A/N: This chapter is a bunch of social links again! Ahhhh-

Mr Giraffe (Guest)
- You'll see him next chapter, no worries lol. The test should be obvious by now... but if not, then she has to buy textiles, technically. Not much of a test, but it's more of a test for Yui's confidence in how she buys them. Mr. Tadashi will more or less be an observer and determine whether she has improved in some ways... I'll go more into detail when that days comes, hehe. Also, yeah, I know the guy for Tanaka was a social link in P3 and a shop in P5 cause I spoil myself with the wiki for Persona and Megami Tensei Series too much ;w;
- JunesJunesJunesJunesJunes-
- You get your Junes boy hereee
- Well, there's some Chie and Yukiko here too, so that's that :D

Okay, on with the chapter!

Monday came along quickly, being cloudy unlike the previous days that showed sunlight and the blue skies. Yu had spent yesterday - which was Sunday - with Kou and Daisuke, having gotten a little comic book about some kind of detective witch for free since the brunet accidentally bought it instead of the comic he wanted.

Though, he had a small feeling that Kou had a thing going on for Chie who noticed them standing in front of the book store… oh well. Yu thought about what to do after school… and recalled that he hasn't spent some time with Yosuke in a while, so he went to go ask him if he wanted to hang out together.

Soon, they were off to Junes for a quick bite to eat.

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

They sat at one of the tables, which was still too big for only two people, not that it bothered them anyway.

Yosuke looked pretty cheerful. "So whatcha gonna eat today?" he asked Yu. The silver-haired boy was about to answer when the same two girls suddenly approached the brunet, looking cross. "Hey, Hanamura!"

Despite the hostile yell, Yosuke managed to keep a calm look as he looked at them. "…What is it today?"

"How come Kazumi can take the day off and we can't?"

"…Huh?"

"We told you before! We can't work weekends! So when we refused, they said they were going to fire us! I don't get this!"

"Hey, I talked to the manager…" Something came to Yosuke's mind. "Senpai… have you been taking absences without leave lately?"

That got the two girls flustered. "I-I just forgot to come…besides, that's not the point! What're you going to do about this?! I have a date that day!" One of them told him. "How come you're favouring Kazumi, huh?! You were like that with Saki, too!" The other joined in.

Yosuke was surprised to hear Saki's name being mentioned. "…Huh?"

"Don't try to hide it! We all know! You liked Saki and treated her special!"

The brunet grew silent for a moment. "…I don't think Saki-senpai has anything to do with this subject."

"Yeah, it does! You told the other workers to take it easy on Saki too, didn't you? You think you can do anything just because you're the manager's son?!"

The other girl added fuel to the fire by badmouthing Saki the same way her friend did too. "So it's Kazumi now that Saki's dead?! Don't even bother, she has a boyfriend. Didn't you get it?! Saki didn't like you! We heard so from her! She may have acted that way, but…"

Yu gritted his teeth as he listened to the two girls beginning to badmouth someone who didn't deserve to be talked about that way. Slamming his hands onto the table, he stood up and shouted at the two angrily. "Shut up!"

Yosuke looked at his friend in surprise. That was the first time he saw the silver-haired boy react that way. "Yu…"

The girls glared at the smaller boy. "Wha—who are you?! You shut up!"

Then, Yosuke suddenly got up from his seat and yelled at the two girls, unable to take it all in anymore "You're the ones who should shut up! What do you know about Saki-senpai?! She didn't do things half-assed like you! She looked lazy, but she worked hard! She talked bad, but she was good inside! So she hated me? I knew that! She's not here anymore! I'm left behind!" He was left breathless by the end of it. "…Just leave me alone…"

"Wh-what the heck…?" The two girls looked at him in shock. One of them looked at the other. "..Let's go." So, the two left the place.

Yosuke lowered his head, staring at the ground. "…I just blurted out a buncha crap, huh?"

"You were just upset, Yosuke..." Yu murmured. He had a feeling he knew of how much trouble the brunet has been going through due to his father's job… added with the death of Saki Konishi, it all just burst at one point.

