She'll be glad to hear it, sir," Nanako informed him.

"Fnehhh... Go to bed, you brats! Wish I friggin' could..." They heard him shuffle away, presumably to bother other students.

"Go to bed?" Nanako muttered. "It's barely 8 o'clock. We usually stay up past midnight, right?" Though checking the Midnight Channel was actually Yosuke's job. She'd never stayed up for it since the Bad Bad Bathhouse episode.

"Nanako!" Chie hissed. "You could've got us expelled, talking back to him like that! King Moron wouldn't think twice about it!"

"He wouldn't have a case," Nanako murmured, mostly to herself. "The public eye would side with us because we're beautiful girls."

Nanako was worried about Mr. Morooka. Where did he get the booze? Did he bring it himself, or was it one of the other teachers? Regardless, he could totally get fired if someone reported him. Yasogami was probably hurting for teachers, which was why they had such... eccentric... ones, but there had to be a limit to what behavior was excusable. Maybe... Maybe he wanted to be fired? He certainly never seemed happy in the classroom. Hell, he never seemed happy period.

He had been worried about Nanako's well-being after she'd fallen asleep in class—but it turned out it was his own well-being he should be looking after?

"I don't know what that guy's problem is," Chie said. "We're still in first term and I'm already sick of him!"

"He's... he's not that bad," Nanako said.

Both Chie and Yukiko stared at her.

"I don't want to know how bad the teachers are in Tokyo, then, Nanako!" Chie said with a weak laugh. "If you think he's good."

"I don't really listen to him," Yukiko confessed. "He's too... loud."

"He's obnoxious!" Chie corrected with vehemence. "Did you hear what he said about Naoki-kun and Ms. Yamano? That they'd probably done something to deserve it!?"

Nanako couldn't really disagree with Chie's opinion on that, but... She informed them about the third year girl whose family didn't approve of her desire to study art, and how Mr. Morooka was doing what he could to advise her. "You know, Yukiko, you could try to talk to him, too—since you're not sure what you want to do with your life. He'll be able to tell you about other options. You're a good student, anyway, so he'll listen to you with respect. I'm sure of it."

"You really think so?" Yukiko asked with a hint of hope. "I would like to talk to an adult in confidence about everything... Someone not related to the inn..."

"We have other teachers too, like Ms. Sofue. But I think Mr. Morooka would be really happy to hear you out. If you're afraid of him, you can bring me along. We have an understanding, y'know?" A kind of awkward understanding but an understanding nonetheless.

Yukiko nodded and told her she'd keep that in mind.

After that, Nanako sighed. Morooka's interruption had ruined the moment for her scary story. She flopped down onto her blanket and rested her head on her pillow. "Persona," she whispered for the hell of it. Izanami was there, she could feel her, along with Archangel and Cu Sith and the others. She sat up suddenly and held out her hand, envisioning one of her Persona Cards. A-almost! "Izanami!"

Nothing happened.

"What are you doing?" Chie asked.

"Wanna see if she'll come out in the real world," Nanako murmured. "She's there, I know it! It would be so cool if she could!"

"T-Tomoe!"

"Persona!"

"Konohana Sakuya!"

The three girls tried over and over again, but no matter how much force of will they applied, their Persona Cards would not materialize. There seemed to be some sort of block preventing it from happening.

Nanako eventually threw herself back down onto her pillow. It was a bust. Maybe the fog in the TV World had something to do with it, like it was a conduit or catalyst.

"Hey," she said suddenly, staring up at the tent's canopy. "Why don't we play the Persona Game?"

"The Persona Game?" Yukiko asked.

"Yeah. Umm, it's something my mom told me about. Oh, but we're supposed to have four people to play it with." If only Yosuke was here. That's a thought she'd never expected to have, heh. "We can still try it, though!"

"What kind of game is this?" Chie asked, suspicious. "Knowing you, it's something weird!"

