A Name Worth Protecting


"Hey hey! Where do you wanna go today?" her best friend said.

She grinned and pointed. "Now that I'm bigger, I wanna see if we can reach the end of the forest!"

Her friend looked unsure. "Really? Why do you wanna do that? It's just a forest..."

"But I wanna see what's at the end! What if there's something after the forest?"

Now her friend was happy. "Oh! Yeah! Let's go!"

And so Chie and Yosuke spent the rest of the morning in the forest by Inaba to answer that question. As they walked, her best friend, being the smart friend he was, drew in his notebook about how far they went. But the longer they went, the more he would say things like,

"Chie! Watch out!"

"What was that?!"

"Be careful where you're stepping!"

Chie grinned. "Aren't boys supposed to be brave?"

"W-Well I'm just making sure there aren't any monsters! Or bandits! Or po-son-es mooshrums!"

"We'll be fine, Yosuke. It's just a forest. All those things are for the road or a city or a cave."

"A forest can have all those things, you know! I read about it! And Dad showed me!"

"Well I'll make sure to protect you then since you can't!"

Yosuke frowned. "Eerghh..."

Chie turned and continued to walk until she gasped at what she saw: the trees disappearing.

"Come on! I think we're almost there!" she said then she ran.

"Hey! Wait for me!"

Chie ran and ran, finally past the trees, until she stopped and froze.

It felt like she stood there forever as she stared at what was in front of her, letting Yosuke catch up.

"Seesh...you know you're faster than me...?" her best friend said until he saw what she saw. "Woah! There is something here!"

Yes there was.

And that something was a stupid haunted house.

That Yosuke was getting close to.

"H-H-Hey! What are you doing?" Chie said as quietly as possible, trying to stop her shaking legs.

"Huh? I'm going inside. What if there's treasure in there?!"

"But ghosts live in houses like that!"

"Huh? Ghosts? There're no ghosts in there."

"Of course there are! And we gotta go!"

Yosuke grinned, but it was his annoying one. "Aw...little Chie's scared of ghosts? I didn't know that... Well maybe I'll go in by myself so that I can show there's no ghosts!"

"What?! No! What if the ghosts are there and get you?!"

"There are no ghosts in this house, Chie."

"But look at it! It's a haunted house! Of course there are ghosts there!"

The sliding doors were broken, vines were everywhere, and the floor had lots of holes in it.

"It's an old house, not a haunted one. If it's really haunted, then there'd be monsters too and I don't see any monsters," he said, still smiling.

"Ugh! No! We're not goin' in and that's it!" she said, stomping before she dragged Yosuke.

Except he pulled back.

"What! Come on Chie! I wanna see inside! You're the one who wanted to find if there's something here, after all!"

That... That was true but...

"I can't protect you if there are ghosts in there..."

"Then I'll protect you since you can't!"

Chie turned to her smiling best friend, surprised and happy he said that, but also...

"Hey that's what I should be saying! Not you!"

...annoyed.

"Well I'm not the one afraid of ghosts!"

"Well I'm not the one scared of everything else!"

"Why you!"

In the end, they didn't go inside the scary house because by the time they finished their little fight with each other, it was already after lunch and their parents had found them, worried something bad had happened to them.

They promised to go to the house the next day though.

She would protect Yosuke while going there, and Yosuke would protect her while they were actually in the house.


"Rrgh! Ahh! Ahh! AHHHH!"

One kick and the dummy log was down.

"Still mad huh?"

Chie whirled and nearly kicked the person for their sudden appearance if he hadn't said,

"Hey watch it!"

And she realized that it was her best friend, Yosuke.

"Geez, you watch it. You're the one who got close. I almost kicked you," Chie said.

Her best friend huffed. "Well excuse me for thinking you were done and wanted to make sure you're okay..."

Chie flinched and looked away, hating the reminder leading to remembering why she was upset.

"I made it worse again, didn't I...?"

Despite her mood, Chie half-smiled and chuckled. "Kinda, yeah."

Then she plopped down on her butt and crossed her legs.

Yosuke followed soon after, just sitting beside her, also cross legged.

They didn't say anything for a while. They just sat there, watching the world turn as if nothing was wrong; as if the world wasn't fighting each other; as if people weren't killing each other...

...as if her father hadn't just got deployed in the war.

Then Yosuke said, "You know there's nothing you could've done, right...?"

Chie screamed. "I know that! But I...!"

She fell on her back, most of her energy to be frustrated used up with her training.

"I wish I could fight too... Or maybe even do it instead of my dad..."

"You can still help in the war effort, you know? Like how you can give materials and food and stuff?"

