(11/14/10)

Wednesday...

I woke up and took a bath. Everyone else woke up after a while, and after the usual morning madness, we went down for breakfast.

We quietly ate breakfast as Ms. Toriumi arrived and told us to eat faster.

"Where are we going this time?" Junpei said grumpily, "I hope it isn't gonna be another stuffy museum. The guys and I are getting bored."

"Speak for yourself." Minako said as she ate her bowl of soup.

"Eh? So you disagree with me?" Junpei asked.

"Uh, no, not really." Minako admitted.

"Where are we going, Miz?" Lee asked.

"Central Park." Ms. Toriumi said.

"And...?"

"Broadway."

"What're we gonna do there?" Minako asked.

"In Central Park, we're gonna clean it and in Broadway, as a reward, you'll get to see a show!" She said, but even she didn't sound excited.

Everyone within hearing distance groaned.

"Reward?! I can't think of a more severe punishment! We flew thousands of miles just to clean a filthy park?!" Quan cried.

"Correct."

We groaned even more.

But wether we wanted to or not, we still rode the buses going to Central Park.

It was huge! Bigger than Tatsumi Port Island, even.

"My God! They expect us to clean this place?!" Lee cried, "It's bigger than the damn Port Island!"

We were given spike sticks to stab at the trash and bags to dispose of them.

These are one of the times we're greatful that we could curse in Japanese.

We looked mournfully at the picnics people were having.

Lee managed to nick a few turkey legs and shared it to us. Junpei even managed to "borrow" a picnic basket.

We ate behind a bush and resumed work.

"It must be a crime to lure innocent Japanese kids to a clean a park..." I said, "Mitsuru... That witch lured us here to do slave labor!"

"My back... My poor back..." Junpei moaned.

"Argh... Shut up, my back hurts even more..." Kenji moaned.

"What kind of moron would throw away a rusted go-kart?!" Lee groaned as he rubbed ointment on his back.

"Wimps..." Rio muttered.

"Great, now we have to watch a bunch of fat singers sing in a foreign language." Quan said.

"I don't see what's wrong with opera." Naoto said, "To me, it's the highest form of sophisticated singing."

"Oh Naoto-kun..." Minako said as she patted her in the back, "You have so much to learn."

"You're just like Mitsuru too..." Yukari said.

"Justaminute!" Junpei said so loudly, that everyone stiffened, "You look like Minato, and act like Mitsuru-san... You're Mitsuru and Minato's daughter!" He said, jutting a finger at Naoto, "You are, aren't you?!" He said as his face cracked with a triumphant smile.

I didn't even know if he was serious or not. "So, what, I was three and Mitsuru was four when Naoto was born?" I said skeptically.

"Don't lie!" Junpei said.

"You are obviously a special brand of stupid." Lee said as he shook his head.

"It's true-"

"Junpei, please... You're lowering the IQ of the entire park." Yukari said quietly.

"I'll be keeping an eye on you." He said as he opened one eye very widely at me. "And you." He said to Naoto, who recoiled.

And then he started humming the Father and Son song from a popular TV show, The Forty Thieves.

Then, we were shepherded to the buses and hauled off to Broadway.

We sulked on the side.

"I am not going in there. I don't care if they expel me, I'm not going in." Lee said.

"So am I. Know any places to chill, Minako?" Junpei asked.

"Well... There is this one place... Very near." She said.

"Let's go then."

"Yeah!"

As we walked some distance away, a stern voice stopped us, "Just where do you think you're going?"

"Crap..." Minako cursed, "Uh, hey Ms. Toriumi! Nice to see you here!"

"Why aren't you guys on the tour?" She asked.

"Look, there is no way we're going there and-" Lee began.

"I'm not letting you guys go without supervision." Ms. Toriumi said.

"There's no way we're going back there!" Junpei said.

She raised a hand. "I never said I'd bring you back." She said slyly.

We were confused.

"Waddya mean?" Rio asked cautiously.

"I mean, you guys have to bring me with you." She said, "Opera isn't my style either."

"Nor is anything from the 21st century..." Lee muttered.

We shrug, "Sure."

We went to a barberstore-cafe lounge in Brooklyn, BrookeDale Lodge, where a few others customers were enjoying tea and others were having haircuts.

The clientele were a group of ladies, four bikers having haircuts, old timers watching TV or playing board games, teenagers gossiping while sipping frappe and businessmen having makeovers.

"This place seems pretty unfriendly..." Fuuka said.

"I get you. Those bikers look tough..." Lee said, looking apprehensive.

"Hey, hey, everyone, it's Mina Red!" a Waitress exclaimed.