"N-no, I was just…" Yosuke tried to deny it but just fell silent again. He smiled pathetically as he glanced at his best friend. "Damn… another pathetic display from Yosuke, huh? …Thanks, though. Hearing you say that stuff to them… it made me happy." Now he was sheepishly smiling.

The silver-haired boy couldn't bring himself to smile back, but he still tried to.

…Their bond had somehow grown stronger through this alongside the Magician Social Link.

Yosuke then sighed, shaking his head. "I don't want to… I really don't want to, but I'll go talk with Dad… at this rate, those two are gonna quit… I should tell him and apologise…" He took a few steps forward, but stopped. "I don't know… what do I want to do? I don't get it… even though it's my own future."

"Yosuke…"

"Sorry, but I'll see you later, Yu."

Yu was quiet at that. "…Okay."

The two of them soon parted for the day.

Tuesday was still cloudy, but it didn't rain… so Yu decided to join sports practice, recalling what happened during the last one. He hoped that Kou would explain something about Daisuke's problem.

When practice finished, Daisuke met up with him. "I have to do the class record today, so don't wait up on me," he told him. The silver-haired boy shook his head. "It's okay, I can wait."

This got the brunet scratching his head. "You sure…? Ehhh… no, man, really. I'll see ya later." He then left, missing Kou who had just arrived at the field. "Hm? What's up with the cold shoulder? Daisuke can be such a damn rebel." He looked at Yu. "Oh well, I guess that makes it easier. I need to talk to you… and tell you what, we'll talk over mapo rice. My treat!"

The silver-haired boy shrugged. "Sounds good."

"Great! Heck, I'll get you a large!"

The two boys then went down to Aiya Diner…

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

As they waited for their food, Kou started to talk with a serious expression on his face. "You probably guessed this, but it's about Daisuke. You've noticed him slacking off at practice a lot lately, right? He never used to do that kinda stuff…"

"Why is that?" Yu asked him. He was concerned for Daisuke too – something was definitely off, ever since Ai became the team manager.

"Well, to start it off… before, he woulda died for any chance to play soccer. You practically had to pry the ball away from him, even off the field. But now he's half-assing everything… I don't get it. Maybe he just doesn't think playing hard is 'cool' anymore… " Kou sighed before looking at the smaller boy. "He took it seriously when he was helping you train, though, right? He really wanted you to get good enough for the team to accept you… don't get me wrong, I don't think he was faking it or anything… but… I wonder if part of that was him trying to make you do the things he feels like he can't anymore… he's fooling himself."

Yu remained silent at those words. He never did doubt that Daisuke wanted to help him… but if that was really how the brunet saw things…

Kou shook his head as he thought more about it. "It just pisses me off to watch him do this… " He sighed again. "How did he get like this…?" Then he realised something. "…Ya know, his new attitude towards girls is pretty sudden, too. He used to talk about girls like any normal guy would. You think it could be related…?"

"It… could be." Yu had noticed that earlier. Kou nodded. "You think so too? He can be a little blunt sometimes, but he's a nice guy. He's been acting so cold toward girls, though, like he's saying stuff that he doesn't really mean…"

The black-haired boy kept quiet for a moment, then he started to speak slowly. "…I'm only telling you this because I trust you, but… see, Daisuke had a girlfriend back in middle school… but from what he told me, they never even held hands. Then she broke up with him."

"Seriously…?" Yu looked at him in shock. What kind of girl would…?

"She made a big scene. She was all like, 'You don't even like me, do you!?'. I heard she even slapped him. And ever since then, he's been saying stuff like, 'I don't know what it means to like someone…'. At the rate he's going, he's gonna die an old hermit." Kou merely sighed again. "What do you think?"

Well, Yu's not going to let Daisuke handle it on his own. The brunet helped him with his training – now it's his turn to return the favour. "We've got a problem, that's what."

His response got Kou to agree with him. "Yeah, I think so too." Suddenly, an idea struck him. "Whoa! I just had a great idea. I'm a genius…" He looked at the silver-haired boy again expectantly. "You're with me on this, right? You're gonna help him?"