Nanako smiled to herself. Yeah, she could say they had to take off their shirts to play it, but she had a feeling Chie would object. Man, for being Nanako's first friend in Inaba, the kung fu girl was really turning out to be a spoilsport. She should be happy—Nanako had fed her a mega beef bowl, after all!

"Everyone stand in a different corner of the tent," Nanako ordered. She went to a corner of her own, and waved at the girls to follow suit. Chie seemed unwilling, but she obeyed after Yukiko did.

"Now what do we do?" Yukiko asked.

"I'll say a certain set of words, and then move into the corner that you're in and stop there. Then, you'll say the same words and move into the corner Chie is in, and then Chie will do the same and move into... the empty corner, I guess. And that's it."

"That's it?"

"That's it," Nanako confirmed.

"Seems like a silly game," Chie said. "What's the point?"

"It's supposed to let you see ghosts!"

"Ghosts!?" Yukiko exclaimed. She clasped her hands together under her chin. "Oh, oh, let's do it!"

Nanako laughed and started the game. "Persona, Persona, please come here!" She walked towards Yukiko, and then touched the girl's hand when she arrived. It was warm and soft and Yukiko didn't seem to mind.

Yukiko said, "Persona, Persona, please come here," with emphasis on 'please,' giggling afterward in her excitement, and moved to Chie's corner. Nanako noticed her touch Chie's hand. Maybe she didn't realize that hadn't been part of the game.

Chie shook her head. "Persona, Persona, c'mere!" She reached the empty corner and then looked askance at Nanako.

They didn't have a fourth player...

"Oh, well," Nanako said. "No ghosts for u—uhnnnn..." Her body suddenly felt heavy, and she fell to her knees and then to the ground.

Then she blacked out.

[6/18: Saturday]

Whether from the day spent trash-picking, the beefy meal, or the Persona Game, the three girls slept like rocks. Rocks that didn't get a chance to cuddle or anything. Nanako was really disappointed by how the night had gone when she realized she'd slept the entire night in the corner of the tent where she'd suddenly collapsed. It seemed like the same thing had happened to the other girls, too, since they were still asleep in their corners. In a fit of pique, Nanako took her phone out and texted her mom that the Persona Game sucks.

Oh, well, on to bigger and better things!

The morning sun was warm and bright outside the tent. That stupid songbird had returned and was serenading the day. Nanako headed to the bathroom and took care of her business, then decided to go crash Yosuke's tent since the girls weren't up. She had far fewer qualms about waking him up.

Before she could enter, though, she heard his voice. He was talking to someone? But he was supposed to be alone—

Kanji-kun?

"Can't believe they set your tent up on a rock," Kanji was saying.

"I know, right?" said Yosuke. "Good thing the other guys called out. Imagine being smooshed up against it. If they were here, we'd probably draw lots on who'd be the one, and I'd probably lose."

"Your luck's that bad, Senpai? You got the tent to yourself," Kanji pointed out. "Well, 'til I showed up, anyway. Thanks again for letting me stay here."

"No problem," Yosuke replied cheerfully. "You know, for a big guy, you didn't snore at all."

Nanako blinked rapidly. Wait, Kanji had stayed the night in Yosuke's tent? How, what, why...

When had they become friends?

...And more importantly, exactly how close had they become?

She was imagining some pretty serious stuff when Yosuke announced that he was going to use the bathroom. She quickly moved around the tent and waited for him to leave. When he was gone, she went inside the tent. Kanji was sitting cross-legged on a blanket. "Oh, Senpai! 'Mornin'," he greeted.

"Hi," she said. "How'd you sleep? I slept like a rock, probably because all the rocks I slept on! Heh."

"Not bad, not bad. Pretty big tent to sleep in, even for me." Kanji nodded his head at the tent around them. "Yosuke-senpai let me stay here, cuz all the
guys in my tent kept giving me looks, like I was gonna kill 'em in their sleep or something."