Everyone welcomed us most warmly.

After it died down and we got settled, Junpei decided to play checkers with an old man called "Checker" George.

Lee and Fuuka were chatting with an elderly couple, a war veteran and an ex-army nurse.

Quan and Kenji were having foot and back massage as Pinky dyed her hair pink, for reasons that escape me, since that was her natural hair color.

Rio was arm wrestling a burly biker.

Naoto was talking with an off-duty detective.

Ms. Toriumi was chatting with a group of elderly ladies, while enjoying cake and tea.

Then, a car pulled up right along a Chevrolet Sonic.

Since we were outside, we could pretty much hear what she said.

"Wanna play hardball? Fine. I'll give ya hardball." She muttered as she opened the trunk and took a baseball bat.

She picked up an egg-sized stone and broke the mirrors with a well-aimed throw.

"Hey y'all, check this lady out!" Minako said as everyone, except a businessman getting his hair shampooed, went to the window to look.

"Give it up!" She yelled as she swung the bat and it shattered the passenger side window.

"DAMN!" Everyone in the store yelled.

"What's going on there?" The businessman inquired, as he couldn't move from his deep scalp treatment.

"Come here, you gotta see this dude!" Junpei said excitedly.

"You're really missing out, man!" Quan said.

She swung at the doors and managed to dent one of the handles badly.

"Someone smashing someone's car up?" He asked.

"Yeah." I said as she smashed the hood.

"Damn!" Minako said as the woman smashed on the roof, "She's pissed!"

"Obviously! That, or she has a grudge with the guy who owns that Chevy." Ms. Toriumi said.

"If she really wanted to do that car in, if she wanna be real, she'd crack the windshield." The businessman said, "That's what I'd do."

"I'll get you! I'll get you good!" The woman said as she stood on the hood and cracked the windshield.

"Ooooh! She just did, brother!" Lee said.

"Man, what kind of car she's smashing up?" The businessman asked.

"Uh... A Chevy Sonic." I said.

He nodded, "Hold up... that's a good car. I bought one today. I feel bad for the sorry schmuck who owns it!" He said.

"I bet she's gonna stove the trunk in!" Earl the biker said.

"Man-whore! Playa!" The woman shrieked as she caved the trunk in.

"Oh right again! You're a regular high roller, Earl!" Lee said.

"Sick!" The woman cried.

"Haha! What color is it?" The businessman asked.

"Son of a-" she grunted.

"Gold." Kenji said.

"BITCH!" She roared.

"Good color... Does it... Does it have a chrome wheel spinners?" He asked.

Everyone in the store looked at him.

He sat bolt upright, "That's my car!" He yelled as he went outside, "That's my car!"

Everyone in the store laughed so hard at him. Earl actually fell back and broke a table. It was wrong to laugh, but we couldn't help it.

"Stop it! Stop it! What do you think you're doing?!" The man screamed.

"I'm smashing Kai Gino's car." She said through her teeth.

"Put the bat down! I don't know any Rai Jeano!"

"This ain't Kai Gino's car?" She asked.

"This ain't his car! I just bought it today!" He yelled.

"It looks like his car." She said.

"I don't care who's car it is! There's hundreds of cars just like that one in New York!"

"Wait a minute... So this really isn't Kai's car?"

"Fuck! Who the hell is he?!" The man sputtered.

"Oh man... My bad." She said.

"What, what did you say? 'My bad'?!"

The woman shrugged and ran away inside her car as the man chased it in vain, while still wearing the cape and shampoo.

"Hey, I'll call your momma and tell her what happened!" One of the customers said.

"Hahahahahaha! I hope you get your money back!" Another customer cried.

"The people are crazy!" Junpei said in surprise.

"Yeah, well..." Minako chortled, "Welcome to New York. Again."

"Hmph! All men are the same!" Ms. Toriumi said knowingly, "They will cheat you, hurt you, lie." She said as she looked pointedly at Lee.

"Heh. No one asked you to try them all out, Miz." Lee retorted.

Ms. Toriumi narrowed her eyes at him.

"I never want to make a girl THAT angry." Quan said quietly.

"You don't want to." Yukari said.

"Man, if I ever desrved that, I wouldn't complain." I said.

"You know, Minato, Naoto wouldn't approve of that, right Naoto? You would've done something?" Checker George said as he played checkers with Junpei.

"Checker George, sit down and play checkers." I said, "Do I LOOK like Naoto?"

Everyone nodded and mumbled.

"Yes you do." Fuuka said.

"Duh!" Rio cried.

"Of course!" Pinky said.

"Oh yeah!" Quan shouted.

"Yeah." Lee said.