"Count me in." Yu smiled at him. He can only hope that the idea, whatever it is, isn't too… much.

"Alright! Now we're talking!" Kou seemed ecstatic for some reason. Either way, by worrying about Daisuke with him, Yu could feel their relationship strengthen… and because of it, so did the Strength Social Link.

"I'll set everything up. Make sure you wear some clean boxers!" Kou told him.

"Uh… what for?" Yu asked uncertainly, raising an eyebrow.

…They eventually passed the time with a rather vulgar conversation, much to Yu's chagrin.

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

As Yu thought about what to do for the night after he returned home, he recalled that Nanako had went out to shop earlier, so the fridge was full of food. He guessed that he could cook something for lunch during school, so he went to check the fridge.

Spotting some beef, he decided to use that as his main dish and attempted to look for some other ingredients he could use… and eventually, he got enough to make some grilled beef. While he hasn't cooked in a while, he still has his many years of basic cooking experience.

So, he started to prepare the ingredients before cooking the beef… but somehow, he ran out of salt during the cook. Soy sauce was a good alternative, and by the end of it, he got grilled beef that was pretty savoury to the taste.

Smiling, he cleared up the kitchen and put the food he just prepared into a food container that he'll bring to school tomorrow.

…Tomorrow was going to be the last day before the rain came.

The next day, he had shared his lunch with Ayane who was amazed at how good his food was. It was a big praise, but the silver-haired boy was humble with it, saying it wasn't much. Meanwhile, there was soccer practice that day… now he wondered what Kou's idea was.

On his way to the field though, Kou stopped him and dragged him off to somewhere with Daisuke… and now they were in Okina City.

"So… what's this all about?" Daisuke asked Kou, a bit annoyed. "You made up skip out on practice, man. I think you own us an explanation."

Then, a girl's voice called out. "Oh, there he is. Kou-chan!"

To Yu and Daisuke's surprise, a group of three girls approached them. Kou smiled at the sight. "Hey! Sorry for calling you here on such a short notice," he told the three girls.

"That's okay. We weren't doing anything anyway." One of the girls then began to talk to her friends about something. Yu almost paled at the sight – was this…? That can't be… oh dear.

Daisuke glanced at Kou. "What's going on…?"

Kou looked back at him. "What does it look like? I set up a group blind date for us."

…Yu almost hated it when he's right in this case.

This got Daisuke agitated. "Huh?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

This looked bad. Yu could hear the conversation the girls were having, and he himself was not quite excited to have this group blind date with them…

"…I'm outta here." Daisuke then began to leave. "Huh? No, wait!" Kou tried to call him, but the brunet didn't listen. "S-sorry ladies, looks like tonight isn't going to work out!" he told the group of girls, shocking all three as he beckoned Yu to follow him quick.

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

The three of them rode back home on the bus in an awkward silence, and Daisuke refused to talk with them even as they got off. Yu and Kou had to chase him to the flood plains to get him to talk. "I said wait, dammit!" Kou yelled at the brunet.

Daisuke turned to face them both. "I never asked you to try and set me up with anyone. I only went because you told me it was important…" His face turned hostile. "Don't drag me into the BS. If you want to get a girlfriend, do it yourself."

"I did it for you!" Kou then shouted at him. "You're always going on about how 'girls are just a pain in the ass.'. But it's all an act!"

"Whaddaya mean, 'an act'!?" Daisuke shouted back at him. Their quarrelling then started to escalate from there until Yu had to force them to stop. "You two, stop it!"

The two athletes fell silent at his words. Kou sighed. "He's right… sorry. Yelling won't solve anything." He focused back on Daisuke. "You're just scared! You hear that?! Scared!"

"Scared…? Of what?"

"Of girls! You're scared of being rejected again, aren't you? That's why you give them all the cold shoulder. You don't have to worry about it if they hate you already, right? And it's no different with soccer! You're half-assing it! You're scared to play seriously and hit your plateau! You're afraid that if you play hard, you'll be depressed when you can't improve anymore!"