"Yosuke was fine with it?"

"Well, he complained at first," Kanji admitted. "Don't blame him. He had a whole tent to himself 'til I showed up. But then we got to talkin' and it was cool."

'It was cool.' Well, okay. Nanako gave him a lopsided smile.

"We even found the penguin!" he declared with a grand smile of his own. He took out an animal cracker box and showed her a penguin cracker stored inside it. "It was pretty close. He almost ate it."

"Oh, hey, Nanako." Yosuke was peering into the tent. "What are you doing here?" He stepped in and closed the flap.

"I just wanted to tell you that we're going swimming after breakfast! You're both invited."

"I didn't bring any trunks," Kanji said. He looked pretty depressed.

"Not to worry!" Nanako cried. "I have some for you! Well, in my bag in my tent. I'll bring it to you."

"You brought a pair of swim trunks?" Yosuke asked, looking at her with some suspicion. "Do I really wanna know what you have planned today?"

"I'll be back!" she said, face aglow with anticipation.

After eating a breakfast of granola bars provided by the school, Nanako and the girls returned to their tent to get changed. She revealed the swimsuits she had purchased for them. The moment of truth!

"This kind of looks like my sports bra," Chie noted, holding up her swimsuit top. It had navy blue and green stripes, but they were angled instead of horizontal. She didn't seem unhappy about the similarity. "Perfect fit, Nanako! Thanks!"

"Heh heh," said Nanako.

Yukiko's ensemble was red with a white frill trim. "Oh, I like this! What do you think, Chie?" She shifted her hips to see the frill flare out.

"N-nice!" said Chie. Nanako held in her amusement. Saki had picked well, hadn't she? "And you look like sunshine, Nanako!"

The yellow and orange swimsuit made Nanako feel like sunshine, too. "Let's go out and dazzle those boys!"

They found Yosuke and Kanji standing by the riverbank. The music-loving teen was wearing red swim trunks, and the other boy was wearing the black speedo that Nanako had bought him. It would have been more scandalous if they hadn't already seen him in briefs before.

Yes, she'd bought swimsuits for everyone expect Yosuke. He had a store discount. He could buy his own! Or swim nude. She was fine with that, too.

"Wow," said Yosuke when they approached. "You girls are looking fine. Don't you agree, Kanji?"

"Uhh," said Kanji, eyeing the girls warily.

"Damn right I'm fine," Nanako said unashamedly.

Yosuke shook his head. "And then she opens her mouth."

"I could say the same about you!" she replied. "Most girls would be offended when you ogle them and tell them they're fine! Look at Chie! She's ready to kick you to defend her honor, and I think you deserve that kick."

Indeed, Chie was hopping from foot to foot... but Nanako suspected she was actually preparing to defend Yukiko's honor rather than her own. "You're about to get wet, Yosuke!" she shouted.

Yosuke held his hands up to defend himself as Chie took a step forward, and then thought better of just standing there and taking it and escaped by jumping in the water on his own. "Ch-ch-ch-ch!" he stuttered when he surfaced. "It's cold!"

"Is it?" said Nanako. Better jump right on in, then. "Last one in is a bambino!" she cried, running and splashing into the water. D-damn, it really was cold, but she knew if she swam around enough, her body would adjust. She waved at the girls and Kanji on the bank. "It's not that bad. Come on in!"

Chie and Yukiko nodded at each other and then walked into the river. "It is cold," Yukiko murmured when the water was up to her knees.

"Yeah?" said Nanako. "You know what's not cold? Hot springs."

Yukiko gave her a thin smile, but didn't respond.

Since there was a waterfall upstream, Nanako headed towards it, Chie following a little to her left.

"Water's brisk," Chie said, "but I like it! Maybe we should have a race?"