"Kinda." Kenji said.

"Especially the hair and nose..." Junpei said.

"I beg to differ." Naoto said, "Other than the hair and the facial features, we look nothing alike-"

But no one seemed to have heard her.

We spent a right good time in there, and Junpei insisted he get a haircut first, but Minako angrily pointed out that he's practically bald, and we finally said our farewells went back and melded with the others as we converged to the buses.

We went back to the Hotel. Since it was still early, we decided to head to the Fitness Gym.

The girls, as usual, decided to hit the Stationary Bikes, as the boys and I hit the wieghts. Naoto was just doing baby wieghts though, just to keep up apperances.

After working up a respectable amount of wieghts, we decided to hit the Juice Bar.

We ordered some Wintermelon drinks.

Some dude greeted me.

"Yo. You from Korea or something?" The Westerner asked amiably.

"Oh, hello." I said in my fluent English, "Actually, I'm from Japan. That chick with the pink hair is from Korea."

"Sorry. I can never tell you Asian chaps apart. No offense." He said.

"None taken. I'm Minato." I said.

"James. Pleasure." He said as he shook my hand.

"So, you from here, James?" I asked.

"Nah, I'm a teen model. Just staying for a few days." He said.

"Yeah... So am I." I said.

"Well, nothing beats the tail here. I've always been into Asians." James said, "Man, look at that hot brunette..." He said as he pointed at Yukari, "She looks very pretty."

I scowled at him, "Yeah, I heard she has a boyfriend though... Big, strong and jealous gangster type... He's packing heat. You wouldn't want to mess with him." I said, "Big mistake of you cross him. He and his gang run in a pack."

"Oh. Never mind then... Wouldn't want trouble..." He said apprehensively, and then points at Minako, "Say... That red headed chick looks beautiful."

"I wouldn't want to try her either. She has a boyfriend too. Star athlete, top of his class and the leader of the Sports Committee... Pretty strong in a scrap as well... He's also in the same gang as the guy I just mentioned... Hard to compete with that."

"Man, what's the damn point of being a teen model if all the pretty chicks are taken anyway!?" He bemoaned.

"Well, gotta go, James. It was nice meeting you." I said.

"Oh, okay! It was nice meeting you, Hinaro." James said.

We went to the poolside, which was at the 22nd floor, just the guys and I.

"Whoa! So this is what they call an "infinity pool"? I've always wanted to see one myself." Kenji said.

"Yeah, and the chips here ain't too bad." Lee said.

We ordered loads of food. Since Lee was of age, he bought the Long Island Ice Tea, while I funded it.

We had a blast in the pool. Junpei managed to talk one of the staff members to lend him an airbed, which he placed by the pool.

Kenji and Quan had a naughty smile as the both jumped on the airbed, launching Junpei in the air and headfirst into the pool.

We all laughed, even Junpei himself.

"Yo, that was TENSE!" Junpei cried.

Then, a Roman Shadow past us.

"So, how's life in the Noble light?" Cato asked derisively, "Enjoy it, since you'll never taste it again."

"Hey Cato, does your mum play the trumpet? Cause she has strong lips!" Lee said as I sensed his euphemism.

"That's right, because yours is my domestic helper." Cato sneered. His cronies laughed.

Lee got up, looking ready for a scrap, but Quan held him back.

I looked at the silver briefcase he was holding, "What's in there?"

He hid it behind his back, "Never you mind. I'll be seeing you... peasants later." he said, then left with his possé, Hide and Hortez, to go sunbathing.

"Urgh! That does it! I'm gonna kick his ass!" Lee said as he charged after him.

Quan grabbed him, "Don't be dumb."

"You flaking out on me?" Lee said.

"No, I'm saying... You should trust me." He said with a sly smile.

He told us of his plan.

I went up to Cato, "What's up with the laptop?"

The briefcase turned out to be a container for a high-tech laptop. The outside had a decal sticker that looked like an Italian Witch.

It really did look familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it...

"Go away, Arisato, I realize that I'm hot commodity, but quit annoying me." Cato said bluntly.

After I saw something dart from the bushes, I didn't move just yet.

"Where'd you find it?" I said.

Hide stood up and pinned me to the wall quickly, "This guy bothering you, Cato?"

"Not in the least," Cato replied curtly, and Hide let me go roughly, "Not so much as a fly. If you must know, I... found it from somewhere."

"More like you plundered it." I said.

"Mayhap." Cato said, "But what do you care?"

"That doesn't belong to you." I said.

"And so what if it isn't?" Cato said furiously, "I don't care."

"Duh, Master Cato found it!" Hortez said.

After noticing a finger from the bushes doing a thumbs up, I smiled at him.