"Wha…? N-now you're just making things up!"

"You take all the fun out of life if you never have to feel pain. What's the point of living like that?"

"I don't need you to lecture me about my life! You got that?! It's MY life! You guys have nothing to do with it!"

"Yes we do!" Yu yelled at Daisuke, unable to take it all in anymore. Kou and Daisuke stared at him in shocked silence, to which the former quickly recovered to make his point to his best friend. "Of course we do! What am I to you?! What is Yu to you?! And what are you to Yu and me, huh?! Don't talk like we have nothing to do with your life, dumbass!"

Daisuke couldn't bring himself to look at the two. "…I'm sorry… yeah…"

Now a silence fell among all of them, to which the silver-haired boy broke with a sigh. "C'mon, Daisuke… let's talk down by the river," he said quietly, and both athletes nodded without a word to it.

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

They all sat by the riverside, knees held up near their chests.

Daisuke sighed quietly. "Kou's right… girls are a pain in the ass, but I don't hate them… I'm just scared. They come up and say they like me… but then they tell me they can't understand me, they get disappointed, and break up with me. Makes me wonder about myself…"

Kou glanced at his best friend. "You're talking about that girl you dated in middle school, right?"

"Dated? Tch, I don't think you could even call it that. I still remember… she said, 'You're not the guy I thought you were. The real Daisuke is the one on the field.'. When I think about going through all that again, I get scared… or maybe lonely. It's hard to tell."

"Forget about her… there's always gonna be people like that. But you have to just let 'em go and move on."

Daisuke then looked up at the sky. "…But… I can't let it go…" He broke his gaze away from the clouds to look at Kou. "I still have feelings… what'll happen to them?"

Then, Kou just realised the true extent of his friend's feelings for this girl. "Ahh… you really liked her, huh…?"

"After she asked me out. But… she was my first girlfriend. I was thrilled… all I wanted to do was hold her close to me."

"Then you've gotta go settle it. If you don't, you'll carry this baggage for who knows how long."

Daisuke then somewhat glared at the black-haired boy. "…You're too nosy, you know that?"

Kou chuckled. "Yeah, what of it?"

Finally, a smile appeared on the brunet's face. "…Thanks."

"You can be pretty sincere when you want to, Daisuke," Kou commented with a smile of his own. Yu smiled too. "That's his charm, actually." His comment got Daisuke blushing in embarrassment. "Knock it off!"

Their bond has strengthened even more… with it, the Strength Social Link did too.

Kou looked at Yu. "Alright, Yu, it'll be your job to make sure Daisuke doesn't get cold feet about this thing," he told him. "I won't, dang it!" Daisuke said with some protest in his voice. Yu and Kou just laughed at him, happy that Daisuke was all okay again.

The three of them had a good time together before heading home…

The rain started to last the whole day starting on Friday, and as a result, no one was in a mood to hang out.

Yu was checking some things out at the Yomenaido Bookstore when he met a man who he had helped a few days back to get something for him. The guy had asked him if he could help feed a stray cat at the flood plains, so Yu decided to accept his request for the heck of it.

…He did, admittedly, have a soft spot for cats. His parents and uncle weren't fond of them, sadly. His grandfather was no different.

Speaking of cats… there was that fox back at the shrine. He did manage to fulfil the wish on the ema about… more than a week ago. It's probably time he reported to the fox about it since he had no one else to spend time with.

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

Arriving at the old shrine, Yu looked up to see the fox up on the roof again. It soon jumped off and landed behind him, like before. "Much of a show-off, aren't you…?" he murmured, chuckling. He then noticed that the fox had brought the ema with the wish he had already fulfilled. It was probably worried of the outcome.

"No worries – the girl got her confession accepted," Yu informed it with a smile. The fox howled happily, looking exuberant. It ran around him a few rounds before going over to the offertory box, peering inside… and it actually seemed pleased at the sight.

If rumours of the shrine's benevolence spread around town, more people may come to make offerings… who knows, Yu might be the catalyst to that happening in the future.