"We can see how long we can stay under the waterfall," Nanako said. It wasn't too high and the water wasn't flowing too fast, so it was probably safe to sit under it. She'd performed meditation under a waterfall once before during her aikido training. It had been early in the morning and meant to prepare her mind for the day to come. All it had done was make her wish she was still in bed, though... "Wasn't there a kung fu movie where the guy stayed under a waterfall for three days without moving?"

"Four days," Chie corrected. "And the waterfall was at least twice as powerful as this one!"

They swam closer to the waterfall and decided that maybe they didn't want to get their heads wet. The water was cold, after all, and, well, they weren't going to do any training afterward or anything.

"Let's go to the baths at the TV World again," Chie suggested. "That was fun. Until you tickled me!"

"Are you kidding me?" Nanako said. "That was the best part!"

"'Again'?" Yosuke had swum up after them. "What are you talking about?"

The girls explained that they'd had a girls' day out at the baths in the TV World bathhouse a few weeks ago.

"R-really?" he said. He was quiet for a moment, but Nanako would bet anything that he was trying to imagine the scene. It was a good thing the water was cold enough to temper his excitement. "Too bad I can't use the baths. I'd have to go alone, and that's against Rule #2."

"Bring Kanji-kun," Nanako said. "It's his bathhouse, anyway."

"I-I guess I could..." Yosuke said with a frown of consideration. Then he emitted a much stronger, "Yeah! I could do that. There were no Shadows there, right?"

Nanako nodded. "None. And I'll come with, too."

"W-what?" Chie and Yosuke exclaimed at the same time.

"One way or another," she said, "I'm going to have a threesome."

"Nanako!" Chie scolded. "Don't say stuff like that to Yosuke! You'll get his hopes up."

Indeed, Yosuke was blushing and he seemed to have lost his voice.

"Sorry," Nanako said, but she was only partially kidding. Her Inaba friends... didn't know her all that well, huh?

"Well, speaking of Kanji-kun," Chie went on. "Where is he?"

They spied him further down the river. Yukiko was swimming in place at his side while he pointed out something in the forest on the far side of the river. Chie and Nanako swam up to them to see what it was all about, and apparently he'd spotted a rabbit, but it had bounded away when they approached.

"Was a brown one," he said. "Just a little guy." He estimated the animal's size with his hands.

"Cute," said Nanako indulgently. "By the way, Kanji-kun, you and me and Yosuke are gonna go to the bathhouse together someday."

He scratched his head. "If you say so, Senpai."

Chie shook her head, but Nanako just laughed at Kanji's naive trust. It was part of his charm, after all!

They decided to start swimming down the river. Other students had taken to the water, too. One group had brought a beach ball to play with, and they joined in the game for a while. There was one guy wearing glasses trying very hard not to let said glasses get splashed. Nanako had her eye on him because he seemed to be wearing a speedo just like Kanji, but dark blue instead of black. It was too bad he stayed under the water...

When the DEATH Squad members grew bored of playing, they returned upriver and laid down on the grass to dry off in the sun, since no one had thought to bring towels.

Staring up at the baby blue sky, Nanako decided that she could get used to living with nature, as long as she could order Aiya every day.

[AN: Ordering Aiya at the campgrounds was shamelessly borrowed from the anime. Hey, it allowed us bring in the best character from it: Aika-chan!

The Persona Game! It's from the first Persona series game. It's supposed to have four players, one for each corner of the room. Why did it make them collapse? I dunno, maybe that's what happens when you don't have four players! The ghost story Nanako was trying to tell is a scene that happens early in that game. You can sorta tell I was playing that game when I wrote this chapter, heh.

Yosuke's friend Katsuragi comes from 'The Magician' manga. It was translated into English by linefaced. Check it out on their tumblr.

Do you think Nanako will force Yosuke into a club? What club do you think it would be...?

Next Chapter: Every Day's Great

There had to be a chapter titled this eventually! Souji meets Yosuke. We were all waiting for this day, right? Aibous forever~]