"Okay. As an afterthought, you guys look like you need a tan. Especially you, Edward Cullen."

Cato looked furious, "Shut up! I was gonna get a tan before you came along."

I smiled and walked away.

He muttered as he grabbed the tainted sunscreen.

"Are you guys sure it's enough?" I said.

"Dude, we did it as hard as we could." Junpei said.

"Yeah, I almost lit a fire down there!" Kenji said.

"Right... I haven't spanked off that much since watching Mary Ozawa." Quan said.

"Don't worry... besides, I'm pornstar material!" Lee said as he did an impression of doggy-style.

Cato and his goons were spreading sun-tan lotion all over themselves.

Cato put some on his lips, "By Jove, this is really thick. What is this, 30?"

"It feels strange..." Hide said as he rubbed some on his face.

"Hey! It tastes like tropical fruit!" Hortez said.

We strode to them laughing.

"How's that taste, Cock-to?" Lee said derisively.

"Mmmm... good, huh? Warm, tangy and salty?" Kenji said sneeringly.

"Great for those 'seamen' types!" Quan said.

"Hows the consistency? Does it feel like snake puke?" I asked.

"Yep, it's a CUM-pletely new formula! 100% Anaconda Juice! SPF 69!" Lee said while laughing loudly.

Cato and Hide looked like they were about to puke and jumped at the pool. Hortez remained seated.

"Why aren't you jumping in?" Quan asked, still laughing.

He shrugged, "Duh, it tastes and feels nice."

It was our turn to feel nauseous.

"Get out of here! Go jump in the pool!" Lee cried.

He nodded dumbly and jumped in.

We laughed it up and went back to our room.

After relating our encounter with Cato, insisting it wasn't us who did the defiling part, and they laughed it up.

"I can't wait for tomorrow!" Fuuka said.

"Where are we off to?" Kenji asked, "Another place they want us to clean?"

"Don't you read you schedule? We're free tomorrow."

"HUZZZAH!" The guys and I cheered loudly.

They then prepared to go somewhere.

"Where are you guys off to?" I asked.

"Off to the springs." Pinky said, "You guys wanna come?"

"Absolutely not!" Yukari shouted.

"Heh, not like we wanted to." Junpei said, "Go on ahead. Not like the boys and I would want to see your bodies. You guys need to shed a few pounds in that heater."

Minako stepped forwad and stomped on his foot. Yukari, Fuuka, Rio and Pinky followed suit.

"Ow!" Junpei howled, "My freaking toes!"

"You started it!" Minako said, "If you guys think our bodies look bad, then why don't you guys go to the hot springs with us?!"

"Yes!" Lee, Kenji and Quan cried in glee.

"NOOOO!" Junpei and I screamed fiercely, "Absolutely not! No way in hell!" I said.

"We'd rather streak naked while singing Backstreet boys songs!" Junpei cried.

"Speak for yourself!" Lee cried.

"All right, fine! We wouldn't want to go with you perverts anyways!" They cried and huffed away in wrath.

The boys, except Junpei and I, groaned.

Lee strode to us in fury, "Dude, you two idiots just let down every man on the face of the Earth!"

"Listen to us. It's a death trap." Junpei said.

"We dodged a silver bullet today, and that bullet is a size of a cannon ball with you morons in tow." I said.

"Oh, forget you." Lee said.

The guys were pretty sour with us the entire night, so Naoto, Junpei and I had to talk the entire night.

I decided to confide in Junpei and Naoto.

"Guys... I want to say something to you two that only you will know. Can I trust you? Especially you, Junpei?" I said.

"You bet." He said.

"Who would I tell?" Naoto said.

"Okay... Here it goes..." I took a deep breath, "I am in love with Minako."

They didn't seemed surprise.

"Well, any idiot with eyes can see that." Junpei said.

"Indeed, it took little deductive reasoning to point that out." Naoto said, "Although I cannot help you any further. I'm afraid I'm rather inept with these matters."

"I mean, I want to tell her, I really do..."

"Write a freaking letter then." Junpei said.

I did. I decided to channel all my feelings towards the letter. All the bottled up emotions, feelings and heartfelt love I felt for Minako. Although, I don't know why I'd call it love. Probably for lack of a better word. I didn't know what word to describe, "feeling in love, but not sure if it is actually love or not."

I ran up to her room and placed it in her locker.

Then, I grew anxious. I decided to get it back, for fear of her reaction. I heard her draw near and I frantically tried to rip it out, but all I managed to rip off was the "Lots of love, and ever in you affections, Minato."

I ran out just in time as Minako went in.

"Hey Minato." She said as she smiled.