The fox looked at Yu with gratitude. He giggled, still smiling. "You're welcome, little fox."

With that, the silver-haired boy could feel his bond with the fox grow with the Hermit Social Link. The good thing is, now that his relationship with the fox has grown stronger, it was now giving him a discount on its services inside the TV… so it was a win-win situation for the both of them.

Eventually, Yu passed some time with it before going back home. It wouldn't be nice to catch a cold in this weather… not when a murderer is on the loose.

Saturday was also a rainy day – Yu expected that by tonight, a fog would set in Inaba… until then, it was still a gloomy atmosphere. Since he just finished a request for the fox, he decided to check by the shrine after school ended to see if the fox had another request for him to fulfil.

The fox greeted him like usual, bearing a new ema this time. Written on it with thin, lady-like handwriting was a wish… asking for that her mind was 'clear' of snacks, and that she wanted to hate them. Yu looked at it and nodded. "I'll do it."

At that response, the fox looked at him happily. He then left the shrine quietly, planning to go back to school to study for the evening…

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

When night fell, Yu was having a warm drink with Nanako as they watched the news play. The weather forecast had expected the rain to end soon, and as a result, a thick fog was expected to form in Inaba later that night.

…He decided to go up to him room early, just to clear up his room a bit while waiting for the Midnight Channel to play.

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

As Yui finished up on arranging her books, clothes, and other stuff in her room, she took a glance at the clock and saw that it was about to reach midnight. With a quiet huff, she got up and went to stand in front of her TV and stare into it.

A moment later, the TV came to life as the Midnight Channel played… and to her relief, there was no one there. Kanji had already been saved, so the killer has once again been thwarted.

Now that she knew that there was nothing more to worry about, she finally decided to prepare her futon to go to sleep.

Yu went out to the shopping district to check the workshop they usually bought their weapons and armours from when he bumped into a woman standing in front of the Shiroku Store. "Don't bother me!" she suddenly shouted at him, causing him to flinch. "H-huh?"

"I'm channelling my mental energy in order to control my urges... I mustn't want snacks... they'll just make me faaaat... Shiroku Store is my enemy... remember all that dieting and exercise... do you wanna have to do all that again?" The woman was talking to herself… even Yu wasn't sure if he should listen to her, but he had to if he wanted to think of a way to help her.

She just kept muttering on her own. "Must shun the snacks... ahhh! Snacks... I want to eat snacks!" She sighed. "I wonder if there're any bad-tasting snacks. Actually, it doesn't have to be bad... maybe if it were just odd-tasting, I would stop thinking about them...? I want to distance myself from those Shiroku snacks..." She was definitely the one who wrote the wish on the ema.

Though… odd-tasting snacks or bad-tasting snacks? The latter sounds more unlikely, but maybe he can find at least someone who'd have a snack of the former criteria. Quietly leaving the woman alone, he went towards the workshop and found Chie standing around there. "Oh, hi Chie."

Chie looked at him and smiled. "What's up, Yu-kun?"

…Now Yu was curious if Chie knew anything about a snack that may just help the woman from earlier. "Say, do you know a snack that doesn't taste like a snack? Be it an odd taste or a bad one," he asked her. Chie thought about it for a second. "A snack that doesn't taste like a snack...? Hmmmm, I have no idea... my snacks taste like snacks... you want some?"

"Uh… sure?"

So the brunette then gave her friend three strips of gum… but it wasn't any ordinary gum. It was called Meat Gum – it smelled and probably tasted like meat… yet the smell was horrible to Yu. Thanking her, he quickly ran back to the woman earlier.

He didn't even have to ask as she suddenly perked up at the strong smell of the Meat Gum. "What's this smell…?! It smells juicy, raw, and yet sweet... is this the rumoured Meat Gum!?" She gulped, noticing that the smell was coming from the silver-haired boy. "Hey, can I have a bit? I want to try it."

"Sure… take all of it, if you want." Yu gave her a strip of the gum, just to see her reaction first.