"What like your dad?" Chie said bitterly.

She regretted it as soon as she did as Yosuke flinched

"Sorry I—"

"No, it's okay. I know I'm lucky Dad isn't well enough to fight... It's not fair," he said. Then he laughed mirthlessly. "But the world's upside down, so maybe my luck was flipped over too..."

Once again, despite everything feeling like the weight of the world was on her, she laughed genuinely at Yosuke's joke.

"Yeah. Maybe it is flipped," she said, smiling.

Yosuke always had a talent for that, making her, and others, smile even if everything else was horrible.

That reminder though made her joke, "Guess I don't need to protect you then, huh?"

But instead of joking back, Yosuke made some sort of strangled sound. She sat up, worried his bad luck returned and he somehow choked on air, but instead found him blushing and looking away nervously.

"Yosuke...?"

"E-E...Even if...you-you didn't need to protect me...I'd still want you to."

Chie stared.

No way.

Did he just...?

"O-O-Only if you want to of course! I'm gonna protect you either way and—wait no, I'm not saying you [I]need[/I] protecting! You're like the strongest girl I know! In a good way! You're still pretty and—oh god wait no I'm making it worse agai—"

Chie couldn't help it. She laughed.

Of course Yosuke didn't find it as funny as he said with a grumble and a frown,

"Geez. If you wanna turn me down, could you at least not rub it in...?"

So she stopped and said, blushing a bit despite herself,

"That's not it, idiot. I..." She blushed a bit more. "...I like you too. I don't mind you protecting me too."

Yosuke stared, dazed at her confession in the wake of his unintentional and botched one.

This time, Chie just smiled and decided to lean against her newly gained boyfriend in her amusement.

Now she knew exactly what she wanted to do.


"Police officer?"

"Yeah."

"All right...guess I gotta go for it too."

"You don't have to follow me like that, you know."

"I know. But I want to."

"Yosuke..."

"Besides, it's gonna be rough for you. I know they've been starting to accept women since the war ended but that's still new."

"Well then that just means I gotta blaze a trail!"

"Ha ha. I know you will."

That had been a few years ago. And though they both managed to become officers in that time, with women applications being open after the war being one of the few bright sides to it...

"Arrrgggh! I hate this!"

...she was stuck on parking duty.

She knew it was important but it was so obvious that it was because none of the others took her seriously and it was frustrating. Not too mention all the harassment and annoyance she got while on duty, from both "fellow" officers and violaters, or the fact that...

"I'm still not gonna buy you steak, if that's what you're asking," Yosuke said from behind his desk.

...her boyfriend was already a police sergeant, in charge of Inaba's koban.

She glowered at him. "That's not what I was complaining about..."

Yosuke frowned. "I know. Sorry."

Chie groaned again, lying against her seat. "It's fine," she said. "I wish there was some way for me to actually do something..."

Again, she knew it was important in its own way, but she's already been doing this for a couple of years now. And yet out of the two, Yosuke was the one who got the promotion. Of course she was happy about that but...it wasn't fair. And not only that, a stupid serial killer was on the loose in Inaba.

She was going to be left behind.

She was going be unable to protect anyone.

"You know..."

Chie was startled from her thoughts and looked to her contemplative boyfriend.

"Let's do something then."

"Huh?!"

"We're not going to get anything done like this. If the higher ups aren't going to work harder, then we might as well do it."

"Hey, I thought I was supposed to be the reckless one, not you. We're not even assigned the case."

Yosuke smirked. "But that doesn't mean we can't happen to witness an attempt and prevent it, right?"

Chie stared. Then she laughed.

"All right. I'm in. You have a plan?"

"I always have a plan."

"Yeah right."


Turned out, it was a good plan. They ended up catching the serial killer thanks to their efforts. And from there, they pulled off plenty of other things thanks to loopholes and bending the rules as far as they could without breaking them. So thanks to Yosuke, she was more or less slowly building up her resumé and her reputation, until eventually...

"You did it, Chie!"

"Ah!"

She was startled by her boyfriend charging into their living room.

"What the hell, Yosuke? What are you talking about?"

Her boyfriend grinned wider and held a piece a paper before her as he said,

"You got promoted!"

Chie was stunned.

Indeed she was.

Then she laughed and smiled along with Yosuke as he hugged her, lifted her to her feet and spun them around in joy.

Yes, it was only a promotion to police sergeant. But with all the grumbling and harassment she had to deal with, this was the first step in the right direction. And they always say the first step was the hardest.

Eventually they let go of each other and caught their breath.

As they were doing so though, Chie noticed something glinting on the ground.