"Hey Minako. Uh, I was about to sleep." I said.

"Oh. Good night." She said.

"You know, Junpei didn't really mean anything by what he said toyou guys." I said, "It's just that we have a kind of bad luck with Hot springs. I don't think your body is bad."

She smiled, "It's fine. And I'll take that last comment as a compliment."

I smiled and went to sleep, thinking if I did right or not.

A/N: done! Review please. Also, for those who haven't voted in the poll yet, now would be the time to do so.

Questionsandanswerportion!

(BTW, this in reply to your statement. Not an actual review.) Those side stories worked in the game because they it was a game! In this kind of format on this kind of site it is going at the "slug-fest". And the pageant, as you said, a leaf from persona 4. I've already seen that. I read this story because it was something new, so when you made that chapter I went Uuugggghh. I mean, I don't want to tell you how to make your story but DAMN. I mean when you'r do funny chapter

Part 2. When you do a "funny" chapter. You don't do a single one, you do a good handful. And I believe to make that development matter, there needs to be a conflict that shadows those characters and a feeling of satisfaction when a character develops big time. I did not feel that and you're right. I did not notice Minako's "development". Why, you say? I refer you to my previous statements. Anyway, these are just my problems with the story. I truly hope for a more enjoyable story.

O...kay... Since you seem like you're out to get me, let me say this isn't a polite answer, rather a curt response:

Here it goes:

If you have any GREAT and FUNNIER ideas than mine, I'd love to hear it.

If you're looking for something newer, then play Persona 5.

If you want a good laugh, watch an Adam Sandler movie. You'll be tickled. I myself am quite amused and bemused that you expect me to make a single chapter devoted to it. Because that's not the genre of this story. I do not aim to make you laugh with a single chapter.

If you've already seen it, then don't read it. Why should I cater to your needs? I write for the enjoyment and the praise, not to cater to any single reader's personal wishes. I seek to please all MinaxMina fans as a whole.

If you didn't notice Minako's development... Wow. Just... Wow, is all I could say for you.

If you want a more enjoyable story, then seek it elsewhere. There are many authors with better stories than mine.

Have a good day looking.

On to happier notes:

1. I didn't know, people could just like that pass out...from nervousness...

2. Yes, I do have a lot hate for Minako in this story...and you already know it...

3. That doesn't make sense, he went out on a date with Yukari, just being friends and starts imagining as if Minako was there, then why did he even accept the date with Yukari in the first place? I mean he likes Minako, right?...And you actually going more deep and deep into with Minato and Minako relationship...if so...why the hell put Yukari in the poll decision? Speaking of which, when is it gonna end, I'm so damn impatient to see the damn results! In which I have bad feeling anyway...

Okay, I'll answer this:

1. Neither could I. But apparently, they can.

2. Duly noted.

3. Well, all I could say is that he could go on a date. He's single! And they're going out as friends. That would be a problem if he was romantically involved with either of them.

Why is Yukari on the poll...? Um, because she's a choice, and you guys get to choose?

Oh, the poll is gonna end whenever it gets enough votes.

Now a question from a friend of mine.

Sup, OPD (I'm not gonna stop using that name, haha)

I really do love where you're headed with this story. With all this CD (character development), I feel that you have a very strong sense of what your writing style is like, and how to use it well. I am very happy to say that this is becoming twice as good as Days of Summer, mostly b/c you're using my Persona 3 OTP here.

Now, for some baddies (just two):

Can you edit this a bit more? B/c it was extremely hard to understand that the guys and Yuko were playing basketball. All you said was that there's a gym on the 16'th. Try saying something like basketball court.

Also, about halfway through the chapter, you wrote ,y instead of my.

Always a pleasure,

-Urter

Haha, yeah, NC doesn't fit me, but it sounds cool. You can still call me OPD if you want.

Thanks! I actually thought it was too soon for Minako to develop, but looks like it ended well.

Days of Summer... For some reason, I feel like writing more about it, but the story ended...

Also, I would've never known you liked MinaxMina as your OTP. Mainly because your PP is Aigis, so I assumed you're a MinaxAigis fan.

Okay, as for the cons...

Actually, it was Rio playing basketball. And don't worry, I'll change it ASAP.

And as for that typo... I'm writing with an iPad, so the buttons are all clumped up. Hope you don't mind.

Hope to hear again from you!

Also, I can't develop Minato even more, since others may call him too "OOC". Minako is the only one I can safely experiment with.

Done! If you guys see an error, report it and I'll fix it ASAP. Let's see if you giys got what it takes to make mincemeat out of the maestro! Read and review. And tell me of your reactions!