As she tried it, her eyes widened in surprise. "Wh-What is this!? It's chewy meat! This is also considered a snack!? The world of snacks is indeed vast and infinite… well, that was certainly different and odd. When I think 'snack' I'll definitely recall this taste now. Thank you... now I won't linger in front of the Shiroku Store anymore." She smiled thankfully at the boy. "Oh, yes. I need to visit the shrine. I made a wish to hate snacks there. I'll use my snack money as an offering!" She then went off to do that… well, at least she's happy.

Yu walked back to the workshop and noticed that Chie was still standing there. "…Hey Chie, wanna hang out after I finish checking out the workshop?" he suggested to her.

"Oh, yeah! Sure!" Chie nodded. "Let's train at the flood plains again, alright?"

"That sounds good." Yu nodded back and went to do his business first before he did go train with her.

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

The two teenagers trained for a while before finishing up.

"Whew. Let's call it a day," Chie told Yu, grinning as she placed her hands on her hips. The silver-haired boy then saw some guy approaching them both. "Huh? Hey, Chie. Whatcha doing?" he asked the brunette who turned to look at him. "T-Takeshi…!? W-Well… training! I'm working out!"

"Huh? When are you gonna graduate to being king of the hill?"

"K-King of the hill…?"

"In kindergarten it was the Runt Gang, in elementary school you were an Ally of Justice… middle school, it was the Vanguards of the Lunch Revolution, wasn't it? Haha, so… what is it now? You a Protector of Earth's Peace?"

"W-Well…"

Now that's just talking bad about someone, even if Chie did know the guy. "Quit bagging on her," Yu told the boy with an unimpressed expression.

Chie looked at him and Takeshi in a panic. "Huh…? Wait, what're you saying?"

Takeshi became somewhat flustered. "Oh, uhhh… I didn't mean that in a mean way. I'm Takeshi Kouno. I was with Chie up until middle school… I'm not gonna get in you guys' way."

"Hey, what are you…?"

"Oh, how's Yukiko-san doing…? Does she have a boyfriend yet…?"

"…She's fine, and I don't think so."

"I see. Cool, cool. She still good-looking? Maybe I should try for her again…"

Chie fell silent at that.

"I'll see you later. Say hi to Yukiko-san for me." Takeshi left, leaving the mood dampened heavily.

Chie was looking quite sad after he left, so Yu tried to lighten the mood by doing an impression of a different Takeshi… but since the guy's voice was pretty deep and he's no guy in reality, he just ended up sounding like a squeaker.

The brunette stared at him for a moment before she cracked up. "Hahaha! What, was that supposed to sound like him!?"

Yu blushed slightly, but he was glad that she at least laughed at it. Chie laughed hysterically for a while, eventually slowing down in heavy breathing. "I-I'm sorry. He really is rude, huh? Seriously… he was always staring at Yukiko…"

Yu raised an eyebrow at that. It almost sounded like Chie had something for that guy…

Chie noticed the look on his face and shook her head. "H-Hey, don't get me wrong. He's nothing but an old classmate to me! We're just friends, y'know…? We used to get that a lot, though." She smiled somewhat sadly, looking down at the grass beneath their feet.

"If you say so…" Yu wasn't fond of this Takeshi guy, but he did learn something about Chie's past… somehow, he felt like he had grown closer to her… and so did the Chariot Social Link.

That sad look on Chie's face didn't last long as she soon looked up at Yu. "…But that's all in the past! Let's head home."

"Alright then."

They both talked about various things as they walked home...

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

While Yui got her school clothes ready for Monday tomorrow, she wondered if Kanji would finally go to school that day as well. Two weeks were plenty of time for one to recover from the ordeals of the TV world, but who knows, really…?

…She still can't really stop thinking of that moment in that sauna… but the initial shock that came along with it has now faded with time. She was probably just too flustered at the sudden closeness, that's all. But now there's a warm feeling in her chest whenever she accidentally recalled that time.

Ugh, she'll just ignore it for now.

Tomorrow's a new day.