"Huh? Did someone lose this?" she said as she picked it up.

It was a ring. An engagement ring if she had to guess, and a pretty one too.

"What the hell?! How'd that fall out?!"

Once again, Chie was stunned, then faced Yosuke and said,

"Is this...?"

"No! I mean yes! I mean—argh! I was gonna propose but not right now! I mean I planned to do it soon and maybe after I asked your parents so they won't kill me because Mom and Dad are already fine with you and actually helped me pick a ring an—mmph!"

They stood still, savoring the kiss for a good bit before she pulled back and smiled.

"You're such an idiot sometimes, you know that? I don't care how you're going to do it, my answer's still yes."

And once again, she was rewarded with the bright eyed and dazed look Yosuke would give her when he was just so happy and affectionate to be there with her.


"And you wanna know how the ring fell out? His pocket had a hole in it."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Really? He had a hole in his pocket?"

Chie smirked slightly. "Yes, he did."

"I know Dad's luck is bad, but I didn't think it was that bad!"

"Who said my luck was bad?"

Both her and her daughter turned to her husband with completely innocent smiles.

"Mom did! Your luck's so bad, you didn't even do your proposal right!" Kazuko said from her bed.

"Hey, my luck's not that bad. After all..." Her husband now stood by their daughter's side and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "...I'm lucky enough to have you as my daughter and your mother as my wife."

"Geez, Yosuke. That was way too corny," Chie said, "chiding" him...though her tone was anything but.

"But it's the truth," he said, glancing at her lovingly.

At least until their daughter giggled and they both turned their attention to her.

"Then I'm lucky to have the bestest mom and dad in the world!"

Yosuke and Chie laughed.

"Yes, you are the luckiest girl in the world," he said. "Now it's time for my lucky girl to go to sleep."

"Aw...but I wanna hear more..."

"Come on. You need your rest. You can't become an officer if you don't grow up healthy," Chie said, standing to ruffle her daughter's hair.

Kazuko laughed at the affectionate gesture yet settled down once Chie stopped.

"Okay Mom!"

Then turned to her side and closed her eyes.

Yosuke shook his head and sighed in fond exasperation as they exited the room quietly.

"I can't believe how seriously she's taking to becoming an officer already," he said, just as quiet. "I hope she'll be able to handle it when she actually gets there..."

Chie stilled for a moment. She understood his worries. She had them as well. It was hard not to be worried when even though many more women were now following in her footsteps to become officers, there were just as many who tried and then quit because the workplace treatment was too much.

However...

"That's what we're here for, isn't it? To protect her until she can do it herself, right?"

Yosuke was surprised for a moment then laughed. "Yeah. You're right. When you put it that way, it makes it a lot easier."

Chie smiled. "So, let's protect each other, promise?"

Her husband smiled back. "Promise. I'll always protect you and our family."


Author's Notes: For those who don't know: this was posted as an omake on the thread for Shin Persona Evangelion on Sufficient Velocity forums...that I had meant to put up soon but just never did until now. Below is the accompanying author's note from said post, some of which is addressed directly to the author of the fic.

Sufficient Velocity Author's Notes: Yes. This was in response to the revelation that Yosuke and Chie were officers in the mid-20th century which shocked me to the core. :V

So because of that, I did very minimum research, so apologies for any mistakes, but I wanted to just write this gosh dang it. So feel free to correct me on things.

And yes, I already had the idea before you, Ultra Sonic 007, said that you unironically ship Yosuke and Chie. But since I now know you do...

YOU BETTER LIKE THIS OR ELSE. :V

Kidding kidding.

But more seriously, yes, I was inspired and made this. I don't know how I was inspired, but being that upset just made me wanna write this fluff so there. And yes, I do actually feel better now having written that. I hope you, and anyone else, enjoyed reading it as much as I wrote it. (despite not being that strong of a supporter of yosuke/chie but i still like it also)

Oh and Kazuko basically means "lucky child" (I was thinking being written with this kanji: 運子). She was originally named Mamoru, because I figured that Yosuke and Chie wouldn't be that creative with names but still would want meaning to it, so Mamoru, aka protect, and Chie being Chie would want it as a name whether or not their kid was a boy or a girl. But then I actually wrote the scene where they interact and I wrote the line "luckiest girl" and...basically went with the lightbulb and going "your nickname shall be lucky girl and so your name should relfect that", so now she's Kazuko Hanamura instead.

And I like to imagine she kept her name when she got married in part in honor to her parents...and in part because her would-be husband would be the kind of person to take on his wife's name.

(feel free to use her if you ever need her btw, ultra sonic

again, if you ever need her of course :V)